The General Central Relief Committee for all Ireland, which met in College Green, received in contributions L83,934 17s. 11d., but of this, L20,000 was given by the British Association.  The Marquis of Abercorn, the most Rev. Dr. Murray, Archbishop of Dublin, the Lord Mayor, the Provost of Trinity College, Lord Charlemont, O’Connell, the Dean of St. Patrick’s, and several other noblemen and gentlemen were members of this Committee.  The president was the present Duke of Leinster, then Marquis of Kildare.  It remained in existence just one year, from December, 1846, to December, 1847.

“The chief source,” says the “Transactions” of the Society of Friends,” whence the means at our disposal were derived, was the munificent bounty of the citizens of the United States.  The supplies sent from America to Ireland were on a scale unparalleled in history.”

When authentic intelligence regarding the Irish Famine reached America, a general feeling of sympathy was at once excited.  Beginning with Philadelphia, in all the great cities and towns throughout the Union, meetings were almost immediately held to devise the best and speediest means of relieving the starving people of this country.  “All through the States an intense interest, and a noble generosity were shown.  The railroads carried, free of charge, all packages marked ‘Ireland.’  Public carriers undertook the gratuitous delivery of any package intended for the relief of the destitute Irish.  Storage to any extent was offered on the same terms.  Ships of war approached our shores, eagerly seeking not to destroy life but to preserve it, their guns being taken out in order to afford more room for stowage."[304]

The total contributions received from America by the Central Relief Committee of the Society of Friends, were,—­Money, L15,976 18s. 2d.—­Provisions, 9,911 tons, valued at L133,847 7s. 7d.  Six hundred and forty-two packages of clothing were also received, the precise value of which could not be exactly ascertained.  The provisions were carried in ninety-one vessels, the united freights of which amounted to L33,017 5s. 7d.[305]

The total number of ships which carried provisions, the result of charitable contributions, to Ireland and Scotland in 1847, is set down at one hundred and eighteen; but as only four of these went to Scotland, one hundred and fourteen of them must have come here.  The total freightage paid to those ships by Government, was L41,725 8s. 5-1/2d; but as I find in another part of the Blue book, that between L60,000 and L70 000 was paid by Government for freights on the cargoes of provisions consigned to the Society of Friends and to the British Association, and which I have above assumed to be L70,000, we may take it for granted that something like twenty thousand tons of provisions were consigned to both Societies, the money value of which was about L280,000.

Two American ships of war, the “Jamestown” and “Macedonian,” carried cargoes of provisions to Ireland, for which no freight was charged.