For about an hour we walked up and down the street,



THE GREAT IRISH FAMINE 23 1

which became every moment more crowded and tumult-
uous. At last a window was thrown open. A bulky
man, the parish priest, leaned out of it, and exclaimed
in a loud voice, " What are you all doing there, making
such a confusion in the street that I cannot walk down
it as far as Sullivan's the butcher's to order a leg of
mutton for my dinner?" The next moment the window
closed with a slam. The appeal was irresistible, and the
crowd dispersed. The chairman remained a chairman
as long as it was his duty to do so. He then went to
another county, and the neighbourhood lost its most
sensible resident magistrate.
About this time, the proprietors took great pains to
replace the potato with a more advanced agricultural
industry, and established a large number of agricultural
societies. Their intention was ultimately to affiliate all
those lesser societies to the Royal Agricultural Society,
and to enlist the services of a skilled agriculturist for
each barony. They intended next to give prizes, dis-
tribute tracts, provide good seed for the farmers, and
urge upon the Government a large scheme for the found-
ing of agricultural schools, with model farms attached
to them. These excellent efforts came to nothing.
The trouble of the time was too great for their success.
Another great endeavour was made — Lord George
Bentinck's measure for the expenditure of sixteen mil-
lions on the construction of Irish railways. Lord George
was intensely in earnest on the subject, and maintained
that the measure would give emplo3rment to 108,000
labourers, out of the 500,000 then employed on unpro-
ductive works, affirming also, on elaborate calculations.
