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SIDELIGHTS ON THE 
 HOME RULE MOVEMENT 
 
First Edition. . . . May, 1906. 
 Beprinted June, 1906. 
 
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NOTES ON IRISH QUESTIONS. 
 
PRINTED BY PORTBOUS AND GIBBS, 
 
 18 Wicklow Street. 
 
NOTES 
 
 IKISH QUESTIONS. 
 
 HENRY L. JEPHSON. 
 
 BOSTON COLLEGE LIBRARY 
 CHESTNUT HILL, MASS. 
 
 DUBLIN : 
 WILLIAM M^GEE, 18 NASSAU STREET. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 
 
 1870. 
 
3>A=150."S 
 T4 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 It is but fair to whoever may be inclined to con- 
 sult the following pages, to state the object which 
 the writer had in view in compiling them, and in 
 laying them before the public. 
 
 The reader will thus, in some degree, be ap- 
 prized beforehand as to whether he is likely or 
 not to find in them the kind of information he 
 may be in search of, in regard to the subjects 
 usually included under the denomination of "Irish 
 Questions." 
 
 It has been the lot of the writer (and whose has 
 it not been ?) to be present at innumerable discus- 
 sions upon the political and social condition of 
 Ireland. Its unmerited wrongs, according to 
 
 9 ' > 
 
IV. 
 
 some ; its inevitable misfortunes, according to 
 others ; or a combination of these, have been 
 passed in review ; their supposed causes. assigned, 
 and imagined remedies for them proposed. On 
 such occasions, the warmth of party sj)irit has 
 sometimes prevailed, sometimes the earnestness of 
 true patriotism, with strange dissonance of feeling 
 and opinion, it is true, but with a melancholy 
 unanimity as to one disheartening fact— namely, 
 that Ireland, this vital portion of the British em- 
 pire, this essential element of its existence in 
 Europe as a first-rate power, has been, and conti- 
 nues to be, an exception to the well-being of the 
 other members of the body to which it belongs ; 
 and instead of being one of the pillars of its 
 greatness, forms the very weakest joart of the 
 fabric. 
 
 There are, unfortunately, those who rejoice that 
 this is so ; there are those who deplore it ; but 
 all agree as to the fact. 
 
 Neither the experience of the author nor such 
 information as he had been able to acquire, quali- 
 fied him to be more than an humble, though 
 highly interested, listener at such debates. With 
 
V. 
 
 this, he could have been contented, had he found 
 that in such a capacity his comprehension of the 
 various questions discussed grew clearer, or his 
 knowledge of the occurrences connected with 
 them increased. But he was conscious that such 
 was not the case. What forced itself upon his 
 attention was, that speakers, as well as writers, on 
 this subject, were not only out of all unison with 
 each other in sentiment and opinion, but conti- 
 nually at variance as to facts. It was this con- 
 sideration which begat in him a desire to set 
 down in order, for his own use, and to digest 
 into the form of short notes, an account of the 
 principal legislative and administrative measures 
 which have been applied by the Imperial Govern- 
 ment of Great Britain as cures or palliatives of 
 the admitted evils under which this country has 
 been labouring. It was his desire to state, as far 
 as it could be distinctly done, the motives with 
 which these various enactments had been framed ; 
 the prevailing political or economical doctrines, in 
 conformity with which they were meant to be ap- 
 plied ; and in so far as tangible results can now 
 be obtained, to mark their success or failure, whe- 
 
VI. 
 
 ther entire or partial, in furthering the particular 
 objects which they were intended to effect. 
 
 It will be seen that this plan leaves little room 
 for what are usually termed " appreciations." 
 The author has no pretension to present his 
 readers with discoveries or disclosures. He pur- 
 posely abstains from any attempt to award praise 
 or blame to persons or parties engaged in the 
 affairs of Ireland, and still less does he presume 
 to offer any " panacea" of his own invention for 
 their settlement. This, it is true, reduces the 
 scope of his work to what may by many be con- 
 sidered to be very humble proportions; but there 
 are nevertheless circumstances connected with the 
 cotemporary history of public events and legisla- 
 tive measures, which may render such a recapitu- 
 lation and abstract of them, as is now attempted, 
 of use to many. With regard to such occur- 
 rences and measures the public lives, so to say, 
 from day to day. Events or measures are can- 
 vassed Avith eagerness and examined with minute- 
 ness, at the time they come immediately under 
 public discussion; but they are soon set aside or 
 forgotten, to make room for matters more exciting 
 
VI 1. 
 
 or more pressing; and at all events their connec- 
 tion one with another, as links in a chain of 
 policy, or necessary steps in the sequence of politi- 
 cal events, is almost always lost sight of. 
 
 It may be said that the subject is trite, and the 
 documents relating to it public and accessible. 
 But in this instance the materials are very multi- 
 farious in kind and voluminous in bulk. The evi- 
 dence respecting the state of Ireland is dispersed 
 amongst the Reports of Parliamentary Proceed- 
 ings and occasional works, not easily met with ex- 
 cept in large libraries. 
 
 Committees were appointed at different times to 
 inquire into subjects regarding the state of Ireland 
 and the evidence there taken is of the greatest 
 importance to a right understanding of the ques- 
 tions involved. The gentlemen examined before 
 these committees represented every shade of 
 opinion, Protestant or Roman Catholic, landlord 
 or tenant, employer or labourer, and they were 
 persons possessing minute local knowledge of the 
 country, wdiile they included in their number 
 both statesmen and economists. Evidence of the 
 most reliable and authentic description has been 
 
VIU. 
 
 produced; but it often lies hid under a mass of less 
 interesting matter, and cannot be brought to bear 
 upon the present state of things without selection. 
 The author is not aware that any similar at- 
 tempt has been made ; and his position happened 
 to be one which afforded him a somewhat readier 
 access to the materials in question than is usually 
 enjoyed by the general public. A feeling that 
 his labour had not been altogether unprofitable 
 to himself, led him to believe that it might be 
 useful to others, and this alone is his motive for 
 the present publication. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 Chap. _ Page. 
 
 I. — Introductory Chapter .... 1 
 
 II.— Ireland IN 1825 . . . , .16 
 
 III. — Condition of the Lower Classes in 1825 . 34 
 
 IV. — The Sub-Letting Act . . . .50 
 
 V. — Administration of Justice . . .68 
 
 VI.— Crime . . . . . .102 
 
 VII. — Roman Catholic Emancipation . . .132 
 
 VIII. — The Forty-shilling Freeholders . .147 
 
 IX. — Tithes and Church Rates . . .162 
 
 X. — National Education . . . .179 
 
 XL- -Public Works . . . . .199 
 
 XIL— Poor Law . . . . .215 
 
 XIII. — Municipal Corporations . . . 246 
 
 XIV.— The Famine . . . . .257 
 
 XV. — Incumbered Estates Act . . .278 
 
 XVI. — Emigration . . . . .290 
 
 XVII. — Agriculture — Land Improvement Act, &c. . " 309 
 
 XVIII. — Material Progress of Ireland . . . 324 
 
 Conclusion ..... 334 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 Introductory — Review of Irish History to 1826, and Reasons 
 
 FOR entering upon A MORE DETAILED INVESTIGATION OF IT FROJ^ 
 THAT YEAR. 
 
 The author of the following notes has chosen 
 to date them from the year 1826, because it ap- 
 peared to him that it was then that the attention 
 of the British Government was for the first time 
 seriously directed to the problem of governing 
 Ireland, not as a dependency, but as an integral 
 part of the empire. 
 
 It was about this time, too, that a blind faith in 
 the truth of certain erroneous commercial and 
 economical dogmas, which, in common with the 
 rest of the world, had long subsisted in England 
 with all the authority of fundamental articles of 
 belief, began to be questioned. 
 
 The result had been that many of these doc- 
 trines, if not yet altogether discredited, had never- 
 theless been considerably modified ; and important 
 
 V 
 
enactments had already been made in consonance 
 with those sounder principles which have since 
 prevailed. 
 
 When we have shown, as we hope to be able to 
 do, that it was the rigorous application of these 
 accepted, but mischievous, economic maxims to 
 the affairs of Ireland, that, more than perhaps any 
 other circumstance, retarded her progress, and 
 everywhere injurious, from peculiar circumstances 
 in her case, proved absolutely destructive to every 
 germ of prosperity and consequent civilization, it 
 will more easily be understood why the year 1826 
 has been selected as a period at which the dawn of 
 a better day for Ireland had at length made itself 
 visible. 
 
 In fixing upon this, or any other particular 
 epoch, as a starting point for such an investiga- 
 tion, it is far from the intention of the author to 
 undervalue, and much less to dispense with, the 
 necessity of a conscientious study of the previous 
 history of Ireland, so far as it can be correctly 
 ascertained. Obscure and confused as this history 
 may appear to many, a knowledge of it is essen- 
 tial to a proper understanding of the real position 
 of things even at the present day. It usually 
 proves uninteresting to the general reader, not 
 from a want of incidents sufficiently stirring to 
 awake attention, but from the monotony attending 
 an eternal repetition of the same scenes of violence 
 and misery, while the materials of Irish story were 
 
never, as Sallust remarks in regard to the annals 
 of the Athenians, raised from insignificance or 
 duhiess by the genius of their historians. 
 
 They present all the terrible phases of a pro- 
 longed struggle between a semi-civilized conqueror 
 and an almost barbarous and but half-subdued vas- 
 sal : iron-handed, but ill-organized, tyranny and 
 corruption on the one side, contending with the 
 ferocious and treacherous retaliation of the savage 
 on the other. The very inefficiency of the early 
 English rule in Ireland seems to have rendered it 
 doubly oppressive. Rebellion succeeded rebellion, 
 never quite successful, but never thoroughly 
 quelled, though often relentlessly revenged — never 
 prevented by the wisdom of rulers, or, to use a 
 now much hackneyed expression, " stamped out" 
 by their resolution and firmness. 
 
 Such was the history of Ireland for ages — per- 
 haps for a longer period than that of any other 
 European country ; and it was from the state of 
 things resultino; from these events that she had to 
 emerge and take her place among the civilised 
 nations of the world. 
 
 By what seems an accumulation of ill fortune, 
 the day of peace and of possible improvement was 
 in her case still further postponed, when in other 
 countries it seemed to have arrived, in consequence 
 of the termination in one way or another, of the 
 great religious contest which had convulsed Eu- 
 rope for a century and a-half 
 
In this contest, Ireland, like the rest, had been 
 obliged to play her part ; all the miseries and the 
 bitterness of the struggle had been hers — its very 
 last battle had, in fact, been fought upon her 
 soil — but without giving to her even the melan- 
 choly advantage, resulting to every other country 
 where the controversy raged, of a final settlement 
 of the dispute. Deplorable as had been the means 
 by which this had in most cases been effected, the 
 fruit was so far good, that further dissension was 
 comparatively at an end. France, by the exter- 
 mination and banishment of her Protestant sub- 
 jects had at length become undividedly Catholic. 
 Spain, by analogous means, had kept or re-estab- 
 lished the Roman Catholic faith both at home and 
 in what remained to her of her Flemish dominion. 
 Catholicism had been retained or reconstituted in 
 part of Germany, while a distinct portion of that 
 country, together with Holland, Denmark, Swe- 
 den, and, lastly, England and Scotland, had be- 
 come the undisputed seats of Protestant communi- 
 ties. But it was the singular ill-fortune of Ireland, 
 that in her case neither of these solutions were in 
 reality arrived at. The Protestant religion was, it 
 is true, ultimately established as that of the British 
 empire — with respect to England and Scotland 
 really — with respect to Ireland apparently onl3^ 
 A Protestant minority, supported by or recruited 
 from the ranks of their co-religionists in Great 
 Britain, had subdued the rest and constrained 
 
tliem to a nominal acquiescence with the faith of 
 their conquerors ; but whether from the ignorance 
 resulting from their barbarous condition, or, as is 
 more probable, from a blind hatred of the religion 
 of those whom they had traditionally regarded as 
 their oppressors, a vast majority of the Irish, 
 properly so-called, remained passionately attached 
 to the only religious faith with Avhich they had 
 any acquaintance, and to one which, whatever we 
 may think of it, we cannot but admit to have 
 something in it more congenial to their natural 
 disposition, temperament, and condition, than the 
 purer form adopted by the superior reason and 
 enlightenment of their English and Scotch fellow- 
 subjects. 
 
 To rectify this inequality in the numbers of 
 those who in Ireland represented the established 
 Government of Britain, and of those who it was 
 obvious must continue to be vehemently opposed 
 to it, and who would consequently never omit an 
 opportunity of overturning it, it became necessary 
 to adopt, so to say, one of those systematic 
 measures of State absolutely required on the part 
 of the English, if Ireland was to be governed by 
 them at all, either as a part or a dependency of 
 the empire. 
 
 Had the Government of England been a pure 
 despotism, where the will of the sovereign is ex- 
 ercised directly and indiscriminately by the en- 
 gines of a central administration on its friends 
 
and foes without any delegation of its privileges to 
 the one or to the other, the problem of governing 
 a country so situated as Ireland would still have 
 been difficult, and the process rude and cruel ; but 
 at least the object of maintaining authority might 
 have been attained, while the enduring animosity 
 between class and class, religion and religion, race 
 and race, a thousand times more terrible and more 
 destructive to the happiness and prosperity of a 
 nation than the most absolute personal tyranny 
 that ever yet subsisted, might have been for- 
 gotten. 
 
 But it must be recollected that the genius of the 
 English Government itself partook, even at that 
 time, of what is now termed " self-government." 
 Less so than at present, no doubt, but still it had 
 never undergone the process of " centralization," 
 wdiich had taken place in almost every other 
 European country. The people, however high 
 the prerogative of the Crown, practically adminis- 
 tered the laws upon themselves, collected or 
 represented in assemblies of various denomina- 
 tions ; and the local government of each province 
 or county supplied the daily requirements of go- 
 vernment and police, without the intervention 
 of the supreme authority of the State. 
 
 Such a polity is in general not only conducive 
 to liberty, but may be considered in a great 
 measure to constitute it. At all events, the idea 
 that institutions of this kind were the neces- 
 
sary constituents of Government and the inherited 
 right of the people, had become inherent in the 
 Anglo-Saxon race which predominated in Great 
 Britain : and in extendino; the rule of Eno;land 
 over the uncivilized tribes who inhabited rather 
 than governed Ireland, it never occurred to the 
 conquerors that this was to be done through the 
 medium of any other forms than those under 
 which they themselves had hitherto lived. 
 
 It became, however, immediately evident, that 
 the application of institutions which had grown 
 up in England, under one set of circumstances, 
 could not, without essential modifications, be 
 transplanted to Ireland, where an entirely different 
 state of things had ever prevailed. 
 
 The fundamental difference consisted in this — 
 that what in England served to secure the liberty 
 of a people who all acknowledged the authority of 
 a common government, had in Ireland to be used 
 for the purpose of subjugating one part of the 
 population by the other. When by far the 
 greater portion of it had either never acknow- 
 ledged, or was ever ready to throw off, its alle- 
 giance to the sovereign, it was clearly impossible 
 to extend to it rights or privileges which would 
 have been immediately used for the overthrow of 
 his authority. 
 
 In preserving, therefore, in any degree the forms 
 of municipal self-government, it became abso- 
 lutely necessary that its exercise should be confined 
 
8 
 
 to those whose loyalty to the Crown of Eng- 
 land could be depended upon ; in other words, 
 either to those of purely English origin who had 
 subdued or colonized the country, or to those 
 few of the natives who had joined their ranks. It 
 is sufficiently obvious, that from this principle a 
 state of things must have resulted productive of 
 the most galling and most humiliating of all the 
 forms of oppression to which a nation can be 
 liable from its governors. Where, as in the case of 
 Ireland, the conquest of the whole country had 
 never been complete, the evils of this kind of 
 government are infinitely increased, and the mu- 
 tual animosities of the parties are indefinitely pro- 
 longed. To such a country even the peace which 
 follows the submission of despair is denied; ima- 
 gined rights are never forgotten by the conquered, 
 and when manifested in acts of resistance must be 
 crushed by fresh measures of coercion by the 
 conquerors. When these constitute but a mi- 
 nority, it is evident that such measures are the 
 more readily adopted, from their having all the 
 necessities of acts of self-defence. If what were 
 called the " mere Irish " were in their rebellion 
 fighting for what they deemed their native rights, 
 the English conquerors, or colonists, were fighting 
 for their lives, as well as for their newly acquired 
 properties. Defeat would to them have implied 
 extermination ; and, it is needless to observe, that 
 men in such circumstances are seldom restrained 
 
by considerations of morality or humanity, in re- 
 gard to the means which they use for the main- 
 tenance of their rule. 
 
 Such was, in fact, the position of the English 
 settlers in Ireland. The aid they received from 
 their own Government was generally fitful and in- 
 efficient, irregularly afforded and inopportunely 
 withdrawn, according to circumstances more imme- 
 diately affecting the central parts of the empire. 
 These " puttings down of rebellion " in Ireland 
 partook more the character of chastisement, or 
 passing revenge, than that of a steady resolution 
 to establish a permanent authority. Ireland was, 
 in fact, in those times looked upon as a country 
 barbarous and remote, inferior in all respects to 
 England, a field of desperate adventure, not in- 
 tended or destined ever to become either a sister 
 kingdom, or an integral part of that of Britain ; 
 but to use the word of the Statute, (6 Geo. I., cap. 
 5,) one "that is and ought to be subordinate to, and 
 dependent upon, the Imperial Crown of Great 
 Britain, as being inseparably united thereto."* 
 
 The idea of the inherent inferiority of Ireland 
 was, in fact, long mainiained, although it, no 
 doubt, became gradually softened ; and it was 
 accompanied by a jealousy of even its material or 
 commercial prosperity, founded upon this feeling 
 as well as upon those false principles of commercial 
 
 * See " Blackstone's Comii.entaries," Kerr's Edition, vol. i., 
 pp. 85 and 8G. 
 
10 
 
 economy to which we have alluded, in virtue of 
 which the prosperity of a nation was believed to 
 depend, not so mnch on its own absolute riches or 
 productive power, as from the comparative poverty 
 and unproductiveness of its neighbours. 
 
 This erroneous doctrine was not only applied to 
 the case of foreign nations, but to that of each of 
 the provinces of the same nation. Did any parti- 
 cular county produce better cattle or better crops 
 of any sort than elsewhere, it was considered sound 
 commercial policy to prevent or discourage by 
 every possible means similar productions in any 
 other part of the kingdom. Can we then feel 
 surprise, that when it was found that Ireland was 
 able to supply the English markets at a cheap 
 rate with one of the prime necessaries of life, its 
 importation was met not only with high duties, 
 but by actual prohibition, and that it was solemnly 
 proposed that the introduction of Irish cattle 
 should be denounced in a Parliamentary Act 
 (Chas. II., 1668) as a " nuisance,'' and inhibited as 
 such — "a nuisance " that one part of an empire 
 should by its bounteous fertility be enabled to 
 supply the others with a more plentiful supply of 
 food ! Yet such was the conclusion to which, by 
 assuming false data, public opinion, the Legis- 
 lature, and the statesmen of the day had logically 
 arrived. 
 
 It was in vain that the illustrious Ormonde, 
 whose admirable sense and patriotic feeling 
 
11 
 
 seemed to have carried him beyond the "ignorant 
 present" of his own times, in the debate upon this 
 Bill, among other things, pointed out that " the 
 present trade between England and Ireland was 
 extremely to the advantage of the former king- 
 dom, which received provisions or rude materials 
 in return for every species of manufacture ; that 
 if the cattle of Ireland were prohibited, the inhabi- 
 tants of that island had no other commodity by 
 which they could pay England for their importa- 
 tions, and must have recourse to other nations for 
 a supply ; that the industrious inhabitants of Eng- 
 land, if deprived of Irish provisions, which made 
 living cheap, would be obliged to augment the 
 price of labour, and thereby render their manu- 
 factures too dear to be exported to foreign 
 markets ; that by cutting off almost entirely the 
 trade between the kingdoms, all the natural bonds 
 of union were dissolved, and nothing remained to 
 keep the Irish in their duty but force and violence, 
 and that by reducing that kingdom to extreme 
 poverty, it would be even rendered incapable of 
 maintaining that military power by which, during 
 its well-grounded discontents, it must necessarily 
 be retained in subjection."* 
 
 The king, says Hume, was convinced of the 
 justness of these reasons, but the Commons were 
 resolute in their purpose. In other words, the 
 
 * See Hume's History of England, chap. Ixiv.. 
 
12 
 
 plain good sense of Ormonde, who had in a few 
 simple sentences concentrated at once the now 
 established fundamental principle of all sound 
 commercial policy, and the true means of effecting 
 a union between Eng-land and Ireland to the 
 evident advantage of both, was unavailing against 
 the public opinion of the day, based upon theories 
 which were, no doubt, then considered more scien- 
 tific and refined, and sharpened by the unfounded 
 jealousy which arose from a belief in them. It 
 seems, indeed, to the student of " The Wealth of 
 Nations," difficult to believe that a principle so 
 obviously false, as that the general prosperity of 
 a kingdom could by possibility be furthered by 
 the suppression or discouragement of a part of its 
 own productive power, could ever have prevailed 
 in any country. But the declaration that the 
 production of cheap cattle was a " nuisance" in- 
 volves an absurdity no less striking. The delu- 
 sion, nevertheless, long subsisted, if, indeed, it can 
 be said to be yet totally dispelled. 
 
 At the very time at which the remarks of the 
 Duke of Ormonde above cited were made, a co- 
 temporary statesman, who enjoyed a reputation 
 very much superior to that of Ormonde as regarded 
 skill in negotiation, learning, and literary capacity 
 — Sir William Temple — makes, in an otherwise 
 excellent tract upon Irish commerce, and one in 
 which he appears throughout to be animated with 
 the most friendly feelings towards Ireland, the fol- 
 
13 
 
 lowing strange exception m favour of the very mea- 
 sure which Ormonde had ineffectually opposed : — 
 " In this survey one thing must be taken notice 
 of as peculiar to this country, (Ireland), which is, 
 that, as in the nature of its government, so, in the 
 very improvement of its trade and riches, it ought 
 to be considered not only in its own proper in- 
 terest, but likewise in its relation to England, to 
 which it is subordinate^ and upon whose weal, in 
 the main, that of this kingdom {i.e. Ireland) de- 
 pends ; and, therefore, a regard must he had of 
 those points ivherein the trade of Ireland comes to 
 interfere ivith any main branches of the trade of 
 England; in which cases the encouragement of such 
 trade ought to be either declined or moderated., and 
 so give way to the interest of trade in England., upon 
 the health and vigour whereof the strength., riches^ 
 and glory of his Majesty^s Crown seem chiefly to 
 depend.''^ * 
 
 This notion, nevertheless, continued to furnish 
 the guiding maxim of the commercial policy of 
 England as regarded Ireland, till a very late 
 period. The doctrine which declared that the im- 
 portation of Irish cattle was a nuisance soon after- 
 wards declared Irish wool contraband. Then, as 
 a last resort, the Irish betook themselves to manu- 
 facturing the raw wool ; but this was immediately 
 
 * Essay on the Advancement of Trade in Ireland, 1673. — 
 Temple's Works., vol. iii. 
 
14 
 
 suppressed, and Irish commerce, already crippled, 
 was at last totally destroyed. The spirit which 
 animated, or rather supported, the Irish through 
 so many adversities was comj^letely broken, and 
 the restrictions under which their trade was laid 
 were so insurmountable, that no attempt was made 
 to resuscitate it. Trade with the Colonies was 
 also debarred, it having been enacted by the Navi- 
 gation Laws that Ireland was not to export or im- 
 port any goods to or from the Colonies, except 
 through England. Thus every avenue was effec- 
 tually closed against Ireland, by measures which 
 aimed exclusively at protecting the commercial 
 prosperity of Great Britain. 
 
 It was not until the year 1780 that this com- 
 mercial penal code began to be relaxed. Then, 
 by the bold exertion of national spirit, roused and 
 led on by the eloquence of Grattan, of Flood, and 
 of Curran, great concessions were obtained. A 
 subserviency to the selfish commercial system of 
 England, however, still distinguished the Irish 
 Parliament.* But more liberal views were begin- 
 ning to prevail, and the Union in 1800, although 
 excepting for a time certain important articles, 
 nominally gave to Ireland a free trade. In the 
 year 1806, another step was made, and free trade 
 in corn with England was established (46 Geo. III., 
 cap. 97), and at last, in the year 1826, all cross 
 
 * See " Newenham's Statistical and Historical Inquiry into 
 the population of Ireland." 
 
15 • 
 
 channel duties were abolished* and the com- 
 mercial union of the countries was effected. 
 
 Without, therefore, ignoring the influence of the 
 earlier events of Irish history upon its present 
 condition, the year 1826 may be considered as an 
 epoch from which a more detailed examination of 
 the various measures, political, commercial, and 
 economical, which were adopted by the Imperial 
 Government towards Ireland, become more in- 
 teresting, as being the consequences of an impor- 
 tant principle, namely, the complete union of the 
 component parts of the two kingdoms, which may 
 be said to have been then for the first time prac- 
 tically acknowledged. 
 
 * Coals excepted. The tax on coal was not abolished until 
 1832, by the 2 William IV., cap. 21. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 Ireland in 1825. 
 
 Befoee proceeding to give an account of the 
 measures adopted by the Imperial Government, it 
 is necessary to describe the state of the country 
 at the time of the recognition of this principle 
 of the unity of the two kingdoms. 
 
 The condition of the population of Ireland in 
 and about the year 1825 was far from being 
 prosperous. Among the many causes which have 
 been suggested as explanations of this, there 
 appear to us to be two which are more particularly 
 worthy of consideration, and which are intimately 
 connected one with the other — the first is the 
 minute division of the land held by the peasantry, 
 and the second is the peculiar nature of the crop 
 which formed the principal means of their sub- 
 sistence, viz., the potato. 
 
 Turning our attention then first to the land, we 
 
17 
 
 find that about this time it was owned by a com. 
 paratively small number of persons, and that while 
 the properties were large, the holdings or farms 
 were small. 
 
 A great sub-division of it had by degrees come 
 about. This was partly owing to an hereditary 
 tendency, for there had long existed in Ireland the 
 custom of dividing the paternal property among 
 all the members of a family, the natural result of 
 which, as Mr. Blackburn expressed it, had been 
 that " the sub-division of land and the multiplica- 
 tion of the species had gone on pari passu." * 
 
 But the practice had also been encouraged by 
 other circumstances. In the year 1793, an Act 
 had been passed extending to every person pos- 
 sessed of a forty shilling freehold the right of 
 voting for members of Parliament. 
 
 The creation of Parliamentary interest thus be- 
 came an object, at first confined to the highest, but 
 quickly extending itself to other classes. Land- 
 lords, considering that every freehold they created 
 added so much to their personal and political in- 
 terest in the country, often, on the expiration of a 
 lease, cut up their farms into several smaller hold- 
 ings, for the purpose of multiplying voters, and 
 encouraged their leaseholders to divide their land 
 for the same purpose. 
 
 * See evidence given before the Committee of the Honse of 
 Commons to inquire into the state of Ireland, 1824-25. 
 
 C 
 
18 
 
 Even political adventurers, to possess themselves 
 of Parliamentary influence, purchased or leased, 
 large tracts of uncultivated land, and let it out in 
 small lots to tenants, who reclaimed it and became 
 freeholders. The farmer also, for the sake of 
 creating voters, divided his land among his 
 children, each of whom at the first opportunity 
 again sub-divided his holding. Thus the continual 
 sub-division of property was made subservient to 
 political passion, and a continually increasing im- 
 petus was given to the process. 
 
 The manner in which this sub-division had been 
 brought about was not the least of its evils, namely, 
 the practice of sub letting, to which for many 
 years there had been great inducements. 
 
 It had been the practice of most landlords, and 
 particularly of those who did not reside in the 
 country, to grant leases for long terms and for 
 large portions of their properties, to some indivi- 
 dual on whom they relied for the payment of 
 their rents, endeavouring thus to secure to them- 
 selves the advantages, whilst freeing themselves 
 from the responsibilities attaching to the own- 
 ership of land ; and as the difiiculty of ma- 
 naging landed properties and of collecting rents 
 had always been great, in consequence of the 
 country continuing from various causes to be dis- 
 turbed, there was naturally a strong inducement 
 for landed proprietors to follow this course. The 
 population, too, had rapidly increased, while the 
 
19 
 
 repression of the manufacturing interest had di- 
 rected the whole physical energy of the nation to 
 the cultivation of land, the minute division of 
 which, excluding the possibility of a labouring 
 class, rendered the possession of a portion of the 
 soil, the only means by which subsistence was to 
 be obtained. 
 
 Through the great demand thus arising the rate 
 of rents rose, and a margin was left between the 
 original rent of a farm and the price which it 
 would fetch in the market. 
 
 The great war with France and free trade in 
 corn with England rendered the prices of agricul- 
 tural produce unnaturally high. Persons accord- 
 ingly holding land under long leases, Avhich they 
 had obtained when rents were low, were now able 
 to re-let it at high rents, and thus, without any 
 labour or productive exertion whatever, to realize 
 a profit. Those, again, who thus rented the land, 
 as soon as they found they coidd make a profit by 
 re-letting it, immediately did so, and in this way 
 it passed through several hands, creating a class of 
 intermediate proprietors known by the name of 
 middlemen. 
 
 During the long war this practice of sub-letting 
 grew so common, that land was let and re-let five, 
 six, or even eight times, placing over a farm six 
 or eight intermediate proprietors, and leaving to 
 the actual cultivator little or nothing more than 
 would barely support existence. 
 
20 
 
 All these circumstances, therefore — hereditary 
 usage, political interest, and sub-letting — combined 
 to bring about that minute sub-division, which in 
 some parts of the country appears to have reached 
 to such a degree, that those who had the best 
 opportunities of judging, agreed that it was ma- 
 terially impossible for the holdings to be further 
 divided.* 
 
 Irrespective of sub-letting, there was another 
 system very generally in use, but more parti- 
 cularly in Munster, namely, the holding a farm 
 " in common," or in joint-tenancy. According 
 to this practice, it was held by several different 
 families, who were conjointly responsible for the 
 rent. This combined in a strange manner the 
 evils of minutely divided property with those 
 of communism, and imposed a positive check 
 upon industry, for the industrious occupier was 
 often compelled to fulfil the engagements of the 
 idle or unthrifty, who either neglected or were 
 unable to contribute anything to the common 
 stock, f 
 
 * Comns. Ctee. on Ireland, 1824-25. 
 
 t " The peculiar system adopted in most parts of Ireland in 
 sub-dividing land, added much to the evils necessarily ac- 
 companying the existence of holdings so minute as those which 
 the practice of sub-division had created. Instead of each sub- 
 tenant, or assignee, of a portion of a farm receiving his holding 
 in one compact lot, he obtained part of each particular quality 
 of land, so that his tenement consisted of a number of scattered 
 patches, each too small to be separately fenced, and exposed to 
 
21 
 
 So long as tlie war lasted, and prices of land 
 and food were high, things went smoothly enough. 
 As the population increased, the increasing prices 
 obtainable for what they produced, to some extent 
 satisfied their wants, and the country was com- 
 paratively prosperous. 
 
 " Those," says Archbishop Doyle, adverting to 
 this period, in one of his well-known letters, 
 sisrned J. K. L., "who dwelt in caverns and the 
 caves of the earth came forth, many of them from 
 their lurking places, and raised huts which were 
 at least visible. They procured clothing, and ap- 
 peared abroad to swell the congregations, from 
 which they were often absent through necessity. 
 Chapels were also erected; and tracts of land, 
 which before looked like a desert, put on the ap- 
 pearance of an inhabited country." (Letter 5.) 
 
 The basis of this prosperity was temporary 
 and unreal ; but its want of foundation was not 
 noticed, until Napoleon was overthrown, and 
 
 the constant depredations of his neighbours' cattle, thus afford- 
 ing a fruitful source of quarrels, and utterly preventing the pos- 
 sibility of the introduction of any improved system of hus- 
 bandry." (Digest of Evidence given before the Land Occupa- 
 tion Commisioners, 1845.) 
 
 This was called holding " in rundale" In the evidence given 
 before the Commissioners there is an account of a man in the 
 County Donegal, (a tailor by trade,) who held his farm in forty- 
 two different places, and at last gave it up in despair, declaring that 
 it would take a very keen man to find it. There is an instance 
 also of one field of half an acre of oats being held by twenty- 
 two different persons. 
 
22 
 
 peace declared, when a sudden and great fall 
 in the prices of agricultural produce took place. 
 The occupiers of land became no longer able 
 to pay the rents at which they had taken it ; 
 the true state of affairs forced itself on public 
 attention, and the misery and nakedness of 
 the land became visible. For a time middlemen 
 exacted the full rents from their tenants, but the 
 depreciation of agricultural produce continu- 
 ing, the immediate occupiers found it impossible 
 to meet such demands, and as a natural result 
 many of the middlemen, having little other pro- 
 perty than that derived from the tenantry, became 
 unable to make good the engagements they had 
 entered into with the landlords, and were obliged 
 to part with their interest in the land they had 
 sub-let.* 
 
 Many thus became utterly ruined, all impover- 
 ished, and the country covered with a people who 
 had grown up under circumstances totally different 
 from those in which they now found themselves 
 — the high prices which had rendered them com- 
 paratively prosperous had passed away, but they 
 
 * There was not much necessity for a reduction of the rents of 
 land let before the year 1792, but the rents of land leased after 
 that time had to be, and were reduced. Yet even then the rents 
 exacted were frequently above what the produce would authorize; 
 they had not, in fact, been lowered in a proportion adequate to 
 the general depression ; the demand for land being so great, and 
 the competition for it so keen, that high rates were still ob- 
 tainable. 
 
23 
 
 themselves had not passed away ; an impetus 
 had been given to the population which did not 
 cease when the war ceased, and the land was 
 crowded to such a degree, as in many places to 
 reach the limit of what it would support. 
 
 As this became more and more apparent, the 
 idea gradually gained ground with the land- 
 o^vners that they had been acting on erroneous 
 principles. Feeling already some of the evils of 
 an over-abundant population, they foresaw the 
 greater evils that must necessarily ensue in the 
 event of its further increase, and a general impres- 
 sion w^as produced in the minds of all persons, 
 that unless some change were made, a mass of pau- 
 perism would be accumulated, which the entire 
 produce of the land could not feed. 
 
 But the evil effects of sub-division and sub- 
 letting were not confined to bringing about an in- 
 crease of population. The modes of agriculture 
 consequent upon such small holdings deteriorated, 
 production diminished, and the way w^as paved 
 for that misery with which the next quarter of a 
 century was fraught, culminating in the famine of 
 1846, and that visitation, attributable, no doubt, in 
 great measure to natural causes beyond the con- 
 trol of human policy, became to Ireland a disas- 
 ter of incalculable magnitude, falling, as it did, 
 on a country which, by a long course of mis- 
 management, had been deprived of all those in- 
 ternal resources by which nations more fortu- 
 
24 
 
 iiately situated have been enabled to pass tlirough 
 and survive such ordeals. 
 
 As leases Avhich had been made some twent}' or 
 thirty years previously began to fall in, landlords 
 found on their farms, in some instances, ten times 
 the number of pei*sons that had been there when 
 the leases were made. Moreover, those to whom 
 the land had in the first instance been let were 
 men of substance ; the tenants now found upon it 
 were the very reverse, in fact, in the majority of 
 instances, they were persons who had sunk to the 
 lowest degree of indigence. 
 
 Sub-division had so evidently led to such great 
 evils, that it was hoped that the opposite course, 
 consolidation, would prove the appropriate remedy. 
 
 By the consolidation of farms, and the eject- 
 ment of the excess of tenantry, scope, it was ex- 
 pected, would be given for a better system of 
 agriculture, leading to a greater certainty in the 
 yield of the potato crop, an improvement in the 
 quality of the soil, and the quantity of its pro- 
 duce. Solvent and respectable tenants, it was 
 thought, would replace paupers, and a race of 
 yeomanry, hitherto totally deficient, would be 
 created. 
 
 The commencement of this great experiment, 
 therefore, was made shortly after the conclusion 
 of the war with France ; and the account of its 
 progress takes a prominent position in the social 
 historv of Ireland from that time down to the 
 
25 
 
 present. Upon it hinge, as it were, all the 
 changes which have taken place in the state of the 
 country — changes which, combined, may be said 
 to amount to a social revolution. 
 
 The impediments in the way of carrying it out 
 were at first almost insuperable. Independent of 
 the resistance of the people, the state of the law 
 afi'orded little assistance — great difficulty existing 
 in getting an effective clause put into leases for- 
 bidding sub-letting, the Courts of Justice decid- 
 ing generally against the validity of such clauses. 
 In fact, it was nearly impossible, under the direc- 
 tions of the judges and the verdicts of juries, to 
 obtain any forfeiture or penalty for sub-letting. 
 But by degrees the w^isdom of consolidation be- 
 came generally recognized, and several Acts of 
 Parliament were passed in the ten years after the 
 peace, giving to the landlords increased facilities 
 for ejecting the superabundant tenantry. 
 
 Different circumstances, too, were beginnino- to 
 have some influence on the larger and wealthier 
 proprietors. The people had by degrees attained 
 a knowledge of the weight and the political in- 
 fluence the freehold gave them ; the profit de- 
 rived by the freeholder from his lease had become 
 so insignificant that he despised the threats of his 
 landlord, and voted against him, and landlords 
 thus became aroused to the danger in which the 
 40s. freeholder placed them in elections, and an 
 additional stimulus w^as thus given to consolida- 
 tion. 
 
26 
 
 When landlords saw, too, that both rent and 
 property were likely to be swallowed up by an 
 ever-increasing pauper population, they were de- 
 termined, if they possibly could, to avert such a 
 disastrous result. Hitherto they had lacked the 
 inclination to prevent sub-letting, but they now 
 found that they lacked the power — the system of 
 granting long leases having placed the property 
 out of their control — the continual sub-letting of 
 it having removed the actual occupier far from 
 their influence. This defect, as far as the future 
 was concerned, was, however, remedied in the 
 year 1826, by an Act of Parliament, known as 
 the Sub-letting Act, which afibrded facilities 
 for carrying into effect the new course of action 
 that had been determined on, and the principal 
 clauses and effects of which we will discuss here- 
 after. 
 
 In the year 1825 many landlords were already 
 trying to get rid of the middlemen, whom they 
 found to be most pernicious to their interests, as 
 well as to those of their tenantry. The system 
 out of which they had arisen was obviously disad- 
 vantageous both to the proprietor and the cultiva- 
 tor, being one under which the former received 
 the lowest, and the latter paid the highest rate of 
 rent. It moreover made it utterly impossible for 
 the landlord to take any steps for improving his 
 property or the condition of his tenantry. It is 
 true, that there was little accumulation of capital 
 
27 
 
 among Irish land-owners; but even those who had 
 any were naturally unwilling to employ it in a 
 manner which would have simply led to a demand 
 by the middleman for a higher rent on account of 
 the increased value of the holding, and thus while 
 the middleman profited, the unfortunate tenant 
 would remain as badly off as before, and the 
 landlord receive no return for his outlay. 
 
 At this time, the value of land in Ireland was re- 
 gulated by the quantity and degree of competition 
 for it, and not upon a calculation of its probable pro- 
 duce, which in other countries would have been con- 
 sidered the true criterion of its value. The great 
 demand consequently made those who had it to let 
 masters of the situation, and in many parts of the 
 country it was let " by cant" — z.e., to the highest 
 bidder. The middleman, by this means, obtained 
 the promise of a high rent, and having done so, 
 practised a most severe and arbitrary mode of ex- 
 acting the payment of it. 
 
 Nor could he be expected to be influenced 
 by any other consideration than that of extract- 
 ing the largest possible amount of rent, regard- 
 less altogether of its proportion to the produce, 
 for he well knew that he had only a temporary in- 
 terest, and one liable to the changes of the times. 
 
 With little character and less interest, he exer- 
 cised more authority and demanded more submis- 
 sion from his tenants than the real landlords. His 
 characteristics have been described as " servility to 
 
28 
 
 his superiors, and tyranny towards his infe- 
 riors,"* 
 
 The tenants holding land from him had no secu- 
 rity, and derived little or no profit from their pos- 
 session. They paid more than the average rate of 
 rent; they gave labour under the average rate of 
 labour, and they racked the land to exhaustion, 
 either in the expectation of getting it cheaper 
 when their term expired, or in the probability of 
 being ejected from it, and getting the most out of 
 it before they Avent. 
 
 The practices of middlemen are most admirably 
 described in the following extract from " Castle 
 Rackrent," which, though a work of fiction, pre- 
 sents a more faithful delineation of Irish customs 
 and Irish life than is elsewhere to be found : — 
 
 " Rents must be paid up to the day and afore ; 
 no allowance for improving tenants ; no considera- 
 tion for those who had built on their farms. No 
 sooner was a lease out, but the land was advertised 
 to the highest bidder ; all the old tenants turned 
 out. All was now set at the highest penny to a 
 parcel of poor wretches who meant to run away, 
 and did so after taking two crops out of the 
 ground. For let alone making English tenants 
 (i.e., a tenant who pays his rent the day it is due) 
 of them every soul, he was always driving and 
 driving, {i.e., for rent,) pounding and pounding, 
 
 * See Castle Rackrent, by Miss Edgeworth. 
 
29 
 
 and canting and canting, and replevying and re- 
 plevying." 
 
 The legal power of landlords over their ten- 
 antry was considerable, but they being generally 
 absentees their authority was either delegated to 
 agents, or was wielded by each intermediate pro- 
 prietor. 
 
 The landlord had (and still has) the right of 
 distress — a power which was extended by an Act 
 passed in the year 1817, giving permission to 
 distrain the growing crops of the tenant in default 
 of receiving payment of rent, although that crop 
 was the subsistence for the ensuing year for the 
 family of the tenant. 
 
 Upon the least reverse of prices, or any other 
 circumstance which might disable the actual occu- 
 pier from paying the full amount of the rent of his 
 holding, the landlord (in which term is included 
 each intermediate proprietor) was empowered by 
 law to seize and sell to the highest bidder the cow, 
 the bed, the potatoes in the ground, or any other 
 property whatever in the possession of his tenant, 
 without previous reference to any tribunal. 
 
 But the most effectual means by which he main- 
 tained his power over his tenants was by allowing 
 them to fall into arrears of rent. 
 
 " Six months' credit," says Wakefield, in his Ac- 
 count of Ireland, " is generally given on the rents, 
 which is called the ' hano-ino- gale.' 
 
 " This is one of the greatest levers of oppression 
 
30 
 
 by which the lower classes are kept in a kind of 
 perpetual bondage ; for as every family almost 
 holds some portion of land, and owes half a year's 
 rent, which a landlord can exact in a moment, the 
 debt hangs over their head like a load, and keeps 
 them in a continual state of anxiety and terror. 
 If the rent is not paid, the cattle are driven to the 
 pound, and if suffered to remain there a certain 
 number of days, they are sold." 
 
 Much of the neglected state of the peasantry 
 must, no doubt, be attributed to absenteeism — a 
 custom at every time prevalent amongst Irish 
 land-owners. 
 
 The number of proprietors of land in Ireland 
 has always been small as compared with the 
 extent of the country, and the amount of the 
 agricultural population, and of this number but a 
 few have ever been constant residents on their own 
 estates. Hence that want of personal attention to 
 the condition of the tenantry, and the absence of 
 that attachment and good-will which is so essential 
 to the mutual interests of persons in the relation 
 of tenant and landlord. The great proprietors of 
 estates in England, who also possessed land in Ire- 
 land, naturally resided in the former country. 
 Others who held estates in Ireland only, preferred 
 the superior civilization, security, and luxury of 
 England, and spent there the revenues they de- 
 rived from their Irish property, indifferent to its 
 management so long as they obtained its income. 
 
31 
 
 Setting aside the question of absenteeism in its 
 economic point of view, in its social view it is un- 
 doubtedly a great evil. There is the loss of the 
 influence, and authority, and control which belong 
 to education, rank, and property. By residing at 
 home, landlords would have diffused a taste for im- 
 proved methods of living, would have introduced 
 better manners, would have set an example to 
 their tenants and the lower classes, and would 
 have taken care of their mutual interests. The 
 absence of the proprietor of an estate might have 
 been to some extent compensated for, had there 
 been a resident agent ; but even this was not com- 
 mon. There was no person, therefore, to give 
 that superintendence which is essential on every 
 landed property, to see that houses were not 
 built unnecessarily, that improvement was going 
 on, and to give encouragement where it was 
 due. In the South of Ireland the principal part of 
 the gentry had deserted their properties. The 
 clergy of the Established Church even, were to 
 some extent absentees, owing to their holding 
 pluralities of livings, to a want of glebe-houses or 
 other accommodation, and in some instances to a 
 want of inclination to reside in their parishes ; 
 and the non-residence of a well-educated gentle- 
 man — of one able to do much good — was of great 
 disservice to the country. 
 
 Left, to a great extent, to follow their oan^u 
 ideas, without guidance or without example, the 
 
32 
 
 people suffered accordingly. Distress was in- 
 creased, owing to the want of employment, 
 consequent on absenteeism; the tenantry of ab- 
 sentees were always in a worse condition than 
 those of resident landlords, although it is true 
 that many of the latter were embarrassed in their 
 circumstances. Those, therefore, with whom the 
 people came into immediate contact as regards 
 dealings in land were generally middlemen — men 
 of a class far below those who Avould afford a good 
 example to the people — sometimes only appearing 
 among them to collect the rents, and collecting 
 them with great rigour and severity. 
 
 All blame must not, however, in this case be 
 laid upon the one side. The conduct of the pea- 
 santry, and the state of affairs resulting therefrom, 
 were not such as to induce landlords to become 
 resident. Constant disturbances, varying only in 
 degree, long existing animosities waiting only a 
 favourable opportunity to be gratified, threatening 
 letters, attempted or successful murders, were the 
 ordinary phases of Irish country life, and aided 
 materially in making landed proprietors shun this 
 part of the kingdom for some other place where 
 at least security was attainable. 
 
 From this description of the landed proprietors 
 we must proceed to that of the lower orders of the 
 people, for, at that time, Ireland possessed no 
 middle class. Trade had been so long repressed that 
 such a class did not exist in the towns, and the 
 
33 
 
 minute division of the land had prevented its 
 growth in the country, the few who had prospered 
 by trade during the war, had either raised them- 
 selves to higher positions, or, as more generally 
 happened, had relapsed into their original state of 
 depression. 
 
 D 
 
CHAPTER III, 
 
 Condition of the Lower Classes in i825. 
 
 The condition of the Irish peasantry in 1825 has 
 been stated by eye-witnesses without number, to 
 have been worse than that of any other in Europe. 
 
 One cause of this we have considered ; and we 
 shall now advert to what seems to us to have been 
 the second cause, namely — the peculiar nature of 
 the crop which formed the great means of their 
 subsistence — the potato. 
 
 This is a crop which, upon the same space of 
 ground, produces food for three times the number 
 of people that wheat, rice, or any other description 
 of grain could support. It is eminently whole- 
 some and nutritious ; and populations which may 
 challenge a comparison with any other for sta- 
 ture, strength, and activity, are maintained in 
 vigour by it alone, so long as the supply is plenti- 
 ful. Its peculiar nature, moreover, enables it to 
 
35 
 
 be raised on soils so indifferent in quality, as to 
 render any other crop upon such land impossible.* 
 
 What, then, at first sight appears more admi- 
 rably adapted for the production and maintenance 
 of a numerous, hardy, and contented people ? 
 
 Yet, strange to say, these advantages are more 
 than counterbalanced by circumstances which ren- 
 der a potato crop the most perilous of all suj)ports, 
 and which cause even its at times almost un- 
 bounded exuberance to be a danger instead of a 
 blessing. 
 
 In the first place, it is eminently uncertain — a 
 series of plentiful yields being often followed by 
 scanty crops, or by partial or even total failure. 
 
 In the second place, the ill eftects of this 
 uncertainty are enhanced by the impossibility of 
 storing it, for more than a very limited period. 
 The potato can barely be preserved for a single 
 year ; thus the whole crop is consumed within that 
 period, and the surplus of one year cannot make 
 up for the deficiency of another. Accordingly, 
 when there is the slightest failure, the price of this 
 essential article of existence rises at once from one 
 which allowed the population to revel in plenty of 
 their favourite food, to one which almost denies 
 them its use, or reduces them to starvation. 
 
 * The ridge or lazy bed universally adopted in its cultui'e 
 applied a system of drainage sufficient for one crop, -without per- 
 manently draining the land, or extending any substantial benefit 
 in that respect to the following crop. 
 
36 
 
 And in like manner, as the deficiency of one 
 year cannot be supplied by the plenty of another, 
 so, before the present facilities of transport existed, 
 the deficiencies of one place could not be supplied 
 with the surplus of another, the great bulk and 
 weight of this produce and the expense, often in- 
 deed almost the impossibility, of conveyance, being 
 so great as to preclude the relief of a scarcity by 
 importation from abroad, or even from neigh- 
 bouring counties. 
 
 But the greatest disadvantage arising from an 
 exclusive dependence on the potato, is that, 
 being the cheapest description of food, the people 
 are unable to purchase what is dearer when 
 a failure occurs ; there is no humbler fare to be 
 fallen back upon, even for a time ; the potato or 
 famine is the alternative : so that a population, 
 placing their entire reliance on this crop, are 
 placed upon " the extreme verge of human sub- 
 sistence," and the slightest deficiency causes a 
 dearth. 
 
 The unprosperous condition of the Irish people 
 arose, then, we believe, from two causes — (1) the 
 sub-division of land; (2) the nature of the food 
 of the peasantry ; and they combined, brought 
 about the great population which covered Ireland, 
 and with that population a train of attendant 
 evils. 
 
 The ease with which the miserable cabins 
 and simple food were obtained, by removing all 
 
37 
 
 difficulties in obtaining sufficient support for a 
 family, induced early marriages,* men frequently 
 marrying at the age of sixteen, and girls even so 
 young as that of fourteen. 
 
 The extreme poverty of the people prevented 
 their taking such an interest in creating a respect- 
 able provision for themselves in life, as men 
 possessed of any property alwaj^s feel. Their 
 state, they said, could not be more wretched 
 when married than before ; and, moreover, they 
 had, in marrying early, the special object of 
 having children to support them in their old age. 
 Where the head of a family was extremely 
 poor, living in a wretched cabin, and having only 
 one apartment where he and his children dwelt, 
 and when his neighbour was similarly circum- 
 stanced, a constant intercourse was kept up in 
 these small dwellings, so that the different sexes 
 were thrown much together, and that respectful 
 distance observed in families enjoying anything 
 of comfort or position, was entirely lost amongst 
 them. 
 
 The number of inhabitants of a country is 
 everywhere affected by the facility or difficulty of 
 
 * It has been said, and tried to be proved by statistics, tliat 
 early marriages tend less to increase population than marriages 
 at a more advanced period of life, owing to the large number of 
 children that die. As regards Ireland, however, this was not 
 the case, for the people married early, and the marriages are more 
 prolific there than in any other country, and it is a very common 
 circumstance to see families of nine or ten children. 
 
38 
 
 obtainino; tlie means of subsistence * and in Ire- 
 land, where great facilities existed for obtain- 
 ing food, tlie population rapidly increased. Soon 
 it had almost passed the supply; and to meet 
 the demand, more and more land was put under 
 potatoes until, ultimately, the whole of the lower 
 orders subsisted entirely on that article of food. 
 
 All these circumstances, therefore, led in Ireland 
 to the " boundless multiplication of human beings 
 satisfied with the lowest condition of existence ;" 
 and the rapidity with which this increase was 
 efl^ected, may be understood from the fact, that the 
 population of the country doubled within thirty- 
 three years.f It was, in fact, only limited by the 
 difficulty of procuring food. 
 
 In many parts of the country, it appears that it 
 would have been impossible for human beings to 
 exist in a greater state of misery. 
 
 " In a parish with which I am connected," writes 
 Archbishop Doyle, in one of his letters, to which 
 we have already adverted, " consisting of about 
 8,000 souls, not less than 337 families were re- 
 lieved as public paupers during the last year ; and 
 probably one-half as many more, who would j)refer 
 death to the public exposure of their distress, suf- 
 fered for nearly two months all the horrors of ex- 
 treme want. 
 
 * See Malthus — '* Essay on Population." 
 
 t By the year 1825, the population was more than 7,000,000. 
 
39 
 
 " In another parish, six-sevenths of the popula- 
 tion subsisted for months of the last year either on 
 alms, or on one scanty meal of the most wretched 
 food ; and nearly all the moveables they possessed 
 were sold or pledged, to provide them with this 
 pittance."* 
 
 These are but illustrations of the extent and 
 nature of the distress which pervaded the coun- 
 try. 
 
 To obtain a more vivid picture, however, of 
 the condition of the people, we must follow them 
 to their homes. 
 
