Concern for Famine in Ireland

The Liberator of June 18, 1831 includes notice of a famine in the West of Ireland.  There is reference to a letter the Rt. Rev. Dr. Machall, a Roman Catholic Priest, addressed to Earl Grey.  He says that “famine extends its ravages in Mayo, …. already some lives have become the victims of this calamity … contagion, the effect of want, prevails to a great extent …. father, mother, and three children  stretched on the same bed ….”