100 THE IRISH PEOPLE. 



" The libel is one of the very worst I have seen in 

 all my life ; it is brutally untrue and unworthy, 

 and the people of those districts, perhaps, after all, 

 should claim to be defended against it. Yours very 

 faithfully, ARTHUR B. LEECH." 



100. William K. Sullivan, Esq., LL.D., President 

 of the Queen's College, Cork: "Queen's College, 

 Cork, August 31st, 1886, I have never seen the libel 

 you refer to . . . M. de Quatrefages ought to 

 have been above printing as a scientific fact what 

 is obviously the stupid and malignant invention of 

 some of the purveyors of rubbish I have alluded to. 

 The original statement is no doubt an invention 

 inspired by Punch or some other comic journal. I 

 have not only seen the Connaught harvest men, 

 but I have been in the district you name, not only 

 before the famine of 1847-48 when I was through 

 all the western district on foot, but on several 

 occasions, and I have no hesitation in saying that 

 the account given by M. de Quatrefages and Dr. 

 Hall as given in your letter is entirely untrue. 

 In some of the districts poverty and emigration 

 have deteriorated the population in some degree 

 since I first knew them ; but the description you 

 have quoted never applied to them.* WILLIAM K. 

 SULLIVAN." 



*The date of the letter is torn off; it was written at the 

 same time as Major Leech's letter. 



