The distress in Ireland, though still in its acute form
con- fined to three or four counties, increases, and as the Duchess of Marlborough's Fund does not draw rapidly, the Government intends, it is said, to take 2250,000 from the Irish Church sur- plus, to be lent for reproductive works in the distressed districts, where we greatly fear actual famine may be at hand. This course is probably unavoidable, and we greatly regret the com- parative failure of the English subscription. Unfortunately, the exciting speeches of Mr. Parnell, and his friends, are pro- ducing their fruit. In Connemara, part of the tenants are not only refusing rent—it may be from inability to pay it— but are resisting the process-servers who warn them to give up their farms. At Carraroe, on Friday week, a mob attacked the agents of the law, seizing their papers ; and afterwards the police, who were compelled to charge, wounding five or six men and one woman. Lawlessness of this kind, however excusable in people bewildered by suffering, alienates English feeling, and produces an impatient demand that those who plead for aid should first of all obey the law. There is no doubt, we fear, that for a time liberal relief and decided enforcement of the law must go hand-in-hand, and the grace of charity will be once more lost in the rigour of justice.
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