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IRISH ETHNOLOGY 
 
 SOCIALLr AND POLITICALLY CONSIDERED 
 
 E.MT!RACIXG 
 
 A GENEllAL OUTLINE 
 
 CELTIC AND SAXON RACES; 
 
 PRACTICiL INFERENCES. 
 
 BY GEORGE ELLIS, M.B., T.C.D. 
 
 fELLOW OF THE ROYAL COLT.KGE OF SURGEONS, IRELAND. 
 
 DUBLIN: 
 HODGES AND SMITH, 104, GRAFTON STREET, 
 
 BOOKSELLERS TO THE CNIVERSITT. 
 
 LONDON: HAMILTON, ADAMS AND CO., PATERNOSTER-ROW. 
 1852. 
 
PEERAGE. 
 
 The terms " Celt" and " Saxon," tlioiigli in familiar 
 use, convey to the general mass of readers very indis- 
 tinct notions of the great classes they are intended to 
 designate. Inquiry is usually terminated by a vague 
 admission, that there must be "something in race;" 
 accompanied by a feeling that further advance would 
 only lead to a region of mystery, a closer approach to 
 which might prove unsafe as well as practically un- 
 profitable. 
 
 It is hoped that a perusal of this little volume 
 will dissipate some of this misconception, . and secure 
 attention to a subject which, considered socially and 
 politically, will be found to have most important bear- 
 ings on the condition and prospects of the people of 
 this country. 
 
 The present position of European nations lends an 
 additional interest to questions which involve, neces- 
 sarily, a general consideration of the past, the present, 
 
 069 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 and the probable future of the two dominant races of 
 the world. 
 
 The peculiar aversion shown by political economists 
 to the admission of ethnological differences, as affecting 
 the mental features of large divisions of mankind, merits 
 attention. It is easily explained by the consideration 
 that such differences, if established, would render 
 doubtful certain favourite theoretical views, which are 
 at present assumed as universally applicable to all 
 human communities. Their arguments, as far as the 
 writer has seen, are based on the presumption that 
 mental difference implies mental inferiority — that to 
 admit the latter is to admit the defence put forward 
 for slavery and misgovernment — that such inferiority 
 would preclude the possibility of subsecjuent advance- 
 ment — that, therefore, to attempt improvement would 
 be useless, &c. The conclusion evidently intended to 
 be inferred is, that differences of race, however perma- 
 nent, do not affect mental character, and cannot, there- 
 fore, interfere with the views of political economists. 
 From the premises as Avell as from the conclusions of 
 such arguments the writer dissents. His dissent is 
 explained by the facts contained in the following pages. 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 Ancther cause of aversion to the impartial investi- 
 gation of «[uestions of race may be noticed here — tlie 
 dread of offending prejudices and of increasing antipa- 
 thies, ^vhich ah'eady, unhappily, are found to exist in too 
 great abundance. The writer is persuaded that a vast 
 amount of evil has arisen from the concealment of truth 
 consequent on this sentiment — that such prejudices and 
 antipathies have been maintained by ignorance of the 
 true nature and bearings of those most interesting and 
 important relations which form the subject of the pre- 
 sent work — that the result of honest inquiry would be 
 precisely the reverse of that anticipated — that a sincere 
 endeavour to arrive at truth in this matter would but 
 lead to a clear knowledge of the true interests of both 
 races — and that, instead of increasing rancorous feeling 
 and widening existing breaches, such knowledge would 
 be found the most efficacious means of terminating 
 mutual animosities, and insuring the mutual advan- 
 tages of a close and lasting union. 
 
 Leeson-street, 
 December \st, 1851. 
 
C N T E N T S 
 
 Page. 
 
 Introduction. 1 
 
 Chapter I. — The Saxon Race 15 
 
 Chapter IL— The Celtic Race 27 
 
 Chapter III, — Celt and Saxon 36 
 
 Chapter IV. — Order 53 
 
 Chapter V. — Practical Inferences 60 
 
 Cpiapter YI. — Education 68 
 
 Chapter VIL— The Land Question 77 
 
 Chapter VIII. — Intercourse 108 
 
 Chapter IX. — The Application of Capital 121 
 
 Chapter X. — "Water Power 130 
 
 Chapter XI. — Preservation of Order 139 
 
 Chapter XII. — Conclusion 151 
 
) 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 IT has been well and often observed, that Irish nature 
 has never yet been clearly understood by the people 
 of England generally, notAvithstandmg the propinquity 
 and frequent intercourse of the two nations. The fact, 
 as stated, though remarkable and worthy of all atten- 
 tion, will not, on reflection, be matter of surprise. The 
 striking peculiarities exhibited by the native Irish in 
 habits, in modes of thinking and of acting ; their ex- 
 tremes of feeling in joy and affliction; their vivacious 
 contentedness with an humble scale of living (which 
 to a well-fed native of England would strongly resem- 
 ble starvation) ; the curious combination so constantly 
 seen among them of patience in sufiering with excita- 
 bility of temperament at all times ; present such points 
 of opposition to the national character in England, that 
 the best descriptions of their varied qualities, whether 
 
 B 
 
2 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 found in the grave or light productions of Irish 
 writers, can scarcely be felt at all, much less com- 
 prehended in their full force, by the great mass of 
 English readers. The English mind, also, being emi- 
 nently practical, is little given to indulgence in theo- 
 retical research, and that there should have existed 
 for centuries in their own immediate vicinity, and 
 imder the same common government, a form of mind 
 utterly and unconquerably distinct from that Avith 
 which they are familiar, is, notwithstanding that the 
 strongest proofs of its truth are afforded by history and 
 observation, a supposition so completely at variance 
 with all their former notions, that hitherto, or at least 
 until very lately indeed, it has been generally con- 
 sidered as belonging to the domains of fancy, and 
 quite unworthy serious consideration. This light esti- 
 mation of the subject of race is carried further still. 
 The conduct of England towards her various dependen- 
 cies, however generous and noble in intention, (occa- 
 sionally it is the reverse) is marked, especially of late 
 years, by a similar infatuation — the one stereotyped 
 idea — acted on in principle, though not perhaps ex- 
 pressed in language, viz. that although nature may 
 have endued the different races of the world with 
 characteristic differences in feature, colour, and bodily 
 configuration, yet that in all she has constituted the 
 mind alone essentially alike, requiring only time and 
 circumstances to alter and assimilate it to that standard 
 
IXTRODUCTIOX. 3 
 
 Mdtli which an Englishman is best acquainted — his 
 own; — ^that therefore all men, however incapable of 
 being converted into Englishmen in bodily appearance, 
 may yet be easily adapted by proper education and 
 training, carried on through a few generations, to 
 receive the same moral and intellectual bias, the same 
 ideas of liberty, the same prepossessions in favour of 
 order and submission to the law, in a w^ord, to become 
 thoroughly English in mind while thoroughly foreign 
 in blood; — and further, as a legitimate practical 
 corollary from such views, that the same laws, restric- 
 tions, and privileges which are found suitable to the 
 full development of the energies of the people of 
 England, must of necessity be equally suited to the 
 corresponding improvement of all other races under 
 the English government. Now, although the unsound- 
 ness of this principle has often been proved, by the 
 Avant of success attendant on its attempted reduction 
 to practice, and by frequent necessity arising for 
 having recourse to special temporary expedients at 
 variance with the usual policy, and therefore con- 
 sidered empirical ; yet to it, on every fresh opportunity, 
 there is a constant recurrence, and it aj)pears to be 
 still regarded as the only infallible guide in legislating 
 for races of men endued by nature with most different 
 and even antagonistic mental constitutions. In very 
 recent times, indeed, accelerated in its progress, no 
 doubt, by the startling character of late events in 
 
4 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 Europe, and also perhaps by tlie publication of certain 
 remarkable lectures and writings by a distinguished 
 Scotch professor, (whose inferences, however, like 
 those of all new theories, are carried much farther 
 than facts can ever warrant), a faint glimmering of the 
 tmth appears to have shaken a little the national con- 
 fidence in this deeply rooted prejudice ; a kind of 
 hesitation is becoming apparent, a feeling of insecurity, 
 as to the soundness of the before undisputed dogma, 
 that all races, with similar opportunities of education, 
 are capable of flourishing, even while isolated, under 
 the same governmental management ; that because the 
 political and commercial principles carried out by the 
 British senate may have proved admirably adapted to 
 the advancement of the Saxon race, the same principles, 
 with little or no modification, are therefore to be con- 
 sidered the best possible for other races also — ^fitting 
 models for all the world beside. Opposite views are 
 beginning at length to attract attention, and the idea 
 that permanent difierences of race, (permanent at least 
 while isolation continues) in relation to mental as well 
 as physical character, may possibly be found to have 
 some existence in nature, is no longer, as heretofore, 
 considered altogether unreasonable and visionary. 
 
 This doctrine, in its latter aspect, — that is, as far as 
 it relates to the physical part of man, — ^being strongly- 
 supported by the experience of centuries, and its truth 
 being very generally felt with respect at least to the 
 
INTRODUCTION. 5 
 
 coloured races ;* its admission in tlie other aspect, 
 that is, as to the mental part of man's nature, will be 
 attended with the less difficulty, and the objection of 
 unreasonableness will be found equally groundless in 
 the one case as in the other. For if it be true that 
 even one single race of men can be found which has 
 retained for many ages, in all climates where its ex- 
 istence was possible, and under different degrees of 
 civilization, certain peculiarities of form and feature 
 unmistakeable by the commonest observation; can it 
 be thought unreasonable to imagine the possibility, that 
 the features of the mind also, the moral impress, 
 
 * That climate alone is the cause of colour may be doubted, when 
 we compare the fair Norwegian Saxon with his neighbour, the swarthy 
 stunted Laplander, for centuries living under the same latitudes : the 
 dark yellow Esquimo (Mongolian) with the Red American. It may 
 be mentioned here, that a celebrated physiologist is driven to the 
 alternative of attributing the dark colour of the fur-clad Lap and 
 Esquimo to exposure ! Exposure of the skin in such a climate ! 
 
 The learned author of " Man and his Migrations" ascribes physical 
 contrasts between contiguous populations to the comparatively recent 
 intrusion of one of the two, the other being thus partially displaced. 
 He conceives that all diiferences are explicable by the gradual action of 
 natural physical causes, and that by encroachment on the one side and 
 the displacement on the other, extremes may at last be brought to 
 meet, as in the above instances. Chronology here forms the difficulty. 
 If a thousand years (and this is a low computation) of subjection to 
 the same climatic influences have had so little effect in assimilating 
 the Lap and Norwegian or the Louchoux Indian and Esquimo, how 
 many ages must it not have taken to produce the contrasts. The 
 Tasmanian is if possible blacker than the negro in a climate as mild 
 as that of England — Van Dieman's Land. 
 
b IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 sliould possess certain equally permanent peculiarities, 
 which, however modified by the pressure of external 
 circumstances in individuals, will be sure to return and 
 make themselves felt in the race generally, whenever 
 that external pressure shall be removed or relaxed? 
 If, on further investigation, using the admitted facts of 
 history, and comparing them with, present conditions 
 and events passing daily before the observation of all, 
 it shall be found that the two great races inhabitmg 
 the British Islands, the Saxon and the Celtic, have 
 always exhibited, and continue at this day to exhibit, 
 in as distinct and vivid colours as ever, notwithstand- 
 ing some hundred years of partial intercommunication, 
 the most strikingly opposed mental characteristics — 
 that their ideas of liberty, self-government, industry, 
 economy, civilization, are utterly dissimilar ; — there ^\l[l 
 then be little difficulty in conceiving that those con- 
 ditions which are best calculated to draw forth the 
 energies of the one race, may possibly not be those 
 most suited to the encouragement of the same in the 
 other; that precisely similar legislative modifications 
 may not perhaps always be the best for both ; that, in 
 fine, the great groundwork of race may deserve more 
 attentive consideration than it has hitherto received, 
 and may be found to explain many of those difficulties 
 with which Irish questions have ever been invested. 
 
 From what causes the differences of race originat- 
 ed ; at what period of the world's history those great 
 
INTRODUCTION". 7 
 
 changes were first impressed on mankind; whether 
 suddenly, and contemporaneously with those miracu- 
 lous changes of language,* which, according to the 
 divine record, appear to have fallen instantaneously 
 upon men at a time when " the whole earth Avas of 
 one language and. one speech ;" — are problems now 
 beyond the reach of human research, nor is thei;' solu- 
 tion necessary to the purpose of the writer. It may, 
 however, be not unreasonably supposed that changes 
 of man's language, so great and sudden, may have had 
 some connection A\dth, or dependence on, correspondmg 
 changes in both liis physical and mental character 
 How, it is impossible in the present state of knowledge 
 to tell, and seems vain to enquii-e. Of the origin and 
 final destinies of man we know nothing, except what 
 revelation teaches. Clouds rest upon either terminus. 
 But of this we may be quite assured, that the true in- 
 
 * Since the time of Pritchard, language, as a means of determining 
 differences or affinities between many races, contiguous as to position 
 or separated by -wide intervals, has gi'adually been rising into vast im- 
 portance, furnishing as it does one of the most useful aids to the 
 ethnologist. Glossarial and structural relations in speech are now 
 recognised (though perhaps overrated by some) as of primaiy value in 
 such investigations. Thus, language and race may be said, generally, 
 to bear a remarkable correspondence, though great difficulties still, 
 and probably ever will, attend this subject. 
 
 An ingenious attempt is made by an author before alluded to, partly 
 by transitional affinities in language, to trace the origin of the inliabi- 
 tants of the most distant extremes of the earth to the hypothetical 
 centre in Asia. 
 
8 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 tei-pretation of Scripture will ever be found to har- 
 monise with the true results of science, and that the 
 brighter the light brought to bear on human discover}^, 
 the more clearly will this correspondence be perceived. 
 
 The present little work being concerned only with 
 such facts as are admitted by all ethnologists, and 
 established by the clearest historical testimony, it 
 would be foreign to the object of the writer to enter 
 further on the very mysterious subject of the rise and 
 distribution of races in general. Wliether ethnological 
 diiferences are to be accounted for by the supposition 
 of original distinction of species, or by the gradual 
 action of altered physical conditions, or by some sud- 
 den interference with natural laws,- are questions alto- 
 gether distinct from the present inquiry, which is 
 entirely confined to the historic period ; and any allu- 
 sion to them here is merely to suggest the considera- 
 tion that, on subjects confessedly invested, as the 
 primary causes of race are, with profound difficulties, 
 the objections of the sceptic are unphilosophical, and 
 his flippant dogmatism monstrously presumptuous. 
 
 Whatever the difficulties of general ethnology may 
 be, they do not apply to the special subject before us. 
 The existence of the two races, the Saxon and Celtic, 
 is universally admitted. Their habitats are distinctly 
 marked. AYliat their condition was two thousand 
 years ago is known. The testimony of ancient writers, 
 as shall be seen, of unimpeachable veracity, is most 
 
INTRODUCTION. 9 
 
 clear and striking as to tlieir physical and moral cha- 
 racters at that remote period ; and all who choose may 
 test the permanency of these characters, by compar- 
 ing them with those which, according to all historical 
 evidence, have been exhibited by these races at dif- 
 ferent intervals during this long course of ages, and 
 with those which furnish at the present day their still 
 equally well marked peculiarities. 
 
 The position, then, it is intended to establish here is 
 simply this, viz. that although, in a general view, that 
 assemblage of human passions and human frailties 
 which we understand by the terms "human nature" 
 is common to all mankind,, wherever distributed, evi- 
 dencing the same common humanity throughout the 
 earth's inhabitants ; there are yet certain qualities of 
 mind, or special tendencies, which have distinguished 
 whole classes of men — races — irrespective of place or 
 climate, and have constituted, as far as authentic his- 
 tory reaches, so far permanent differences between 
 them. Thus, to illustrate our meaning by a single in- 
 stance, excitability of temperament with regard to the 
 Celtic race has so long appertained to it in all places, 
 as to have rendered this peculiarity proverbial. The 
 Fluellen of Shakespeare, and Hector M'Intyre of Scott, 
 represent accurately this temperament in the Celt of 
 Wales and of the Scotch Highlands. The French Celt, 
 whether of Canada, of France, or of New Orleans, 
 exhibits every where similar constitutional excitability, 
 
10 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 and the Irish Celt is certainly not alien to his race in 
 this particular. We shall presently see that other 
 characteristics of extreme interest and importance 
 equally attach to this race, and that the study of these 
 is indispensable to correct views of the questions which 
 affect its progress. To the writer of these pages, view- 
 ing the subject now politically, it appears absolutely 
 certain that until the leading differences between the 
 two races shall be clearly ascertained, and the charac- 
 ters indelibly distinguishing the great Celtic family 
 shall be correctly understood, no clear principle for the 
 improvement of Ireland can be laid down, and all 
 remedial measures with regard to her must continue, 
 as they have always been, empirical, the unsatisfactory 
 efforts of blind experiment ; some, and even many of 
 late, Avell adapted to fulfil the good intentions of the 
 legislature ; but others, by a counteracting influence, 
 neutralizing in great measure the good effects of these, 
 and paralysing, or at least crippling the best digested 
 plans of the most experienced British statesmen. 
 
 The method proposed in the following pages is, 1st. 
 To attempt a short comprehensive sketch of each race 
 separately, (the Saxon and Celtic) embracing those cha- 
 racteristics which neither time nor circumstance have 
 ever been able to eradicate ; 2ndly, As occasion offers, 
 to compare the two great races together, contrasting 
 their relative capabilities and tendencies ; and 3rdly, To 
 develope practical inferences as to the promotion of 
 
INTRODUCTION. 11 
 
 healthful progress m the long misunderstood and mis- 
 managed Celtic race of Ireland. 
 
 The writer's design, to keep strictly within the limits 
 of unquestionable facts, precludes an extensive treat- 
 ment of this most interesting subject of race, as apply- 
 ing to all the divisions of the human family, and em- 
 bracing the results arising from the intermixture of two 
 or more distinct races ; extremely important and in- 
 structive as such a disquisition would be, if founded 
 on data of sufficient certainty. We may, however, 
 allude here to the effects of isolation in all races, in 
 removing the traces of foreign blood, provided the ad- 
 mixture has been inconsiderable. This law is well 
 illustrated by the system of infusing small additions of 
 new blood, for the purpose of improving stock among 
 the lower animals. If, after the foreigTi admixture, 
 isolation be kept up for a lengthened period, each suc- 
 cessive generation Avill shew less and less indication of 
 the strange infusion ; till, in the course of time, all 
 physical evidences of the alteration become obliterated, 
 and the purified mass returns at last to the original 
 stock. If the mixed blood should be still required, 
 new importations at certain intervals of time are indis- 
 pensable. 
 
 Now, the Celtic race in Ireland has, through various 
 concurrent causes, been kept for a long period in a state 
 of almost total isolation. The intermingling of foreign 
 blood has been too partial and trifling to have made 
 
12 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 itself felt in any appreciable degree. At the present 
 time, except in a comparatively few individual instan- 
 ces, it is not apparent ; and until extensive changes 
 shall take place, this state of isolation must continue, 
 preserving the purity of the race, and with it the un- 
 changeable mental features impressed on it by the 
 inscrutable laws of nature. Hence the high import- 
 ance of the present enquiry. Each race is capable of 
 progress, but each in its own way; and to the discovery 
 of that way in the Celtic race, with the best means of 
 aiding, stimulating, and directing its efforts, a know- 
 ledge of the permanent mental characteristics of that 
 race must surely form an essential preliminary. 
 
 In England, Wales excluded, the great body of the 
 people being of Saxon blood, the Saxon spirit prevails 
 almost universally, and appears to be even intensified 
 rather than altered by the small foreign admixture. 
 The latter circumstance, however, may be ascribed to the 
 natural effect of progress, in drawing forth the innate 
 qualities of this race into stronger relief. The same 
 may be affirmed of the American Union. 
 
 In the following pages, it will be seen that the writer 
 has drawn freely on the published lectures of that most 
 original thinker and eminent anatomist, Dr. Knox, 
 though totally opposed to his theological opinions, and 
 also to his theory of natural antipathies between races. 
 The writer does not believe that such antipathies exist 
 naturally. Exclusive feeling is engendered by local 
 
INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 isolation^ fis strongly between groups of men belonging 
 to the same race, as between those of different races, and 
 by traditional transmission only can be considered here- 
 ditary. The effects of isolation hy jwsition are of course 
 more easily corrected than those of isolation in blood. 
 Both, as it will be seen, are inimical to Irish progress. 
 
IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 THE SAXOX EACE. 
 
 A RACE of men marked out from tlie other inabitants of 
 our globe by certain physical peculiarities, of Avhicli 
 fairness of complexion is not the least remarkable, no 
 other race in the world equalling it in this particular, 
 inhabits at the present day the northern part of Ger- 
 many along the shores of the Baltic, Sweden, Xorway, 
 Denmark, Holland, and the greater part of England ; 
 and forms the mass in the Uniicu. K^^ates of America. 
 To these are also to be added a portion of Switzerland, 
 the lowlands of Scotland, and the north of Ireland, 
 Their physical characters are thus described: "In all 
 climes and imder all circumstances, the Saxons are a 
 tall, powerful, athletic race of men; the strongest, as a 
 race, on the face of the earth. They have fair hair, 
 with blue eyes, and so fine a complexion that they 
 may almost be considered the only absolutely fair race 
 
16 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 on the face of the globe. Generally speakmg, they are 
 not a well-made or proportioned race, falling off most 
 in the limbs ; the torso being large, vast, and dispro- 
 portioned."* 
 
 The few notices which have reached lis of the bar- 
 barian ancestors of this mighty race (from ancient 
 writers) are extremely striking. At the time Tacitus 
 wrote, about A. D. 50, they were "a peculiar, unmixed 
 race, resembling only itself," " propriam, et sinceram, 
 et tantum sui similem gentem.f They were then 
 also distinguished by those physical characters still 
 so familiar, " cserulei oculi, rutil^ comge, magna 
 corpora."]: Their descendants are the only races in 
 Europe now similarly distinguished. Their mental 
 constitution, too, even at that period of barbarism, was 
 equally remarkable ; their love of liberty so great that 
 " not even to their kings did they permit unlimited 
 sovereignty," "Nee regibus infinita aut libera potes- 
 tas."§ Their resistance to the Eoman power and 
 the free character of their governments are well 
 sketched in the following remarkable passage from the 
 same writer: — " Neither the Samnites, nor the Cartha- 
 ginians, nor Spain, nor Gaul, nor even the Parthians 
 have given us more frequent cautions: for the free 
 government of the Germans is more vigorous than 
 the despotism of Arsaces."|| Their social habits at 
 that time presented a remarkable contrast to those of 
 
 * Knox, " Races of Men." f De Moribus Ger. c. 4. 
 X De Moribus Ger. c. 4. § Ibid. c. 7. || Ibid. c. 37. 
 
THE SAXON RACE. 17 
 
 the Gauls, (or Celts), sliemng even then traces of 
 that expansiveness and self-reliance which now form 
 such constant attributes of Saxon colonists everywhere. 
 " That no cities are inhabited by the people of Germany 
 is sufficiently kno^vn, and that they do not even suffer 
 their houses to be contiguous to each other: they 
 live distinct and separate, according as a well, a 
 field or a wood strikes their fancy."* They differed 
 also from most savage nations in the respect paid to 
 their Avomen, " attributing a prophetic character to 
 them generally, and on special 'occasions regarding 
 them as divinities."! But the grand characteris- 
 tics of the race at this time, with all its barbarism, 
 were the evidences of the democratic spirit, the sturdy 
 independence enjoyed by the multitude, and their free 
 demeanour towards their elected princes or chiefs (many 
 of their states had no kings). "On matters of minor 
 importance, the chiefs deliberate ; on those of greater 
 moment, the whole community." " One inconvenience 
 arises from their liberty, that they do not assemble at 
 the same time, nor as if in obedience to a command; 
 nay, even two or three days are consumed by the 
 delays of those assembling. According as it pleases 
 the multitude, they sit down armed;" and, after hear- 
 ing the speeches of their leaders, "if the proposal dis- 
 pleases them, they reject it with murmurs ; if it be 
 pleasing, they clash their javelins."| 
 
 • De Morib. Germ. c. 16. f lb. c. 8. % lb. c. 11. 
 
 C 
 
18 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 This intense love of personal independence, the most 
 marked feature of this people even in savage life, and 
 their great corporeal strength and courage, combined 
 to maintain the distinctive characters of the race 
 through a long period of rudeness and ignorance. Cen- 
 turies of darkness rolled over, during which the foun- 
 dations of true liberty still remained unshaken, and 
 the germs were preserved of those free institutions 
 which in after times secured its blessings to their 
 descendants. Progress, as in all barbarous nations, 
 was slow at first, but advanced steadily. A prelude 
 to its more rapid development appears to have been 
 the gradual advancement of the central and inland 
 populations of Grermany to the borders, and especially 
 to the districts on the nearest sea coasts, as the shores 
 of the Baltic, where opportunity was offered for the 
 display of that maritime enterprise which has ever 
 since distinguished so remarkably all nations of Saxon 
 blood, wherever located.* 
 
 The Saxon's attachment to the sea first naturally 
 ^exhibited itself in connection with his expansive dis- 
 position. As might be expected at this rude period, 
 
 * Their places in central Germany are now occupied by the Scla- 
 vonian and other races ; the fair hair, blue eyes, and massive body of 
 the German of Tacitus having been replaced by a race very different 
 in personal appearance, though a good deal of the old stock may still 
 be found scattered here and there among the newer population. — Vide 
 Latham's Ethnology of the British Colonies, p. 7. 
 
