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BY RF MONTGOMERY MARTIN, ESQ., AUTHoR of THE “ HISTORY OF THE BRITISH colonies,” ETC. LONDON : WM. S. ORR AND CO., PATERNOSTER ROW, SOLD BY ALL BOOKSELLERS. MDCCCXLIII. MEMORANDUM. The Queen, in the Speech from the Throne on the Prorogation of Parliament, 24th of August, 1843, delivered in Person the following sentiments Tespecting Ireland : — “I have observed with the deepest concern the persevering efforts which are made to stir up discontent and disaffection among my subjects in Ireland, and to excite them to demand a Repeal of the Legislative Union. “It has been and ever will be my earnest desire to administer the government of that country in a spirit of strict justice and impartiality, and to cooperate with Parliament in effecting such amendments in the existing laws as may tend to improve the social condition and to develop the natural resources of Ireland. “From a deep conviction that the Legislative Union is not less essential to the attainment of these objects than to the strength and stability of the empire, it is my firm determination, with your support, and under the blessing of DIVINE PROVIDENCE, to maintain inviolate that great bond of connealion between the two countries. “I have forborne from requiring any additional powers for the counteraction of designs hostile to the concord and welfare of my dominions, as well from my unwillingness to distrust the efficacy of the ordinary law, as from my reliance on the good sense and patriotism of my people, and on the solemn declarations of Parliament in support of the Legislative Union. “I feel assured that those of my faithful subjects who have influence and authority in Ireland will discourage to the utmost of their power a system of pernicious agitation, which disturbs the industry and retards the improvement of that country, and excites feelings of mutual distrust and animosity between different classes of my people.” PREFACE. —º----- ENGLAND stands charged before the civilised world with having conquered Ireland, and destroyed its independence as a king- dom; with having practised the most cruel oppressions towards Ireland for seven centuries ; and with having iniquitously con- trived, by “demoniac, fraudulent, and corrupt measures,” a Legis- lative Union between Great Britain and Ireland, which has produced “misery, wretchedness, eahaustion, and destitution ; and which has diffused throughout the nation want and woe ; bitter discontent and heart-rending sorrow ;" furthermore, it is openly and loudly alleged, that “there is no truth more undeniable than this, that ENGLAND HAS INFLICTED MORE GRIEvous CALAMITIES UPON IRELAND THAN ANY CountRY ON THE FACE of THE EARTH BESIDEs HAs DoNE UPON ANY OTHER.. IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND THERE Is NoTHING TO BE COMPARED WITH THE ATROCITY OF THE CRIMEs wHICH ENGLAND HAS PERPETRATED ON THE IRISH PEOPLE: nor as yet has the spirit which created and animated such crimes been much mitigated, if mitigated at all, from its original virulence. The con- summation of such crimes, up to the close of the last century, is to be found in the atrocious manner in which the Legislative Union between both countries was effected;” and it is added, that “THE VOICE OF THE CIVILISED WORLD LAYS TO THE CHARGE OF THE ENGLISH GovKRNMENT THE GUILT of HAVING PRODUCED THIS Ex- ASPERATION OF NATIONAL FEELING, THIS MISERY, THIS WRETCHEDNESS, THIS EXHAUSTION, THIS DESTITUTION.” Address to the Inhabitants of the Countries subject to the British Crown. Issued from the Corn- Exchange, Dublin, 13th September, 1843. Happily for mankind, the expression of enlightened public opinion now operates on nations as well as on individuals, and charges thus loudly proclaimed and widely disseminated wherever A 2 iv PREFACE. the English language is understood, deserve, if true, the deepest and gravest consideration ; and, if false, the severest reproba- tion and punishment. It is due, therefore, to the character of England that these charges should be fully and minutely investigated ; it is essential to the repose of Ireland, that the reality of her past history and present condition be faithfully submitted for con- templation; and it is not beneath the dignity of the British Empire to develop to foreign nations the course of policy adopted by England towards Ireland, and the effects of the Union between the two islands. The object of the following pages is therefore to inquire calmly, without acrimony, and with an anxious solicitude for the discovery of truth, into the accuracy of these charges ; to test Ireland in all her positions, from the time when we possess any written records; to examine minutely her condition politically, commercially, financially, and socially; to ascertain her relative state in every point of view, before and after the legislative in- corporation of the two islands in 1800 ; and, having submitted every fact which will bear upon the question, without any impu- tation on the motives or conduct of those who are in favour of a Repeal of the Union between Great Britain and Ireland, to leave the whole case in the hands of public opinion for unbiassed and final adjudication. In order that the charges may be fully understood, it is necessary to place on record the following published and exten- sively circulated documents. The first is an address which has been printed, 13th September, 1843, for dissemination in differentparts of the world, and is as follows:— “To THE INHABITANTs of THE COUNTRIES SUBJECT TO THE BRITISH CROWN. “Fellow Subjects, The people of Ireland would anxiously desire your sympathy and support; but long and painful experience has taught them not to expect either the one or the other. Confident, however, in their own exertions, they content themselves with laying before you a simple statement of some of the grievances under which their country labours; yet having no other hope, as far as you are con- cerned, than that of vindicating themselves in the eyes of all rational and just men amongst you for the magnitude of the struggle they are now making in the cause of their country. “There is no truth more undeniable than this—that England has inflicted more grievous calamities woon Ireland than any country on the face of the earth besides PRE]EACE. W. has done upon any other. In the history of mankind there is nothing to be com- pared with the atrocity of the crimes which England has perpetrated on the Irish people ; mor, as yet, has the spirit which created and animated such crimes been much mitigated—if mitigated at all—from its original virulence. The consum- mation of such crimes, up to the close of the last century, is to be found in the atrocious manner in which the Legislative Union between bolh countries was effected. “The hypocritical pretext, under which that Union was offered to the Irish, was that the people of both countries should be identified into one—that the two coun- tries should be amalgamated into one nation—that there should be no longer any difference of rights or privileges between the English and Irish, but, on the con- trary, that the people of both countries should be placed upon a footing of perfect equality in law, and, in fact, without any unfavourable distinction towards the one, or undue preference towards the other. Such was proclaimed by the British Government to be the intent and meaning of the Act of Union, and such, in point of common sense and of honesty, the Union, if fairly worked out, ought to be. “But the exact reverse is the case. The promises held out by the English Government were shamelessly and totally violated. Every pre-existing evil was, by means of the Union, continued and aggravated, and no opportunity has been omitted to inflict new and severe grievances upon this unhappy country. “The manufacturers which before the Union flourished in very many of our cities and towns have been annihilated in most, and continued only in a few, and with diminished productiveness. The productive commerce of Ireland has been put down, and in its room there has been substituted the earport of the prime necessaries of life—the produce of our fertile soil exported, however, not to bring any return to Ireland, but to be disposed of for the payment of the rents of absentee landlords—rents to be earpended in foreign lands, and for the eaclusive benefit of strangers. “Another destructive branch of our remaining foreign commerce consists in the conveyance from our shores of our hardy population, who, having no employment at home in their own naturally fertile and teemingly fruitful soil, are compelled to seek a livelihood in foreign countries, and to enrich by their productive labour any country but their own. “The consequences are obvious : widely-spread pauperism has covered the land, and the Commissioners of Poor Law Inquiry have authenticated the awful fact that more than 2,385,000 of the people are, some for the entire and others at least for a portion of the year, in a state of ABSOLUTE DESTITUTION. “Under the protection Öf the Irish Parliament Ireland was the least taxed country in Europe, whilst under the iron rule of the British Legislature it is a universally admitted fact that Ireland is, in proportion to her means, the most heavily taxed country on the face of the globe. “The agricultural interests of Irelaud also bear comparatively greater burdens than the agriculture of any other nation—burdens exclusively confined to the land. They are these :—The tithe rent charge exceeds 500,000l. Sterling per annum ; the grand jury assessments, in a great part compulsory, amount to near 1,500,000l. sterling per annum ; and poor rates on lands will very soon amount to more than another million sterling per annum—all, all payable out of the land alone. “The enumeration of the Irish people lately published by Government affords facts that show the most fearful destitution of the people of Ireland. It is shown that more than one-half of the rural population, and one-third of the town popula- tion, are living in the lowest state—namely, in a cabin of a single room. It is also shown that there is a second class very nearly in the same proportions, and but vi PREFACE. little removed in comfort from the first or most destitute ; leaving for a class that may be said to enjoy anything like comfortable circumstances only 16 per cent. in the rural, and 30 per cent. in the town districts. Thus there are 84 per cent. in the rural population in woeful want, and 70 per cent. of the civic population in equal distress. Attend to those facts, fellow-subjects—weigh them well, and see whether there be on the face of the earth woe equal to ours. “These terrific truths, indicative of great suffering, are authenticated by the Government Commissioners, upon whose unquestionable authority we state them. “Another fact of a still more awful nature is derived from the same authority. It is—that the population of Ireland has, for the last ten years, diminished by more than 700,000 Souls. The hideous importance of this statement will be felt when it is recollected that one great proof of increasing prosperity is found in the due augmentation of the people, whilst the most decisive evidence of human misery is found in the fact of a retrograding population. In Ireland that misery is evinced to the eatent of an annual retrocession of the population of more than 700,000 souls. “Such, fellow-subjects, is the general outline of the impoverishment of the Irish people and their sufferings, originating in and continued by the fatal measure of the Legislative Union; such is the condition of the people of Ireland more than forty years after the Union ; such is the authentic picture of the wretchedness of the Irish after the Union has subsisted near half a century. The facts, derived from the highest and the most reluctant authority, that of Government itself—a reluctance naturally arising from the obvious truth that the Government thus doth confess its own crimes—for the misery of the people in a fruitful land must be the crime of the Government. “In addition to the physical evils produced by the Union, the misery of Ireland is aggravated by political injury and religious insult. “These are the aggravations of the wretchedness arising from our physical destitution. “1. The great bulk of the Irish people being Catholics, do, even in their impo- verished state, cheerfully support a complete hierarchy of their own clergy; they are impelled by religious motives to support that clergy; and they do support that clergy out of means that are little better than actual destitution. In the meantime, the ecclesiastical temporalities of Ireland, emanating from the bounty of our Catholic ancestors, are dedicated to the sustentation of the clergy of a comparatively small minority. This grievance would not be endured in England. This grievance would not be borne in Scotland. It is borne in Ireland, but it is not thereby the less keenly felt by the sensitive and religious Irish people. “2. The representation of Ireland is most unjustly and unfairly disproportioned to the population and resources of Ireland. At the Union, Ireland was compelled to give up two-thirds of her representatives. Great Britain did not give up a single one. It was an iniquity without a single ingredient of reciprocity. Ireland gave up 200 members—England, not one. If the Union were a bargain, it would be in the nature of a partnership. The man would be only fit for Bedlam who should become a partner on the terms of annihilating two-thirds of his capital, and receiving nothing in return from his partners. Two-thirds of Irish representation was confiscated for the profit of England—that is, to enable England to have Ire- land at her feet without adequate power for any protection. The Reform Bill afforded an opportunity to remedy this grievance. There were 220 members, which had belonged to the extinguished boroughs, to be distributed between these three countries. Scotland, with a population of little more than 2,500,000, got eight in addition to her forty-five. England (then with a population of 13,000,000) took to her own share 207 out of 220 members, and distributed some amongst her great PREFACE. vii towns, and the far greater part amongst her counties, according to the ratio of their respective population. Ireland, at that time containing more than 7,000,000 of inhabitants, got an increase of only five members. “Let us dwell a little upon the complicated enormity of this injustice. Ireland lost by the Union two-thirds of her representation. She ought to have got by the Reform Bill at least from 70 to 100 additional members. Ireland did get—fully five Ay, fully five - “And there are people absurd enough to complain that the Irish are discon- tented—ay, that they are “Let us recapitulate:— “England on 13 millions got e º º º . 207 members. “Scotland on 2% millions got . e o - . 8 members. “Ireland on 7 millions got © º is e . 5 members. “We leave these facts to fester as they are. “3. Our parliamentary franchises are wholly inadequate to secure anything like a true reflection of the opinions of the masses of the nation. Two facts will establish this. “One of these facts is, that one riding of Yorkshire has more voters than all the agricultural counties put together of Ireland. “The other fact is, that Wales, with a population of 800,000, has more than 36,000 voters. While the county of Cork, with an agricultural population of 720,000, has only 2,000 voters. - “Add to these that in Ireland, from the legal nature of the franchise, and the technicalities with which it is surrounded, and the power that it gives to the aris- tocracy to prevent the right to register, the consequences are, that, restricted as is the franchise at present, it must day by day become more limited, until it is totally useless for all popular purposes. It is actually in the rapid progress of extinction. If the present system is to prevail, there will shortly be in Ireland no popular franchise at all. “4. The Municipal Reform Bill for Ireland is almost an entire mockery, and even the few rights that have been left to the reformed corporations are confined to the wealthier classes. The pecuniary value of the franchise is so high as to exclude the great bulk of the population of our towns and cities. “In England, the richer country, in the corporate towns and cities, every man rated to the poor-rate and borough-rate—no matter at how low a Sum—is a burgess, and entitled to enjoy corporate franchises. “In Ireland, the poorer country, no person can be a burgess, or enjoy the corporate franchise, who is not rated to the poor at 101. per annum, or upwards. “In England, the richer country, the corporate franchise is enjoyed subject to the payment of two taxes, the poor-rate and the borough-rate. “In Ireland, for example in Dublin, the corporate franchise cannot he enjoyed without the payment of nine or ten different taxes or rates. “Is there any human being so absurd as to suppose that there is anything which ought to be called an union between countries thus circumstanced ? “5. The pecuniary exhaustion occasioned by absenteeism is one of the main-springs of all the evils which Ireland suffers. There is no country on the globe in which anything like one-third of the comparative absenteeism existing in Ireland can be found. It would be as well for Ireland that nine-tenths of the provisions that she eaports to England were sunk in the sea, as that they should arrive in safety at the British markets. When sold no return is made to Ireland either in money or goods. The price goes into the pockets of the absentees, who spend every shilling viii PREF.A.C.E. of it out of Ireland. No country in the world pays such a tribute to another as Ireland thus pays to England—a tribute creating exhaustion, poverty, misery, and destitution in all their frightful forms. “6. The connexion between landlord and tenant in Ireland, arranged as it has been by a long course of vicious legislation, wants that mutual confidence which is essential to the benefit of productive industry. The labouring population, unable to obtain employment, live habitually on the verge of extreme destitution. They must obtain land, or they die. The issues of life and death are in the hands of the landlords The massacres of the clearance system consign to a premature and most miserable grave hundreds of thousands of victims. They are wholesale murders, jollowed by the assassination in detail of the instruments of the landlords’ rapacity. These crimes, on both sides, cry to Heaven for vengeance and redress—for a redress capable of giving to the landlord his just right to adequate rent, and to the tenant just protection for the produce of his labour and capital. “Another species of tyranny, the basest and most atrocious of all, has been recently put in practice by some of the most cruel and bigoted of our landlords : not content with the dominion of the landlord over the tenure and the rent, they insist upon and exercise a diabolical despotism over the religion and the conscience of their tenants, and require of them to send their children to schools from which the Catholic clergy are excluded, and in which no religion is taught but that which the parents believe to be false. Thus these landlords usurp a bigoted power over the souls as well as the bodies of their wretched serfs. It is only an Irish landlord who could be guilty of this climaa of cruelty. “The relation between landlord and tenant cannot subsist as it is in Ireland. It is a subject replete with the utmost difficulty. Its solution is filled with dangers. It would require the aid of the honest and feeling polition of Irish landlords to enable the honest and conscientious friends of Ireland to place the relations between landlord and tenant on a satisfactory footing to both. But, alas ! these landlords will not join in our struggle until it is too late, and then they will become the principal sufferers. “Notwithstanding our connexion with a nation which boasts to be the wealthiest, the most enlightened, and most powerful in the world, our commerce, our fisheries, our mines, our agriculture, attest, by their languishing and neglected condition, the baneful effects of English misgovernment. “7. An anti-Catholic and anti-Irish spirit governs the distribution of official situa- tions, and has been most painfully exhibited in the great majority of official appoint- ments made by the present Ministry. “8. Deep-rooted and increasing discontent pervades the entire nation. Feelings of estrangement are rapidly supplanting those affections which kindness and justice could have placed at the command of Government. Despairing of redress from the legislature, the people of Ireland, confining themselves to legal and constitutional means, now rely upon their own strength and resolution for the attainment of those rights which they have sought from the British Parliament in vain. They know full well that they can obtain adequate redress from a domestic legislature alone. “9. The voice of the civilised world lays to the charge of the English Government, the guilt of having produced this ea'asperation of national feeling, this misery, this wretchedness, this exhaustion, this destitution ; upon that Government lies the responsibility of having failed to secure the welfare and the content of the Irish people, and of having, on the contrary, diffused throughout the nation want, and woe, and bitter discontent, and heart-rending sorrow. “Such, fellow-subjects, are the loud and distinct complaints of the people of Ireland. We have applied in vain to the Legislature for redress; our complaints PREFACE. 1X are unheeded, our remonstrances unavailing. The poor boon of inquiry conceded to the advocate of the negro and of the hill-coolie, has been denied to the moral, the temperate, the religious, the brave Irish nation. “The black catalogue of grievances which we have thus detailed, instead of being mitigated by hope, or softened by kind or conciliatory deportment, is aggravated and embittered by recent events. The present Ministry, instead of giving us redress, insult us with an Arms Bill, an insult which they would not have dared to offer to Scotland, to England, or even Wales. They have further insulted us by what they are pleased to call an Amendment of the Poor Law Bill, an amendment which increases the despotic power of the ruthless Poor Law Commissioners; gives them the appointment of valuators, and takes away the electoral franchise from the poorer classes, without giving them any real relief. “Lastly, to crown all, they conclude the session with a Speech, which they cause the Queen to pronounce, of course the Ministers’ Speech, full of sound and fury, giving us for all relief and address, for all conciliation and kindness, the absurdity of ministerial assertion, and the insolence of half-whipt ministerial anger. “ Fellow subjects, our case is before you, and before the world. Grievances such as the Irish pauper endures no other country has ever suffered. Insults such as are offered to us were never inflicted on any other. “There is one consolation, it is admitted by all, and is as elear as the noon-day sun, that unless we redress ourselves we can have no succour from any other quarter. But we suffice for ourselves and our country. We suffice for the Repeal. “We eaſpect nothing from England or Englishmen, from Scotland or Scotchmen. In each of those countries the benevolent few are overpowered by the anti-national antipathy of Ireland, and the virulent bigotry against the Catholic religion of the overwhelming majority of both England and Scotland. The present Parliament has been packed with the aid of the most flagitious bribery to oppress and crush the Irish nation. From them there is neither redress or even hope. “But, Irishmen, we suffice for ourselves. Stand together, continue together, in peaceful conduct, in loyal attachment to the throne, in constitutional exertion, and in none other—stand together, and persevere, and Ireland shall have her Parlia- ment again. “Such are the words we address to our fellow subjects all over the globe. “Signed, by order, “DANIEL O’ConnELL, “Chairman of the Committee. “Dublin, 13th Sept. 1843. The series of allegations in this document is, that England has since and by means of the Union “continued and aggravated every pre-existing evil,” and “omitted no opportunity to inflict new and severe grievances upon this unhappy country”—(Ireland) that she has “annihilated " its manufactures, “put down" its productive commerce” and “substituted” “in its room the export of the prime necessaries of life,” that absentee landlords may riot in foreign lands and strangers to the soil be benefited,—that she has “conveyed away from our shores our hardy population,” “to enrich by their productive labour any country but their *}} own;” “ has wilfully and of malice prepense created Irish pauper- X T REFACE, ism to the extent of two millions of human beings; has converted the most lightly-taxed country in Europe, under the protection of the Irish Parliament, into “the most heavily-taxed country on the face of the earth,” “whilst under the rule of the British legislature;”—that she has within the last ten years depopulated Ireland by the terrific number of 700,000 souls; has “aggravated” the “physical evils produced by the Union” “by political injury and religious insult,”—has compelled Ireland to pay her such a tribute as no country in the world pays to another—“a tribute creating exhaustion, poverty, misery, and destitution in all their frightful forms:”—that she has encouraged “wholesale murders, followed by the assassination in detail of the instruments of land- lord rapacity:” has enabled Irish landlords to “usurp a bigoted power over the souls as well as the bodies of their wretched serfs:”—that she now offers “such insults to us as were never 3. inflicted on any other,” and that she denies “to the moral, the temperate, the religious, the brave Irish nation” the “poor boom” “conceded to the negro and the hill-coolie.” The charge is again thus reiterated by Mr. Daniel O'Connell, in his speech to the “Loyal National Repeal Association” of Dublin on the 9th of October, 1843, in which he thus alludes to the crimes of Government :—“The Government proclamation is not the language of the law, but of a ferocious authority. . . . Do they mean by that proclamation to deprive the Great Irish Nation of their rights? To take away the law which delivered them : To deprive them of all legitimate means of obtaining those rights of which they have been plundered by the gRossEst CRIMES WHICH EVER SOILED THE ANNALS OF HISTORY ; to act in a similar way as before, when they PLUNDERED, FILCHED, AND RobbBD Us of our LIBERTIES' (Loud cheers).” In various other documents the same charges are again and again promulgated; not to multiply instances, however, take for example the following passage of a recent work, written and extensively disseminated by the “Loyal National Repeal Associa- tion of Dublin.” - - “Failing to obtain her ends by treaty, England resolved upon the Union, in order thereby to regain and extend her old domi- nation. Parliamentary corruption unfortunately gave her the PREFACE. xi means; and by that, and the DEMONIAGAL ExPEDIENT of FoMENT- ING A REBELLION to distract the country, and give excuse for military violence, she reversed our triumph only fifteen years later, and destroyed our commerce, our manufactures, our legislative inde- pendence, and our national prosperity.” [From the REPEAL Asso- CIATION REPORT ON THE GENERAL CASE of IRELAND FOR A REPEAL of THE LEGISLATIVE UNION,” p. 68. Dublin, 1843.] 3Repeal 33etition. ADOPTED BY THE CORPORATION OF DUBLIN, FEBRUARY 1843. –-º- THE Town Clerk brought forward the Repeal Petition which had been read on the last day of meeting and ordered to lie upon the table. The following is a copy :— “TO THE KNIGHTS, BURGESSES, AND CITIZENS, IN PARLIAMENT ASSEMBLED, “The humble Petition of the Right Hon. the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Borough of Dublin, “SHowRTH–That the Irish nation, in extent of territory, in fertility of soil, in the number and industry of its inhabitants, furnishes abundant means for the maintenance of an INDEPENDENT legislature, and requires such legislature for the due attention to the local interest and general prosperity of Ireland. “Your petitioners further respectfully assert that the Irish nation, from the time of their acquiescing in the sovereignty of the English crown, have had a distinct and perfect right to a domestic parliament—a right not derived from any grant, donation, or charter of the English Monarch, nor from any act, ordinance, or statute of the English Parliament, but a right springing spontaneously and of necessity from the principle of self-government, inherent in the position of the free- born subjects of the British crown. * Your petitioners further show that in 1782 the Irish people, being then in arms against the foreign foes of the British crown, and for their own protection against domestic enemies—capable, if they had thought fit to do so, totally to remodel their own former government—it was proposed between them and the ruling powers in England, that a final adjustment of all differences should take place, upon a basis to be consented to by both countries—that such basis was solemnly and mutually agreed upon, to consist of the legislative and judicial independence of Ireland of the British courts of law and British Parliament. “That such adjustment was solemnly recognised in the addresses from the crown to the houses of parliament in England and Ireland reciprocally, and was effec- tually protected, as it was then universally helieved, by statutes passed in each of the separate legislatures: thus most emphatically proclaiming as a final adjustment of all constitutional questions, the settlement which thus then took place. “And your petitioners show that the original inherent right of the Irish nation to a domestic legislature was, by this solemn treaty of modern date, conclusively recognised and established. “Your petitioners further show that the most beneficial results followed from the legislative and judicial independence of Ireland—manufactures were fostered and augmented—commerce was increased and eartended—mative industry was cherished and rewarded—the value of lands and houses greatly augmented—the rents were ºréadily paid by prospering farmers—all classes of society shared in increased com- jorts, and looked forward to the future with a pleasing hope of bringing up their families for still better times and augmented prosperity. - xii |PREFACE, “Your petitioners show that ill-advised and INIQUITOUs statesmen formed the plan of retarding such prosperity, and of obtaining more power for themselves by annihilating the Irish parliament. “But your petitioners, in the spirit of perfect" respect, but, at the same time, of the most unequivocal firmness, assert that it was utterly incompetent for the Irish parliament to annihilate the Irish legislative and judicial independence, or to transfer to any other country, or to any other legislatures, be they French, English, Spanish, or any other country, the right of making the laws, or of construing the laws of Ireland. “Your petitioners utterly deny that the Union was a compact or bargain ; it was merely the dictate of England, then more powerful than Ireland. The Irish people never assented to it. Martial law was proclaimed and enforced during the time that the Union was carried—the Habeas Corpus Act was suspended—trial by jury was in abeyance, and courts-martial substituted for the legal tribunals of the land—the military force was enormously augmented—the people were not allowed constitutionally to assemble to petition against the Union. Meetings duly con- vened by sheriffs of counties, for the mere purpose of petition, were forcibly dispersed and scattered at the point of the bayonet ; and, in addition, the most profligate and enormously extensive bribery prevailed. The proprietors, as they were most illegally and unconstitutionally called, of the rotten-boroughs, shared among them no less a sum than one million two hundred and seventy-five thousand pounds : and, in fine, your petitioners are able to prove, before any tribunal what- ever, that the Union was carried by the grossest corruption and bribery, added to force, fraud, and terror. “Your petitioners further show that the Union has produced the most disas- trous results to Ireland. It has annihilated the Irish manufactures that eaſisted at that period, and substituted but few indeed in their place ; it has nearly eatin- guished all legitimate commerce; it has made the exports of Ireland consist of provisions and cattle—and her imports, of goods manufactured in foreign countries. It has eaceedingly increased the eahawsting evils of absenteeism—a system replete with exhaustion and political inaction—it has covered the land with poverty, dis- tress and destitution, and produced the astounding spectacle of more than 2,300,000 paupers, being more than one-fourth of the inhabitants of one of the most fruitful countries on the face of the globe ; and these evils, instead of diminish- ing, are manifestly augmenting and spreading into a wide circle. “Your petitioners further show, that there are constitutional resources and means by which the Union may be abolished, peaceably and legally, without the violation of law, and without riot, violence, or tumult, or the destruction of property or injury to limb or life. “Your petitioners further show, that the natural result of the restoration of our domestic legislature and of our judicial independence would be, what experience has already shown them to have been, the most beneficial to Ireland. A domestic parliament would encourage manufactures, foster commerce, countenance and sup- port agriculture, augment the wealth, secure the liberties and establish the well- being, comfort, and prosperity of the Irish people. “May it therefore please your honourable house to take the premises into your due consideration, and to restore the legislative and judicial independence of Ireland by the Repeal of the Legislative Union, and your petitioners will ever pray.” 39ttſtcation, —- © ------ TO THE RIGHT HON. SIR ROBERT PEEL, BART., FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY, SIR, Your early official career as Secretary for Ireland— your subsequent administration of the affairs of the Home Department—and the exalted and deeply responsible office you now fill, induce me to lay before you the following facts relative to the state of Ireland Before and After the Union. In the accompanying pages I have investigated the past and present condition of Ireland—I have examined into the truth of the grave allegations that have been made against the British Nation and Government—and, finally, I have endeavoured to ascertain what benefits Ireland has received from the incorporation of her Legislature with that of Great Britain. The statements herein given speak for themselves: they show that Ireland has had her population doubled, and her shipping and commerce, internal and eaternal, quadrupled since the Union ; that by means of this much-calumniated Union, she has obtained Parliamentary Reform, Roman Catholic Emancipation, a National System of Education, a Legislative Provision for the Poor, a Commutation of Tithes, a Reform in her Corporations, a perfect Freedom of Trade with Great Britain, and many other important advantages, such as she never before possessed, and such as she never could have gained from her local and dependent legislature. These pages also fully demonstrate, that the agriculture of Ireland has been greatly extended since the Union—that the linen b DEDICATION. and cotton manufactures have been considerably augmented— that the savings banks, customs, excise, post office receipts, and stamps have largely increased; thus indicating the improved condition of the great bulk of the people—that the value of land has been raised from seventeen to twenty-seven years’ purchase— that the taxation of Ireland, which was twenty shillings annually per head in 1800, is now only ten shillings annually—that the excess of taxation in Great Britain compared with Ireland, since the year 1800, amounts to 325,316,861 l sterling—that Ireland has fifty representatives in the Imperial Parliament more than she is entitled to send by her contributions to the Imperial revenue, by her property, and by her foreign commerce—that a great deal of time and attention has been paid in the united Legislature to the affairs of Ireland—that the penal laws were not the result of religious bigotry—that the Established Church is the ancient Church of Ireland, and its income, amounting to one shilling per head annually, cannot justly be considered a national grievance, or a cause of general suffering. Finally :—that whatever evils may exist in Ireland, those evils cannot be ascribed to the Legislative Union of 1800, which has been the means of conferring vast and incalculable benefits on Ireland. Sir, you have truly declared that “Ireland never had an independent Parliament, and never can have one consistently with the sovereignty of the British Crown, and the connection with the island of Great Britain ;” and you have also emphatically declared that “ IT IS MADNESS To ATTEMPT TO SEVER THE UNION.”-f In this Imperial sentiment, the loyal population of Ireland, Roman Catholic as well as Protestant, most fully concur. Every British subject who rightly appreciates Constitutional freedom—who desires the preservation of Civil and Religious Liberty—and who is solicitous for the maintenance of this great Empire, will doubtless aid in preventing the continuance of this “ madness,” and in the punishment of those by whom it has been caused and perpetuated. - * House of Commons debate, Feb. 25, 1834. ºf Ditto, Feb. 8, 1830. DEDICATION. The question does not affect Ireland alone : it involves in its fate the Monarchy and our widely-extended dominions;–it includes the Reformed faith and the Aristocracy of this realm— and it embraces the rights of Property, and the preservation of social Order throughout the whole Kingdom. - Believing, as I do, that the present crisis deserves the deepest consideration, I have, unsolicited and unaided, prepared this Work, in the hope that it may be useful to my country, and by its exposition of truth be rendered conducive to the pre- servation of the public peace and to the restoration of domestic tranquillity. - The question is not one of party interest; every good subject of the Crown must be desirous of suppressing the existing agitation, and no reputable Anti-Ministerial politician can, by fomenting or secretly conniving at sedition in Ireland, reasonably hope to return, or raise, his party to ministerial power in England. Neither can any class of society wish to injure or misgovern Ireland : it is for the direct, immediate, and permanent benefit of Great Britain that the people of the sister island should be morally and politically free, prosperous, and happy ; and the remarkable exemptions from taxation, —the large sums of money, public and private,_and the amount of practical legislation devoted to Ireland, most fully indicate the anxious solicitude experienced for their welfare. - The co-operation in the same Cabinet of four highly distin- guished statesmen who have filled the post of Secretary for Ireland, and who have evinced, by the introduction of various useful measures, an earnest desire for her improvement, is an assurance that any proposed measures for the welfare of Ireland will receive a just and practical consideration. While evidencing the benefits which Ireland has already received from her perfect legislative incorporation with Great Britain, I beg, Sir, to solicit your consideration on two points: First,-As regards the density of population. Eight million two hundred thousand human beings are located on thirty-two thousand square miles, of which one third are covered with lakes, rivers, DEDICATION, mountains, and bogs. On the whole area, the density is in the proportion of more than 250 individuals to each square mile; but the proportion (as will be seen by the accompanying Statis- tical Chart) of inhabitants to the cultivable surface, is to the great amount of 388 to each square mile. When we consider that Ireland is chiefly an agricultural country, nearly three centuries behind England in the resources and numerous advantages of long-established peace and civilisa- tion,-and devoid of the accumulated capital resulting from successful manufacturing and commercial skill and industry, the exceeding pressure of population on the means of production will be more fully apparent. In many counties this physical pres- sure is fearful. In the rich grazing counties of the province of Leinster, there are only 219 to each square mile of cultivable surface; in the large province of Munster there are 391; in the poor province of Connaught there are 411; and in Ulster, where the linen and cotton manufactures furnish employment, there are 431 individuals to each arable square mile. But when we ex- amine the counties separately, the pressure becomes more appa- rent, the average density in various districts being from 360 to 560 on the square mile. In Sligo and Leitrim the density is 398. In Cork, Clare, and Limerick, 400 ; in all the Northern counties it is considerably above 400; in Kerry, 452; in Antrim, 460 ; in Mayo, 500; in Armagh, 560 ! Sir, I earnestly entreat your deep reflection on this vital subject. England, with her vast, almost incalculable wealth, her gigantic manufacturing power, rich mineral productions, - extensive fisheries, and her widely-spread maritime commerce, could not sustain in comfort the same density of population as exists in the comparatively poor country of Ireland. Second-The defective monetary circulation. One county in Jºngland, (Lancashire, or Yorkshire,) has a greater amount of me- tallic and paper circulation than all Ireland and its eight millions of inhabitants. I respectfully submit the details on this important subject, in the Fifth Part of the following pages, to your mature consideration. To this redundancy of population and deficiency T}EDICATION. of capital is, I think, mainly ascribable the physical condition of the people of Ireland; hence the labour-market is always over- stocked,—wages are low,-the interest of money high, and the smallest patch of mountain bog, capable of growing a few potatoes for the mere sustainment of life, an object of fierce contention, and a cause of the existing morbidly diseased state of society. Were the monetary circulation in proportion to the number of inhabitants, the largest coal field in the British Empire (Mallow) would not be utterly valueless;–the rich veins of copper, lead, and iron would be profitably worked,—the fine slate and beautiful marble quarries would be in full activity, ministering to the comfort and elegance of society, the deep bays, large lakes, and noble rivers teeming with fish of every variety, would not be, as now, perfectly useless. Nearly three million acres of bog land (as shown in the Appendix, page 418) which might be reclaimed for about one million sterling, would be yielding food and employment for thousands of our fellow- creatures. Railways would not be confined to a small district of a few miles in extent ; but Cork, with its capacious haven, would, if connected by a railroad with Dublin, most probably become the naval entrepôt for British post-office communication with continental Europe, America, and our colonies. For these and other adducible reasons, I venture, Sir, to suggest to your superior knowledge and judgment the propriety of permitting the incorporation of public bodies, who may be disposed to invest capital in the development of the resources, and in the employment of the people of Ireland. Millions of British capital have been vested in foreign loans and speculations, which have been entirely lost. One of the chief reasons for this lavish investment was the known extent of liability. Were this deſinite liability conceded to Ireland, her mines and fisheries would contribute largely to the national wealth ; the poor fishermen, without boats or nets, or piers to shelter them, would gladly avail themselves of small loans to pursue their dangerous vocation; and an invaluable class of seamen would be trained for the service of their country. T) EDICATION . Wealth, properly employed, would create more wealth; an industrious and keen-minded population, when in full, permanent, and remunerative occupation, would have their energies and talents devoted to useful pursuits, instead of to a pernicious political agitation, and the whole British Empire would become a participator in the general tranquillity and productive industry of the people of Ireland. To England there would be great gain by the increased prosperity of Ireland. Notwithstanding its manifest improvement since the Union, the consumption of British manufactures in Ireland is not more than one guinea per annum for each inhabitant of Ireland,-whereas the negroes in the West Indies consume each five pounds worth per annum of British manufactures, and their fellow-subjects in Australasia, each to the extent of fifteen pounds worth annually. If English capital were judiciously employed in Ireland, land, which now only yields one-third per acre of the same produce as in England, would contribute largely for domestic use as well as for exportation ; the Irish would become a consuming as well as a producing people, and instead of requiring merely seven to eight millions worth annually of British manufactures, their wants might soon be increased, and the demand for manufactures be raised to at least five pounds a head yearly, thus requiring annually of British goods to the amount of forty millions sterling. Fervently hoping, Sir, that the British Government and Legislature will preserve in its integrity and puissance this great and glorious Empire, and adopt and carry into effect just and practical measures really conducive to the welfare of Ireland, I have the honour to inscribe myself, With sincere respect, Your obedient and faithful Servant, R. M. MARTIN. LoNDON, December, 1843. —3–- DUBLIN AND CORK RAILWAY. “THE national benefits derivable from communication by railway are now univer- sally admitted, and the period, it is to be hoped, has arrived for extending to Ireland a portion of the advantages which rapid and economical transit confer on agriculture and commerce, by which the welfare of the Sister Island, as well as that of England, will be materially promoted, and the unity of the British empire strengthened and consolidated. The Irish Railway Commissioners, among other advantages derivable from railways in Ireland, make the following remarks:— “‘A well-arranged system of railways in Ireland would have the effect of con- tinuing and extending throughout the country the benefits which the outports have obtained by the introduction of steam-vessels. The subsisting relations of business and commerce would be thereby extended and enlarged, and others formed, opening fresh resources to the industry and enterprise of the trading por- tion of the community ; while an object of no less consideration would be imme- diately attained, in rendering agricultural produce, which may be called the grand staple of this country, at the same time more profitable to the producers, and accessible on easier terms to the principal purchasers and consumers.” . . . “In short, where the capabilities of the system are brought fully into operation, they present such an accumulation of advantages, as to render it an instrument of unequalled power in advancing the prosperity of a country.”