at such withdrawal, until some other
mode of subsistence was ready for them, was nothing short of sentencing
the people to death from starvation.

To Smith O'Brien's remarks, Mr. Labouchere gave the following reply, a
more formal and elaborate one than the above. He said:--"Her Majesty's
Government were satisfied, after the best inquiry they were able to make
upon the subject, that it was expedient and proper that on a certain day
the number of persons employed on the public works throughout Ireland
should be reduced by twenty per cent. They thought that was a step
which, upon their responsibility, they were bound to adopt, and in that
respect they left no discretion whatever with any one connected with the
Irish Government; but the rule laid down was this--they required that
twenty per cent. should be reduced on the aggregate number of the
persons employed throughout the whole of Ireland, leaving to the Board
of Works in Ireland a discretion as to whether, in each particular
instance, that precise number should be the proportion to be reduced or
not. The Board of Works in Ireland thought they should best meet the
views of the Government, by striking off twenty per cent. from the
number of persons employed in each district, but it was not the case
that the rule had been applied strictly and invariably on every public
work in Ireland; and as a proof that such was the case, he read the
following extract from a report which had been received from Captain
O'Brien, the inspecting officer for Clare, and which was dated the 20th
of March, inst.:--'As in some districts the numbers hitherto employed
are much less than in others, it would be unjust to strike off the same
percentage from all. I have, therefore, directed that the number in each
district shall be reduced to a certain proportion of the population, so
that at least twenty per cent, of the population will be reduced on the
whole.' With regard to the alleged promise of the Government that there
should be no dismissals from the public works until the new Relief Act
was in operation, Mr. Labouchere said 'he believed if the Government
had made any such statement, they would have acted very improperly. They
could not disguise from themselves the fact, that in most parts of
Ireland a great preference was shown for the public works over the new
relief system, and if her Majesty's Government had made such an
announcement as that attributed to them by the honourable gentleman, t