THE SAXON RACE. 19 
 
 acquisition of property by the strong hand was unscru- 
 pulously pursued, and conquests effected and main- 
 tained. The subsequent histories and political con- 
 ditions of the conquered countries have, no doubt, 
 been variously influenced, according to the amount of 
 the Saxon element introduced in those early times 
 into each. A large portion of England became tho- 
 roughly Saxon. 
 
 As the dawn of civilization began to brighten, the 
 innate love of adventure and aggrandisement assrmied 
 an improved aspect. The sea continued, as before, the 
 favourite medium for operations, but with this differ- 
 ence, that legitimate commerce began at last to take 
 the place of those piratical expeditions which rendered 
 the name of the northern invaders a terror to distant 
 countries. The habits and inclinations of the Saxon 
 have admirably fitted him to win the advantages of 
 commerce in spite of obstacles. In the north of 
 Europe, at the beginning of the thirteenth century, 
 great difficulties stood in the way of mercantile success. 
 These difficulties drew forth the Saxon's resolution, 
 and were at length terminated by the formation of the 
 most powerful mercantile confederacy the world had 
 ever seen, the great Hanseatic League, which, consist- 
 ing in a short time of " eighty of the most considera- 
 ble cities scattered through those extensive countries 
 which stretch from the bottom of the Baltic to Cologne 
 
20 IRISH ETIINOLOOr. 
 
 on the Eliine," "became so formidable, tliat its alliance 
 was courted and its enlfnity dreaded by the great(5st 
 monarchs."* 
 
 As centuries rolled on, the principles of self-govern- 
 ment and commercial enterprise were gradually unfold- 
 ing themselves in all the branches of this powerful 
 race. The struggle for free privileges in action and 
 opinion Avas begun and maintained to a successful -issue, 
 in spite of obstacles from foreign and intestine commo- 
 tions, the opposition of inimical races, and, above all 
 and greater than all, the mighty power of clerical 
 domination. 
 
 The Saxon mind was about to throw off its fetters ^ 
 when, like a spark to prepared fuel, the era of the 
 Keformation came. The startling result now stands 
 clear before the world. The branches of the Saxon 
 race, wherever found, wherever scattered, under all 
 circumstances, in every region of the earth, whether 
 living side by side v»^ith those of a different faith, or 
 separate, under their o'v^oi free governments, are all, 
 without one exception, professors of the reformed 
 religion ; while of all the other races in the world who, 
 at the time of the reformation, were in subjection to 
 the Eoman church, none, with the exception of a small 
 peculiarly circumstanced portion of one race, have as 
 yet, though spiritual freedom is now making rapid 
 
 * Robertson's View of the State of Europe. 
 
THE SAXON RAGE. 21 
 
 strides, professedly rejected her doctrines, and abjured 
 her spiritual authority ! * 
 
 Races, lilvc individuals, seem to have their periods of 
 infancy, youth, and maturity. The Saxon race in 
 America exhibits the vigour of full manhood. Un- 
 shackled by feudal practices, and obsolete European 
 customs and prejudices, the qualities of the Saxon 
 mind- have ripened on a soil most favourable to their 
 perfect development ; and here therefore will be found 
 the best materials for the study of the true mental 
 features of the race, as Nature herself has fashioned 
 them. Next to the love of liberty, the character most 
 prominent in Saxon communities is that of respect for 
 and submission to lavfs made by themselves. The love 
 of order, and respect for the laws of parliament, have 
 long been noted attributes of the English Saxon, and 
 
 * Individuals no doubt there are, to be counted perhaps by millions, 
 scattered among all the European nations, professing Eoman Catholic- 
 ism, who are not influenced in the slightest degree by belief in Eoman 
 Catholic doctrines. Confirmed infidelity is rife in Europe. There 
 are scattered multitudes, besides, who openly profess the reformed 
 faith, and some small communities in various places, forming Protes- 
 tant nuclei, from whence, in future times, the reformed religion may. 
 perhaps extend ; but what the writer desu-es to point out is, the 
 peculiar character of mind in the Saxon race, the first to break 
 utterly and universally, avoiding opposite extremes, those spiritual 
 influences so long accepted by the rest of Christendom. Can stronger 
 evidence be required to prove that the mental conformation of races 
 is not less remarkable than the physical, and that in directing the 
 progress and calculating the future history of a nation, the element of 
 race should never be omitted ? 
 
22 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 are essentially connected with the thoroughly demo- 
 cratic nature of the race. Tlie true Saxon makes his 
 own laws, and obeys them without compulsion. His 
 form of government, whenever the selection is per- 
 mitted him, unfettered by external pressure, is, by 
 whatsoever other term it may be denominated, always 
 truly the representative. No other can satisfy his innate 
 love of freedom. He understands liberty in its true 
 meaning. He can enjoy without abusing it, and the 
 privilege is'^afe in his keeping. The great experiment 
 of the American Union gives daily testimony to the 
 truth of this statement. The recent settlement of 
 California furnishes a further most interesting corrobo- 
 ration. Wlien the treasures of this goMen region were 
 discovered, and became the centre of attraction to all 
 the loose characters in the West, it was confidently 
 predicted by those who left race entirely out of the 
 calculation, that the worst passions of human nature 
 would gain the mastery there, and that the darkest 
 deeds would be committed with impunity — that rob- 
 bery, murder, and anarchy would reign supreme, and 
 render the place for a long time uninhabitable to the 
 more orderly portion of mankind. To such predictions - 
 the writer of these pages constantly replied, that the 
 character of the Saxon race would soon appear in the 
 establishment of order, even in this Pandemonium— 
 that the large admixture of Saxon spirit, sure to flow 
 in the direction of gold, even with this many coloured 
 
THE SAXON RACE. 23 
 
 and heterogeneous population, including as it did 
 materials so diversified and antagonistic to order, would 
 soon discover means to render life secure and the 
 rights of property respected. 
 
 The result may be best stated in a quotation from 
 a well-known weekly journal, Dichenss Household 
 Words, for June 29th, 1850: — "Not the smallest won- 
 der, however, presented in this region, is the rapid 
 manner in which social order was shaped out of the 
 human chaos. "When a new placer or ' gulch ' was 
 discovered, the first thing done was to elect officers and 
 extend the area of order. The result was, that in a 
 district 500 miles long, and inhabited by 100,000 
 people, who had neither government, regular laws, 
 rules, military or civil protection, nor even locks or 
 bolts, and a great part of whom possessed wealth 
 enough to tempt the vicious and depraved ; there was 
 as much security to life and property as in any part of 
 the Union, and as small a proportion of crime. The 
 capacity of a people for self-government was never so 
 triumphantly illustrated. Never, perhaps, was there a 
 community formed o^ more unpropitious elements ; yet 
 from all this seeming chaos grew a harmony beyond 
 what the most sanguine apostle of progress could have 
 expected. Indeed, there is nothing more remarkable 
 connected Avith the capital of El Dorado, than the 
 centre point it has become."* 
 * That a community composed like this should exist for any length 
 
24 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 These grand characteristics of the Saxon's nature, 
 his love of liberty and love of order, his cheerful 
 obedience (the result of his purely democratic spirit) 
 to laws of his own making, his passion for commercial 
 enterprise, and, a consequence of this, his almost in- 
 stinctive love of the sea [the Saxons everywhere are 
 the best sailors in the world], have fitted him, better 
 perhaps than any other race now on earth, to work out 
 to the highest advantage all the capabilities of any 
 country, wherever climate permits the exercise of his 
 wonderful energies. 
 
 He is no lover of war for its own sake ; but readily 
 undertakes it when his liberty is endangered, or a 
 probability of aggrandizement offers. His courage, ac- 
 tive and passive, is unsurpassed. Altogether, as a race, 
 he exhibits many of the noblest qualities to be found 
 in man ; but races, like individuals, have their darker 
 
 of time without occasional oufbursts of crime, is of course impossible. 
 Some notorious characters, according to late accounts, presumed on 
 the supposed want of organisation in this infant settlement, as well as 
 on the suspected honesty of the legal functionaries appointed by the 
 central government at home, and threatened to involve the community 
 in general pillage and blood. What followed? The majority of the 
 population rose as one man, appointed a committee, empanelled juries, 
 and, as far as rigorous investigation of truth was compatible with the 
 promptitude necessary at this critical juncture, justice was measured 
 out, and the vast concourse fiated the sentences by unanimous ap- 
 proval. All this time, it should be remembered, no violence or insult 
 was offered to the suspected legal authorities. 
 
THE SAXON EACE. 25 
 
 side also, and to this axiom the Saxon forms no excep- 
 tion. 
 
 Lover of hberty as he is, his desire to accumulate 
 often sways his better feelings, and in his acts, espe- 
 cially when self-interest interferes, he does not always 
 admit that the less favoured divisions of the human 
 family have an equal right to its enjoyment. Slavery, 
 in free America, is the great blot on his name and 
 country; but his conscience condemns the principle, 
 while his thirst of gain sanctions the practice. 
 
 Conscious of his powers and proud of his race, his 
 self estimation being extreme, he is too apt to look 
 with contempt on the rest of the world. He is un- 
 popular on* this account in his intercourse with the 
 inhabitants of other countries, and purchases their 
 toleration by his wealth. 
 
 His native candour, when not smoothed down by 
 cultivation, is apt to degenerate into an offensive blunt - 
 ness.* In this respect as in most others, he is the 
 
 * A curioiTsly accurate portraiture professedly by one of the old 
 Spanish chroniclers, of a set of English soldier adventurers under the 
 Earl of Elvers, serving in the Spanish army as volunteers against the 
 Moors, in A. D. 1486, may be found in Washington Irving's " Con- 
 quest of Granada." The description, (whether translated from the 
 Spanish manuscript, as asserted, or the author's own) displays one 
 or two points of national character in amusingly strong relief: — 
 " They were a comely race of men, but too fair and fresh for war- 
 riors ; not having the sunbm*nt martial hue of our old Castilian 
 soldiery. They were huge feeders also, and deep carousers ; and 
 could not accommodate themselves to the sober diet of our troops, but 
 must fain eat and drink after the manner of their own country. They 
 
26 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 direct antithesis of tlie Celt; but before proceeding 
 furtlier with the comparison, attention must first be 
 directed to those prominent and universal traits in 
 the character of the latter race, to which nature has 
 affixed her seal, and Avhich, therefore, like those of the 
 Saxon, neither time nor circumstance have ever been 
 able to remove or alter permanently. 
 
 ■were often noisy and unruly, also, in their wassail ; and their quarter 
 of the camp was prone to be a scene of loud revel and sudden brawl. 
 They were withal of great pride ; yet it was not like our inflammable 
 Spanish pride : they stood not much upon the ' pundonor ' and high 
 punctilio, and rarely drew the stiletto in their disputes ; but their pride 
 was silent and contumelious. Though from a remote and somewhat 
 barbarous island, they yet believed themselves the most perfect men 
 upon earth ; and magnified their chieftain, the Lord Scales, beyond the 
 greatest of our grandees. With all this, it must be said of them that 
 they were marvellous good men in the field, dexterous archers, and 
 powerful with the battle-axe. In their great pride and self-will, they 
 always sought to press in advance, and take the post of danger, trying 
 to outvie our Spanish chivalry. They did not rush forward fiercely 
 or make a brilliant onset, like the Moorish and Spanish troops ; but 
 they went into the fight deliberately, and persisted obstinately, and 
 were slow to find out when they were beaten. 'Withal, they were 
 much esteemed, yet little liked by our soldiery, who considered them 
 staunch companions in the field, yet coveted but little fellowship with 
 them in the camp." 
 
THE CELTIC RACE. 27 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE CELTIC EACE. 
 
 Though, like the Saxon, adapted to flourish in all tem- 
 perate climates, this great race appears to have had its 
 chief local habitation, since the commencement of the 
 historic period,* cast in latitudes rather less northerly 
 than those of its larger bodiedf and more fair complex- 
 ioned neighbours. The inhabitants of France form the 
 great central body of the Celtic race, the largest and 
 most important of all its divisions. The irruption into 
 France of the German Franks, about the beginning of 
 the fourth century of the Christian era, though irresist- 
 ible, and followed by their military occupation of the 
 country, was never able to displace the original race, 
 which, in obedience to natural laws, has now returned 
 
 * With the original exodus of this race from the far east in remote 
 antiquity, as proved to the satisfaction of most ethnologists by Dr. 
 Pritchard, we have, here, nothuig whatever to do. The clearly ascer- 
 tained facts of history, accessible to all readers, being only admissible 
 (and quite sufficient) for our purpose. 
 
 f " Though in stature and weight, as a race, not equalling the 
 Saxon, the Celt is, weight for weight, stature for stature, age for age, 
 the strongest of men." — Knox. 
 
28 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 almost to its former purity, showing little or no traces 
 of the German admixture except the name. The 
 other branches of the Celtic race are the Irish, the 
 Welsh, the Highland Scotch, and the Manx, with the 
 offsets by emigration, as the French Canadians, and 
 the Irish of the United States of America. 
 
 It is worthy of remark that of the whole numerous 
 and widely diffused Celtic family, there is but one 
 division, and that the great central one, which has 
 preserved itself as a separate and independent nation. 
 How differently circumstanced in this respect the 
 branches of the Saxon family are, we have already 
 seen. France, however, has afforded to the Celtic 
 race ample room and abundant occasion for the full 
 display of all its qualities — its highest capabilities, and 
 lowest tendencies. In Ireland, unhappily, the latter 
 have come most frequently into operation, owing to 
 what causes we shall presently be in a position to com- 
 prehend. 
 
 The most remarkable, and certainly the most im- 
 portant in relation to the rest of the world, of the 
 mental qualities of the Celt, are — ^his fighting propen- 
 sities. With him war is a passion. Content to fight 
 for glory, he cares not much for the issue, provided 
 fame attends. The whole history of France is but 
 a commentary on this text, and her dipt and shorn 
 proportions, without colonies of any value, without her 
 conquests, notwithstanding all her brilliant campaigns 
 
THE CELTIC RACE. 29 
 
 and glorious victories, point to this passion, its folly, 
 and its recompense. The pugnacious irritability of the 
 Irishman, the Welshman, and the Highlander, has been 
 always proverbial. In France every man is military. 
 When well disciplined and commanded, the Celt is the 
 best of soldiers ; but if not strongly controuled, he is 
 apt to carry liberty to licentiousness. The conduct of 
 the French soldier}^ in all countries, and the character 
 of a celebrated Irish regiment, are known to all readers 
 of military details. 
 
 The form of government chosen by the Celt, by 
 whatsoever name he may think proper to dignify it, 
 whether under directory, consul, or president, whether 
 commencing as a limited monarchy or a free republic, 
 cannot fail, from the very nature of his race, to pass 
 rapidly into a form more or less despotic. In France, 
 four successive revolutions, withm the memory of living 
 men, presented as many golden opportunities of free- 
 dom. The last gave high promise. How has that 
 promise been fulfilled ? Compare the present liberty 
 of the press throughout France with that in America 
 or England — the passport system, police espionage, 
 and curtailment of the franchise, with Saxon notions 
 of freedom, and say does the Celt yet understand what 
 true liberty is ? Is it safe in his keeping ? Are the 
 mental constitutions of the two races alil^e ? Can they 
 be governed in large separate bodies by similar laws ? 
 
 The tendency to disorder and disobedience of the 
 
30 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 law, whicli has rendered those stringent regulations 
 indispensable to the existence of any government in 
 France, may easily find a parallel in the Celtic por- 
 tion of Ireland. A serious crime, a murder, is com- 
 mitted in the open day. Men in the fields or on the 
 road are witnesses. The criminal is pursued by jus- 
 tice. He seeks and obtains sympathy and assistance. 
 Every peasant's house offers him an asylum, and every 
 means is used to thwart and mislead his pursuers. 
 The murderer escapes. The standing army of mili- 
 tary and police in Ireland completes the parallel. 
 
 But, it will be said, the race may yet alter, and in 
 time acquire Saxon moderation. Let us see what re- 
 semblance the same race in the same countries bore 
 to the Saxon, nineteen hundred years ago. Caesar 
 describes them in Gaul. After proposing to give an 
 account of the " manners of Gaul and Germany, and 
 of the way in which they differ," he proceeds, " In 
 Gaul, not only in every state, and in every canton, 
 and in every division of a canton, but also in almost 
 every single house, there are factions (factiones^ hos- 
 tile parties) ; and the leaders of these factions are those 
 who are thought according to their judgment to pos- 
 sess the greatest weight, to whose arbitration and 
 decision the management of all measures and councils 
 is referred."* The same feature in the British Celt is 
 
 * De Bello Gallico, lib. 6, c. xi. 
 
THE CELTIC RACE. 31 
 
 thus noticed by Tacitus, about one hundred years 
 afterwards. " They were formerly subject to kings, 
 now they are divided into factions and parties by 
 their chiefs : nor is there anything more advantageous 
 to us against these very powerful people, than that 
 they do not consult together for the general Aveal. 
 A union of two or three states to repel the com- 
 mon danger is a rare occurrence : thus, whilst they 
 fight singly, they are all subdued."* In the third 
 book of the Commentaries, the following striking pas- 
 sage occurs: " Nam, ut ad bella suscipienda Gallorum 
 alacer ac promptus est animus, sic mollis ac minime 
 resistens ad calamitates perferendas mens eorum est."t 
 Highly excitable and ready at a moment's notice to 
 rush into war, their mind sunk under defeat, their 
 energies were prostrated by adversity, or, in the con- 
 cise language of Tacitus, " in deposcendis periculis 
 eadem audacia ; et ubi advenere, in detractandis eadem 
 formido."! 
 
 The peculiarity so well expressed in the latter part 
 of the sentence quoted last but one, refers to one of 
 the most important, as to social progress, of all the 
 traits of the Celtic character, " minime resistens ad 
 calamitates." It will be seen, on further comparison, 
 that the strength of the Celt resides in union ; that, 
 individually, he is remarkably deficient in self-reliance, 
 
 « 
 * Agricola, c. xii. f De Bello Galileo, lib. 3, c. 19. 
 
 ij: Agricola, c. 11. 
 
32 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 the great Saxon virtue ; that, thrown on his own re- 
 sources, without example to stimulate, he is easily dis- 
 heartened by obstacles and sinks under difficulties, in- 
 stead of struggling to surmount them ; but as this 
 trait shall be frequently referred to and illustrated 
 hereafter, it need not be further dwelt on here. 
 
 Nineteen centuries ago, these features of the Celt 
 were the same as they are to-day. At that early pe- 
 riod also, as now, the necessity of strict controul was 
 felt, and the means amply afforded by a religious in- 
 fluence of fearful extent, that of the terrible Druids, 
 whose punishment of excommunication was dreaded 
 more than death. The " offender was ranked among 
 the impious, and shunned by the whole community. 
 All justice was denied him."* The author of the Com- 
 mentaries proceeds to describe the secresy in affairs of 
 state which it was considered necessary to observe to- 
 wards the multitude ; and in one short pithy sentence 
 mentions a law of which, in a degree at least, French 
 rulers would highly approve, " De republica, nisi per 
 concihum, loqui non conceditur," " On state affairs 
 it is not permitted to speak except in council. "f The 
 men had the power of life and death over their mves 
 and children.]: 
 
 The contrast of the German character, drawn im- 
 mediately after by the same writer, merits attention. 
 " The customs of the Germans are widely different. 
 
 * De Bello Gallico, lib. 6, c. 13. f ^b. c 20, J Jib. c. 19. 
 
THE CELTIC EACE. 33 
 
 They have no druids nor sacrifices. Of the gods they 
 esteem only those whom they see, the sun, the moon, 
 and fire."* This description, though not strictly accu- 
 rate, as the Germans had both priests and sacrifices,! 
 shews remarkably the extreme difference between the 
 races even at that time — the innate freedom of the 
 German mind — the slight influence exercised over 
 liberty by priests and ceremonies ; so slight that even 
 Cassar inferred their non-existence. 
 
 On the other hand, the highly imaginative and im- 
 pressible character of the Celtic mind, thus early 
 shown, and transmitted unimpaired through so many 
 centuries down to their modern posterity, explains the 
 curious circumstance, that the Celt with all his love of 
 change should have been less eager than his Saxon 
 brother, Avhen the same opportunity was presented to 
 both, to leave the Eoman Catholic faith for one di- 
 vested of mysterious and ceremonial fascination — for 
 one which Protestants regard as more conformable to 
 the pure and simple worship of primitive Christianity. 
 The fact at least must be admitted, that now all Saxons 
 are Protestant ; and all Celtic bodies, except those por- 
 tions of them in the immediate neighbourhood of the 
 Saxon, are still nominally adherent to the Church of 
 Rome. The exceptions are easily explained by the effect 
 
 * De Bello Gallico, lib. 6, c. 21. 
 
 f The Germans treated their priests with much respect, and entrusted 
 to them the preservation of order in their puhlic assemhlies. — Vide 
 Tacitus, Agricola, c. 1 1 . 
 
 D 
 
34 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 of close proximity to and free commnnication with a 
 Saxon conntry. Thus, in Wales, the sudden and total 
 suppression of the monasteries by Henry the Eighth, 
 and the improved intercourse which took place at that 
 time, (the union of the two countries having been just 
 then completed, and the authority of the King's courts 
 extended everywhere through the principality,*) pre- 
 pared the way for a more speedy reception of the 
 reformed faith, than under other circumstances could, 
 humanly speaking, have been effected. 
 
 The progress of civilization in the two great modern 
 representatives of the respective races, England and 
 France, may be taken as another illustration of perma- 
 nent mental differences. The early histories of these 
 two countries were in many respects alike. Both were 
 subjected to Roman sway for about the same periods. 
 Into both, when this had elapsed, was introduced the 
 feudal systemt with its train of military oppressors, 
 the great lords or barons, whose frequently abused 
 privileges set at nought all justice and defied even regal 
 authority.^ In both, the struggle between sovereign 
 
 * Hume, vol. 4, ch. 31, p. 152. 
 
 f The divisions of property, at first allodial or unencumbered by 
 conditions of service to the chief lord, soon from various causes merged 
 into feudal tenures, which by reducing the occupiers to serfdom, long 
 served to shackle liberty and retard progress. 
 
 f " The English barons were necessitated to insert in Magna Charta 
 clauses favourable to the people ; they could not expect the concur- 
 rence of the people, without comprehending, together with their own, 
 the interests of inferior ranks of men." — Hume, Hist, of England, 
 vol.2, ch. 11, page 90. 
 
THE CELTIC RACE. 35 
 
 power and baronial ambition was long maintained. 
 How different the results in each ! Step by step, as the 
 fortunes of the great contest swayed to one side or the 
 other, openings were presented to the popular masses, 
 the great third estate in embryo, to secure privileges 
 for their order and assert the natural rights of man. 
 Step by step in England, these hard- won privileges 
 (occasionally lost in part, but always recovered with 
 interest, through centuries of stubborn resistance and 
 heroic but well regulated aggressions on power), were 
 multiplied and consolidated into that broad and stately 
 edifice — the exponent of the representative principle — 
 the British constitution, to which despots look with 
 trembling, and their victims in every part of the world 
 Avith hope. The same contest between sovereign and 
 feudal lord prevailed long in France — also with varying 
 success. The same advantageous openings were pre- 
 sented to the masses ; but no benefits accrued. Kings 
 were worsted ; but the people still suffered. Nobles 
 were humbled ; but the people were not raised. None 
 struggled for true liberty, and this strife of ages ter- 
 minated at last in one uncontrolled and unmitigated 
 despotism, to be succeeded by such alternations of 
 anarchy with sudden returns to centralization, that the 
 policy of France is no longer trusted : the oppressed 
 fear to ask her aid or sympathy ; and absolutism almost 
 inclines to place its best hopes in her inconsistency. 
 
 d2 
 
36 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 CELT AND SAXON. 
 
 The modern Celt, everywhere, differs from the modern 
 Saxon in ahnost every particular. His habits are net 
 favourable to commerce. Though, from his maritime 
 situation, possessing ample facilities for trading, he has 
 never shewn much inclination for the sea, and nature 
 seems not to have fitted him for much success on that 
 element. His exploits in naval warfare have gained 
 him neither fame nor conquest. He therefore affects 
 much contempt for trade, and his notions of glory do 
 not extend to the arts of peace, and the useful occupa- 
 tions of " a nation of shopkeepers." 
 
 The Celt is naturally the politest of men. This trait 
 is evidenced to a surprising degree, in the manners of 
 the poorest and most uneducated of the Irish natives, 
 even of those who have never been out of sight of the 
 wild bogs and hills of their country — remote from all 
 civilizing influences. The refinement of thought in 
 these people — the wish to please, she^^dng itself in every 
 word and action — the delicacy in approaching any sub- 
 
CELT AND SAXON. 67 
 
 ject on which a difference of opinion may exist — the 
 tact with which a disagreeable subject is avoided, 
 and a pleasing one substituted — the insinuating flat- 
 tery and deference to superiors — the artful humility, 
 and apparent absence of self — all these are truly 
 wonderful in beings who have never had opportunities 
 of cultivation, and who owe all the advantages they 
 may happen to possess to the hand of nature. To 
 the person who has become familiar by long residence 
 with the manners of the uneducated native Irish, and 
 has had means of comparing them with those of the 
 uneducated Saxon, no stronger proof is necessary of 
 the complete dissimilarity of the two races. 
 
