The Express.
London, England, 1846-09-07 00:00:00

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

;~

• , *liras their
• . paa sanctioarel-read Dunbilk may

wirk,

!S .' ~.

Ws mast trodsa:lraoy--Ow:a7si-sc that Is seat to as
; leattimm~itaiss addram um la oosadtmos will
rod=milsoiddamormasolad. NEITHER CAN WE UNDERTAKE
TO REWIRE ANT MANUOICRIPT/1 WHATEVER.
•.• AdcertLiemente intended for The Erpreu mast be at the Office by
Two o'clock on the day d publication.

MOH WATER AT LONDON-BRIDGE
Tm D•,.—Afornirye, 43 ann. past 2: Afternoon. 4 infs. pot 3.
To-noaaow.—Marnbig, 16 ann. put 3; Afternoon, 47 ann. past 3.

LONDON, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 7.
THE present Recess can be no holiday for members
-charged with government responsibility. The condi-
tion of Ireland, with her staple of life blighted a
second year, presents difficulties, terrible even with
the alleviation of the most favourable surrounding
circumstances. But when these difficulties are ac-
companied by alternations of stupid apathy and idle
complaints on the part of the wealthier classes in
suffering districts, they are enough to baffle the wisest
and most active Administration.

The correspondence on the government relief
measures, lately published, contains evidence of
much laudable activity among local committees
in co-operating with the executive. Bat it dis-
plays, alongside of this, an indifference alike to
the obligations of property, and the dictates of
humanity,on the part of many Irish proprietors, which
provokesequal indignation and amazement. It requires
all our knowledge of the past history of that country ;
—of her titles to property based on violence and wrong;
her antipathies of blood, race, and religion ; the
alternate oppressions and cajoleries of her English
governors; the iron hand of despotism crushing her
manly courage and honesty ; the slave's desire for
revenge engendering duplicity in her sons, and de-
forming with untruth, excess, and venality, a national
character singularly affectionate, pure, and imagina-
tive ;—it requires the fullest allowance to be made for
all these, to check the unqualified expression of dis-
gust at the conduct of many of the wealthy and influ-
ential proprietors in Ireland during the distresses of the
last and this year.
The officers of the public works and commis-
sariat often had the greatest difficulty in arous-
ing these men to do anything, beyond appro-
priating the largest possible share of government
money. While the system of grants continued,
applications on behalf of works to be executed flowed
in upon the Treasury, through the Board of Works.
These demands ; far they were urged not with " the
bated breath and whispering humbleness"of applicants '
for relief, but with the rude importunity of claimants 1
of a right ; were accompanied with representations of
distress, which were often found, on examination by I
the officers of the Board, to be totally unfounded.
These hungry scramblers for the dole intended to I
avert starvation, were not ashamed to lie in support of I
their mendicancy. They became not only begging-
letter writers, but begging-letter impostors. Be- 4
sides this source of misrepresentation, the reek- I
lessness shown in many of the baronies is I
incredible. Applications were made "in many
cases" for roads, between places not in the ordnance 1
maps, and which could not be discovered by the '
inspecting officer !
Other evils incidental to the prosecution of relief
works arose, not from the jobbing tendencies of pro-
prietors, or the culpable carelessnessof cess-payers, but
from the ignorance and often the roguery of the Irish
peasantry. The most extravagant expectations were
formed of the effects to flow from government employ- I
ment. Every public work became an El Dorado. A sort
of mania for this labour grew up. The most constant
and well-paid toil was abandoned. The great public
works of the Shannon and drair.age were left without
workmen. And, incredible as it may appear to fore-
casting English labourers, men who were by measure-
ment earning Is. 6d. and Is. 7d. per day, quitted those
works to take employment on the relief roads at 9d. a
day.
As a general rule, the class of cotticrs who were
really suffering from hunger, worked honestly and
well ; and were grateful for the relief afforded in the
shape of wages, not charity. But these poor men
were often displaced by restless idlers, or systematic
fomenters of disturbance ; and the carelessness of
local committees in giving employment tickets, is a
subject of constant complaint from the officers of the
Board of Works.
The late Government strove manfully and success-
fully to avert starvation. This was the object not
only of their supplies of grain, but of the works
which they sanctioned on the half-loan principle.
What they considered was, less the permanence of the
good to be effected by the works, than the opportu-
nity they offered of employing a large distressed
population. They were one step in utility beyond
such labour-wasting expedients as the treadmill. This
we conceive was an error. No doubt, to prevent
starvation, by providing employment, was the first
duty. But this satisfied, works which gave prospect of
permanent good should have been chosen before those
which promised no good whatever, or mere individual
advantage. The error had two principal canoes,
both, we hope, now removed. The money at stake
was, half of it, a Government grant. This led to more
active exertions for the obtaining corresponding grants
from proprietors with a private interest to serve. The
Executive were told that a district was starving, and,
by the same post, that a road could be made between
Castle Dunbilk and Castle Dunshumer, which would
employ the distressed population. The application
came from the respectable proprietors of thin
two abodes, backed by three convenient sew
- of own tenantry. The grant
henceforth call on
•

R