—Irish Railway Commissioners’ Report, pp. 91 and 95. “The line between Dublin and Cork, passing through, or connected with, several of the principal towns in Ireland — with the richest intervening agricultural counties—some of the most populous districts, and, in proportion to its length, the fewest natural impediments—offers the greatest inducements for the formation of a railway, which shall connect the Irish metropolis with one of the finest harbours in the world. The Railway Commissioners appointed by the Crown, in 1836, make the following observations on this point :—“We earnestly recommend that every effort be made to combine into one interest, and under one management and control, the whole of the southern System of communication between Dublin and Cork, Limerick, Waterford, and Kilkenny. If a body of capitalists be found ready to undertake this great work as a whole, we presume that the general feeling of the Legislature and of the country will be to leave the execution of it as little fettered as possible, by restriction to the management of private enterprise ; and, in addition to this, it would be just and advisable to relieve them from all needless expenses, to which, otherwise, in the existing state of the law they would be liable. With this view we recommend particularly that the Act of Parliament be granted free of any charge, as for a public measure ; that a mode of deter- mining the amounts to be paid in compensation of land and damages be adopted on principles more fixed and independent of private or local bias than the present practice, and that some general enactment be provided, authorising to a certain extent alterations of obvious utility, to be introduced with the original plan, without the costly expedient of resorting in every case to Parliament for a new or amended act. To accomplish so important an object as that contemplated, we may look forward to a certain degree of assistance from the state, as great, at least, as has been given for the encouragement of other public works in Ireland; and on those grounds of policy which, we believe, have not been disputed. We therefore suggest that Government should advance, by way of loan, a considerable proportion of the amount of the estimates, at the lowest rate of interest, and on the easiest terms of repayment, to be secured by a mortgage of the works.’—Irish Railway Com- missioners' Report, 1838, p. 94. “The very moderate rate at which the land necessary for the formation of the railway may be obtained—the general flatness of the country through which it is intended to pass, and along which no tunnelling will be requisite—the absence of numerous cross-roads and canals, thus saving the heavy expense of bridges and viaducts—the avoidance of engineering expense, on account of the line having been already surveyed and laid down by Government—the low wages of labour, together with the reduced price of stone, lime, and timber, and the diminished cost for termini at the principal towns in Ireland compared with England, justify the expectation of the work being accomplished within the given estimate ; while increasing prosperity and augmenting traffic afford the most satisfactory prospect of an ample and enhanced return for the capital that may be invested, the calcu- lations being the result of actual data, prepared by the official authorities for the information of Government.” C O N T E N T S. ~ PART I.-CHAPTER I. ), History of THE LEGISLATIVE UNION AND ITS RESULTS PART II. IRISH CoMMERCE—SHIPPING—MANUFACTURES. CHAPTER II.-Commerce and Shipping of Ireland before the Union CHAPTER III.- Commercial, Shipping, and Manufacturing Prosperity of Ireland since the Union demonstrated & PART III. INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT AND SocIAL PROGRESS OF IRELAND. CHAPTER IV.-Improvement of the Country Districts and Provincial Towns of Ireland since the Union—Internal Navigation and Trade—Varied Testimony of general Advancement in the Condition of the People. CHAPTER V.—The Progress of Ireland tested, by Savings Banks, Post-Office, Stamps, Newspapers, Excise, Public Works, &c. &c. & tº PART IV. PopULATION AND EDUCATION of IRELAND. CHAPTER VI.-Progressive Augmentation of Irish Population—Causes of Irish Inferiority—Area—Character of the People . . © º CHAPTER VII.-National Education of the People since the Union ſº dº CHAPTER VIII.-Institutions for the Relief of the Sick, Aged, and Indigent —Poor Laws and Number of Persons Relieved in the Union Work- houses, and Cost of Living PART W. FINANCE AND BANKING—PARLIAMENTARY REPRESENTATION.—MUNICI- PALITIES AND ABSENTEEISM. CHAPTER IX.—Financial Exposition e tº & CHAPTER X.—Banking in Ireland * e ſº tº g tº º tº CHAPTER XI.-Representation of Ireland in the Imperial Parliament— Extent of Irish Business in Parliament—Municipal Corporations— Absenteeism investigated—Irish Constabulary—Improved Prison Discipline PART VI. THE IRISH CHURCH-REBELLIONS.–PENAL ENACTMENTS. CHAPTER XII.-History of the Past and Present State of the Irish Church . PART VII. IMPERIAL AND FEDERAL ALLIANCE. CHAPTER XIII.-Concluding Facts and Arguments APPENDIX.—The Act of Union—Statistical Tables, &c. PA (; E I01 141 165 201 212 229 242 293 gºod ºff;4 iſſu , ###, #### * *% Thrug . Pala Errors #A 16% . . . Inſports 1,895 65,900 cº • T. Value 27Tº Paports #_c j,79/ tº & Hmports 635 2030 Bay&sue | R E 1. A N shewing the trade of each port irvíč36, azzdihe - PROJECTED LIVES OF RA/LWAP. ...; Jºsr" 1843. # *Carrickiergusºn, ### 2T *...*** º: . •. ‘. . * = * - `-ºv-7/? 2.2 : A ...' ". : º- & Imports 106.6% - ---, * * "…’ *...*** iº; * : * ~ * º - /* Tºjº Exports §le 6% W. Y. Expo 7 - # 66,309 ‘s rºº # 7,255 sº fº. 3% ºf 3ić Tºmé Valwe Exports ##-É'ſ,863 - - --> %:...: •Newwaries --- ſlº MUtø5 () Imports 2,233 H,334 & Ewart, #4,# * ; #% 6.5% TÜrts rts 23,032.É. 4 * a.º. #########$!!... c) \) ######"' * ~ TVºlue *Zºº, ‘s - - - ºſ- rºSQS N / º º I) O W N º * \ Downpatricke * (~\º Orls 3%-e 3% # s jº. >{ Newry . : § Žiž3. 270 O s. ''. |Ballina,' s l * ‘....” .. * (. f - - *** º º Eacports % 4.3% & S $ ‘. Wr …” X---->" Triports 3,763 T 3,356 * 4 ..-A N --- * & Castlebar º 22* O * R % - - \ •. - •%awan, ". Dundalk :: & 's • Tºr Vº %. ... S- & 13 S \ *\ - . . . . Exports 3!, & e 616, $6 ... - * 62 Tºrports 39,611 563,711 7 "... . . . Tººts Yºu've "..., Export, #6 44% { º `-- * ##### *##; Ewº ºft.º.º.º.º. s” .2 Imports 3% ºft ~ <. •wes tport '', \ ~ <> - .* ** * S ... ^ : º, S c3 & 3 C O N N A U , J. As) º, ; ſ * .." ......” “. ". * =s `--s flaſ “. “... : * º - S. Q Kells & * : Navahse---~~" .NN N. : * f \, ... Ewº, 3%, ſº S - . . . .'; ...; \ ---. Epw, 'is ºº, ºf . - * … . '...' º #}}}}} § 3% ingar ... • Triºn º, \ - & * * * ecº-Y. Töns ... Walue. *RöðHEna rts 33,488 4' 166, 0.27 A T - Br º #; # *## • º: asºjº *— 2. Aaiunrobe ... ." &Tuam ^ Q \s : * * * NJ '. * S * ! | S- . - *.. - *... Swisſ QT) ^y ſtoºlc Quarri ... ::=----------- .." Clorizºd, "... ; S. º. . . ." =& * }. A3 Cºttay??&S SS*Ballinasloe ; . . . ; : • Hilbeggan. ". *...* ' ' ... ." \,, t • * “. ... Z" ... “.....” ” “.........” \ #f tº . GALWAY _-” “........ſ’ ruary }%e2%g * \ p * * ~ *. . ######### * g’ * * = *T. * O - w y * Tons - Wa sº _2 > 2, T---- *Tºghrea ºrº Q &es T Y ºlºé, -- - - - - - - .. - - - a V. c --- ... 7~, O ‘’. * intrstown i ,337-8251.864 - - " - - - - - - - - - - - - . º ** * º Fº - ‘. ...' *ºne-own \ - #: ####". . away tº aſ a "Sº & L E * 1,…,N., s_Tº E R " \ - - 4, *. - * . . . . . ." : - t .* * * * % : ~ : ; :. º, | `s 2 sº's * ~ * ~ *~~ : ‘. . SC) 20 Jºtº AS \ 23 J- S < ^ *_.M. Melbick, * C © YS, - astºn ! * ...Q. > \ ..' v * Yºu'sé * 2' 3 U E / 2^ 2^ (? & \---- \ D ...tº ! Athy ; W I C K I, O W, | Tºm’t,5 Walzu. . * tº sº a . & - }% :klo ... Eacpoºls 10,346 -égºff ". • Baltinglass Raïhatrum/700 we S Injºn is 8,568 15,671 -. • * . ...’ ...: • * * O / : “... " ...; • * * . . * * .. (ºppio'ſ, Lead-Mi z • * * * : . . . . # 3 ... I ), Carlow ... . . . . / & * * ....J.ſ "N S; sº ** 5 I alw,' . . . eſºrklow Exports 383 423,677 . #: 4470 6,762 S-º. * & B º- ickon S uir* ſ f ſº. Quarrior SS § , R N § - Brports 26,653-#313136 ‘Imports 34,194 621417 To Value & nº lºº Ö E. & W. A. T E R F O R D **nour & Y TV, ſ , Tons Value *W*"UNY Fazors, 7.010263.486 ‘' rts 96%:30 - £4,823,245 º-####8% § I % ## 7,274;164’ * **) & #. Tº ſº 3. º * § ºlº, # / ‘...; * º 4 Proposed Railways-------- `... Exp %,-p 2% in * w º ,' - r * * g - g º * . ;:### 2,757, 69% Proposed Tramways.------------------- Potru, of" Eacteristorv --------- | Torud Vatuo 1,240-4'43,479 orrs 74,286 ſé,262 * º -zº- º sº. 4 *s BAN º * * . - __^ … (- ) A W. --- 2- Jºs" ^,º Xº - 'Scoºle of Statute Mulas. ºm ‘Ud t &’ſ e. º*:: **ś Q. 1p 20 30 40 60 69 - %; ſº 135iſt \_y> . * Russell, Litho. Lowells Court. TRELAND BEFORE AND AFTER THE UNION. CHAPTER I. The Political State of Ireland from the Earliest Period to the Union ;-Showing its Misery and Turbulence under a Separate Legislature;—The Origin of that Legislature, and its Non-Essential Feature of a Parliament by Want of the Power to Vote or Check Supplies to the Crown ;-the Cause of the Rebellion of 1798 Demonstrated, and that it was not Fostered by the British Government for the Purpose of Carrying the Union Proved;—Ireland never so much an Independent Kingdom as at the Present Moment. N examining the arguments in favour of a Repeal of the Legislative Union between Great Britain and Ireland, a primary point for discussion is the allegation that, “Ireland must be a kingdom again, and no longer a pitiful province.” A minute investigation of the works of any historian who has written on Ireland demonstrates that she never possessed such practical liberty, or was so thoroughly a free kingdom, as at the present period. Of the aborigines of Erin we know as little certain as we do of the early inhabitants of Albion ; but national pride has been strained to the utmost limit to display antiquity of descent. Caesara, a niece of Noah, is said to have emigrated thither with a large retinue previous to the Deluge; this honour is, however, denied to Caesara by some, who contend that the first coloniser was Partholan, a descendant of Japhet, who in the year of the world 1956, on the dispersion of the presumptuous builders of the Tower of Babel, sought refuge with his followers in the Emerald Isle, after being expelled from Greece To PART I. B 2 the descendants of Shem, who refused to coalesce with the cursed posterity of Ham, the merit of discovering Ireland is also assigned ; while others contend that the execrated children of Ham, under the name of Fomorians, came from Africa to Ireland, A. M. 2400. A colony of the posterity of Japhet is also said to have arrived there from the Euxine, and to have fiercely contended for the dominion of the island during four centuries with the wicked Fomorians. The latter, although finally suc- cessful, were themselves destroyed, after many years' bloody contests, by the renowned Firl-bogs,” from Belgium, A.M. 2503; and these again, after retaining their conquests several years, were beaten in turn (A. M. 2541) by the gallant Danonians, from Norway and Sweden, who, after slaying many thousand Firl- bogs, including their monarch, drove the remnant to the Isles of Man, Hebrides, &c., and remained masters of Ireland for more than two centuries. Then came the Milesians, a celebrated race, who, quitting Fgypt and Phºenicia for the subjugation of Spain, became the rulers of Ireland, after many sanguinary contests with the Danonians (A.M. 2736). The chronology of these contending colonisers runs thus : — The Partholanians . e º e . 1956 A.M. The Nimhedians . e . . . . 2286 do. The Firl-bogs . & & º & . 2503 do. The Danonii º & -> º . . 254 l do. The Milesians . te e º & . 2736 do. From this period, and for the greater part of eleven centuries, the island was kept in a state of constant excitement by invasions of the Firl-bogs, Gauls, Danes, Picts, &c., and by never-ending dissentions among the rulers; for, of 178 monarchs of the Mile- sian colony, from Heber and Heremon down to Roderick O'Connor (who was ruler when the English arrived, A.D. 1170+), * From fir, men ; and bolg, Belgae. + Venerable Bede relates that A.D. 684, the general of Egfrid, King of Northum- berland, made a descent in Ireland. In the eighth century, the Danes, Norwe- gians, and other Scandinavian adventurers, effected some settlements. A charter of King Edgar, dated at Gloucester, A.D. 964, recites that, this prince “had con- quered Ireland.” From the middle of the eighth to the tenth centuries, the Northmen made annual incursions into Ireland. William the Norman contem- 3 only twenty died natural deaths; sixty were treacherously mur- dered and succeeded by their assassins, and seventy-one were plated the annexation of Ireland to England ; so also did Henry I. The Irish prelates had long previous received their consecration from Canterbury, and it was not until the year A.D. 1152 that the Pope sent Cardinal Paparo to Ireland with a legantine commission. Paparo had with him four palls, which he bestowed on the Archbishops of Armagh, Dublin, Cashel, and Tuam. At a synod then held, tithes were established by papal authority. From this period the Irish bishops ceased to apply to the see of Canterbury for ordination ; but the subordi- nation of the Irish prelates to the see of Canterbury for centuries previous to the landing of Henry II. at Waterford, may be seen in the Sylloge of Ussher. The letters of Lanfranc, who was Archbishop of Canterbury during the reign of William the Conqueror, are in the 11th volume of Cardinal Baronius's Annals. One of Lanfranc’s letters, A.D. 1074, is thus headed—“ Lanfranci Cantuariensis Archiepiscopi, ad Gothricum Regem Dublinia.” There is another letter extant, A D. 1074, from “Lanfranci ad Terdelvacum Hibernia Regem.” The following letter, published in Ussher’s Sylloge, p. 99, from Anselm, who was Archbishop of Canterbury in the reign of William Rufus, and written about the year 1110, will indicate the nature of the authority exercised even them by the English over the Irish Church, before Papal jurisdiction began ; and the real Union which eaſisted between the two countries before the landing of Henry, for the restoration of tranquillity, and the expulsion of the numerous piratical invaders that devastated the coasts:–“Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, by the grace of God—and not out of respect to his own merits, &c., to his venerable brother Samuel, bishop of Dublin, greeting : Complaint hath been made unto us, that you have disposed of and alienated to foreigners those books, vestments, and other ornaments of the church, which our predecessor, Lanfranc, bestowed on your uncle, Bishop Donat, for the use of the Cathedral of the Blessed Trinity, over which you preside. If this be true, we much marvel at it. For those ornaments were not given to your uncle alone, but to the Church, and for the benefit and decoration of those who should succeed him in that see, as the brothers and sons of Canterbury do attest. There- fore, I admonish and command you, that, if any of the aforesaid things be disposed of out of the church, you immediately cause them to be restored to it. We have heard that you have expelled and dispersed several of the monks appointed to serve in the said church, and whom, though willing to return, you will not receive back ; which if you have done doth not become you. Wherefore, I command you, that if any have been expelled and are willing to return, and continue in the service of God, under obedience, that you receive them, and studiously employ your paternal affection for their preservation; unless, which God forbid, they give cause to obstruct their own restoration. We hear also, that you cause your cross to be carried erect before you on a journey (progress or procession). If this be true, I forbid it for the future; because it belongs to none but an archbishop, confirmed by the grant of the pall from the Roman pontiff,” &c. Anselm wrote also to Mel- chus, bishop of Waterford, on the same subject, and in the same tone. It is not necessary to translate his letter, but the original Latin is now before me. The Irish Church was probably originally derived from the Greek, and not from the Latin source. In the fifth and sixth centuries—while the Barbarians were ravaging Rome and the Western Empire, Ireland was at peace and a seat of ecclesiastical B 2 4. slain in battle.* The most ferocious or the subtlest man was nominally ruler of the whole island; then there were four or five provincial kings or rulers beneath him, as well as innumerable grades of tributary chiefs, hating each other, but professing fealty to the power directly above them; and, last of all, came the mass of the people, in a state of brutal servitude. - - The condition of society under such a régime may easily be learning, to which strangers resorted, and from which missionaries were sent to various parts of Europe. In the 8th, 9th, and 10th centuries, Ireland rapidly declined ; the people returned to a pastoral semi-barbarised state, ranged under various kings or chieftains, and became a common and easy prey to the Northmen and other invaders. Most of the abbeys and monasteries of Ireland were founded in the fifth and sixth centuries. St. Macartin Abbey, county Tyrone, of the order of St. Augustin, and twenty other abbeys of the same order, were founded in the fifth century. St. Patrick founded several in the 5th century. The Abbey of Athassal, in Tipperary, was founded about the year 1200 by William de Burgh. The Abbey of Clare al Kilmorey al de Forgio was founded A.D. 1195, by “Donald O’Brien, king of Limerick.” The Abbey of All Saints, Dublin, was founded A.D. 1166, by “Dermod McMorrough, king of Leinster.” St. Ædam or Moedoe, in Wexford, was endowed by Brandib, king of Kinsallagh, in the sixth century. Donat O'Car- roll, king of Ergal, founded A.D. 1148 Knock and other abbeys in Louth. Cormac, king of Munster al Desmond about A.D. 1134 founded the abbey of St. Finbar, (St. John the Baptist) near Cork. Donald MacAEd, king of Ireland A.D. 624 or 625 founded, the Abbey of Cong, in county Mayo. Charles O’Connor, Crorderg, king of Ireland, A.D. 1216, founded Balintober, or de Fonte St. Patricii, Abbey of the Holy Trinity, in county Mayo. These notices are taken indiscriminately from a list now before me, of 214 abbeys founded in Ireland to the commencement of the thirteenth century, by various individuals termed Saints—many of whom have Saxon and Norman names; some with designations which may be recognised to this day in Cornwall. The nunneries then founded are forty-four in number, also founded by various individuals ; one by O’Melaghlin, king of Meath. One by St. Patrick for his sister Athraeta, in the fifth century. Walter de Riddlesford founded Grancy nunnery, near Carlow, A.D. 1200. Robert Fitz-Richard, lord of Norragh, founded Timolinburg nunnery about A.D. 1200. Henry II. founded the abbey of Canons St. Thomas, near Dublin, A.D. 1177. Adam de Hereford founded Seala Coeli, or St. Wolstan’s, county Kildare, about A.D. 1240. The monasteries of the Dominicans, or Blackfriars; of the Carmelites, or Whitefriars ; of the Francis- cans, or Grayfriars, were almost as numerous as the 214 abbeys just mentioned belonging to the “Regular Canons of the order of St. Augustin.” All these were in subjection to the see of Canterbury for centuries previous to the landing of Henry II. in Ireland. The early rulers of Ireland, as in many other countries, combined the sacerdotal and political functions in one person. About the period of the mission of Paparo, Adrian gave Ireland as a donation to Henry II. (A.D. 1155). * Harris's edition of Sir J. Ware's Antiquities. 5 imagined. No man (says Sir John Davis, the historian,) could enjoy his life, wife, lands, or goods in safety, if a mightier man than himself had an appetite for them; and the weak had no remedy against the stronger. Common repudiation of wives, promiscuous generation of children; neglect of lawful matrimony; “coigne and livery;” “ cosherings,” or visitations by a lord on his tenants; “gavelkind,” by which, when one individual of a family died, the possessions, real and personal, of the whole sept were put into a hotch-pot (as the lawyers call it), and divided among the whole members of a clan, legitimate and illegitimate ; these customs, among many others equally uncivilised, which the Brehon Insti- tutes display, one of which ordained that murder was commutable into a fine, denominated the “eirick,” to be levied according to the rank of the individual, all sufficiently attest the barbarism which pervaded Ireland on the landing of Henry II. at Water- ford, in October, A.D. 1172. Indeed, every Irish historian, however partial to his native land, admits that, previous to the arrival of Strongbow, Ireland was an Acelaama—a horrible field of blood - - The crime which Henry was invited over to Ireland to redress —the want of almost the commonest architectural structures for the people—the deep degradation to which the mass of the populace were subjected, as also the very trifling number of inhabitants which the whole island contained,—all demonstrate that Ireland could not even then be considered as ranking among the kingdoms of the earth. Yet this is the only period which can be named as a confirmatory proof that Ireland ought again to become a kingdom as before. Henry immediately began the task of incorporating the two islands. He wisely saw that nature had placed them in juxtaposition, to be a support to each other, and that such a measure would be best secured by giving to his Irish subjects the same constitution as England; accordingly, when the Danes were expelled, the districts were divided into counties or shires: courts of justice were erected in Dublin (viz. Chancery, King's Bench, and Exchequer), and the Irish in the vicinity of Dublin soon sued for English laws as a 6 boon: thus virtually acknowledging the benefit they derived from them.* But Henry II., although he assembled a sort of Par- liament in Dublin, to aid his efforts for the tranquillisation and prosperity of the country, did not erect Ireland into a separate kingdom ; he merely took the title of Lord of all Ireland, a title which the Pope confirmed, and which Henry sent his son John to fill, during his absence in England ; while it must be borne in mind, that the assumption by Henry VIII. of the style of “King of England, France, and Ireland,” was attended by no change of circumstances in the latter country, the word King being merely substituted for Lord, which the Pope had con- ferred, and which Henry VIII. renounced, while throwing off all allegiance to the Pope, on assuming the supremacy of the church. It is, therefore, idle to assert the right of Ireland to be restored to her former state as a kingdom:f the claims of Scotland and Wales, or the different branches of the Saxon Heptarchy, would be equally tenable and reasonable. Let us now proceed to examine the nature of that anomalous commu- nity denominated the Irish Parliament. Ireland, since the landing of Henry, was never possessed of that essential branch of a constitution denominated a House of Com- mons, in the only correct designation of the term, viz., a body * Trial by jury and the appellants of sheriffs over counties were much encou- raged in Ireland by Elizabeth, but opposed by the chieftains beyond “the Pale,” or circuit within which English laws were enforced, and beyond which the Brehon Institutes were in full power. In conformity with the desire of Queen Elizabeth to extend the principles of English liberty to Ireland, Her Majesty's Deputy Fitzwilliam, in the 39th year of her reign, announced to the chieftain of Fermanagh (Maguire), the intention of sending a sheriff into his county. The reply of Maguire will show the state of Ireland, and the nature of the Brehon laws:– * Your sheriff shall be welcome,” said Maguire, “but let me know his eirick (value), that if my people cut off his head, I may levy the expense upon the county.” [Vide Sir John Davis's Irish History, page 259, written A.D. 1613.] f It is worthy of remark, that the Irish prelates whose names are on the back of the roll acknowledging Henry as the supreme head of the church, are “Dublin, Cassel, Tuam, Waterford, Kildare, Ferney's, Immolacien, and Lymic.” This declaration was in the thirty-third year of Henry's reign, and it demonstrates that the property of the Irish Church was transferred to the Protestant faith at the period of the Reformation. - s' . . . A document, written A.D. 1494, enumerates no less than sixty divisions of various interests, together with a long catalogue of “barbarized alien English.” 7 representing the people, and checking the Crown in pecuniary matters.” Assemblies under the denomination of Parliaments were, it is true, convened at different periods for the better govern- ment of Ireland; sometimes in Dublin, sometimes in one of the provinces (viz. at Kilkenny, Drogheda, Trim), and sometimes in London, and of late most frequently in the first-mentioned city. The chief legislation required by the age was carried on in England, for the Irish were then utterly unfit to govern them- selves. For example, in the thirteenth year of King Edward I., the Statutes of Westminster and of Merchants were sent by the King's command to his Chief Justice in Ireland, to be there proclaimed and observed. By the 49th and 50th record of Edward III., a Parliament composed of learned and distinguished peers, prelates, and commoners residing in Ireland, was sum- moned to attend in England, “to treat” (as the writ expresses it) “with the king about the affairs of Ireland, and others of the king's arduous and urgent concerns”—de aliis negotiis arduis et urgen- tibus nos congentibus. Here we see, that, although the Crown had previously assembled Parliaments in Ireland (the first Parliament regularly convened in Ireland was in the ninth year of Edward II., who summoned it to protect the people from the injustice and oppression of the chiefs, who plundered their serfs under pretence of defending the country against Edward Bruce's inva- sion), yet it had the power to assemble it in London as well as in Dublin—a power afterwards exercised by Cromwell, who desired to consolidate England and Ireland the more firmly by having one code of laws, one system of commerce, one Par- liamentary assembly; and therefore, during the Protectorship, forty representatives were summoned from Ireland to attend the United Parliament in London, none being permitted to be assembled in Dublin. But another circumstance shows more * The hereditary revenues vested in the Crown for the support of Government were supplied by a land-tax, a poll-tax, inland excise, ale and wine licences, &c. In 1793 the amount of revenue for two years, clear of all charges, was 925,300l. In 1786 the produce of the hereditary crown revenues were 630,4711., and the charges for management were so great as 368,221/., or more than one-half of the entire revenue ! [See Financial Chapter.] 8 clearly the nature of the so-called Irish House of Commons. Up to the period of its incorporation with the British Parliament in 1800, the Crown was under no necessity of applying to the Irish Parliament annually for supplies, the revenues of Ireland being hereditarily vested in the Crown for the support of Government. Nor was it till after the Union that Irishmen can be said to have had representatives, on the intelligible principle of con- trolling national taxation and expenditure. In fact, as correctly observed by Alderman Butt, “the Parliaments of the Edwards and the Henrys were mere conventions of the English settlers, irregular in their constitution, in their place and time of meeting, without any of the attributes of legislative, or even of deliberative, assemblies.” - The annals of Ireland record, that in 1310, in the 3rd year of Edward II., a Parliament or Assembly was held at Kilkenny. In 1327, 1328, and 1330, Parliaments or Assemblies were held also at Kilkenny. “Anno 1331, (5 Edward III.) Anthony Lord Lacy, Justice of Ireland, ordained a Parliament at Dublin, at the uta's of St. John the Baptist, unto which certain ancients of the land came not ; whereupon he removed it to Kilkenny, unto which place there repaired the Lord Thomas FitzThomas, and others which came not in before, submitting themselves to the King's grace and mercy.” The same year “ King Edward III. by advice of Council, in a Parliament of England, ordained ordinances and articles for the Reformation of the state, weal, and peace of Ireland, and sent them to his chief officers, there to be kept and observed by them and others his subjects of the land.” 1408, James Boteler, Earl of Ormond, chosen Lord Chief Justice, held a Parliament at Dublin, wherein the statutes of Kilkenny and Dublin were confirmed, and a Charter granted under the Great Seal of England, against purveyors. In 1465, (5 Edward IV.,) a Parliament was held at Trim, before Thomas, Earl of Desmond, at which it was ordained that the “Irishmen dwelling in the counties of Dublin, Myeth, Oriel, and Kildare, shall go apparelled like Englishmen, and wear their 9 beards after the English manner, swear allegiance, and take English surnames.” I have diligently searched the whole of the rolls of both the House of Commons, (from 1310,) and House of Lords, (from 1634,) and find nothing worth recording ; the settlement of subsidies for the Crown seems to have been the chief business. The following is an entry in the Lords’ Journals; it shows the small amount of subsidy the Crown then derived from Ireland :—“1634, 2 Martii. It is ordered upon question, that the distribution of the subsidies for the several provinces, as they are now proportioned and reported from the Lord Deputy, shall be confirmed by this House : viz. Leinster, 13,000l. Ulster, 10,000l. Munster, 11,200l. Connaught, 6800l. Total, 41,000l.” The most ancient summons extant for convening an Assembly or Parliament in Ireland, bears date 25 March, 1374, when the following places only were directed to return members to Parliament:—County of Dublin (4 Knights,) Liberty of Meath, Cross of Meath, Counties of Loueth, Kildare, and Catherlagh, City of Dublin, and Towns of Drogheda and Dundalk. Total Members summoned, twenty. The writs bearing date, November 22, 1374, were, County of Dublin, (2 Knights,) Counties Kildare, Catherlagh, Loueth, Waterford, Corke, and Limerick; Liberties of Ulster, Meath, Wexford,Tipperary, and Kerry; Crosses of Ulster, Meath, Wex- ford,Tipperary, and Kerry; Cities of Dublin, Corke, Waterford, and Limerick; and Towns of Drogheda, Yoghill, Kinsale, Ross, Wexford, and Kilkenny. Total, fifty-four. In 1397, the writs were in number sixty-two ; and in addition to the foregoing places, the Counties of Clare and Longford are mentioned, also the Towns of Galway and Athney. In 1380 and in 1382, the writs were reduced to fifty-eight. No other summons to Parliament remains on record prior to 1559, (2 Elizabeth,) when the House of Commons was com- posed of 76 members. In 1585, the number was augmented to 122; in 1613 to 232; in 1634 to 254; in 1639 to 274, and in | 0 1692 to 300 members, at which number it remained until the Union. The constitution and proceedings of the Irish Parliaments next deserve attention. The evils of a separate legislature were soon felt to be very great : during the ruinous contests of the Houses of York and Lancaster, but more particularly during the lord-lieutenancy of the Duke of York and his successors, the Irish Viceroy summoned Parliaments at his pleasure, rege incon- sulto, and bills were passed without any regard to order or decency, the statutes made by one faction being held of no validity by the lord deputy of another faction, by whom they were rescinded. The rival factions did not, however, confine themselves to repealing each other's laws; they also confiscated each other's estates when in power,” and convened at the same moment different assemblies, each assuming to themselves the rights, privileges, and authorities of a Constitutional Parliament After a terrible state of discord, the strongest faction at last set up an impostor named Lambert Simnel, as the representative of the House of York, and crowned him king of England in Dublin + Here we have a specimen of the proceedings which would inevitably take place in the event of the “Repeal of the Union” project being realised, the ulterior consequences of which it is not so easy to foresce. The wisdom of Henry VII. soon put a stop to such disastrous confusion ; an able lawyer, named Sir Edward Ponyngs, was sent over to compose the dis- * A regular list of the ancient proprietors of estates is kept at Maynooth College; it was formerly kept at Cook-street Chapel, Dublin ; and at the rebellion of 1798 an equitable division of these very lands was promised to their followers by the leaders of the insurrection. More recently, the following proclamation was affixed in open day at the door of St. Westburgh's Church, Dublin :- “We acknowledge that there does now exist amongst the people throughout this country a determination to possess themselves of, and to transfer to their posterity their ancient, rights and properties, which the abominable scum of England have from time to time plundered them of,-namely, their estates, lands, and church livings, and which are now applied to heretical purposes.” . A terrible civil war, arising from an attempt to confiscate the property of the present holders of land in Ireland, would be the inevitable result of the legislative independence now sought. - . ºf Lambert Simnel was crowned at Christ Church, Dublin, A.D. 1486, as “Edward VI.” - 11 tracted state of the “English pale,”—thus called, because all persons residing within the boundaries thereof were under English laws. A Parliament was summoned before Edward Ponyngs, Knight, the King's Deputy, and held at Drogheda, A. D. 1495, and an act passed, since known under the name of Ponyngs’ Act, by which it was provided that “no Parliament be holden hereafter in Ireland but at such season as the King's lieutenant in council there first do certify to the King, under the Great Seal of the land, the causes and considerations thereof, and all such acts as to them seemeth should pass in the same Parliament ; and such causes, considerations, and acts, affirmed by the King and his Council, to be good and expedient for that land, and his license thereupon, as well in affirmation of the said causes and acts, as to summon the said Parliament under his Great Seal of England had and obtained ; that done, a Parliament to be had and holden after the form and effect afore-rehearsed ; and if any Parliament be holden in that land hereafter, contrary to the form and provision aforesaid, it shall be deemed void and of none effect in law.” The Lord Lieutenant or the King in Council became by this act the proposer of all laws to be passed, and the dependence of the Irish Parliament was completely enacted, and declared by the Irish themselves. In the ever earnest endeavours to influence the minds of the people of Ireland against the English, attention is repeatedly called to “Poynings' Act,” as one of the cruel specimens of English domination; but the circumstances under which it originated are carefully omitted, and perfect silence as to the fact, that it was at the time one of the most popular acts ever passed in Ireland, on account of the people being thereby relieved from thousands of local oppressions under the cover of acts of Parliament; while that eloquent and patriotic Irish historian, Mr. O’Driscoll, thinks it would have been better for Ireland had Grattan left untouched Sir E. Poynings' Act.” This act was modified in the third year of Philip and Mary, * Vol. ii. p. 180. 12 and by the Governor and Council being empowered to certify such other causes requiring legislation, which were not foreseen at the beginning of the session. In fact, the Irish legislature was never considered independent of Great Britain; and English acts of Parliament in which Ireland was named were held to be binding. An act was passed 10 Henry VII. c. xxii. in the Irish Parliament, declaring that “all statutes late made within the said realm of England, concerning or belonging to the public weal of the same, from henceforth be deemed good and effectual in the law ; and ones that be accepted, used, and executed within this land of Ireland, in all points, at all times requisite, according to the tenor and effect of the same, and ones that by authority aforesaid, that they and every of them be authorised, proved, and confirmed in this said land of Ireland. And if any statute or statutes shall have been made within this said land hereafter to the contrary, they and any of them by authority aforesaid, be annulled, revoked, void, and of none effect in the law.” This power was further positively declared by statute 6 Geo.I. c. 5, which originated in disputes between both Parliaments, as to the finality of an appeal in the Irish House of Lords; the Irish Parliament was therefore, as Campbell, the historian of 1789, says, little better than the registry of royal edicts. By the Duke of Dorset's letters-patent, in 1750,” (a copy of which is now before me), his Grace was authorised “to summon and hold a Parliament in Ireland whensoever it shall seem most expedient to him, the royal consent in that behalf being first asked and obtained ;” and by the 22d paragraph of the same letters-patent, his Grace was “authorised to prorogue and adjourn the Parliament as often as necessity shall require, and fully to determine and dissolve the same.” From 1666 to 1692, namely for twenty-six years, there was no regular meeting of the Irish parliament at all, so little was it * Until 1767 the deputation of the Lord Lieutenant was but biennial, and his residence for only one winter, the country being governed by three lords justices, one of which was the Lord Primate or Lord Chancellor, and the other two, nobles chosen by the crown. i 3 considered a constituent assembly. Four sessions were held in the reign of William III. ; and from 1703 to 1783, it was only convened biennially. In 1753 violent disputes arose between the legislature and the crown, as to the manner in which the surplus revenues should be disposed of, as the Irish members of Parliament were squandering the surplus money in the most shameful manner, for their private advantage. The contest respecting the appropriation of the surplus revenue, which it was contended belonged to the King, to be disposed of for the benefit of the nation, the revenues being hereditarily fixed upon him, shook the empire to the centre, and terminated only by the Irish Commons conceding to the crown the contested claim. Dissention was for a time suppressed, but its seeds were not eradicated. The period when England was waging a fearful contest against France and America, was chosen by the agitators of the day for the completion of their project. They asked for troops to defend the coast from invasion (well knowing that England had none to spare); and deluded men of the highest rank and talent in the land to join them in what was pretended to be a patriotic cause. By the permission of England, 50,000 men, as if sown by Cadmus, instantly sprang into activity, and were no sooner organised than they commenced dictating to the Parliament, and threatening England with separation. His Majesty accordingly, in 1782, sent a message to the Irish Parliament, with a carte blanche, to fill up with Irish grievances. The Commons of Ireland, under the influence of the guns and sabres of the Volunteers, declared that none but the King, Tords, and Commons of Ireland, had power to make laws for Ireland. Mr. Grattan undertook to be the tranquilliser of his country; and Ponyngs' Act was modified, but not entirely repealed by the following act of the Irish Parliament, A.D. 1781, 2 Geo. III. 21 and 22, c. 47, entitled “An act to regulate the manner of passing bills, and to prevent delays in summoning of Parliament.” 14 “SECT. 1.-No bills are henceforth to be certified to Great Britain but such as have been approved of by both Houses of Parliament under the great seal of Ireland, without alteration. “SECT. 2.-Such acts returned under the great seal of Great Britain, and not altered, shall pass, and no other. - “SECT. 3.—No bill shall hereafter be certified for the holding of a Parliament in Ireland. - “SECT. 4.—No Parliament shall be held without license whder the great seal of Great Britain.” By a subsequent act of the Irish Parliament, c. 48, “it is declared, that “all statutes made in England or Great Britain concerning commerce, or seamen, or forfeited estates, or con- cerning proceedings at law or in equity, or in any Court of Delegacy or Review in case of a demise of the Crown, shall be accepted, used, and executed in this kingdom (Ireland), accord- ing to the present tenor of the same respectively.” The Irish Lords and Commons having thus obtained power to pass, as well as to originate bills, without the previous consent of the English Privy Council;” to assemble a Parliament annually; a final adjustment upon all constitutional points was completed, so that no difference should ever again arise between England and Ireland; and a solemn thanksgiving was offered up to heaven, in gratitude that there could no longer exist any constitutional question to disturb mutual tranquillity. “But,” says Mr. Plow. den, the enthusiastic defender of Ireland and the Irish Parlia- ment, “it appears as if it had been written in the book of fate, that the felicity of Ireland, while separate from Great Britain, should be short-lived, precarious, and uncertain.”-F New points of dispute between the two legislatures com- menced, and even the very noisy debaters of the Irish Parlia- ment took opposite sides. Mr. Flood, for instance, contended that a repeal of the declaratory act, 6 Geo. I. did not establish * The assent of the sovereign under the great seal of England (not of Ireland), was still required to any acts passed by both houses of the Irish Parliament. The Great Seal of England was responsible to the English House of Commons and not to that of Ireland. Neither was there any Irish Cabinet. The English Cabinet, therefore, virtually and necessarily controlled all acts passed by the Irish Legisla- ture. The Lord Lieutenant and Chief Secretary were still nominated by and respon- sible to the English Cabinet, † Plowden's History, p. 16. 15 the constitutional independence of Ireland ; Mr. Grattan as fiercely contended that it did. The real friends of Ireland, who preferred the substantial welfare of their country to the fanciful prospects of interested partisans, soon saw that what was absurdly termed the “Con- stitution of Irish Independence,” must inevitably lead to sepa- ration from England, or a legislative incorporation ; they wisely chose the latter as the lesser evil of the two, and accordingly so early as 1782 * (the famed year of independence), the Union between both countries was proposed and debated. I use the word absurd as applied to the boasted constitution of Ireland, because it was clearly shown in the Parliamentary debates of the period, that it was a mockery of terms to apply the word “constitution " to the mere modification of an act of parliament (Ponyngs' Act), and which could never by any perversion after- wards be considered as erecting a constitution, seeing that the alteration of the act was but the removal of a restriction ; and it will surely be admitted, that to pull down an obstruction is a very different thing to building up an edifice. It has before been stated, that a solemn thanksgiving was offered up in 1782, in gra- titude to the Supreme Ruler of Kingdoms, that no constitutional differences could ever again take place between England and Ireland. The patriots of that day were as sure that a “final adjustment" had taken place, as those of the present day are that Repeal is the ultimatum of Irish grievances, and that it would not be followed by separation or civil war. But human nature is not more virtuous now, nor less selfish and discontented, than it has ever been. The final adjustment of 1782 was soon found not to be final; nay, more, that it actually led, as was predicted, to the danger of separation. This is corroborated by many facts; take, for instance, the language of the patriotic Mr. Foster, Chancellor of the Irish Exchequer, who said in the Irish Parliament, in 1785, scarcely more than two years after the final adjustment: “Things cannot remain as they are ; com- * The Irish House of Lords in the reign of Queen Anne petitioned her Majesty for a legislative incorporation. | 6 mercial jealousy is roused, and it will increase with two inde- pendent Legislatures. Without an united interest in commerce, in a commercial empire, political union will receive many shocks, and separation of interest must threaten separation of connection, which every honest Irishman must shudder to look at as a possible event.” The British Parliament did all in its power to conciliate the personal interests and feelings of the few individuals who swayed the Irish Parliament. An act of parliament was passed in London (23d Geo. III. c. 28) entirely rescinding the act of George I. ; Ireland was admitted to a participation in the East India trade (then in the monopoly of the East-India Company) for twenty years, and various regulations and laws were passed, and fleets fitted out for the protection of Irish trade and manu- factures. - At the instance of the British Ministry, the first concessions were made to the Irish Roman Catholics in 1788, by a bill enabling them to take leases for 999 years, and abolishing all penal statutes against discoveries, &c.; and by the bill of 1793 the elective franchise was, at the same instigation, granted to the Roman Catholics unqualified, though they asked for it under certain restrictions; they were made eligible as grand and petit jurors; were enabled to hold commissions in the army and navy; every restraint on property was removed, and but a few of the highest situations (as in the Emancipation Bill of 1829) were closed against the upper ranks, while the middle and lower classes were placed on an equality with their neighbours of different religious persuasions. Such were (among many others) the efforts of the British Government to conciliate Irishmen, and calm the restless desire for change; but the breach between * Mr. Grattan demonstrated that the Legislature of Ireland neither possessed the substance nor the shadow of independence; and on the 26th February, 1790, he asked, “What has our renewed constitution as yet produced ; A place bill ? No. A pension bill ? No. Any great or good measure ? No. But a city police bill—a press bill—a riot act—great increase of pensions: fourteen new places for members of Parliament, and a most notorious and corrupt sale of peerages. Where will all this end ??” 