 But in intimate connection with this instinctive 
 politeness, there is to be found, unhappily, a less pleas- 
 ing trait — one which has given to the nation an unen- 
 viable notoriety. The Irish have often been accused 
 of an inveterate disinclination to truth ; and, though 
 much of this character may with fairness be attributed 
 to education, the indictment, it is to be feared, can be 
 but too strongly sustained. Deceitfulness, at least, is 
 common in the race, and, in combination with the pas- 
 sion of revenge, is the root of much evil. Secret 
 societies and conspiracies for unlawful purposes take 
 their rise here, fostered by the confidence which the 
 Celt always feels in union, and rendered formidable by 
 injuries received, by hereditary antipathies, by religious 
 animosity, and, above all, by the speeches and writings of 
 
38 IRISH ETHNOLOGY, 
 
 influential demagogues. Wliile the straightforward and 
 self-reliant Englishman, when aggrieved, fights his battle 
 in the ring, in the law courts, or at the hustings, as the 
 case may be ; the Celtic Irishman, confident in union, 
 and trusting to the difficulties in the way of discovering 
 crime, has recourse to the Ribbon society, and, through 
 it, to the threatening notice, the sudden assault by num- 
 bers on the single waylaid victim, or to the deadly 
 blunderbuss. 
 
 The social habits of the Celt, so widely different 
 from those of the Saxon, are worthy of special atten- 
 tion, as exercising a most important influence on his 
 progress at home and abroad. He loves society, and 
 dislikes solitude. Abroad he is the same. He cannot, 
 like the Saxon, summon resolution to encounter alone 
 the dark forest and desolate prairie. In associated 
 bodies, with men of other races, the Celt will endure 
 much and perform much. With Saxon examples suffi- 
 ciently numerous by his side, (and this is a most en- 
 couraging trait in his character) he can and does work 
 with the greatest perseverance and ability. Alone, his 
 heart sinks and his moral courage fails. The French 
 Canadian Celts, whose isolation from the Saxon has 
 been perpetuated by difference of language and reli- 
 gion, have never penetrated the recesses of the country. 
 Their children do not, like those of the Saxon, strike 
 out boldly into the wilderness, trusting to their own 
 strong hands and innate resolution. They cling toge- 
 
CELT AND SAXON. 39 
 
 tlier in villages and hamlets, and acquire, like the Celt 
 in Ireland, the strongest attachment to the soil of their 
 birth and the patches on which their fathers lived and 
 died. From these, nothing but the strongest motives 
 can produce the voluntary dislodgment of the Celtic 
 occupant. Keeping in mind this trait, one may form 
 some idea of the present depressed condition of the 
 Irish Celt, from the immense emigration going forward, 
 even in the depth of the winter season, — until the last 
 years of the present famine an unprecedented occur- 
 rence in Ireland. 
 
 The same social habits attend the Celt wherever 
 he is found — the same want of dependance on self — 
 the same clinging to tlie soil and to his family ; and 
 their importance in the history of Celtic progress can 
 scarcely be overrated. They lead invariably and in- 
 evitably to the minute subdivision of property, where- 
 ever title gives the power, as in France ; or the negli- 
 gence or will of the landlord countenances the system, 
 as in Ireland.* The final result, of course, must be 
 
 * By subdivision of property is meant here not merely subdivision 
 of the land, but that of capital also, which leads to the same result ; 
 for it matters little whether a man possesses a large quantity of land, 
 if he have not sufficient capital to cultivate or stock it. Thus, although 
 the farms in some of the Celtic parts of Ireland are on the average 
 larger, real subdivision, that is, the minute division of property, exists 
 to an infinitely greatei* extent than in the northern counties. But, as 
 shall be seen presently, Saxon subdivision is in its natm'e quite a dif- 
 ferent affair, and as«re sign of prosjierity. 
 
40 HUSH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 extreme poverty in any country Avhicli may be entirely 
 or chiefly dependent on agriculture. In Ireland, the 
 forty-shilling franchise unfortunately encouraged to 
 the iitmost a system always too congenial to Celtic 
 habits. The element of race was, as usual, overlooked. 
 Subdivision, with the assistance of the potato, multi- 
 plied the population to such an extent in many dis- 
 tricts, particularly along the coast, that without this 
 esculent they could not be supported. As poverty 
 increased, ejectments became more numerous, and the 
 long approaching crisis of the landowners, which must 
 have arrived sooner or later, (supposing the country 
 to have remained purely agricultural) was only pre- 
 cipitated a few years by the destruction of the all 
 important crop. 
 
 This fatal system of subdividing property in Ireland 
 is attributed by many, but most untruly, to the univer- 
 sal cultivation of the potato. This plant, it is no 
 doubt true, mil singly maintain a much greater popu- 
 lation than any other known crop suited to the soil 
 and climate ; but there is no reason to believe that if it 
 had never been imported, the condition of the country 
 would have been much or at all superior to what it 
 was before the late famine. Whatever might have 
 been the quantity of food produced in Ireland from 
 any other description of crops, the equally minute sub- 
 division of that quantity of food would have been the 
 result of the iimate social habits of the Celtic inhabi- 
 
CELT AND SAXON. 41 
 
 tants. The sole diiFerences would liave consisted in tlie 
 somewhat larger size of the subdivisions of land which 
 its inferior quantity of produce Avould have compelled, 
 and in the less rapid increase of the population ; which, 
 however, would have maintained an equal ratio to the 
 quantity of food, and therefore would have been simi- 
 larly dependent on the soil as at present, and in a 
 similarly inferior social position — at least, as before the 
 famine. Grain crops, and particularly rye and oats, 
 would probably have furnished the main support of 
 the inhabitants, who would then have been equally 
 dependent for existence on these crops, as they are at 
 present on the potato. And if we suppose the case 
 that the potato had never been introduced into Ireland, 
 and that the grain crops had been smitten, as the po- 
 tato has been, by several successive blights, the native 
 character fully warrants the conclusion, that although 
 the number of sufferers in this case might not have 
 been so great, in consequence of a smaller amount of 
 population, yet that the degree of suffering would have 
 been equally severe — perhaps even more so than that 
 which has succeeded the late unparalleled calamity. But 
 leaving all extraordinary visitations of this kind out 
 of the question, one important truth to be learned from 
 the history of the Celt is this, that wherever he locates 
 himself in large isolated bodies, depending for subsist- 
 ence on the soil, and exercising free power over it, 
 there subdivision will be found to prevail, and its sure 
 
42 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 consequences to follow — capital gradually diminisliing, 
 and the scale of living gradually lowering, till it 
 becomes reduced at last to tlie lowest possible degree 
 consistent witli the necessities of human existence. 
 
 How widely different from these are the habits of the 
 go-a-head Saxon, Avhenfree to choose his o^vn career among 
 his fellows ? In the western states of America it not 
 uncommonly happens that sons, as they arrive at 
 maturity, will singly take leave of their Saxon parents, 
 with the acknowledged resolution of never re-visiting 
 home. A portion is given to each as he quits the 
 parental roof. With this, and his firm resolve, he wins 
 an independent position, either as a settler in another 
 part of the Union, or, if that suit not his purpose, as 
 an adventurer in trade or in some one of the many 
 openings which that great country offers to youthful 
 enterprise. He values land as he does any other kind 
 of property, and has no hesitation, if he should hope 
 to gain by the exchange, to convert his share of the 
 patrimonial acres into money. There is no clinging 
 to the land with him — no contentedness with poverty 
 and stinted fare, while demand exists in any part of 
 the world for strength of body and vigour of mind. 
 
 But minute subdivision of the land is found also in 
 districts chiefly inhabited by this race, as in the north- 
 eastern counties of Ireland, and yet the inhabitants of 
 these districts are, of all others, the most thriving and 
 comfortable. The fact has attracted much attention. 
 
CELT AND SAXON. 43 
 
 The explanation is easy and plain. The Saxon, 
 Avhen depending solely on the soil for subsistence, 
 will never subdivide to a degree which would re- 
 duce himself and his offspring to pauperism. No 
 instance can be produced of a number of indivi- 
 duals of this race squatting down contentedly on a 
 portion of land, and subdividing this, their sole 
 dependence, for successive generations, till poverty at 
 last overtakes them, and starvation alone checks their 
 increase. Thus, in the abovementioned districts, the 
 counties of Do^vn, Armagh, and Antrim, the soil is 
 by no means the sole support of the small holder. 
 In most cases, it is not even his chief support. If it 
 were, he could not exhibit, as he does, that appearance 
 of neat and comfortable independence, which at once 
 catches the eye of the traveller. The small holdings 
 here serve the purpose of so many fixed jDoints, from 
 which the industry of the hardworking holders and 
 of their families radiates. The labour necessarily 
 connected with the cultivation of flax, the employ- 
 ment afforded by the loom in all weathers and seasons, 
 and any other means of profitable exertion within 
 reach — supply well the place of land, and enable the 
 cottage inmates to enjoy the comparative comforts of 
 life ; Avhile their Celtic fellow-countrymen in the 
 west and south, with larger holdings and lower rents, 
 (in the south, with much superior land) can with 
 difficulty, even in the best seasons, eke out a sufficient 
 
44 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 subsistence. It would be easy to calculate wliat the 
 result would be, if it were possible at this moment to 
 withdraw from the north of Ireland all its means of 
 manufacturing industry. Would the Saxon part of 
 the population cling still to a soil unable to support 
 their numbers in comfort, and settle down in starvation 
 and Avretchedness ? All experience forbids the sup- 
 position. The interest in the smaller holdings (thanks 
 to tenant-right, of Saxon origin) would be sold for 
 Vfhatever it might bring, to larger holders ; the former 
 occupiers would remove to some more profitable field 
 of industry ; and farms would increase to a size, and 
 rents fall to a measure proportionate to the require- 
 ments of a people without other means of support. 
 How the Celt would act in a like case has been already 
 seen. Nothing short of the failure of his sole hope, 
 the potato, could separate him from his beloved soil. 
 
 It should be remarked here, that in the counties 
 just mentioned many of the native Irish reside ; and, 
 although not equalling the other race in the appear- 
 ance of neatness and comfort visible to the stranger, 
 they here display a very favourable point in the Celtic 
 character, wdiich is, that the Celt, perhaps of all other 
 men, can most easily accommodate himself to the cir- 
 cumstances in which he is placed; his quick intelli- 
 gence and perception of character rendering easy the 
 acquisition of the habits and customs of those Avith 
 whom he mixes, provided his oivn dan be not sufficiently 
 
CELT AND SAXON. 45 
 
 numerous around liim, to keep up the evils of isolation. 
 Thus, hi the above counties, many instances of thrift 
 and hard work are to be found in individuals of this race, 
 though they are almost invariably in the class of the 
 smallest holders in the country. These, however, are 
 sufficient to establish that fact here at home, which 
 their countrymen abroad daily prove to the world, 
 that the impulse of industry can and does extend 
 itself to the native Celtic Irishman, when, for his 
 natural want of self-dependence is substituted the 
 strong encouragement of labour around him ; when he 
 witnesses, on all sides, toil willingly undergone and 
 cheerfully sustained, and learns to appreciate the sub- 
 stantial benefits which are the worthy fruits of such 
 labour. 
 
 Subdivision of land, then, in Ireland presents two 
 widely different aspects. That practised by the easily 
 contented Celt, whose sole dependence it forms, leads 
 inevitably to poverty. That practised by the self- 
 dependent, calculating Saxon, who justly views land 
 as he does any other kind of property, and uses it for 
 the purposes best calculated to yield him indej)endence, 
 is highly advantageous in every way. It greatly 
 increases the number of industrious hands ; it creates 
 a ready market for the products of the farm ; and, as 
 a consequence, it enhances considerably the value of 
 the land itself. 
 
 The commercial abilities of the two races, it has 
 
46 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 already been said, are widely different. Perhaps 
 nothing will exhibit this truth more forcibly, than the 
 comparison of the natural capabilities of the harbours 
 which form the great outlets of the Saxon colony in 
 the north of Ireland, Belfast and Newry, and their 
 present condition as ports of trade — ^with those of the 
 southern and western coasts, Wexford, Waterford, 
 Cork, Limerick, "Westport, Galway, and Sligo, outlets 
 all to the Celtic counties, and including some of the 
 finest harbours in the world. Cork — 'with its popula- 
 tion of 100,000, and its harbour at Cove, the beauty, 
 amplitude, and safety of which are universally known : 
 its trade, in the victualling department at least, has 
 received all the encouragement in the power of any 
 government in fairness to bestow, and the waterpower 
 of the Lee presents manufacturing facilities. Limerick 
 - — commanding the largest and noblest river in the 
 British Islands, the broad Shannon, whose fine expanse 
 should long since have been burthened with the 
 mineral and vegetable wealth of the immense valley 
 through which it flows. The waterpower of Doonass 
 neglected ! Galway — with its internal water-commu- 
 nications and its advantages for manufactures already 
 tried with very poor success. The nearest port to 
 America, it has obtained hitherto but a small share of 
 even the Irish emigration traffic, which, from its situa- 
 tion, it should long ago have monopolized. Wexford 
 and Waterford, the latter at least an excellent harbour, 
 
CELT AND SAXON. 47 
 
 and, witli Cork, eminently qualified by position for com- 
 mercial relations with England. Compare with these the 
 harbours of Belfast and Newry. The latter for a long dis- 
 tance artificial ; the former of easy access, but shoaling 
 toward the extremity, and having already required the 
 outlay of large sums in improvement — forcing its trade 
 against many discouragements ; and yet, according to 
 the report of the Tidal Harbour Commissioners for 
 1846, the income of these ports alone more than 
 equalled, most probably they now greatly exceed the 
 entire receipts of all the above enumerated harbours 
 together. 
 
 The history of Belfast illustrates the successful strug- 
 gles of the Saxon settlement of Ulster, against a 
 competition and a legislation which at once prostrated 
 the feeble efforts in the wool and flax trade made by 
 the other provinces. In the teeth of opposition, and 
 with great disadvantages in importing the raw material, 
 Belfast, notwithstanding, has held her place against all 
 competitors, and has now become the centre of almost 
 the whole manufacturing industry of the island. 
 
 Commercial enterprise, with its widely spread rami- 
 fications and towering results, is indigenous to the 
 Saxon race. Its rise and progress amongst them resem- 
 bles the growth of a vast tree in its favorite soil 
 Each fibril of the expanded root conveys material to 
 increase the mass, which shoots vigorously upward 
 in spite of all obstacles, requiring no extraneous fore- 
 
48 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 ing — ^no other aid than tlie free exercise of its o-\vn 
 natural powers. In* a Saxon community the rise of 
 commercial industry is essentially internal. When, from 
 small beginnings, capital accumulates in the hands of 
 the most industrious or intelligent members, that capital 
 is not suffered to remain inactive. New investments 
 are effected — ^new hands are employed — ^new markets 
 sought for or created. Machinery is made to lend its 
 powers, and the ocean to convey the products. The 
 country about the seat of manufacture feels the im- 
 pulse, and the neighbouring population, Celt and 
 Saxon, participate in the happy influences which indus- 
 try and the arts of peace diffuse around.* 
 
 In an isolated Celtic community, on the contrary, 
 the rise of trade and manufacture has internal obstacles 
 to contend mth, which, without extraordinary en- 
 couragement and stimulation externally applied, -will 
 often render the best natural advantages unavailing. 
 Wlien capital accumulates in the hands of the par- 
 
 * Could the CeH but be made to feel that the labour-loving Saxon, 
 against whom his prejudices have been so long and so painfully excited, 
 would in truth become his best friend and coadjutor in the develop- 
 ment of his country's great resources, and that without his assistance, 
 instruction, and example, his own progress in every way w'ill be 
 greatly retarded, if not altogether obstructed by the numerous obsta- 
 cles always in the way of ignorance and poverty ; a new era would 
 commence in the history of Ireland, and her present querulous help- 
 lessness would soon be exchanged for resolute cooperation in economis- 
 ing to the best advantage those materials of prosperity which nature 
 has liberally bestowea, and of which the Saxon well knows the value. 
 
CELT AND SAXON. 49 
 
 ticularly saving among tliem, tliere it remains unproduc- 
 tive. A timorousness of speculation, proceeding from 
 the inherent want of individual self-reliance, forbids any 
 undertaking the success of which will depend on indivi- 
 dual enterprise, sustained against the forebodings of 
 friends, or at least their denial of encouragement. If 
 the speculation, however promising in prospect, how- 
 ever demonstrable its advantages, be a new thing, un- 
 kno-wTi to the immediate experience of the neighbour- 
 hood, the probability of any one undertaking the risk 
 will be very small indeed. Hence the acknowledged 
 difficulty of introducing into such a community any 
 improvements, even in agricultural matters, especially 
 if these improvements should require additional outlay. 
 In this case the Celt will prefer hoarding his gains, and 
 pursuing the antiquated system of his fathers. The 
 present is, perhaps, the only period at which the Irish 
 Celt ever showed an inclination to be guided by foreign 
 counsel in his farming operations. The reason is mani- 
 fest. The failure of the potato for so many successive 
 seasons has at last shaken his confidence in this crop, 
 hitherto his sheet-anchor — his almost sole dependance 
 — and he knows perfectly well that, Avith his little 
 patch of land and his want of means, no other crop 
 with which he is acquainted can save himself and his 
 family from the horrors (to him) of the poor-house. 
 Finding, then, his old system cut away from under his 
 feet, and knowing no other, he is now passive in the 
 
50 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 hands of the instructor, and in this way will open his 
 mind to new impressions, and give a trial to new 
 methods. The occasion, though arising from intense 
 suffering, is certainly favourable to the advancement of 
 the race in Ireland ; and it is to be hoped that in agri- 
 cultural reforms, as well as in other matters, this great 
 opportunity may not be allowed to pass unimproved.* 
 
 * A curious instance of the inactive condition in which money 
 savings, which might have been applied as profitable capital, are 
 allowed to lie dormant for years in the hands of even the better order 
 of the farming classes in Ireland, came to light lately in a sale under 
 the Incumbered Estates Act, in the County of Cork. The property 
 was put up in small lots, to suit the smaller class of purchasers, and 
 on the completion of the sales, the rolls of notes, produced for pay- 
 ment by those small purchasers of their own farms, shewed umnis- 
 takeable signs, by their smoked and ancient appearance, and the old 
 dates of the notes, of not having seen the light for it would be difficult 
 to say how many years. When such is the spirit pervading that class 
 from which the first beginnings of improvement in the proper use of 
 capital ought naturally to proceed, one need not be surprised that, even 
 with the advantages of the best harbours and the finest water-power, 
 the benefits of commerce and manufacturing skill have not as yet 
 penetrated the recesses of Celtic Ireland. 
 
 A fact illustrative of Irish want of self-reliance, and hesitation to 
 put in practice the common principles of trade when ample opportunity 
 is afforded, may be here mentioned as having come not long since withia 
 the writer's own experience. On the north-west coast of the island, 
 where a portion of a Connaught county, narrowed almost to a point 
 touches the sea, the inhabitants are, almost without an exception, 
 purely Celtic ; not wanting in intelligence, but long and entirely iso- 
 lated by influences of blood and of religion, as well as by position, and pre- 
 senting with remarkable distinctness the characteristics above described. 
 The county is here bordered by a small river, on which the proprietor 
 
CELT AND SAXON. 51 
 
 The Celtic race of France have never yet developed 
 tlie mercantile resources of their great country, not- 
 withstanding its excellent geographical position com- 
 manding the Atlantic and Mediterranean, and the 
 great efforts made at different times to compete with 
 and drive England out of the market — the strongest 
 motive of encouragement, perhaps, that could possibly 
 be suggested. France has a population of more than 
 thirty-five millions. With cheap food, an inexpensive 
 scale of living, and so many hands, labour should be 
 comparatively cheap ; yet skilled labour brings a high 
 price, as is proved by the number of English artisans 
 until lately employed in that country. The jealousy 
 which caused their removal will of course inflict its 
 
 of the neighbouring estate has, within the last ten or twelve years, 
 erected a very excellent corn-mill at an expense of about £1300 ; ex- 
 pecting, no doubt, a liberal interest for his outlay in a corn-growing 
 district, such as this has always been. What is the result ? The 
 miller's office has been ever since almost a sinecure ; and although the 
 consumption of oatmeal is considerable, particularly in times when the 
 potato crop is not abundant, the retailers, instead of buying up corn in the 
 neighbourhood at alow price, and having it ground for a mere trifle in the 
 mill close at hand, send their ready money to the nearest towns for the 
 groimd article, paying a much higher price, and retailing at an exorbitant 
 one. This of course checks the general demand, preventing the quick sale 
 and frequent return of profit which a little more complicated but still 
 sufficiently simple management of capital would ensure, to the mutual 
 advantage of seller and buyer. The writer has the satisfaction to add, 
 that an active and experienced Scotchman has just arrived in the 
 locality described, and taken a lease of the mill. Better things, no 
 doubt, may be soon expected. 
 
 e2 
 
52 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 own punisliment. Her mercantile navy has an aggre- 
 gate burden of but 700,000 tons, while that of England 
 carries 2,000,000 ; and as to the more important manu- 
 factures, in silk alone is she able to approach the latter 
 country ; a fact perhaps Avorthy of being remembered 
 in reference to the manufacturing capabilities of Ire- 
 land, where singular skill has already been exhibited 
 in the beautiful fabrics of the poplin loom. 
 
ORDER. 53 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 OEDEE. 
 
 It is not wonderful that the Englishman, unacquainted 
 with Ireland, cannot be made to understand the Celtic 
 character. Its salient points are at variance with all 
 he has heard or seen in England. He imagines that 
 discontent in either country must be owing to pretty 
 much the same causes. In England, a deficiency in 
 the supply of food is sure to be followed by disturb- 
 ances in the distressed locality. The Saxon chafes 
 under the deprivation of what he considers his birth- 
 right, a fair field for his labour and its just reward. 
 Distress and disturbance in England are, therefore, 
 generally looked upon as cause and effect, and on this 
 account a bad harvest in that country has always been 
 sufficient (at least in the time of the corn laws) to give 
 great anxiety to even the most popular statesmen. 
 When an Englishman, therefore, hears of outrage in 
 Ireland, arguing from the results with which he is fa- 
 miliar, and admitting no difference of race, he attri- 
 butes a great share of it to starvation. No impression 
 can be more unfounded in truth. The extraordinary 
 
54 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 passiveness in suffering, and patient resignation to the 
 will of Providence, exhibited in Ireland for the last six 
 years, have excited the just astonishment of all who 
 witnessed them, and present a characteristic feature of 
 the people, utterly incomprehensible to Saxon minds. 
 To those who have studied the race, the observation 
 made by Caesar in his description of the same race 
 (quoted before) will at once occur, "mollis ac minima 
 resistens ad calamitates perferendas mens eorum est."* 
 Utter prostration of mind accompanied the late famine, 
 and in the distressed districts personal outrages, so rife 
 before, greatly diminished in number or disappeared 
 altogether. The spirit for crime was gone, and none 
 remained even for improvement. No new plans in 
 agriculture were attempted, unless forced on and fos- 
 tered by the constant efforts of some benevolent indivi- 
 dual, f This deficiency in the quality of self-reliance 
 
 * De Bello Gallico, lib. 3, ch. 10. 
 
 t When we consider that the standing army of police in Ireland has 
 of late years been greatly angmented," (it now amounts to upwards of 
 12,000 men) ; that a greatly increased number of convictions might 
 have been expected from the trained vigilance of this large force ; that 
 the number of ejectments was enormously and progressively multi- 
 plied from the first years of the famine to the present time ; and that 
 in former years the worst description of outrages was connected with 
 ejectments (the tearing asunder the tie between land and its occupier 
 being always, in Ireland, the strongest incentive to violence) ; it will 
 appear unaccountable, except on the principle above stated, that the 
 criminal records of the last six years should not have displayed a vastly 
 increased amount of capital convictions. The famine commenced in 
 
ORDER. . 55 
 
 is always seen in the Celtic race, when under defeat or 
 severe calamity. When the difficulty passes away, 
 they recover with celerity, and, united again in masses, 
 are prepared for a renewal of action; but with the 
 individual the rule holds at all times. If left to his 
 own solitary efforts, unencouraged by example, unex- 
 cited by external stimulation, he will attempt nothing 
 new, and will remain content and even cheerful with 
 the bare means of subsistence, and the liberty of his 
 miserable hovel ; but in states of difficulty and depres- 
 sion, which, when not overwhelming and insurmount- 
 able, rouse the Saxon to further efforts, the Celt is 
 paralysed. 
 
 The prevalent English idea, that the Saxon mind, 
 its modes of thought, and the motives which influence 
 it, represent the mental basis in all other men — that 
 
 1845. In that year the number of capital sentences touched its 
 lowest point, being 13, within a period of eleven years from 1839 to 
 1849, both inclusive. In 1839, the number of capital convictions was 
 66. In 1846 but 14. In 1847 and 1848 the public relief works 
 were executed ; the rapid circulation of large sums, and the improper 
 though perhaps unavoidable mode of distribution being productive of 
 the most baneful demoralization. In the latter year was added the 
 general excitement consequent on the last French revolution ; and a 
 similar catastrophe was apprehended here, on the supposition that the 
 miseries endured by Ireland had rendered her ripe for an explosion. 
 The number of capital convictions- for the two last mentioned years 
 was 25 and 60 respectively, and the signal failure of the bloodless 
 rebellion is fresh in the minds of all. In 1849 political excitement fell, 
 but the famine and ejectments continued, and the number of convic- 
 tions was but 38. 
 
56 ir.ISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 the manner in which the Saxon will act under certain 
 circumstances being known, the same mode of action 
 may be predicated with certainty of other races under 
 the same circumstances — ^is the source of infinite mis- 
 conception ; and it is the application of this idea in the 
 policy of England towards this country for many years, 
 that has created so much disappointment in its want of 
 success, that Ireland has at last become the synonym 
 for all that is unreasonable and unintelligible, and has 
 acquired from the universal press of England the ap- 
 pellations of " paradox" and " difficulty." Thus, as 
 we have seen, distress in England being commonly 
 followed by disturbance, the poverty of Ireland has 
 been naturally enough assigned by English thinkers 
 as the cause of Irish disturbance. But poverty, 
 although the great evil of Ireland, is not the cause of 
 Celtic agitation. Before the occurrence of famine, the 
 masses, it is well known, were infinitely more open to 
 agitating influences than they are at present. Their 
 minds are now too much engrossed and depressed by 
 real evils, to admit of any foreign excitement, and 
 therefore it is that Ave no longer hear of repeal and 
 independence, so long the themes of their highest aspi- 
 rations.* 
 
 * What would have been the state of Irish feehng, had the famous 
 act of last session been even attempted before the famine ? Would 
 the people then have responded by solemn silence to the exciting 
 speeches of the Defence Association, headed as it is by their primate 
 and once powerful hierarchy ? 
 
