HIS LORMHIP THE BISHOP OF OTTAWA

In aid of the poor in lreland.

Episcopal Résidence, Ottawa. January 30th, 1880.

Dearly Beloved Brethren,

The reports that y ou hâve heard of late concerning the distress that afriicts our brethren in lreland must hâve brought grief to every heart.

Who can realize the degree of destitution and wretchpdnt'ss ofthose thousands of our fellow créatures, who hâve neither bread, nor fuel, nor suffieient elothing to protect them against the rigors of the winter season ?

I hâve jusi received a letter ïrom the Right Révérend Dr (rillooly, Bishop of Blphin (lreland), in which lie relaies th." misery, poverty, and famine ezisting throaghont bis diocèse. It is well to communicate this to you, in order to eiilist, as he begs, your belp Pot this large nambei <>!' men, woiik'h and children, who, ifnol speedily relieved, musl perish of starvation.

He writes as follows :

Sligo, January 14th, 1880.

Mort Révérend Dr. Duhamel.

My Dear Lord, — It becomes my urgent duty to make known to Your Lordship, and, through your favor, to the clergy and the faithful of your diocèse, the destitution which now unhappily prevails in every parish of this diocèse of Elphin, and which every day assumes more alarmiag proportions. During the last four years of agricultural dépression, our people gradually lost their means and fell into debt ; and, within the year which has just closed, thefailure of crops, the exceptional dépréciation of live stock of every kind, and the great mortality in cattle and sheep, reduced the great majority of the tenant class to extrême poverty. At the présent moment they hâve neither money nor crédit, nor the coarset food to support life. The few wet, unwholesome potatoes saved from the blighted crop of last year are now consumed. For weeks past very many of the poor hâve sold or pawned their last articles of clothing, even their very beds, in order to buy a little Indian meal, which tney coald not get on crédit. In fact, famine is rapidly overspreading this province, and the debility brought on by unwholesome, insuffle ient food during th*1 past months, will render its work of death rapid and irrésistible.

For many years past we hâve had in this ill-fated country a System of poor-law relief, but as your Lordship may be aware, the man, and the family of the man who occupies so much as one quarter of an acre land, be it in the bog or on the mountain side, is excluded from ail relief under this law, either within or without the work-house. The law will allow him

and his family to starve if he does not qualify himself for relief by giving up his home and land, and becoming an inmate of the workhouse. Now, as over ninety per cent of those suffering or lapsing into destitution, are small land-holders, poorlaw relief for them whould simply mean that they should give up for ever their poor but cherished homes : and that they should break the sacred ties of family life, separating, as they should, at the workhouse door, the husband from the wife, the parent from the children. It would incur, moreover, that they should either remain for life pining in idleness within their dreary, unhealthy prison ; or, after leaving it, lead ever after the lives of helpless vagrants. But no — our pure, warm-hearted peasants will not abandon the homes they were born in ; they will not separate from ail they hold dear on earth ; they will cling to their homes and to each other till death ; and starve rather than submit to that inhuman t»st of destitution. That test was really, though not avowedly, of course, devised by the landlord législature in London for the cheap and easy wholesale éviction of the small tenant class, which it thoroughly effeeted in 1847. It is still maintained in the law, to the eternal disgrâce of the Knglish G-overnment, for the same unhallowed pur pose.

Her Majesty's G-overnment has been, within the last four months, repeatedly called upon to provide employment, and through employment the means of support for the people of the destitute counties, by promoting and undertaking drainage and other reproductive works; but so far it has neither given nor promised such eniployment ; it seems determined to leave the lires of the people dépendent on the aforesaid poor-law ad and ils relief System.

In this sad condition. \\v hâve but one means of

saving our people from wholesale éviction and starvation — an appeal to Christian sympathy for prompt and gênerons aid. Grreat efforts will, no doubt, be made hère in Ireland by those who are themselves above distress. Several thousand pounds will also corne to us from England ; bnt ail that will be inadéquate to mitigate distress in one case out of ten. It is on the ever generous offerings of the millions of our fellowcountrymen in America that wp must chiefly rely for saving the lives of our people And, even with your most abundant gifts, the help of the State will still be necessary, if the people are to be kept in their homes, and if their lands are to be tilled and seeded this spring in a way to save them from another famine in the coming year.

I therefore appeal with the fuilest confidence to your Lordship and to your diocèse, in the naine of my destitute flock, and of ail who need relief in our affficted country, and I implore of you to corne speedily toour aid. In this diocèse, and, I believe. through this Province of Connaught, there is in each parish a relief committee, who undertake to inquire into ail cases of destitution before administering relief. It is through those committees I will distribute the offerings you will hâve the charity to entrust to me.

The fervent prayers of our suffering poor and of their clergy will bring down from heaven blessings a hundred fold on ail our benefactors.

I hâve the honor to remain, My dear Lord, With most affectionate respect, Your Lordship's devoted Brother in Christ,

f L. GrILLOOLY, CM.,

Bishop of Elphin.

Now, that you hâve heard the heart-rending appeal of the vénérable Bishop of Elphin, you do not require to be told that by our common humanity, as well as by our religion, we are bound to contribute largely to the relief of our brethren in Ireland, for whom in their great distress we sympathize most sincerely.

I know, Dearly Beloved Brethren, that you only long for this opportunity to bestow your alms. Therefore, promising yoa in the name of GJ-od the reward that your charity will merit, and confident that noone will refuse his mite, I call upon you to corne to the relief of the poor in Ireland.

For this purpose, it is ordered that a collection be taken up in ail the churches and chapels of the diocèse on the third Sunday (15th) of February. Parish priests and missionaries will please remit me without delay the amount of thèse collections.

Shall the présent Lett^r be read at the prone in ail parish churches and chapels the first Sunday after its réception.

t J. THOMAS, Bp. <>p Ottawa

2nd Sei-ies? No. 19.

CIROULAR TO THE CL/ERG Y

Episcopal Kesidence, Ottawa, February 2nd, 1880.

Beloved Co-operators,

With the prosent Circular you will receive two printed leaves indicating the manner of announcing the régulations concerning Lenten abstinence in this diocèse. Be carefal to atnx them immediately to the proper pages in the Appendix to the Situai, so as not to losethem, and that you may hâve them at hand when it is required to read them to the faithful.

Parish priests and missionnaries will remember that, as it was directed at the last pastoral retreat,they should send in before the first of April next their annual Reports on the condition of their parishes and missions.

I entreal you, Beloved Co-operators, to Labor with redoubled zeal to instruct your parishioners. Preach to them frequently : regard as a matter of the greatesl

importance and prépare accordingly, the catechetical instructions you give to children ; exhort fathers and mothers of families to teach their young children the

truths of religion, etc., etc As often as you can,

visit the schools established in your parish ; see that the schools are truly Catholic wherever it is possible to hâve such, and warn parents that they become unworthy to receive the sacraraents, if they refuse to give a Catholic éducation to their children, in accordance with the régulations laid down by the Fathers of Ihe 5th Provincial Council of Québec.

Accept, Beloved Co-operators, the assurance of my entire devotedness.

t J. THOMAS, Ev. d'Ottawa.

2nd Séries? No. 20.