THE FAMINE IN IRELAND. [From Bell's Messenger, January 9.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume III, Issue 197, 19 June 1847, Page 3

THE FAMINE IN IRELAND. [From Bell's Messenger, January 9.]

In another part of our paper our readers will find a few extracts from the Irish papers, detailing some of the terrible and afflicting scenes which are presented in almost every part of poor Ireland. The heart almost instinctively recoils from contemplating a calamity wl.ich has had no parallel within the recollection of any living being. The contents of the provincial journals received in town this morning, are, if possible, more gloomy and alarming than any previously published. The deaths by starvation in the parish of Skull, in the county of Cork, have, it is said, averaged for the past week twentyfive a day ! In a single parish, twenty-five a day by ascertained starvation!! Hundreds, aie dying of hunger, diarrhoea, low fever, affections of the chest, and dropsy, brought on by cold md want of food, and fully threefourths of those breathing are repoited to be more or less affected with disease, the consequence of the dreadful destitution they are suffering. The report of an agent, sent into the jparisb.es of Kilmore and Caherah, in the* same county states : — Potatoes 'they have none — corn food is beyond their reach — the domestic fowl has loug since disappeared — the pigs are banished completely — the cows and sheep which were "fiere and there to be seen have been disposed of or stolen and eaten — the dogs and cats have either died of hunger, or have been turned to the use of human, beings, to meet the dreadful cravings of empty stomachs. The same may be said of the other parishes ; the cause being the same the effect is similar. It is of daily occurrence to-" see the mother carrying the corpse of her child, or the husband that of his wife, unattended by any other person to the grave. Friday last a young woman was found drawing the remains of her father along the road on a door, to lay him in his grave at Abbystowry. In a conversation I had with the manager of the National Bank in this town, he mentioned he had a large quantity of specie in his coffers, and I asked him was that prudent under present circumstances, His reply was ' I had some fears two or three months ago, when th&jpeople were robust and energetic, but nowTnhave none. They are physically dead. They are so paralysed and so dejected, that you never see two of them

together. Their bodies are so emaciated, their spirits so broken, their intellects so weakened, that neither father nor son converse together, but with an idiotic gaze, view each other's skeleton forms. Under these circumstances there is no conspiracy ; there can be none, and therefore I am quite at ease in respect to the safety of the property in my charge.' It is declared by those who have the best means of judging, that one-half of the population of these baronies will be in their graves before April next ; while any person fortunate enough to have reserved a little means are making preparations to emigrate by the spring ships. All through this country agriculture is completely neglected." Such is the frightful summary of one day's intelligence from the southern districts of the county of Cork. Let us next turn to the Kerry papers. The Examiner says :—": — " It is now almost a mockery of the frightfully appalling destitution which exists in this county to be particularizing and chronicling-a few instances of death by starvation, when numbers are daily dying from this cause,- unnoticed and unheard of." In addition to the accounts of several deaths from starvation, the Kerry Examiner contains reports of two serious outbreaks in that county, connected with the want of food. In the county Mayo there were five inquests held within three or four days on^ersons who died suddenly — that is, without any apparent illness ; but private letters state that in the neighbourhood of Ballina, at Balla Foxford, and Crossmolina, the people are dying in scores every day of disease brought on by want of food, and in many cases by eating raw vegetables. As in the case of the south of Cork, it is therefore impossible to estimate the daily loss of life in the poor couuty of Mayo. There are, however, some bright spots in this dark pictuie. At Newport, the scene of Sir R. O'Donel's operations, the people are at least free from the pangs of hunger, and otherwise, comparatively speaking, well off. Through the exertions of Lord Lucan and other resident proprietors, the rural native population around Castlebar have been so far protected from the ravages of hunger and cold. In the acknowledgments of money for relief of the starving Irish, published in the Dublin, Mayo, Gal way, and Cork papers, there are many and large contributions from English ladies and gentlemen resident at Bath, Bristol, London, and other parts of England, who are unconnected with the sister isle. A noble subscription list (the second) has been opened in the capital of Ulster. The Presbyterian congregation of Meneyrea, county Antrim, have resolved, " That the congregational collection now in hand, and whatever maybe collected for the ensuing eight months be handed over, deducting communion expenses, to the Relief Committee." Most earnestly do we commend the case of afflicted Ireland, and Scotland also, to our readers. If ever there was a time when a stern and unrelenting urgency gave force to the words of the inspired writer — 'Whatsoever thine hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might,' surely that time is the present. Our gracious Queen, ever foremost in the works of benevolence, has set a munificent example, in the gift of two thousand pounds to this work of mercy ; her illustrious consort has subscribed five hundred ; and the nobility, the landed gentry, and our merchant princes, are liberally pouring their gifts into the common treasury. Already, upwards of £20,000 has been subscribed, although the list has only been opened a few days. May God speed the work, and open the hearts of all for whom he has spread a full table, and whose cup overflows, that they may deal kindly with the sons and daughters of want, and step in between the living and the dead. *