OEDER. 57 
 
 A clear compreliension of tliis peculiarity of the 
 Celtic mind is absolutely necessary to the explanation 
 of the extraordinary fact, that the Eibbon conspiracy 
 against life and property, which before the famine per- 
 vaded the entire length and breadth of Celtic Ireland, 
 was allowed to remain in a state of almost total abey- 
 ance during the worst years of that calamity, when 
 ejectments, the great incentives to this combined sys- 
 tem of bloody defence, were more numerous and whole- 
 sale than ever known before ; and agrarian outrages 
 became so rare, that fond expectations were beginning 
 to be entertained of a general improvement in the 
 moral character of the Irish masses. With the dimi- 
 nution of extreme suffering, however, came the un- 
 pleasant conviction that the snake was as yet but 
 scotched ; and within the last twelve months, notwith- 
 standing the thinning by emigration, and the dimi- 
 nished tendency to eject, several serious offences, 
 bearing unmistakeably the Eibbon character, have 
 again appeared, though almost entirely confined to 
 those parts of the island where the circumstances of 
 the people have most improved. 
 
 The manner in which the society carries on its 
 operations is fully described in the evidence given 
 before the Committee of the House of Lords in 1839, 
 on the state of crime in Ireland. It is sufficient 
 here to state, that its organization and extent before 
 the famine w^ere such, that the utmost difficulty 
 
58 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 was experienced in tlie detection and punisliment of 
 crime. Strangers brouglit from a distance were the 
 usual instruments for carrying into effect projected 
 outrages ; and conviction was often rendered impossible, 
 the witnesses to the deed, if any, being all affiliated 
 Ribbonmen, or friendly to a society in which their 
 fathers, sons, or brothers were included. 
 
 The mysterious secrecy and vindictive character of 
 the system harmonise too well with the tendencies of 
 the Celtic mind ; hence its rapid increase and powerful 
 influence in former times. And perhaps not its least 
 attractive feature is the feeling of confidence which 
 the union of numbers gives even in a bad cause, and 
 which with the Celt, as we have seen, always forms a 
 peculiar desideratum. 
 
 The original objects of the Ribbon society were 
 chiefly of a religious and political nature. Its juris- 
 diction at present appears to be exerted altogether in 
 agrarian matters. That this is so, appears from the 
 fact, that the murders and other outrages committed 
 by the agency of strangers have of later years been 
 entirely connected with land disputes ; but whatever 
 changes may have taken place in the objects of the 
 society, its organization is still the same; its extent, 
 if not checked, may again become alarming ; and its 
 repulsive influence on the Saxon's approach is still 
 very considerable, if we may judge by the small 
 amount of English capital as yet invested in Irish 
 
ORDER. • 59 
 
 property, notwifclistanding the numerous opportunities 
 for profitable outlay afForded by the sales in the 
 Incumbered Estates Court. 
 
 It is encouraging, however, even to imagine that 
 the progress of intelligence may at length have 
 demonstrated the injurious tendency of former views ; 
 and there is much ground for hope that, with the 
 advance of education properly directed, and other 
 measures, the Celt may yet become thoroughly im- 
 pressed with the ruinous consequences to the pros- 
 perity of his country, of perpetual combination against 
 all laAV and order ; and that if he were once thoroughly 
 acquainted mth the characteristic failings of his race, 
 and with the knowledge that by the assistance of 
 Saxon capital, skill, instruction, and example, his 
 country, instead of being, as it is, a by-word in the 
 civilized world, would rise rapidly into importance, and 
 reach a position second, perhaps, to none ; his prejudices 
 would be subdued, and a large portion of the most 
 intelligent and best instructed would lend their willing 
 aid to the securing of the first preliminaries to success, 
 the abolition of secret societies and the establishment 
 of order. 
 
60 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 PRACTICAL INFERENCES. 
 
 It is generally tliouglit that this contrasting of race 
 with race, instead of serving any useful purpose, can 
 only tend to the indulgence of invidious comparisons, 
 and the perpetuation of hostile sentiments ; and a 
 guarded avoidance of this topic has accordingly been 
 observed by all writers aspiring to popularity in Ire- 
 land. The author of the present little work is deeply 
 persuaded that such impressions are both fallacious and 
 injurious; and that a clear and honest exposition of 
 the great truths displayed by the histories and present 
 conditions of the two races, if brought fairly before the 
 notice of those most concerned, would be attended with 
 results precisely ojDposite to those apprehended. The first 
 steps to improvement are, a consciousness of the defi- 
 ciencies which require it, and a clear knowledge of the 
 causes of those deficiencies. Wlien these are known, 
 what to hold in view and what to avoid will be ascer- 
 tained, and the efficacy of remedial measures will no 
 longer rest upon the chance experiments of political 
 charlatanism. 
 
PRACTICAL INFERENCES. 61 
 
 As it has often been a favourite speculative fancy 
 vrith Irish (so called) patriots, that if Ireland were but 
 left to make her own laws and govern herself indepen- 
 dently of England, she would soon attain prosperity 
 and take high rank among the nations ; it may be in- 
 structive to pursue this subject for a moment, and exa- 
 mine how far, according to the characters described as 
 essential to the race, this result might be considered 
 possible or probable. Let us suppose the Saxon ex- 
 pelled, and the dreams of the most ardent patriots 
 realised ; the Celt in full possession, and free to choose 
 his own form of government. Wliat Avould be his fu- 
 ture history ? The answer may be given in a few 
 words : — that of France on a minor scale. The novelty 
 of his position would probably keep him quiet for a 
 time. A free republic would of course be first at- 
 tempted — Saxon institutions grafted upon Celtic nature. 
 Elections would follow. Imitating the Saxon at first, 
 he would permit no military interference for the en- 
 forcement of order. No gendarmerie, national guard, 
 nor even police, probably, would be considered neces- 
 sary for this model republic, during its free enjoyment 
 of the privileges of universal franchise. His fighting 
 propensities, having now full scope, would of course 
 come immediately into play. Scenes of turbulence 
 would ensue. The discussion and rejection of various 
 plans, and the ambitions of contending interests, would 
 probably sustain this excitement for a lengthened pe- 
 
62 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 riod. Some leader of superior capacity would at last 
 lise above his fellows, and, under a liberal name, seize 
 on the sovereign power. Skilfully concentrating the 
 turbulent elements on a common object, he might se- 
 cure internal peace. United to repel foreign aggression 
 or by voluntary interference in foreign hostilities, pre- 
 ferring the pursuit of glory to the arts of peace, as a 
 nation supported by foreign alliance, Ireland would 
 become a formidable enemy, and to England a dan- 
 gerous neighbour. Without the favour of the latter 
 country, however, her commerce would be utterly in- 
 significant. Poverty would still continue. In time of 
 peace, turbulence and secret conspiracies would be re- 
 strained by the strong arm. The surveillance of a large 
 police force, or national guard, would be at length found 
 essential to the preservation of order, and Saxon liberty 
 would disappear for ever. Mihtary fame would be the 
 sole compensation for poverty and the loss of freedom. 
 Intercourse with foreign nations would now draw forth 
 the natural polish of the race, and give a higher tone 
 to manners : the fine arts would take root and thrive. 
 A close alliance Avith France might possibly introduce 
 certain manufactures, as those of silk and beet-root 
 sugar ; but with England, competition to any extent 
 would be out of the question. Saxon capital and skill, 
 naval enterprise, and resolute contempt of obstacles-, 
 Avould be an easy overmatch for the comparative poverty 
 and want of commercial spirit of the land-loving Celt. 
 
PRACTICAL INFERENCES. 63 
 
 The anticipations of high prosperity and perfect in- 
 dependence so often indulged in by Irish revolutionists, 
 are founded on an utter ignorance of the permanent 
 natural qualities of the Irish people, and of the true 
 political lesson to be derived from them, which is this : 
 that Ireland, in her present state of union with the 
 greatest nation in the world, if willing to profit to the 
 utmost by Saxon example, skill, and instruction, might 
 reach, if she pleased, a degree of prosperity, while she 
 continued to enjoy an amount of liberty, infinitely supe- 
 rior to any she could possibly attain either as an inde- 
 pendent nation or under the protection of any foreign 
 power : that her geographical position will always ren- 
 der her commerce dependent on England's good will : 
 and that against Saxon competition in the principal 
 manufactures, the most vigorous efforts of unaided 
 Celtic industry can never be expected to prevail. Tlie 
 true road to greatness for Ireland is that trodden by 
 the Saxon. In a closer union with England resides 
 the sure development of her elements of strength, and 
 on this point, as on a centre, must turn (to be attended 
 with success) all new plans and speculative proposals 
 for her improvement. 
 
 To this close union with England great obstacles are 
 opposed ; but none, which by proper measures may not 
 be gi'eatly diminished and finally removed. Steps in 
 advance have already been taken, which, if not frus- 
 trated by false ones in legislation, will be productive of 
 
64 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 vast social benefit. But a new clanger threatens. Emi- 
 gration progresses at a fearful rate. The Celt mU no 
 longer wait for better tunes. He has lost all confidence 
 in his only anchor — the potato. Wliat is to replace 
 it if he remains ? He cannot tell ! This is his present 
 great and immediate difficulty — the source of his panic 
 terror. He is the creature of impulse and example, 
 and these now drive him headlong to foreign shores. 
 With all his deficiencies, he has many most estimable 
 and loveable qualities ; and without him, Ireland, how- 
 ever advanced in civilization and greatness, will not 
 again exhibit the true social happiness, the joyous con- 
 tent, the cheerful laughter-loving spirit, the warm 
 heart, the genuine hospitality, which, whenever good 
 times, few and far between, and the absence of agita- 
 tion, rarer still, permitted them to expand, were 
 hitherto always sure to flourish upon Irish soil. 
 And the love of kindred,* parental and filial afFec- 
 
 * The following extract from a lecture lately delivered to the divinity 
 students in King's College, London, by one of the professors there, 
 shows the difficulty, to the English mind, of comprehending the intensity 
 of Irish feelings and motives : — "The ship Avon, Nicholas Johnson, 
 master, of 1100 tons register, with about six hundred passengers, 
 arrived disabled at ]\Iiramichi. She encountered at the outset heavy 
 weather, lost several spars, and suffered in her rigging, which length- 
 ened her voyage ; but the violence of the elements sank into insignifi- 
 cance before the turbulent perverseness of the Irish emigrants who 
 formed her freight. The typhus fever spread among them ; but still 
 the infatuated beings would not separate themselves from the dead, 
 until the infection rose to such a pitch on board that, frantic with 
 
PRACTICAL INFERENCES. 65 
 
 tion ! These, the worst times which Ireland ever 
 experienced could not diminish. To these are due the 
 vast sums continually remitted from America to fur- 
 nish the means of emigration to other thousands, and 
 pouring in so rapidly as to have excited fears of abso- 
 lute depopulation. Should the present rate of emigra- 
 tion continue, the Saxon will be too late ! The ele- 
 ment of labour will have deserted the country. 
 
 How is the Irishman to exist without the potato? 
 This, after all, is the question for immediate reply. It 
 may be answered by another. How does it happen 
 that in the north of Ireland the loss of the potato is 
 not attended Avith starvation? The answer is at hand. 
 The loom is there. Manufactures serve in a great 
 degree to render the humbler classes there indepen- 
 
 despair, the captain, uniting with the Preshyterian part of the pas- 
 sengers, and a few able hands of the crew still remaining, assailed the 
 unruly in their stronghold, and, giving them regular battle, succeeded 
 in removing them ; when, to their horror and dismay, they discovered 
 about sixty dead bodies stowed away in chests, or sewed up in beds ! 
 They were consigned to the deep, and followed by many fresh victims, 
 imtil the majority of the passengers, and all the crew, except two 
 hands, died. This tragical history illustrates the unhappy ignorance 
 and brutal obstinacy of the nation of Celtic savages with whom it is 
 our misfortune to be so closely bound up, &c." — Medical Times, Sep- 
 •tember 6 th, 1851. 
 
 This all-sacrificing love to save the bodies of their friends from what 
 in Ireland is looked upon with superstitious hoi-ror, — consignment to 
 the deep, — might have awakened, one would suppose, some feeling of 
 compassion or sympathy. But no ! to the lecturer it appeared mere 
 " brutal obstinacy." 
 
 F 
 
66 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 dent of tlie soil, and so it must be with the Celt if he 
 is to flourish in Ireland. With the potato, he might 
 still contrive to ward off absolute starvation, in spite 
 of poor-rates and free trade ; but without it, while 
 without capital and thrown on his own labour alone in 
 the cultivation of the land and on his present know- 
 ledge, he cannot even subsist ! 
 
 How, then, can manufacturing industry be made to 
 penetrate the Celtic recesses of Ireland ? It is plain 
 that, in the present state of things, it can only enter 
 by and with the Saxon, and this leads to the considera- 
 tion of the obstacles to the approach of the latter. 
 
 The state of isolation in which the Irish Celt has 
 always existed, is that which favours most his antipa- 
 thies to Saxon civilization ; and, viewed in this light, 
 may be considered the chief fountain of all his evils. 
 In the adaptation of remedial measures, therefore, the 
 removal by all possible means of this isolated condi- 
 tion, so hostile in him to all progress, presents itself as 
 a great leading principle to be kept continually upper- 
 most. Left as he is, under Saxon rule, unaided and 
 easily discouraged, the Celt will not improve even in 
 his OAvn way. Show him, hy example, the value of 
 labour, the necessity of order, the advantages of know- 
 ledge, and the comforts of a higher scale of living, and 
 he will be found quick to learn and skilful to perform ; 
 and, though always retaining his excitable tempera- 
 ment and peculiar tendencies, his facility in accommo- 
 
PRACTICAL INFERENCES. 67 
 
 dating himself to surrounding circumstances, when the 
 curse of isolation is removed and the strict enforce- 
 ment of law secured, will effectually adapt him to the 
 enjoyment of true liberty and Saxon modes of civiliza- 
 tion and progress. 
 
 To break down the barriers, then, with which the 
 Celt is surrounded, and which, while suffered to exist, 
 must preserve in all their integrity the worst tendencies 
 of his race, — is indispensible in the writer's view to the 
 further advancement of that race in Ireland ; and this 
 position is submitted here as a great practical principle, 
 clearly deducible from the doctrines of race advanced 
 in the preceding portion of this little work. Some of 
 the means which appear to the writer best suited to the 
 accomplishment of this difficult object will now be 
 shortly considered, under the following heads : — 1, Edu- 
 cation; 2, The Land Question; 3, Intercourse; 4, The 
 Application of Capital; 5, Waterpower; 6, Preserva- 
 tion of Order. 
 
 f2 
 
IRISH E-THKOLOGT, 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 CoNNAUGHT and Munster, the strongliolds of the Celtic 
 race, were the last parts of Ireland to receive ' the 
 English language. Forty years ago, it had made so 
 little progress among the peasantry, that a stranger 
 unacquainted with the Irish tongue would have found 
 it impossible to hold intelligible intercourse, by speech, 
 throughout entire districts of these provinces. Even 
 at the present day, there are many individuals, par- 
 ticularly among the female part of the population, who 
 know no other tongue than their own; and a still 
 greater number, who, though able to converse with 
 tolerable ease in English, prefer for the general pur- 
 . poses of life the use of their native language, and 
 speak it on all occasions in their ordinary commimica- 
 tions with each other. Of late years, indeed, the use 
 of the English language has rapidly advanced in the 
 more central districts ; and, in the more remote, the 
 necessity of acquiring it is becoming every day more 
 felt by the natives themselves ; but^ still, generally 
 
EDUCATION. 6^ 
 
 Speaking, the fluency and force of an Irish i^easant's 
 expressions can only be appreciated by those who 
 understand the Irish language, his imperfect know- 
 ledge of the other rendering it unsuitable for the ready 
 conveyance of his thoughts. He, therefore, often 
 thinks in that language, which has been the vehicle of 
 his earliest impressions, and prefers its use where he 
 can. The isolating effects of this difference of speech, 
 this great barrier to amalgamation, are shown in the 
 traditionary feelings of hostility to the Saxon race, 
 handed down through generations in sounds which 
 excite the native temperament in an extraordinary 
 degree. 
 
 But even among the greatly increased numbers in 
 Ireland who now speak th'e English language fluently, 
 this new attainment cannot be expected to have much 
 effect in introducing more liberal ideas, while inter- 
 course with men of different habits of thought from 
 their own is still so limited. Their views and feelings 
 must still continue the same, whether expressed in one 
 language or the other, while no opportunity is afforded 
 of correcting them by comparison with other standards. 
 The avenues to better knowledge must still remain 
 closed, and the all-powerful engine of the press can 
 avail but little with those to whom, from their defi- 
 ciency in the first rudiments of education, its most 
 useful productions are truly but sealed books. Wlien 
 the evil effects of this long continued isolation are con- 
 
70 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 sidered, in perpetuating ignorance, prejudice, and want 
 of progress, the necessity of obtaining some mode of 
 access to tlie Celtic mind will appear absolute, and the 
 question of national ediication will stand forth in its 
 true importance. ' 
 
 Now, although in the general legislative management 
 of Ireland by British statesmen, the above great prin- 
 ciple is not avowed, nor apparently recognised as the 
 chief object to be held in view, it must be confessed 
 that the government measures in reference to this par- 
 ticular question are admirably adapted to forward the 
 great result. The system of national education in 
 Ireland is one which confers an inestimable boon on 
 present and future generations ; and in carrying out 
 this system in the face of great opposition, and (as the 
 writer thinks) of mistaken zeal, the government are 
 deserving of all praise. The rapid progressive increase 
 in the number of schools and pupils, under the super- 
 intendence of the Commissioners, demonstrates re- 
 markably the aptitude for instruction existing in the 
 Irish mind, long unhappily suffered to lie uncultivated. 
 The number of pupils in all is now nearly half a mil- 
 lion, Connaught and Munster together contributing 
 about 200,000. Such facts as these are calculated to 
 awaken the strongest anticipations of ultimate good, in 
 the opportunity afforded of penetrating the heretofore 
 unapproachable domain of Celtic intellect; and of 
 laying permanently open, for all time, a way of access 
 
EDUCATION. 71 
 
 to tlie minds of a people second to none in quickness 
 of apprehension and acuteness of discernment. The 
 rapid success of these schools is due to the excellent 
 quality of the instruction given. The books used 
 contain much useful knowledge, so conveyed in lan- 
 guage as to attract, as well as improve, junior under- 
 standings ; and the great demand for them throughout 
 England, Scotland, Wales, and the colonies, has im- 
 pressed on them the stamp of public approbation. It 
 is to be hoped that their future progress will equal 
 the past. In their management, however, much ■will 
 depend on the discrimination exercised in the selection 
 of masters, [this is a point of the highest importance] 
 both with regard to moral principles and to profession- 
 al capacity. That the latter is already well under- 
 stood and appreciated, is proved by the success of the 
 Church Education Society's schools, even in the im- 
 mediate vicinity of those of the national system. One 
 would suppose that no Eoman Catholic would allow 
 his children to receive instruction in the former, 
 wherever the latter in point of distance are equally 
 convenient. This is not always the case. The writer 
 is aware of instances where, from the superior cha- 
 racter, as to ability, of the masters, the number of 
 pupils, including several of the Roman Catholic creed", 
 attending the Church Education schools far exceeds 
 that attending the neighbouring National schools ; the 
 preference shewn by the children of this creed being. 
 
72 lEISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 as is well known, at first solely due to the superior 
 qualifications of the masters. A competition of this 
 kind is perhaps desirable, and should have the most 
 favourable effects on the progress of all. The emula- 
 tion excited in the masters will effectually prevent 
 carelessness ; and this rivalry in learning (one may 
 at least endeavour to hope) will not lead to those 
 embittered feelings which other grosser rivalries have 
 too often created. It should be mentioned, however, 
 that the instances here alluded to were in a northern 
 county, where intercourse with the Saxon race has 
 very much diminished prejudices against Saxon im- 
 provement, until very lately so strong in some other 
 parts of the country; adding another illustration of 
 the principle, that the removal of isolation is the fore- 
 runner of Celtic advancement in Ireland. 
 
 The superior character of the knowledge imparted 
 in most of these schools is matter of sincere congratu- 
 lation to all lovers of progress ; and if a strict superin- 
 tendence and a careful selection of masters and books 
 shall be ensured and continued for some years longer, 
 and additional schools erected wherever openings pre- 
 sent, a rich soil shall have been prepared in Ireland 
 for the introduction of Saxon enterprise and capital, 
 and for the due appreciation by Irish minds of that 
 industrial assistance, by example and instruction, which 
 the Celt so much requires, and the Saxon is so well 
 qualified to impart. 
 
EDUCATION. 73 
 
 The commencement of this useful education, in the 
 very lowest strata of society, is a guarantee of the 
 sound basis on Avliich the plans of the legislature were 
 in this instance founded ; and it is not to be doubted 
 that, in the course of time, many distinguished speci- 
 mens of native talent shall be raised from the humblest 
 ranks, and transferred to a position which, but for the 
 opportunities of elementary education now afforded, 
 their most ardent hope could not have anticipated. 
 
 The future realization of this hope, we may con- 
 clude, will be still further facilitated by the superior 
 courses of instruction given in the three Queen s Col- 
 leges now established in Ireland, the progress of which, 
 from the opening in the year 1849 to the present time, 
 has surpassed general expectation. Fierce opposition 
 was also given to these establishments by interested 
 bodies, and uncompromising though probably conscien- 
 tious zealots ; but the force of reason prevailed over 
 senseless clamour, and at the end of the very first 
 session, each college, by its successful debut, vindicated 
 the claims of Celtic Ireland to a fair share of that 
 laudable ambition which aspires to literary distinction. 
 
 The Queen's University in Ireland, founded in 1850, 
 is to be considered the highest point in the system of 
 education under the patronage of government. It is 
 in connection with the three Queen's Colleges, being 
 established for the purpose of granting degrees in arts. 
 
74 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 medicine, and law, to students who shall have com- 
 pleted their studies in any one of these colleges. 
 
 These government institutions, together with the 
 National School system, present valuable agents for 
 the difFasion of knowledge through all ranks of the 
 community; and it is extremely probable that some 
 instances will occur of pupils ascending, by the force of 
 talent, from the lowest to the highest steps, in the gra- 
 dation of these educational establishments. 
 
 But there is still one link wanting. The gulf is mde 
 between the humble and inexpensive National School and 
 the Queen's Colleges ; and though it would be by no means 
 desirable to give undue encouragement to the elevation 
 above their proper sphere of mediocre abilities, or to 
 raise ideas in the generality which might unfit them for 
 humbler and more appropriate pursuits, an exception 
 might be made with advantage in favour of highly 
 distinguished promise of future excellence. An inter- 
 mediate endowed establishment, say one or two at first 
 for all Ireland, in direct connection with and under the 
 management of the Commissioners, to give superior 
 instruction, with board and suitable provision, to a few 
 selected pupils educated in the National Schools, the 
 selection to be made by careful examination, would 
 open to the children of the very lowest classes the pos- 
 sibility, now scarcely to be thought of, of attaining 
 some of the many exhibitions awarded according to 
 merit at entrance in the new colleges, or at least oi 
 
EDUCATION. 75 
 
 applying their natural gifts to many congenial purposes 
 in the middle and humbler walks of life.* 
 
 Such an establishment might be expected to awaken 
 many a germ of native talent which otherwise would re- 
 main for ever undiscoverable ; and by removing a diffi- 
 culty now almost insurmountable, to infuse a degree of 
 self-respect and self-reliance in many young individuals 
 of a race in which the growth of these qualities requires 
 the strongest encouragement. The links in the chain 
 of educational facilities for Ireland would then be com- 
 plete ; and what a glorious boast for any country to be 
 able to make, that genius, born in a hovel, possessed 
 by indisputable birthright the privilege of acquiring, if 
 it so "willed, in spite of the disadvantages of poverty 
 and humble origin, all the benefits of a liberal educa- 
 tion — the opportunity, by the exercise of nature's gifts 
 alone, of entering the arena of learning or of the fine 
 arts, on equal terms in this respect with the rich and 
 high-born. This indeed would be a true and legitimate 
 equality, to which none in any rank ought to object ; 
 and the privilege being restricted to superior talent, 
 would be the more highly prized by the fortunate 
 candidates, and furnish in a worthy rivalship the best 
 security against its abuse. 
 
 * The city of New York " not only offers a free education to every 
 child within her limits, but has organised and established a Free 
 Academy, where any child of ability may receive an education equal 
 to that afforded in the best colleges of the State." — Speech of Mr. 
 Raymond. 
 
76 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 In concluding this subject, tlie writer would say: 
 Educate the people by all possible means ; give all 
 facilities to the honest efforts of every creed to forward 
 the good work. It is the first step to the removal of 
 isolation, and in no other way can the full power 
 of the press be brought to bear upon the Celtic mind. 
 It may be said that this power may possibly be used by 
 the ill-disposed for purposes far different from those 
 here contemplated. It is so used in Celtic France, 
 where the liberty of the press is in consequence, and 
 of necessity, greatly restricted ; and it would be so 
 used in Ireland, if the Celtic spirit there were to be for 
 ever shut out from Saxon influence. In the latter 
 country, however, the very progress of education itself 
 will carry with it the antidote to its abuse. The Saxon 
 spirit and the Saxon press are at hand, and their 
 operation will be more and more facilitated by each ex- 
 tension of knowledge. 
 
