places; and ask him, as 'Commissary-General,' and public relief officer,
what he is to do with them? The epauletted philosopher strait replies
that trade must take its course (such was the word of command), that
'nothing was more essential to the welfare of a country' (so it was
written in the orderly book) 'than strict adherence to the principles of
free trade;' and that if the deputation doubted it, they might read
Burke." A leading morning journal remarked, that Sir R. Routh's reply to
the Achill deputation had not even the merit of originality; for there
was an Eastern story, in which it was related how a deputation of Sheiks
came, once upon a time, to the Calif, and announced the sad intelligence
that all their date trees had withered, and his subjects were perishing
throughout the region whence they had come. They demanded assistance:
but before the Calif could make any reply, an old Moollah, who stood by,
told them to return home _and read the Koran,--Freeman's Journal_.

[160] Commissariat Series, p. 6.

[161] _Ib._ p. 15.

[162] _Ib._ p. 16.

[163] Treasury Minute, Sept. 29. Commissariat Series, p. 63.

[164] Letter to Mr. Trevelyan, dated 19th Sept. Commissariat Series p.
80.

[165] Commissariat Series, p. 208.

[166] _Cork Examiner_.

[167] MS. Memoir of his experience during the Famine, kindly written for
the author by Daniel Donovan, Esq., M.D., Skibbereen.

[168] Commissariat Series, part I, p. 46.

[169] Commissariat Series, part I, p. 55.

[170] _Ib._ p. 50.

[171] Commissariat Series, p. 122.

[172] Mr. Trevelyan gives the following caution to the
Commissary-General at Malta: "I am told that the Egyptian wheat is mixed
with the mud of the Nile; and if such be the case, it will, of course,
be washed before it is ground."--Commissariat Series, p. 156.

_Salm_ was the word used at Malta for "quarter," being, probably, a
corruption of the Spanish _salma_, a ton.

[173] In some parts of Ireland there existed a custom of boiling new
wheat in this manner, but without steeping. It was merely intended as a
mess for children, in order to give them the first of the wheat at
reaping time, but was not continued as a mode of cooking it. This mess
was called in, Irish _gran bruitead_, (pron. _grawn breehe_), _boiled_
or _cooked grain_.

CHAPTER IX.

The Landlords and the Government--Public Meetings--Reproductive
Employment demanded for the People--The "Labouchere"
Letter--Prese