 These were of the most miserable description. 
 Houses they were not, but cabins, built of stones 
 and mud, or mud alone ; the roof made of a few 
 beams of timber, and covered with straw or with a 
 surface called scraws, often not even sufficient to 
 prevent the rain from coming through ; the floor 
 consistino; of the crround on which the cabin was 
 built; generally speaking, no windows or chim- 
 neys, and but one small door ; dens rather than 
 cabins — dens of filth, disease, and misery.t In 
 
 * Letter XI. 
 
 t " I was remarkably struck," says a witness before the Com- 
 mittee of the House of Lords on Colonization, in 1847, "in 
 passing through Roscommon, with very long ranges of buildings, 
 and seeing the country in a very miserable condition. On making 
 inquiry, I ascertained that each long pile of building had origin- 
 ally commenced with one house, or what is called a ' bay' — 
 that is, as much as a plank Avould stretch across, covered over 
 
40 
 
 these abodes, there was nothing that could be 
 called furniture. It was a luxury to have a box to 
 put anything into ; it was a luxury to have what 
 they called a dresser for laying a plate upon, or 
 anything of that kind they might possess. Gene- 
 rally there was little beyond an iron cast metal 
 pot and a milk tub. The entire family slept in the 
 same apartment. They had seldom any bedsteads, 
 and as to covering, they had generally nothing but 
 straw, whilst some few possessed blankets. Their 
 diet was equally wretched. Except on the sea 
 coast, where fish was sometimes obtainable, it con- 
 sisted of potatoes and water during the greater 
 part of the year, and of potatoes and sour milk 
 during the remainder. 
 
 The prevalence of fever and other epidemic 
 diseases were the natural results of such circum- 
 stances.* 
 
 with some brambles and some rushes, occasionallywith a thatch 
 of straw. The son of the first inhabitant desired to marry, and 
 he had another piece added to the tenement equal to his father's, 
 and became a resident there. Another son or daughter married, 
 and then another portion was added ; then came grandchildren, 
 and they made additions ; then when the old man died, there was 
 still some one to occupy his house, and those buildings went on 
 increasing." 
 
 * The prevalence of contagious fever in Ireland, it may be 
 observed, was a calamitous indication of the general distress of 
 the peasantry, and the increase or decrease of fever, as ascer- 
 tained by the admissions into the fever hospitals, was a criterion 
 of the amount of distress the peasantry were undergoing. 
 
41 
 
 The next above these cottier-tenants were the 
 small farmers, holding from ten to thirty acres ; 
 but they were too poor to constitute a middle class, 
 and had hitherto made common cause with those 
 below them. 
 
 Their farming was of the most slovenly descrip- 
 tion, and the food for themselves and their depen- 
 dents was still the potato. They built their own 
 habitations, and repaired them at their own cost. 
 Their selling produce, after paying the rent, 
 aiforded a little better clothino; and a few more 
 comforts than enjoyed by the cottier-tenants. 
 Otherwise, there was no distinction between these 
 classes. Nor was the system of agriculture which 
 they pursued more conducive to the welfare of the 
 country than that pursued by the cottiers. The 
 latter brought nothing to the land but their own 
 labour, and got nothing out of it but their own 
 bare subsistence, whilst the former did but little 
 more, investing in agriculture no capital, but con- 
 ducting the husbandry by means of persons who 
 drew the profits of their labour from the land im- 
 mediately at their own risk and charge. 
 
 These two classes formed the peasantry of the 
 country. 
 
 Much, doubtless, of the poverty which prevailed 
 was to be attributed more immediately to the 
 want of employment, which arose from the redun- 
 dancy of labour. This is the natural consequence 
 of a population larger than what is demanded 
 
42 
 
 by the capital or wealth of a country. By the 
 creation of an enormous competition for labour its 
 price is reduced, and the result is incomplete sub- 
 sistence to those who can find employment — com- 
 plete indigence for those who cannot. 
 
 The population was, in fact, so much beyond 
 the demand for employment, that in some parts of 
 the country one-half was stated to be without any. 
 In Munster there was about 2,000,000 inhabitants, 
 and employment for 1,000,000.* In other parts 
 the disproportion was said to be still greater. 
 
 . In the North of Ireland the linen manufacture 
 employed a large number of persons, but in other 
 parts of the country the cultivation of land was the 
 only employment, and this could only be obtained 
 from the larger farmers, and for a comparatively 
 short season of the year. For seven out of the 
 twelve months there was, perhaps, nothing to be 
 done. Nor had the peasantry who produced their 
 own crop much occupation, the potato cultivation 
 requiring but little trouble, and affording only 
 about six weeks' labour in the spring, and four in 
 the autumn. In April generally the whole of the 
 seed was put into the ground. For six or eight 
 weeks afterwards nothing could be done ; under 
 proper management, the crop ought then to have 
 been weeded and moulded, but the people seldom 
 took this trouble. They sowed and they reaped, or 
 
 * See evidence given before the Select Committee of the 
 House of Commons — 1823 — Poor in Ireland. 
 
43 
 
 rather, they planted and they dug; and from the 
 time in the autumn, when the crop was taken from 
 the ground, until the following spring, when prepa- 
 rations had to be made for the new crop, the potato 
 culture afforded no employment whatever. There 
 existed, nevertheless, in the minds of the people 
 a great anxiety for work. The peasantry of the 
 South and West quitted their homes at particular 
 times of the year in search of it, migrating even 
 in laro-e numbers to Eno-land at the harvest time, 
 
 CO ' 
 
 and returning to their homes to secure their own 
 potato crops. 
 
 The great and rapid increase of population had 
 not been accompanied by a corresponding increase 
 of capital, which not only was insufficient to 
 develop the resources of the country, but was not 
 even enough for the requirements of daily life. 
 Money was an article of which the Irish peasant 
 knew but little. Scarcely any independent la- 
 bourers received their wages in it, and the potato 
 was not only the food of the labourer, but also 
 constituted to a very great extent the agricul- 
 tural currency of the country. The farmers were 
 in the habit of paying wages by the well-known 
 con-acre system, which, though it exercised a 
 direct tendency to encourage early marriages, by 
 procuring the labourer a supply of food, yet has 
 been instrumental in bringing about the great and 
 desirable transition from pauper cottier-tenants to 
 independent labourers. 
 
44 
 
 According to it, the farmer let a small por- 
 tion of land, generally under an acre, for one 
 season only, for the sole purpose of growing 
 potatoes. He manured the ground, and pre- 
 pared it to receive the seed, and then handed it 
 over to the labourer. On this piece the latter 
 grew the potato which was to be his supply of 
 food for the next year, and for it he was nominally 
 to pay so many pounds an acre, the rent generally 
 given was from £8 to £10, sometimes as low as 
 £5 per acre ; but instead of paying this sum, he 
 worked for a certain number of days for the 
 farmer from whom he took the land, and thus did 
 away with the necessity of the employment of 
 money in the transaction. In consequence of the 
 low rate of wages, the whole time of the labourer 
 only just sufficed to make up the rent. 
 
 Then with the refuse of their miserable diet 
 they contrived to feed a pig, which they sold for 
 from 30s. to 60s., and so succeeded in obtaining 
 some clothing. But this mode of life was pre- 
 carious in the extreme, and it was upon people so 
 situated that the slightest deficiency in the potato 
 crop told with deadly effect. 
 
 The con-acre system of paying wages was, how. 
 ever, in many respects disadvantageous. To the 
 peasantry it was always unsatisfactory, giving 
 them a less immediate reward for their industry, 
 and a less clear and intelligible mode of ascertain- 
 ing that they were dealt with fairly; but as it 
 
45 
 
 resulted from their poverty, a change could not 
 suddenly be made; and it was only as the transi- 
 tion of the peasantry from pauper cultivators to 
 independent labourers was gradually effected, that 
 this truck system was abandoned for the payment 
 of money wages. 
 
 The want of capital in Ireland was attributable 
 to many causes. 
 
 " Capital," say the Committee of 1823, in their 
 Second Report on the state of the poor, " can 
 only accumulate out of the savings of individuals. 
 In Ireland there are few persons, who either in 
 manufactures or agriculture, conduct their opera- 
 tions on such a scale as to admit of much surplus 
 for accumulation. The only manufacture which 
 flourishes, namely, the linen, is spread abroad 
 amongst a population which, at the same time, 
 cultivate the soil for their sustenance, and 
 though such a system of manufacture may be 
 more conducive to health and morals in the manu- 
 facturer, it is incompatible with laro-e savings. In 
 like manner, in agriculture, the tendency to sub- 
 division of farms and the general practice of 
 throwing the expense of buildings and repairs on 
 the tenant, countervail the accumulation of profit 
 in the hands of the farmer, and the application 
 thereof to beneficial enterprise in agriculture." 
 
 This want was shown by the wretched descrip- 
 tion of implements used both in domestic manufac- 
 tures and in agriculture, as well as by their general 
 
46 
 
 deficiency. The ploughs, carts, harrows, were of 
 the rudest description, and the farmers had no ac- 
 commodation either for themselves or to enable 
 them to preserve and bring the produce of their 
 farms to market in a proper state. It was 
 shown, too, in the system of agriculture, which 
 was very defective. There was no regular, or at 
 least no beneficial, rotation of crops adopted ; 
 drainage was entirely neglected. " They have no 
 capital," says Archbishop Doyle, speaking of the 
 small farmers and cottiers, " they cannot drain, 
 nor fence, nor manure their fields ; they cannot 
 improve their seed ; their cattle are not able to 
 work ; it is not in their power to employ or feed 
 labourers ; they have no winter crops ; their 
 fallows are not stirred or cleansed ; the most 
 simple or useful improvement in husbandry is not 
 within their reach."* 
 
 Such, then, was the physical and social condition 
 of the lower classes, nor could it fail to have its 
 efli*ects upon their character and disposition. By 
 the wretchedness they suifered, their minds w^ere 
 enervated, their energies paralyzed, and they were 
 left incapable of useful exertion. They had no 
 means of acquiring anything but a bare subsis- 
 tence, and they looked no farther ; they became 
 cringing, servile, careless, and despondent. The 
 want of regular work made them indolent. " I 
 do not think," says a witness before the Committee 
 
 * Letter V. of J. K. L. 
 
47 
 
 of 1830, "that these people could have become 
 better, from the low degraded state of society in 
 which they were ; they never could have bettered 
 themselves, as they had not a spirit of emulation." 
 
 Their intercourse with the outer world was 
 restricted. Being the providers of their own 
 wants, raising the food upon which they sub- 
 sisted, trade and commerce could not arise, whilst 
 the difficulties of communication with other coun- 
 tries, or even with the more enlightened parts of 
 their own, prevented them participating in any 
 progress which might have been made at this time. 
 They were left accordingly in the most miserable 
 state of ignorance and superstition — an ignorance 
 not confined to the want of a knowledge of read- 
 ing and writing, but extending itself to the com- 
 monest aifairs of daily life.* 
 
 With all these failings, however, the Irish were 
 not an immoral people, and in the lower classes 
 many of those crimes, which are so conspicuous 
 amongst the lower classes of other populations, are 
 almost entirely unknown. 
 
 The whole country, however, was not in the de- 
 plorable condition above depicted ; the state of 
 the peasantry in parts of the North and of the 
 East being superior both in houses, clothing, edu- 
 cation, and general habits to those we have been 
 describing. 
 
 * See evidence given before tlie Committees on Irish Poor in 
 1824-5 and 1830. 
 
48 
 
 Never yet almost has a page been written on 
 tlie subject of Ireland that allusion lias not been 
 made to her great natural resources. To the ter- 
 ritory which she occupies the world can have 
 access. " We look to her ports," says Archbishop 
 Doyle, " they are safe and spacious ; to her rivers, 
 they are deep and navigable ; to her position on 
 the globe, and she seems to be intended as the em- 
 porium of wealth, as the mart of universal com- 
 merce."* 
 
 Abounding in all the riches which Nature can 
 bestow, a temperate climate, a fertile soil, mineral 
 wealth, and most valuable fisheries ; but abound- 
 ing in vain. All tliese sources of employment 
 which, had they been available, would have pro- 
 moted both socially and morally the welfare of the 
 people ; all lying idle and unused. And why ? 
 Population had outrun capital. 
 
 Ireland had never been a wealthy country ; and 
 although at this time slowly and steadily pro- 
 gressing under greater freedom of commerce and 
 increasing facilities of trade, yet the population had 
 increased so rapidly, as not alone to neutralize the 
 improvement, but to deluge the greater part of 
 the country with poverty. And as each year 
 went by, this evil was becoming greater — the 
 struggle for existence was getting more fierce, the 
 country more disturbed, life and property more 
 
 * Letter XI. of J. K. L. 
 
49 
 
 insecure. Capitalists, who would have been un- 
 able to resist the temptation of quadrupling their 
 wealth in the development of the resources of the 
 country, now shunned the Irish shores, and carried 
 to other, even to foreign lands, that which would 
 have been the salvation of Ireland. Insecurity 
 prevailed, and the venture was too great. And 
 it was, indeed, too clearly evident, that until this 
 order of things was reversed, Ireland could never 
 raise herself into a prosperous country. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Sub-Letting Act. 
 
 The great and apparently undue increase of the 
 population, which had taken place in Ireland since 
 the time of the French war, had, as we have seen, 
 come to be looked upon, not unnaturally, as the 
 principal source of the continued insecurity, po- 
 verty, and misery which afflicted the country. 
 That it was the immediate cause of them, and that 
 which forced itself upon the attention of every 
 one, there can be no doubt ; but it will be found 
 upon closer examination, that its disastrous eifect 
 was principally owing to its combination with 
 other causes, and to defects in the social organiza- 
 tion, habits, and character of the people. 
 
 Among these, may be enumerated — a want of 
 security for property and the fruits of industry, 
 and its accumulations, consequent upon the poli- 
 tical and religious dissensions to which we have 
 
51 
 
 already adverted, and to the almost entire want of 
 capital for the employment of the labouring classes 
 and the increase of the produce of the land, which 
 was the natural result of that insecurity. To these, 
 however true may be our love, or warm our admi- 
 ration of the many high and brilliant gifts which 
 adorn our countrymen, we cannot avoid adding cer- 
 tain traits of the national character, which are too 
 strongly marked, and too general, notwithstanding 
 numerous and honourable exceptions, not to be 
 taken into account in any candid examination of its 
 social condition. It is but too true, that the man- 
 ners of the Irish gentry, and more especially that 
 part of it immediately connected with the land, 
 have been marked by reckless profusion and extra- 
 vagance, by culpable carelessness of their own in- 
 terests, and neglect of their tenants. So far were 
 they, at the time we speak of, from being able to 
 supply the want of capital to which we have ad- 
 verted, that they were usually themselves deeply 
 involved in pecuniary difficulties. Qualities, in 
 themselves amiable, had with the Irish gentry 
 become actually detrimental. Hospitality was 
 pushed to riotous waste, and a love of sport to a 
 neglect of every serious duty. Of absenteeism we 
 have elsewhere spoken ; but of too many of the 
 Irish absentees it may be observed, that not alone 
 were they unable to supply that capital which was 
 necessary, not merely for the increase, but for the 
 preservation of their fortunes, but they were men 
 
52 
 
 visually living beyond their means, out of sight of 
 the circumstances which were preparing their own 
 ruin, and inflicting misery on their dependants. 
 
 Something of the same recklessness and impro- 
 vidence has, it cannot be denied, ever pervaded 
 the lower orders. Superior in intelligence to 
 most populations, in the conduct of life they fall 
 short of slower natures. A certain elasticity of 
 animal spirits, which enables them to face misery 
 gaily, and to bear it with patience and without 
 despondency, is too predominant in their nature 
 to be consistent with the foresight and plodding 
 perseverance necessary for a permanent bettering 
 of their condition. A power of averting their 
 eyes from the dark side of things, is one which 
 they, no doubt, possess in no common degree ; 
 nor is the philosophy a bad one if not used in ex- 
 cess ; but in their situation it is lamentably op- 
 posed to improvement — above all, is but ill calcu- 
 lated to arrest that downward course to poverty, 
 which it is so easy to pursue and so difficult to 
 retrace. Drink was, and is, too often called upon 
 to deaden the stings of misery for the moment, 
 but only to sharpen them on the morrow. And 
 this vice — marvellously checked for a time by the 
 praiseworthy exertions of Father Mathew — was 
 woven into the tissue of their other miseries, to 
 the infinite aggravation of their deplorable eiFects. 
 
 The spectacle, however, which in consequence 
 of the increased population forced itself on the 
 
53 
 
 attention of the Irish land-owner, was that of his 
 estate incumbered by a too numerous pauper 
 tenantry, insolvent as to his rents, and unable to 
 produce from their small and ill-cultivated hold- 
 ings even a bare subsistence of the lowest class of 
 food for themselves and their ever-increasing fami- 
 lies; while he, on the other hand, was Avithout 
 capital to employ the superabundant hands as 
 labourers, and thus to provide that needful in- 
 crease of food which the land, if better cultivated, 
 might be expected to produce. 
 
 And what presented itself to him, and with 
 truth, as the chief if not the only obstacle to this 
 wished-for increase by more effectual cultivation ? 
 We have elsewhere referred to it: the minute 
 sub-division of the land into separate holdings, 
 occupied by paupers, without capital or efficient 
 implements, cultivating (if it may so be called) 
 the ground in small independent patches — a 
 system of husbandry notoriously incapable of de- 
 veloping its fertility, or of producing a tithe of 
 the crops that might be obtained under other 
 management, which would enable it to maintain 
 in comfort a population far greater than that 
 which could then scarcely be said to exist upon 
 its scanty produce. 
 
 The necessity of a change from the system of 
 small holdings to that of larger farms, in order to 
 develop agricultural produce, is not one peculiar 
 to Ireland ; for it has been felt in almost every 
 
54 
 
 country which has advanced to a certain degree 
 of civilization, and in many instances was re- 
 sorted to long before the population had increased 
 to the degree to which it afterwards attained, and 
 which, under proper management, the land was 
 found capable of maintaining. In many parts of 
 Germany this change had been going on ; and a re- 
 ference to the historians in the time of James I. 
 and Elizabeth will show that in this respect the 
 condition of the peasantry of England in the six- 
 teenth century was very similar to that of Ireland 
 at the time we now -speak of. Great poverty was 
 felt, evidently from the insufficiency of the pro- 
 duce under the system of small, independent hold- 
 ings at that time prevailing, to maintain the then 
 existing population, which, it need scarcely be re- 
 marked, did not amount to a third part of that 
 which the same land now supports in affluence. 
 The same remedy — a severe one — which has of 
 late times been applied in Ireland, was then fovmd 
 necessary in England. The same suiFerings which 
 accompanied the transition from the one to the 
 other in Ireland in our day, were then felt in 
 England, and let us hope that the same beneficial 
 results will ultimately be attained. 
 
 A passage to be found in an account of Eng- 
 land, by the most illustrious as well as the most 
 benevolent of the statesmen of that day — Sir Tho- 
 mas More, a trustworthy witness on such a sub- 
 ject — contains at once so graphic a picture of 
 
55 
 
 what then occurred in that country, and one 
 which so strikingly resembles what has so often 
 been seen in Ireland, that we cannot refrain from 
 quoting it : — 
 
 " They must needs depart aAvay, poor, wretched 
 souls — men, women, husbands, wives, fatherless 
 children, widows, woful mothers with their young 
 babes, and. the whole household, small in sub- 
 stance, much in number ; away they trudge out of 
 their known and accustomed houses, finding no 
 place to rest in. All their household stuff, which 
 is very little worth, though it might well abide 
 the sale — yet, being suddenly thrust out, they be 
 constrained to sell it for a thino; of nought ; and 
 when they have wandered about till that be spent, 
 what can they do but steal, and then pardi be 
 hanged, or else go about a-begging." 
 
 The remedy in England proved efficient, but it 
 is evident that the sufferings entailed by its appli- 
 cation were of a nature similar, if not equal in ex- 
 tent, to those experienced here. 
 
 The obvious, and indeed the only practicable 
 course which could suggest itself under these cir- 
 cumstances to an Irish landlord, who wished to 
 avert his own ruin, and to check the ever-growing 
 misery of his tenantry, was to get rid of the re- 
 dundant pauper occuj)iers of the small holdings, 
 and to substitute persons able to cultivate to 
 better purpose the land consolidated into larger 
 farms. To this, accordingly, the landed proprie- 
 
56 
 
 tors had recourse — each for himself, endeavouring, 
 by ejecting the small holders from their tene- 
 ments, to relieve the estate from its pauper popu- 
 lation. The obstacles which opposed themselves 
 to the execution of this plan, and the misery which 
 it entailed, may be conceived, but cannot easily be 
 overrated. 
 
 It is obvious that, although the operation of 
 reducing the pauper population by forcing them 
 to go elsewhere, may have appeared to be success- 
 ful on any particular estate, the sum of human 
 misery in the country at large was not thereby 
 diminished as to number, and was certainly in the 
 first instance increased in intensity ; the means, 
 as we have said, being insufficient to employ any 
 great number of the ejected cottiers as labourers 
 on the lands they had held as tenants. 
 
 Emigration had not come, nor could it imme- 
 diately come, to relieve the burthen ; neither did 
 a Poor Law at that time exist, even if such pro- 
 vision would have been adequate to meet the de- 
 mands which would have been made upon it. Un- 
 occupied or waste lands, upon which to form new 
 settlements, there were, but the capital necessary 
 to reclaim them was nowhere to be found. 
 
 Hordes of homeless wanderers were thrown 
 loose upon the country, who, urged by the pangs 
 of want to the crimes which want suggests, and 
 at the same time burning with resentment under 
 the sense of injury, too often wreaked a fearful 
 
57 
 
 revenge upon those whom they regarded as the 
 authors of their woes, or on those whom they 
 thought had profited by their wrongs. The 
 landlord and the new tenants of the farms from 
 which they had been ejected, were equally the 
 objects of their hatred; and the terror felt by 
 these latter of the wild justice by which they were 
 liable to be overtaken, added another element of 
 horror to the situation. The shadowy beings 
 which the poet describes as ever watching by the 
 infernal gate — 
 
 " Metus et malesuada Fames et tiirpis Egestas 
 Terribiles visLi formse ! Letumque Labosque,"* 
 
 may be said to have stalked through the land in 
 hideous reality at this period of its history. 
 
 A resolution to follow the plan of consolida- 
 tion became at last so general as to have ripened 
 into a policy, which in the year 1826 received the 
 sanction of the Legislature, in the Act of Parlia- 
 ment called the Sub-Letting Act. (7 Geo. IV., 
 cap. 28.) 
 
 This Act prohibited the sub-letting of property 
 by a lessee, unless with the express consent of the 
 proprietor — (a consent not likely to be obtained, 
 except in very extraordinary cases) — and thus it 
 was calculated to restrain the ever-multiplying 
 minute division of land, which had been the ruin 
 of the country, and to give land-owners the power 
 
 *"Fear, crime-persuading Hvinger, squalid Want, 
 Forms terrible to view ! with Death and Toil." 
 
58 
 
 of gradually improving their properties and the 
 condition of their tenantry. 
 
 The tendency to consolidation already existing 
 previous to the passing of the Act, gave landlords 
 an increased desire to avail themselves of the 
 powers conferred by law, and thus brought it into 
 practical use almost immediately. 
 
 When a farm fell out of lease, invariably in the 
 miserable and wretched state before described, 
 both as regarded the occupiers and the land, 
 measures were taken for the removal of the 
 pauperized tenants. They were served with no- 
 tice to quit, and if they did not give up posses- 
 sion, steps were taken for their eviction under 
 the new Civil Bill Ejectment Act. The land 
 was then thrown into larger holdings, which 
 were let to those who had at least some little ca- 
 pital, and who would be able to cultivate larger 
 farms. With such it fared, indeed, in some re- 
 spects better, but with those ejected, how sad was 
 their lot ! 
 
 The miserable beings dislodged from their 
 abodes found themselves with but small resources 
 and with no refuge. At first they generally made 
 an attempt to establish themselves on the next 
 estate, taking, when they could, fresh patches of 
 mountain land, which they reclaimed, and upon 
 which they built their cabin. If that expedient 
 failed, they moved to a neighbouring town in 
 search of employment, but as that, however, was 
 
59 
 
 seldom obtainable, they soon spent the trifling 
 pecuniary means derived from the remission of 
 their rents, and the sale of the stock which their 
 landlords relinquished ; and then existence was 
 but barely supported by the assistance of charity. 
 
 But not alone were those that had been evicted 
 rendered miserable. They carried with them and 
 propagated that misery; for the suburbs of the 
 towns became crowded with these poor crea- 
 tures, who either swarmed into the houses 
 already built, instances being known of from four 
 to seven families living in one cabin with two 
 rooms,* or built hovels alongside of the road, and 
 became what were known as " squatters." In 
 these places was beheld the " misery and suiFering 
 which no language can describe, and which it is 
 necessary to witness in order fully to estimate." 
 
 " They increased the stock of labour, they ren- 
 dered the habitations of those who received them 
 more crowded, they gave occasion to the dissemi- 
 nation of disease, and they were obliged to resort 
 to theft and all manner of vice and iniquity."f 
 
 In their abodes of wretchedness and filth, dis- 
 ease was produced by extreme want ; it wasted the 
 people, because they had no food or comforts to 
 restore them, and it was no uncommon circum- 
 stance for them actually to die of hunger. 
 
 * Report of Committee on Poor in Ireland, 1.832. 
 ■j" Evidence of Dr. Doyle before ditto. 
 
60 
 
 It must not be supposed, however, that all 
 evictions were effected in the harsh manner in 
 which it has been the habit to describe them. In 
 many instances the landlords gave those whom 
 they turned away the means of emigrating ; and 
 in later years some even sent out whole ships full 
 of their former tenantry to America. In the ma- 
 jority of cases arrears of rent were remitted, heavy 
 debts were forgiven, and the tenants Avere allowed 
 to sell whatever little stock they possessed, so 
 that they might have some means to begin life 
 with again. It is, however, undeniable that the 
 removal of the poor occupiers from their dwellings 
 and the land which they had long held, was the 
 cause of intense suffering, and there occurred 
 doubtless many cases of great hardship, where 
 persons were evicted in a manner wdiolly regard- 
 less of humanity and justice. One such case was 
 sufS-cient to rouse the anger and stimulate the 
 hatred of the people; and it was partly from the 
 fear felt by the landlords that a too rapid series 
 of evictions would lash the people into uncon- 
 trollable fury, and partly from motives of hu- 
 manity, that the clearance of estates did not pro- 
 ceed quicker. There was nothing that the people 
 would not forgive sooner than turning them from 
 the place where their fathers and grandfathers had 
 lived, from the cabin which they themselves had 
 built, from the farm " round every sprig of which 
 every string of their heart was twined." 
 
61 
 
 By slow degrees some of the land was cleared, 
 and the advantages of such a course became ap- 
 parent. But, however desirous landlords might 
 have been to accomplish these clearances rapidly, 
 the occasions in which they could be effected 
 arose only when the leases expired ; and as much 
 land had been leased by land-owners for a long 
 term, it was evident that many years must elapse 
 before the consolidation system could be carried 
 into effect throughout the whole country. 
 
 The progress of the transition, too, was all the 
 slower from the fact that there were two ways in 
 which land became sub-divided — the first by sub- 
 letting, the second by sub-dividing. The Sub- 
 Letting Act affected only the former ; to prevent 
 the latter by enactment would have been scarcely 
 possible. Indeed, there was no duty connected 
 with the management of property more difficult 
 to be performed than the prevention of sub-di- 
 vision. The feeling of the people was strongly 
 opposed to such a restriction, and every sympathy 
 enlisted aoainst the landlords who endeavoured to 
 
 o 
 
 enforce it. 
 
 And now, in criticizing this great measure, we 
 must observe, that it should be judged not alone by 
 the effects it produced, but by those evils which it 
 unquestionably warded off. If, as is usually done 
 by the Irish peasantry themselves, it is judged 
 simply by the fearful amount of misery entailed 
 in the removal of the poor from the land, the 
 
62 
 
 measure must be pronounced one of the most 
 cruel acts of selfishness and tyranny ever adopted, 
 and one which could not fail to excite in those who 
 were the sufferers, feelings of hatred and animosity 
 to the Government and to the higher orders. 
 They were unable to understand how such a pro- 
 cedure could be for the general advantage of the 
 country; they could not see why they should be 
 made the victims, or why others should profit by 
 their sufferings. Viewed in their light, it was but 
 another act of rapacity on the part of the land- 
 lords — of tyranny on the jDart of the British Go- 
 vernment. 
 
 But although the present evils it entailed Avere 
 so great, the advantages resulting from the system, 
 pursued under its sanction, were, on the other 
 hand, very considerable and ever-increasing. Im- 
 provements of all kinds in agriculture, increase of 
 produce, and consequent amelioration in the con- 
 dition of the people — all, before long, developed 
 themselves in those places where the new system 
 was carried into effect. And these effects, as they 
 became general, more than counterbalanced the 
 misery which had at first followed, and which was 
 unhappily the unavoidable result of this policy. 
 
 Most of all, however, we must bear in mind the 
 indisputable fact that such a measure had become 
 an imperative necessity if Ireland was not to be 
 overwhelmed in ruin. All the most distinguished 
 men of the day were agreed upon this. 
 
63 
 
 " Had sub-division gone much further," said Dr. 
 Doyle,* " the misery would have of necessity in- 
 creased. It was, indeed, essentially necessary for 
 the good of the country that the system should be 
 corrected, and every wise man applauds those 
 measures which were taken for the correction of 
 it." — (Evidence before Select Committee on the 
 State of the Poor in Ireland, 1830.) 
 
 And the Commissioners appointed to inquire 
 into the state of the poor in Ireland in 1830, in 
 their report say : — 
 
 " In making the change, in itself important and 
 salutary, a fearful extent of suffering was pro- 
 duced, but the change ivas unavoidable^ and could 
 not have been delayed ; a postponement could not 
 have averted the evil day which Avould eventually 
 have come, and been attended with pressure aggra- 
 vated by reason of the postponement." 
 
 In the sight of the misery consequent on this 
 measure, there was the one consolation, that the 
 suifering then entailed was only a part of what 
 must inevitably have taken place had a change in 
 the system of managing land not been made. If 
 sub-division had continued, the people would con- 
 stantly have been increasing in numbers, and 
 sinking in condition, until a famine, in comparison 
 with which the famine of 1846 would have ap- 
 peared small, must have occurred. 
 
 * Roman Catholic Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin. 
 
64 
 
 At the period when the old system was super- 
 seded, it was producing vast suiFering and misery, 
 and by anticipating the inevitable effects of the 
 habits of the people, it was thought that the 
 suffering would be mitigated. The treatment was 
 a rude one, and the suffering entailed made it seem 
 doubly cruel from being authoritatively ap^Dlied. 
 For such a disorganized state of society, however, 
 it was the only one that could be devised. It was 
 the infliction on the country of an immediate and 
 terrible evil, for the prevention of a still greater, 
 irremediable evil, and for the securing of a future 
 and permanent good — it was the purchase of the 
 existence of a nation, by a sacrifice of part of its 
 population. 
 
 The existence of a provision for the poor, or of 
 any means except casual charity by which their 
 sufferings could have been alleviated, would, it is 
 thought, at this time have been very desirable. 
 Indeed, the principle of giving aid from a public 
 fund to a removed tenant was not only justifiable, 
 but was also to a certain extent called for, by the 
 fact of the Legislature having directly and indi- 
 rectly interfered, and made no inconsiderable 
 change in the condition of the poorest land- occu- 
 piers by the passing of several Acts of Parlia- 
 ment.* 
 
 But no such provision existed, not even any 
 
 * See Report, of Committee on Poor in Ireland, 1832. 
 
65 
 
 organized system for the collection and distri- 
 bution of charitable funds, and the poor were left 
 entirely to their own resources. 
 
 The following extract from the Report of the 
 Railway Commissioners in 1838 treats of this 
 part of the subject so ably, that we cannot refrain 
 from quoting it : — 
 
 " The proprietors of estates," say they, " claim 
 public support in their endeavours to bring the 
 country to a sound and secure condition, by op- 
 posing and counteracting the further progress of 
 so ruinous a system (sub-division), and if they 
 would proceed in all cases with discretion, and a 
 just consideration of those whose interests are as 
 nearly concerned as their own, they are entitled to 
 it. Of course, we do not palliate the injustice and 
 the cruelty of turning families adrift, helpless and 
 unprotected, upon the world. There is a compact, 
 implied at least, between the landlord and the 
 peasantry who have been brought up on his estate, 
 by which the latter have as good a right to pro- 
 tection, as the lord of the soil has to make arbi- 
 trary dispositions for the future management of 
 his property. Nor do we think that it makes 
 much difference as to the force of this obligation, 
 whether the injurious sub-division of lands was 
 made by the direct sanction and for the immediate 
 benefit of the tenant in fee, or by others to whom 
 the power of a landlord over the property has 
 been delegated by lease. It is not denied that 
 
66 
 
 those sub-divisions were lawful at the time they 
 were made. They were a part of the system then 
 recognised, and in operation for the management 
 of property ; for their effects, therefore, upon the 
 general welfare and security, the property itself is 
 justly to be held accountable. Nor is this respon- 
 sibility to be shuffled aside, or laid at the door of 
 persons who, having ceased to possess an interest 
 in the land, are no longer in a state to repair the 
 error that has been committed; but the country 
 will look to those who now hold the property, hav- 
 ing received it charged with all its moral as well 
 as its legal engagements. Still, however, as the 
 land-holders or owners of estates are really unable 
 to sustain the whole of this liability, and to pro- 
 ceed at the same time with that work of improve- 
 ment which is so essential for the interest of all 
 classes of the community, and eventually of none 
 more than of the labouring poor, it is much to be 
 desired, as an object of public importance, that 
 means be taken speedily to distribute part of 
 the burthen through other channels." — (Railway 
 Commissioners' Second Report, 1838. By Drum- 
 mond.) 
 
 It was with this view that different plans were 
 suggested which, it was thought, would help to 
 carry the country through the transition, but 
 which, one after another, failed or were aban- 
 doned; and until the year 1840, when the Poor 
 Law came into operation, no measure sufficientl}^ 
 
67 
 
 general to have any effect was adopted, and the 
 people were left to shift for themselves as best 
 they could. 
 
 We have dwelt thus long upon this subject, for 
 it is the turning point in the history of Ireland ; 
 and a clear comprehension of it is of the utmost 
 importance to enable us to understand other social 
 changes which have taken place, and which were 
 but consequences of the policy here described. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 Administration of Justice. 
 
 It is a trite remark, but a true one, that there is 
 no more unfailing criterion of the degree of happi- 
 ness and civilisation of a country, than the justice 
 of its laws, combined with the efficacy of their ad- 
 ministration. 
 
 A poet has said with regard to Governments — 
 
 " On forms of Government let fools contest ; 
 Those best administered are still the best." — Pope. 
 
 And if there is any practical sagacity in the obser- 
 vation, as regards the conflicting opinions which 
 have ever divided mankind upon the subject of 
 political rule, it certainly may be applied with 
 even still greater truth to Avhat relates to criminal 
 or civil jurisprudence. The strict administration 
 of the laws is the condition without which the 
 purpose or the wisdom of the legislator will be 
 unavailing. 
 
69 
 
 In no country has the " administration of jus- 
 tice" been more fitted to call forth such a reflec- 
 tion than in Ireland. In none does it present 
 stranger anomalies, in few has it suffered from 
 greater irregularities, and nowhere have greater 
 difficulties been opposed to its effectual refor- 
 mation. 
 
 It has been said, and it must be presumed not 
 without truth, by a high legal authority,^while in 
 the exercise of the highest functions in the system 
 upon which he comments: — 
 
 " There exist in this country (Ireland) two 
 sorts of justice, the one for the rich, the other for 
 the poor, both equally ill-administered." 
 
 Such is the deliberate opinion expressed by 
 Lord Redesdale, when Lord Chancellor of Ireland. 
 And if we place beside it that of an English Chan- 
 cellor of no mean capacity (Lord Brougham) — 
 " In England, justice is delayed, but, thank 
 Heaven, it can never be sold ; in Ireland, it is sold 
 to the rich, refused to the poor, and delayed to 
 all" — we need not recur to other authorities to 
 determine what has been thought of the general 
 character of the administration of justice in this 
 country. 
 
 And yet, strange to say, the first observation 
 which offers itself to an inquirer is, that the laws 
 of Ireland are in themselves nearly identical with 
 those of England — the methods of procedure 
 by which they are carried into execution are the 
 
70 
 
 same, the constitution of the tribunals in the two 
 countries in no way differs, and, moreover, the 
 legal maxims and rules of practice acted upon 
 traditionally in English courts of justice, are not 
 less known or recognised in the courts of Ire- 
 land. 
 
 It need scarcely be added, that as a body of 
 jurisprudence, reduced by immemorial usage to 
 an assured system of practice, there does not exist 
 a code of law more honest in its purposes, more 
 efficient in its action, or more careful of indivi- 
 dual rights and liberties, than that of England, as 
 there administered. Such defects as may attach to 
 it in common with all human institutions, are the 
 object of careful correction whenever they become 
 apparent ; but they have seldom been such as to 
 have interfered vdth a ready compliance with its 
 decisions, or a firm reliance on its general purity 
 and justice. 
 
 How, then, are we to account for the fact — but 
 too notorious — that this very body of laws, as 
 administered in Ireland, has been attended with 
 opposite consequences ? 
 
 Here, habitual veneration has been replaced by 
 habitual disrespect ; reliance, by incurable dis- 
 trust; and cheerful submission too often by 
 violent resistance. What is looked up to in Eng- 
 land as a safeguard and protection against wrong, 
 is in Ireland hated as an engine of oppression — 
 by Englishmen to be under the law's rebuke is 
 
71 
 
 felt to be a disgrace, in Ireland it is in most cases 
 regarded as an honour, or courted as a martyr- 
 dom. 
 
 The questions which present themselves, there- 
 fore, are — first, Why has this been so? and 
 second, How can it be amended ? 
 
 To these it is difficult to offer satisfactory re- 
 plies. They, nevertheless, must ever call for 
 anxious inquiry on the part of anyone who feels 
 a real interest in the welfare of his country. 
 
 Laws unsuited to the moral condition of a 
 people are proverbially of little use — 
 
 " Qviid leges sine moribus 
 Vanae proficiunt " — 
 
 is a maxim which expresses one of the profoundest 
 truths of political jurisprudence. Assigning to 
 " mores" its most extended signification — as not 
 only pointing to the morals, but the temper, 
 habits of thought, traditional feelings, and pre- 
 judices of a people — the aphorism will apply to the 
 case of Ireland, and furnish us with one at least of 
 the causes why English law has failed in its bene- 
 ficial efiects, why it is so often a mere dead letter, 
 and always an object of hatred and contempt; 
 why, when executed, it is feared rather than re- 
 spected ; and why in so many cases whole classes of 
 the people have been found to regulate their con- 
 duct, and to draw their opinion of right and wrong, 
 not from the spirit of the laws which ostensibly rule 
 
72 
 
 them, but from tliat of secret codes of their own 
 fabrication, according to which punishments are 
 dealt out on principles in conflict with those re- 
 cognised by the State, sanctioned by the irregular 
 sallies of illegal violence, and all the other neces- 
 sary attendants upon the decrees of secret associa- 
 tions entered into for the purpose of evading legal 
 authority, or setting it at defiance. 
 
 Such a picture will not appear over-coloured if 
 we examine the records of justice in Ireland, and 
 find that by far the greater number of legal con- 
 demnations and penalties have been the punish- 
 ment of crimes proceeding directly or indirectly 
 from the action of secret associations of the kind. 
 
 The laws of Eno-land, it would seem then, have 
 never been assimilated to the habits and temper of 
 the people of Ireland. A¥as it that they were 
 either in themselves ill-suited to the state of civi- 
 lization of the country at the time they were in- 
 troduced, or else that circumstances connected with 
 its political history rendered tiieir proper appli- 
 cation impracticable ? 
 
 Something may be attributable to each of these 
 causes. 
 
 It is to be borne in mind, that the laws of Eng- 
 land, as Avell as the methods of administering 
 them, were things of slow growth. 
 
 It is one of the distinguishing qualities of the 
 English law, as well as one of its boasts, that it is 
 based upon " immemorial usage" rather than upon 
 
73 
 
 written statutes. The definition of the common 
 or unwritten law, which is its foundation, implies 
 that it has no other authority than tradition. 
 " The memory of man runneth not to the con- 
 trary," is the expression used to describe its sanc- 
 tion ; and not that it is to be found inscribed in 
 any code drawn up at a stated time, or by a par- 
 ticular legislator, as is the case in regard to the 
 Roman law, so generally adopted in Europe. 
 Whatever may be the anomalies to be found in a 
 body of laws thus gradually formed, it has been 
 remarked with truth, that it is usually better 
 fitted to the country of its birth than would be a 
 code apparently more perfect in its parts, and 
 more symmetrical in its arrangement. 
 
 Now even at the time English law was first in- 
 troduced into Ireland, it would be difficult to 
 imagine any system of jurisprudence more totally 
 opposed than it was, in letter and in spirit, 
 to the laws (if such they can be called) which 
 existed amongst — but scarcely ruled — the barbar- 
 ous and hostile tribes which occupied, or rather 
 fought amongst themselves for the soil. 
 
 It is related of the Irish, at the time that 
 Henry II. came to Ireland and efi'ected what has 
 erroneously been styled the conquest of the 
 country, (for no such conquest then took place) 
 that — 
 
 " All came in peaceably, and had large con- 
 cessions made them of the like laws and liberties 
 
74 
 
 with the people of England, which they gladly ac- 
 cepted."* 
 
 If it is true that the Irish chiefs accepted of this 
 hoon^ and afterwards, as is averred, swore to King 
 Henry that they would henceforth be governed by 
 the laws of England, we apprehend that either 
 they considered this engagement as a mere piece 
 of courtesy to the English prince, on his leaving 
 the country, after his peaceful visit, or else that 
 they entered into it not knowing what they did. 
 The amalgamation of English law and Irish 
 custom was, in fact, a matter beyond their power, 
 supposing it to have been agreeable to their in- 
 clination. What is certain is, that at any of the 
 subsequent periods at which we get a glimpse of 
 the troubled and obscure stream of Irish history, 
 we find that no such amalgamation had actually 
 taken place. Wherever (for many centuries after- 
 wards) we find English authority existing in Ire- 
 land, it was both limited in extent to particular 
 places, and was of a nature partaking more of 
 the character of military occupation than of the 
 establishment of law, while the rest of the country 
 remained in the full exercise of its native bar- 
 barism. 
 
 The English conquest of Ireland was effected 
 not by any single victory, or course of victories, 
 by a British sovereign, nor yet by a general sub- 
 
 * Molly neux's " Case of Ireland Stated," p. 13. 
 
75 
 
 mission to his authority by the chieftains of the 
 clans who occupied the island, but by the succes- 
 sive and isolated acts of invasion by military ad- 
 venturers, acting, it is true^ feudally as representa- 
 tives of the King of England, but, in reality, each 
 for himself, at his o^vn expense, accompanied by 
 his own vassals, and for his own profit or that of 
 his followers. These expeditions had varied re- 
 sults, little attended to, and probably imperfectly 
 known to the " Superior Lords " in England in 
 whose name they were made. The history of 
 these conquests is obscure, but such of the cir- 
 cumstances as are knoA\ai of them, particularly 
 that conducted by Strongbow, Earl of Pembroke, 
 are sufficient to mark their true character. They 
 bear greater analogy to the conquests by which 
 Fernando Cortes and Pizarro added vast but un- 
 kno^\ai kingdoms to the Spanish Crown, than to 
 the political subjugations of one kingdom by ano- 
 ther, which have occurred in the more central 
 parts of Europe.* 
 
 The epochs at which Ireland was really reduced 
 to apparent acquiescence to English rule, and 
 
 * Nowhere is the loose and fluctuating nature of feudal tenure 
 more completely illustrated than in the history of English occu- 
 pations and invasions of Ireland ; and it is remarkable, that some 
 of the adventurers Avho undertook them were not Englishmen 
 by birth. They may, in fact, be regarded as speculators, who 
 went to seek their fortune in unknown lands, their capital being 
 a certain amount of military skill and daring acquired in other 
 wars. 
 
76 
 
 abandonment of its own usages, were such as were 
 unfavourable to any real assimilation of the Eng- 
 lish law to Irish uses ; and we believe it is not too 
 much to assert, that till the present hour no 
 thorough assimilation has taken place. 
 
 There is another peculiarity of the English law 
 to which we have adverted in the introductory 
 part of these notes, which was unfavourable to 
 its just or efficient administration in Ireland; we 
 mean the principle of self-government, according 
 to which, that law is in a great measure adminis- 
 tered by the people upon themselves. In a 
 nation where the population is homogeneous in 
 race and united in religion, or, at all events, not 
 divided into factions strongly opposed to each 
 other in these respects, nothing can be more con- 
 ducive to liberty than such a system — nothing 
 better fitted to inspire the confidence of the people 
 in the justice of its o\vn laws, and to insure a 
 ready recognition of their authority. Where this 
 is not the case, and Avhen race has been set against 
 race, and sect against sect, for ages, any attempt 
 to administer justice on the above-named principle 
 will not only fail, but be productive of conse- 
 quences the very reverse of Avhat were contem- 
 plated. 
 
 This would occur even when the conflicting 
 parties should be nearly equal in numbers and 
 otherwise on equal terms ; but in cases where a 
 predominant minority exercises a recognised ascen- 
 
77 
 
 dancy over the remainder, and where the adminis- 
 tration of the laws is mainly in the hands of that 
 minority, all the evil consequences will be en- 
 hanced. 
 
 Such was the condition of Ireland at the times 
 (for it was not done at once) when English laws 
 and usages w^ere really introduced into this coun- 
 try. It was usually at the termination of some 
 civil or religious struggle that this took place. It 
 was when a party smaller in numbers, but superior 
 in strength, had just established its supremacy by 
 force, that the establishment of English Courts of 
 Law and the English system of municipal and 
 local tribunals took place ; and it must be borne in 
 mind that they were cotemporaneous with other 
 " Acts of Settlement," as they are called, by which 
 the conquering party acquired a property in the 
 greater part of the land forfeited by the van- 
 quished. 
 
 It is little to be wondered at, that laws intro- 
 duced under such auspices, were looked upon as 
 part and parcel of a system of spoliation rather 
 than as safeguards against injustice. By the 
 party in the ascendant they were, no doubt, consi- 
 dered to be instruments of Government, but by 
 the conquered as engines of oppression. When it 
 is recollected, too, that the more complete estab- 
 lishment of English law in Ireland was coincident 
 with the establishment of Protestantism as the re- 
 ligion of the empire at large, making the profes- 
 
78 
 
 sion of other creeds, and more particularly that of 
 the Koman Catholics, punishable as a crime by 
 law, and that consequently Roman Catholics were 
 excluded from any j^art in its administration, it 
 ought to excite no surjorise, that, in Ireland, where 
 the mass of the population held to that commu- 
 nion, English law, Avhich thus became the very 
 embodiment of Protestantism, should be regarded 
 with aversion and distrust. But even long after 
 the extreme rigour of the penal code had been re- 
 laxed, and the profession of the Roman Catholic 
 religion was no longer an offence, the law made so 
 marked a distinction between Roman Catholics 
 and Protestants, by means of disabilities, that the 
 former were still virtually excluded from the ad- 
 ministration of justice. It was consequently ad- 
 ministered upon them not by a sovereign exercis- 
 ing arbitrary sway, but (what was infinitely more 
 galling) by that part of their fellow-subjects 
 which they had been accustomed to regard as 
 their hereditary enemies. As time wore on, it is 
 true, a greater degree of toleration was conceded 
 to Roman Catholics ; restrictions were withdraAvn, 
 grievances redressed, until the crowning measure 
 (or what was at the time considered to be so) of 
 Emancipation in 1829 was carried. Roman Ca- 
 tholics were then, and have been since, not only 
 admitted, but invited to take part in the adminis- 
 tration of justice. 
 
 But the old mistrust remained, and still to a 
 
79 
 
 great extent remains, although Roman Catholics 
 have been promoted to the most eminent posts in 
 the judiciary, although the municipalities and the 
 magistracy are open to them, and are now, the 
 former mainly, the latter to a considerable extent, 
 composed of persons of that persuasion. The same 
 " strong conception," however, still prevails among 
 the people that the law is unfairly administered, 
 that it is an oppressor and not a protector, that 
 judges are partial, that the verdicts of juries de- 
 pend upon the manner in which they have been 
 " packed," that magistrates oppress the poor and 
 favour the rich, and that the whole course of jus- 
 tice is hostile and corrupt. So deep is this con- 
 viction, and so long has it existed, that argument 
 or evidence seems now to be powerless to shake it. 
 Little else could indeed be expected. 
 
 " Non pudet," says Cicero, " ab animis consue- 
 tudine imbutis quaerere testimonium veritatis." 
 
 The gradual establishment of other habits and 
 impressions by time and experience can alone have 
 that effect. In the meantime, nothing tends more 
 surely to obstruct the course of justice than the 
 existence of a rooted antipathy to its ministers 
 and a distrust of its decrees. The minds of the 
 administrators of justice themselves, as well as of 
 those to whom it is administered, are warped 
 by the existence of such a feeling, and justice 
 itself cannot but suffer in the struo;o;le. The 
 magistrate, under such impressions, is sure to re- 
 
80 
 
 gard the law rather as an arm for self-defence 
 against violence, and a means of chastising rebel- 
 lion, than as an instrument for dispensing justice 
 between man and man, and maintaining public 
 order by its calm and impartial enforcement ; the 
 governed see in it a contrivance for their political 
 subjection by a hostile and dominant class. 
 
 Under such circumstances, it has availed little 
 that the Superior Courts of Ireland have been pre- 
 sided over by judges not only upright and above 
 suspicion of corruption or inhumanity, but, in 
 general, eminently qualified for their high func- 
 tions. The Irish Bench can boast of names 
 second to none in the records of jurisprudence. 
 Such men as Anthony Malone, Plunket, or Bushe 
 would do honour to any judiciary body. Nor 
 was the Irish Bar, of whom such men were the 
 representatives, in any respect inferior in charac- 
 ter or talents to that of any other European 
 country. 
 
 But as the decision of a case was never believed 
 in Ireland to depend so much upon the abilities of 
 the judge as upon the temper or composition of 
 the jury, it was principally in regard to this that 
 distrust was felt. 
 
 We have here, again, a notable instance of the 
 inapplicability of the English sj^stem of law to 
 the circumstances of Ireland. Trial by jury — 
 the " Palladium," as it is considered, of English 
 liberty — the guarantee of impartiality, and of 
 
81 
 
 exemption from undue influences, becomes, in 
 Ireland, the least reliable of all tests of truth or 
 justice, and the subject of universal discord and 
 discontent. Nor is it easy to see how it can ever 
 be otherwise, so long as a country is divided into 
 two hostile camps, by political and religious ani- 
 mosities. 
 
 It would be in vain to tell an Irish Roman 
 Catholic that his cause had been righteously 
 judged by a Protestant jury. An Irish Protes- 
 tant would be equally incredulous as to the justice 
 of a sentence given against him by a jury of 
 Roman Catholics. Men ceased to pay any atten- 
 tion to the evidence upon which a conviction or 
 an acquittal was pronounced. They looked to 
 who tried the case ; what was the supposed poli- 
 tics of the judge ; how was the jury composed ; 
 what was the religion of the witnesses ; and upon 
 all these, violence and intimidation was to be 
 exercised, if the result threatened to be unfavour- 
 able to their party. 
 
 We have but too lately had to deplore instances 
 of such proceedings. 
 
 Unfortunately the state of the country has fre- 
 quently rendered it impossible to avoid the com- 
 mission of irregularities by the legal authorities 
 themselves. That juries have been what is called 
 " packed," there can be no doubt. The plea of 
 self-defence from imminent and immediate danger 
 is the only one that can be alleged in palliation of 
 
 G 
 
82 
 
 such a practice. But that plea can sometimes be 
 reasonably urged. There have been occasions on 
 which convictions for crimes oj^enly committed 
 were absolutely necessary for the preservation of 
 the authority of the Government, while, at the 
 same time, there existed a moral certainty on all 
 hands, that their authors would be acquitted by 
 any jury taken without careful selection from 
 the panel. All the resources of the law officers 
 of the Crown, consequently, were used to eli- 
 minate from the juries such individuals as they 
 well knew would never consent to the convic- 
 tion of a man of their ovm party or sect, and 
 to secure the presence of those who might be ex- 
 pected to be less biassed. This, no doubt, in 
 some degree, deserves the name of " packing ;" 
 but whether it does or not, it most assuredly con- 
 firmed the public belief that such was the usual 
 and approved practice of the law authorities in 
 all such cases.* 
 
 It was, consequently, in respect to those parts 
 of the administration of justice which most par- 
 took of the nature of that kind of self-ocovern- 
 ment to which we have alluded that distrust was 
 most felt. The composition of the juries, and the 
 conduct of the officers upon whom their appoint- 
 ment depended, were ever the objects of incurable 
 suspicion ; and the jurisdiction of the magistracy 
 
 * See Evidence given before the House of Lords Committee 
 on Crime, 1839. 
 
83 
 
 was felt, or at all events believed to be, oppressive, 
 and tainted with systematic partiality. 
 
 These leading features in the administration 
 of justice in England — there justly regarded as 
 most favourable to liberty — thus became in Ireland 
 the most prominent subjects of jealousy and dis- 
 trust. So evident was the existence of this feeling; 
 at the time from which we date our investis^ation, 
 (1825,) that we find the attention of the Legisla- 
 ture was then directed to the subject. 
 
 It will now be our object to detail the measures 
 which have been since taken, A\ith a view of in- 
 quiring into and remedying such defects as might 
 be found really to exist in the practical adminis- 
 tration of justice in Ireland. 
 
