The Sun.
London, England, 1846-11-10 00:00:00

IRELAND,
THE PREMIER'S LETTER ON IRELAND.

Drumm, Nov. 6.—Lord John Russell's recent letter
to the Duke of Leinster has called forth the following
defensive rejoinder from the Earl of Desert. It is ad-
dressed to the editor of the Evening Mail:—
" November 5, 1346.

" Sir,—l trust that I may be permitted to avail my-
self of your columns to enter my protest againt the im-
plication of neglect of duty on the part of the Irish
landlords conveyed in the first part of Lord John Rus-
sell's letter (dated the 17th of October, 1846), to the
Duke of Leinster. Lord John Russell writes,— It had
been our hope and expectation that landed proprietors
would have commenced works of drainage and other im-
provements on their own account, thus employing the
people on their own estates.
" Does Lord John Russell here allude to those who
have hitherto neglected their estates? If so, surely his
knowledge of human nature must have been sufficient to
tell him that these whom neither a sense of interest nor
mutual obligation had hitherto been able to incite to a
performance of their duties would not be likely to come
forward at this crisis. But if he alludes to the resident
and improving proprietors, how does he expect them,
with a diminished rental and increased burdens, to create
a new fund to meet the present emergency? If they
have hitherto done their duty, they have employed their
available income in carrying out improvements on their
properties ; end, in the present times, it will require the
utmost economy on their parts to continue (not to in-
crease) the number of their labourers.

"But, say that a landlord still wishes to overcome
these difficulties, and by laying out borrowed money on
remunerative works give additional employment. He
turns to the Million Act (for borrowing money on en-
tailed estates, by private loan, on advantageous terms, is
next to impossible in Ireland),' the provisions of which,
though far from faultless, and impeded by cumbersome
machinery, seem to be available. lam not theorizing,
but speak from experience. His application for a loan
under that Act is met by the brief but conclusive state-
ment, that no tenant for life need apply.' The absurdity
of denying to entailed estates advantages of which they,
above all others, stand in need, is too glaring to require
any comment. Were it indeed provided that every
proprietor willing to support the poor on his estate
should be exempt from the general baronial tax, I am
sure that the number of those who would most joyfully
accept the offer would be very large. But this provision
would, I fear, be impracticable, and, at any rate, has
not been adopted. What more, then, can Lord John
Russell expect from the Irish resident proprietors ? In
spite of diminished resources, they are endeavouring, by
strict economy and self-denial, to maintain their usual
amount of labour; and they are giving up their time and
attention in the hope of rendering available the pro-
visions for useful and profitable works sanctioned by the
Executive.

" To recount the difficulties of the task, or to blame
those by whom those difficulties seem to be caused or
aggravated, would be entirely foreign to my purpose in
writing these few remarks. I will only add, that the
difficulties to be encountered by all Irish proprietors at
the present crisis cannot be understood or appreciated
by any but those intimately acquainted with the social
condition of Ireland. To meet these difficulties they are
giving (at least a large portion of them) their incomes,
their time, and their abilities. Let us hope that the
result of these endeavours may prove their reward--the
only one, indeed, they seem likely to reap.--I have the
honour to be, your obedient servant,

" DESART."

DEATH BY STARVATION.

The Cork Reporter publishes a full note of the evi •
deuce taken at a coroner's inqu"st held at Skibbereen,
on the body of a man named M'Kennedy, who died of
hunger, although it was proved by several witnesses that
a fortnight's wages, due to the wretched man at the time
of his decease, were withheld owing to a very inex-
cusable blunder on the part of the subordinates in the
employ of the Board of Works, it having transpired
that one pay-clerk got in mistake, and paid in his dis-
trict, the money intended to be paid on the road on
which M'Kennedy died. Evidence upon this point
having been given, the report concludes as follows :
" CORONER—Gentlemen of the jury, we have gone
minutely into the consideration of the case before you—
namely, the death of Dennis M-Kennedy. You have
the painful details before you, and it is quite unneces-
sary- for me to add one word in explanation of the evi-
dence, This case will, I trust, prove of infinite service,
not alone to this district, but to the country at large,—it
will show the Board of Works that men in their employ
are starving to whom money is due for their labour on
the public works.
" The Rev. Mr. Townsend—Mr. Coroner, does it ap-
pear that the money for payment of poor 31‘Kennedy's
wages was in the hands of either pay-clerk at the time of
the poor fellow's death?
" CORONER—YO, the contrary has been sworn to.

