The Irish Crisis

by Charles E. Trevelyan

The point at which we had arrived, therefore, at the commencement of the year 1847, was, that the system of Public Works, although recommended by the example of all former occasions on which relief had been afforded to the people of Ireland in seasons of distress, had completely broken down under the pressure of this wide-spread calamity; while the other concurrent system, which, on the principle of the Poor Law, aimed at giving relief, in the most direct form, out of funds locally raised, had succeeded to the extent to which it had been tried. The works were therefore brought to a close in the manner which has been already described: and it was determined to complete the system of relief by the distribution of food, to give it legal validity, and to place it more decidedly on the basis of the Poor Law. This was done by the passing of the Act 10 Vic., c. 7. A Relief Committee, composed of the magistrates, one clergyman of each persuasion, the Poor Law guardian, and the three highest rate-payers, was constituted in each electoral division[32], the unit of Irish Poor Law statistics. A Finance Committee, consisting of four gentlemen, carefully selected for their weight of character and knowledge of business, was formed to control the expenditure in each union. Inspecting Officers were appointed, most of whom had been trained under the Board of Works and Sir R. Routh; and a Commission sitting in Dublin, of which Sir J. Burgoyne was the head, and the Poor Law Commissioner was one of the members, superintended the whole system. The expense was to be defrayed by payments made by the guardians out of the produce of the rates; and when this fund was insufficient, as it always proved to be, it was reinforced by Government loans, to be repaid by rates subsequently levied. Free grants were also made in aid of the rates in those unions in which the number of destitute poor was largest, compared with the means of relieving them, and when private subscriptions were raised, donations were made to an equal amount.

The check principally relied on, therefore, was, that the expenditure should be conducted, either immediately or proximately, out of the produce of the rates. No loan was to be made to any Board of Guardians until the Inspecting Officer had certified that they had passed a resolution to make the rate upon which it was to be secured, and that, to the best of his belief, they were proceeding with all possible dispatch to make and levy such rate. This principle, although still imperfectly applied, and consequently irregular in its action, exercised a pervading influence over the working of this system of relief. In forming the lists of persons to be relieved, and making their demands upon the Commissioners, few committees altogether rejected the idea that it was their own money which they were spending; and in some districts the farmer rate-payers assembled, and insisted on large numbers of persons being struck off the lists, who they knew were not entitled to relief. The tests applied to the actual recipients of relief were, that the personal attendance of all parties requiring relief was insisted on, exceptions being made in favour of the sick, impotent, and children under nine years of age, and that the relief was directed to be given only in the shape of cooked food, distributed in portions declared by the best medical authorities to be sufficient to maintain health and strength. The “cooked food test[33]” was found particularly efficacious in preventing abuse; and the enforcement of it in some parts of the country cost a severe struggle. Undressed meal might be converted into cash by those who did not require it as food; and even the most destitute often disposed of it for tea, tobacco, or spirits; but stirabout, which becomes sour by keeping, has no value in the market, and persons were therefore not likely to apply for it, who did not want it for their own consumption. Attempts were made to apply the labour test to this system of relief; but, besides the practical difficulty of want of tools and proper superintendence, the Commissioners considered that, owing to the absence of any adequate motive, it would “lead to a want of exertion on the part of the men which would perhaps be more demoralising than relief without any work.” It was therefore left to the Relief Committees in large towns and other situations favourable to such a mode of proceeding, to take their own course upon it; and the result was, that some light kinds of labour, such as cleaning the streets and whitewashing the cabins, were exacted by a few of the more zealous and active committees. Relief in aid of wages was strenuously insisted on by many of the Relief Committees, and was steadily and successfully resisted by the Commission; but it was not considered right, in the administration of a temporary measure, to require the surrender of the land held by applicants, provided they were proved to be at the time in a state of destitution.

This system reached its highest point in the month of July, 1847, when out of 2,049 electoral divisions, into which Ireland is divided, 1,826 had been brought under the operation of the Act, and 3,020,712 persons received separate rations, of whom 2,265,534 were adults, and 755,178 were children. This multitude was again gradually and peaceably thrown on its own resources at the season of harvest, when new and abundant supplies of food became available, and the demand for labour was at its highest amount. Relief was discontinued to fifty-five unions on the 15th August, and the issues to the remaining unions entirely ceased on the 12th September. The latest date allowed by the Act for advances to be made, was the 1st October.

This was the second occasion on which upwards of three millions of people had been fed “out of the hands of the magistrate,” but this time it was effectual. The Relief Works had been crowded with persons who had other means of subsistence, to the exclusion of the really destitute; but a ration of cooked food proved less attractive than full money wages, and room was thus made for the helpless portion of the community. The famine was stayed. The “affecting and heart-rending crowds of destitutes[34]” disappeared from the streets; the cadaverous, hunger-stricken countenances of the people gave place to looks of health; deaths from starvation ceased; and cattle-stealing, plundering provisions, and other crimes prompted by want of food, were diminished by half in the course of a single month. The Commission closed amidst general applause, and “Resolutions were received from many hundreds of the committees, praising the conduct of the inspecting officers, and frankly and honourably expressing their gratitude to Government and the Legislature for the effective means afforded them for carrying out this benevolent operation[35].” This enterprise was in truth the “grandest attempt ever made to grapple with famine over a whole country[36].” Organised armies, amounting altogether to some hundreds of thousands, had been rationed before; but neither ancient nor modern history can furnish a parallel to the fact that upwards of three millions of persons were fed every day in the neighbourhood of their own homes, by administrative arrangements emanating from and controlled by one central office.

