Dr. Blake, the Catholic
bishop, said, that since he had entered the meeting, a letter had been
handed to him stating that a person had just died of starvation in High
Street. In April and May potatoes had risen to a famine price in the
provinces. They were quoted in Galway and Tuam at 6d. a stone, but in
reality, as the local journals remarked, the price was double that, as
not more than one-half of those bought could be used for food.
The humane and philanthropic, who went about endeavouring to save the
lives of the people, often asked, as they travelled through the country,
"Are the landlords making any efforts? "The common answer was, with very
rare exceptions, "None whatever." The correspondent of a Dublin
newspaper,[96] writing from Cashel, quotes a notice he had copied in
Cahir, which was posted all about the town.
It ran thus:--"The tenantry on the Earl of Glengall's estate, residing
in the manor of Cahir, are requested to pay into my office on the 12th
of May, all rent and arrears of rent due up to the 25th of March,
otherwise the most summary steps will be taken to recover same.
"JOHN CHAYTOR,
"1st April, 1846.
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