 With respect, then, to the composition of juries, 
 and to the conduct of the officers who conducted 
 their appointment, we find that a Committee of 
 the House of Commons, which had been appointed 
 to inquire into the truth of allegations made 
 against them, report as follows : — 
 
 " Opinions having gone abroad that justice was 
 not impartially dispensed through the medium of 
 juries in Ireland, and tending to render a large 
 portion of the community dissatisfied with the 
 administration of justice in this respect ; and it 
 having been insinuated that persons professing the 
 Roman Catholic religion, though otherwise quali- 
 fied to serve as jurors, were intentionally excluded 
 by the sherifi*s, it was desirable to ascertain whe- 
 
84 
 
 ther or not such information was founded on fact. 
 With this view, the sub-sheriffs of counties at 
 large have been examined, and their evidence 
 satisfactorily proves the rumour to be destitute of 
 foundation — save in a single county, in whicii it 
 appears that it had formerly been the practice to 
 exclude Roman Catholics from all panels, except 
 that of the Grand Jury at Assize, but which ex- 
 clusion has ceased in practice Tvithin the last 
 year." 
 
 The conduct of the sub-sheriffs, upon whom the 
 selection of juries practically devolves, having 
 been at the same time complained of, was also 
 made the subject of special inquiry, when the 
 Commissioners reported : — 
 
 " With respect to juries in general, whatever 
 grounds of complaint may formerly have existed 
 against sub-sheriffs of counties as to the manner 
 in which the panels are returned, we have no data 
 before us to induce a belief that, in the exercise 
 of this branch of duty, incorrectness has prevailed 
 in the counties at large of later years. Loose 
 and general complaints by individuals against 
 whom verdicts have been given, and imputations 
 cast by them upon the juries who have pro- 
 nounced such verdicts, charging them with par- 
 tiality and corruption, are sometimes heard ; but 
 these accusations, so far as the sub-sheriff is in- 
 volved in the imputation, if they have any foun- 
 dation in reality, have not, in any instance occur- 
 
85 
 
 ring in the counties at large, reached us in the 
 form of actual proof"* 
 
 These statements are, no doubt, worthy of cre- 
 dit ; but giving them their full weight, and sup- 
 posing, consequently, that the want of confidence 
 felt by the mass of the people in regard to the 
 composition and the decisions of juries, to be in a 
 great measure groundless, it continued to be, 
 nevertheless, an incontestable fact that such want 
 of confidence subsisted, and would do so as long 
 as the political and religious animosities which 
 have never ceased to prevail in the country 
 existed. Even taking for granted that the juries 
 were not unfairly chosen, and that their verdicts 
 were not substantially unjust, a general belief that 
 they were so, would be sufficient to deprive the 
 institution of the greater part of its beneficial 
 effect. 
 
 It appears to us, however, to be no exaggeration 
 to aifirm, that, allowing the purity on the part 
 of law officers, sherifts, and sub-sherifis to have 
 been unexceptionable, and the checks upon a 
 partial selection of jurors the most ingenious 
 that could be devised, no efi'ectual means could 
 ever be found in a country so politically situated 
 as Ireland, for arriving at the nomination in every 
 instance of juries whose composition could be un- 
 objectionable to both of the parties into which the 
 
 * See Reports of Legal Inquiry Cummissioners of 1824- 
 1825. 
 
86 
 
 nation is divided. Objectionable they always 
 would be in cases where the political feelings of 
 those parties were involved ; and such cases have 
 been (as we shall show when we come to treat of 
 the peculiar characteristics of crime in Ireland) 
 the great majority of those brought under the 
 consideration of the courts of justice. 
 
 One of the consequences of this feeling of dis- 
 trust was, moreover, peculiarly unfavourable to 
 the impartiality of jurors; for systematic intimi- 
 dation was exercised against them, as well as 
 against the witnesses, by the friends of the crimi- 
 nals they convicted ; and they were exposed to 
 public obloquy, on the supposition of their having 
 taken part in proceedings looked upon as oppres- 
 sive or unjust, by the very class to which they 
 themselves belons-ed. 
 
 With the desio;n of removing; some of the 
 grounds for complaint, it was determined to ren- 
 der the selection of jurors as little dependent as 
 possible upon the caprice or party bias of the 
 High Sheriff. A bill was accordingly passed in 
 the year 1833, (3 & 4 William IV., cap. 91,) 
 which altered and clearly defined the qualifica- 
 tions for jurors, and which necessitated the names 
 of the possessors of them being enrolled in the 
 jury book from which juries must be struck. The 
 eifect of this measure was to increase the number 
 of jurors, the majority of whom, however, were 
 of a lower class, and less educated than those who 
 
87 
 
 formerly served.* But this measure, although 
 placing persons on the panel totally irrespective 
 of their religious creed, was of little avail in re- 
 moving the distrust which existed, and its effect 
 was to a great extent neutralized by the practice 
 called " challenging," or the setting aside of a 
 juror, as an unfit person to try the case. The 
 prisoner was limited in his challenges ; the Crown 
 was unlimited : and as this unlimited right was 
 occasionally exercised to an apparently excessive 
 deo-ree, its effect on the administration of the law 
 was highly injurious, strengthening in the minds 
 of the people the feeling that a person put on his 
 trial was foredoomed, rendering the law, if possible, 
 more unpopular, and increasing tlie reluctance to 
 give evidence. 
 
 About the year 1835, this system was almost 
 entirely abandoned by the Crown, and although 
 such a course led often to the acquittal of un- 
 doubted offenders, yet the change tended, in 
 some small degree, to lessen the antipathy exhi- 
 bited by the great body of the people to the 
 law. 
 
 To proceed to the consideration of that part of 
 the administration of justice which devolves upon 
 the magistracy, we may, in the first instance, 
 
 * Instances are given of men being placed on jui-ies who were 
 unable either to read or Avrite; also, ribbonmen sat as jurors 
 sometimes. See Q. 2523-4, Committee on Crime in Ireland, 
 1839. 
 
8S 
 
 direct our attention to the improvements which 
 have been effected in the constitution and prac- 
 tice of the Courts of Quarter Sessions. 
 
 These Courts, which rank next to Courts of 
 Judges of Assize, w^ere, as originally established 
 in Ireland, an assembly of two or more magis- 
 trates, on a day and at a place appointed, in order 
 to hear and determine in regard to matters within 
 the scope of their commissions. The magistrates 
 who formed these Courts having been found defi- 
 cient in the necessary knowledge of tlie law, and 
 little disposed to study it, it became necessary to 
 give them some aid and direction in the discharge 
 of their duties. Accordingly it was enacted, 
 (27th Geo. III., cap. 40,) that a barrister of six 
 years' standing should be appointed to act as a 
 constant " assistant" to the justices composing the 
 Court. This system was extended to the whole 
 of Ireland in 1796, and was everywhere in opera- 
 tion in 1825. By these Courts, felonies, petty 
 larcenies, and misdemeanours, were cognizable. 
 The sessions were held every three months, in 
 several of the principal towns of each county, and 
 were presided over by the " assistant barrister" as 
 Chairman.* 
 
 There can be no doubt that the appointment of 
 this officer was a considerable improvement in the 
 constitution of these Courts. 
 
 * Legal Inquiry Commissioners' Reports. 
 
89 
 
 Another improvement in that part of the admi- 
 nistration of justice was made, or at all events 
 attempted, by the general introduction of what 
 are called " Petty Sessions," held by the local 
 magistracy. 
 
 The enforcement of that part of law which, ac- 
 cording to the English system, devolves upon jus- 
 tices of the peace, who are in daily and immediate 
 contact with the peasantry, could not, in a country 
 so politically situated as Ireland, but be a matter 
 of extreme delicacy. To be successful, an amount 
 of discretion, impartiality, diligence, and know- 
 ledge of the law, would be required, which was far 
 from characterizing the Irish County Magistracy. 
 Honourable exceptions could, no doubt, be ad- 
 duced, but, as a class, it cannot be denied that it 
 was deplorably deficient in all these qualifications. 
 It was in general ill-composed — attorneys, middle- 
 men, and persons who had perhaps formerly pos- 
 sessed landed property, but who had either lost it 
 or were involved in debt, being admitted to j)er- 
 form functions, for the proper discharge of which 
 personal respectability and independent circum- 
 stances ought ever to be indispensable conditions. 
 The practice of absenteeism greatly aggravated 
 the evil ; but it is not unnatural that a magistracy 
 so composed and so situated should not only have 
 failed in producing the beneficial result for which 
 it was intended, but should afford a constant sub- 
 ject of discontent, and confirm the habitual dis- 
 
90 
 
 trust of the people in the laws under which they 
 were called upon to live. 
 
 So glaring, in fact, were the malpractices and 
 defects of some of the magistracy, that a revision 
 of it was attempted by the Government in the 
 year 1823, when, in two counties in the south of 
 Ireland, from twelve to twenty magistrates in each 
 were removed from the Commission of the Peace 
 for malversation or unfitness.* 
 
 It is clear that such a measure served rather to 
 point out the existence of the evil than to cure it; 
 the absence of proper materials for the formation 
 of a magistracy of a better kind being the real 
 cause of its inefficiency. 
 
 The practices, in fact, which had obtained in 
 the administration of justice by magistrates in 
 Ireland, were such as offered little guarantee 
 against partiality or corruption, while they ob- 
 viously favoured negligence and inefficiency ; and 
 it was in order to correct them in some measure 
 that the institution of Petty Sessions was had re- 
 course to. 
 
 Before the introduction of these sessions, magis- 
 trates were in the habit of exercising their func- 
 tions without the check of publicity — they adjudi- 
 cated cases at their private residences, and at such 
 times as they themselves might choose to appoint. 
 
 * See evidence given before the Committee on the State of 
 Ireland, 1824-5. 
 
91 
 
 A sino-le magistrate mio;ht thus either determine 
 a case at what time or in what manner he mii^ht 
 deem convenient; or he might neglect it altogether, 
 or delay it indefinitely, if so disposed, without its 
 being possible for the parties interested to exercise 
 any effective control upon him in these respects, 
 or to obtain any assurance, other than that of the 
 individual character of the magistrate, of the im- 
 partiality of his proceedings. 
 
 By the Act 7 and 8 Geo. IV., cap. 67, Petty 
 Sessions (which had already been adopted par- 
 tially in Ireland) were established throughout the 
 entire country. 
 
 " Whereas," says the Act, " the holding of Petty 
 Sessions by Justices of the Peace in Ireland has 
 been found conducive to a better administration 
 of the laws, and to the general interests of His 
 Majesty's subjects within that part of the United 
 Kingdom; and whereas it is expedient to give ad- 
 ditional facilities for holding such Petty Sessions, 
 and for securing a uniform and effectual mode of 
 procedure therein, be it enacted," &:c., &c. 
 
 And it was enacted that at the next Quarter 
 Sessions it should be lawful for the Justices of the 
 Peace to divide the several counties into such dis- 
 tricts as should seem to them most expedient for 
 the purposes of the Act, and to fix a place for the 
 holding of Petty Sessions. A record was to be 
 kept of all the acts, orders, or proceedings done 
 at Petty Sessions, and was to be signed by all the 
 
92 
 
 Magistrates present, and from their decisions an 
 appeal could be made to the superior Court of 
 Quarter Sessions. All informations sworn at the 
 Petty Sessions had to be transmitted to the Clerk 
 of the Peace, or Crown, and every magisterial act 
 at Petty Sessions had to be signed by two Justices 
 at least. 
 
 The exercise of all magisterial functions by a 
 single Justice of the Peace was thus submitted to 
 vigilant supervision, and the publicity of the pro- 
 ceedings was in a great degree a guarantee against 
 the exercise of partiality. Established in every 
 district of the country, Petty Sessions gave a ready 
 and accessible means of redress, of which the 
 people were not slow to avail themselves in minor 
 cases, whilst the frequent and regular meetings of 
 Magistrates kept the law before them, and im- 
 pressed them to some extent with the notion that 
 justice was obtainable when they stood in need 
 of it. 
 
 In requiring the presence of two Justices of the 
 Peace to give validity to all acts at Petty Sessions, 
 the state of extensive districts of Ireland had been 
 overlooked, for in many places the resident gentry 
 was not large enough to furnish a sufficient num- 
 ber of persons to act as Magistrates. Partly from 
 this circumstance, partly from the fact that in 
 many instances Magistrates, who were men of 
 position and means, felt a disinclination to taking 
 any very active part in cases in which popu- 
 
93 
 
 lar feeling ran higli, such as faction fights, orga- 
 nised outrages, or party processions, fearing that 
 by so doing they would render themselves ob- 
 noxious to the people, and ^^lace their properties 
 and lives in danger, the Government found it 
 necessary in several counties to appoint paid of- 
 ficers to execute the duties naturally devolving 
 upon a Magistracy. The people themselves, too, 
 were in many cases desirous of having the law 
 administered by a person nominated by the 
 Crown. 
 
 The advantages arising from the appointment 
 of these stipendiary Magistrates was felt to be so 
 great, that it was determined to establish them as 
 an institution. Accordingly, an Act (6 and 7 
 William lY., cap. 13) was passed to that efi'ect; 
 and since that time, both in the administration of 
 the law and in the preservation of the peace, these 
 officers have rendered valuable service. 
 
 There is one more measure connected with the 
 Magistracy of the country to which we must 
 advert. There existed no direct mode of com- 
 munication between the Government and the 
 Magistracy. Nor was there in the separate coun- 
 ties a responsible person who, from his rank and 
 character in society, might communicate upon its 
 state with the Government. To supply this want, 
 the English custom was introduced ; and by an 
 Act passed in 1831, (1 and 2 William IV., cap. 
 17,) the appointment of lieutenants of counties was 
 
94 
 
 authorized. A political head to each county was 
 thus created; and Magistrates were henceforth ap- 
 pointed upon their recommendation, instead of, as 
 formerly, upon the recommendation of irresponsible 
 persons. 
 
 Another improvement of considerable import- 
 ance as regards the notorious impunity with which 
 crimes of a certain class were committed in Ireland, 
 was effected by a change adopted by the Govern- 
 ment in regard to the trial of criminal cases. It 
 had been usual to leave the prosecution of even 
 the gravest crimes to the injured parties, the 
 Crown limiting its interference to cases distinctly 
 connected with insurrectionary movements and 
 political offences. This was a practice which in 
 Ireland was necessarily attended with unsatisfac- 
 tory results. There has always been felt in this 
 country an extreme reluctance on the part of 
 individuals to appear as prosecutors, or even 
 as witnesses, in cases wdiere party or political 
 feeling could be supposed to have place ; and it 
 must be observed, that the number of cases in 
 which such feelings are not either directly or 
 indirectly involved is very small. ^Yllere there 
 exists an habitual disposition to resist or evade 
 the law, the position of a prosecutor is often 
 invidious, if not dangerous, independent of the 
 hardship and expense to which he conceives him- 
 self subjected in that character; while the intimi- 
 dation and summary acts of vengeance to which 
 
95 
 
 witnesses in criminal cases are exposed on the 
 part of the friends of those involved, is too well 
 known not to render them unwilling to give testi- 
 mony which might lead to conviction. From 
 these causes such prosecutions were either not 
 undertaken, or else failed through the poverty, 
 fear, or neglect of the prosecutor. Injured parties 
 preferred, if possible, to take the law into their 
 own hands, and one outrage thus became the 
 source of many others. 
 
 The necessity of a more effective system of 
 prosecutions in criminal cases was, however, at 
 length recognized, and the Crown lawyers gra- 
 dually brought a much greater number of such 
 cases to trial. A greater degree of efficiency in 
 the administration of the law was in this respect 
 attained, but the progress was slow; for it aj^pears 
 from the report of the Committee of 1832, that 
 even the Crown prosecutions of criminal cases 
 still frequently failed, principally from the negli- 
 gence and inefficiency of the Magistrates in the 
 earlier stages of the proceedings. 
 
 A considerable improvement, too, was made in 
 1835, in the prosecution of offences at Quarter 
 Sessions. Hitherto prosecutions at Quarter Sessions 
 were not undertaken by the Cro^\ai, unless in very 
 special cases, directed by the Attorney-General ; 
 but from this time many prosecutions were con- 
 ducted by the Solicitors appointed for the purpose, 
 called Sessional Crown Solicitors. The appoint- 
 
96 
 
 ment of these officers has secured the effective 
 prosecution of a very large class of cases, chiefly 
 assaults, arising out of riots at fairs and other 
 places, which were formerly prosecuted by the 
 parties themselves, or, which was more frequently 
 the case, compromised before trial, and not brought 
 to justice at all. 
 
 These reforms, although well-intended and cal- 
 culated to ameliorate the administration of justice, 
 would, however, have proved inoperative in the 
 absence of an effective public force, by which de- 
 cisions obtained by better constituted tribunals, or 
 improved legal proceedings, could be carried into 
 effect. 
 
 That the want of any such efficient force had 
 from the earliest times been felt is too notorious 
 to be insisted upon, and it may be worth while to 
 follow the steps which have been taken by the 
 Government to provide it. 
 
 The first force of this kind was created in the 
 year 1787, (27 Geo. III., cap. 40,) but it was soon 
 found to be of little use in any way, and, espe- 
 cially, to be totally inadequate for the suppression 
 of disturbances. 
 
 Accordingly, for this special object, a second 
 force was organized in 1814, (54 Geo. IV., cap. 
 131,) called the Peace Preservation Police. When 
 a district became disturbed, the Lord Lieutenant 
 in Privy Council was empowered to proclaim it 
 as being so, and in consequence to direct the 
 
97 
 
 establishment there of an extraordinary body of 
 Police, the expense of which was to be levied upon 
 the district in which it was placed — a plan calcu- 
 lated not only to prevent the commission of other 
 offences, but also to inflict a punishment. But 
 this force was small, whilst the other was ineffi- 
 cient, and some further change became necessary. 
 Accordingly, in the year 1822, an Act (3 Geo. lY., 
 cap. 103) was passed, and the police of Ireland 
 assumed a regular form. A better system for its 
 regulation was introduced ; four provincial inspec- 
 tors were named, who, subject to the Government, 
 had each complete control within their respective 
 provinces ; and sixteen constables, appointed by 
 the magistrates, were allotted to each barony. 
 
 The Peace Preservation Police was not, how- 
 ever, altered ; so that there were two distinct 
 forces in existence. 
 
 But althougb the new force was a decided im- 
 provement on its predecessor, it nevertheless did 
 not succeed in giving satisfaction, and there 
 existed a want of that vigour, efficiency, and 
 unity of action, which was absolutely necessary 
 for asserting the authority of the Government. 
 
 Further alterations were therefore deemed re- 
 quisite; and in 1836, an Act (6th and 7tli 
 Wm. lY., cap. 13) was passed, remodelling the 
 entire system, and combining into one eifective 
 force the two that had hitherto existed. Instead 
 of four provincial inspectors, one inspector-general 
 
 H 
 
98 
 
 was appointed, who was placed in immediate con- 
 nection with the Government ; and the power of 
 appointing the constables was transferred from the 
 magistracy to the Lord Lieutenant. Numerous 
 chano'es were made in the internal reo;ulations and 
 discipline. 
 
 The effect of these arrangements was soon 
 shown in the increased vigour and exertions of 
 the constabulary ; and there was thus placed in 
 the hands of the Government a powerful and 
 effectual means of enforcing obedience to the laAV, 
 Nor was it long before such means were made 
 active use of, and the best effects followed, both in 
 the detection of crime and in the suppression of 
 those open and flagrant breaches of the law which 
 were constantly taking place. The force now 
 consists of about 12,000 men, all highly disci- 
 plined, placed in parties of not less than four or 
 five each, in stations dotted all over the country, 
 so that the whole of it is under the imme- 
 diate surveillance of the civil power, and the Exe- 
 cutive Government has direct and reliable com- 
 munication with every part of it. 
 
 Five-and-thirty years have elapsed since the 
 organization of the j)resent force, and the men of 
 which it is composed have ever exhibited them- 
 selves devoted to their duty, and have performed 
 it on many critical and dangerous occasions in a 
 manner worthy of much praise ; nor is it too much 
 to say, that the great diminution which has taken 
 
99 
 
 j)lace in several classes of offences in Ireland is 
 attributable to the activity and efficiency of the 
 Constabulary.* 
 
 It will thus be seen that although the admi- 
 nistration of justice in Ireland is still imperfect, 
 and its improvement beset with difficulties, im- 
 portant and solid reforms both in the adminis- 
 tration and in the enforcement of the laws have 
 been in reality effected. Up to the present day, 
 however, deplorable incidents force themselves 
 upon our attention, proving that the old spirit of 
 distrust of the course of justice and defiance of 
 the law still lives, and that the accustomed arms 
 of outrao-e and intimidation are still had recourse 
 to. If, in the presence of political excitement — 
 while questions affecting the rights of property, 
 which touch the foundations of social existence, 
 are in agitation — or during periods of physical 
 suffering, springing from causes out of the control 
 of human laws, these improvements in the admi- 
 nistration of justice and the proper application 
 of self-government have not yet borne their ex- 
 pected fruits, and even seem, for the present, 
 
 * Up to 1847, the expense of the police was borne one-half 
 by the counties, one-half by the Consolidated Fund. As a 
 sort of compensation for the hardship inflicted on Ireland by 
 the repeal of the Corn Laws, the ivhole expense was transferred 
 to the Consolidated Fund. This transfer, had, however, been 
 previously recommended on other grounds by the Devon Com- 
 
100 
 
 checked in their progress — there is no reason to 
 despair of their ultimate effects. 
 
 We must recollect that the operation of all 
 such reforms is necessarily slow, constituting, 
 as it must, to be really valuable, not merely an 
 improvement in the technical proceedings of legal 
 tribunals, and a better enforcement of their deci- 
 sions, but a change in the feelings and habits of 
 thought of the people in regard to them. 
 
 Note. — In judging of the advance of social and legal im- 
 provements, which, like that of the hands of a clock, is not im- 
 mediately perceptible, it is often instructive to compare the pre- 
 sent state of such matters with that which existed at some 
 former period (but which has probably been forgotten.) Im- 
 provements in the administration of justice in Ireland contem- 
 plated by the English Government, have not been confined to re- 
 cent times ; and it may interest our readers to compare those 
 which we have now attempted to describe with some of those 
 designed by one of the most enlightened and humane of English 
 statesmen. Sir "William Cecil, Secretary to Queen Elizabeth. 
 Speaking of the intended establishment of a Presidency for the 
 improvement of law and order in the Province of Munster, Sir 
 William recommends, in a paper draAvn iip by him on the sub- 
 ject : — 
 
 " Also it shall be lawful for the President and Council, or 
 any three of them, the President being one, in cases necessary, 
 upon vehement suspicion and presumption of any great offence 
 in any party committed against the Queen's Majesty, to put the 
 same party to torture, as they shall think convenient." (Pre- 
 sidency of Munster, Feb. 1, 1566, Irish MSS., Eolls' House.) 
 
 Sir William, it is true, seems anxious to show the careful and 
 paternal spirit in which his proposed improvements are con- 
 ceived, for he immediately adds : 
 
 " The Lord President is to be careful to observe Divine Ser- 
 vice, and to exhort others to observe it ; and also to keep a 
 
101 
 
 preacher, Avho shall be allowed his diet in the household to 
 whom the said President shall cause due reverence to be given 
 in respect of his office, which he shall have for the service of 
 God." 
 
 See Froude's History of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, vol. ii. 
 p. 386. 
 
 The despatches of Sir H. Sidney (when Lord Deputy) to Cecil, 
 there quoted, are instructive as to the state of law and justice in 
 Ireland at that time ; and when we lament that their administra- 
 tion in our OAvn is still below the level of English civilisation, we 
 must bear in mind the depths from which it has arisen to attain 
 even its present state. 
 
CHAPTER VL 
 
 Chime. 
 
 Intimately connected with the administration of 
 justice is the distinctive nature of crime in Ire- 
 land. 
 
 AVithout some consideration of its peculiarities, 
 it would be difficult to account fully for the de- 
 fects to which we have adverted in the administra- 
 tion of justice, and impossible to devise the re- 
 forms which may be required to remedy them. 
 
 The elaborators of codes of criminal law are 
 fond of reducing the endless variety of human 
 crime into distinct categories, and of assigning ap- 
 propriate punishments to each possible offence. 
 
 There is no great difficulty in doing this, and 
 codes exist which embody the general principles 
 of criminal ethics in such a manner as to defy 
 any theoretical criticism of their exactness. It 
 has, however, been the well-founded objection 
 
103 
 
 to such bodies of criminal law and rules of crimi- 
 nal proceeding, that when they come to be ap- 
 plied to states of society different from that in 
 which they have had their birth, they are found 
 in some way or other to be inadequate to their 
 purpose. Many of their provisions become inap- 
 plicable or useless ; while, on the other hand, com- 
 binations are found to arise, and practices to pre- 
 vail, which they have failed to foresee, and con- 
 sequently to provide for. The general provisions 
 of such codes become rapidly encrusted with 
 interpretations and exceptions, precedents and 
 cases come to be cited as in customary law; and 
 the boasted and, no doubt, desirable simplicity of 
 the few articles under which every species and 
 deo-ree of crime have been classed, becomes ob- 
 scured by the innumerable commentaries. 
 
 The fate of the Code Napoleon, the most com- 
 plete, the clearest, and most admirable body of the 
 sort in existence, will illustrate this position. The 
 glosses and interpretations, the citation of deci- 
 sions on doubtful points, the intricacies, the argu- 
 ments on disputed principles, already afford ample 
 food for the industry, learning, and acuteness of 
 the French lawyers and judges, whose task in 
 these respects, it might be supposed, would have 
 been rendered easy by the lucid plainness and 
 brevity of its text. 
 
 Where a system of criminal jurisprudence is 
 transferred, so to say, in a block from one country 
 
104 
 
 to another, or even from one part of the same 
 country to another, where different habits of crime 
 subsist, something more than this inconvenient ac- 
 cumulation of legal commentary takes place. 
 
 In such cases the laws become either inoperative 
 or injurious ; or else, in order to adapt themselves 
 to the new circumstances under which they are 
 administered, they are distorted in spirit, misap- 
 plied in practice, forced aside from their original 
 meaning, exacerbated in some respects, softened in 
 others, strained in their interpretation, or fitfully 
 aided by supplementary or temporary enactments, 
 which strike at the very root and spirit of the 
 principles on which the whole code was originally 
 founded. 
 
 Crime, in almost every country, presents what 
 may be termed a distinct physiognomy; and so 
 long as the laws are not specially adapted to this, 
 they remain comparatively inefficacious. Such 
 differences were, no doubt, more striking in the 
 middle ages and in the earlier centuries of modern 
 history than in the present times, but they still 
 exist. 
 
 A reference to some familiar instances in Great 
 Britain itself, however, may illustrate our mean- 
 ing. The laws as executed on the Scottish 
 border, even in the reign of Elizabeth, and known 
 by the name of "March Treason Pains" — by 
 which cattle lifting, rick burning, private raids, 
 &c,, were summarily punished by death or mu- 
 
105 
 
 tilation, on the sole authority of the Lord Warden 
 of the March — were certainly neither required 
 nor enforced in the city of London, or in the 
 county of Kent, even in those times; while the 
 intricate litigation in regard to frauds, swindles, 
 libels, illegal publications, treasonable practices, 
 poisonings, and secret assassinations, the in- 
 numerable subjects of law in more civilized^com- 
 munities, were little wanted on the Scottish or 
 Welsh ]\Iarches. 
 
 And so of Ireland. In no country has the phy- 
 siognomy of crime been more strongly marked, or 
 more peculiar. Accordingly, we find that in no 
 part of the empire has the English system of law 
 suffered greater distortion or anomalies in its 
 application. In none have more partial abro- 
 gations on the one hand, and supplemental enact- 
 ments on the other, been required to give it even 
 the efficacy required for the bare self-defence of 
 the authority and existence of the Government. 
 Insurrection Acts, Acts against the administration 
 of illegal oaths, against the possession of fire-arms. 
 Acts suspending the Habeas Corpus, have all been 
 necessary, and have all tended to the practical in- 
 troduction of that absolutism, a guarded jealousy 
 of which constitutes the distinctive spirit of Eng- 
 lish law. It consequently aff'ords no matter for 
 surprise, that such an antagonism between prin- 
 ciple and practice should result in a system at 
 once weak, vexatious, unequal, and oppressive. 
 
106 
 
 It may be worth while, therefore, to examine some 
 of the circumstances which have given their pe- 
 culiar colour to the crimes which have been most 
 prevalent in Ireland. 
 
 In the first place it will be remarked, that the 
 great majority of the offences which it is the 
 business of the law to suppress or punish, consist, 
 and have ever consisted, in hostilities to the Go- 
 vernment itself, or when in crimes against indi- 
 viduals, in acts of violence or intimidation exer- 
 cised against them in connection with some pre- 
 determined system of resistance or evasion of the 
 law. The number of crimes between man and 
 man has in Ireland ever been a small proportion 
 to those arising out of the relative position of a 
 conquering to a conquered race, and to the animo- 
 sities of opposed differing religious creeds. 
 
 We shall have little difficulty in accounting for 
 this peculiarity, when we reflect that Ireland, al- 
 though a conquered country, is one of which the 
 subjugation was slowly, irregularly, and, perhaps, 
 never thoroughly effected. A chronic state of re- 
 sistance to the conquering element subsisted for 
 ages, favoured sometimes by the weakness, often 
 by the neglect or ignorance of the invading 
 power, but more than anything by the disorders, 
 dissensions, and corruption of the English settlers 
 themselves, who succeeded in partially occupying 
 the country. The civilizing process which might 
 have been expected from the infusion of a compara- 
 
107 
 
 tively advanced race into a semi-barbarous popu- 
 lation, was painfully gradual, subject to disastrous 
 refluxes, and ultimately imperfect. 
 
 We have but to refer to the reports of the Lords 
 Dei^uties during the reign of Elizabeth to become 
 aware that the state of the things within the Eng- 
 lish settlements, or what was called the Pale, was 
 as bad and often worse than that without it. 
 
 All the atrocities incident upon the occupation 
 of a half-conquered country by a force of undis- 
 ciplined and ill -paid adventurers seem to have 
 been rife within the districts which composed it ; 
 while such a force was inadequate to defend them 
 from the incursions of the scarcely more barbarous 
 but not more fla2;itious natives without.* The 
 pathetic but unavailing appeals to his sovereign of 
 the brave and loyal Sidney, when Deputy, either 
 to be furnished with the means of maintaining 
 order and enforcing justice, or to be relieved from 
 the odious task of attempting to govern Ireland, 
 alFords more information in regard to the nature 
 of the crimes then prevalent in Ireland, than could 
 be gathered from the most elaborate historical dis- 
 quisition. 
 
 Nor let it be objected, that it is irrelevant to 
 refer to times so distant, for it was in those times 
 that Irish crime assumed its distinctive character — 
 a character by which, although we may be thank- 
 
 * See Froude's History of Elizabeth, vol. iii. 
 
108 
 
 ful that it has been much mitigated, it is still in- 
 delibly marked. 
 
 It is evident that in a protracted war of this 
 kind, which Avas waged between the settlers and 
 the natives, all questions relating to the use and 
 possession of the land must have had a prominent 
 place ; and the nature and conditions under which 
 it was held, or rather used, by the native Irish 
 tribes at the time of the English invasions, con- 
 tributed to give a peculiar character to the 
 struggle. 
 
 The state of the native Irish appears to have 
 been in a great degree pastoral and nomadic, nor 
 in this respect did it differ from that of other 
 European countries at that period, although it was 
 opposed to the system already prevalent in Eng- 
 land. Among the native Irish but a small portion 
 of the lands seems to have been appropriated, or 
 enclosed, or held in farms by any fixed tenure; 
 nor did the kind of agriculture by tillage, which 
 necessitates a fixed local or individual proprietor- 
 ship, prevail to any great extent. The rights 
 exercised in regard to land were rather those ob- 
 tained or assumed by the Irish tribes, of pasturage 
 for their flocks in the districts they claimed to 
 rule over, which were exercised loosely, and in 
 common by the septs, the wealth of each individual 
 depending more upon the number of head of 
 cattle he possessed, than in any marked portion of 
 land of which he was the sole proprietor. This is 
 
109 
 
 a state of things which, wherever it prevails, is for 
 obvious reasons the source of eternal broils and 
 dissensions between neighbouring tribes, and of 
 just such petty wars as we know existed among 
 the Irish. We find, indeed, in the wars carried 
 on between them and the English invaders, even 
 to later times, the evidence of this state of things 
 as regards the proprietorship of land. The object 
 of every expedition, whether in wars between Irish 
 chieftains or between them and the English, seems 
 to have been, not so much the possession of por- 
 tions of cultivated territory, or even its devasta- 
 tion, but the driving off or destruction of the cattle 
 belonging to the tribe against which it was under- 
 taken. Forming, as this did, both the chief food 
 and the chief wealth of the tribe, it was in pro- 
 portion to the success obtained in this object that 
 victory or failure in the contest depended. 
 
 The events of the war between Sussex and 
 Shane O'Neill, and between that chief and Sidney, 
 the latter of which has more resemblance to a com- 
 bined military operation than any other in the 
 history of Ireland in those times, fully illustrate 
 this condition of things ; the alternate success 
 of each party seems to have been invariably de- 
 cided by the degree of efficacy in this mode of war- 
 fare, and the ultimate defeat of O'Neill was evi- 
 dently determined by it.* 
 
 See Fronde's History of England — Reign of Elizabeth, vol. ii. 
 
no 
 
 As the limits of the English Pale were extended, 
 a different system came into operation. The lands 
 annexed to it were enclosed, and appropriated 
 either to some individual of the English invaders, or 
 to some Irishman under their protection and in 
 their alliance ; the encroachments thus effected 
 upon what the native Irishry considered to be 
 their natural rights, being equally odious to them 
 in either case. Thus, by a continuance of the ill 
 fortune which seemed to preside over all Irish 
 affairs, the only means by which the products of 
 the country could be increased, or its civilization 
 advanced, were rendered baleful to its native in- 
 habitants, by being associated with what was felt 
 by the natives, and with what no doubt frequently 
 was, the invasion, tyranny, and oppression of the 
 stranger. 
 
 It is evident that without the appropriation and 
 enclosure of the lands, the comparative barbarism 
 and poverty of Ireland must have continued to 
 subsist. 
 
 Although the analogy is not perfect it is con- 
 siderable between the relative condition of the 
 native Irish in regard to the English settlers, and 
 that which took place between the New England 
 colonists and the North American tribes, A 
 hunting ground of several hundred miles square 
 was barely sufficient for the subsistence of a small 
 number of Indians, warriors as they styled them- 
 selves, because even that precarious and scanty 
 
Ill 
 
 subsistence was only maintained at the expense of 
 never-ceasing war with neighbouring tribes. As 
 the white man advanced, levelling the forest, till- 
 ing the soil, and introducing civilization into the 
 country, he could only maintain himself by force 
 and by the violation of rights theoretically supe- 
 rior to his own. The Indian claimed the land as 
 his country; and it may be said, without much 
 exaggeration, that it Avas to the superiority of the 
 rifle to the tomahawk, and of civilized intelligence 
 to savage cunning, that the title of the English 
 colonists, now so widely developed in those lands, 
 was founded. The Indian race was driven ofl^ to 
 other deserts, or, more frequently, was extermi- 
 nated. We have, consequently, heard less of its 
 wrongs than of those of the Irishry, although in 
 kind they were by no means dissimilar. 
 
 The reduction of the land in Ireland to regular 
 proprietorship was slow, fitful, and dej^endent 
 upon the gradual conquest of the country, which, 
 as we have already observed, was ever imperfect. 
 AVe find, consequently, that even in comparatively 
 recent times, the extent of land in a state of com- 
 monage was still very great, and that whenever a 
 further enclosure and appropriation of the land 
 so left was attempted, it was met with resentment 
 and resistance. 
 
 About the year 1740, the fiirmers of Munster 
 attenq^ted to enclose a considerable extent of com- 
 mons upon which the tenants had a right of feed- 
 
112 
 
 ing. By this process, the poorer tenants were 
 either ejected or called upon to pay a high rent, 
 by the persons to whom the newly-enclosed lands 
 were let, then called " land pirates," and since bet- 
 ter known by the name of "■ middlemen." Secret 
 associations were formed, then known by the term, 
 "Levellers" — descriptive enough of their own im- 
 mediate object, which was to tear down enclosures, 
 destroy new-made roads, and place other impedi- 
 ments in the way of the practice to which they 
 objected. Their operations, at first confined to 
 such objects, were, however, soon directed to other 
 grievances respecting the tenure of land. The 
 tithes were a tax on land more peculiarly odious, 
 as being levied for the support of a religion op- 
 posed to their own. The secret societies which 
 set themselves to reform this grievance, obtained 
 the well-known name of Whiteboys, from the dis- 
 guise of white shirts under which they perpetrated 
 their nocturnal outrages. There were many 
 other denominations for similar purposes, among 
 which were those called the " Carders," from a 
 hideous kind of torture which they inflicted upon 
 their victims, by stripping them naked and lacerat- 
 ing their bodies with a wool-card ; " Oak Boys," 
 " Heart-of- Steel Boys," were all scions of the same 
 stock, whose vengeance was directed against cer- 
 tain " corvees," such as the six days' work, or 
 other grievances, real or imaginary, inflicted by the 
 agents of absentee proprietors. The pseudonym 
 
113 
 
 under which the greater part of the threatening 
 notices and announcements of vengeance were 
 made was that of " Captain Rock," a name which 
 soon became a mythical incarnation of the spirit 
 of ao;rarian outragce. 
 
 Even in cases where northern Protestants were 
 concerned, and where it might be doubted whether 
 the hands of " Captain Rock" could be traced, 
 Moore, in his assumed autobiographical history 
 of the rise and progress of this personage re- 
 marks : — 
 
 " The Rocks are no bigots in fighting matters, 
 nor, indeed, at all particular as to whom they 
 fight with, so it be against the common enemy, 
 i.e., generally speaking, the constituted authorities 
 for the time being." '' The English Government," 
 he adds, " has at all times consulted our taste in 
 this particular, ministering to our love of riot 
 through every successive reign, from the invasion 
 of Henry IL down to the present day, so as to 
 leave scarcely an interval during the whole 600 
 years in which the Captain Rock for the time 
 might not exclaim — 
 
 ' Qu£e regio in terris nostri non plena luboris !' 
 
 Or, as it has been translated by one of my 
 
 family : — 
 
 ' Through Leinster, Ulster, Connaught, Munster, 
 Eock 's the boy to make the fun stir !' " 
 
 The Whiteboys were temporarily suppressed. 
 
lU 
 
 not through the ordinary action of the law, but 
 by military force. 
 
 But the spirit of insurrection was far from 
 being eradicated, and the peasantry immediately 
 entered into a new combination, calling themselves 
 "Kight Boys," and resembling their predecessors in 
 everything but name. The obnoxious impost of 
 tithe became more immediately the object of their 
 hostility ; but they proceeded also to regulate the 
 price of land, to raise the price of labour, and to 
 oppose the collection of taxes. They bound them- 
 selves by a secret oath to resist the laws of the 
 land, and to obey none but those of " Captain 
 Right;" whilst in all their proceedings they acted 
 with a degree of caution and circumspection which 
 was the more alarming, as it demonstrated system 
 and design. 
 
 For their suppression the ordinary powers of 
 the law were found insufficient. Further extraor- 
 dinary provisions became necessary, and an Act 
 was accordingly passed in 1787, "to prevent tu- 
 multuous risings and assemblies, and for the more 
 effectual punishment of persons guilty of outrage, 
 riot, and illegal combinations, and of administer- 
 ing and taking unlawful oaths." 
 
 At this time it was that the necessity of having 
 some permanent civil force became recognised, 
 and the first armed police force was created. 
 
 Whilst the " Right Boys" were carrying on 
 their illegal proceedings in the South of Ireland, 
 
115 
 
 another and more formidable combination was en- 
 tered into in the North, called " the Defenders," a 
 name which they adopted from their combining to 
 defend themselves against the domiciliary visits of 
 their Protestant neighbours, called the " Peep-o'- 
 Day Boys," who, fearing that the Catholics were 
 collecting arms, wished to disarm them. 
 
 Although possessing this name, however, they 
 did not the leas act on the offensive, or confine 
 themselves to those counties where the " Peep-o'- 
 Day Boys" existed, and the system rapidly spread 
 throughout the country. As their strength in- 
 creased, their objects became more political, and 
 they adopted offensive measures against the Go- 
 vernment, who protected their enemies — a term 
 which included all that possessed property and 
 character. In every place, they committed the 
 most barbarous outrages, compelling landlords to 
 reduce their rents, refusing the payment of tithes, 
 threatening the extermination of their opposers, 
 and engaging in such desperate encounters occa- 
 sionally that, on one occasion, they lost forty-eight 
 men. 
 
 To check this spirit of turbulence, and to 
 strengthen the arm of the civil power, some volun- 
 teer corps were raised, and the most strenuous 
 efforts were made to render some of the offenders 
 amenable to justice — efforts which were so far suc- 
 cessful, that at one assizes in Louth, in 1793, 
 twenty-one Defenders were sentenced to death, 
 
116 
 
 and thirty-seven to transportation and different 
 terms of imprisonment. 
 
 Whilst the Defenders were in the full exercise 
 of their power, a society was formed in 1791, 
 called the " Society of United Irishmen," which, 
 although in the first years of its existence aimed 
 only at Parliamentary Reform, and the total 
 abolition of the Penal Code, yet, as popular dis- 
 content and disturbance increased throughout the 
 kingdom, gradually changed its object — first to " a 
 national legislature," and ultimately to revolution 
 and the establishment of a republican government 
 — its language became more violent, its proceed- 
 ings more daring, and the original test of member- 
 ship was changed into an oath of secrecy. 
 
 In the year 1796, a coalition took place between 
 this society and the Defenders, the name of United 
 Irishmen being preserved. The Defenders, al- 
 though numerous and active in almost every 
 county, had, in different places, something peculiar 
 to themselves, and wanted that uniformity of aim 
 which distinguished the system of the United 
 Irishmen. 
 
 The organization now attained was very perfect, 
 and is worth describing, as exhibiting one of the 
 peculiar characteristics of Irish crime, for some- 
 what similar organizations have since then, on 
 other occasions, been also adopted. 
 
 The inferior societies consisted of not more 
 than thirty-six members, each of which chose a 
 
117 
 
 secretary. The secretaries of five societies formed 
 what was called a lower baronial committee, which 
 had the immediate superintendence and control 
 over those below it. From each of these commit- 
 tees, one member was delegated to an upper baro- 
 nial committee, who in their turn sent each a 
 member to the district committee. The several 
 counties and towns being thus organized, a subor- 
 dinate directory was established in each of the 
 four provinces, and a general executive committee, 
 composed of five persons, was elected by the pro- 
 vincial directories. In all these proceedings the 
 greatest secrecy was observed, and every device 
 used that was calculated to bafile detection. 
 
 When the determination to obtain the objects of 
 the association by open force of arms was come to, 
 a military organization was engrafted on the civil, 
 the members were exhorted to obtain arms and 
 ammunition, which they did so efl^ectually, that 
 by the end of the year 1796, the number of 
 armed men had reached 500,000. Aid was also 
 sought from Republican France. 
 
 For such a conspiracy, even in its commence- 
 ment, the ordinary powers of the common laws of 
 the country were totally inadequate, and the 
 means of enforcing them entirely insufiicient. To 
 strengthen the Executive Government, therefore, 
 the loyal subjects were enrolled into yeomanry 
 corps, the Habeas Corpus Act was suspended, and 
 an Act, entitled the "Insurrection Act," was passed 
 
118 
 
 in 1796, to prevent unlawful assemblies, and 
 authorizing the Lord Lieutenant to "proclaim" 
 any county where disturbances existed, whereupon 
 every person residing in such counties were 
 obliged to keep within their dwellings between 
 sunset and sunrise, and if found offending against 
 it, the magistrates were empowered to send such 
 persons on board his Majesty's navy.* 
 
 The extraordinary powers thus conferred were 
 of great assistance in grappling with the disturbers; 
 but the insurrection nevertheless broke out — the 
 civil law was superseded, and martial law substi- 
 tuted, and drum-head courts-martial took the 
 place of trial by jury. The events which then 
 followed were the suppression of a rebellion by 
 military force, and the extinction of the Society 
 of United L^ishmen — 
 
 " Which," says Dr. Madden, in his well-known 
 work on United Irishmen, " whether viewed in 
 the character of its members, or the nature of 
 its proceedings, may certainly be regarded as a 
 confederacy which no political or revolutionary 
 
 * This Act further provided that the information of any pro- 
 secutors on behalf of the CroAvn, who might be assassinated, 
 should be admitted as evidence against delinquents. Any j^erson 
 having arms was required by it to register his name and place 
 of abode, and a magistrate might search the house of any per- 
 son who should not do so. If a magistrate or peace-officer was 
 murdered while on duty, or in consequence of his exertions to 
 serve the public, the Grand Jury might levy a sum of money on 
 the county for his representative. 
 
119 
 
 society, that has gone before it, has surpassed in 
 importance, boldness of design, and devotion to 
 its princi]3les, however mistaken they may have 
 been." 
 
 For some years after the suppression of this 
 rebellion, the country was so agitated and un- 
 settled, that the Habeas Corpus Act remained 
 suspended, and martial law was continued. 
 
 Nor was it long before another secret society 
 pressed itself into notoriety, under the name 
 of the " Threshers ;" and accordino; to Ions: es- 
 tablished custom their threatening letters and no- 
 tices were signed by a mythical " Capt. Thresher." 
 They assumed this name from the practice of 
 threshing the tithe-proctor's corn, and rendering 
 it valueless; but they did not confine themselves 
 to this, and outrages similar to those perpetrated 
 by the Whiteboys were committed by them. They 
 assumed, indeed, even the same dress as their 
 ancestors the AVhiteboys, and for some time held 
 the position of that notorious body. 
 
 Other illegal bodies, styling themselves " Shana- 
 vests" and "Caravats," were also formed, and the 
 members pursued the already well-trodden path 
 of reo-ulatino; rents and tithes, and enforced their 
 regulations by visiting and punishing those who 
 disobeyed them. 
 
 These bodies were suppressed only by means 
 of the military, and by the immediate adminis- 
 tration of the law (upon such offenders as were 
 
120 
 
 caught) through means of Special Commissions 
 the Judges of which could often only move 
 through the country with a large escort of troops. 
 
 But no sooner had one county been tranquil- 
 lized by these means, and one illegal society sup- 
 pressed, than another county became disturbed, 
 and another society sprang into existence. And 
 in the meantime, the Government had to be 
 armed with the extraordinary powers of the In- 
 surrection Act and the Arms Act; but even these 
 provided only imperfectly for the suppression of 
 offences committed by the members of these secret 
 societies, and were never adequate for their pre- 
 vention. 
 
 Independent of agrarian crime such as we have 
 been describing, there was another description of 
 disturbance peculiar to the Irish, and one to which 
 they were much addicted. This was the " faction 
 fight." No political association is implied in this 
 term. Factions were but the remnant of the old 
 system of clanship, the spirit of which still pre- 
 vailed to a great extent in Ireland. They were 
 composed of families and connections; and al- 
 though in some parts of the country where there 
 was a mixed population of Protestants and Roman 
 Catholics, religion had a great effect in dividing 
 them, still in other parts, where the population 
 was entirely Roman Catholic, factions were as 
 numerous, and faction fights as bitter. 
 
 The fights generally arose at a fair or some such 
 
121 
 
 public meeting, where some of the peasantry got 
 intoxicated. A quarrel ensued; one party pre- 
 pared his friends or faction to meet the other on 
 the next convenient occasion, and desperate tights 
 ensued. Armed with rude but formidable wea- 
 pons, lives were often taken, and persons maimed 
 for life. The beaten faction then recruited for the 
 next meeting place, until at last almost the whole 
 peasantry were engaged, several hundreds being 
 often seen on each side. 
 
 Such contests produced on the minds of the 
 lower orders the most mischievous notions of their 
 o^vn power. They acquired a kind of discipline ; 
 they became habituated to acts of atrocious 
 cruelty ; they obtained leaders ; and as these Avere 
 generally chosen on account of personal strength 
 or courage, there was an emulation, which tended 
 to aggravate the nature of the fights. With 
 these open breaches of the law, however, the Go- 
 vernment was able to grapple, and they were ul- 
 timately successfully suppressed.* 
 
 AYhen the great war with France came to a 
 conclusion in 1815, and when the new policy of 
 consolidation began to be pursued, the interest of 
 the land-OAM.iers and of the tenants became, if pos- 
 sible, more than ever opposed to each other. On 
 the one hand, the peasant seeking to retain pos- 
 
 * See Drummond's evidence before the Committee on Crime, 
 1839. 
 
122 
 
 session of the plot of ground which afforded him 
 almost the sole means of subsistence ; on the other, 
 the land-owner seeking to regain control over his 
 property, and to check the evil of an ever-increas- 
 ing population, which was fast leading to anarchy 
 and ruin. The enforcement of these opposing inte- 
 rests resulted in nothing less than a social war.* 
 
 The better to effect their purposes, the peasantry 
 entered into fresh and more powerful combina- 
 tions, which were formed upon the old model of 
 the Whiteboy system, and improved by experience. 
 Their object, perhaps more than formerly, was di- 
 rected to such measures as would enable the 
 tenant to retain possession of the land. The most 
 daring outrages were perpetrated with this view, 
 and as the landlord or his agent were not always 
 assailable, and violence against them had not always 
 the desired result, the popular vengeance was di- 
 rected against the individual who was bold enough 
 to take and cultivate a farm, or even a part of it, 
 from which another had been ejected. 
 
 About this time, there rose into existence an- 
 other of those numerous secret societies, which 
 form so striking and peculiar a feature in the his- 
 tory of Irish crime — more efficiently organised 
 than any which had gone before it, more unfailing 
 in the execution of its judgments, and more dan- 
 
 • See evidence given before the Committees on the State of 
 Ireland, 1824 and 1825. 
 
123 
 
 gerous than any, if we except that of the United 
 Irishmen. This was the Riband Society. Its 
 exact origin is unknown; its objects, except so far 
 as could be gathered from seeing its punishments, 
 have never been exactly ascertained. All the in- 
 formation that has been obtained concerning it 
 has necessarily been from men of the most infa- 
 mous character, on whose testimony no reliance 
 could be placed, except when it has been corro- 
 borated by circumstantial evidence. 
 
 The details of its organization are, however, par- 
 tially known.* 
 
 It appears from general testimony, that the 
 members were sworn to secrecy, to mutual 
 support, and, under the penalty of death, to obe- 
 dience to their leader, no matter what his com- 
 mands might be. Each local society appeared also 
 to have its officers, the principal of which was 
 called the parish master ; but great obscurity 
 exists as to how far these local societies were con- 
 nected together, and as to whether they were 
 united under one common directory or head. It 
 has been stated that there were district masters 
 and county delegates, but the members in general 
 appear never to have been aware of any leaders of 
 note, although declaring that they were acting 
 under some authority ; and as even a surmise at 
 
 * See Evidence, House of Lord's Committee on Crime, 1839 ; 
 and Evidence, House of Commons' Select Committee on 
 Crime, 1852. 
 
124 
 
 their names has never been obtained, the probabi- 
 lity seems to be that there has never been a single 
 head, but that the separate societies have acted 
 independently of each other, their community of 
 aim blendino- them all into one o-eneral associa- 
 tion. 
 
 This aim, like that of all the other illegal socie- 
 ties, has been the regulation of dealings in land ; 
 but it has passed beyond this, and extended it- 
 self to the relations of employer and labourer — 
 of master and servant. A political object, too, 
 it must be said to have, insomuch as its principles, 
 if carried successfully to their full extension, 
 ■would amount to revolution. 
 
 Nor let it be thought that because in some dis- 
 tricts the organization of Ribandism is almost un- 
 known, the system is the less a reality. The spirit 
 which is the foundation of all such societies does 
 exist throughout almost the entire country. 
 
 AYith the growth of the system of consolida- 
 dation, crime increased ; every fresh series of evic- 
 tions or clearances seeming to rouse into renewed 
 action the hostility of the peasantry.* With 
 the increasing population, the demand for land 
 became greater, and the difficulty of obtaining 
 subsistence in other ways increased. 
 
 With unflagging zeal the peasantry acted upon 
 
 * See evidence given before tlie Committees of 1824-5, 1830, 
 1832. Also tlie evidence given before Land Occupation Com- 
 missioners, in 1845. 
 
125 
 
 the code which they themselves had framed. And 
 it was vain to expect that any moral feeling or 
 regard for human life would deter them from car- 
 rying out its provisions. 
 
 To illustrate the desperate measures to which 
 they sometimes resorted, we give the following 
 short account of the proceedings in the case of 
 the Ballinamuck estate of Lord Lorton.* 
 
 The property was in a state of great impoverish- 
 ment. It had been divided and sub-divided over 
 and over again, till it was covered by a description 
 of people perfectly incapable of holding ground, 
 scarcely one of them being able to stock his hold- 
 ing. When the lease fell in, it became necessary 
 to do something for their relief, and for the im- 
 provement of the property. The tenants were 
 accordingly turned out, under an arrangement 
 which in every point of view was most liberal, re- 
 ceiving as a voluntary gift sums varying from 
 £21 to £1 10s., in addition to a remission of 
 the arrears of rent. Nine Protestant tenants were 
 introduced on the estate. 
 
 The first was murdered close to his own house, 
 the second was attacked and disabled for life, the 
 third had his cattle destroyed, the fourth was 
 stabbed, the fifth was three times fired at and ulti- 
 mately shot dead ; the houses of the sixth and 
 
 * See Lord Lortoa's evidence before the Committee of the 
 House of Lords on Crime, 1839. 
 