" The Rev. Mr. Webb—We have no evidence that
there was any money in the bank or elsewhere for poor
31‘liennedy's pay.

" The Rev. Mr. Townsend—Such is the evidence on
oath, that there were no funds.

" Captain Gordon's successor—The money came, but,
through some mistake, went to Mr. Notter, and was
expended by him in payment of his district, when it
should have been paid on the Cahara line ; but these
stories, received in gossip, are turned against the Board
of Works.

" The Rev. Mr. Townsend—Sir, the question here is
not about the Board of Works or its officials; the ques-
tion here, sir, is about the death of my fellow-creature.
Those accounts, you say, we get in gossip; but, sir, the
contrary is the fact. We have poor M'Kennedy's death
and the cause of it sworn to. That evidence proves that
our people are dying by the ditch side for want of pay-
ment of their hire. We take no such statements, sir,
nor shall we be told by an official that we do.
" To Mr. Gaynor—Had Mr. Ross funds for the pay-
ment of this poor man whet he died?
" Mr. Gaynor—l believe not, sir.

" The Rev. Mr. Townsend—Admirable system! The
money due in the east we have paid in the west. The
board, sir, should settle between them and their officials,
but none under them should starve. As an instance of
our present state, I must mention that, a few days since,
a poor countrywoman came to me to sell a pullet—poor
little Jerry's pullet, she said—a present—the tears start-
ing to her eyes at the thought that she must part with
poor Jerry's pullet. But the pullet she should sell, or
poor Jerry should starve. She was asked, If your
children love this pullet so much, why sell it—isn't your
husband at work?" Yes, but he couldn't get his hire,
and he'd rather starve off the road than on it;' and yet
piablie functionaries tell us that such stories as poor
M'Kennedy's are all gossip.
" The jury returned the following verdict That
the said Dennis M'Kennedy on the 24th day of October,
in the year aforesaid, at CA ara-road, in the county aforo-
said, died of starvation, owing to the gross negligence of
the Board of Works.' "

In the meantime, while such melancholy scenes as the
foregoing are being enacted, the supplies of food are be-
coming daily cheaper and more abundant. There was a
further decline in the price of wheat at the Dublin Corn
Exchange to-day, and tha meat markets are gradually
receding to their average rates. Large quantities of
Indian corn, too, are;fast pouring into our southern ports,
the effects of which are already perceptible in the reduc-
tion of prices. The Cork Constitution of yesterday thus
reports progress:—

Since our publication of Tuesday four vessels have
come in. The cargo of one of them was sold to the
Cork Reliet Committee at 14/. 17s. 6d. a ton. Another
cargo, of the finest quality from Viana, in the north of
Portugal, is offered at 151. The same description of
corn brought last week 161., and soma sold as high as
161. 10s."

The Cork Reporter of the same date adds :
" We are extremely happy in being enabled to record
the gratifying fact, that there are now in our harbour
seven vessels heavily laden with Indian corn from the
Mediterranean. The cargo of one ship has been pur-
chased by the Relief Committee, of another by Messrs.
Goold and M'Namara, one by Mr. Morgan, and one by
the Messrs. Hackett, of Middleton ; another vessel re-
ceived orders to proceed to Waterford, where her cargo
was purchased. When we consider that this supply is
entirely independent of the vast importations now on the
way from America, it affords a complete corroboration
of our views, that the supply of food from abroad would
be fully equal to the demand, and that prices should
recede from the point to which speculators had raised
them."