 AVhen education becomes general in Ireland, a great 
 step forward shall have been accomplished ; and that 
 lamentable condition of gross ignorance, which at pre- 
 sent serves to foster the worst prejudices and to pre- 
 vent all progress, shall have yielded, and opened a 
 way for the successful introduction of other measures. 
 Above all, much shall have been done to effect the 
 free communication of mind with mind, and to destroy 
 that bane of the Celtic race in Ireland — isolation. 
 
THE LAND QUESTION. 7/ 
 
 CHAPTER yil. 
 
 THE LAND QUESTION. 
 
 To those Avlio omit all reference to race, the causes of 
 the present condition of landed property and of land 
 tenure of Ireland are enveloped in so much confusion, 
 that all their attempts to unravel and explain them are 
 found altogether unsatisfactory. 
 
 Among the foremost of the difficulties with which the 
 question is incumbered, is that of estimating the amount 
 of evil connected with the conduct of Irish landlords. 
 Odium attaches to the general body. In many instances 
 this odium is deserved. Few are altoprether faultless. 
 The personal character, then, of these proprietors, traced 
 back through generations of ancestral misconduct, is 
 supposed by many enquirers to be the chief element 
 among the causes which have produced the present 
 state of things. 
 
 But the vices of human nature are to be found in all 
 landlords, as in all other men — in English landlords, as 
 well as in Irish — in the landlords of the north of Ireland, 
 as in those of the west and south. How comes it that 
 the landlords of the Celtic portion of Ireland alone are 
 
78 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 the worst and most unfortunate of mortals — the unpitied 
 objects of indiscriminate condemnation? 
 
 Cause and effect are here, as usual, confounded. 
 The wider range of the question is overlooked, and 
 proofs of general landlord delinquency are taken as a 
 direct and convincing demonstration, that this delin- 
 quency is the " fons et origo" of the mischief; and not, 
 as it is in reality, but an effect itself, a single phase of 
 that general condition which owes its existence to far 
 mightier and deeper causes — causes, the study of which 
 will impel the thinking mind to the conviction, that if 
 all the present landlord-class Avere now to be removed 
 from Ireland, and if a fresh importation of the best 
 specimens of the same class in England were chosen to 
 supply the places of the first, the same causes still con- 
 tinuing in the same force as hitherto, the certain sub- 
 sequent degeneration of the newly arrived, or of their 
 posterity, would be but a question of time ; and the 
 great truth would at length become apparent, that it 
 is a people themselves, with their system of habits, 
 actions, and modes of life, that impress and mould, 
 and as it were create the relative character of the land- 
 lord ; while the latter, flowing with the current — subject, 
 like all other men, to the infirmities and open to the 
 temptations of humanity — is to be looked upon as one 
 of the exponents of a pernicious general system, rather 
 than as the agent which has brought that system into 
 being. The explanation will appear as we proceed. 
 
THE LAND QUESTION. 79 
 
 Another alleged source of all Irish evils, much in- 
 sisted on and amply discussed everywhere, is, — the 
 religion of the Celtic people. This need not detain us 
 here. Belgium, Roman Catholic to the core, supplies 
 the often repeated and never controverted answer. 
 Her very name is, at this moment, associated with 
 ideas of bee-like industry and its best results, abun- 
 dance and content.* 
 
 A third suggested cause, is, — the want of capital. 
 
 Is capital, then, never accumulated in Ireland ? In 
 many thousand instances it has been. Many a hard- 
 working Celtic Irishman, in times gone by, has realized 
 a competency, say ten or twenty thousand pounds, by 
 honest trade. But how has this capital been applied? 
 What has always been the rule in such cases ? Has 
 he extended his business by it, or devoted it to new 
 speculations? Embarked it in commerce? Estab- 
 lished manufactures ? Reclaimed or improved land as a 
 money speculation? Or has not the rule in these 
 cases been to withdraw from the trading concern ; to 
 retire with his capital into private respectability; to 
 eschew trade and traders ; to struggle into higher 
 circles ; to enjoy while he could, often to dissipate the 
 whole in his lifetime, and leave his family paupers? 
 
 * Though the Eoman Catholic religion, per se, is not incompatible 
 with active industry, difference of religion acts unfevourably in another 
 way. It tends to preserve isolation, and thus, indirectly, is a decided 
 obstacle to progress. The influence of pure religion on the morality 
 of a people is a different question, and not introduced here. 
 
80 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 Is it wonderful, in a community where this with- 
 drawal of capital from established trading concerns is 
 almost -universal, that trade, commerce, manufactures 
 cannot increase ; that such concerns should sink against 
 the competition of the larger capitalists abroad ; that, 
 in consequence of this competition, every step in ad- 
 vance with the great English or Scotch houses should 
 be a step backwards with Irish ones ; that industry 
 should depart and poverty come ?* 
 
 Is it wonderful that even Saxon families, thinly scat- 
 tered in Celtic communities, should not struggle long 
 against the all-pervading national spirit, but rather that, 
 as their natural energies are stronger even when wrongly 
 directed, they should at last become " ipsis Hibernicis 
 Hiberniores," more Irish than the Irish themselves? 
 The popular contempt for trade, economy, system — 
 the risk of losing caste among equals — above all, the 
 certain loss of respect from the great body of the 
 people, for any line of conduct inconsistent with the 
 popular notions of gentility — were opponents against 
 which individual human nature could not contend. Is 
 it wonderful that the landlords should have been car- 
 ried into the vortex? 
 
 Capital alone, then, can do little good. Men can- 
 not be compelled against their OAvn free wills to apply 
 
 * That the proximity of a Saxon people has a prejudicial effect on 
 the progress of a Celtic, until a close union takes place between them, 
 is a fact longfdt in Ireland, though never understood. 
 
THE LAND QUESTION. 81 
 
 it in useful enterprise. The men to use it tlius must 
 come with it. England, Scotland, the north of Ire- 
 land, the States of America, produce such men in 
 abundance — men whose energies increase with their 
 wealth, and derive new vigour from every extension of 
 business. Saxon capitalists are the men required. 
 
 Another presumed obstacle to improvement, the last 
 which shall be noticed here, is — ^natural indolence on 
 the part of the natives. 
 
 This calumny on the race [their conduct abroad 
 disproves it], has arisen probably from contrasting the 
 native want of self-reliance, and consequent unwilling- 
 ness to employ saved capital in new discoveries or im- 
 provements, with the gigantic efforts and restless spe- 
 culation seen everywhere in the sister country. It is 
 forgotten that this very speculation is often carried into 
 eifect through the agency, in large measure, of Irish 
 labour, which may be said in this sense to have made 
 Manchester what it is, and is now generally diffused 
 through the large English towns. In this particular, 
 the race have been much misrepresented.* 
 
 To return to the original question, the condition of 
 
 * The industry of the females of Ireland, whenever means offered, 
 has been always remarkable, startling as the statement may appear to 
 some. Any one who is old enough to remember the palmy days of 
 the spinning wheel can testify to the fact. The labour was commenced 
 at early dawn, and continued almost without intermission till bed- 
 hour. The present avidity for employment in the sewed muslin work, 
 shown everywhere by the young Connaught fern-ales, is another proof- 
 
 G 
 
82 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 the land as affected by tlie character of the occupying 
 race. A striking difference between the state of the 
 peasantry in the north, and of those in other parts of 
 Ireland, is obAdous at a first inspection, and has long 
 been a subject of general remark. This difference is 
 usually accounted for by the existence of tenant-right 
 in the former. Wliy has not this tenant-right extended 
 to the rest of Ireland ? Would it suit Celtic commu- 
 nities ? They are all now, and ever have been, charac- 
 terized by the same tendencies. The answer will clear 
 up many difficulties. 
 
 Land, as we have seen, forms the sole dependence 
 of the Irish Celtic peasant. He throws himself, when 
 he can, entirely on the land for support. Wanting 
 self-reliance, he shrinks from new enterprise, despises 
 trade, is content with little, and loves social enjoyment. 
 If he realises capital, he hoards it, or spends it in a 
 manner little useful to his own or his country's ad- 
 vancement. At the approach of old age, whenever 
 he has the power, he divides his sole means of support 
 among his children, sure himself of a maintenance 
 from their affection. They in their turn act similarly. 
 Each division increases poverty, while each little patch 
 is clung to with increased tenacity in proportion to its 
 inability to yield a comfortable independence. It is 
 an undisputed fact that he has lived thus for centuries 
 in Ireland. 
 
 It is so also with the French Celt. The entu'e 
 
THE LAND QUESTION. 83 
 
 number of landed proprietors in France is now about 
 eleven millions, and about one half of these are 
 assessed at less than five francs annually. " A vast 
 number of the properties are under five acres, and 
 the result is a generally mean condition of rural 
 affairs, and the total absence of all high class sys- 
 tematic agriculture." The scale of living is also quite 
 unsuited to Saxon ideas of comfort. Most of this has 
 taken place since the Celt was permitted to follow 
 freely his own subdividing propensities on the soil of 
 France, within a period of about fifty years. The 
 debt due by mortgage on the lands of these small 
 proprietors amounted in 1843 to thirteen milliards, 
 equal to 520 millions sterling. 
 
 Subdivision in France, though pregnant with future 
 evils, has answered the immediate purpose intended. 
 The agricultural population have been kept wonder- 
 fully quiet, even during the late period of intense 
 excitement ; for the Celt, as long as he is left in undis- 
 turbed possession of his beloved land, removed from 
 immediate contact mth external agitating influences, 
 will, though sunk in poverty, lead a quiet, contented, 
 and cheerful existence. But his poverty will increase 
 with each generation, and at the end of the next half 
 century the internal condition of France will be by 
 no means enviable ; unless, as in the north of Ireland, 
 the encouragement of manufactures shall have supplied 
 a means of creating wealth independent of the land. 
 
 a2 
 
84 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 From Celtic competition, however, as before remarked, 
 tlie Saxon Vvill have nothing to apprehend. 
 
 In the more isolated parts of Celtic Wales, also, 
 subdivision and consequent impoverishment may be 
 seen ; but the great advantage which Wales possesses, 
 in its geographical continuity with England, has led to 
 the extension of Saxon enterprise and manufacturing 
 spirit to many parts of the country ; and the profitable 
 w^orking out by these means, of its inexhaustible 
 deposits of mineral wealth, has effectually counter- 
 acted, in the greater part of the principality, the Celtic 
 tendencies to impoverishment : a useful example in 
 dealing with the same tendencies in Ireland. 
 
 The Highlands of Scotland, the stronghold of the 
 Scottish Celts, afford at this moment another melan- 
 choly instance of the universality of those tendencies 
 in the race, wheresoever found in an isolated condition. 
 As in Ireland, so in the Highlands, the unenterprising 
 Celt, left to his o^Yn shifts, is quite contented- with the 
 mere necessaries of existence ; and finding the potato 
 sufficient to supply these w^ants, he depends solely on 
 this vegetable for the means of sustaining life, accu- 
 mulates unproductive capital, (and even that rarely) 
 and divides, when he is allowed, his farm among his 
 children. 
 
 From the numerical and political insignificance of 
 these poor people, their sufferings have attracted 
 little public attention; but had their numbers been 
 
THE LAND QUESTION. 85 
 
 greater or their influence for good or evil stronger, 
 we should probably have heard, long since, bitter com- 
 plaints against Highland landlords for undue severity, 
 and accusations of neglect for not accomplishing impos- 
 sibilities; for not compelling an improved system of 
 agriculture ; for not spending capital in giving constant 
 employment ; in short, for not preventing the isolated 
 Celt from following obstinately those propensities Avhich 
 he has inherited from Nature. 
 
 The sad history of the Scottish Celt for the last 
 few years, strongly resembles that of his Irish bro- 
 ther. Alike in his dependence on the land, in his 
 want of self-reliance, in his dislike of new industrial 
 enterprise, he sinks under the same causes, and sub- 
 mitting in silent resignation, scarcely makes either a 
 complaint or an effort towards improvement. 
 
 In such populations, what can tenant-right avail? 
 None will quit possession willingly, while the scantiest 
 subsistence can be wrung out of the land ; and when 
 necessity at length compels the surrender, capital to 
 purchase is generally wanting by the incoming tenant, 
 or cannot be parted with without pauperizing himself. 
 
 How has tenant-right been obtained or acknow- 
 ledged in the north of Ireland ? We have seen that 
 the experiment of small holdings has proved success- 
 ful there, in consequence of the innate characteristics 
 of the men by whom it is practised; that, by the 
 
86 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 Saxon, subdivision of land is used as a means to a fur- 
 ther end, the small holding serving him as a fixed point 
 from which his expansive industry radiates, and grasps 
 at all means within reach for its active exercise ; that 
 these means are supplied freely by the natural, self- 
 confident energy of the Saxon capitalist, who, instead 
 of withdrawing his capital when he has made a com- 
 petence, uses it to extend his business or embarks it 
 in new speculations, giving increased employment with 
 every accession of wealth ; that the Saxon peasant is 
 not satisfied with the mere means of sustaining exist- 
 ence, and therefore that it is only when these oppor- 
 tunities ofier for the application of his industry inde- 
 pendently of the land, that he will consent to subdivide 
 it into such minute portions as, but for those extraneovis 
 sources of profit, would be insufficient for his comfort- 
 able support. 
 
 We have seen, also, that nowhere does the Saxon 
 exhibit the same attachment to place as the Celt ; 
 and that if disappointed in his views in one place, 
 he has little difficulty in leaving it to try fortune in 
 another. 
 
 These remarkable features of his race have led to 
 the establishmicnt, in the counties he inhabits, of the 
 social arrangement in question, now so long sanc- 
 tioned by usage, as almost to be considered in the 
 light of a legal enactment. Its history is briefly this. 
 The ready disposition to change of residence, and loose 
 
THE LAND QUESTION. 87 
 
 attacliment to locality, in times wlien the tenure of 
 land was generally by lease, induced frequent negotia- 
 tions for the disposal of interests ; and, in a country 
 thickly inhabited by a thriving population, agreements 
 were easily effected. The landlords, being usually 
 gainers by the payment of the arrears and rent due, 
 and sometimes by obtaining more wealthy tenants in 
 the place of failing ones, found it their interest to 
 encourage the system, which, thus established, and 
 afterwards continued in cases where leases had expired, 
 is now knowTi as the celebrated tenant-right of Ulster. 
 In the Saxon community of that province, it has been 
 found to work well. It suits the independent feelings 
 and enterprising habits of the people ; and as the self- 
 interest of all parties concerned in the agreements is 
 consulted, all are equally satisfied. 
 
 From the peaceful origin and amicable relations of 
 this hitherto useful custom, it is perfectly plain that 
 the Saxon framed it to suit his own requirements ; that 
 it has been the spontaneous offspring of Saxon tenden- 
 cies ; that, in fact, the Saxon made tenant-right^ not 
 tenant-right the Saxon as is too generally imagined. 
 
 This confounding of cause and effect has led to the 
 very prevalent opinion, that the same system, if 
 applied by a government measure to the rest of 
 Ireland, would be attended with equally favourable 
 results there as in the north. The importance of this 
 opinion, and the present very general feeling in its 
 
88 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 favour, will excuse a little further consideration of it, 
 even at the risk of some repetition. If successful 
 legislation is to be attained, and mischievous error 
 avoided on this subject, the leading differences of race 
 must not be disregarded. 
 
 What are the benefits expected to accrue by the 
 legal extension of this tenant-right of the Saxon north 
 to the rest of Ireland ? The easily satisfied and unen- 
 terprizing nature of the people leads to complete 
 dependence on the land. Land forms an object of 
 the strongest attachment and competition. With no 
 other resource for support, subdivision of property 
 prevails. Impoverishment follows. The land is still 
 clung to, to the last extremity. All Celtic Ireland 
 supplies illustrations in abundance. Wlien the occu- 
 pier is thus reduced, the land, neglected and allowed 
 to run out of heart, partakes of his impoverished 
 condition. It is, then, of little immediate value ; and 
 before it can be again made remunerative, will require 
 a large outlay from the incoming tenant. What can 
 the tenant-right of the north do here ? The interest 
 in the land is really not worth purchase ; and if, through 
 competition, the new tenant is induced to part Avith his 
 little capital privately, as is sometimes done in order 
 to conciliate the good mil of the former one, he 
 becomes imable to expend on the impoverished farm 
 what it so much requires, and landlord and tenant are 
 doubly injured. 
 
THE LAND QUESTION. 89 
 
 Tims, natural obstacles have prevented the estab- 
 lishment of tenant-right in the Celtic parts of Ire- 
 land. The landlords there would consider them- 
 selves fortunate in having the aid of tenant-right, to 
 rid them of bad tenants and get solvent ones in 
 their place, even without the recovery of any arrears. 
 But this cannot be. There is not the will to quit the 
 land Avhile it yields the smallest support ; nor, gene- 
 rally, the ability to pay a fine on getting possession. 
 The people themselves feel that this is true ; and there- 
 fore the late attempts, by a few northern demagogues, 
 to awaken an interest on this question in several of 
 the southern counties, were met with apathy, and 
 proved a complete failure. 
 
 How truly these statements correspond with facts, 
 can be best appreciated by those who, from long resi- 
 dence, are familiar with the habits of the Celtic people, 
 and have witnessed the desperate tenacity with which 
 the occupier adheres to the soil, when sunk in arrear 
 and utterly unable to cultivate it eificiently ; even then 
 in most instances refusing the recompense frequently 
 offered by the owner, who naturally wishes to avoid law 
 expenses by getting peaceable possession. 
 
 The proposal of the tenant-league orators to fix the 
 rent by valuation, at intervals of time, according to 
 the quantity, qualit}^, and price of produce, is quite 
 inapplicable to any free country, and above all to 
 Celtic Ireland. Leavinor out of view the interference 
 
90 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 with private rights, and the mischief certain to accrue 
 from the periodical revival of disputes, this measure 
 would make it the interest of the tenant to have his 
 land present the most miserable aspect possible, in 
 order to obtain the greatest abatement of rent. It 
 would act, therefore, as a direct premium to negligent 
 husbandry, which unfortunately is already too general. 
 This the league orators appear to have foreseen, and, 
 as a counteracting measure, propose that the tenant on 
 quitting should be recompensed for his improvements. 
 From this last proposal, in a Saxon community, no 
 doubt, some benefit might be expected. It would 
 probably lead to real improvements, and the landlord's 
 interest would not suffer perhaps, though a door w^ould 
 be opened to many abuses, such as the bribing of 
 arbitrators, false evidence, &c. But to infer from 
 this probability of benefit, that such a measure would 
 be equally adapted to the rest of Ireland, is a certain 
 proof of the utter ignorance of the proposers with regard 
 to Celtic character. The creation of improvements on 
 a farm in such a case Avould be simply the accumula- 
 tion and investment of capital. The desire to accumu- 
 late and invest would be as essential to the increase of 
 this description of property, as to that of any other. 
 ' Has the Celt ever generally exhibited this praise- 
 worthy propensity to provide against the' distant future ? 
 Is not his present condition a proof to the contrary ? 
 Ready money he will and does sometimes accumulate. 
 
THE- LAND QUESTION. 91 
 
 to be divided at liis death, and frequently squandered; 
 but the enterprise which leads to the investment of ca- 
 pital, with the prospect of a distant return, is strik- 
 ingly rare in the race ; and it may be at least very 
 much doubted whether, in more than a very few scat- 
 tered instances indeed, the purpose of the projectors 
 of a tenant-compensation measure would be at all an- 
 swered, were their views fully carried out by the legis- 
 lature. It may safely be assumed that in the great 
 majority of small holdings no improvement would re- 
 sult ; and in these the difficulty of separating land and 
 its occupier would be considerably increased, as the 
 claims to fictitious as well as real improvements would 
 have to be considered and decided before ejectment 
 could take place. Thus, it is to be feared, the measure 
 would but confirm pernicious habits, and render more 
 difficult the advance of general enlightenment. 
 
 The difficulty of legislating for Ireland, acknow- 
 ledged and wondered at by all, but never understood, 
 becomes intelligible when the differences of race are 
 taken into account. It is inexplicable on other prin- 
 ciples. 
 
 That the same law which works well with one large 
 section of the inhabitants, should be found quite un- 
 suitable to the other portion, appears to those who 
 can see no difference in race, repugnant to common 
 reason and all received notions of impartial legislation. 
 And here lies Ireland's great difficulty. Laws are 
 
92 IRISH ETHNOLOGY 
 
 made by a Saxon government to suit tlie Saxon cha- 
 racter, and these laws are applied to a Celtic commu- 
 munity. The effect is found to be most unsatisfactory, 
 and surprise is expressed that while one great division 
 of the people is advancing at a rapid rate, the other 
 is either retrograding or stationary, or at most advanc- 
 ing by scarcely perceptible degrees. 
 
 It is superfluous at the present day to admit that 
 as all live under the same government, and in the 
 same country, such a thing as separate legislation is not 
 to be attempted. On the contrary, all causes which 
 would tend still further to widen the breach, and create 
 distinctions between the two races, should be studiously 
 shunned, and all existing causes of these distinctions 
 should be as far as possible removed. But although 
 laws cannot be made to apply directly to the Celt 
 alone, to the exclusion of the Saxon, much may yet be 
 done by judicious legislation applicable to all alike, but 
 having reference chiefly to Celtic progress ; and no 
 measure should be enacted which would have the effect 
 of retarding the improvement of this race in Ireland. 
 
 Thus, mtli regard to the land question, of the proposed 
 measures just considered, though some would probably 
 be conducive to Saxon improvement, none are likely to 
 answer expectation as far as the Celt is concerned, and 
 one or more would act injuriously. 
 
 Can the difficulty, then, be overcome ? Can any way 
 be discovered of combining in one comprehensive land 
 
THE LAND QUESTION. 93 
 
 measure the interests of both Celt and Saxon ? The 
 desideratum is worthy of the highest efforts of the 
 statesman. The writer cannot despair of seeing its 
 accomplishment. The right direction has been already 
 pointed out, by the successful working of the Incum- 
 bered Estates Act. Carry out the principle still fur- 
 ther. Set the land free. Assimilate, as much as pos- 
 sible, property in land to property of other kind. 
 Throw the land open to the competition of honest 
 industry, by removing all obstacles to its easy trans- 
 fer in small allotments. Let machinery in connection 
 with the court in Dublin be prepared for holding sales 
 (it has been done already in several instances) in any 
 part of the country, on short notice, and at small 
 expense; so that the humble creditor may have equal 
 advantage Avith the greater in obtaining his just rights. 
 To carry out this measure properly, a large increase 
 would be required in the staff of the Incumbered 
 Estates Court. Business there has already accumu- 
 lated to an oppressive amount, and the consequent 
 delay in bringing property to sale is beginning to be 
 seriously felt. An extension of the system is neces- 
 sary. An easy and inexpensive remedy would thus 
 be afforded to the smaller class of creditors, and land 
 would come into the market. in lots sufficiently small, 
 to enable the industrious among the lower classes to 
 invest their savings on the most perfect security, free 
 from the uncertainty of prospective valuations, the 
 
94 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 great drawback to the working of a tenant compensa- 
 tion measure. 
 
 By being tlms sold in small allotments, the land 
 would assuredly rise in value, from the increased num- 
 ber of competing purchasers, and w^ould gradually pass 
 from the hands of the idle and extravagant to the 
 most deserving members of society. A class of small 
 independent proprietors would rise from the ranks of 
 the hard-working and accumulative. By these the soil 
 would be worked to the best advantage, and their suc- 
 cessors, if not equally industrious, would in their turn 
 be obliged to sell to the more provident. Thus, the 
 land instead of being, as it is at present, in the hands 
 of paupers unable to cultivate and unwilling to sur- 
 render, would find its way, by the quiet but sure 
 course of law, into the possession of the most thriving 
 portion of the population ; and all the benefit* of the 
 French system would be secured Avithout its ruinous 
 effects. Mortgages could not accumulate to any great 
 extent. The remedy would lie in the measure pro- 
 posed. 
 
 But of all the advantages which w^ould result from 
 the easy transfer of land in small portions, perha^^s the 
 greatest would consist in the breaking do^vn of those 
 local attachments and clannish feelings w^hich are 
 among the chief causes of Celtic isolation, and have 
 hitherto effectually discouraged the approach of Saxon 
 enterprise and civilization. Irish prejudices are still 
 strong, and to remove them thoroughly will be a work 
 
THE LAND QUESTION. 95 
 
 of time and difficulty. The importance, therefore, of 
 every measure which will serve to diminish the inter- 
 val between the two races must be acknowledged ; and 
 viewing in this light the above mentioned plan for the 
 ready sale of land in small allotments, its ■ value will 
 be the better understood. 
 
 Thus, to follow out this view, by placing before the 
 thriving artisan and humbler farmer, as the attainable 
 prize of labour and economy, the ultimate possession 
 of a tenement or plot of land free of rent, it would 
 supply strong motives to exertion, and induce habits of 
 continued industry; the more likely to be permanent, 
 as the investment in this case would not, as in the 
 compensation measure of the tenant-league, be de- 
 pendent on future chances and the caprice of arbitra- 
 tors. By gradually transferring the possession of land 
 to the hands of the industrious, it would prepare the 
 way for agricultural improvement and the admission 
 of Saxon industry. By diffusing examples of thrift 
 among the ignorant and idle, it would diminish the 
 tendencies to secret conspiracies, and the system of 
 outrage which has so long kept the Saxon out of the 
 country, and so often driven him forth when attempt- 
 ing to settle. In short, by showing that, in land as in 
 any other property, change of ownership would take 
 place in the natural course of things, as a consequence 
 of idleness and extravagance ; a more just relation 
 between land and its occupier would be comprehended, 
 
96 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 the Irish, peasant would become gradually accustomed 
 and reconciled to its easy transfer, and a great obstacle 
 to the introduction of Saxon capital and skill would 
 thus be removed. With the Saxon would come manu- 
 factures and commerce ; mth these, ready markets for 
 agricultural produce ; and, above all, employment for 
 surplus population. With employment, the pauper com- 
 petition for land, as the only resource, would diminish, 
 though its value would increase ; the bad effects of 
 subdivision would disappear, and prosperity would be 
 established on a firm basis. 
 