126 
 
 seventh were attacked, and their cattle killed ; the 
 eighth was murdered in the presence of his family, 
 and the ninth in the centre of a village. Thus, out 
 of nine persons, four were murdered, two despe- 
 rately wounded, and the property of the remaining 
 three destroyed. No convictions were had in 
 any of these cases. 
 
 To the time of the famine in 1846, agrarian 
 crime continued with unabated though varying 
 vigour ;* but that event, by effecting a reduction 
 in the population, and by lessening the competi- 
 tion for land, weakened some of the stimulants 
 to crime hitherto existing. The old spirit, how- 
 ever, remained ; and though at times apparently 
 dormant, it ever and again breaks out into fresh 
 violence, giving evidence of its vitality and unim- 
 paired vigour. 
 
 All the improvements in the administration of 
 justice, including the creation of a special force of 
 admitted efficacy, have hitherto but very imper- 
 fectly provided for the prevention of crime in 
 Ireland ; and although some of those offences 
 which are common to most countries have been 
 
 * In 1826, there were 547 committals for murder and man- 
 slaughter. 
 „ 1829, ,, 5o9 „ „ ,, 
 
 „ 1832, „ 620 
 
 „ 1837, ,, 712 ,, „ „ 
 
 the larger proportion of which were agrarian. See Crime Com- 
 mittee, 1839. 
 
127 
 
 considerably reduced, yet those which give to Irish 
 crime its distinctive features have been but little 
 affected.* 
 
 The peculiar kind of moral '' virus" which had 
 penetrated and pervaded all the relations of Irish 
 life connected with the land tenure, cannot be bet- 
 ter painted in a few brief sentences than are to be 
 found in the followino; extracts from the charo^es 
 of two of the Irish Judg;es. Men, both of them, 
 eminently qualified by their talents and expe- 
 rience to appreciate and point out its malignant 
 nature and influence — Chief Baron Smith and 
 Chief Justice Bushe. The former in a charge to 
 
 * We select the following interesting and instructive evidence 
 from that taken before the Select Committee of the House of 
 Commons on Outrages in Ireland, at the compai'atively recent 
 date of 1852. The gentleman who gives it, (a stipendiary 
 magistrate) had been for twenty-seven years in the public ser- 
 vice in Ireland. 
 
 " You have," said one of the Committee, who was examining 
 liim, " all the appliances of the Government at your command, 
 the police, the military, and every force the law can afford you — 
 have you not ?" 
 
 " Yes ; in the fullest way I can desire." 
 
 " You are resident in the district ?" 
 
 " Yes, I am." 
 
 '^ And yet these ten or tAvelve prime movers (in the disturbance 
 of the district) baffle all your efforts ?" 
 
 "Yes; so far." 
 
 " They are stronger than you, stronger than the law, and all 
 the appliances of the Government ?" 
 
 " Yes ; they have such cunning, and their plans are so well 
 devised, and carried out, that they baffle all." 
 
128 
 
 the Grand Jury of the Queen's County, in 1832, 
 says : — 
 
 " I perceive an anomalous and most pernicious 
 union of anarchy with rule. I may not see who 
 form the directory, and yet perceive that there is 
 one. I hear sufficient ungracious speeches from 
 their spurious thrones. I see edicts and procla- 
 mations, illegal notices and ejectments. I see an 
 unlawful criminal code arraying itself against 
 and attempting to supersede the legal one, sur- 
 rounding itself with disorderly sanctions and sedi- 
 tious terrors, having its oaths and obligations ; its 
 ministers of injustice ; its secret treasuries and 
 supplies ; its magazines of arms, collected by 
 nightly plunder, seemingly to furnish its standing 
 army of insurgent force. I see its capital punish- 
 ments, its banishings, its maimings, its mulcts of 
 property, its domiciliary visits, house-burnings, 
 and attacks." 
 
 And the latter, at the Maryborough Special 
 Commission, in 1832, says: — 
 
 " Whoever confines his estimate of such a con- 
 federacy to the mere outrages and crimes it pro- 
 duces has, I fear, but superficially examined the 
 subject. Such consequences may be occasional 
 and transient ; but the moral influence upon so- 
 ciety of such a diseased state of human character 
 must be deep and permanent; the bad passions 
 let loose, the charities of life extinct, those rela- 
 tions dissevered which, between the higher and the 
 
129 
 
 lower classes are the offspring of reciprocal pro- 
 tection and dependence, confidence displaced by- 
 suspicion, and fear and hatred in all classes vitia- 
 ting and corroding the heart of man. These are 
 productive seeds which threaten a fearful growth." 
 
 Sir George Cornwall Lewis has also well 
 summed up the characteristics of Irish crime, 
 although sometimes, as might be expected, in an 
 English rather than an Irish point of view : — 
 
 " It pervades," says he, " the whole society. It 
 is not the banding together of a few outcasts who 
 betake themselves to illegal courses, and prey on 
 the rest of the community, but it is the deliberate 
 association of the peasantry Its in- 
 fluence even when unseen is general; it is, in fact, 
 the mould into which Irish society is cast — the ex- 
 pression of tlie wants and feelings of the great 
 mass of the community." (Irish Disturbances, by 
 Sir G. C. Lewis.) 
 
 Sir G. C. Lewds, in another place, correctly com- 
 pares the immediate action of secret societies for 
 agrarian purposes in Ireland to Trades Unions in 
 England, and he is surprised to find that they 
 " do not end or begin in religious animosities." 
 But what he, in common with many English 
 statesmen who have occupied themselves with the 
 state of Ireland, passes over or underrates is, that 
 all these societies had and have a general sub- 
 stratum and foundation in the intense and habi- 
 tual disafi'ection of the whole of the lower and a 
 
 K 
 
130 
 
 great part of the middle classes of Ireland against 
 the British Government, and their repugnance to 
 the British connection, evinced more especially to- 
 wards those classes which they conceive represent 
 that connection in Ireland. In this is included, 
 even when not expressed, religious animosity, be- 
 cause the above-named distinctions of origin and 
 position are more or less accurately coincident 
 with those of the two antagonistic creeds by 
 which its whole population is divided. It is not 
 unnatural that the statesmen who have carried on 
 the Imperial Government, or that the English 
 public, more particularly since what may be 
 called the " period of concessions" began, should 
 be slow or unwilling to perceive this, their theory 
 being, that just in proportion as Irish grievances 
 should be removed, Irish loyalty would grow up, 
 and Irish disaffection wither. They were not 
 prepared to acknowledge that the removal of ha- 
 bitual grievances, the relief from material bur- 
 thens, the alleviation of distress, and the undoubt- 
 edly increased prosperity of the country, should, 
 instead of having laid at rest for ever the spirit 
 of rebellion, have rendered it more rampant 
 and ajjcg-ressive than before — more formidable, as 
 having instilled itself into classes better able to 
 organise it, supported and encouraged by another 
 Ireland across the Atlantic, free and unshackled in 
 the expression of its hostility, and impelled by a 
 fanaticism not the less violent from being purely 
 
131 
 
 theoretical and sentimental on their own part, 
 aiming at objects which it did not before openly 
 affect — the more moderate section demanding a 
 virtual^ the more violent, if not more numerous 
 party, an actual separation from the dominion of 
 Great Britain. 
 
 The unfavourable result of the attempt to win 
 the hearts of the Irish is slowly and unwillingly 
 admitted, because it is contrary to the honest de- 
 sires and confident predictions of the statesmen 
 who have been labouring in so good a cause, and 
 of the English people, whose good-will and sympa- 
 thy with their Irish fellow-subjects have been long 
 manifested in a thousand ways; but if other 
 proof of this disheartening failure were wanting, 
 the state and nature of Irish crime in reference to 
 the administration of English justice would amply 
 supply it. 
 
CHAPTER YII. 
 
 Roman Catholic Emancipation. 
 
 The most important measure respecting Ireland, 
 since the Union, was the Roman Catholic Emanci- 
 pation Act. 
 
 It is not our intention, nor is it necessary here, 
 to chronicle the number of times it was discussed 
 and rejected, to give a list of its supporters, or a 
 history of the gradual change of opinion on the 
 subject; suffice it to say, that the last time it came 
 under the consideration of the Legislature it was 
 brought forward in connection with two other 
 subjects — 
 
 The first, the payment of the Roman Catholic 
 Clergy by the State ; 
 
 And the second, an increase of the qualification 
 of the election franchise. 
 
 The first of these was soon found to be imprac- 
 ticable, and was abandoned. The second was the 
 
133 
 
 subject of a separate Bill — that for the dis- 
 franchisement of the forty shilling freeholders. 
 
 The disabilities under which the Roman Ca- 
 tholics laboured consisted in exclusion from both 
 Houses of Parliament, and from almost all the im- 
 portant offices of the State and the Judiciary, 
 namely — the Lord Lieutenancy of Ireland, the 
 Chancellorship, and all other Judgeships, the 
 offices of Attorney or Solicitor General, and the 
 distinction of King's Counsel. They were in- 
 eligible to the Shrievalty and to many of the prin- 
 cipal municipal corporation offices in Ireland. 
 They were, in a word, excluded from all partici- 
 pation, and considered as unworthy of all trust, in 
 carrying on the executive Government or the ad- 
 ministration of justice of their country. 
 
 If these disabilities were imposed upon them 
 under the presumption of their inherent and in- 
 curable hostility to the order of things established 
 by the Revolution of 1688, it is on the other hand 
 evident, that so long as such invidious distinctions 
 should be maintained, their hostility could never 
 be expected to die away, or much less to be re- 
 placed by a loyal concurrence in the general inte- 
 rest, glory, and prosperity of the Empire. 
 
 Somewhat inconsistently with this maxim of 
 necessary distrust of Roman Catholic co-opera- 
 tion in any shape, in carrying on what was con- 
 ceived to be an irrevocably established and exclu- 
 sive Protestant Government, Roman Catholics, 
 
134 
 
 both English and Irish, were permitted to enter 
 the army and the navy, to arrive at the highest 
 ranks, to exercise the most important commands, 
 and to receive the honorary distinctions attainable 
 in those services, and thus to place themselves in 
 positions where their disaiFection to the sovereign 
 or the State could, if it existed, manifest itself with 
 the most destructive effect. Roman Catholics, be- 
 sides this, enjoyed all civil rights, they could elect 
 members to Parliament — although they them- 
 selves could not sit there — and they acted as ma- 
 gistrates and served as jurors.* 
 
 It will thus be seen, that at the period from 
 which we date our investigation, a state of things 
 existed in Ireland, the most fatal that can well be 
 imagined to the functions of a representative and 
 de-centralized Government such as that of Great 
 Britain. 
 
 Under the influence of the religious ideas which 
 prevailed in the States of Europe during the six- 
 teenth and seventeenth centuries, an attempt had 
 always been made by the predominant sect to 
 ignore, if not to exterminate, every other. Suc- 
 cessful in some instances, in Ireland it had failed. 
 
 The legal constitution of the State, which as- 
 sumed the existence of religious unity, had in that 
 country been always, and still continued to be, at 
 variance with the fact — a variance which became 
 every day more glaring as the vehemence of reli- 
 
 * Committee — State of Ireland, 1824-5. 
 
135 
 
 gious intolerance gradually abated — and the no- 
 tion that absolute identity of belief was an in- 
 dispensable element in a national Government, 
 though still entertained by many, began to lose 
 ground. The evident want of success which had 
 attended every effort to annihilate the religion of 
 the majority of the Irish, and to force or induce 
 them to adopt that of the State, produced at 
 length some disposition to desist from so hopeless 
 an enterprise ; and the abolition of the penal laws 
 may be ^taken as an indication that the expec- 
 tation of reducing Ireland to religious obedience 
 by the usual methods of persecution had been 
 tacitly given up. 
 
 But the measure was imperfect, and, as is per- 
 haps oftener the case in representative Govern- 
 ments than in others, partook of the nature of 
 such a compromise as often takes place when 
 public feeling, in regard to any established dogma, 
 is only shaken without being absolutely changed. 
 
 Those who still held that a religion, the head 
 of which they regarded as Antichrist, was a thing, 
 the very existence of which constituted a national 
 crime, were obliged to yield, in some degree, to 
 the conviction of those who saw that an attempt 
 to punish it as such, when professed by nearly a 
 •whole population, was an unavailing piece of atro- 
 city, which would only render rebellion perma- 
 nent, and endanger the security of the empire. 
 The latter, on the other hand, while abolishing 
 
136 
 
 the penal laws, were constrained to leave unal- 
 tered other enactments which, while they fell 
 short of absolute chastisement, still inflicted 
 upon Eoman Catholics, that host of less direct, 
 but scarcely less galling, disabilities, involving 
 the same principles of mistrust, hatred, and con- 
 tempt on the part of the Government of the 
 empire, and on that of their Protestant fellow- 
 subjects. 
 
 If the abrogation of the penal code rendered 
 possible the growth of a class of Irisli Roman 
 Catholics of superior wealth and education to that 
 which hitherto existed, it had at the same time 
 created an element of fresh and more danger- 
 ous hostility to the Government. The continued 
 exclusion from that range of office to which men 
 of talent, property and education aspire, neces- 
 sarily produced a degree of irritation greater 
 in jDroportion to their wealth and intelligence, 
 and more formidable in proportion to the in- 
 creased influence resulting from such acquisi- 
 tions; while it furnished the lower classes, still 
 disaffected and sufl'ering from other grievances 
 which more peculiarly affected their own con- 
 dition, with leaders, influential, intelligent, and 
 well furnished with all the arms of political 
 warfare, many of them men of brilliant abili- 
 ties, and smarting under the sting of unsatisfied 
 ambition. 
 
 But the efl*ects of these disabilities upon the 
 
137 
 
 lower orders themselves, were in reality numerous 
 and important; for although an exclusion from the 
 higher offices of the State or of seats in Parlia- 
 ment, to which they could scarcely, under any cir- 
 cumstances pretend, did not immediately affect 
 their condition, the stigma fixed upon the higher 
 classes of their own religion, to whom they natu- 
 rally looked up, wounded their pride, and con- 
 firmed them in the idea that they were still looked 
 upon as a degraded caste. 
 
 The fact that the law, however just it might be 
 in itself, was, when applied to them, administered 
 solely by those who regarded them in that light, 
 while their fellow-religionists, in whose sympathies 
 they might confide, were rigorously excluded from 
 office, begat or nourished in them a mistrust and 
 hatred of all law, so profound and indiscriminate 
 that it has been remarked, that a disposition to 
 defy and evade its authority, irrespective of its 
 bearing upon political or religious questions, had 
 been engrafted on the national character to such 
 an extent as to pervade all classes. 
 
 It would have been impossible to convince a 
 Roman Catholic of the lower orders, that any case 
 in which he and a Protestant were at issue, could 
 by possibility be fairly decided by a Protestant 
 judge or jury — that any question between him 
 and a Protestant fellow-tenant would be impar- 
 tially treated by a Protestant landlord. The 
 knowledge that the law designedly excluded from 
 
138 
 
 the Bench the man who might befriend him, and 
 excluded from the legislature the man who might 
 represent his interests or sympathise with his feel- 
 ings, was enough to fix for ever in his mind the 
 deep-rooted conviction that from that law he could 
 expect no justice, and that, consequently, to that 
 law he owed no obedience. The reasoning of 
 Romeo to the hesitating apothecary was applicable 
 to his case — 
 
 " Famine is in thy cheeks, 
 Need and oppression starveth in thy eyes ; 
 Upon thy back hangs ragged misery; 
 The world is not thy friend, nor the world's law ; 
 The world affords no law to make thee rich — 
 Then be not poor, but break it, and take this." 
 
 In whatever language expressed, that such was 
 the feeling of the great majority of the Irish 
 people there can be no doubt. 
 
 " I do not think," said one of the witnesses at 
 the Committee of 1825, "I ever spoke to a Catho- 
 lic, high or low, that did not betray something like 
 irritation on this subject." And the state of the 
 country was thus described by Sir Robert Peel 
 in his speech introducing the Emancipation Bill 
 into the House of Commons : — 
 
 " A dreadful commotion distracts the public 
 mind of Ireland ; a feverish agitation and unna- 
 tural excitement prevail to a degree scarcely 
 credible throughout the whole country. Social 
 intercourse is poisoned there in its very springs. 
 
139 
 
 Family is divided against family, and man against 
 his neighbour — in a word, the bonds of social life 
 are almost dissevered, and the fountains of pub- 
 lic justice corrupted. The spirit of discord walks 
 openly abroad, and an array of physical force is 
 marshalled in defiance of all law, and to the immi- 
 nent danger of the public peace."* 
 
 Such, then, were the prevailing traditional and 
 habitual sentiments of the Roman Catholics of 
 Ireland, in reference to their connection with 
 Great Britain, and their relations to their Protes- 
 tant fellow-countrymen ; and it was these, and 
 the manifest evils which flowed from them, that 
 the Catholic Emancipation Act was meant to mi- 
 tigate, if not to cure. 
 
 That Act passed in the year 1829, and by it 
 the oaths required to be taken by members of 
 Parliament, and by the great majority of the 
 officers of the State and the Judiciary, were modi- 
 fied in such a manner as to render them unob- 
 jectionable to a member of the Roman Catholic 
 religion ; the only Irish offices exempted being 
 those of the Lord Lieutenant and Lord Chan- 
 cellor. 
 
 Thus the access to those Parliamentary and 
 official careers, from which they had been exclu- 
 ded by oaths which had been designedly inserted 
 as tests, rendering it impossible for a Roman 
 
 * See Hansard's Parliamentary Debates, 1829, vol. xx. 
 
uo 
 
 Catholic to subscribe to them, was at once thrown 
 open to persons of that persuasion. 
 
 We have, accordingly, seen members of the Ro- 
 man Catholic Church in considerable numbers 
 freely elected to serve in Parliament, and filling 
 the highest offices in the Irish Judiciary; the 
 clause by which the Chancellorship was excluded 
 from the operation of the Act has since been re- 
 pealed, and that high office is now filled by a 
 Roman Catholic lawyer. 
 
 Much was hoped from the Act. It was sin- 
 cerely the opinion of its warmest and most intel- 
 ligent advocates that it was the great panacea by 
 which all the ills of this ill-fated country would be 
 cured — the one thing needful to its happiness and 
 prosperity, the extirpation of the very root of its 
 misfortunes and its crimes. In the heat of debate, 
 and in the vehemence of the struggle, the antici- 
 pations of those most interested were almost 
 boundless — in the Avords of one of its most ta- 
 lented and eloquent supporters, himself a Roman 
 Catholic, and a sufferer in his professional career 
 from the existing disabilities, it was expected 
 that — 
 
 " Catholic emancipation would, by the removal 
 of the causes for dissension, annihilate dissension 
 itself ; that it would banish those disastrous divi- 
 sions which were the sources of not only national 
 rancour, but of crime which, from its universality, 
 became almost equally national ; that tranquillity 
 
141 
 
 would be speedily restored, and that peace would 
 lead commerce and capital into a country from 
 which an agitation, bordering upon insurrection, 
 had made them exiles ; that the distinctions be- 
 tween Protestants and Roman Catholics would 
 almost instantaneously vanish, and the feeling of 
 common citizenship would supersede the artificial 
 and odious relations of sect in which men were 
 placed to each other."* 
 
 Other declarations, not less decisive and not 
 less eloquent, proceeded also from sources equally 
 authentic, and claimed belief as coming from 
 persons whose closest interests were involved. 
 Nor is their sincerity to be questioned, although 
 their expectations have not been realized in their 
 full extent. 
 
 It would, indeed, be too much to say, that 
 Catholic emancipation is a measure which has 
 failed in its promised effect, and one which it 
 would have been better never to have passed ; but 
 that its apparent results have fallen far short of 
 the brilliant anticipations and disappointed the 
 hopes, both of those who were the objects of the 
 boon conceded, and of those who conceded it, 
 there can be no doubt. 
 
 In the consideration, however, of the effects of 
 any political measure, account must be taken of 
 the evils which it has prevented, as well as of the 
 
 * See Essay on the "EiFects of Emancipation," by R. L. Sheil. 
 
142 
 
 good which it has effected. It is rarely, however, 
 that the former are appreciated, or even noticed, 
 by the general public. It requires more philo- 
 sophy than is generally brought to bear upon 
 such matters, to weigh quantities which have no 
 visible existence, and the real existence of which 
 may even be questioned. 
 
 In this case, however, we have the opinion of 
 statesmen of the greatest sagacity then living, 
 that the measure of Catholic emancipation was 
 necessary to prevent, and did prevent, civil war. 
 If we are constrained to the conclusion that more 
 was necessary, that the whole case had not been 
 met or grappled with, that innumerable sources 
 of evil had been left untouched — we cannot, on 
 the other hand, but recognize that Catholic eman- 
 cipation was the necessary prelude to every other 
 measure for the regeneration of Ireland, and that 
 without which every attempt at real improvement 
 must inevitably fail. The road, no doubt, has 
 turned out to be a longer one than was expected ; 
 but it appears indubitable, that although the 
 journey is far from being accomplished, the first 
 stage of it, and that a long one, has been success- 
 fully travelled over, by the enactment of this all- 
 important measure. 
 
 " So pleased at first the towering Alps we try, 
 Mount o'er the vales, and seem to tread the sky, 
 Th' eternal snows appear already past, 
 And the first clouds and mountains seem the last. 
 
143 
 
 But those attained, we tremble to survey 
 The growing labours of the lengthen'd way, 
 Til' increasing prospect tires our wandering eyes, 
 Hills peep o'er hills, and Alps on Alps arise." 
 
 A period of comparative tranquillity followed 
 the triumphant passage of the Act. It must be 
 recollected that it was carried against a powerful 
 opposition ; that it had long been resisted by the 
 highest governing powers of the State ; the Sove- 
 reign himself was known to be indisposed to it 
 at the best ; the very statesmen comprising the 
 administration which brought it forward were 
 known to have been its determined and persistent 
 opponents, and it now appeared only to have been 
 wrested from them by the force of circumstances. 
 Its fate, even in the last debates, hung long and 
 dubiously in the balance. Its passage was a 
 victory over an adversary who had been long con- 
 sidered to be invincible, and the brilliancy of the 
 achievement tended, no doubt, to enhance the 
 opinion which was held of the inherent benefits it 
 was expected to confer, while the disappointment 
 was proportionally greater, when they were found 
 to be neither so great as was supposed, nor the 
 rights acquired immediately available to their 
 new possessors. 
 
 It was soon perceived that the whole social con- 
 dition of a people, formed by wants and circum- 
 stances which had been in operation for ages, 
 could not be at once reversed, or even essentially 
 
144 
 
 modified by one Act of Parliament, however com- 
 prehensive or important. It was felt, to use the 
 words of an English statesman, Lord Brougham, 
 that " the mere conferring of equal rights upon 
 every class and sect would not suffice to satisfy the 
 reasonable desires of the most moderate partizans 
 of the excluded caste. To be eligible only, and 
 never be elected ; to be qualified by law, but ex- 
 cluded in practice ; to be rendered capable of pro- 
 motion, but never to be made partakers in the 
 honours and emoluments attached to the public 
 service, so far from an improvement in the condi- 
 tion of the Catholics, appeared rather a worse lot 
 than that from which the Emancipation pretended 
 to redeem them." 
 
 The sagacity of another English statesman was 
 not at fault as to the probable effects of the mea- 
 sure : — 
 
 "Its promoters," observed Mr. Sadleir, in 1829, 
 " had calmed the agitated surface of society, but 
 had not heeded that fathomless depth of misery, 
 sorrow, and distress, whose troubled waves still 
 heaved unseen and disregarded." 
 
 Still, after the lapse of years, the spirit of 
 emancipation has been diffused. In proportion 
 as the state of society which prevented the ex- 
 tension of the benefits which it was intended 
 to confer upon Catholics, became modified by the 
 increase in wealth, in education, and in in- 
 fluence of persons of that persuasion, the rights 
 
145 
 
 which the law allowed were practically extended 
 to them ; and it cannot now with justice be 
 said that any member of that communion, pos- 
 sessing the other requisites and qualifications for 
 advancement in the offices of the State, or of 
 the higher professions, is either ^excluded from or 
 retarded in his career on account of his religion. 
 
 It is one of the natural laws of social life, which 
 no legislation, without a forcible interference with 
 the liberty of its subjects, could reverse, that high 
 office, professional success, and the exalted and 
 coveted positions of the world will, cceteris paribus^ 
 fall to the lot of the wealthy, the well-educated, the 
 well-connected, or advantageously situated. This 
 is a tendency which no enactment could, or ever 
 has, altered for a continuance in any state. All 
 the law can do in such cases is to allow the field 
 to remain open to those who, by superior talents 
 or good fortune, may attain sucli condition, and to 
 refrain from placing artificial obstructions in the 
 way of those who struggle for the prizes of life. 
 
 In Ireland, it was true, that the events of its 
 past history, violent and unlucky as they were, 
 had unjustly appropriated nearly all these advan- 
 tages to one sect, while the other was excluded 
 from the possibility of raising itself to their level. 
 It was right that this distinction should be abo- 
 lished ; but it was unreasonable to suppose that 
 the state of things which it had created would at 
 once change. On the enactment of a law to tliat 
 
146 
 
 effect, the position of the two classes could not be 
 suddenly equalized, still less could it suddenly be 
 reversed. Yet it was the inevitable disappoint- 
 ment of these unfounded hopes which caused 
 what is so generally, though, we think, errone- 
 ously, considered the failure of the measure of 
 Catholic Emancipation. 
 
CHAPTER YIII. 
 
 The Forty-Shilling Freeholders. 
 
 The enfranchisement of forty-sliilling freeliolders 
 in 1793, and their subsequent disfranchisement, in 
 connection with Roman Catholic emancipation, in 
 1829, are measures which have had so much in- 
 fluence on the condition of the peasantry of this 
 country, that some attempt to trace their history 
 and effects could scarcely be omitted in an investi- 
 gation like the present. 
 
 One of the results of the civil and religious war 
 which terminated by the establishment of the prin- 
 ciples of the revolution of 1688, the principal and 
 concluding scenes of which were, it must be borne 
 in mind, enacted in Ireland, was the inevitable ex- 
 clusion of Roman Catholics, and of Irish Roman 
 Catholics more particularly, from all offices of the 
 State, the Magistracy, and the Judiciary, as well 
 as from seats in the English or Irish Parliament. 
 
148 
 
 The disfranchisement of Roman Catholic elec- 
 tors seems to have taken place virtually, and as a 
 matter of course, at the same time ; for although 
 it appears that they were not, until the year 1727, 
 deprived by law of their right to vote for members 
 of Parliament, it was ascertained by the Speaker 
 of the Irish House of Commons, after a minute 
 search, on the occasion of a debate in 1793, that 
 they never had attempted to exercise it since the 
 Revolution.* The existence of a doubt on the 
 matter is, however, sufficient to establish the fact, 
 that if the privilege had not been formally with- 
 drawn by law, it had become practically a dead 
 letter. However this may be, a total disfran- 
 chisement of the whole Roman Catholic body, no 
 doubt, subsisted until the year 1788, when the 
 policy of relaxing the penal disabilities affecting 
 them was for the first time agitated. 
 
 The Catholic claims were taken up warmly, and 
 with his usual vehemence and ability, by Mr. 
 Burke, whose speeches and writings may be referred 
 to for the arguments brought forward in their 
 support ; and his son, Richard Burke, acted under 
 his direction with much zeal, as agent for the 
 Irish Roman Catholics. Mr. Burke embodied and 
 summed up his own views on the subject, by a 
 memorable declaration on the occasion of Lord 
 
 * Life and Death of the Irish Parliament, by Chief Justice 
 Whiteside. 
 
149 
 
 Nugent's motion for a committee to consider the 
 trade of Ireland, in the following words : — 
 
 "Ireland is now* the chief dependence of the 
 British Crown, and it particularly behoves this 
 country to admit the Irish nation to the privileges 
 of British citizens." 
 
 This important position does not then seem to 
 have been met by a single dissentient voice in the 
 Parliament of Great Britain. 
 
 The practical, or, at all events, the complete 
 application of the principle was, nevertheless, 
 destined to meet with an opposition deep-seated 
 and persistent ; and its illustrious advocate had 
 long passed from the scene before the accomplish- 
 ment of his design was eiFected. 
 
 Circumstances, which at first sight would have 
 appeared likely to favour it, in reality served to 
 retard it. The well-known Volunteer movement, 
 which took place in the same year (1788), and in 
 which Protestants and Roman Catholics seemed 
 for a moment to have forgotten their dissensions 
 in a burst of patriotic enthusiasm, aiming at no 
 less an object than the entire independence of 
 Ireland and of her Parliament from all control of 
 the Parliament of Great Britain, appears, never- 
 theless, not to have extinguished, if it did not, 
 indeed, rather revive, the religious differences 
 
 * " Now" in evident allusion to the loss of the North Ame- 
 rican Colonies, as he no doubt conceived, and perhaps truly, in 
 consequence of the obstinate rejection of his conciliatory advice. 
 
150 
 
 which disunited those who had participated in 
 it, and continued to subsist among them, in re- 
 gard to the admission of Roman Catholics to 
 seats in the Legislature. An obstacle, too, of an- 
 other nature, which w^as treated with great deli- 
 cacy and reserve, but which was at that time 
 considered to be very essential, w^as known to 
 exist. A scruple was entertained, and, no doubt, 
 conscientiously felt, by the reigning Sovereign, 
 (George HI.), as to whether the admission of 
 Roman Catholic members to Parliament and other 
 high offices of State could be reconciled with the 
 terms of the oath he had taken at his coronation. 
 Such a conviction in the mind of a man of his 
 character was not hkely to be easily shaken or 
 neglected, and seemed to constitute an impassable 
 barrier to the passage of any full measure of 
 Catholic Emancipation during his reign. 
 
 The stupendous events, however, wdiich were 
 occurring in Europe, and more particularly the 
 aggressive spirit and ambitious projects of revo- 
 lutionary France, manifested by the dangerous 
 " Propagandism" set on foot of the subversive 
 doctrines then in vogue in that country — not un- 
 connected, as the British Government must even 
 then have been aware, with the spirit of rebellion 
 which had been roused in Ireland — could not 
 but press strongly upon the attention of the Eng- 
 lish Administration, the necessity of some measure 
 founded upon the principle enounced by Burke, 
 
151 
 
 for the consolidation of the empire, by the conci- 
 liation of those classes of its subjects from which 
 danger might be apprehended at such a crisis. 
 
 An Emancipation Bill was accordingly brought 
 forward by the Government in the early part of 
 the year 1793, and was passed.* 
 
 By this measure, penal disabilities were removed, 
 and many concessions made to the Roman Catho- 
 lics, of which the most important appeared to be 
 the privilege conferred upon forty-shilling free- 
 holders, irrespective of their religion, to vote for 
 members of Parliament. The right of sitting in 
 Parliament as members was, however, not con- 
 ceded to persons of the Roman Catholic persua- 
 sion, and they were still debarred from holding 
 the great offices of State, and from exercising 
 many of the most important functions of the civil 
 Government. 
 
 * "The Parliament met on the 10th January, 1793, when the 
 Lord Lieutenant, (Lord Westmoreland,) after lamenting the 
 spirit of discontent that had manifested itself in different parts- 
 of the kingdom, and having stated the ambitions and aggressive 
 views of France, assured the Parliament that he had it in par- 
 ticular from his Majesty to recommend it to them to apply them- 
 selves to the consideration of such measures as might be most 
 likely to strengthen and cement a general union of sentiment 
 among all classes and descriptions of his Majesty's subjects, in sup- 
 port of the established constitution. With this view, his Majesty 
 trusted that the situation of his ISIajesty's Catholic subjects 
 would engage their serious attention, and in the consideration of 
 this subject, he relied on the wisdom and liberality of Parlia- 
 ment." — (See Plowden's History of Ireland.) 
 
152 
 
 The measure was, indeed, in this respect, an 
 anomalous, and, as it proved, an unwise one. 
 It has not escaped the discernment of the able 
 author* of the " Life and Death of the Irish Par- 
 liament," that this emancipation, to be beneficial, 
 ought to have been " begun at the opposite end of 
 the social scale" — nor could it elude his penetration, 
 that the alacrity of the Irish Parliament in adopt- 
 ing it proceeded from the short-sighted view of the 
 landlords, that the ig-norant mass of voters thus 
 created would furnish them with tools for political 
 ambition, rather than constitute a tribunal before 
 which they would be responsible for their acts. 
 Some of the bad consequences which did, and 
 others which might have followed, this ill-con- 
 ceived measure, were clearly pointed out by mem- 
 bers of the Irish Parliament at the time ; but it 
 brought other social evils in its train which were 
 not so easily foreseen, and to which we shall pre- 
 sently have to advert. 
 
 To the class, however, on which the franchise 
 was conceded as a boon, it turned out to be any- 
 thing but a blessing. Upon the more wealthy, 
 intelligent, and enlightened portion of the Roman 
 Catholic community, whose loyal co-operation in 
 securing the safety of the country, it ought to 
 have been the first object of an Emancipation Bill 
 to secure, it conferred no benefit whatever — if it 
 
 * Chief Justice Whiteside. 
 
153 
 
 did not, indeed, render their exceptional condition 
 more galling and invidious than before. 
 
 Subsequent events have demonstrated that, as a 
 measure for disarming an impending tempest, the 
 Emancipation Bill of 1793, was lamentably ineffi- 
 cacious. The apprehended explosion took place in 
 1798, and proved to what an extent the ground 
 had been previously undermined. In connection 
 with it, Ireland was exposed, as had also been 
 foreseen, to a foreign invasion ; and if neither of 
 these formidable blows aimed at the integrity of 
 the empire were successful, much is to be at- 
 tributed to Providential circumstances, such as 
 had on former occasions helped to save England 
 from similar attacks, and but little to the legisla- 
 tive Acts of either the British or Irish Parliament, 
 or to the wise precautions of the Imperial Govern- 
 ment. To the Protestants of Ireland, it must be 
 admitted, was mainly owing, on that occasion, the 
 preservation of the connection of their country 
 with Great Britain. 
 
 The consequences of such events w^ere obvious 
 and unavoidable — the maintenance and reinforce- 
 ment of the system known by the name of " Pro- 
 testant Ascendancy," and the abandonment or 
 indefinite postponement of all contemplated mea- 
 sures for the conciliation of the Roman Catholic 
 part of the population of Ireland. 
 
 Such a result may be regretted, but it was ni- 
 evitable. No other solution, which would not 
 
154 
 
 involve the disruption of the empire, was possible ; 
 and so much was this felt by the great statesman 
 wlio ruled England at that momentous period, 
 that it became clear to him that the re-establish- 
 ment of Protestant ascendancy would be insuffi- 
 cient, and that if England and Ireland were to con- 
 tinue politically united, the legislative union of the 
 two countries had become a necessary condition of 
 their national co-existence. 
 
 When we reflect upon the nature and propor- 
 tion of the great contest for empire in which 
 England was so long engaged with France, and re- 
 member who was her antagonist, it may be a 
 matter of surprise that even that measure secured 
 from attack a point so weak as Ireland continued 
 to be, and from which so deadly a blow might 
 have been levelled at the power of Great Britain. 
 
 The accomplishment of this great object threw 
 every other measure regarding the improvement 
 of Ireland into the shade. 
 
 In the meantime, the effect of the enfranchise- 
 ment of forty-shilling freeholders, which is, at 
 present, more immediately the object of our atten- 
 tion, had conferred, as contemplated by the land- 
 owners, an almost indefinite power upon them, of 
 creating voters at Parliamentary elections, who 
 should be entirely under their control. 
 
 To so great a degree was this power abused, 
 that masses of a peasantry, ignorant and degraded 
 to the last degree, and possessing neither capacity 
 
155 
 
 or disposition for a safe or rational exercise of 
 their new functions, or any motive other than the 
 fear of incurring the displeasure of their landlord, 
 were, to use a well-known phrase applied to them, 
 driven like cattle by a salesman to the elections ; 
 or if any other influence was brought to bear 
 upon them, it was that of the clergy of their own 
 persuasion, who might, in order to secure the re- 
 turn of some member who, though a Protestant, 
 (which Avas still a necessary condition till 1829,) 
 might be supposed to be more liberally inclined, 
 or less bigotedly opposed, to them than another. 
 In such cases the unfortunate possessor of the 
 forty-shilling franchise, fared ill between the 
 temporal pains which he knew could be in- 
 flicted by his landlord, and the spiritual penal- 
 ties which he believed might be the consequence 
 of disobedience to his priest. The system of 
 electioneering in Ireland, thus created, comprised 
 nearly all the evils of universal suffrage in a coun- 
 try unfitted for such an institution, without any of 
 its real or supposed advantages. It brought to 
 the hustings crowds of voters utterly unqualified 
 by their barbarous ignorance to form an opinion 
 upon any political subject, while it failed to secure 
 to them that kind of independence from corrupt 
 influences which an indefinitely extended suffrage 
 is calculated to bestow. 
 
 Practices objectionable in themselves, and pro- 
 ductive of worse consequences, immediately arose 
 
156 
 
 from the abuse of the power thus conferred upon 
 landed proprietors. 
 
 A passion for acquiring political influence de- 
 veloped itself among them, and was carried 
 to excess by mutual rivalry. It even extended 
 itself to other classes ; and persons having no 
 natural connection with the land, were known to 
 si^eculate upon this kind of political capital. Not 
 only were existing estates cut up into small hold- 
 ings for the purpose of multiplying voters, but 
 tracts of land — often unfit for cultivation — were 
 enclosed and portioned out to fictitious forty-shil- 
 ling freeholders. It was evident that low as that 
 qualification was, it was not in reality the test 
 which determined the power of voting, or limited 
 the number of voters. In practice it could not be 
 applied bondjide; and there was scarcely a holding 
 too minute to be brought, by one contrivance or 
 another, up to the supposed value of forty 
 shillings, if the vote of its occupant was re- 
 quired. The power, in fact, of producing voters 
 at an election was only limited by the means 
 or activity of the landlord, and the numbers 
 of gro^vn-up men on an estate, whatever might 
 be the degree of their poverty, ignorance or 
 unfitness. The efiJ'ects upon the people them- 
 selves were not less deplorable. Without dwell- 
 ing upon the wholesale perjury and corruption at- 
 tendant upon such a system, rioting, violence, in- 
 timidation, and excess presented themselves in 
 
157 
 
 their most revolting forms, and, together with 
 drunkenness, quarrels, and idleness, so charac- 
 terised the proceedings, not only of the lower or- 
 ders, but too often of individuals of other classes, 
 at elections, that an " Irish election " became 
 almost the proverbial phrase by which everything 
 that is demoralizing in assemblies of the kind was 
 designated. Nor can it be said with truth, that 
 the ultimate object of all methods of election, 
 namely, the obtaining of a sufficient number of re- 
 spectable representatives, qualified by independent 
 position, talents, and acquirements to carry on the 
 legislative business of a country, was more nearly 
 attained by this system of apparently open 
 voting, than by the sort of nomination described 
 by Sir Lawrence Parsons, in the Irish Parlia- 
 ment, wdien the members knew nothing of the 
 places they represented, or had ever seen their 
 constituents.* Let the comparison not be thought 
 invidious ; but, we believe, that as regarded social 
 position, capacity for business, or the more bril- 
 liant, though less essential, qualities of eloquence 
 and wit, the old unreformed Parliament of Ireland 
 was, to say the least, not inferior in those respects 
 to that which has at any subsequent time been re- 
 
 * "A majority of this House never go back to their constitu- 
 ents ; they do not know them ; they do not live among them ; many 
 of them never saw them — no, nor even the places that they repre- 
 sent. What a mockery is this of representation ! Do you think 
 that in this enlightened age such an imposture can long continue? 
 Impossible." (See Speech of Sir Lawrence Parsons, in the Irish 
 Parliament, 1794, on the Reform Bill. — Irish Debates, vol. xiv.) 
 
158 
 
 turned by the votes of the forty-shilling freehold- 
 ers. The names of Grattan, Flood, Curran, Fitz- 
 gibbon, Sir L. Parsons, and numerous others, show 
 that whatever are the well-founded objections to 
 the system under which they were chosen, it had 
 not the effect of excluding genius, ability, or 
 patriotism from the councils of the nation. 
 
 Among the ill effects to be traced, in a great 
 measure, to the enfranchisement of the forty-shil- 
 ling freeholders, there is one to which we would 
 particularly direct our readers' attention, because it 
 has not been obliterated without the infliction of 
 suffering, so severe and so long continued, that it 
 can scarcely be said to have even yet totally ceased. 
 We mean the minute division of the land into 
 what may be denominated pauper-holdings — re- 
 sorted to, as we have said, for the creation of 
 votes, but productive, no doubt in concurrence 
 with other causes to which we have adverted, 
 of an amount of wretchedness and destitution 
 almost unknown in any country during the pre- 
 sent age — all the miseries, in short, attendant 
 upon a population which has outrun its means 
 of subsistence. Famine, epidemic disease, agrarian 
 outrage, precipitate expatriation — things of which 
 we have dim records in the meagre annals of 
 the dark ages of the world, but which it was 
 fondly hoped could not recur upon such a scale 
 in our more civilized times, and under our more 
 enlightened forms of government. 
 
159 
 
 There can now be little doubt that the over- 
 population of starving paupers, which it was the 
 object of the Sub-letting Act to remove from the 
 land — a disease which was only repressed by the 
 bitter cures of famine, plague, and wholesale emi- 
 gration — w^as in a great measure caused by the 
 suicidal process of multiplying votes by the sub- 
 division of holdings. 
 
 But the process was in more senses than one 
 suicidal to those who initiated it. For not only 
 did ruin, disorder, and misery, with its attendant 
 crimes, take up their dwelling upon the lands of 
 those who had recourse to it, but that very poli- 
 tical influence which it had been hoped to secure 
 by it was lost. The arms which they had forged 
 with so much care fell into the hands of others 
 who were their opponents, and threatened to be 
 used against them with fatal efl'ect. Their case re- 
 sembled that of the wounded eagle, who saw that 
 the arrow wdiich had pierced him had been fea- 
 thered from his own wing. 
 
 We have observed that the only influence, other 
 than that of his landlord, to which the forty-shil- 
 ling freeholders could be subject, was that of the 
 clergy of his own persuasion. This appears, at 
 first, to have been feeble, or to have been feebly 
 exerted, but it had gradually and surely increased, 
 and at length became formidable, if not predomi- 
 nant. To such an extent was this the case, that 
 at the period when it was contemplated by the 
 
160 
 
 Imperial Government to complete the measure of 
 Catholic Emancipation begun in 1793, by the 
 admission of Roman Catholics to sit in Parlia- 
 ment, it became evident that the entire political 
 power of the Protestant proprietors of Ireland 
 would be irretrievably swamped by the deluge of 
 Catholic voters which they themselves had let loose, 
 but which would now be under the exclusive in- 
 fluence of the Catholic clergy. If their emanci- 
 pation had become inevitable, there was no salva- 
 tion possible for the political principles of the Pro- 
 testants, except by the means of the countervail- 
 ing abrogation of the very measure which they had 
 themselves devised for its preservation; and the 
 disfranchisement of the forty -shilling freeholders, 
 whom they had enfranchised in 1793, became the 
 sine qud mm to their reluctant admission of Catho- 
 lic Emancipation in 1829. It was felt, indeed, in 
 England, as well as in Ireland, even by those of the 
 Liberal party who now advocated Catholic Eman- 
 cipation, that an arrangement by wdiich the elec- 
 tive franchise should at the same time be raised 
 was a necessary complement to that great mea- 
 sure, nor could the Emancipation Bill have been 
 carried through the Imperial Parliament, or have 
 obtained the Royal Assent,* without it. A Bill 
 
 * George IV., on giving his not very willing assent to the 
 Catholic Emancipation Act, is reported, by those probably who 
 love good stories, to have said to the Duke of Wellington, 
 " Well, Duke, I fear that the result of what we have now done 
 will be, that you will go to hell, and I to Hanover." 
 
was consequently passed simultaneously with that 
 for Roman Catholic Emancipation, raising the 
 qualification of voters to £10 — a provision, it is 
 superfluous to say, which was unsatisfactor}^ to 
 the Roman Catholic body in Ireland, but which 
 was in reality in no way injurious to their true 
 interests or those of the empire at large. 
 
 The admission of the necessity of this measure 
 of disfranchisement as an indispensable supple- 
 ment to the emancipation of the Roman Ca- 
 tholics, constitutes a remarkable, though tacit 
 acknowledgment on the part of the British Go- 
 vernment and Parliament of their real opinions in 
 regard to the force of party animosity in Ireland, 
 and of their entire want of confidence in the effi- 
 cacy of Catholic emancipation to appease it; 
 however confidently it had been urged both by 
 those who sought it for themselves, and by those 
 Avho were in favour of concedino- it, that it would 
 at once remove every trace of party distinction or 
 jealousy, arising from difference of religion. 
 
 M 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Tithes and Church Rates. 
 
 That peace, harmony, and submission to the law, 
 which the promoters of Roman Cathohc eman- 
 cipation had promised, were not, as we have seen, 
 realised. 
 
 The people, stirred up as they had been by a 
 long-continued agitation, disappointed in their ex- 
 pectations as to the benefits they expected to 
 reap from it, feeling only the hardships of their 
 disfranchisement, which destroyed the last induce- 
 ment for landlords to keep them on the land, were 
 but little disposed to embrace habits of subordi- 
 nation and contentment, to which they had been 
 hitherto strangers. The great social changes 
 which were slowly yet surely effected, shook to 
 its very base the whole fabric of society in Ireland, 
 and the lower orders, plunged in the depths of 
 
163 
 
 distress and poverty, were ready to have recourse 
 to any way of bettering their condition. 
 
 The agitation which had resulted in Roman 
 Catholic emancipation was not permitted to die 
 out, and the feeling of disappointment at its effects 
 was turned with renewed vigour to a matter affect- 
 ing the people more immediately, namely, the pay- 
 ment of tithes. 
 
 Tithe was the money collected by law for the 
 payment of the Protestant clergy of Ireland. It 
 consisted of one-tenth of the produce of the land, 
 and theoretically was to be paid " in kind." As 
 this, hoAvever, was inconvenient, the whole pro- 
 duce was valued, and one-tenth of its value was 
 paid in money. It was leviable on nearly every 
 description of produce, although in different parts 
 of the country there were some slight differences 
 as to the articles. This tax, therefore, by falling 
 upon the cultivators of the soil, threw the whole 
 weight of the maintenance of the Protestant 
 clergy upon the lower classes, the great majority 
 of whom were Roman Catholics. Their poverty 
 rendered the pressure of any tax severe, and it is 
 easily understood that this one was more peculiarly 
 odious to them. Indeed, on all sides, there were 
 objections to it. To the Roman Catholics, it was 
 odious that any payment should be made directly 
 by the Catholic peasant, for the support of the 
 Protestant clergyman. But even by the Protes- 
 tants, objections were made because of abuses re- 
 
164 
 
 specting the plurality of .livings, the absence of the 
 clergy from their parishes, and the unnecessary 
 number of bishops. Nor was this to be won- 
 dered at, the more especially as tithe not unfre- 
 quently went to swell the purse of an absentee 
 ecclesiastic* 
 
 The burthen, moreover, was conceived to be 
 heavier than it really was, from the payment 
 being required directly out of the fruits of the in- 
 dustry of the occupiers, independent of its being 
 avowedly devoted to an object hostile to their 
 faith. Nor was this tax usually taken into ac- 
 count by the lower classes when bidding for land. 
 They thought then only of the rent^ and when 
 called upon for tithe were, of course, always un- 
 willing, and in many cases unable to pay it. 
 
 There was, consequently, no species of tax so 
 difficult to collect, and none which caused so much 
 irritation in the minds of the people. In point of 
 fact, as we have seen from the earliest period, con- 
 fusion and bloodshed had attended its enforce- 
 ment. 
 
 " The system," say the Committee of the House 
 of Commons, in their Report on Tithes, in 1832, 
 " under which tithes were collected, especially in 
 a country so circumstanced as Ireland, was highly 
 
 * Lord Brandon — a rector, about the year 1825 — lield livings 
 to the amount of £2,000 a year, and was an absentee, whilst to 
 a curate who did the work, an allowance was made insufficient 
 for his support. 
 
165 
 
 unfavourable, not more to the progress of agricul- 
 tural improvement, than to the interests of reli- 
 gion and morality, and to the cultivation of those 
 friendly feelings between a clergyman and his 
 parishioners, which are essential to render their 
 intercourse mutually beneficial." 
 
 The method generally in use was as follows : — 
 Two persons were appointed by the clergyman for 
 the valuation of the crops, which was usually 
 made in July, often when they looked best ; and 
 these two persons were then sworn before a magis- 
 trate as to their valuation. 
 
 The amount of the tithe was not, however, then 
 made known to the person upon whom it was 
 levied, and the occupiers were left in a state of 
 uncertainty both as to the sum and as to the time 
 of payment, until the collectors came round, 
 which they did not do until they thought the 
 crops were sold. 
 
 The evidence of a gentleman before the Com- 
 mittee from whose report an extract has been 
 made above, although, perhaps, describing an ex- 
 treme case, gives an illustration of what was con- 
 stantly occurring : — * 
 
 " When tithe is charged by the barrel (that is, a 
 measure of produce) there is every room for im- 
 position. In the first place, two tithe valuators go 
 into a field, and one of them says, ' I value it at 
 
 * Evidence of Mr. William Collis, Q. 5139, Tithe Committee, 
 House of Commons, 1832. 
 
eighty barrels;' the other says, 'lvalue it at sixty.' 
 ' Then let us split the difference.' That is the 
 only mode of valuation. There is no kind of at- 
 tempt to calculate. Then the clergyman says, ' I 
 will not tell you what I will charge till Christmas 
 time ' — that is, I will not charge the lowest, which 
 is the price it bears at the time of harvest, but I 
 will tell you at Christmas time what I mil charge. 
 This is the way in which it is done in the county 
 of Wexford." 
 
 Like rent, tithes often got into arrear ; and as 
 they also were recoverable by distress, the same 
 consequences ensued. 
 
 Nor had the tithe-payers any means of con- 
 trolling an unreasonable demand on the part of 
 the tithe-owner, except by giving the tenth in 
 produce instead of in money, and thus causing 
 him much inconvenience. The crops, moreover, 
 could not be sold until the valuator came round ; 
 for if the farmer carried away any part of the pro- 
 duce before that time, he was completely at the 
 mercy of the tithe-owner — whatever the valua- 
 tor then swore was the value, the occupier had to 
 pay. 
 
 Thus, not only was tithe objected to on princi- 
 ple, but every detail connected with levying it 
 was carried out in so obnoxious a manner as to 
 rouse the people into open and violent opposition. 
 
 Disputes, accordingly, were constantly occur- 
 ring, and were attended with animosities, much 
 
167 
 
 of the odium and discredit of which fell upon the 
 clergy. 
 
 Finding the greatest difficulty in obtaining 
 their tithes, they were obliged to resort to the still 
 more injurious system of employing proctors — per- 
 sons of desperate characters and fortunes — whose 
 exercise of the large powers entrusted to them 
 materially aggravated the evils of the system it- 
 self* 
 
 It was to tithes what sub-letting was to land, the 
 proctors taking the place of the middlemen. Nor 
 was the name of tithe-proctor less generally de- 
 tested. They took leases of the tithes from the 
 clergy, giving exactly one-tenth to those they 
 farmed them from, calculating for the profit on 
 whatever above the tenth they could extract from 
 the occupier of the land. Thus a great stimulus 
 was given to extortion, and the greatest cruelties 
 were perpetrated. 
 
 " I," said a witness before the Select Committee 
 of 1832, " have kno^vn potatoes to be sold out of 
 the house of poor people, and I have known the 
 pot to be sold. I have known blankets to be 
 taken off the beds of the children. I have known 
 the widow's pig taken away, and I have known an 
 aged widow taken out of a sick-bed, and laid on 
 the ground, and the clothes, and the bed, and the 
 daughter's clothes, sold for tithes." 
 
 * House of Commons Committee on Tithes, 1832. 
 
168 
 
 Seventies such as these could not but reflect 
 upon the character of the laws by which they 
 were inflicted. 
 
 Tithe became at length the source of such 
 frightful crimes, and of so much bitterness and ill- 
 feeling, that in the year 1824 a law was passed 
 which was intended to remove some of its evils. 
 
 This was the Tithe Composition Act (4 Geo. lY., 
 cap. 99, and its amendments.) By it tlie Lord 
 Lieutenant of Ireland was empowered, upon a 
 certain application being made to him, to give 
 orders for the assembly of a special vestry in the 
 parish for carrying the Act into execution. A 
 Commissioner was then elected by the owners and 
 occupiers of land, to treat with one named by 
 the incumbent. The Commissioners were then 
 to cause a survey and valuation to be made of the 
 land and tithes in the parish, and to agree to a 
 fixed sum, which the incumbent was to receive 
 annually as a composition for all tithes. Such 
 composition to continue for twenty-one years. 
 The owners of land in any parish for the tithes of 
 which composition was made under this Act, were 
 to let such land thereafter tithe free, and the occu- 
 pier paying the composition was to deduct it out 
 of his rent. 
 
 It thus laid down the principles that tithe 
 should no longer be a tax on the industry and 
 capital of the occupying tenant, but that it should 
 be converted into a rent-charge ; that the rent- 
 
169 
 
 charge should be a fixed payment, at least varying 
 only with the price of corn ; and that it was pay- 
 able, not by the occupying tenant, but by the 
 landlord — a proportionate reduction from the 
 amount of tithe being made in favour of the land- 
 lord who took the benefit of the Act, in considera- 
 tion of the new responsibility to which he was 
 subjected. 
 
