The Burdett-Coutts Irish Bequest.

Cromwell Argus, Volume XI, Issue 550, 25 May 1880, Page 7

The Burdett-Coutts Irish Bequest.

A lot of melancholy rubbish has of late been written and reprinted in colonial newspapers about Baroness Burdett-Coutts giving half a million sterling to Ireland. In relation to the subject the following appears in the Northampton Mercury of February 25th, the paragraph being written by the Mercury's London correspondent:—" I am able to state on the highest authority that there is no truth in the persistent report of the Freeman's Journal that the Baroness BurdettCoutts is about to expend £500,000 in improving the condition of the peasantry in the West of Ireland. It is much to be regretted that a statement so extravagant should have been pertinaciously put forward. Lady Burdett Coutts is perfectly aware that the Irish peasantry will not be neglected by the sympathy of England, and for herself she has taken the opportunity of Mr Ashmead Bartlett's willingness to visit Ireland in order to understand in what way her intended contribution (a very small sum in comparison with that mentioned) can be bestowed. It has been the merit of Lady Burdett-Coutts' charitable efforts that they have always had a practical direction, and I believe that one aim which the' Baroness had in view has been met by the rapid progress of Major Nolan's Seed Potatoes Bill. It is understood that Lady Burdett-Coutts' agent in Ireland has made particular representations to bear upon the necessity of providing seed for the distressed tenant farmers."