Starvation In Ireland

We extract f rom the papers the following among tnany patticulars of the horrible destitution in lreland. At Skibbereen, Ball ydchab, Scull, Castlehaven, Cnstletown, and othcr places, ten or twelve funerals a day are common, and collections are made in the churches to provide coffins for the destitute. The " Nalion " heads a paragraph, " the coroncrs loo few !" The coroners, it says, in Mayo, begin to be too few to hold the inquests. " Death by starvation," " Death by destitution," are verdicls which have beconie fearfully frequent. Men wilh vacant stare, smitten with despair, wnnder listlessly along tho highways, andskeleton women, wilh livid lips, pour forth piteous supplicatior.s to travellers to savo their childron, dying of want. The moaning infant attempls in vain to draw life from the exhaustod mother. The Cork Examincr says, that in tho neighborhood of Castlebar, one meal a day is the only food of the inhabitants. In the neighborhood of Croo!; haven, says the Cork Examiner, acollection was made on Sunday, to purchase a bier to take the dead bodies to the grave without coffins ; for so numerous had become the deaths, the living are no longer ablo to purchase coffins. O'ConnelI, at the usual weekly meeting of the Repeal Associntion, said that the state of the country was ten-fold worse than one week before. The frost had aet in, and cold nnd hunger weredoing their work. At Connaught there were forty-seven deaths from starvalion in one week - forty-seven cases in which coroners liad rendered the verdict of "death from starvation." The Cork Examincr. contains a letter signed N. M. Cummins, J. P. Ann-mount, Cork, addressed to the Duke of Wellington. We give an extract: I went on the 15th instant to Skibbereen, and to give the iustance of one townland which I visited, as an example of the state of the entire coast district, I shall state simply what I saw there. It is situated on ihe eastern side of Castlehaven harbor, and is named South Reen, in the parish of Myross. Being aware thatlshould have to witness scènes of frightful hunger, I provided myself with as much bread as five men could carry, and on reaching the spot I was surprised to find the wretched hamlet apparently deserted. I entered some of the hovels to ascertnin the cause, and the scènes that presented themselves wero such as no tongue or pen can convey the slightest idea of. In the first, six famished and ghaslly skeletons, to all appearance dead, were huddled in a corner on some fillhy slraw, their sole covering what seemed a ragged horse cloth, their wretched legs hanging about, naked above the knees. I approachd in horror, and found by a low moaning, they were alive ; they were in fever - four children, a woman, and what had once been a man. It is impossible to go through the details ; suffice it to cay, that in a few minutes I was gurrounded by at least two hundred of such phantoms, such frightful speitres as no words can describe. By fur the greatcr number were delirious, either from famine or from fever. Their demoniac yells are still in my ears, and their horrible images are fixed upon my brain. My heart ïickens at the recital but I must go on. In another case, decency would forbid what follows, but it must be told. My clothes were torn ofl' in my endeavor to escape from tiie throng of pestilence around, when my neckcloth wasseized from behind by a gripe which compelled me turn. I found myself grasped by a woman with a infant just bom in her arms, and the remainsof a filthy sack across her loins - the solo covering of herself and babe. The same morning the pólice opened a house on the adjoining lands, which was observed shut for many days, and two frozen corpses were found lying upon the mud floor, half devoured by the rats. Amidall this horrible desolation, the work of distilling rum from corn still goes on. The demand for fire arms is beyond all calculation. Whatever elsetheysacriflee, the Irish peasantry will have arms. The restraintsof law nre fast givingway. Robberies of all descriptions abound. - The soldiers are constantly on the alert to prevent the plunder of corn and flour by those whom hunger has driven to desperntion. John Cogolan, Parish Priest of Ivilkelly, county of Mayo, has addressed a letter to the Lowkm Time?, in -which he sny :"Two months agomv parishioiaors exceeded G,00E soule, tlicy are nov considernbly reducod below that nuraber - - dcath by sUirvation, has mnde its fearful ravages. Tliis week two persons have died of hunger,. one a girl nntned Mary Dodd, of Borcoll, nged 16 yeare, the othor a man nnmed J. O'Donnell, ofSownoclsnc, aged 52 years. I altendodanother last night, named Willinm Fallen, dying of starvation. Of the entire number of about 5,i50 now living, I solcmnly declare, to the besi of my opinión, that not more than 200 oí them have more than half a mealin the 24 hours. The corn is all gone ; not even the seed for the ensuing year renwms. The tn mips are all used. We have no ludían nieal. The very small quantity of oatmeal to be found is selling at 26s per 112 lbs. - Indian meal is not to be had in Sïigo for less than L19 per ton. The people on the public worksarenot permitted to earn moreihan 3s per week. They could carn more if permiited to bring their families. Such a rational course the Board of Works will not permit. Oh, sir, if ever sufleringhumaniiy cammanded yoursympathy, the dyiog destitution of my parishioners loudly does sa. Day and night I am imporluned for food."