 Another beneficial effect of this measure would be 
 the discouragement of the ruinous system of subletting 
 and conacre. Subletting, the worst description of sub- 
 division, has been extremely general in Ireland, and 
 the cause of an infinite amount of distress. A plot of 
 land, from an acre to a rood, or even less in quantity, 
 is let b}'- a tenant, himself scarcely removed from pau- 
 perism, to a wretched undertenant, a perfect pauper, 
 at an exorbitant rent, which he takes care to levy to 
 the last farthing. A miserable cabin is erected on this 
 spot of earth, which in process of time becomes filled 
 Avith a squad of children. The sole su2)port of this 
 crowd of human beings is the potato, except when 
 close to the sea-coast, Avhere shell fish and sea-weed 
 farnish an addition to the scanty meal. This minute 
 subletting is therefore more common near the coast 
 than inland. The prolific qualities and easy culture of 
 
THE LAND QUESTION. 97 
 
 tlie potato may be considered an iirnnediate incentive 
 to the system. Its remote and deeply seated causes 
 have been already explained. 
 
 The practice of conacre consists in the hiring out 
 for one or generally for two crops of potatoes, a similar 
 patch of land, often still more minute ; and if manured 
 by the owner, as is frequently done, returning him a 
 profit at the rate of eight pounds, ten pounds, or even 
 twelve pounds per acre. No possession is given in 
 this case, and therefore no claim to the land can be 
 established by the planter of the crop. The potatoes 
 remaining after the claims of the owner are satisfied 
 represent the planter's profit — the recompense of the 
 labour expended — and on these, as in the former case, 
 it often happens that a family of parents and children 
 have chiefly or entirely to support existence for the 
 year. 
 
 These practices of sub-letting and conacre were so 
 general before the famine, as to render all classes, from 
 the highest to the lowest, dependent on the potato. 
 The sub-tenant and holder of conacre planted. If 
 the crop succeeded, a great part of the price went 
 to the tenant next above, who frequently depended 
 entirely on this for the rent due to his landlord. From 
 the latter it passed to a second landlord ; sometimes to 
 a third ; each having a certain interest in the land, 
 which it was necessary to satisfy. If the crop failed, 
 the planter starved, or begged tiU the next season ; the 
 
 H 
 
98 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 tenant failed in his rent ; and the landlord could not 
 meet his often pressing liabilities. Thus the whole 
 chain of society depended on the chances of this single 
 crop, and the result of its failure for successive years 
 was, as might be expected, general embarrassment and 
 ruin. 
 
 The system of conacre has been pretty generally 
 swept away with the crop on which its existence 
 depended : there being no title to possession, the land 
 returned to its owner. With the sub -letting system 
 the case was different. The sub-tenant being in pos- 
 session, and as usual clinging to the land, could only 
 be disturbed by a troublesome legal process, and this 
 for the impoverished superior tenant was often a diffi- 
 cult and expensive proceeding. The landlord fre- 
 quently decided the question by ejecting all together, 
 and hence the wholesale exterminations latterly so 
 numerous. There are still, however, many properties 
 overrun by this description of sub-tenant, and their con- 
 dition is of course miserable in the extreme. 
 
 Through the failure of the potato, sub-letting has 
 greatly diminished; but, should this plant revive, the 
 impoverished tenant, being unable from his reduced 
 condition to cultivate the entire of the land in his pos- 
 session, will again resort to sub-letting, and the system 
 will once more become universal, unless some remedy, 
 legislative or otherwise, shall be discovered and 
 promptly applied. Tenant-right can only serve here to 
 
THE LAND QUESTION. 99 
 
 make this state of things permanent, by fixing more 
 securely in possession the pauper sub-tenants. Tenant 
 compensation here can do no good. Improvement is 
 least of all to be expected from such a class. Any 
 interference with the right to enforce rent will only 
 lead to the ejection of these miserable beings, and the 
 land will fall into the hands of the superior tenant, 
 who is at present unable to cultivate wdiat he holds. 
 Such legislative interference Avill only add to the diffi- 
 culties intended to be relieved. Certain measures 
 suitable to the present exigency have already been 
 found useful, such as the plan of practical agricultural 
 teaching by local instructors, so creditable to its noble 
 projector, and the Land Improvement and Drainage 
 Acts which have given much employment; but the 
 good effects of these last excellent measures can be but 
 temporary and partial, and the difficulty of finding 
 employment will return. 
 
 The ready sale of land in small allotments Avould 
 doubtless effect a large amount of permanent good, by 
 gradually replacing the pauperised and worthless by 
 the more saving and diligent ; but the surplus hands 
 v\'Ould still remain to be provided for. The true and 
 complete remedy for that condition of the land, which 
 has been produced by the systems of sub-letting and 
 conacre, would be that which would effect the spon- 
 taneous removal from the land of the surplus, popula- 
 tion. It should not be imagined, hovrever, that the 
 
 H 2 
 
100 . IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 population of tlie country, generally, is at all, or was at 
 any time too great ; but there are many rural districts, 
 and those the most distressed, so swallowed up by a 
 local plethora of population, owing to the causes we 
 have mentioned, that it is in vain to expect much im- 
 provement until this state of things shall have been 
 remedied. To employ the loose hands by the establish^ 
 ment of manufactures is the obvious, as it would be 
 the very best, mode of dealing with this difficulty. 
 A large manufacturing town, gromng up in proximity 
 to an over-populated and exhausted district, would 
 soon absorb all superfluous labour ; and by the reaction 
 of its prosperity on the country around, wotild afford 
 the best encouragement to agricultural improvement. 
 Certain and permanent employment would render the 
 starving sub-tenant and holder of conacre independent 
 of the land, and the evils of these systems would be 
 effectually removed without the interference of legis- 
 lation. 
 
 But the establishment of manufactures will be a 
 process of time, and must come from the Saxon. The 
 care of the government should be to remove all exist- 
 ing obstacles, and by all possible means to smooth the 
 way for his approach. Already the value of employ- 
 ment is strikingly shewn in the rapid spread of the 
 sewed or flowered muslin manufacture, as it is called, 
 through the young female part of the population ; first 
 commenced in Ulster, and now making its way from 
 
THE LAND QUESTION. 101 
 
 tliis centre of Irish industry to some of the most 
 thickly inhabited and distressed parts of Celtic Ireland. 
 This excellent branch of industry, which originated 
 in the Saxon north, is found to return considerable 
 profit to its projectors, and it is on this sound commer- 
 cial principle* that its benefits are extending. Certain 
 Scotch houses, following it up as a good speculation, 
 have lately sent agents to remote parts of Ireland, and 
 established a regular system of female industrial em- 
 ployment which, in its silent operation, has already 
 effected more real good, both morally and physically, 
 than any compulsory interference with private charity 
 or with tenure of land, or other much lauded panaceas, 
 could ever accomplish. As one instance, among many, 
 of the large amount of labour already in action 
 through this system, it may be mentioned that in a 
 small town in one of the most distressed parts of the 
 county of Donegal, and the district immediately 
 around it, several hundred pounds have been paid 
 weekly during the last year for this description of 
 work ; and by it alone the entire population of the 
 barony may be almost said to have been kept alive. 
 One promising feature of the speculation is, that the 
 supply of hands is not nearly equal to the demand. 
 The success of this simple plan points to the true 
 
 * The work department of the Belfast Ladies' Association schools 
 in Connaught, commonly called Dr. Edgar's schools, is thus carried on 
 through the competing agencies of several Irish and Scotch houses. 
 
102 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 method of dealing with Irish difficulties. From the 
 Saxon, it is plain, must come the " encouragement" 
 which to the prostrate Celt is indispensible. This 
 encouragement must be spontaneously given and 
 spontaneously received. The principle on which its 
 growth depends is the principle of all industrial opera- 
 tions in a free country — mutual benefit to employer 
 and emploi^^ed. Any speculation which has this prin- 
 ciple for its basis, in a country like Ireland where the 
 elements of wealth abound, may be expected to suc- 
 ceed ; provided, on the one hand, that the speculator 
 possesses capital and intelligence, and, on the other, 
 that freedom of action is permitted him in the employ- 
 ment of labour and the expenditure of his means. 
 The former requisites are close at hand, in the wealth, 
 skill, and enteq^rise of the Saxon race in the north of 
 Ireland, in Scotland, and in England, and would long 
 since have flowed in a copious stream over the rich 
 field presented by the rest of Ireland, were it not that 
 the latter requisite to success was deficient : — ^freedom 
 of action was not permitted.* Dense ignorance, pre- 
 
 * Several subscription societies have lately sprung up in Dublin, 
 with the benevolent object of introducing various kinds of light manu- 
 factiu-e into remote parts of Ireland. If, by being commenced with 
 sufficient capital and conducted by active paid directors, and well- 
 selected and well-paid agents, they can be speedily made self-support- - 
 ing, their success may be considered possible. Could the competition 
 of a sufficient number of resident business-loving capitalists be brought 
 to bear on such enterprises, as matters of trade, in a country like 
 
THE LAND QUESTION. 103 
 
 jtidices deep and long cherished, natural propensities 
 unrestrained by law and stimulated by secret combina- 
 tion, interrupted all attempts at improvement, and too 
 often banished the true friends of Ireland from her 
 shores. 
 
 Saxon assistance, then, freely afforded and accepted, 
 must be looked upon as the great essential to the rapid 
 elevation of Ireland. Her natural advantages are con- 
 fessed. Her climate and soil for certain productions 
 unsurpassed. Her water-power all-sufficient. Her popu- 
 lation, though requiring instruction, encouragement, and 
 example, second to none in quickness of comprehension 
 and natural docility. For her deficiencies a ready 
 supplement is at hand. The obstacles to its reception 
 are within herself alone. In the removal of these 
 obstacles, government can effect much : but to ensure 
 for legislation a speedy and complete success, requires 
 a thorough knowledge of the nature of her people. 
 Ignorance on this point has led to perpetual mistakes, 
 an unintelligible clashing of well-intended measures. 
 Her true requirements have been overlooked, while 
 superficial grievances have been magnified into vital 
 causes, and legislated for without benefit. In the 
 approaching session it is probable the same course will 
 
 Ireland, where materials exist abundantly in the number of unemployed 
 and easily taught young people of both sexes, success would be certain. 
 Human nature is such, that things of this kind, unless based on self- 
 interest, are apt, when novelty wears off, to languish and at last expire 
 from — want of funds. 
 
104 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 be pursued. A tenant compensation measure may, 
 perhaps, be considered the panacea. To a few among 
 the better classes this measure might perhaps be 
 serviceable. To the great body of the Celtic people 
 it would be found inapplicable ; or, if attended with 
 any results, would serve to retard rather than advance. 
 We may still however hope for better things. Edu- 
 cation will do much, and when the veil of ignorance 
 shall have been removed, and the acute native intellect 
 shall have extended its horizon ; when the evils of 
 isolation shall have been in some measure counteracted 
 by the spread of knowledge, and by the opening up 
 of remote districts through free communications ; we may 
 hope that Saxon enterprise will find its way at last into 
 the heart of the country, and develope there those 
 great resources which nature has so bountifully 
 bestowed. The mode, order, and degree in which 
 these resources should be developed must be left to 
 the judgment of speculators, and will depend of course 
 on the facilities presented by each locality. 
 
 But Ave are now trespassing on a subject not imme- 
 diately connected with ethnological differences, and 
 therefore foreign to the object of this short treatise. 
 It will be sufiicient, therefore, to say that with Saxon 
 aid and encouragement few of the many natural 
 advantages of Ireland would seek this development in 
 /ain. Her vast waterpower would be applied to all 
 practicable uses. Commerce, under Saxon auspices, 
 
THE LAND QUESTION. 105 
 
 wonld occupy her harbours. Improved agriculture 
 would much increase the productiveness of her soil 
 Demand would create supply. With ready markets 
 and active capital, her deep-sea fisheries would yield 
 much wealth. As her social progress advanced, the 
 artistic genius of the Celt would be drawn forth, and 
 invention would lead the way to further improvements. 
 Schools of design would then floimsh. And here it 
 may be remarked, that the establishment lately of 
 several of these schools in Ireland, under patronage of 
 the government, and with the avowed intention of 
 drawing forth the latent talent assumed to exist in 
 the Irish people, is a remarkable instance of tacit 
 assent to the truth of a doctrine which all must feel in 
 some degree, but of which few have as yet any defined 
 notions — that of the permanent differences of race. 
 The fact itself of the establishment of these schools, 
 and the hopes confidently expressed by all of their 
 ultimate distinction, prove the existence of a very 
 general belief that centuries of poverty*, neglect, and 
 hard treatment cannot extinguish the transmission of 
 those peculiar tendencies which nature herself has 
 implanted. This belief will assuredly be verified n 
 time ; but unreasonable expectation must suffer disap- 
 pointment. Taste will no doubt be generally cultivated, 
 and shew itself in a thousand ways ; but true genius is 
 rare in every country, and is seldom the production 
 of forcing. Its growth is usually spontaneous, and 
 
106 IKISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 forces its way against obstacles. Artistic talent is 
 specially rare in the Saxon, and until the mass of the 
 Celtic people shall have been educated and elevated 
 much above their present condition, it is scarcely to be 
 expected that the progress of the fine arts in Ireland 
 shall be distinguished by any very remarkable degree 
 of success. 
 
INTERCOURSE. 107 
 
 CHAPTER YIII. 
 
 INTERCOURSE. 
 
 On taking a general siirvey of our globe, and the dis- 
 tribution of the human creation on its surface, the close 
 relation, as to position, of those countries which contain 
 all the civilized nations of the old world cannot fail to 
 strike one as remarkable. The influence of this conti- 
 guity, eventually, on the progress of those nations to- 
 wards civilizatioii, and on their general participation in 
 improvement, can be easily understood ; and wonder is 
 perhaps excited, first, that the period of barbarism 
 should have had so long duration, and, next, that after 
 the nations had begun to emerge from it, their progress 
 should have been so long retarded. 
 
 What, it may naturally be asked, prevented the 
 more rapid spread of civilization in early ages ? What 
 has given it so great an impulse in later times? 
 Wliat in our own times has caused the present great 
 struggle for liberty in the great European masses, so 
 long the passive uncomplaining subjects of despotic go- 
 vernments ? The answer is plain. The wonderful pro- 
 gress of mind in Europe of late years is chiefly due to 
 
108 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 increased facilities of intercommunication. The slow- 
 ness of the spread of civilization in earlier times was 
 mainly owing to the want of those facilities. The com- 
 munication of mind with mind — the free interchange of 
 opinion — simplified as were the means of effecting it, 
 by the discovery of the art of printing, advanced slowly 
 among the countries of Europe, notwithstanding their 
 uninterrupted continental connexion, in consequence of 
 the many impediments in the way of transit by land, 
 and the tediousness and difficulty of the navigation of 
 former times. 
 
 Civilization continued to advance, however, with 
 each improvement in the means of intercourse, but it 
 was not till the great discovery of modern times that it 
 received its mighty impulse. The locomotive power of 
 steam may in truth be considered the great subordi- 
 nate agent by which the minds of men have so rapidly 
 acquired that amount of intelligence, which refuses any 
 longer to yield a blind .obedience to the despotic autho- 
 rity of ancient dynasties. The relative position of the 
 countries of Europe has thus been signally favourable 
 to the extension of knowledge, through the indirect 
 agency of this great improvement in locomotion. The 
 same geographical connection has again been called on 
 to lend its aid, in the development of a still more mar- 
 vellous scientific conquest, an infinitely more rapid ve- 
 hicle for the conveyance of thought. The fretal space 
 which separates England from the mainland now no 
 
INTERCOURSE. 109 
 
 longer insulates her communications. The electric tele- 
 graph has annihilated time and space, and England has 
 already been placed in conversational propinquity to 
 continental cities, as sooner or later she will be to all 
 the rest of Europe. What the effects may yet be of 
 such intimate relations with the greater part of the 
 whole civilized world, one can only conjecture. It is to 
 be hoped that they may prove in a high degree favour- 
 able to the further extension of intelligence, the preser- 
 vation of peace, and the promotion of general interests ; 
 especially when the, at present transitional, state of 
 the nations shall have assumed a permanent phase, and 
 judicious reforms, conceded or extorted, shall have given 
 assurance of future contentment. Should such a con- 
 summation be effected, it is not to be doubted that 
 England, from her great commercial and political im- 
 portance, Avill become a point of convergence to tele- 
 graphic lines from every part of Europe ; that her 
 mercantile transactions will be carried on with vastly 
 increased speed and much less uncertainty; that her 
 high standing with reference to the nations of the old 
 world will be raised higher still ; and that her ability 
 to compete with foreign industry will be more than 
 ever distinguished. 
 
 But there is also, a second great portion of our 
 globe's inhabitants, advancing with giant strides in 
 the race of civilization, whose progress bids fair to 
 eclipse the mc t strenuous efforts of the first. Young 
 
110 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 America has already pointed out to the nations of old 
 Europe the road to freedom, and the true basis of legi- 
 timate power. Her institutions, founded in the hearts 
 of her people, being suited to their requirements, have 
 the essential element which ensures permanence, and her 
 commercial intercourse, with all the vigour of maturity, 
 has extended itself over the known world. In a short 
 time, the communications of that country with Europe 
 will be characterised by a rapidity as great and a fre- 
 quency as certain as the powers of science and the ex- 
 penditure of wealth can render possible ; and it cannot 
 be thought beyond the bounds of probability to sup- 
 pose, that Avhatsoever point of the old world shall be 
 selected and eventually found suitable for the transit of 
 the postal and passenger traffic of America, that point 
 shall derive large profit, and if able to appropriate it, 
 incalculable advantage ; that an impulse will be com- 
 municated, and opportunities afforded, which inertness 
 alone on the side of the inhabitants can render un- 
 availing. 
 
 Now, in the selection of such a point of intercom- 
 munication, the great objects to be secured are, speed 
 and certainty. The value of time increases with the 
 world's progress. A few hours are now of more conse- 
 quence in the passage to and from America, than as 
 many days a few years since ; and the period may yet 
 arrive when minutes shall enter into calculation. The 
 value of certainty also in mercantile affairs need not 
 be insisted on. 
 
INTERCOURSE. Ill 
 
 How are the utmost saving of time and the nearest 
 approach to certainty to be attained ? All, but the in- 
 terested, will answer, by having as much of the journey 
 as possible performed on land, and as little of it as 
 possible performed on sea. Steam, too, has rendered 
 applicable, in the navigation of the deep sea, the ma- 
 thematical axiom that a right line is the shortest be- 
 tween two given points ; and if speed and certainty are 
 to be the first considerations in the settlement of this 
 great question, then beyond all doubt the points of 
 contact between the old and new worlds, the tetes of 
 the great Atlantic steam bridge, will be those which 
 nature's masonry presents. Nova Scotia and Ireland. 
 The establishment of steam communication between 
 these two points, when the telegraphic lines shall have 
 been perfected between England and the rest of Europe, 
 will unquestionably afford the speediest possible trans- 
 mission of advices from the far west to all European 
 merchants. The safety of the passage to a port in 
 Ireland, when compared with the risks of channel 
 navigation at night or in foggy or stormy weather, can 
 be only disputed by the ill-informed or insincere ; but 
 the light in which the main question is to be viewed 
 here is, as to the amount of improvement which, in the 
 event of such selection by America, the Irish people 
 would be likely to receive. 
 
 It is unquestionable that the great advance made of 
 late years in the intelligence of the masses throughout 
 
112 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 the world is cliiefly due to increased facilities of com- 
 munication consequent on locomotive inventions. It is 
 equally plain that one vast obstacle to improvement in 
 Ireland is, the isolated condition of the largest section 
 of her inhabitants. [Wliy it is that isolation is pecu- 
 liarly inimical to Irish progress has been sufficiently 
 dwelt upon in a former part of this work]. These facts 
 point to the remedial principle; the removal of this 
 condition by all possible means. And what means 
 more likely to promote this grand object, than the free 
 intercourse of Europe and America through the centre 
 of Ireland ! To make Ireland at once the focus of com- 
 munication between the east and west — to exhibit to 
 her wondering gaze the mighty results of commercial 
 industry — to bring her ignorant and neglected hordes 
 into contact with the civilization and enterprise of the 
 world — to awaken her self-interest in the strongest 
 manner to the advantages of order and the arts of 
 peace — to give that encouragement which the nature 
 of the race requires to the establishment of manufac- 
 tures and the profitable employment of capital ! These, 
 among others, there can be little doubt, would be the 
 speedy results of this great project, if favoured by the 
 influence and assisted by the capital of Englishmen, 
 even though the English government, prompted by 
 great commercial interests, should still interpose vexa- 
 tious difficulties and delays. Apprehensions are natu- 
 rally excited by the remembrance of former indications 
 
INTERCOUESE. 113 
 
 of jealousy towards the weaker sister; but it is to be 
 expected that a wiser policy may soon prevail. If a 
 goodly number of the Saxon race were now located in 
 the west of Ireland, as they are in the north, the point 
 of securing the mail conveyance, would have been 
 won long since, in spite of all opposition; and even 
 as it is, the influence of Belfast, whose interests are of 
 all the most concerned, weighs heavily on the Irish 
 side of the balance. Should this vital question be de- 
 cided, (as eventually it must be, however opposed) in 
 favour of the Irish port, the Manchester of Ireland will 
 have its Liverpool at Galway, should that port be found 
 to answer ; and great advantages to the future manu- 
 facturing industry of Ireland will be secured. 
 
 It will be seen that the foregoing observations as to 
 the advantages certain to accrue to Ireland, are made 
 on the supposition of her remaining in permanent con- 
 nexion with Great Britain. This point, though one of 
 vast political importance, does not appear, amidst all 
 the excitement of universal discussion, to have received 
 any notice whatsoever. No more enduring bond can 
 well be conceived, than that which would be created 
 between the two countries by making Ireland the 
 highway of nations in connexion with England. On 
 this connexion would then depend Ireland's direct com- 
 munication with all the world. Destroy this connex- 
 ion, and these communications would be utterly cut 
 off. Ireland herself would be thrown out of sight and 
 
114 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 out of mind. The current of civilization would sweep 
 by, and leave lier " on the other side," unnoticed or 
 despised. Preserve the connexion, and the picture is 
 reversed. Her strongest interests would then lie in the 
 closest union with England — an union which would be 
 thus fixed on the firmest possible basis ; and its repeal 
 would be for ever impossible. The amity and protec- 
 tion of England would be the mainstays of Ireland's 
 prosperity. Her hostility would be utterly ruinous. 
 
 The railroad and the steam-packet are the sure pioneers 
 of civilization. Steam, applied to locomotive purposes, 
 exercises a moral agency not less astonishing than its 
 wealth-creating power when applied to the processes of 
 industry. In both aspects, its value to Ireland will be 
 incalculable. The railroad and the steam-packet, if not 
 obstructed by opposing interests, will do that speedily 
 for Ireland, which otherwise it might take centuries to 
 accomplish. The question, therefore, of the American 
 packet-station is of really more vital importance to Irish 
 welfare, than almost any other that can be imagined. 
 If any single scheme for the improvement of Ireland 
 were to be selected, as that best adapted to meet her 
 greatest necessities, to fulfil in a measure almost all her 
 requirements, to destroy isolation, to enrich her impo- 
 verished people, to open a way for the approach of in- 
 dustry and enterprise, — that scheme would assuredly be 
 the fixing at one of her western ports the European 
 terminus of the great Atlantic ferry. Her long-neglect- 
 
INTERCOURSE. 115 
 
 ed natural advantages, thrown open to tlie world's 
 view, by the concentration to her shores of the pas- 
 senger traffic of Europe and America, consisting of the 
 most intelligent and enterprising classes in the world, 
 would, after a time, receive at last an attention and ap- 
 preciation that could not but lead to their speedy deve- 
 lopment. The annual outlay from passengers alone may 
 be calculated at a sum of no small importance to a dis- 
 tressed country.' New lines of railway, branching from 
 the main trunk, would open up new markets, and invite 
 speculation in ways unthought of before. Employment 
 would be largely increased. With growing intelligence, 
 and a consciousness of mutual advantage, prejudice 
 would diminish. Judicious legislation, relative to the 
 land question and the preservation of peace, would fur- 
 ther remove obstructions and encourage improvement. 
 Direct communication with America would rapidly 
 elevate the manufacturing and commercial importance 
 of the northern counties. Belfast would soon outstrip 
 most competitors, and become one, at least, of the rich- 
 est and most populous towns in the United Kingdom, 
 the great mart for the produce of the north and west, 
 and the receptacle for surplus labour. Saxon capital 
 would gradually feel its way into the rest of Ireland. 
 Favourable sites for manufacturing establishments 
 would be selected, and form the nuclei of future nou- 
 rishing towns. Saxon tendencies would soon improve 
 and occupy the many spacious harbours now almost 
 
 i2 
 
116 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 deserted, and Ireland would at last become, what she 
 ought long ago to have been, eminently manufacturing 
 and commercial. 
 
