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 " A POLITICAL POOR RELATION." 
 
 PATRI^ INFELICI FIDELIS." 
 
 LONDON : 
 WILLIAM RIDGWAY, PICCADILLY. W. 
 
 1863. 
 
 i
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 My object in this pamphlet is to lay before the 
 public what I believe to be the real condition of Irish 
 affairs at present^ to endeavour to explain what to 
 many Eng'lishmen seems unintelhgible^ and to point 
 out two or three courses which I think might conduce 
 to improvement. I believe that if Eng'lishmen 
 g-enerally thoroug-hly appreciated all that Ireland 
 has had to suffer^ in a great degree at the hands of 
 their own forefathers, they would be ready to make 
 far greater allowance for her crimes and shortcom- 
 ing'S; and would be more ready to lend a helping* 
 hand whenever it is needed. 
 
 I have endeavoured to steer clear of the exag-g-e- 
 ration which I regret is almost always to be found in 
 any discussion on Irish subjects. While as regards 
 historical matter I lay no claim to originality, I feel 
 it due to myself to state, that a g"reat part of the 
 following" had been written and thrown aside before 
 Mr. Goldwin Smith's admirable essay on "Irish 
 History and Irish Character" appeared. In the 
 Appendix will be found extracts from the writing's of 
 a few of the authorities whom I have consulted. 
 
 E. W. E. L. 
 
 London, 17th May^ 1863.
 
 Z uiuc '
 
 "A POLITICAL POOR RELATION." 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 " A poor relation is the most irrelevant thing in nature, a 
 piece of impertinent correspondency, an odious approximation, 
 a haunting conscience, a preposterous sliadow, lengthening in 
 the noontide of our prosperity, an unwelcome remembrancer, 
 a perpetually recurring mortification, a drain on your purse, a 
 more intolerable dun upon your pride, a drawback upon your 
 success, a stain in your blood, a blot on your 'scutcheon, a 
 Mordecai at your gate, a Lazarus at your door, a lion in your 
 path, a fly in your oiutment, a mote in your eye, a triumph 
 to your enemy, the one thing not needful, the ounce of sour in 
 the pound of sweet." — Chaei^s Lamb. 
 
 Among the cliang-es which have taken place since 
 O'Connell told us that the Eng-lish understood 
 Ireland as well as they understood the Chinese^ none 
 has been more important in its results than the faci- 
 lity of communication between the countries. The 
 Irish mail rushes at the speed of five and forty 
 miles an hour throug-h the mag-nificent bridg-e that 
 spans the course of the old Menai ferry boat^ the 
 finest packets in the world have replaced the old 
 tubs that plied between Holyhead and the Pig-eon 
 House^ and a journey once really arduous is per- 
 formed in luxury and ease. This facility of com- 
 munication has undoubtedly done much to familiar- 
 ise Englishmen with the ph3^sical aspect of the 
 Sister Island^ but I venture to assert that the 
 majority of my countrymen who " do '' Killarney, 
 
 A 2
 
 Coiinemara, and the Giant's Causewa}^^ return liorae 
 nearly as ig-norant as when they started of the very 
 peculiar circumstances^ political and social^ which 
 have made Ireland a bye-word for misfortune in 
 Europe. They have a g'eneral notion that Irish 
 difficulties are mainly attributable to Roman Catho- 
 licism, unthrifty and a propensity for landlord shoot- 
 ing* y but I do not exng'g'erate when I say that 
 most Eng-lishmen's knowledg-e of Irish history is 
 vag-ue and confused, while their acquaintance with 
 contemporary events in the country is almost en- 
 tirely derived from the paragraph in '^ The Times/' 
 headed ^^ Ireland/' which is lengthened or curtailed to 
 the narrowest limits accordinof to the exio'encies of 
 more popular intelligence. Of causes and effects in 
 the past and present, they know nothing; and unfor- 
 tunately English statesmen, who have been called 
 upon to administer Irish affairs, have too often been 
 in the same ignorance. 
 
 The medical axiom that a ph3^sician should, to do 
 justice to his patient's case, know every symptom 
 and particular of his disorder, equally applies to 
 state-craft ; Ireland has suffered sadly from the 
 indifference and ignorance of her English doctors, 
 who have not seldom brought their ill-fated patient 
 to the verge of ruin. In the House of Commons, 
 also, Irish affairs are never generall}^ understood, 
 and, like Indian, they are proverbial for suggesting 
 to Hon. Gentlemen the wants of the inner man; 
 dinner is unquestionably fiir pleasanter than an 
 Irish M.P. with his harp attuned to the unvar}^- 
 ing Jeremiad of national grievance; but in dealing
 
 6 
 
 with Irish questions; Eng-lish M.P.'s would do 
 well to consider that they serve imperial interests^ 
 and how desirable it is that they should endeavour 
 to understand and show an interest and sympathy 
 in a country so closely allied to their own^ which 
 has for so long' a period formed the solitary excep- 
 tion to the Imperial prosperity. 
 
 It is lamentable how much Irish interests suffer 
 through those who are supposed to represent them. 
 It would seem as though the Irish members were 
 chiefly composed of two classes — those who by 
 character and position would carry weight in the 
 House but are either too indifferent or too dull to 
 assert themselves ; and men of extreme views and 
 unpopular manners in whom^ whatever their elo- 
 quence^ the House has no confidence. Thus, al- 
 thouo'h certain members of the latter class have 
 taken every opportunity of dinning* into the ears of 
 the House for several sessions the fact of extensive 
 distress existing in their country, their statements 
 met with but little credit, until the Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer, in his speech on the budget a few weeks 
 ago, showed that the Irish Agricultural products had 
 smce 1860 decreased some twelve millions in value, 
 and asserted the existence of more acute distress 
 than has been felt in Lancashire.* 
 
 In her long* career of trouble, Ireland has con- 
 firmed the common experience of history, that the 
 strife of politics falls far short of that of religion in 
 the violence and rancour it engenders. On her 
 religious discords the rest now hinge. The State- 
 
 * See Appendix I.
 
 6 
 
 Church has been established some three hundred 
 3^ears^ and^ notwithstanding- the prestig*e of official 
 authority and the substantial aid of immense wealthy 
 little more than a sixth of the population are of her 
 communion. B}" an old penal law^ a 3^oung'er son 
 who embraced Protestantism supplanted his Catho- 
 lic elder brother^ a ready means, no doubt, in con- 
 cert with many others, to accomplish the end of 
 placing" the w^ealth of the country in Protestant 
 hands. Its poverty^ however, remained Catholic, 
 and has so to this day. To account for this is not 
 difficult. A hundred and fifty years ag*o, the ma- 
 jority of the people knew no other tong*ue than their 
 native Irish, and this and other formidable obstacles 
 to the propag-ation of Protestantism could only have 
 been met by an energy and zeal on the part of the 
 Established Clerg-y which they were not wont to dis- 
 play. 
 
 The Irish priests, on the other hand, were fully 
 alive to their critical position. The}^ knew that it 
 was by the people they must stand or fall, and they 
 brouofht to the relia'ious zeal of their order that 
 which is induced by a strug-gle for actual subsistence. 
 Nor was it onl}^ to their devotion^ and the apathy of 
 the Protestant Churchy that the Catholic priests 
 were indebted for their success. It is attributable, 
 in a considerable degree, during- the latter half of 
 the last century especially, to various causes in the 
 social condition of the country. 
 
 The aristocracy were for the most part absentees 
 or men of reckless extravag-ance, intent* on the pur-
 
 suit of dissipation and pleasure. The Irish squire 
 of that time has passed into a proverb for his ardour 
 for the chase and the bottle^ and the only arena in 
 which his intellectual capacities found play was that 
 of fierce political discussion. Of attention to their 
 most obvious duties and interests, in the care and 
 improvement of their property and dependants, such 
 men as these had no notion ; they deemed such 
 plodding- details beneath the notice of a g'entleman 
 and a man of spirit, and while their wide estates lay 
 waste and mortgage followed upon mortgage, their 
 tenantry remained abject and neglected and found 
 in the priest their only friend. There were, no doubt, 
 exceptional instances of the warmest reciprocity of 
 kind feeling between landlord and tenant, but the 
 general character of the gentry was such as we have 
 described. 
 
 It would be difficult to exaggerate the influence 
 gained by the priesthood over a fervid enthusiastic 
 race in the absence of all other humanizing agency. 
 The Irish priest of the last century was frequently a 
 man of liberal education bred at St. Omer or Douai 
 in a society of intelligence and refinement, and 
 having perhaps little more affinity with the morose 
 plebeian produced by Ma3^nooth than the famous 
 Mr. Stiggins has with Dr. Wilberforce. It was only 
 in zeal for his Church that the old Irish priest resem- 
 bled the priest of the present day, but his zeal was 
 often accompanied and tempered by social qualities 
 which won him a welcome for his own sake, and
 
 8 
 
 enabled him to acquire a position and influence 
 among" the hig-her ranks of Catholics which his suc- 
 cessors have well nig-h lost ; it is true that they 
 are still received at the tables of the Catholic g-entry, 
 but they are tolerated rather than welcomed. " We 
 shall never get a g-entleman out of Maynooth '^ is a 
 common sentiment among- Irish Catholic g'entr3\ 
 
 Still, however much their influence may have 
 declined among* the g-entry, it is beyond all question 
 paramount among* other classes. The disaffection 
 of the priests entails that of the people, and no 
 reasonable man can expect the Catholic clerg*}^ to be 
 content and well affected in their present position. 
 Their Church is emphatically the Church of the 
 people, who have for centuries in the face of trouble 
 and persecution vindicated their attachment to her 
 communion ; but though the Catholics are to the 
 Protestants as a bushel to a handful of g*rain, they 
 are compelled to support eritirehj their own Churchy 
 and pay tithe in support of the Church of the small 
 Protestant minority. Who can expect an enthusi- 
 astic religious people quietly to acquiesce in such a 
 system ? Who can suppose that it is the path to 
 the peace and contentment of the country ? 
 
