"Suddenly, and
for several years," says Mr. D'Israeli, quoting Lord George, "an
additional sum of thirteen millions of pounds sterling a-year was spent
in the wages of our native industry; two hundred thousand able-bodied
labourers received each upon an average, twenty-two shillings a-week,
stimulating the revenue, both in excise and customs, by their enormous
consumption of malt and spirits, tobacco and tea."[205]
Lord George saw no reason why the same remedy, if applied to Ireland,
should not be attended with the like success. He was sustained, too, by
the reports of Parliamentary Commissioners, as well as by the natural
and common-sense view of the subject. Many years before, in 1836, a
commission had been issued to enquire into the expediency of promoting
the construction of railways in Ireland. The Commissioners, in their
report, recommended that a system of railway communication should be
established there by Government advances. Ten years had passed; but, of
course, nothing was done. Yes, another commission! The noted Devon one
was, I should have said, issued some years after the former by another
Government, which "confirmed all the recommendations of the Railway
Commissioners of '36, and pointed to those new methods of communication,
by the assistance of loans from the Government, as the best means of
providing employment for the people.
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