The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-04-24 00:00:00

THE DISTRESS IN IRELAND.

The Duchess of Marlborough has addressed the following
letter to the Lord 31ayor of • London (Sir F. Wyatt
Truscott)—
" The Castle, Dublin, April 15.
"My dear Lord Mayor,—l have to-day again to
acknowledge and thank your lordship sincerely for
£5OO, which makes the sum remitted by your lordship
to my fund £31,500. I forward you the report of the
general meeting of my committee which has taken
place to-day, by which you will see that we have agreed
to hand over
sto four trustees the remaining balance
of about £15;000 which stands to our credit at the
present moment in the Bank of Ireland. I am fortunate
in having secured as our trustees his Grace the
Duke of Leinster, the Earl of Meath, the
Right Hon. W. Cogan, and Mr. Edmund Dease—
gentlemen of great eminence, experience, and good
judgment. They are empowered to distribnte the
funds handed over to them in whatever manner may
seem best to them -to provide for a continua-
tion of efficient and careful relief until it is no longer
required. The reasons which have compelled me to
take this course are obvious, and I need not dwell
upon them. Your lordship will, perhaps, expect
that I should give you some indication as to what
further demands upon' the generosity of the public
shall be made. The reports of the local committees
and of our inspectors leave no doubt of the com-
bined existence of severe, tkough partial, distress
in many remote districts, and the want of cloth-
ing and bedding in many parts of the West of
Ireland is the cause of the greatest suffering to a
large portion of the population. I earnestly hope,
therefore, that liberal subscriptions mayestill continue
to come in, and whatever funds may be remitted by
your lordship to the trustees nominated by my com-
mittee will be—you may rest assured—distributed
with the same economy, care, and impartiality which
have guided our proceedings' hitherto. They will con-
tinue, without doubt, to furnish your lordship with
the most trustworthy information. At the same time
I think it my duty to remind you that there are
now in existence other agencies possessing consider-
able resources (I allude to the Dublin Mansion-house
fund, the New York Herald fund, and the Canada fund),
which are all working energetically towards the relief
of distress and towards the prevention of a recurrence
of it in future years. Knowing as I do how hard
the times are in England, I am anxious not to exagge-
rate the distresp. It is almost impossible yet to say
whether a future urgent appeal will be necessary. If
such should unhappily be the case, I have not the
smallest doubt that it will be readily responded to
by the benevolent British public. As regards your
lordship's kind assistance and that of Mr. Alderman
Cotton and Messrs. Major and Field in facilitating
contributrons oi,clothing and covering, I trust it will
be generally and energetically Continued, and with
repeated thanks for your never-failing support,
"I remain, my dear Lord Mayor, yours very faithfully,
"FRANCES ANNE MARLBOROUGH.
"The Right lion. the Lord Mayor of London."