 Tlie Act was, however, unfortunately only op- 
 tional, parishes being left the choice of adopt- 
 ing its provisions. 
 
 In those parishes which did adopt them, many 
 of the grievances of the tithe system were done 
 away with. The exactions and extortions of the 
 proctors were put an end to. The cause of com- 
 plaint as to the uncertain and fluctuating nature 
 of the tax was removed, and tithe ceased to be 
 a tax upon capital and industry, and became a 
 moderate assessment on land. 
 
 By this latter change a transfer, or rather an 
 equalization of the burthen, between the grazier 
 and the cottier was efi'ected, for in most parts of 
 the country grass lands paid no tithe. 
 
 This Avas in itself a great boon to the cottiers, 
 while the custom which prevailed throughout 
 Ireland, of breaking up the whole of the land pe- 
 riodically, rendered it less injurious to the former 
 than it would have been in a country where lands 
 are permanently laid clown in grass. 
 
 The effect was, undoul)tedly, to give a consider- 
 
170 
 
 able stimulus to tillage, and to bring into culti- 
 vation much land which would not have borne the 
 charge of tithe, but which, having been of little 
 value at the time of the composition, was charged 
 for twenty-one years with a very low assess- 
 ment.* 
 
 Thus nearly all of the complaints would have 
 been removed, had the Act been carried into im- 
 mediate and general operation. But this was not 
 done, and more than seven years after its enact- 
 ment, only two-thirds of the parishes in Ireland 
 had adopted its provisions.f 
 
 The abuses which had before prevailed conti- 
 nued, therefore, through a great part of the 
 country, and contributed to make every one dis- 
 contented with tithe, so much so, that even those 
 who had effected composition became dissatisfied 
 with their position. The point now taken advan- 
 tage of by them was, that while the Act provided 
 that, in all future leases, the receipt of the clergy- 
 man for the tithe paid by the occupier should be 
 taken by the landlord in payment of so much 
 rent, it left the amount of tithe specified and dis- 
 tinct, as a charge directly payable by the occupy- 
 ing tenant of one religion to the clergyman of 
 another. The actual occupiers of the soil, there- 
 
 * Report of House of Commons' Committee on Tithes, 1832. 
 
 •j" There were 2,312 parishes in Ireland, in 1,505 of which the 
 provisions of the Acts of 1823 and 1824 had taken effect. (See 
 same Report.) 
 
171 
 
 fore, still remained immediately liable to the pay- 
 ment, which, in many instances, was collected 
 in minute sums from a great number of per- 
 sons, and thus the same unfortunate contact be- 
 tween the occupier and the clergyman continued 
 to exist, and the tenant was led to forget that, if 
 discharged from the pa3aTient of tithe, he would 
 be called upon for an additional rent from his 
 landlord, and to consider that payment, not as a 
 charge upon the land but as a burthen upon him- 
 self. There was also the real inconvenience — and 
 with the Irish inconveniences are but too com- 
 monly grievances — accompanying this, of the two 
 sums, of rent and tithe, being demanded at 
 diiferent times by different people ; and indepen- 
 dent of these repeated demands, the small occu- 
 pier who might not have at his command even the 
 trifling sum due to the clergyman, was in case of 
 enforcement of payment, or of legal proceedings 
 against him, subject to an expense altogether dis- 
 projDortioned to the sum he was called on to 
 pay.* 
 
 * In the House of Commons' Committee it is stated : — 
 " In amount tlie burthen of tithe throughout Ireland, as com- 
 pared with the value of land, is in reality extremely light." 
 
 Upon a very careful and laborious calculation, the average of 
 tithe composition was computed to be as follows : — 
 
 Ulster, Os. 11 id. per acre, or to rental -j\ to J^ 
 
 Munster, Is. 2 id. per Irish acre, „ ^l to J-j- 
 
 Leinster, Is. T^d. „ „ ^V to ^\ 
 
 Connaught, Os. lO^d. „ „ J^ to ^\ 
 
172 
 
 " The general result," say the Committee of the 
 House of Lords in their Report on Tithes, (1832) 
 " is, that from the defective operation of the 
 system, the tithe-payer conceives himself to be 
 subject to a degree of pressure, far greater than 
 the actual amount of the sum paid by him would 
 create; while the clergy who are entitled to the 
 tithe have reaped a profit considerably less than 
 the sum payable by the occupier of the land, and 
 attended with circumstances no less unsatisfactory 
 and painful to their own feelings, than detrimen- 
 tal to the public peace and happiness." 
 
 In most parts of the country the opposition to 
 the payment of tithe had become systematic, and 
 was pressed forward with such vigour, that it 
 became quite as strong in those places where the 
 Composition Act was in force as where it was not. 
 Other circumstances, too, were strengthening the 
 objections to it. 
 
 The political movement in England was not 
 without some effect in Ireland. 
 
 " During the discussion produced by the Reform 
 Bill," says the Annual Register of 1831, "the 
 Church of Ireland had been spoken of in terms, 
 which rendered it impossible for a populace other- 
 wise perfectly disposed to such ideas to regard her 
 in any other light than that of an unrighteous and 
 wicked oppressor." 
 
 Payment of this obnoxious impost was every- 
 where resisted, and the usual system of threats 
 
173 
 
 and murder were resorted to. The process-servers 
 could only perform their duty under strong 
 escorts. When attempts were made to seize the 
 property of the debtor, the whole country was in 
 arms ; the cattle or other live stock disappeared ; 
 every hill had a scout, who gave warning of the 
 approach of the distrainers ; and when it hap- 
 pened that the cattle were seized, no one dared 
 to purchase them, no matter at what price, so 
 great was the hatred to the law, or the fear of 
 incurring the hostility of the people. The civil 
 authorities were often not strong enough to cope 
 successfully with the disturbances, and when- 
 ever the officers of the law interfered, open and 
 bloody war was declared against them. The 
 clergyman dared not ask; the willing occupier 
 dared not pay. Tlie most frightful scenes were 
 enacted ; the most awful and revoltino; crimes 
 were perpetrated. It is unnecessary to enumerate 
 them. Their result was stated by the Archbishop 
 of Dublin in his evidence before the House of 
 Commons' Tithe Committee : — " As for the con- 
 tinuance of the tithe system, it must be at the 
 point of the bayonet — it must be through a sort 
 of chronic civil war." 
 
 In this strait it Avas hoped that by spreading 
 the benefits of the Composition Act, the country 
 would be somewhat quieted ; and, in the year 
 1832, a bill was accordingly passed, (2 & 3 Wil- 
 liam ly., cap. 119,) making the adoption of the 
 
174 
 
 Tithe Composition Act compulsory, and the com- 
 position permanent. But this came too late. 
 The time when such an enactment would have 
 been beneficial had gone by. Throughout the 
 country large anti-tithe meetings were held, 
 and the measure tended neither to mitigate the 
 discord nor diminish the crimes which that discord 
 produced. 
 
 As a consequence of this resistance, the clergy 
 had, in many instances, been reduced to great dis- 
 tress. With a deep sense of the necessity of re- 
 covering their rights, but with the deep sense also 
 of the responsibility of resorting to extremities, 
 they had abstained from adopting the offer of the 
 Government, to use the strongest measures for the 
 enforcement of their claims, and had preferred to 
 encounter the distress which followed. As no 
 payment could be obtained from the people, it was 
 necessary to make some provision for the clergy ; 
 and a Bill was passed in the year 1833, (3 & 4 
 Wm. IV., cap. 100, commonly called " The Million 
 Act,") advancing one million sterling, in order to 
 relieve those of them who were in the greatest dis- 
 tress. As a security for repayment, the power to 
 levy the arrears was transferred from the clergy to 
 the Crown. This answered for a time ; but it be- 
 came evident that, with a view to secure both the 
 interests of the Church and the welfare of the coun- 
 try, a permanent change of system was required, 
 and that such a change to be safe and satisfactory 
 
175 
 
 must involve a complete extinction of tithes. This 
 was proposed to be done either, by commuting 
 them for a charge upon the land, or by an ex- 
 change for or an investment in land, but in which- 
 ever wa}^ accomplished, the revenues of the 
 Church (as far as related to tithe) were to be 
 effectually secured, and at the same time all oc- 
 casions of pecuniary collisions removed between 
 the parochial clergy and the occupiers of the land. 
 
 A Bill was accordingly introduced in 1834, pro- 
 posing the commutation of the composition of 
 tithes into a rent-charge, payable by the owners of 
 estates ; and as the liability was removed to those 
 who possessed the chief interest in the land, and 
 it was considered but just to make some com- 
 pensation for the additional trouble they in- 
 curred, a reduction was proposed to be made in 
 the amount of tithe which was to be levied off the 
 land-owner, whilst the tithe which was paid by 
 the occupier ceased to be paid as tithe to the land- 
 lord, but was paid as an increase of rent in one 
 bulk sum. Unfortunately, however, owing to the 
 leading feature of the Bill being the appropria- 
 tion to general Irish uses of the surplus to be ob- 
 tained, by reducing the Church establishment, the 
 Bill was defeated. 
 
 Disturbances in regard to tithe still continued ; 
 but the position of the clergy in this respect had, 
 in the meantime, greatly improved ; for, while the 
 measure each year was brought forward in Par- 
 
176 
 
 liament and rejected, a system of levying payment, 
 by exchequer process had been resorted to. This 
 process compelled the police, and even the mili- 
 tary, to give full assistance to those lev}"ing tithe, 
 making them responsible, under heavy penalties, 
 for the execution of the duties they were directed 
 to perform. The force employed accordingly was 
 too powerful to be resisted, and this mode of ob- 
 taining payment proved successful. Four years 
 passed away; and at last, in the year 1838, upon 
 the final abandonment of the surplus and appro- 
 propriation clauses, the Bill became law as a mere 
 commutation measure. (1 & 2 Victoria, cap. 109.) 
 
 This Act embodied the intentions already 
 stated. Composition for tithes was abolished, and 
 in lieu thereof, an annual rent-charge, equal to 
 three-fourths of the old composition, was laid on 
 the land, and was to be paid by the owner instead 
 of by the occupier. Tithe, thus merged into rent, 
 wholly disappeared, and became a tax upon the 
 land, instead of upon its produce. 
 
 Thus was the settlement of a long-vexed ques- 
 tion eifected, in a manner beneficial to all parties 
 concerned. 
 
 To the clergy, it gave the security and facility 
 of obtaining what was due to them. 
 
 The landlord profited by a reduction of twenty- 
 five per cent., a profit which was shared in by the 
 tenantry, and they were no longer subject to the 
 vexations incident upon collection. 
 
177 
 
 It simplified all future contracts between land- 
 lord and tenant, the latter having henceforth to 
 consider simply the rate of rent when about to 
 enter into a lease. 
 
 The immediate effects of the measure, too, were 
 highly gratifying. The irritation which had so 
 long existed at once subsided. One source of 
 agitation was completely extinguished ; and from 
 the time of the passing of the Act, there ceased 
 to be any need for the employment of the ser- 
 vices of the military or of the police in regard to 
 tithe. 
 
 There was another tax to which we must refer 
 here — one somewhat similar to tithe, and which 
 excited even greater discontent, although upon a 
 smaller scale. This was the parochial taxation 
 for Church rates, which was levied upon the occu- 
 pant of the land. 
 
 The Committee of the House of Commons, in 
 their report upon tithes, observe : — 
 
 " The levy of Church cess for the building and 
 repair of churches, and for the due celebration of 
 Divine worship, is a tax trifling in amount, but 
 peculiarly difficult of collection — peculiarly ob- 
 noxious to the feelings, not only of the Roman 
 Catholic, but of a great proportion of the Pro- 
 testants of Ireland, and of which the advantages 
 to the Established Church are far more than 
 counterbalanced by the odium attending its en- 
 forcement." 
 
 N 
 
178 
 
 These rates, however, did not so long remain 
 unaltered as tithes, having been abolished in 1833 
 by the Church Temporalities Act, (3 and 4 Wm. 
 IV., cap. 37 ;) but this being a measure which, for 
 the most part, regarded the internal constitution 
 of the Church, it is unnecessary here to enter 
 into a consideration of its other provsions. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 National Education. 
 
 The serious attention of the Government had, for 
 many years, been turned to the education of the 
 Irish people, and the necessity of improving it had 
 long been recognised. 
 
 At an early period, the amount of crime in Ire- 
 land had been considered by the Legislature to be 
 in a great degree proportionate to the ignorance 
 of the people, and education was relied upon as 
 productive of moral improvement, and thereby 
 tending to aid the purposes of civil government. 
 
 Much of the poverty, also, of the country was 
 attributed to the same cause ; and it was hoped 
 that a better education would produce the appre- 
 ciation and the desire of an improved condition. 
 
 The means and appliances available for the edu- 
 cation of the poor in Ireland had hitherto been 
 very imperfect. In the northern and eastern 
 
180 
 
 parts of tlie country, the same superiority in re- 
 gard to agriculture, and trade, and the general 
 condition of the people, was observed to exist in 
 regard to education. Schools were more numerous 
 and efficient. The ideas of the people seemed, in 
 consequence, to have become more enlarged, and 
 their conduct better regulated. But in the 
 southern and western parts, wdiere the country 
 was behindhand in those respects, education was 
 but little advanced. In a great many places, Eng- 
 lish was a strange language, Irish being still spoken 
 exclusively in extensive districts. A desire, how- 
 ever, on the part of the people to obtain education 
 for their children seemed to be great and universal, 
 and the children themselves may be said to have 
 participated in it — a fact testified both by the 
 number who frecpaented the schools, such as they 
 were, and by the number of those schools ; but the 
 amount of knowledge imparted by them was small, 
 and their organization was defective. 
 
 The great body of the children of the poor 
 were, in fact, educated in what were called hedge 
 or pay schools, and but few comparatively in 
 schools supported in part or in whole by grants of 
 public money, or by private subscriptions. In the 
 year 1826, it was stated that the number of scho- 
 lars in all the schools then existing was over 
 550,000. But, in conjunction with this apparently 
 considerable diffusion of instruction, there existed 
 the grossest popular ignorance. The education 
 
181 
 
 given was, in truth, more apparent than real. In 
 the hedge schools more particularly, very little was 
 taught ; and in regard to moral and intellectual 
 training, they were on the lowest possible scale. 
 They had neither competent teachers nor proper 
 books. In general, the schoolmasters themselves 
 were unable to teach even readinoj and writinoj 
 correctly; and such of them as could do so, were 
 incapable of applying this elementary instruction 
 in such a manner as could produce general infor- 
 mation or moral improvement. Their smattering 
 of knowledge sufficed, unfortunately, in many in- 
 stances, to qualify them to figure as petty political 
 agitators, local demao-oo;ues, or mischievous dis- 
 turbers of the public peace. 
 
 Among the other schools, those most instru- 
 mental in diffusing knowledge were established by 
 the well-knoAvn Kildare-place Society.* 
 
 This society had been founded in the year 1811, 
 for the purpose of promoting the education of 
 the poor in Ireland, by assisting in the foundation 
 and support of schools, upon the principle that the 
 appointment of teachers and the admission of 
 scholars should be uninfluenced by religious dis- 
 tinctions, but in which, however, it was a condi- 
 tion, sine qua non, that the Bible, without note or 
 comment, should be read. This system was consi- 
 
 * It was the first Society that ever attempted to establish in 
 Ireland a higher class of schoolmasters, and to supply a better 
 description of books. 
 
182 
 
 dered by its founders to be impartial, and free 
 from any suspicion of proselytism ; but this opi- 
 nion was not concurred in by the Roman Catholic 
 clergy. It met, however, with the ajDproval of 
 the Government, so much so, that public grants 
 were accorded to it annually, in aid of the private 
 contributions to its support. These schools indu- 
 bitably proved of considerable use ; the education 
 given in them was sound, and they were fre- 
 quented by a large number of children. 
 
 There existed also parish and charter schools, 
 and schools kept up exclusively for Roman Catho- 
 lics by private subscription. 
 
 Still, although there might appear to be suffi- 
 cient means of instruction, it was evident to all 
 who were practically acquainted with the subject, 
 that the object of an impartial, sound, and gene- 
 rally diffused education of the lower classes in 
 Ireland was not attained ; in the first place, be- 
 cause of the defective organization of the greater 
 part of the schools, and in the second, from the 
 sectarian or denominational character by which all 
 of them were marked. 
 
 The object of the Government was how to de- 
 vise a scheme of education depending on State 
 support, and consequently under State control, 
 yet, at the same time, on the general principle that 
 the benefits of the system should be open to every 
 class and denomination of his Majesty's subjects, 
 without religious distinction, and above all, with- 
 
183 
 
 out any condition which would, in the opinion of 
 any sect, imply a purpose, or afford an opportunity 
 of influencino; or interferino; with the convictions 
 of the different religionists who might frequent 
 the schools. 
 
 That such were the views entertained by the 
 Legislature, appears from the following extracts 
 from the reports of the Committees of the House 
 of Commons appointed for the investigation and 
 consideration of this subject. 
 
 " No plan of education," say the Committee of 
 1812, " however wisely and unexceptionally con- 
 trived in other respects, could be carried into 
 effectual operation in Ireland, unless it was espe- 
 cially avowed and clearly understood that no at- 
 tempt should be made to influence or disturb the 
 peculiar religious tenets of any sect or denomina- 
 tion of Christians." 
 
 And the Committee of 1824 observe : — 
 
 " In a country where mutual divisions exist be- 
 tween different classes of the people, schools 
 should be established for the purpose of giving to 
 children of all religious persuasions such useful in- 
 struction as they might severally be capable and 
 desirous of receiving, without having any ground 
 to apprehend any interference with their respective 
 religious principles." 
 
 They continue also : — 
 
 *•' It is expedient to devise a system of mutual 
 education, from which suspicion should, if pos- 
 
184 
 
 sible, be banished, and the causes of distrust and 
 jealousy should be eiFectually removed ; and under 
 which the children might imbibe similar ideas, 
 and form congenial habits, tending to diminish, 
 not to increase, that distinctness of feeling now 
 but too jDrevalent." 
 
 A few years afterwards, another Committee was 
 appointed to take these previous reports into their 
 consideration, and having done so, they observe : — 
 
 " It is of the utmost importance to bring to- 
 gether children of the different religious per- 
 suasions in Ireland, for the purpose of instructing 
 them in the general subjects of moral and literary 
 knowledge, and providing facilities for their reli- 
 gious instruction separately^ when differences of 
 creed render it impracticable for them to receive 
 religious instruction together. 
 
 " This plan cannot be objected to as discon- 
 necting religion from morality and learning ; on 
 the contrary, it binds them together indissolubly, 
 and appears to unite them in a manner suited to 
 the principles of sound policy, good faith, and 
 Christian charity." 
 
 It was upon the principles, therefore, laid down 
 in these reports, and generally accepted by public 
 opinion in England, that the plan for the estab- 
 lishment of National Education in Ireland was 
 framed ; and after ample discussion, finally sanc- 
 tioned in 1832, by a grant of money for the sup- 
 port of the proposed system, which sum was to be 
 
185 
 
 intrusted to the Lord Lieutenant, to be expended 
 under the superintendence of Commissioners ap- 
 pointed by the Crown. In the meantime, the 
 Government had addressed to the Duke of Leinster 
 in 1831, a letter, stating their intention to consti- 
 tute a Board for the superintendence of National 
 Education in Ireland, and proposing to place his 
 Grace at its head. The powers of the Board, the 
 objects which it was intended to effect, the man- 
 ner in which the money to be voted by Parlia- 
 ment was to be expended, the arrangements rela- 
 tive to the formation of schools, and other parti- 
 culars, were explained in this letter. 
 
 Thus was established in Ireland a system of 
 education which, although it has undergone seve- 
 ral modifications, still remains in force in regard 
 to all its main features. 
 
 It has consequently been now under trial for 
 more than thirty -five years ; and it will be for us 
 to examine how far it may have answered the 
 expectations of those who devised it ; how far its 
 immediate objects have been achieved or have 
 failed in success ; and more especially, in how far 
 the great end proposed by every system of public 
 education, of facilitating the purposes of civil 
 government by an improvement in morals, has 
 been arrived at. 
 
 It is evident that, in the application of a system 
 of National Education to Ireland, two objects were 
 held in view, both highly desirable in themselves, 
 
186 
 
 both conceived in a liberal and conciliatory spirit, 
 but, wlien combined, of extreme difficulty in their 
 attainment. 
 
 The one was to afford the means of access to a 
 sound and efficient moral, intellectual, and techni- 
 cal instruction to all classes of the people of Ire- 
 land. The other, to unite, upon the common 
 ground of such instruction, the rising generation 
 of a people so long divided by a difference of reli- 
 gious creed, and by political antipathies conse- 
 quent upon the events of its stormy by-gone his- 
 tory. It was hoped, and not unnaturally, that in 
 an association for the pursuit of knowledge, pre- 
 judices would be worn down, animosities die out, 
 and that in an exchange of good offices, it would 
 at leno;th be found that divero-ence of reliofion did 
 not necessarily involve hatred and distrust, or 
 contempt of all those who professed opposing 
 dogmas; that religious convictions might safely 
 be left to the conscience of each individual, and to 
 the spiritual pastors of each sect ; while all might 
 combine in the cultivation of those faculties which 
 are so well known to soften the asperities of life. 
 
 " Ingenuos didicisse fideliter artes, 
 Emollit mores nee sinit esse feros" — 
 
 is a trite, but not less pregnant remark ; nor 
 was it unreasonable to entertain the hope, that the 
 truth of the maxim would be exemplified in a 
 country where the natural capacity for intellectual 
 
187 
 
 improvement is great, and has never failed to de- 
 velop itself with unusual brilliancy, whenever cir- 
 cumstances have enabled any individual to relieve 
 himself from the pressure of the comparative 
 ignorance, poverty, and barbarity, which has for 
 ages weighed upon his country. 
 
 As regards the first of the two objects of which 
 we have spoken, namely, the establishment of a 
 greater number of efficient schools, and the num- 
 bers educated in them, the reports of the Com- 
 missioners and the documents laid before Parlia- 
 ment afford us valuable information. 
 
 Immediately upon the appointment of the Com- 
 missioners, the Board was opened for applications 
 for assistance. They came in considerable num- 
 bers, and grants were made accordingly. Many 
 of the schools which had formerly been hedge 
 schools were absorbed by those of the National 
 Board. The schools gradually increased, and the 
 number of pupils each year grew larger. The 
 second report of tlie newly-appointed Commis- 
 sioners shows that the progress which had been 
 made in the new system was in their opinion 
 highly satisfactory. The third report states that 
 considerable advance had been made in the build- 
 ings, and marks a further increase in the number 
 of schools and pupils. 
 
 Progress at first, however, appears to have been 
 slow. Great difficulties had to be surmounted ; 
 the inability or carelessness of many of the local 
 
188 
 
 patrons, the ignorance of the teachers, the povertj'^ 
 of the people, and the opposition of many persons 
 of position and influence, were hindrances which 
 were not easily surmounted. 
 
 By far the greater number of the schools con- 
 nected with the National Board had formerly 
 been hedge schools, and at the commencement 
 of the National system great difficulty was found 
 in obtaining teachers. For some years, conse- 
 quently, the masters in the National Schools were 
 not above those of the hedge schools, nor the 
 schools themselves much better. By degrees, 
 however, a better class of masters was obtained ; 
 and after some years, a training school for masters 
 and mistresses was formed, and a marked improve- 
 ment in this respect took place. 
 
 A great difference was noticeable in the results 
 attained in proportion to the rate of expenditure. 
 
 In 1825, under the old plan, the State granted 
 £68,718 for education, and the number of chil- 
 dren educated was 69,638. Under the Commis- 
 sioners of National Education, in 1837, the grant 
 for the year was £50,000, and the number of 
 children on the lists of the schools, 169,000. 
 
 The following return gives the number of 
 schools and pupils on the rolls, under the superin- 
 tendence of the Commissioners, since the com- 
 mencement of the system, and the amount of Par- 
 liamentary grants annually voted for its main- 
 tenance : — 
 
189 
 
 
 No. of 
 
 No. of 
 
 Parlmtary 
 
 
 No. of 
 
 No. of 
 
 Parlmtary, 
 
 Years. 
 
 Schools. 
 
 Pupils. 
 
 Grants. 
 
 Tears. 
 
 Schools. 
 
 Pupils. 
 
 Grants. 
 
 1833 . 
 
 789 
 
 107,042 
 
 £25,000 
 
 1852 
 
 . 4,875 
 
 544,604 £182,073 
 
 1834 . 
 
 1,106 
 
 145,521 
 
 35,000 
 
 1853 
 
 5,023 
 
 550.631 
 
 193,040 
 
 1835 . 
 
 1.181 
 
 153,707 
 
 35,000 
 
 1854 
 
 5,178 
 
 551,110 
 
 215,200 
 
 1836 . 
 
 1,300 
 
 166.929 
 
 35,000 
 
 1855 
 
 5,124 
 
 535,905 
 
 227,641 
 
 1837 . 
 
 1,384 
 
 169.548 
 
 50,000 
 
 1856 
 
 5,245 
 
 560,134 
 
 213.030 
 
 1838-9 
 
 1,581 
 
 192.971 
 
 100,000 
 
 1857 
 
 5,337 
 
 776,473 
 
 257,641 
 
 1840 . 
 
 1.978 
 
 232.560 
 
 50,000 
 
 1858 
 
 5,408 
 
 803,610 
 
 273,030 
 
 1841 . 
 
 2,337 
 
 281.849 
 
 57,000 
 
 1859 
 
 . 5,496 
 
 806,510 
 
 270,722 
 
 1842 . 
 
 2,721 
 
 319,792 
 
 55,000 
 
 1860 
 
 5,632 
 
 804,000 
 
 285,377 
 
 1843 . 
 
 2,912 
 
 355,320 
 
 55,000 
 
 1861 
 
 5,830 
 
 803,364 
 
 290,904 
 
 1844 . 
 
 3.153 
 
 395.550 
 
 75,000 
 
 1862 
 
 6,010 
 
 812,527 
 
 269,377 
 
 1845 . 
 
 3,426 
 
 432,844 
 
 85,000 
 
 1863 
 
 6,163 
 
 840,569 
 
 346,904 
 
 1846 . 
 
 3,637 
 
 456,410 
 
 100.000 
 
 1864 
 
 6.263 
 
 870,401 
 
 316.770 
 
 1847 . 
 
 3,825 
 
 402,632 
 
 120,000 
 
 1865 
 
 6,372 
 
 922,084 
 
 325,582 
 
 1848 . 
 
 4.109 
 
 507,469 
 
 125,000 
 
 1866 
 
 6,453 
 
 910,819 
 
 336,130 
 
 1849 . 
 
 4,321 
 
 480,623 
 
 120,000 
 
 1867 
 
 6,520 
 
 913,198 
 
 344,700 
 
 1850 . 
 
 4,547 
 
 511,239 
 
 140.000 
 
 1868 
 
 6.586 
 
 967,563 
 
 360,195 
 
 1851 . 
 
 4,704 
 
 520,401 
 
 164,577 
 
 
 
 
 
 The average daily attendance for the year 1867 
 was 321,683; for the year 1868, 354,853. 
 
 On the whole, therefore, after some years' expe- 
 rience, it was not unfairly concluded, that a con- 
 siderable degree of success had attended the 
 system of National Education in regard to one of 
 its objects ; and that a very much greater amount 
 of instruction of a better quality had been diffused 
 among a greater number of the population than 
 by any of the previously existing schools, and at a 
 reduced rate of comparative cost. 
 
 It was, consequently, the opinion of successive 
 administrations that no eifort should be spared to 
 encourage and, if possible, enforce its general 
 adoption. 
 
 AYith respect to the other object to which we 
 have alluded as being contemplated by the system, 
 it cannot now be concealed that its results have 
 not been by any means so satisfactory. 
 
190 
 
 In places where the Roman Catholics predomi- 
 nated, the great majority of the children sent to 
 the schools were naturally of that persuasion ; in 
 which cases the children of such Protestants as 
 might have resorted to them were rapidly with- 
 drawn ; and the instruction given in them either 
 became, or was believed to have become, so en- 
 tirely sectarian in character as to render it incon- 
 sistent with, or hostile to, the doctrines of the 
 reformed religion. 
 
 In some instances, indeed, the schools under 
 these circumstances were known to be in open 
 connection with the ministers of the Roman Ca- 
 tholic Church, and even in certain cases the chil- 
 dren were taught by nuns, clad in the dress of their 
 order. (House of Lords' Committee on Education, 
 1837.) In Ulster, on the other hand, and in parts 
 of the country where there was a sufficiently large 
 Protestant population, the schools were frequented 
 numerously by the children of that persuasion ; 
 but when this occurred, the attendance of Roman 
 Catholic chiklren was, and still is, denounced and 
 forbidden by the clergy of that Church, as 
 dangerous and infectious to the purity of their 
 faith ; and in no instance was the presence of 
 Roman Catholic children in the National Schools 
 authorized by their clergy, except where the pupils 
 of that persuasion composed them " in toto," or 
 were in an overwhelming majority, and the ma- 
 nagement and teaching were practically under the 
 
191 
 
 exclusive control of Roman Catholic teachers, and 
 the supervision of Roman Catholic priests. * 
 
 * The following table exhibits the number of children of 
 each religious persuasion attending the schools in the year 
 1868:— 
 
 70,302 or 7.27 were of the Established Church, 
 782,984 or 80.93 were Eoman Catholics, 
 107,401 or 11.10 were Presbyterians, 
 
 6,757 or 0.70 were of other persuasions. 
 
 From the returns Avhich had been recei^^ed on the publication 
 of the thirty-fifth report by the Commissioners of National 
 Education, it appears that there were :■ — 3,837 mixed schools, 
 or those in which the pupils were of diiFerent persuasions ; 
 and 2,626 unmixed schools, of which 206 were exclusively Pro- 
 testant, (24,182 pupils,) and 2,420 were exclusively Eoman Ca- 
 tholic (having 384,672 pupils.) 
 
 The following summary shows the extent to which mixed 
 education prevails in Ireland, and the proportions of pupils of 
 the respective religions attending the schools : — 
 
 119,817 Protestants mixing with 30,895 Roman Catholic 
 pupils, in 1,122 schools, taught exclusively by Protestant 
 teachers; giving to each school an average of 106.8 Protestants 
 to 27.6 Roman Catholics. 
 
 14,415 Protestants with 12,327 Roman Catholics, in 120 
 schools, taught conjointly by Protestant and Roman Catholic 
 teachers ; giving to each school an average of 120.1 Protestant 
 and 102.7 Roman Catholic pupils. 
 
 26,046 Protestants with 354,764 Roman Catholics, in 2,595 
 schools, taught exclusively by Roman Catholic teachers ; giving 
 to each school an average of 10.0 Protestant to 136.7 Roman 
 Catholic pupils. 
 
 Protestants predominate in 1,129 schools, and have 206 
 schools exclusively to themselves. Roman Catholics predominate 
 in 2,708 schools, and have 2,420 exclusively to themselves. (See 
 thirty-fifth report of the Commissioners of National Education, 
 for 1868.) 
 
192 
 
 It thus became evident that the conciliatory in- 
 tention of the Imperial Government had in this 
 respect been completely frustrated. The schools, 
 instead of being, as was intended, general^ had be- 
 come in reality denominational ; and instead of 
 aifording a common ground for the formation of 
 congenial habits, and the removal of mutual dis- 
 trust, had but too often served to mark out dis- 
 tinction and embitter jealousy, without, it is 
 almost needless to remark, satisfying the aspira- 
 tions, or conciliating the good-will of either of 
 the religious and ^^ohtical parties which it was 
 meant to unite. 
 
 It was in vain that the statesmen of England 
 and the great functionaries of the British Govern- 
 ment — who, from want of a just appreciation of the 
 real state of relio:ious feelino; in Ireland, were un- 
 able to comprehend why a measure apparently so 
 fair and so conciliatory should be obstructed — 
 exerted every effort, and used every influence in 
 .its behalf. Motives of interest were found insuffi- 
 jcient to gain over a sufiicient number of the 
 ■ clergy of the Established Church, to act as a body 
 ' in its support, while the pretensions of the Roman 
 Catholic clergy were not to be satisfied, or their 
 suspicions lulled, by any middle term which could 
 be devised. If the grants of the Board of Educa- 
 tion were a gift in which they were allowed to 
 partake, and in many instances almost to monopo- 
 
193 
 
 lize, they were, nevertheless, regarded as the gift 
 of an opponent. 
 
 "Timeo Danseos et dona ferentes" expresses 
 a feeling, which, unfortunately, still too much 
 prevails among the members of that body, in 
 regard even to the most liberal boons and con- 
 cessions from Protestant England. 
 
 It is to be observed, that one of the most 
 steadfast advocates of the National School system, 
 the learned and liberal Protestant Archbishop 
 of Dublin, Doctor Whately,* whose efforts had 
 been unceasing, and, as he for a long time flat- 
 tered himself, successful, in eliminating, in con- 
 currence with the Roman Catholic Archbishop 
 who sat with him on the Commission, every ele- 
 ment of difference, was compelled at length to 
 throw up the game, and to withdraw his impor- 
 tant support and countenance from the National 
 Schools, from which he, with others, had hoped to 
 derive such happy results. 
 
 On the other hand, one of the leading prelates 
 of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland, and one 
 
 * In his examination before the Committee of the House of 
 Lords, which sat in 1854, to inquire into the progress made by 
 the National Scliool system, the Archbishop of Dublin said : — 
 " I approve of the principle of the system most completely. The 
 system has succeeded in every instance where it has had a fair 
 trial ; but there was a very strong prejudice against it, arising 
 from a great variety and combination of circumstances. A 
 system Avhich has been flourishing with unexpected success for 
 more than twenty years." 
 
 O 
 
194 
 
 whose declaration would be likely to have the 
 greatest possible weight with all of his persuasion, 
 has gone so far as to announce that he rejected 
 the system " in toto," as being dangerous to the 
 faith and morals of his flock.* 
 
 In order to account for the failure of this part 
 I of the well-intended plan of Government, it must 
 be borne in mind, that both Protestants and Ro- 
 man Catholics in Ireland agree, nay insist, that 
 any system of moral training to be effective or 
 I acceptable to them must necessarily be founded 
 ! upon religion; and in this opinion they are sup- 
 j ported by the nearly unanimous voice of the 
 English public and of the Imperial Legislature. 
 It is needless to say, that he who enounces this 
 doctrine means by " religion" that form of the 
 Christian religion which he himself deems to be 
 the true one; and that if he considers it to be 
 essential that moral education should be founded 
 
 * At a speech made in Wexford by Cardinal Cullen, he is re- 
 ported to have said : — . . . . " The question of educa- 
 tion is so important, that on it depends the future fate of religion 
 in our country. ... I have not ceased to denounce mixed 
 
 education as dangerous to faith and morals The 
 
 revelations made by Miss Whately on this subject are most im- 
 portant, and the voice of the father, speaking, as you say, from 
 the grave, has served to convince all who wished to know the 
 truth, that a system forced on us as a great boon was intended by 
 its principal founder to serve as a means of shaking the convic- 
 tions of our people, of spreading scepticism, and undermining the 
 vast fabric of Catholicity in our country." (^Freeman's Journal, 
 2nd October, 1869.) 
 
195 
 
 upon true religion, it is equally essential that the 
 doctrines of any other religious faith, which he 
 conscientiously believes to be erroneous, should be 
 carefully eliminated from all educational instruc- 
 tion, and more particularly from that publicly ad- 
 ministered to the youthful part of the population. 
 The question, then, arises between the two deno- 
 minations of Christians into which the population 
 of Ireland is divided, which is the true interpre- 
 tation of their common faith? — a question which 
 the debates of centuries have not decided, and 
 which in Ireland still subsists in its fullest vitalitj^ 
 exacerbated by political party feeling. The at- 
 tempt made, no doubt in a spirit of conciliation, 
 to exclude from the code of religious morals to be 
 inculcated in the public schools all points in re- 
 gard to which the two sects differ, and to base it 
 upon those general principles or maxims in regard 
 to which they might be presumed to agree, could 
 not unfortunately, from the nature of the case, 
 succeed. Their differences, both in dogma and in 
 discipline, are too profound and essential, and 
 their general spirit too adverse to each other, to 
 admit of a common recourse to what would be 
 considered by each as a sort of religious and 
 moral " caput mortuum," as a common test or in- 
 strument of religious and moral instruction. It 
 must be recollected, that the Roman Catholic and 
 Protestant Churches do not consider each other 
 simply as religious communities differing in re- 
 
196 
 
 gard to certain specific doctrines, but denounce 
 each other, and that not occasionally and inci- 
 dentally, but fundamentally and permanently, as 
 false and erroneous in doctrine and destructive 
 to all the purposes of true religion. Nothing but 
 a deo-ree of lukewarmness or indifiference as to 
 
 o 
 
 their respective doctrines and practice, which 
 certainly does not exist in Ireland, could recon- 
 cile Protestants and Roman Catholics to confide 
 the early education of their children to a tutelage 
 which, in regard to religion, could inspire confi- 
 dence in neither. 
 
 The very fact that the apparently inofi'ensive 
 condition made by the Kildare Place Society, that 
 the Bible should be read without note or comment, 
 was objected to by the Roman Catholic hierarchy, 
 as renderino; those schools unfit for children be- 
 lono-ino; to their flocks, at once illustrates in the 
 most striking manner the entire impossibility of 
 the establishment of any neutral ground of reli- 
 gious and moral education, on which the oppo- 
 sing parties could, consistently with their admitted 
 doctrines, consent to meet. 
 
 The tendency of all education in Ireland to as- 
 sume a sectarian or denominational character was, 
 in fact, inevitable, and was strongly marked in re- 
 gard to all the existing schools when the subject 
 of a general system came to be considered. 
 
 As regards the extent to which the spread of 
 education may have facilitated the purposes of 
 
197 
 
 civil government, it is to be regretted that the 
 improvement has not been so marked as to enable 
 us to produce any very positive proofs of its ex- 
 istence. The same offences now occur as when 
 the system was originated. Disaffection, it is to 
 be feared, is not diminished; jurors are still inti- 
 midated; judges insulted; agrarian outrages fre- 
 quent; and those crimes which it was thought 
 would be surely affected by education, still con- 
 tinue to be committed. 
 
 Under the vague name of Fenianism, the old 
 spirit of Irish rebellion has raised its head, and 
 still subsists with an organization more extensive 
 and more difficult to deal with, and with adherents 
 more numerous, (according to the remarkable 
 avowal made by an Irish Lord Lieutenant.) than 
 preceded the fearful outbreak of 1798. 
 
 If there exist at the present time fewer instances 
 of that appalling distress which has at times dis- 
 tinguished this country, we can scarcely set this 
 down to the account of improved education, when 
 we look to the more obvious causes, in the actual 
 removal of a great part of the pauper population 
 by emigration, or its extermination by famine, and 
 the somewhat better distribution of the remainder, 
 by an improved system of holdings and the culti- 
 vation of the land in larger farms. But the effect 
 of these rude remedies cannot be assigned any 
 more to the moral effects of increased knowledge, 
 than the results of amputation or actual cautery 
 
198 
 
 could be set down to a constitutional treatment of 
 disease, by the application of lenitive medicines or 
 change of climate. 
 
 Religious animosity cannot, unfortunately, be 
 said to have decreased ; and Ireland still exhibits 
 the strange anomaly of a fertile land, under a 
 temperate climate, whose inhabitants are numer- 
 ous, and endowed with physical strength and in- 
 telligence in no common degree, ruled by a 
 Government, in comparison with most others of 
 the world, free and enlightened, under laws in 
 themselves wise and humane, but nevertheless 
 having a large part of its population worse fed, 
 worse clothed, more miserably housed, and less 
 industrious than perhaps that of any other 
 country in Europe. 
 
 Far be it from our intention to deduce from 
 this consideration the conclusion, that the efforts 
 made to supply the people of Ireland with suffi- 
 cient instruction should be abandoned or relaxed. 
 On the contrary, we should rejoice to see them 
 redoubled. It is a case in which, as well as in 
 many others respecting the improvement of Ire- 
 land, we would more emphatically urge the manly 
 exhortation : — 
 
 *' Tu ne cede malis ; sed contra audentior ito." 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 Public Works, County Rates, and Valuation. 
 
 In all inquiries into the condition of Ireland, 
 and the best means of ameliorating it, the deve- 
 lopment of the resources of the country has been 
 much dwelt on, and the interference and assistance 
 of the Government recommended. 
 
 In England, abundant sources of industry were 
 always at hand, requiring only additional facilities 
 of intercourse to enable them to come into full 
 and immediate ojoeration, and holding out suffi- 
 cient inducement for the investment of private 
 caj)ital. 
 
 In Ireland, on the contrary, it was requisite to 
 foster and encourage production, the materials of 
 which were still only latent, and private capital or 
 enterprise insufficient to render them available. 
 
 This was more especially the case in works, 
 such as the construction of roads or piers, which, 
 
200 
 
 from their nature, required to be undertaken by 
 a number of individuals. The construction of 
 the former, it must be observed, was provided 
 for by the Grand Juries, and many fine lines of 
 communication had been made by them ; but 
 there were extensive districts, more especially the 
 mountainous parts of the country, out of the reach 
 of all markets, where such works were very de- 
 sirable, but where the Grand Juries were not 
 willing to execute them, on account of the ex- 
 pense. 
 
 The necessity of assistance, therefore, had been 
 so much felt, that grants of money or special 
 authority for the execution of works had been 
 obtained from Parliament. Such a course, how- 
 ever, was found to be troublesome, expensive, 
 and inconvenient ; and as the Legislature had 
 admitted the propriety of affording encourage- 
 ment and assistance, it was determined to con- 
 stitute a body which should be empowered by 
 the Government to make loans for such purposes. 
 Accordingly, in the year 1831, an Act (called the 
 Public Works Act, 1 and 2 Wm. IV., cap. 33) 
 was passed, authorizing, partly by way of grant, 
 partly by way of loan, the issue of public money 
 to a limited amount in aid of works in Ireland. 
 
 Numerous public works, many of them of con- 
 siderable magnitude, were undertaken by the 
 Board formed under this Act, and the execution 
 of them contributed to the adoption of improved 
 
201 
 
 modes of cultivation, and to the abandonment 
 of the rude and primitive implements in common 
 use. They opened to the officers of justice and 
 the local authorities, places which liad been the 
 secure haunt and impenetrable refuge of the out- 
 law and the robber. They gave access to parts 
 of the country hitherto inaccessible, but which 
 possessed great capabilities, and which now were 
 converted into fertile and useful districts. The 
 improved communications brought the people 
 into contact with a world hitherto unknown to 
 them. Gaining new ideas, and finding new mar- 
 kets, they were stimulated in their efforts to in- 
 crease the produce of their holdings. In short, 
 to use the words of the Select Committee of 
 1830 on Irish Poor, when referring to those al- 
 ready executed, " the effects appear to have 
 been — extended cultivation, improved habits of 
 industry, a better administration of justice, the 
 re-establishment of peace and tranquillity in dis- 
 turbed districts, a domestic colonization of a 
 population in excess in certain districts, a diminu- 
 tion of illicit distillation, and a very considerable 
 increase to the revenue." 
 
 The principal other works undertaken were 
 small fishery piers, which proved of great advan- 
 tage to the coast towns where they were built. 
 The shelter thus afforded to vessels gave facilities, 
 which had not previously existed, for the trans- 
 mission of agricultural produce, and the stimulus 
 
202 
 
 given to agriculture, created in the vicinity of the 
 towns a prosperity which presented a striking 
 contrast to the wild, uncultivated wastes by which 
 they were in many instances surrounded.* 
 
 The power of making loans to individuals for 
 the improvement of their properties had also been 
 given to the Board ; but the terms being disad- 
 vantageous to the borrower, few applications were 
 made.f 
 
 Although successful to a great extent as re- 
 garded the construction of roads and piers, the 
 Act w^as found insufficient for effectins: one of the 
 
 o 
 
 most important of public works, namely, arterial 
 drainage. 
 
 Draining was the first part of the great w^ork of 
 agricultural improvement required in the country. 
 A large portion of the lands available for tillage 
 
 * See Reports of Select Committee on Public Works in Ire- 
 land, 1835. Also, Annual Reports of the Commissioners of 
 Public Works. 
 
 t In this measure " two important principles," say the Land 
 Occupation Commissioners in their report, " were recognized by 
 the Legislature Avith respect to the advances of money for the 
 improvement of Ireland — first, that it was desirable and proper 
 to give assistance, by way of loans, towards the agricultural im- 
 provement of the country ; and second, that in cases in which 
 the property of individuals would derive a permanent benefit 
 from such works, it was just and proper to give power to persons 
 having limited interests, or being under legal disability, to charge 
 such property with the repayment of money advanced in aid of 
 such improvements." " The soundness of the views thus taken 
 by the Legislature," they add, " will be admitted by all those 
 acquainted with the actual state of Ireland." 
 
203 
 
 an 1 pasturage, including the richest and most pro- 
 ductive soils, particularly through the central or 
 interior parts of Ireland, were not alone in a state 
 of entire neglect, but were unimprovable for want 
 of arterial drainage ; whilst other extensive dis- 
 tricts, if not lying absolutely waste, were liable to 
 inundations, and were only cultivated at a great 
 risk. 
 
 From the large co-operation which would have 
 been required among independent proprietors, 
 and from the numerous conflicting interests,* there 
 existed but little prospect of such works being 
 undertaken by private enterprise. The Govern- 
 ment, therefore, in the year 1843, passed an Act, 
 (5 &. 6 Aict., cap. 89,) giving facilities for the 
 execution of these large and important works, and 
 entrusting the superintendence of them to the 
 Commissioners who had been created under the 
 Act of William lY. 
 
 Many applications were made, and as the works 
 were carried out the most favourable results de- 
 veloped themselves. Many farms were freed from 
 the danger of periodical inundation ; large dis- 
 
 * The two following cases are iustances of the number of in- 
 terests involved in such iindertakings : — 
 
 In the case of the Blackwater, there were 3,851 acres of flooded 
 and injured lands, possessed by 53 proprietors and 230 lessors 
 and occupiers. 
 
 In the Ardee district there were 3,240 acres of flooded and 
 injured lands, possessed by 112 proprietors and 376 lessors and 
 occupiers. (See Second Report of Drainage Commissioners.) 
 
204 
 
 tricts, hitherto unavailable for cultivation, were 
 converted into productive and profitable land; 
 and by opening a general vent for the water, faci- 
 lities were given for field drainage. 
 
 Intimately connected with the Public Works 
 undertaken by the Government, were those under- 
 taken by the Grand Juries at the expense of the 
 counties. 
 
 These bodies formed, as it were, the government 
 of the counties, and in them was vested the power 
 of imposing rates upon the counties for local pur- 
 poses. The laws regulating the imposition of 
 these rates are of the greatest importance : by 
 them the means of internal communication are 
 made and maintained ; in them are involved the 
 comfort of all classes of the community, the em- 
 ployment of the poor, and the execution of the 
 Public Works — the funds being devoted to the 
 making and maintenance of roads, to the erection 
 of public buildings, to the support of the police, 
 and to charitable purposes. 
 
 There existed at all times on the part of the 
 people a want of confidence in the Grand Juries, as 
 regarded the discharojie of their fiscal duties. The 
 county rates were leviable alone upon occupiers; 
 but, as many of the Grand Jurors who were 
 chosen from the landed proprietors, and were sup- 
 posed to be representatives of the proprietary 
 interest of the difl'erent districts, held or occu- 
 pied only small portions of their own estates, they 
 
205 
 
 contributed little of the tax they imposed. The 
 burthen of taxation, too, had of late considerably 
 augmented from the increase of roads, the salaries 
 of a greater number of officers, the building of 
 court-houses, the police establishments, and in- 
 demnification for damages for malicious injuries. 
 These and other heavy charges were thrown upon 
 the occupiers, and were imposed by the Grand Ju- 
 rors, " enclosed," as Judge Day remarked, " within 
 locked doors, uninterrupted by those who pay, 
 and who hear nothing of the burden, till tho^e 
 who create it are dissolved and disappear." 
 
 This was a practice in direct opposition to one 
 of the best-established principles of taxation. 
 
 The execution of the works, moreover, Avas smy- 
 thing but satisfactory. All the roads under the 
 control of the Grand Juries could have been both 
 better and more economically made and managed 
 than they were. Plans were hastily adopted with- 
 out sufficient investigation, and the execution of a 
 new line of road or of a bridge was often commit- 
 ted to some farmer enjoying the patronage of a 
 Grand Juror, or if more skill was requisite, was 
 entrusted to the care of a road-jobber. In the em- 
 ployment of labour also, the system followed was 
 very objectionable. Presentment work averaged 
 about lOd. per day; but half of the advantages 
 which the people would have derived from such 
 employment was annulled by the manner in which 
 they were paid, and which is described by Mr. 
 
206 
 
 Nimmo, an eminent engineer, who in a letter on 
 the subject says: — 
 
 " It appears that the repairs of roads are carried 
 on by a ch^ss of persons who make a trade of it as 
 a market for the hibour of their tenantry. The 
 latter are not, properly speaking, paid for what 
 work they do, but have the amount of the present- 
 ment allowed by their landlords, as a set off 
 against the rent of their holdino;s." 
 
 Nor was there any adequate check upon expen- 
 diture, the control being placed in the hands of 
 overseers, whose mere affidavit was sufficient in 
 accounting for the taxes received, thus leaving 
 opportunities for frauds which were naturally but 
 too often committed. 
 
 The system upon which the county rates were 
 imposed and spent was not only bad, but the man- 
 ner in which they were levied was unequal and un- 
 just. Each county in Ireland is divided into baro- 
 nies; each barony into townlands. When a rate 
 was to be levied, the Treasurer of the County 
 issued a warrant for the levy of the sum presented 
 upon the county. The High Constable of the Ba- 
 rony then applotted the sum payable by his barony 
 upon each of tlie townlands in it, placing an equal 
 sum upon each of them. The injustice of such a 
 course is at once apparent, when the great differ- 
 ence in the nature of the soil is considered, and 
 the different value of the agricultural produce or 
 rateable property of each townland. Thus waste 
 
207 
 
 mountain land, worth almost nothing, had to 
 contribute to the expenses of the county in as 
 great a proportion as arable soils bearing magni- 
 ficent crops. 
 
 One example explains more clearly than can 
 otherwise be done the injustice of such a system. 
 
 In the barony of Orrery and Kilmore, in the 
 County Cork, the levy upon one townland was at 
 the rate of 9s. in the pound; in another. Is. 9gd.; 
 and in another, 9d.* For the correction of such 
 an unequal division of taxation, the Ordnance 
 Survey of Ireland had been undertaken ; but the 
 other abuses became so flao-rant, and the svstem 
 was seen to be so faulty, that an Act for its im- 
 provement was passed in the year 1833, (3 & 4 
 Wm. lY., cap. 78 ;) and although in the year 1836 
 this and all former Grand Jury Acts were repealed 
 (by the 6th and 7th Wm. IV., cap. 116,) yet the 
 principles of the statutes behig the same, we may 
 date the commencement of the new system from 
 1834. 
 
 One of the first alterations it efi'ected was to 
 give to the tax-payers the principal, in fact almost 
 the entire, voice in the imposition of the taxes ; 
 for it was enacted that of the persons paying the 
 county-rates, or " cess,'' a certain number (selected 
 by ballot from a list of one hundred of the highest 
 cess-payers of the barony) were to sit and vote 
 
 * Committee, State of Ireland, 1825, p. 554. 
 
208 
 
 with a certain number of magistrates at " Road 
 Sessions," (so called, because everything relating to 
 the roads was determined by this body,) and to 
 the Grand Jury was left no power to make a pre- 
 sentment (i.e, to propose a tax,) for any work 
 which had not been approved at Road Sessions. 
 This, therefore, limited the powers of a hitherto 
 comparatively irresponsible body. Other impor- 
 tant alterations were also made. The fiscal duties 
 of the Grand Juries, which formerly were per- 
 formed with closed doors, were now to be per- 
 formed in open court, and to avoid the evils inci- 
 dent to the great haste with which, owing to their 
 limited time, they had to go through the business 
 brought before them, they were to be summoned 
 in time to complete the fiscal business before the 
 arrival of the Judges, and their proceeding to the 
 criminal business. The High Sherifi", in nominat- 
 ing the Grand Jury, was compelled by this Act 
 to put one individual upon the panel from each 
 barony of the count}^, thus securing a fairer re- 
 presentation than there had hitherto been of the 
 interests of the difi'erent parts of the country, and 
 annihilating a family -compact system, which to 
 some extent had prevailed. 
 
 Measures for the economy and superintendence 
 of the works were also taken. 
 
 Every work was in future to be executed by 
 contract, and a county surveyor was appointed at 
 a fixed salary to superintend the construction and 
 
209 
 
 maintenance of the roads and other works. En- 
 gineers being alone qualified for this situation, the 
 advantage was gained of having a w^ell qualified 
 person to perform duties hitherto done by igno- 
 rant persons, and those whose principal object had 
 been to make as much money out of the transac- 
 tion as was possible. 
 
 These alterations efi'ected a marked improve- 
 ment in the administration of the fiscal powers 
 of the Grand Juries; by the economy efi'ected 
 the results were highly advantageous to the 
 tax-payer; the highways of the country were 
 improved, so as to be inferior to those of no other, 
 and they continue to maintain that superiority 
 over those of England, class to class, which at- 
 tracted the attention of Arthur Young so early 
 as 1778. 
 
