FAMINES IN IRELAND. 



297 



"Evening Journal," the Baltimore "Sun," the 

 Chicago " Globe," and the St. Louis " Chronicle " 

 signified their desire to act as the American 

 Committee's sub-treasurers. The "Times" of 

 Hartford, Conn., collected and forwarded to the 

 American Committee over $1,000, and several 

 other newspapers collected and forwarded smaller 

 sums. The New York "Times" provided the 

 committee with an office free of rent, and dealers 

 in office supplies furnished it without charge. 

 The Mayor of New York, at the request of the 

 American Committee, appointed a local com- 

 mittee to take charge of the .movement in the 

 city, and local committees were appointed in 

 several other cities. During the first half of 

 October the British Government continued to 

 deny the existence of distress in Ireland or the 

 threat of a famine. It sent to Ireland Mr. Jack- 

 son, Financial Agent of the Treasury, and Mr. 

 I. F. Tuke, and they on returning deniejd the 

 danger of famine. But public opinion was not 

 satisfied ; and Chief-Secretary Balfour was com- 

 pelled to visit Ireland for the purpose of making 

 a personal investigation as to the truth of the 

 statements regarding the condition of the crops. 

 The result was that, on his return, he was forced 

 to admit that the warning of the impending 

 calamity was fully justified by events ; and the 

 British Government thereupon pledged itself to 

 furnish all necessary relief. Under these cir- 

 cumstances the American Committee suspended 

 operations. 



Before the expiration of October the British 

 Government advanced to the Midland Great 

 Western Railway Company of Ireland the sum 

 of 400,000 for the purpose of enabling the 

 company to build lines to connect the coast with 

 inland markets in the distressed districts of Ire- 

 land. Fifty miles were to be constructed from 

 Gal way to Clifton, twenty-six miles from West- 

 port to Mulvany, and a short line from Ballina 

 to Killala. The construction of these roads was 

 intended to afford the poor tenants work, which 

 would enable them to earn money with which to 

 tide over the winter months and to purchase 

 potato seed in the spring. 



At the opening of Parliament, in November, 

 the Queen's speech authoritatively announced the 

 failure of the potato crop and the existence of 

 unusual distress, and a grant of money was then 

 made for immediate Irish relief. On Dec. 4, a 

 British man-of-war conveyed ten tons of meal to 

 the starving inhabitants of Clare Island and Innis- 

 turk ; and shortly afterward the steamers " Sea- 

 horse," " Magnet," " Britomarte," and " Grap- 

 pler," laden with food supplies, were dispatched 

 to Ireland. In the same month (December) the 

 bishops of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland 

 made a formal appeal to their co-religionists in 

 America, and large amounts of money were for- 

 warded to them. Yet the distress continued to 

 increase. Government aid was found inadequate 

 to cope with it, and on Jan. 4 the Earl of Zet- 

 land, Viceroy of Ireland, and Mr. Balfour, Chief 

 Secretary, officially promulgated an appeal for 

 aid, acknowledging the inability of the Govern- 

 ment to cope with the distress, and asking for 

 private contributions. 



In all times of famine the distress is in- 

 creased by disease. Cholera is prevalent in dis- 

 tricts where Indian meal has been substituted 



for the usual potatoes, the reason being that the 

 Irish peasants are accustomed to use only peat 

 or dried turf as fuel, and have neither facilities 

 for procuring coal nor stoves for burning it. 

 Indian meal, if not thoroughly cooked, is sure to 

 produce cholera, and a turf or peat fire can 

 not give out heat sufficient to cook it prop- 

 erly. Another disease that has accompanied 

 every Irish famine is known as famine fever. 

 The result of starvation is not necessarily imme- 

 diate death. It first manifests itself by a general 

 lowering of the system, and by the accessibility 

 of the constitution to various diseases that would 

 not have attacked people in strong health. But 

 when a certain point of suffering from continued 

 privation is reached fevers begin to make their 

 appearance the earliness of their invasion be- 

 ing, in individuals and districts, in direct pro- 

 portion to the degree of distress endured. Fam- 

 ine fever is supposed to be a variety of typhus. 

 In the Irish famine years of 1846-'47 and 1879- 

 '80, the contagious nature of the disease was 

 well established by the terrible mortality among 

 the medical profession ; but while it may be 

 communicated by infection, it may also arise 

 spontaneously as a direct result of physical pri- 

 vation and mental depression. It does not seem 

 to be due to sanitary imperfections. The medi- 

 cal reports for the famine years all agree that, 

 very frequently, dwellings surrounded by ex- 

 tremely bad sanitary conditions were free from 

 the epidemic, while other dwellings at a distance 

 were assailed, though better circumstanced. Fam- 

 ilies stricken with fever are very reluctant to 

 make the fact known, because all intercourse 

 with their neighbors is immediately stopped. 

 They are regarded as plague t stricken, their 

 houses are avoided, and it is often extremely dif- 

 ficult to procure nurses. A peculiarity of fam- 

 ine fever is the large number of children and 

 young people attacked by it, all the members of 

 a large family being often stricken simultane- 

 ously. It happens frequently that a child is the 

 first one attacked ; and in districts where food is 

 not granted for school children, these are usually 

 the earliest sufferers from the disease. Insuffi- 

 ciency of proper food and especially deprivation 

 of milk, tell heavily against the health of the 

 children in every crisis. Next to the children 

 their mothers appear to be especially liable to 

 the invasion of famine fever. During the enor- 

 mous emigration that followed the famine of 

 1846-'47 the disease was so rife on the emigrant 

 ships that the name of " coffin-ships " was giv- 

 en to those vessels, the mortality being fright- 

 ful to contemplate. The privations of a famine 

 year are productive of evil consequences to the 

 survivors, as shown by the fact that an excess- 

 ive proportion of them have suffered from certain 

 affections (e. g., blindness). The British census 

 returns show that a greater proportion of the 

 deaf, dumb, and blind exist in Ireland than in 

 any other portion of the United Kingdom, the 

 numbers being 1 in every 445 of the population 

 of Ireland, while in England and Wales the pro- 

 portion is 1 in every 686, and in Scotland 1 in 

 every 658. 



The scenes of distress during the famine years 

 are heart-rending. The few following instances 

 are typical of the utter destitution and misery 

 that 'prevailed during the famine of 1846-'47. 



