254 Sufferings of the People during a Scarcity. 



at that time that the great source of injury to 

 the country, so evident at this day, and so 

 feelingly and justly deplored, should arise out 

 of the opposite system, which, at that period, 

 was so much reprobated, 

 i? 



From Mr. Bertie I received a very afflicting 

 account of the sufferings endured by the work- 

 ing classes, two years ago, during a scarcity, 

 produced by a failure of the potatoe crop. The 

 nobility and gentry of the country contributed 

 most liberally towards obtaining from other dis- 

 tricts a supply of food, and the people were highly 

 sensible of this kindness. He knew of but 

 one laborer who declined receiving relief; the 

 singularity of the exception caused some 

 curiosity, as the party had many children and 

 no visible means of supplying their wants. It 

 was at length discovered, that this good man 

 had refused to receive any relief, from an idea 

 of degrading himself and his family ! esteeming 

 the sufferings of hunger more supportable, by 

 the descendants of one of the ancient princes 

 of Ireland, than the dishonor of pauperism ! 



An honorable feeling sufficiently powerful to 

 endure the privation of food, not only in- 

 dividually, but extending to his offspring, how- 

 ever mistaken, and to be lamented, must call 



