WIDOWS AND CHILDREN IN GERMANY.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXVI, Issue 3119, 9 February 1871, Page 3

WIDOWS AND CHILDREN IN GERMANY.

We copy from the " Evening Lloyd," of Pesth, a picture of misery in the Prus-

sian provinces. " The symptoms of famine which manifest themselves in ! Prussia strike at the doors of the Government, The cries of distress raised by thousands of widows and orphans threaten to stifle the cry which huve J been hoard on account of the victories which have been obtained over the French. Tlie official journals pass under silence miseries which reign in Prussia, and the other journals do not Bpeals of them for patriotic or other reasons. I will cite certain facts which will not fail to open the eyes of those who are not Prussians. In the province of Westphalia there are 11,817 widows of the laudwehr fallen on the field ol battle, who during the last month have addressed the Government asking for succor. The number of children of these widows is 22,723. In the Rhenish provinces there are 14,312 widows, with 29,619 children, and in the province of Hanover there are 9,624 widows with 26,416 children, all asking for alms. In Eastern Prussia the distress is indescribable. The Government has found it necessary to name special commissioners charged to succor these unfortunates, and to send to them victuals as on the theatre of war. They have purchased in Austria and Hungary many cattle to be sent to Eastern Prussia. In a report addressed to the Government by the Committee of Relief at Berlin, we read the number of those who, during this month, have asked for help is so great that, with the best will in the world, they are 'not able to accord to all petitioners the smallest sum which they ordinarily give to a ne-

cessitous widow. To the list of widows and orphans above-mentioned, we must add still 80,000 women and children, of whom the fathers and husbands are still in campaign, and who are asking also for help from Government. _ The news from the other provinces is not more favorable. In Posen, the taxpayers are not in a state to pay their taxes. The farmers lax arms for the labors of the fields. Many fathers of families do not earn anything, and for the most part the manufactories are closed. Such is the picture of Prussia victorious. It has been forbidden to the journals to speak of the distress which reigns in Prussia, and they have seized in Hamburg and Hanover many copies which made mention of it."