"With a view to mitigate these evils, very large numbers of men have
been employed, and have received wages, in pursuance of an Act passed in
the last session of Parliament. Some deviations from that Act, which
have been authorized by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, in order to
promote more useful employment, will, I trust, receive your sanction.
Means have been taken to lessen the pressure of want, in districts which
are most remote from the ordinary sources of supply. Outrages have been
repressed, as far as it was possible, by the military and police.
"It is satisfactory to me to observe, that in many of the most
distressed districts, the patience and resignation of the people have
been most exemplary.
"The deficiency of the harvest in France and Germany, and other parts of
Europe, has added to the difficulty of obtaining adequate supplies of
provisions.
"It will be your duty to consider, what further measures are required to
alleviate the existing distress. I recommend to you to take into your
serious consideration, whether, by increasing, for a limited period, the
facilities for importing from foreign countries, and by the admission of
sugar more freely into breweries and distilleries, the supply of food
may be beneficially augmented.
"I have also to direct your earnest attention to the permanent
consideration of Ireland. You will perceive, by the absence of political
excitement, an opportunity for taking a dispassionate survey of the
social evils which afflict that part of the United Kingdom. Various
measures will be laid before you, which, if adopted by Parliament, may
tend to raise the great mass of the people in comfort, to promote
agriculture, and to lessen the pressure of that competition for the
occupation of land, which has been the fruitful source of crime and
misery."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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