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stepping those limits, which the nature of their design, and the purpose for which their poems are intended, have unalterably fixed. Would that he, whose mind was so deeply interested in this subject, had survived to pass his judgment on the considerations which we have presumed to offer, he, from whose perfect candour, if just, they would have met immediate approbation, and by whose exquisite taste, if erroneous, their fallacy would immediately have been detected! But it was otherwise decreed; the name of Heber could scarcely be further endeared to the heart of every pious and enlightened Christian; and if the completion of this important national work should be reserved for other hands, few would be able, out of the abundance of their claims upon the gratitude and admiration of all Christians, to spare so well this further title to the thankful remembrance and affectionate veneration of the Church,

ART. III.—1. Ireland: its Evils and their Remedies. By Michael Thomas Sadler. London. 1828.

2. The Real State of Ireland in 1827. London. 1827. 3. Letters from the Irish Highlands. London. 1825. 4. Observations on the Necessity of a Legal Provision for the Irish Poor. By John Douglas, Esq. London. 1828.

THE

HE work which we have placed first at the head of this article deserves to be generally and attentively read. The author has brought together a body of facts, and discusses, with great clearness and ability, principles of extreme importance with reference to the various remedies which have, from time to time, been suggested for the evils and miseries under which Ireland is acknowledged to labour. Mr. Malthus has contrived, as our readers are well aware, to revive and elevate into popularity a theory originally broached by a philosophical infidel of the seventeenth century. He maintains that, by a law of nature as general and irresistible in its operation as the force of gravity, mankind increases faster than the means of subsistence; that this increase can only be kept in check by moral restraint, by vice or by misery. Hence it is inferred, that the misery and privation of the human race must increase in every country in the exact ratio of the multiplication of the species. In a work which he is now preparing for the press, and of which the present publication was originally designed to form a supplement, Mr. Sadler proposes to demonstrate that this theory is as unphilosophical and false as it must be allowed to be melancholy; that the fecundity of human beings is, cæteris paribus, in the inverse ratio of the condensation of their numbers; and that the variation in that fecundity

fecundity is effectuated not by the wretchedness, but by the happiness and prosperity of the species.' Upon the consideration of this subject, we shall not enter at present: a more convenient opportunity will probably occur, when Mr. Sadler's forthcoming work shall have made its appearance. Until we have seen the whole of the case which he proposes to establish, it would be obviously premature to express an opinion on the point in issue between him and Mr. Malthus. In the mean time, we may venture to state our conviction that no member of the community will rejoice more heartily than Mr. Malthus himself, if it can be satisfactorily shown that the power which establishes the relation subsisting between the number of the human race, and the supply of food provided for their subsistence, is to be looked for, not in the misery and privation, but in the happiness and affluence of mankind.

In the teeth, to all appearance, of the Malthusian theory, Mr. Sadler has already proved, by indisputable evidence, that the present condition of the peasantry of Ireland, however destitute and miserable, is still much superior to that of the population of the same island some centuries ago, when the number of the people did not exceed one million. Spenser describes them as inhabiting 'sties rather than houses, which are the chiefest cause of the farmer's so beastly manner of life and savage condition, lying and living together with his beast, in one house, in one room, in one bed, that is, clean straw, or rather a foul dunghill.' In 1672, Sir William Petty computed that the inhabitants of Ireland amounted to about one million three hundred thousand. Their habitations, he says, are lamentable wretched cabins, such as themselves could make in three or four days, not worth five shillings the build. ing,'-and filthy and disgusting to a degree which renders it necessary for us to refrain from quoting his description. Out of the two hundred thousand houses of Ireland,' says this eminent writer on political arithmetic, one hundred and sixty thousand are wretched cabins, without chimney, window or door shut, even worse than those of the savages of America.' Their food, at the same period, fully corresponded with the wretchedness of their dwellings. It consisteth,' states Sir William Petty, of cakes, whereof a penny serves for each a week; potatoes from August till May; mussels, cockles, and oysters near the sea; eggs and butter made very rancid by keeping in bogs: as for flesh, they seldom eat it; they can content themselves with potatoes. About half a century afterwards (1712), Dobbs, a man particularly conversant with the general condition of Ireland, estimated that its population had increased to two millions. He states that the common people are very poorly clothed, go barelegged

half

half the year, and very rarely taste of that flesh meat with which we so much abound, but are pinched in every article of life.'

Not long afterwards, Swift, in his short view of Ireland, says, "Whatever stranger took a journey amongst us would be apt to think himself travelling in Lapland or Iceland, rather than in a country so favoured by nature as ours, both in fruitfulness of soil and temperature of climate. The miserable dress and diet, and dwelling of the people; the general desolation in most parts of the kingdom; the old seats of the nobility and gentry in ruins, and no new ones in their stead; the families of the farmers, who pay great rents, living in filth and nastiness, upon butter-milk and potatoes, without a shoe or stocking to their feet, or a house so convenient as an English hog-stie to receive them. These," says Swift, 66 are the comfortable sights which await an absentee when he may be induced to travel for once amongst them to learn their language;" or, as at present,' adds Mr. Sadler, to make a book, and talk patriotically on his return.'

The disciples of Mr. Malthus use the number of idle and unoccupied labourers as an argument to prove that the present population of Ireland is redundant. This fact will not sustain the inference which is drawn from it. Sir William Petty assures us that, in his time, when the population of Ireland did not exceed one million three hundred thousand, one-fifth of the whole were not employed. However wretched may be the present condition of the people of Ireland, it is not quite so bad as this.