 We have only to consult the dark records of 
 Scottish histor}^, and turn to one of the periods 
 which the genius of a patriotic pen has by one of 
 those wondrous combinations of the real and the 
 romantic, which add value to dehg-ht, made familiar 
 to thousands who but for him would have known as
 
 9 
 
 little of those annals as of the sad pag-es of Irish 
 histoiy, to learn the consequences of the stupid 
 big'otry which would have compelled a whole nation 
 to submit to a relig'ious establishment repug-nant to 
 its conscience^ convictions^ and traditions. 
 
 The Scotch resented by force of arms what the 
 late Dr. Arnold (of Eug'by)^ writing of the Irish 
 Establishment^ termed ^^the insult of a hostile 
 religion."* The Irish have submitted with far 
 greater patience and forbearance ; but on what fair 
 grounds can we deny to Irish Catholics what we 
 granted to Scotch Presbyterians^ or what right 
 have we to expect greater forbearance from the one 
 than from the other ? The Emancipation Act was 
 absolutely wrung from England by O'Connell, the 
 Duke of Wellington acknowledging in the House 
 of Lords that he only assented to it as the lesser of 
 two evils^ of which civil war was the alternative. 
 Surely in this Irish Church question England would 
 play a part at once wiser and more dignified^ by 
 making a timely concession rather than having- it 
 wrung from her^ and acting on the principle laid 
 down by the Emperor of Russia in an address to 
 his nobleS; when alluding to the emancipation of 
 the serfs, he said that " it was better that great 
 national chan^'es should come from the head rather 
 than from the tail." 
 
 Tliis is a difficulty in which it is by no means easy 
 for Ireland to help herself. Irish members will 
 cheerfully unite for the loaves and fishes of a postal 
 
 * See Appendix H.
 
 10 
 
 contract^ but pull different ways when relig-iou is 
 concerned. 
 
 It is from Eng-land that any peaceable movement 
 in the matter must^ to take effect, arise. 
 
 If; as has been said^ this is a period destitute of 
 momentous questions^ and of opportunities for the 
 display of eloquence, here surely is a subject for 
 debate calculated to call into force the qualities 
 which win parliamentary laurels. 
 
 After every g-ood harvest Ireland is g-enerally 
 quiet; and people in hig-h places talk in public about 
 her increasing' prosperity j but with the next rainy 
 season a relapse surely comes ; the fact being- that^ 
 her existence is merely hand to mouth. Of course 
 since 1847 there has been great improvement^ but 
 then the country was in a condition from which it 
 could scarcely have sunk lower. Mr. Gladstone has 
 revealed no very pleasant facts as to the state of 
 Irish finances ', and as regards other matters it is 
 impossible to recognise the condition of a country as 
 satisfactory where it is necessary to maintain so 
 enormous a garrison and constabulary^ and where 
 the proposal to permit the raising of a Yolunteer 
 corps was met by the prompt refusal and almost 
 ridicule of the Government. 
 
 The fact is^ that there prevails to an extent of 
 which we in England are little aware_, a deep under- 
 current of disaffection a mono- the middle and lower 
 classes; living almost exclusivel}^ among those of 
 their own faith, and removed from the various secular
 
 11 
 
 influences which affect the minds of their co- 
 rehg'ionists in the higher ranks of life, these 
 people maintain a profound devotion to their own 
 Church, and a steady detestation of the Establish- 
 ment. They hate Eng-land as the supporter of this 
 hostile relig-ion which has been foisted upon them, 
 and look forward to a day when '^ Eng-land's diffi- 
 culty may prove Ireland's opportunity/' 
 
 But for this root of bitterness, which naturall}^ is 
 nurtured by the priests, a vast majority of the dis- 
 affected would be loyal and affectionate subjects. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 To understand the present in Ireland it is abso- 
 lutely necessary to study the past. 
 
 '^ How dark a shadow," Lord Stanhope truly 
 says, "have byeg*one abuses cast forward, even 
 over our own times ! How large a share of the 
 furious animosities which still prevail in Ireland are 
 clearly owing*^ not to any actual pressure felt at 
 present, but to the bitter recollections of the past." 
 
 A very brief review of her political and social 
 history during* the last 150 years will amply prove 
 the truth of the foreg'oing' remarks. 
 
 In the long" list of those who filled the Vice-reofal 
 throne during" the 18th century, Chesterfield and 
 Cornwallis are almost the only names known to
 
 12 
 
 fame in our day. It was only when Irish affairs 
 assumed a threatening- aspect that Ireland received 
 the compliment of g*overnors possessing* hig-her 
 qualifications than stars and coronets. 
 
 In 1745 the efforts of the Pretender alarmed 
 the English Government^ and they deemed it pru- 
 dent to send over a Viceroy of tact^ discretion^ and 
 conciliatory manners. Lord Stanhope has done 
 no more than justice to his celebrated kinsman's 
 Irish administration, and it is only to be rea'retted 
 that Lord Chesterfield did not remain at Dublin 
 twenty years instead of two.* 
 
 Lord Cornwallis was despatched to Dublin in 
 1798^ because^ as Lord Carlisle wrote to Lord 
 Auckland, " Something new must be attempted, 
 Ireland in its present state will pull down England.'' 
 In fact, every pag-e of Irish history clearly proves 
 that any improvement in policy, any conciliatory 
 measure, or any redress of g^rievances arose from 
 one source, and one only, apprehension of injury 
 to Eno'lisli interests. Until the be^-innino' of 
 
 O DO 
 
 Georo-e III.'s reiofn the Lord Lieutenant was 
 usually an absentee, only at rare intervals visiting* 
 his seat of g-overnment. The administration of 
 public affairs was entrusted to a faction of great 
 Protestant proprietors who, in return for their un- 
 dertaking- the management of the country, enjoj^ed 
 the entire disposal of its patronage. Their policy 
 consisted simply in oppressing* the Catholics, and 
 filling* every post ecclesiastical and civil with their 
 * See Appendix B.
 
 13 
 
 own friends and relations. ^^ The Castle'^ influence 
 being' suflSciently powerful to pass any Bill which 
 the Government really desired^ an indifference and 
 ig'norance of the condition of the country prevailed 
 to an extent well nig-h incredible. No measures of 
 amelioration were introduced by the Government, 
 and those few private members who attempted such 
 a course were compelled to abandon in disappoint- 
 ment and disgust efforts which were met by neither 
 sympathy nor co-operation. 
 
 It was after this iniquitous system had been long' 
 pursued by the Ang'lo-Irish Government, that the 
 ^miserable victims of its gross misrule, to whom 
 naturally enoug'h any change seemed for the better, 
 encouraged by the hopes held out by the insidious 
 Avhispers of French Jacobins,* after a few insurrec- 
 tionary ebullitions, broke out in open rebellion in 
 1798. To a candid and impartial mind contem- 
 plating* the events of the sad history whose outlines 
 I am attempting to pourtray, the wonder must 
 surely be that the climax was not reached long 
 before ; what other course than rebellion is open to 
 a people ground down by the fierce tyranny of a 
 hostile faction, sunk in the lowest depths of abject 
 and hopeless poverty, their religion proscribed, their 
 laws evaded by those who were bound to uphold 
 them ? 
 
 The history of this Island happily affords no 
 instance of a conflict so blood}^, so horrible in its 
 fierce viiidictiveness and barbaric cruelty as the 
 
 * See Appendix D.
 
 14 
 
 Irish rebellion of 1798; its counterpart must be 
 soug'ht, and it sprung- from like causes^ not in the 
 rug-g-ed scenes of a wild and desolate country, but 
 in the splendid streets and squares of the finest 
 capital in Europe ten years before. But at leng-th 
 the frantic outburst of ag^ony and reveng-e was 
 stifled, and in spite of the strenuous efforts of an 
 humane and impartial Viceroy,* the Protestant 
 soldiery, encourag^ed by their officers, pursued their 
 career of cruelty and carnag-e with an energ-y and 
 zest which rivalled the exploits of Kirke^s lambs or 
 the butcheries of Cumberland after Culloden. 
 