17 both countries became daily wider. The very act by which the ministry had sought to secure peace, namely, admitting the Roman Catholics to the exercise of the elective franchise, split the Irish Volunteers of 1782 into contending parties. Lord Charlemont, and a great number of the wealth and talent of the country, violently opposed the measure; and thus the nobleman who, at the head of the officers of 50,000 volunteers at Dun- gannon, was termed “the father of the constitution and the saviour of his country, was now denounced and marked out as an object for popular vengeance.” The country was torn (from 1782 upwards) by factions and intestine feuds; the whole island was kept in the most wretched turmoil, night and day, by furious communities, under the designations of Patriots, Agitators, Right-boys, White-boys, Peep-of-Day-boys, Conventions, Aggregate Bodies, Catholic Committees, Tarring and Feathering Committees," Defenders, Assassins, Houghers of Men and Houghers of Cattle i, Asso- * Lord Charlemont referring to his frequent and instructive discussions with the philosophic legislator Montesquieu, thus gives the opinion of the profound author of “L’Esprit des Loia: ; ”—“In the course of our conversation, Ireland and its interests have often been the topic ; and upon those occasions I always found Montesquieu an advocate for a union between that country and England. “Were I an Irishman,’ said he, ‘ I should certainly wish for it ; and, as a general lover of liberty, I certainly desire it ; and for this plain reason, that an inferior country connected with one much her superior in force, can never be certain of the per- manent enjoyment of constitutional freedom, unless she has, by her representatives, a proportional share in the legislation of the superior kingdom.’” Molineux, referring to the discussions in the Irish Legislature, as to the power of the English Parliament to make laws for Ireland, thus remarked :— “ If from these last- mentioned records it may be concluded that the Parliament of England may bind Ireland, it must also be allowed that the people of Ireland ought to have their representatives in the Parliament of England ; and this I believe we should be willing enough to embrace, but this is a happiness we can hardly hope for.” Bishop Berkeley, an ardent friend of Ireland, asked—“Whether it be not the true interests of both nations to become one people 2 and whether either be sufficiently apprised of this 2’” † An individual who was obnoxious for his principles was marked for punish- ment by the “standing committee,” seized, covered with tar while naked, and then plentifully sprinkled with feathers large and small ! - f An illustration of this society occurred by reason of a dispute between the citizens of Dublin and some soldiers at Island Bridge. The pride of the former was hurt, although they almost massacred the soldiers, whose further punishment PART I. C I8 ciators, Whig Clubs, St. James's Delegates, Exchequer Street Delegates, National Congresses, Emancipators, United Irish- men, Reformers, Revolutionists, Societies of Peace and Societies of War, cum multis aliis / A grand armed convention of the “Irish Volunteers” assembled at the Exchange, in Dublin, in 1783 (after the final adjustment); they prepared a bill for parliamentary reform,” it was read before them, committed, engrossed, and passed, with all the usual parliamentary forms. After which the bill was forwarded to the House of Commons, and given in by some members of the armed con- vention, accoutred in their military uniform. The effect of such an unconstitutional proceeding is thus described by the late Mr. Edgeworth, who was present. “The appearance of Mr. Flood, and of the delegates by whom he was accom- panied, and their volunteer uniforms, in the Irish House of Commons, excited an extraordinary sensation. Those who were present, and who have given an account of the scene that ensued, describe it as violent and tumultuous in the extreme. On both sides the passions were worked up to a dangerous height. The debate lasted all night. ‘The tempest, for towards morning debate there was none, at last ceased.” The question was put, and Mr. Flood's motion for reform in Parliament was negatived by a very large majority. The House of Commons then entered into resolutions declaratory of their fixed determination to maintain their just rights and privileges against any encroachments whatever ; adding, that it was at that time indispensably necessary to make such a declaration. Meantime an armed convention continued sitting the whole night, waiting for the return of their delegates from the House of Commons, and impatient to learn the fate of Mr. Flood's motion. One step more, and irreparable fatal imprudence might have been committed. Lord Charlemont, the president of the convention, felt the danger, and it required all the influence of his character, all the assistance of the friends of moderation, to prevail upon the assembly to dissolve, without waiting longer to hear the report from their delegates in the House of Commons. The convention had, in fact, nothing more to do, or nothing that they could attempt without peril ; but it was difficult to persuade the assembly to dissolve the meeting, and to return * they demanded. The troops were drawn out, the offenders selected from the ranks and punished. This, however, did not appease the citizens’ wrath, and the “Houghers’ Society” was called into action; every straggling soldier met by night or day had his hamstrings cut across ; and Lord Carhampton was obliged to intro- duce a bill into the Irish Parliament “to prevent the citizens houghing the soldiers.” * The County Kerry regiment demanded one hundred “Constitutions'' at different periods. Mr. O'Driscoll, the Irish historian, says, that “previous to the Union the tyranny of the Orange faction was found to be more tolerable than the despotism of the mob and their leaders.” . 19 quietly to their respective counties and homes. This point, however, was fortu- nately accomplished, and early in the morning the meeting terminated.” Mr. Hardy, Lord Charlemont's biographer, after describing the progress of the question of reform, adds:— “Parliament now became the theatre of popular exertion. Whoever was present in the House of Commons on the night of the 29th of November, 1783, cannot easily forget what passed there. I do not use any disproportionate language, when I say that the scene was most terrific. Several of the minority, and all the delegates who had come from the convention, were in uniforms, and bore the aspect of stern hostility.” The House of Commons, however, had the spirit indignantly to reject a measure thus presented to them on the point of the bayo- net. In March 1794, an armed mob broke into the House of Commons, in consequence of the rejection of a bill, and James Napper Tandy, a broken shopkeeper, at the head of the “Aggre- gates,” engaged and took on himself to overawe Parliament and the Government, and to regulate the police of the metropolis. In fact, armed associations controlled every act of the Legis- lature. Non-importation of British produce was resolved on ; the houses and persons of shopkeepers who were suspected of not favouring the “non-importation act" were furiously assailed; the patriots, in highly obnoxious instances, proceeding to tar and feather the popular delinquent. No loyal gentleman could ven- ture to remain in his country-house unless protected by a military guard; the magistrates of the kingdom were daily threatened; jurors perjured themselves, rather than be mur- dered; assassins were acquitted; crown witnesses slain; and the rebel wore his green or yellow badge in triumph. In 1793, the House of Commons was set fire to while the Members were sitting, and amidst the shouts of an immense and ferocious multitude, the Representatives had just time to escape, when the vast dome became enveloped in flames, and, falling in, crushed everything beneath it. The infernal deed was caused by a chemical preparation, which lit before its intended time; but so little did its projectors fear discovery, that a few days before the conflagration a placard was posted under the procla- mation for the apprehension of James Napper Tandy, then C; 2 20 affixed to the gate of the House of Lords, which placard ran as follows:– “The Members of a certain great house, not far from the College, are hereby cautioned how they persecute to ruin a virtuous citizen, for defending his character and asserting the liberties of Ireland; if they do not, let them beware of the awl of the cobbler of Messina (* A depôt of pikes was found at the same time, in Suffolk-street, adjoining the Parliament House. . In fine, assassinations became terribly frequent, and, as a writer of the day says, every principle of humanity and morality was sapped by the insidious speeches, proclamations, and publications of pretended patriots or dangerous enthu- siasts; plans of general insurrection were drawn up ; military organisation was effected ; negotiations for foreign assistance in men and money arranged ; the separation of Ireland from England openly avowed; and the establishment of a republic wnder the protection of France and America, unhesitatingly acknowledged.* The success of the British arms against France in 1793 checked for a moment the progress of the enemies of British connection; the associations, however, were still maintained ; large bodies of men assembled under pretence of attending funerals, in order to demonstrate their strength ;f the Irish emissaries in France did everything in their power to retard the efforts of Lord Malmesbury, at Lille, for peace ; many people joined the United Irishmen, supposing them to be the strongest party in the state; while others joined for fear of being sacri- ficed : a fact which is confirmed by the Reports of the Select Committees of Parliament, which specifically charge the United Irishmen with holding regular committees of assassination, to * In 1607, Tyrone, Tyrconnell, O'Cahan, &c., conspired to seize the Castle of Dublin, murder the active officers of state, secure the principal garrisons, and call in foreign aid. Foreign aid was also the plan of Lord Edward Fitzgerald in 1798. Foreign aid is now solicited pecuniarily (and eaſpected physically) from America and France. ºf Ten thousand men assembled at one funeral in Dublin. : Nelson’s History. y 2}. whose orders numbers of the loyal fell victims: the names of the obnoxious were even printed and circulated ſ” No concession, no kindness, could produce tranquillity. In 1795, the poor were relieved from the hearth-money tax; a Roman Catholic college was founded at Maynooth, and a satisfactory mode of issuing money from the Treasury adopted. The administration of Lord Camden was blamed either for its imbecility or misdirected humanity, in refusing to use harsh measures towards the dis- turbers of the country : his Lordship's invariable answer was, “Let us try every effort at conciliation; it is terrible to resort to force.” Yet, with all these facts staring us in the face, the English Government are charged with fomenting the rebellion of 1798, for the purpose of carrying the Union,t * Lords Carhampton and Clare, the Beresfords, and others, who all had their lives attempted, and who seemed to have been almost miraculously preserved. f There have been fifty rebellions of hatred to England,-O’Neal was restored to favour five times by his acknowledged sovereign, against whom he had rebelled ; and Elizabeth not only received him with distinction at her court, and created him Earl of Tyrone, but so pressed her deputies to be lenient towards him, that he was enabled to prosecute, almost with final success, his grand rebellion. Yet, even after that terrible contest, which cost Elizabeth 2,000,000l., James I. restored Tyrone to his lands and honours; when he again rebelled, and fearing that he could not again receive forgiveness, he fled to Rome or Spain, and there died, when his lands became escheated to the crown. Did this conduct look like tyranny in the English Government 2 And let it be remembered that the rebellions of Tyrone, as well as subsequent insurrections, had not their origin in resistance to tyranny, but in a vehement desire to expel the followers of Martin Luther from Ireland. Tyrone avows this in various parts of his manifesto ; in one passage he says; “Let us join all together to deliver the countrie from the infection of heresy, and for the planting of the Roman Catholic religion ; if I had gotten to be King of Ireland, I should not accept the same without the extension of the Catholic religion.” The rebellion of 1641 was a rebellion of hostility to England and to the Protestant faith. Cromwell, on its suppression, confiscated the lands of the rebels, and gave them to those who assisted in the suppression and conquest of the most Sanguinary bigots that ever lived ; and when the monarchy was restored, the crown resigned all claim to the forfeited lands. But on James the Second’s arrival in Dublin, he assembled a Roman Catholic parliament, 7th May 1689, the first act of which was to justify the rebellion, or rather appalling massacre of the Protestants, in 1641 (a massacre which has no parallel in the annals of Christian bigotry but that of St. Bartholomew’s); the Act of Settlement was repealed; the estates of all persons in England, Scotland, or Ireland, who would not acknowledge the regal authority of James, were confiscated ; an act of attainder was passed, by which 2461 persons of rank (and both sexes) were attainted by name ; the property of absentees was seized, as was also that of Trinity College ; any person corre- 22 Catholic emancipation was brought forward in 1797, in the Irish House of Commons, and out of 300 voices, but nineteen supported it. The measure, however, produced no excitement in the public mind; the system of military organisation through- out the country was of far greater importance ; and, such was the profound secrecy with which it was conducted, that not a single Orange Lodge was established in Wexford within one month previous to the dreadful massacres in that county, when 160 Protestants were savagely butchered, in cold blood, in the streets, and when five clergymen (two of them above eighty years of age) were massacred in as ignominious and painful a manner as it was possible to invent. Such, indeed, was the injudicious mildness, or rather weakness, of Lord Camden's ad- ministration, that when the Irish Government were disarming Kildare, and were desirous of pursuing the same course in Wex- ford, particularly on account of its being the nearest port to Brest, hypocritical loyal addresses, professing the greatest anxiety for peace, and horror of bloodshed, were signed by thou- sands, and immediately sent to the Castle.* The Government sponding with another who had not acknowledged James, had his lands, &c. confiscated; to ascertain which, all letters in the post-office were previously opened ; and to such a height was the rigour against Protestants carried, that they were not permitted to meet in greater numbers than two at a time. * The same real or pretended horror of shedding blood has marked the early career of every leader of a rebellion in Ireland. Emmett and Lord Edward Fitz- gerald strongly deprecated assassinations. But were their admonitions or letters heeded ? The following letter from one of the leaders of the Irish rebellion, 1641, written on the second day of the breaking out of that sanguinary insurrection, confirms the opinion that when the wild and revengeful passions of men are once roused, it is beyond the power of their leaders to restrain them. “To my loving and worthy friends Captain Vaughan, Marcus Trevor, and all other commanders in Down :-Dear friends—My love to you all, although you think as yet otherwise. True it is I have broken Sir Edward Trevor's letter, fearing that anything should be written against us. We are for our lives and liberties as you may understand. We desire no blood to be shed; but if you mean to shed our blood, be sure we will be as ready as you for the purpose. This being in haste, I rest your assured friend—as I am still— * CoRNAR MAGNEISE, “Newry, 25th Oct. 1641.” (now called Magennis.) Here we find the same cry that is now raised of shedding no blood—while thousands of innocent women and children were being massacred. 23 believed the protestations made to them, and all the troops were withdrawn, except a small detachment of the North Cork Militia : the insurgents throughout the county rose at a given signal; the unfortunate company of the militia were speedily massacred. Murder, most foul and unnatural, (for it was per- petrated by servants on masters and mistresses under whose roofs they had resided for years in the enjoyment of every comfort and indulgence,) spread its desolation over the land, and 50,000 well-armed, ferocious and inhuman-like insurgents car- ried fire and slaughter throughout the country. Why was all this? Because the authorities believed the protestations from Wexford, and had drawn off the troops to assist in searching for arms in other counties, which were supposed less loyal than ill-fated Wexford. But we have, in the records of Parliament, still stronger proofs, that notwithstanding the declamation about the liberty of the subject, and the abstract theorisms of republi- can freedom, broached by the French cyclopædists, and retailed second-hand by the Irish demagogues of the day, no efforts were spared to remedy the discontents of Ireland. 12th Feb. 1797. A charge was made against the Government for neglecting to provide sufficient troops for the defence of Ireland; and on the 22nd Feb. 1797, the Government proposed to add 10,000 men to the regular forces in Ireland. The Government, however, opposed the motion made by Sir Laurance Parsons, 24th Feb. I797—to employ 50,000 Yeomanry in addition to those already employed; so strong were the hopes entertained that no rebellion would be hazarded. Mr. Plowden, the historian, in detailing the proceedings of the Irish Parliament, admits that so early as 1793, “every precautionable measure was taken by Lord Westmoreland to check the progress of rebellion.” The Speech from the Throne on the opening of Parliament in 1796, was as follows:— “My Lords and Gentlemen—It is with regret that I feel myself obliged to advert to those secret and treasonable associ- ations, the dangerous extent and malignity of which have in some degree been disclosed in several trials, and in the dis- 24 turbances which have taken place in some parts of the kingdom. It remains for your prudence and wisdom to devise such measures as, together with a continuance of those exertions, and the additional powers which, by the advice of the Privy Council, I have thought it necessary to establish in several counties, will prevent the return of similar excesses, and restore a proper reverence for the laws of the country.” Parliament again assembled in the same year, and on the 14th Oct. 1796, a motion was made by the Government of the day, for the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act. The measure was opposed by Mr. Ponsonby and Mr. Curran; but on the 14th Dec. in the same year, no less than eighteen sail of the line, and eighteen frigates, and transports competent to the trans- mission of 25,000 men, sailed from Brest for Ireland. The disasters of Britain, in her struggles against all Europe, produced no sympathy in Ireland, but the contrary. In 1795, the communications with the French Directory were assiduously carried on ; and in 1796, the military organisation of Ulster was reported as complete. In 1797, plans of general insurrection were drawn up, and the negotiations for foreign assistance arranged. In a Memoir presented to the French minister at Hamburgh, in June, 1797, by a convention of the United Irishmen, it was stated, that the “counties of Louth, Armagh, Westmeath, King's County, and Dublin, were the best organised, and that the Catholic priests had ceased to be alarmed at the calumnies propagated respecting French irreligion; that the priests were all well-affected to the cause, and with discreet zeal propagate the system of the United Irishmen.” Lord Edward Fitzgerald, in a despatch written by himself, stated the number of armed men in Ulster, Leinster, and Munster, to be 279,896, but that the treasure in hand was only £1,845. To aid these internal traitors, the French Directory de- spatched an immense armament for the separation of Ireland from England, and the creation of an Hibernian republic in an indivisible alliance with France. But Ireland and England were saved by the beneficent interposition of Providence, which in its 25 mercy scattered over the ocean (as it had before done in the case of the Spanish Armada) twenty-five Gallic ships of the line, fifteen large frigates, many brigs and sloops of war, and transports for 25,000 men . Then were the eyes of the Government opened to the danger of the crisis, and the Irish opposition were compelled to permit the passing of the “Gunpowder Bill,” by which only certain licensed persons were authorised to import gunpowder into Ireland. The Habeas Corpus Act was suspended ; the Insurrection Act passed, and some of the founders and promoters of the “Society of United Irishmen,” Wolfe Tone, Hamilton Rowan, Colonel Butler, and Oliver Bond, were proceeded against by Government on charges of high treason. Did these acts bear the semblance of encouraging rebellion for the purpose of carrying the Union ? But this was not the only step undertaken by the British Government, and forced from the Irish Parliament, in spite of those factious persons who contended that Ireland was tranquil, while the slumbering volcano was ready to burst beneath their feet. The “Convention Bill” was passed, by which self-created conventions were dissolved, and the seizure of unregistered arms effected. This bill was passed despite of the senseless cry of agitators, whose shout was “Perish the Empire—live the Con- stitution!”—a survivorship which was more identified with the effusion of faction than the emanation of reason. By means, however, of this very bill, the Government arrested, or com- pelled to fly, several of the ablest of the United Irishmen, and instant steps were taken for disarming the people. General Take was instructed to seize arms in Ulster, and “to disperse all tumultuous assemblies of persons, though they might not be in arms, without waiting for the sanction and assistance of the civil authorities, iſ the peace of the realm or the safety of his Majesty's faithful subjects should be endangered by waiting for such authority.” There were in Ulster 99,400 United Irishmen; but by the indefatigable efforts of General Lake, upwards of sia thousand stand of arms, and many thousand pikes and other formidable weapons, were seized; so that when the rebellion 26 actually broke out in the subsequent year, not 30,000 out of 90,000 men could assemble armed. But to return to the period previous to the rebellion. The Government, observing the good effects of disarming Ulster, determined also on the disarming of Leinster ; and accordingly proclamations were issued, requiring a surrender of arms before a certain day. The proclamation was treated with contempt, and troops were marched into Leinster for the forcible seizure of the arms: did this look like conniving at rebellion and treason ? The Executive Directory of the rebels subsequently acknowledged, that the efforts of the Government to disarm the people marred all their projects; and that, although they were desirous of preventing the explosion until the arrival of another expected French force, yet that the eagerness of the people, and the fear that Government would succeed in dis- arming Leinster as effectually as it had done Ulster, compelled them to give the signal for rebellion, to commence simultaneously for all Leinster, where the rebel army consisted of 50,000 men, among whom were twenty Romish priests and one bishop, on the night of the 23rd May 1797. I will draw a veil over that terrible period, lest a true exposition of facts should reveal atrocities which are a dis- grace to human nature; suffice it to say, that never was there a more atrocious libel on the British character, than that which ascribes to Englishmen the fostering and instigation of a bloody rebellion,” in order to secure a legislative union between both countries. The calumnious assertion is not only unsupported by a shadow of prooft but directly negatived by hundreds of facts as strong, if not stronger than those detailed. * “The rebellion of 1798 was fomented and encouraged by the British govern- ment, for the purpose of carrying the Union.”—Dublin Repeal Journals. + A variety of causes have been assigned by different authors and politicians, as the true origin of the rebellion of 1798. Mr. O’Driscoll, in his able work, says, it was owing to the spread of the principles of the French Revolution : another says, tithes ; another, separation ; &c. Theobald Wolfe Tone, in his Memoirs, says that his object in promoting the rebellion was “to subvert the tyranny of our 27 Mr. Fox, when introducing his motion on the state of Ireland in 1797, said— “From the period of 1782, there have been growing sources of dissatisfaction and discontent in that country; and at this moment Ireland is in a condition at which no man can look without the greatest alarm ; and as to political liberty, the Irish enjoy as small a portion of it as those who live under monarchies in which the principles of freedom have never been introduced.” After a terrible expenditure of blood and treasure *, the rebellion of 1798 was quelled; and men of reason, who loved their country, saw that after the fifty-third rebellion of hatred to England, by a party who sought separation at every hazard, the only chance left for the peace, freedom, and prosperity of Ireland was a legislative union with Great Britain; the project of 1782 was therefore revived, more particularly as the dispute between the two parliaments on the powers with which the Regent should be invested, demonstrated that there was no security to prevent disagreement of opinion on ulterior constitutional questions. It has been alleged that it was the Protestants of Ireland alone who sought the union with Great Britain. This was not the case. Then, as now, the most respectable and wealthy Roman Catholics were equally with their Protestant brethren in favour of a legislative junction with Great Britain. Not to multiply proofs, take as samples the following remarkable documents. The Catholics of Waterford passed the following resolutions: “We are firmly convinced that a complete and entire union between Great Britain and Ireland, founded on equal principles, and on a sense of mutual interests and affection, is a measure of wisdom and expediency for this kingdom, and will effectually promote the strength and prosperity of both ; and we trust it execrable government, to break the connexion with England, the never-failing source of all our political evils, and to assert the independence of my country. These were my objects.” * The property destroyed was valued at nearly one million sterling; the loss of life on the side of the Crown was 20,000, and that of the rebels was computed at 50,000. 28 will afford the surest means of allaying those unhappy distrac- tions, and removing those penal exclusions, on the score of reli- gion, which have too long prevailed in this country; and by consolidating the resources of both kingdoms, oppose the most effectual resistance to the destructive projects of both foreign and domestic enemies.” - The Roman Catholics of Wexford said, -“As we look forward with an anxious interest to the most effectual means of establishing the internal peace and prosperity of this hitherto distracted country, upon a comprehensive and permanent basis, we consider it a duty we owe to ourselves, and to our posterity, thus openly to declare that we conceive these desirable objects can only be attained by the happy completion of the great and useful measure of a legislative union between Great Britain and Ireland, which the common father of the people has, in his wisdom, recommended to the serious consideration of his Par- liament. “We are, indeed, firmly persuaded that the proposed incor- poration of both Legislatures must give additional energy to the resources and vigour of the empire, by consolidating and iden- tifying the common interests of the whole people, and that, by the liberal efficiency of its operation, diffusing from the centre to the extremities of the empire all those blessings which natu- rally flow from the genuine principles of the British constitution, it will afford to every description of His Majesty's subjects in Ireland, perfect security in the full enjoyment of civil, political, and religious freedom.” - Similar addresses were presented from the Roman Catholics of Cork; from those of Leitrim, signed by 1,836 persons; from Longford; from Tipperary and Cahir ; from the united parishes of Monasterevan, Lacka, Harristown, Merney, and Ballybrackin; from the gentlemen, clergy, and freeholders of the county of Kilkenny; from those of the diocese of Elphin, in the county of Roscommon, and numerous other places. The Irish Repealer of 2d September, 1843, says, “ The gene- rality of Orangemen were individually adverse to the Union: 29 they foresaw in the absorption of their country's power the final extinction of that very monopoly by which they subsisted.” Mr. Grattan's objections to the Union arose from the very opposite feeling. He said, “It is no union—it is not an identifica- tion of the people; for it excludes the Catholics. It incurs every objection to an union, without obtaining the object which a union professes, and destroys their best chance of admission— their relative consequence.” By means of the Union, the Roman Catholics have been emancipated; but it is worthy of note, that Mr. Foster, one of the ablest and most conscientious opponents of the Union in the Irish Parliament, when he sub- sequently became a Member of the Imperial Parliament, made the following remarkable observations in 1805, in opposition to a motion on Roman Catholic Emancipation. The speech was prophetic ; it is not, however, in that view it is recorded, but to mark the totally different reasons which actuated two men like Mr. Grattan and Mr. Foster in opposing the Union in 1800, and to show that whatever may have been their language and votes then, it does not necessarily follow that if they were now living and representing Irish constituencies they would be the same as they were in 1800. Mr. Foster said, “Should some score Catholics, by the vote of that night, find their way into the Imperial Parliament, and afterwards feel their inferiority in an assembly of 658 Members, they would rapidly augment their strength by new political recruits, and endeavour, by a repeal of the Union, to re-establish the Irish Parliament. . . . . . . He felt the full force of the consequences to be apprehended from such a measure; and he trembled for the separation of his native country from that connevion with England, deprived of which he was convinced she could be neither prosperous nor happy.” Such, indeed, was the feeling, in the Irish Parliament, on the subject of the Union, even with extreme opinions like Mr. Grattan's and Mr. Foster's, that when the question was debated, January 1799, barely one-half of the Irish Commoners were averse to it, after twenty-two hours' debate; and a large majority of the property and rank of the country, as represented 30 in the Irish House of Lords, were in its favour. So far from the Union being hurried to a conclusion before reason had time to operate, the very reverse was the case, for we find Mr. Pitt making use of the following language, in his speech of the 31st January, 1799, (nearly two years before the Union,) in the British House of Commons:— “I wish that the question of the Union should be stated distinctly, temperately, and fully; that it should be left to the unprejudiced, the dispassionate, the sober judgment of the Irish Parliament. I wish that those whose inferests are involved in the measure should have time for its consideration ; I wish that time should be given to the landed, to the monied interest, that they should look at it in all its bearings—that they should coolly examine and sift the popular arguments by which it has been opposed—and that then they should give their final judgment.”— January 31, 1799. Mr. Pitt's advice was taken ; the question was well sifted and examined in the British as well as in the Irish Parliament, and by a powerful and able opposition in both legislatures; the one enlisting on their side national interests, * pride, jealousy, and prejudices; the other advocating the illusory doctrines of the French Revolutionists, or fearful lest the accession of Irish members in the British Parliament would give too much power to the ministry. Reason, and a sound sense of mutual interests, prevailed on both sides of the channel, and the Legislature of Great Britain as well as of Ireland incorporated their separate powers, which (as Sir William Petty had long before truly ob- served), “ instead of uniting together, often crossed upon each other, not only as if they were foreigners to each other, but sometimes as enemies.” Mr. Grattan's resolution for an address to the King * Among the evil effects which the Irish orators of the day declared would result from the Union, it was stated, that when the Parliament was removed from Dublin, grass would be annually mown in Sackville-street, and snipes shot in College-green 1 Absenteeism is a very old grievance in Ireland, even under a “resident legislature.” Legal enactments against absentees, from 1377 to 1753, all proved ineffectual. In 1773, Mr. Hood attempted to revive the old laws against absentees; and in 1783, proposition for ditto by Mr. Grattan ; both failed. - In 1797, Sir John Vandeleur proposed, in the Irish House of Commons, to raise an annual revenue of 240,000l. by a tax on the property of absentees. The motion was not supported. 1799, Mr. Vandeleur's similar motion met with the same result. The whole absentee rental of Ireland does not exceed 2,000,000l. 31 as a protest against the Union, was negatived by a majority of 135 to 77, on the 5th June, 1800. The long-desired object of Parliamentary Reform was, to a certain extent, gained by the disfranchising of a number of nomination boroughs, the posses- sors of which each received 15,000l.” ; the revenue to be levied was fixed in the proportion of two to fifteen, in which ratio it was to remain twenty years, and after that period to be modified by the Imperial Parliament according to justice: Ireland was to send one hundred commoners to the Imperial Legislature, twenty peers to be elected for life, and four bishops, in rotation, to take their seats in the Upper House. After lengthened discussions in both Houses of the British Parliament, the union of both Legislatures was finally agreed on ; and an Act, founded on the adopted resolutions, received the Royal Assent on Friday, 1st August, 1800. The 1st Article recited, that in pursuance of His Majesty's most gracious recommendation to the two Houses of Parliament, in Great Britain and Ireland respectively, to consider of such measures as might best tend to strengthen and consolidate the connexion between the two kingdoms, the said Parliaments have agreed upon the following Articles:— “ART. I.-GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND SHALL BE UNITED FOR EvKR, FROM IST JANUARY, 1801. * The same plan of paying the proprietors of nomination boroughs was proposed in the discussion of the late Reform Bill, and had it been effected, no one would have said that the Reform Bill had been carried by bribery and corruption ; yet it is asserted that the Union was carried by bribery and corruption, because the dis- franchised proprietors of the Irish boroughs received 15,000l. each. This is not, surely, a fair charge to make against Mr. Pitt's government, as to corrupt means used in effecting the Union. It is asserted that Lord Castlereagh spent 2,000,000l. in notorious and profligate bribery to carry the Union. Now the sum actually paid away to the proprietors of nomination boroughs disfranchised at the Union was 1,260,000l., at the rate of 15,000l. for each borough ; and on the same principle, and at even a higher rate of payment, Mr. Pitt projected parliamentary reform in England. What he had, therefore, proposed for England, it would have been unjust to deny to Ireland, when nomination boroughs were destroyed there. For the amount paid for each borough, and to whom, see Appendia. It has also been deemed advisable to give in the Appendix the names and amount of com- pensation granted to persons in Ireland at or previous to the Union : which will disprove the charge of corruption. 32 “ART. II.-The Succession to the Crown shall continue as at present limited. -r -- “ART. III.-There shall be but one Parliament only for the two kingdoms. “ART. IV.-Four spiritual and twenty-eight temporal Lords, and one hundred Commoners, are to represent Ireland in the United Parliament.” The remainder of this Article refers to the election of Peers and Commoners, &c. ART. V. unites the Churches of England and Ireland. ART. VI. declares that all subjects of Great Britain and Ireland are to be on the same footing in trade and navi- gation. ART. VII. refers to the future financial arrangements of the two countries. ART. VIII. provides for the Civil and Ecclesiastical Laws and Courts, and for “deciding Writs of Error and Appeal by the Lords of the United Kingdom.” After reciting that these Articles were approved of by His Majesty, the said Articles are “declared to be the Articles of the Union, and to be in force for ever from Ist January, 1801: provided that before that period an Act shall have been passed by the Parliament of Great Britain for carrying into effect the said foregoing recited Articles in the like manner.” In the same year, an Act was passed in the Irish Parliament, Chapter L., granting Annuities to those officers whose emolu- ments would cease after the Union, as an equitable and just compensation (for List of Names and Sums, see Appendix); this will be seen by the 22d Section of Chapter LX., by which the Irish Parliament voted “ 1,410,000l. in compensation for the losses sustained from the Union by the cities, towns, and boroughs in Ireland, and to make compensation to persons for loss or reduction of emoluments of office by the Union.” (See Ap- pendix, for List of Boroughs, Price, and Names of Proprietors.) Thus ended what has been termed the Irish Parliament, and * See Liber Hiberniae, Part VI. pages 134 to 136. 33 which, the moment it arrogated to itself the powers of an independent legislature, imbibed the elements of dissolution, or separation from England; for there being no connecting link between the legislatures of the two islands but the precarious prerogative of the Crown, there was unavoidably a constant endeavour of the executive to maintain an authority over the Legislature, prevention in Ireland being of necessity more desir- able than opposition by the veto. The Government had long been dependent on an oligarchy, who maintained an ascendancy at their own price in Irish affairs. “The Union,” as a national historian justly observes, “broke the strength of the aristocracy; it effected that which it proposed, by untying the hands of Government; it loosened its dependence upon a party, and re- stored to the State the privilege of good government.”* Ireland, in fact, for centuries possessed but two classes of society, the rich and the poor; there was no solid bond between the Crown and the people, and the feudalism which the religion of Luther in England, and of Calvin in Scotland, had tended so much to annihilate, flourished in most parts of Erin (as it still does in some places) in all its desolating vigour. - Commerce also, which so materially assists to break down the vassalage of a nation, was kept by bounties and protective duties in an unnatural state of depression and alternate excitement; and so far from considering that Ireland ceased to be a kingdom * O’Driscoll’s Ireland, p. 52. † The subjection in which the poor were held in some of the feudal districts of Ireland by the class of Irishmen above them, is shown in a work written by Mr. Arthur Young in 1782. That gentleman, speaking of the condition of the Irish peasantry from 1776 to 1779, says— “To discover what the liberty of a people is, we must live among them, and not look for it in the statutes of the realm ; the language of written law may be that of liberty, but the situation of the poor may speak no language but that of slavery. Disrespect, or anything tending towards sauciness, a landlord may punish with his cane or his horsewhip with the most perfect security ; a poor man would have his bones broken if he offered to lift his hand in his own defence. Knocking down is spoken of in the country in a manner that makes Englishmen stare. It must strike the most careless traveller to see whole strings of cars whipt into a ditch by a gentle- man’s footman, to make way for his carriage : if they are overturned or broken in pieces, no matter, it is taken in patience ; were they to complain they would perhaps be horsewhipped.” PART I. D 34 and became a “degraded pitiful province” by her legislative incorporation with Britain,” the reverse was actually the case ; and the substantial liberties and prosperity of Irishmen may be truly dated from the Union. Since the Union, Catholic Emancipation (which the Irish Parliament would never have conceded) has been granted ; # the commerce between both countries has been put upon the footing of a coasting-trade; the Irish and British currency has been assimilated; the municipal corporations have been reformed ; tithes have been converted into a rent-charge, thereby relieving the poor cultivators; taxation has been materially diminished ; ten millions sterling of the Imperial revenues have been spent in public works ; a national system of education has been esta- blished; Orange Associations have been abolished ; a legislative * Scotland was, in reality, more an independent kingdom than Ireland, but no Scotchman is so foolish as to think that his country became a province by its incor- poration with England ; in fact, neither Ireland nor Scotland became provinces of England by their legislative unions, in any degree more than England became a province of the incorporated countries. Before the French Revolution, different provinces in France had provincial Parliaments; and as there is no evil without good, the destruction of these separate legislatures was a permanent blessing to France, by consolidating its energy and simplifying its laws. + The year before last, Mr. Daniel O’Connell, M.P. for the county Cork, was Lord Mayor of Dublin, and on the “Health of the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor of Dublin.” being proposed, the acknowledgment is thus reported in a Dublin Journal. “His Lordship returned thanks. When he (the right honourable speaker) was born, a Catholic could not purchase land, a Catholic could not rent a house or farm for more than thirty years. If a Catholic purchased land, a Protestant might go and take possession of it. A Catholic could not be a surveyor or attorney, much less could he be Lord Mayor or Sheriff—may, he could not even be scavenger to the corporation of Dublin. A father could not leave his property to his son as he pleased ; but the son, becoming a Protestant, could take possession of his father's wealth. A Catholic could not own a horse of the value of more than 5l., and even though it were worth 300l., his Protestant neighbour might, at any moment when he pleased, tender him a 57, note and demand his horse; and if a Catholic concealed his own horse, he was liable to forfeit three times the value of it. (Cries of “Hear, hear.”) Such had been the state of Ireland when he was born. He was now Lord Mayor of the first city of Ireland. He had, moreover, refused the office of Lord Chief Baron of Ireland, and it was no egotism to say that he had refused it, for the office had, in fact, been urged upon him.” Mr. O'Connell, when stating these striking facts, forgot to state why the Romanists of a former age were thus restricted ; and he omitted also to state that he was mainly indebted for his present position to the English people, to the British Government, and to the Parliament of the United Kingdom. 35 provision has been provided for the poor, sick, and destitute, instead of their being left to the casual support of charity; public banks and companies have been formed, with British capital, for the benefit of Ireland; church-rates have been abolished; the prison law amended and consolidated; a Survey and valuation of Ireland, of a most complete and extensive nature, has for some years been in progress, as a remedy for the inequalities of local taxation; improved Grand and Petty Jury Bills have been passed ; the criminal code has been reformed; the numerous abuses in every court of law have been rectified; a valuable and economical system of County Courts, whereby justice is cheaply and effectually brought to the door of every poor man, has been established in every part of Ireland; dispen- saries have been formed in every village in the island, for the relief of the poor, under an Act of the Imperial Parliament, and superintended by first class medical officers; by Acts also of the Imperial Parliament, Fever Hospitals and Lunatic Asylums, which for efficacy, comfort, and excellent management, are not surpassed in any part of the world, have been established in every district ; excellent and numerous roads now intersect the whole island; and various other useful measures have been adopted, or are in course of adoption, conducive to the welfare of the Sister Island.* It should also be remembered that, previous to the Union, of three hundred members of the Irish House of Commons, two hundred members were stated to be the nominees of private individuals (see Appendia for the names of the borough proprietors and number of boroughs); that from forty to fifty members were returned by constitu- encies of not more than ten persons each; that several boroughs had not more than one resident elector, and that out of three hundred members thus roturned one hundred and four were placemen and pensioners. Such was the description by Mr. * From 1801 to 1831 there were 61 Reports of Committees, and 114 Reports of Commissioners, relating to Ireland. The number of separate public bills passed for Ireland has been 869, of local and personal acts 197, from 1800 to 1833. From 1833 to the present period, the affairs of Ireland have occupied nearly two-thirds of every session. 36 Grattan in 1793 of the Irish Parliament, after the establishment of the “glorious independence” of Ireland in 1782. Contrast such a state with the present, when about 96,000 electors are free to return 105 members to the Imperial Legislature, whether of the Romanist or Protestant faith. It is worthy of note also that the portion of the Irish population who declare themselves the sufferers by English domination, have two-thirds of the Parliamentary representation and the whole of the corporations of Ireland entirely within their own control. These facts demonstrate that Ireland never was so truly and integrally a kingdom as she is at this moment. Would those who now contend for a repeal of the Legislative Union between the two islands, agree to a restoration of the state in which Ireland was previous to the Union ? PART II. COMMERCE, SHIPPING, AND MANUFACTURES OF IRELAND, BEFORE AND AFTER THE UNION. CHAPTER II. Commercial State of Ireland before the Union; showing a Decreasing Trade, Shipping, and Manufactures from 1782 to 1800. WE shall now proceed to consider the second part of the question. t It is contended that Ireland made the most extraordinary strides, in commerce and manufactures, during the period of what is termed her “glorious independence,” viz. from 1782 to 1800; that ever since her legislative union with England she has rapidly degenerated; and a corollary is thence derived, that she would again flourish as before, were a Parliament re-established in Ireland. Three assertions are thus assumed to be proved : the first, being considered as indisputable, is merely referred to with extravagant panegyrism ; the second is dwelt on as if misery existed in no other part of the globe but Ireland ; and the third is a sort of quoderat demonstrandum problem, a politico- mathematical demonstration, that no man dare deny. Such is the reasoning now generally adopted; but if the basis on which it is founded be destroyed, the superstructure must fall. The assertion that all Ireland prospered so wonderfully from 1782 to 1800, rests on a very shallow foundation : for it rests on the belief, that Dublin improved during the period: in proof of which, her magnificent public buildings are pointed out as a convincing fact : not reflecting that the gaudy decoration of a PART II. E 38 capital is anything but an indication of the general weal of a country; and as if it were undeniably true, that those very edifices and works originated during what is termed the Athe- nian age of “Irish independence,” or, as it ought more properly be termed, “Irish anarchy.” But how stands the reality ? Why, that those very buildings, referred to with so much exul- tation, and affording innumerable tropes for agitating eloquence, were erected previous to 1782, and subsequent to the Legislative Union between Great Britain and Ireland. The following extract from the “Dublin Guide” will prove whether the first position be deserving of reliance. PUBLIC EDIFICES erected previous to 1782. Dublin. Dublin Castle, 1220–Stephen's Green laid out, 1670—Poyal Hospital, Kilmain- ham, 1680—William III. Statue, 1701—Foundling Hospital, 1704—T)ublin Castle, 1720—George I. Statue, 1720—Stephen's Hospital, 1720—Linen Hall, 1728– Bank of Ireland, 1729—Mercers’ Hospital, 1734—Lublin Society, 1749–Lying-in Hospital and Rotunda, 1751—Essex Bridge, 1755–Swift's Lunatic Asylum, 1757– Crow Street Theatre, 1758–Trinity College, 1759—Grand Canal, 1765—Magdalen Asylum, 1766–Queen’s Bridge, 1768–Royal Exchange, 1769—Stamp-Office, 1771 —Blue Coat Hospital, 1773–House of Industry, 1773—Newgate, 1773—Meath Hospital, 1774—Fecord Tower, 1775—Hibernian Marine School, 1777–Simpson’s Blindman’s Hospital, 1778–Custom House, 1780—Werburgh's, Thomas's, Bride's, John’s, Nicholas's, Andrew’s, Catherine's, and Mark’s Churches, from 1670 to 1758. PUBLIC EDIFICES erected subsequent to the Union. House of Refuge, 1802—I'ever Hospital, 1804–King’s Inns, 1804–Castle Chapel, 1807–Nelson's Monument, 1808–York Street Chapel, 1808–Dublin Institution, 1811–I)ublin Penitentiary, 1815–Post Office, 1815–Corn Exchange, 1816–Iron Bridge, 1816—Richmond Bridge, 1816—Wellington Testimonial, 1817 —Female Orphan House, 1818–Whitworth Bridge, 1818–Female Penitentiary, 1820–Royal Arcade, 1820–Kingstown Harbour, which cost half a million sterling, 1821—Metropolitan Chapel, 1823—Hibernian Academy, 1824–Lublin Library, 1825–King's Bridge, 1827—Wellesley Market, 1827. The dates to the edifices here enumerated, and which form nearly all in Dublin", show how untenable the first postulate is, when tested by the light of chronology. A minute examination of official documents and public writers enables me to assert with confidence, that neither Dublin, nor Ireland in general, was * The Four Courts were commenced subsequent to 1782, but the buildings were projected, &c. previous to that period. 