THE DISTRESS IN IRELAND.

Evening Star, Issue 6259, 7 April 1883, Page 1

THE DISTRESS IN IRELAND.

[‘Times,’ February 7-3 Yesterday a deputation waited upon toft Lord Mayor at the Mansion House to invoke His Lordship’s assistance “in forming a fund for relieving the impoverished people of Roland in the terrible crisis through whlchthey are now passing.” Among those present were Mr Eugene Collins, M.P, Mr P. Gallon, M.P., the Rev. W: Fleming, of Moorfields, Mr Thomas Briggs, Mr H. P. Doherty, Mr E. Brennan, Mr John Keen, Mr J. J. Larkin, Mr C. J. Guy, MrCLJ. Hogan, Rev. G. M. Murphy, Dr Clarke Fenwick, Mr Andrew Dunn, Mr Thomas Campbell (secretary of the League of the Cross), Mr R. D. Lyons, and Mr P. O'Leary (secretary). Mr Sheriff Savory and Mr Loveridge (Deputy-Governor of the Irish Society) were also present. Mr Eugene Collins, M.P., introducing the deputation, observed that he did so with greater confidence as a very old citizen of London, having a residence in this great metropolis. Whenever distress or calamity had fallen upon the population of any country, in whatever part of the world, they had invariably looked to that metropolia for assistance and aid, recognising the munificence, the generosity, and the charity of its citizens. But when they came to appeal to the Lord Mayor on behalf of his fellow (mbjects, on behalf of a people who were almost at their very threshold, and who at Idle present moment were in a condition of suffering and distress, he could understand that they came with an increased degree of hope and confidence in placing thexnselvep in His Lordship’s hands. With regard to the present application it was .of toe most open possible character, and . had no connection or association in the remotest degree with anything approaching creed, race,; op politics, He felt sure that they might took forward to the Lord Mayor as one who would give them aid and assistance in the object they had in view. That object was that His Lordship should lend them his and the influence of his position for the purpose of opening a list for the contributions of those who are willing and desirous of relieving the distress which at present existed in Ireland.

Mr P. O’Leary, the secretary, said thousands in Ireland were in a state of the most terrible want and misery, without food and clothing. The Lord Mayor was not asked to consider causes, but it might suffice td say that within the limits of the penny post multitudes of their fellow-creatures were perishing for want of the merest necessaries of life. On January 2, after paying aVutfc to the distressed districts, the Chief Secretary for Ireland said there could scarcely be any exaggeration in the reports of the,intensity of the destitution. Since then : .#>r--respondents bad given most harrowing accounts of the misery endured by the unfortunate people. The deputation had from different parts received numerous letters praying for help to keep men, women, and children from perishing. He read letters t6 this effect from the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Cashel, and the Bishops of Clonfert and Boss, and others. In the name of humanity and Christian brotherhood, the deputation respectfully appealed to the Lord Mayor, as the Chief Magistrate of the largest’ and wealthiest city in the world, to reach out a helping hand to a starving population in the sister country, an act of kindness which would yield fruit fifty-fold, and bring to His Lordship the consciousness of having done good. Mr Callan, M.P., in the course of some observations which he made, in corroboration of the statements as to the existence of distress in Ireland, remarked that he had known the County of Donegal for many years and every district in it. He could only say that if the distress in the south and west of Ireland was as great as in Donegal, the state of the people must be bad indeed. He had. letters from gentlemen of Ml classes of opinion which fully bore out the accounts of ; the famine which had been published in the Press. He had the statement of a clergyman—a personal friend of his—-who, in company with the Chief Secretary of Ireland)' travelled through Connemara, and witnessed., the dire distress prevailing among the peasantry, The statement of that gentleman as to the distress was fully endorsed by the Chief Secretary, who stated that the sad condition of thi people exceeded any stater, ment in the Lish or English Press. He (Mr Callan) was anxious that that official endorser ment should go forth, in 6f remarks which had been made questioning ? whether the distress in Donegal had reached the extent which was described.

