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retinue, was honourably received and entertained by the Ameer at Cabul. While engaged, however, in the exercise of their duty, he and those connected with the Embassy were treacherously attacked by overwhelming numbers, and, after an heroic defence, were almost all massacred. An outrage so intolerable called for condign chastisement, and my troops, which, pursuant to the stipulations of the treaty, either had withdrawn or were withdrawing from the territories governed by the Ameer, were ordered to retrace their steps. The skill exhibited in the rapid march upon Cabul, and in the advances upon the other lines of action, reflects the highest credit upon the officers and men of my British and native forces, whose bravery has shone with its wonted lustre in every collision with the enemy.

"The abdication of the Ameer and the unsettled condition of the country render the recall of my troops impossible for the present; but the principle on which my Government has hitherto acted remains unchanged; and, while determined to make the frontiers. of my Indian Empire strong, I desire to be in friendly relations alike with those who may rule in Afghanistan and with the people of that country.

"My anticipation, as to the early establishment of peace in South Africa, have been fulfilled. The capture and deposition of the Zulu king, and the breaking up of the military organisation on which his dynasty was based, have relieved my possessions in that part of the world from a danger which has seriously impeded their advancement and consolidation. In Basutoland, a native outbreak of considerable importance has been effectually quelled by my Colonial forces; while the Transvaal has been freed from the depredations of a powerful Chief, who, having successfully resisted the former Government of the country, had persistently rejected our attempts at conciliation. I have reason to hope that the time is now approaching when an important advance may be made towards the establishment of a Union or Confederation under which the powers of self-government, already enjoyed by the inhabitants of the Cape Colony, may be extended to my subjects in other parts of South Africa.

"Papers on these and other matters will be forthwith laid before you."

"Gentlemen of the House of Commons,

"I have directed the Estimates of this year to be prepared and presented to you without delay.

"My Lords and Gentlemen,

"The Commission which, at the close of the Session, I informed you I had issued to inquire into the causes of agricultural depression throughout the United Kingdom, is pursuing its labours. In the meantime, the serious deficiency in the usual crops in some parts of Ireland has rendered necessary special precautions on the

part of my Government to guard against the calamities with which those districts were threatened.

"With this view they have called upon the authorities charged with the duty of administering relief to make ample preparations for the distribution of food and fuel, should such a step become necessary, and they have also stimulated the employment of labour by advances on terms more liberal than those prescribed by the existing law.

"I feel assured that you will give your sanction to the course which has been adopted where it may have exceeded the power entrusted by Parliament to the Executive Government.

"A proposal will be submitted to you for providing the funds required for these exceptional advances on the security of the property administered by the Church Temporalities Commissioners.

"I trust you will be able to resume the consideration of the Criminal Code, and of the improvement of the Law of Bankruptcy.

"Bills will be laid before you for enlarging the powers of owners of Settled Land, for consolidating and amending the Lunacy Laws, and for simplifying the practice of Conveyancing.

"I commend to you these and other measures which may be submitted for your consideration, and I trust that the blessing of the Almighty will attend and direct your labours."

The debate on the Address was prolonged over several nights by the Irish Members, who complained that the extent of the impending distress had not been fully comprehended by the Government, and that efficient measures had not been taken to provide for its relief. The Amendment of which Mr. Shaw, the Leader of the Home Rule party, gave notice, raised a wider issue than the mere question of immediate relief. He not only asked the House to express regret that the Government, "although in possession of timely warning and information, had not taken adequate steps to alleviate the distress now existing," but sought an expression of opinion that "it was essential to the peace and prosperity of Ireland, to legislate at once in a comprehensive manner on those questions which affect the tenure of land in Ireland, the neglect of which by Parliament had been the true cause of the constantly recurring disaffection and distress in Ireland." Legislation with a view to the removal of the permanent causes of distress in Ireland was one of Mr. Shaw's demands; but the protracted debate, renewed for three successive nights, turned almost wholly on the question whether the provisions actually made by the Government in view of the existing emergency were adequate.

The Bill on the subject, and the correspondence showing what the Government had been doing during the recess, were not ready on the first night of the debate on Mr. Shaw's Amendment, but the nature of the action taken, and the substance of the Government proposals, were explained by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. He

denied that there had been "any laches whatever" on the part of the Government. They might have been right in the measures they had adopted or not; but they had certainly not allowed the matter to sleep. The statistics given by Sir Stafford Northcote, from the report of the Registrar-General on the agricultural condition of Ireland, were startling. It was estimated that there had been a falling off in the principal crops, from the yield of the previous year, to the value of about 10,000,000l. The value of the potato crop was more than 6,000,000l. below the average. Sir S. Northcote maintained that this return, received on the day before Parliament met, had been no surprise to the Government, because the inquiries, which they had commenced as early as the previous September, enabled them to form a very fair estimate of the state of the country. But the figures of such an enormous deficiency startled many who had previously been disposed to believe that the Irish distress had no serious foundation, except in the imaginations of Home Rulers and anti-rent agitators.

It appeared from the official papers, that the first action taken by the Irish Government, after inquiries made throughout the various unions, had been in the beginning of November. A circular had been issued to the boards of guardians, impressing upon them "the importance of being prepared for the possible contingencies of the season, and of making due provision, beforehand, of ample stores of bedding and clothing to meet any degree of pressure on the workhouse which was likely to occur." They were also directed to have the unoccupied workhouse wards put in readiness, and to see that the relieving officers were in a position to be able to discharge their duties "in view of the possible increased pressure of distress."