39 indebted for improvement to the turbulent assembly which sat from 1782 to 1800; nor indeed to the Irish Parliament at any period. In 1729, Dr. Bindon, in an address on the better means of providing for the poor of Ireland, states that “one person in every twenty was a pauper ; and that the unusual poverty reigning among the common people of Ireland, and the number who daily quit the country, are strong presages of yet greater calamities.” In 1732, the weavers of the Liberty of Dublin represented their trade as ruined. - In 1757, a public authority declared that, “from the vast numbers to be found in every corner of the metropolis, one might take the city of Dublin to be the general rendezvous of all the beggars in the whole kingdom.” The Reverend Mr. Whitelaw, minister of St. Catherine's parish, Dublin, who, a few years previous to the Union, prepared a valuable work on the state of Dublin, while engaged in making his census of the population, affords the following melancholy illustration of the state of Dublin at that period. Mr. White- law's evidence is to the following effect:— “When he attempted to take the population of a ruinous house in Joseph's-lane, near Castle-market, he was interrupted in his progress by an inundation of putrid blood, alive with maggots, which had, from an adjacent yard, burst the back door, and filled the hall to a depth of several inches. By the help of a plank and some stepping-stones which he procured for the purpose (for the inhabitants, without any concern, waded through it), he reached the staircase. It had rained violently, and from the shattered state of the roof a torrent of water made its way through every floor from the garret to the ground. The sallow looks and filth of the wretches who crowded round him, indicated their situation, though they seemed insensible to the stench, which he could scarcely sustain for a few minutes. In the garret he found the entire family of a poor working shoemaker, seven in number, lying in a fever, without a human being to administer to their wants. On Mr. Whitelaw's observing that his apartment had not a door, he informed him that his landlord, finding him unable to pay the week's rent in consequence of his illness, had the preceding Saturday taken it away, in order to force him to abandon the apartment. Mr. White- law counted in this sty thirty-seven persons, and computed that its humane pro- prietor received out of an absolute ruin, which should be taken down by the magistrates as a public nuisance, a profit rent of about 30l. per annum, which he exacted every Saturday night with unfeeling severity.” It would not be possible to find such a parallel in Dublin at E 2 40 the present moment, although it might not be difficult to do so in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, and perhaps in London. - Independent of the increase of several of the suburbs of Dublin of late years, particularly in the neighbourhood of Kingstown, and along the south side of the metropolis, generally we find that there has been augmented population and houses since the Union, notwithstanding the large increase in all the provincial towns”. The number of houses built in Dublin from 1800 to 1834 Wà,S— Parish of St. Peter, 582 ; St. Mark, 298; St. George, 438 : St. Thomas, 481 ; St. Paul, 78; Grange Gorman, 86; St. Andrew, 16 ; Werburgh, 20 ; St. Mary, 214 —Total, 22.13. STATE OF DUBLIN. Number of houses (in 1833) by Parliamentary valuation . . 17,324 Rental, as estimated . e . 704,7577. Or an average of . & * * 40l. per house. Increase of houses since the Union, within the Circular Road . 2,213 If the houses beyond those limits be added, they may be taken at 1000 more, making the following total number of houses . 3,213 Rental . e & e º o . 128,5207. From these papers we trace the following results : — The number of houses built since the Union, within the Circular Road, amounts to 2,213; the number of houses built within the city, but without those limits, not embracing, however, the imme- diate outskirts and villages, amount to about 1,000 more; thus 3,213 new houses have been built since the Union. Fitzwilliam- square has been entirely built since the Union; Merrion-square has been completed ; Harcourt-street, Leeson-street, and many * HousFS—Increase in Provincal towns since the Union :- 1800. 1831. 1841. tºº. Limerick e º 2,979 7,280 5,866 2,887 Belfast . . . 3,053 7,750 | 12,875 9,822 Galway . º º 1,212 4,606 2,504 1,292 Kilkenny . e - 1,548 3,759 3,357 1,809 Carrickfergus • 475 1,497 6,681 6,206 Dundalk . . . 1,083 1,618 2,435 1,352 Newry . & © 1,503 1,992 5,260 3,757 Clonmel . . 1,349 1,615 2,330 981 3. - -- Totals © wº 13,202 30,117 41,308 28,109 4I others, have been greatly extended. The average value of the rental on the immediate number of houses is thus: the number of houses is 17,324; the rental 704,757l., giving an average of 40l.per house. The annual house rental which has been added to Dublin by reason of new buildings erected since the Union amounts at the least to 128,520l. Since the Union there has been advanced to the Wide-street Commissioners the sum of 261,264l. for the improvement of the City of Dublin. This has been advanced, together with various other sums, by the Imperial Parliament. At the period of the Union there was but one respectable Roman Catholic chapel in Dublin—namely, in Clarendon-street; now there are twelve handsome chapels, one of which has cost 40,000l. for its erection. Throughout Ireland we everywhere find noble structures now being raised by our Roman Catholic fellow-subjects, equally indicative of their piety and augmenting wealth. About the middle of the last century, all Europe made rapid progress in knowledge and freedom ; and where the latter (as in the case of France) did not degenerate into anarchy and despotism, an improvement in commerce necessarily ensued. Ireland participated in the general advantages of the times. Mr. Arthur Young”, whose remarks are cited by all men as profoundly accurate, says that “Ireland was improved more during the last twenty years, i. e. from 1755 to 1775, than in a century before:”—that the great spirit of improvement began in 1749 and 1750; that thirty years previous to the time of writing (1776) the export of linen and yarn was only in value about 500,000l., but that it had risen in 1776 to the value of 1,500,000l.” These, and other equally striking facts, were adduced by the Right Honourable Silvester Douglas, in his speech, 23d April 1799, and they were not attempted to be denied. Of Dublin, even, it may be stated, that by a Government survey in 1753, the increase of citizens from 1711 to 1753 was stated at 32,000. Immediately after the peace of Aix-la- * Tour through Ireland, 1776. 42 Chapelle, in 1748, the great increase began ; in that year no less than 1,200 houses were commenced building. After the peace of Paris, in 1763, the augmentation was still greater : but during the whole of those periods, and until 1782, the Irish Parliament assembled only once in two years, and even then but for a very short session. The prosperity of Ireland originated in England relaxing her navigation laws in favour of the sister country; in throwing open the ports of her colonies to Ireland ; which she had acquired by an incalculable expenditure of her blood, trea- sure, and wisdom ; by giving to Irish linens a monopoly in the British market, to the exclusion of the Germans and others; and by the enormous bounties which were paid on the exportation of corn, &c. And let it be remembered, that these were not con- cessions to fear :—they would have been made long before, had Ireland had no separate legislature,—had the wise policy of Cromwell been pursued, which was, to have an identity of interests between England, Scotland, and Ireland,-to have but one legislature and one system of laws. The effect of bounties was doubtless to augment production; and, previous to the period held up as the commencement of Irish prosperity (1782), the amount expended for this purpose was very great. Newenham says that the bounty paid on corn exported from 1741 to i750 amounted to 1,514,962/.”, an immense sum in those times. The bounties were for a time discontinued, and the average export of unmanufactured corn of all sorts, during the years 1771, 1772, and 1773, amounted to only 31,423 barrels. Mr. Foster, the Chancellor of the Irish Exchequer, revived the system of bounties, and the export again rose in 1787, 1788, and 1789, to 517,383 barrels; and during the year ending March 1791, to 863,047 barrelst. By means of Mr. Foster's measure a momentary stimulus was given to the export of corn. In 1789 the bounty paid thereon was 59,206l. ; in 1783, bounties were enacted for canvas and coarse linen ; there was a bounty on the inland carriage of corn to Dublin, amounting in 1780 to 77,800l. ; there was another * Newenham, page 54. + Ibid, page 50. 43 bounty on corn brought coastways to Dublin, which in 1789 amounted to 20,000l. ; then there were bounties on Irish coals brought to Dublin, on sugar refined, on indigo imported, on silk, on fish, on flax, &c. In fact, the whole nation was taxed for the benefit of the city of Dublin; add to which, several enormous frauds were proved to have been made use of in obtaining “corn premiums,” and the standing Committee of the House of Commons for the distribution of bounties were, from their immaculate patriotism, complimented with the epithet of the “Scrambling Committee /* The Irish expenditure was annually augmented”, and public and private corruption became the order of the day. It was scarcely to be expected that a system built up artificially, and supported by injustice, should have been pro- ductive of general and permanent advantage; and, accordingly, we find that even during the period so much lauded, and not- withstanding the factitious aid of bounties, the trade of Ireland, so far from progressing, actually declined. In illustration of this, let us examine the- - ToNNAGE belonging to IRISH Ports, at two periods of five years each, previous to the Union. Years. Tons. Years. Tons. Decrease. 1788 . . . 60,776 1793 . . . 67,790 * 1789 . . . 64,361 1794 . . . 63,162 1,199 1790 . . . 68,236 1795 . . . 58,778 9,458 1791 . . . 69,233 1796 . . . 56,575 12,658 1792 . . . 69,567 1797 . . . 53,181 16,386 Total . . 332,173 Total . . 299,486 39,701 Here we see a decrease progressively accelerating, and amounting on three years to upwards of thirty-eight thousand tons ! The table exhibits the tonnage belonging to Irish mer- * IRISH ExPENDITURE :- 1791 . . . . $1,490,624 1796 . . . . $3,455,671 1792 . . . . . 1,448,734 || 1797 . . . . 3,689,484 1793 . . . . 1,592,767 1798 . . . . 5,476,637 1794 . . . . . 2,028,055 1799 . . . . 7,086,635 1795 . . . . 2,635,302 | 1800 . . . . 7,023,166 * = *= a-sºme * * * * *== Total . . . 49,195,482 Total . . .626,731,593 44 chants, and it evinces a strong proof of declining mercantile prosperity. Another table, of ten years previous to the Union, is fuller and more convincing than the foregoing; its totals are as follow :- REGISTERED Tonnage belonging to Ireland, at two periods of five years each. Period. Number of Ships. Tonnage. From 1790 to 1794 . . . 5,860 339,988 From 1795 to 1799 . . . . 5,249 267,748 Decrease . . . . . . 611 72,240 The decrease of the two last years on the two first years stands thus:— Years, Ships. Tons. 1790-91 . . . . . . 2,310 . . . . . . 137,469 l'798-99 . . . . . . . 2,024 . . . . . . . 99,214 Decrease in two years . 286 . . . . . . 38,255 These statements are yet further corroborated by examining the number and tonnage of vessels built in Ireland during this period. Number of VESSELs, and TonnaGE thereof, built in Ireland for ten years preceding the Union, at two periods of five years each. Decrease on 1st No. of 2nd No. of Corresponding Years. Period. Ships. | Tonnage. Period. Ships. Tonnage. - No.ofships Tonnage. 1790 50 2,334 J.795 33 1,654 17 680 1791 51 2,464 1796 32 1,802 . 19 662 1792 || 42 1,629 1797 19 797 23. 832 1793 || 35 1,659 1798 20 1,072 15 587 1794 || 32 1,441 || 1799 || 18 1,105 14 346 The totals of the period are— Ships. - Toris. 1st . . . . 210 . . . . 9,527 2nd . . e . . 122 o ſº . . 6,430 Decrease . © © . 88 . º * o 3,097 This diminution is the more striking, from the fact (as will be shown in the subsequent Chapter) that the number of vessels 45 built in Ireland since the Union, and the tonnage thereof, has largely increased, and they are still increasing. We may now proceed to examine the state of the exports from Ireland during the period under consideration. And here let it be observed, that these tabular statements are drawn from the accurate statistics of M. César Moreau, where the Parlia- mentary Papers, from which his statistics are derived, are fully acknowledged. The Dublin Library copy is quoted. , - ToTAL OFFICIAL VALUE of the ExPoETs of the Growth, Produce, and Manufactures of Ireland, at two periods of five years each, previous to the Union. 1st Period. - Value. 2nd Period. Value. 1790 . e tº . 364,826,360 1795 . & º . £4,704,732 1791 a º . . 4,863,426 1796 g © tº e 5,013,283 1792 . º e . 5,321,290 1797 . ſº g tº 4,533,692 J793 ig dº . . 4,995,406 1798 • g § {} 4,316,592 1794 . & * . 4,639,301 1799 . © & & 4,445,339 Total . wº . .324,645,783 Total . o . . 4:23,013,638 1st Period . te e g te * o . £24,645,783 2nd ditto º sº & º & * . . 23,013,638 Decrease & dº gº * e g . £1,632, 145 A decrease of considerably more than a million and a half sterling on a period of only five years, is a strange indication of growing prosperity It may be objected to the foregoing table, that it is one of “official value.” Those who are inclined to do so should first recollect, that while official values are now decreasing as com- pared with real or declared value, they were then increasing: so that the diminution on the latter period was actually greater than is shown by the figures. To remove cavil, however, on the point, let attention be directed to the following table, in which quantities, instead of values, are expressed, and then let any honest man say whether the assertion be correct, that Ireland rapidly increased in prosperity during the few years that elapsed from 1782 to 1800, when “England produced the Union because she was becoming jealous of the increasing prosperity of Ireland, because she could not tolerate the rapidly advancing prosperity of Ireland”.” * “Our country produces sufficient for the support of sixteen millions, and shall we then submit to be a province, when we ought to be a nation (loud and vehement cheering). Let any man look back to the few years that succeeded '82, and see how rapidly Ireland increased in prosperity. At the rate at which she advanced America would not be better able to produce abundance of everything that would make life confortable.”—Freeman’s Journal, Dublin.-Repeal Debate. ExPORTs (in Quantity) from IRELAND, at Two Periods of Seven Years each, previous to the Union; showing a Decrease on every Item of Earport. Grain. &c. r: ta * 5 Calf Li Worsted | C dl ºr : oreign an Years. Tongues. Wool. | Rape. Kelp. Tallow. sº. #. §: º Herrings. Drapery. Mºi. Wheat. Barley. Meal. re-exported, barrels, barrels. cwts. doz. stones. qrs. tons. cwts. doz. cwt.S. Stones. No. barrels. yards. só' 1785 || 36,956 3,170 | 95,878] 3,806 2,856 236 | 1,774| 21,420 28,954 28,842| 94,729| 22,241 35,514| 770,031 42,502 1786 86,682 95,868||132,079| 4,342 | 1,564 1,216 1,213| 18,284 || 19,756|| 31,062| 74,931 | 19,315|| 17,188! 349,608 54,174 1787 | 62,118|163,895 || 145,488| 4,439 || 1,066|12,082 1,474 22,898 || 23,606 || 31,049, 54,862. 16,175|| 11,336| 206,849 62,314 1788 50,157 54,045 129,288 || 3,430 631 || 11,785 3,131 || 13,281 || 17,616 25,275 7,109 || 17,199 || 16,855, 313,111 || 45,346 1789 |218,737 33,849 ||109,868 3,526 774 12,200 2,401 || 13,128 23,005 28,742| 26,316 16,501 || 11,177 | 363,196 || 41,663 1790 148,066 53,521 65,570 3,571 | 1,776|| 9,473 2,203 | 16,717 22,226 31,572| 39,973| 24,170 7,980 352,022 28,939 1791 | 153,769| 39,719 |133,381 3,360 2,396 843| 1,915 18,624 17,616 26,999 || 38,064 30,132| 1,321 320,491 79,174 Total. 756,485 |444,067 |811,352 26,474 11,063 |47,835 | 14,111 | 124,352 152,779 203,541 335,984|145,733| 101,371 2,675,308 || 354,112 1792 119,78 || 28,352 131,801 3,841 2,220 144| 2,739| 16,221 || 23,005 || 17,190. 53,644 24,351 4,072 384,396 | 66,470 1793 92,788 974. 96,522 3,321 2,713| 3,496 | 1,735 9,522 22,226|| 16,644 59,628 21,820 364 140,294 || 52,186 1794 || 36,701 || 38,601 || 24,472| 3,426 274 | 1,032 1,160] 6,944 17,750 | 19,056| 19,317| 5,684. 1,390. 206,547 || 25,861 1795 31,231 || 7,381 || 36,578 4,327 162 234 619 14,352 16,979| 22,730 25,833| 5,160] 2,170 105,283 || 46,601 1796 ass=º 4 || 37,503 || 3,605 171 7,641 | 1,197 12,651 22,841 20,600|| 25,220 | 10,524 1,261 174,036 51,049 1797 15 *gs 112,461 2,437 88: 5,360| 3,561 | 11,854 16,653| 12,865 | 15,062| 36,311 3,793 || 149,760 37,072 1798 67,526 || 48,369| 79,535 4,312 89| 4,488 743 12,725 | 12,626 20,330 | 12,192 || 30,673 5,555 94,420 52,141 Total. 348,042|123,681 |518,872|25,269 5,717|22,395 || 11,754 | 84,269 132,080|129,415|210,896 |134,523| 18,605 | 1,254,736 || 331,380 Decrease|408,443|320,386|292,480 1,205 || 5,346|25,440, 2,357 | 40,083| 20,699 || 74,126 125,088 11,210 | 82,766|| 1,420,572 22,732 47 / / / Some of those persons who are determined to be convinced on no point, will exclaim, “Oh ! the Irish, instead of exporting their provisions, kept them at home:" but a little investigation will show them a decrease on wool, drapery (to the extent of 1,321,572 yards), worsted yarn, linen yarn, skins, tallow, kelp, rape-seed, foreign and colonial merchandise, &c., as well as on articles of food. Neither do we find the consumption of articles of luxury or comfort, which indicate the growing prosperity of a people, on the increase during the period. Sugar, which was becoming cheaper, and directly imported from the West Indies in exchange for provisions, was thus entered for home consumption at two periods of three years each :— ... → * * 1789-1790-1791 . . . . . . cwts, 617,893 ! 792-1793-1794 . e tº © * . º. . . 567,215 Decrease . § * * tº . cwts. 50,678 The wine retained for home consumption was – 1789-1790-1791. . . . ſo • g . gallons 4,195,454 1796-1797-1798 . . . . . . . 3,069,606 2T ^ Decrease º tº e * ... gallons 1,125,848 ſº consumption of wine on two years was:— r In 1795 g e § te {e gº ... gallons 2,959,044 In 1797 . © & & ſº e e e . 312,212 Decrease e g º e . gallons 2,646,832 The tobacco entered for home consumption in Ireland was, in 1794 . . . lbs. 9,426,211 || 1798 . . . lbs. 4,894,121 1795 . . . . . 7,874,409 || 1799 . . . . . 5,876,172 Total . . Ibs. 17,300,620 Total . . lbs, 10,770,293 A decrease of seven million pounds ! The number of barrels of malt consumed in Ireland at two periods of five years each, was :— 1st Period. Bls. of Malt. 2nd Period. Bls. of Malt. 1791 * e tº . 1,174,301 1796 ſº & tº . 1,197,033 1792 . s te . . 1,216,970 1797 . tº e . . 1,263,147 1793 . . . . 1,191,854 1798 . . . . 1,190,875 1794 , º e . . 1,284,378 1799 . g & . . 1,124,827 1795 . . . . 1,242,097 | 1800 . . . . 843,900 Total . . . . 6, 109,600 Total . . . . 5,619,782 48. A decrease of half a million barrels in five years. The corn-spirit distilled in Ireland was— In 1798 . º e º º & . gallons 4,783,954 In 1799 . & ſº e º e * e , 4,253,187 In 1800 g º e º º e e . . 3,621,498 It would be tedious to proceed with statements so incon- trovertible. A sufficient number have been adduced to refute the assertion, that Ireland progressed so much in commerce at the close of the last century. Notwithstanding all the factitious aid of bounties most lavishly supplied, and although a large number of English troops were sent to Ireland in 1798-99, and 1800, whose expenditure has always been considered advan- tageous to the trade of the country,-yet did the commerce of Ireland decline. The petitions to the Irish Parliament from 1781 to 1800, show that even under a Resident Legislature the domestic manufac- tures of Ireland languished—Thus: 1781, 30th October, petition from Cork, Manufacturers and Artificers in the utmost distress “for small sums and materials;” similar petition from Wexford, 6th December, 1781. > -s; 1783, 31st October, Dublin petitioned for duties on imported goods, “to re-establish the almost ruined manufactures;” petitions - from Dublin, Cork, Queen's County, Carrick-on-Suir, Roscrea, \ and other places, representing that Ireland was “pregnant with the most alarming circumstances of distress.” 1793, parishioners of St. Luke's, in the Liberty of Dublin, petition that the produce of their labour as manufacturers “afforded them a very scanty subsistence;” and that, “within the preceding twenty gears, the parish had declined considerably in value.” 1794, the Corporation for the Relief of the Poor of Dublin petitioned for aid. 1797, petitions from the Corporations of Carpenters and Brick- layers, and also from the Journeymen Carpenters, who declared that “they were reduced to the utmost distress by want of em- ployment.” 49 THE WoollBN TRADE.-1783, the Broad-cloth Manufacturers of Dublin represent themselves in a state of “unparalleled dis- tress.” A similar petition from the working Worsted Weavers. 1787, the Woollen and Worsted Manufacturers of Dublin represent their great distress, and pray for aid to avert the neces- sity of turning their workmen adrift.—Ditto from Cork. - 1788, the Woollen Manufacturers of Dublin and Cork repre- sent the decline of their trade. 1793, a petition was received from the Irish Woollen Manu- facturers generally, stating inability to continue employing the working people, of whom there were “nearly fifteen thousand in wretchedness, who would perish unless relieved.” 1793, petition from the working Worsted Weavers, &c., of Dublin, represent that they were then reduced “ to penury and famine.” - 1800, report showing that the Woollen Trade had decayed throughout Ireland; and that the manufacture of ratteens and coarse woollen goods had rapidly declined, and was nearly destroyed. THE SILK TRADE-1788, a petition from the Manufacturers of Sattinets, &c., in Dublin, representing that they had laboured under insupportable distress during the preceding year, and that more than one-half of the working manufacturers were then, “ by want of employment, reduced to a degree of wretchedness beyond description.” 1793, a petition from the working Silk Manufacturers of Dublin, representing that silk-weaving was “nearly annihilated ;” that “in 1791, twelve hundred looms were engaged in silk fabrics in Dublin,” and that nine-tenths of the persons then employed were subsequently reduced to penury, and were a burden on their fellow-citizens. CoTTON AND Hosiery TRADEs.-1793, the Hosiers of Dublin represent their trade rapidly on the decline. 1793, the Irish Cotton Manufacturers represent that they were no longer able to give employment. - 1788. The Sovereign and Inhabitants of Belfast petitioned for 50 the enactment of an additional tax on the exportation of cattle, stating that the curing trade was much diminished by such exportations. - - 1792 (March 9th). Petition from the Shoemakers of Dublin, representing that the remuneration for their labour was insuf- ficient, and their branch of trade gone to decay. •’ 1796 (Feb. 5). Petition from Book-Printers in Dublin, stating that the publishing trade had been nearly extinguished by the duties charged on paper. 1797 (Feb. 21). Petition from the Tanners of Dublin, repre- senting the great stagnation of their trade, and their inability to purchase, in 1795, within 10,000 of the number of hides bought in 1794. - 1783 (Nov. 18). The Hatters represent their distress. 1787 (Feb. 15). The Merchants and Shopkeepers of Dublin represent the bad state of trade, and the ruin of Irish manu- factures. - - 1787 (March 2). Petition representing the frequent failure of Dublin Shopkeepers. 1797. Builders of Dublin represent distress, and petition against a Building Act for the protection of houses from fire. These convincing facts require no other comment than that they prove incontrovertibly, that Ireland rapidly retrograded in commerce and manufactures from 1782 to 1800—and that one of the main arguments in favour of repealing the Union is entirely without foundation. Ö CHAPTER III. Commercial, Shipping, and Manufacturing Prosperity of Ireland since the Union Demonstrated. THE Union has so loudly been termed the “ desolating- withering Union,” that the people of England may think, that where there is much noise there must necessarily be some truth. Never, however, was there a more untrue statement palmed on the public, than that Ireland has been injured by her Union with England. The buildings and public works undertaken since the Union, even in Dublin (as detailed in the preceding Chapter), show that Government has not even been neglectful of the Irish capital; but the principal points for consideration are, the amount in value and the quantity of imports and exports; the consumption of excisable articles by the people, and the indica- tions of social progress. Previous to the Union, every effort was made by the Irish Parliament to aggrandise Dublin, at the expense of Belfast, Cork, Waterford, &c. This was so appa- rent, that the merchants at the outports were among the first to petition the Irish Parliament and His Majesty for a legis- lative junction with Great Britain. Dublin had a monopoly of Ireland, as much as Paris had at one time of France, or London of England previous to the rise of Liverpool, &c. The Union altered this unnatural state of things, and which might be aptly compared to an enlarged viscus, the liver for instance, while the whole frame was weak, and dependent for existence on the repeated administration of stimulants. I commence an examination of the two periods, (prior and subsequent to the Union) with the amount of tonnage belonging to the several ports of Ireland, at the end of the last century and at the latest period in Moreau's tables; and let it be remembered, that by the invention and increase of steam navi- gation (the greater part of which is owned by English and Scotch ports), one steaming vessel performs the duty of nearly ten sailing ones, and consequently the amount of tonnage belong- 52 ing to Irish ports would, were it not for a vast increase of com- merce, be materially diminished. TonNAGE BELONGING To, AND REGISTERED AT, THE SEVERAL IRISH PORTS, at periods of Three Years each, prior and subsequent to the Union. Increase be- Ye Year Years Years Name of Port, 1%. igº. Increase. 1833-34- ºl. nºt 99. 26. 35. and 42. Periods. Tons. Tons, Tons. Tons. Tons, Tons, Belfast . . 13,062 48,511 35,449 81,322 149,809 || 136,747 Londonderry . 2,856 8,628 5,772 17,689 26,155 23,299 Cork . . . . 13,424 17,101 3,677 || 56,751 | 101,349 87,925 Dublin. . 33,485 54,824 20,339 70,405 || 94,742 61,257 Drogheda . . . 2,996 || 7,354 4,358 9,704 || 14,507 11,511 Donaghadee . 2,234 5,158 2,914 In other ports. Baltimore 3,965 7,250 3,375 7,274 8,291 4,326 Kinsale 4,853 9,442 4,589 In other ports. Wexford . 6,884 || 15,280 8,396 | 19,425 | 26,098 19,214 Limerick . 3,390 4,316 926 10,000 || 42,247 38,857 Larne . 2,877 4,467 1,590 Included Kilrush I10Ele. 974 974 in other ports. Newry. 12,492 27,402 || 14,910 22,492 || 32,720 20,228 Sligo . . 346 1,451 1,105 4,042 13,030 12,684 Tralee . & 540 1,346 806 In other ports. Waterford . 8,929 12,362 3,433 34,345 60,346 51,417 Other Ports . . tº º e G e ‘º 4,323 * * Total Irish Ton- g nage registered - during those 112,333 |225,866 112,613 337,772 569,294 || 467,465 periods Total Tonnage from Great Bri- $ 1,514,261|2,013,178, 499,917 |4,254,02013,499,944 5,014,205 tain to Ireland The Tonnage for three years before the Union was . 112,333 Ditto 39 9 3 ending 1842 . 569,304 Increase on three years’ tons . 456,971 The foregoing table is a most important one, in refutation of the assertion, that the Union has been a curse to Ireland. Here we find that even the tonnage belonging to the port of Dublin increased by more than sixty-one thousand tons on a period of three years; that Belfast augmented its shipping property by 128,000 tons; and that almost every other outport has more than doubled or trebled its tonnage since the Union, viz., Limerick, Newry, Wexford, Londonderry, Drogheda, and Sligo ; in fact, on every point of the Irish coast ! Let me be permitted to corro- * The Parliamentary returns from which the figures are taken, numbered 207 and 216 of 1843, and 204 of 1842. The last-named return has not the vessels under fifty tons, but an estimate is given by the other returns. 53 borate this statement as I did the corresponding one in the preceding chapter, by referring to the number and tonnage of vessels built in Ireland prior and subsequent to the Union, although the latter is subject to the effect of steam navigation, which diminishes the actual number of vessels required for commerce.* Number of SHIPs and Amount of TonnaGE, of Wessels built in Ireland, at two Periods of Ten Years each, prior and subsequent to the Union. - No. of Ships. Tons. From 1790 to 1799 g 332 º g 6 . 15,957 From 1821 to 1830 gº tº . . 415 . & & . . 20,733 Increase on latter period g . 83 g . . . 4,776 From 1831 to 1841 & & No Returns • © gº The ten years ending 1830 are derived from the Westminster Review for July, 1831, and a reference to it will show that the number of ships built in Ireland increased more in proportion than in England or Scotland ; while in 1817 and 1818, before steam cut up the sailing vessels, there were built in Ireland 151 ships, the tonnage of which was 5,612; and in 1796-97 there were but 41 ships, the tonnage of which was only 2,579 tons, being an increase of 110 ships and 3,033 tons on a comparative period of two years before and since the Union. - By a Table at p. 55 it will be seen that during five years, end- ing January 1843, the tonnnage of vessels built in Ireland was 19,297; thus, far exceeding the ten years preceding the Union. The improvement in the trade of Ireland, and even of Dublin, will be more fully seen by the following table. * The genius of the Irish people is decidedly more warlike than commercial while they remain in their own country; and from the long state of feudalism in which they have existed, commerce has not yet been considered with the attention it deserves. The same was the case with France, until the revolution of 1830, for a few years previous to which France made great strides in mercantile prosperity. The disposition of the French is becoming more individually selfish, as that of com- mercial people always is ; and the accumulation of wealth by trade is now more sought after. The same process is taking place in Ireland; but in Dublin, and particularly in the large towns, a tradesman, if he be at all connected with a shop, is looked down on with the greatest contempt by the gentry, who, like the Suwars of India, pique themselves solely on their purity of blood, and would rather see their children perish than that they should attempt to earn a livelihood by trade. Such beggarly and dishonourable pride is subsiding gradually; and if a period of ten or fifteen years’ internal tranquillity were secured, Ireland would make rapid strides in maritime commerce and national prosperity. PART II. F § ToNNAGE entered Inward into IRELAND, at Three Periods, (DUBLIN and the Outports.) Years. Dublin. Outports. | Total. ||Years. Dublin. Outports. Total. Years. Dublin. Outports. Total. ||Years. Dublin, Outports. Total. Tons. Tons. | TOnS. Tons. Tom S. | Tons. Tons. | Tons. | TOns. # à TOnS, 3-, $ 4 1794. 255,780 374,726 630,506 || 1817 . 344,160 | 609,852 954,012 ||1831 , || 470,548 || 1,054,567 1,525,115 || 183g . 5 # 1,718,543 1797. 255,979 378,295 634,274 || 1818 . 304,420 603,362 907,782 ||1832 . 464,757 | 1,057,439 1,522, 196 || 1840 . g $—t 1,948, 186 1798. 289.979 || 458,450 748,429 || 1819 . 336,149 687,771 | 1,023,920 ||1888 . . 496,239 1,174,576 1,670,815 ||1841 . 3 $2 1,944,285 1795. 217,710 || 368,700 || 586,410 || 1820 . 302,341 || 624,260 926,601 ||1834 . 508,101 | 1,181,309 | 1,689,410 || 1842 . § à 1,875,511 1796. 243,160 349,365 592,525 || 1821 . 322,682 838,853 | 1,161,535 ||1335 . 528,163 | 1,231,803 | 1,759,966 || 1843 . # 3. 1,930,236 tº *2 TOTAL | 1,262,608 || 1,929,536 |3, 192,144 j|TOTAL 1,609,752 3,364,098 || 4,973,850 |TotAL 2,467,808 || 5,699,694 8,167,502 Ž 3. 9,416,761 Increase between first and last five years, tons, 6,224,617. The following document is amply confirmatory:— STATEMENT of the Number and Tonnage of WESSELS that entered the Ports of GREAT BRITAIN from IRELAND ; and that left the Ports of GREAT BRITAIN for IRELAND, (including the repeated Voyages,) in each Year, from 1801 to 1836.—[Porter's Tables. Part VI. 1836. No. 163.] § INWARDS. OUTwARDs. É INWARDs. OUTWARDS, É INWARDs. OUT WARDS. º INWARDS. OUT WARDS. *ś Dublin . . . . . 2,528,543 || 4,430,321 3 rº-3 Dundalk © o o 452,813 107,953 § # Dungarvan & e & 69,486 16,312 3. § Galway . e e te 251,864 88,268 § 3. Rillala . & tº e 26,396 3,188 : Q) Kilrush º e e 36,158 2,768 rº rº Kinsale Creek . * @ 13,479 18,262 5 5 Larne Creek . . . 66,309 7,255 Q : Limerick . . . . . 726,430 || 323,740 É #: Londonderry . . 1,040,918 || 708,054 f: E Newcastle Creek e tº 3,681 3,156 & 3 Newport Creek . e 2,269 -*=- O O Newry . e © e 616,836 568,711 2. Z. Ross . º º e 59,074 28,007 Strangford & e & 79,633 20,498 Sligo . - Q e 369,490 124,692 Tralee . e e tº 42,315 7,270 Waterford . Q . 1,821,245 1,274,154 Wexford . & tº g 312,136 621,417 Westport . o e 87,805 28,517 Wicklow . © © tº 86,565 15,671 Youghal º - e 215,316 28,310 Total . & . . 17.394,811 |15,337,097 At the period of the Union, the exports and imports were valued at 10,000,000l. ; in 1835 they are given at more than 32,000,000l. ; and now in 1840, they may be quoted at 40,000,000l. : many of these ports, indeed, had no existence in 1800, not even as fishing-harbours. In the same return is stated the imports for the same years 1825 and 1835; the principal items of which are as follow :- Coals, 1825, tons, 738,453, and 1835, tons, 1,101,378; cot- ton manufactures, 4,996,885, and 14,172,000 yards; woollen 65 ditto, 3,384,918 and 7,884,000 yards; tea, 3,889,658 and 4,794,316 lbs. ; coffee, 335,921 and 1,205,762 lbs. ; tobacco, 3,904,036 and 4,467,746 lbs. The total estimated value was, in 1825, 8,596,785l., and in 1835, 10,918,4597. The tonnage had increased by nearly 300,000 tons. These are strange proofs of decaying commerce and crippled industry. - The export trade of Ireland between 1825 and 1835, is thus shown in the second Report of the Railway Commissioners in 1838, and it exhibits a remarkable prosperity. Let it be remem- bered, that the coasting trade is excluded. The following is an abstract of the most material items: on all, there has been a striking increase. RETURN, showing the QUANTITY and ESTIMATED TONNAGE of the ExpoRTs of IRELAND, eaclusive of Coasting Trade, in the Years 1825 and 1835.—APPENDIx B. No. 10. ES E COMMODITIES. QUANTITY. jº QUANTITY. 1825. 1835. 1825. 1835. 1842, - Tons. Tons. Cows and Oxen. number 63,524 98,150 21,174 32,716 Horses. do. 3,140 4,655 | 1,570 2,327 Sheep. do. 72,191 125,452 2,187 3,801 Swine . do. 65,919 376, 191 4,394 25,079 Wheat, quarters 283,340 420,522 || 70,835 | 105,130 Barley . . . . do. 154,822 168,946 30,964 33,789 Oats - do. 1,503,204 1,575,984 250,534 262,664 Other Grain . . do. 23,832 39,637 5,958 9,909 Meal and Flour cwts. 599,124 1,984,480; 29,956 99,224 Potatoes do. - 223,398 *g 11,169 Bacon and Hams do. 362,278 379,111 | 18,113 18,955 res Butter do. 474,161 | 827,009 || 23,708 || 41,350 # Lard . . do. 35,261 70,267 1,763 3,513 § number — 52,244,800 — 1,865 3. Eggs ... < crates - 2,275 — ($82 Q boxes - 10,695 — 1,069 a Feathers. . cwtS. - 6,432 321 ă Hides and Calf * Skins } number - 57,657 1,441 É Wool, Sheep Ubales *- 33 || – 9 E and Lambs' ſ lbs. - 764,184 || – 341 3 #. º Tow . cwts. 54,898 163,949 2,744 8,197 ź ºpe: | do. - 477,660 || – 23,883 Beer . ... gallons - 2,686,688 º 11,994 tº yards |55,114,515||70,209,572| 9,185 11.701 Linen . ... < boxes * 134 * 22 Silk M bales - 7 tººs 3 ill; fac- tur * * l yards - 8,400 tº- I Woollen Manu- º | do. - 100,320 — I6 Total º . 473,085 711,17] 66 In order to substantiate the truth of the foregoing documents, the following abstract of a portion of the extensive and elaborato Report of a Select Committee of the House of Commons in 1830, on the “State of the Irish Poor” is given. If these data had been carried down to 1840, they would present a still fur- ther striking proof of commercial progress. “STATE of TRADE.-The view which your Committee have thus taken of the increasing wealth of Ireland, is fully confirmed by considering the state of her commerce. In Sir Charles Whitworth's Tables, the exports of all Ireland to Great Britain, during the seven years from 1723 to 1729, amounted in value to 2,307,7221. In 1829, the exports from the single port of Water- ford reached 2,136,934l. ; a sum less by 170,000l. only, than the whole trade of Ireland for seven years, a century previously. The following table exhibits the progress of the cross-channel trade since the Union, the amount being given in official values. Years. Exports to Great Britain. Imports from all parts. 1801 . . 3,270,350. . 4,621,344 1805 . . 4,067,717 . 5,294,967 1809 . . 5,316,557 . 6,896,821 1813 . 6,746,353 . 5,797,286 1817 . . 4,722,766. . 5,646,563 1821 te © . . 5,338,838 . tº . . 6,407,427 1825 . . . . 7,048,936 . . . . 8,596,785 1835* . . . . 17,394,813 . . 15,337,077 1842 . º gº g ſº No Returns. “Great as has been the progress of the exports of Ireland, the increased consumption of British manufactures has been still more rapid. The quantity of British manufactures consumed in Ireland has quadrupled since the year 1793, whilst the quantity of Irish produce has little more than tripled in the same period. But as the exports of Ireland consist almost exclusively of raw produce, in order to estimate the exact condition of the country, as marked by increasing consumption, your Committee direct the particular attention of the house to the following Table, which gives the increasing amount of cotton manufactures, cotton- wool, tallow, and coals imported from Great Britain into Ireland.” * I give the year 1835 from the Railway Commissioners' Report in 1838. R., M. 6 Cotton Manu- Cotton Wool, | Tallow, Coals. Years. º ibs. CWts. tons. 1801 44,314 147,028 16,679 315,345 1805 59,874 569,268 7,171 412,515 1809 205,110 1,242,864 4.08 402,040 1813 214,783 1,319,920 8,726 517,047 1817 541,900 971,922 3,590 712,988 1821 968,369 1,627,994 35,550 651,902 1825 & g 4,996,885 4,065,930 131,912 738,453 1835 %. © 14,172,000 + 1,101,378 1842 No returns. No returns. The table at the back shows that, notwithstanding the repeal of various Custom duties, and the recent practice of introducing articles into Ireland that have already paid duty in Great Britain, there has been no diminution in the Custom Duties. The Customs duties of Dublin even have increased from 669,4991. in 1829, to 977,718l. in 1841—being an increase of 308,219l. The total Customs duty of Ireland was in 1829 1,585,476l. ; in 1841, 2,254,771., being an increase of 569,304l. It may be remarked that during the latter years given in this Table, the Customs duty in Great Britain was stationary or declining. Note.—While these pages are passing through the press (21st Oct., 1843), the Dublin Freeman's Journal gives the following details of the Customs duties of Dublin, for the last quarter, which corroborate every other fact as to the improving state, not only of Ireland generally, but also of Dublin — - “The amount of duties paid at the Custom-house of this port, for the quarter ended the 10th inst., gives an excess of 12,000l. over the receipts of the corresponding period of last year; 265,000l. being received in 1843, while 253,000l. only was had in 1842. “In the sum of 253,000l. taken in the October quarter of 1842 was 12,000l. paid for corn, while the sum for corn received this season did not amount to 1,000l. This would give an increase in favour of the quarter just ended of clear 22,000l. in the duties received on teas, wines, sugars, tobacco, spirits, wood, goods, and the various other articles which are rated under the tariff to pay on importation. “In some other articles a great increase has taken place, but in others a falling off has occurred. “Tea has swoln from 80,600l., the amount received in the October quarter of 1842, to 87,400l. this quarter. Wine has also given into the Exchequer more than double the sum it did for the same time the last year. In 1842, the quarter produced only 18,800l. ; 1843, 38,900l. “In the article of tobacco a diminution of over 3,000l. has taken place in the receipts, the quarter of 1842 giving 69,800l., that of 1843 only 66,600l. “Spirits of foreign produce are likewise declining in consumption, the amount received this quarter being only 3,4067. Last year they gave a revenue of something near 5,000l. in the three months. “The quantity of sugar liberated ſroin the bonded warehouses during the quarter just ended does not materially differ from last year, the duties being 58,000l. received then, against 58,400l., the receipts of last year. “The direct imports of that article into Dublin have increased this year one-third. During the year up to October, 1842, they were 112,586 cwt. ; in 1843 they have reached 149,782 cwt.” * From Railway Commissioners’ Report. º † No returns obtainable ; but the increase may be presumed to be in the same proportion as the other two items. & An Account of the Amount of DUTIES of CUSTOMs collected in each Revenue District in IRELAND, in each Year since 1828. PORTS OF IRELAND. GROSS PRODUCE OF CUSTOMS DUTIES, (Excluding Casual and Miscellaneous Receipts.) YE A. R. S. 1829. 1830. 1831. 1832, 1833. l834. 1835. 1836. 1837. I838. 1839. 1840. 1841. 36 sć 36 36 36 sć sº sº só 36 36 36 36 Dublin 669,499 669,181| 647,568| 685,765 652,090 761,832 768,632 918,807| 898,630 859,759| 850,932, 889,564. 977,718 Baltimore . . . 982 943| 735 958 859| 1,031| 1,041 2,151 1,408 1,078 822, 1,731 960 º 259,399. 237,044, 201,947 216,280. 228,945. 288,756| 289,025, 357,975 366,718 324,870 316,175 365,023| 372,792 Coleraine . . . .] 3,173| 4,228 3,282| 2,820 2,404 2,046; 2,091 3,271; 4,689| 5,785| 4,211 5,079 6,581 *} 196,286] 185,664. 191,495, 180,167| 191,884 196,519, 198,089. 217,789| 239,904 221,411 237,118, 256,612| 263,364 Drogheda 12,130 14,814 12,238 8,989 10,193 15,347 15,366 9,477| 13,382| 13,106| 10,939| 7,979| 8,608 Dundalk . . 12,378 9,988 7,493 5,254 4,473| 4,460 4,497| 3,618 4,514 15,059 15,179| 20,128 24,904 Galway . . 48,400 36,160 35,039| 27,636 31,246. 38,185| 38,308|| 31,133 31,769| 28,641| 26,199| 27,465 27,768 Limerick, including - - Clare, Kilrush, and 85,707| 84,782 97,293. 112,665. 117,545 136,775|| 136,910 142,844. 146,222 141,174] 151,869 169,490. 170,552 Tralee. º Lºuis } 74,369|| 72,911| 73,792 73,702 72,526 87,022 87,470 100,088 99,652 100,057 94,583. 103,900 108,507 Newry and Strangford 55,202 46,223| 46,682 41,358 43,179 50,028; 51,083 54,081 58,806 49,292 46,543. 47,707| 67,344 Sligo, including Killybegs 46,150 39,437 33,162 26,630 28,671 34,679| 34,916| 33,703 35,863. 32,120 33,095. 32,689| 36,627 Waterford, including Ross 116,033 111,337 108,293. 114,984. 115,936 124,920 125,029| 135,845| 137,126 145,670. 151,283| 196,388 168,359 Westport and Newport . 868 1,066 404 404 416 508 597 452 57.7 1,779 5,044 7,554 10,951 Wexford and Wicklow .. 4,891 7,048 4,195 5,700 5,653 4,083 4,087| 4,920 6,306 6,049, 7,458, 9,357, 9,736 Total .1,585,4761,520,833|1,463,6231,503,3201,506,0261,746,199||1,756,131|2,016,1542,045,5661,945,850|1,951,4502,140,666.2,254,771 69 We may now proceed to examine the allegation that England destroyed the manufactures of Ireland by the Union. The authorities examined will be various, and their testimony, it is hoped, conclusive. - Mr. Spring Rice, now Lord Monteagle, in his valuable speech in the House of Commons, 23rd April, 1834, on the Repeal question, quoted several letters, showing the existing state of manufactures in Ireland. The following is from a gentleman of the highest authority in the city of Dublin, giving an account of the state of manufactures there — “The state of our manufacturing interest cannot well be described in any general terms. With reference to the calico-printers, for example, the factory at Stratford, so many years carried on by the Orrs, and that at Ball’s-bridge, by the Duffeys, are both bankrupt, while Mr. Henry's establishment, in the same line, at Island-bridge, is in a highly prosperous state. It is conducted with such enterprise and skill, that its fabrics are in great demand in the Scotch and English markets, whither they are sent in considerable quantities. I have authority for saying that the value of the goods consigned by this house to these markets during the last year amounted to about 90,000l., exclusive of the home demand. (Thus it will be seen that our goods are already in the British market.) The silk trade has already exhibited a decided improvement. The tabinet-weavers are now fully employed, and the other branches are in a better condition than for these several years past ; a good deal of raw silk has been lately sent from England to be thrown here and returned. Of several branches of manufacture that were formerly sustained by the artificial, and sometimes the fraudulent, advantages derived from bounties, drawbacks, and pro- tecting duties,” some have been destroyed, and others deeply injured by the dis- continuance of such support. There is reason, however, to hope, that some of them at least will ultimately recover. But if some of our manufactures have been prostrated, others have risen in their place ; and as the latter owe nothing to adven- titious aids, but chiefly consist in the preparation of the staple products of the coun- try, they have the best chance of stability and permanence. Of these, the export trade in porter is perhaps the most remarkable—a trade which a short time ago was unheard of. A vast exportation of Dublin porter is now going on to almost all parts of England, and it is with some difficulty that the demand can be supplied. Guinness led the way, and has been followed by almost all the other brewers, Daniel O’Connell & Co. inclusive. It appears from official Returns, that in the year 1797 the quantity of English ale and porter imported into Ireland was 67,188 barrels. The annual export of porter from Dublin alone now nearly equals that quantity, and at the present rate of increase will soon greatly exceed it. A consi- derable and increasing portion of the Irish wheat exported to England is now in the shape of flour. Since the repeal of the duties on leather, a favourable change has taken place in the nature of that trade. Raw leather is now brought from England, and the manufactured article exported thither, with every pros- * The protecting duties varied from 25 to 50 er cent. on different branches of manufactures.