An extensive reclamation of the waste lands, however, by the application of capital and intelligence, and upon a well-ordered system, would add most materially to the resources of the country, and, besides affording the means of present employment to great numbers, assist in providing permanently and beneficially for them, as paid labourers, on the land reclaimed through their exertions. "Emigration is another project to which there can be no objection, except that of its insufficiency as a remedy for so wide-spread and multitudinous evils. It is impossible that emigration could be effected on so large a scale, were the people themselves ever so anxious to embrace it, as wholly to remove the pressure of distress arising from the excess of the population over the means now available for their support. It can only be resorted to as a secondary relief, effectual as far as it goes, and therefore deserving of attention and encouragement; but it must always leave behind it so many destitute and unemployed, that the cares of the Legislature or the burdens of the country can experience no very sensible alleviation from its aid. "The measure now before Parliament, for the relief of the Irish poor, is also relied on as a means of enabling the peasantry to buffet and overcome the difficulties of their present and impending position. It is not for us to canvass the merits or probable effects of that Bill. But we may observe, that an effective Poor Law must greatly assist the object we are considering; and it is, therefore, most desirable that its provisions should be carried into effect promptly and fully. It should be recollected, however, that the landed interest will be taxed heavily for the support of the poor under that Act; and it would, therefore, be a most auspicious introduction of so great a change in the social state of the country, if the pressure of that measure were lightened by the commencement of some works of great magnitude, which should last for a considerable time, and afford employment to large numbers of the people in various parts of Ireland. And if such undertakings were of a nature evidently calculated to open new avenues to laborious industry, and thus hold out a reasonable prospect of constant occupation, even after the period of their completion, the anxiety which, both on grounds of humanity and of policy, must attend the adoption of so great a change, would be allayed, and the most formidable of its immediate inconveniences be effectually obviated. "The works necessary for completing such a system of railways as our Report contemplates, would serve both these purposes, by affording present employment to vast numbers of the people, and by throwing open resources and means of profitable occupation, which are now inaccessible and almost unknown. The immediate effect would be, to afford extensive relief to the most indigent portion of the population, and that in a manner the most acceptable to their feelings, and the most conducive to their moral improvement. In all the views of Ireland placed before the empire,' as Mr Stanley in a letter to Mr Nicholls well observes, there is a remarkable concurrence in attributing the poverty which exists to the want of continuous employment of the population.' To that want of continuous employment, and of adequate remuneration when employed, may be traced the cause, not only of the poverty of the Irish people, but, in a great measure, also of that heedless improvidence, and of those habits of lassitude and indolence, which it may possibly require years of a better system to eradicate wholly from their character. "The effect of these depressing circumstances, aggravated, of course, in a very high degree, by the backward state of agricultural knowledge and improvement, is strikingly illustrated in the deficiency of the produce of work performed by Irish labourers to that of the same class in England. The Irish Poor Law Commissioners state, that the average produce of the soil in Ireland is not much above one-half the average produce in England, whilst the number of labourers employed in agriculture is, in propertion to the quantity of land under cultivation, more than double, namely, as five to two; thus, ten labourers in Ireland raise only the same quantity of produce that two labourers raise in England, and this produce, too, is generally of an inferior quality. So striking a disproportion, though certainly admitting of very considerable qualification with re ference to the different nature and degree of aid and facilities afforded to the labourers in the two countries, still shows a decided advantage in favour of the English workman, and fully confirms an observation which we have elsewhere made, as to the dearness of ill-requited labour. But the spirit of the Irish peasant is by no means so sunk by the adverse circumstances of his lot, as to be insensible to the stimulus which a due measure of encouragement to laborious industry supplies. Where employment is to be obtained without difficulty, and at a fair rate of compensation, his character and habits rise in an incredibly short space of time with the alteration of his circumstances. In a state of destitution no race of people are more patient and resigned. Their uncomplaining endurance seems almost to border on despondency. They make no effort to help themselves, probably because they despair of being able to do so effectually; and it ought to be mentioned to their honour, that in such emergencies they have scarcely ever been known to extort by violence that relief which cannot be obtained from their own lawful exertions, or the benevolence of others. Their fortitude during the unparalleled sufferings