by their payment of
taxes on the necessaries of life, from the surplus of which "we are"
enabled to come to the assistance of Ireland--of Ireland as an alien--a
beggar,--who clings to us and looks to us in her misery, but who has no
claim upon us, except her starvation and our great bounty;--to all which
an advanced Irish nationalist might well reply--"Why not cut her adrift
then, and let her shift for herself, as she has so often craved and
demanded?" It would seem to be assumed by the Prime Minister, that
Ireland never paid any taxes, never helped to fight any battles for
England, never manned any ships, never did anything to entitle her
people to be kept from dying of starvation, when the Famine-plague fell
upon her. Lord John Russell keenly felt the placing of a considerable
burthen upon the finances of England--"this country" was his word. All
the unjust, and unnecessary, and extravagant wars ever waged by England,
were burthens upon the finances of the country, just as much as the
grants to relieve the Irish famine; and it is a question if a Minister
ever felt it necessary to make so many apologies in asking the sinews of
war from Parliament, as Lord John did, when asking the means of saving
millions of the Queen's subjects from death by a famine, for the
existence of which they could in nowise be held responsible.

Lord John next proposed a loan of L50,000 for one year, to enable landed
proprietors to furnish seed for land. He had, he said, some misgivings
about proposing this loan to Parliament, but still the Government
thought it right to do so. The loan was not to be made to the small
tenants themselves, which he considered would be disadvantageous, but to
the proprietors, which course, he thought would be safe and beneficial.
His lordship then read an extract from an address signed by the Marquis
of Sligo and Mr. George H. Moore, in which the people were earnestly
entreated to petition Parliament to take such steps as might ensure an
immediate and sufficient supply of food. "I own, sir," he continued,
"that I am astonished at this--I am astonished that, at a time like
this, men of education--men who seek to relieve their countrymen from
the difficulties which encompass them, should tell them to demand from
Parliament, such steps as may be necessary for an immediate, a constant
and a cheap supply of food. Why, sir, that is a task which it is
impossible for us to accomplish--that is a task which they should tell