 Much may be done, in the mean time, by the open- 
 ing up of remote parts of the country through railway 
 lines, or even by good common roads, and also by the 
 improvement of harbours. The province of Comiaught 
 seems still Avithout the pale. The great tract north- 
 ward from the Galway line, including the district of 
 Connemara, ^Yith. the counties of Mayo, Sligo, and 
 Leitrim, is not likely, unless times improve quickly, to 
 enjoy the benefit of a single line of railroad for many 
 years. A great difficulty experienced by the Con- 
 naught farmer, in many parts of that province, is that 
 of obtaining a market for his produce, unless at an 
 expense of carriage, which, in these free trade times, 
 materially cuts down his very slender profits. Govern- 
 ment evinces a disposition to favour local efforts, but 
 in a part of the country so depressed as this has been, 
 by a long succession of famine years, much exertion 
 cannot be expected. The sea fisheries also on this 
 coast would become, if well worked, extremely valua- 
 ble. Much has been said of the supineness of the inha- 
 bitants in leaving this mine of wealth almost untouched, 
 except for the purposes of food for the immediate 
 neighbourhood; but the difficulty of sale should also 
 be taken into consideration. The disheartening sight 
 of fish rotting on the shores, with no purchasers, and 
 
INTERCOURSE. 117 
 
 no salt to cure tliem, is surely enougli to repress all 
 fishing enterprise on a large scale by poor Irish fisher- 
 men. With such facilities as a regular steam convey- 
 ance would afford, the requisite encouragement would 
 be given to both fisherman and trader ; the approach 
 of active speculators would be, at least, invited ; and 
 the profitable employment of hundreds on the coast 
 might soon be expected. 
 
 This favourable change, in fact, has already taken 
 place in the case of the poor Welsh fishermen, from 
 similar encouragement. A late account says, " The 
 Chester and Holyhead railroad, by affording a speedy 
 communication betAveen the shores and ports of north 
 Wales and the great inland towns of England, has 
 caused great activity in the fishing trade, and has won- 
 derfully promoted the prosperity of hundreds of poor 
 fishermen and their families, along the coast from 
 Anglesea and Caernarvon, During the period from 
 August ^to December, there have been sent off from 
 Conway alone, to Manchester and its environs, no less 
 than 630 tons of fish, which have produced ample 
 remuneration to the poor people who collected them, 
 and good profit to the railway besides. This is exclu- 
 sive of large quantities which have been forwarded to 
 Chester and Liverpool. The whole of the vast supply 
 caught in the bays of Caernarvon, Cardigan, Red-wharf, 
 and Conway can now find a market, and the result is 
 highly favourable to industry and increase of comfort 
 
118 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 among tlie poorer classes on the coast." It may be 
 reasonably concluded that steam conveyance, regularly 
 established, would create similar pictures of prosperity 
 among the poor Irish fishermen of the west, and in- 
 crease immensely the number of boats and men en- 
 gaged in this branch of industry. 
 
 It is not, indeed, to be expected that government 
 Avill expend money in making railways in Ireland for 
 the sole purpose of providing markets for the hard- 
 working poor ; but the improvement of harbours ought 
 at least to be their special care, wherever obstacles to 
 the safe approach of steam-vessels will admit of easy 
 removal. The encouragement absolutely necessary to 
 the success of Irish deep-sea fishing is, a ready market 
 for the produce. Without this, fishing piers and boat 
 building and the providing of nets will be of little 
 service. Men, especially Irishmen of the west, will 
 not embark in this imcertain occupation, with the 
 l)robability that even if successful in their dangerous 
 toil, their produce may be lost for Avant of purchasers, 
 or that if cured its sale may be deferred for an indefi- 
 nite period. Speculations in which the prospect of 
 gain is distant and uncertain, will not be generally 
 undertaken in this part of the country, and obstacles 
 are still in the way of those who are willing and able 
 to supply the essentials to success, — energy, persever- 
 ance, and capital. 
 
 Much disappointment appears to be felt just now by 
 
INTERCOURSE. 119 
 
 the friends and promoters of Irish sea-fishing, in the 
 want of enterprise, seemingly discovered for the first 
 time, of the fishermen on this coast. A little better 
 acquaintance with Celtic qualities would have saved 
 much of this disappointment, and would have indi- 
 cated, in the nature and extent of the encouragement 
 required, the true path to Irish advancement. The 
 late Lord George Bentinck's proposed measure to expend 
 sixteen millions of the public money in Irish railroads, 
 would have been at once the most direct and efficient 
 means, not only for the chief purpose then intended, 
 the relief of famine, but also for the rapid promotion 
 of all fnture industrial operations along the coasts as 
 well as inland. By a few lines opening towards the 
 remote western harbours, to be completed afterwards 
 if necessary, and extended by private enterprise, the 
 best fisheries of Ireland would have received the same 
 impulse which those of North Wales are now enjoying 
 from tlie Chester and Holyhead line, and to which, as 
 we have seen, they have most eagerly and successfully 
 responded. There is every reason to suppose that in Ire- 
 land the result, in a little time, would have been some- 
 what similar, though perhaps at first less in degree. 
 Parliament hesitated on account of the expense, and 
 though none could deny the sagacity of the noble 
 proposer in drawing forth into the clearest light one of 
 the great requirements of Ireland, and the best means 
 to supply it ; mammon was suffered to interpose, and 
 
120 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 check the liberal spirit of England ; and the measure 
 was lost — but by a small majority. Time, however, will 
 work changes, and with the American packet-station in 
 its natural position — the extreme west — and the gra- 
 dual expansion of Saxon capital towards that quarter, 
 private enterprise will be certain in the end to accom- 
 plish that which a perhaps mistaken spirit of economy, 
 if not a less amiable feeling, refused, at the cost of 
 an enormous subsequent loss of population to the 
 country, by self-expatriation, or disappearance from 
 other causes. 
 
THE APPLICATION OF CAPITAL. 121 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE APPLICATION OF CAPITAL. 
 
 How does capital increase in Saxon communities? 
 The reply is to be found at large in former chapters. 
 The Saxon man, (an individual instance being here 
 taken as the representative of a large proportion of the 
 race) by nature self-reliant, labour-loving, energetic, 
 methodical, collects, often from small beginnings, the 
 savings of his honest industry. Each little addition 
 gives power: his business thrives. Inclination, that is, 
 nature, urges him onward : his business extends ; he 
 gives eiaployment. He values time, weighs probabi- 
 lities, calculates losses, ascertains his profits : capital 
 accumulates; he employs more hands. Often, by 
 long years of patient continuous industry ; sometimes, 
 more quickly, by bold strokes in speculation; now 
 and then, by steadily w^orking out valuable improve- 
 ments in mechanism ; rarely by original invention ; 
 he realizes a competency. Does he now retire to enjoy 
 it? Two paths are open before him. He is inde- 
 pendent. To choose rests with himself alone: but 
 
122 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 on this choice the welfare of nations hangs. On this 
 single point — the issue of his voluntary selection — ^raay 
 be said to depend, the wealth, power, and splendour 
 of England — the rapid growth, expanding trade, and 
 gigantic undertakings of America — the commercial 
 importance and general prosperity of all Saxon coun- 
 tries ; some, of course, more or less retarded by 
 political, geographical, or other relations, but all pos- 
 sessing the elements conducive to steady progress, love 
 of independence, love of order, strong resolution, 
 commercial spirit, expansive character. Onward, is 
 ever the Saxon's motto. To the past he only looks 
 for experience. Immense fortunes are created: the 
 thirst for enterprise seems only to increase, and capital 
 circulates accordingly in the larger employment of the 
 masses. 
 
 The question is not here as to the amount of hap- 
 piness enjoyed by the capitalist himself, in conse- 
 quence of all this prosperity. It may be tiiat the 
 social, contented Celt has really more unmixed enjoy- 
 ment, when possessing what to himself appears a 
 sufficiency ; but his are not the qualities to enrich a 
 country, to raise the condition of the multitude, to 
 promote general advancement. Nature has fitted the 
 Saxon for the destiny assigned him, and rest from 
 work is to him intolerable. He accordingly holds the 
 front rank in the march of improvement, and influ- 
 ences more than any other race the civilization of the 
 
THE APPLICATION OF CAPITAL. 123 
 
 world. Take the Saxon out of Europe at this moment, 
 and what events would be sure to follow ? The instant 
 combination of despotic poivers against liberty, the 
 interruption of free intercourse between nations, the 
 enforcement of arbitrary decrees by the bayonet, 
 further restrictions or extinction of the press, the 
 withdrawal of knowledge, the retrogradation of succeed- 
 ing generations, and the disappearance of liberty for 
 ages; or — sanguinary retaliations, successful revolu- 
 tions, anarchical interregna, remodelling of nations, 
 and insane attempts to establish pure democratic con- 
 stitutions in communities as yet (with few exceptions) 
 unfitted to receive them. But this is a digression. 
 
 The Celt, also, mil labour hard for a maintenance, 
 and many will rise to independence or a handsome 
 competence. At this point, he also is free to make his 
 choice. Hitherto his way has been that of the Saxon, 
 though his progress is less stimulated by the onward 
 impulse: henceforth, (we speak of the rule in both 
 cases) they diverge. The Celt chooses the flowery 
 path ; he withdraws his capital, and leaves the 
 drudgery of trade to those whom necessity compels 
 still to labour. "Want of self-reliance, and consequent 
 dislike to large speculation, combined with his love of 
 social ease and contentedness with a sufficiency for 
 present enjoyment, (nature still I) determine his volun- 
 tary preference. Hence trade cannot extend, wealth 
 cannot flow in, employment of labour cannot increase, 
 
124 IRISH ETHNOLOGY 
 
 to any very remarkable amount, in Celtic communities ; 
 especially when these, by proximity of situation^ are 
 driven to contend against Saxon accumulativeness and 
 expansibility. 
 
 As long as Saxon competition kept aloof, the Irish 
 trader could get on tolerably well in his own way. In 
 the days of sailing vessels and Irish parliaments, many 
 fortunes were realized by business in Dublin. Social 
 enjoyment, often extravagant, was the order of the 
 day. The respectability of private life was the great 
 object of attainment. The native spirit extended to 
 all.* The trading capitalist retired, or if not himself, 
 his children or successors. Business was not pushed 
 when the opportunity offered, and when, with im- 
 proved means of intercourse, the pressure of competi-. 
 tion gradually became felt, capital was found wanting 
 to withstand it. The Dublin trader, with small means, 
 could not contend with the overpowering perseverance 
 and wealth of the English capitalist or Scotch com- 
 pany, and as each advance of locomotive facilities 
 brought increased competition, the condition of the 
 small shops became proportionally depressed. 
 
 * One class of men, chiefly or altogether Saxon, the members of the 
 Society of Friends, have been exempted by their peculiar principles 
 from the action of this national spirit. The causes of this exemption 
 are obvious, as are also its consequences. They are at present among 
 the very few successful opponents in trade of the large English and 
 Scotch capitalists, and are generally distinguished by many unmistake- 
 ably Saxon tendencies. See page 80 of the present work. 
 
THE APPLICATION OF CAPITAL. 125 
 
 Wliat is tlie Dublin shopkeeper now to do ? To 
 contend successfully with such odds is impossible : 
 the struggle must end in his utter discomfiture. His 
 strength lies in union. Let him unite, and that 
 speedily; but let him unite with — not against — the 
 Saxon. Let a number of small traders club together 
 their whole wealth. Let them invite the English or 
 Scotch capitalist of character, accustomed to great 
 undertakings, and anxious for any favourable opening. 
 Let the shares be apportioned according to the means 
 invested. Let them engage, each to bring his utmost 
 influence and devote his best attention to the new 
 monster establishment. Let the accounts be subject to 
 fair but not vexatious scrutiny. In all other respects, 
 let the wealthy and well qualified stranger have the 
 chief if not the sole management of the concern. 
 Let pride be cast aside. Let the country-house, and 
 the horse, and the vehicle be dispensed with, at least 
 for a time. Let all who choose to work as subor- 
 dinates be paid accordingly. Let the discontented be 
 permitted to dispose of their shares. Who can doubt 
 that with such incentives to co-operation and security 
 against disunion, the new establishment v/ould be 
 found to work well ? 
 
 But before any great willingness to embark in sucli 
 enterprises can be expected here, the interference of 
 the legislature on one very important point, equally 
 affecting the application of capital to every sort of 
 
126 IRISH ETHNOLOGY, 
 
 industrial speculation throughout Ireland, is indispen- 
 sible. The law of partnership must be amended. 
 
 In England great results have been obtained by the 
 concentration of the wealth and energies of several 
 individuals on a common object, through joint stock 
 societies or partnerships ; but as, by the law as it 
 stands at present, each partner, in the case of failure, 
 is separately responsible for the whole liabilities of the 
 company (except in special cases), few associations of 
 this kind are likely to be formed in Ireland, unless 
 the strongest guarantees can be given against future 
 claims, and also unless the business engaged in shall 
 be tolerably free from the risks of untoward contin- 
 gencies. Of these two requisites, the latter is sup- 
 posed to be rarely attainable in Ireland ; and the effect 
 of the supposition, whether it be well founded or not, 
 is to check even English enterprise Avhen setting 
 towards this country. Most men will hesitate to take 
 shares in any trading association, whose business is to 
 be carried on in a country where property is said to 
 be not much respected, and where, therefore, without 
 any means of foreseeing or guarding against sudden 
 casualty, each partner may find himself at once 
 involved in all the losses and liabilities of a ruined 
 concern. 
 
 The protection of the creditor is of course intended 
 by the present laAV, but in other countries such protec- 
 tion is not found necessary. In France the law is 
 
THE APPLICATION OF CAPITAL. 127 
 
 different, and answers well. There, the special or 
 sleeping partner, who advances capital, is, unlike the 
 general or active partner, totally irresponsible in case 
 of bankruptcy, except for the amount of his share 
 invested. Fraud is guarded against by a provision, 
 that each company, wdth the names and shares of all 
 the partners, shall be inserted in a public register. 
 The result of the law is, that the French capitalist, as 
 his risk cannot exceed the amount of the sum ad- 
 vanced, willingly places his money in the hands of the 
 trader, receiving in return a share of the profits, that 
 is, becoming a partner in the business. 
 
 The law of limited partnerships is also found to 
 work well in America. There are factories there, in 
 which the working men themselves enjoy a partner- 
 ship, their labour being considered as capital invested, 
 and the flourishing condition of these establishments 
 shews the great advantages derivable from the system. 
 A direct interest in the profits of the concern is the 
 best security for the industry of the workman, and 
 the guarantee which the law affords to the monied 
 partner against greater losses than he can calculate 
 on beforehand, stimulates to the profitable employment 
 of much wealth that otherwise might be comparatively 
 unproductive. 
 
 Much has been written of the beneficial effects of 
 this system both in France and America ; but it is in 
 its applicability to Ireland that we are here interested. 
 
128 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 and tlie circumstances of this country are exactly such 
 as to warrant the belief that it would be in a special 
 manner useful at the present time, in inviting the ap- 
 proach of that capital and skill which are now so much 
 required; and that hereafter it would have the best 
 effect in supplying that strong inducement to Irish 
 nature, so necessary for the employment of Irish 
 savings in enterprises attended with risk. 
 
 The country is now, from long famine and heavy 
 poor-rates, though beginning to recover, still thorough- 
 ly impoverished, and, from want of capital, but far 
 more from want of energy and skill to use it, quite 
 incapable of any great unsupported efforts. Should 
 the Security for Advances Bill of last session be at 
 length pressed forward, and passed into law, it is 
 highly probable that English money to a large amount 
 will seek investment in Irish land, which will then 
 afford the best security, the claim of the investor 
 being the first charge on the estate. English money, 
 once introduced largely, will attract its owner s regards 
 to the capabilities of the country. But, under the 
 present law of unlimited partnership, there will still 
 probably remain much hesitation to embark in Irish 
 speculations. Apprehension of unforeseen and unde- 
 fined dangers will still deter from the formation of 
 companies for great imdertakings, such as large manu- 
 facturing establishments ; and it is just here that a 
 change in the law alluded to might be expected to act 
 
THE APPLICATION OF CAPITAL. 129 
 
 most favonrably. If the risk were diminislied to the 
 amount of the sum subscribed, hundreds would be 
 willing to venture small sums in any new investment 
 which might offer reasonable hope of success. A 
 beginning once made, there would be little doubt of 
 the result. In process of time savings would again 
 accumulate, as before the famine, in the hands of 
 the more industrious of the working classes. These men, 
 if once induced, by example and the facilities afforded, 
 to invest their little M^ealth in the purchase of shares, 
 would secure in the most effectual manner the stability 
 of whatever establishment they might belong to. 
 Union would lend strength and spirit to their further 
 efforts. The prospect of a share, as the result of in- 
 dustry, like the sale of land in small allotments, would 
 supply the necessary encouragement to exertion, and 
 a direct interest in the profits would completely neu- 
 tralize the worst attempts of agitation and secret 
 societies. 
 
130 IRISH ETHNOLOGY 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 WATER-POWEK.* 
 
 On the question of the advantages of water-power is 
 based that of the manufacturing capabilities of the 
 greater part of Ireland. Its importance, therefore, is 
 extreme. It is absurd to expect that the more unfa- 
 vourably situated parts of Ireland will ever attempt, 
 by the importation and land-carriage of coal, to compete 
 with a country whose factories are close to the sources 
 of supply. It is true that Belfast has succeeded by the 
 large use of steam ; but the indomitable energy which 
 has forced this town forward, in spite of all its many 
 difficulties, is manifestly due to the inherent qualities 
 of the race to which the mass of its population belongs. 
 To expect that in the more remote parts of Ireland, 
 where these difficulties are still greater, and the easily 
 contented, easily discouraged, spirit of the Celtic race 
 prevails universally, manufactures can ever be estab- 
 
 * The subject of this chapter is considered admissible here, as being 
 in the writer's view inseparably connected with Celtic progress in Ire- 
 land. 
 
WATER-POWER. 131 
 
 lislied without the free and full utilization of the great 
 water-power of the country, is to realise the fable of 
 the countryman at the current's edge. The sponta- 
 neous rise of manufactures requiring mechanical power 
 in such parts of Ireland, is possible only through the 
 agency of water. Water-power is the great gift of na- 
 ture to Ireland, and by it her manufacturing industry 
 must, if it is ever to become general, be mainly deve- 
 loped. 
 
 A prejudice, however, exists in England against the 
 exclusive use of water for manufacturing purposes, even 
 infavourable situations ; and this, among other obstacles, 
 has had no little influence in hindering the application 
 of English capital to Irish speculations. The scarcit}^ 
 of favourably circumstanced water-power in England, 
 and the easy substitution there of steam from the 
 cheapness of coal, seem to have led to fallacious ideas 
 respecting the merits and economy of the former. It 
 is supposed by those little acquainted with water-power, 
 that the steady uniform motion necessary for delicate 
 work cannot be obtained from it; and though its cost, 
 generally, is asserted to be not more than one-tenth 
 that of steam, the truth of the assertion is not consi- 
 dered worth ascertaining, when the means of testing 
 its value do not present in their own localities. These 
 persons affect to look upon the cost of power in exten- 
 sive factories as of minor importance. It is thus not 
 uncommon to hear English travellers, from the great 
 
132 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 inanufacturing districts, speak witli great contempt of 
 this part of Ireland's resources, and intimate that the 
 Avant of coal in convenient situations, even were capital 
 and skill equal, must for ever effectually prevent all 
 competition with the English establishments. The 
 writer has frequently, even of late, heard this objection 
 put forward by manufacturing natives of England, 
 from whose intelligence on most subjects one would 
 liave expected a closer acquaintance with great mecha- 
 nical facts. It is, in part, practically refuted, however 
 strongly urged in language, by the use made of water- 
 power in England wherever found available. In Lan- 
 cashire, where coal is so abundant, advantage is taken 
 of every favourable situation; and the river Irwell, 
 passing by Manchester, is the most highly economised 
 stream in the world. By the factory returns of 1850, 
 out of a total of 91,610 horse-power employed in the fac- 
 tories of England and Wales, there were 18,214 of water- 
 power or one-fifth of the whole ; and in Lancashire alone, 
 upwards of 4,000. So large an amount as this would 
 certainly not be employed in a country so Avell supplied 
 Avith the means of obtaining the cheapest steam-power, 
 if it be true either that water-power is inherently ob- 
 jectionable for use in factories, or that the cost of steam 
 is too trifling- to be taken into calculation. The advan- 
 tage and efficiency, for mechanical purposes, of the 
 Shaw's water-Avorks near Greenock, need but to be 
 mentioned ; and all practical men who have used both 
 
WATER-POWER. 133 
 
 powers skilfully and without prejudice, will admit tliat 
 it requires only a larger experience of the smooth and 
 regular action of water on good machinery, to dispel 
 completely this extraordinary popular delusion. 
 
 The water-power of Ireland is, in truth, one of her 
 greatest natural advantages ; but it is a lamentable fact 
 that, with a very few exceptions, it has hitherto been 
 utterly neglected. The Upper Bann is the only large 
 river in Ireland which has been made to yield its power 
 extensively to the claims of industry ; and the results 
 are strikingly evident in the pictures of prosperity dis- 
 played everywhere along its banks. The greater num- 
 ber by far are alloAved to waste their treasures, withou 
 an attempt to appropriate any of this profuse natura 
 supply of force, which thus runs idly to the sea. Ex- 
 amples rise on every side. " After the Shannon at Kil- 
 laloe, there is nothing in Ireland comparable, as a source 
 of mechanical power, to the Erne at Belleek and Bally- 
 shannon."* The Erne lake, which extends from south 
 to north thirty-five miles, at an elevation of one hundred 
 and thirty-eight feet above the sea, at high-Avater of 
 spring tides, discharges the entire body of its waters by 
 this sole outlet, the river Erne, which meets the tide at 
 the port of Bally shannon, distant about five miles from 
 its commencement. Two magnificent cascades form the 
 boundaries of its upper and lower extremities, and the 
 intervening space is occupied for a great part by a long 
 
 • Sir R. Kane, " The Industrial Resources of Ireland.' 
 
134 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 cliain of rapids. Throughout this course it would be 
 highly available, at almost every point, for the purposes 
 of the heaviest and most extensive machinery ; and by the 
 adaptation of the usual economical appliances for distri- 
 bution, an amount of power might be obtained from 
 this river alone, sufficient to communicate motion to the 
 whole machinery of England. In advantages as a site 
 for manufacture, perhaps no outlet in the United King- 
 dom can surpass this : few can compete with it. An 
 ample supply of water in the driest seasons — a descent 
 sufficient for all purposes in which water-power is de- 
 sired — a large population most anxious for employment 
 — a port on which some thousands have been not long 
 since expended, many feet of solid rock having been re- 
 moved from the entrance, and the passage rendered 
 safe for steam or sailing vessels of tolerable size. A 
 further facility to sea communication is presented by 
 the position, at the distance of a few miles on the 
 northern coast of Donegal bay, of the noble harbour of 
 Killybegs, not surpassed by any in the kingdom for 
 space, depth, and security. Vessels of the largest ton- 
 nage might enter here in the roughest w^eather, and 
 ride within in safety. A small steamer, stationed here 
 as a tug, would save all delay from contrary winds to 
 sailing vessels bound for Ballyshannon. 
 
 For the flax manufacture, the soil of the surrounding 
 country is peculiarly calculated to furnish the finest 
 material. Some specimens of the greatest delicacy of 
 
WATER-POWER. 135 
 
 fibre have been raised on tlie shores of Lough Erne, 
 without any extraordinary attention to the culture ; 
 and the alluvial tracts lately uncovered by drainage 
 along the shores of the upper lake will probably be 
 found equally favourable in yielding the finer qualities. 
 In short, a combination of advantages exists in this 
 particular locality, which requires only enterprise, 
 capital and knowledge to render it a great manufac- 
 turing centre — -the competitor and fully the equal of 
 Belfast. How has this splendid river been used? 
 Throughout its entire course, the only piece of mechan- 
 ism acted upon by this great body of water consists of 
 one solitary mill-wheel belonging to the distillery of 
 Bally shannon. The town and its neighbourhood pre- 
 sent an aspect of stagnation and poverty. In point of 
 superabundant bounty on the part of nature, and utter 
 neglect of this on the part of man, no civilized country 
 can show a more saddening example. 
 
 With such an opening for remunerative speculation, 
 it has often excited surprise that English enterprise 
 and capital have not yet made their way to this 
 locality. Moral causes have had their efiect here as 
 elsewhere ; but, leaving these aside, the objection to 
 water-power before mentioned appears to have had the 
 chief influence. A distrust of other power than steam, 
 naturally raises, when the latter is unattainable except 
 at great cost, an effectual bar to the expenditure of 
 large capital on the exclusive trial of a power which 
 
136 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 strong prejudice still considers at least uncertain and 
 unsteady. There is, no doubt, very sufficient ground 
 for this objection, in those situations where the supply 
 of water is at certain seasons inadequate, and, at 
 others, from the want of proper appliances, excessive, 
 so that a risk must be incurred of a frequent stoppage 
 of all work, to the great loss, perhaps ruin, of the 
 proprietors, and distress of the workmen thrown out 
 of emplojrment ; but in such localities as this at the 
 mouth of the Erne, these untoward circumstances 
 could not occur. Want of sufficient supply could 
 never be felt here, as the great reservoir of the lake 
 would always ensure abundant power at its only 
 outlet: and as to difficulties from excessive supply, 
 these would be checked by the same provision, and 
 never could become so great as not to admit of being 
 easily overcome by a little engineering contrivance. 
 In the factories of Portlaw, in the county of Water- 
 ford, the river being unprovided ^\ith a reservoir, any 
 interruption to the work from want of supply is 
 obviated by the union of steam-power mth Avater- 
 power — ^by "having also a steam-engine of such poAver 
 as to be supplemental to the water-wheel, and accord- 
 ing as water fails, to work the engine so that the 
 mechanical force exerted by the steam-engine and 
 water-engine together may be constant."* " In these 
 factories two engines of a hundred horse power and 
 
 * Sir R. Kane " Industrial Resources." 
 
