Begging of the Irish
Above : Illustrating Picture Of The Great Famine
In the payment of crowds of officials a great part of the availabe funds were frittered away. Persons not in need of relief obtained employment by means of ” influence,” while the destitute and deservin were often refused.
In some very poor districts no more than one man out of ten or twelve was taken on the works. Everywhere there was fraud, waste and demoralisation. Meanwhile, the famine continued to claim its victims ; the little children especially perishing in huge numbers Of the resident landlords many did their duty nobly. Some were ruined by the lavishness of their charity.
On the other hand, there were surprising instances of heartlessness, amongst the absentees especially. There were parishes in which practically the whole population was reduced to a state of utter destitution, while the lord of the soil, dwelling in London or in ” Begging ” of the Irish
Paris, subscribed not a penny for their relief, and merely grumbled that his rents were not remitted to him as usual. Perhaps even, he desired his agent to serve notices of eviction on the starving peasants, and to fling them out to die on the roadside.
After about a year of trial, the Government at last decided that the Relief Works were a mistake, and adopted the plan originally suggested by O’Connell of simply distributing food. Local Relief Committees were formed, and those wholly destitute were given rations of food free. The number relieved is stated to have been about 3,000,000 persons in all. This scheme cost to carry out hardly a third of what had been expended on the Relief Works, and certainly did far more for the relief of the people. If it had been adopted earlier, the lives of thousands would probably have been saved.
Private charity and associations formed for the purpose contributed generously to the relief of the starving Irish. Religious communities also did their share. In England, too, much was done, and Continental countries instituted collections. A section of the English Press indulged in sneers at the ” begging ” of the Irish ; forgetting that, for this ” begging,” the misgovernment of their own country was mainly responsible, and also that the famine was so far artificial that, had the food grown in Ireland been conserved by the State, and its export for-bidden, the needs of a population considerably larger than the actual one could have been amply provided for.