country,” by their payment of taxes on the necessaries of life, from the surplus of which “we are” enabled to come to the assistance of Ireland—­of Ireland as an alien—­a beggar,—­who clings to us and looks to us in her misery, but who has no claim upon us, except her starvation and our great bounty;—­to all which an advanced Irish nationalist might well reply—­“Why not cut her adrift then, and let her shift for herself, as she has so often craved and demanded?” It would seem to be assumed by the Prime Minister, that Ireland never paid any taxes, never helped to fight any battles for England, never manned any ships, never did anything to entitle her people to be kept from dying of starvation, when the Famine-plague fell upon her.  Lord John Russell keenly felt the placing of a considerable burthen upon the finances of England—­“this country” was his word.  All the unjust, and unnecessary, and extravagant wars ever waged by England, were burthens upon the finances of the country, just as much as the grants to relieve the Irish famine; and it is a question if a Minister ever felt it necessary to make so many apologies in asking the sinews of war from Parliament, as Lord John did, when asking the means of saving millions of the Queen’s subjects from death by a famine, for the existence of which they could in nowise be held responsible.

Lord John next proposed a loan of L50,000 for one year, to enable landed proprietors to furnish seed for land.  He had, he said, some misgivings about proposing this loan to Parliament, but still the Government thought it right to do so.  The loan was not to be made to the small tenants themselves, which he considered would be disadvantageous, but to the proprietors, which course, he thought would be safe and beneficial.  His lordship then read an extract from an address signed by the Marquis of Sligo and Mr. George H. Moore, in which the people were earnestly entreated to petition Parliament to take such steps as might ensure an immediate and sufficient supply of food.  “I own, sir,” he continued, “that I am astonished at this—­I am astonished that, at a time like this, men of education—­men who seek to relieve their countrymen from the difficulties which encompass them, should tell them to demand from Parliament, such steps as may be necessary for an immediate, a constant and a cheap supply of food.  Why, sir, that is a task which it is impossible for us to accomplish—­that is a task which they should tell their countrymen, that it is impossible for us to perform—­that the visitation under which they are suffering has made it impossible for man; that is a task which is beyond all human power; all that we can possibly do being, in some mode, to alleviate the existing distress—­to lighten somewhat the dreadful calamity which has befallen them.  They should not imagine that it is in our power to turn scarcity, and even famine into plenty.  But, sir, what surprises me all the more in reference to this announcement, is, that it so happens that at