The Lord Mayor said: Yon have waited; upon me to ask me to open a fund at shf Mansion House for the relief of the “fat l ; poverished people of Ireland in the terrible' crisis through which they are now passing." The ready ear of sympathy in this country te ever open to the call of tee distressed, apd ? in this house we have no doubt raised mans, funds having for their object the rtslief distress, not only at home, but also, I nla)r say, in almost all parts of the globe; built• must certainly be an element in the success of such a fund that it should be raised and administered by those in whom the publid will have confidence, and it is especially a matter of the greatest importance to the Lord Mayor, when he is requested to use the influence of his position to further its objects, that he should be satisfied that those with whom he is asked to co-operate are persons enjoying that public confidence; ana if he finds that such is not the character o| the persons making the application, h* could not call upon his fellow-citizens to come around him with their counsel and' assistance, neither could he allow his name and office to be associated with them. I have therefore referred to the report of the meeting to which you have called my attention, and lam sorry—and I say it with the deepest regret—that it appears to me you have come here to ask the patronage and assistance of the Lord Mayor for an object the success of which you have rendered impossible in consequence of the utterances of some of those with whom you are associated. I cannot but say that it appears to me a fund started under such auspices would not command public confidence, and could not be a success; and I fear its failure might be seized upon by wicked, unprincipled, and unpatriotic agitators in Ireland as an occasion for another grievance and an/instance of the apathy of tee English people towards Ireland. 1 should regret being a party to any action which might produce such a result, when I know and feel that the whole mass of tee people of this country, from the very highest to thelowest, have but one feeling of sorrow Mid regret at the unhappy position which Ireland has presented for so long a time. And we have the deepest sympathy with the poor people of Ireland, who have, no doubt, bad to * endure great privation and distress, brought about, among other causes, by tee class of agitators to which I have just referred. Let me call your attention to the speech delivered by Mr O’Donnell at the meeting held in. th& Memorial Hall, and reported in the * Ernies? of the 31st ult. The gentleman commences by stating (< his profound shame and humiliation ” at appealing for assistance for the “ misgoverned people of Ireland,” and proceeds to thank those gentlemen who had started this movement, “which had so often proved ungrateful, and must always be humiliating.” 1 am quite sure you will agree with me that there is no occasion to experience any such feeling if the distress for which one is pleading is a distress bronght about by causes : beyond ordinary control; but 1 can quite understand'' it if this were not the case, or our 1 ; warned us that some improper cbttaitct' idf 1 our own had contributed to teat : 4istrtes.. He appeals also to the ‘ ‘ popular (dteste lni * this country on behalf of the disketeeß popular classes in Ireland.” TJetteinly all classes in this chuntry are popular, and will| some exceptions I believe this to he the oaae~ in, Ireland, and I refer to this tx> pomkputetef you that such language is calculated! |E|; destroy that unity of action so esaaititiWT the success of such ■ a fund -as yowfcwtetefe. promote. ITeJfti jestS^l

