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LÀ QUESTION IRLANDAISE.

BY

JEAN DE PARIS, pseudon

BOSTON:
PUBLISHED BY PATRICK DONAHOE.

1860.

Cr12100.20

948540

1860. Left. 36
Gift of
Prof. James
Ames R. Lowell,

fimbridge.

(16. t. 1838.)

THE IRISHI QUESTION IN FRANCE.

THE following powerfully written pamphlet made its appearance in Paris and Dublin during the month

of June, 1860, and created a great sensation, not only in France, but throughout England.

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In England the very existence of an Irish question will be disputed. Official speeches and the British press now fully agree on the fact that, owing to the enlightened and generrous care of the government, Ireland is at present in the enjoyment of great prosperity. With fewer Irishmen in Ireland, we are gravely told, the country is more happy; and they add:This is the advantage, and a most providential effect, of the famine and of emigration. From this it is evident that we may expect from the British press a sharp reprimand. We shall even be taxed with "ignorance;" that being the polite treatment every Frenchman receives who dares to speak of English affairs otherwise than in trumpeting their praise. Such an anticipation shall not, however, prevent us from proceeding. Notwithstanding all the confidence with which the official language of England inspires us, and the statements of the British journals, we have some reason to doubt that the people of Ireland are quite contented, and that the country is really prosperous.

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For instance, people die of hunger in this "happy" country; and this is not a story of the past, one of yesterday; it is the fact of today. For even now, as fourteen or fifteen years ago, the sorrowing wail of misery, the cry anguish, rings in our ears; accounts reach us of the population of entire villages being reduced to such a state of wretchedness that they are begging for food, asking for "boiled turnips and a little salt to support life; that some are forced to feed on seaweed, and others are actually perishing in the pangs of hunger.These scenes of sorrow are to be witnessed in the county of Mayo, in the county of Kerry,* on the sea coast, and in the mountainous districts of the West. Yes, famine reigns once more in that prosperous Ireland! Strange, indeed! Why, has not this country actually the happiness of being governed by those who call themselves our masters in the science of political economy? England should surely know admirably well how to give Ireland a prosperity of reality, not one of cruel falsehood. And yet, "if in our times that monster of barbarous ages, Famine, seeks for a prey in Europe, it is by a singular fatality Ireland alone that it

chooses."

Other symptoms also have attracted our attention. Less than two years ago, the British government was forced to put down in that hap

* At Killarney

py Ireland a certain conspiracy of a secret society called "The Phoenix Society;" a mere blaze, no doubt, but a blaze which apparently caused England a moment of uneasiness; moreover, the spark which set fire to it came, if we are not deceived, from North America, which the Times sees already principally peopled by the descendants of Irish emigrants, the future avengers of their ancestors.

Another thing which struck us was the enthusiasm with which the great deeds accomplished in Italy by our generals and soldiers have been celebrated in Ireland. Certain names of Irish origin excited in the country manifestations, which, to spare the susceptibility of our neigbors, we shall consent to consider of little importance. But, in fact, was not an illustrious Marshal of France hailed in Ireland under the royal name of Patrick the First? Is this fancy on their part, or a compliment to England?

We have further remarked that the British government refuses to authorize the organization of National Rifle Brigades in Ireland such as have been forming all through England.Does the recollection of the Irish Volunteers of 1782, who won their country's independence, still inspire fear?

Another significant fact: emigration begins anew in the most unexpected proportions. Is it because they find themselves too happy that so many Irishmen leave their country? And then again, a solemn petition, supported by sound reasoning and good motives, in which Ireland claims its Legislative Independence, receives at this moment thousands of signatures. It may be affirmed that the whole Irish people adhere to it heart and soul, and that it will rach London with all the authority of a vote of Universal Suffrage.

These, it seems, to us, are alone sufficient reasons to justify the inquiry we enter into here. And now, with the permission of our neighbors, let us go into "the question."

Let us see what Ireland is, or rather what nature made her, before examining what England has transformed her into.