 Meantime the rebellion and the state of the Con- 
 tinent, awoke the Eng'lish Government to the abso- 
 lute necessity of close attention to the affairs of 
 Ireland, and Mr. Pitt decided on a Leg'islative 
 Union as the only panacea for her deplorable con- 
 dition. Fully recog'nizing' the injustice and im- 
 policy of the Catholic disabilities, he knew that it 
 was hopeless that any redress of these g'rievances 
 would be obtained from the Irish Parliament, a 
 sink as it was of bigotry and corruption. The 
 adhesion of the Catholics to the measure was 
 secured by the prospect held out of speedy and 
 liberal concessions ; these however were frustrated, 
 as far as Pitt was concerned, by the opposition of 
 the King', and were eventually only obtained in 
 181^9, when the Government was compelled to 
 yield by the ag'itation of Daniel O^Connell. 
 
 Nearly every sensible man is now ag^reed in ad- 
 
 * See Appendix D.
 
 16 
 
 mittiiig' the necessity of the Union^ and the unwor- 
 thiness of the means employed in effecting* it. To 
 the possessors of boroug-hs and of parliamentary 
 influence^ the project came recommended by the 
 most substantial advantag-es ', the exact sums g'iven 
 in each case are now before us^ £1 5^000 a boroug-h 
 to a needy Irish nobleman or g'entleman was in it- 
 self a most powerful arg-ument^ nor was this all — to 
 confirm the vacillating", and secure the g-reedy, 
 neither peerag-es nor pensions were wanting*. But 
 it was scarcely to be expected that from the mass 
 the measure would meet with much approbation, its 
 advantag^es were indirect, and were not of a nature 
 to be appreciated by the thoughtless and uneducated. 
 The bulk of the people, therefore, and the citizens of 
 Dublin especially, viewed with no satisfaction a 
 chang-e which appeared likely to deprive their me- 
 tropolis, and in a ^reat deg'ree their country, of those 
 who most contributed to its wealth and importance, 
 and to reduce Dublin from the rank of a capital 
 to that of a provincial city. The style of living- 
 which prevailed in Dublin among* the upper classes, 
 during" the latter half of the last century, was most 
 sumptuous and profuse, and necessarily entailed a 
 larg-e expenditure, which at the Union was in a 
 g*reat degTee transferred to Eng-land. 
 
 From the loud complaints of London tradesmen, 
 when any event occurs to mar the g'aiety of a Lon- 
 don season, it may be easily conceived what a depri- 
 vation the total loss of such an] impetus to trade
 
 16 
 
 would be in a very poor country. The people of- 
 Dublin saw all around them the signs of desertion ; 
 gradually nearly every nobleman gave up his house 
 in town. Leinster House^ the splendid residence of 
 Ireland's only Duke^ which with its gardens and 
 offices occupies the whole of one side of Merrion 
 Square^ passed into the hands of a public society. 
 Powerscourt House^ the home of one of those nobles^ 
 too rare alas^ whose tenantry in the hour of need bid 
 fair to rival Rochejaquelin's in their affectionate 
 devotion^ became a merchant's counting house. 
 
 The fine old houses in Merrion^ Mountjoy^ and 
 Rutland Squares^ which in former days were 
 tenanted by O'Briens and Beresfords, and feasted at 
 their hospitable boards a society for wit and social 
 talent unsurpassed by any in Europe^ now have their 
 portals adorned with the brass plates and inscrip- 
 tions of dentists and doctors. While some of the 
 ample mansions in Henrietta Street^ which in their 
 day were the abodes of peers and prelates^ are de- 
 voted to the satellites of the Encumbered Estates 
 Court, With the Union there came an end to all 
 the pleasurable bustle of the session of Parlia- 
 ment, the carriages flitting about at night, the 
 gaiety, the excitement ; an end, in fact, of all that 
 gives life to a capital. To a sensitive and imagina- 
 tive people — proud of their statesmen and orators, 
 and keenly alive to the influences of splendour and 
 display, a change which so deprived them of nearly 
 all that flattered the national vanity, was a trial
 
 17 
 
 hard to bear. Let an En<;lislmiaii endeavour to 
 realise his feelinofs? if lie were to see the Houses of 
 Parliament turned into a bank, Stafford House a 
 public office^ Eotten Row as empty in June as in 
 September^ Belo-rave and Grosvenor Squares mono- 
 polised by doctors and attornies ; the aristocracy 
 fled, the Universities declining*, and Commerce at 
 the lowest ebb • and he will be able possibly to un- 
 derstand why such of the people of Ireland as were 
 not proprietors of boroug-hs, and by their want of 
 education, were unable to take very enlarg-ed views^ 
 should have been slow to appreciate the advantages 
 held out by the promise of ^^ a perfectly equal 
 Union." Nor did the notorious fact^ that the change 
 had been effected by English gold, lessen their re^ 
 sentment towards England^ whilst a brief ex- 
 perience proved that however defective their own 
 Parliament might have been, that to whose Govern- 
 ment they were transferred, was composed of mem- 
 bers, five-sixths of whom knew nothing of Ireland 
 or of Irishmen. 
 
 For many years after the Union^ the Irish 
 Government was conducted merel}^ on the prin- 
 ciples of expediency 5 any one who desires to satisfy 
 himself of this need but refer to the Duke of Wel- 
 lington's despatches when Chief Secretary.* The 
 bartering of places and pensions, the sums paid to 
 Eight Reverend Prelates for their political influence, 
 the dirty tricks and devices resorted to by those in 
 high place to secure ])olitical support^ are tliere 
 
 * Sec Appendix F. 
 
 . B
 
 18 
 
 duly recorded by the pen of the most celebrated 
 actor in the drama. 
 
 The state of the nation continued for years that 
 of a disaffected pauperised country^ under military 
 rule.* 
 
 The Roman Catholics' discontent naturally in- 
 creased when they found that no redress of their 
 g-rievances came as they had been led to expect ; 
 the country was terribly over- populated 3 the gentry 
 were hopelessly involved. 
 
 Between 1800 and 1846 extreme distress many 
 times prevailed,, which culminated in the latter 
 year. The appalling- horrors of that period are 
 still fresh in our recollection. Count Strzelecki gra- 
 phically described in his reports to the English 
 Relief Committee the scenes passing' around him. 
 In one letter from Mayo, he tells them to believe 
 anything' now that they may hear, for exaggeration 
 was impossible, and forcibly points out the enormous 
 difficulty of organizing* efficient measures of relief 
 in a country where there seemed scarcely any local 
 influence capable of taking the lead, and where the 
 landlord had almost as little power of raising a 
 shillino' as his starvino- tenant. 
 
 The Encumbered Estates Act followed the fomine, 
 and in a great degree relieved the country from the 
 paralysing effect of a pauper proprietary. It was 
 the harsh but necessary remedy for an otherwise 
 hopeless case, but certainly the follies and sins of 
 the fathers fell terribl}' heavy upon the children, 
 
 * See Appendix F.
 
 19 
 
 and the annnls of the Court in Henrietta Street 
 would furnish material for many a pathetic tale. A 
 larg-e purchaser told me that from one old rambling- 
 mansion he bought in Kerry, the ci-devant owner 
 carried off with him as relics of happier days, the 
 ke3'-stone over the portals eng-raven with his 
 family arms, and a fine old turret bell which had 
 no doubt been wont to summon to the too hospitable 
 board many a jovial circle ', perhaps in distant lands 
 he has retrieved the fallen fortunes of his house, and 
 raised a mansion where the armorial stone has once 
 more found a resting-place, while he is still sum- 
 moned home by the tones with which his childhood 
 was familiar among' the woods and rocks of Kerry. 
 
 In one well known case, a noble proprietor 
 saw his superb castle and demesne pass* into a 
 strang-er's hands for a sum far below that which 
 had been expended on the castle alone. The 
 scene in Court was most distressing*; frantic at 
 the prospect of impending ruin, in vain the un- 
 happy nobleman implored the Commissioner for 
 time; the incumbrances were enormous and the 
 Court felt compelled to be inexorable. The pro- 
 perty would probably now fetch three or four times 
 the amount then given. Ten years rental was the 
 average purchase-money at the outset of the Court. 
 
 It was of such opportunities of purchase, that the 
 notorious John Sadleir, whom the Irish people 
 almost universally believe to be still living, endea- 
 voured to avail himself; conscious of the reaction 
 
 B 2
 
 20 
 
 which would in time take place in fiivour of land 
 investments in Ireland. Had he confined himself 
 exclusively to such speculations^ instead of dabbling- 
 in those which he did not understand^ he niig'ht 
 very possibly have ended his career with a Peerag-e. 
 Mr. Lever has woven Sadleir's remarkable career 
 into the clever novel of ^^ Davenport Dunn." 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Every one knows what a happy state ensues 
 when Parson and Squire are at cross purposes. 
 Parish aftairs must necessarily bring- them pretty 
 frequently together^ and to many a man constant 
 collisions with one whom he hates^ but is compelled 
 to endure, are enough to disgust him with his resi- 
 dence. If he has another country seat he probably 
 abandons that in proximity to his enem}^, and this is 
 precisely what has happened in Ireland. Pro- 
 testant proprietors have experienced with disgust 
 that although Marquises of Carabbas in point 
 of territory they are not so over the minds of their 
 subjects, w^ho are influenced by an ag*ency at variance 
 both in politics and religion with their landlords. 
 My Lord is mortified to find that the tenants to 
 whom he has just given leases have voted at the 
 county election at the priest's bidding* instead of at 
 his own ; while m}^ lady's chagrin is scarcely less
 
 21 
 
 when she sees her pet plans as Lady Bountiful 
 thwarted^ and the numbers in her school rapidly 
 diminishing- notwithstanding- substantial inducements 
 to reg'ular attendance. All this makes the country 
 disag'reeable as a residence, as a disaffected country 
 must necessarily be^ and the result is absenteeism ; 
 and one absentee makes man}^ • for the closing- of a 
 hospitable mansion makes its neig-hbours feel dull^ 
 and they in turn take wing* in search of a g'aiety 
 and society not to be found at home. 
 
