IRELAND. MADAM,-The mantle of your lamented predecessor, seems to have fallen upon you with regard to Israel; I trust you have also been imbued with a portion of her intense love for Ireland. Your Magazine has been so long the warm advocate of our Island, that I naturally turn to its pages to make known the ravages of famine in the district with which I am connected. With the spiritual state of this district, your readers have already become acquainted in "The Family of Glencarra ; I earnestly entreat their kind attention once more, while I lay before them a few facts relative to temporal misery. By the last Government survey, it appears that Mayo is sadly conspicuous as one of the four poorest counties in poor Ireland;-poorest in crops, in scarcity of cattle, in wretchedness of house-accommodation, in depth of uneducated ignorance. Even in prosperous times, most of our poor neighbours lived in dark, windowless cabins, the furniture consisting of a bed, a dresser, a few stools and an iron pot. To these poor natives of what O'Connell calls "the fag-end of Ireland," bread was a luxury utterly unknown; they lived upon potatoes, with which some had milk or herrings, the majority nothing but salt. Imagine then, Madam, the paralysing effect of that awful visitation, the potatoe failure. I will give you the result in the language of a gentleman employed by Government, to collect information on the subject. "Words cannot picture the sufferings of the poor here. It is quite frightful. Masses must die of starvation. Terror and despair seem to possess the unfortunate wretches." The hire of a labouring man, during the winter is six pence a day, oatmeal is now three pence half-penny a quart; two quarts a day made into stirabout is little enough to support one man, it is evident that without assistance the remainder of a family must starve. Near Ballina and Crossmolina, men gladly work all day for two meals of stirabout. Hundreds are living upon one meal a day, and that of cabbage. Among these has been a poor widow, near Lasna, who is lingering in consumption. A case less appalling has often created a great sensation in the Times; but this consumptive woman existed on a daily meal of cabbage sprinkled with a little oatmeal, almost unnoticed, for her case is only that of hundreds around her. We often meet with touching instances of self-denial. A few days ago, a girl divided the last scanty meal among her orphan brothers and sisters, and suffered the pangs of hunger, uncomplainingly, until chance revealed her distress. A half-starved labourer daily sent to his sick brother, the pittance of milk which he received for himself. We observed another labourer, unable to work; on being questioned, it appeared that he had not tasted a morsel of food that day, and did not expect to do so until his return at night to his dreary home. This man walks two miles to his work every day, and back, in all weathers; he has a blind father, wife and five children depending on him for support; and he evinced much gratitude on obtaining permission for his brother to labour with him. All any of the people desire, is employment sufficient to support life. I could multiply cases, but my space will not allow me, one more however I cannot refrain from inserting, and although it occurred in our neighbourhood, I quote the words of Saunders' News-letter Nov. 2, in preference to my own. "On Tuesday last a woman named Bridget Tomash, died with starvation, within a short distance of Ballycastle. It was sworn to at the inquest, that she had not partaken of more than one scanty meal a day for the last fortnight, and on some occasions, she had nothing whatever to support nature. There are hundreds of poor creatures in the same locality who are similarly circumstanced, and if immediate relief is not afforded, they too will meet with the same dreadful death." Inquests have also been held at Foxford, Pontoon and other places. English Cholera is prevalent among those who subsisted on black and decayed potatoes, and we have known instances where the sufferers continued to live on the unwholesome food, because they had no other. Deaths from such causes are accounted natural, but are they not caused by want of nourishment, or in other words by starvation? I extract from the Tyrawley Herald. Ballina, Nov. 5. "No statement, however strongly worded, can overcharge the picture of wretchedness and privation here Creatures subsist on one meal a day, consisting often of a minute portion of meal, and a large quantity of milldust added, to render it sufficient to allay the pangs of hunger." The people come in crowds to the houses of the gen try, imploring relief. Many assure us that they have not tasted anything, some for twenty-four hours, some for two days;-an assertion fully confirmed by their ghastly appearance, their hollow cheeks, and eyes starting from the sockets, their emaciated frames tottering from weakness.-Our hearts bleed to witness their sufferings. The landlords have done all they can, they have taxed themselves to the utmost, to supply the poor for months past; but individuals cannot continue to support thousands, while two-thirds of their own rents remain unpaid. The poor-houses are overflowing; every week starving applicants are rejected for want of funds or accommodation. In this our extreme distress, we hope for assistance from the oft-tried generosity of the ladies of England. We beseech them, in this happy season of Christmas reunion, while they enjoy all the comforts of home, to remember the Irish fathers and mothers in their desolate cabins, not only enduring the pangs of hunger in their own persons, but suffering the more exquisite torture of hearing the cry of their famine-stricken little ones for food which they have not to bestow. Are we commanded to feed the hungry? The Mayo peasantry are then too well entitled to our care, for they perish of hunger. Are we desired to clothe the naked? These starving beings are almost naked, for their wretched clothing, as well as bedding, has been pawned for food. Are we to relieve the sick? What sick people can require help more than those whose lamp of life is kept glimmering upon one meal of cabbage daily, whose straw couches are denuded of even their accustomed coverings. Are we to hear the cry of widows and orphans? It is upon the widows and or phans of Mayo that the calamity of famine has fallen most severely, for they have none to earn for them. The county is filled with wandering orphan children, who had been supported by their uncles and aunts, but have been turned out by the pressure of distress. Daughters of England! need I add more? I feel that it is unnecessary. Permission has been kindly accorded us, to have contributions to the Mayo relief fund, addressed to William Digges La Touche, Esq. Bank of La Touche and Co. Castle Street, Dublin.-Sums shall be acknowledged in any way the donors may appoint. Madam, I remain, Your obedient servant, * * * Nov. 15. The ravages of famine increase. Another inquest has been held at Moneen, near Palmerstown. Another man died of hunger yesterday, near Crossmolina. We find we can preserve most lives upon our small private resources, by giving but one meal a day, and that of turnips and oatmeal mixed, to each sufferer. We bake this food into a sort of cake, and it is greedily devoured by the wretched people. A young man came to-day, with his wife, and five children; he had been seeking work in vain for a fortnight. Government employs only two hundred men in this very large district, and individuals can afford to employ but a few. We gave this starving labourer some food, which he distributed among his children we asked why he did not help himself, he |