Ireland, like Sicily, is one of the most richly fertile, a temperate climate, a situation admirendowed lands of this earth. A soil eminently ably adapted for commerce; abundant mineral resources; a brave and intelligent population, naturally honest, affable and benevolent in manIvely imagination, a witty, cheerful, and exners, enterprising by character, gifted with a pansive gaiety-these are the prominent features

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Ireland is the first country touched or sighted by vessels coming from the great western world, America. It offers them spacious harbors, safer and more convenient than those of England, for neither London nor Liverpool could compete with the Irish ports, already famed in the time of Tacitus. If Man had been as just towards Ireland, as Nature has been prodigal, what ships from all parts of the world, what active commerce, would fill with life her numerous harbors! What splendid sights would the bays of Dublin, Bantry, Galway, Waterford, Belfast, Cork-the natural point of communication with Australia! What traffic on the canals, and on so many lovely rivers! What activity, what industry, what life, in all those villages, silent and in ruins to-day; What riches would be extracted from the soil! what manufactures, raised up by the national capital, would attest the genius and the energy of that unfortunate race, prosperous in every land to which the blast of misery carries them -prosperous everywhere, in fact, except in their own unhappy country!

Of the different branches of commerce and manufacture which contribute to England's prosperity, which are those that Ireland would not possess? We could name some in which the Irish by their peculiar faculties, by their natural taste and imagination, and by their artistic talent, excel assuredly. How different would be, in fine, that Ireland from the one now known to us only by its misfortunes! What animation would then reign everywhere; what joy would resound on those shores, where tears only are shed to day-on those mountains where people perish of hunger! What gladsome scenes would be reflected on the bosom of the lovely lakes of free and prosperous Ireland!

Perhaps we shall be reproached with indulging in poetical fancies. Let it be remembered that the bright dawn of prosperity was seen during the short period of Irish independence, from 1782 to 1798, when Ireland possessed only the mere shadow of a national Parlia

ment.

But leaving aside the dream of the past, or ambitious views for the future, let us return to the realities of the present.

The following are figures and facts of the present time.

II.

Ireland has a greater extent of territory, has a more numerous population, gives the state a larger income, than many of the second-rate powers of Europe. Before the great famines of 1846-51, in spite of those of 1817, 1823, 1831, 1837.and we may say in spite of the permanent famine which reigns since 1800 (the date of the definite union with Egland), Ireland had over eight millions of inhabitants. We shall prove

that it is not by her fault that there remain today less than six millions.

While the famine was raging in that one year 1847-in which Ireland lost, by hunger or by the typhus fever, the famine caused five hundred thousand of her children, and in which two hundred thousand others fled from her shores-the agricultural produce of Ireland had been computed at near forty-four millions sterling--1100 millions of francs. So that in that very year, Ireland, reduced to starvation, actually produced enough to feed and clothe double the number of its inhabitants. Economists have calculated that, if well cultivated, the country could easily supply the wants of a population of twenty-five millions.*

Let us now see what part Ireland has in the budget of the United Kingdom :-Independent of many other liabilities of which we shall speak hereafter, this country, poor as it it, pays into the British treasury (according to the official documents of 1859), a sum of about seven millions sterling (175 millions of francs). But is this sum the real and exact one? It is only composed of the taxes received in Ireland. Is it not just also to count the duties paid in England on articles which are consumed in Ireland? For, in reality, it is on Ireland that the weight of those taxes falls. Minute examinations of the documents show that there is here an evident omission, an important one; and it is not to overrate it, to set down at ten millions sterling (250 millions of francs), or rather indeed at twelve millions sterling, the total tax that Ireland pays in reality to the British treasury.

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Let us, however, return to the official sum, stated to be seven millions. How is it applied to Ireland? We find it placed to the account of that country, in the chapter of expenses two millions and a half (63 millions of francs) for the army. That army, it is useless to observe, is not an Irish army; it is the army of the "United Kingdom," of which, it is well known, the Irish constitute the main reliance. So that not only with her money, but also with her blood, does Ireland contribute in a very large proportion to the maintenance of the security of the British Empire. A reflection here presents itself naturally. With her sixty-three millions of francs, Ireland independent might, if she wished to do so, have, on a peace footing, an army of about seventy thousand men.