 The antag'onism so frequently found in the Roman 
 Catholic priest arises in a g'reat deg'ree from the fact 
 of his office not being* recog'nized by the State. As 
 the spiritual adviser of nine-tenths of the parish 
 he is full}' conscious of being* the most influential man 
 within its limits, while his very existence is^ perhaps, 
 as far as possible, ig-nored by the Squire, and wholly 
 so by the State. So he is for ever on the watch to 
 prove his authority; whereas if his office was properly 
 recognized, there would be no necessity for him to 
 do so. 
 
 Many of my readers may perhaps learn for the 
 first time that in April, 1825, the late Lord Elles- 
 mere moved in the House of Commons a resolution 
 which should record the opinion of the House, ^^ that 
 it was expedient that a provision should be made by 
 law for the Eoman Catholic clerg*}^,'^ and in a house 
 of 367 members the resolution passed by a majority 
 of 43. But no action seems to have been taken on 
 the result of this resolution.
 
 22 
 
 ^Ithougli the payment of the Catholic clergy is 
 not the final remedy which I should advocate, 1 
 should consider it a step in the rig'ht direction ; and 
 believe that such a grant, if unfettered by any 
 galling condition, would be accepted by the majority. 
 The certainty of an income might have the very 
 desirable effect of attracting a superior class. Such 
 a grant to the ministers of a religion professed by so 
 great a majority in the country would by no means 
 entail a similar provision for the ministers of other 
 persuasions. 
 
 A principal cause of the restlessness of the Roman 
 Catholic priests is their poverty. This was w^ell 
 expressed lately by a writer who says, ^' The priest 
 knows that in times of excitement his flock will 
 give and not think 3 whilst in a condition of calm 
 they will think and not give.'^ 
 
 Those who are familiar only with an English 
 country parish, with its wealthy resident Squire, 
 well-to-do Parson, and bevy of old ladies intent on 
 " doing good,'* and ready to assist their poorer 
 neighbours with every thing in cellar, kitchen, or 
 pharmacopoeia, can scarcely realize the destitution 
 of an Irish parish on an absentee property. The 
 peasantr}^ know no consoler in sickness or sorrow 
 except the priest, whose poverty prevents his ex- 
 tending to his flock any of the material assistance 
 of which they are often so deplorably in need. 
 Their associations with a gentleman are perhaps 
 derived from their acquaintance with an attorney,
 
 23 
 
 who arrives twice a year from Dublin to receive 
 rents^ and sig'n ejectments^ and whose lang-uage and 
 bearing- is not unfrequently offensive and tyran- 
 nical. Miserable as must be the lot of people in 
 such a case^ they cling with extraordinary tenacity 
 to their native soil^ and the attempt to dislodg-e them 
 touches their feelings at the deepest ; but I must 
 explain to my English readers^ that the lot of an 
 Irish labourer when ejected is far woi*se than that 
 of his English brother ^ the latter, if turned out of 
 one villag-C; can generally obtain a lodging* and 
 work in another ', but the Irishman^ can very rarely 
 obtain regular labour^ and depends mainly for his 
 subsistence on the plot of ground around his cabin j 
 when ejected^ he has no resource but the workhouse^ 
 and those familiar with an Irish workhouse will not 
 be surprised at his objection to avail himself of that 
 asylum. Of course^ ejectments are often necessary, 
 but they are unfortunately too frequently effected 
 with a very unnecessary harshness and disregard 
 to the misery of the unhappy people. Nothing can 
 be worse than the manner which Irish agents, even 
 those in the rank of gentlemen, often assume to- 
 wards the tenants ; on one occasion at a rent audit, 
 where by the way there were scarcel}^ any defaulters, 
 I was astonished and disgusted at the utter ab- 
 sence of courtesy on the part of the agent. Apart 
 from any higher considerations, such conduct is a 
 blunder, inasmuch as no people are more suscep- 
 tible to the influence of manner than the Irish.
 
 2i 
 
 liihandism originated in ahscntecism and its nC" 
 ccssaru consequence poverty. Ag-rarian outrages, 
 eimilar to those in Ireland are, 1 believe, unknown 
 in other European countries 3 but similar causes 
 produced in France the Revolution of 1789. There, 
 as in Ireland, the people had been g-round down by 
 more than a century of tyrann}'^ and oppression, 
 and it is notorious that in La Vendee where the 
 proprietary were resident, the peasantry almost to 
 a man were on the side of their lords. 
 
 Absenteeism effectually destroyed the sympathies 
 between the owner and the tiller of the soil, the 
 affairs of the absentee were left in the hands of 
 ag'ents, in former days g'enerally attornies, and often 
 most unscrupulous ; the miserable tenantry, driven 
 to despair by oppression and privation, at leng-th 
 soug'ht protection from the harpies who preyed upon 
 them, by intimidating* those who resorted to ex- 
 treme measures. I believe that very few cases 
 could be substantiated of Eiband outrages occurring- 
 on properties where a proprietor is resident, in 
 whose dealings with his dependants, justice, hu- 
 manity, and moderate consideration have uniformly 
 prevailed ; immense allowance must be made for 
 the rash and wicked actions of an oppressed and 
 starving people j indeed, when their condition is 
 considered, our surprise is rather on the side of their 
 forbearance. A sad account of the Irish peasant 
 sixteen years ago is found in the report of the 
 Devon Commission; ^^ a reference to the evidence will
 
 25 
 
 show/' say the Commissioners^ " that the agricultural 
 labourer of Ireland continues to suffer the greatest 
 privations and hardships— that he continues to de- 
 pend upon casual and precarious employment for 
 subsistence — that he is still badly housed^ badly 
 fed^ badly clothed^ and badly paid for his labour. 
 Our personal experience and observations during* 
 our inquiry have afforded us a melancholy confir- 
 mation of these statements : and we cannot forbear 
 expressing our strong sense of the patient endur- 
 ance which the labouring classes have generally 
 exhibited^ under sufferings greater^ we believe^ than 
 the people of any other country in Europe have to 
 su stain J^ 
 
 Tbe real fact is^ that the seed of those evil quali- 
 ties in the Irish lower classes^ which hav^ caused 
 such perplexity and consternation in our time, were 
 sown long ago by the profligate gentry of a former 
 day 3 those miserable so-called farmers, with their 
 ten acres of land, whose removal has involved a 
 thousand difficulties and crimes, w^re squatted on 
 their wretched holdings to swell the votes of their 
 landlords ] the sins of the fathers have been visited 
 upon the children, and the landlords have in many 
 cases endeavoured to shift the brunt of their fore- 
 fathers' delinquencies from their own shoulders, to 
 those of their unfortunate tenants.
 
 26 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 From the humidity of the climate, the greater 
 part of Ireland is very unfavourable to the produc- 
 tion of g-rain crops, and since 184G, no reliance 
 oug-ht be placed upon potatoes ; to attempt raising" 
 cereals in the south and west of Ireland, is nearly 
 as sensible as to plant Kent with vineyards, and is 
 merely a strug-gle against nature, which results in 
 the farmer being* constantly plunged into distress by 
 his crop being" soaked by rain, and rendered worth- 
 less. 
 
 It should be the object of Irish proprietors to 
 make their land what nature intended it, a gTazing" 
 country, the English market for meat, poultry, egg's, 
 and dairy produce.* 
 
 At present we receive from abroad, and subject 
 of course to duty, enormous supplies of all these ar- 
 ticles, and Dutch butter is sold in England in great 
 
 * Mr. McCulloch says, ^* In several provinces of France the 
 feeding of poultry is considered as a very important article in 
 rural economy, and sufficiently profitable to encourage the farmer 
 to raise a considerable quantity of Indian corn and buck wheat ; 
 the feeding of poultry seems scarcely yet to be generally con- 
 sidered as a matter of so much importance in England. They 
 are certainly however dearer in England than in France, as -E'/iy- 
 ZaM(/ receives considerable supplies from France." Here again, 
 there is a field for business in Ireland.
 
 27 
 
 quantities^ and is held superior to that of Ireland^ 
 not in intrinsic quality^ but because Irish butter is 
 often dirty and carelessly pached. 
 
