Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1847-03-03
. From the N. Y. Eusning Post.
THE FAMINE IN IRELAND

TOM HLS W. GOSss"7
THE FAMINE IN IRELAND
A letter faom gentleman Of the
Quaker denomination in Dublin, TO J.
Harry, OF this city, dated January Sd,
has been published. The writer and his
friends have visited several Of the coun"
ties in Ireland, with view of observing
the condition of the peasahtry. The
description givenia the letter, OF the sui
fering, of which, in the words OF the
writer, they "now see the beginning, but
ofwhich no man sees the end" is fright.
sul. The writer says:
SIN the parts Of Mayo which / visited,
the failure is scomplete, and the destltu-
ton of the cotlier population is total.
They have nothing. The public works
do not employ one-quar'er Of them.
There Is no other employment. The
wages Of those who get work, about one
shilling per day, are quite insufficient TO
support family at present prices.
They have been unable TO buy their
usual supply Of winter clothing, and on
the contrary have been forced by want
to pawn any good clothes they had.
Their pigs are gone-the poultry are
eaten OF soId-the very dogs have been
drowned, les, they should eat anything
that could support human life. l saw
few pigs and fowls, and an occasional
dog with the farmers, but nothing in
comparison with former times. The
number Of the destitute is greatly in
creased by the farm servants, who have
been almost invariably discharged on
accounts of the inability 10 their employ
ers to feed them, and by taylors, sho-
makers and other altizans, who used to
work for tho small farmers and the poor,
and who have now no employment.
These people subsists on turnips, sold
at a shilling hundred weight, and dealt
out sparingIy by these who have them,
to make them last the longer.
"The natural result o. insufficient and
unwholesome food is disease, especially
dysentely Of the most aggravated char
acter, of which many are dying. There
have also been many deaths from actual
starvation. The coroner living at
Ballina, gave US list containing twenty
three such within the last month, most
ofthem within the last fortnight. There
are also many more on whom no iaquest
is held. We passed small buiying
place at the time of an in,erment; it was
a young man who had been farm SER
want, and having been discharged, could
find no one to take him in. He had been
promised admission into the worh house,
bu. died the previous day, OF absolute
want Of feod-uo inquest. On another
occasion we met eung man carrying
a,cof1ln, of ,hin, unplaned deal boards.
He told US that it vas for woman,
whose remains had been kept eight days,
unlilthey begged the price OF the coffin"
The sole topic Of conversation in
ireland is the famine which has fallen
upon the country. The resident gentry
exert themselves with great humanity to
mitigate the distress; their wives and
daughters a,e seen daily distributing
soup and meal, or cutting out clothes TO
be made up by poor women, but the
absentee proprletors, with but few ex-
cep,ions, lend them no assistance. We
copy the following further particulars
from this letter.
"All religious and political differances
are for the present forgotten-like the
factions in besieged city, the pressure
ofa common danger has united all parties
for common object. The ministers
Of all denominations, and especially the
Church OF England clergy, are actively
engaged in administering relief. To
,l,e latter the very poor chiefly look, and
tho rector is sometimes the onlyresident
gentleman in the parish.
sa"The poor houses are crowded they
are almost all in debt under present
circumstances new rate could not be
collected ;and such is the state of their
credit, that fear, unless the govern
ment provides funds, they will be una
bic even to feed the unfortunate beings
within the work house walls.
81 have heard statements tending to
prove that the bonds of natural affection
were loosening under the pressure of
want, but ! expect that the instances are
rear. Husbands have deserted their
wives and families /; children have, in
some instances. turned out their parents
10 beg and many parents refuse t, re.
ceived thei, adult children who have left
them for the service offarmers or others.
Perhaps the most striking change of
c.al..- - cl, o.n., h., tho roniman nf nf the