... When the 'count out' took
place, there were only thirty members present, including _thirteen_
Irish members! Where were the virtuous and conscientious men in whom
the constituencies of Ireland had reposed confidence? Why did they not
attend in numbers sufficient to prevent Mr. Poulett Scrope's laudable
effort on behalf of Ireland from being burked?"[202]
During the debate which followed Lord John Russell's speech on the state
of Ireland, Mr. Bernal Osborne accused Parliament of shutting its eyes,
for a series of years, to the fact that there were two millions and
a-half of destitute poor in Ireland, until honorable members had been
suddenly awakened to the circumstance by the potato famine. They were
now endeavouring, by convulsive efforts of legislation, to correct evils
which had been in a great measure incurred through the neglect and
carelessness of that House. "Hear, hear," responded the neglectful and
careless House. He thought the Minister would have exercised a much
wiser discretion if, in addition to the soup-shops, he had turned his
serious attention to the tilling of the land for the next harvest. He
combated Lord John Russell's argument drawn from the prosperity of the
small farmers of Armagh, inasmuch as that county had manufactures as
well as agriculture, and expressed his opinion that small farms were at
the root of the evils of Ireland.
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