We discover further, under the title of "divThen there is the "proportional" share of Ireers expenses," a sum of one million and a half. land in the national debt; a most flagrant injustice, which John Bull himself would be forced to acknowledge, if, going back to the time of the Union in 1800, we had leisure to remind him of that curious story. In short, after having set down to the account of Ireland several

*We read, even in a work considered as official authority, The Parliamentary Gazeteer of Ireland :-"The annual value of the agricultu.al produce of Ireland seems to be pronounced by nearly all parties only oneing "-INTRODUCT., page 69. half, some say a fifth part, of what it is capable of giv

other sums for her contribution towards certain British expenses, the official document was not able to bring the outlay up to the amount of the receipts. Of the seven millions that poor Ireland pays, there is one million sterling (twentyfive millions of francs) in her favor; a sum which Great Britain does not disdain taking to her own credit! But we have shown that it is from 250 to 300 millions of francs, and not 175, that the British treasury receives from Ireland; from which it follows that the latter country makes to her richer "sister," every year, a gratuitous gift of about 125 millions.

Are there no public works to be undertaken in Ireland? Could not the surplus of the income of this unhappy country receive profitably a thousand useful applications?

Ireland giving alms to England! Does it not look like the world upset? We hope,however, to show that such is the exact function of Ireland.

III.

We merely alluded just now to the prosperity which Ireland enjoyed from 1782 to 1798, during the period of its partial independence. This fact is of sufficient importance to be considered. O'Connell proved it fully in the famous discussion on the Repeal of the Union, brought by him in 1843, in the municipal chamber of Dublin. We shall borrow from him only three or four observations.

Pitt, proposing in the British Parliament the union of Ireland with England, was obliged to acknowledge that the former country had suddenly achieved great progress, and was obliged to have recourse to the following argument: "If Ireland," said he, "has become so prosperous under her Parliament, we may calculate that her prosperity will increase threef ld under a British legislature." This statement, recalled by O'Connell before the citizens of Dublin, several of whom were old enough to be able to draw comparisons between the two epochs, appeared to them so audacious, that they considered it only in the light of a mere happy flourish of eloquence on the part of the orator (une ingenieuse gasconnade). But had not a member of the municipality himself, so far back as 1810, observed with sorrow the effects of the two regimes? Speaking of the time when the country had its national independence, he said: "Our rights were recovered, and how soon afterwards, indeed, as if by magic, plenty smiled on us, and we soon became prosperous and happy." But he said also: "We have returned, alas! to what we were before 1782." Most positive statements made by bankers and merchants in Dublin, dated December, 1798, and January, 1799, prove also "the wonderful increase of commerce and industry in Ireland," under her National Parliament. In a speech pronounced in 1798, Lord Clare (Lord Chancellor of Ireland since 1789) made the following declaration : "There is not a nation on the face of the inhabitable globe which has advanced in cultivation, in agriculture, in manufactures, with the same

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rapidity, in the same period, as Ireland from 1789 to 1798.

Moreover, statistics prove, that during these years of independence, the national consumption increased in Ireland in greater proportion than in England, and that on the contrary it became less after the Union.

And, yet, it must not be forgotten that this Parliament, which sat in Dublin, was far from representing the interests and real sentiments of the nation. How it sold Irish independence for places, honors, titles and bribes, secretly promised and shamelessly paid by Lord Cornwallis and Lord Castlereagh, is but too well known.

IV.

Such are the natural capacities of Ireland. From what she did with them during her short period of comparative freedom, and under conditions scarcely favorable, we may judge for what an honorable and distinguished rank among western nations nature designed her.

But what has England done with that Ireland, which she holds in her hands for so many centuries? That is what we shall now examine, with the assistance of that beacon light of "liberal institutions" which she pretends she has set up for the world.

V.

It would be painful for us to go back through the course of ages, and follow in the pages of history the trace of the blood and tears of unfortunate Ireland. Who does not know that long series of violence, of massacres, of confiscation and plunder, of every sort of perfidy, of tyranny and sanguinary oppression !

Shall we remind our readers, for instance, of what Protestant historians themselves have said of the conduct of the conquerors of Ire. land about the sixteenth century?"By their horrible excesses, the English purchased the curse of God and man." So one of those historians writes.*

These atrocities have remained to this day engraven on the hearts of the Irish. So much so, that during the late insurrection in India, when cruelties were falsely imputed to the Indians, it occurred to the Irish, by way of retort, to narrate the too real barbarism accomplished in Ireland by "the Saxon Sepoys." The heart-rending scenes during the famine would have, however sufficed to remind one of the report which was one day made to Queen Elizabeth-"Little was left in Ireland for her Majesty to reign over but ashes and carcasses."We had seen verified to the letter in our epoch the descriptions given by historians of those remote times, and witnessed the frightful sight of a whole people perishing of hunger on a soil which had produced the most bountiful har

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