The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-01-12 00:00:00

TUE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

SECOND EDITION.

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of 6d. pe
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THE STARVING IRISH.
APPEAL FROM THE REV. HUGH M`NEILE

We noticed last week the noble effort made by
the Rev, Canon M'Neile and his congregation to
relieve the destitution existing in Ireland and
amongst the Highlands of Scotland; and since
that notice, the same rev. gentleman has added to
his claims u

?on the gratitude of his poor fellow-
country-men, by the publication of a letter, ad-
dressed to "the merchants, bankers, gentry, and
trading classes of the town of Liverpool," revealing
further evidence of the necessity of exertion by the
benevolent, to preserve a people from starvation,
and appealing, in a strain of fervent eloquence,
for increased exertion. This admirable letter
we give below; and we wish sincerely that it were
in our power to say anything calculated to add,
to the effect which it ought to produce upon every
feeling heart. We can only urge upon the apa-
thetic in this good work the duty which they owe
as Christians, grateful for the good things with
which Providence has blessed them, to be prompt
—to come forward with the open hand, and to
reflect that, to use the stirring language of Mr.
M'Neile, whilst they are hesitating and counting
the cost, men, women, and children, are starving to
death :

TO V-IE MERCHANTS, BANKERS,
GENTRY, AND TRADING CLASSES OF THE
TOWN OF LIVERPOOL.
MEN AND BRETHREN,—Do not accuse me of unwar-
rantable intrusion—do not stand upon the ordinary usages
and etiquettes of society, well how d, well thed, well

etc)
I-value those usages as highly as any of you can do,

respect them as scrupulously Under all ordinary cir:
cumstances. But human life is paramount, and the daily
bread, absolutely necessary for the sustenance of our
fellow-men, may not (pray excuse my urgency when I
add must not) wait for the etiquettes of society.
On every side I heard the inquiry, what is to be done ?
In every circle I witnessed a willingness to give; and a
wish for some general appeal, some satisfactory channel
through which to contribute. To my own congregation,
as a body, I proposed a meeting upon the subject. For
the result so far I humbly and heartily thank God, and
my dear kind friends. I expected other similar move-
ments in the tow --

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cn

Guiana, and other of our colonies, the average 'yield of
sugar from the cane is but five per cent.—certainly six
per cent. may be set down as the maximum"; two-thirds
therefore of the saccharine matter is lost in the process of
extraction. And how Can this be wondered at when we
remember that the process of sugar-making in the British

West India Colonies has undergone but little change for
two centuries or more, except in the improvement of the
machinery for crushing the ripe canes and extracting the
juice ? The tempering with lime, clarifying by heat, and
quick evaporation in a series of open pans, still remain.
The poverty of the proprietors, we must admit, has hi-
therto been a serious-bar to the introduction of many ac-
knowledged improvements.--Simmonds's Colonial Ma-
gazine.

SUGAR PLANTERS SHOULD NOT BE SUGAR BOILERS.
-There is no doubt that at the present moment the

Hearing-of none as yet, and hearing
daily of deaths from hunger, I am constrained to the
boldness of this address. Let me entreat you to excuse
me, and prove that you do so, by granting my petition.
It is food for the hungry ; it is clothing, however scanty
and however coarse, for the naked ; and I must now add,
medicine for the sick.
Read the following extracts from a letter this, day re-
ceived from an old friend of mine, now rector of a parish
in the south of Ireland :

" Very grateful do I feel for your kind remembrance of
us in deep distress. Much required is, not only the sym-
pathy, but the active benevolence of our friends. If they
aid me not, I must soon close my hands and bar my
doors. Our existence is one continuous, unbroken scene
of misery. A bright and peaceful moment has long been
a stranger to me and mine. Yea ! and verily the mirth
of the land is gone. No laugh is ever heard—no smile
ever seen. In the beautiful words of the author of " The
Sabbath," though introduced on a far different occasion,
" Mute is the plough-boy's whistle, and the milkmaid's
song." All is deep settled gloom and despondency. The
haggard eye, and sunk cheek, and ghastly hue, meet you
in every passer by, indicating but too mournfully the
fearful advances of famine.