 It results from what we have said, as to the unfa- 
 vourableness of the Irish soil for grain crops^ and the 
 impossibility of relying* any longer upon potatoes^ that 
 the greater part of the country is incapable of support- 
 ing a large population. The country is now suffer- 
 ing from a succession of wet seasons^ and the failure 
 of crops which ought never to have been planted ; 
 failure of the crops produces failure of rents, and 
 hence evictions, and agrarian outrages ; poverty is 
 at the root of the evils, and is the torrent which we 
 have to stem. No immediate remedy can be applied, 
 but the Government will do well to encourage by all 
 the means in their power, an extensive emigration 
 in the south, midland and west, and the landowners 
 should assist its efforts, not by ruthlessly evicting 
 those poor people who are on the soil by no fault 
 of theirs, but by liberally assisting them to leave 
 the country. 
 
 If matters remain as they are at present, destitu- 
 tion will surely recur after every rainy season — and 
 in Ireland, at least, three years out of five are of 
 that character. 
 
 It is the essence of free trade to enable one 
 countr}^ to supply another with Avhat it lacks, and 
 were the people of Ireland to devote their soil to 
 the raising of cattle, poultry, and butter for Eng- 
 land, they might derive their supplies of corn from
 
 28 
 
 Spaiii; and by degTees re-establish the trade which 
 formerly existed with that coiintr3\ There are in 
 Spain 182^000 square miles to a population of 
 18 millions^ the fertility of the soil is marvellous, 
 and as a cornland perhaps unrivalled. Hitherto 
 the difficulties of communication have prevented the 
 conveyance of produce from the interior, but any one 
 who will take the trouble to open a "Continental 
 Bradshaw/^ and turn to the map of Spain, will see 
 that railways will soon be running* throug^h the 
 country in all directions. In former days a con- 
 siderable business in the linen trade existed between 
 Ireland and Spain, and if this could be revived and 
 a corn trade estabhshed, it mig-ht lead to desirable 
 results for both countries. The identity of religious 
 opinions between the countries might possibly tend 
 to facilitate the establishment of friendly commer- 
 cial relations. The system of leaving* everything* to 
 private enterprise works admirably in Eng-land, 
 but Ireland is neither sufficiently wealthy or ad- 
 vanced to depend wholly upon it in any great 
 undertaking, and the establishment of a Spanish 
 trade w^ould probably, at the outset, need the im- 
 petus of the countenance and encouragement of the 
 Government. In fact, in many respects, Ireland 
 requires a fostering care and judicious assistajice 
 on the part of the Government which England is 
 better without.
 
 29 
 
 CHAPTER V- 
 
 There is a delusion abroad that absenteeism is 
 an evil of the past, but unfortunately it still most 
 extensively prevails. Perhaps the two proprietors 
 who have of late years received the larg-est income 
 from Irish property are the Marquis of Hertford 
 and the late Lord Herbert ; in both cases there were 
 efficient ag-ents, and the latter was undoubtedly a 
 most liberal landlord, but still the money was in his 
 case spent in Belgrave Square or at Wilton, while 
 Lord Hertford's revenues g'o to swell the profits of 
 the picture dealers of London and Paris. 
 
 When the late Lord Devon visited his estates in 
 the County Limerick, he was told that none of his 
 family had been on the property since the time of 
 Charles 11. Lord Portsmouth has an extensive 
 and most valuable property in Wexford, and I 
 believe passed some weeks upon it before he came 
 to the title, but no Earl of Portsmouth has ever 
 been on the property which they have held for cen- 
 turies. Again, the vast estates so judiciously selected 
 by Sir William Petty, and the splendid territorial 
 possessions of the Earls of Kerry, have centred in 
 the Marquis of Lansdowne ; it is from this source 
 that the revenues are chiefly derived which sup- 
 ported the hospitalities of Bowood and Berkeley 
 Square, hospitalities renowned for nearly a cen-
 
 30 
 
 tury ; but the family have no residence in Ireland 
 except the house of the ag-ent^ and I doubt whether 
 the late Marquis ever passed six months in Kerr3\ 
 The universal complaint is^ ^* There is no money 
 spent here/' — all goes out; nothing* comes in. The 
 miserably forlorn appearance of most Irish county 
 towns fully confirms the truth of the statement. 
 With the exception of Cork^ Limerick^ Belfast^ Gal- 
 way^ and Slig'o^ there is scarcely a town which can 
 compare in commercial briskness and prosperity 
 with our second-rate towns even in aoricultural 
 counties. The Irish county towns lang'uish from 
 the paucity of g'entry in the county. 
 
 When on a visit some ^ve years since at a great 
 house in the north of Ireland^ the agent of the pro- 
 perty told me that he estimated the average expen- 
 diture in the neighbouring town when the familj^ 
 was resident at £100 a week. The withdrawal of 
 such a sum must of course be a serious blow to the 
 trade of an Irish town. The family at the time of 
 my visit had been absent for six years. 
 
 In fact; with the exception of a few favoured dis- 
 tricts, the country is almost deserted by people of 
 fortune, and the most ordinar}^ comforts and neces- 
 saries of civilized life are so little in demand, in 
 the county towns, and are obtained by persons of 
 moderate means with such difficulty, that they have 
 of late been migrating to Dublin, where, as else- 
 where, in consequence of the equalization of prices 
 by railways, living, house rent excepted, is little
 
 31 
 
 more expensive than in the country. The increase 
 of Dublin^ therefore, is a very sh'ght indication of an 
 increase in the wealth of the country. Until the 
 enterprise of Mr. Darg-an made a little Brighton of 
 Bray, Ireland contained no watering'-place which 
 afforded the most moderate comforts and luxuries. 
 The increase of such resorts, if well selected, may 
 prove of great value by keeping* in the country the 
 money now spent at Scarborough or Plarrog-ate. 
 But the Irish, althoug'h in many respects they have 
 so much affinity with the French, are sing-ularly 
 deficient in taste, and their watering'-places, besides 
 their lack of comfort and elegance, are utterly des- 
 titute of books, billiards, or any of the resources 
 which make such places endurable on a rainy day. 
 At present the Irish are but in their infency in 
 " the art of living-/' most probably because they 
 have so few examples of elegance and refinement 
 before them. The evils of absenteeism are not 
 merely pecuniar}^, but are felt in a thousand ways. 
 It is a most serious loss to a country to be in a 
 great measure deprived of the class which ought to 
 set an example and standard of taste and manners. 
 An English labourer insensibly g-ains something* 
 even by seeing- the Squire or Sir John's hot-houses, 
 conservatories, and trim parterres ', an Irish labourer 
 seldom or never sees such objects, and hence the 
 idea of a rose-tree in his garden and a honeysuckle 
 on his cabin never occurs to him. The same re- 
 marks apply to hundreds of the little decencies and 
 elegancies of life.
 
 32 
 
 I am perfectly willing to concede that the Irish 
 lower classes are not easy people to deal with, and 
 that they are often terribly disappointing* to those who 
 endeavour to help them. Many who have gone to 
 live in Ireland with the best and most generous in- 
 tentions have abandoned it in anofer and dis^'ust. 
 They have possibly pursued a course which would 
 have won them the respect and affection of an 
 English peasantr\'_, but have forgotten or been 
 ignorant of the fact that they have been dealing- 
 with men who, beside that they are of another race 
 and religion, have been born and bred in totally 
 different circumstances. A century of the degrada- 
 tion and loss of self respect, induced by oppression 
 and intense povert}^, bears long abiding fruits, A 
 nation, as an individual, is slow to recover from a 
 bad breedino'. 
 
 The contrast which we have seen between Lanca- 
 shire distress in the present day and a similar 
 calamity forty years ago, teaches us what happy 
 effects may result from S3'mpatliy between class and 
 class, and the exercise and example of Christian deal- 
 ing and benevolence. The lower classes in Ireland 
 are only just beginning to have confidence in the 
 justice and honour of their superiors. Was it to be 
 expected that a people who were well nigh deserted 
 by those who ought to have set an example, and who 
 from the Government downwards were managed by 
 chicanery and intrigue, could gain those broad prin- 
 ciples of honour and honesty of which Englishmen 
 are so justly proud ?
 
 83 
 
 An Eng-lish naval officer, who some time since 
 held a very responsible Government appointment 
 in the west of Ireland^ assured me that he found the 
 people habitually cheated and cajoled by small agents 
 and understrappers^ and the confidence which they 
 reposed in his own fairness and judg-ment in any 
 matter which they brought before him was quite 
 touching' to witness. It was a new sensation to them. 
 
 On many Irish estates the management is still 
 carried on with an amount of jobbing and intrigue 
 . which would astonish and perplex an honest English 
 bailiff. From the lamentable practice of not g'iving 
 leases a possibilit}^ of succession to vacant holdings 
 is constantly arising. The absence of all but agri- 
 cultural employment induces a fierce competition for 
 every miserable acre. Then they resort to every 
 sort of device to ^^ in over the agent, or the agent's 
 deputy, to decide in favour of this or that candidate. 
 
 All this^ which has a very bad influence on the 
 people, would receive a great check b}^ simply 
 granting leases^ but these are refused by most land- 
 lords on various pretexts ; the real reason being' 
 generally that it would diminish their influence in 
 elections. The unhappy tenant has now to decide 
 between his landlord's threat of eviction, and his 
 priest's of damnation. 
 
