Travels in Ireland in the Year 1822

IN every inquiry it is important to determine some leading principle on which argument may rest; and, as Ireland has been the theatre of contention from time immemorial, it appears, that to give an impartial view of the revolution of property in that country, is the most simple way of accounting for the various political changes it has undergone. A brief examination, then, of the manner in which these changes have been brought about, and how far they have tended to promote the happiness or misery of the people exposed to their influence, cannot fail to prove interesting to the moral or political philosopher.

The worst state to which a nation can be reduced is that of indigence, wherein the necessaries of life are withheld from the great mass of the population. Ireland has recently been in that state, and although temporary relief has suspended the ruinous consequences of famine, still such a scene may again be witnessed, unless the causes be sought out and removed.

Enlightened men of the present day reflect, with surprise and incredulity, that a nation of more than seven millions

of hardy and industrious inhabitants, possessing a fertile, exuberant soil, and favoured with a genial climate, should experience want even for a moment; yet how must their astonishment be excited when they are told, that it is to moral causes, chiefly, all the evils of that unhappy country are to be traced,—that country, to use the language of a man whose wisdom was as eminent as his patriotism was sincere," for which nature has done every thing, and man nothing."

It should ever be a maxim of prudential polity in every country where population is great, or tending to increase, to solicit the natural advantages of the situation, and by means of the abundance thence arising, preclude the encroachments of idleness and poverty, to which human nature is constantly prone. Poverty is the nurse of crime; and ignorance, with all the dark passions, is apt to revel where intelligence, good order, and virtuous forbearance would exist, were the comforts or necessary means of support still at hand. In Ireland all the natural advantages adequate to the maintenance of an unbounded population are to be found in an eminent degree; yet still, although under the protection of the most enlightened form of government the world ever knew, the great majority of the inhabitants is involved in misery, lamentable ignorance, and necessarily imputable crime.

This is a frightful picture, the more particularly so as it applies to the aggregate but not to individuals; for all unprejudiced writers invariably acknowledge Irishmen to be naturally possessed of qualities most fit to promote the advancement and happiness of society, even in their reputed barbarous state at home; and of such as have gone into the service of foreign powers, some have left, others still maintain, a name distinguished for politeness, bravery, and

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Travels in Ireland in the Year 1822: Exhibiting Brief Sketches of the Moral ...