" I was on horseback this morning, long before day, with
medicines in my pocket to arrest, if possible, the.fright-
ful ailments induced by starvation and unwholesome food :
and when it was known that I had my box of pills and
my phial of laudanum with me, many were the hands
stretched out, and my remedies were swallowed by some
greedily on the instant, while by others they were carried
home to a sick husband, wife, or child, perhaps in the
last agonies .of dissolution. Upwards of fifty persons
have died around us from absolute starvation (for to all it

is utterly beyond our power to administer relief); and our
medical man states that there are hundreds, if not thou-
uced, that neither food nor medicine can

Ls, so red

restore them

largest portion of expense of a sugar estate is incurrea
after the canes are cut and at the mill door. The pro-
duction of no one estate is anything like sufficient to main- I " I have a population of 18,000 in my parish, and when
tain the machinery of a boiling-house in constant opera- I inform you that of those 5,000 are utterly bereft of sus-
tion. It is this sugar making on an inadequate and de- tenance, (save what the hand of charity supplies, whilst
fective plan which keeps the planter ever in debt and dif- almost all besides are totally dependant on casual em-
ficulty. If he could sell his canes by the acre, as fields of ployment,) you may form some idea of our boundless
standing corn are sold at home, or cut it i and cart tby the and indescribable wretchedness. Could you have seen
railroad to a market, as the former disposes of his oats the pale, emaciated crowds that gathered round the this
and barley, the soil would make him an ample return for morning, leaning on their spades ere they commenced
the capital and labour expended upon it. At present he I --'"

manufactures, and he loses money. He. combines two
processes, neither of wtich is properly done, and both of
which are expensively performed by the restricted and in-
efficient means applied to each. He turns out a rough
product, upon which the merchant and the broker and
the refiner of the mother-country have each their profit,
but he has none ; while, if he confined himself to his cul-
tivation, he would make money. With a constant, a cer-
tain, and an immediate market for the raw material, his
risk and his expenses would alike cease, when his canes
were upon the railway truck.—Simmonds's Colonial Ma-
gazine.

MACREADY'S INTRODUCTION TO THE STAGE.—Wm.
Charles Macready was born in London, in the parish of
St. Pancras, March 3, 1793. His father was the manager
of a provincial company, and lessee of several theatres ;
but, with a feeling not unusual, desired a different pro-
fession for his son ; whose wishes, as time developed them,
he found perfectly in accordance with his own. The sub-
ject of this notice was sent to school at a very early pe-
riod ; and at ten years of age entered at Rugby, where he
soon acquired considerable reputation by his classical
attainments, and was regarded as giving high promise of
future celebrity at the bar or in the church. To an
actor's life he felt no vocation ; perhaps it is not too much
to say that he had a strong repugnance. In his seven-
teenth year, while looking forward to speedy matriculation
at Oxford, his father's affairs became deeply embarrassed.
This fact was not necessarily fatal to his prospects, had
those prospects alone been consulted. Assistance was not
wanting, by which he might have been extricated from
the household wreck; enabled to win the academical ho-
nours already bending to his grasp ; and set forward on
, .

with prompt devoteC

er: wan severe sell-conquest, and
mess, he took the nobler course, and

of his fatt

his first appearance on the boards in the character of. Ro-
meo, at the Birmingham theatre. Under his direction,
the disorganised company was rendered efficient. He was
at once recognised as a provincial " Star." Su-ccess at-
tended his exertions.. His father was saved from ruin, and
his own destiny was fixed. It was arvappropriate intro-
duction to some passages of his subsequent history, that
moral feeling and high principle should first have given
the young Macready to the stage.—People's Journal.

MONUMENTAL DECORATIONS IN OUR CEMETERIES

Returning to our subject of rural cemeteries, we marvel
to find so little that is new in monumental decorations ;
old heathen symbols meet the eye in almost every direc-
tion. In the catacombs the Egyptian style of sepulchral
architecture, may be considered in keeping, as it fills the

imagination with solemn associations, and recalls those
ancient and " silent cities of the dead "; carrying the
mind back to the captivity of Israel—to the wondrous
achievements of Moses—and all those stirring incidents
which once shook the oldest kingdom of the world.
Surely the path which Christianity has hewn through a
thousand dangers, and which, though so full of peril, her
martyrs fearlessly trod on their way to eternal life, is not
so barren but that it might furnish something better than
those emblems of the old idolaters. How few, saving the

