The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1852-05-26

lyrsm The Manchester (Eng. nxaminsr, May 81
We have read, with sincere pain, the pttseus COM
plants communicated TO US through the Glasgow
press and confirmed by private correspondence from
the locality, of the distress which is wasting
away the lives Of the suffering peasantry Of the
Hebrides. It does indeed seem, that the double
scourgo Of famine and consequent pestilence has
fallen upon these poor people quite as cruelty,
though their remOteness and comparative fewness
Of numbers has made their distress less notorious
as in tho dark year lS47 it fell upon the people
DESTROYS to relieve the calamity, to exert their
influence to bring it before the English public who
must not be allowed to overlook the affection Of their
distant fellow-creatures. The inhabitants of the
islands are feeling this restitution with peculiar
aggravation. The immediate cause of it, SO far rs
they are concerned, was the failure in the potato
crop in 1876. Those who were so fortunate as to
possess boats and nets OF their own have been able
partly to support themselves by fishing. benevo-
lent clergy Of Skye, in his letter, says- Kind
friends have enabled me to give four good fishing
boats to four crews Of four men each. These are
all doing well; they willingly bind themselves to
repay the money by instruments within q limited
term This statement shows the self helpful dis
position of this hardy and humble people-who, by
the way, have been lately sandered in way that
seems bitter, though unintentional, mockery Of
their present sorrow.
Now let us look ut the actual miserable condition
of this population, proved by the most respectable
witnesses. In the Hebrides, there are about 3,l00
families, who are existing in state which is pity
hundreds, in the morning, half naked and faint to
grope along the shore for shellfsh, or any other
wretched food cast up by the tide. This precarious
and scanty nourishment, disputed with the wild
principal support Some of them have little plots of
land, but have no seed to put into the SOIL and no
hope from that. What can be more sad than this!
for these people not savage tribe, used to share
with the brute animals the rough hospitality of un-
cultured nature but they Christian civilized
race, who have been accustomed to work in a va
riety Of ways-who have been habituat ed to human
decencies, and an orderly domestic life. Yet they
lie now as the outcasts of the world. In one cot
tage, told, eight persons laid up sick of the
fever were found 4" and there not grain of
meal or any description of food in the house, but
some sort of shell fish, and these eight had but
three rags of blanket to cover them the mother and
three children lay on a bed on the floor. Can
there be worse than this Yes; it is worse to OBJ
serve how q common affection sometimes shuts up
the heart of compassion. mo one will enter an
lowed to beg, owing to the fever; their very appear
ance on the roads would excite alarm" The lady
Of medical gentleman, says, speaking Of such
cases
There ia another man who has wife and five sons and
for want Of bed clothes they all sleep bed About
five weeks ago of the boys had upon his leg
and for fear of being hurt by his bed fellows
they put him upon some straw on the floor and split
empty meal sack to him. Fever broke out in the
family. and since then morse they have not ate but
what they have got from here.
natural consequence Of the famine and the medical
authorities say that no human art can enable the
sick people to recoverfrom their malady unless they
be supplied with sufficient wholesome nourshment
1t has been proposed, and we believe offered by
government, to assist the people to emigrate to
Australia; but many Of them are in such low and
helpless state, that immediate reefis indispensable
before they can be removed and for Others there is
room to earn their own livelihood at home, if they
had only the requisite to labor the soil or
on the A clergyman of the Free Church, wri-
ting from Tobcrmory, in the Isle of Null, says:-
Many families have subssted for time past the
scany earnings obtained by the sale of wks and many
of poor families DESTROYS to be employed in knit
ting Every year adds numbers to the destitute class
for being deprived of their crofts it is possible the
Of this village to maintain their families Work is
seldom to be had. and when it IS the wages alto
gehernadequate. Scores Of crofs which the people
maintained themselves pretty comfortably previous to
1916 have been taken from them and thrown into large
farms Cravings at much reduced while the poor
crfters who possessed them now with their families
starving in this village.
We do not wish TO give any countenance to mis-
taken prejudice against extensive operations of agr
cultural improvement if the system of large farms
ard substantial investments of capital be the most
effective in producing large return from the soil. it
will alse, III the ultimate result, increase the comforts
OF the poor but, surely, sweeping changes Of this
character ought 10 be made with cautious consdc-
ration Of the interests of all those dependent on
their connection with the land, which, in many in
stances, has continued thr centuries And where,
as has happened in some Highland Districts n vast
tact Of country is thrown Suddenly oat of cultiva-
ton, merely in order that it may fetch higher rent
as moor FOR shooting grouse over, we do not hest
tate to say that the owner, whose legal title to do
this cannot be questioned, evinces cupable dsre-
gaid Of the welfare Of mankind, and OF the useful
ends for which the earth given to be mans ha-
btation.
SUFFERING IN GERMANY.
From the London Times
III. Chapel, minister of the Lutheran Church,
has forwarded us the following
Sir-'Tbe condt ;o,, nf tho =,
OF Germany, has, chiefly through the failure OF the
potato crop last year, at length become one of such
fearful and indcscrbable Distress that feel sure
fey particulars respecting it will prove subject of
painful interest to many Of your readers. Poor
Southern and Central Germany, still suffering from
the baneful effects of the late political commissions
have now, in addition, been visited by dearth disease
ard famine Truly art-rending accounts continue
to arrive from many parts well known to and much
fIequ,nted by English tourists for the beauty of
their scenery; so from Wurtemberg, Bavaria, the
Grand Duchy of Baden, Nassau, and more es-
pecially. from the Vogclsberg and the Odenwald
rough moutainous districts, the one situated
IN the northeastern part of the Grand Duchy of
Hcssc, the other to the north and forming part of
the :" BeIgstrassc,' road extending from Darn
stad to Heidelberg. within thirty eight hours reach
OF Lendon, and traverscd generally by excursoniss
on them way to Switzerland. In these localities whole
villages are being deserted for OF wood their
unfortunate inhabitants, who, in time of compare
tive prosperity, exc out but a scarty and miserable
aoes In other parts trade is standing still of
15,GC0 looms, in single province of Bavaria al
most exclusively inhabited by weavers, not half are
at full work The people deprived alike Of the
productions of nature and the fruits of Industry !;
and, to consummate wretchedness and despair. and
an extreme dearh Of provisions whole herds Of cat
tie and sheep are killed by a rapidly spreading dis
case All feelings Of human nature begin to be more
and more perverted and conyused. The most
loathsome food, meat infested by murrain, is ca
gcrly sought after; in some instances dogs have
been slaughtered and ravenously devourcd by
furnishing population. Ia one case, in Wurtemberg,
dog, buried for some days, has been dug up, and,
what will scarcely appear credible the flesh in its
advanced state OF decomposition has been actually
made use ola food. To satisfy the cravings of
hunger, the last miserable remnant of furniture is
not unirequently disposed of. And what kind of
food is it which, TO sustain their mere life and unen-
vabe existence, these wretched people are forced to
and but too glad to procure Wholesome meat is
out Of the question-a luxury rarely obtained.
Bread made of bran must supply its place, and
bran soaked with water, in which salt has been
dissolved to give it taste, and the skin of no.