Irish Misery; Starvation In Ireland

The New York American has been favored with the following extract of a letter from Greenock, addressed to a gentleman in New York. It gives a frightful, but, we trust, an exaggerated picture of misery:–

“I neglected to mention to you in my last, the state of Ireland from starvation. You will get it all, no doubt, from the papers; but be assured it is far from being exaggerated. One writer mentions that at the moment he wrote, there were three thousand individuals on the sea shore, in sight, gathering sea-weed to boil for sustenance. The cattle are bled and the blood boiled and used. The seed potatoes dug up and devoured, and ere this reaches you, some THOUSANDS will have ceased from their misery, from actual starvation. Now is the time for the friends of Ireland with you to stretch forth a helping hand.– A few loads of flour would save thousands and exalt the American name. In this country there are poor enough, but not compared to Irish. The more I see of this country, the more I see the demoralizing effects of poverty— the oftener, and with more fervor do I exclaim, Happy, happy America!”