—R. M. M. PART II. - G 70 pect of a considerable extension in this traffic. Formerly all the sheet-lead, lead-pipes, and shot used in Ireland, came from England ; now they are manu- factured at home. Within these few years past, two extensive manufactories of oil of vitriol, bleaching-powders, Glauber's salts, &c., have been established near Dublin. They are in a thriving state, and export considerable quan- tities of those articles to England. A factory for sail-cloth, flax-spinning, &c., has been established since the Union, and exports largely to England. Norought the iron-works upon the Liffey, belonging to Mr. Robinson, to he overlooked, where steam-engines, metal machinery of all sorts, iron hoops, &c., are fabricated of the best description, and on an extensive scale.” The manufacture of machinery, which has of late years sprung up in Ireland, affords a good proof that trade is thriving. The construction of steam-engines and other machinery is now successfully undertaken in Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Limerick, and other places. It has been rightly stated, that the woollen trade of Dublin, and other manufactures, have felt the benefit of the repeal of the duties on coals prayed for by Ireland. A respectable correspon- dent, in reference to former times, says that— “The principal seat of the manufacture of woollen cloth in Ireland was in Dublin, and its boasted extent and prosperity for many years immediately preced- ing the Union, consisted in the employment of about 300 looms and 2000 indi- viduals, including spinners, weavers, dressers, and all others engaged in the manufacture. However small this number may appear, it can be shown to be tolerably correct by a knowledge of the quantity of raw materials which was then to be procured. English wool was not allowed to us until the Union; Spanish had ceased to be imported for cloth-making. We had, therefore, none to work but Irish wool, fit only for the coarser descriptions of cloth, and the quantity grown in the whole country not exceeding, at the very utmost,8000 bags of fifty stone each, or 400,000 stones for all the woollen, worsted frieze, blanket, and flannel manu- factures of Ireland. Of this about one-fourth was consumed by the Dublin clothiers, the value of which, at 15s. per stone, which is a high average for the time, was only 75,000l., an amount not sufficient for the supply of two moderately- sized Yorkshire factories. Previous to the introduction of carding machinery (which took place about 1793, and was adopted on a very limited scale for some years), the manufacture was at the very lowest ebb, both as to quantity and quality ; but about the year 1801, machinery worked by water power became general, and the trade immediately increased ; but all attempts at improvement were impeded and counteracted by the combinations of the workmen. I must acknow- ledge that this was assisted by the operation of the protecting duties, which now appear to me to have been a principal cause of the continued low state of the Woollen trade, and which Mr. O'Connell promises the workmen to have renewed when the Union is repealed. Those duties were truly stated by Sir H. Parnell, in an interview with some of the manufacturers, to be a protection only to the combi- nation, drunkenness, and indolence of the workmen, without any benefit to the employers. They enabled the men to establish such a scale of prices for their 71 labour, that even in very low-priced cloths, on which the duty would have been nearly a prohibition, we could scarcely compete with the English. One branch of workmen (the slubbers) were paid at a rate by which they could earn 9s, or 10s. per day, while the same kind of work was done in Leeds for ll. to 17. 5s. per week. The weavers, spinners, &c., were paid nearly in the same proportion, and no remon- strance or attempt to reduce those exorbitant wages had any effect on the work- men. These were the real causes of the woollen mannfacture here not keeping pace with the English. But the abolition of the Union duties gave a new impulse to the trade ; it forced the workmen to submit to reasonable terms with their employers, who, in their turn, now find that, by proper exertion, and adopting necessary improvements in machinery, they have nothing to fear from English competition; and were it not for the generally depressed state of trade, arising from the disturbed and agitated state of the country, there would be more woollen cloth manufactured now in the neighbourhood of Dublin than has been at any time for fifty years past. This has been actually the case in several years since the duties were taken off.” With respect to the woollen trade of Kilkenny, the official accounts of the state of that business, as laid before the Factory Inspectors is, that the number of mills worked by water power is eleven. “The woollen manufacture in Kilkenny was always confined to coarse cloths and blankets. Up to the year 1806, the manufacture was carried on by numerous persons in a very small way, all their operations being by manual labour. Subse- quently water power and spring looms were used, and spinning, carding, &c., is now done by machinery. At present there are but few in the trade ; however, I understand there is twice or thrice as much manufactured as previous to 1806. At the Ormonde mills some very excellent carpets have been made ; however, as the proprietor has entered into a contract with the Government to supply all the blankets required by the police in Ireland for three years, he must relinquish this branch, at least for the present.” The woollen trade of Kilkenny, like that of ship-building in T]ublin, and other manufactures throughout Ireland, has been materially injured by combinations among the workmen ; the effects of which were thus described by the late amiable and patriotic Roman Catholic Bishop, Dr. Doyle:— “If artisans, particularly, could be convinced of the evils of combination, very great advantages would result both to themselves and to the community at large ; for their combinations are most injurious to the public interest. The week before I left home I spent a few days in Kilkenny, on a visit with the Catholic Bishop of Ossory. They were at that time disposing in that city of a fund of 300l. or 400l., raised for the relief of the poor. There was a question of setting to work the unemployed weavers, which led to my inquiry into some particulars with respect to them. It was the opinion, however, of these gentlemen, then conversing, that the combinations amongst that description of tradespeople were the chief cause of G 2 72 the almost extinction of the blanket manufacture in Kilkenny ; and though the citizens were then obliged to relieve them out of the public funds, these weavers themselves were the cause of their own misfortunes; for as soon as they disco- vered that a manufacturer had obtained a contract for making blankets, or that there was a demand for goods, they immediately struck, and would not work, unless for very high prices: hence the manufacturers were unable to enter into contracts, lest they should be disappointed, or that too high wages would be extorted from them ; and the consequence was, that the manufacture went down altogether.” In corroboration of Dr. Doyle, the following communication from Dublin is equally important :— “Dublin, 20th April, 1834. “The decline of manufactures in Dublin was not the consequence of the Union, and it would have occurred had the Union never been carried. It was the conse- quence, natural and inevitable, of the combination of the workmen, and of that combination exclusively. “This position admits of proof; for, in one instance, the combination was put down, and the trade, in that instance, was sustained : this was in calico printing. In 1817 the employers succeeded in crushing combination; they resolutely dis- charged their refractory hands—took on and educated others—employed women and boys to do the work which men only had heretofore engrossed; and that trade has thenceforward been at no time, when equal capital, economy, and energy were devoted to it, worse circumstanced in Ireland than in England. In every other department combination succeeded, and, Save in a few solitary instances, the manufacture was lost. If the Union were repealed to-morrow, and a code of protecting duties enacted, every farthing of the burden thus levied on the com- munity would be exacted by the rapacity of the workmen, to be expended in drunkenness, or in the expenses of a combination founded on injustice, and sus- tained by the most frightful outrages—by cold-blooded murder and noon-day assassination.” The lace trade, which has recently been created in Limerick, and now gives employment to about 1,300 young people, is at this moment in jeopardy, by reason of a projected combination and dispute between the workpeople. But it is not only by combination the manufactures are destroyed in Ireland. Within the last year, an enterprising merchant at Cork erected a steam-engine for sawing timber; the Sawyers instantly formed a resolution to destroy him; and a few nights after, a quantity of vitriol was thrown in his face! The London Times, of 22nd of July, 1843, thus narrates another proceeding at Cork:— “A few weeks ago, some enterprising merchants of Cork became tenants of cer- tain mills in that city, for the purpose of erecting sugar-refining works, and thus, 73 by a fair competition, beating the English refiners out of the Irish market. With this design—one which at least was as patriotic as it was prudent—they entered into a contract with a German resident in London to fit up their works. The contractor sent over six foremen to superintend the erection of machinery, and employed more than forty Irishmen, of all trades, to execute the orders of his employers. After the works had proceeded for about a fortnight, it appears that a mob congregated about the building, with the avowed object of interrupting the Englishmen employed in the works. After calling on the ‘Saxons’ to come out, they succeeded in eliciting the head engineer, and informed him, doubtless to his great astonishment, that “he and the other Englishmen should leave Cork next day by the steamer for England, or they would never go home alive.” The dismayed engineer inquired, naturally and innocently enough, “What harm they were doing?” and received for his answer, that “no Englishman should work in Cork, for they would drive out all Saxons from Ireland.” The mob then marched on towards the yard of the establishment, and, just as they were about to enter, were met by one of the proprietors, Mr. J. Evans, who inquired “what they wanted ?’ ‘We have come to demand work, and to order that the Englishmen be discharged,” was the instan- taneous reply. “What ' ' was Mr. Evans’s natural and sensible remonstrance, ‘ would you drive away scientific men who came here to superillend the erection of buildings, and direct the execution of works, which no Irishman is competent to do 3’ The only answer to this was the sullen exclamation, “We’ll have no Saxons in Ireland.’ The colloquy was then interrupted by the arrival of the police, under whose tutelary care the unlucky refiners have since been working. “Now this is, we admit, but a mere trifle in itself. It is but the angry ebullition of 400 unemployed Irish against 6 employed Englishmen. Taken, then, by itself, it might be said to prove nothing but the headstrong folly of poor and ignorant men, whose behaviour deserves pity rather than censure ; but, taken in conjunction with other circumstances, it proves a great deal more. When one recollects that the men who figure so disgracefully in this affair belong to a country which more than any other in Europe yearns for the extension of its relations with other nations—which deplores its involuntary and unmerited exclusion from the cycle of English travel and curiosity—which complains that it is neither known, nor visited, nor cared about, by its ‘Saxon’ neighbours, one cannot help wondering that the presence of a few scientific workmen in Cork should excite such bitter discontent. This is, to say the least, irreconcileable with the general laws of Irish nature : but when one recollects that during the last twelvemonth there has been a continuous and systematic endeavour to arouse the fellest and most deadly hatred in the breasts of Irishmen against their English fellow-subjects—that every irritating topic has been quickly caught at for the purpose of perpetuating dissention—that every past grievance has been raked up and every present wrong magnified and misre- presented, to the injury and discredit of the ‘Saxon’ Government and Legislature, —one is not at a loss to account for this sad and sudden deflection from old habits and old feelings. Nor can one help fearing that this incident—trivial and unim- portant as it may be deemed—sufficiently indicates the direction in which the popular mind of Ireland is being propelled. - “And reflections of this kind are not without their bitterness. No man of common feeling can contemplate the differences of the two countries without pain. No friend of Ireland—no Irishman, however proud, however ultra-national, if only he be honest and just—can help seeing the evil consequences such a state of things must bring upon his country. We will not speak—we will not think—of 74 the extreme and remote consequences which the growth of ill-will between two nations must eventually entail upon the lesser and weaker of the two. We believe these consequences to be, in this case, remote, improbable—nay, impossible ; but we would remind all classes, and especially the working classes of Ireland, that the consequences, the direct, necessary, and immediate consequences, of their fostering such feelings, or of their allowing them to be kept alive by wicked and designing men, will be most ruinous to themselves, their children, and their country. - “For, let them only reflect on the first obvious retaliation to which conduct such as theirs inevitably leads. They drive English workmen out of employment in Ireland. This is stupid, barbarous, and cruel. But it is no less irritating, offensive, and vexatious. It is an offence against the common sense of humanity. But it is no less an offence against the common pride of a nation ; and national pride will have its revenge, albeit the provocation may have been most vulgar and most mean. This is the ordinary cycle of aggressive and retributive wrong : they who commence must be prepared to suffer injustice. If English workmen are Sacrificed to an infatuated bigotry in Ireland, depend upon it that Irish workmen in England will feel the reaction. If English sugar-refiners are menaced or assailed in Cork, Irish bricklayers, Irish porters, and Irish policemen will not be allowed to earn a livelihood in Liverpool and London. “But there is another point of view, less obvious, perhaps, but not less important to our western friends. They complain—they grumble at their want of capital. Did they never consider the best methods of coaxing it among them : They must know— at least their most sensible and clear-headed men must know—that it is not by Parlia- mentary grants and legislative munificence—by charters of monopoly and exclusive privileges—that the commerce of a people is nurtured into a healthy and vigorous existence ; but by the necessities of the times—by the intense exertions of a salient energy—by the prompt activity of hardy competition, and amid conflicting interests and adverse fortunes. It was thus that the trade and commerce of England grew and flourished. It was by protecting the industry and encouraging the ingenuity of the foreign artisan, not by frightening him from our shores ;-it was by alluring the speculative enterprise of the French, the Flemish, and the Lombard capitalist, not by proclaiming death and destruction to him and his followers :-it was by Soliciting the presence and imitating the example of whatever was admirable in art, bold in enterprise, and vast in design, that England collected in her territory the aggregate commerce of the world. “We offer these remarks to the considerate notice of our Irish friends. The course which England has pursued with success cannot be an unfortunate one for Ireland. Let her profit by the example. There are those who say that the true sources of Irish poverty are to be found in the Irish character, its want of firmness, of enterprise, of perseverance. They say that the Irish are too volatile to work, too excitable to grow rich. We disbelieve them ; and we call on Irishmen themselves to give the strongest possible refutation to this calumny. Let them, one and all, do their best to discourage the present unhappy agitation, which (to use the language of the Armagh grand jury) “is preventing the investment of capital in the country, withdrawing the attention of the people from habits of industry, and teaching them to rely more on the delusive promises of interested agitators than on their own active exertions for the improvement of their condition.” This done, we have no fears for the eventual prosperity of the country, and the comforts of its labouring classes.” 75 With reference to the linen trade, a letter from a gentleman in Ulster, of the highest authority on this subject, is to this effect:— “It is frequently stated that the trade has fallen off greatly within the last forty years, say since the year 1792. This, I am sure, is a very great error ; the trade has greatly changed, but certainly, in the aggregate, not fallen off. Forty years ago there was more than double the present number of bleach-greens ; but those at present employed do a much greater business than formerly. In fact, I can name in this county (Antrim) ten bleaching concerns that at present finish more goods than the forty most extensive greens in the year 1790; and I know ten establishments that have, within the last year, exported more than 50,000l. value each of limen to foreign markets. I also know four manufacturers that have, within the last year, manufactured upwards of 30,000l. in value each. This could not have been accomplished but for the facilities of procuring mill-spun yarn. Previous to the period formerly stated, (1790,) there was no such thing as brown linen exported from Ireland. In fact, I am certain there is a great increase in quantity, in place of falling off. You are aware that the Irish Parliament pro- hibited the importation of foreign yarns and flax. Great Britain, more wise, did no such thing, but imported both, from wherever they could be had cheapest and best. So much for the wisdom and advantage of an Irish Parliament 1.” The following account of the linen trade comes from another, and an equally good authority:- “I feel considerable confidence in stating my opinion, that the present condition of the trade is more wholesome and satisfactory than at any former period within the bounds of my experience. “Great and important changes have resulted from the abandonment of the system of bounties on exports, from the improvement in machinery, and from the application of more extended capital ; all of which have, however, tended to expel the Smaller manufacturers, dealers, and bleachers, and to diminish profits ; but they have secured to the consumer a more perfect and regularly-manufactured fabric, and at a vastly cheaper rate ; and they have enabled us to see more clearly our capabilities of carrying on the manufacture in competition with the linen manufactures of the Continent. “The result of the whole is satisfactory. We are now certain that we can manu- facture almost every description of linen, except lace and fine cambric, as cheap and as well, periaps cheaper and better, than any other country”. The improvements in bleaching, also, having been placed on a more secure basis by Science and experience, have contributed to raise the character of our goods, and I feel confident those causes will continue further to operate in advancing the character of Irish linens. “The bounties on export, though so long regarded as the only support of our manufacture of coarse fabrics, encouraged the production of extremely low and worthless articles, on the value of which the bounty became a handsome profit; and such goods were, of course, despised when brought into comparison with those of the Continent in foreign markets. A better description is now made for export, and the character of the Irish manufacture is advancing. “The machinery for spinning yarn has been improved to a degree that has out- run the most sanguine expectations. * The French manufacturers complain that the Irish cambrics are now beating the French cambrics in the London market, 76 “The extension of spinning-mills is now most rapid. We have had several small mills for many years, and for the last three or four, one very large one, all of which have prospered ; and so many are now starting up in every quarter, that there is much danger of the demand being overrun by the supply which may soon be expected. “The spinning by machinery has also tended to encourage the application of large capital to the manufacturer.” In the Report of Mr. R. M. Muggeridge, on the recent Hand Loom Weavers’ Commission, the following testimony is adduced to show the present state of the linen trade; there being no returns whatever kept of the quantity manufactured:— “Mr. William Kirk, of Annevale, a member of the linen committee of the county Armagh, says, “I think the linen trade in Ireland is increasing, and will greatly increase, if, by prudent commercial treaties, our present opening to the continent of Europe is extended.” “Mr. William Miller, of Ross Lodge, Antrim, a member of the linen committee of the county Antrim, states, “ There has been an increase in the linen trade of Bal- lymena within the last seven years.” “Mr. Thomas Eyre, of Blackwatertown, a member of the counties Tyrone and Armagh committees, writes: “I should say there is no great change in the quantity of linens manufactured ; but taking the province of Ulster altogether, it is increasing.’ “Mr. Alexander Hunter, an extensive manufacturer at Dunmurry, near Cole- raine, says, “I think it much increasing, and caused by mill-spun yarn.” “Mr. Joseph MºRee, a large manufacturer at Keady, county Armagh, and mem- ber of the linen committee for that county, says, “I am of opinion that the linen trade is much on the increase.” “Mr. James Murland, a very extensive manufacturer, and member of the county Down committee, says, “ There is not a doubt that the linen trade is increasing.’ “Thomas M. Birnie, Esq., a magistrate, and member of the county Antrim committee, says—‘Increasing.’ “Mr. John Walker of Magherafelt, writes: ‘I am of opinion the linen trade of Ireland is increasing in quantity.” “Mr. Carey M'Clellan, of Larchmount, a member of the county Derry com- mittee, states: “I consider the trade increasing at present.’” The state of the manufactures in Belfast and its vicinity is still more important. One of the principal manufacturers in that district says:— “I could not furnish you with a correct comparative statement of the relative state of manufactures previous to 1800, as most of the mills at that time were on a small scale, and so imperfect in machinery that they had almost ceased to work ; but this I can safely say, and in this opinion I am supported by Mr. Stevenson and other intelligent gentlemen, that one single concern would now produce more cotton-yarn than all the mills in the north of Ireland produced previous to 1800. You will observe that a number of mills for spinning linen-yarn have lately been 77 erected ; and whilst the linen trade is evidently decreasing, this new branch of trade seems likely to fill its place, with much benefit to the country, as, this being the seat of the linen-trade, it affords a ready sale for yarn ; and as the cultivation of flax has always been considerable, the spinners are likely to have a good supply of the material, and the farmers a fair price for their produce. At present, four of our most extensive printing concerns are employed printing for the Man- chester market, thus coping with the English printer at his own door. I am clearly of opinion that it was the protecting duties that retarded our advancement in the improvement of our manufactures, by preventing that free and fair compe- tition, without which there can be no improvement. For example, if we are pro- tected by a duty of ten per cent., our prices must rise to that extent, or the manufacturers are not benefited by it ; thus, by increasing the price of our goods, we effectually shut ourselves out of all markets but our own ; and in order to secure a home trade, we shut ourselves out from all the world beside ; yet a return to this very system is one of the advantages promised us by an Irish legis- lature. It was difficult to procure a sufficient number of weavers, or even common labourers; indeed it is a great satisfaction to be enabled to state, that at no period have the people here been so generally employed and so comfortably off, as, in addition to constant employment, they have provisions at a reasonable rate. A great increase and improvement has taken place in the foundry and mill-wright business, and I can say with safety that no part of England can produce better steam-engines than have lately been manufactured by Messrs. Coates and Young, of this place. But the man must be blind, indeed, who can shut his eyes to the fact, that in all those outward appearances which would strike a stranger in a foreign country as indicative of prosperity, wealth, improvement in education, arts, and sciences, we have been gradually and certainly improving ; for, whether we look at the increase and improvement of gentlemen's residences, the luxurious mode of living of our merchants and manufacturers, with the increase of carriages and other vehicles, the improvement in the dress and living of our mechanics, or in the improved costume of the lower class of labourers, everything denotes a country rising in civilisation: The friends of Repeal will reply that this improvement is confined to the north of Ireland. Whence then arises this great difference in the same country $ We in the north attribute our prosperity to our free and unfet- tered intercourse with England and Scotland ; and there are few, indeed, here, of any experience, who would not predict injury to our agriculture, stagnation to our commerce, and ruin to our staple manufacture, by any measure calculated to check that free intercourse with our neighbours, which we consider has been so beneficial to our country.” In the Hand-loom Weavers' Commission Report in 1840, Mr. C. G. Otway completely substantiates the preceding remarks, and describes Banbridge, the principal seat of the linen manufacture of the north of Ireland. “The numerous falls, and the extensive water-power afforded by the river Ban and its tributaries, the undulatory formation of the surface of the country, so well adapted for bleach-greens, the central position of the district, as regarded the great linen-weaving counties, and its contiguity to Belfast, attracted, at an early period, attention as a favourable location for the investment of capital in the linen 78 trade. Between Banbridge and Guilford, some of the first manufacturers who invested large capital in the linen trade, established themselves, and here the great experiment of placing the linen trade of Ireland on a new foundation was tried : the great subdivision of the capital invested in the linen trade, the want of a proper division of labour being applied to it, and a direct market for the disposal of the produce year after year, rendered it more apparent that it could not be longer continued on its former system. All the attempts on the part of the Legislature to protect the trade, and the Linem Board to encourage it, had only aggravated the evils they intended to remedy. On the repeal of the protecting duties, and the introduction of mill-spun yarn into England and Scotland, it became evident to the capitalists of the north of Ireland, either that the linen trade should be placed on a new foundation and conducted on the improved principles that were being applied to its manufactures in the other portions of the United Kingdom, or that Ireland should lose its linen trade altogether. The question became not as to whether the employment of limen-weavers by extensive manufacturers, and confining them to the mere process of weaving, was or was not more advantageous than the old system, where the producer of the raw material, the weaver of the cloth, and the merchant who disposed of it, was the same individual ; but whether it would be more profitable to alter the system or lose the trade. The result was, the linen manufacture was placed on a new foundation, and men of extensive capital and skill became engaged in it. The linen trade was not only thus preserved, but extended, and all the individuals engaged in its operations here have been bettered by the change. “The linen manufacturers in the neighbourhood of Banbridge not only give out linen webs to weavers on an extensive scale, but have also established numerous mills for the spinning of yarn, and extensive bleach-greens. Many of the manu- facturers spin their own yarn, and bleach their own cloth ; and all of them either dispose of their goods at their own offices, to the agent of their customers, export them directly from Belfast, or consign them there to the great linen-factors, who dispose of them on commission. - “The appearance of the country around Banbridge indicates a degree of comfort in all classes of the population, not to be met in other parts of Ireland; and the hand-loom weavers, who form the great majority of the population, appear fully to participate in this more than average appearance of comfort. The unhappy feelings of distrust between the employers and the operatives, which act so injuriously in many of the other weaving districts, do not exist here to the same extent. “The descriptions of linens the weavers in the neighbourhood of Banbridge are employed on are linens from 10° to 24", from 16° to 24%, the principal description of linen woven; there are also linen drill of from 10° to 19%. On a 16" linen, which can be woven in twelve days, by a moderate weaver, at twelve hours’ work each day, the weaver receives 16s., but 2s. 6d. must be deducted for the expense of winding, dressing, and light. “Mr. Dunbar, who employs 1,700 looms, and is acquainted with the trade since 1805, states, “I have seen the linen trade brisker, but never in a more healthy and promising condition, considering it is only recovering from the effects of the American panic. The demand for limens is progressively on the increase, and so are the wages of the hand-loom weavers.” Also, “Twenty years ago, it was thought necessary to support our trade by prohibiting foreign linens and giving a bounty on our exports. Now, without all this, we are sending large quantities of goods to 79 France, though they lay a heavy duty, from 12 to 15 per cent. On our goods. We produce double the quantity of limens within those 15 years. Some years ago there was a competition between the Irish and French linens in the American market, and now we have not only driven the French out of that market, but send linens to France.” Mr. Carson, who employs 2,000 looms, states, ‘We have lately received orders for brown goods from France. (The duty is double on white.) The demand for French goods was lately introduced. There never was a Frenchman to buy goods here directly until six or eight months ago, and the trade is now very much on the increase.’ “At Ashfield, between Banbridge and Dromore, David Lyndsay, Esq., J. P., who employs 950 linen-weavers, states, ‘ I am a manufacturer of linen, unions, and cotton cloths for the last ten years ; prior to that period I bought linens in the country markets on my own account and for my father, and got them bleached. One-half of what I bought passed through the hands of agents, who charged com- mission on them ; the commission charged at the Linen Hall, Dublin, was 34 per cent. ; the remainder I sold to order. I bought the linens in the brown markets mostly from weavers, sometimes from small manufacturers, and sometimes from jobbers, who had bought up lines from the weavers. I commenced to manufacture ten years ago in place of buying up linens, because I thought it would be more profitable; I found it so, and have made much more money by manufacturing than I did by buying and bleaching. There is not one weaver now in a hundred who weaves on his own account in the district ; in the early part of my life, almost all the linen was made up by weavers on their own account. Many weavers used to grow their own flax, have it spun, warp it, and weave it ; others bought the yarn in the market when they had not as much flax of their own as would employ them fully, by which they lost a great deal of time. Manufacturers with large capital are coming in more generally into the trade every year. The introduction of mill-spun yarn, the system of credit and banking accommodation, drove the trade out of the hands of the weavers and small manufacturers, and placed it in the hands of large manufacturers and capitalists. Formerly there were fewer inferior weavers than there are at pre- sent ; the introduction of mill-spun yarn enabling worse tradesmen, young boys and girls, old men and women who could not weave hand-spun yarn, to weave it. The superior weavers I do not think are paid as well as they were when they worked for themselves ; but there is vastly more weaving than there was ; those who could not and would not be employed formerly are now employed ; men who were only able to weave 1000 to 1500 with hand-spun yarn, can weave from 15° to 229° with mill-spun. # # % I do not think there are now more hand weavers than there is work for them to do.’” The number of yards of linen exported from Ireland was— To Great Britain. To Foreign parts. Total. 1800 . º te No separate returns. * e 35,676,908 I80] 34,622,898 . 3,288,704 37,911,602 1809 33,018,884 4,147,515 37,166,399 1813 35,018,884 3,926,731 38,945,615 1817 50,290,321 5,940,254 56,230,575 1821 45,519,509 4,011,630 49,531,139 1825 52,560,926 . 2,553,589 55,114,515 Subsequent to 1825, the commercial intercourse between 80 Ireland and Great Britain was placed on the footing of a coast- ing trade, and we have no means of continuing the account of the export of linens from Ireland; but there can be no doubt of its great extension since 1825, and that the “Union" has not ruined the linen trade. The increase in the trade is shown, not only in the quantity exported, but in the quality. Mr. C. G. Otway remarks, that “ the exports of linen from Ireland since 1800, were chiefly if not altogether confined to the finer descriptions of linens from 14 to 24-hundreds, and therefore indicate a greater increase in the prosperity of the linen trade than would at first appear.” (Report, 1840, p. 620.) The coarse linen trade was lost to Ireland, owing to the prohibition placed on the export of yarn in 1784, which compelled the English manufacturers to provide yarn at home—which they soon did, not only for their own use, but they also drove the Irish fabrics out of other markets. Mr. Otway, in his valuable Report on the Linen Trade, printed by order of the House of Commons, 4th February, 1840, states— “There are no means of ascertaining the quantity of linen used for home con- sumption ; but it has been stated, by the most intelligent of my witnesses, that, even taking into consideration the more general use of cotton as a substitution for linen, that the production and consumption of limens have been on the increase during the present century. It will also be perceived that, as the prohibiting duties decreased, every seven years, the imports increased, and arrived at the highest when they were withdrawn and the trade left free. No returns of the exports, or the number of pieces sold publicly in the brown markets, have been kept since 1825, and I am unable to furnish any table as to the increase ; however, all the witnesses I have examined, whose testimony is worth attention, state (as will be seen in this Report,) that at no period has the linen trade been in such a condition, whether we regard the extent of the manufacture, the quality of the fabrics, or the mode in which the manufacture is conducted.” The following table contains the total value of the unbleached cloth sold by weavers in the different brown markets in the four provinces, in the years 1821, 1822, 1823, 1824, as furnished by the returns of the seal-masters, and inspectors of the Linen Board to Parliament in 1825. This return only gives the value of the cloth publicly sold in the market; no return has been or could be made of the sales by private contract :— 81 Provinces. 1821. 1822. 1823. 1824. 36 f £ 36 Ulster . . . 2,066,119 2,127,528 1,968,177 2,109,305 Leinster . . . . 285,352 336,695 207,636 192,855 Munster . . . . 68,868 82,200 95,194 110,420 Connaught . . . 117,662 130,912 140,854 168,087 Ireland . . . . . 2,538,001 2,677,335 2,411,861 2,580,667 “ACCOUNT of CoITON and FLAx MILLs at BELFAST and Neighbourhood, built and - enlarged since 1800. e gºd Q2 R. g'; ‘5 # OWNERS. Distance from 3 # # § ää # Relfast. 3 R. ºr 3. fr; ă ſº # John Bell & Co. . . Larne, 16 miles | 1 60 1801| Water-power John M ‘Cracken . . Belfast I 10| 80|1803| Steam John Vance . . . . 26 miles I 30| 120 1803| Water Thomas How . . . . 8 miles l 40 150|1804| Water and steam John Bell & Co. . . Belfast l 14 1805 Steam James Boomer & Co. . Belfast 2 50| 450|1805| Steam M‘Collough & Co. . . 10 miles 2 36|| 250|1806| Steam Leppers . . . . . Belfast 2 70| 430|1810| Steam John M'Cracken. . . . Belfast l 10| 90|1810 Steam Stevensons . . . . 1 mile l 100 360|1821|| Steam and water James Cowan . . . 8 miles I 50| 200||1821. Water Thomas How . . . 10 miles I 25| 130|1824. Steam and water J. and W. Martin & Co. 15 miles l 100 300||1824 7 ) William Cowan & Co. 4 miles l 40|| 150|1825 y 9 Murlands . . . . 20 miles I 20 100||1828 5 * Watt . . . . . . 10 miles 1 | 40| 200||1829. Water T. and A. Mulholland Belfast I 100 650|1829| Steam Mulhollands . . o Belfast l 14| 100|1830| Steam Dawsons . . . . . 20 miles I 25 100||1831|| Water Boomer & Co. . . . Belfast 1 || 30, 200||1833| Steam James Grimshaw & Son 3 miles I 25, 200||1833 3 y Thompsons . . . . 3 miles I 30, 150|1833| , , and water Mulhollands . . . Belfast 1 | 100 400||1833 $ 2 55 Boyd & Co. . . . . Belfast 1 32| 200||1833 Steam 17 | 10 ||105.15010 “The following are now either erecting or adapting cotton concerns (not noted in above Schedule) to Flax or Linen Yarn-Mills:–Gamble & Co., new ; Murphys & Co., new ; Montgomery, new ; Mº Kibbin, new ; Bulls, This was a print-field ; Stephensons,—This was a small cotton-mill ; Edward Grimshaw, was a print-field; James Grimshaw & Co., was a cotton-mill. “To the above may be added three others—namely, Dunbar, Stewart, and Law. “Eleven new flax mills now in progress.” There are fifteen extensive flax-mills for spinning linen yarn in the town of Belfast, besides four others in the neighbourhood; and “the yarn they produce is equal in quality to any made in the United Kingdom. One fourth of the flax for their consump- tion has been stated to be imported. The amount of linens sold 82 in Belfast is stated to be progressively on the increase, and the first Commissioner's agents in the town stated, that at no former period was either the home consumption or the foreign trade so extensive.” “Hand-loom linen-weaving factories have lately been established in Belfast, and its linen-weaving is rapidly extend- ing.”—(Mr. Otway's Report on Hand-Loom Weaving, printed by order of Parliament, 4th February, 1840). The duty on the exportation of cotton goods from Ireland to England in 1801 was 68 per cent. ad val. In 1816 this duty was reduced ; and in a few years more, the whole commerce between the two countries was put on the footing of the coasting trade. The result of this Imperial legislation is thus shown by Mr. C. G. Otway, an Assistant Hand-Loom Weaver Commissioner in 1840, in his Report on the Weavers in Ireland:— “Some large cotton mills have been lately established in Ireland, and intelligent manufacturers have embarked in the trade ; and some of the finest specimens of calico prints in the London market are Irish manufacture.” The total number of cotton weavers residing at Belfast, and within a circuit of ten miles round it, is estimated at 12 to 15,000. WoolleN TRADE.-This branch of Irish manufacture is thus reported on in the Hand-Loom Weavers' Commissioners' Report of 1840, by Mr. Otway — “It appears that the woollen manufactures in Ireland, previous to the present century, were treated as an exotic, artificially nurtured, and not naturally developed. Bounties, protecting duties*, and monopolies, invited a host of minor manufacturers, with small capitals, to enter the business, and their competition, for a time, kept up the nominal rate of wages. Monopolies in Ireland, as else- where, were injurious not only to the community, but to the very party they were designed to benefit. The manufacturer, lulled by the false security of what seemed a sure demand, over-rated his profits. Acting on this miscalculation, he gave the workmen almost any sum they pleased to ask, when it was necessary to secure a lucrative contract ; in fact, he was paying wages out of his capital. Nor was this system so profitable to the workmen as some of the witnesses have represented. If the nominal rate of wages was higher in Ireland, employment was more steady in Yorkshire ; and it is not improbable that at the end of a year the total earnings of the English operative would have been the larger sum. Another circumstance, * In 1698, the Irish Parliament imposed an additional export duty of 20 per cent, ad. val. on Irish broad-cloth, and 10 per cent. on all new drapery, frieze excepted. - 83 still more important, in a moral point of view, must be taken into account in striking the balance; employment, at once lucrative and uncertain, is the most powerful incentive to habits of improvidence and dissipation. ‘Lightly got, lightly gone,' is a proverb fearfully illustrated in the history of every class of British artisans, but in none more than the woollen-weavers’ of Ireland ; they feasted one week, they fasted the next ; extravagant wages led to extravagant riot ; debauchery and starvation followed each other in a regular cycle, whose returns could be cal- culated with almost mathematical precision. “Mr. Willans has shown that the prosperity of the woollen trade, previous to the removal of the protecting duties in 1823, was greatly exaggerated, and that they did not afford to the manufacturers the advantages intended. There can be no doubt that considerable benefit resulted from the substitution of large capitalists for the Smaller manufacturers, so numerous previous to 1810,–a change which took place about the year 1812. The panic of 1825, the results of which were not fully developed until the following year, produced, as fully stated and explained by Mr. Willans, great distress among the Dublin operatives, but not greater than was felt at the same time in the manufacturing districts of England. I am, however, led to believe that this crisis produced many beneficial effects: it swept away all the establishments supported by a system of fictitious credit, and it led to the examination of the rate of wages, and a comparison of the amount with the actual instead of the nominal profits. Wages were consequently reduced ; but had the old system been retained, the crash would have been eventually more ruinous, and employment would have ceased altogether. Thus, what the woollen trade lost in extent it gained in real stability; it is now in a healthy and progressive condition, especially as the advancement of steam navigation has opened new markets for Irish woollen goods in the south and west of England. Its continued progress will, however, I think, necessitate the introduction of power-looms. If this be done gradually, the hand-loom weavers will have little cause to complain; if suddenly, great and unavoidable distress for a season will follow. But such distress can only be temporary, for new sources of employment, by the general improvement of the country, and by the departments of weaving to which the power-loom does not apply being extended. “At Rathdrum my attention was directed to a branch of the woollen trade, once very flourishing and extensive, but now I may say wholly extinct, the manufacture of flannels. There were 12 fairs held annually at Rathdrum, and it was stated that previous to 1816 so many as 1,200 pieces of flannel were offered for sale at a single fair. After the year 1818 the trade declined so rapidly, that in 1830 the Flannel Hall was closed and the fairs were at an end. The cause assigned for this reverse is the inability of small manufacturers to compete with English capitalists, and the application of machinery to the spinning and weaving, which had been formerly done by hand; I beg, however, to direct the attention of the Commis- sioners to the fact that this change was not productive of the great individual dis- tress which might have been anticipated. Mr. Manning, an intelligent witness, says, ‘The weavers, as they found the trade declining, went into other employments, and no additional were applied to the weaving : thus, when the Hall closed the weavers disappeared.” He also explains undesignedly, but satisfactorily, how it happened that the flannel weavers did not persevere in a ruinous and hopeless competition: ‘The hand-loom weavers formerly in this district of the country were not connected with land ; they resided chiefly in towns, and even those who lived in rural districts attended to nothing but flannel-weaving.” They were thus forced to meet the change. 84 “I have now only to repeat my opinion that the woollen trade of Ireland is in a 'more sound and healthy condition than it ever has been, and that its yearly advance may be confidently expected. But in this, above all other trades, the agriculturist must lend his aid to the improvement of the manufacture ; the breeding of sheep, with a view to the improvement of the fleece, has hitherto received very little attention in Ireland ; the wool is at present only suited for the manu- facture of the coarser cloths and friezes for domestic manufacture amongst the peasantry, and hence that branch of the woollen trade has received considerable extension. - “I do not believe that any special legislative enactment would improve the con- dition of the woollen-weavers, or accelerate the progress of the woollen trade in Ireland; on the contrary, I am persuaded that protecting duties, bounties, and even loans, would materially retard it, and that they so acted when applied. Improvement in the means of transit between the metropolis and the south of Ireland, would materially assist this rising trade ; it would enable the capitalist to take advantage of the most valuable sites where water-power is now absolutely running to waste in so many places in Munster. It would bring the rich pasturages of Limerick and Tipperary into direct contact with Dublin, opening a regular market for the wool already grown, and furnishing an incentive for the production of a better staple. At the present moment manufacturers can obtain wool from Essex with less risk of disappointment and less cost of carriage than from Tipperary or Limerick. For the same reasons, the facilities afforded by steam navigation, and the difficulties of land-carriage, the great bulk of Irish wool is exported to England, and a portion of it is even sent to France. Some of the persons I examined strongly recommended a heavy duly on the export of raw wool, an expedient which would absolutely tend to limit rather than increase the present supply; but the object we have in view would be beneficially effected, were the facilities of inter- course between the manufacturing and wool-producing districts increased.” The state of the Silk Trade in Ireland has often been quoted in illustration of the “disastrous effects of the Union.” It may be well, therefore, to give an abstract of the official Report of the Hand-loom Weavers' Commission in 1840:— “SILK TRADE.-The silk manufacture of Ireland is confined to the metropolis. It was introduced by the French refugees, and established in the liberties of Dublin shortly after their settle- ment in that city, in the year 1693. “The weavers engaged in the manufacture of silk may be divided into those employed on tabinets or poplins, and tabba- reas,” on velvets, on ribbons ; but, in point of fact, the number of weavers employed on the manufacture of velvets and ribbons is so very small, that they need scarcely be taken into account in the survey of this branch of industry in Ireland. “The number of silk-weavers in Dublin, May, 1838, amounted * Tabbareas are shot with linen yarn, tabinets with worsted. 