The expense was moderate compared with the magnitude of the object. The amount at which it was originally estimated by the Commissioners was 3,000,000ℓ.; the sum for which Parliament was asked to provide was 2,200,000ℓ., and the sum actually expended was 1,557,212ℓ., of which 146,631ℓ. was paid to the Commissariat for meal supplied to the Relief Committees from the Government Depôts. The price of meal fortunately fell more than one-fifth during the progress of these operations, or from 2½d. a ration, to less than 2d., including all expenses of establishment.

The Finance Committees, which were selected bodies, consisting of from two to four gentlemen in each union, “with rare exceptions acted with zeal and intelligence[37].” The Relief Committees, a miscellaneous body composed of the foremost persons in each petty district, whoever they might be, showed, as was to be expected, every variety of good and bad conduct. In some cases the three highest rate-payers could not read, and even themselves established claims to be placed on the list of destitute for daily rations. It is a fact very honourable to Ireland, that among upwards of 2000 local bodies to whom advances were made under this Act, there is not one to which, so far as the Government is informed, any suspicion of embezzlement attaches.

In order to check the progress of the fever, which, as usual, followed in the train of famine, the Act 10 Vic., c. 22 was passed, by which the Relief Committees were empowered to attend to the proper burial of the dead, to provide temporary hospitals, to clear away nuisances, and to ventilate and cleanse cabins, the necessary funds being advanced by the Government in the same manner as the advances for providing food. These sanitary arrangements were extensively acted upon and at moderate expense. On the 17th August 326 hospitals and dispensaries had been authorized, with accommodation for more than 23,000 patients, with medical officers, nurses, ward-maids, &c. The additional expense incurred under this Act, was 119,055ℓ., the whole of which was made a free grant to the unions, in aid of rates.

The state of the finances of some of the unions was a source of deep anxiety through the winter and spring of 1846–7. Rates were not collected sufficient to defray the current expenses of the workhouses of these unions, and the guardians threatened to turn the inmates into the street, if assistance were not given from the public purse. The dilemma was a painful and perplexing one. There was no reason to doubt the readiness of some of the persons who held this language to put their threat into execution; while, to admit the claim, might bring upon the Government the greater number of the workhouses, in addition to the whole of the outdoor relief; in other words, would transfer to national funds a burden intended by law to be local, and not likely to be administered with economy on any other footing. Important aid was, however, given. Large supplies of clothing were collected from the stores of the army and navy, and sent to Ireland for the use of the workhouses. Small sums of money, amounting in the aggregate to 23,503ℓ., were lent from time to time with a sparing hand to assist the guardians in providing food and clothing in the most pressing and necessitous cases; 4,479ℓ. was expended in providing proper medical inspection and superintendence in localities in which great sickness prevailed; and 60,000ℓ. was advanced for the enlargement of the workhouses, principally by the erection of fever-wards.

The improvement of the Fisheries on the western coast of Ireland has always been an object much pressed upon the Government. In order to give the fishermen a motive for exertion, and to set them an example of improved modes of preparing the fish for sale, experienced curers were obtained from the Fishery Board in Scotland; six stations were formed, at which fish are purchased at a fair market price, cured, and sold again for consumption to the highest bidder; and supplies of salt and tackle were provided for sale to the fishermen. This was done without any expense to the public, by means of a sum of 5000ℓ. placed at the disposal of the Government out of the balance of the subscription for the relief of Irish distress in 1822.

The plan of making small loans to fishermen to enable them to equip themselves for their trade, was not resorted to, because experience had proved that the fishermen are induced by it to rely upon others, instead of themselves, and that they acquire habits of chicanery and bad faith in their prolonged struggle to evade the payment of the loans. Sir J. Burgoyne had authority given him by the British Relief Association, to apply 500ℓ. to this object, and he induced the Relief Committee of the Society of Friends to take up the same cause. “I have made,” he states, “many inquiries for the purpose, but I have always made it a point that there should be a decided prospect of any advances being repaid, and here the matter hangs. The officers all report that they doubt being able to get the money back; and I think it so necessary to be firm on this point, that I have not made use of a penny of the 500ℓ., and have recommended the Friends to reserve their funds also for a better mode of expending them.” Since then, the Society of Friends, who are able to give a more particular attention to such subjects than it is possible for the Government to do, have done much good by assisting poor fishermen to redeem their nets and other implements of their trade, which they had pawned during the season of extreme distress; and these excellent people have also adopted an admirable plan of providing good boats and all requisite gear, with a competent person to instruct the native fishermen, who are formed into companies or partnerships and work out the value of the boats, &c., of which they may then become the owners. A large supply of seamen’s jackets and trousers, obtained from the Admiralty, was delivered to the Society of Friends, for distribution among the poor fishermen on the west of Ireland.