before the termination of another week the number will be incredible.  As to holding any more inquests, it is mere nonsense; the number of deaths is beyond counting.  Nineteen out of every twenty deaths that have occurred in this parish, for the last two months, were caused by starvation.  I have known children in the remote districts of the parish, and in the neighbourhood of the town, too, live, some of them for two, some three, and some of them for four days on water!  On the sea shore, or convenient to it, the people are more fortunate, as they can get seaweed, which, when boiled and mixed with a little Indian corn, or wheaten meal, they eat, and thank Providence for providing them with even that, to allay the cravings of hunger.”

Although the writer of the above letter says, and with reason it would seem, that the holding of any more inquests at Bantry was useless; the very week after it was written, a batch of inquests were held there, one of which bids fair to be, for a long time, famous, on account of the verdict returned.  There were forty deaths, but from some cause, perhaps for want of time, there were only fifteen inquests.  A respectable jury having been sworn, the first of these was upon a man named John Sullivan.  One of the witnesses in the case said a messenger came and announced to him that a man was lying on the old road in a bad state.  Witness proceeded to the place, but, in the first instance, alone; finding the man still alive, he returned for help to remove him.  He got a servant boy and a cart; but on going again to where Sullivan was lying, he found life was extinct.  The jury having consulted, the foreman announced their verdict in these terms:  “From the multitude of deaths which have taken place in the locality, and the number of inquests which have already been held, without any good resulting, he thought, with his fellow-jurors, that they ought to bring in a general verdict, inculpating Lord John Russell, as the head of the Government.  That Minister had the power of keeping the people alive, and he would not do so.  Notwithstanding the fatal consequences which had attended his policy, he had expressed his determination to persevere in the same course, and therefore he (the foreman) thought that he was guilty of this death and of the rest.  He would bring in no other verdict but one of wilful murder against Lord John Russell.”  The Rev. Mr. Barry suggested that the verdict should simply record the immediate cause of death—­starvation; and the jury might append their opinion as to how far it was attributable to the neglect of Lord John Russell in yielding to the interests of a class of greedy monopolists.  The foreman said he wished it should be remembered that the opinion which he had expressed with reference to the conduct of the Government was that of men upon their oaths.  A verdict was ultimately given of death from starvation, with the addition mentioned.

The inquest was held in the Court-house, in presence of three magistrates, assisted by the Catholic clergy of the town, and the officers of the Constabulary.