 Nothing could more clearly demonstrate how 
 little the upper classes in Ireland identify them- 
 selves with Irish interests, than the recent history 
 of St. Patrick's Cathedral. When Dr. Pakenham, 
 
 C
 
 34 
 
 the present excellent Dean was appointed^ the Cathe- 
 dral was in a disgraceful condition — by slow degrees, 
 and the devotion, I believe, of his whole official 
 salary to the work, the edifice was gradually put 
 into tolerable repair, but at length it was not the 
 Irish noblesse who came forward to restore the 
 Metropolitan Cathedral, but the great brewer, Mr. 
 Benjamin Guinness. Of this gentleman's services 
 to Dublin and every locality which is so fortunate 
 as to be in any way connected with him, it is im- 
 possible to speak too highly. Wherever he sets his 
 foot, misery and desolation fly before him, and it is 
 no more than justice to say, that he is of more value 
 to Ireland than twenty of her nobles. Were 
 there more men of his stamp in the country, its 
 condition would long since have assumed a very 
 different complexion. 
 
 The non-residence of the great proprietors in 
 Ireland must be attended with far more serious 
 consequences, than it would be in this country. 
 A county which contains Liverpool and Man- 
 chester would scarcely feel the absence, in a pecu- 
 niary point of view, of Lords Derby and Sefton. 
 While the residence of the Duke of Devonshire 
 would make no very great difference to a district 
 which comprised Derby, Matlock, and Buxton. 
 But Ireland is destitute alike of any considerable 
 commercial wealth, or of the affluence which, 
 centered in such places as Buxton, Bath, and Har- 
 rowgato, siij)i)lies a ready and lucrative market to
 
 35 
 
 a wide circle of country. The dependants of a 
 liberal Irish absentee proprietor, supposing* him to 
 have a g-ood resident ag-ent, suffer perhaps but little 
 from their landlord's absence ; but it tells fatally on 
 trade, and the various employments for the lower 
 classes which result therefrom, and prevents the in- 
 crease of that middle class which make the wealth 
 of this country. 
 
 The most melancholy reflection about absenteeism 
 is, that it seems irremediable. In O'ConnelFs evi- 
 dence before the Devon Commission, he mentioned 
 that an Ordinance passed in the reig-n of Edward 
 III., by which an Eng-lishman was prohibited from 
 having- estates in England, as well as in the British 
 part of France, and oblig-ed those already possess- 
 ing- them to bequeath them to different leg-atees, be- 
 cause the superiority of the climate and other causes 
 were producing- absenteeism in Eng-land. 
 
 Of course a law of this kind is out of the question 
 in the present day, it would be held to interfere 
 far too seriously with personal freedom. I heartily 
 wish, however, that the g-reat EngHsh noblemen 
 who possess Irish estates, would follow the example 
 set by the Duke of Devonshire, Lord Fitzwilliam, 
 and one or two more, by residing- and liberally en- 
 tertaining-, though even for a few weeks in the year, 
 on their Irish property. The journey to Ireland is 
 now so swift and sure, that it leaves none of the ex- 
 cuses valid, which held good in bye-gone days, and 
 it is really impossible to overrate the influence which 
 
 c 2
 
 36 
 
 these visits of the lords and ladies of the soil have, 
 in conciliating" and attaching* their dependents. But 
 these arg-urnents have^ alas^ been urg-ed^ and urg-ed 
 again to little purpose since the days of Swift^ and 
 the only causes to which I now look with hope for 
 the decrease of absenteeism^ are the decline of reli- 
 gious rancour and the exercise of Royal influence. 
 
 The vast influence which the Prince of AVales 
 must necessarily possess^ could be directed to no 
 part of his mother's wide dominions with happier or 
 more important results than to Ireland. It is a pro- 
 minent feature in the character of her people, that 
 they, in a far greater degree than either the Eng- 
 lish or Scotch, are amenable to the force of indivi- 
 dual influence. 
 
 They are, moreover, naturally loyal, and their 
 loyalty would know no bounds towards a young 
 Prince and Princess, who from time to time lived 
 among them and showed a personal interest in their 
 welfare. 
 
 Up to the present time, Royalty has been little 
 more than a name to them, but in the few brief 
 visits with which her Majesty has honoured their 
 country, she has, I believe, found no reason to 
 complain of a lack of affection or respect. 
 
 It is of course a subject of regret to the Irish, 
 that while in Scotland the Sovereign has once more 
 occupied the old palace of the Stuarts, has built for 
 herself a Scotch home, and paid the country an 
 annual visit, in Ireland she has no residence and 
 her visits have been very few and far between.
 
 37 
 
 I can conceive no g-rander field for the energies 
 of a Prince than the conciliation of a people^ who 
 to his forefathers have been only a difficulty and a 
 dang-er. That monarch will be deservedly famous 
 whose influence^ in the words of Cromwell^ " makes 
 Ireland like Yorkshire/' 
 
 Let us hope that those whose duty it is to advise 
 the Prince will not be wanting* in pointing* out 
 to him the course sug*gested. Let them remember 
 that a Eoyal remedy has never yet been applied to 
 L*ish ills. The occasional residence of the Prince 
 would in a deg-ree make Ireland the fashion^ and 
 some of the wealth of the country would begin to 
 flow through her unaccustomed channels. A noble- 
 man^ constantly resident in that country^ but lately 
 assured me that he could not overrate-the advantaofes 
 which he was satisfied would accrue. 
 
 The Viceregal Court has long ceased to attract 
 persons of consequehce, and has degenerated into a 
 house of call to great people en route to the provinces, 
 and an opportunity for the display of their finery 
 to the wives and daughters of legal and municipal 
 functionaries. 
 
 But the influx of rank and wealth bv the residence 
 of the Prince in the neighbourhood of Dublin would 
 call into request the hospitalities of the Castle^* and 
 a gaiety and prosperity would be likely to ensue 
 which have long been strangers to that city. The real 
 
 * At the last St. Patrick's Ball one Marcliioness and one 
 Countess were present to represent those grades of the peerage.
 
 88 
 
 secret of prosperity for Ireland is that she should 
 become a country which those who can choose their 
 residence like to live in. To this end let her well- 
 wishers direct their efforts.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 A. 
 
 The following Extracts are from the Writings of 
 
 Dean Swift, 
 
 Swiff s account of what he said to Sir i?, Walpole. 
 
 April 2Sth, 1726. 
 
 The landlords have racked their tenants to such a degree, 
 that there is not one farmer in a hundred through the 
 kingdom who can afford shoes or stockings to his children, 
 or to eat flesh or drink anything better than sour milk or 
 water, twice in a year; so that the whole country, ex- 
 cept the Scotch plantation in the north, is a scene of 
 misery and destitution, hardly to be matched on this side 
 Lapland. • 
 
 I think it manifest, that whatever circumstances can 
 possibly contribute to make a country poor and despicable, 
 are all united with respect to Ireland. 
 
 It would be a noble achievement to abolish the Irish 
 language in this kingdom, so far at least as to oblige all 
 the natives to speak only English on every occasion of 
 business. 
 
 This would in a great measure civilise the most bar- 
 barous among them, reconcile them to our customs and 
 manner of living, and reduce great numbers to the na- 
 tional religion. 
 
 I could heartily wish some public thoughts were em- 
 ployed to reduce this uncultivated people from that idle, 
 savage, beastly manner of life in which they continue to 
 be sunk. 
 
 The love, affection, or vanity of living in England, con- 
 tinuing to carry thither so many wealthy families, the 
 consequences thereof, together with the utter loss of all 
 trade, has forced such great numbers of weavers and others 
 to seek their bread in foreign countries.
 
 40 
 
 Swift to Pope. 
 
 Sejyt. 3rd, 1735. 
 
 This kingdom is now absolutely starving, by the means 
 of every oppression that can be inflicted on mankind, — 
 Sliall I not visit for these things ? saith the Lord. You 
 advise me right not to trouble myself about the world, 
 but oppression tortures me. 
 
 Dub. 23rd March, 1733. 
 
 I return you my hearty thanks for your letter and dis- 
 course upon the fishery : you discover in both a true love 
 of your country, and a perfect knowledge in the subject 
 you treat. I talked to two or three gentlemen of this 
 House of Commons now sitting here : and mentioning 
 your scheme, shewed how very advantageous it would be 
 to Ireland. They agreed with me, but said, that if such 
 a thing were proposed (in the House), the M.P.^s would 
 all go out, as at a thing they had no concern in. 
 
 Corrupt as England is, it is a habitation of saints in 
 comparison with Ireland. We are slaves, knaves, and 
 fools; and all but bishops and people in employments, 
 beggars. The cash of Ireland does not amount to 
 £200,000. 
 
 I believe the people of Lapland or the Hottentots, are 
 not so miserable a people as we, for oppression supported 
 by power, will infallibly introduce slavish principles. 
 
 The second cause of our misery is the folly, the vanity, 
 and ingratitude, of those vast numbers who think them- 
 selves too good to live in the country which gave them 
 birth, and still gives them bread; and rather choose to 
 pass their days and consume their wealth, and to draw 
 out the very vitals of their mother kingdom, among those 
 who heartily despise them. 
 
