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owned abundantly and blessed of God, able to provide at once the men wanted for the work, but crippled by want of pecuniary resources, which their own impoverished land cannot now supply. It was no time for delay or half-measures; £20,000 would give an impulse to the blessed cause, for which Ireland would have to praise God and these men, remembering in whose hands is all the wealth of this world, have determined in faith and prayer that it shall be raised. The Lord has already blessed them, and disposed the hearts of the wealthy to contribute largely ; but, to raise such a sum, they must, and they do confidently press the appeal on every class of their Master's servants. Every fresh proof of Irish insubordination and folly should surely be a fresh plea to urge it, even as every fresh symptom of danger in an alarming malady, increases the watchful attention of the physician. Subscriptions will be received by the Treasurer, J. D. Paul, Esq., at Messrs. Strahan, Paul, and Co., Strand.

But all Ireland does not present so gloomy a picture. We have acknowledged that her suffering is much augmented by her own sin and folly; but we have not said, we could not say, that there are not thousands of patient sufferers, who have lost their all, whom you can feed, and who will probably starve, if you do not feed them. We own there may be imposture and funds ill administered; is not this often a trial to you in the relief you administer with your own hands to the poor around your own door?-but we have not said there are no channels open by which your charity may reach real sufferers, with every reasonable precaution against abuse; and this is all for which you are responsible. Many of these we brought before our readers last month, and we have to thank some of them for

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their prompt answer to our appeal. Such may justly claim to hear of the joy and gratitude, precious fruits of the Spirit, which their liberality has awakened. The Secretary of " the Irish Female School Society, has kindly sent us a large packet of letters from different quarters, where relief has been sent. Their plan seems to have been very much to send £5 to the Superintendant, where distress was very urgent,—and it is delightful to see how the treasure has been received."The half-note £5, came safely this morning, with an encouraging word to strengthen my faith and trust for the future. The Lord make me thankful for his great mercy to me, for truly I was cast down and grieved in spirit. He heard my voice, and has come to my relief." Again an Irish Clergyman writes; Pray say to her how grateful we are, and that when she has so much relieved the wants of a poor industrious people, she has also relieved the mind of their minister from a load of uneasiness on their behalf; if she could have witnessed the distress of some of these poor people, and have seen the relief I was enabled to afford them this evening, and have heard the earnest thanksgiving to the Lord of all, for having raised up such friends to them, and have observed the joyful expression of countenance, succeeding that of painful anxiety, when I told them not to allow their children to be hungry without acquainting me: I think Mrs. would be satisfied, and thankful that she had the means and inclination to do so much good." A lady writes from Sligo. "With sincere thanks I acknowledge the receipt of £7 due to the teacher.Thank God, your Society is still able to continue aid to these institutions of real humanity, where benefit for time and eternity is studiously and perseveringly imparted. We are most prosperous as to

numbers and faithful attendance. The supply of food to our suffering little ones has acted like magic, all is now joy and gratitude. I gave bread and soup to about 100 children in the school yesterday. When I announced my intention, a shout of thanks came simultaneously from every one of them, and what gave me most gratification, after all had been served, without the suggestion of any teacher, one of the little ones stood up and gave out aloud,“ Praise God from whom all blessings flow, &c." and sang it lustily, joined with uplifted hands by the entire school."

We have also permission to transcribe, omitting names, the following letter. It may be an incitement to some of our younger friends, to follow in the path of self-denial for which the dear girls to whom it is addressed have been so richly rewarded; while, should it meet their eyes, they will feel, we trust, only humble gratitude to Him who receives so graciously sacrifices so small.

66 My dear young Ladies,

"The expression of your sympathy I have just been thanking God for on my knees. How sweet and lovely to contemplate the young heart, so softened with emotions of compassion, as to give up a cherished gratification to lighten the miseries of others. My dear young ladies, it is not the amount of your £1. though truly acceptable, or the prospect of any sum you may in future kindly remit, that has moved me to tears or to prayer, but the praiseworthy principle that has led you unsolicited to give your money, and with it your resolve to deny yourselves in a favorite article of food, that you might contribute to the comfort of some of poor Ireland's suffering little ones,-suffering little ones

indeed. I could write this truth with my tears, so penetrated am I with the sense of the wants and woes of her starving children. I will make some of them sensible that in England there are loving children's hearts; that young ladies there have much of the mind of Christ; that they do not say to hunger and nakedness, “be ye warmed, and be ye fed,” but give nothing. May it be said finally of each of you by Him who cannot lie; "She did what she could."

"I called one of the school children to-day, and asked what had the family yesterday to support them. The jug of tea and bread, ma'am, you sent in the morning,' she answered, and another bit of bread Miss Merrow gave the little one at night :' 'And what have they for to-day' I asked ;—'Nothing, ma'am, indeed.' This is a simple unexaggerated truth,-a sick husband, seven children, and a mother with a baby at the breast; all subsisting for the entire day on little more than one mouthful each. I generally send one shilling a day to each family, when I ascertain accurately the distress. But what an amount of shillings and pounds does this distress demand! No individual in this country could meet half the wants of a single village, for all the poor are in deep poverty.

"But that gracious Saviour who opened your hearts, and led you so freely and so sweetly to give, can and will open other hearts and hands also to give.

"How wonderful to make ravens, more likely to eat than to feed others, bring bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening, to supply Elijah's wants. But God can make every thing subservient to the interests of his people, and his resources are never exhausted."

One thing more we must notice ere we close; for we

believe it is a prevailing view among many, that where government works are on foot, there need not be pressing distress. The letters now before us show how wrong is this view; one or two extracts will perhaps tell more than any thing we can say. The government works are a great relief, but in the very nature of things, without incurring greater evils, they cannot be an adequate one. Hear the following statement from Mayo. 'The public works have, it is true, afforded a partial relief, but as they can only employ one out of each family, perhaps of nine or ten, it is not enough to keep them from starving-an urgent case has been just presented by a poor starved wretch with six children, so voracious with hunger, we were obliged to watch him while eating the bit of bread allotted to his share, lest he should be choked from eating too rapidly. A labouring man died last night from hunger, denying himself food to supply the cravings of his family." Again a clergyman writes from Killigan. "I know of many families who have lived for many weeks upon one meal a day, even now when wages are to be had on the public works, and as it is impossible for the poor to obtain any thing upon credit, you can easily imagine what would be the effect of any stoppage to the works." From Dievon's glebe, another clergyman writes of the difficulty of procuring regular payment for the work done, and concludes; "there are 600 poor men entreating to be employed on the government works, but their application is utterly disregarded." Can we in the face of statements like these from eyewitnesses, continue to excuse ourselves on the plea of public relief being all-sufficient for the deserving?

The mass of national misery may be far too great for us to hope to remove it, but let us never forget that

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