The Sun.
London, England, 1848-08-22 00:00:00

IRELAND.

DUBLIN, MONDAY MORNIIG.—There is no news of any
kind but the gloomy intelligence regarding the effects of the
heavy rains upon the crops of all kinds. After a compara-
tively fine day yesterday, the weather again became broken
last night, and there has since been a deluge of rain. It is
impossible to contemplate the prospects of the next twelve
months without the most serious apprehension, if the rain
should continue many more days.
In the neighbourhood of Dublin many fields of wheat and
oats have been reaped ; but in the country generally the
harvest has not yet commenced. In various places oats are
yet green. The continued rain will not only delay the ripen-
ing of the grain, but expose it to the danger of sprouting
an

a rust.
The reports from the country are most ditheirtening. The
Wexford Independent says :
" Whilst we write the cataracts of heaven seem to have
been opened on us as a scourge for our transgressions. The
rain pours down in torrents, and very little hope now re-
mains for the poor man's staff of life—the potato. In the
low lands they are melting away, and even in the more
favoured soils the disease is being carried down from the
stalk to the tuber with increased celerity, by reason of the
uninterrupted humidity of the atmosphere for the last three
weeks."
The floods are destructive in some parts of the western
province. The Ballinasloe Star says:—
" During the past week the rains have been incessant, a-10
the result is, that the callows are overflowing—from the room
in which we write you can see the inundations like a vast
lake—the meadows are nearly all covered, in some parts the
waters are at least two feet over the lands. This is, of course,
occasioned by the obstructions on the river, by the illegal
stoppage of the waters."
The Roscommon Journal says
" We have had another week of incessant rain, which is
calculated to do very serious injury to the crops. The people
are so much alarmed about the potatoes that they are dig-
ging them out of the soil and disposing of them at very•
reduced prices. The wheat will be au average crop, but
the oats and barley look beautiful, and promise to be abun-
dant."
We mentioned last week that the Special Commission for
the trial of Mr. Smith O'Brien and the other persons impli-
cated in the insurrectionary movement in Tipperary would
take place at Nenagh, the assize town of the north riding of
that county. The Freeman's Journal of this morning says:—
" We have reason to believe that a special commission for
the trial of the persons now in custody, charged with of-
fences of a political character, and connected with late
events in the south, will be immediately issued, and that its
sittings will probably be held at Nenagh, commencing early
in September."
Regarding the condition of trade, the Freeman's Journal
says :
We are still unable to communicate the appearance of
the slightest gleam of improvement. Trade remains in the
same deplorable prostrate condition, and the greatest alarm
and apprehension increase as the fears of the crops daily
become converted into the certainty of an extensive defi-
ciency. The consumption of almost every.article is on the
decrease, notwithstanding the moderate prices which rule."
ANOTHER ARREST.

At a late hour last night, a young gentleman named
Mathews, son of W. P. Mathews, Esq., Secretary to the Board
of Charitable Bequests, was arrested in the south suburbs of
this city, on a warrant under the Suspension of the Habeas
Corpus Act. This morning the prisoner was committed to
Newgate.
THE POTATO CROP IN IRELAND.

BAGENALSTOWN, AUGUST. 18.—Great fears are enter-
tained as to the wheat already cut, if the weather does not
at once clear up. As to the late-sown potatoes, no one here
entertains the slight hope of even a moiety being saved, the
blight having appeared in every field.
LIMBRICK.—It is useless to conceal the fact that much of
the crops, if not at present irretrievably ruined, have been
so damaged that it will be impossible they can be turned to
any account. We may say of the potato crop it is the same
as wholly gone, the late crop especially.—Limerick Reporter.
KILKENNT.—Accounts from various parts of the county
represent the disease in the potato crop as spreading. The
wheat crop has been much injured by the heavy rains.—
Kilkenny Journal.
CARLOW.—The late heavy rains have been attended with
serious injury to the potato crop. Of the early crop, which
was never so abundant, or of finer quality, we find a propor-
tion tainted, but not to such an extent as to excite fear of a
general failure—provided the weather prove favourable—
and efforts made to prevent the spread of the disease to the
sound tubers, by the removal of the diseased stalks, and by
covering the drills with fresh earth, which, as a general
rule, we believe to be the most advantageous.—Car/ow
Sentinel.
BALLINA.—The potatoes, we fear, are seriously affected by
the blight. Every field about this town exhibits evident
marks of being diseased. Perhaps, however, the disease may
not turn out as destructive as that of '46. We have been
told by a gentleman, who resides within a mile and a halt
of town, that his potatoes became infected on the 4th inst..
and that the attack went on increasing until the 7th, when
it stopped, and they are beginning to look well again. He
also stated that all the potatoes in his neighbourhood were
similarly circumstanced. In Erris the potatoes are in a
most alarming state. Almost every field is blackening, and
diseased tubers are now found numerously every day.— Town
Herald.
lilsrEn —We have travelled this week throughout the
counties of Antrim, Down, Louth, Armagh, and Monaghan,
and we did not see a single field where blight was not—an
universal destruction seems to be sent upon the land. The
wheat crop will not be near an average, the head is short,
and the grain light —Monaghan Standard.
LONDONDERRY.—Oats, wheat, and barley are ripening re-
markably fast; and, from every appearance, the sickle will
be in active employment within less than a fortnight. With
regard to the potatoes, it is now an undoubted fact, that the
blight has fallen generally upon them, scarcely a field is to
be seen without having the tops more or less blackened—the
tubers, however, of the early kinds continue, fogir the most
part, sound, but serious fears are entertained respecting those
of a late growth. Our market, during the week, was largely
supplied with excellent potatoes, notwithstanding the blight.
The current price on Thursday was from 3d. to 3id. per
stone.—Londonderry Standard.
SHUCKING BARB A RITY.
A correspondent at Miltown, Malbay, writes as follows to

the Limerick Examiner :
"A horrible case of death, arising from utter destitution,
happened on Thursday last, in the parish of Mullagh, county
Clare. A poor man, who was cut off the relief list, having
no means of support, went into a potato garden at Moyglass.
The son of the owner set a large dog at the poor man,
which (horrible to relate) knocked him down, tore him
open, and actually devoured a part of his entrails. The
inhuman wretch who set on the dog looked carelessly on.
I hope that he will receive the reward be deserves for such
an act. A party of police from Miltown, Malby, were out
hunting for him on Wednesday last, but returned without
him."