 A great cause of this nation's misery is that Egyptian 
 bondage of cruel, oppressing, covetous landlords, who 
 grieve and envy when they see a tenant of their own in 
 a whole coat, or able to afford one comfortable meal in a 
 month ; by which tlie spirits of the people are broken and 
 made fit for slavery.
 
 41 
 
 B. 
 
 Lord Chesterfield to Mr, Prior. 
 
 Sept. 23rd, 1746. 
 
 Sir, — I repeat it again^ that there are not many people 
 in Ireland, who, like you, employ their thoughts, their time, 
 and their labour merely for the public good, without any 
 private view. The condition of Ireland sufficiently proves 
 the truth. How different would the state of your land, 
 your trades, your manufactures, your arts and sciences 
 have been now from what it is, had they been the objects 
 of general as they have been of your particular attention ! 
 I still less recant what I said about claret, which is a 
 melancholy truth ; and I could add a great deal more 
 upon the subject. Pive thousand tuns of wine imported 
 communibus annis into Ireland, is a sure but indecent 
 proof of the excessive drinking of the gentry there, for the 
 inferior people cannot afford to drink wine there, as many 
 of them can here ; so that these 5000 tuns of wine are 
 chiefly employed in destroying the constitutions, the 
 faculties, and too often the fortunes of those of superior 
 rank, who ought to take care of all the others. Were 
 there to be a contest between public cellars and public 
 granaries, which do you think would carry it ? I believe 
 you will allow that a claret board, if there were one, 
 would be much better attended than the linen board, 
 unless when flax-seed were to be distributed, 
 
 I am sensible that I should be reckoned a very shallow 
 politician, for my attention to such trifling objects, as the 
 improvement of your lands, the extension of your manu- 
 factures, and the increase of your trade, which only tend 
 to the advantages of the public ; whereas an able Lord 
 Lieutenant ought to employ his thoughts in greater 
 matters. — He should think of jobs for favourites, sops for 
 enemies, managing parties, and engaging Parliament to 
 vote away tlieir own and their fellow subjects liberties and 
 properties. But these great acts of Government, I confess, 
 are above me ; and so weak am I, that I would much 
 rather be distinguished and remembered by the name of 
 the Irish Lord Lieutenant, than by that of the Lord 
 Lieutenant of Ireland.
 
 42 
 
 C. 
 
 From the Diary of the Duke of Bedford j Lord Lieutenant of 
 
 Ireland. 
 
 May 24th, 1758. 
 
 As things are circumstanced, business may be easily 
 carried on the next session, but the leading people must 
 have douceurs, by these means his Majesty may do as he 
 pleases. 
 
 D. 
 
 From Lord Cornwallis's Correspondence, 
 
 The opposition will call upon the Government to make 
 provision for the Catholick and Presbyterian clergy, as 
 they have been taught to expect it. How far this measure, 
 which appears so necessary in itself, should be postponed 
 and connected with the Union, it is for Ministers to decide. 
 
 Lord Cornwallis to the DuJce of Portland j Vol, III, p. 53. 
 
 The accounts that you see of the numbers of the enemy 
 destroyed in every action, are, I conclude greatly exagge- 
 rated ; from my own knowledge of military affairs, I am 
 sure that a very small proportion of them only could be 
 killed in battle, and I am much afraid that any man in a 
 brown coat, who is found within several miles of the field 
 of action, is butchered without discrimination. It shall 
 be one of my first objects to soften the ferocity of our 
 troops, which I am afraid is not confined to the privates. 
 I shall use my utmost exertions to suppress the folly which 
 has been too prevalent of substituting the word Catho- 
 licism instead of Jacobinism, as the foundation of the pre- 
 sent rebellion. 
 
 July 24, 1798. 
 
 The overt rebellion is certainly declining. 
 
 The yeomanry now take the lead in rapine and murder. 
 The Irish militia follow closely on the heels of the yeo- 
 manry in murder and every kind of atrocity, and the 
 fencibles take a share, though much behindhand, with the 
 others. 
 
 The conversation of the principal persons all tend to 
 encourage this system of blood, and the conversation even
 
 43 
 
 at my table, where you will suppose I do all I can to pre- 
 vent it_, always turns on hanging, shooting, burning, &c. 
 And if a priest has been put to death, the greatest joy is 
 expressed by the whole company. 
 
 So much for Ireland and my wretched situation. 
 
 Those who are called principal persons here, are men who 
 have been raised into consequence, only by having the 
 entire disposal of the patronage of the Crown, in return 
 for their undertaking the management of the country, be- 
 cause the Lords Lieutenant were too idle or incapable to 
 manage it themselves. — (II. 445.) They are detested by 
 all but their immediate followers, and have no influence 
 but what is founded on the grossest corruption. 
 
 Lord Cornwallis, 
 
 E. 
 Lord Auckland to Mr. JBeresford, 
 
 August 1st, 1798. 
 
 I am against changes, but it appears to me, that the 
 loyal Catholics ought to be distinguished, and that the 
 whole system of needy, and illiterate, and disaff'ected 
 Papist priests ought to be put down, giving to the se(?t not 
 an establishment, but respectable and responsible men 
 of their own persuasion, paid handsomely from the public 
 purse. 
 
 Lord Carlisle (at one time Lord Lieutenant of Ireland) to 
 
 Lord Auckland. 
 
 Castle Howard, 20th Aug. 1798. 
 
 My dear Lord, 
 
 It appears to my ignorance that this is a moment when 
 much is to be done. From a sink of corruption, where all 
 the faculties of the kingdom (and very quick ones too,) 
 were drawn from improving its condition, we have seen a 
 mine opened of the most dangerous sedition and rebellion. 
 How to close the mouth of this for the present is one 
 question ; how to destroy all approach to it for the future 
 is another. 
 
 • • • • • 
 
 If a more efficient Government were to be the imme- 
 diate consequence of this attempt (the rebellion,) the in-
 
 44 
 
 stantancous remedy might be reached : Tlie more slow 
 eradication of the tcri'ible evils might grow from a better 
 direction of those talents I have before alluded to, and by 
 the extinction of that excitement to eternal jobbing, the 
 present and past system of Irish Government. In short 
 we have been all much to blame. The English Adminis- 
 tration in a great degree ; the people of consequence there 
 have more to answer for by their neglect. The absentees 
 have been the cause of much calamity to the country. 
 
 The extreme poverty of some of the lower orders, the 
 tying them down to a condition of despair, rather than of 
 hope, and that making them ready to promote {from an 
 almost indifference to life) the schemes of the most des- 
 perate and most wicked, have made the cup of private 
 and public evil thus overflow. Something new must be 
 attempted. 
 
 Ireland in its present state will pull down England : 
 she is a ship on fire, and must be cast oflP or extinguished. 
 
 F. 
 
 The following relates to the Duke of Wellington's 
 Irish Correspondence when Chief Secretary. 
 
 Duke of Wellington. 
 
 June 30, 1807. 
 
 I HAVE looked over my papers and talked to Long 
 respecting the claims to the vacant deaneries. In the first 
 place I must mention to you that the Deanery of Tuam is 
 not of half the value of the Deanery of Limerick ; and if it 
 were possible I should recommend you to avoid giving the 
 
 former to Lord , as it is called a sinecure, and can be 
 
 held with any other livings, for the best of which he will 
 forthwith press you. Long says the person who has the 
 best claim is Mr. Leslie, the member for Monaghan, for 
 his brother. Mr. Pitt promised him preferment in the 
 Church, and wlicn Dr. Kearney was made Bishop of 
 Ossory, he declared tliat he would not consent to that pro- 
 motion unless the Doctor would engage to give Mr. Leslie 
 the first and best piece of preferment in the diocese. This 
 the Doctor promised, but as Bishop he lias not performed
 
 45 
 
 his promise. Pitt's promise, therefore, to Mr. Leslie, re- 
 mains unperformed to this day, and Mr. LesHe has this 
 additional claim to it, that he has always served ivell and 
 willingly, and has not, as others have, demanded a fresh 
 subsidy for every service. Add to this, that he was the 
 first who proposed the exchange of the Limerick deanery ; 
 and, although he kept his temper better than others when 
 he was told it could not be done, he told me he hoped if it 
 was done for anybody it would be done for him. 
 
 Londo7i, Wth July, 1807. 
 
 My dear Sir, 
 
 I propose to vacate my seat for Tralee this day; 
 and I request you to desire Mr. Justice Day to have Evan 
 Foulkes, Esq., of Southampton Street, London, returned 
 for that borough. I request you also to desire Mr. Justice 
 Day, Mr. Handcock, and Mr. Pennefather to draw upon 
 Messrs. Drummond for £5000 cash, at ten days sight. 
 
 Ever, &c. 
 
 Arthur Wellesley. 
 
 Evan Foulkes, Esq., of Southampton Street, London, to 
 be the member for Tralee. 
 
 Dublin Castle, 9th Jan. 1809. 
 
 My dear Lord, 
 
 I have received your Lordship's letter of the 7th. 
 I apprehend that the sum of £5000 is larger than we 
 should be able to give for the seat at Dungannon, as T 
 believe we have given lately £3000 at most ; but I write 
 this day by express to my brother, Mr. Wellesley, upon 
 the subject. 
 
