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O'Rourke, John

"With Notices of Earlier Irish Famines"

" He expressed the hope that receipt
No. 1 might be analyzed, and if it had all things necessary for
nourishment, he, of course, was silenced.
M. Jaquet had his wish. Scientific people took up M. Soyer's receipts,
and dealt with them,--correctly and justly, no doubt, but in a manner
that must have been anything but agreeable to the great _artiste_ of the
Reform Club, who seems to have had very exalted ideas of the importance
of the mission on which he was sent to Ireland.
Thus wrote the _Lancet_ on the subject: "The mass of the poor population
of Ireland is in a state of starvation. Gaunt famine, with raging fever
at her heels, are marching through the length and breadth of the sister
island, and they threaten to extend their fury to this Country. The
British public, under the form of clubs, committees, and relief
associations, are actively engaged in sending food to the famine
districts. All this is done without boasting or ostentation. But
parliament and the executive, in the midst of the best intentions, seems
to be agitated by a spasmodic feeling of benevolence; at one time
adopting public works, at another preaching a poorlaw--now considering
the propriety of granting sixteen millions for railways, and then
descending to M.


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