WxiTER-POWER. 137 
 
 two oversliot wheels of nearly equal force tlius work 
 together. There is no mechanical difficulty in the 
 co-adaptation of these prime movers."* On the upper 
 Bann this disadvantage of water-power has been effec- 
 tually removed, by the construction of reservoirs. In 
 the instance before us, the Erne outlet, a reservoir of 
 vast extent, has been provided by nature. 
 
 The establishment, on some site as favourably cir- 
 cumstanced as that we have been describing, of a large 
 cotton or flax factory, (or a union of both) erected with 
 the best engineering skill, so that all difficulties might 
 be completely obviated, and worked exclusively by 
 water-power, so that the full capabilities of this power 
 might be thus tested and demonstrated beyond cavil, 
 would go far to diminish or remove this injurious pre- 
 judice ; and any capitalist or company who would 
 have the courage to undertake such a speculation, and 
 the energy to carry it to completion, would place Ire- 
 land under an obligation of gratitude which would 
 extend to future generations, and reap besides the 
 more satisfactory reward of Saxon enterprise, substan- 
 tial profit, t 
 
 * Sir E. Kane, "Industrial Eesources." 
 
 f The commencement of a new state of things may shortly be ex- 
 pected in the abovementioned locality, through the liberality and per- 
 severing efforts of the present youthful proprietor, already a promising 
 member of the legislatm'e, and evidencing in the present instance, as it 
 appears to the w^riter, a knowledge of the real wants of Ireland. The 
 two first steps resolved upon show tlie correctness of his views — first, 
 the opening of the port by steam navigation; and next, the introduction 
 of manufacture from the fountain head, Manchester. 
 
138 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 The capital and skill requisite for sucli undertakings 
 are not to be looked for in Celtic Ireland. Neither, at 
 present, has existence there — at least, they are not to 
 be found in combination. They must come from 
 Saxon hands — from the north of Ireland, from Scot- 
 land, or from England. Favourable sites and internal 
 natural resources there are in abundance, with a popu- 
 lation most apt to learn and now anxious for employ- 
 ment. The means by which these rich unemployed 
 materials may be converted into profitable manufac- 
 turing concerns, are still external to the greater por- 
 tion of the country. Every obstacle, therefore, to their 
 speedy approach should be as far as possible removed, 
 and every facility of access should be afforded. 
 
 Note In the foregoing chapter the writer has hnt expressed the 
 
 opinions of many persons professionally competent to otfer them on 
 subjects of a mechanical nature, such as the above. The extreme 
 importance of manufacture to the further improvement of Ireland is 
 generally acknowledged, and must cause even the nonprofessional to 
 consider anxiously all possible means for its introduction. 
 
PRESERVATION OF ORDER. 139 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 PEESERVATION OF OEDER. 
 
 The hesitation usually manifested in England in aj)~ 
 proacliing the all-important question of race, when 
 bearing on deficiencies of character, does not appear to 
 be at all exhibited when favourable traits are the sub- 
 ject of enquiry or encomium. Thus, at a late social 
 meeting in one of the great English manufacturing- 
 towns, the American minister in his excellent speech 
 dwelt at much length on the wonderful progress of the 
 great American Union, as being due to certain innate 
 qualities well known as appertaining to the Saxon race, 
 wheresoever found, whether in England or in America 
 — enterprise, persevering industry, love of liberty, love 
 of order, and obedience to the law. The truth of the 
 proposition finds an immediate response in the con- 
 sciousness of all who have ever heard or studied the 
 Saxon's history ; and universal assent, in the plainest 
 language, is cheerfully accorded to the doctrine, as ex- 
 pressing thus far the incontrovertible truths of nature. 
 But apply the same doctrine to another race ; demon- 
 
140 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 strate from history and present circumstances, that 
 certain characteristics strikingly different from those of 
 the Saxon have ever belonged to and still distinguish 
 this race — that where isolated and left to itself, its 
 modes of progress will be different — that, to render 
 its progress similar to the Saxon's, a different ma- 
 nagement will be required ; and apprehension is at once 
 excited (though the truth is secretly acknowledged) 
 lest the inquiry should provoke oifence, and it is pro- 
 nounced invidious and inexpedient to encourage dis- 
 cussions in Avhich the defects as well as the favourable 
 aspects of a large body of people are involved. But 
 further, where this body of people is found to compose 
 a large division of the inhabitants of the British isles, 
 sharing equal privileges, and governed by similar laws 
 "svith all British subjects; it is then judged in the 
 highest degree impolitic to admit the importance or 
 even the existence of differences of race; and the 
 Saxon mind absolutely endeavours to compel itself into 
 the belief, that with equal laws and institutions, and 
 equal facilities for progress, ail groups of men, whether 
 isolated or otherwise, may be converted into thorough- 
 going Saxons. Surprise is expressed that this conver- 
 sion is still uneffected, and apparently as far off as 
 ever; and as a solution of the paradox of centuries — 
 the difficulty of all governments — every cause is sub- 
 stituted, every explanation offered — but the true. 
 To meet the difficulty boldly, and shew to the Celt 
 
PRESERVATION OF ORDER. 141 
 
 in what his deficiencies consist ; to offer him the hand 
 of fellowship, with the " encouragement" he stands so 
 much in need of; to teach him that his prosperity 
 would be best secured by the co-operation of the Eng- 
 lish people, with whom his destinies are permanently 
 united, Avould surely be a wiser policy than to persist 
 in the futile attempt to alter nature's laws, by a stub- 
 born adherence to a line of treatment which has led 
 only to disappointment and recriminations on both 
 sides — on the one, for withholding required assistance 
 — on the other, for not having improved by self-reliant 
 industry the national resources of the country, and the 
 advantages common to all in equal privileges and equal 
 laws. 
 
 The late Sir Robert Peel, a man far in advance of 
 his time, the extent of whose views was evidently not 
 comprehended, shewed by his celebrated proposal to 
 infuse more Saxon spirit by a new plantation, that he 
 well understood the real necessities of Ireland. He 
 felt that as long as she remained isolated, without 
 Saxon example and assistance, while at the same time 
 subjected to Saxon competition^ progress at all approach- 
 ing that of England was not to be expected ; and he 
 aimed to accomplish that with rapidity, which he be- 
 lieved to be essential to her lasting improvement. To 
 have carried out this great project successfully, at the 
 time he suggested it, would have required a mind equal 
 to that of its proposer. Its difficulties would probably 
 
142 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 be sucli, even now, as few could surmount. A more 
 easy though less speedy method, however, towards the 
 same object, may be expected to succeed, on principles 
 of which the explanation has been attempted in the 
 foregoing pages ; — by removing as far as possible the 
 obstacles which ignorance, prejudice, and circumstance 
 have created, to open a way by which Saxon enter- 
 prise, through its own expansive force, may gain access 
 to the recesses of the country, bearing with it the true 
 remedies for Irish evils, in example and instruction 
 ably supplied, employment freely given, and abundant 
 capital expended. Various obstacles have been dis- 
 cussed under previous headings. Another, also noticed 
 on a former occasion, remains still to be considered 
 with regard to the means required for its removal. 
 
 Among all the characteristics of the Saxon, there is 
 perhaps none more prominent than his love of order, 
 and his respect for laws of his owti making. Without 
 the liberty of making and enforcing his own laws, he 
 cannot flourish. In every country where he forms a 
 new settlement, his first object is the establishment of 
 order, his next, the development of the new country's 
 resources. Without the protection of law, his indus- 
 try cannot take root ; and if that is absolutely denied 
 him, he quits the country, and looks elsewhere. In 
 another place we have dwelt at some length on the 
 opposite character and habits of the Celt in this par- 
 ticular, and on the existence in Ireland of a formidable 
 
PRESERVATION OF ORDER. 143 
 
 conspiracy, wliicb. in countless instances has set law at 
 defiance, and prevented the introduction of Saxon im- 
 provement. The great importance of clearly under- 
 standing this great obstacle to Irish progress led to an 
 examination of the system of ribbonism, founded on 
 the evidence given before the committee of the House 
 of Lords in 1839. The peculiar character of the 
 criminal acts arising from this system, in the employ- 
 ment of strangers for their perpetration, and the diffi- 
 culty and often impossibility of detection, were noticed, 
 and the existence of this conspiracy at the present time 
 to a large extent inferred, from the same character 
 attaching to late outrages. No one thoroughly ac- 
 quainted with the country hesitates to admit the still 
 widespread influence of the system ; but all doubts on 
 the subject must be removed, by the testimony of men 
 the best qualified of all others to ascertain truth in such 
 matters — the Roman Catholic priesthood of Ireland. 
 Their primate, in a late pastoral address, declares that 
 he has heard with sorrow that secret societies are ex- 
 tending, and the evil appears to him of such magni- 
 tude, that he threatens with the punishment of excom- 
 munication every one connected with these " illicit 
 combinations," as he styles them. He specially indi- 
 cates some of these, and among them the ribbon society, 
 as notorious. The threat of so severe a punishment 
 shews, at least, belief in the general existence of the 
 crime, and belief in such a quarter may be taken as 
 
144 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 conclusive proof. The formidable nature and wide 
 extent of tliis conspiracy maj^, then, be considered as 
 perfectly well ascertained ; but it is a curious fact that 
 in the least distressed districts its operations are most 
 manifested. When distress prevails, it appears to lose 
 its energy ; and it is only when a gleam of prosperity 
 returns, that its spirit revives. This fact, as before ob- 
 served, shews a most remarkable point of difference 
 between Celtic and Saxon character — one never yet 
 comprehended in England. In the latter country, dis- 
 tress is the sure forerunner of disturbance ; but with 
 the return of prosperity, the Saxon love of order is 
 restored. In Ireland the rule is reversed. Distress 
 paralyses, and with better times come agitation and 
 secret conspiracies. This peculiar feature of the Celt 
 is extremely puzzling to British governments, and leads 
 to frequent disappointment. Arguing from cause and 
 effect as seen in England, they imagine that the same 
 remedies will be followed by the results in both 
 countries. " Give employment, and the people will 
 be quiet," is the universal cry. The advice, in itseli', 
 is unexceptionable. Employment is most desirable in 
 all cases, but the expected result of quiet will, in Ire- 
 land, be too often looked for in vain. The history of 
 such experiments is usually this. A great work is 
 undertaken, we will suppose by the Board of Works, 
 in a part of the country where ribbonism prevails. 
 Some hundreds of the starving population get imme- 
 
PEESERVATION OF ORDER. 145 
 
 diate and continuous employment. "Wages higher than 
 the usual average of the country are agreed upon, and 
 punctually paid. The circumstances of the people im- 
 prove, and the ribbon system immediately liegins to 
 shew its revival, in anonymous notices, strikes, and 
 outrages. The authorities are puzzled, and the work 
 is perhaps suspended, a proceeding which at once 
 restores quiet — for with the return of distress comes 
 peace. The work is again commenced, and by judi- 
 cious temporary suspensions, as occasion requires, and 
 fearless bearing on the part of the superintendent, may 
 be carried on to a successful termination, in spite of 
 this insane spirit of combination.* But with private 
 
 • Combination is also of frequent occurrence in England. It shews 
 itself generally in open remonstrance, and equally open acts of violence, 
 or in sullen refusal to work. It is often founded on just grievance. 
 It is not easily put down ; and when starvation begins to press, there 
 is then most danger of outrage. Combinations in England are mostly 
 confined to the workmen themselves, and any great crime (such as a 
 murder) is almost sure to be followed by the capture and conviction of 
 the criminal. He meets with no general sympathy, and therefore cannot 
 escape, as in Ireland, In Wales there is a difference. The Eebecca 
 riots may be still in the memory of many. An organised, rapidly - 
 spreading system of opposition to an unpopular law, resembling, in the 
 general sympathy excited and the consequent success of the combina- 
 tors, the Kibbon system of Ireland, was got up on short notice, 
 some years ago, and became so formidable from its extent, that the 
 authorities were at last obliged to yield, and the obnoxious impost was 
 withdrawn. Luckily, Wales has long been free from professed agitators 
 and other exciting causes. The Celt, if not acted upon, is everywhere 
 the most friendly, inoffensive, and contented of men. 
 
 L 
 
146 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 enterprise the case is different, and the first cessation 
 of work is often unhappily a final 6ne. 
 
 This plan of suspending the work, on the occurrence 
 of outrage, has been found most successftd by those en- 
 gaged in the Shannon drainage and other government 
 improvements. Prompt punishment, falling directly on 
 all the guilty together, speedily checked this pernicious 
 system, and effected a great reformation in the habits of 
 the workmen. If a similar remedy could be applied in 
 all cases of outrage in Ireland, equal success would 
 assuredly attend it. But here lies the difiaculty. Rib- 
 bon outrage most frequently escapes detection. The 
 people feel themselves strong in close union, and laugh 
 at the law. The perpetrator receives sympathy and 
 shelter in every house. Demoralization is increased by 
 the easy defeat of law, and the hands of the guilty are 
 strengthened. 
 
 A plan for the prevention of crime of this character, 
 was suggested and carried into execution with remark- 
 able success by the present Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. 
 An outrage of magnitude occuiTing, and the perpetra- 
 tors as usual evading discovery, a large police force was 
 dispatched to the scene of action, the expense levied 
 forthAvith on the guilty district, and immediate pajnnent 
 enforced. The promptness of the punishment, and its 
 comprehensive action, produced a marvellous effect; 
 and the plan, since pursued on several occasions, has 
 been found of essential service to the country. 
 
PRESERVATION OF ORDER. 147 
 
 The trial of a temporary measure, specially direct- 
 ed against the ribbon system, rendering it a trans- 
 portable offence to harbour or conceal or aid in the 
 escape of the suspected criminal, was judged necessary 
 about three years since, in a disturbed locality in the 
 south of Ireland ; and a few examples soon occurring 
 in which the extreme punishment was carried out, 
 much dismay was created, and an immediate and 
 striking diminution of crime followed- 
 
 To defeat the machinations of a society whose opera- 
 tions set all ordinarjT" laws at defiance, is manifestly 
 the duty of every government, but its paramount 
 necessity as regards Ireland will not be comprehended 
 until a true estimate be formed of Celtic qualities ; that 
 for good or evil, the strength of the Celt consists in 
 union ; that, though naturally excitable, and the easy 
 prey of agitation, his social habits, when not distorted 
 by* evil influences, are of the most friendly and hos- 
 pitable kind ; that, freed from these influences, he is 
 easily contented, easily managed, easily governed ; that 
 there are then no peculiar difficulties in detecting 
 crime, and that it is only when numbers are leagued 
 together, in a wide-spread conspiracy to defeat law 
 that these difficulties arise. 
 
 In the tendency of the Celtic character to the for- 
 mation of such conspiracies consist, in truth, the 
 obstacles, so long notorious, to the effectual administra- 
 tion of the law in Ireland. Could this tendency be 
 
148 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 counteracted, and the complete suppression of illegal 
 combinations effected, the present British criminal code 
 would be amply sufficient to afford protection to the 
 most timid. 
 
 The inference from these views is plain. In all legis- 
 lation for the prevention of crime in Ireland, attention 
 should be mainly directed to the detection and suppres- 
 tion of these conspiracies, and not merely to the detec- 
 tion and punishment of individual offenders. The cor- 
 rectness of the principle here indicated is confirmed by 
 the success of the Irish viceroy's measures, and of the 
 means used against combination among the labourers 
 in the government works. The mode in both cases 
 was the same ; punishment falling on all the guilty 
 together, the abettors as well as the principals, and, 
 above all, promptness in its application. The obvious 
 objections to the frequent use of such coercive measures 
 are, first, that the innocent would suffer with the guilty, 
 and secondly, that by this extension of arbitrary power, 
 precedents dangerous to liberty would be established. 
 These are serious objections, and in a country like 
 Great Britain, where liberty is so jealously guarded, 
 and everything bordering on arbitrary power so suspi- 
 ciously repelled, urgent necessity alone can reconcile 
 men s minds to their adoption. The first objection is 
 somewhat lessened by the fact, that wherever this ne- 
 cessity occurs, that is, in the parts of the country 
 where this spirit of combination prevails actively, few 
 
PRESERVATION OF ORDER. 149 
 
 if any of the lower classes can succeed in keeping en- 
 tirely aloof from contamination ; many, who otherwise 
 would have been well disposed, being obliged in self- 
 defence to join the secret society, in order to avoid the 
 suspicion and enmity of the great -body. To these, and 
 to all friends of order, the penalty incurred would be 
 light when balanced with the relief obtained by the 
 extinction of the system. The force of the second ob- 
 jection may be qualified by the temporary nature of 
 such acts, and by the constant vigilance of parliament ; 
 but in whatever way the undue assumption of power 
 is to be guarded against, the evil itself of extensive 
 combination is of too great magnitude to be left untouch- 
 ed. The revival and present alleged increase [of the fact, 
 no one acquainted with Ireland can entertain a doubt] 
 of the ribbon society, should receive the most anxious 
 attention of government. As long as this conspiracy 
 shall be permitted to continue, so long will the large 
 police force now actively employed in Ireland, consist- 
 ing of nearly thirteen thousand men, exclusive of the 
 Dublin metropolitan force, at an expense of more than 
 half a million annually, have to be maintained ; very 
 probably it will be largely increased, and will thus form 
 a standing army much more dangerous to general 
 liberty, than the enactment of temporary coercive mea- 
 sures, with additional powers to the Irish executive. 
 
 It should never be forgotten, that without protection 
 for life and property, Saxon industry cannot flourish, 
 
150 IRISH ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 and Saxon capital will not approach. The gradual en- 
 lightenment, which it is to be hoped may be the fruit 
 of education and other improvement, may do a great 
 deal in preparing the people for a change of habits ; but 
 if a rapid and permanent progress is to be obtained 
 through Saxon co-operation^ Ireland's great require- 
 ment, the effectual rooting out of this spirit of combi- 
 nation by the strong arm of the law must be regarded 
 as its essential antecedent. 
 
CONCLUSION. lol 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 The foregoing suggestions for tlie improvement of Ire- 
 and liave been offered as inferrible from the permanent 
 mental cliaracters of tlie occupying races. 
 
 Care lias been taken to dwell only on such measures 
 as, from their reference to the most important require- 
 ments, may be considered worthy of attention by those 
 interested in the durable advancement of this country. 
 
 All purely religious questions have been avoided as 
 much as possible, as being subjects the discussion of 
 which, at present, as far as the great necessities of 
 Ireland in a temporal point of view are concerned, 
 could lead to no directly useful purpose, and as having, 
 in reality, but little connexion with the objects pro- 
 posed in the title of this work. 
 
 Not that pure religion does not exercise a mighty 
 power over the minds of those who are spiritually in- 
 fluenced by it, nor that even its nominal profession 
 does not controul and humanize and incline to order 
 the mass who live within its atmosphere. Its power 
 all must admit. Bat it must be admitted also, that 
 
152 CONCLUSION. 
 
 religion, though controlling the passions of the indivi- 
 dual, does not convert one temperament into another — 
 does not change the substratum of race — does not, for 
 instance, infuse that insatiable appetite for active en- 
 terprise and world-wide speculation, which in various 
 degrees distinguishes the progress of one people ; while, 
 on the other hand, it cannot remove, though it may 
 modify to some extent, the contentedness with little, 
 the attachment to home, the want of self-reliant enter- 
 prise — which we have described as marked traits . in 
 another. 
 
 Similarity of religion would, no doubt, be one of the 
 l;)est aids to destroy prejudices and remove the evils of 
 isolation, but is such universal change to be considered 
 as likely to be brought about quickly by any human 
 means that can be employed ? Are we to wait till this 
 change shall be effected? "Would the discussion of 
 this subject here be profitable or otherwise ? 
 
 It has been shewn that to attempt the improvement of 
 a country by legislative measures, with any certainty of 
 success, the mental constitution of its inhabitants must 
 not be disregarded — -that heretofore, with respect to 
 Ireland, the studious omission of this element, in all 
 attempts at remedial treatment, has led to perplexities 
 without number, and a general impression of the exist- 
 ence of some unintelligible and insurmountable diffi- 
 culty — that a careful study of the Irish people only 
 can solve the paradox — that the unfavourable charac- 
 
CONCLUSION. 153 
 
 teristics of all races are preserved by isolation — that 
 many causes have tended to keep up isolation in Ire- 
 land, such as difference of language, traditional preju- 
 dices, want of the means of free intercourse, and the 
 native excitabihty displayed so often in acts of turbu- 
 lence and outrage exercising a repulsive influence on 
 the approach of Saxon civilization — that a leading 
 principle in the treatment of Ireland should be the 
 complete removal of this pernicious condition, isola- 
 tion — ^that this may be effected by various measures 
 which need not here be recapitulated — that much may 
 be done by legislation if directed by true principles — 
 that, in short, Ireland, if properly studied, will no lon- 
 ger be found a paradox and difficulty, and, if properly 
 treated, may become a flourishing and happy portion 
 of the United Empire. 
 
 We cannot conclude without again protesting against 
 the opinion, that the admission of natural differences 
 between two races implies, on the whole, the necessary 
 inferiority of one of them. 
 
 The Celtic race, which has for many ages occupied a 
 most prominent position among .the other races of man- 
 kind, and still exercises a prodigious influence on the 
 destinies of the world, is not to be considered and 
 treated as an inferior race, because found to differ from 
 the Saxon in many important particulars. 
 
 Though unable to rival the latter in wealth-pro- 
 ducing enterprise, and suffering therefore from Saxon 
 
154 CONCLUSION. 
 
 competition, when subjected to it by the accidents of 
 geographical position, and enforced connexion without 
 real union, it nevertheless excels in many of the quali- 
 ties which improve and adorn humanity. Celtic refine- 
 ment, sensitive appreciation of the beautiful, inventive 
 genius, brilliant and exciting eloquence, quickness and 
 correctness of conception and skilfulnesS of hand — ^liave 
 long tended much to soften the natural asperities of other 
 races, and in these gifts of nature, if the balance be 
 held impartially, the Celtic scale will be found to have 
 a great preponderance. 
 
 In natural affection and sensibility to refined social 
 enjoyments, the race stands pre-eminent, and its in- 
 fluence on manners has given a polish to civilized 
 society throughout the world; — a polish which has 
 contributed much to refine and improve the proud, and 
 too often contemptuous, Saxon himself. 
 
 The Celtic race seems to fill a place in the economy 
 of the world which no other race is so well fitted to 
 occupy, and, no doubt, when great moral changes shall 
 have been effected, its better tendencies mil add much 
 to the general sum of human happiness and improve- 
 ment. 
 
 For evil, also, as well as good, its power is not to be 
 despised. Celtic passions, excited and unrestrained, 
 have terrific force, and may awaken fear and horror 
 but not contempt. 
 
 The military prowess of the race has ever been dis- 
 
CONCLUSION. 155 
 
 tinguislied, and thougli formidable to liberty, has 
 more than once stemmed and repulsed the tide of 
 Eastern conquest, and saved Europe from barbarian 
 domination. At present this powerful race forms the 
 chief barrier against the semi-barbarous Sarmatian ; 
 and, if its energies can be controlled and well guided, 
 may thus indirectly prove a valuable safeguard to the 
 liberty of the Saxon — a safeguard, however, in which 
 (the present position of France considered) much de- 
 pendence cannot prudently be reposed.* 
 
 It is unjust, then, to assert that difference implies 
 inferiority. In the mysterious arrangements of provi- 
 dence, each race, no doubt, has its special office assigned, 
 which, when properly discharged, "will conduce to the 
 general interests of mankind. What their ultimate 
 destiny may be we need not ask. It may be presumed 
 
 * If the present President of the French Republic possessed the 
 ambition and military talents of his great relative (who can say that 
 another such may not arise at a future day ?), and if selfish objects 
 were to be his chief motives (are they ever wanting to the inordinately 
 ambitious?) his policy might occasion much anxiety. A sudden 
 proclamation of war would unite all France as one man. Success, 
 (temporary of course) not unlikely to follow the first attempt, in the 
 present disposition of despotic European powers, would again centralize 
 in one individual the enormous military power of the most war-loving 
 nation in the world, and, whatever the consequences to future progress, 
 would establish indefinitely the reign of the new emperor in the hearts 
 of the French people. A grave question for neighbouring nations is, 
 ♦* Should national defences be neglected ?" 
 
156 CONCLUSION. 
 
 that, as long as isolation is continued, the same cha- 
 racteristics will be preserved. 
 
 By many the hope will not be considered Utopian 
 which extends to the distant period, when increased 
 knowledge, a mutual consciousness of natural dej&- 
 ciencies, and a true estimate of natural capabilities, 
 will counteract the evil tendencies of every race — 
 when a universal community of belief, and a sense of 
 true interests, will draw together the different mem- 
 bers of the whole human brotherhood, and when truth 
 will overspread the earth " as the waters cover the sea." 
 
 Note. — One word of explanation is necessary here. A main ob- 
 ject of this little work being the suggestion of remedies for Celtic evils, 
 the very worst points of Celtic character have been selected for re- 
 mark and illustration on the principle, that for the successful applica- 
 tion of treatment a knowledge of the whole extent and causes of 
 disease is to be desired. As the unfavourable points of character in 
 the Saxon race were not considered essential to the end in view, they 
 have been very slightly noticed, and some of them, perhaps, altogether 
 omitted. This comparison, therefore, is not to be considered as at 
 all sufficiently favourable to the former race, whose intellectual powers 
 and qualities of heart are second to those of no other race upon earth. 
 With the welfare of the Celtic race the writer's interests are chiefly 
 bound up ; and he will not, therefore, be accused of presumption in 
 confessing, that their improvement and happiness are among the objects 
 nearest his heart. 
 
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