The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1846-11-12
From the Christian Citizen
Oversee Omnibus.
FAMILY LETTER FROM THE EDITOR. No 4.

through the perspective Of Irish misery. /
pecially do appeal to the farmers of the 81
rious West to let the sight of their eyes afle
the disposition of their hearts towards an Ill
fortunate portion of the children of commo
Father, who has thrown them, by his prov
dence, on the tllers of the Eden fields Of tn
West for sustenance. Let me point you to
few facts, from the summit of which, as fror
the tops Of mountains, we may contemplate
vast range Of humanity and of human respon
sibllitcs. In the first place, it is estimated
that there are nearly five millions ofindividu
ais in Ireland who subsist entirely upon pota
toes; who grow nothing else to meet any OK
igency Of life but potatoes. Unjust be know
III America, from lake-port to seaport, tina
this staff of life has been almost entirely Gu
of, leaving these millions without any source
OF sustenance. Famine. which excites re
bellion which neither human nature or human
legislation can allay,s at this moment gripping
the hungry multitudes, and an exceeding bitter
cry for bread, labor and bread is ascending
from the one end of Ireland 10 the other. But
with famine, as with pestilencc, there is no
truce or compromise. 1t will not wait for
legislation, nor for the prosecution of lcgsla-
tive acts. The English government and the
English people are moving with great ear
nestness for the relief of the distressed coun-
try. But with all their wealth and all their
power, with all the proves of their navies
and their dominion over the waves, they can
not overcome Or repel the foreign invasion"
of this fearful calamity without the co-opera-
ton Of the United States The wheat har-
vest Of France has come short of the necessi-
ty Of that nation by the deficit of one sixth.
France will have to buy bread enough of 9TH
er countries to feed her forty millions for taco
Ia lop, Ill.,. =. a.
market early to provide for this deficit. The
merchants Of England are selling their bond
cd corn to her at an advanced price,-corn
not raised in Great Britain, but imported for
export Thus this vast amount of food for
Ireland must be chiefly drawn from the Uni
ted States, and | hope that as every consider
alton that can appeal to human nature is press
ed upon American agriculturists and grain
dealers to meet this eXigency, they will avail
themselves Of all the means that God and ma
ture have put into their hands to rescue
kindred nation from the mercileSs misery of !
famine.
1t has been estimated that five millions Of
quarters of wheat, or forty millions of bushels |
will be required to make up the deficit of the |
potatoe crop in Ireland. Shall these people |
starve, when there are in the United States
100000 bushels of wheat; 1913, 800, 600 Of
oats; 417.75000 of Indian corn 27 900 900
ofrye and 1025O, 900 of buck-whe For
bid it, heaven and We winds that arc har-
messed and awaiting to bear across the ocean
the surplus food Of a great nation to the hun
cry of other lands Let all the ships in the
Atlantic ports, waiting for freight spread
their wings and fly to the relief of Ireland
Il will require 400 ships Of 500 tons burthen
to supply that unhappy land with corn Let
the whale ships Of New Bedford, New Lon
don and Nantucket venture voyage to the
Irish Coast, and sec if it will not mend their
luck to become fishers Of men," instead of
fishers of whales. Give the oily, olive-faced
tars of the harpoon chance to lance corn
meal sacks on the Irish shore,it would do their
hearts good-the noble fellows-and their
hands good, too, when they returned to their
old profession. By the way where is the
Ohio? have not heard word from her
since | have been in England. Do put up
Captain Polk to despatch that equity levia-
than upon u cruise for Indian meal The
smaller craft will take care Of the sinners in
Boston harbor in her absence. There would
be great rejoicing at her arrival in this coun-
try 1t would raise the credit of the stars
and stripes to the masthead of public estima-
ton, to see her on such mission. Let her
be quick, or she will lose the honor Of the
precedent; for the English Government are
going to employ all the available steamers in
her macsty's service in carrying corn from
English and Scottish ports to the distressed
districts of Ireland There is no telling to
what useful purposes war-shps may yet be
converted; and it is high time that all GOOD
prtriots and christians in New England should
labor for the conversion of the Ohio.
The government mills at Plymouth are
working night and day for Ireland, and turn
out, | understand, $4,000 lbs. OF Indian corn
meal every twenty-four hours but what is
this among five millions of hungry people p
l believe the history of every extremity of
popular distress records, on the same page, the
extremity of human depravity in the conduct
OF misery few, in whose lean souls there is
famine that eats out every sentiment of hui
manlty; who speculate on the misery of 9TH
ers, and coin their sharp necessities into lucre
OF the flthiest stamp. | will give but one in
stance as reported IN an Irish paper, and in
its own words.
" We have heard of one person, in a south
ern city, who purchased 10000 quarters of
Indian corn, at a rate which would leave him
about t26 ,000,-more than one half Of the
government grant; yet he declines to sell, in
the hopes of realizing still higher prices The
worst species OF eXtortion and monopoly has
been fostcred; the distress of the people has
been increased as much by the causes to which
we have referred as by the failure of the po-
tatoc crop
Do not the facts related in this extract il
lustrate the necessity of the most immediate
and vigorous exertions on the part of the corn
dealers and producers in the United States to
change this condition of things, by freghting
every vessel that can be hired with grain to T
Ireland? | hope that this great work will $
not be left entirely to the impulse of self in
terest, or the course of trade but that philan-
thropic men, who have no corn to sell, will,
from sense of duty and force of sympathy, :
do what they can to turn the commerce of the ;
country intn n nl1le str nf E,,l