PART II.

DEGRADED CONDITION OF THE IRISH PEOPLE.

THE Condition of the Irish people, and especially of the Irish poor, has for ages been a phenomenon which neither the statesman nor the philosopher has been able to explain. Indeed, Spenser, in his VIEW OF THE STATE OF IRELAND, A. D. 1596, thus quaintly expressed the opinion of his day, which, without the alteration of a word, is at the present moment that current throughout the civilised globe:-

"Marry, so there have bin divers good plottes devised and wise councels cast already about reformation of that realme; but they say, it is the fatal destiny of that land, that no purposes whatsoever which are meant for her good will prosper or take good effect, which, whether it proceed from the genius of the soyle, or influence of the starres, or that Almighty God hath not yet appointed the time of her reformation, or that He reserveth her in this unquiet state still for some secret scourge, which shall by her come unto England, it is hard to be knowne, but yet much to be feared."

The anomalous state of Ireland, above described, still continues, and certainly it is impossible to bring before the mind of any man a more extraordinary mass of conflicting evidence than is offered to a stranger by a brief inspection of the country. The rags, filth,

and apparent moral degradation of a large proportion of the lower classes, it is beyond the power of any pen to describe; indeed, I can truly say, that, although I have had an opportunity of visiting and of associating with several uncivilised tribes, I never, until I went to Ireland, saw human beings and animals living together in an atmosphere of stench and smoke such as I have described. But there exists throughout this lovely, verdant land a moral degradation of a deeper die, and which is the more appalling because to the passing stranger it is utterly invisible. Among savage tribes, when the hatchet of war is displayed, the cruelties, tortures, and scalping exercised upon enemies are proverbial, and yet among themselves the fraternal pipe of peace is never extinguished. In Ireland, however, agrarian combination, Whiteboyism, and what is only a phase of the same thing, Ribbonism, have long maintained, and still maintain, a Cain-and-Abel state of society, a bloody and barbarous civil warfare, such as exists within the limits of no country on the surface of the globe. Respecting this invisible system, through the meshes of which every stranger safely and imperceptibly glides without the slightest suspicion of its existence, many a poor man, when interrogated as to its objects, has replied, "Yere Honor, I know no more about its system than you do, except that to the local Ribbon parish master' I pay for my quarter's pass, to enable me to move through the country with security. Yere Honor, I'd be proud if it were put down all-thegither!"

What the poor man means by the little word "it," is a power which, though it often slumbers, awakens on the slightest commotion to supersede the laws of God and man.

"Now on the beak,

Now in the waist, the deck, in every cabin

I flamed amazement: sometimes I'd divide
And burn in many places; on the topmast,

The yards, and bolt-sprit, would I flame distinctly,
Then meet, and join: Jove's lightnings, the precursors
O' the dreadful thunder-clap, more momentary
And sight-out-running were not."

As long as the lower orders are satisfied, the organism is apparently extinct; but whenever an estate gets disorganised, agrarian offences creep in, and with it Ribbonism and landlord-shooting rise to the ascendant. It is then vain for the law to pretend to punish, to intimidate, or even to try the authors of noon-day murders; for even in the hallowed courts of justice the demon of Ribbonism-like a ghastly spectre-significantly stands with a loaded gun in one hand, and a black coffin in the other, both ready for any witness who shall dare to give evidence against the murderer, or for any juryman who shall presume to declare the blood-stained criminal at the bar to be "Guilty."

And as, in a description of this wicked, lawless system, it would be impossible to

"Give ample room and verge enough,

The character of hell to trace,"

let us now proceed dispassionately to consider, Who are the authors of this vast calamity, which, in conjunction with others, every just mind must alike deprecate and deplore.

HAVE THE IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT AND BRITISH GOVERNMENT BEEN THE CAUSE OF THE MORAL DEGRADATION OF IRELAND?

A few facts and figures will briefly reply to this

R

query. The following is a rough outline of the assistance which Great Britain, commonly called " England," has rendered to Ireland since the Union.

1. The royal harbours of Kingston, Howth, Dunmore, and Donaghadee have been all made with public grants. Half the expense of the Shannon navigation was a grant. The ordnance and boundary surveys have been wholly an imperial expenditure. Grants to the amount of 696,790l. have been made by the Board of Works, exclusive of the famine advances. The Queen's Colleges, and the addition to Maynooth College, the general prisons, penitentiaries, and asylums, have been wholly from imperial funds. Grants have been made to the Royal Canal and other inland navigations. In like manner the great roads in the western counties, and many others, have been constructed from grants. The above sums altogether amount to a total of not less than four millions.

(In the above estimate, the tithe million, which many would include, has been omitted, because it might, I feel, be said it was granted only to a class. In the same category stand the linen and other bounties.)

2. The famine expenditure granted from public funds amounted to about eight millions.

Besides which the two great subscriptions raised by the Queen's letter, and by the British Association, amounted to 460,320. In addition to which, from private bounty, from Quakers, and others, there was paid not less than 500,000/

3. Ireland pays no assessed taxes and no income-tax.

(But in 1842 the spirit duties were increased, and an addition was made to the stamp duties.)

4. The expense of the constabulary force, which, previous to 1846, was half paid by the respective counties, has since that period been defrayed wholly by the consolidated fund.

5. For public buildings and for county purposes, such as lunatic asylums, gaols, &c., and also for the creation of railways, there has been advanced to Ireland, as loans, the sum of not less than ten millions.

6. For the general improvement of the lands of Ireland, by draining, subsoiling, straightening fences, making farm-roads, farm buildings, small flax-mills, &c., there have been loaned by public grants to proprietors, and expended at their own discretion (subject to the inspection of the Board of Works, who must approve the project and details before the loan is made, and who then issue the money by instalments), the sum of 1,800,000l., out of a public loan for the purpose, of two millions.

6. For the arterial drainage of Ireland, by straightening and deepening water-courses, and opening outfalls, there has been granted from public funds, to be expended by the Board of Works, who could alone carry into effect projects in which so many competing local interests are concerned, a loan of two millions.

I conceive that if the above figures and facts were to be submitted to a disinterested jury taken from the whole family of man, there would be given, in favour of the Imperial Parliament and British Government, the ordinary verdict of acquittal, "Not Guilty."