very early in the business, as soon as a famine seemed imminent, it was urged by men of weight and character, that reproductive works should and could be found for the people.  Yes; and it was a fatal error—­it was worse than an error, it was a crime, not to have adopted, at the earliest moment, the principle of reproductive employment.  At length the Government felt the force of this logic, and did, although late, make an attempt to lessen the effects of their own great blunder.  On the 5th of October, the “Labouchere letter” came out, authorizing reproductive works, the very thing the landlords were agitating for; now that their agitation was successful, what did they do?  Nothing, or next to nothing, except that they opened a new cause of disagreement with the Government about boundaries.  In the Chief Secretary’s letter the Government followed the subdivisions of electoral districts, as they had been doing before; the landlords insisted on townland boundaries, and would not be content with—­would not act under—­any other.  Their opponents said this was merely to cause delay; some even asserted it was an attempt to turn the whole system of public works to their own private advantage; a contrivance of the landlords, they said, to enjoy just so many jobs unmolested.  The request about the change of boundaries was not granted; and so the Labouchere letter was not acted upon to the extent which it ought to have been.  The entire amount presented under the letter was L380,607, of which presentments were acted on to the gross amount of L239,476.  The sum actually expended was about L180,000; and the largest number of persons at any time employed was 26,961, which was in the month of May, 1847.[175]

Another demand which the landlords put in the shape of a resolution was, that the Government should advance loans for the construction of railways in Ireland.  This the Government also refused, or rather, they insisted on conditions that amounted to a refusal.  They said proper security could not be had for the advancement of the money; they therefore resolved not to make any advances to Irish Railways, except in the ordinary way, namely, by application to the Exchequer Loan Commissioners, when fifty per cent of the subscribed capital would be paid up.  Could they not have made railways themselves, as they were afterwards almost compelled to do by Lord George Bentinck, in which case they would have had something for their money?

The landlords also made a demand which must be regarded as a fair one:  it was that all who received incomes from the land should be taxed for the relief of the people.  This was pointed at absentees, but still more at mortgagees.