85 to 400; of these 310 are broad-silk weavers, 280 employed on the manufacture of tabinets and tabareas, and 30 on the manufacture of velvets; there were also 32 employed in weaving ribbons, the remainder are tabinet weavers, only occasionally employed, or who have been whole silk or single-hand ribbon weavers, and are unable to obtain any employment ; of the 280 tabinet weavers, 230 have been in constant employment for from nine to ten months in each year, during the last three years, taking the mean between the statement of the employers and the operatives : the remaining number, from age, extreme poverty, want of industry or skill, are but seldom employed, and only on some sudden and unusual demand in the market for tabinets. The trade regulations, as they are called, pre- vent the manufacturers from giving, or the operative from taking, less than a fixed rate of wages. The manufacturer being thus debarred from lowering his wages (and compelled to pay according to the same rate both good and bad workmen), on a fall in demand for his manufacture in the market, limits the quantity of work he gives out, and only employs his best workmen; thus, except in cases of an extraordinary demand for tabinets, some new patterns to be made up for the Court, or a charity ball, or some large order to be executed for a new Lady-lieutenant, to furnish the Castle, when all hands are required, there is a number of silk-weavers altogether out of employment, whose ages and habits unfit them for other employments. - i “The earnings of the tabinet weavers are equal if not supe- rior to those of any class of weavers I have met, and much higher than those of the silk-weavers in Manchester and its vicinity. Mr. Gheoghagan, one of the most respectable manufacturers in Dublin, and employing one-third of the whole number of tabinet weavers, states, ‘I do not find much difference in the condition of the hand-loom weavers of poplins (tabinets) during my expe- rience of twenty-five years; the rate of their wages is now nearly as good as it ever has been during that time, with the exception of a reduction in the wages of figured goods, con- PART II. H 86 sequent on the introduction of jacquard machines. It must be remembered, that if jacquard machines lowered the rate of wages, they lessened the difficulty of the labour, and dispensed with the use of draw-boys, whom the weavers were, in most instances, obliged to provide. “I have known a young girl, under twenty, who worked for Mr. Gheoghegan, to earn 37l. in ten months, and this within the last year. Mr. Atkinson, tabinet manufacturer to the Queen and the Irish Court, who has brought the manufacture of embroidered and brocaded poplins to the highest perfection, states, ‘ I employ 50 hand-loom weavers of Irish poplins or tabinets; to these I give constant work. $3. % #$ The hand-loom weavers employed by me on tabinets are now in as good a condition, and able to earn as much, as at any period I remember since I entered the trade” (28 years ago). “It is stated in a paper given in evidence by one of the deputa- tion from the silk trade, that in the year 1775 the trade was in a very prosperous condition, and that there were in employment at that time, and producing a comfortable means of subsistence to the weaver, 3,400 looms, which also gave employment to 1,700 winders, 200 female throwsters, at 6s. a week, 340 dyers, and 200 quill-winders and draw-boys, making a total of 5,840 persons employed. This statement, I am led to believe, is greatly exaggerated, and I am of opinion that the silk trade of Dublin never was in the flourishing condition described in the evidence of the weavers. I find it stated by Arthur Young, that the imported fabrics had increased for the 26 years previous to 1777, while the raw material worked up had decreased—a proof that the manufacture was in no very healthy condition ; and I find that in the year 1777 the Royal Dublin Society, which had established a warehouse for the sale of silk in Ireland, wholesale and retail, had only a stock to the amount of 12,000l. in hand; and that from the 23d of June, 1777, to 7th February, 1778, their average weekly receipts was only 150l., or, per annum, 7,800l., although they offered and paid a premium of three per cent. on all wrought silk bought by wholesale at their ware- 87 house to be sold again. I cannot think, under these circum- stances, that the trade was in a healthy condition, or that it gave profitable employment to 5,840 individuals, when such absurd measures were deemed necessary for its protection and promotion. Had the trade been in a flourishing condition, I do not think it could have long continued so, when a public body took away from the manufacturers and mercers that share of profit, and consequently that skilful and active superinten- dence, the results of self-interest, upon which the existence and advance of all manufactures depend. “It appears from documentary evidence, that in 1784 there were only 800 silk looms at work, and that on the 21st of June, 1793, the working silk manufacturers petitioned the Legislature, and stated that although in 1791 there were 1,200 silk looms employed, yet in that year there were not nine-tenths of those employed, and that the silk manufacturers, weavers, and other individuals depending on that trade for support, were reduced to the greatest possible distress. “The trade was altogether suspended by the rebellion in 1798, and in 1800 it was found necessary to protect it by a duty of 10 per cent. on the introduction of foreign and British silks. Under the Spitalfields Act the regulation of wages and disputes between masters and workmen had been subjected to the con- trol of the Royal Dublin Society. It is stated in the Report on the trade, by the Committee of Silk Weavers, ‘ that in 1805 the last rise in wages took place; that, in 1809, they suffered much by the Berlin Decrees, which had the effect of raising the price of raw silk to an enormous height, so as to prevent the manufacturer from purchasing it ; that the weavers were thrown out of employment and enlisted; that from this period succeeding depressions diminished their numbers, and the silk trade, extending itself in England, and being established at Macclesfield and Manchester, where higher wages were paid than at Spitalfields or Dublin, still further reduced the number of silk-weavers; and that, notwithstanding the protecting duties, the English manufacturers were, by their increased command of H 2 88 capital, able to undersell the Dublin manufacturer. To this circumstance they mainly attribute the loss of the silk trade. But they say that when the protecting duties began to expire in 1821, and the drawback on home manufactured goods were taken off, and steam communication opened with England, the market was inundated with goods during the panic of 1825, at a price less than the cost of the raw material; and that thus the loss of the silk trade was rendered inevitable. It is also stated that in all these changes, the silk-weavers suffered more in the decline of numbers than in the reduction of wages, as, up to 1824, their wages were protected by the Royal Dublin Society. At this period the weavers made a reduction of 15 per cent. on the price of weaving (whole silk). Yet after all the sacrifices that were made, the effort proved unavailing to preserve the trade in whole silks. The English were able to pour their silk goods into Ireland at a price below that for which they could be manufactured in Dublin. - “I find that the value of raw and organzine silk, imported into Ireland in 1790, amounted in value to 96,130l., in 1791 to 81,413l., in 1792 to 112,5897., in 1793 to 101,665l., in 1794 to 25,2931, in 1795 to 51,930l., in 1796 to 88,130l., in 1797 to 67,300l., in 1798 to 42,292., in 1799 to 63,620l., in 1800 to 78,451.l., in 1801 to 43,6591, in 1802 to 45,2821, in 1803 to 74,423l., in 1804 to 54,334/., in 1805 to 93,103!., in 1806 to 67,222ſ., in 1807 to 53,255l. in 1808 to 72,3011., in 1809 to 34,8317, in 1810 to 57,100l., in 1811 to 71,2031. In 1813, I find the number of pounds imported to be 104,186 ; in 1817, 60,094 lbs. ; in 1821, 58,729 lbs. ; in 1825, 62,128 lbs. From what has been stated it will be perceived that the silk trade in Ireland, from the period of 1775, has never been extensive or in a prosperous condition, but has been subject to continual fluc- tuations. The actual earnings of the weavers at progressive periods since that time, I have not been able to obtain accu- rately, but the prices fixed at the different periods by the Royal Dublin Society, taken into consideration with the number of yards a good silk or tabinet weaver can weave in the week, will 89 make up for this deficiency. On taking into account the price of provisions, the former inferiority of the looms, the state in which the raw material was supplied, it will, I imagine, be found that the weavers now employed on the manufacture of tabinets are nearly as well off now, as to their pecuniary earnings, as they have been at any period since the establishment of the trade. The number of weavers employed at different periods, since the year 1793, I have no accurate data to reckon from, but the value and number of pounds of raw silk imported will enable a general conclusion to be drawn. “One witness before the Commissioners states, that the effects of combinations is one of the great causes, of the downfall of the trade and consequent distress. A man of the name of M'Connell, a silk-manufacturer, who carried on the trade to a great extent, had a quantity of work going on, and made an agreement with his men, in one branch of the business, to get it done for less than the standard price. The body of the trade got information of it, and stopped his works; would not allow the men to fulfil their engagements; called a meeting, and ordered all his work home (i. e. the work he had out in the looms), unfinished, and fined him 107 for committing that crime against their will. They would not suffer him to proceed with his business until he agreed to pay the fine, and the full price in future for all the work out. He paid the fine, and got his work finished, and, when it was finished, quitted the trade. So disgusted was he with the conduct of the men, and the fearful effects of such a system of combination. “I myself,” said he, ‘ about nine months ago, made an agreement with men (who solicited me) to give them work under the usual price, trade being remarkably low. The body got information, and called a general meeting on that business, and came to the unanimous resolution at the meeting that no person, for the future, should work for me. These resolutions were passed, and in a few nights after my works were consumed, by vitriol thrown in through the windows by unknown persons, and no person connected with the trade would work for me for fear of the body. Informations 90 were lodged against 11 persons, by men who worked with me at the time, and they were tried in about five months after for combination; but in consequence of the terror exercised by the body over the persons who lodged the informations before the magistrate, the witnesses, on the trial, swore the direct contrary of the very informations they had given before the magistrate. They were then indicted for perjury. The effect of all this was to drive me from the business. The unions in my trade have regular officers, meetings, and collections to support their com- binations. They would not allow me, though having served my full time to the ribbon trade, to work at the broad-silk, though in every respect the same, except one being broad and the other narrow ; a great hardship this; and as a manufacturer they would not allow me to take an apprentice at it. I look upon the system of combination which exists as one of the great causes of the decline of the trade. A few individuals frame a system of rules and laws, and call themselves “a common com- mittee, tax the whole trade for their purposes, and enforce their laws and their system of taxation on the trade, the majority of whom are totally ignorant of their proceedings, and have no voice in the framing of their laws, but are obliged, from fear, to submit to the laws of this committee. The committee-men are generally composed of leading undertakers of work, who give it out as well as weave it; and so they have the less forward and more humble workmen in their power by these means. The principal leaders of this body are generally great spokesmen, and are always sure of getting themselves in the first instance appointed on the committee by self-election. Part of the com- bination committee of each trade is in connexion with a general combination committee or body of all trades. To this each trade that has formed a body or a union sends its delegates; and generally, when any of their laws are to be enforced against any one who has come under, their displeasure, the person to punish and the punishment is pronounced and awarded by per- sons connected with totally different pursuits and trades. This connexion with a general body of all trades is denied by the silk- 9] weavers; but though I cannot speak of it from personal know- ledge, as I can of their own system of combination and its fearful effects, still I am fully persuaded and convinced of the truth of it.’ “Alderman Abbott, for many years one of the most extensive silk manufacturers and mercers in Dublin, states:– I am acquainted with the state of the silk trade for the last fifty years. When I remember it first it was flourishing, and gave employment to a large number of individuals, consisting of silk throwsters, dyers, winders, warpers, weavers, and dressers; even as far back as I can remember, considerable fluctuations took place in the trade, but were merely temporary, occasioned by the wear of muslins and other fabrics. Up to 1829 I was engaged in the wholesale silk trade, employing a large number of looms; imported my own silk and had it manufactured here. I left the trade in consequence of the combinations among the workmen. I called my weavers together, and they agreed to make a considerable reduction in the price of weaving ; when they got the work out for the winter's trade, the committee of the combinators took the shuttles from them, and would not allow them to finish their work in the looms until I agreed to give the full London prices; in consequence of which I did not think it safe any longer to continue in the trade, and I retired from business. This occurred in the year 1826. The weavers were accustomed to fix the prices of weaving ; and as I stated before, I called them together and told them, as the facility was so great for getting goods from England, and the protecting duty being taken off, that I could not with safety give them the London prices. I manufactured everything that could be made, from silk velvets, ribbons, &c. &c. &c. I believe there are very few silk weavers here now, except the tabinet weavers. I attribute the withdrawal of the trade in whole silks to the combinations of the men, who would not work at Manchester prices, but insisted on London prices, which the manufacturer here could not afford to give.” “The Commissioners will perceive that the causes assigned for 92 the decline of the trade in Dublin would, in most cases, equally apply to the manufacture of silk in the other parts of the United Kingdom, and no reason is shown why these should peculiarly affect the trade in Dublin. If causes have been assigned for the decline of the silk trade in Dublin, which have not produced the effects attributed to them in cases to which they were equally applicable, we must look for and take into consideration the other causes which peculiarly bear on and affect the silk trade in Ireland. Of these, the repeal of the protecting duties, as far as they were peculiar to Ireland, is the first. The history of the trade in Dublin, which has been already glanced at, will show that in proportion as bounties and protections decreased, the silk trade increased ; that in 1793, when the protecting duties were at the highest, the trade was at the lowest ebb; that when these duties were reduced to 10 per cent. from 30, the trade increased. In 1805, according to the evidence of the deputation of weavers, wages were at the maximum; and it appears that in 1813, when a further reduction of the duties had taken place, 104,186 lbs. of raw silk had been imported into Ireland, whereas, in 1801, there were only 60,030. In 1815 there was as large a quantity of silk goods imported as was manufactured in the country, notwithstanding the pro- hibitory duties on the importation of wrought silks, and the fact that the Irish manufacturer paid less duty on organzine silk than the London merchant. : - “It does not appear that those individuals who attribute the decline of the silk trade to the repeal of the protecting duties, have given any reasons, or shown any cause, why the Irish silk trade requires peculiar legislative protection, or what are the disadvantages under which it labours. It is not stated why the manufacture of silk ought not to be carried on in Dublin as profitably as in the other parts of the kingdom where trade is free. “The destructive effects of combinations among the operatives is strongly stated in the evidence of J. Kelly and Alderman Abbott, for many years the most extensive silk-mercer and manufacturer in Ireland. Their evidence on this subject is 93 quoted at length; it is a matter to which I cannot too strongly direct the attention of the Commissioners. It cannot be doubted that illegal and dangerous combinations amongst the workmen have operated most injuriously on the trade, driven many of the most extensive manufacturers out of it, and deterred others from directing that capital and intelligence towards it, by which alone it could be preserved or enabled to compete with the other silk-weaving districts of the empire. If not checked, this system will speedily drive away the portion of the silk trade which now remains. - “The day or two previous to my leaving Ireland, I called on a manufacturer of high respectability, and the head of one of the oldest houses in the trade, who had previously, (last May) given me evidence. He told me that since I had examined him, he had set-up a hand-loom weaving factory for broad silks; had gone to England and expended a sum of 700l. in purchasing jacquard-looms of the best construction, and a machine for winding silk. He took me to see his factory. I found it the best arranged, and the most healthy and convenient factory I had ever seen ; but out of upwards of thirty looms, only twelve were at work, and the winding-machine appeared never to have been used. I asked the reason of this; he told me, when he had finished his arrangements there was a meeting of the body of the trade called, and that they had passed a resolution not to allow more than twelve weavers to work for him, and he was directed not, on any account, to use the winding-machine : ‘The consequence is, sir, that although I give the same rate of wages as that fixed by the union, if I was to give 1001. as an inducement, I could not get a thirteenth weaver to work for me. But this is not all; they passed another resolution forbidding the twelve weavers to pay me more than 1s. 6d. each for the use of the looms, though 2s. 6d. is the fixed price, when the manufacturer supplies a jacquard- loom ; and to-morrow there is to be a meeting of the trade to limit the number of weavers that they will permit to work for me to six. The other manufacturers are either afraid or 94 unwilling to assist me to put down this combination. The consequence is, that after sustaining immense loss, I must withdraw from the trade. The silk-winders are so exasperated at my introducing a winding-machine, though I never used it, that I dare not, even in the open day, walk through the liberty: the very women would pelt me with stones or mud.” “The combinations of the operatives have not only driven the most extensive and wealthy manufacturers out of the trade, but, by the unjust and illegal control which they assume over the industry of their fellow-workmen, they have compelled them to emigrate to some place where they can exercise their judgment as regards the disposal of their own labour. The consequence has been, that many of the best Irish silk-weavers, sooner than submit to such a tyranny, have from time to time migrated to Manchester and other silk-weaving districts of England, where they have been glad to get employment at a much lower rate than that fixed by the trade in Dublin. There are in fact more Irish workmen now in Macclesfield than English. Mr. Curran, the secretary of the Manchester silk weavers, in his evidence, stated, “After the Spitalfields Act was repealed, the silk weavers in Dublin combined not to take lower wages from their employers than they had previously received; and numbers came over here, where, in many instances, they were obliged to take a lower rate of wages than the rules of their trade in Dublin would permit. This had the effect of withdrawing a large portion of the trade from Dublin, and opening a market in Dublin for the Manchester silks, which more than compensated for the increase in the labour market, from the additional number of silk-weavers that had migrated from Dublin.” It was also stated in evidence received by the Poor-Law Inquiry Com- missioners for Ireland, from a silk manufacturer : ‘I have lately seen some of the weavers who went from here to Macclesfield : many of them told me they should be glad to return home and work for half their present wages.’ And again: ‘If I were to set up 50 or 60 fresh looms to work, a meeting of the weavers would immediately take place to consider if they would work at 95 the prices I should offer them ; at first they would consent, and as soon as everything was prepared for them, I have no doubt but that they would strike and leave me in the lurch, and thus, through their own obstinacy, continue to linger in a state of almost starvation, rather than work under the prices they had themselves fixed upon.’ “RATE of EARNINGs.--It appears from what has been already stated, taking the mean between the statements of the employers and the operatives, that the earnings of the hand-loom silk weavers of Dublin, for the average of the last three years, amount to from 12s. to 15s. a week on each loom, deducting the average periods they have been kept waiting for work, and deducting expenses of room-hire, light, and winding. This rate of earnings is as high, if not higher, than those of any class of weavers in the United Kingdom. Considering the low rate of earnings of the great majority of the labouring classes in Ireland, and the fluctuations to which all classes of labourers are exposed, the silk weavers of Dublin are in a much better condition, as to the amount of their pecuniary earnings, than the great mass of their fellow workpeople, and have, according to the terms of the Commissioners' instructions, no ‘claim to any interference in their behalf beyond the general and impartial superintendence which the Legislature ought to extend to every class of Her Majesty's subjects.” “From the limited demand for tabinets, owing to the ex- pensive nature of the fabric, and its almost total dependence on the caprice of fashion, there is no temptation held out for embarking new capital in its manufacture, and there is at present little competition in its sale. Purchasers are dis- suaded from all attempts to obtain a reduction of price, by representations of the charitable effect that is to result from buying Irish tabinets. It is considered patriotic, and a genteel mode of bestowing charity, to purchase a few yards of this material. Unenlightened charity and despotic fashion combine to maintain the delusion. The trade is constantly trembling on the verge of ruin ; and the manufacturers would 96 long since have been unable to continue to pay the present rate of wages to the weaver, and remain in the trade, but for the continual appeals made to public benevolence, and the prevalent belief that the loss, even of a trade thus artificially supported, would, under the present circumstances of Ireland, he a pnhlic calamity “From the ill-judged interference on the part both of the Legislature and the operatives, which mark the history of the silk trade in Dublin, it has never been able to attain that healthy condition which would enable it to compete with its less indulged rivals, or which would enable it to prevent or recover from the injurious effects of the combinations and trade regulations by which the short-sighted operative endeavoured to prop it. The protective duties granted at the Union, and the effects of the regulation of a rate of wages by the Dublin Society, prevented the industry of the silk weavers from being exercised, or a due regard being paid to economy, and the manufacturer trusted to his protective duties rather than to his own energy and skill. The high price of the fabric, added to the change in the fashions, induced the substitution of other fabrics. It was not until after the protecting duties were with- drawn, that the use of silk became general among the middle classes. It was confined to the higher and wealthy classes of society, whose numbers were very limited ; and it was considered as a distinctive mark of wealth and station. The manu- facturer was exposed to constant vicissitudes, and the history of the trade was that of one continued series of rises and falls. The only article which was able to maintain a demand, either in the home or foreign markets, was the poplin, which trade was not affected by the protective duties. “The protecting duties being removed and trade left free, the injurious combinations of the operatives being prevented, which from the value of the raw material is the more peculiarly injurious in the silk trade, I do not see why the silk trade in Dublin, under more enlightened conduct on the part of the Legislature, the employers, and the operatives, should not be 97 revived. The Irish silk trade ought, under proper management, to afford as ample employment and profit (according to the capital invested in it) to those engaged in the various operations requisite for its manufacture, as are enjoyed by those engaged in the manufacture of silk in any other portion of the United Kingdom.”—Such is the just conclusion of Mr. C. Otway. In the Quarterly Report from James Stuart, Esq., Inspector of Factories in Ireland and Scotland, for the quarter ending 30th September, 1841, the following shows the number and districts of factories in Ireland where persons under 18 years of age are employed :— “The factories inspected were situated at and in the neighbourhood of Belfast, at Lisburne, at Springfield, Whitehouse, White Abbey, Carrickfergus, Ballynure Wolf- mill, Ligoniel, Balnamore, Brockfield, Springfield (2), and Raceview, in the county of Antrim ; at Londonderry and Buncrana, in the county of Londonderry ; at Zion, near Strabane, in the county of Tyrone ; at Gilford, Hazlebank, Seapatrick, Killileagh, Castlewellan, Grove, Beirsbridge, and Bangor, in the county of Down ; at Darkley, in the county of Armagh ; at Laragh and Cherryvale, in the county of Monaghan ; at Drogheda, in the county of Louth ; at Navad, in the county of Meath ; at Balbriggan, Drumcondra, Blancherstoun, Chapelizod, Hibernia, Blue Bell, Greenmount, Ely, Rathmines, Milltown, Ballyboden, Kilternan, and Haarlem, in the county of Dublin; at Celbridge, Inchiquire, and Newtown, in the county of Kildare; at Stratford and Tuckmill, in the county of Wicklow ; at Mountmelick, Newmills, Barkmill, Fruit Lawn, and Mountrath, in the Queen’s County; at Hillsbro', near Roscrea, in the county of Tipperary; at Glanmire, Blarney, Grenagh, and Bandon, in the county of Cork; at Mayfield, in the county of Water- ford ; and at Clahamon, in the county of Wexford.” Mr. Stuart states, that “The number of children under thirteen years of age, employed in the factories in Ireland, continues to be scarcely worth notice, being now under fifty. In several of the very small woollen factories, the employment of young persons under eighteen years of age has been discontinued, that the owners may be saved the trouble of keeping registers, and of attending to the other requisites of the Factory Regulation Act. There are also a few instances of factories of inconsiderable size not being at present at work ; but owing to two new flax factories having been erected at Lisburn, and to additions recently made to factories previously existing at Belfast, Zion, Stratford, Clahamon, and at other places, the number of persons employed at the factories in Ireland, both above and under the age of eighteen, has rather increased than diminished during the last year.” The inspector further says that “ The factories in Ireland are, with the most trifling exceptions, at work for sixty-nine hours in the week; so that neither the adults nor the young persons employed in the factories to which the Act applies, (those moved by steam or water,) at present have any reason to complain of distress occasioned by want of employment, on which their livelihood depends. It is generally admitted by the factory owners, that the market for their manufac- tured goods, though at low prices, has recently improved.” 98 “The temperance and orderly conduct of the persons employed in the factories, and generally of the population, especially in the south of Ireland, are quite as remarkable. Dismissal would be the certain punishment of any one employed in many of the factories, for the very first instance of intoxication. The workers would no longer associate with him. Indeed the use of spirituous and of malt liquors continues to be entirely given up by the working classes in the southern parts of Ireland. It was mentioned by the Mayor of Waterford at a public meeting there, that every vestige of intemperance had now disappeared at Waterford.” In the Quarterly Report of the Factory Inspectors, for the half-year ending 31st December, 1840—and laid before Parlia- ment—Mr. James Stuart, the factory inspector for Ireland and Scotland, above-named, thus describes the general state of the manufactures in Ireland, which he states includes “a circuit of inspection exceeding thirteen hundred miles in extent.” His evidence is very valuable. The language is thus:— “I have great pleasure in reporting that, during my circuit in Ireland, the flax and cotton factory owners generally admitted, that for some time past there has been a tolerably brisk demand for the articles manufactured by them. There is a considerable augmentation of the number of persons employed in the cotton and flaw factories. A cotton factory, at Stratford, in the county Wicklow, employing about 150 persons, which has been for a long period in a dilapidated state, has recently been fitted up, and is at work. A large addition to the only cotton factory in the county Wexford is being proceeded with ; and there are new flaw factories and large additions to some of those already established at Belfast and in other parts of the county Antrim.” * This is a remarkable proof that the Union has not produced the effects described on the manufactures of Ireland. Since these data were collected, several new manufactories have been established ; and but for the insane hostility mani- fested by the Irish artisans against the introduction of English skilled mechanics and artificers, many more would now have been in full operation. The steam-engines employed in factories, &c., in several towns in Ireland, afford another means for testing the advancing or retrograding condition of the country. A detailed statement is given in Porter's Tables, Return No. 158, p. 188; of which the following is an abstract :— In Belfast and Neighbourhood, there were erected in 1806, one steam-engine of 20 horse-power—in 1810 two—1812 one—1817 one—1824 one—1825 three— 1826 two—1827 one—1830 one—1832 two—1833 four–1834 three—1835 eight— 1836 four–1837 five—1838 eleven. Total fifty ; horse-power, 1,274. These engines were for various manufacturing purposes—such as spinning, foundry, paper-making, &c. - .- . 99 In Clonmel and Waterford; in 1829 one—1834 one—1837 one. In Cork : in 1815 two—1817 two—1818 one—1820 three—1823 one—1824 one —1825 two—1826 one—1828 two—1830 three—1835 one—1837 one—and from 1810 to 1834 eight for foundries. Total, twenty-eight ; horse-power, 412. In Dublin. : In 1811 one—1812 one—1813 one—1815 one—1816 two—1817 two —1824 one—1825 one—1826 one—1827 one—1828 two—1829 one—1831 one— 1832 one—1833 three—1834 two—1835 one—1836 two—1837 two—1838 one.— Total, twenty-nine ; horse-power, 438. e In Galway : In 1832 one—1834 one—1835 one—1836 one. Total, four ; horse- power, 46. In Kilkenny : In 1816 one—1827 one—1832 two—1833 one—1838 two. Total, seven ; horse-power, 164. In Limerick : In 1818 four—1822 one—1828 one—1830 one—1832 one—1834 one—1836 two—1838 one. Total twelve ; horse-power 206. In Londonderry : In 1815 one—1825 one—1834 one—1835 one—1836 two— 1837 one—1838 one. Total, eight ; horse-power, 116. In Portlaw : Three engines of 300 horse-power, for cotton-factories. In Waterford : In 1817 one—1823 one—1825 one—1828 one—1832 one—1834 one—1835 one. Total seven ; horse-power, 90. These details offer ample proof, that, notwithstanding the cheapness of water-power and the great extent to which it is used in Ireland, yet that steam-power is being gradually brought into operation, particularly of late years. The document from which we are quoting has the following explanatory note ap- pended in reference to Dublin :— “Mr. Robinson has manufactured and erected sixteen stationary steam-engines, from twenty-five to four horse-power ; the whole of them are at work in various distilleries, breweries, and manufactories in this city and county. His rolling-mill, foundry, and Smithy, and fitting-up shops, are occasionally kept busy in supplying the distilleries, breweries, and manufactories in this city, with hoops, metal, and wrought-iron machinery. The yearly amount of his payments to work-people averages 5,500ſ. Messrs. Mallett have built new engines, amounting in all to 560 horse-power, since the latter part of the year 1831. In consequence of the in- creased demand for engineer-work in general, Messrs. Courtney and Stephens have considerably enlarged their concerns in that department, during the last year; and in a few months will be able to execute extensive orders. Since the opening of the Kingston Railway, they have made most of the metal castings—also the engine and carriage wheels for the company ; and for this latter branch of railway-work, they have just completed a set of furnaces capable of shoeing any sized wheel in use.—The Messrs. Courtney and Stephens, Robinson, Mallett, and Perry, are the principal manufacturers of steam-engines in the city of Dublin.” With reference to Kilkenny, the note adds:– “The river Nore, running through the centre of this city and county, with the Barrow on the eastern side, and some small rivers in different parts of the county, affords such a supply of water as answers all the purposes of steam.” Copper and other ores are now largely exported. tº sº * * p : º & wº ſº * g £e ſº { : IOO Agriculture is, however, the great staple of the island ; her most valuable manufactures for the present are those of corn and animal food; and the ready and profitable markets of England and Scotland will continue to afford abundant and lucrative employment for skilful husbandry. . The difference of cost between the two countries is shown in the average prices of wheat per quarter, in Ireland and England respectively, as advertised in the Dublin and London Gazette:– Years. Ireland. England. Difference. s, d: s. d. S. d. 1828 46 10 60 5 13 7 1829 57 5; . 66 3 . 8 9} 1830 55 9 . 64 3 8 6 1831 53 11} . 66 4 . 12 4# 1832 50 6; . 58 8 8 14 1833 44 93, . 52 11 . 8 14 1834 38 11; . 46 2 7 2} 1835 35 9 . 39 4 . 3 7 1836 . . 42 4} . 48 6 6 1% 1837 . . . 53 113 . 56 10 . 2 10% 1838 . . 58 23 . 64 7 6 4+ The subsequent years present a large margin of profit for Ireland ; and when, by skilful, economical, and scientific tillage, the produce of an acre of good land in Ireland becomes equal to that of England (it is not now one-third), the wealth of the former country will be trebled, and the commerce between the two islands largely increased. But so long as the “Repeal of the Union” is agitated, capital for the improvement of agriculture or of manufactures will not flow from England to Ireland. IT is now submitted that the details in the two preceding Chapters completely substantiate the following points:— 1st. That Ireland was not benefited in her shipping, commerce, or manufactures by having a “Resident Parliament;” but that, on the contrary, she suffered materially by the existence of that Institution. 2nd. That since the Legislative Union, and Commercial Incorporation of Great Britain and Ireland—the shipping, trade, and manufactures of Ireland have largely increased : as evinced by augmented tonnage, imports, and ea ports, customs duties, and also by official and general mauzufacturing returns and statements. - 3rd. That on these grounds no argument can truly be raised in favour of a Repeal of the Union ; on the contrary, it is demonstrated to be equally, if not more, the direct, immediate, and vital interests of Ireland — THAT THE UNION As Now subsisting witH GREAT BRITAIN BE PRESERVED IN PERPETUITY. * * * s tº º • * : º & wº ſº wº : y º tº 19 n * tº : * tº jº * 4 wº PART III. INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT AND SOCIAL PROGRESS OF IRELAND SINCE THE UNION. - - CHAPTER IV. Improvement of the Country Districts and Provincial Towns of Ireland since the Union. — Internal Navigation and Trade. — Varied testimony of general Advancement in the Condition of the People. IN examining this interesting section of the question, which will either refute or substantiate the truth of the statements in the preceding Chapters, it will be advisable to search the most authentic public documents. In the evidence laid before Parlia- ment, in 1830, on the state of the Irish poor, there are many witnesses, and irrefragable testimony, as to the condition of the provincial towns in Ireland The evidence of Captain Robert Owen, relative to the county of Wexford, shows that it is very rapidly improv- ing :—“There is a superior mode of ploughing, a better kind of all agricultural implements, and, generally speaking, a better management of the farms. The number of slated houses is increasing every day. There are now two very extensive distil- leries, and several breweries in the county. The roads of every description, mail-coach as well as by roads, have very consider- ably improved of late, as have also the means of transport. All description of carts and public carriages have increased very materially: there are now (1830) no less than four public car- riages daily between Gorey and Dublin; when I first went there (thirteen years ago) there was but one. Several modes of com- PART III. I 102 munication have been introduced into the county and neighbour- hood for the accommodation of the middle and lower classes; two jaunting-cars now take passengers to Dublin at a very cheap rate, and in all respects the facilities of transport, both of individuals and commodities, is very greatly augmented; and, in fine, literary education is very considerably diffused and is being extended.” (P. 124). The number of barrels of wheat sold in the town of Wexford in 1826 was 13,987, in 1835 the amount had increased to 49,220 barrels. In the same market and years, barley had increased from 62,057 to 160,035 barrels. Largely augmented sales also took place at Enniseorthy and New Ross during the same periods. The state of Waterford next presents itself. The tonnage of the port of Waterford was :— In 1824–25 ... tons 176,216 1829-30 . 241,397 Increase ... tons 65, 181 ExpoRTs from WATERFoRD, on Two periods of Two Years each. rº. º. ºf º ºf tº "º º 1823-24 705 | 1,272 26,181 234,691 || 462,898 || 13,954 21,120 1828–29 . 4,533 18,482 64,937 || 335,229 | 682,702 || 24,663 28,222 Increase 3,828 17,210 37,756 100,538 219,804 || 10,709 || 7,102 *- 1835 . 74,097 /~ 1,503,854 Several returns showing the amount of Grain sold in various market towns in Ireland for ten years, were laid before the Agricultural Parliamentary Committee of 1836. The Abstracts of several of these Returns may here be given, not only for future reference, but to show that no diminution of market sales took place, but the reverse. The names of all the market towns in each county may be seen in the original Parliamentary papers. 103 ‘RETURN of the Total QUANTITY of GRAIN sold in each of the Market Towns in the County of WATERFORD, during Ten Years. WATER FOR D. i CA R RICKBEG. D UN GA RV AN. : Barrels of Barrels of Barrels of | Barrels of | Barrels of | Barrels || Barrels of | Barrels of Barrels : Wheat. Barley. Oats. | Wheat. Barley. of Oats. || Wheat. Barley. of Oats, 1826 102,406 || 14,965 185,791 2,700 3,079 3,800 3,968 6,430 2,918 1827, 113,189 5,899 || 80,008 || 3,460 | 1,833 3,280 || 4,058 7,093 2,050 1828, 202,522 14,659 163,945 3,397 2,822 4,100 3,978 6,059 1,967 1829, 131,341 || 13,563 102,849 || 2,900 2,156 4,900 || 4,622 6,397 1,798 1830, 101,150 35,408 121,370 14,100 2,167 6,950 2,483 7,045 2,416 1831|| 129,599 || 38,028 || 104,576 || 5,700 2,408 || 6,100 || 7,928 7,904 || 8,187 1832, 148,843 33,184 207,050 || 6,850 3,046 8,400 || 12,738 7,704 || 9,391 1833, 177,899 || 9,928 171,236 || 5,400 2,980 || 7,860 || 15,407 || 6,904 |15,492 1834 122,749 23,039 || 147,333 6,600 2,959 || 9,950 9,620 7,371 8,046 1835 63,775 57,731 203,167 6,191 2,903 |13,169 18,401 5,735 8,553 CAPPO QUIN. LISMOIR.E. : Barrels of Barrels of Barrels of Barrels of || Barrels of Barrels of Barrels of Barrels of : Wheat. Barley. Oats. Rye. Wheat. Barley. Oats. Rye. 1826 1,700 3,500 10,000 220 5,500 3,000 54,000 500 1827 2,500 3,000 12,000 340 6,400 § 2,600 75,000 480 1828 2,100 2,500 10,500 420 5,900 |*| 3,470 | 64,000 340 1829 2,700 1,750 11,000 380 4,800 | 470 57,000 220 1830, 3,200 1,600 13,000 330 3,490 3,497 66,727 440 1831 2,800 1,700 14,000 400 4,490 2,900 90,000 348 1832 2,200 1,300 | 10,000 350 5,200 4,000 || 64,700 200 1833 29,000 1,100 14,000 440 3,490 5,040 50,000 197 1834, 45,000 1,000 11,000 500 7,000 3,000 67,290 276 1835, 3,200 900 10,000 550 5,797 5,000 34,370 300 TAL LOW. TAL Low—continued. : Barrels of Barrels of Barrels of Barrels of * Barrels of Barrels of Barrels of | Barrels of : Wheat. Earley. Oats. Rye. : Wheat. Barley. Oats. Rye. 1826) 3,000 2,000 || 48,000 300 ||1831|| 5,700 1,300 36,000 130 1827 4,020 1,900 44,000 400 1832 5,640 1,000 30,000 I00 1828 4,090 2,000 || 49,000 200 ||1833 3,000 900 32,000 180 1829 4,000 1,040 38,000 150 ||1834 3,000 720 31,200 90 1830, 5,000 2,040 || 39,000 270 ||1835| 5,090 1,000 || 35,500 60 •=se- It is impossible to give the exact quantity of grain sold during the period, as a great deal has been purchased in the different markets for milling, malting, and feeding horses, &c., the amount of which cannot be correctly ascertained; but the above return is as correct as can be made out, taking into consideration the means of information within reach of the district officers. The amount of goods and live stock exported from Waterford in one year (1829) was 2,136,934l. ; while the whole trade in exports from Ireland to Great Britain for seven years endingl'ſ 29 was but 2,307,722. (P. 89, Part 2d, Mr. Musgrave's Evidence.) The copper ore exported from Waterford in 1835 was 2,400 tons, value 21,200l. The cotton manufactures—yards 180,200, I 2 104. value 4,505/. The coals imported the same year amounted to 64,630 tons. - Who, after the reading of these statements, can assert that Ireland has been injured by her Union with England 3 Mr. Musgrave proceeds to state, that in Waterford county agricultural implements, carts, ploughs, and harrows have in- deed improved very much within his recollection; that literary education has augmented (p. 81); that absenteeism is decreas- ing, but that whether a great proprietor resides in Belfast or in Yorkshire, it makes no difference in the improvement of the estate (p. 80). There is very great improvement among the better class of persons; the number of slated houses are in- creasing very considerably, as are also the farm-offices, the cow- houses, barns, &c.; the clothing of the people is much better; in country villages and towns there are a much greater number of bakers than there were a few years ago, and new means of ransport for the conveyance of the middle classes have been ntroduced throughout Waterford (p. 77). A large cotton factory has been established in the neighbourhood of Waterford by Mr. Malcomson with considerable advantage, and giving employment to 600 persons, principally ejected cottiers, whose condition is now better than it had ever previously been. The same spirited gentleman has established a manufactory for flour, the shipments of which have increased very much ; for instance, from 1815 to 1819 there were, cwts. of flour exported by Mr. Malcomson 34,398; and from 1825 to 1829, cwts. 357,618. (p. 74). At Limerick also we have the strongest evidence of prosperity. Mr. Browne, proprietor of a very large distillery in the south of Ireland, says, “There has been a great increase in the exports and imports of the port of Limerick (p. 40.) The estimated value of the exports for three years ending 1822 was 1,685,2561, and for three years ending 1829, the value had increased to 2,279,914l. The amount of grain sold in the Limerick market for three years ending 1822 was 1,007,124l. Ditto ending 1829, 1,386,897].” (P. 18.) I ()5 ExpoRTs from LIMERICK in Two Periods of Two Years each. Periods. | Butter. Bacon. Lard. Pork. Wheat." Oats. Flour. | Feathers, Beans. —m- Firkins. Cwts. Cwts. | Tierces. | Bushels. Bushels. Cwts. Bags. Bushels 1820-21 | 81,078. 36,469| 1,488 10,945|157,898|586,285 7,859 560 50 1828-29 |159,420 85, 190| 9,500 15,141266,246,680,804| 26,505| 1,000| 7,673 Increase 78,342. 48,621 8,012| 4, 196108,448 74,519 18,726 440 7,623 1840-41 No Returns. The foregoing statements are from the Chamber of Commerce at Limerick, and authenticated by Mr. Browne, who also bears testimony to the improved condition of the country: “Within the last twenty years (says the same witness), I think the people have more comforts than they used to have ; on Sundays and holidays you can see that they are much better clothed than they were twenty years ago; there are more bake-houses than formerly, very improved vehicles, a greater number of slated houses occupied by farmers than there was wont to be, and considerably more land now cultivated.” (P. 39 and 40.) From other sources we obtain the following data. NUMBER and TonnAGE of VESSELS entering the Port of Limerick, Years ending 1st September. No. Tons. No. Tons. No. Tons 1820 . . 332. . . 35,769 1825 . . .364. . . 41,871 1830 . . 376. . . 48,337 1821 . . .367. . . 43,363 1826 . . .305. . . 39,793 1831 . . 458. . . 54,254 1822. . 285 . . . 29,876 1827 . . 294. . . 39,375 1832 . . 505. . . 66,232 1823 . . 284. . . 30,807 1828 ... 462. . . 58,242 1833 . . 500. . . 65,761 *-ms - - - wº- ºr -sm -** - Totals 1,268 . . 139,815 || Totals 1,425 ... 179,28) Totals 1,839. . 234,584 The following is a RETURN of the Number and Registered TonnaGE of VESSELs, distinguishing British from Foreign, which have Entered INwARDs, and Cleared OUTWARDS, at the Port of LIMERICK, exclusive of Tralee Creek, with the estimated VALUE of the CARGOEs in each Year, from 1836. Vessels in ballast, to and from the United Kingdom, are not included in this Return, no record of the same being kept. INWARDS. OUTwARDs. Years. British. Foreign. British. Foreign. No. Toms Value. Il No. Tons. Value. No. (Tons | Value. *-ms-s - * - I "-- 1 1 - .------ sº sć' só' sé 1836. . 425 54,412 544,120; 2 375 3,750557, 72,127 721,270 2 |368 3,680 1837 . .462 53.766 557,660 2 |354|3,540.65% 82,007|820,970 1 185|1850 1838. . 468||58,381; 583,810 3 || 366 3,660,574, 73,735 737,350 3 ||366 3,660 1839 . No Returns, No Returns. | No. | Tons, Value. |. 106 The creeks annexed to the port of Limerick show a rising trade, where little or none had previously existed. CREEKs. 1830. 1831. 1832. 1833. No. Tons. | No. Tons. No. Tons. | No. Tons. Tralee. . . . 85. . . 7,232 | 89. . . 8,178 102. . . 8,603 |112. . . 9,402 Clare . . . . 24. ... . 2,635 | 33. . . 3,512 || 57. . . 6,358 |43. . . 4,574 |. Kilrush . . 33. . . 2,863 || 25. . . 2,294 | 28. . . 2,681 | 40 . . . 4,125 Totals. . . [142. . . 12,730 ||147. . . 13,984 187. . .17,642 |195. . .18, 101 The NUMBER and REGISTERED TONNAGE of WESSELS which have Entered INWARDS, and Cleared OUTwARDs at the CREEk of TRALEE, with the Estimated VALUE of the CARGOEs, in each Year from 1836, is thus shown, exclusive of Vessels in ballast to and from the United Kingdom, which are not included in this Return, To record of the same being kept. - INWARDS, BRITISII. OUT WARDS, BRITIS II. Years. - Number. Tons. Value. Number. Tons. Value. #’ £ I836 96 7138 71,380 -105 86.21 86,210 1837 III 8037 80,370 119 8474 84,740 1838 84 6092 60,920 119 9512 95,120 The NUMBER and ToNNAGE of VESSELS which frequent the Fishery Pier of RILRUSH during each of the Years ending 22d October, from 1835, with CoAL, IRON, GRAIN, TIMBER, &c., was— Number of Number of Years Vessels. Years Vessels. ending 22d S Tommage: lending 22d − Tonnage. October. €21- & October. €al- e going. River. going. River. 