[174] "It cannot be too strongly lamented, the opportunity which has been lost for the present, of adopting reproductive employment; but it is not now a question of productive or non-productive employment, it is a question of life or death to those famishing and destitute, anxiously waiting for the means of procuring food.... A general and well-digested Drainage Bill, applicable to Ireland, cannot be hastily prepared; if so it may be again a nugatory one, and it is _some great_ measure, and _great_ expenditure for some years to come, under a Drainage and reclaiming of waste lands Bill, that is to be of permanent and effectual relief to this impoverished country."--_Mr. Lambert of Brookhill's letter to the Lord Lieutenant, October 4th_. [175] Irish Crisis, p. 68. [176] If the word of a Scotch farmer may be accepted, this seems a great exaggeration. Mr. Hope, of Fentonbarn, at the monthly meeting of the Haddington Farmers' Club, said, lately: "It was only _after_ the great disaster of 1845 that potatoes began to be grown to any extent in Scotland."--_Irish Farmers' Gazette for 16th Nov., 1872, p. 399_. But Lord John was only too glad to praise the Scotch at our expense. [177] Some time ago, an English gentleman, who is an Irish landlord, and one in no bad repute either, was told that, for reasons detailed to him, he ought not to continue a certain agent in his employment: he answered--"I do not care for all that--he gets me my rent." [178] See Inquest on Jeremiah Hegarty, p. 263. [179] This view differs considerably from that put forward in the Memorial of the 25th of the previous month, in which the Society tells his Excellency, "that, from their experience as the Royal Agricultural Improvement Society of Ireland, they are confident that every part of this country affords the opportunity of at once employing the rural population in the improvement of the soil, and of returning to the ratepayers a large interest for the capital expended, and thus providing an increased quantity of food and certain employment for the working classes in future years." [180] Letter to Edward Bullen, Esq., Secretary to the Royal Agricultural Society. [181] A _weight_ of potatoes in the South of Ireland varied from 21 to 23lbs. [182] _Times_ of 13th November. [183] See pp. 214 and 215.