text:  Those visitations (which thank God are not frequent) arise from the failure of the potato crops and generally occur in those districts most densely populated and consequently worst tilled; in fact they are greatly to be attributed to the neglect of the people themselves; who will not take the trouble of using those precautions against rot which ought always to be adopted on a moist soil or in a mountainous country: but to talk of persons dying in Ireland of starvation is absurd and bespeaks an utter ignorance of the national character