1835 44 103 || 6,081 1840 1836 48 120 7,043 1841 1837 49 126 || 7, 197 I842 1838 72 106 || 9,661 1843 1839 . This does not include the vessels which load and unload in the inner harbour, nor the quantity of turf-boats which load and unload at the turf-quay, at the inner harbour; nor does it include the steamers which ply daily. This is sufficient testimony as to Limerick District. The city of Limerick is a beautiful and thriving town. There are more than 1000 girls employed in the manufacture of lace of excellent quality, and which finds a ready and profitable sale in England. With respect to the county of Clare, Mr. Wilson states, that agriculture is improved; that the condition of the holders of farms from eight to ten acres has generally improved in 107 have been advan- (P. 18.1.) 1x or seven quarries d. (P. I78.) A vast number of the farmers of the county of Clare are now enabled to adopt slated coverings for their houses instead of thatch : the slate quarries of Killaloe ETURN of GRAIN sold in the City and County of LIMERICK for From AGRICULTURAL COMMITTEE, App. HousB OF COMMONs. Ten Years. the last few years, and the clothing of the people very much The following is a R have been worked very considerably of late years by the Irish Mining Company,” and s tageously worked by private individuals. Improve ºsſo， Teq 896°98 04 gºgºg I uro）; “Kaſſeg. Jo pire ſ størreq 9zgº Izę o zg6°06ątūOJŲ ‘sqęO Į0–9uoſe ſoſtatuſ I go Á HO ºtſ! uſ í síðareq (69%84I og 06 Iºſae tuong poseerouſ seq Kyunooºtſ, ug p[os qę9ųM Įo K\ſqu’enb øųJ, ºstaº X 3uțAOItog øl!? Jo qobo pĮos ºu oņS 0z go º LyºIIIAA & O STRI Havg Ģg6'98 || 608‘8Ī | 9ŤzºgĪ|693'03 |090‘IŤ |868‘zg |0ī£‘II |409'8 |864‘ſ leggºgſ | ſoſtatuſ I go ºgo ºg£8I | “†88 I | '999 I|'388Ī | ''[88] | '088 I | '6Z8Ī | '8Z8Ț | ‘ ſz8I | 'gzȘI ºsirea A ºuȚAoIoſ aqą jo qobº pſos ºu oņS 6 IJo ‘XCITIV ȘI NO STAI?I?Ivg 938'138| 089“IZZ) ºſť888|| 996'6gſ|898'999|ºz8‘997|WIgºgºļ06z"9ff|9Ťgºgºz|zę6，062|×oſtatuſ; jo ſo '988Ī | “†88Ī | '888 I 1 ‘Z98 I | ‘IĘ8I || '09SI | -6Z8L | '8ZSI Į · ZZSI | -9z3 I *Subºx 3uțAOTĮog øqq Jo qoua p[os‘90，045 † 1. Jo ‘s Lvo ſo s TGI?I?Ivq 269'8% iſz0zºī£zſégg'882|#689'zºz|16，92|zgºgęt|0grººt|ºsztºzi|zgłºsº logiº: |z − ruſo）, 038'4 | 09Ť“Z || 000% || 008'9 |0g!‘ſ 100g“† 100zºº 1000ff ||00/ºg 100gºgº uſoņgøyſsy ---- le-，�–→！----«-»--e- | * * p(9ļļū9ī£) 034:93 #38ſ93 | 38893 | 490，93 |209.gſ 1093， I gºzºfi ſº0º0l 1982:01 |Igrºot | : · : sserbo Ģſ:9 | !!8:g | ſgïg | 039.g 1868? [632% ſºzzº |68.gºg |zzgºſ 160řízx{00[[BULIŲyſ £3 | $413 | 496 || |, ſººſ įſőZ'I |929'I |09.gſ. Þ0g“I 1967'I |09ři* uºp[o3eu eqS 09ģ:8）|${08_ſſſſſſſ ſſſſ！!! || Izºg 1838'ſ 1889'ſ lyſgºw |0īgº ļgig‘;9țgºx{ųſeſ I 809’38 I | #9 I'803|| 643‘9řZ| Z80‘GIZļ086‘řºz|690‘ZOI|3,32°g II|g8Gºog IſºI6ºg 2 |gggº Ig | ſoț¢otuſ T. Jo K110 ’988Ī | †88[ | '888 I || 'Z88Ī | ''[88I || '099 I | -6Z8I | -373 I || 'ZZ3 I || .923||'s Lºſ XI av IN * The Killaloe slate quarries are truly deserving of national encouragement ; there are 500 men constantly at work, and the energy, decision, business habits, liberality, and benevolent conduct of W. Rickford Collett, Esq., M.P. for Lincoln, the chairman of the Company, deserve the highest praise. I08 Mr. Livingstone, of Ballina in Connaught, furnishes a valuable table relative to some of the trade of that almost new port. It will be sufficient to give two of the first, and two of the latter years combined. TRADE OF BALLINA. Vessels Vessels Vessels e g fe * g ting importing Exporting. Impor e Tons Tons Years. British Goods. Foreign Goods. of Oats. of Barley. No. Tons. No. Tons. No. Tons. 1817-18 . . 91 || 6,338 40 | 1,194 0 0 5,450 92 1828-29 . . 263 24,143 || 105 || 8,095 | 19 2,114 22,631 352 ~mºsºm- Increase . 172 17,805 || 65 6,901 | 19 || 2,114 | 16,181 260 In 1817, Ballina had a population of 6,800 souls; in 1829, of upwards of 10,000 inhabitants. The houses built are of an im- proved description ; they are a very respectable style of houses, constructed of materials contributing to the improvement of the revenue. There are establishments, and extensive establishments, in the way of mills, breweries, &c. Until lately, there was only a very small brewery, and a still smaller mill. In 1829 there were two respectable breweries, and two or three mills, in which flour and oatmeal, to a considerable extent, are manufactured, and which is not brought to account in the statement just given; and the consumption of flour is augmenting in the county. Business has increased eight or tenfold. There is a considerable im- portation of timber. Until recently, the mails were carried on horseback; they are now conveyed by a mail-coach drawn by four horses. The habits of the people are certainly improving : their clothing is better; and their houses, in the town and in the country, considerably altered for the better. The number of bakehouses in the villages have been extended; and there has been a considerable extension of the banking system, with a feeling of great satisfaction and entire confidence. (Part Iſ. p. 132.) The county of Roscommon, from being a pasture county seven years ago, is now a very extensive corn county. (p. 610 part iv.) With respect to the county of Carlow, the corn 109 trade down the Barrow has increased from 2,800 quarters in 1813, to 15,000 quarters in 1828. YEAR . 1826 1827 I828 1829 I830 1831 1832 1833 1834 1835 In the Counties of Clare and Total RETURN shewing the QUANTITY of WHEAT, OATs, & BARLEY, sold in the principal MARKET Towns in the County of MAYo, for ten years. Tons of Tons of | Tons of Wheat. Barley. Oats. 600 969 || 25,509 580 1,665 31,964 600 1,997 35,955 1,665 2,148 34,026 1,627 1,890 31,176 1,668 2,268 || 34,491 1,943 1,914 || 34,167 2,005 1,968 || 29,842 2,914 1,971 || 32,840 3,144 1,061 32,607 16,746 17,651 322,577 YEAR. 1826 1827 1828 1829 1830 183} I832 1833 1834 1835 of increasing agriculture. Galway, we have also evidence RETURN shewing the QUANTITY of GRAIN sold in the County of CLARE from the year 1826 to 1835 inclusive. Barrels of | Barrels of Barrels of YEARs heat. Barley. Oats. 1826 5,508 7,671 130,496 1827 13,673 6,124 II8,374 1828 23,211 11,463 145,427 1829 22,394 10,238 112,409 1830 24,695 22,015 110,336 1831 26,681 22,781 126,960 1832 132,746 17,376 136,957 1833 || 46,486 || 13,559 || 130,734 1834 47,492 26,859 - 110,503 1835 | 56,987 || 30,695 || 119,469 Total 399,873 | 168,781 |1,241,665 YEAR. 1826 1827 1828 1829 1830 1831 1832 1833 1834 1835 Portunina Market, Sold, 1832, 84 1833, 153 *s ºss 237 5; ; , ToTAL Barrels of Rape, 16 st. per Barrel. 7 5 RETURN of the total QUANTITY of GRAIN sold in each of the several MARKETs in the County of Roscom Mon. Barrels of Barrels of Barrels of | Wheat. Barley. Oats. 35,842 17,198 || 92,385 26,342 18,779 || 95,955 36,437 19,440 92,383 25,661 16,629 || 90,641 36,334 18,902 90,871 35,922 26,185 94,950 67,906 16,814 || 100,224 25,014 17,109 || 88,594 36,819 18,885 104,906 37,802 77,929 || 102,787 364,079 247,870 |953,696 RETURN of the total QUANTITY of GRAIN sold in each of the several MARKETs in the County of GALWAY during ten years, (so far as the same can be made up) dis- finguishing each sort of Grain. Tons of | Toms of | Tons of Wheat. Barley. Oats. 12,480 3,647 21,785 14,410 3,984 || 24,474 17,306 || 4,099 29,963 16,800 4,039 || 25,676 17,343 4,117 | 26,383 18,460 4,230 25,406 44,649 || 4,026 28,511 21,951 4,562 27,528 23,157 4,349 28,496 17,148 4,228 32,876 203,704 || 41,281 |271,098 $ 2 5 * II () The County of Sligo Returns demonstrate that tillage must have rapidly extended. The augmented production of corn, and of Wheat in particular, on five years, ending 1835, is very large. RETURN, showing the Quantity of GRAIN sold in the County of SLIGo, from the Year 1826 to 1835, inclusive. year. ºf ºººº..." |xnaw, ºf **** 1826 3,625 | 12,071 |379,654 || 1831 | 12,949 || 10,594 || 398,362 1827 4,035 | 5,830 |433,669 || 1832 14,976 || 8,667 || 417,927 1828 4,277 8,751 |466,396 || 1833 15,701 || 10,359 459,579 1829 || 4,576 | 8,402 |360,830 || 1834 15,896 || 8,912 425,986 1830 5,084 8,784 |279,061 || 1835 | 10,957 | 8,810 || 387,775 Total. 21,597 || 43,838 1,919,610|Total. 70,479 47,342 2,089,629 We may now turn to examine the state of Cork. tonnage reported at the Custom-house of Cork was, in The General. - Coasters. Colliers. 1823-24 . Tons 112,209 . . 123,319 36,054 1828-29 . 144,156 . . 145,289 . . 102,758 Increase . Tons 32,947 21,970 66,704 Five steamers, with engines of 130 horse-power each, have been established since 1825; these steamers, together with others, ply between Cork, London, Liverpool, Bristol, Dublin, and Glasgow. - The quantity of barrels of wheat and barley sold in Cork market was, in Wheat. Barley. 1823 . . . 50,585 . . . 71,576 1828 98,964 103,131 1833 105,964 . © e Increase . Bushels 55,379 - 31,555 The following RETURN shews the QUANTITY of WHEAT (barrels of 20 Stone) sold in the several MARKET Towns in the County of CoRK, for Ten Years. MA - f f". #. 1826. 1827. 1828. 1829. 1830. 1831. 1832. - 1833. 1834. | 1835. Bantry. . 3,022 || 3,995 || 5,042 3,954 4,648 || 6,286 8,338|| 9,584 || 7,686 8,453 Macroom . -me 1,728 288 3,675 4,200 4,800 5,500 6,300 || 7,200 3,268 Dunmannay 2,146 || 2,537 || 3,225 4,157 || 4,590 || 4,768||5,117 | 5,556 || 7,587 || 9,741 Fermoy . . 24,414 24,016 |20,630 30,545 |30,300 |30,260 |36,760 37,248 |43,140|56,330 Kanturk . 6,500 6,500 6,500 6,500 6,500 | 6,586 6,776 7,741 || 8,453 8,900 Midleton . 751 | 839| 5,824 5,948 5,632 6,717| 7,099||13,262|11,057|12,493 Totals 36,833 39,61541,509 54,779 55,670 |59,617 69,590|79,691 85,12339,185 Illi The BUTTER annually passing through the WEIGH-HOUSEs of CoRK was at three periods thus:–Quantities are given in Casks, Firkins, and Kegs. (N.B., since 1830, the Firkin of butter contains five lbs. of butter more than in previous years :— - Years. C. F. & Kegs. || Years. C. F. & Kegs. || Years. C. F. & Kegs. 1777 207,530 || 1795 207,662 || 1829 302,207 1778 184,489 || 1796 219,680 || 1830 279,947 1779 168,616 || 1797 215,327 || 1831 249,596 1780 241,243 || 1798 223,004 || 1832 240,663 I781 249,471 || 1799 203,195 || 1833 264,003 1782 242,752 || 1800 183,249 || 1834 271,198 1783 224,721 || 1801 174,361 || 1835 283,307 Total | 1,548,722 156,478 1,890,921 The increase on the seven years of the last period, compared with the first, is very manifest, (342,199)—but the centre period, the age of alleged Irish prosperity, shows, as in all other things, a decline. And it should be remarked, that since the Union, Waterford, Cork, Limerick, Carlow, and other places, have become large exporters of butter, a large part of which formerly went to Cork. The corn, meal, and flour exported from Cork in 1835 was 729,372 cwts., valued at 372,854l. The value of provisions exported the same year was 2,019,846l. The linen exported was 501,600 yards, value 50,1697. The beer exported 234,000 gallons. The swine were in number 75,189, of the value of 263,162.l. Mr. De la Cour observes, that the condition of the people of Cork county has been materially altered of late years, their habits and manners having improved ; they are better clothed ; the con- dition of the females is signally ameliorated; there is a growing taste for articles of English manufacture; the agricultural im- plements are better; the number of slated houses has increased ; and the distress which exists is in the manufacturing population, partly arising from unforeseen and uncontrollable causes, and partly from the system of combination existing among the mechanics. There is an improved spirit among the higher and middle classes, as well as among the lower; party feeling and religious differences are subsiding, and education is generally extending.—(p. 238). 112 The returns in the previous Chapter show the large increase that has taken place in the shipping of Dublin : it may be well to give the following facts. The Belfast Mercantile Register says:—“To show the fallacy of the popular theme of Mr. O'Con- nell, that the trade of Dublin has fallen off since the period of the Union, we give an authenticated account of the tonnage of vessels cleared out from the port of Dublin, viz.: In 1789,294,570 tons; 1800, 273,726 tons; 1810, 300,040 tons; 1815, 366,799 tons; 1820, 326,845 tons; 1825, 396,053 tons; 1839, 601,481 tons; Showing an immense increase within the last fifteen years. The following STATEMENT of the NUMBER and TonNAGE of VESSELS which have frequented KINGSTown HARBOUR in each Year, from 1836 to 1838, is from the Railway Commissioners’ Report. 1836. 1837. 1838. No Tonnage || No. Tonnage || No. Tonnage Wessels which had cleared out for an Y English, Irish, Scotch, or Foreign Port, and were bound to an Irish X | 247 18,230|| 250 16,805|| 254| 19,494 port (not including Dublin), wind- *. bound or taking shelter o tº ||Vessels which had cleared out from an Er:glish, Scotch, or Foreign Port, bound to England or Scotland, wind- bound or taking shelter . º - - Wessels trading to or from the Port of * Dublin, waiting for wind or tide 1,346|203,796||1,334|197,849||1,351194,800 Revenue cruisers and men-of-war . . 63 — 71 — 49| — Wessels from Irish ports to English, Scotch, or IForeign ports, taking shelter or wind-bound . º e Wessels from English and Scotch to Foreign ports, taking shelter or wind-bound - & e e Wessel from a Foreign port to a Foreign 1| Port, seeking shelter . © º Wessels to Kingstown, or the Old Harbour of Dunleary º } 130 12,513||| 98 10,681| 159 17,599 { 149 9,966|| 161| 10,889| 229 15,659 27| 4,201 || 30, 3,930|| 42 6,366 205 || – - t- - :} 107 12,892|| 150 27,032|| 118 15,296 --- Total . . . . . 2,070,261,803|2,094.267,186||2,202|269,214 This Return does not include the Post-office Packets. NoTE:-The apparently small increase of Tonnage in the last year is attributable to the new system of measurement introduced by the Revenue, which has reduced the Registered Tonnage one-fourth in most vessels, and even more in many instances. The real increase is fully equal to that of former years. 113 The NUMBER of PERSONS CONVEYED between Liverpool, and Kingstown by Post- Office Packets, as PROPRIETORs of the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company. Years No. 1 Years, No. Years. No. 1827 738 1830 1,287 1833 1,278 1828 961 | 1831 1,399 || 1834 1,673 1829 944 1832 1,225 | 1835 I,788 Total 2,643 Total 3,911 Total 4739 The PASSENGERS and CARRIAGES by her Majesty's Steam Packets, between LIVERPOOL and KINGSTOwn. Years. Passengers. Carriages, 1832 . y 125 1833 9,292 222 1834 12,425 219 1835 14,040 249 Totals 42,458 815 A very great increase has taken place in buildings at Kings- town—to which an excellent railway has been constructed by the enterprising energy of Mr. James Pim and other gentlemen. Kingstown (formerly “Dirty Dunleary”) is now one of the most beautiful suburbs of any city in Europe. Mr. Emerson Tennant, M.P. for Belfast, and now one of the Secretaries of the India Board—in his comprehensive historical and commercial speech in Parliament, 22d April, 1834, against the Repeal of the Union, and which alone would entitle him while he lives to the representation of the great and flourishing town for which he now so worthily sits in the Imperial Parlia- ment, thus alludes to the past and present state of Belfast :— “The population of Belfast was, before the era of Irish independence—that is, in 1779, about 13,000 : during twenty years it increased but one-fourth, and was, at the time of the Union, in round numbers, 19,000. In 1816, it was 30,720; in 1829, 55,158, being an increase, since the Union, of more than four-fold. The quan- tity of shipping which entered the port, in 1786, amounted to 761 vessels, of 38,421 tons burden; at the Union in 1800, they were 856 in number ; and the tonnage 67,855; an increase of about one-third. There were, last year, 2,600 ships, with a tonnage of 264,377—being an augmentation, since the Union, to triple the amount in number, and quadruple in quantity. At the time of the Union there was not a cotton nor a flax mill at Belfast, and the cottom trade alone now gives occupation to upwards of 10,000 looms; and taking the receipts of Customs and Excise as a fair test of the produce of home manufactures and foreign trade, they afford a most singular evidence of the comparative influence of Union and Independence. The Custom-house receipts were, in 1782, 60,000l. ; twenty years afterwards, in 1800, when we had had a full experience of the influence of a free Constitution, they were 62,6687., showing an augmentation of but one-thirtieth in all that period. The I 14 Union took place in 1800, and five years afterwards they were 228,645l. ; they were in 1820, 306,2637., and are, at this moment, upwards of 400,000l. ; showing that the trade of the north of Ireland has actually doubled in every period of five years since the Union. I say the trade of the north of Ireland, for although I do not mean to generalise this instance over the whole kingdom, Belfast is certainly the emporium and the depôt of Ulster, and I have sufficient evidence to show to the House that the improvement in the entire of that province has been uniform and immense. I hold in my hand a return of the produce of stamps in the Antrim district since the Union, by which it appearcd that, from 1800 to 1814, when the proceeds were diminished by the reduction of the rate of duty, the gross receipts for stamps had risen from 6,1987. to 20,604!. : that of advertisement duty from 5677. to 2,275l. ; insurance duty from 448l. to 1,445l. (and it was last year 2,944l.)—and the total revenue in these departments from 6,766!. to 35,163/.” During the recent Repeal debate in the Corporation of Dublin, 28th February 1843, Alderman Perry thus bore testimony to the improving state of manufactures in Belfast:— “He (Mr Perry) had been so circumstanced for some years back, that he flat- tered himself he was competent to pronounce a correct opinion on the state the Linen trade. There certainly was an increase within late years in the linen trade of Ireland; and he did not hesitate to say that in differing from Mr. Staun- ton upon that point, he did so in consequence of his own personal observation. He could himself, at that moment, enumerate twelve extensive flax-mills which had been built within the last six or seven years in one locality alone—namely, Belfast and its vicinity. Ten years ago there was not a single flax-mill in the north of Ireland. The first that appeared was erected about ten years ago by a gentleman named Mulholland, and his example was followed within a brief period by no less than fifteen ortwentyother enterprising individuals in the north of Ireland; and up to a few months ago, when the prohibitory duties were imposed by the French nation, each and every one of those mills was in a state of the highest prosperity. All he hoped was, that the present state of things in this branch of industry would continue; and if it continued to progress as it was progressing, he would be per- fectly contented. In making this calculation he did not separate two branches of the trade—the linen and the yarn. He considered the question in its integrity and as a whole, for he thought that that was the fairest and most equitable manner of treating the subject ; and provided a great number of hands were employed, and a vast quantity of capital expended, he thought it a matter of minor significance, whether that large amount of labour and of wealth was laid out in spinning, weav. ing, or bleaching.” The Exportation of BUTTER from Belfast was— cwt.S. CWts. 1807 e ğ ë . 14,464 In 1818 ſe g . 28,010 1808 . ſe $ . . 19,414 In 1819 • . . . . 42,178 1809 & e {* . 19,695 || In 1820 & e . 52,156 Total . . . 53,573 Total . 122,344 Increase on three years ſº tº & & tº cwts. 68,771 115 The butter exported from Newry, in cwts, was, in— 1807 . 23,157 | 1817 . 31,501 | 1837 ) The returns are in firkins : 1808. . . . 23,509 | 1818 . . 32,747 | 1838 and the annual average is 1809 . 27,919 | 1819 . 59,945 1839 j stated at Average cwts. . 24,861 cwts. . . 41,397 cwts. 80,000 We perceive, therefore, in one article alone, and notwith- standing that Dundalk, Drogheda, &c., are now shipping ports, a quadrupling of the butter trade of Newry. The same may be said of almost every other port in Ireland. • The following abstract of a return, printed by Parliament, 4th June, 1834, shews the state of the Balbriggan and Dundalk ports:— A RETURN of the Number of SHIPPING and AMount of Tonn AGE Entered Outwards at the Creek of BALBRIGGAN in the Port of DUBLIN, in the last Seven Years, distinguishing them according to the different kinds of Trade in which engaged. - colliers. "...º.º. tº Years. wº- No. Tons. No. Tons. 1827 73 * * fºssass I828 82 5,865 5 304 1829 93 7,216 2 89 1830 96 || 7,378 6 33I. 1831 107 || 7,552 2 201 I832 wº 136 9,443 15 1,021 1833 134 11,566 17 | 1,034 A RETURN of the Number of SHIPPING and Amount of TownAge Entered Inwards and Outwards at the Port of DUNDALK. 1827. 1829. issi. 1833, No.Tomage No. Tonnage No. Tonnage |No.Tommage Foreign vessels . Inwards 10 1,475 || 7 1,170 | 13 2,222 || 7 1,461 British vessels from Foreign parts, 12| 2,877 | 16 2,557 | 12 1,755 || 5 | 892 British Coasters ,, .33727,147 |47641,084 |495|39,173 |436||36,156 Irish Coasters Outwards 13| 497 10| 535 | 18 1,292 || 36|| 2,221 Mr. Bailee bears testimony to the fact, that the physical con- dition of the peasantry in the North of Ireland is considerably improved; their food and clothing are better, and sectarianism declining; there is a great spirit of charity, from the highest to the lowest order of the nation. (p. 242.) I 16. Mr. Barry, inspector-general of fisheries in the South of Ireland, says, that the moral and practical improvement of the people has been exceedingly rapid within the last ten years : that the people are better clothed, particularly the females. This witness states, some of the greatest improvements in Ireland are owing to the labourers who migrate to England bringing back with them habits of industry and providence, and a greater degree of civilisation. (p. 202). Mr. Newenham, after forty years’ experience and residence in Ireland, says the condition of the people has been advancing; they are much better clothed ; we see very few at the present day without shoes or stockings, and forty years ago, not one- quarter of the inhabitants of Ireland had shoes and stockings; there is an improvement in the towns, and a very great deal of improvement in the habitations of the farmers. (p. 617, part iv.) - The same authority observes (what those who like him have visited Ireland and the Continent must confirm), that the poorer class of the Irish are better off than those of the same class in France and ſtaly. Mr. Greer, speaking of the county of Armagh, says, “There has been a very visible improvement in the condition of the peasantry generally, in the superior character of their habi- tations, in improved clothing, and in the consumption of wheaten bread, which has considerably increased ; there have been, and it is continuing, an increase of flour-mills; the mode of farming has decidedly improved, and the consumption of tea and sugar has increased. All the linen that the weavers bring to market is sold ; and I do not know any man that is able to work, or that has been so for two or three years, that cannot get work;” (part ii. p. 357). Mr. Blake says, the imports of Ireland have considerably increased, and they have been paid for by increas- ing wealth ; (part iii. p. 356). . Mr. Wiggins, an English gentleman of Tavistock-place, Russell-square, who has visited Ireland always once, sometimes two or three times a year, for the last twenty-two years, informed the Committee that he has observed a very great improvement 117 in the condition of the people, in every respect in clothing, habits of cleanliness, regularity and order (part iii. p. 359). Their habitations have considerably improved ; they are not now content with the same miserable hut that they had twenty years ago; they wish to have three rooms instead of one ; to keep the cattle separate from the children, and to sleep them- selves separate from their children; they wish to have windows and doors, which they had not formerly; and even when the cabin is built by themselves, they will build it on a better place and with more comforts and conveniences, than they had before (part iii. p. 369, 360). Mr. Wiggins, in describing the south-west of Ireland, says:— “I conceive in their moral character and conduct altogether, the improvement of the people has been very striking.” In a subse- quent part of his examination he adds—“I think the improve- mont of Ireland has been uſure rapid than any improvement I ever saw in England in any large tract of country.” Formerly, observes Mr. J. D. Mullen, the labourers of the county of Dublin wore a coarse kind of cloth called frieze; now they uniformly wear cloth which is dearer, and is an evidence of an improved motion of comfort. Mr. Brodigan, who resides in the county of Louth, stated that the trade of the Eastern parts of Ireland has considerably improved, and that agriculture is increasing by reason of the beneficial and extensive markets which the ports of England afford for the farmer’s produce ; and there is an improvement in the internal comfort and appearance of the farmers and of the peasantry (part ii. p. 874). Mr. Fanning, one of the Directors of the Grand Canal, since 1810 (the extent of which is 156 miles) says, that there is a very considerable improvement in the condition of the people, and in the state of agriculture along the line of the canal; and large quantities of bog and marsh land have been brought into cultivation and tillage : (part iii. p. 389). Mr. Wm. Stockley, an extensive mail and stage-coach proprietor in Ireland, says, that the condition of the people, of their towns, and of their shops, in the North and in PART III. R - II 8 the South, and on the Wexford line (particularly at Cork), is evidently improving. That in the vicinity of Dublin the con- dition of the lower orders is improving; that the peasantry who formerly travelled on foot, now journey as outside stage-coach passengers; that the dress of the people is better; and at places of country amusements you see people on jaunting cars, who formerly used to come on common cars with a bundle of straw and a quilt over it; while by reason of the facility of intercourse between England and Ireland, it is quite astonishing to see the number of traders in cattle who have risen up, and are now travelling about with hundreds in their pockets, who formerly could not buy half a score of pigs (p. 390). Mr. Williams, a director to the Dublin Steam Company, says that steam navigation commenced between England and Ireland in 1824, and there are now forty steam-vessels plying between both islands. All the Irish ports, from Londonderry round to Cork, have their separate establishments trading direct with England—namely, Londonderry, Belfast, Newry, Dun- dalk, Drogheda, Dublin, Wexford, Waterford, Cork. The com- petition is so great that pigs, for instance, are carried from Dundalk to Liverpool for one penny each / The effect of steam navigation is to supersede the necessity of large capitalists in trade, and give productive employment to people in secondary lines of business. Small Irish traders go to the manufacturing towns of England themselves, and are, of course, enabled to sell on much better terms; hence the increase of shops and business. A very considerable improvement is visible in the appearance of the people. A Dublin shopkeeper may now, on the closing of his shop in the evening, step on board the packet for Liverpool, be at Manchester on the ensuing morning to breakfast, purchase all his goods, and be in his shop in Dublin on the ensuing morning. Wholesale merchants suffer by this course of busi- ness, but the country is benefitted. The bringing over of improved breeds of pigs and cattle from England to Ireland is now more frequent than formerly. The increase in the export of pigs is almost incredible; a new trade has arisen in fresh butter, brought to England by the very per- 119 sons who prepare it in very small quantities, and who find a ready market for it, along with their eggs. In one week 100 firkins of fresh butter have been carried by the inland com- panies from Limerick, deliverable in Liverpool. A striking example of the extension of public conveyances is given in the establishment of day cars by Mr. Bianconi in the south-east of Ireland.” These vehicles, chiefly used as convey- ances by the middle classes, were only introduced in 1815; and at the present moment have so widely extended as to travel over a wide extent daily. This establishment yields support to more than 100 families; employs 200 horses, and creates a demand for 8,000 to 10,000 barrels of oats, and 600 to 700 tons of hay. Mr. Weale, an officer of the Department of the Land Revenue, considers, “that in every quarter, in every corner of Ireland, * Mr. and Mrs. IIall, in their interesting work on Ireland, thus comment on this meritorious foreigner, whose fortunate career proves there is no impediment on the part of Government in the acquisition of wealth when prudence and industry are combined:—“Clonmel has been rendered ‘famous’ in modern Irish history by the successful exertions of a single individual, of whom it is not too much to say, that he has done more to improve the condition of the peasantry and the country than any other person of our age. We refer to Mr. Charles Bianconi, and the travelling cars that bear his name. He is a native of Milan; and about the year 1800, voyaged to Ireland ; first visiting Dublin, and subsequently settling in Clonmel, where he carried on the trade of a picture dealer and cleaner and frame-maker, but upon a very limited scale; for his resources were, at first, exceedingly limited. By habits of industry, prudence, and forethought, he contrived to save money, and be- came highly respected by his neighbours ; and his circumstances improving, he con- ceived the design of running a public car, that, by conveying passengers at a much less expense thall the stage-coaches, might answer the purposes of the comparatively humbler classes. He ran his first car—from Clonmel to Cahir—on the 5th of July, 1815, and, shortly after, other cars to Limerick and Thurles. The experiment was very discouraging at the commencement ; he was frequently for whole weeks with- out obtaining a passenger ; but his energy and perseverance ultimately triumphed, and he has succeeded in obtaining a large fortune for himself while conferring immense benefit on the community; having preserved an irreproachable character, and gained the respect of all classes. “He has now, running daily, forty-five double cars—that is, cars running up and down from the same places, and travelling over 3,600 miles daily. The number of these cars which convey the mail are eighteen up and eighteen down. The number of horses to each car is from one to four, according to circumstances. His cars vary in size, taking from four to sixteen passengers. He builds all his own cars, having a regular factory at Clonmel. They travel at the rate of from six and a half to nine miles per hour. This variation of speed is chiefly in reference to the mail- cars.” K 2 120 there are perceivable evidences of growing and rapidly growing prosperity.” There is an extension of the growth of clover and vetches. Iron ploughs, of an excellent description, are pur- chased; and the common log, or block wheel, formerly used, is now superseded by the spoke wheel, introduced almost every- where. The intercourse by steam between the two countries, has given a value to many of the lesser articles of farming pro- duce, formerly almost without a market, such as eggs, poultry, honey, &c. These matters are now brought into the British market, and produce almost a “new creation of property, which is laid out in manufactured goods, dress, and articles of fur- niture.” The inhabitants of Liverpool are stated by a resident in that town to be quite aware of the altered appearance even of the Irish reapers, who no longer come in the tattered clothes they formerly appeared in ; they are ashamed of their rags, and are apparently a different class of persons. “I speak from a great deal of examination into the state of Ireland," observes the Right Hon. Ant. Blake, the Chief Remembrancer of the Court of Exchequer; “Ireland is becoming from day to day more prosperous: capital is spreading throughout Ireland, and in proportion as it spreads, so will the general state of all classes be improved.” The state of the labouring classes must depend on the propor- tion existing between the number of the people and the capital which can be profitably employed in labour. A witness of great acuteness and information says truly, that the operation of natural causes, and the improved spirit of social life, are the true and efficient sources from which the prosperity of Ireland may be anticipated. The foundations of her prosperity are laid, con- cludes Mr. Roe, and time will complete the structure. No language of mine could add to the strength of this highly important testimony. Since the period of the Union, there have been very consider- able sums of money either granted or advanced by Parliament for roads, bridges, canals, piers, harbours, and other public works in Ireland. Between 1805 and 1822, surveys were 121 made by the Post-office, of 2,068 miles of mail-coach roads, the estimate for these improvements being 1,931,782l. ; of this sum, 637,516!. was expended in seven years. Under Acts of Parliament passed of late years, very large sums of money have been vested, either for the employment of the Irish Poor, for public works, or for the exigency of affairs in Ireland. The efforts of the Government to improve the people and the country, will be best seen in the following gratifying statement of the results attendant on the works undertaken by the Govern- ment in various parts of Ireland. Mr. Nimmo states, in 1823, that the fertile plains of Lime- rick, Cork, and Kerry, are separated from each other by a deserted country, hitherto nearly an impassable barrier between them. This large district comprehends nearly 600 Irish, or 970 square miles British. In many places it is very populous. As might be expected under such circumstances, the people are turbulent, and their houses being inaccessible for want of roads, it is not surprising that, during the disturbances in 1821 and 1822, this district was the asylum for whiteboys, smugglers, and robbers, and that stolen cattle were drawn into it as to a safe and impenetrable retreat. Notwithstanding its present deso- late state, this country contains within itself the seeds of future improvement and industry. Such was the state of things in 1822; subsequently, an engineer of eminence, Mr. Griffith, was employed to execute public works in this district, under the authority of the Government. He confirms the former state- ment of Mr. Nimmo. This tract, he observes, is a wild, neg- lected, and deserted country, without roads, culture, or civili- sation ; it chiefly belongs to absentee proprietors, and being for the most part inaccessible, has hitherto afforded an asylum for outlaws and culprits of every description. In the year 1829, after the execution of the works, Mr. Griffith reports with respect to the same district, a very considerable improvement has already taken place in the vicinity of the roads, both in the industry of the inhabitants and the appearance of the country. At the commencement of the works the people flocked into 122 them, seeking employment at any rate ; their looks haggard, their clothing wretched; they rarely possessed any tools or implements beyond a small ill-shaped spade ; and nearly the whole face of the country was unimproved ; since the completion of the roads, rapid strides have been made ; upwards of sixty new lime-kilns have been built ; carts, ploughs, harrows, and improved implements have become common; new houses of a better class have been built, new inclosures made, and the country has become perfectly tranquil, and exhibits a scene of industry and exertion at once pleasing and remarkable. A large portion of the money received for labour has been husbanded with care, laid out in building substantial houses, and in the pur- chase of stock and agricultural implements; and numerous exam- ples might be shown of poor labourers, possessing neither money, houses, nor land when first employed, who in the past year have been enabled to take farms, build houses, and stock their lands. A most interesting account of the effect of these works on the habits of the people will be found in the Minutes of the Parliamentary Report, p. 98. At Abbeyfeale and Brosna, observes Mr. Kelly, above half of the congregation at mass on Sundays were barefoot and ragged, with small straw hats of their own manufacture, felt hats being only worn by a few. Hundreds, or even thousands of men, could be got to work at sixpence a-day, if it had been offered. The farmers were mostly in debt; and many of the families went to beg in Tipperary and other parts. The condition of the people is now very different ; the congregations at the chapels are now as well clad as in other parts; the demand for labour is increased, and a spirit of industry is getting forward, since the new roads have become available. At certain periods of the year, Mr. Griffith remarks, I was obliged to invite strangers to work on the roads, as none could be here procured for hire. The value of land has much increased, and in some cases more than double the rent has been offered. As a further illustration of one of the many incidental advan- tages connected with these public works, the Committee refer 123 to the evidence of Mr. Barrington, the Crown prosecutor, in 1829: he states, that before the roads were executed, it was almost impossible to apprehend any criminal in this district. A portion of the district was used as an asylum for offenders, and rewards were offered by the Government for the apprehension of persons in the neighbourhood. Concealed arms were deposited there, and it was the most disturbed part of the country. A party of military, a sergeant's guard, had their arms taken from them; but the opening of the roads has given the greatest facility in pursuing offenders, and has increased the value of land very much. The Committee state, that they feel that it would be unwise to form any general conclusion from a single instance, however striking it might appear as an illustration, and however applicable from analogy; and they have, therefore, sought whother, from the evidence before Parliament, the inferences deduced from the examples referred to were fully sustainable. They have the satisfaction to state that they are so. In a Report on a part of the county of Kerry, Mr. Nimmo states, in 1824, that—“ A few years ago there was hardly a plough, car, or carriage of any kind; butter, the only produce, was carried to Cork on horseback. There was not one decent public-house, and I think only one house slated and plastered in the village; the nearest post-office, thirty miles distant. Since the new road was made, there were built in three years upwards of twenty respectable two-story houses, slated and plastered, with good sash-windows; a respectable shop, with cloth, hardware, and groceries; a comfortable inn, a post-office, bridewell, new chapel, a quay, covered with limestone for manure, a salt-work, two stores for purchasing oats, and a considerable traffic in linen and yarn. There are perhaps forty cars and carts, and a resi- dent gentleman's coach.” In like manner, Mr. Nimmo observes, in 1829, that the improvement of the county of Mayo, laid open by a new road, continues to proceed rapidly. He refers to instances in, which substantial houses have been built, bogs reclaimed, and planting, drainage, and improvement carried on. At Belmullet, the advance is quite surprising; the place only 124 commenced four years ago; it now consists of about seventy respectable houses, two or three cottages with planted inclosures, &c. Five ships were loaded with grain and kelp ; iron, hoops, and coal, were imported; and, as a convincing proof of the state the country had arrived to, thirty-five newspapers were weekly distributed through the post-office; spirits, beer, and wine, British manufactures, tea and sugar, were sold; the produce of the fisheries was admitted to a market; and the population, formerly crowded in the narrow valleys, were stated to be fast settling along the new line of road. Along the line of road from Westport to Killeery, it is stated, that the people are making extensive use of carts to carry in turf and produce to Westport, and to return with limestone; and on the Colliery road, in Leitrim, Mr. Nimmo reports, that it is surprising to see the improvement excited in the mountainous district ; numerous houses rising along the road, and tillage finding its way to the summit of the hill. A most important result is noticed in the same Report: in the district surrounding Clifden, in the county of Galway, no revenue was paid to the State prior to 1822. In 1826, taxation to the amount of 2,500l. was collected; and in 1828, it had augmented to 6,080l. 7s. 8d., marking a consumption of spirits, tobacco, tea, sugar, pepper, butter, glass, timber, and other articles; and thus proving, indisputably, the increased wealth and the improved habits of the people. “I will here men- tion two facts that have come to my own knowledge,” states Mr. Williams—“ one, that in consequence of the expenditure of 160,000l. in public works in Connaught, in seven years, the increase of the annual revenue has been equal to the whole of that expenditure. I find also a corresponding increase in the revenue of the Cork district, where Mr. Griffith expended 60,000l. in seven years; and the increase of customs and eacise has been 50,000l. a year, attributable mainly to the facilities of communication, by which whole districts have been rendered available for produc- tive purposes, and a miserable pauper population converted into a class of consumers.” The same spirit of improvement appears from a more recent Report at Belmullet, the number of houses 125 is nearly doubled. A considerable portion of grain is drawn from districts where, as is well known, it used to be entirely devoted to illicit distillation. The customs and excise of Galway have fully doubled since 1822; and, exclusive of the improvement in Mayo and Sligo, the surplus must have gone far to pay off the sums Government have expended since that period in the province; while the population are now enabled to pay the same rate of taxation per head as in the rest of Ireland. Some years ago, the Rev. Mr. Hickey states, there was a very miserable road leading from Cork to Skibbereen, thirty-eight or forty miles dis- tant; there was no coach at that time, and no mode of conveyance from the one point to the other without hiring a hackney-chaise, that would take probably two days to make the journey. The grand jury have since cut a new line of road, quite flat; and, upon my visit last year, there were three coaches travelling as fast as most coaches in this country, and overloaded with pas- sengers—all this tending to prove the great intercourse along that line. There were remarkable agricultural improvements carried on, connecting themselves with the opening of the road; and thereby showing that there was a new demand for productive labour, and an improvement in the condition of the people. The Commissioners for Inquiring into the Condition of the Irish Poor, laid before Parliament in 1836, in their Report, advert to these facts thus :— “The improvements which have taken place in the roads of Ireland have extended to all parts of the island ; but the increased wealth which results from the opening of new lines of intercourse is most strikingly manifested in several of the western counties. In some of the wildest parts of these districts considerable sums of public money have been applied to the construction of new roads, under the direction of government engineers. Large tracts of land have, in consequence, been brought into cultivation, whose previous unproductive condition seems to have arisen, in great measure, from the impracticability of conveying the proper manure to them. The owners of the soil have afforded little or no aid to the exertions of the peasants by whom, in general, the reclamation has been effected ; and in so far as the latter have, for the most part, become occupiers of the ground subse- quently to the creation of the facilities in question, they have not been in a con- dition to secure to themselves any considerable share in the benefits conferred. The evidence, not only where reference is made to a recently reclaimed, but also to a long settled district, shows that a constant consequence of improvements in the mode of conveyance has been a steady rise in the amount of rent throughout 126 the district affected. Speaking of the increase which has taken place in the value of lands, Dean Stackpoole refers to an estate in his own neighbourhood (county of Clare,) in which the rental has been raised from between 150l. and 300l. a year to between 1,500l. and 2,000l., “the change being wholly attributable to the new faci- lities of conveying manure to the land in question.’” - The roads throughout Ireland are quite equal to those in England, and very numerous. The coaches are as well horsed as those in England, and the average rate of travelling is eight to ten miles an hour. In the wildest districts and smallest towns, there are marked indications of improvement. The advantages of Steam Navigation to Ireland are thus stated by the Parliamentary Committee of 1830 ; they are deserving the attention of the advocates for “Repealing the Union:”— “The effects of Steam Navigation between Great Britain and Ireland, and its tendency, in many most important respects, to raise the condition of the poor, have occupied much of the attention of your Committee. The political and moral conse- quences likely to attend this great and salutary change, are in the highest degree important; but it is chiefly with its com- mercial and economical effects which your Committee have felt it their duty to deal. In 1824, the first steamer was established between Dublin and Liverpool, by Mr. C. W. Williams, a witness examined before your Committee, and whose active public spirit entitles him to the highest commendation. At present, a capital of 671,000l. is engaged in steam communica- tion across the channel; 42 steam-vessels have been established, of 8,423 tons by registry. From the time a sailing vessel was first prepared to start from Liverpool, to the time of her arrival in Dublin, a week might be calculated as a fair average for her passage. By steam the voyage is performed in fourteen hours. The number of voyages effected in the year is in the proportion of about seven to one in favour of steam, as compared with sailing packets. The results of this intercourse are most useful and most curious. “The small inland trader now finds his way into the English market with what he has to sell, and he buys there what he wishes to retail in his own district.” Steam navi- 127 gation has given to Ireland the best and dearest market for her agricultural produce of all sorts; and the best, because the cheapest market from whence to bring manufactured goods in return. Traders now bring from the manufacturing districts of England the smallest quantity of any description of goods, and this is effected in two or three days. The effect is of the last importance with reference to the quantity of business done with the same capital. It is stated by Mr. Williams that not one- fourth of the capital is now wanting to carry on the same extent of business; and he adds, ‘ I anticipate that will shortly lead to the erection of shops and other establishments in the interior of Ireland, for the sale of a vast variety of articles that are not now to be had there.” Some of the small dealers, who were formerly turning but a few hundred pounds a-year, can now turn 10,000l. in the same articles; fifty tons weight of eggs, and ten tons of live and dead poultry, are sometimes shipped from Dublin in a single day. It is observed truly, that the sale of these articles adds more to the wealth of the tenant than to the landlord's rent ; thus tending to the imme- diate comfort of the peasantry. Another witness informed your Committee, that since 1824, in eggs alone, a branch of trade entirely new, there have been exported, from Dublin only, to the value of 273,000l. distributable among the poorer classes. Cattle are brought from Ballinasloe,” in the county of Galway, to Liverpool, in little more than three days; they are sent in boats by the Grand Canal, transhipped at Dublin, and landed on the quay at Liverpool within the fourth day. The change in the usages of commerce produced by the introduction of steam has pressed heavily upon some of the mercantile classes, as stated by Mr. Roe and Mr. Wyse : “There is no longer any scope for the employment of large capitals in extensive whole- sale transactions; but any injury produced in this way is com- pensated, and much more than compensated, by the benefits conferred on the smaller capitalists, and on the community in general. * The following returns of the annual sales of this great cattle fair, will show that although numerous fairs have been established since the Union in Ireland, and vast H28 He had been very recently in Lancashire; and if, judging from From Sawmders's News-Letter, Dublin. the appearances which presented themselves to his eyes upon that occasion, he could GREAT ocToBER FAIRS OF DUNLO OR BALLINASLOE, FROM THE YEAR 1790 TO Alderman Perry said, in the recent Irish Repeal Debate in THE YEAR 1840. the Corporation of Dublin, - lined to say, that the result of the comparison would be in favour of the assertion that Ireland had enjoyed, in that term, the larger proportion of pros- “He could not force his judgment to an admission that the growth of poverty in perity.” this country, within the last few years, was greater than in other portions of the United Kingdom. numbers of cattle are now sold and exported by drovers without passing through any fair or market, yet has the number increased at Ballinasloe. RETURN OF THE NUMBER OF SHEEP AND HORNED CATTLE SOLD AND UNSOLD AT THE be justified in drawing a contrast between the augmentation of poverty in that district and in Ireland, during the last three or five years, he certainly would be IIlC ���{{�6Ť L'8 || II‘g|ZĘ9‘g|#97ff6|90I“Oz|399% Z|gI8I 8033||9ř0'[|89ĽII|38Z'I6||966'9||98غř4|0ř8I||I|I9º6 |ę98‘g|37.2°g|08z°03|z09“ z 1929ºzz|#IBI 0g/'IL 1946, 1$/, /'0'[|[&?'96|60řºz|ZZ3“[46881||89z‘6 |ggg ||g|Izº3|380）|ôžğ" |ğįžºğ2|ęīSI &#Iº|I|Žgſ?