property had its weight, its legitimate weight, in the national
representation. The landlord has been disarmed by the priest.... that
weapon which [the landlord] has forged with so much care, and has
heretofore wielded with such success, has broken short in his
hand."--_Mr. Peel's Speech in the House of Commons, 5th March, 1829,
introducing the Catholic Relief Bill_.

Leaving out the "_legitimate weight_" of landed proprietors, as
exercised through the forty-shilling freeholders, the above statement,
besides being a remarkable one from such a cautious Minister, is not far
from being correct.

CHAPTER II.

The Potato Blight of 1845--Its appearance in England--In
Ireland--Weather--Scotland--Names given to the Blight--First
appearance of the Blight in Ireland--Accounts of its progress--The
Royal Agricultural Improvement Society of Ireland--Its action--The
Dublin Corporation--O'Connell--His plan for meeting the
Crisis--Deputation to the Lord Lieutenant--How it was received--Lord
Heytesbury's Reply--It displeases the Government--The _Times'_
Commissioner--His suggestions--Mr. Gregory's Letter--Mr.
Crichton's--Sir James Murray on the Blight--Action of the
Clergy--The Mansion House Committee--Resolutions--Analysis of five
hundred letters on the Blight--Partial cessation of the Rot caused
by the Blight--Report of Professors Lindley and Playfair--Estimated
loss--Query Sheets sent out--Corporation Address to the Queen--Her
Reply--Address of the London Corporation asking for Free Trade--The
Potato Blight made a party question--Dean Hoare's Letter--Failure of
remedies.

The disease which cut off at least one-half of the potato crop of
Ireland in 1845, and completely destroyed that of 1846, had made its
appearance several years before, in other countries. It is said to have
existed for a long time in the western parts of America, before it
appeared in Europe; but as it was at first confounded with dry rot and
wet rot, the American may have been a different disease from ours. What
seems certain is, that the potato disease, as known to us, made its
first appearance in Germany; and in the year 1842, travelling thence
into Belgium, it manifested itself in a very destructive form in the
neighbourhood of Liege. It visited Canada in 1844, and in 1845 it
appeared in almost every part of the United Kingdom, being observed
first of all in the Isle of Wight, where it