, 1880-01-28

approval by the leading Irish journals
The letter is praised almost as much for
what it does not contain as for what it
does contains-for the judgment and dis
elimination with which the appeal is made
as well as for the kindness of heart by
which it has been prompted, and for the
sound good sense with which the con-
templated scheme of relief has been plan
ned. 1t is only too certain that in some
parts of Ireland the distress is already
great, and that a considerable increase of
It must be looked for before the present
winter season is at an end. Throughout
the west of the island the poorer classes of
the population are very generally suffering
from a want of some of the first necessa-
fies of life. There is a failure not only of
food, but of fuel. Want of employment,
bad harvests, and bad weather have all
contributed to bring about a state of things
(which is so bad as to call for exceptional
methods of treatment. There is, fortunate
ly, NO such widespread distress as in the
great famine years, nor is there any pros.
pect that there will be. Winter will, of
course, be a time of pressure everywhere,
bnt it is only within q comparatively limit
ed area that the ordinary machinery of
relief may be expected to prove INSULT.
Gent to meet the wants of the case. It is
for that area that the Duchess of Marble.
rough pleads, not a of the RESPONSE
bilitv and difficulty of the task she is
undertaking, but urged to undertake it by
a knowledge of the greatness of the need.
We are confident that an appeal SO authen-
ticated will be promptly and literally met.
The wife of the Viceroy Of Ireland has the
best possible means of informing herself as
to the real state of the case. The COM
plants which reach Dublin are sent in by
responsible persons well acquainted with
the facts they are describing. The distress
is exceptional, and so, too, ere the propos-
ed measures of relief. The object is to
enable the poor in the west of Ireland TO
tide over the hard time which has followed
on a bad harvest. A case is thus made
out for a relaxation of the ordinary rules
by which charitable relief should in Ordl.
nary times be guided. There is no ques-
ton to be raised here as to the danger of
pauperizing the recipients. The people
for whom relief is asked can do nothing to
help themselves. If they are not helped,
they will perish from sheer want. In the
present appeal there is an evident desire
to keep clear of anything like an eXaggerat-
ed estimate of no actual or impending
distress. When, therefore, we find in it q
statement that extreme misery and suffering
are to be looked for as the result of what
is termed well-nigh a famine of food and
fuel, we cannot refuse to take the words i'll
all their significance.
The scheme proposed for the distribution
of the fund to be raised is well calculated
90 guard against the mischief which can
hardly fail to attend careless and indis-
criminate almsgiving. A central com
mittee is to be formed in Dublin,
aided by local committees and employ.
ing proper agents for reporting on
the claims for assistance and for super
intending the local work. There will
thus be good security taken that the fit
objects of charity shall be reached, and
that the money shall not be m~isapplied.
Unity Of direction is always one Of the chief
things needed. Many agencies acting side
by side and with no concerted plan are
certain to fail in both respects. Deserving
cases will be passed over by them, while
those who are most clamorOus in putting
forward their claims will not impr0bably
obtain help several times over. The
Duchess of Marlborough engages that the
sums given to the fund she is seeking to
raise shall be dispensed without regard to
creed or to politics. This we might have
assumed, apart from any express assurance
on the point. But since the assurance has
been given we call attention to it as a
guarantee of the nature of the scheme, and
rs commencing it to all parties and to oil
creeds alike. 1t is quite true, as one Irish
Journal remarks, that the proposed relief
fund will not touch the source and well
spring Of periodical distress in Ireland. 1t
will not do this, nor is there any intention
that it should. Its object is simply to ena-