er, that the present state of provisions in Ireland is
inadequate to support the people of that country; that the resources of
the landed proprietors, gentry, and merchants, are altogether unequal to
meet the present emergency; and that we, therefore, pray that her
Majesty may be graciously pleased to direct her Parliament, immediately
on their assembling, to take into consideration the speediest and most
effectual means of importing provisions into Ireland, so as to provide,
as far as possible, the necessary food for the people.

These resolutions go very fully into the state of the country, its evils
and their remedies. They contain much that is wise and well intended,
and some of the measures suggested in them will be found in the
programme of the Government, or, as their plan was called by their
friends,--the "group of measures," by which the present and future of
Ireland were to be settled to the satisfaction and advantage of all
parties. The Rotunda meeting having been held only a few days before the
assembling of Parliament was just in time to exercise an influence on
the measures the Government had in preparation, to meet the existing
Irish difficulty; and very possibly it had that effect. One thing the
landlords who met in the Round-room had evidently set their hearts
on--there was to be an extensive emigration--the land was to be cleared.
If half the improvements suggested in the resolutions were undertaken,
instead of a surplus population, labour enough could not be had for the
purpose of carrying them out: if piers and harbours were taken in hand,
and if the earthworks of the projected railways were commenced, and if
the reclamation of the waste lands were seriously taken up, the labour
wasted on the barren road-making would be found insufficient for such
gigantic undertakings: but the piers were not built; the harbours were
not deepened or improved; the waste lands were not reclaimed; the
railway earthworks were left to private enterprise--but EMIGRATION--Oh!
that darling object was always in favour with the ruling class, and most
effectively promoted by wholesale eviction. The people were sent to
benefit the colonies, as the 14th resolution suggested, by their labour;
sent "to increase the supply of food throughout the world [except in
Ireland], to bring fresh land under cultivation," and above all to
"largely extend the market for home manufacture." Yes, that last was a
happy hit to secure the willing ear