near work, to whit, will venture to say, not a man
among them could give half his former strength, it would
have wrung you to the heart. Nor did I forget to seize
the occasion to speak to them of their endangered souls ;
and with deep attention did they listen to the words of
life. I preached various sermons to various groups. Oh !
that the seed may have fallen on ground prepared by the
Redeemer's hand, for how gladly would I be to them
the minister of peace, and whisper comfort to their dying
souls. •

learned, understand the meaning of those mysterious
hieroglyphics : even the tear vessels, quenched torches,
winged hour glasses, and circled serpents, are beyond the
comprehension of thousands ! They would better under-
stand the descending dove, the full-cheeked angel sound-
ing the last trumpet, the sacred cross, the arched rain-
bow, the ark, the stone rolled from the mouth of the se-
pulchre, and a hundred other old and holy emblems which
abound in our ancient church yards. There seems to be
a want of invention' amongst our modern sculptors, not
so much in the mere outline of monuments, (their forms
are numerous enough), but a want of something that
would at once speak to the imagination. It is yet left
for some man of mind to illustrate death from the history

long storm, and call from the marble such forms as we
believe we shall meet with in heaven.—Pictures of a
Country Life, by Thos. Mille?
A GLANCE AT THE FUTURI

" I was out for about six hours, and returned home
jaded in body and oppressed in mind. My dear partner
begi her kindest remembrance to you—her father in the
hope of the gospel. Hours daily does she spend upon
her feet ministering to the famishing crowds around her;
with her own hands distributing soup, meal, flour, rice,
bread, biscuit, medicine, and money, as severally re-
quired, inasmuch that I sometimes fear she will be
seriously injured by her exertions. For the two last days
she has been in her bed. We dreaded lest our door
should have given way with the pressure, and we are
now about to get a half-door made, which we can protect
by a strong bar, for verily the crowds are frightful.

" Such, -my dear sir, is a brief narrative orour situation.
Details might be multiplied without end ; but my heart
sickens among them, and I am glad to bring my descrip-
tion of our miseries to a close. Any aid you can afford
us will be gratefullyreceived, and shall befaithfully applied;
yea ! and not hundreds only, but thousands, if I had them,
could I easily dispense."
Read the following statement this day received from
the Dean of Cork : " Skibbereen Poor-home.

" Visited on Wednesday, the 30th December, 1846, by
the Dean of Cork, and Rev. Messrs. R. B. Townsend and

:aultield.
" In fever

As we write, the tolling

), convalesceht 25
nary cases, chiefly dysentery and swelled
123
671

limbs -
" Other individuals

" Total

" Deaths in November and December, 1845, only 7
1846 .... 218
ft II
Many of the above came from Skull, Crookhaven, Agha-
down Tullagh, Cahara, as all these parishes are in the
Skibbereen Workhouse union.

changes into the chiming bell, and the old steeple of "llme
rings out its joyous'weleome to 1847. The threatre of the
world is stilled with expectation : and the boldest heart
might flutter at the rising of the curtain. What pageants
of literature and art, what revelations of science, what ap-
paratus of civilization, what swelling grandeur of com-
merce, what splendour of religious holiness, lie behind it !
Mysterious masses awaiting the life-giving finger of Him,
by whom the solemn drama of human history is being

" On Thurs4iii,Theil;t:Tattended a meeting of clergy-
men at Ballydehob village, in the parish of Skull. Mr.
Triphook, perpetual curate of Ballydehob, said he had
visited thirteen Protestant families in dysentery. In One
house (where there was a large family) not one was able
to get out of bed to open the door. Dr. Trail said that
the deaths had so much increased, they were obliged to
take an additional half acre of ground to add to Skull
churchyard, and to keep two men at work to make graves:
also, that the greater number was buried without coffins,
to save expense.
" Major Parlor and Captain Reid (on the part of govern-
ment) spent the greater part of last Wednesday examining
the houses of the destitute and sick, near Skull village,
and they declared to Dr. Trail they had before heard of
the great misery in that district, but now they saw it with
their eyes, alkd believed it : and they added, the people
must be fed, and in most instances (from the spread of
dysentery and sickness) gratuitously; also, that seed must
be supplied to sow in their land.
" Indian meal can now be had on the spot for about £lB
or £2O per ton.