 The Ordnance Survey of Ireland, to which we 
 have alluded, had been decided on in the year 
 1824.* It was the first step in the plan of the va- 
 luation of Ireland, wdiich had been resolved upon 
 by the Government, with the design of correcting 
 the evils attendant upon that unjust method of 
 imposing public charges which we have described; 
 and its object was to obtain a survey of the coun- 
 try sufficiently accurate to enable persons ap- 
 pointed as valuators, and acting under Govern- 
 ment superintendence, to follow the surveyors, and 
 
 * Report of Select Committee on the Survey of Ireland. 
 
 P 
 
210 
 
 by making a valuation, to give the means after- 
 wards of apportioning correctly and equitably the 
 proper amount of local taxation. 
 
 As a measure of practical government, it was 
 one of the best that has been adopted in Ireland, 
 and it derives increased importance from the fact 
 of its laying the foundation for eifecting the 
 valuation of Ireland, a subject of the greatest im- 
 portance, whether it be considered with a view to 
 the framing of bargains between the occupiers and 
 owners of land, or with a view to public assess- 
 ments. Although the subject had been warmly 
 taken up in the year 1824, and a Valuation Act 
 had been passed in 1826, much does not appear to 
 have been done until the year 1830 or 1831. 
 The progress of the survey, and consequently of 
 the valuation, was very slow. When the latter 
 was effected, the new and more equitable system 
 of levying a proportional instead of an equal tax 
 upon each townland was adopted. But even still a 
 grievance, although a much lesser one, remained, 
 in the manner of levying the rates upon the occu- 
 piers of the townland; for the proportions between 
 the different occupiers were applotted by persons 
 under the direction of the Grand Jury, and many 
 of them being unfit for their work, the results at- 
 tained were far from being either accurate or 
 equitable. 
 
 The whole system, however, was simplified by 
 the Townland A\aluation Act, (6 & 7 AVm. IV, cap. 
 
211 
 
 84,)* which was passed in 1836; and by the end 
 of March, 1844, the valuation of twenty counties 
 had been completed, that of six was in a forward 
 state, wdiile five counties, (in the southern part 
 of the country,) comprising one-fourth of Ireland 
 were untouched. f 
 
 This valuation failed, however, to be practically 
 useful in one most important particular : it was 
 no guide to the actual value of the several divi- 
 sions of property of which the to"s\Tiland was com- 
 posed. And then about the year 1840, a new 
 tax, namely the Poor Rate, was imposed upon 
 property, and the townland valuation, which was 
 incomplete for the collection of county rates, was 
 totally useless for Poor Law purposes; for, besides 
 contemjjlating no smaller division of land than 
 the townland, a standard of value had been 
 adopted which failed to indicate the value re- 
 
 * The principle of the townland valuation (6 & 7 "Wm. IV.) 
 was based upon the scale which is appended to the Act ; and 
 that valuation was arrived at by the valuators ascertaining 
 the actual quality of the soil, and the nature of the sub-soil ; 
 and comparing that with what, looking to the price of the pro- 
 duce of the country in the neighbouring markets, they thought 
 it ought to be ; all local circumstances, whether of advantage or 
 disadvantage, being taken into consideration. 
 
 The general townland valuation was made, therefore, accord- 
 ing to the scale of agricultural produce appended to the Act ; 
 but this scale of value was considerably lower than the general 
 price of agricultural produce. 
 
 f See Select Committee on Townland Valuation, Ireland, 
 1844. — Evidence. 
 
212 
 
 quired by the Poor Relief Act, and much pro- 
 perty which was liable to the Poor Rates, but not 
 to the county rates, had been omitted in the town- 
 land valuation. 
 
 It was, therefore, necessary to make a separate 
 Poor Law Valuation ; but this, though framed on 
 a sound principle of assessment, was not suffi- 
 ciently uniform to afford a basis for the imposition 
 of the county rates. Hence there were two dis- 
 tinct valuations in Ireland. 
 
 As a further step in attaining a more equitable 
 system, an Act w^as passed in the year 1846, (9 & 
 10 Vict., cap. 110,) directing that every tenement 
 which was rateable under the provisions of the 
 Poor Relief Act should be valued separately;* and 
 thus the injustice of an inequitable payment of 
 rates by the occupiers of a townland was removed, 
 and each farm or holding had imposed upon it 
 only its own proportionate share. 
 
 In the year 1852, the subject was again brought 
 forward, and an amended Valuation Act (15 & 
 16 Vict., cap. 63,) was passed, in which one uni- 
 form principle of valuation for all kinds of assess- 
 ments was extended to the whole of Ireland. 
 
 Thus, in place of two valuations, one of which 
 was constructed on a faulty principle, and the 
 
 * The primary ingredient in this valuation was the actual 
 value of the land, modified by the prices at the local markets, 
 and the actual produce derived from the lands according, to the 
 system of agriculture which prevailed in that county. 
 
213 
 
 other deficient in uniformity, was substituted a 
 single one based upon a correct estimate of value.* 
 
 It was determined also, that the valuation should 
 undergo an annual revision, a course both neces- 
 sary and useful, where the changes in the value of 
 property are frequent and considerable. 
 
 Under this Act the valuation of the whole of 
 Ireland has been effected, and is now annually re- 
 vised. 
 
 The measure has proved to be highly advan- 
 tageous to the general community. Additional 
 securities for the correctness of the valuation have 
 been created, through the stronger and more 
 numerous inducements now existing for its re- 
 vision. The imposition of local taxes has been 
 rendered equitable, and their collection has been 
 facilitated. And there is the indirect though no 
 small advantage of a safe criterion being furnished 
 for any Parliamentary or municipal franchise, or 
 other public right, in which a property qualifica- 
 tion is an ingredient. 
 
 The necessity for a correct system of valuation 
 had become greater as the amount of taxation in- 
 
 * This valuation was constructed upon the intrinsic worth 
 and capabilities of the soil, its adaptation to different descriptions 
 of produce, and the value of the same according to the scale of 
 prices of agricultural produce embodied in the Act, but taking 
 the net annual value as in the Poor Law Act for houses, mines, 
 fisheries, buildings, &c., to which such principle of comparison 
 could not be applied. 
 
214 
 
 creased; and if the system thus established is not 
 regarded as being absolutely correct in its calcu- 
 lations of the actual value of property, it must be 
 admitted that it is uniform in its results, and re- 
 latively correct 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The Poor Law. 
 
 The question of introducing a Poor Law into 
 Ireland, could not fail at any time to engage the 
 attention of every one who had any interest in 
 ameliorating the notoriously wretched condition 
 of the peasantry and lower orders in that country; 
 but the ever-accumulating mass of destitution, 
 arising from the rapid increase of population, the 
 effect of the Sub-Letting x\.ct, the periodical par- 
 tial failures of the potato crop, and other causes 
 to which we have adverted in the course of these 
 notes, brought the subject forward more pro- 
 minently about the year 1833, than at any former 
 time. 
 
 It was consequently considered imperatively 
 necessary to take some steps for the establishment 
 of a general and permanent system for the relief 
 
216 
 
 of the poor in Ireland, similar to that existing in 
 England, and the subject was accordingly brought 
 under the consideration of the Legislature. 
 
 The question, however, was one in regard to 
 which much difference of opinion existed, and 
 may be said even still to exist. Whatever might 
 be thought of the efficacy of the English law, and 
 of its success in relieving the poor without in- 
 juriously encroaching on the rights of the rich, 
 and endangering the vital principle of all just and 
 regular government, which guarantees security to 
 the property of its individual subjects of whatever 
 description it may be, it was doubted that such a 
 law could be extended to Ireland^ consistently 
 with the strict observance of this fundamental 
 condition. 
 
 Nor was it unnatural that such doubts should be 
 entertained. It was admitted on all hands, that 
 the condition of Ireland, in regard to its poor, 
 differed essentially from that of England. The 
 single fact that England had long been habituated 
 to provide by local arrangements, founded, how- 
 ever, upon general laws, for the relief of its desti- 
 tute inhabitants, while no such provision had ever 
 existed in Ireland, would, it was thought, consti- 
 tute in itself a serious difficulty in the application 
 of the system to the latter country. The immense 
 scale upon which it appeared to be necessary 
 to exercise it, compared with what was in England 
 sufficient, although still felt there as a heavy 
 
217 
 
 burden, was another weighty objection urged 
 against its practicability. 
 
 But more than all, what was calculated to cause 
 apprehension as to the effects of a Poor Law in 
 Ireland, was the difficulty which had been found 
 in England itself of adjusting the provisions of the 
 law in such a manner as to free it, not alone 
 from inconvenience, but from the absolute danger 
 to the best interests of society, which appeared at 
 one time to be so imminent as to occupy for many 
 years the almost entire attention of the Legis- 
 lature, and to threaten even the peace of the 
 country. The result of the agitation of this ques- 
 tion was, as most of our readers are no doubt well 
 aware, the passage, after much debate and strong 
 opposition, of the Poor Law Amendment Act of 
 1834, which constituted a thorough reform of the 
 existing system — a reform, however, very distaste- 
 ful to a large portion of the nation, the beneficial 
 results of which could not be immediately percep- 
 tible, and which Avere consequently, by many, 
 looked upon as being of extremely dubious ac- 
 complishment. 
 
 This was a circumstance which, no doubt, re- 
 tarded the consideration of the applicability of a 
 Poor Law to Ireland. It was thought that a 
 system Avhich had been fraught with evil con- 
 sequences in England, and had needed recon- 
 struction, the effect of which was not yet as- 
 certained, could not with safety be set on foot 
 
218 
 
 in a country where it was to be expected that the 
 obstacles to its successful operation would be in- 
 finitely greater. 
 
 The English Poor Law Amendment Act, how- 
 ever, did not fail — in spite of many objections, and 
 notwithstanding the apprehension of its opposers — 
 to be eminently successful in effecting its objects, 
 and in averting those evil consequences which, 
 without the utmost care and precaution, are sure 
 to attend any general system of compulsory State 
 provision for the poor. The disastrous catastrophe 
 which so soon followed the ill-judged attempt to 
 establish such a system in France, under the name 
 of " Droit de travail," in 1848, which its initiators 
 pretended, at the time, was no more than a just 
 development of the principle of the English Poor 
 Law, is sufficient to point out the peril of such 
 measures when not guarded and limited by restric- 
 tions requiring great practical experience to de- 
 vise, as well as the exertion of sufficient authority 
 to enforce. 
 
 In order to understand more clearly the nature 
 of the difficulties which opposed themselves to the 
 introduction of a Poor Law into Ireland, it may 
 be well to advert briefly to some of the abuses of 
 the system in England, which the Poor Law Act 
 of 1834 was designed to remedy. 
 
 One of them was the too lavish and unequal 
 manner in which the fund provided by the Poor 
 Rate was distributed among its recipients. The 
 
219 
 
 scale of relief obtainable by the pauper from the 
 Poor Law Guardians became higher than that 
 which could be earned by the labourer^ furnishing 
 the latter with an obvious motive, independent of 
 the state of idleness in which those receiving pa- 
 rochial relief were allowed to live, to prefer the 
 condition of a well-fed, well-clothed, and idle par- 
 ticipator in the public charity, to that of a com- 
 paratively worse paid and worse fed working man. 
 This naturally tended to an indefinite increase 
 of the former class, carrying with it all the demo- 
 ralization attendant upon dependent idleness, as 
 contrasted with the respectability of him who feels 
 that he owes his livelihood to his own honest 
 exertions. Recourse to the aid of the parish was 
 rendered more easy by the practice of " out-door 
 relief," by which he who established a claim to be 
 entered on the parish books as a pauper^ was en- 
 titled to receive at his own dwelling a rate of re- 
 lief proportioned to his own wants and those of 
 his family. But this practice, in itself an abuse, 
 was infinitely enhanced by another engrafted upon 
 it, which, if continued, would have rendered the 
 amount of the Poor Rate such as would have 
 constituted a positive confiscation of the interests 
 of a great part of the landed proprietors of Eng- 
 land. We allude to what was termed " the making- 
 up of wages out of rates." According to this prac- 
 tice, the labourer who could show that the amount 
 of the wages he was in receipt of, fell short of 
 
220 
 
 what was deemed necessary to support him, was 
 entitled to claim out of the parish rates a supple- 
 mentary sum, sufficient to bring them up to what 
 was deemed sufficient. The inevitable tendency 
 of this was an indefinite reduction in the rate of 
 the wages of labour ; for it became a matter of in- 
 difference to the labourer, so long as he received 
 the sum necessary for his support, how much of it 
 was paid to him in the shape of wages, and how 
 much in that of parochial relief. To the tenant- 
 farmer, on the other hand, it was an evident ad- 
 vantage that the rate of wages should fall to the 
 lowest possible point, so long as he was enabled to 
 supply the deficiency out of a fund to which the 
 farmers had contributed but a very small part in 
 comparison to that furnished by their landlord. 
 
 The amount of poor rates under this system had 
 already in many parts of England equalled the 
 whole rental of the land, and in some instances 
 exceeded it. In other parts it was felt with alarm 
 that the same result was impending. 
 
 It became evident, consequently, that in the in- 
 troduction into Ireland of a system of relief for 
 the poor, these evils, if not most carefully guarded 
 against, would, from the condition of the country, 
 be certain to manifest themselves in an infinitely 
 greater degree. 
 
 Under such circumstances was it that the Legis- 
 lature had to address itself to the task of preparing 
 a Poor Law for Ireland. 
 
221 
 
 The condition of the country previous to the 
 application of the measure that was devised — an 
 account of the measure itself, and the principles 
 upon which it was based — its introduction into 
 Ireland, and the changes it from time to time 
 underwent, first demand our attention ; and 
 these being disposed of, w^e shall then consider 
 its effects, and how far it answered the objects 
 which it was intended to accomplish. 
 
 To describe the circumstances of the ^^eople for 
 which the new law was intended, would be but to 
 repeat was has already been stated in previous 
 chapters. The only change which had taken place 
 between the years 1825 and 1835 was, that the 
 number of persons without employment had in- 
 creased, as the transition to a system of large 
 holdings was slowly yet steadily effected, and 
 the superabundant pauper population were re- 
 moved from the land. The number of persons 
 in Ireland " out of work and in distress during 
 thirty weeks of the year," was in 1835 estimated at 
 not less than 585,000, the number of those de- 
 pendent upon them at not less than 1,800,000, 
 making a total of 2,385,000.* Agricultural wages, 
 which varied from 6d. to Is. a day, were only ob- 
 tainable for a short time of the year ; so that it was 
 impossible for labourers thus circumstanced to 
 provide against sickness, against want of employ- 
 
 * Third Report, Poor LaAv Inquiry Commission. 
 
222 
 
 ment, against old age, or against the destitution of 
 their families in the event of their own premature 
 decease. ^luch less than all this, their earnings, 
 in most cases, did not suffice to provide the neces- 
 saries of life, and they were obliged, not unwil- 
 lingly perhaps, to have recourse to mendicancy to-' 
 obtain the food requisite for their existence. Large 
 numbers, therefore, betook themselves to w^an- 
 dering through the country, seeking, almost de- 
 manding, food from all who were able to give it to 
 them. Naturally an immoral class, having been 
 reared in idleness and vice, they carried with 
 them moral as well as physical contamination. 
 To use Mr. Nicholl's words in his First Report 
 on the State of the Poor in Ireland— "A mass of 
 filth, nakedness, and squalor is constantly moving 
 about, entering every house, addressing itself to 
 every eye, and soliciting from every hand." 
 
 It is not necessary to enter minutely into the 
 lamentable effects of this mendicancy upon the 
 people in general. It had become too common to 
 be disgraceful ; it was no longer disreputable to 
 beg, to appear wretchedly clothed, or to be with- 
 out any of the decencies of life ; in fact the demo- 
 ralization had become so great, as to have almost 
 quenched in the breasts of the peasantry the wish 
 or the hope of bettering their condition. 
 
 The burden of the support of this enormous 
 mendicant class fell entirely upon the small far- 
 mers and tenants, who, although nearly as poor 
 
223 
 
 themselves, displayed the most remarkable charity, 
 and gave as loDg as they had anything to give. 
 
 " 1 could not," said Bishop Doyle in his evi- 
 dence before the Committee in 1830,* "if I were 
 to speak till the sun went down, convey a just 
 picture of the benevolence prevailing in the hearts 
 and minds of the middling classes in Ireland." 
 
 But, however honourable this was to them as a 
 people, and high and holy in itself, it led in its 
 exercise to the greatest social evils. Given with- 
 out system or without inquiry to the good and to 
 the bad, the really destitute and the pretenders to 
 destitution alike received their maintenance out of 
 the earnino's of the industrious. Beo-oino- was en- 
 couraged rather than otherwise, and a general im- 
 providence evinced itself among the people from 
 the very consciousness that the last halfpenny or 
 the last potato would be shared with the first ap- 
 plicant for help. 
 
 On the most moderate computation the amount 
 of spontaneous alms was from one to two millions 
 sterling annually ; but so far from this immense 
 expenditure being productive of any good results, 
 the evils of mendicancy were fast becoming so in- 
 tolerable, and the class of mendicants so extended, 
 that its suppression became at last a necessity for 
 the welfare of the State. It is evident, however, 
 
 * See evidence given before the House of Commons' Com- 
 mittee of 1830, to inquire into the state of the poor in Ireland. 
 
224 
 
 that mendicancy cannot be suppressed unless some 
 provision is made for the destitute; and partly 
 with this view, partly with the view of assisting 
 the people in the great transition they were un- 
 dergoing, it was determined to introduce a Poor 
 Law into Ireland. 
 
 As was naturally to be expected, so important 
 an innovation met with considerable oj)position. 
 
 It was argued that the amount of destitution 
 in Ireland was so great that any system for the re- 
 lief of the poor must inevitably break down, and 
 that the recognition of any legal claim for relief 
 would infallibly lead to universal pauperism, and 
 would amount to a total confiscation of property; 
 and the example of England for many years was 
 held to bear out this argument. 
 
 But on the other hand more powerful argu- 
 ments were brought forward. 
 
 The population must be supported in some 
 way out of the resources of the country; and the 
 establishment of a system, guarded by a test of 
 destitution, would diminish rather than increase 
 the charge. It was but fair, too, that the burden 
 should be borne by all classes; for, as we have seen, 
 it had hitherto fallen on one alone — the upper clas- 
 ses generally, and the absentee proprietors entirely, 
 escaping from their share. It was argued, also, 
 that a legal provision for the poor would be for 
 the interest of every class : of the landlord — for 
 having to support the poor he would find it to his 
 
225 
 
 advantage to provide them with labour, and the 
 capital and labour so employed would yield him an 
 ample profit ; of the farmer, as it would reduce in 
 some degree the immoderate competition for land, 
 and would rid him of those sturdy vagrants who 
 preyed upon his industry; of the labourer, for it 
 would give him a refuge should he fall into abso- 
 lute want. 
 
 There were other and more general ways, too, 
 in Avhicli it was aro-ued that a Poor LaAv would be 
 beneficial. It would improve the social relations 
 of Ireland, and would be a promoter of concord, 
 by showing the disposition of the State to attend 
 to the welfare of all classes ; it would tend to pre- 
 serve the peace of the country, by preventing 
 vagrancy and removing some of the incentives to 
 crime ; and it would promote a kindly feeling be 
 tween the upper and lower classes of the com- 
 munity. 
 
 A more eloquent or clearer resume of the neces- 
 sity of introducing such a law into Ireland, has 
 never been given than is contained in the con- 
 cluding paragraph of Mr. NicholFs first report to 
 the Government on this subject, in 1836 : — 
 
 " It appears then, I think," says he, " that a 
 Poor Law is necessary for relieving the destitution 
 to which a large portion of the population is now 
 exposed. It appears, too, that circumstances are 
 at present favourable for the introduction of such 
 a measure. A Poor Law seems also to be neces- 
 
 Q 
 
226 
 
 sary, as a first step towards bringing about im- 
 provement in the habits and social condition of 
 the people. Without such improvement, peace, 
 good order, and security cannot exist in Ireland ; 
 and without these it is in vain to look for 
 that accumulation of wealth and influx of capital, 
 which are necessary for developing its resources 
 agricultural and commercial, and for providing 
 profitable employment for the population. Ireland 
 is now suifering under a circle of evils, producing 
 and reproducing one another. Want of capital 
 produces want of employment; want of employ- 
 ment, turbulence and misery; turbulence and 
 misery, insecurity; insecurity prevents the intro- 
 duction and accumulation of capital, and so on. 
 Until this circle is broken, the evils must continue 
 and probably increase. The first thing to be done 
 is to give security; that will produce or invite 
 capital ; and capital will give employment. But 
 security of person and property cannot co-exist 
 with extensive destitution. So that, in truth, the 
 reclamation of bogs and wastes — the establishment 
 of fisheries and manufactures — improvements in 
 agriculture, and in the general condition of the 
 country — and lastly, the elevation of the great 
 mass of the Irish people in the social scale, appear 
 to be all more or less contingent upon establishing 
 a law providing for the relief of the destitute." 
 
 It is doubtful, however, that these arguments 
 would have prevailed had not the English Poor 
 
227 
 
 Law been amended, whilst the subject of the Irish 
 Poor Law was under consideration ; and the 
 highly satisfactory results, consequent on the 
 change, made evident the fact, that a measure 
 similar to the amended English law might with 
 safety be introduced into Ireland. 
 
 Several very important principles are embodied 
 in a law for the relief of the poor, and several 
 questions of the greatest difficulty are involved. 
 
 The first was that of the provision of the funds, 
 and upon this head there was much difference of 
 opinion. 
 
 It is evident, however, that a public duty of this 
 sort should be performed by all classes in propor- 
 tion to their means ; but more especially by those 
 who chiefly would have the means of averting 
 pauperism by giving employment, and by dis- 
 couraging evil practices. It was decided, there- 
 fore, that the fund should be obtained by a com- 
 pulsory assessment in due proportion on ]3ro- 
 perty ; thus compelling the wealthier classes, 
 absentee as well as resident, to bear their part of 
 the burden. But as it was considered that pro- 
 prietors were not the only class who would have a 
 pecuniary interest in lessening the evils of pau- 
 perism, the burden was apportioned between them 
 and their tenants. 
 
 The funds thus raised were to be managed and 
 distributed by a certain number of persons elected 
 by the rate-payers. As economical an adminis- 
 
228 
 
 tration as possible was thus secured; for it was 
 obvious that those who were to provide the money 
 would not be lavish in its expenditure. 
 
 But the most difficult problem to be solved 
 was how to obtain a test of the real destitution 
 of the applicants for relief ; for it is upon this 
 point that the whole success of the law hinges. 
 Hitherto there had been none — the worthy and 
 the unworthy having alike wandered from door 
 to door, and having been alike the recipient of 
 alms. 
 
 In England the workhouse had been found to 
 be a test such as was required, but it was feared 
 that it would be less efficient in Ireland. The 
 governing principle of the workhouse system is 
 this : that the su]3port which is affi^rded at the 
 public charge in the workhouse, shall on the 
 whole be less desirable than the support obtained 
 by independent exertion. To carry out this prin- 
 ciple, it may seem to be necessary that the in- 
 mates should be in all respects worse situated, 
 worse clothed, worse lodged, and worse fed than 
 the independent labourers of the district. In Ire- 
 land, therefore, it was thought that there could 
 not be the same security, in this respect, for the 
 efficiency of the workhouse test, which might in 
 some degree be operative in England ; and the 
 great objection urged against its introduction into 
 Ireland was the fact, that the physical comforts 
 would be greater in the workhouse than in the 
 
229 
 
 cabins; for in Ireland no change for the worse 
 could be made, nor a lower scale of diet be given 
 than that upon which they subsisted. But the plan 
 of giving lesser comforts in the workhouse was 
 not altogether the keystone of the system. Much 
 of its efficacy was to be found in their internal 
 management. The compulsory labour, the dis- 
 cipline, the separation, or classification which was 
 pursued in the interior, all were real objects of 
 dislike to the pauper, and served to render the 
 workhouse, in those respects, little better than a 
 prison. Hence, although the inmates were as 
 well clothed, and generally better lodged and 
 better fed than the agricultural labourer and his 
 family, yet the irksomeness of the discipline, and 
 the privation of certain enjoyments, produced 
 such disinclination to enter them, that nothing 
 short of destitution would induce the able-bodied 
 labourer to seek refuge therein ; and if driven 
 thither by necessity, he would quit it again as 
 speedily as possible, and strive (generally with in- 
 creased energy) to obtain subsistence by his own 
 efforts.* 
 
 In Ireland, therefore, although the food and ac- 
 commodation in the workhouse would, from the 
 lower status of the Irish poor, be superior in com- 
 parison to that of England, and the Irish work- 
 house would thus possess greater inducements ; 
 
 * See Mr. Nicholl's first Eeport. 
 
- 230 
 
 yet there were countervailing circumstances in 
 Ireland which more than balanced this difference. 
 The Irish are by nature less submissive to re- 
 straint than almost any other people. Naturally, 
 or by habit, they are of a migratory nature, hope- 
 ful, sanguine, fond of change; and rather than 
 bear the restrictions of confinement, the Irishman, 
 if in possession of health and strength, would 
 wander the world over to obtain a living. 
 
 Upon these principles the Irish Poor Law was 
 based, and in the year 1838, the Act (1 and 2 
 Vict., cap. 56) was passed. 
 
 The task of introducino; the Poor Law into Ire- 
 land was one of the greatest magnitude. " In- 
 deed," says the Annual Register of 1838, " a more 
 arduous and momentous experiment than that 
 which it involved, is perhaps unknown in the 
 annals of our legislation." 
 
 There existed hitherto but few institutions for 
 the relief of the poor, these being houses of in- 
 dustry, medical charities, and lunatic asylums. 
 There was, therefore, this advantage, that Ireland 
 was open for the establishment of a single rule 
 and a single system, in detail as well as in prin- 
 ciple. 
 
 The country was divided by the Act into 130 
 unions, each of which, as afterwards marked out, 
 consisted of a market-town as a centre, with the 
 district surrounding it, and in each of which a 
 workhouse was to be erected. The unions were fur- 
 
231 
 
 ther divided into what were called electoral divi- 
 sions; and for the administration of the law, a 
 Board of Guardians was appointed, constituted 
 principally of the representatives of the electoral 
 divisions of the union. Each such division was 
 rated for the number of poor it sent to the work- 
 house — a plan which w^as designed for the purpose 
 of creating a local interest in the law, and ensur- 
 ing its economical administration ; and the funds 
 were to be provided by a tax, at a certain sum in 
 the pound, on the net value of the property.* No 
 relief was to be given to an3^one except in the work- 
 house, and the Act did not confer a right to relief. 
 
 * For ascertaining the value of property, a new valuation had 
 to be made, for tlie Poor LaAV Act required each tenement to be 
 rated separately, and this had not been done iinder the town- 
 land valuation. A valuation Avas accordingly made in each 
 union, in many cases by tenant-farmers, in others by surveyors ; 
 but from the diiferent Avays in Avhich these valuations Avere car- 
 ried out, and their being estimated on data varying throughout 
 Ireland, the result Avas an unequal valuation. It Avas neverthe- 
 less adopted, and used until a fairer and more equal one Avas 
 made. Upon this valuation, the rates were accordingly struck ; 
 and according to the Act, each electoral division of the union 
 Avas charged the proportion incurred, in respect of persons re- 
 lieA^ed in the AA'orkhouse, Avho A\^ere stated in the registry to have 
 been resident in each electoral diAdsion. 
 
 The Act defines the meaning of " annual A'alue" to be the 
 rent at AA'hich such property, one year Avith another, in its ac- 
 tual state, might be reasonably expected to let from year to year, 
 on the supposition that the annual average cost of repairs, in- 
 surance, and other expenses necessary to maintain the property in 
 its actual state, and all rates, taxes, and public charges (except 
 tithes) are to be paid by the tenant. 
 
232 
 
 Mr. Nicholls, from whose works extracts have 
 been made in the preceding pages, and who played 
 the most promment part in the great task of pre- 
 paring the measure, proceeded, by the direction of 
 the Government, to Ireland with four assistant 
 Commissioners, for the purpose of carrying the 
 new law at once into operation. 
 
 Extremely vague and exaggerated notions were 
 entertained of the law itself and its probable 
 effects. By unwearied exertions, however, the 
 Comrnissioners succeeded in removing the alarm 
 and misapprehension ; and before long, nearly all 
 opposition subsided, and the law, if not universally 
 popular, was, at least, universally acquiesced in. 
 
 Considerable difficulties were surmounted in 
 the formation of the unions, and more especi- 
 ally in their division into electoral divisions ; for 
 there were some districts heavily charged with 
 pauperism, while others were comparatively free 
 from it; yet it was necessary that the burden 
 should be equally divided, and rendered as little 
 oppressive as possible. 
 
 At the end of March, 1839, 22 unions had been 
 declared, and of March, 1840, 104. In 1840, the 
 first workhouse was opened ; and as the only mode 
 of relief, sanctioned by the Act, was that to be 
 given within its walls, the Poor Law only then 
 came into operation. The building of the work- 
 houses, though an extensive and difficult opera- 
 tion, progressed, however, satisfactorily. In the 
 
233 
 
 year 1841, the whole of Ireland was placed in 
 unions, and in the year 184G, the last workhouse 
 was opened. 
 
 The working; of the Act thus introduced into 
 Ireland, appeared, in those places where it was in 
 full operation, to be satisfactory, and augured well 
 for the ultimate success of the measure. 
 
 It was not long, however, before some changes 
 became necessary. The pressure of distress in 
 June, July, and August, 1842, was felt with more 
 than ordinary severity, and in 1843, considerable 
 opposition was made to the payment of the rates. 
 
 It was found, too, in practice that the number 
 of small rate-payers was so large, the line of de- 
 marcation between them and the destitute so diffi- 
 cult to draw, and the amount to be collected from 
 the lower class so small, when compared with the 
 cost and trouble of collection, that it became de- 
 sirable to amend the law. 
 
 Accordingly, in the year 1843, an important 
 change was made by an Act of Parliament, (6 and 
 7 Yict., cap. 92,) which enacted that the occupiers 
 of holdings of a less value than £4 per annum 
 should be exempted from the payment of the 
 rates, which consequently fell to the share of the 
 landlord. 
 
 The difficulties in the collection of the rates 
 were thus removed. But the Act had another 
 important effect ; for by rendering the landlord 
 liable for the rates of land from which he derived 
 
234 
 
 little or no benefit, it gave a fresh stimulus to 
 clearing off the pauper population, and held out a 
 fresh inducement to him to proceed in the system 
 of consolidating the farms on his property. 
 
 Until the autumn of 1846, when the famine 
 came, the Poor Law had not been found inade- 
 quate to the general necessities of Ireland; but the 
 occurrence of such an event was a contingency 
 altogether above the powers of a Poor Law to 
 provide for. 
 
 In the increasing distress, it became at once in- 
 sufficient for the numbers that stood in need of 
 relief. The workhouses filled immediately to in- 
 convenience ; and as no relief could be given ex- 
 cept within them, they ceased to be a sufficient 
 resource for destitution. 
 
 Other measures, which will be described in ano- 
 ther place, were accordingly resorted to for alle- 
 viating the distress of the first and worst of the 
 famine years; and while they were in operation, 
 the question was being very hotly discussed as to 
 extending the Irish Poor Law, and giving relief to 
 the poor outside of the workhouse. 
 
 The calls upon the Imperial exchequer were 
 urgent and repeated, and an agitation was set on 
 foot upon the principle that the property of Ire- 
 land should support the poverty of Ireland. 
 
 Unable to withstand the pressure, the Govern- 
 ment passed a measure (10 & 11 Vic, cap. 31) 
 authorizing out-door relief; and thus at a time 
 
235 
 
 when in all cases property was reduced in value, 
 and in some was already entirely swept away, it 
 was settled that property should be made answer- 
 able in a much greater extent for the support of 
 poverty. 
 
 This great change from the system of in-door to 
 out-door relief was wrung from the Legislature 
 by the distressing circumstances in which the 
 country was placed by the successive failures of 
 the potato crop ; for with starvation prevailing 
 around, it was felt that it would be impossible to 
 restrict relief to that given within the workhouse. 
 
 The effect of such a measure would have been 
 fatal, had not the wisdom of the Legislature to 
 some extent averted most of its evil results. 
 
 The workhouse was still to be a test of destitu- 
 tion, for out-door relief was only to be given when 
 it was full; the sick and infirm were as much as 
 possible to be placed on the out-door lists, and 
 room thus made in the workhouses for able-bodied 
 paupers demanding relief. 
 
 Instances might be cited of the efficiency of this 
 plan in checking applications ; but another impor- 
 tant check was put on the number of those quali- 
 fied for relief, by the 10th section of the Act, 
 commonly known as the Quarter- Acre Clause, 
 which declared that — 
 
 " Occupiers of more than a quarter of an acre 
 of land were not to be deemed destitute, nor to 
 be relieved out of the poor-rates." 
 
236 
 
 In the great crisis of the famine, thousands gave 
 up their miserable holdings to qualify as reci- 
 pients, and this single clause aided to a great ex- 
 tent in hurrying forward the transition from small 
 to luro'e holdino;s.* 
 
 Experience, however, soon showed that the 
 abuses and shortcomings incidental to out-door 
 relief could not be altogether j^revented. 
 
 The scene on the occasion of its administration 
 is vividly described by one of the witnesses before 
 the Committee of the House of Commons on the 
 Poor Law, in 1849. f 
 
 In the year 1848, no less than 610,463 persons 
 received relief in, and 1,433,042 outside of the 
 workhouse; and in the year 1849, the respective 
 
 * An Act (10 & 11 Vic, cap. 90) was passed also in this 
 year, (1847,) separating the control of the relief of the Irish 
 poor from the control of the administration for the relief of the 
 English poor. 
 
 t On the day of distributing relief, you will see eight hundred 
 to a thousand people standing round the place Avhere the relief 
 is distributed, from morning till night — women, old men, and 
 miserable creatures seeking for this relief. They are cursing 
 and swearing, and pushing and putting each other out of the 
 way ; in short, every sort of thing that is disgusting is going on, 
 arising from the habit of idleness, and idle talking, and inter- 
 course, and there is every dissatisfaction that can be produced. 
 And then their misery is very great; they are cold, they are 
 naked, and they are dying of starvation ; they have no idea of 
 anything in the world but to get that small allowance at the 
 instant, and they do everything that can be done to procure it 
 if possible. (County Galway, Rev. P. Daly, 7187.) 
 
237 
 
 numbers were 932,284 and 1,210,482, being con- 
 siderably over 2,000,000 in each year. 
 
 As a result of the great calls made on the Poor 
 Law, consequent on this appalling distress, the 
 rates had risen enormously, and many of the 
 unions became deeply embarrassed. These in- 
 creased rates, too, were heaviest in those districts 
 which were least able to bear them, weighing down 
 many who, without this last burden, might have 
 stood their ground — alarming all by the unaccus- 
 tomed pressure of an undehned taxation, and 
 greatly reducing the small amount of capital 
 applicable to the employment of labour. 
 
 The sums which were remitted by legislative 
 enactment from England during the three pre- 
 ceding years, amounting altogether to little short 
 of £10,000,000, were so great as to excite alarm, 
 which appears to have given rise to a determina- 
 tion on the part of the Legislature to make the 
 property of Ireland as much as possible answer- 
 able for the relief of Irish poverty. The calamity 
 brought on by the famine had been emphatically 
 designated as one common to the empire, and was 
 regarded so throughout England, until the re- 
 located failures of the potato crop caused appre- 
 hensions as to the perpetuity of the burden, and 
 seemed to point to the necessity of compelling the 
 Irish people to abandon the treacherous aliment, 
 which, it was thought, they would hardly do so 
 long as they could turn to England for help when- 
 
238 
 
 ever it failed them. If the consequences were 
 thrown on Ireland itself, reliance on a crop so 
 uncertain could not, it was thought, be persisted in. 
 
 An Act (12 & 13 Vict., cap. 24) was accord- 
 ingly passed, making provision for levying a ge- 
 neral rate throughout the country in aid of the 
 distressed unions. The resources thus placed at 
 the disposal of the Commissioners were of the 
 greatest use, and enabled the guardians of the 
 unions so assisted to provide for a time the neces- 
 saries of life for a large number of recipients, who 
 must otherwise have been without food, the money 
 and credit of the unions having been previously 
 quite exhausted. 
 
 By the means thus resorted to, the extended 
 Poor Law proved sufficient for the demands made 
 upon it during the year of the famine. The 
 favourable harvests of the ensuing years, and the 
 enormous and rapid emigration, reduced the num- 
 ber of those receiving relief, especially of those re- 
 ceiving out-door relief; and owing to the increase 
 of workhouse accommodation, the much safer 
 system of in-door relief w^as re-adopted as much as 
 possible. In the year 1853, Mr. Nicholls writes: — 
 
 " The Poor Law has nearly regained its ordinary 
 state, after passing through the dangers and diffi- 
 culties of a most calamitous visitation, and has 
 risen from its trials with an increase of reputation, 
 and also, it may be added, with a greatly increased 
 capacity for effecting its objects." 
 
239 
 
 In the working of the Law, however, a defect 
 became apparent. Both the unions and the elec- 
 toral divisions were too large. To remedy this, an 
 Act (12 & 13 Vict., cap. 104) was passed in 1849, 
 adding 32 new unions, making in all 163, and 
 raising the number of electoral divisions from 
 2,049 to 3,404. By this change, a greater degree 
 of responsibility was laid upon the individual pro- 
 prietors of estates, and they could now prevent 
 destitution on their own lands, by giving employ- 
 ment to their poor, without being exposed to the 
 failure of their efforts by its existence on the ad- 
 joining properties, when they were comprised in 
 the larger electoral divisions. 
 
 Such, then, is an account of the principal altera- 
 tions eifected in the Poor LaAv, from its introduc- 
 tion into Ireland down to the present time ; but 
 before proceeding to consider its effects, we must 
 turn for a moment to two correlative subjects — 
 the system of medical charities, and a provision 
 for the lunatic poor. 
 
 The former had for a long time been under the 
 consideration of the Legislature ; but owing to 
 various causes, no steps of importance had been 
 taken. In 1851, however, a Bill was passed (14 
 & 15 A^ict., cap. 68) which brought the rating- 
 powers and machinery of the Poor Law in aid of 
 the medical charities. The Boards of Guardians 
 Avere empowered to divide unions into dispensary 
 districts, having regard to extent and population ; 
 
240 
 
 to appoint a dispensary committee; to provide 
 necessary buildings, and such medicines and appli- 
 ances as might be required for the relief of the 
 poor ; and a medical officer was to be appointed. 
 By this Act a partial and imperfect system of me- 
 dical relief, unattended with responsibility in its 
 ao:ents, and restins; on a financial basis at once un- 
 
 7 o 
 
 certain in duration, and unequal in its pressure as 
 a tax, was exchanged for a system uniform and 
 universal, supported out of the poor-rates, and in- 
 fluenced in its administration by well-defined 
 responsibilities, under the direction and control of 
 a central authority.* The relief given was most 
 effectual, and great benefits were derived from the 
 measure. 
 
 The provision for the lunatic poor, for a con- 
 siderable time, was wholly inadequate as well as 
 miserably defective. With the exception of Swift's 
 Hospital, which cannot properly be called an 
 asylum for the poor, one asylum, the Richmond, 
 which had been established in Dublin, shortly 
 after 1810, and another in Cork, with the pro- 
 vision of a certain number of cells in some of the 
 county infirmaries, were the only public means 
 taken for the relief of lunatics. Wanderino- luna- 
 tics, accordingly, were disj^ersed all over the 
 country, going about in the most disgusting and 
 
 * See First Report of the Medical Charity Commissioners, and 
 Annual Reports of Poor Law Commissioners. 
 
241 
 
 wretched state.* To remedy this evil, authority 
 was given to the Government, by law, to fix cer- 
 tain districts within which lunatic asylums should 
 be erected, and accordino; to which the charges for 
 the mamtenance of these establishments were to 
 be defrayed by Grand Jury presentments. Under 
 the Acts cited below,f several lunatic asylums 
 were, from time to time, built, and there are now 
 twenty-three in full working order, containing 
 6,200 inmates. Every place, therefore, is now 
 provided with receptacles for their lunatic poor ; 
 so that in reference to one of the mast painful 
 afflictions to which humanity is exposed, there has 
 been provided a system of relief as extensive as 
 can be wished, and as perfect and effective as can 
 be found in any other country. J 
 
 * " There was," says a witness, examined before tlie Com- 
 mittee on Lunatic Poor, in 1817, " nothing so shocking as mad- 
 ness in the cabin of the peasant, where the man is hibouring in 
 the fields for his bread, and the care of the Avoman of the house 
 is scarcely sufficient for her attendance on her children. When 
 a strong yoixng man gets the complaint, the only way they 
 have to manage is by making a hole in the floor of the cabin, 
 not high enough for a person to stand up in, with a crib over 
 it to prevent his getting up. The hole is about four feet deep, 
 and they give this wretched being his food there, and there he 
 generally dies. Of all human calamities," concludes the wit- 
 ness, " I know of none equal to this in the country parts of Ire- 
 land I am acquainted with." 
 
 t 69 Geo. III., cap. 106, and 1 Geo. IV., cap. 98. Both re- 
 pealed by 2 Geo. IV., cap. 33 ; amended by 6 Geo. IV., cap. 
 64, and 6 Geo. IV., cap. 14, 
 
 J See Annual Reports of the Inspectors of Lunatic Asylums 
 in Ireland. 
 
 R 
 
242 
 
 We must now revert to the consideration of the 
 Poor Law ; but to be able to measure the degree 
 of its success, it is necessary first to state what 
 were the results which might fairly be expected 
 of it. 
 
 Supposing it to be the duty of a State to make 
 some provision for its destitute subjects, this can 
 never be considered as implying an obligation to 
 support all those who may be designated, or con- 
 sider themselves to belong to the classes usually 
 designated, the poor. Independent of other con- 
 siderations, the impossibility of providing such 
 support is obvious ; nevertheless an expectation 
 has arisen among many, that a Poor Law would 
 put an end to poverty. This is, of course, a 
 misapprehension. All that it can be expected to 
 effect is to relieve the absolutely destitute, and 
 to keep them in sound health, until they may be 
 able to earn their own livelihood. Other benefits, 
 such as the diminution of mendicancy, and eco- 
 nomy in the administration of relief, may also 
 reasonably be expected. 
 
 Accordino- to the return of the Poor Law Com- 
 missioners, the amount expended in relief in 1868, 
 was £707,556. There is, unfortunately, no way of 
 ascertaining the expenditure in charity to the poor 
 previous to the introduction of the Poor Law ; 
 but, as we have said before, the amount was esti- 
 mated at from one to two millions sterling, and 
 
243 
 
 fell, almost with the certainty of a tax, upon one 
 class alone. The burden is now, however, borne 
 by all classes; so that besides being considerably 
 less in amount, it is more equitably distributed. 
 Thus one good effect has followed the introduc- 
 tion of the law. 
 
 One of the chief criterions of the success of any 
 system of Poor Law, is to be found in the degree 
 which mendicancy has been diminished in con- 
 sequence of its operation. A fund for the relief 
 of the destitute having been provided by a tax, is 
 calculated in itself to reduce their number; for 
 the tax-payer w^ould no longer be inclined to give 
 in alms what he had already been compelled to 
 pay in the shape of a Poor Rate ; consequently, 
 without the enactment of any penalties, the prac- 
 tice of mendicancy would tend to disappear. But 
 for many years it was lamentably apparent that no 
 such satisfactory result was arrived at, and it was 
 not until the year 1847, that any serious diminu- 
 tion took place. 
 
 After that period it rapidly declined — a reduc- 
 tion in which famine and emigration played a 
 very important part — the result being that men- 
 dicancy appeared from a concurrence of these 
 causes to have been almost entirely abandoned. 
 
 To those who were more immediately the sub- 
 jects of the operation of this law, it has been 
 indeed an assistance — relieving hundreds of thou- 
 
244 
 
 sands each year in their distress.* It has been of 
 the greatest use in helping them through the 
 hardships entailed upon them by the transition 
 from small holdings to large ; it has improved the 
 condition of the population, by inducing the great 
 
 * Aggregate Number Relieved continuously and successively 
 during the Years 1840-1869. 
 
 Year. 
 
 In-door. 
 
 Out-door. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Expense. 
 
 1840 
 
 10,910 
 
 
 10,910 
 
 £ 
 
 37,057 
 
 1841 
 
 31,108 
 
 ... 
 
 31,108 
 
 110,278 
 
 1842 
 
 87,604 
 
 ... 
 
 87,604 
 
 281,233 
 
 1843 
 
 87,898 
 
 ..• 
 
 87,898 
 
 244,374 
 
 1844 
 
 105,358 
 
 
 105,358 
 
 271,334 
 
 1845 
 
 114,205 
 
 
 114,205 
 
 316,025 
 
 1846 
 
 243,933 
 
 ... 
 
 243,933 
 
 435,001 
 
 1847 
 
 417,139 
 
 ... 
 
 417,139 
 
 803,684 
 
 1848 
 
 610,463 
 
 1,433,042 
 
 2,043,505 
 
 1,835,634 
 
 1849 
 
 932,284 
 
 1,210,482 
 
 2,142,766 
 
 2,177,651 
 
 1850 
 
 805,702 
 
 368,565 
 
 1,174,267 
 
 1,430,108 
 
 1851 
 
 707,443 
 
 47,914 
 
 755,357 
 
 1,141,647 
 
 1852 
 
 504,864 
 
 14,911 
 
 519,775 
 
 883,267 
 
 1853 
 
 396,436 
 
 13,232 
 
 409,668 
 
 785,718 
 
 1854 
 
 310,608 
 
 9,008 
 
 319,616 
 
 760,152 
 
 1855 
 
 269,794 
 
 35,432 
 
 305,226 
 
 685,259 
 
 1856 
 
 212.579 
 
 4,557 
 
 217,136 
 
 576,390 
 
 1857 
 
 186,235 
 
 4,588 
 
 190,823 
 
 498,889 
 
 1858 
 
 177,205 
 
 5,851 
 
 183,056 
 
 457,178 
 
 1859 
 
 153,706 
 
 5,425 
 
 159,131 
 
 413,712 
 
 1860 
 
 170,549 
 
 8,965 
 
 179,514 
 
 454,531 
 
 1861 
 
 203,422 
 
 14,008 
 
 217,430 
 
 516,769 
 
 1862 
 
 267,807 
 
 23,342 
 
 291,149 
 
 578,789 
 
 1863 
 
 288,713 
 
 28,911 
 
 317,624 
 
 605,981 
 
 1864 
 
 264,569 
 
 31,266 
 
 295,835 
 
 596,465 
 
 1865 
 
 252,606 
 
 36,390 
 
 288,966 
 
 600,549 
 
 1866 
 
 232,556 
 
 37,617 
 
 270,173 
 
 611,891 
 
 1867 
 
 258,650 
 
 58,696 
 
 317,346 
 
 676,776 
 
 1868 
 
 289,471 
 
 50,257 
 
 339,728 
 
 707,556 
 
245 
 
 landed proprietors of Ireland, whether resident or 
 absentee, to look more closely after their proper- 
 ties, and to give employment to the poor. 
 
 In addition to these highly satisfactory results, 
 there were other incidental advantages. To sum 
 these up we may quote the evidence of a gentle- 
 man Avho for fifteen years had been the chair- 
 man of an union.* 
 
 " It has," savs he, " brouo;ht the hio-her, the 
 middle, the lower classes together ; it has removed 
 a great many of their prejudices ; it has supplied 
 the upper classes with a great deal of additional 
 local information which it was impossible for 
 them to have a knowledge of, except through the 
 middle classes. The middle classes have had their 
 minds enlarged by daily contact with the ex officio 
 guardians ; and the interest which is taken in the 
 poor by the two classes has made the poor look 
 up to them with a great deal more affection than 
 they had for them before. ... I believe there 
 never has been a law which produced the same 
 amount of good." 
 
 * T. V. Stewart, Esq., Chairman of Letterkenny Union — 
 Committee on Poor Relief, 1861. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Municipal Corporations. 
 
 Many years did not elapse after the passing of the 
 Roman Catholic Emancipation Act, before another 
 subject, to some extent connected with that mea- 
 sure, pressed itself upon public notice. 
 
 This was the state of municipal corporations in 
 Ireland, 
 
 When emancipation was granted, the general 
 principle was accepted that Roman Catholics were, 
 in all cases, to be regarded as possessing equal 
 rights with their Protestant fellow-subjects. But 
 the Act, having no eifect uj^on municipal corpora- 
 tions, the equality, so far as concerned them, did 
 not take place ; and it was with the view of effect- 
 ing it, as well as of correcting other abuses in them, 
 that a demand was raised for their reform. The 
 social changes, too, which had taken place, the 
 greater diffusion of wealth, and other circum- 
 
247 
 
 stances, demonstrated that the corporations were 
 no longer suited to the altered condition of the 
 country nor supplied its wants. 
 
 The municipal institutions in England and Scot- 
 land had, in the year 1835, undergone consider- 
 able alterations, and had been the subject of no 
 little debate ; but in Ireland the question was 
 more difficult, complicated, as it was, with reli- 
 gious and political differences which did not affect 
 the other parts of the empire. 
 
 The existing municipal corporations in Ireland 
 were not indigenous to the country. They were 
 of English importation, and when first introduced 
 were mere outworks and defences for maintain- 
 ing English authority amid a rude and hostile 
 people. 
 
 The first charter was granted by Henry II. in 
 1172 or 1173, "to the men of Bristol of his city 
 of Dublin, to inherit and hold of him and his 
 heirs all liberties and free customs which the men 
 of Bristol had at Bristol through all his territory ;'' 
 and several other towns were, from time to time, 
 incorporated as circumstances demanded, the ob- 
 ject being always the protection of the English 
 and of English trade. 
 
 In the reio;n of James I. numerous charters 
 
 CD 
 
 were granted with the exclusive object of giving 
 support to Protestant interests. A new Parlia- 
 ment was assembled in Ireland in the year 1613, 
 after an interval of several years, during which no 
 
248 
 
 Parliament liad sat, and during; which seventeen 
 new counties had been formed, and forty new 
 borousfhs had been created. The creation of these 
 boroughs appears plainly to have been designed to 
 increase in the new Parliament the influence of 
 the Crown ; for those who had acquired large pos- 
 sessions from its bounty, became the heads and 
 free burgesses of the new corporations, and repre- 
 sentatives of the new boroughs. The boroughs 
 were, in fact, exclusively Protestant, sending into 
 Parliament a large body of new members, whose 
 presence King James required to control the party 
 then adverse to him, and possessing considerable 
 power in the Irish House of Commons, and they 
 continued, until the Union, to be the property of 
 those on whose estates they were situated, a cir- 
 cumstance which was practically acknowledged by 
 their being made the subjects of pecuniary com- 
 pensation when they were abolished.* 
 
 The English inhabitants of Irish towns thus 
 erected by Royal charter or grant into a com- 
 monalty or corporation, acquired the privileges 
 of having a town council of their own, of making 
 laws for their own government, and of appointing 
 magistrates for the administration of the same. 
 Thus those events, which we have described in a 
 previous chapter (Chap. V.) as affecting the system 
 
 * Of the ninetj-five Corporations existing in Ireland at the 
 time of the "Union, eighty were governed by charter of a date 
 subsequent to James I. 
 
249 
 
 of the Government of the country and the admi- 
 nistration of justice, produced also an effect on the 
 Irish corporate bodies ; and the Revolution of 
 1688, which excluded the Roman Catholics from 
 all share or voice in the State Government, com- 
 pleted their exclusion also from all participation 
 in the corporations. 
 
 These bodies, therefore, became exclusively Pro- 
 testant ; and they maintained in the towns that 
 Protestant ascendancy which had become a neces- 
 sity to the existence of the integrity of the empire. 
 For a century after this date no important change 
 seems to have tahen place. 
 
 In the year 1793, when what has been termed 
 the Emancipation Act of the Irish Parliament was 
 passed, corporate rights were conferred upon the 
 Roman Catholics. The benefit, however, they 
 derived was onl}^ nominal ; their long exclusion 
 from the exercise of this right having, in general, 
 deprived them of the chief claims to' it, and their 
 Protestant fellow-citizens being little disposed to 
 extend to them the municipal freedom by special 
 grant. 
 
 Thus it was that the Emancipation Act of 
 1829 failed to have any real effect upon the con- 
 stitution of Municipal Boroughs in Ireland, and 
 that the question required to be separately dealt 
 with. 
 
 The term Municipality may be considered to 
 mean an incorporation of persons connected Avith 
 
250 
 
 a particular district, enabling them to conduct its 
 local civil government. Accordingly, the admi- 
 nistration of justice in domestic tribunals, the pre- 
 servation of the public peace within it, by a ma- 
 gistracy chosen by the corporate body, and the 
 imposition of tolls to be employed for local pur- 
 poses, were the principal objects of these institu- 
 tions. 
 
 The exclusion of the Roman Catholics was not, 
 however, the only limitation which the Irish cor- 
 porations underwent. 
 
 Select or governing bodies became established 
 within them, Avhich exercised the privilege of de- 
 ciding on claims for admission. It followed, ac- 
 cordingly, that in many towns there was no recog- 
 nised commonalty, whilst in others it was entirely 
 disproportioned to the number of inhabitants, and 
 was of an exclusive character, comprising neither 
 the mercantile interest, nor representing the 
 wealth or intelligence of the municipality. The 
 members were frequently relatives and adherents 
 of particular individuals, and their acts had rarely 
 any connection with the common benefit of the dis- 
 trict, or the wishes of its inhabitants.* 
 
 The Corporations were not, therefore, without 
 reason looked upon by the great body of the inha- 
 bitants of the corporate districts with suspicion 
 and distrust. 
 
