This fact, however, was
known to the general public, that on the 23rd of March there was not a
quart of the new relief-system soup yet made in Ireland; and that on the
29th, at the moment the Secretary was answering Smith O'Brien, it is
more than probable that the fact was still the same.
The promise which Mr. O'Brien said the Government was understood to have
made, and which Mr. Labouchere treats so cavalierly in his reply, was
contained in the following words, spoken by the First Minister on
bringing forward the new Relief Bill:--"We must take care--and the Lord
Lieutenant is prepared to take care--that the substitution of this
system for public works shall be made as easy in the transition as
possible. There will be no rude dismissal of the people at once, who
otherwise might find great difficulty in obtaining subsistence; but when
the arrangements are made for carrying the scheme I have described into
effect, it will be provided that no further presentments shall be made,
and no new public works undertaken."[262] These are strong words, and
were certainly meant to convey that there was to be no interregnum in
which the people would be left to starve between the cessation of the
public works and the establishment of the new system of relief.
Pages:
711
712
713
714
715
716
717
718
719
720
721
722
723
724
725
726
727
728
729
730
731
732
733
734
735