IRELAND.

New Zealander, Volume 5, Issue 370, 31 October 1849, Page 4

IRELAND.

rr.Aium. iNcnKA&n ok Motitaiity in the Wkst — 1 lie accoudlH receded ihis iiiorning from nil sewers art' moKt deep 1 " afß cmR. In Ballmrohe worklioue the dcail's for tl ft \w U liuve been 14 „ and the Mayo Constitution «tu(c<- that " upwards of 400 paupers liave absxjndeil, preferring to die by the wny lide to I) com* ing; victims of din-i'i' in that rharn. 1 hou c." Cholera is og ths incrp ibi ii' TJallinmbt'i nnd the gurroutdiiig villh{?cs. Om"-!' 1 !! i be wcilhouees the dedhs fn>m fctxi ation are incimsing. The iudip M.»yo p'percumplrtinu ol what it leims ••more jihuj er slaughter," in the Wcstport Union, owing to the allef;i-U criminal HUjfligejice of some persons comiecUd with the nJmi-

lustration of out door relief. In one case of this description, after an inquckt, the relieving officer has been committed to abide hit trial. The Rev .Tas. Anderson, Protestant rector of Balliniobe, in another Irttt-r to Loid J Russell, describing the deititution of the peasantry, says, "They are dropping into their graves in multitudes." The following horrifying picture of the western districts is given by a coi respondent of the Evening Packet :— "April 28, 1819. "Dear Sir, — I have bren for the last ten days through the counties of Limerick, Galway, Clare, and across thence to th<» King's Council. All at temps to depict the existing state of the misery of the runsifs beyond the Shannon must come uttetly short of the truth. All that tract of country from Killaloe to Portuinna, on the Galwyside of the Shunnon, is lying waste and uncultivated. About three out of four of the miserable huts are unroofed. Some of the former ii - ma'es are dead— some in the union; and some few huddled together in one or two of the huts utill existing. The men generally have pern-hed. With large tracU of land lying uncultivated a few miserable men are employed on the road* — at what wages, think you ? One pound of yellow menl— t c. less th.it Id. per di'Mn ! Great God, how is this to cure famine? If thi» process of depopulation rocs on a few months more, yon may seek able-bodied men in vain i'oi twenty or thirty miles of country." The Cholkua in Galway. — Up to Tuesday the returns ofcat.es amounted to 840, of which 320 pioved fatal. The local authorities have hit upon a no v el method of getting rid of the dn-case. It U this :—: — "The CBth Regiment yesterday fired at the Square, Galway, 29 rounds of blank cartridge, each rank and file, at the express desire of the local authorities, for the purpose of purifying the air and expelling cholera.'' Attempt to Murdkr.— The King's County Chronicle contains the following :— " A mont determined, but we are glad to state unsuccessful, attempt was made on Mondny night last, about the hour of halfpast 10 o'clock, to assassinate a man named I iko, underwent to Mr Robert Cassidy, of Monastertven. Pike lodged in the house of a person named Troy, near Killyon, within about two miles and a half of this town. He was conversing with the family while tea was prcpaiinu; when it was ready he re'ired to his room to partake of it. He wns only just seated when a shot was fired through ;he window a' him. There was a paper screen to the window, but it did not leach to the top of the sash. It is f.upno.sed lhat the assass n looked over the screen, saw P ke, and thru fired. Providentially at the instant Pike leaned a little forward to procure gome sugar, otherwise there is litile doubt but he would hnvp been shot dead, 'i he corrents passed quite close to hi* h»a<l. No less than thirtyfour slugs lodged in a boa id at his b-»ck. It appears that for some month past Mr. Cassidy has been enendeavouring to enforce rent— his tenantry are ronsidrrably in linear. Pike hud two of tlirm arrested on Saturday last, um'er nvil bill decrees, and this i» the cause nß.jgned for Jr«i bring fired a^." Statb ov tub West. —A. conespondent of the Tipp"rary Fiee Press writes : " 1 have this moment returned from Connemara, where I hare been staying during the past three weeks, and I hasten to lny before your readers a few facts concerning the awful state of that part of our suffering country. It would sicken the hearts of the sroutrst to behold the sights that I have seen during: my soj >urn there— the bodies ol human brings lnlf buunl ulong the road sides, in the fa-Ids, and in the bogs; the peafl gants unable to walk fiom the effects of sheer statvation ; and a total disappearance of cu'tivation. Yon will nciircely beliive it when 1 tell you that the labourers arc willing to hire with persons who would undertake to feed them, sometimes demanding 10s. or 12s. a year into the bargain, but in numberless cases they have offered their services for thi ir food and 9s or l°s. a year. You may easily imagine what kind ond what quantity they would Ret in these awful times. As to think ol levying taxes for the relief of the astounding calamities of the people of that part of the county, it is the most absurd idea, for there are no persons there to pay them ! Men who. but a few short years ago, were Hie comfortable owners of half a doz^n cows, iliiity or foity sheep, and a good strip of mountain ground to sustain them— men wlm lived decently, and earned on a continual exchange of one article of food for uiu.ther, living after their own rude fashion, are nuw the poorest of God's suffering ercHtures, stalking through the country, hungry, naked, nnd homeless, and wMiing for death, as a happy termination of their sufferings. Even the hereditary owners of the soil have been stripped of their inheritances solely on account of the. enormous taxes wh>ch, of course, could not bo collected ; years of famine have produced in Connemara the most remarkable changes. The inhabitants were always hardy and ready to earn their biead by honest means ; now they are not hardy, but weak, infirm, disheartened, and dispersed, and instead of being the dwellers in a comparatively happy soil, they are the most afflicted people on the face of the earth. Hourly arc they perUhing on the land to which they so firmly adhered ; and judging by the 'numbers whom I have seen at the chapel oi Clefden and Builiunkiln, I should say that there is not more than onc>fourth of the people alive in these parishes. Imagine t> yourself a large country chapel, filled xlmost to suffocation, with the adjoining yard and ditches covered with people. This is whnt you might see three or four years ago at n country mass. Now a room twelve or fourteen feet square would contain the congregation in Bnllinakiln 1 After my return to Galway I had occasion to go to Oranmore, a small village distant four miles, and on my way I met six funerals on the road. I stopped at Oraumore, and on getting up next morning I saw a considerable number of persons, from a part of the country not so badly off as Connemara, and whom the taxation had not yet destroyed, taking their departure for Galway, there to take shipping for America. Thus you see our people are broken down at homr, while those who have just sufficient to remove them from the sight of such miseiy hasten to get a glimpse of that promised land, where to be industrious is a bless'ng, and where people are now finding a new home."