Corporation had in the course of generationa drawn millions from the mismanaged estates Of confiscated Ulster, and not one penny of those millions which had been stolen from the fyuh people had ever been restored to its lawful owners.” Now, I can speak with some knowledge on this point, and say this statement if utterly and shamafully untrue. It is well known that the Royal Irish Society’s accounts are published, and those accounts prove that the whole of the revenue from these estates, less the bare cost of management,, is expended on public works and for public purposes in the places where it is so required to be expended by the conditidnlrbf the trust, and Mr O’Donnell mu* t either 1 have known that he was giving utto. - anceTograve misstatements, or if he did not know the fact, he is equally culpable for his reckless speaking. He then refers to the Mansion House. I quote you his words again He hoped that the present Lord of London would show himself as anxious to keep roofs over the heads of their starving tenants as one of his predecessors had been eager to deprive them of them. He 3 trusted “that the London Mansion HouSe would be as active now in saving the Irish people as it had been when it lent its prestige to, the hellish work of the Association called the Property Defence Association.” Can yon conceive anything in worse taste, anything more insulting to those persons who took up a work which certainly did commend, itself to public approval and was felt to be a Sad necessity ? 1 will only trouble you .with one more reference to this speech. I again quote from the report —“ He had but little faith in what the English nobility would do for the starving Ijish, Harrington was the inheritor, thorough an alliance made by the Cavendish family with the descendants of that usurer, thief, and assassin, the first Earl of Cork, of tha major portion of 42,000 acres of Irish land, from which he and his ancestors had drawn tens of thousands of pounds, and he Shohld be glad if the noble lord would head the subscription list by a sum bearing something like a fair proportion to the benefits he family had received from Ireland.” shik speech' was received with cheers and laughter. I Cannot imagine anything more revolting than this reference to a family still under the dreadful pain and affliction of a brought about by the hand of tHS asssusain, and that assassin, although he Ihd o!s accomplices must be well known to many people in Ireland, still concealed from justice ; and I can only express my surprise that any man can bo found to use such language in respect of a family so terribly jfflicted. 'Mr O’Donnell must know what England has done for Ireland in her time of distress, and Ought to remember what she did in the great potato famine and on other occasions, and how 6^ery T clUsa in the community has_ contributed! its quota to the relief of their distress. Yet, not only does he express the sentiments and the language I have referred to, but his speech is received with cheers ; and I, therefore, cannot dissociate the meetthe: responsibility of hia utterances. Now, gentlemen, I think I have said enough to Shdw you that by associating my office toiL with you, I do not think we ihonwube: successful in raising a fund for assisting distressed persons in Ireland ; but WhSlyour attention to the practical steps t&nf: 'fry ihe Government which you abuse to relief to the suffering peasantry of Ireland/ and refer you to the circular letters o£ tjh T government Dublin, of December 12, 1882, and January 5, 1883, addressed to the boards of guardians, which fully deal with the question, and from which if the' boards of guardians ad their duty no poor creature can suffer from- wßnt. Yet, in face of this fact, ,Calian. in his speech said that “ yoking whatever had been done by Irish Executive to stave off famine.” I leave you to form your own opinion as to this misrepresentation. Now, 1 knqw > there are many people who have an almost insurmountable objection to the receipt of parochial relief; but, inasmuch as no voluntary fund could ever hope to so efficiently deal with distress as a board of guardians, it becomes a duty to us to impress qponthe poor the value of this system of relief, and. especially as in the circular of January 5, to which I have already referred, the poor are told “Relief will not in any way affect their holdings.” Neither am I imtwara pr regardless of the treatment to whfculHsh tenants were subjected in some instances in times now happily long past; but have not Government passed many important measures by which these grievances have been considerably redressed, and I am qtllfie sole© are still prepared to further consider < redress any and every legitimate grievance; but, depend upon it, your cause will not be promoted by misrepresentation or Intemperate -language. Such a course can but promote lawlessness and violence, and indefinitely retard that progress the restoratidn.; of which will he the best antidote to all But, gentlemen, in all these circumstances I should be exceedingly sorry if the Mansion House were closed against any further assistance to the poor in Ireland a benevolent public might chance to offer, and I will, therefore, express my willingness to receive and act as almoner of any moneys they may choose to intrust to me for that purpcnQ r .and X will do my best to find out deserving cases. Should these moneys amount to anything like a fund, I weald then call to my assistance in its administration such a body of Irish citizens as I believe will command the confidence of the public, and enable us to do tbs greatest possible amount of good for; Oar distressed fellow subjects in Ireland. Not that I am at all sangnine of success, on account of the manner in which you have brought the matter forward, and also because I find it publicly recorded that the return of of Statistics in Ireland for khowp there has been in the year an increase in the savings deposited in Joint Sfibpk Banks in Ireland of L 2,585,000. From tma.it wopld appear there must be a large class iiin Ireland able to afford considerable assistance jf they are satisfied of the consistency Of the demand. lam sorry to have detailed you so long, and thank you for the attention you have given me, and I can only ■again express my regret. that you have rendered it impossible for me to act with yon. Mr Gallon, M.P., stated that with respect to his speech the report was inaccurate. The Lord Mayor replied that as a rule the P^ega. reported proceedings accurately, and he' must take this report as being also correct. Mr E. Brennan denied that Mr O Donnell represented the sense of the meeting or bad anything to do with the movement. Mr E. Collins, M.P., said he regretted that the utterances of one individual should have.marred the success of the movement, and. felt that in all the circumstances the Lord Mayor could not have acted otherwise than i vbe had. The hon. gentleman’s observations were received with, murmurs of (dissent from some members of the deputation, and . Mr Callao said Mr Collins was speaking his own sentiments, and not those of the deputation. : Mr Collins replied that he believed he spoke the feelings of many other gentlemen who were present.