of 1822 was regarded with the greatest admiration and respect; feelings which have not failed to be renewed by their conduct on every subsequent trial of a similar kind. Within the last two years, namely, in the summer of 1836, a populous district on the coast of Donegal was exposed to all the miseries of famine, rendered tenfold more agonising by the knowledge that there was food enough and to spare within a few miles; yet the poor people bore their hard lot with exemplary patience, and throughout the entire period, though numbers were actually without food, and reduced to eat sea-weed, there was no plundering of stores, no theft, nor secret pillage. Such forbearance, almost approaching to insensibility, * "In 1837, while Ireland was generally free from disease, typhus fever broke out, and in a frightful form, in Rutland, County Donegal. The late ever-to-be-lamented Thomas Drummond, who taught that property had its duties as well as its rights,' ordered an inspection, under the direction of the Board of Health. There was no hesitation about the Report. The people were starving might be deemed to belong to a character incapable of being roused to exertion in any circumstances; yet the same race, who endure the last extremes of want without a murmur, are no sooner placed in a condition of supporting themselves by independent industry, than they cast aside the torpor which distinguishes them in a depressed state, and become active, diligent, and laborious. The unsparing exertions and obliging disposition of the poor, half-starved harvestmen who periodically visit the west of England are well known, and will, we are sure, be cheerfully acknowledged by all who have had occasion to employ them. "The moral effect upon a people of a system of steady and remunerative employment is an object of public importance, not inferior to its influence upon their physical condition; for it is invariably found that where industry prevails, order and respect for the laws accompany it. Ireland forms no exception to this rule. The vice and the bane of its people is idleness. They have little to do; no useful or profitable occupation to devote their time and thoughts to; and hence those habits of intemperance, and that proneness to outrage and contention, which unhappily distinguish them. But those amongst them, famine was local, and so was fever. Drummond's clear eye recognised the cause, and his warm heart did not delay the remedy. Provisions were immediately sent down, and the fever soon disappeared. From a friend, who was an eye-witness, we have the following incident-On the arrival of the meal, it was placed in charge of the Coast Guard, and as, from the distress of the people, an attack was apprehended, the Guard were placed across the gate of the store with fixed bayonets. Through the crowd a wretched man rushed, and, regardless of the bayonets, dashed forwards through the open gate. So gaunt was his appearance, so faminestricken his countenance, that even the soldiers recoiled to let him pass. He flung himself on his face on the heap of raw meal, and stuffed it down his mouth with both his hands, and then, after a few moments, cried out in agony, for a handful to take to his wife and weans,' that were dying of starvation, and, on inquiry, it was ascertained that for two days previously to his leaving home in search of assistance, neither he nor his wretched family had tasted food."Dublin Evening Post, April 7, 1846. who have been for any considerable time engaged in pursuits which afford encouragement to industry, rarely trouble themselves about angry local differences, or frequent the resorts of low profligacy and dissipation. The hand of the thrifty and diligent is not often raised in fierce and clamorous dispute, or seen amid scenes of sectarian strife and rancour. These are vices which proceed from idleness and the habits engendered by it; nor can there be any reasonable ground to doubt that they would speedily disappear before the civilising power of occupation and successful industry. "To afford the means of present employment to such a people, and, at the same time, lay the foundation of their future prosperity and improvement, is surely an object worthy of a wise and great nation, and will not be opposed from any narrow and short-sighted views of economy. The interests of these countries are so inseparably interwoven, that nothing which concerns one part of the United Kingdom can be alien from the rest. But it is the direct interest of Great Britain that Ireland should be raised, and that as speedily as possible, from its present condition. Mr Stanley shows, by a very moderate calculation, that if the Irish peasantry were placed, in point of comfort, on a par with those of Great Britain, the result to the public revenue would be an annual increase of six millions in the article of Excise. This consideration alone ought to silence any objections, on the ground of expense, against affording public aid such as may be required for these works; for it gives assurance of an enormous profit on the greatest contemplated outlay. "On prudential considerations alone, then, we should not hesitate to recommend an immediate and liberal attention to the claims of Ireland for assistance, which cannot be conferred in any shape more likely to prove beneficial than by encouraging public works of extensive and permanent utility. It is a waste of the public available resources to suffer so large a portion of the empire to lie fallow, or leave it to struggle, by slow advances and with defective means, towards its own improvement, when the judicious aid of the State might quickly make it a source of common strength and advantage. |