The propriety of setting on foot public works had also been mooted in November, but it had been decided that such a system of relief would be open to abuse. The danger against which the Government had to be on their guard was two-fold. They had to take care that what they gave should find its way into the hands of the really destitute, and they had to take care also, that by giving, they did not break down habits of self-reliance and sink the population whose living was precarious into an abject slough of pauperism. Mr. W. H. Smith, who spoke on the second night of the debate, gave the fullest explanation of the difficulties of the ministerial situation. They were even precluded, he said, from making known prematurely the full extent of the precautions which they were taking, lest the needy should be prevented from trying to help themselves. Their first idea was to call into the utmost activity all the machinery that could be made available, as a safeguard against actual want. With this view they instructed the Irish Commissioners of Public Works to issue a circular to landowners, boards of guardians, and other local authorities, reminding them of the powers given to them under various Acts, borrow money for important works, and offering them excep

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tional advantages. The first instalment of the repayment of the loans was to be postponed for two years, and the periods of repayment extended correspondingly. In order that the neediest class of the population might profit by the increased employment thus afforded, it was intimated that loans would not be granted on these terms for buildings, but only for drainage, planting, and other works calculated to give employment to unskilled labour.

The loans offered upon these terms had to be applied for by January 31, 1880. The applications were not numerous; they amounted altogether only to 113,000l. On January 10 the LordLieutenant wrote to the Government that the time seemed to have arrived for making the terms easier, and the Government at once assented. The rate of interest was reduced to one per cent., and the period of repayment extended to thirty-five years, exclusive of the two years for which no interest was to be charged. In effect, the inducement held out was that landowners should pay nothing for the first two years after the grant of each loan, and an annual sum, in discharge both of principal aud interest, of 31. 88. 6d. per cent. for thirty-five years, commencing at the expiration of two years from the date of grant. It was, of course, provided that all such loans applied for under the earlier notice should be held subject to the new terms. In order that the works might be quickly put in operation, application had to be made not later than February 29, and, in order that the immediate distress might be benefited by them, the condition was imposed that all the money borrowed should be expended before July 31. Sir Stafford Northcote announced that by February 6, 335,000l. in all had been applied for under these conditions.

It was anticipated, however, that landowners and sanitary authorities would not be able to provide sufficient employment for unskilled labour to meet all the necessities of the case, and another expedient was devised. Boards of guardians were admonished to notify to the Lord-Lieutenant if it appeared to them that there was great distress and want of employment in their unions, and if there was no prospect of relief from any action of landowners or sanitary authorities. The inspectors of the Local Government Board were thereupon to make inspection-three additional temporary inspectors had been appointed-and if the representations of the boards of guardians were confirmed, the Lord-Lieutenant was authorised to convene an extraordinary meeting of the Baronial Sessions in which the distressed district lay. The Baronial Sessions were to be convened, and to "present," as the technical term is, for certain useful and profitable works, such as repairing roads, making cuttings and embankments, building bridges, tunnels, sewers, erecting fences and walls, widening and deepening wayside trenches. Loans were to be granted by the Local Government Board in response to these presentments, at the rate of one per cent., no interest to be charged for two years, and the money to be repaid in the course of fifteen years by annual instalments of

71. 48. 3d. per cent. The works undertaken might be carried out by the county surveyor, or might be contracted for, but the contractors were to be pledged to employ persons resident in the district, in priority to persons from other parts of the country.

Such were the provisions made by the Government, and as they had gone beyond the law in offering so low a rate of interest, they had to ask Parliament for an indemnity. They had to obtain an indemnity also for their proposal to advance the proposed loans upon the security of the Irish Church Surplus. The Relief of Distress Bill, introduced as soon as Parliament met, was framed to provide the necessary indemnities, and give the force of law to the provisional expedients of the Government. Besides the system of loans which we have described, it proposed also that the Local Government Board should be authorised to extend, where necessary, the powers of boards of guardians to grant outdoor relief in food and fuel.

Some astonishment was expressed that the Irish Members, instead of urging the House to proceed with all possible speed to the consideration of this Relief Bill, spent three nights over an amendment to the Address. Their excuse was that the relief operations were already in progress, and that meantime it was necessary that the Government and the country should be awakened to a livelier sense of the depth of the impending distress and the acuteness which it had already reached. Mr. O'Donnell went so far as to declare that the measures taken and proposed by the Government were "worthless," and "an insult to humanity," but few other members, though they used impassioned language, went so far as this. The Home Rule members, however, did maintain that the distress was much more serious than the Government seemed to suppose, and that the measures of relief proposed were inadequate and ought to have been put in operation long before. We have already stated the reasons given by the Government for proceeding with caution. Mr. Shaw and his followers would not accept those reasons. The easy conditions of loans agreed to in January ought, Mr. Shaw maintained, to have been offered at once, and he denounced "the shilly-shallying of the Government, the eternal letter-writing, the eternal going backward and forward." If they had held out the inducement of loans at one per cent. in November, there would, he said, by this time have been a sufficient amount of employment in the South and West of Ireland to meet all the necessities of the case. He held that the Boards of Guardians ought to have been instructed at once to relax the regulations against outdoor relief. It was not enough to empower the Local Government Board to authorise the guardians to relax the restrictions; the guardians should have been instructed to relax the restrictions. Being personally landowners and occupiers, they might have been trusted not to burden the rates too heavily. Mr. Shaw referred to a case where the guardians had applied to the Local Government Board for permission to give outdoor relief, and

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