never having proposed anything which I have not carried.  But the moment their success was ensured, and I had the satisfaction of seeing two drowsy Masters in Chancery mumble out, at the table of the House of Commons that the Lords had passed the Corn and Customs Bills, I was satisfied."[93] Sir Robert expresses himself satisfied, but the coincidence which caused this satisfaction was not, in the slightest degree influenced either by himself or any member of his Government.  Neither was it the result of chance or good fortune; it was solely brought about by the nice calculation of the anti-Corn Law party, who had resolved to prolong the debate on the Coercion Act until the Corn Bill would be passed.  And as soon as they heard the aforesaid drowsy Masters in Chancery make the welcome announcement, they were satisfied, and the division took place.

During the session, the Peel Government proposed and carried several measures for the employment of the people of Ireland, the principal of which were:—­1.  An Act for the further amendment of the 1st Victoria, cap. 21; 2.  An Act empowering Grand Juries at the Assizes of 1846 to appoint extraordinary presentment sessions for county works; 3.  An Act to consolidate the powers hitherto exercised by the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland; and, 4.  An Act to facilitate the employment of the labouring poor for a limited period in the distressed districts.  Up to the 15th of August, 1846, there was expended for the relief of Irish distress the sum of L733,372; of which L368,000 was in loans, and L365,372 in grants.  The sum raised in voluntary subscriptions, through the Relief Committees was L98,000.  The largest number of persons employed at any one time in this first season of relief was 97,000; which was in August, 1846.[94]

There was very considerable delay in affording relief to the people under the above acts.  New Boards—­new Commissioners—­new Forms—­new everything had to be got up, and all were commenced too late; it was, therefore, long, provokingly and unnecessarily long, before anything was done.  The Rev. Mr. Moore, Rector of Cong, in one of his letters, complains that he was superciliously treated at the relief office in Dublin Castle, and finally told relief was only to be had in the workhouse.  He then wrote to the Lord Lieutenant asking for a consignment of meal to be sold in his neighbourhood, undertaking to be responsible to the Government for the amount.  A promise was given to him that this would be done, but I cannot discover that it was ever fulfilled.

Great numbers were in a starving condition in the southern and western counties, and in districts of Ulster also.  A correspondent of the London Morning Chronicle, writing from Limerick under date of the 16th of April, says:  “The whole of yesterday I spent in running from hut to hut on the right bank of the Shannon.  The peasantry there were in an awful condition.  In many cases they