 * See evidence before Committee on Municipal Corporations, 
 1835. Parliamentary Papers, 1835, vol. 27. 
 
251 
 
 Since the changes had taken place, which had 
 enabled Roman Catholics to share in the general 
 diffusion of wealth and in the benefits of unre- 
 stricted industry, they had risen and multiplied in 
 the middle and upper classes, so that in many of 
 the cities they constituted not only a majority of 
 the population, but a large proportion of the more 
 opulent orders. 
 
 Their exclusion from the Corporations, how- 
 ever, was not so much a matter of complaint as 
 their exclusion from the administration of justice; 
 for in places where the great mass of the popula- 
 tion was Roman Catholic, the municipal magis- 
 tracy belonged entirely to the other religious 
 persuasion, and the dispensation of local justice 
 and the selection of juries were committed to the 
 members of one creed exclusively. 
 
 The unpopular character of these bodies was 
 thus aggravated by sectarian feelings; and they 
 were considered to be calculated to keep alive 
 those dissensions which it was now the policy of 
 the Government to allay. In the majority of in- 
 stances they were of little or no service to the 
 community, in some injurious, in all inadequate 
 to the objects of such institutions. 
 
 In the year 1835, a Committee of the House of 
 Commons was appointed to examine into the state 
 of Municipal Corporations in Ireland, and from 
 their report it appears that there were at that 
 
252 
 
 time sixty Corporations in full vigour, and eleven 
 almost extinct. 
 
 The population in corporate towns was 900,000; 
 but such had been the effect of the exclusive prac- 
 tices, that the number of corporators did not ex- 
 ceed 13,000; of these, 8,000 were to be found in 
 four boroughs; so that there were only 5,000 
 corporators distributed among the remaining bo- 
 roughs, and regulating the affairs of a population 
 considerably over 500,000. 
 
 The greatest abuses, moreover, existed in these 
 bodies ; lavish expenditure produced but little 
 benefit ; property intrusted to them for public use 
 was misapplied to private purposes ; situations 
 were filled by persons devoid of proper qualifica- 
 tions ; the emoluments of ofiice were increased to 
 an unwarrantable degree ; and large pensions were 
 bestowed for almost nominal services. 
 
 The Corporations had almost an exclusive voice 
 in the administration of justice within their dis- 
 tricts. They appointed the Sheriff, whose duty it 
 was to select the panel of jurors. In the larger 
 towns they appointed a Recorder, whose jurisdic- 
 tion was the same as that of the Assistant-Barris- 
 ters in Quarter Sessions ; they appointed, also, 
 Justices of the Peace. 
 
 The necessity of a change was very generally 
 recognised, but great diversity of opinion existed 
 as to what that change should be. To correct the 
 defective system of self-election, by adopting the 
 
253 
 
 principle of popular election, which would place 
 the administration of justice in the hands of the 
 dominant party, would have entailed worse results 
 than those of the system which it was designed to 
 correct. Such a course would have been a com- 
 plete transfer of power from one party to another. 
 When it was proposed, the greatest fears were 
 expressed that the measure would be destructive 
 to Protestant interests ; whilst it was predicted 
 that such institutions would be but " normal 
 schools for teachinD- the science of ao;itation ; and 
 the graduates in those schools, and the professors 
 of that science, the chosen instruments to wield 
 the civil force and dispense the public justice." 
 
 The scheme first brought forward was rejected; 
 and for four sessions the subject attracted the at- 
 tention of the Legislature. It is unnecessary here 
 to refer to the various amendments that were pro- 
 posed. It was not until the year 1840 that an 
 Act (3 & 4 A^ict., cap. 108) was passed which 
 settled this long-debated question. 
 
 The main interest had centered in what related 
 to the administration of justice — one party striving 
 to obtain exclusive control, the other seeking to re- 
 tain at least a share in the administration of the 
 laws. The measure which was ultimately adopted 
 transferred to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland the 
 functions hitherto performed by the corporations in 
 this respect, and a practice similar to that pursued 
 in the counties was adopted in the towns. The 
 
254 
 
 appointment of the Sheriffs, of the Recorders, and 
 of the Magistrates was confided to powers more 
 impartial than local and conflicting parties ever 
 could be ; and the appointment of the prin- 
 cipal officers of the Corporations was placed be- 
 yond the arena of party strife. The superinten- 
 dence of the police had already, in the majority of 
 instances, been removed from the control of the 
 Corporations, by the Constabulary Act of 1836; so 
 that the reforms noAV made put an end completely 
 to all participation by the municipal corporations 
 in the executive Government of the country. 
 The result, no doubt, disappointed those who an- 
 ticipated an acquisition of power by the change; 
 and it was this fact which led the great champion 
 of Irish rights to state that — 
 
 " The Irish Corporation Reform Act has pro- 
 duced a mongrel species of corporations more 
 dead than alive — powerless and paralyzed."* 
 
 There were, however, various objects of local 
 administration in which considerable improve- 
 ments were effected. The arrangements essential 
 for the health and cleanliness of the communities, 
 lighting, paving, and suj)plying the town with 
 water, and the providing of funds for these pur- 
 poses, were revised. 
 
 In all but ten towns, namely, Dublin, Belfast, 
 Clonmel, Cork, Drogheda, Galway, Limerick, Lon- 
 
 * See " Ireland and the Irish," by Daniel O'Connell. 
 
255 
 
 donderry, Sligo, and Waterford, the existing Cor- 
 porations were abolished ; and in these ten towns 
 a franchise was vested in every burgess occupying 
 a house rated at £10 a-year, for the election of a 
 new municipal body. The other to^vns being 
 much smaller than those above-named, so high a 
 qualification would have rendered the number of 
 voters very limited ; so the franchise was fixed at 
 the occupation of a house rated at £5 a-year. 
 
 The principles of popular election thus adopted, 
 threw open the corporate ofiices to the body of 
 the inhabitants of each town. 
 
 As a natural result, many of the new bodies 
 became almost exclusively Roman Catholic ; but 
 the principal subject of strife between the two 
 parties having been removed from the control of 
 either, the result was not looked upon with that 
 jealousy or distrust wdiich must otherwise have 
 been felt. 
 
 The measure, as a whole, has proved undoubt- 
 edly beneficial. It has tended to the more impar- 
 tial administration of justice, and to the removal 
 of suspicion, and it was in conformity with the 
 policy of Roman Catholic Emancipation. 
 
 For now, almost thirty years, the new system 
 has been, with slight modifications, in force ; and 
 the results have been so satisfactory, that similar 
 provisions have been extended, by the Towns' Im- 
 provement Act, (10 & II Vic, cap. 34, passed in 
 
256 
 
 1847; and 17 & 18 Vic, cap. 103, passed in 
 1854,) to smaller towns with like benefit. 
 
 At times, it is true, these bodies, more espe- 
 cially the older Corporations, haA'e endeavoured 
 to take part in party struggles; but having no 
 longer any real political weight, such attempts 
 have not proved seriously mischievous ; and the 
 Corporations have betaken themselves to the ful- 
 filment of the proper functions of such bodies. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 The Famine. 
 
 There is in the cotemporary history of Ireland 
 no event of greater importance than the famine. 
 
 Poor and insufficient as was the nature and 
 quantity of food of the peasantry in 1825, the 
 condition of the great mass of the people, in this 
 respect, had suffered a still further deterioration. 
 Whatever effect the Sub-Letting Act may have 
 had in checking the increase of population, it had, 
 nevertheless, considerably augmented ; and by the 
 year 1845, it was estimated at 8,300,000; and 
 whatever improvement may have taken place in 
 agricultural processes in some parts of the coun- 
 try, the disproportion between the yield of the 
 crops of potatoes and the number of mouths to 
 be fed, was ever on the increase. All the evils 
 incident uj^on a potato-fed population were en- 
 hanced. Even the cultivation of the better 
 
258 
 
 description of food was given up, and that of an 
 inferior kind substituted. The " apple " potatoes 
 and the " cups," were found to yield smaller crops 
 than the "lumpers," and were abandoned for the 
 latter, which was of a soft, watery quality; un- 
 wholesome and unpalatable ; more liable to fail- 
 ure, and more difficult to keep. 
 
 In the years 1843 and 1844, the state of the 
 country was not alone unsatisfactory, but danger- 
 ous. Numerous riots for food occurred, and the 
 crimes which are indicative of want and poverty 
 increased ; the loAver orders were agitated, and the 
 higher unusually alarmed. 
 
 Nor did things improve in the early part of the 
 ensuing year. A large portion of land was in the 
 hands of men unable to fulfil the duties of pro- 
 perty ; many of them were absentees; there was 
 no middle class, either agricultural or commercial, 
 and there was an enormous population on the 
 brink of absolute starvation. 
 
 The potato crop of the year 1845 was, however, 
 unusually large, and the early part of it was of 
 good quality.* But about November, it was dis- 
 covered that the potatoes were affected with a 
 hitherto unknown description of disease, and it 
 was found that not alone was a large quantity of 
 those in the ground unfit for consumption, but 
 that those already dug and stored, were rotting in 
 
 * The early crop consists of about one-sixtli of the ^vhole. 
 
259 
 
 the pits. A great proportion of the crop was de- 
 stroyed ; but the whole amount of it having been 
 above the average, the effects of the loss were 
 not so severe as they otherwise would have been. 
 Distress, nevertheless, manifested itself among the 
 poorer classes, but did not extend to the small 
 farmers who, owing to the success of their other 
 crops, were able to tide over the partial loss they 
 sustained. 
 
 But a more fearful crisis was at hand. 
 
 In the summer of 1846, the potatoes looked 
 remarkably well, and there appeared to be every 
 prospect of an abundant yield. Suddenly, how- 
 ever, at the end of July, almost in one night, a 
 mysterious blight fell upon the plant; the leaves 
 withered away; the stalks became black and 
 shrivelled, and the potato itself became wholly 
 unlit for food. 
 
 In every district throughout the country, this 
 disease appeared, and in many not a single field 
 escaped. Nearly the entire crop was lost, and 
 upon the most favourable calculation, the food 
 that was left would be scarcely sufficient to last 
 until the ensuing November. 
 
 The first reports of this calamity were scarcely 
 credited, but as fuller information was obtained, 
 tliey Avere fully confirmed. The loss sustained 
 was estimated at eleven millions and a quarter 
 sterling, or three-fourths of the whole crop : whilst 
 oats, which formed the other (diief article culti- 
 
260 
 
 vated by the small farmer, had also from other 
 causes failed to a very great extent.* From bare 
 statistics, however, it is impossible to form an ade- 
 quate estimate of this loss. 
 
 The effects of such a failure were at once felt 
 through the entire country, but in some districts, 
 more intensely than in others. In the greater 
 part of Ulster, (Donegal excepted,) the condition of 
 the people had of late years somewhat improved, 
 and there had been a tendency to the cultivation 
 of better descriptions of food than the potato. In 
 the eastern counties, too, the greater number were 
 less dependent upon it; but the case was far differ- 
 ent in the West and South, where the land was 
 occupied almost entirely by the cottiers or small 
 holders. In those parts, when it failed, nearly the 
 whole population were left without the means of 
 subsistence. At the end of the year, the price of 
 food had risen to a great height, the feeble re- 
 sources of the people had become exhausted, and 
 in many places they had already parted with 
 all their little property to obtain the means 
 of supporting life. Beds, clothes, fishing-nets, 
 everything went for food. Whatever live stock 
 they possessed was killed and devoured — the 
 very dogs disappeared. As the winter went on, 
 their distress increased. Many lived on cabbages 
 
 * The loss in the oat crop was calcuhited to be four millions 
 and a half sterling. See House of Lords' Committee on Con- 
 solidated Annuities. 
 
261 
 
 and turnips for weeks, some not tasting food more 
 than once in forty-eight hours. Thousands died 
 from starvation. The survivors were like walking | 
 skeletons; the women in the cabins too weak to I 
 stand ; the children crying with pain, their limbs 
 wasted almost to the bone, their faces wan and 
 haggard, and their appearance like old men and 
 women. Half naked, they Avere exposed to all tlie | 
 inclemencies of an unusually severe winter — sharp 
 frost and heavy falls of snow ; long-continued 
 rains and piercing winds following each other in | 
 succession. Impelled by the cravings of hunger, > 
 they flocked from the country into the cities, 
 towns, and villages, hoping there to find some 
 sustenance ; the country became deserted, and 
 the towns " like beleaguered cities ; their streets 
 crowded with gaunt wanderers, sauntering to and 
 fro with hopeless air and hunger-struck look." 
 
 In the midst of this misery, acts of the most 
 sublime heroism were frequent, and instances are 
 cited of the last morsel of food being shared with 
 utter strangers. * 
 
 * " In one small, wretched hovel, in which were huddled i 
 together, three families, I saw a young mother, whose rags were 
 really no covering, much less a protection against the weather; 
 but even here 1 found a poor blind woman crouching on the 
 floor, and she was no relation to the inmates." — (Society of 
 Friends — Mr. Foster's Account.) 
 
 " In another hovel, barely four feet high to the top of the 
 walls, and hardly nine feet square, were a Avidow and a large 
 family. They literally had no means of support. In addition 
 to the family who owned the house, I saw in the corner, crouched 
 
262 
 
 The spread of the famine rapidly levelled all 
 localities to an equality of destitution, and the 
 manner in which it affected the different classes of 
 society is well described in the following extract 
 from the Report of the Committee of the Society 
 of Friends : — " Prices of food were so hio;h, that 
 those who were still able to maintain themselves 
 and their families could not afford to spend any 
 money except on food. The small shop-keepers 
 consequently lost their trade. The business of 
 the wholesale dealer and merchant was dimi- 
 nished, an 1 the various branches of manufactures 
 felt the want of demand ; many of the work peo- 
 ple were discharged. Few houses was repaired 
 or built, and masons, carpenters, and other trades- 
 men connected with building, were left unem- 
 ployed. The demand for clothes, nothwithstand- 
 ing the great want of them, which was everywhere 
 felt, decreased. Tailors, shoemakers, and other 
 
 upon her knees over the little turf fire, a very old and super- 
 annuated woman, constantly rocking to and fro, and muttering 
 to herself. Her matted grey hair hung ruggedly over her dirty 
 shrivelled face, adding to her wild and wretched appearance. 
 She was hardly clothed at all, so miserable were the tatters with 
 which she was partially covered. Immediately behind her, on 
 a damp mud floor, a small pallet of straw was spread ; this was 
 her resting-place at night; and here she sat all day. It appeared 
 that this sad object was no relation of the poor widow of the 
 house, but with noble kindness she allowed her to remain here, 
 and shared with her the last morsel. Surely it might be said of 
 her as of the widow of old, ' She gave more than they all.'" — 
 (Appendix — Society of Friends, West of Ireland.) 
 
263 
 
 tradesmen of this class accordingly suffered ; and 
 the gentry, whose rents were not paid, and who 
 had poor-rates added to their other incumbrances, 
 reduced their expenses, and employed fewer ser- 
 vants and fewer labourers." 
 
 As the immediate attendant of famine, came 
 fever, unusually malignant and fatal. It ravaged 
 villages ; it fell on isolated dwellings, causing 
 havoc wherever it went; it entered the workhouse, 
 and swept off the inmates at the weekly rate of 
 twenty to five-and-twenty in the thousand. Dy- 
 sentery, too, became very prevalent, and added to 
 the list of deaths. 
 
 As the spring of 1847 advanced, supplies of 
 food from abroad reached the country in large 
 quantities, and were distributed to the people; 
 and when the summer came the great distress was 
 past* 
 
 The harvest of 1 847 was looked forward to with 
 the most intense anxiety, and the potato crop was 
 watched with the keenest interest. It proved for 
 the most part prosperous, but the breadth of land 
 planted with it was very small, being only about 
 one-sixth of the usual quantity. 
 
 A great deal of distress accordingly occurred 
 during the ensuing winter and the spring of 1848, 
 
 * Indian corn arrived in large quantities, and its price 
 began to fall. In March, 1847, tlie price had fallen from £18 
 a ton to £13 or £14 a ton, and at the end of August, it sank 
 to £7 10s. a ton. 
 
264 
 
 and the horrors of the previous year were re-^ 
 peated on a lesser scale. 
 
 But the people were encouraged by the partial 
 success of the last crop, and those who were 
 still able, made the most extraordinary eiforts to 
 put down seed for the ensuing autumn. With 
 great exertions, sacrificing everything, and sub- 
 mitting in many cases to extreme privations, all 
 those who possibly could, again prepared their 
 ground and planted it. It was a last efibrt, and 
 upon it many staked their all. May and June 
 passed, and all went well ; but at the close of July, 
 the blight again made its appearance ; and, 
 although by no means so general as in 1846, it 
 was far more so than in 1847. 
 
 So long a continuance of the same adverse cir- 
 cumstances naturally produced still greater desti- 
 tution. The fearful scenes of the preceding 
 years were repeated. Long privations rendered 
 the people more susceptible to disease, and less 
 able to combat with want and misery, and the 
 winter of 1848-9 produced suffering as intense as 
 that of 1846-7. 
 
 At this unhappy period the vital powers of the 
 people had sunk to so low a point, that a fall in 
 the temperature, a cold or wet day, was sufficient 
 to extinguish them, and a few hours' delay in ad- 
 ministering food was fatal. 
 
 On one occasion a poor woman, wdth four chil- 
 dren, had obtained an order for out-door relief; 
 
265 
 
 but on application to the guardians was refused, 
 owing to some informality, and was sent back 
 with the order for correction, Next morning the 
 four children were found dead on the road. At 
 the diiferent distances to which their failinsr 
 
 o 
 
 strength had allowed them to follow their mother, 
 they had sunk and perished. 
 
 To add to all these horrors, cholera made its 
 appearance in March, 1849, and spread rapidly 
 throughout the country, destroying whole fami- 
 lies, often almost entire villages. The position of 
 affairs in the spring of 1849 is but too faith- 
 fully depicted in the following extract from the 
 Address of the Society of Friends to the pub- 
 lic :— 
 
 " Despair of succeeding at home is driving vast 
 numbers of tiie most industrious of the middle 
 class to transfer their energy, and a considerable 
 amount of capital, to other countries, which offer 
 a freer scope for exertion. The paupers are 
 merely kept alive, either in the crowded work- 
 house, or in alarming numbers depending on out- 
 door relief; but their health is not maintained, 
 their phj^sical strength is weakened, their mental 
 capacity is lowered, their moral character is de- 
 graded; they are hopeless themselves, and they 
 offer no hope to their country, except in the pros- 
 pect, so abhorrent to humanity and Christian feel- 
 ing, of their gradual extinction by death. Many 
 families are now suffering extreme distress, who 
 
266 
 
 three years since enjoyed the comforts and refine- 
 ments of life, and administered to the necessities 
 of those around them. Thus we have seen the 
 flood of pauperism widening more and more, en- 
 gulphing one class after another, rising higher 
 and higher in its eifects on society, until it 
 threatens in some of the worst districts to swallow 
 up all ranks and all classes within its fatal 
 vortex." 
 
 Such prognostications were happily not destined 
 to be fulfilled. 
 
 The harvest of 1849 proved to be a good one, 
 and the crops generally sound and abundant. 
 With its success confidence began to revive ; land 
 came into cultivation again, and emigration was 
 already beginning to make a sensible eftect. 
 
 The harvest of 1850 also was good; the Poor 
 Rates diminished; a spirit of industry prevailed, 
 and more employment was to be obtained. 
 
 Tlie famine was stayed, and the great crisis was 
 past. 
 
 Active measures were adopted by the Imperial 
 Government to assist the people in this great 
 emergency. 
 
 In former years, when seasons of partial distress 
 occurred in Ireland, relief was afforded by local 
 Avorks of a public nature, upon which the desti- 
 tute poor were employed, and where they received 
 money wages to enable them to purchase food. 
 
 Accordingly when the first failure of the potato 
 
267 
 
 occurred, in .1845, the old plan was reverted to; 
 but as it was seen that this could not make up for 
 a deficiency of food, measures were taken for the 
 importation of Indian corn, which was the cheap- 
 est substitute for the potato; and £100,000 worth 
 was purchased by the Government, and conveyed 
 to Ireland. As a further means of mitigating the 
 distress, committees for administering relief were 
 appointed in different parts of the country, and 
 subscriptions were raised. 
 
 Such measures sufficed for the occasion; but the 
 failure of the potato crop in 1846, produced a con- 
 dition of things which required efforts on a very 
 different scale to meet. 
 
 Before the close of the Parliamentary Session of 
 tliat year, intelligence of the disaster had reached 
 the Government; but neither its extent nor its 
 probable consequences appear to have been fully 
 comprehended. 
 
 The power of affording relief from the Poor 
 Law being limited to accommodation in the 
 workhouses, it was manifest that where there was 
 mucli distress, such a power could only be relied 
 on to a ver}^ small extent, and that some other 
 means must be provided for relieving the destitu- 
 tion of the people. 
 
 Government determined then, in the first place, 
 to make fresh and enlarged provision for tlie 
 employment of the poor; and a Bill (9 & 10 Vic, 
 
268 
 
 cap. 107) was accordingly passed, renewing the 
 provisions for the execution of Public Works. 
 
 The other chief measure which they decided on 
 adopting, regarded the importation of food. 
 
 The experience of the preceding year sug- 
 gested certain limitations of their action in this 
 respect ; and it was determined that no orders 
 for supplies of food would be sent by the 
 Government to foreign countries ; that the in- 
 terference of Government would be confined 
 to those districts of Ireland, in which, owing 
 to the former prevalence of potato cultivation, 
 no trade in corn for local consumption exis- 
 ted; and that in these districts the Govern- 
 ment depots would not be opened for the sale of 
 food, so long as it could be obtained from pri- 
 vate dealers at reasonable prices. 
 
 Relief Committees were again formed, and rules 
 laid down for them to act by. 
 
 From the month of September, 1846, the system 
 of Public Works was in active operation, under 
 the control of a Board;* the description of work 
 
 * The arduous nature of the duties devolving on the Board, 
 may be gathered from the following extract from the well- 
 known work, " The Irish Crisis," by Sir C. E. Trevelyan. 
 
 " The resident gentry and rate-payers, whose duty it was to as- 
 certain, as far as possible, the probable amount of destitution in 
 their neighbourhood — the sum required to relieve it, and the 
 works upon which that sum could best be expended — who had 
 the necessary local knowledge, in almost every case, devolved 
 these functions on the Board of Works. After that, to advance 
 tlie funds, to select the labourers, to superintend the work, to 
 
269 
 
 everywliere adopted, being the construction of 
 roads. Each month the number of persons seeking 
 employment increased.* " The Board of works be- 
 came the centre of a colossal organization." 
 
 A great number of officers was required to 
 superintend the operations. There were employed 
 at one time : — 
 
 385 Surveyors and Engineers. 
 2,832 Check Clerks. 
 6,894 Overseers. 
 
 132 General Clerks. 
 
 491 Pay Clerks. Making in all 
 
 10,734 persons. 
 
 These figures give some idea of the efforts made 
 by the Board to meet the evil. 
 
 At the commencement of the system, the Relief 
 Committees investigated all the claims of appli- 
 
 pay tlie people weekly, to enforce proper performance of the 
 labour ; if the farm works Avere interrupted, to ascertain tlie 
 quantity of labour required for them ; to select and draft off the 
 proper persons to perform it ; to settle the wages to be paid to 
 them by the farmers, and see that they were paid ; to furnish 
 food, not only for all the destitute out of doors, but, in some 
 measure, for the paupers in the workhouses, were the duties 
 which the Government and its officers were called on to per- 
 form." 
 
 * In October 1846, the average daily niimber was 114,000 
 In November „ „ „ „ 285,000 
 
 In December „ „ ,, ,, 440,000 
 
 In January, 1847, „ „ „ 670,000 
 
 In February „ „ „ „ 708,000 
 
 In March „ „ „ „ 734,000 
 
270 
 
 cants for work, admitting only those who were 
 really destitute ; but as the applicants increased, 
 all effective control was lost, all attempts to check 
 or reduce the numbers on the works became in- 
 efficacious, and many of the committees were 
 finally compelled to abandon the practice. 
 
 The attraction of money wages, paid regularly 
 from the public purse, led to a general abandon- 
 ment of other descriptions of industry ; labourers, 
 cottiers, artizans, fishermen, farmers, women, chil- 
 dren, all, whether destitute or not, sought a share 
 of the public money.* The diversion of labour 
 from the preparation of the land for the harvest of 
 1847 thus caused, threatened a continuance of the 
 famine, if not a greater one, and a change in the 
 mode of administering relief became imperative. 
 
 Other evils, too, had developed themselves. 
 The larsre assemblages of labourers led to demora- 
 lization and dissoluteness, and to dangerous and 
 illegal combinations, whilst exposure to the in- 
 
 * " They are now solely deiDendent on the wages received from 
 the road works. The applicants for employment are so nume- 
 rous that, in most instances, only one man in a familj^, and in 
 some cases, one and a boy, Avoman and girl, can obtain it. The 
 pay of a man is lOd., of a woman 8d., and a boy 6d. a-day ; 
 and when you consider that there may be broken days from 
 sickness ur severe weather, that the price of the lowest descrip- 
 tion of food is enormously high, and that families here average 
 about seven individuals, it is not surprising that they can scarcely 
 support life under their many privations." — See Appendix to the 
 Eeport of the Central Relief Committee of the Society of Friends 
 for the Relief of the famine in Ireland. 
 
271 
 
 clemency of the weather, combined with bad 
 clothing and insufficient food, rendered the fatali- 
 ties very numerous. 
 
 Although tlie plan of relieving the distress by 
 public works had thus many and great defects, 
 owing to which it ultimately failed, yet it was so 
 far successful that it furnished, in the sudden out- 
 break of the calamity, temporary relief to a large 
 portion of the population, and gained time un- 
 til some more suitable measures could be de- 
 vised. 
 
 The system has been mainly condemned on ac- 
 count of the inutility of many of the works, but 
 it must be remembered that relief was the primary 
 object, utility only a secondary consideration. 
 
 The new system determined on as a substitute 
 was embodied in the Temporary Relief Act, (10 
 Vict., cap. 7,) passed on the 26th of February, 
 1847. 
 
 Experience had shown that where relief was 
 given in a direct form upon the principle of the 
 Poor Law, it had generally been effective, and a 
 similar plan was now adopted. 
 
 Food was to be given gratuitously without any 
 labour-test of destitution being demanded, and as 
 the expenses were to be paid by the rate-payers, it 
 was thought that there would be a sufficient check 
 on undue expenditure. The only test applied to 
 applicants for relief was personal attendance (ex- 
 ceptions being made in favour of the sick and 
 
272 
 
 impotent.) The food that was given, however, was 
 cooked. 
 
 This latter device was found to be very effica- 
 cious. Undressed food could have been sold, but 
 being cooked, it had no value in the market 
 except for the actual consumers, who, wdien they 
 could obtain it for nothing, would not be likely to 
 pay for it. 
 
 To carry the Act into effect, Relief Committees 
 were formed to collect the rates, and to receive the 
 donations of the Government, and private subscrip- 
 tions. AAlth the money thus obtained, they pur- 
 chased food, formed depots of meal and corn, 
 erected mills and ovens, established soup kitchens, 
 and delivered rations to the famishing population. 
 They had, in fact, to take the place of corn-factors, 
 millers, bakers, and provision dealers; for such had 
 hitherto been the social condition of the people, 
 more especially in the Avestern parts, that there 
 was no need of such trades, each family providing 
 for its own w^ants from the land they held — no 
 necessity for a provision trade, because all sub- 
 sisted on the potato. 
 
 The Act having come into force in March, 
 (1847,) the persons employed on the public works 
 were gradually discharged, and the people were 
 thus set free to follow the necessary agricultural 
 labour. 
 
 As the spring progressed, the number of the 
 destitute increased. In the month of April the 
 
Zi o 
 
 average daily number was 2,253,505 ; and on the 
 3rd of July (1847) it had reached the maximum, 
 when 3,020,712 persons received rations, of whom 
 2,265,534 were adults, and 755,178 were chil- 
 dren.* From that date the number declined until 
 the administration of relief ceased altogether in 
 September, by which time the new harvest, such 
 as it was, was available, and the people were 
 thrown on their own resources and the provisions 
 of the amended Poor Law. 
 
 Thus terminated, as Sir John Burgoyne, one of 
 the Relief Commissioners, expressed it, " the 
 grandest attempt ever made to grapple with 
 famine over a whole country." 
 
 The success of the plan was indisputable. The 
 relief afforded was very effective, providing for the 
 great mass of the really destitute, and averting, to 
 a great extent, the necessarily fatal results of a 
 great scarcity of food. 
 
 " The Commission closed," says Sir C. E. 
 Trevelyan, in the Avork which we have already 
 alluded to, " amidst general applause — organized 
 armies, amounting altogether to some hundreds of 
 thousands had been rationed before ; but neither 
 ancient nor modern history can furnish a parallel 
 to the fact that upwards of 3,000,000 of persons 
 were fed every day in the neighbourhood of their 
 
 * See Monthly Reports of the Irish Eelief Commissioners, 
 1847. 
 
274 
 
 own homes, by administrative arrangements ema- 
 nating from, and controlled by one central office."* 
 
 The expense, moreover, at which all this was 
 accomplished was very moderate, amounting only 
 to £l,557,212.t 
 
 Whilst the Temporary Relief Act was in force, 
 the Poor Law had been under discussion in Par- 
 liament, and, as we have already stated, the ex- 
 tended Poor Law Act was jDassed in 1847, and 
 came into operation in the autumn. 
 
 From that time all through the winters of 1847 
 and 1848 the sole relief administered by the Go- 
 vernment was through the Poor Law. 
 
 Judging, then, of the measures adopted by 
 the Government, as a whole, and making allow- 
 ances for the suddenness and greatness of the 
 crisis which they were designed to meet, we 
 think it must be admitted that the Legislature 
 acted with great liberality and wisdom, and if, in 
 some instances, they failed, this is ascribable 
 more to the difficulties of administration, than to 
 
 * The Irish Crisis. 
 
 t The expense incurred by the famine, xvp to the close of the 
 year 1847, amounted on the whole to £7,132,268. 
 
 Under the Public Works Act (1846), ... £476,000 
 „ Labour Rate Act (1846-7), ... 4,850,000 
 „ „ „ (for local purposes), 130,000 
 „ Temporary Relief Act, 1,676,268 
 
 £7,132,268 
 — See the Irish Crisis, p. 110. 
 
275 
 
 any inherent defect in the nature of the remedies 
 themselves. 
 
 The task of mitigating the distress was not, 
 however, left to the Government alone. 
 
 A noble charity was displayed not only through- 
 out England and the whole British empire, but in 
 the United States of America, and even other 
 foreign countries.* 
 
 In Ireland itself, among the resident gentry, 
 the clergy, and the wealthier class of farmers, a 
 charity was practised, which is above all praise. 
 All the luxuries of life were willingly foregone ; 
 kitchens were established in private houses, from 
 whence every day soup was distributed; the great- 
 est self-denial was exercised, and it is impossi- 
 ble to over-estimate the sacrifices and privations 
 to which all classes in Ireland cheerfully sub- 
 mitted, in their efforts to relieve the distress sur- 
 rounding them. 
 
 We shall now endeavour to note some of the 
 changes resulting from this painful crisis. To de- 
 scribe all would be impossible, for they were felt 
 in every relation of life, in every branch of com- 
 merce, in every class of society. 
 
 At the expiration of the three years of fam- 
 ine and distress, the material prosperity of the 
 country was necessarily reduced to a very low 
 
 * The subscriptions confided to the British Association and 
 principal Eehef Committes in London and Dublin amounted 
 altogether to about £800,000. 
 
276 
 
 ebb. A great diminution had taken place in 
 all its resources. Exports, imports, manufac- 
 tures, all had diminished. The consumption of 
 those articles, which peculiarly indicate pros- 
 perity, had considerably decreased. The de- 
 posits in banks had diminished to nearly one- 
 half, and the revenue returns exhibited a pro- 
 gressive decline. Landed property had fallen 
 in value nearly one-third ; its letting value had 
 also decreased. The heavy and undefined tax- 
 ation of the Poor and County Rates had ruined 
 many, whilst it had pressed with the greatest 
 severity upon all. Hundreds of thousands of 
 acres of land, usually in full cultivation, now 
 lay untilled. The fisheries were destroyed — 
 every thing denoted the utter prostration to which 
 the country was brought. 
 
 One of the most palpable effects, however, of the 
 faminewas the positive reduction of the population. 
 
 There is, unfortunately, no information suffici- 
 entlv reliable to enable us to state the numbers of 
 those who died of starvation, nor of those that fell 
 victims to dysentery and cholera. Fever alone is 
 said to have carried off" 250,000. The principal 
 cause of the reduction was emigration, which took 
 place on a scale hitherto unknown. 
 
 Consequent on this decrease, great facilities arose 
 for consolidating farms. The famine, in fact, had 
 the effect of hurrying rapidly forward the transi- 
 tion from small holdings to large, and in the three 
 
277 
 
 years of its duration effected what, under ordinary 
 circumstances, must have taken a much longer 
 time to accomplish. A desire, too, began at this 
 time (1849) to be felt by the farmers themselves 
 for larger holdings, and competition ran high 
 among them to obtain adjacent land when it be- 
 came vacant. The smaller farmers also felt that 
 there was a desperate struggle before them in the 
 change from an exclusive dependence on the po- 
 tato to a dependence upon a better and safer class 
 of food, and they made every exertion to meet it. 
 
 Another effect of the repeated failure of the po- 
 tato was, that it paved the way for the progress of 
 the other great transition, namely, from pauper 
 tenants to independent labourers. The destruction 
 of the con-acre S3'stem — the introduction of the 
 payment of money wages — and principally the 
 great consolidation of farms, gave occasion for, 
 and indeed rendered necessary, the creation of 
 this class. 
 
 Several important measures such as the Incum- 
 bered Estates Act, the Landed Improvement Act — 
 each of them requiring separate consideration — 
 were the consequences produced by this fearful 
 visitation; so that the changes effected by them, 
 and by the great emigration are all directly or 
 indirectly to be ascribed to it. 
 
CHAPTER XY. 
 
 Incumbered and Landed Estates Act. 
 
 Amongst the many subjects wliich the famine 
 forced upon the attention of the Legislature, may 
 be numbered that of the embarrassed condition of 
 the proprietors of land in Ireland. 
 
 The habit of living considerably beyond their 
 means, so common among the Irish gentry, had 
 involved many of them in inextricable difficulties. 
 Unable, in the majority of cases, to sell even a 
 part of their property, there existed no legal im- 
 pediment to their charging it with mortgages and 
 burthens, and transmitting it with its fresh in. 
 cumbrances to the next inheritor, who but too 
 often followed the course of his predecessor ; until 
 at last, in many cases, the ostensible owner could 
 scarcely be said to have any real property in it 
 at all. He remained, however, in charge of it, 
 with all the obligations of a land-owner, but with- 
 
279 
 
 out the means of fulfilling them; and thus cir- 
 cumstanced, was unable either to improve his 
 property, or to encourage improvement among his 
 tenantry. 
 
 Nor could the mort2:a2;ee interfere in the man- 
 asfement of an estate thus circumstanced, so loiii^ 
 as he continued to receive the interest of his loan. 
 
 Accordingly the condition of an incumbered 
 property rapidly deteriorated. Lands nominally 
 under cultivation were ill managed; bogs remained 
 undrained; the waste lands unreclaimed, and, 
 year after year, the hold of the proprietor on his 
 estate became weaker, until, at length, it fell into 
 Chancery, and the collection of rents devolved 
 upon a " Receiver." 
 
 The men so-called, were appointed by the Court 
 of Chancery to receive the rents of estates which 
 came under its management. They were persons 
 generally residing in town ; unacquainted with the 
 wants of an agricultural population, and having 
 little sympathy with its pursuits. 
 
 Bad as the condition of these incumbered estates 
 had previously been, under their management it 
 became worse. 
 
 The Master of the Rolls himself declared in a 
 case before him, that — 
 
 " The gross mismanagement of estates in Ire- 
 land, under Receivers in Chancery, was a matter 
 of public notoriety, and that there were few ex- 
 ceptions to the general rules of mismanagement. 
 
280 
 
 There being no landlord to interest himself 
 about the land, it became divided and sub-divided 
 into the minutest holdings, and crowded with 
 an immense population, until, from sub-division 
 and pauperism, the estates under Receivers 
 became plague spots, diffusing crime and disor- 
 ganization in their neighbourhoods. 
 
 In the year 1843, 1,002 estates, representing a 
 rental of over £700,000 or one-twentieth of the 
 nominal rental of the country, were under Re- 
 ceivers. In the year 1845, when the distress 
 came, the landed gentry were called upon to 
 make large abatements of rent, and to raise 
 subscriptions of money for the support of the 
 people ; and in 1846, when the total failure of 
 the potato crop took place, they were required 
 to make still greater exertions, with more limi- 
 ted and fast-decreasing means. At the same 
 time came the enormous Poor Rates and County 
 Rates, swallowing up whatever property many of 
 them had left, and dragging more and more into 
 absolute ruin. 
 
 The number of estates thrown into Chancery 
 increased accordingly to an alarming degree ; and, 
 by the year 1848, one-tenth of the rental of Ire- 
 land was under the management of the Court, some 
 of the counties being incumbered almost to one- 
 fourth of their entire value:* incumbrances upon 
 many other estates, not yet under " Receivers," 
 
 * See House of Commons' Committee on Receivers. 
 
281 
 
 also increased, the annuitant ceased to receive his 
 income, the mortgagee to receive his interest, 
 and at last, the Legislature was obliged to adopt 
 some measures to put an end to the critical state 
 in which landed property was placed. 
 
 The existing laws afforded no remedy. Great 
 impediments to the sale or transfer of land existed, 
 arising partly from the difficulty of proving the 
 title to possession sufficiently well to satisfy pur- 
 chasers — partly from many large estates being 
 held in limitation, the owners having only a life 
 interest in them, and being compelled to transmit 
 them to the next in entail. 
 
 Titles to landed property were generally in a 
 very unsatisfactory position. The means of re- 
 gistration had ever been insufficient, entailing 
 great expense in its sale or purchase, and the 
 effect of the penal laws, which during their exist- 
 ence disqualified Roman Catholics from possessing 
 it, had thrown the matter into great confusion. 
 According to the law in force previous to 1847, it 
 was necessary to prove sixty years of possession in 
 order to establish a title. An expensive investi- 
 gation, therefore, always took place, but its result 
 was not binding, for the Court had not the power 
 to secure to a purchaser an indefeasible title. 
 Thus it was no easy matter to satisfy him that he 
 would not be disturbed in his possession, and as 
 a natural consequence but few purchases were 
 made. 
 
282 
 
 It was evident, therefore, that the great difficul- 
 ties connected with the question could only be 
 surmounted by bold and decisive legislation. 
 
 The difficulty as regards the title, it was 
 thought, would be overcome by a plan which was 
 at once novel and effiictive, according to wdiich 
 it was designed to give to a conveyance by the 
 Court of Chancery the effect of vesting absolutely 
 in the purchaser, discharged of all claims, the title 
 to the land which it purported to convey to him, 
 thus giving him an indefeasible title. 
 
 And with regard to the sale of incumbered 
 estates, it was proposed that the person who held 
 the first mortgage should have the power of de- 
 manding the sale of the property, which should 
 then, irrespective of all settlements or charges on 
 it, be put up to public auction and sold — the j)ur- 
 chaser receiving the indefeasible Parliamentary 
 title — and the proceeds being devoted to paying 
 the morto;ao;es. 
 
 It was hoped that by these plans land in Ire- 
 land would become a marketable commodity, and 
 that it might be transferred from persons unable 
 to derive any advantages from it, and whose pos- 
 session of it retarded the prosperity of the country, 
 to others who might be better able to discharge 
 the duties of property, and apply capital to the 
 improvement of the land. 
 
 The scheme was regarded at first as involving a 
 dangerous interference with the rights of property, 
 
283 
 
 and doubtless much was proposed which might be 
 inconsistent with them ; but it was argued, that 
 the interests of the community at large, as well as 
 the interests of individuals, ought not to be disre- 
 garded for the sake of maintaining mere abstract 
 principles, which in the existing state of society in 
 Ireland had led to great practical injustice. It 
 was thought that if the owners of incumbered 
 estates were enabled to convert them into money, 
 the balance would often be of considerable amount, 
 and, if prudently invested, would still leave hand- 
 some incomes ; and it was hoped, that by enabling 
 them to sell some parts of their estates, they 
 m.ight be in a position to pay off the incumbrances 
 on the rest. They would then be able to give 
 their attention and capital to the improvement 
 of what they still retained. 
 
 A measure, such as here described, was passed 
 by Parliament in the year 1848 (11 & 12 Vic, 
 cap. 48.) This was the First Incumbered Estates 
 Act ; but it was not found to work well, the power 
 of applying for the sale of a property being 
 limited to those who having a first charge upon 
 the estate w^ere always sure of obtaining their 
 money, so that but very few applications were 
 made. 
 
 In the meantime, the number of estates coming 
 under Receivers increased, until it was estimated 
 that on the lowest calculation estates in Ireland to 
 
284 
 
 the value of £1,500,000 per annum were in that 
 condition. 
 
 An amended Act (12 & 13 Vic, cap. 77) was 
 accordingly passed in the following year, which, 
 besides giving enlarged powers to owners and 
 claimants, constituted a new tribunal for the pur- 
 poses of the Act. 
 
 The power for applying for the sale of the es- 
 tate was extended to any incumbrancer ; and it 
 was thus made nearly impossible for the landed 
 proprietor, who was heavily embarrassed, to main- 
 tain the mere nominal possession of an estate, 
 which was mortgaged to its whole value. 
 
 The Commissioners appointed under the Act, 
 commenced their sittings in October, 1849. Ap- 
 plications for the sale of estates at once poured in. 
 In the first year 1,085 were received, and in the 
 second year 801. A large quantity of land was 
 thus all at once thrown into the market. Pre- 
 vious to this its value had already fallen consider- 
 ably. The famine and emigration had reduced the 
 demand, rents had been lowered, large districts 
 were lying waste, money was scarce, and the poor- 
 rates and county-rates were very heavy. In fact, 
 it was stated before the Committee of the House 
 of Commons, in the spring of 1849, that it was 
 almost impossible to sell estates in the Master of 
 Chancery's Office. " No one offered to buy, or 
 they offered sums so low, that the Master would 
 not sell." 
 
285 
 
 When the Act came into operation, sales were 
 forced, and a still greater depreciation took place. 
 This had been foreseen ; but it was hoped that it 
 would to a certain extent be neutralized by the 
 Parliamentary title, which conferred the great ad- 
 vantage of an absolute and final settlement of the 
 rights of all parties interested in the land pur- 
 chased, and gave the purchaser an interest so 
 simple, that a deed of conveyance was almost as 
 good as ready money. 
 
 To some extent the Parliamentary title had the 
 eiFect contemplated ; for it appeared that on the 
 average, four years' additional value was obtained 
 for land sold with it ; but this was not sufficient 
 to make up for the great loss consequent on the 
 compulsory sale. 
 
 A great number of the heavily incumbered 
 estates soon changed hands, many of them being 
 broken up and divided into small or moderate 
 sized lots; and by the year 1856, it was thought 
 that the great mass of property requiring to be 
 sold had been disposed of* 
 
 * The number of petitions to the Court for the sale of estates 
 was — 
 
 In 1850 
 
 „ 1851 
 
 
 
 
 
 801 
 
 „ 1852 
 
 
 
 
 
 503 
 
 „ 1854 
 
 
 
 ,. 
 
 
 414 
 
 „ 1855 
 
 
 
 .. 
 
 
 362 
 
 „ 1856 
 
 
 
 ., 
 
 
 273 
 
 „ 1857 
 
 
 
 
 
 226 
 
 And from August, 
 
 1857, 
 
 to 
 
 M£ 
 
 irch 
 
 , 1858, U5. 
 
 — See Incumbered Estates Commission, 
 
 1855. 
 
286 
 
 By this time, not alone was frequent recourse 
 had to the measure, but the security given to 
 the purchaser by it was found to be so eifectual, 
 that every other sort of title had grown into 
 disrepute. Thus the unembarrassed portion of 
 the landed proprietors of Ireland were, through 
 their inability to give such a title, placed at a dis- 
 advantage in the event of their wishing to dispose 
 of their properties. 
 
 It became, therefore, an obvious injustice, that a 
 benefit should be conferred by the Legislature 
 upon the owner of an incumbered estate which 
 was not extended to the unincumbered proprietor. 
 In many instances, indeed, the latter created 
 fictitious charges on their properties, for the pur- 
 pose of enabling them to sell them through the 
 Incumbered Estates Court, and thus give a Parlia- 
 mentary title with them. 
 
 This became at last a common practice ; and as 
 there existed no reason why unincumbered estates 
 might not also be sold with a Parliamentary title, 
 the Leo;islature determined to extend to them the 
 provisions of the Incumbered Estates Act, and ac- 
 cordingly, an Act (21 & 22 Yict., cap. 72) was 
 j)assed in the year 1858, which, besides effecting 
 this important extension, created a new^ Court 
 called the Landed Estates Court, under the same 
 judges and ofiicers as the Incumbered Estates 
 Court, and rendered its jurisdiction perpetual. 
 Since that time no important alteration has been 
 
287 
 
 effected, and the Court has continued to perform 
 the functions assigned to it.* 
 
 We may proceed, therefore, now to note the 
 effects of these measures, and to examine how far 
 they proved successful in meeting the emergency 
 for which they were designed. 
 
 The first object had been the transfer of the 
 mass of mcumbered estates from the hands of em- 
 barrassed to those of solvent proprietors. This 
 was effected in a comparatively short time, partly 
 from the compulsory nature of the sale, partly 
 from the advantage which the indefeasible title 
 conferred upon the purchaser. 
 
 It must not, however, be supposed that so great 
 a change could be made without being severely 
 felt by some class of the community. To many 
 people it was absolute ruin; for in the earlier 
 years of the operation of the Act, the proceeds of 
 
 * The number of Petitions to the Court for the sale of estates 
 was — 
 
 In the year 
 
 
 
 Incumbered. 
 
 Uuincumbered 
 
 V. to 31st Dec. 
 
 1858 
 
 38 
 
 2 
 
 55 55 
 
 1859 
 
 289 
 
 27 
 
 55 55 
 
 1860 
 
 327 
 
 22 
 
 55 55 
 
 1861 
 
 410 
 
 42 
 
 „ 31st Jan. 
 
 1862 
 
 26 
 
 4 
 
 
 1863 
 
 456 
 
 50 
 
 
 1864 
 
 429 
 
 43 
 
 
 1865 
 
 432 
 
 49 
 
 
 1866 
 
 404 
 
 46 
 
 
 1867 
 
 401 
 
 34 
 
 
 1868 
 
 343 
 
 35 
 
 Yahie of estates sold, £13,750,000. 
 
the sale of the land did not suffice to meet the 
 whole of its liabilities; and not alone was there no 
 residue left for the owner, but those who had 
 lent their money on mortgage — often, indeed, had 
 invested their whole fortunes — were left unpaid. 
 
 A great extent of land passed quickly into the 
 hands of men who were both able to manage it 
 and who had the means of improving it. Capital 
 became more plenty ; improvements, long wanting, 
 were now undertaken; and agriculture, to some 
 extent, advanced. 
 
 In consequence of the facilities for the sale of 
 large estates in small lots, a proceeding which, 
 under the former system, was either impracticable 
 or was attended with great expense, a great portion 
 of the estates sold passed into the possession of a 
 considerably larger number of persons than they 
 had been originally owned by. In this way was 
 brought into existence a class of purchasers that 
 did not exist before, smaller capitalists were able 
 to enter the market and become proprietors, and 
 a considerable amount of local capital was applied 
 to the improvement of the land.* 
 
 The number of small independent freeholders 
 (a class which form a most valuable portion of the 
 population of England) has been accordingly in- 
 creased, and there has thus been diffused over the 
 
 * Of the £21,000,000 worth of land, sold between 1848 and 
 1859, £18,000,000 was purchased by Irishmen, and of the 
 7,489 purchasers, 7,180 were Irish. 
 
289 
 
 soil, a number of residents more deeply interested 
 in its effective cultivation. 
 
 In some instances these purchasers were men 
 who intended to reside on and cultivate the land 
 they thus acquired, and in such cases the results 
 were beneficial. In many others, the purchases 
 were made as a matter of sjDeculation, and under 
 such circumstances, the tenants did not profit by 
 the change, for they passed from the landlord, 
 whose family had been connected with them for 
 generations, to men who had no sympathy with 
 them — Avho lacked the old traditions of ne2;li2:ence 
 combined with indulgence, and whose principal 
 object was to get a good return for the investment. 
 They lost also the claims which they considered 
 they had against their landlords for the improve- 
 ments which they had made upon their holdings. 
 But in every other point of view the measure has 
 been successful. Its second object, that of making 
 land a marketable commodity and easily transfer- 
 able, has been accomplished ; and we believe that, 
 judging of it by the effects it has produced, it 
 must be affirmed that, both socially and materially, 
 it has been of great benefit to Ireland. 
 
 u 
 
CHAPTER XYI. 
 
 Emigration. 
 
 In any review of the condition of the people of 
 Ireland, the subject of emigration must neces- 
 sarily hold a prominent place. It is the more in- 
 teresting, because it has long been the object of 
 divergent opinions, as to its efficacy as a remedy 
 for evils such as those under which Ireland 
 has been labouring, and because the truth or 
 falsehood of the conflicting doctrines held in re- 
 gard to it has been now experimentally tested to 
 a degree unequalled within modern times. 
 
 The emigration which has taken place from Ire- 
 land to the United States of America, (for that to 
 other countries is comparatively small,) is such, it 
 may be said without exaggeration, as the world 
 has not witnessed since the overthrow of the 
 Roman empire by the barbarous nations of the 
 North, although differing from these eruptions in 
 
291 
 
 many essential respects. It has, in regard to its 
 magnitude, been termed (as is familiar to our 
 readers) the " Exodus" of the Irish nation, but 
 the term is in every other respect inappropriate. 
 The Irish expatriation could not have occurred 
 in ancient times, any more than the invasion 
 of the Goths or the expulsion of the Children 
 of Israel from Egypt could take place in the pre- 
 sent state of the world. The motives and effects 
 of these migrations were altogether different. 
 The late, and still continued, emio-i'ation from 
 Ireland is consequently a new fact in the world's 
 history, and one in a great measure " sui generis." 
 Its ultimate result — whatever we may have ascer- 
 tained in regard to its causes and immediate 
 effects — cannot yet be completely known. 
 
 In order to appreciate it under the point of view 
 in which it is the object of our treatise to regard 
 it, namely, as being a good or an evil to the exist- 
 ing population of Ireland — a benefit or an injury 
 to the empire at large — a movement to be en- 
 couraged or discountenanced by the general Go- 
 vernment or by individuals — it will be, in the first 
 place, necessary to determine, so far as the reli- 
 able statements which may be at our disposal will 
 allow, what has really taken place in regard to 
 this interesting and much debated matter. 
 
 Let the facts at our command be first stated, 
 and then examined. We may then be able to 
 draw, eaL'h for himself, such conclusions as they 
 
292 
 
 may warrant, or frankly recognize our inability to 
 lay down any decisive doctrine where they fail. 
 
 The emigration of Irishmen of various classes 
 to America, whether to the present United States 
 when British Colonies, or since their indepen- 
 dence, as well as to Canada and other British set- 
 tlements, must, from the earliest times of coloniza- 
 tion, have been considerable. Although it is not 
 probable that any correct estimate of its amount 
 could now be made, the numerous families of 
 Irish name, the large number of the population 
 obviously of Irish origin, in almost every one of 
 the States of the American Union and of the Bri- 
 tish part of Canada, testify to the fact ; but this 
 emigration does not appear to have exceeded 
 the limits of those which had taken place from 
 other European countries to the New World, 
 and must have fallen short of some of them. 
 Spain, for example, affords, perhaps, the ear- 
 liest instance of what amounted to comparative 
 depopulation of the mother country, in conse- 
 quence of the adventurous eagerness of its inhabi- 
 tants to seek new settlements. No such result 
 was ever felt, or at least ever complained of, in the 
 earlier emigrations from Ireland, nor were they, 
 as far as it appears, regarded as the special effects 
 of any peculiar form or access of distress which 
 pervaded the country, though sufficient misery, no 
 doubt, at every time existed, partly to account for 
 
293 
 
 a desire of many of the population to better their 
 condition by leaving it. 
 
 There was, however, a kind of occasional or 
 temporary emigration from Ireland, which pre- 
 vailed in later times, and still prevails to some 
 extent, although anterior to the great movement 
 which now principally commands our considera- 
 tion. 
 
 We mean the yearly emigration, or rather 
 mio;ration, of Irish labourers to the ao;ricultural 
 districts of England and Scotland, at the season of 
 harvest, and their return to their own country 
 after they had assisted in reaping it. We would 
 draw the attention of the reader to this, so to say, 
 bastard emigration, because, although differing in 
 kind from that which afterwards took place, it ap- 
 pears to have arisen in a measure from one, at 
 least, of the same causes, viz., want of employ- 
 ment, and the low rate of wages in Ireland as com- 
 pared to other countries. 
 
