Continent, having let their lands on long leases, or in perpetuity
to 'middlemen,' who sublet them for as high rents as they could get.
Their tenants again sublet, so that it frequently happened that two,
three, or four landlords intervened between the proprietor and the
occupying tenant, each deriving an interest from the land. The head
landlord, therefore, though ever so well disposed, had no power
whatever to help the occupying tenants generally, and of those who
had the power very few felt disposed. There were extensive districts
without a single resident proprietor.

For a few weeks after the blight of the potato crop in 1846 the
cottiers and small farmers managed to eke out a subsistence by the
sale of their pigs and any little effects they had. But pigs, fowl,
furniture, and clothing soon went, one after another, to satisfy the
cravings of hunger. The better class of farmers lived upon their corn
and cattle; but they were obliged to dismiss their servants, and this
numerous class became the first victims of starvation; for when they
were turned off, they were refused admission by their relations, who
had not the means of feeding them. Tailors, shoemakers, and other
artisans who worked for the lower orders, lost their employment, and
became destitute also. While the means of support failed upon every
side, and food rose to such enormous prices that everything that
could possibly be eaten was economised, so that the starving dogs were
drowned from compassion, the famine steadily advanced from the west
and south to the east and north, till it involved the whole population
in its crushing grasp. It was painfully interesting to mark the
progress of the visitation, even in those parts of the country where
its ravages were least felt. The small farmer had only his corn,
designed for rent and seed: he was obliged to take it to the mill
to ward off starvation. The children of the poor, placed on short