" Bread stuff can be supplied on the spot."
These are not exceptions, I grieve to say, but rather
specimens, of what it has pleased God, in his mysterious
visitation, to inflict upon our unhappy country. Be not
impatient under the distressing reiteration of Ireland's
miseries. Do not look upon her as a stranger,—yet even
as a stranger, a troublesome stranger if you will, you
cannot as Christians listen to the history of her wretched.

ness with unmoved apathy ; but rather receive her as-a
sister, an unhappy sister, whose sorrows should excite the
sympathies of her brethren, and whose wants should ani-
mate their self-denying efforts to procure for her without
. .
measure of relief.

he need

Say not the government should do something more. I
know it, but men are starving to death !
Say not the landlords should interfere, each for his own
tenants. I kndw it, but many, very many of them have
not the means, and in the meantime men are starving to
death !

conducted to its tremendous catastrophe. Per6ps, in the
coming year, the keel of enterprise will cut its way along
the quiet of strange waters, and the wonderful economy
of Japan be unfolded to the longing gaze of the philoso-
pher. And may we not hope, that the darkest of all dark
places on the earth will likewise be lighted up by a purer
flame than Mammon kindles ? Before the thoughtful eye,
the star rises over Africa. There is a touching promise in
the Evangelical narrative, that the Cross of the Sufferer
was carried by a native of Cyrene. The organ-note is
rolling over the metropolis of India.—Truth already pre-

vails. Each step increases me momentum of its spring.
It will go on with bolder strides; not indeed always tri-
umphant, or always seen, but ever reappearing with a
brighter countenance. kailroads to Benares and the
electric telegraph in the desert, are prophecies of the
future ; England, at once the centre of light and heat to
the nations, seems to occupy the site of the ancient Roman
empire; a mighty tree, flourishing in the midst of the
field, not yet beginning to decline; her great boughs,
blown in many a hurricane, but unshattered, her leaves
unfaded, and her trunk more pleasing to the eye, from the
ivyo
otthiast
sghrsokwe
0a,13 aboutt
hi te. r
bare cnefn thuarribeas
rnpua
ss snbay_
Tefoessreeeh
derr
tions rush into the field and
Puller, the witty and the good,
dut her down ! A story of
conclusion to our meditations. Isuppliedslan appropriate
he informs us, treating in an astrological4eareeaster Camden,
what planet Britain is fixed, mentions only
beneath
who places our island under Saturn, while
three
yhroene author
a position under the moon. Should our changefulness
assignefu it
and inconstancy seem to lend a support to the fnajoirlietss,
it is a patriotic consolation to remember, with our English
Worthy, that if we be under the moon, the moon is under
God, and that nothing can happen to us as a people or
individuals, but what shall be for His glory and our good.
The finger of the Past and the Present writes this assurance
upon the portal of the Corning.—Frazer.

Say not the clergy should do it. They are doing to
their power; yea, and above their power—still, men are
starving to death!

Say not you are feeding the poor Irish in your own
streets, and must pay the enormously increased poor-rates
incurred thereby. I know it ; but men, women, and chil-
dren, are starving to death !

This is a fact before which an army of excuses must
take to flight. They are perishing of hunger; and you
have enough, and to spare. Look around your tables;
see your precious little ones in all the rosy brilliancy of
health and strength ; hear them asking papa for more
bread ; take up loaf upon loaf, and help them with a ready
and and happy heart.

-.eip yourself also, till craving
nature is fully satisfied; and when you lay down your
knife and fork, remember men, women and children are
starving to death ! ,

Men and brethren ! meet together and form a committee
of competent men of business, to send food or money, or
both ; or, if you deem one committee in the town suffi-
cient, send your contributions, promptly and liberally to
our treasurer, Mr. H. J. Webster, Rumford-street.
On inquiry, we find in many districts local agencies at
work, such as that described in the Above-cited letter.
Our plan is to enable such men to continue and increase
their supplies ; to keep their barrel of meal from wasting,
and their cruse of oil from being empty, till the season of
famine shall be mercifully overpast.
I need not add, that all our friends so occupied on the
spot, and so aided by us, feed men, as men, without refer-
ence to creed or party. There is a time for everything ;
a time for fair and earnest agumentation between truth
and falsehood, when men are all well fed ; and a time for
feeding without any argument wl.en men are in want.
Again entreating you to allow the dire necessities of the
case to excuse the unprecedented boldness of my intrusion
upon you, I have the honour to be, men and
.brethren,
your faithful servant in the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ, HUGH M`NEILE.
Aipburth, January 5, 1847.