LETTERS FROM IRELAND DURING THE FAMINE OF 1847

Abstract

T he following letters were written while travelling through Ireland in the spring of the disastrous year 1847. They were published in the Manchester newspapers at the time, and are reprinted here with a view to being circulated where the newspapers were not read:– No. I D ublin , 20 th January . I devoted my first day in Dublin to inquiries at the relief committees–at that for the city of Dublin and that for the country generally. I was referred to the inspectors of the poor, who in the different parishes take the office upon them, each a week at a time, of visiting the dwellings of the numerous applicants for relief. I visited some of the poorest districts of the city, also the wharves where vessels were unloading cargoes of food, and the offices of some parties extensively connected with the railway works in the interior of Ireland. I have also read several of the pamphlets relating to the present crisis of Ireland, of which the booksellers' shops in Dublin possess many. One, entitled “The Case of Ireland Stated, by Robert Holmes, Esq.” was advertised by bills in every street. It was selling at the price of two shillings, so, thinking two shillings might be worse disposed of than in getting “The case of Ireland stated,” I parted with them. Robert Holmes, Esq. l was told, is a barrister of long-standing and an able man.

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