That there are 500,000 able-bodied persons,
commanded by a staff of 11,587 persons, employed upon works which have
been variously described as 'works worse than idleness;' by the
yeomanry of Ulster as 'public follies;' and by the Inspector of the
Government himself, Colonel Douglas, as 'works which will answer no
other purpose than that of obstructing the public conveyances.'" The
calamity was great, but he did not, he said, despond. "We, who at one
period of the war were expending, upon an average, for three years,
L103,000,000 sterling a-year, will not be downhearted at having to
provide for a deficiency and for a disaster that may be estimated at
L10,000,000." He quoted the two Commissions above referred to, and said
that railway Acts had been passed for 1,523 miles of railway, whilst at
the moment he was speaking only 123 miles were completed, 164 miles
being in course of construction. There must, he thought, be some
weakness in Ireland up to this, as 2,600 miles of railway had been
constructed in England and Scotland, and Acts passed for 5,400 miles
more--8,000 miles in all. The denseness of population, said his
lordship, is in favour of Ireland as against England and Scotland.
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