 Nobody has any knowledge of my correspondence with 
 you upon this subject except the Lord Lieutenant, and I 
 now enclose all the letters I have received from you upon 
 it. Ever, &c. 
 
 Arthur Wellesley. 
 
 The Bishop of Derry.
 
 46 
 
 London, 24th Feb. 1809. 
 My Lord, 
 
 I have the honour to inform you that the sum 
 of 3000 guineas is lodged in Coutts's bank in the name of 
 John Forbes, Esq., which sum will be paid in fourteen 
 days after Mr. Scott will be returned to Parliament, to 
 the order of your Lordship. I have, &c. 
 
 Arthur Wellesley. 
 
 Mr. Forbes is my private secretary, and I have had the 
 money lodged in his name, as I did not know of anybody 
 in London to whom your Lordship would wish to have 
 your interests entrusted on this occasion. 
 
 The people of this country are disaffected to the British 
 Government, and in fact we have no strength here but our 
 army. — Despatches. 
 
 May, 1807. 
 
 One of the greatest existing evils in Ireland is the want 
 of employment. There is no resow^ce but the land; every- 
 one within reach bids for a farm that becomes vacant ; the 
 consequence is that the rent of land is exorbitantly high, 
 infinitely higher than the rent of land of the same fertility 
 and equally well situated in Great Britain, and the wages 
 much lower, because there is no demand for labour. The 
 labouring poor almost universally subsist upon the produce 
 of a small piece of ground, for which they pay the exorbi- 
 tant rent of from £4. to £Q. per acre, while they receive 
 from 6c?. to Sd. a day for their labour, and are thus re- 
 duced to a state of misery which can scarcely be believed. 
 — Despatches, ^rd April, 1808. 
 
 Sir Arthur Wellesley urged the gentlemen of Tippe- 
 rary "that the whippings in that county should be 
 earnest." Alluding to this and other measures adopted by 
 the Government, the "Edinburgh Review'' of April, 1860, 
 observes — 
 
 " The picture which Sir Arthur draws of the social and 
 military condition of Ireland at the moment when these 
 stringent measures were being carried into execution, is 
 one which ought to render us thankful that an invading
 
 47 
 
 army did not again appear on Irish ground ; for it was not 
 to be expected that a people thus unjustly and harshly 
 dealt with should view the probability of passing under 
 French rule with either distaste or apprehension." 
 
 G. 
 
 Sir Robert Peel on Absenteeism. 
 
 I firmly believe that Ireland is precisely in that state in 
 which the benefits of residence, on the part of the gentry, 
 would be most sensibly felt; and that the influence of 
 resident landlords would do more to prevent disturbances 
 and to eff'ect all the legitimate objects of a wise Go- 
 vernment, than could be accomplished in any manner 
 whatever. 
 
 If I were asked to declare from what measures I imagine 
 the greatest benefit to Ireland would accrue, I would say 
 without hesitation, that any measure calculated to induce, 
 or J if that were not sufficient , to compel those individuals to 
 reside in Ireland, who now spend the money which they 
 derive from that country elsewhere, would be more felt in 
 its advantageous operation than any other proposition 
 which can be made by any party. 
 
 The Condition of an Absentee Property. 
 
 Not long since Lord Clif den's Agent was threatened 
 with assassination ; possibly the past state of that noble- 
 man's property may have some bearing on the present, 
 as it has many like cases. I believe the present Lord 
 has very seldom resided on his estates. The following 
 account is extracted from H. D. Inglis's ^^ Ireland in 
 1834." 
 
 ^' I had heard, even in England, of the wretched condition 
 of a town in the county of Kilkenny called Callen; and 
 I devoted a day to it. I never travelled through a more 
 pleasing and smiling country than that which lies between 
 Kilkenny aud Callen; and I never entered a town re- 
 flecting so much disgrace upon the owner of it as this. 
 In so execrable a condition are the streets of this town, 
 that the mail coach, in passing through it, is allowed 
 twelve minutes extra ; an indulgence which can surprise
 
 48 
 
 no one who drives, or rather attempts to drive through the 
 street ; for none who has the use of his limbs would con- 
 sent to be driven. And yet, will it be credited, that a 
 toll is levied on the entrance into the town, of e very- 
 article of consumption ; and that not one shilling of the 
 money so received, is laid out for the benefit of the town. 
 The potatoes, coal, buttermilk, with which the poor 
 wretches who inhabit this place supply their necessities, 
 are subject to a toll, which used to produce £250. per 
 annum ; but which having been resisted by some prying 
 and spirited person, who questioned the right of toll, the 
 receipts have since considerably diminished. 
 
 It was with some difficulty that I obtained a sight of 
 the table of tolls, and satisfied myself, that potatoes and 
 buttermilk, the food of the poor, pay a toll to Lord Clifden, 
 who, from a revenue of £lO or £12,000 per ann. which 
 he draws from this county — a considerable part from the 
 immediate neighbourhood- -lays not out one farthing for 
 the benefit of his people. I arrived very early, and having 
 been promised breakfast at a grocer's shop (for there is 
 no inn,) I walked through the outskirts of the town, and 
 round a little common which was close to it, and there I 
 saw the people crawling out of their hovels, they and their 
 hovels not one shade better than I have seen in the sierras 
 of Granada, where the people live in holes excavated in 
 the banks. Their cabins were mere holes, with nothing 
 but a little straw, and one or two broken stools. And all 
 the other outskirts of the town, are in nearly a similar 
 condition : ranges of hovels, without a ray of comfort or 
 a trace of civilization about them ; and people either in 
 a state of actual starvation, or barely keeping body and 
 soul together. All this I saw and cannot be deceived. Is 
 there any one so blind as to contend, that this is a state 
 of things which ought to continue ; and that an absentee 
 nobleman should be permitted to draw, without deduction 
 for the support of the infirm poor, the splendid income 
 which he wrings out of a people left to starvation or crime ? 
 Let any one who desire to see a specimen of an absentee 
 town, visit Callen. And Lord Clifden is the more repre- 
 hensible, since he occasionally visits the country, and is 
 not ignorant of its condition. It is true that his Lord- 
 ship drives as rapidly through his town as the state of the 
 street will admit ; but it is said that upon one occasion the 
 carriage broke down ; and that this patriotic nobleman.
 
 49 
 
 was forced to hear the execrations of the crowd of naked 
 and starving wretches who thronged around him. Nor 
 is the country around Callcn fortunate in its other land- 
 lords, the land of Iiord Dysart is frightfully rack-rented. 
 
 H. 
 
 The following letter, alluding to the Irish Established 
 Church, is from Stanley's Life of Arnold, 
 
 My great fear is, that the English ay^e indifferent to justice 
 when it is not on their own side. Whether Ireland remain 
 in its present barbarism or grow in health and civilization, 
 in either case the downfall of the present establishment is 
 certain. A savage people will not endure the insult of a 
 hostile religion, a civilized one will reasonably insist on 
 having its own. 
 
 The Irish being a Catholic people, have a right to per- 
 fect independence, or to a perfectly equal union. If our 
 conscience objects to the latter, it is bound to concede the 
 former. 
 
 I. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone's Speech on the .Budget, April 1863. 
 
 The other special cause of depression is the state of 
 Ireland; and I very much doubt whether the British 
 public has been awakened to the depression which during 
 the last few years has befallen that part of the United 
 Kingdom : That depression is difiused over the surface 
 of the country, its extent is as broad as the agricultural 
 area, and it is exclusively connected with the failure of 
 the crops. Up to 1859, we have the consolation of be- 
 lieving that the state of Ireland was one of steady and 
 even of remarkable progress. 
 
 In 1859, that progress was materially checked, but still, 
 the four years I take as representing what I may call tlie 
 normal or average condition of Irish agricultural wealth 
 are from 1856 to 1860. The amount of four items — the 
 oats, wheat, potato crop, and one-third of the actual value 
 of the live stock — in this country was, from 1856 to 1860, 
 on an average £39,437,000 per annum, in 1860 61, it
 
 50 
 
 fell to £34,890,000, a decrease of £4,5^0,000. In 1861-62, 
 it fell to £29,077,000, a decrease of £10,360,000. 
 
 Ill 1862-63, low as was the previous point, it descended 
 yet lower, and fell to £27,327,000, from an average of 
 £39,43 7jOOO, shewing a decrease of somewhat above 
 £12,000,000, nearly one-third of the total value of the 
 estimated agricultural products on the principal items or 
 constituents of agricultural wealth, and not very far short 
 of the full amount of the established annual valuation of 
 the country, which is £13,400.000. Now this was a very 
 remarkable state of circumstances in Ireland, and I may 
 mention, as a fact, in all cases, the first effect of pressure 
 on the labouring classes is in the consumption of strong 
 liquors. It was no wonder that under these circumstances, 
 the consumption of spirits, which in Ireland was in 
 1861-62 2,463,000 gallons, fell in 1862-63 to 2,292,000 
 gallons, a decrease of I7lj000 gallons. 
 
 THE END.
 
 
 
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