The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1854-04-02

nearly disappeared from the land was owing to-
3. The Poor LAw-An act OF Parliament, with all It's
faults its head in the right direction II
gave to poverty right to be main taned and TO
extent at the cost OF the extermnatng landlords, many
of whom were loud in their sympathy % with slaves in
other countries but had bowels Of compassion for the
wretched sers whose toll had largely increased their
rentals in many instances This act had not been
4. The Famine of '47 and 4s, with pestilence in its
train overspread the land and caused the death Of
nearly two millions of my poor countrymen In
those terrible times IT was not an unusual
thing to see three or four hundred Of Gods erea-
lures, Of all ages and of both sexes, flung
into large pit without any such thing as coffin to
conne the wretched remnants OF mortality Now, let
ask ourselves what that caused this famine The
must have been the principal food of the population No
doubt of it, in fact their only food and often they
had not enough Of that same Listen to the description
OF Ireland the worst fed worst housed worst clothed
Of any people in Europei' Am quoting the words OF
20 q OF the tam. Leaders
their hour upon the political stagef Certainly not The
definition is contained in report presented to Par
composed solely Of landlords, the chairman being
the Earl of Devon and this was the conclusion
at which they arrived after examining competent
witnesses in all the principal cities and towns through
out the kingdom. can well understand how difficult 1t
must be for the inhabitants Of your glorious Amerca
alue in their minds state Of things in which the vast
bulk of nation depending upon the lowest descrip
ton of food and would be prepared for any amount OF
ed assertion but with the confederation afforded by the
royal commission TO the condition Of Ireland before
the famine, imagine all doubt must be set at rest One
word more to this Devon commission. You may natu
rally suppose that the issuing OF this commission by the
British government positive evidence Of their In
tenton to carry out of ameoration for the
people How little acquainted you must be with our
"trcks and stratagems," II you come to any such
conclusion. Why, we have had commission after
commissions referred to above-in fact, they
have been "as plenty as blackberries;" but
not half SO useful Take for instance this Devon com n,
landlords yet garng was the injustice under which
the Irish tenantry favored that they unanimously re-
commended the passing of act to place the relations
of landlord and tenant upon something approaching
equitable footing notwithstanding which, although more
than ten have elapsed since their report was pre-
scented to Parliament action has been taken in the
premises Speaking Of the famine, itwould be defe-
fiction Of duty in any chroncler Of those eventful times
s. The bounty of the American people to Ireland
the true benevolence, tho practical sympathy mag
unanimously exhibited towards US in our hour Of dire dis
proofs of your GENEROSITY 'twee blessed as It
was-blessed from the extent and timeliness
Of the aid and not less from the in which it
conferred. But feel assured 1t is indelbly i'm
pressed upon the hearts Of millions Of Irshmen and
shall not longer dwell upon subject which am not
competent to do the justice it merits. Next in order
comes
G. The "Rebellion," as it was called by some-the
.sYoung Ireland demonstration by others 1t is not
my intention to sit in Judgment upon this movement
either to applaud or to condemn 1t should however
be recoected by those who are loud in unqualified
domination of all who took part in it, that there
at work at that period calculated to stir up the
passions Of otherwise passive pacabe men, The
OF misery and all sides; the recollection OF cndea
yors-frutless endeayors-by some of those very per-
sons-Mr. Smith OIrien, especally-to convince,
by CONSTITUTIONAL means the Legslaturelofhe
sy of passing laws calculated to improve the condition
of the people, and the revolution the continent Of
Europe which occurred in this year. 1S4S All the cir
cumstances considered it would be no unwise act of
and fortunate will it be for her interests If, for the
time to come, she SO acts towards Ireland as to cause
the Of her former negec-to use no harsh
er term-to sink into oblivion.
T. The emigration from Ireland is the next phase in
history and it is one which will yet be referred to
scarcely less remarkable than the Exodus of the
children Of Israel from Egypt But with this subject
you must be thoroughly conversant inasmuch your
Empire city and has been the principal port of immi
from the fact that it has afforded the means and oppor
tuniy to tens of thousands of shmen who previously
IA this TO
which have reached in single year the almost nsredi
BILE amount of close upon two millions sterling. you
do so-s truly country worth living in, and If need
be, "6ghting for" as Oliver Cromwell said when he
viewed the golden vale" Of luxuriant ppsrary
doubt will tend to render my not full but true account
of poor Ireland brilliant" than it otherwise would
Irshmen especially to its founder VIM Dargan
of those splendid specimens of natures nobility to
whom your own America her present proud posi-
ton With public spirit rarely to be met with, he sub
jected himself to outlay of nearly eighty thousand
pounds, in his endeavor-his successful endeavor-to
show to the nations what Irish talent and industry could
accomplish What exhibition was will not attempt
further TO describe than to say that 1t worthy its
the who refused to accept any title
which the Queen Of England could confer and to whose
worth the same sovereign on her visit to see the exhibit
ton paid homage by personally visiting him at his resi-
@ls the apon tied
minds other Irish subjects than any regal move within
my memory.
After all, proceed, find the picture to be acquir
ng more brilliant hue than had imagined-so much
that may be inclined to ask whether entertain
any doubt With respect 70 the future prosperity Of OLD
should be more inclined to answer a6rmatvely than
otherwise and for the following ns-reland is an
three out Of the four provinces This fact you will ad
NIT is not cacuatedthc geographical position Of the
country considerable accelerate progress towards
the goal of prosperity. 1t places the population in
state of dependence which cannot exist in country
where manufactures extensively carried on. You
will that one bad harvest under the circumstances
is sufficient to entail vast amount Of misery Besides
great portion of the country has been laid under pas
ture and from the high prices at present. and for
breadth Of land appropriated to grazing Whilst penning
the last sentence a document was put into my hand
quite aprcpos to this subject It is report from the
Irish Census Commissioners, giving the agricultural
Returns Of Ireland for the year from which find
that there has been decrease in the extent of land
cereal crops to the amount of 1 66l acres as
compared with the previous year. the numbers being as
COG acres in 1852 and s45 in 1853
Now the greater the breadth Of land allotted to CATTLE
the less the employment to be found for the twoegged
anmal who win have resource but tho workhouse he
happens not to be fortunate be able paw his
sage across the Atlantic The cultivation of the potato
Cobbetts cursed root-is am sorry to say, as extern
sve at present there had been blight and
greatly fear that we shall again have return to the
banefu system Of which has already worked
SO much evil Very many Of our small farmers-and very
small they were indeedpaid ten pounds sterling
for their potato fields before the blight when that came
rent Of course could not be paid in this way the
landlords in for their share Of the famine in re-
stricted means and inability to meet their engagements
Under the provisions of special act of Parliament in
this case made and provided tho Encountered Estates
Court was established it Is about three years in
operation and you will be able to form opinion of
the change of proprietary of the social revolution which
has been going since then, when tell you that up
wards Of three thousand for sales Of have
been presented to that court and that nearly 900
have been paid out of the court, as proceeds of
sales of property which have taken place This would
be hopeful system to return TO again; nevertheless
fear see symptoms in several quarters Of the country
OF move in this direction, notwithstanding the woeful
evidences have had Of its consequences what un-
der those circumstances vatcinate as to our future
prospects,
is true, is not SO bad as TO be rrctreyabe