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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 38

"Kilmovee, Mayo, 8th March, 1880

"Kilmovee, Mayo,

"Gentlemen,

"I feel, indeed, grateful to the Mansion House Committee for its noble efforts in our favour. Many of my parishioners would have perished in the past without your assistance, and, still more, will succumb in the future unless you persevere in the good work. My parish is exceptionally circumstanced. It is some twelve miles by three in area, having a population of some 7,000 to 8,000 souls. The land is ungenerous in the extreme, poor and badly cultivated, hundreds and hundreds of acres are covered with rocks or heath, while hundreds more are mere bog. I have no hesitation then in saying, did the occupiers pay no rent, the producer of their little patches would not in the best of times afford support for their families. If they have hitherto eked out a miserable existence, it is due to the money which flowed to our shores from wages earned in England and America. Imagine, then, the state to which my poor people are reduced, when I tell you that, besides losing almost the entire crop, such private aid from England and America has entirely failed us.

"I have not dwelt on the failure in the cattle trade; for, in truth, we had little to lose in that. The landlords, too, are absentees, and, like most absentees, forget the obligations of property in remembering its rights. There is no land in Mayo requires improvement more than ours. Yet, not one shilling has been expended during the winter, or is likely to be expended in the future, on public works in my entire parish. The union is sunk in debt, and hence the guardians refuse to assist the people outside the workhouse. As a result, the people, in their grim struggle with the Famine King, are deserted by those who, I suppose, should be their natural guardians—the landlord and the State. Do not wonder, then, if I assure you that, of a population of 1,400 or 1,500 families, some 1,100 or 1,200 families are reduced to the most heart-rending state in hundreds and hundreds of cases, without food or fuel, and with the scantiest clothing Did you enter with me one of these miserable houses, see its damp floor and fireless hearth; did you behold the poor little children huddled together, silent in their sufferings, and hear the parents' piteous tale, you would not wonder, gentlemen, that rushed away from their midst to plead again at your door in the holy cause of charity

"Let me add, gentlemen, that while, in the past year, you have alleviated much misery and saved many individuals from death, the future calls you to higher and holier work, for it calls you, I believe, under God, to save the West of Ireland. Enable the people to put down a good crop; give them food now so that they may give their undivided attention to their little farms; and I feel that when men come hereafter to speak of the dread season of '79 and '80 they will speak of the Mansion House Committee as the saviour of Ireland.

"I remain, gentlemen, respectfully yours,

"John Canon M'Dermot, V.F."