The Sun.
London, England, 1850-10-18 00:00:00

of manslaughter, and a warrant would have
been immediately issued for the apprehension
of the parties implicated, who would have had to
answer before a judge of the land and a jury of their •
countrymen for their conduct. It does not, however,
appear that any step has yet been taken to bring the
offenders to justice, or to teach other boards of
guardians and their subordinates the salutary and
much-required lesson, that the lives of her MAJESTY'S
subjects are not to be sacrificed with impunity, and
that even pauper children are not placed beyond the
pale of the law's protection.
The evidence showed that the principal workhouse of
the Ballyvoughan Union is situated at Ennistymon,
and that there is an auxiliary establishment at Miltown
Malbray, a distance of seven Irish miles, or rather
more than nine English miles—the Irish mile being
2,240 yards, while the English is but 1,760. The
inmates of the Miltown establishment consisted
chiefly of children from 5 to 14 years of age, and
there were also a few adults, male and female. The
Ballyvoughan guardians desired to inspect the entire
body of paupers for the purpose of deciding on their
chargeability, and accordingly an edict went forth,
that all paupers not sick were to appear et the En-
nistymon workhouse on Monday, the 30th September.
Nothing was thought of the sufferings that would be
encountered by the miserable herd in journeying to
and fro. No provision was made for food on the
road, nor was it taken into consideration how children
of five or six years of age, whose strength had been
previously reduced to the utmost degree, could walk
more than eighteen miles on a bleak cold day, and
that without anything to nourish or sustain them on
their painful journey. It was sufficient that
the august board desired it, and no alter-
native remained. There is no such word as " im-
possibility" in the vocabulary of these excellent
personages. In accordance with the irrevocable fiat,
the wretched party, consisting of fourteen men, three
women, and eighty-five boys, varying from five
to fourteen years of age, set out on their weary
pilgrimage. Having received an early breakfast, if a
few spoonfuls of thin stirabout to each could be so
denominated, they started at a little after eight
o'clock in the morning, and reached their destination
between twelve and one o'clock, after something more
than four hours' toil. There they were " checked off,'
but no food or refreshment of any description was
given to the sinking travellers, it being the
opinion of the erudite clerk to the board
of guardians that " the law does not allow paupers to
be fed in the parent house, nor anywhere except in the
house where they are located." The funds of the
union received the benefit of the legal doubt, and
nothing whatsoever was given. The wretched
children were kept on parade until between fire and
six o'clock in the evening, and were then dismissed on
what the porter of the workhouse described to be
"a bard, cold, dark night," to return to their cheer-
ful abode at Miltown.

It may easily be anticipated that many of the
parties began to fail on their homeward route. The
porter was obliged to take two of the boys in his
arms, and to leave them at a house on the road until
the next morning, when a horse and car were sent

for them. But all were not so fortunate. A person
named SLitTTERY, returning to Miltown from
Ennistymon fair, encountered the ghastly crew.
lie first met a man against the wall at Raneen-hill,
on the side of the road, who said "he was weak and
not able to walk." Another, a little further on,
declared "his sight was darkening, he was so
weak from hunger." He then met a number of
boys, and asked if they were able to walk home;

"some were, and some were weak." A sheaf of
beans, purloined from a neighbouring field
most probably enabled several of the party to reach

their destination. Again, he overtook three boys—
two of them endeavouring to bring on the third, who was
not able to walk. SLATTERY took "the little boy that
was weak by the arm, and led him along ;" but
speedily one of those who had endeavoured to sus..
tain his comrade told him that "he was falling
dead with weakness." His road lay in a different
direction, and he let the boys he had been holding
go, when he heard a cry, and he again went forward
out of his way to assist them. Before him was poor Dzlns
KEARNE staggering forward, be fell violently against
a wall and was dead before he could be raised up.
He lay on the spot where he had fallen for the night,
not being missed until "roll call" the next morning.
Between nine and ten the survivors reached the
workhouse, and the porter, HENNESEY, declares that
" but for the exertions of Miss SHINE (the matron)
more of them would have died." Oa the postmortem
examination no particle of food was found in poor
KEARNE'S stomach, and the medical gentleman de-
(flared that "death was caused from inanition." Such
are the facts of this singularly painful and distressing
case, facts which are sufficient to excite the indigna-
tion of every parent, of every man of ordinary hu-
manity in the British dominions, and to imperiously
demand a Parliamentary investigation into the work-
ing of the Irish Poor-law.