ess and coffinless graves by the thousand. During its
progress the terrible scourge was checked more or less by the various
means made use of, but it was never stayed. The Government were not only
astonished--they were profoundly alarmed at the magnitude to which the
public works had grown. Almost the sole object of those works was _to
apply a labour test to destitution_; but the authorities now felt that
they must dismiss that pet theory of theirs and try to feed the people
in the most direct way possible.

At the opening of Parliament the Prime Minister brought forward, as we
have seen, a new Irish Relief Act, the 10th Vic., c. 7. It was called an
Act for the temporary relief of destitute persons in Ireland. It was
framed according to the views expressed by the Prime Minister in his
speech of January the 25th, and became law on the 26th of February.

The first clause acknowledged that the Labour-rate Act failed to meet
the exigency, for it recites that "by reason of the great increase of
destitution in Ireland, sufficient relief could not be given according
to the provisions of the Labour-rate Act;" the Lord Lieutenant was,
therefore, empowered to appoint Commissioners for the relief of
destitution in that country, with full authority to carry out all
arrangements under the Act. Its chief provisions were: That Relief
Committees should be formed by order of the Lord Lieutenant, and their
powers were to extend to the 1st of November, 1847, on which day they
were to cease. Those Committees were to consist of the Justices of the
district, the Poorlaw Guardians, and one of the Inspectors appointed by
the Relief Commissioners. A Finance Committee was to be selected from
the General Committee, but the Lord Lieutenant was empowered to add
others to it. A chief duty of Relief Committees was to make out lists
of persons requiring relief, but the Finance Committees had authority to
examine such lists, and correct them if necessary. The money required
for this new system of relief was to be levied and collected as a
poor-rate; and the guardians of any Union who refused to do this could
be dissolved by the Poorlaw Commissioners, who were also empowered to
appoint paid Guardians in their place. The Treasury, on being applied to
by the Relief Commissioners, was authorized to make advances to enable
them to grant loans in aid of rates, but no such grant or loan was to be
made after the 1st of October, 1847.

There is a clause in th