The scarcities which occasionally prevail in Ireland have been put forward as furnishing another proof of a superabundant population. This argument, also, Mr. Sadler has most completely refuted. It is a fact capable of being substantiated by indisputable evidence, that,

' in former times, when the population of Ireland was extremely scanty, these scarcities not only occurred much more frequently, but continued much longer than they have done at any recent period. "If our crop fails," says Archbishop Boulter, "or yields indifferently, our poor have not money to buy bread. This was the case in 1725, and last year; and without a prodigious crop, will be more so this year. When I went my visitation last year, barley, in some inland places, sold at six shillings the bushel to make bread of; and oatmeal, the bread of the north, sold for twice or thrice its usual price. We met all the roads full of whole families that had left their homes to beg abroad, since their neighbours had nothing to relieve them with. And as the winter subsistence of the poor is chiefly potatoes, this scarcity drove the poor to begin with their potatoes before they were full grown, so that they have lost half the benefit of them, and have spent their stock two months sooner than usual; and oatmeal is, at this distance from harvest, in many parts of the kingdom, three times the customary price; so that this summer

will be more fatal to us than the last, when, I fear, many perished of famine."

hundreds

In subsequent letters addressed to the Duke of Newcastle, he gives a most melancholy picture of the misery and privation of the Irish population, and represents them as suffering little less than a famine every other year.' On most of these occasions, public subscriptions were raised, and grants of money made from the Exchequer for their relief. About 1740, when the population of Ireland did not exceed one-third of its present amount, these scenes of misery and horror returned: between 1741 and 1752 the price of flour had risen above four hundred per cent., and thousands of poor people are said to have perished through absolute starvation. In the years 1757, 1765, 1770 and 1771 dearths occurred: private subscriptions were raised, and grants of public money made for the relief of the Irish population, although Ireland contained at that time at least forty acres of land for the support of each family. Hence, it appears, that in a period of less than half a century, that is, from 1724 to 1772, there occurred in Ireland what may be termed eleven years of famine; the highest number of the people being about two millions and a half. Since that period, the population of Ireland has almost trebled its then amount. What has been the result? Have the scarcities and dearths of Ireland come to be, as population increased, of more frequent occurrence, of longer duration, or of greater intensity?

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'Can those who now hear me deny,' said the celebrated Mr. Foster, (addressing, in 1800, the representatives of Ireland, who, it is presumed, will be acknowledged to have been pretty competent to form an opinion on this matter,) that since the period of 1782, Ireland has risen in civilization, in wealth, in manufactures, in a greater proportion, and with a more rapid progress than any other country in Europe.' The late Lord Sheffield, than whom no man had paid more attention to, or was more intimately conversant with, the affairs and condition of that island, asserts, that the improvement of Ireland is as rapid as any country ever experienced.' In 1805 Major Newenham presented the public with a series of tables, which throw great light on all questions connected with the population and condition of his native land. He assures his readers, that these tables evince, beyond the possibility of a doubt, a most rapid increase of the people in Ireland: and, at the same time, exhibit in a clear light, this interesting fact that, within the last five-and-twenty years, or thereabout, the food in that country has not been merely commensurate with, but has greatly surpassed the rapid and well-authenticated increase of its population.' To the same

effect

effect we shall give an extract from the anonymous pamphlet, which professes to give a correct representation of The Real State of Ireland in 1827.' The author is evidently a man of talents, of sound sense and of correct feeling: he has resided for years among the peasantry whose condition he describes; he speaks to facts of which he has been an eye-witness.

"Notwithstanding the wilderness of words, oral and written, which has of late years been wasted on the affairs of Ireland, and the paroxysm of legislation under which we have laboured, arising out of the perpetual discussion of her misfortunes and her faults, I am grieved to acknowledge that the proceedings even of the present session of parliament compel me to think that the people of England are greatly uninformed, or, what is worse, greatly misinformed as to our real condition. A plain Englishman despairs of eliciting truth from the mass of conflicting testimonies that exist on the subject; and I am persuaded, that the impression on the minds of the mass of the English nation is much less favourable, with respect to Ireland and her population, than it would be, but for the violence of certain political agitators, who put forward, in the most conspicuous light, the worst aspect of our country, and the worst portion of our population, (namely, themselves,) so as to prevent the whole truth from being accurately known. I myself, whilst I lived only in the capital, was satisfied with such vague notions of our peasantry, as, that they were very dirty and cheerful whilst they could get enough of potatoes, and very wretched and turbulent when they could not; that popery and potatoes were, in themselves, baneful evils, greatly incompatible with peace and order; and, finally, that of all the king's subjects the men of the south of Ireland were the most ignorant and miserable but of late years I have resided much amongst those very men of the south, and my views on these subjects have undergone considerable modification in consequence.'-Real State of Ireland, pp. 2, 3.

That a tolerably large sum of privation and distress does exist in Ireland is indeed undeniable; but since I have resided in the country, and have become minutely acquainted with the facts, I have satisfied myself that the suffering, taken absolutely, is considerably less than has been generally supposed; that, compared with the hardships endured by the population of England, its excess is not so very great, and that this excess, such as it is, will gradually diminish till it vanish altogether, even without the aid of any new express enactments on the subject.

I have heard men, who could talk on most subjects with an ordinary degree of sanity, assert, that the majority of the working classes in Ireland live, or, rather, starve, upon potatoes and water as their only means of sustenance; and that their only clothing consists of the coarsest rags, so torn that they are never taken off at night, because the owner must despair of again finding his way into them, should he at any time incautiously doff them from his person. These and many

such

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