Star.
London, England, 1822-06-13 00:00:00

DISTRESS IN IRELAND.

The accounts from Ireland are still extremely dis-
tressing ; in the Western Counties contagious fever
accompanies the scarcity of provisions—famine and
pestilence go hand in hand. Meetings are held in
almost all the districts that are suffering, to ascertain
the extent of the misery that exists ; and it is inva-
riably found to surpass what has been expected.—
Dunallow, with a population of 6,000 individuals, is
in a state of dreadful and of generil distress ; its
wretched inhabitants are falling victims to famine
and disease—famine occasioned by scarcity of provi-
sions and want of employment ; and disease, the con-
sequence of bad food.
At Liscarrol there are 200 families, averaging four
persons each, all of whom are destitute of food or the
means of procuring it. In Churchtown there arc not
less than 1230 individuals wanting the means of
subsistence.

At a Meeting of the General Committee of the
City of Cork, a Report was laid before them of the
state of distress, which states, that " the result of the
returns of three Parishes of the City, already re-
ceived, presents a mass of misery so appalling, and
entirely beyond their means to relieve, as to demand
increased exertions, and to require additional aid from
the benevolent."

In the town of Galway the distress is unmitigated.
A number of women are daily employed drawing
down turf from the bogs in the neighbourhood of the
town upon their backs, and for as great a load as
they are capable of carrying, they obtain but one
penny-halfpenny, performing a journey of six n,iles
bare-footed, under a burning sun ; but such is the
scarcity of money that they hesitate not to perform
this arduous undertaking for so small a pittance, to
sustain life.

Mr. MORRIS, the Proprietor of the new Haymarket
Theatre, much to the honour of his feelings, means
to open the ensuing season for the relief of the suf
fering People of Ireland. Such conduct, considering
the great expense attending, the rebuilding of his
Theatre, is peculiarly meritorious, and we hope that
he will find an ample reward in a prosperous season.
A Grand Concert was announced to take place last
night, in the Egyptian Hall of the Mansion-House,
in aid of the funds of the Society for bettering the
condition of the poor in Ireland, by means of employ-
ment. The distinguished list of Ladies Patronesses,
under whose auspices it was undertaken, led us to
entertain the hope that we should have found the Hall
quite crowded by eight or nine o'clock at farthest.—
We regret to state that the attendance by no means
justified our expectations. The Concert was excellent,
and how could it be otherwise when supported by
BRAHAM, and almost all the other great vocalists of
the present day.
The Pulpit has often successfully aided the put.-
poses of benevolence, and there never was a time or
a cause that more loudly demanded its support than
the present sufferings of the Irish peasantry, when
" plague, pestilence, and famine" are no longer pros-
pective evils, but are actually felt by numbers of our
fellow-subjects in the sister kingdom. We are happy
to find that in various parts of the country Sermons
have been preached on the subject, and we hope that
the Bishops will make pastoral charges to the Clergy
in their respective dioceses, calling on them to exert
their talents and influence in this work of charity.—
We have been led to these remarks from a Corre-
spondent having called our attention to an eloquent
and impressive Discourse, preached on Sunday last
at the parish church of Walton-on-Thames, by the
Rev. THOMAS HATCH. The text was the sth chap-
ter of Job, v. 20. "In famine he shall redeem them
from death." After pointing out the duties of cha-
rity, and alluding particularly to the distressed state
of Ireland, the Rev. Divine thus proceeded

" It is to us that, under PROVIDENCI4 they look for succour.
Gon, in his infinite mercy, has given us abundance, and for what
purpose?—Not to pamper our own unruly appetites, but to feed
the poor, and to comfort the broken-hearted. Look at the bleu-
logs we all enjoy, at the comparative comfort in which the poorest
among us exists, then turn your eyes to the wretched cabin of
the starving peasant—view him, with his children around him,
without food, without help, without hope ! See them, one after
the other, falling into an early grave, in rapid, perhaps in merciful
decay ; see their haggard looks, their eager eyes, their pale and
woe-worn countenances! Let the poorest man who now hears
me remember, that to such a family the humble meal he will eat
this day would be received with a joy and gratitude beyond what
words can express; it would be as the very manna dropping from
Heaven upon them. Surely these are objects indeed for our na-
tional compassion and charity; surely this. is that excellent la-
bour of love in which all will lend a helping hand. In this blessed
work all must join, and, as they join, all must thank the At-
smart that he has been pleased to bestow upon them the means
of saving many a soul from misery ; and, in famine, of redeem-
ing them from death."