 Long before the application of steam navigation, 
 on the decks of the small vessels, by which com- 
 munication between England and Ireland was kept 
 up, knots of these emigrants might be observed 
 huddled together as far as the scanty accommoda- 
 tion of the vessels would admit, amidst cattle and 
 pigs, and carrying little other baggage than the 
 reaping-hook or scythe carefully swathed in hay, 
 the instruments of their hoped-for gains. Conspi- 
 cuous by their raggedness, these wanderers were 
 
294 
 
 easily recoo-nised, and known under the somewhat 
 contemptuous, but not unkindly, appellation of 
 "spalpeens," in the English counties which they 
 frequented. A certain degree of sympathy existed 
 for these poor fellows, many of whom had come 
 on foot from distant parts of Ireland, and after 
 having crossed the channel, trudged, perhaps long, 
 from county to county in England or AYales, 
 giving honest labour where employment could be 
 got, at low wages, and sustaining themselves on a 
 quantity of food which caused the wonder and 
 commiseration of the English peasant. They 
 thought themselves well paid, if they could end 
 their pilgrimage by carrying back to their hovel 
 in Ireland, some fifteen or twenty shillings in cash, 
 as a partial relief to the habitual poverty which 
 reigned in these abodes. This practice continued 
 for a long time without exciting alarm, or calling 
 forth objection on the part of the English. On 
 the contrary, as long as it was confined within 
 certain bounds, it was regarded as beneficial to the 
 agriculturist, for there are few countries, however 
 populous or prosperous, where, at harvest times, a 
 supply of extra hands to get it rapidly in is un- 
 welcome ; nor does the accession, if temporary 
 and moderate in amount, involve much, if any, 
 depreciation in the wages of labour. 
 
 But as circumstances varied, the scene was 
 changed. The mass of Irish agricultural labour 
 thrown into the English market rapidly increased. 
 
295 
 
 Internal causes, of Avhich we have elsewhere 
 treated, supplied the stimulus, and steam naviga- 
 tion aiforded the means of transporting hordes to 
 places which had been formerly reached by a 
 few stray individuals. Many of these did not re- 
 turn as formerly to their own country, when the 
 harvest was reaped, but fixed themselves in the 
 suburbs of towns and villages, where their pre- 
 sence and their habits caused them, first, to be 
 looked upon as a nuisance, and afterwards as a 
 subject of alarm.* 
 
 Men accustomed to subsist on the minimum of 
 the coarsest food, to pass the niglits almost without 
 shelter, and the days in rags, had no difficulty in 
 offering their labour at a price which would not 
 maintain the English workman in the superior 
 state of comfort which, to him, habit had made a 
 necessity, and which his Poor Law practically 
 acknowledo'ed to be his rio;ht. The rate of wasres 
 fell ; and on the other hand, as the Irish supply of 
 labour not unfrequently exceeded the demand, 
 masses of paupers were thrown upon the funds of 
 the English parishes for relief — an additional 
 burthen, which the English rate-payer was but 
 little inclined to submit to. The complaints of 
 tins new species of foreign (as it was regarded by 
 the English) invasion were loud, and as it w^as 
 
 * See Keport of the Committee of the House of Commons to 
 inquire into the Condition of the Irish in English cities. 
 
296 
 
 really injurious to the localities which were most 
 exposed to it, the means of preventing it were 
 made on several occasions the subject of discus- 
 sion by the public, and even by the Legislature. 
 To check it by artificial means or legislative enact- 
 ments would have been difS.cult, and had not cir- 
 cumstances turned the tide of Irish emigration 
 violently into another and wider channel, the 
 matter was one which must have assumed a seri- 
 ous aspect. 
 
 In the point from which we are now viewing 
 Irish emigration, this transfer of Irish labourers 
 to England had some effect in relieving Ireland of 
 some of the pressure of its superabundant pauper- 
 ism; and the large infusion of Irish which has 
 been poured into the populations of Liverpool, 
 Manchester, and other towns, and still subsists 
 there, proves that the movement has not been 
 without its permanent results. 
 
 But the causes which had been continually urg- 
 ing a part of the Irish population to leave their 
 country, in the hopes of bettering their condition 
 elsewhere, began to assume, about the years 1841 
 and 1842, a magnitude, and to act with an inten- 
 sity, which rendered the habitual channels of emi- 
 gration too narrow for the purpose. The effects 
 of the Sub-letting Act, or rather of the policy of 
 which it was the embodiment, and above all, the 
 terrible visitation of the famine in 1846 and fol- 
 lowing years, at once realized to the country the 
 
297 
 
 fearful effects of an overwhelming population, 
 which had far outrun the means of its subsistence, 
 and brought into operation what political econo- 
 mists term its " necessary checks," but which a 
 people are more apt to regard as the effect of the 
 intolerable cruelty and oppression of the upper 
 classes of society, or at best, as the inscrutable 
 visitations of an offended Deity. 
 
 Left the alternative of dying from starvation in 
 their own country, or of seeking elsewhere the 
 food which their native land denied them, the 
 struggle for escaj^e was desperate ; and as emigra- 
 tion offered the readiest means, it was but natural 
 they should avail themselves of it to the greatest 
 possible extent. The desire for emigration became 
 universal. On the one side was a country over- 
 burdened with a population far beyond the power 
 of employment, sunk to the lowest depths of 
 misery, one-third of it almost wholly dependent 
 on charity, or resorting to plunder and spoliation 
 for the actual means of subsistence — a population 
 cooped up within the narrow limits of an island, 
 battling for land, the sole means of subsistence, 
 and stopping at no crime, the perpetration of 
 which would secure it to them. On the other 
 side, in the far distance, were countries aboundiuo; 
 in fertile plains, in enormous tracts of the richest 
 soil, and rich in all the wealth which nature can 
 bestow. 
 
298 
 
 Under other conditions of the world, such an 
 emigration as took place from Ireland, would, as 
 we have observed, been impossible. The regions 
 whose immense extent and inexhaustible fertility 
 could be expected to receive and nourish such an 
 outpouring of starving human beings, are remote, 
 and the means of transporting it from an island to 
 a distant continent, would have been inadequate; 
 so that famine and disease must have been left to 
 complete their work. But the astonishing im- 
 provements in navigation and in rail-road con- 
 veyance, which distinguish the present times, and 
 the countless numbers of vessels of the mercantile 
 marines of the United States and Great Britain, 
 were at hand, and sufficed for the gigantic opera- 
 tion. 
 
 All those obstacles which it might be supposed 
 would be opposed to so wholesale an emigration, 
 appeared, in the case of the Irish, to have been 
 smoothed away. The misery which they had for 
 many years endured, had, to a great extent, de- 
 stroyed their attachment to their native soil ; the 
 numbers of those who had already emigrated and 
 prospered, removed the apprehension of going to 
 a strange and untried land ; while the want of 
 means was remedied by the liberal contributions 
 of their relations and friends who had preceded 
 them. 
 
 Between the years 1847 and 1851, (both inclu- 
 
299 
 
 sive,) the almost incredible number of over one 
 million Irish — men, women, and children — were 
 conveyed in emigrant ships to America — a whole 
 population. In 1847,215,444 emigrated; in 1849, 
 218,842, and in 1851, 249,721. 
 
 Wonder was felt by Tacitus at the ever-recur- 
 ring invasions of the fertile plains of Gaul, or 
 upper Italy, by tribes of famishing barbarians, who 
 issued from the then uncultivated wastes and 
 forests of Germany; and he has described the 
 phenomenon in the single well-known phrase — 
 " Officina gentium'' — (workshop for the produc- 
 tion of nations) — applied to that country. But the 
 marvel has now been renewed, and the inhabitant 
 of Philadelphia or New York, as he observes ship- 
 load after ship-load of our unfortunate countiy- 
 men throA^m into his more favoured country, 
 might well repeat the same exclamation, and feel 
 the same surprise in regard to the inexhaustible 
 stream of human beings, not less wretched, if less 
 formidable, flowing from the limited territory of 
 an island such as ours. 
 
 Until the year 1854, emigration proceeded 
 rapidly, but from that year its progress became 
 much slower ; partly, no doubt, owing to the im- 
 proved condition of Ireland, but partly, also, from 
 the large demand for the army consequent on the 
 Russian war. The drain, however, upon the 
 population of Ireland thus established by emigra- 
 tion continues at an average of 80,000 a-year, and 
 
300 
 
 the population has rapidly decreased.* In 1851 
 it was 1,622,739 less than in 1841, and in 1861 it 
 was 755,311 less than that of 185 l.f 
 
 * 1831 to 1841 (per annum) 
 
 
 . 45,000. 
 
 1841 to 
 
 1845 
 
 J5 
 
 
 . 61,242. 
 
 1846 
 
 
 J5 
 
 
 . 105,955. 
 
 1847 
 
 
 JJ 
 
 
 . 215,444. 
 
 1848 
 
 
 J> 
 
 
 178,159. 
 
 1849 
 
 
 J> 
 
 
 . 218,842. 
 
 1850 
 
 
 J> 
 
 
 209,054. 
 
 1851 
 
 
 SJ 
 
 
 249,721. 
 
 (The above 
 
 numbers do not include those migrating to Eng 
 
 land or Scotland.) 
 
 
 The next include those migrating and emigrating : — 
 
 1852 
 
 (per 
 
 annum) . . 190,322. 
 
 1853 
 
 
 55 
 
 
 173,148. 
 
 1854 
 
 
 55 
 
 
 140,555. 
 
 1855 
 
 
 55 
 
 
 91,914. 
 
 185G 
 
 
 55 
 
 
 90,781. 
 
 1857 
 
 
 55 
 
 
 95,081. 
 
 1858 
 
 
 •55 
 
 
 64,337. 
 
 1859 
 
 
 55 
 
 
 80,599. 
 
 1860 
 
 
 55 
 
 
 84,621. 
 
 1861 
 
 
 5> 
 
 
 64,292. 
 
 1862 
 
 
 55 
 
 
 72,730. 
 
 1863 
 
 
 5» 
 
 
 117,229. 
 
 1864 
 
 
 55 
 
 
 114,169. 
 
 1865 
 
 
 55 
 
 
 101,497. 
 
 1866 
 
 
 »J • 
 
 
 99,467. 
 
 1867 
 
 
 55 
 
 
 80,624. 
 
 1868 
 
 
 55 
 
 
 61,018. 
 
 j- " Calculating," say the Census Commissioners in their Re- 
 port of 1851, " the probable increase of population at the same 
 rate as the English and Welsh population had actually increased 
 during this decade, the population in Ireland Avould probably 
 have numbered over 9,000,000 (9,018,799) instead of 6,500,000 
 
301 
 
 In the discussion upon the subject of emigra- 
 tion, it had often been doubted whether it ever 
 could be made the means of so sensible and per- 
 manent a diminution of the people as would to 
 any great extent relieve the distress of those who 
 remained at home, however beneficial it might 
 prove to those who expatriated themselves ; and 
 the idea of giving aid to emigration by Govern- 
 ment grants or otherwise was, on this ground, 
 discouraged by many political philosophers and 
 statesmen of eminence. Mr. Drummond, the 
 author of the well-known Report of the Irish 
 Railway Commissioners in 1836, regarded it as 
 an " insufficient remedy for so widespread and 
 multitudinous an evil." 
 
 The facts to which we have just adverted would 
 seem, however, to have removed every question as 
 to the efficacy of emigration to produce a positive 
 and palpable lessening of the number of the in- 
 habitants of a thickly-peopled country, and the 
 doubt now entertained is, whether the efficacy of 
 the remedy is not too great, and whether the 
 poverty of the country, alleviated for a time by 
 decrease, may not again be aggravated when that 
 decrease shall amount to depopulation. 
 
 Other objections were offered to emigration as a 
 means whereby the evils of over population might 
 
 (G, 552, 385,) and that consequently the loss of population be- 
 tween 1841 and 1851 may be computed at the enormous amount 
 of nearly 2,500,000 (2,4'3G,4U)." 
 
302 
 
 be remedied. It was maintained that in any 
 emigration upon a great scale, the substantive pro- 
 ductive power of the country wouki be diminished 
 in a greater proportion than its pauper popula- 
 tion. Those who were comparatively well-to-do, 
 and had sufficient energy to desire to improve 
 their condition ; those who were young, strong in 
 body, and could get together some little capital 
 upon which to set up in a new country; those, in 
 fine, who could pay the expense of a passage to 
 America would, it was contemplated, depart, while 
 the old, the maimed, the idle, and those who were 
 in a state of hopeless poverty, would remain, and 
 be thrown upon the country as a burden, all the 
 more grievous from the desertion of the abler 
 portion of their fellow-subjects. 
 
 It cannot be doubted, that in all emigration a 
 tendency, such as has been pointed out, must 
 exist, and it is to be believed that, in that which 
 has taken place from Ireland, much of the popu- 
 lation which it would have been desirable to re- 
 tain in the country has been lost to it, while it is 
 still burthened with much of that which it would 
 have been well to 2;et rid of: but this does not 
 seem to have occurred in the majority of cases. 
 The strong ties of Irish affection led to the depor- 
 tation of entire families ; money was sent home 
 by those who had gone first ; every species of 
 allurement was held out, and before long, every 
 member of the family had left tlie country. 
 
303 
 
 A reference to the most authentic sources of 
 information which we possess forbids us to con- 
 clude that the productive power of the country 
 has been deteriorated, although the number of its 
 inhabitants has indubitably been very seriously 
 diminished.* 
 
 It might not, therefore, be unfairly presumed 
 that emio;ration has been in a o-reat measure suc- 
 cessful in removing a part of the distress which 
 affected the country, and, at all events, in warding 
 off the still greater sufferings Avith which it was 
 menaced at the time the voluntary expatriation of 
 so large a portion of its inhabitants was resorted 
 to. 
 
 It may be said, it is true, that as a cure for the 
 evil of a population which had outgrown the 
 means of sustenance which a notoriously ill ma- 
 nao;ed and inefficient cultivation enabled its coun- 
 try to supply it with, emigration was but a rude 
 remedy, carrying with it an immense amount of 
 moral and physical suffering to a number of 
 human beings, and resulting in a reduction of one 
 of the greatest elements of national force and 
 greatness, by the transfer of no unimportant part 
 of its physical strengtli to other countries — to in- 
 crease, perhaps, the resources of some foreign 
 
 * In 1841 there were in Ireland 13,461,300 acres of arable 
 land, and in 1861 there was 15,464,825. The extent of land 
 under crops has not decreased, whilst the value of live stock 
 has risen from £19,399,850 in 1841, to £34,708,222 in 1868. 
 
304 
 
 State, which might eventually be ranged in hos- 
 tility against us. 
 
 It is true, that of the only two methods by 
 which a disproportion between the number of a 
 people and the means producible for its support 
 can be rectified — namely, to decrease the num- 
 ber to be fed, or else to augment the quantity 
 of food — the latter is of the two the preferable 
 remedy. 
 
 But can it always be resorted to with efi'ect ? 
 The theories of political economists of no mean 
 standing, point out its possibility. According to 
 these, in a country such as Ireland, possessing a 
 good climate, an active and intelligent popula- 
 tion, and an amount of cultivatable land sufii- 
 cient to produce food for double the number 
 of inhabitants it ever possessed,* it would only 
 require the steady application of greater skill and 
 industry to its cultivation, to enable it to support 
 the redundant population. 
 
 The prospect is seductive, and the theory as an 
 abstract proposition, perhaps not devoid of truth. 
 It is one which, no doubt, ought to be borne in 
 mind in every design for the improvement of Ire- 
 land; but the application of it to the circum- 
 stances of the times which now occupy our atten- 
 tion was clearly impossible. Such a remedy must 
 necessarily be slow and gradual in its operation. 
 
 * See Sir Robert Kane's " Industrial Resources of Ireland.'' 
 
305 
 
 The growth of science and the formation of 
 habits of industry are things which an enlightened 
 Government may, indeed, foster and encourage, 
 but \Yhich they cannot create or command for any 
 sudden emergency. The traditional habits and 
 feelings of a people, generated by the events of its 
 past history, are not to be at once reversed even 
 by the wisest laws, or the exercise of the best con- 
 ceived social policy. The Irish famine was not 
 a blow which could be on the instant warded off 
 or softened by better modes of culture, or a more 
 economical distribution of farms. The good re- 
 sults of such measures could not be perceptible 
 for years to come. Nay, the attempt which was 
 already making to augment the produce of the 
 land by the eradication of an erroneous system of 
 tenure had, in the first instance, the effect of aggra- 
 vating the very evils it was calculated to root out. 
 The Sub-letting Act, necessary as it was admitted 
 >to be for future improvement, did little more at 
 first than to lay bare the ulcer which was eating 
 into the vitals of the agricultural class — an 
 operation, it is true, indispensable for its ulti- 
 mate cure. 
 
 To have recourse to emigration, or not, was no 
 matter of choice to the Imperial Government at 
 the time it occurred. It was, indeed, as the Bri- 
 tish and most modern Governments are now hap- 
 pily constituted, a matter very much out of theii^ 
 control. Neither the statute law of England, nor 
 
 w 
 
306 
 
 the law of opinion of the civilized world, would 
 now allow of the forcible expulsion of a popula- 
 tion whose presence w^as found inconvenient, such 
 as w^as effected by Louis XIY, in regard to his 
 Huguenot subjects; or to go further back, such as 
 was eiFected by the Spaniards of the sixteenth cen-: 
 tury in regard to the Moors and Jews. Neither 
 would any enactment be contemplated, by which 
 the departure -of any number of individuals from 
 their country could be effectually prevented, how- 
 ever undesirable their expatriation might be. All 
 that a Government could do would be, by indirect 
 means, to encourao;e or discourao-e such a move- 
 ment, as the case might be. But the means of 
 doing so at the disposal of the British Govern- 
 ment in either case would be clearly inadequate, 
 if emigration was either to be impelled or to be 
 checked upon a scale sufficient to have a sensible 
 effect upon the numbers or the condition of the 
 people.* 
 
 If, therefore, the statements to which we have 
 referred can be relied on, (as no doubt they can,) 
 Ave remain in the possession of two striking facts 
 in regard to the emigration which has taken 
 place from Ireland within the last twenty-five 
 years : — 
 
 1st. That the population of the country has 
 
 * See Evidence given before the Committee of the House of 
 Lords on Colonization, 1847. 
 
307 
 
 been thereby diminished in number to an extent 
 that was not generally believed to be possible ;* 
 and 
 
 2nd. That the products of the land have not 
 been diminished, either in quantity or in value. 
 
 It may, then, be stated as a general fact, that 
 there are fewer mouths to be fed than before, and 
 that there is the same, if not a greater, quantity of 
 food with wdiich to supply them. 
 
 If this be the case, as we assuredly believe it to 
 be, we may congratulate the country on the suc- 
 cess of this great though involuntary experiment. 
 The process has not, it is true, been one free from 
 suffering, or exempt from disadvantages, but it 
 has effected to a crreat deo;ree what was a neces- 
 sary preliminary to any future amelioration. It 
 has brought about such a reduction of the popula- 
 tion as renders its own subsistence possible ; and 
 it has thereby, in a great measure, spared to the 
 people of Ireland those other infinitely more ter- 
 rible ordeals by which that reduction must other- 
 
 * Between 1841 and 1851 the population decreased about 
 one-fiftli ; (19.79 persons in every 100;) from 1851 to 1861 the 
 diminution continued, and in the decade amounted to 11.79 per 
 cent. 
 
 In 1841 the population to the square mile was . 251 
 
 In 185 lit fell to „ .202 
 
 In 1861 „ „ . 178 
 
 thus showing a diminution between 1841 and 1861 of 73 per- 
 sons to the square mile. 
 
 This diminution was directly due to emigration. 
 
308 
 
 wise have inevitably been effected — famine and 
 disease — not perhaps unaccompanied by the blood- 
 shed, crime, and outrage, which wait upon de- 
 spair. 
 
CHAPTER XVIL 
 
 Agriculture, and Landed Improvement Act. 
 
 The peculiar systems of farming pursued in a 
 country so entirely dependent upon agriculture as 
 Ireland, have not been without their influence upon 
 its condition. 
 
 From the earliest times this countiy seems to 
 have attracted notice for its pastures ; and until the 
 middle of the eighteenth century continued to be 
 an almost exclusively grazing country. About 
 that time, however, lands hitherto in a state of 
 commonage were enclosed, and tillage became more 
 generally practised ; but agricultural progress was 
 retarded by the checks imposed on exportation. 
 As these were gradually relaxed, and the means of 
 transport facilitated, the amount of produce con- 
 siderably increased, and a greater extent of land 
 was brought under tillage. Corn, too, began to be 
 
310 
 
 more extensively grown ; and in the year 1806, 
 a great stimulus was given to its cultivation by 
 a law which admitted Irish grain free of duty into 
 England, and which thus made Ireland a parti- 
 cipator in the advantages of the protection af- 
 forded to this important article by the English 
 Corn Laws. 
 
 The enormous increase of the population which 
 took place between the years 1790 and 1825, had 
 also the effect of rendering tillage more general, 
 the people being obliged for their support to have 
 recourse to an exclusive use and cultivation of the 
 potato. 
 
 Thus, at the time from which we have dated our 
 investigation, the principal crop was the potato ; 
 corn — stimulated by English protection — being 
 also largely cultivated. 
 
 But although tillage had become more general, 
 and the exports of corn had increased from half 
 a-million of quarters in 1805 to two millions of 
 quarters in 1825, the methods of farming had 
 made little progress. Agriculture as a science 
 was wholly unknown ; the grossest ignorance pre- 
 vailed as to the commonest facts, and the imple- 
 ments in use were few, and of the most primitive 
 and clumsy description. 
 
 In the northern and in some of the eastern 
 counties, where easier access was to be had to the 
 English markets, and where an interchange of 
 commodities led to an interchange of ideas, some 
 
311 
 
 improvements were introduced ; but in all other 
 parts of the country agriculture was backward in 
 the extreme. 
 
 In the able Digest of the evidence given before 
 the Land Occupation Commissioners, the different 
 systems in practice are described: — 
 
 " On holdings above one acre, and less than two 
 to two and a-half acres, there has generally been a 
 two years' rotation of potatoes and grain in con- 
 tinual succession. Up to three or four acres, a 
 three years' rotation ; and the holdings above 
 these classes are most generally cultivated on a 
 seven or eight years' rotation, for three or four 
 years of which the land was ' left out to grass.' " 
 
 " Upon the whole,'' continues the Digest, " this 
 principle of farming consists, first, by the applica- 
 tion of manure to bring up the land to a certain 
 capability of production ; and then, instead of 
 seeking to keep it either in that condition or in a 
 progressively improving state, the effort is to take 
 everything from it by a continued succession of 
 the same class of exhausting crops, until it be- 
 comes incapable of returning the cost of seed and 
 labour ; after which it is left to the unaided and 
 gradual operation of nature to recover from the 
 effects of this destructive treatment, that it may be 
 again exhausted, and again left for years unpro- 
 ductive to recover." 
 
 Thus, while small holdings precluded the possi- 
 bility of a successful system of agriculture, the 
 
312 
 
 large holdings, except in a few parts of the coun- 
 try, were cultivated in a manner far from being 
 conducive to obtaining the largest produce. 
 
 Much, doubtless, of the general apathy as re- 
 garded improvements in farming was attributable 
 to a want of knowledge amongst the farming class, 
 and much to their poverty. 
 
 But there were other circumstances exerting a 
 greater influence upon them. According to the 
 general practice prevailing at this time, the land- 
 lord built neither dwelling-house nor farm-offices, 
 nor did he put the holding into good order before 
 letting it to a tenant. All improvements, there- 
 fore, fell on the tenant, who either was possessed 
 only of the capital of his own labour and that of 
 his family, and was incapable of making them, or 
 if he happened to be wealthier, withheld the in- 
 vestment both of labour and of capital, because he 
 was not certain of being permitted to reap a remu- 
 neratory benefit from his exertions. And though, 
 on the one hand, many cases were not shown in 
 which the landed proprietors had taken advantage 
 of improving tenants ; and on the other it was not 
 shown that tenants possessing long and beneficial 
 leases of their land had brought them to a high 
 state of improvement — 
 
 " Yet," says the Digest above referred to, " the 
 broad and intelligible principle was not impugned, 
 that before any man could be expected to invest 
 wealth on his neighbour's property, he ought to 
 
313 
 
 iiave distinct security as to the way in which that 
 wealth is to be secured to him with a reasonable 
 profit." 
 
 It must, therefore, unhesitatingly be affirmed, 
 that this uncertainty of receiving an adequate 
 return for any improvements which the tenant 
 might make upon his farm, has been one of the 
 principal causes in retarding the development of 
 the agricultural productive powers of Ireland ; 
 and when it is borne in mind, that the more profit- 
 able courses of cultivation were impracticable until 
 the requisite preparatory improvements of the soil 
 had taken place, the extent of the evil may be 
 better realised. 
 
 Nor can it be doubted that the law of distress 
 operated very materially in retarding improve- 
 ment. This law gave an exceptional facility to 
 the landlord for recovering the debts due to him 
 by his tenants. Hence, but too often, he did not 
 inquire as to the character of the person whom he 
 received as his tenant. Competition enabled him 
 to get a promise of a high rent, and the remedies 
 given by law were so prompt and efficacious as to 
 make him almost sure that he would lose nothing 
 by the dishonesty of the tenant. The number of 
 unfit and insolvent competitors w^as accordingly so 
 great, that the solvent man, who could have im- 
 proved the land, and conferred advantages upon 
 his landlord, was beaten out of the field, being 
 
314 
 
 unable to compete with the high offers made hy- 
 the io;norant adventurer.* 
 
 Ireland was not, however, long permitted to 
 enjoy the advantages of protection in her corn 
 trade with England. The principles of free trade 
 having been more fully recognized and more gene- 
 rally acted on, an agitation had been set on foot 
 for the repeal of the Corn Laws, which, it was ar- 
 gued, tended to keep the price always at a high 
 rate, to the detriment of the corn-consuming classes 
 of England. The protection given to home pro- 
 duce, including Irish, was considered to be inju- 
 rious to the kingdom in general ;f and indepen- 
 
 * See Address to tlie Statistical Society of Ireland, by Judge 
 Longfield, in 1864. 
 
 t "The density of our population is such, that the exclusion 
 of foreign corn has obliged us to resort to soils of less fertility 
 than those that are under cultivation in the surrounding coun- 
 tries, and, in consequence, our average prices are comparatively 
 high. The impolicy of this conduct is obvious. If Ave could, 
 by laying out £1,000 on the manufactui'e of cottons or hard- 
 ware, produce a quantity of these articles that would exchange 
 for 500 quarters of American or Polish wheat ; and if the same 
 sum, Avere it expended in cultivation in this country, Avould not 
 produce more than 400 quarters, the prevention of importation 
 occasions an obvious sacrifice of 100 out of every 500 quarters 
 consumed in the empire, or, which is the same thing, it occasions 
 an artificial advance of 20 per cent, in the price of corn. "We 
 do not mean to say that this statement exactly repi'eseuts the 
 amount of injury that has been inflicted by the Corn Laws, but, 
 at all events, it clearly illustrates the principle which they em- 
 bodied." — M'Culloch's Commercial Dictionary — " Corn Laws." 
 
315 
 
 dently of its stimulating one branch of agricul- 
 ture at the expense of another, it checked the free 
 interchange of the goods and produce of one coun- 
 try Avith those of another. It had been found, 
 moreover, that the removal of prohibitions had 
 generally contributed, not only to the welfare of 
 the consumer, but also to that of the producer. 
 It is not necessary here to enter into an account 
 of the agitation. The greatest opposition was made 
 to the chano-e, there beino- a natural dread on the 
 part of the agricultural interest of the compe- 
 tition that must ensue on the cessation of protec- 
 tion. 
 
 But events, over which there was no control, 
 necessitated the question being decided sooner 
 than it might otherwise have been. The partial 
 failure of the potato in 18-45, and the consequent 
 scarcity in the spring of 1846, demonstrated the 
 evils of a restricted importation of so important 
 an article of food; and in June, 1846, after long 
 debates, an Act (9 and 10 Vict., cap. 22) was 
 passed providing for the gradual reduction during 
 the next three years of the import duty on corn, 
 and at the end of that time, or rather on the 1st 
 February, 1849, fixing it at the merely nominal 
 rate of Is. per quarter. 
 
 Before one year, however, had elapsed, there 
 came the second and total failure of the potato 
 crop, (in 1846,) and it was found necessary to free 
 the trade in food from ever^' obstruction. Ac- 
 
316 
 
 cordingly, immediately on the assembling of Par- 
 liament, two other Acts were passed, (10 and 11 
 Vict., cap. 1 and 2,) making further reductions 
 in the duty, and removing the restriction imposed 
 by the Navigation Laws on the importation of 
 corn in foreign vessels. Thus Irish grain ceased 
 to possess that advantage in the English market 
 which it had for forty years enjoyed. 
 
 The measure, taken as a whole, was advan- 
 tageous to the empire, yet, on Ireland it inflicted 
 a serious loss — a fact which had been foreseen and 
 acknowledged by Sir Robert Peel in his speech 
 on the introduction of the measure,"^ when he 
 said : — 
 
 " There is one country wdiich this measure will 
 seriously affect, and that countiy is Ireland."t 
 
 The abolition of the Corn Laws exposed the 
 agriculturists of Ireland to the competition of the 
 rest of the world, placing the immense supplies of 
 grain from America on a level with those of Ire- 
 land. 
 
 Other great changes in the agricultural state of 
 the country were effected by the famine of 1846. 
 
 The surrender by the people of their holdings, 
 consequent on poverty, emigration, or death, 
 pushed the system of consolidation rapidly for- 
 
 * See Hansard's Parliamentary Debates, vol. 83. 
 t See Note, Cliap. V., page 99. 
 
317 
 
 ward ; and when the country began to recover 
 from the effects of the famine, tens of thousands 
 of these small holdino-s had been merged into 
 larger farms. 
 
 Instead, however, of a still greater extension of 
 tillage taking place, the low and unremunerative 
 price of grain, the risk of cultivating the potato, 
 and the want of capital still prevailing, the course 
 of agriculture tended to return to pasturage. This 
 was a source of great irritation to the peasantry ; 
 for independently of the demand for labour being- 
 lessened, the land which had prevented them from 
 starving was occupied by cattle, and they com- 
 plained that they were ejected from their homes, 
 and even driven from their country, to make 
 room for the beasts of the field. 
 
 Foremost in the great work of agricultural im- 
 provement was drainage. To arterial drainage we 
 have, in a preceding chapter, adverted ; but the 
 subject of farm drainage is as worthy of atten- 
 tion. 
 
 The testimony given before the Land Occupa- 
 tion Commissioners had, as regards this subject, 
 established three facts. 
 
 1st. The great extent to which farm drainage 
 was required in every district in Ireland. 
 
 2nd. The impossibility of introducing the im- 
 proved and most profitable crops and modes of 
 principles and effects of drainage on a large scale ; 
 
318 
 
 cultivation on wet lands until such drainage should 
 be effected ; and 
 
 3rd. The great profit attending such operations. 
 
 The truth and importance of the second consi- 
 deration was soon after established by painful ex- 
 perience, in consequence of the repeated and al- 
 most total failures of the potato. There was no 
 other crop that could be successfully cultivated on 
 the lands in the state they then were, the most 
 useful substitutes requiring the soil to be well 
 drained. 
 
 The great want of capital in Ireland among all 
 classes rendered it little probable that such works 
 would be undertaken to a sufficient extent to be 
 beneficial to the country at large. To use Sir 
 Robert Peel's words, too, " Agricultural science in 
 Ireland was still in its infancy." And for these 
 reasons it "was proposed that the State should ad- 
 vance money for the encouragement of agricultural 
 skill and industry. A measure for this purpose, 
 called the Landed Improvement Act, (10 Vict., 
 cap. 32,) was accordingly passed in the year 1847. 
 
 This Act was to be carried into effect by the 
 Commissioners of Public Works, and instructions 
 were immediately issued by them for the informa- 
 tion and guidance of land-owners. 
 
 Advantage was at once, and to a great extent, 
 taken of the Act ; large loans were made, and many 
 works were commenced. 
 
 Great ignorance had hitherto existed as to the 
 
principles and effects of drainage on a large scale; 
 but as the increased value of drained lands was 
 demonstrated, a considerable desire was manifested 
 by proprietors to avail themselves of the provi- 
 sions of the Act. 
 
 The progress of the works, too, was very satis- 
 factory, and in the humid climate of Ireland, the 
 benefits derived were even more strikinsf than in 
 England. The neio-hbourino- farmer, whose land 
 was un drained, and whose ditches were full of 
 water, looked with wonder at the double crops of 
 corn, and the more than double crops of turnips 
 raised on land which the previous year exhibited 
 the same neglect and impoverishment as his own. 
 
 In each of the years 1848 and 1849, over 
 £350,000 was borrowed, and in the year 1850 
 £250,000. After that year the amount decretised; 
 but since the Act came into operation, loans 
 amounting to over £2,000,000 have been made, 
 and 240,000 acres of land have been thoroughly 
 drained.* 
 
 The most beneficial results have followed these 
 undertakino's. Much land, includino; some of the 
 richest alluvial soils of the country, has been re- 
 lieved from liability to injury by floods, and the 
 crops have increased in quantity, and improved in 
 quality. 
 
 The benefits of giving State aid being thus de- 
 
 "" The average cost is stated to be £5 7s. 6d. an acre. 
 
320 
 
 monstrated, the Government extended the system ; 
 and in the year 1850, an Act (13 & 14 Vict., 
 cap. 31) was passed, which authorized loans for 
 the erection of farm-offi.ce buildinsrs. This assis- 
 
 o 
 
 tance was necessary, to enable the proprietors of 
 large tracts of land to fit them for letting in 
 extensive farms to superior agriculturists This 
 Act also was attended with considerable success. 
 
 Active exertions were made also by landlords 
 and by private individuals with the same view. 
 
 In many parts of the country agricultural socie- 
 ties were formed. 
 
 The Royal Dublin Society had long taken the 
 initiative in this respect, with very successful re- 
 sults; and in the year 1841 the Royal Agricultural 
 Society of Ireland had been formed, with the 
 object of encouraging the best systems of agricul- 
 ture, of improving the breed of cattle, and of 
 assistins: local or district aoricultural societies 
 throughout the country. Prizes were given at 
 the annual shows, and endeavours were made to 
 stimulate the efforts of the farmers by emulation, 
 and to spread knowledge by exhibiting the best 
 breeds and specimens of animals, and the latest 
 improvements in farming implements. 
 
 The efforts of the Society have been productive 
 of the greatest good ; and other similar, but 
 smaller societies, in different parts of the country, 
 have likewise assisted much in the general im- 
 provement of farming. 
 
321 
 
 Considerable benefits were also derived from 
 the appointment, upon some estates, of agricul- 
 tural superintendents to instruct the tenantry, from 
 improved modes of drainage, better rotations, arti- 
 ficial grasses, and green crops. 
 
 Valuable statistics as to the amount and nature 
 of agricultural produce in Ireland have been pre- 
 pared since the year 1847, and we are accord- 
 ingly able to note the diff'erent changes which 
 have taken place since that time. The most 
 strikino- fact reo'ards the size of the farms. 
 
 In 1841 there were 310,436 holdino-s, between 
 one acre and five acres; in 1851, 88,083; in 1868, 
 77,108. Farms between five and fifteen acres 
 had decreased from 252,799 in 1841, to 172,040 
 in 1868 ; whilst those between fifteen and thirty 
 acres had increased from 79,342 in 1841, to 
 136,580 in 1868 ; and above thirty acres from 
 48,625 in 1841, to 158,904 in 1868. 
 
 Instructive as these facts are in exhibiting the 
 effects of the famine and of emigration upon the 
 farming classes, they are also interesting as show- 
 ing the progress of the system of consolidation. 
 The evils which that system was meant to remove 
 have to a great extent ceased to exist. 
 
 Least progress seems to have been made in the 
 amount of land under crops ; but this is not to be 
 wondered at, considering the severity with which 
 the repeal of the Corn Laws told upon Irish agri- 
 culture. 
 
 X 
 
322 
 
 The extent of land under crops was 5,238,575 
 acres in 1847, and 5,547,971 acres in 1868, includ- 
 ino; meadow and clover. But if there has not 
 been much increase in the amount, there has been 
 considerable change in the description of the 
 crops making up this total. 
 
 The total acreage under cereals has decreased 
 from 3,313,579 acres in 1847, to 2,192,979 in 1868. 
 
 Of other crops, potatoes have increased, and 
 the cultivation of flax has been extended from 
 58,312 acres in 1847, to 206,483 in 1868; whilst 
 the acreage under meadow and clover has increased 
 from 1,138,946 in 1847, to 1,692,135 in 1869. 
 
 To obtain a general view of the crops most 
 common in Ireland, a calculation has been made, 
 from which it appears that in 1868, oats, potatoes, 
 and hay occupied 79.8 acres in every hundred 
 acres under cultivation, and that turnips occu- 
 pied a larger area than wheat. 
 
 Besides all this, there were in the year 1868 
 9,999,393 acres in grass or pasture. 
 
 To turn now to the live stock of the country, it 
 appears that in this respect great progress has been 
 made. The following table shows the changes. 
 
 
 Horses. 
 
 Cattle. 
 
 Sheep. 
 
 Pigs. 
 
 1841 
 
 576,115 
 
 1,863,116 
 
 2,106,189 
 
 1,412,813 
 
 1851 
 
 543,312 
 
 2,967,461 
 
 2,122,128 
 
 1,084,857 
 
 1855 
 
 576,144 
 
 3,564,400 
 
 3,602,342 
 
 1,177,605 
 
 1860 
 
 539,500 
 
 3,606,374 
 
 3,542,080 
 
 1,271,072 
 
 1865 
 
 568,142 
 
 3,497,548 
 
 3,694,356 
 
 J, 305,953 
 
 1868, 
 
 544,372 
 
 3,646,796 
 
 4,901,496 
 
 869,578 
 
323 
 
 Calculated at the rates adopted by the Census 
 Commissioners in 1841, the average value on 
 holdings above one acre was £28 Is. 4d. in 1841 ; 
 £47 18s. 2d. in 1851 ; £63 14s. 7d. in 1867; 
 but as a great rise has taken place in the price 
 of stock, in consequence of the improvements in 
 the different breeds, this calculation does not 
 represent the real increase. That is more appro- 
 priately shown by a calculation of Mr. Thom, who 
 estimates the value of cattle, sheep, and pigs, in 
 1868 at £44,979,641 ; whilst the Census Com- 
 missioners in 1841 give the value of cattle, sheep, 
 and pigs, as £14,958,270. 
 
 It thus appears that Ireland has made con- 
 siderable progress in agricultural production ; 
 Avhich, so far from having decreased in conse- 
 quence of the loss of labour caused by emigration, 
 has augmented. That it has been more remune- 
 rative is proved by the comparatively prosperous 
 condition of the farming classes ; and although 
 each year may not exhibit such improvement as 
 sanguine persons hope, still, when average periods 
 are compared, a steady advance may be noted. 
 
 There is, no doubt, room for much more im- 
 provement — a vast extent of land lies still unre- 
 claimed, much is badly drained and ill-cultivated, 
 and requires the outlay of capital ; but there is 
 good ground for congratulation upon the pro- 
 gress which has already been made, and for the 
 hope that Ireland will ere long reach a state of 
 fair, if not eminent, agricultural prosperity. 
 
CHAPTER XYIIL 
 
 Material Pkogress of Ireland — Steam Navigation — 
 Railways, &c. 
 
 Foremost in importance among tliose events which 
 promoted the material prosperity of Ireland was 
 the application of steam to navigation. 
 
 By the years 1828 and 1829, the advantages 
 arising from it began to make themselves felt 
 throughout the country. In 1824, the first 
 steamer for the conveyance of merchandise was 
 established between Dublin and Liverpool, and its 
 success was at once so apparent, that other steam 
 ships soon plied across the Channel. 
 
 This rapid means of conveyance opened up the 
 best markets for her agricultural produce, and the 
 best, because the cheapest, market from whence to 
 bring manufactured goods in return. It gave an 
 increased value to many of the lesser articles of 
 farming produce, such as eggs, poultry, and 
 
325 
 
 honey, which had hitherto been almost without a 
 market, there being but little demand for such 
 luxuries at home, and the length and difficulty of 
 the voyage to England precluding their profitable 
 exportation. Their transport having become not 
 only possible, but easy, the effect was almost the 
 creation of a new species of property, and being 
 generally the products of the industry of the 
 wives and children of the farmers, their sale 
 added to the wealth of the tenants. 
 
 Facility of intercourse has tended more to a 
 practical union between the two countries than 
 any legislative enactments. Inland traders found 
 their way to the English markets, labourers passed 
 more numerously across the Channel, and people 
 of all classes thus travelling about acquired and 
 diffused fresh information, new ideas, and good 
 habits, the fruits of which became more manifest 
 as each year went by. 
 
 Another of its effects was to admit numerous 
 small capitalists to a trade with England. Hither- 
 to, owing to the slowness of the return in all mer- 
 cantile transactions, a large capital had been re- 
 quired; but now the rapid transit effected so quick 
 a return, that one-fourth of the sum sufficed to 
 carry on the same amount of business. A great 
 impetus was given to open up the internal com- 
 munications of the country; for as the sale of 
 agricultural produce increased, so facilities for its 
 transmission became urgently in request. The 
 
326 
 
 roads were extended and improved, canals were 
 lengthened, and steam navigation was opened on 
 the Shannon in 1847. 
 
 The application of steam to land transit did not 
 take place until a much later date, and it was not 
 until the year 1834 that the first railway was 
 opened in Ireland, nor until the year 1847 that 
 any development of the system took place. 
 
 The results of railway communication, so strik- 
 ingly exemplified in England and other countries, 
 have not been obtained in Ireland to the extent 
 which was expected. This want of success is 
 mainly owing to the fact, that in the greater num- 
 ber of cases the trafiic consists of agricultural pro- 
 duce alone. There are, however, symptoms that 
 some progress has been made, a stimulus has been 
 given to agriculture, and traffic on some of the 
 main lines is steadily increasing. 
 
 It was expected by some, when, in 1826, all the 
 restrictions on commerce with England were re- 
 moved, that manufactures would spring up in many 
 parts of Ireland. The long repression, however, 
 of the few Irish manufactures which might have 
 been carried on, had efi'ectually destroyed them, 
 and England had obtained such a pre-eminence 
 in manufacturing industry, and the possession of 
 such immense resources in skill and capital, that 
 when Ireland was left free and unrestricted she 
 was unable to enter into competition. The linen 
 manufacture is the only one worthy of the name 
 
327 
 
 that ever existed in Ireland, and great pro- 
 gress has been made in it within the last forty- 
 five years. The number of flax factories, which 
 in 1864, was 97, had, in 1868, risen to 143, and 
 the number of persons employed in them, at the 
 latter date, was over 57,000. A revival is also 
 taking place in the manufacture of worked mus- 
 lins, which, at one time, formed a great source of 
 employment to the people in the Xorth of Ireland, 
 and which now employs about 300,000 persons, 
 chiefly females. 
 
 The woollen manufacture, which was once so 
 flourishing, has, of late years, also somewhat re- 
 vived ; and the cotton manufacture, though small, 
 is steadily but slowly increasing. Porter, for 
 which Dublin is so celebrated, is now much more 
 extensively brewed, and the exports have con- 
 siderably increased. 
 
 All these circumstances have led to an increase 
 of the wealth of the country, and to an improve- 
 ment in the condition of large numbers of the 
 people. 
 
 Speaking generally of the agricultural classes, it 
 may be asserted, that they are now in a perma- 
 nently better condition than they have been at any 
 former period. 
 
 There have been exceptional years of greater 
 prosperity, it is true ; but the prosperity was not 
 permanent. 
 
 The larger farmers have, in some parts of the 
 
328 
 
 country, made " a great stride" to prosperity — 
 everywhere they have made progress. More capi- 
 tal is invested in their farming, the quantity and 
 quality of their stock have improved, whilst their 
 increasing wealth is shown in the deposits in 
 banks, the greater proportion of which are made 
 by them, and which, since the years of the famine, 
 have more than doubled.* 
 
 The small farmers, who are mainly dependent 
 on tillage, do not appear to have prospered in an 
 equal degree. Their condition has nevertheless 
 improved, and middlemen having almost entirely 
 passed away, they have come under the immediate 
 control of their landlords — a change which has 
 been highly beneficial to them. The improvement 
 is testified by the better class of food which they 
 consume, by their dress, and by the consumption 
 of certain luxuries which they have not hitherto 
 been able to aiFord. 
 
 The transition from small to large holdings has 
 created a class of aoricultural labourers, earning 
 their livelihood by daily hire, and whose condition 
 is dependent on the rate of wages. 
 
 In the year 1855, the Poor Law Commissioners 
 instituted inquiries on this subject, and the result 
 is thus summed up by them : — 
 
 In 1840, there was 
 
 £5,567,851 deposited in banks. 
 
 „ 1850, 
 
 8,268,838 „ 
 
 „ 18G0, 
 
 15,609,237 
 
 „ 1869, 
 
 . 18,437,128 
 
329 
 
 " Universally throughout Ireland, a more con- 
 tinuous state of employment of agricultural labour 
 prevails, and wages of Is. per day are given where 
 formerly the rate was 4d., 6d., or 8d, ; while, in 
 most parts of the country, a man's wages reach 
 Is. 6d., 2s., or 2s. 6d. per day at certain seasons of 
 the year. We believe that to these facts another 
 important element of an improved condition may 
 be added. We allude to the greatly increased de- 
 mand for the labour of females and young per- 
 sons of both sexes, which materially assists in 
 rendering the income of an average family more 
 proportioned to their physical wants than it was 
 formerly." 
 
 Since that date, a further increase in the rate of 
 wages has taken place, in consequence of the con- 
 tinued emigration.* There is now abundant oc- 
 cupation to be had ; indeed, in some parts of the 
 country, there is even a want of labourers. The 
 system of paying wages by con-acre has passed 
 away, and money payments have been substituted. 
 
 Nor have the prices of what, to them, are the 
 the necessaries of life increased to such a deo^ree 
 as to neutralize this increase in their earnings, for 
 potatoes, which still form their diet to a consider- 
 able extent, although not so exclusively as before, 
 have remained very cheap, whilst Indian corn has 
 placed within their reach another article of food 
 
 * See Eeports of the Poor Law Inspectors, 1870. 
 
330 
 
 which is to a large extent used among them. In 
 too many instances, however, these people are still 
 very poor, but a great deal of their poverty is at- 
 tributable to the habit of drinking, much of their 
 earnings, which might be employed in the pur- 
 chase of some of the smaller comforts of life, being 
 thus squandered away. Still, comparing the con- 
 dition of these people with that of the small far- 
 mer or cottier-tenant of some fifty years ago, the 
 result is decidedly satisfactory, though there is still 
 room for great improvement. 
 
 There is, perhaps, no more effectual test of the 
 comparative prosperity of the agricultural labour- 
 ing classes than the number of persons receiving 
 Poor Law relief during the year. The relative 
 degree of distress prevailing throughout the coun- 
 try is also indicated, for the distress above pauper- 
 ism may be assumed to l^e in a constant ratio to 
 the amount of destitution relieved by the Poor 
 Law. We have already referred to statistics prov- 
 ing the diminution of destitution. A clearer view 
 of the present amount of pauperism in Ireland is 
 obtained by analyzing the last annual return. In 
 the year 1868, 289,471 persons received relief in 
 the workhouse, and 50,257 outside of it. The 
 average daily number of able-bodied males was 
 only 2,406, and of able-bodied females 6,133 and 
 this out of a population of about 5,500,000. 
 
 A great improvement has also taken place in 
 
331 
 
 the condition of the people as regards house ac- 
 commodation. 
 
 The Census Commissioners classified the houses 
 under four heads. The fourth class comprised all 
 mud cabins having only one room ; the third class 
 consisted of a better description, built also of 
 mud, but varying from two to four rooms and 
 windows ; the second Avere good farm-houses, or in 
 town, houses having from five to nine rooms and 
 windows ; the first class included all houses of a 
 better description. According to their returns, 
 there were in 
 
 
 1841 
 
 1851 
 
 1861 
 
 1st Class 
 
 40,080 
 
 50,164 
 
 55,416 
 
 2ud „ 
 
 . 2G4,184 
 
 318,758 
 
 360,698 
 
 3rd „ 
 
 . 533,297 
 
 541,712 
 
 489,668 
 
 4th „ 
 
 . 491,278 
 
 135,589 
 
 89,374 
 
 Total, 1,328,839 1,046,223 995156 
 From this it will be seen that the number of 
 first and second-class houses has increased. Four- 
 fifths of the worst description of them have disap- 
 peared, and the better portion of the houses have 
 been retained as the population diminished ; and 
 althouo;h at the time of the last census the house 
 accommodation for the labourino; classes was far 
 from being satisfactory, yet, since then, further 
 improvements in this respect have been effected 
 throughout the entire country. 
 
 Thus, in these essential respects, the condition of 
 the people has improved. Further evidence of the 
 progress of the country is given in the increase of 
 
332 
 
 the imports into Ireland from foreign countries 
 and British possessions abroad. 
 
 The value of British and Irish produce and 
 manufactures exported direct to foreign countries 
 from ports in Ireland has also increased ; but this 
 trade is comparatively inconsiderable. The main 
 trade of Ireland is direct with England ; and, un- 
 fortunately, no information on this subject is ob- 
 tainable, as no account is kept of cross-channel 
 traffic. One fact, however, shows its great in- 
 crease, and that is the very large number of 
 vessels which now trade between the two coun- 
 tries. 
 
 Another sign of improvement is, that attention 
 is at present directed in a greater degree to 
 the natural resources of the country. Foremost 
 amongst these are the fisheries, both inland and 
 coast. These do not appear to have been ever iu 
 a satisfactory condition. Large numbers of per- 
 sons, it is true, followed this occupation ; but, 
 with the exception of those living at the few ports 
 from Avhich facilities existed for transmitting the 
 fish to market, they do not seem to have gained 
 any other benefit beyond earning a livelihood. 
 Nor did they devote themselves to it exclusively, 
 for the majority of them were in possession of 
 small bits of land, and depended mainly on the 
 potato. 
 
 In the crisis of the famine, these poor people 
 became either unable to keep their nets, tackle, or 
 
333 
 
 boats in repair, or they were compelled to part 
 with them for food ; and, since that time, the 
 fisheries have been in a very depressed state. 
 Within the last few years, however, some im- 
 provement is noticeable ; the demand for fish has 
 become much greater, the transmission of it both 
 to English and Irish markets has been facilitated, 
 and there is reason to hope that, before long, this 
 branch of national wealth may become fully de- 
 veloped. 
 
 Thus, in many important particulars, Ireland 
 appears to have improved. There is, however, 
 great room for further progress. Her mineral 
 wealth, although considerable, is as yet almost un- 
 touched. She possesses many natural resources, 
 which have not yet been fully developed ; and, 
 although it cannot reasonably be expected that 
 she can, within any assignable period, reach that 
 heisfht of commercial and manufacturinor wealth 
 to which England, from a variety of concurring 
 circumstances, has attained, yet she may reach a 
 position little inferior, and one which will place 
 her high in the list of the prosperous nations of 
 the world. 
 
CONCLUSION, 
 
 The author is conscious that the foregoing notes 
 are calculated to convey but a summary and im- 
 perfect notion of the number and variety of tlie 
 questions which must present themselves to a 
 conscientious inquirer into the present state of 
 Ireland. If, however, they can in any degree 
 serve as a guide to those who may be desirous 
 of entering upon a more complete investigation, 
 the object he had in view in their publication will 
 have been accomplished. 
 
 As he advanced in his inquiries he became even 
 more fully aware of the vastness of the subject, 
 and of his own necessary difficulties to deal with 
 it in all its details, as well as in the due co-ordina- 
 tion of all its branches, and their mutual bearings 
 upon each other as parts illustrative of the whole 
 
335 
 
 state of a country in a condition so anomalous 
 and complicated, and, it is to be hoped at least, 
 so transitory as that now existing in Ireland. 
 He says transitoi^y ^ for if the author has ventured 
 to come to any general conclusion as the results 
 of such study as he has been able to give to the 
 subject, it is the consolatory one, that his country 
 has made, and is still making, great progress 
 towards prosperity. 
 
 It is true that much remains to be clone. The 
 process is necessarily slow — ardent hopes will be 
 checked — discontent will not at once subside so 
 soon as all just cause for it has been removed. 
 Habits of thought and feeling, engendered by long 
 subsisting struggles, amounting almost to the for- 
 mation of a distinct national character, cannot be 
 easily laid aside. Political convulsion will be 
 still looked to by many as the shortest, if not 
 the only, road to national prosperity. Outrage 
 and defiance of the law will be mistaken for 
 that political emancipation which it must ever 
 retard ; but the enlightened attention and dis- 
 passionate consideration which every Irish ques- 
 tion is now sure to receive in the Imperial Par- 
 liament, combined with that firmness, tempered 
 
336 
 
 with indulgence, in sustaining the authority of 
 the Government — a failure in which would now 
 be fatal to the position and general success of any 
 English administration — cannot but have their 
 legitimate effect, and those who, from history's 
 teaching, are convinced that no nation ever yet 
 suddenly emerged from depression and sprang 
 into prosperity will not despair. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 PoRTBOus AND GiBBS, Printers, 18, Wicklow Street, Dublin. 
 
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