REMINISCENCES. Ixv 



IRISH DISTRESS, JANUARY, 1840. 



From the "Cambridge Chronicle," Jamiary 25, 1840. 



[The following letter shews the interest which Professor Babington took from 

 •early days in the welfare of the Irish people.] 



A Winter without Fuel ! Destitution of the Irish 

 Peasantry. 



To the Editor of the " Cambridge Chronicle." 



St. John's College, 



Jan. 20th, 1840. 



Sir, — I feel no doubt of your allowing me to occupy a small 

 portion of your next number with the following statement of the 

 present state of total destitution which exists in Ireland, in order 

 that the attention of the members of the University and inhabitants 

 of the town of Cambridge may be called to the great necessity which 

 exists for vigorous measures being taken for the relief of our suffering 

 fellow-countrymen, who are totally without fuel during this incle- 

 ment season of the year. It will be seen from the following short 

 extracts from letters addressed to the Rev. H. Marriott, Rector of 

 Claverton, near Bath, that the poor people inhabiting the central 

 •counties of Ireland have been, owing to the continued wet weather, 

 unable to provide their usual supply of fuel during the last summer ; 

 and that they are at the present time in want of a supply sufficient 

 even for the purpose of cooking that scanty stock of potatoes which 

 the late rainy season has permitted them to raise ; and that from 

 their distance from the sea, and their extreme poverty, it is not in 

 their power to procure coal to replace the turf, upon which they 

 have been accustomed to depend for winter fuel. I know from 

 experience that the roofs of their wretched cabins are at all times 

 quite insufficient to resist even the usual rain of that wet climate, 

 and am now informed upon good authority, that in many cases the 

 wet has penetrated through the mud walls with which they are 

 constructed, so as not to leave a single dry spot within them ; and 

 that from that cause the potatoes — of which the crop has been far 

 less productive than usual — cannot be prevented from decaying, so 

 that the population of a large part of Ireland will certainly be soon 

 reduced to a destitution of food and shelter, — if, indeed, they are 

 not already in that deplorable condition. The resident gentry of 

 that country have been doing all that their means will allow, to 

 remedy the evil ; but from its magnitude it is quite impossible for 

 them to do more than will slightly alleviate the miseries of the 

 people ; and it is only by the liberal assistance of the English that 

 they can hope to prevent the most appalling results. 



The Rev. R. Daly, Rector of Powerscourt, writes : " We have 

 reason to think that we are about to enter upon a year that will be 

 marked with peculiar sufferings. Food is dear, and, what is worse 



