The Irish standard., 1897-09-25


which would buy very little meal.
Two baleful memories lnger in the
memory OF old west of Ireland men
sliding collins" and "Sawycr's soup"
Collins were very scarce in Ireland.
money to buy them scareer yet. So the
sliding coffin was invented |, had only
one end. When the grave or. rather,
pit was reached, the coffin was simply
tilted up and the heap of bones shot
out on top OF the other bones in the
pit. Then the coffin could be used again
'Sawyer's," or Soyer's. soup was Il be-
nevolcnt invention OF a distinguished
French chef. NJ. Alexis Soycr. lie went
to Ireland and established government
soup kitchens to dispense Il soup thus
compounded:
Leg Of beef. Observation-Disclosures. 4 ounces
Dripping fat Observation-Disclosures. 2 ounces
fiour ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. ounces
Brown sugar ................12 ounce
Salt, bits of carrot. if possible
Water Observation-Disclosures. gallons
The London Lancet pointed out that,
while people doing no work could he
kept alive for a while on such slop,
II was hardly fit for workingmen.
ration" at a relief office in those
days was one and a half pounds of
bread OF pound of biscuit, or ono
pound OF meal or grain. If person
had IL quart Of Soycr'h soup. he got one
quarter of the solid ration IN addition
or course there was more or less job
berry and robbery about the relief bu-
reau. And a strange feature of IT was
that during all the famine the savings
bank deposits increased instead of de-
crcasing. This sounded badly in Parlin-
mcnt, when the Tories made an argu-
mcnt of 1T, but, of course, the rXplann-
tion was easy. The starving people
never had bank accounts. Tho middle
class people didn't starve, but saved
every penny they could And many
removed money from investments to
hoard away, thus making bad matters
worse.
When inqucsts were held at Tie he
ginning. In many cases. they resulted in
prime minister Lord John Russell. But
soon the mortality became 50 great thu:
the legal formnlity OF inquest holding
had to be dispensed with. COroncr's in
quests have never been much in favor
with the authorities in Ireland for a
very palpable reason. They furnish
very often test of the political condl-
tion of the body polite.
The spirit in which the government
first met this awful visitation suggested
no overwhelming desire to stave off its
fearful effects. This may be judged of
from the way in which the generosity of
the outside world was met. A couple Of
instances may be cited. From the Unit
cd States there was sent Il ship laden
with cOrn-many thousand tons. She
arrived in Queenstown duly, but could
not discharge her cargo there, owing to
the system Of red tape, but must go on
to Liverpool. She was kept dallying
over forms and petty obstacles of var
iOlls kinds, until the grain was rotten.
Then 1t was flung into the Mcrscy, while
thousands whom 1t could have kept
alive were flung into their grave pits.
SO, too with the donation from Turkey
The Sultan that day sent a thousand
pounds in aid of the sufferers, but as
Queen Victoria had only given 'hc half
f,F fl,st In, Al
ccptcd.
On the 9Th of October 10000 people
were employed on the relief works. On
the Goth of December the number had
grown to 3G8, 900. The fever hospitals
held nearly 900 patients that year
But the government facilities were by
no means adequate. Throughout the
famine not more than c2,ooo,0oo wore
expended in public and private relief.
COUNTING THE COST.
When the famine was all over what
had It cost?
More than one million lives!
The population of ireland was s, 1J,
124 in 1871.
In 1851 by the observed rate of in
crease, it should have been 3.0ls,793
In fact, 1t was but 6,552 1856. There was
deficit in human lives Of 2,iGG, ll4
souls given into the keeping of The Eng-
lish statesmen of that day and thus ;c-
counted for: BY emigration, 1912 to
1851 inclusive. 1436,S62; by starvation
and consequent diseases, ,D29, ,5J2; to-
| tai, 2,4C6,414.
The emigration for the famine years
was as follows: 1886 1O5,955; 1S47
| 215,444; 1848, 1919; 1S49, 214,425;
| 1850, 209, ,O54; 1851, 257.372.
The emigrants Jared scarcely better
than those they left behind. They were
robbed at every step. They sailed in
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