|989’01|694'Z6|989'ZI|ę89°62ſ888I||886'6 |gę9‘z|8țgºz|GzgºģgļģęĪºg |####g|ZISI Zºſ:6 [30*'I|984'4 |988:69|ZIL‘9 ||6 Izºg9|2881||Z9Ť“Z |0.28 （|z6gºglg]|$ğõºğzložřºgſ|IISI 88Ť6 |998‘8|| II‘9 |889，89|9Īř'6 |z9Iºgļ988[||8gzºz |Zzz“I|Ięgºg||I00‘īg|ôžğºř3|{##ēgļOI8I †89'8 |ØſťI|ZŤ Ľ4 |IgŤZ9|ØLººz |6II“gg|g881||ZgŤ“8 |gę8 |zz9°2|§ 5ºg ſló ígºſ|$ğgºģ|603 I !89%9įſºIZgºſĶī£99†06'8 |0Ī8‘Zgļſ£81||ZZ8'6 1918“I|Ig6‘Z|66Zºzg|9īģºž İçšř08|3081 1948 94%ſőſºgzī£99gſ.ſg69Z'Ig|8,881||899'8 |968‘z|ZZI‘9|Z96‘08||803% |#gĪºz|Z08I $3|$ 1340'3|890.9 |##0.891666:ſſ |gę08g|388||06Ľz Iſzę0%|8gĽg|ę68°48|Izťgz|zzzºg|9081 69غſ | [86 · 188Z$992139[36，8 \ggz'89|[88|||+01:01|200‘g|IOI“zlýgę“ř3|gggºș [335，62|ę08I 9/Z‘ Z068||988 g |9gg‘[8|[[0‘ýI|gŤ6‘99|088|I||I08‘8 Iz9Ť“g|6ęgºglț9řºzg|Ižgºg șğ‘3）|#08I Ķī£6999.g4.49%6II’98|909’ſ. 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The author of “Commentaries on Ireland” admits that the “ British population is in a much worse condition now than formerly” (p. 72). There are, indeed, melancholy proofs of the veracity of this statement, whether we examine the condition of the people in the factories or mines, physically or morally. As to the condition of the Scotch peasantry, the following harrowing details, recently published, exhibit a state of misery AVERAGE PRICES OF -A- 2– —N WEDIDERS. EWES. 1st Class. 2d Class. 3d Class. 4th Class. || 1st Class. 2d Class. 3d Class. 4th Class. 36 s. d. 36 S. d. 36 s. d. 36 s. d. || 36 s. d. | 36 s. d. £ s. d 6 s. d. 1828 2 0 0 || 1 14 0 | I 10 0 sº 2 0 0 || 1 12 0 || || 8 0 || 1 4 0 1829, 1 18 0 || 1 10 0 | I 5 0 || 1 0 0 || 1 12 0 || 1 5 0 || || 0 0 || 0 15 0 1830 1 10 0 || 1 4 0 || || 3 0 || 1 0 0 || 1 13 0 || 5 0 || 1 || 0 || 0 15 0 1831 2 5 0 || 1 18 0 || 1 15 0 || 1 10 0 || 1 15 0 || 1 10 0 | I 6 0 | I 0 0. 1832] 2 12 0 || 2 3 0 || 1 17 0 || 1 8 0 || 2 8 0 || 2 0 0 || 1 10 0 || 3 0 I833 2 14 0 || 2 6 0 || 2 0 0 || 1 14 0 || 2 12 0 || 2 6 0 || 2 0 0 || || 10 0 1834|| 2 9 0 || 2 || 0 || 1 15 0 || 1 9 0 || 2 9 0 || 2 3 0 || || 17 6 || 1 8 0 1835. 2 1 0 || 1 13 0 || 1 7 0 || 1 1 0 || 2 4 0 || 18 0 || 1 12 6 | I 3 0 1836|| 2 10 0 || 2 0 0 || 1 15 0 || || 10 0 || 2 7 0 || 2 0 0 || 1 15 0 || 8 0 1837|2 12 6 2 2 0 || 1 17 0 || 1 12 0 || 2 7 0 || 1 18 0 || 13 ſ) || || 6 0 1838|| 2 10 0 || 2 2 0 || 1 15 0 || 1 10 0 || 2 9 0 || 2 0 0 || 1 14 0 || 1 7 0 I839| 2 9 0 || 2 0 0 || 1 12 6 || 1 7 0 || 2 8 0 || 1 18 0 || 1 || 6 || 1 4 0 I840] 2 9 0 || 2 0 0 || 1 12 6 1 7 0 || 2 2 0 || 1 13 0 || 1 5 6 || 1 0 0 OXEN. HEIFERS. 1st Class. | 2d Class. 3d Class. 4th Class. || 1st Class. 2d Class. 3d Class. || 4th Class. 36 s. d. £ s. d. | 36 s. d. 26 s. d. || 36 s. d. 36 s. d. 36 s. d. | 36 s. d. 1828|14 0 0|11 0 0|| 8 0 0 gº ºn 14 0 0.12 10 0 10 0 0 9 0 0 182911 0 0| 9 0 0| 7 0 0|| 6 0 0||12 0 0:10 0 0 8 0 0 6 0 0 1830|11 0 0|| 9 10 0 7 10 0 6 0 0||12 | 0 0|10 0 0| 7 0 0|| 6 0 0 1831||13 0 0|12 0 010 0 0| 8 0 0||13 0 0 1 1 0 0 9 0 0| 7 10 0 1832|14 14 013 0 0 1 1 0 0 8 0 0||15 0 0 13 0 0 10 10 0| 9 0 0 1833|] 4 0 (0.12 10 0 1 1 0 0| 8 0 0||14 15 013 0 010 10 0 7 10 0 1834|13 0 0|11 10 0 10 0 0; 7 0 0||13 15 0.12 0 0|| 9 10 0 6 10 0 1835||13 10 0 12 0 0 1 0 10 0 7 10 0||14 5 0.12 10 0 10 0 0 7 0 0 1836||14 10 0||13 0 0 9 10 0 6 10 0||14 10 0 13 0 0 9 10 0 6 10 0 1837|16 0 014 0 011 0 0 8 0 0||15 5 013 15 010 5 0 7 0 0 1838||15 0 0||13 0 0|10 0 0 7 0 0||14 0 0|12 15 0 9 5 0 6 10 0 1839||17 0 0|15 0 013 0 0 9 0 0||15 0 0 13 5 010 0 0 7 5 0 184018 10 0|16 5 014 0 0|10 0 0||16 10 014 10 0|ll 0 0 8 10 0 T 30 not to be paralleled in the poorest part and in the worst season in Connaught :- “It would puzzle any man, even those who are intimate with the condition and habits of the Highland peasantry, to say in what manner a great proportion of them subsist. When the potatoe fails from mildew or frost, the unhappy natives are reduced to the extremity of want ; the luxury of butchers’ meat is so rare as not to deserve classification in this place :—The state of the Scotch islanders is such that should a fish be found mangled by gulls, or even in the incipient stage of putre- faction, it is joyfully seized upon ; sea-weed and shell-fish are eaten by them ; and at a moderate estimate one-sixth of their food consists of these miserable scrap- ings.”— Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, No. 7. - “So great is the emigration from the Highlands this season (June, 1831), that the passengers are forced to go to England and Ireland to procure conveyances to transport them across the Atlantic. “There are one or two districts in the Highlands that already present a gloomy and desolate appearance; and ere the emigration season is over, it is calculated that in many cases tracts of land, ten miles in eatent, will be tenantless / The system of RACK-RENTING has been carried to such an extent by the Highland Lairds, that their tenants, that hardy race of men, are reluctantly compelled to expatriate them- . selves from the land of their fathers. Young persons go to provide a home for their parents, or parents to join their families who are settled in America, but by far thc greater part go upon chance, declaring that they can be no worse.”—Glasgow Chronicle, June, 1831. “In a great proportion of Scotland, where the poor laws are not carried into effect, miseries similar to those which pervade Ireland exist. All the Highlands are in this state.”—Wimmo : Lords’ Evidence, 1824. - “Many of the Scotch poor are so neglected by landlords and their men of business, as to be driven out into other parts of the kingdom as common beggars. Swarms of common beggars from all quarters infest the northern country, and raise contributions far exceeding what would support the district poor.”—Brewster's Encyclopædia, 1830. Reasoning on the foregoing, the Scotch would have as much right to require a repeal of their Union, as Ireland ; but, in fact, the Irish peasantry are in the aggregate better off than their brethren in England or Scotland; certainly in a far more comfortable condition than they were before the Union, when, although the gentry lived well, drank to excess, and rioted in waste, the people pined in wretchedness; this is confirmed by a quotation from a parliamentary speech of the Irish Attorney- General in 1786:— “I am well acquainted with Munster, and it is impossible for human wretched- mess to exceed that of the miserable peasantry. The people are ground to powder by relentless landlords.” During a recent extensive tour through Ireland, the writer 131 was surprised and delighted at the condition of the people. At the great Repeal meeting at Lismore—among about fifty thousand peasantry the writer did see one ragged or drunken person. Bread is to be found for sale in every village, and there is a marked change in favour of cleanliness. The Railway Commissioners of 1836, in their elaborate Report, thus refer to the progress of Ireland:— “The various processes to which agricultural produce is subjected, have been gradually extended and improved. Grinding, malting, brewing, and distilling, have made great progress within these few years. Until lately, the mills of Bristol and Liverpool enjoyed almost the exclusive advantage of converting the Irish wheat into flour. That process is now performed in Ireland. The construction of water- wheels, and other machinery, has been much improved, and the use of them, under favourable circumstances, has greatly increased ; but there are few large mills in which steam is not united with water power, in order that the supply may be con- stant and regular during the summer as well as the winter months—a proof of a better system of trading, and of more enlarged means. The process of malting was one of the first in which improvement became mani- ſest ; and this has gradually led to greater perfection in the quality of the beer produced. Great breweries have been established in Dublin and Cork. Irish porter is now largely exported to England, and the Dublin bottled porter successfully rivals the London porter, even in London itself. The quality of Irish produce has also considerably improved : Irish butter, Irish pork, and Irish beef, bring greater prices in the English market than they did some few years ago; while the quantity produced and exported has much increased. The districts in which these improvements are the most manifest, are those of Cork, Waterford, Limerick, and Belfast. From north to south indications of progressive improvement are everywhere visible; and most so in places which are accessible to the inlinediate influence of steam navigation.” The consumption of Paper is a corroborative test of the state of a community. It is probable, however, that a large portion of paper pays duty in England, and does not, therefore, come into the following statement:— The total quantity of lbs. weight paper charged with duty in Ireland, during each of the three years preceding the last reduction of duties, is thus shown for Ireland *— Years. - Paper. Years. Paper. I833 . . . lbs. 2,457,707 | 1838 . . . lbs. 3,554,879 1834 . . . . 2,372,403 | 1839 . . . . 3,462,529 1835 . . . . 2,702,352 1840 . . . . 3,591,293 1837 . «» e . 3,248,182 1841 © e . . 3,991,472 Totals . . . 10,780,644 Totals . 14,600,173 Increased consumption of paper, last four years 3,819,529 lbs. * The Parliamentary Return whence these figures are derived was moved for by Mr. W. S. O’Brien, M.P., 23rd May, 1842. It is numbered 290 of the Session. 132 This indicates no diminution of intelligence and epistolary intercourse. The number of bushels of malt charged with duty in Ireland, as compared with England and Scotland, shows a comparative as well as positive increase. Years. England. Ireland. Scotland. Total. 1832 || 34,115,332 2,115,435 | 4,105,377 | 40,336,144 1833 || 32,249,892 | 1,970,058 3,767,242 || 37,987,192 1834 || 34,061,263 2,049,407 || 4,406,913 | 40,517,583 1835 | 34,072,665 2,152,138 4,437,220 40,662,023 1836 || 38,261,833 2,511,231 || 4,736,449 45,509,513 1837 || 35,657,877 | 2,268,475 4,751,594 42,677,956 1838 33,620,593 2,279,069 || 4,480,792 | 40,380,454 1839 33,687,302 || 2,101,744 || 4,567,083 || 40,356,129 The Mining Companies of Ireland are now in full work, and deriving large profits. The produce and sales of two mines, Bearhaven and Knockmahon, termed the “Audley Mines,” in the County of Cork, from January 21, to October 4, 1843—was in tons 10,985, value 86,1421. If tranquillity were established, English capital (as in the case of the Killaloe slate quarries), would seek and find profitable employment. The extensive inland Navigation now possessed by Ireland is described in recent Parliamentary documents:– The largest and most remarkable line stretches to the westward from Dublin on the line of the Grand Canal. It passes through Tullamore, and falls into the river Shannon, at Shannon Harbour. From this point upwards to Athlone, and through Lough Ree to Carrick, and downwards by Limerick, to the sea, this remarkable river, or rather chain of lakes, is now partially navigated for a distance of about 150 miles by steam-vessels, either carrying goods and passengers, or acting as steam tugs. A branch of the Grand Canal extending to Athy, there joins the navigation of the river Barrow, which passes through the Carlow valley, and communicates with the important town and harbour of Waterford on the Suir. The Suir has been partly, though imperfectly, rendered navigable up to Clonmel ; the accommodation which it affords is, however, very inadequate to the wants of the country. The Royal Canal, on leaving Dublin, runs parallel to and very near the Grand Canal for the first 52 miles, or as far as Mullingar ; whence it takes a north-western course, passes by Ballymahon, throws off a branch to Longford, and terminates at Richmond Harbour, near Tarmonbarry, on the Shannon. In the north, a very important work, the Ulster Canal, is now in progress, from Lough Neagh to Lough Erne, thus nearly connecting the eastern with the western shore, by a line extending from Belleek, near Ballyshannon, through Lough Erne, the Ulster Canal, Lough Neagh, and thence to Newry and Belfast. The Ulster Canal is now completed as far as Monaghan, and promises to be a most useful work. 133 Besides these there are three small navigations communicating with Lough Neagh ; the Lagan from Belfast, one from Newry by the Upper Bann, and the third, called the Tyrone Navigation, extending from the collieries, at Coal Island near Dungan- non, by the Blackwater, into Lough Neagh. The Lower Bann flows from the Lough to Coleraine, but is not navigable. . With a view to show the extent of accommodation which these several Canals and Navigations furnish to the trade of the country, and also to exhibit the progres- sive increase of that trade, we give the following particulars from Returns supplied to us by the different Companies. And first, with respect to the Grand Canal, the length of the main line from Dublin to Shannon Harbour is 79% miles, and from the Shannon to its termination at Ballinasloe, 9% miles ; the number of its branches is 7, and their aggregate length 65% miles; that— The Total Tonnage was Amount of Tolls. In 1822 * © tº º 134,939 {e * . . fº,866 1830 . . . . 224,749 . . . . 33,464 1836 g tº & gº 226,770 § * e tº 38,953 1837 tº ſº g tº 215,910 ſº e & t 40,859 This increase has taken place chiefly on the valuable articles. Of these the tonnage carried in the undermentioned years was as follows:– Flour. Grain. Meal. Malt. Cattle and Pigs. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. In 1822 . . 9,805 . . 14,347 . . 2,075 . . 2,967 . . 10 1830 . . 14,221 . . 19,500 . . 2,407 . . 4,719 . . 643 1836 . . 28,378 . . 22,255 . . 4,538 . . 4,862 . . 1,942 In 1830 the effect of the introduction of steam-power on the Shannon, and the communication thereby established between Limerick and Liverpool, began to be felt on the Grand Canal. In 1826, Mr. Grantham, an engineer who had been for some time employed by Government in surveying the river, made the first attempt to establish steam-boats on the Shannon: he failed. A Joint-Stock Company followed ; to these succeeded the Inland Navigation Company, under the able management of a most enterprising individual, Mr. C. W. Williams. There are now nine steamers belonging to this Company on the Shannon ; six above Limerick, and three below. Though this number is small when we consider the capabilities of this magnificent stream and its wide expanding lakes—it is important as a successful commencement; for the value of this navigation is only now beginning to be understood. Before the appli- cation of steam to vessels as a propelling power, the means of developing these capabilities did not, in fact, exist. The boat or barge adapted to the stream, was little suited to traverse the lake, and the construction of towing-paths along the shores of the latter would have been impracticable. The introduction of steam- vessels not only surmounts this difficulty, arising from the expansion of the stream at intervals along its course, but, as the Shannon Commissioners have justly remarked, converts what was previously a formidable obstacle to the navigation of this noble river, into one of its great advantages. The improvements of the navigation of this river, now in contemplation will, when executed, greatly increase the traffic, by facilitating the means of communicat- ing with the adjacent country on either bank. A regular, active, and most bene- ficial trading intercourse has been established between Limerick and Liverpool. PART III. L 134 Below Limerick steam-vessels now ply to Clare, three miles below Ennis, the county town of Clare, and to Kilrush and Tarbert, thriving places near the mouth of the river. The number of passengers between Limerick, Tarbert, Kilrush, and Clare, in 1836, amounted to 23,851. The nature and rapid growth of the Shannon trade are exemplified by the follow- ing Returns :— RETURN of TonMAGE carried by the BoATs of the INLAND NAVIGATION COMPANY., on the SHANNoN, during a period of Eleven Years. Tonnage by Boats Years. Tons. purchased from Total. other Carriers. 1826 2,004 e-º-º-º: 2,004 1827 6,304 ºmº 6,304 I828 8,456 *ms 8,456 1829 8,850 *E*e 8,850 I830 11,270 * -º-º 11,270 1831 17,595 550 18,145 1832 23,587 2,200 25,787 1833 24,119 2,200 26,319 1834 30,438 4,125 34,563 1835 33,683 7,050 40,733 1836 40,239 7,050 47,289 RETURN of GooDs carried from LIMERICK, and shipped at DUBLIN for LIVERPool. Wheat. Flour. Oat 1. Butter. Years. #. #. * #. 1833 187 520 543 4,998 1834 1,218 1,750 1,192 10,097 1835 402 5,269 533 10,771 1836 289 7,158 1,156 12,795 The gross freight from Limerick to Dublin, for corn, flour, or malt, is 15s. per ton ; distance, 133 miles; the toll, 5s., or, if intended for export, 3s. From Gal- way to Dublin, 21s. ; toll, 5s. 11d. ; distance, 138 miles.* The gross freight from Dublin to Limrick, for merchandise, from 20s. to 30s. ; toll, 5s. From Dublin to Galway, 38s. 6d. ; toll, 9s. 1d. With respect to the Royal Canal, the length of its Main Line from Dublin, by Leixlip, Maynooth, Mullingar, Killashee, to Richmond Harbour, near Tarmonbarry, where it falls into the Shannon, is 92 miles. From Killashee there is a branch to Longford; distance, five miles. In 1834, the Total Receipts were, £24,000 1835, & 4 6 ( 1836, & 4 { { Total Expenses, £11,376 24,082 & & & 4 10,740 25,148 & & § { 11,912 This Canal was begun in 1789, and owes its origin to the efforts of a Director of the Grand Canal, who seceding from that Company on account of some trifling * Forty-four miles of this distance—viz., from Galway to Ballinasloe, is land carriage. 135 differences, resolved to form a rival Company. Being a person of considerable plausibility and energy, he succeeded; and if the only object of the new Company had been to injure the Grand Canal, they could not have devised a plan better suited to that end. They appear, however, to have overlooked the inevitable consequences to themselves of such ruinous competition. - The sanction of the Irish Parliament was obtained for this scheme, without any apparent examination of the grounds on which it claimed support, or of the calcu- lations of its probable success. The effect of such rash and inconsiderate legislation might have been easily foreseen. After large sums both of private and public money had been expended on this work, the Company became bankrupt in 1812, with a debt of 862,000l. Irish. - The debentures and stock of the Company, bearing an interest of 6 per cent., which had been, a few days previously, quoted on the Stock Exchange at 93, became unsaleable at any price, and the payment of interest totally ceased ; in consequence of which numerous families of the middle rank of life, who had been induced by the high rate of interest, and by delusive statements of prosperity, to invest their capital in the concern, were suddenly reduced to a state of deplorable indigence. Thus, through the culpable facility of that Parliament in acceding to the private views and not very creditable feelings of an individual projector, not only were the immediate sufferers by his ill-digested scheme losers to the above amount, but its distressing effects extended themselves to the shareholders of the Grand Canal also, which, having been undertaken with the fairest prospects of success, was rendered altogether unprofitable by the competition so established. A total capital of two millions was irretrievably sunk in these unproductive speculations. On the failure of the Royal Canal Company, a Commission was appointed to inquire into the claim of the creditors. A grant of 200,000l. was given by Parlia- ment to extend the Canal from Coolmahay to the Shannon, and the present Company was incorporated by Act of Parliament, in 1818. From a Report by Messrs. Henry, Mullins, and Mac Mahon, dated February, 1823, it appears that the gross sum received and expended by the Grand Canal up to that time - Amounted to * & & & e te . f. 1,645,601* And by the Royal Canal g te e e . 1,421,954 Making a Total of e tº tº e e . 33,067,555 According to the above mentioned Report, the expenditure per mile on the Grand Canal amounted to 8,442/. ; and on the Royal Canal to 10,780l., and it is there estimated that had these works been properly conducted, the cost need not have exceeded 3,800l. per mile ; further, there can be no doubt that one canal, with suitable branches, would have equally effected the object now attained by both. Thus a profitable return might have been obtained by the capitalist, and a waste of at least two millions of money prevented. THE BARRow NAVIGATION.—At Athy, in the county of Kildare, a branch of the Grand Canal joins the river Barrow, which has been rendered navigable from * This sum is exclusive of 93,258!. expended on the Shannon Navigation, and of 122,1491, on the Grand Canal Docks at Dublin. L 2 136 thence to its junction with the river Suir below the city of Waterford. This has been effected by the construction of 17 locks, and the formation of a horse trackway. The capital expended amounts to 177,8521. The Barrow flows through a rich agricultural country, traversing the fertile though narrow limestone valley of Carlow, and thence by Bagnalstown, St. Mullins, and Ross, to Waterford. The manage- ment of this work has been extremely creditable to the Directors ; they have carried it successfully through many and great difficulties, and are but just beginning to reap the fruits of their perseverance and integrity. The interests of this Com- pany are justly entitled to the most favourable consideration, and to every protection consistent with those of the public at large. In 1800, the Tonnage was, 19,828 tons. Amount of Tolls, £1,405. 1835, , , , , 66,084 , , , ,, 4,966. THE NAvLGATION of THE SUIR extends from Waterford, by Carrick, up to Clonmel, a distance of nearly 40 miles; it is a very imperfect navigation, and great difficulties are encountered by the boatmen in forcing the barges through the numer- ous shallows and rapids. X- THE Boy NE NAv1GATION.—The Boyne Navigation Company was incorporated in 1789. The navigation is 19 English miles in length, extending from Drogheda to Navam. A few years ago, some traders discovered that the Navigation Company had not a strict legal right to levy tolls on the lower portion; and it was necessarily trans- ferred to the charge of the Board of Public Works. This portion is 12# miles in length, and is known by the name of the “Lower Boyne Navigation,” extending from Drogheda to Carrick Dexter, near Slane. The amount of tolls in 1837 was 775l. 17s. 1d. The rate of freight is 3s. per ton, from Drogheda to Slane ; toll, 1+d. per ton per mile. Nine miles of this navigation were completed by the old Navigation Board, and local Commissioners, at an expense of 75,000l., and a subsequent public grant of 12,500l. The revenue derived from it is adequate to cover the expense of maintenance, and for its gradual improvement. NEwBY NAVIGATION.—The length of the Newry Canal is 16% Irish miles; it forms the communication between Newry and Lough Neagh, and between Newry and the sea. In 1837, the tonnage amounted to 102,332!. ; and the tolls to 3,505?. THE TYRONE NAVIGATION was executed at the public expense, with a view to encourage the working of certain collieries at Coal Island. Very exaggerated state- ments of the value and extent of the coal beds in that district were at that time made to Parliament, and as the means which geology has since unfolded of testing the accuracy of such statements did not then exist, they were too readily believed, and in consequence led, in very many instances, to a wasteful and useless expen- diture. The tonnage in 1836 amounted to 7,291 ; and of the export tonnage, coals amounted only to 718 tons. - - THE LAGAN NAVIGATION was begun in 1753, for the purpose of connecting Belfast with Lough Neagh. The tonnage in 1836 amounted to 44,700 tons; the tolls to 2,060l. From Belfast to Coal Island the length of navigation is 61 miles; from Newry to Coal Island, 39; miles. The total tonnage carried by all the canals and navigable rivers may be taken at 137 about 600,000 tons; and the amount of tolls at 71,2421., if the tolls, on an average, be taken at la per ton per mile. The average distance which the above tonnage is carried is about 30 miles. The following return shows the tonnage and tolls on the Grand Canal for sixteen years, ending 31st December”. *...*.*.*** TO AND FROM D U BLIN . Years. Tonnage. Tolls. Tonnage. Tolls. § f 1822 3,120 1,699 134,939 24,886 1823 3,354 2, 181 134,147 24,058 1824 6,670 2,777 ; 170,078 27,679 1825 10, 190 4,344 188,731 32,328 1826 8,503 3,550 180,686 28,408 1827 10,255, 4,032 179,173 33,587 1828 12,756 4,965 190,387 35,212 1829 12,343 4,763 191,744 31,435 1830 10,921 3,982 224,749 33,464 1831 12,006 3,955 237,819 36,753 1832 13,806 4,258 216,418 34,552 1833 I6,199 5,072 226,738 38,054 1834 17,805 5,131 225,473 38,123 1835 18,416 5,204 215,398 36,030 1836 20,344 5,629 226,770 38,953 1837 20,534 5,669 215,910 37,557 Total | 197,222 67,211 3,168,160 531,079 This table exhibits a remarkable progressive traffic along this main artery of internal navigation. The tonnage from the river Shannon increased during the last eight years 62,840 tons, and the tolls 10,5891. During the same period the tonnage to and from Dublin augmented 410,390 tons, and the tolls 55,893/. - It should be remembered, that Limerick, Waterford and other maritime places, are now carrying on a very large direct trade by steamers and coasting vessels with England and Scot- land, which would have materially detracted from the internal navigation of Ireland, but for the great increase of internal industry. * Porter’s Tables for 1837. Nos. 148 and 149. 138 The tonnage of the Inland Navigation Company on the Shan- non, at two periods of five years each, is thus shown:— In the year 1826 . 2,004 tons In the year 1832 . 26,787 tons - 1827 . . 6,304 — -> 1833 . . 26,319 — — 1828 . 8,456 — — 1834 - 34,563 — - 1829 . . 8,850 — - 1835 . . 40,733 — - 1830 . 11,270 — - I836 . 47,289 — Total © . 36,884 tons Total & . 175,691 tons Increase of last over first period, 138,807 tons. If we had been enabled to bring these returns down to 1840, the results would have been still more convincing. The navigation of the river Shannon from Portumna and Athlone, indicates also progressive prosperity. - Amount of Grand Canal Number of t umber of Athlone - van "º" ºr "º" ſº ºr Tons. Tons. s? 1829 342 9,252 88 1,519 4,599 I830 450 13,169 66 1,199 4,646 1831 428 12,586 124 2,462 4,226 I832 380 11,639 107 2,719 4,144 1833 413 13,407 15] 4,336 5,393 1834 441 13,885 171 4,684 5,387 1835 467 15,482 130 3,993 5,425 “The smallness of the amount of Shannon toll is to be attributed to the facts stated in the printed schedule, that boats plying to or from Dublin, and any part of the river above Shannon Harbour, and Steam Navigation Company’s boats, two miles below Portumna, and also twenty miles on the Grand Canal, are exempt from that toll by a special order; therefore there is no Shannon toll charged on goods brought from Athlone to T)ublin. “ MICHAEL SweFNY, “Accowºntant to Grand Canal Company,” The number of passengers conveyed to and from Dublin on the Grand Canal (which from Dublin to Shannon Harbour is 79% miles) is increasing, notwithstanding the augmented number and reduced fares of the coaches. Day and Night Boats. Day and Night Boats. Y º e T & e - & ear'S First Second otal Years First Second Total Cabin. Cabin. Cabin, Cabin. 1832 | 16,104 || 54,488 || 70,792 1835 16,168 56,580 72,748 I833 11,596 || 43,218 54,814 1836 23,206 || 63,158 86,364 I 834 13,797 50,551 64,348 1837 26,925 | 73,170 100,695 * Those are the gross amounts of tolls received, the drawbacks allowed not having been deducted. 139 In 1807, the fares from Dublin to Shannon Harbour for passengers by the Grand Canal boats were—First class, 21s. ; Second class, 13s. In 1830, 12s. and 6s.6d.; in 1837,9s. and 6s. 8d. The receipts for passengers on the Royal Canal show no dimi- nution there. In 1834, 6,299/. ; in 1835, 6,898. ; in 1837, 7,468l. For parcels in those years, 4037., 448l., 5181. The total receipts on the Royal Canal for the same years were, 24,000l., 24,0827, 25,148l. The tonnage of Imports and Exports at the principal stations on the river Shannon was, in the years Landed. Loaded: 1840 © . Tons 40,882 e & . 31,180 1841 . & . . 43,405 . & . . 37,335 1842 . . . 46,435 . . . 39,880 The number of passengers that embarked at the different stations on the Shannon by the City of Dublin Steam Packet boats from Limerick up to Athlone, in the year 1842, was 16,916. The comparative return of traffic passing to and from the river Shannon through the Grand and Royal Canals was— FROM CANALS TO RIVER SHAN N ON . FROM RIVER SHANN ON TO CANALS. IN THE YEAR. Grand Canal. Royal Canal. Total. Grand Canal. Royal Canal Total. 1840, Tons | 12,877 1,389 14,267 14,548 1,919 16,721 1841, , , 13,250 1,741 14,991 15,329 1,924 17,254 1842, , , 12,823 1,362 14,185 13,354 3,118 16,472 Total in 38,950 4,492 43,443 43,231 6,961 50,447 three years, In 1842, the chief items of traffic from the canals to the river Shannon were, bale goods and general merchandise, 7,331 tons; machinery, 284; timber, 1,168; iron, 481; coals, 2,190; grain, butter, provisions, &c. are yarious, making a total of 14,185 tons of traffic in one direction. The Limerick internal navigation, which is part river and part canal, is also increasing. The returns for six years are, L- Tons. Tolls. Tons. Tolls. 1831 . . 28,212 . . .61,092 1834 . . 34,993 . º 1,349 1832 . . 28,942 . , 1,117 | 1835* . . 34,162 . . 1,494 1833 . . 31,357 e e 1,209 1836 . . 36,018 . º 1,514 The augmentation is steadily progressive. * Canal being under repairs, caused this year's deficiency. 140 The Barrow navigation is another of those fine inland commu- nications, for which Ireland is so deservedly celebrated. There has been expended on it, from 1802 to 1836,3114,000l. The navigation is thus described in the official report:— “The river Barrow becomes navigable at Athy, in the county of Kildare, forty- two miles from Dublin, completing an uninterrupted line of inland communication, tlirough the medium of the Grand Canal, from Dublin to the sea below Waterford —a distance of upwards of 120 miles. The rivers Nore and Suir fall into it; the former one mile above the town of Ross, the latter a short distance below Water- ford. The depth of the water from Athy to Carlow is nearly three and a half feet during the summer, and five feet in the winter months, being sufficient for boats carrying fifty tons. The principal interruption in the navigation exists between Carlow and St. Mullins, but is available for boats of from thirty to forty tons, during six months of the year. Between Athy and St. Mullin’s Scars, a distance of forty- three miles, there are twelve stages and twenty-three locks. There is a trackway for horses, forty miles in length, from Athy to below St. Mullins; there are five considerable towns upon, or adjacent to, its banks, and several very extensive flour mills.” The progressive increase of tonnage and tolls is thus shown : Tons. Tolls. Tons. Tolls. 1790 . . 16,000 . . ºf 121* I820 . . 41,262 . . 63,827* 1800 . . 19,828 . . 1,405* | 1830 . . 5,100 . . 4,290+ 1810 . . 36,962 . . 3,965* | 1834 . . 76,084 . . 4,966+ In whatever direction we turn, a marked increase is observed in internal traffic The Newry navigation (between Newry and Lough Neagh, sixteen and a half miles, and between Newry and the sea), which, in the annexed return, is for goods only, presents the following data: Tons. Tolls. Tons. Tolls. 183] . . 70,479 . . #2,414 | 1835 . . 101,514 . . #3,477 1832 . . 88,434 tº º 3,029 | 1836 . . 102,770 . º 3,520 1834 . . 89,165 . . 3,054 1837 . . 102,333 * * 3,505 1834 . . 99,383 . e 3,404 The Tyrone, Lower Boyne, Slaney, and Suir navigations, all present similar marked features of prosperity. The Lagan navi- gation, for connecting Belfast with Lough Neagh, had a tonnage, in 1836, of 44,700 tons, and tolls 2,060/. If it be alleged that Statistics are not entirely trustworthy, their accuracy is herein most fully corroborated by a variety of vivá voce testimony of the most impartial, enlightened, and disinterested witnesses. * Irish currency. t British currency, therefore greater real increase CHAPTER. V. The Progress of Ireland tested, by Savings Banks, Post-Office, Stamps, Newspapers, Excise, Public Works, &c. &c. WE shall now proceed to examine the condition of Ireland on various points. We have tested the country as regards its augmented trade, shipping, produce, and population; it is but natural to suppose, that we shall find a corresponding increase in the other branches of social industry. The returns of all are not as complete as could be wished, but they establish the general truth of the proposition in the most convincing manner. We begin with the Savings Banks. SAVINGs BANKS.—The condition of the lower classes of the people is indicated by the accumulations of their frugality in Savings Banks. In no aspect does Ireland present a more marked feature of prosperity than in this respect. The sums paid into and drawn out of the Irish Savings Banks from 1821 to 1828 are thus shown :- YEARS ending January 5th. Paid in. Drawn out. f gé 1821 . . . . . . . 46,615 25,200 1822 . . . . . . 82,338 8,030 1823 . . . . . . . 123,230 11,723 1824 a e º e º & 175,292 17,538 1825 . . . . . . . 207,738 35,047 1826 * & © tº a º 156,249 87,085 1827 . . . . . . . 139,080 164,939 1828 • . . . . . 254,400 134,608 But the following complete return since 1829 furnishes an ačcurate view of this branch of the subject. And let it be re- membered, that simultaneous with this increase in the Savings Banks, there has been a considerable sum invested by farmers, shopkeepers, and others in Joint Stock Banks, Loan Funds, &c. The great increase in the number of the depositors, as well as in the amounts of the deposits, will be remarked in the following return. * IRELAND.—NUMBER of DEPOSITORS in SAVINGS BANKs, and AMoUNT of their DEPOSITs. Not exceeding £20, Not exceeding £50, Not exceeding 36100. Not exceeding £150. Not exceeding £200. Exceeding £200. Total. Total. Year ending No. # No. f No. # No. f No. aft No. £ No. £ 20th Nov. 1829 15,491 || 103,498 || 9,728 289,623 4,953 || 315,662 840 | 97,282 182 30,728 68 17,536 31,262 854,329 ,, . 1830 | 17,553 118,157 11,268 || 336,962 4,486 || 290,646 964 112,059 231 38,700 66 17,152 34,568 || 913,646 5 2. 1831 | 19,311 | 161,318 13,494 || 388,598 || 4,799 || 303,991 1,031 | 121,991 298 || 49,603 66 | 16,831 38,999 |1,042,332 * > 1832 21,136 154,284 || 15,911 || 478,259 5,191 339965 1,087 127,821 367 61,683 63 16,189 43,755 1,178,201 * 5 1833 23,600 173,525 | 18,262 550,557 5,579 || 367,161 1,242 148,432 419 70,840 68 16,607 || 49,170 1,327,122 3 2 1834 25,561 193,919 || 19,769 606,985 5,946 385,393 || 1,318 158,623 516 88,472 69 17,374 53179 |1,450,766 2 3 1835 | 27,901 || 206,293 21,788 | 660,008 || 6,621 443,012 1,498 || 179,586 589 99,350 85 20,404 58.482 I,608,653 35 1836 29,809 219,444 23,664 | 722,546 || 7,273 || 483,862 1,676 | 199,112 669 113,206 92 21,790 63,183 |1,759,960 y 3 1837 29,786 222,069 23,470 716,207 7,251 485,753 1,816 214,011 662 : 111,715 95 22,219 63,080 1,771,974 5 * 1838 31,805 || 238,865 26,139 792,585 8,026 541,026 2,121 || 250,304 825 141,078 107 || 25,416 69,023 1,989,274 y 2 1839 || 34,045 251,848 28,059 856,626 8,828 590,735 2,355 275,417 928 156,068 118 27,971 || 74,333 (2,158,665 73 1840 l 53 1841 || 36,537 271,676 28,196 80,823 9,042 606,923 2,531 295,364 1,094 180,853 122 27,787 77,522 |2,243,246 5 * 1842 - - * * 1843 The Increase between the first and last period, from 1829 to 1841, has been in Depositors, No. 46,260 In Amount, É1,389,097. The gross amount of all sums received by the Commissioners for the reduction of the National Debt, on account of Banks for Savings in Ireland, from 6th August 1817 to 20th Nov. 1841, inclusive, was £6,762,915. The CoRK SAVINGs BANK will illustrate the state of the Provincial Savings Bank in Ireland. The following are the Returns for the last four years:– 1839. I 84 0. 1841. 1842. No. of Depositors . 8,696 9,298 10,078 10,742 Balances, 20th Nov. in each year £298,003 #304,046 £333,517 £356,593 In 1842, the number of Depositors not exceeding 20l. was 4,087, not exceeding 50l. was 4,528, not exceeding 100l. was 1,371, not exceeding 150l. was 394, not exceeding 200l. was 176.-By a Parliamentary Return of 24th May, 1843, it appears that the number of Savings Banks in Ireland is seventy-five, and the number of Depositors 80,125. ExcISE.-In 1800 the whole Excise revenue of Ireland was 475,732l. : it is now (including 500,000l., Tea Duties, recently removed to the Customs) upwards of 2,000,000l. of the people. This increase shows the augmented comforts and resources THE REVENUE (Gross Receipts) of Ireland (after deducting the Repayments, Allowances, Discounts, Drawbacks, and Bounties of the nature of Drawbacks), from 1802 to 1815. [From Parliamentary Return, No. 209, House of Commons, 26th April, 1843.] Customs . . Excise. tº gº Land and sº Taxes. . " Postage . . . } } Total . . . . Duties on Pensions Poundage, Fees, &c. Stamps . . . 1802. 1803. 1804. 1805. 1806. 1807. 1808. 1809. 1810. 1811, 1812. 1813. 1814. 1815. .# s? 36 sé sº sé 36' :6 sć' 36 36 36 36 £, 2,096,2962,261,9042,663,5541,788,3802,095,1402,456,5762,490,5752,189,8572,358,352 3,218,4342,834,0983,322,5083,017,802.3,426,044 2 5 5 5 3. 2,068,9591,875,361||1,341,857|1,628,4361,919,0222,186,8422,350,6563,109,3953,363,656 189,731, 194,469. 366,702 454,487 508,473 533,471 588,127. 612,950 638,736 674,937 676,203 711,551 687,467. 542,968 81,642 87,965. 95,106 118,987| 120,534 130,404 149,848. 151,337; 165,081 173,245. 177,963. 184,107 191,037; 196,876 2,751 37 — mºs *sº * * * tºº tº-º-º-º: Rºsº º tºº sº 53,061| 41,666 38,642. 33,504 32,509 33,827. 32,586 32,102 82,343| 30,804 33,946. 38,748 41,411 42,966 3,545,6303,158,2363,822,9593,624,7804,087,561| 4,862,9594,907,8274,804,8024,262,2784,893,150 5,531,5325,775,639 6,219,168|6,504,820 The preceding statement demonstrates conclusively that Ireland did not retrograde after the Union. Her revenue increased from 3,545,630!. to 6,504,820ſ. But it is in her Stamp and Post-office revenue that we see the progress of the people: her Stamps increased from 189,731), to 711,511,– her Postage, which indicates commerce and social intercourse, from 81,642. to 196,876l. 144 The increase of stamp revenue in a country indicates extended commercial business. The increase on a few years WàS— Years. sº Years. sé -— 1801 . 133,313 1808 . 521,192 1802 . 173,117 1809 . 533,058 1803 . 169,031 1810 . 569,678 1804 . 168,505 1811 , || 562,916 1805 . 316,526 1812 . 613,434 1806 . 421,417 1813 . 627,031 1807 . 477,176 1814 . 668,633 Total. 1,859,085 Total. 4,095,942 STAMPS.—RETURN to an ORDER of the Honourable the House of Commons, dated 15th April, 1840, for A Return of STAMPs (for Bills of Exchange), issued by the STAMP-OFFICE, in each Year of 1835, 1836, 1837, 1838, and 1839—viz., the Number of Stamps issued at 1s., 1s. 6d., 2s., 2s. 6d., 3s.6d., 4s. 6d., 5s., 8s. 6d., 12s. 6d., 15s, 25s., and 30s., specifying also the Sum paid each Year by Bankers for compounding for Bill Stamps. IRELAND. Number of Stamps issued. Years. At 6d. At 1s. 6d. At 2s. At 3s. At 4S. At 5s. At 8s. At 15s. |At 25s 1835 | 211,127 186,530 117, 04 || 103,612 65,274|43,314|| 8,876. 1,248 || 169 1836 335,870 236,595 || 132,713 | 113,915 69,272|48,510 10,731 1,729, 242 1837 || 293,532 222,435 | 124,639 107,107 || 63,114|44,858 9,795 I,375 205 1838 289,807 || 238,541 122,874 102,584 ||61,382 42,422 10,280. 1,846 266 1839 287,810 |237,859 126,380 104,965 |62,043. 42,944 11,504. 1,832 227 Note.—The Act of 9 Geo. IV. c. 33, authorising bankers to compound for the duty on bill stamps, does not extend to Ireland. In consequence of the repeal of the assessed taxes in Ireland, it is difficult to show the condition of the upper classes in Ireland by any reference to the number of horses, carriages, and servants. The duty on wrought plate, which is an article of luxury, and only used by persons of a superior class, may probably show something of the condition of the higher orders. Taking 1800, 1801, and 1802, as compared with 1815, 1816, and 1817,-the latter being the period when the duty fell to the lowest in Ireland,-there is shown an increase in the duty of 65 per cent. Taking the years 1827, 1828, and 1829, being the period when the duty was the greatest, and comparing it with 1800, 1801, and 1802, there is shown an increase of 97 per cent. : and com- paring the last three years with the first period, there appears 145 the still greater increase of 116 per cent. The following is the account in detail : — PRODUCE OF THE DUTY ON WIROUGHT PLATE. Great Ireland. Britain. £ # Average of the three years, 1800, 1801, and 1802 | 1,772 47,607 Average of 1815, 1816, and 1817, being the period within which the produce of the duty was smallest in Ireland since the first period 2,926 75,400 Increase e * , a º º e e 1,154 27,793 Increase per cent. . e & • * 65 58 Average of 1827, 1828, and 1829, being the period within which the produce of the duty was greatest in Ireland º º o º 5,264 || 86,916 Increase compared with 1800, 1801, and 1802 . 3,492 || 39,309 Increase per cent. . - e e - 197 82 Average of the last three years, 1831, 1832, and 1833 . e º e º º e 3,825 64,629 Increase compared with 1800, 1801, and 1802. 2,053 17,022 Increase per cent. . . . . & © 116 36 This indicates a more rapid increase of wealth among the gentry of Ireland than of England, which I think has been the case. The following will also show the augmenting wealth of Ireland. About the year 1825 a power was given by Parliament of transferring stock from one part of the empire to the other. Under this statute persons were allowed the privilege of trans- ferring their stock from England to Ireland, which gave them the advantage of receiving their dividends in Dublin. The result is exhibited in the following account :— An Account of STOCK transferred to and from ENGLAND and IRELAND up to 5th January, 1834. Annual Interest CAPITAL. arising thereon, and Long Annuity, C land b £ f apital created in Ireland by - Q Stock transferred from England 23,335,378 810,129 Capital transferred from Ireland to England 7,324,429 247,809 16,010,949 562,320 There have thus been actually 16,000,000l. of funded property transferred to Ireland, yielding an annual income of 562,000l. 146 spent in Ireland. The exemption of Ireland from the property or income tax will cause this transfer to be increased. TRANSFER OF STOCK. The Amount of STOCK transferred from England to Ireland, and from Ireland to England, from January 1831 up to the latest Period it can be made up ; distinguishing the Amount transferred in each year, and the different kinds of Stock.--(In continuation of Parliamentary Paper, No. 250, of 1830-31, dated 14th March, 1831.) (Years ending 5th January.) FROM ENGLAND TO IREL AND. FROM IEELAND TO ENGLANI), Years. Total Stock. Years. Total Stock. 36 S. d. £ S. d. 1832 1,311,650 10 5 1832 515,646 9 8 1833 811,595 9 ll I833 5] 1,176 4 11 1834 607,391 2 2 1834 1,060,942 15 10 1835 561,691 7 0 1835 1,400,951 17 2 1836 1,333,600 II 8 I836 618,277 6 4 1837 1,457,825 2 10 1837 644,840 5 6 1838 742,346 12 9 1838 788,403 9 8 1839 357,628 7 4 1839 514,348 14 0 1840 934,964 16 10 1840 297,540 19 6 1841 603,459 5 9 1841 592,182 9 10 Total 9,032,704 8 5 Total 7,191,985 2 7 From an account of the amount of property passing under probates of wills, and letters of administration in Ireland, it will be seen (in the Appendix), that, taking the years 1819, 1820, and 1821, and comparing them with 1831 and 1832, the amount of property has increased from 2,814,000l. to 3,612,000l.—The following is the account:— Years. Amount of Property. x- Average. 1819 . . . . .3,023,654 1820 . . . . § 2,814,816 1821 . . . . 2,795,929 1822 º • . . . 2,679,144 1823 . . . . 3,491,426 2,975,440 1824 . . . . § 1825 . t º . 2,985,141 1826 . . . . 3,477,228 3,119,247 1827 . e º . 2,895,372 1828 . . . . 3,593,257 1829 . . . . § 3,623,206 1830 . . . . 3,268,751 1831 . . . . 3,772,897 iš32 . . . . . . .455;}} . . . . 3,612,612 44,833,359 147 THE AMOUNT OF CAPITAL ON which LEGACY DUTY HAS BEEN PAID IN IRELAND. YEAR ENDING 5TH JANUARY. Amount of Capital. Amº. P uty Duty on Probates. sé sé’ sº 1841 2,087,230 26,394 40,581 1842 2,487,262 30,020 38,564 1843 4,488,275 65,375 49,548 The duty received on legacies since 1797 . . £675,266 Ditto, probates and administrations . fºg.9,637 The total amount of property passing under probates of wills and letters of administration in Ireland was on the annual average for 3 years as follows:– Three years ending 1821, 2,814,816l. ending 1827, 3,119,2471. Ditto, ending 1824, 2,975,440l. Ditto, ending 1830, 3,623,2067. Ditto, The following shows the Total Amount of PROPERTY passing under PROBATEs of WILLs and LETTERS of ADMINISTRATION in IRELAND, in the undermentioned years :— YEAR. *::: Average. YEAR. *::: Average. 1819 3,023,654 1828 3,593,257 I820 2,634,864 2,818,149 1829 4,015,609 3,623,206 1821 2,795,929 1830 3,260,751 I822 2,679,144 |. I831 3,772,897 3,612,612 1823 3,491,426 2,975,440 1832 3,452,327 ; v = 4-3 1824 2,755,750 * 1825 2,985,141 1826 3,477,228 3,119,247 - 1827 2,895,372 | Total 44,833,349 148 The annexed demonstrates the AMoUNT of CAPITAL on which the several RATES of LEGACY DUTY have been paid in IRELAND, in the years 1834 and 1835 ; the Amount of each Rate paid in each year, and the Total Amount of each Rate paid in these Two years is separated. 1834. 1835. RATE OF Amount of Amount of Amount of Legacy Dut Amount of Legacy Dut DUTY. | Capital Paid £ºy "Y, Capital Paid gacy Luty U *:::::::::"wº riº"|Recºid sé sé' sº 36' At 10s. per cent. 1,243,471 7,035 1,552,892 8,584 ,, #1 5s. ditto 606,059 8,582 597,406 8,917 ,, #2 0 ditto 83,912 1,976 68,391 1,470 32 £2 10 ditto 81,983 2,247 4,382 147 ,, #5 0 ditto 163,792 9,413 143,377 8,143 Total . 2,179,217 29,253 2,366,448 27,261 The AMOUNT of CAPITAL, and of each RATE of LEGACY DUTY paid in the Two years 1834 and 1835, as above, was— 1834 and 1835. RATE OF I) UTY. Amount of Capital Paid Dºº upon at each Rate. Received at each Rate. 36 36 At 10s. per cent. . 2,796,363 15,619 , £1 5s. ditto . . 1,203,465 17,499 ,, fº 0 ditto . . 152,303 3,446 ,, fº 10 ditto . . 86,365 2,395 , #5 0 ditto . . 307,169 17,556 The following is for the year ending January 5th, 1840: Amount of Capital Paid on Amount of Legacy Dut - RATE OF DUTY. at .*.*. †† at ..º.º. 36 & 10s. per cent . . . 1,233,731 7,009 361 5s. ditto . . 805,831 11,530 £2 0 ditto . . 111,510 2,514 £2 10 ditto . . 9,124 267 fºã 0 ditto * * 100,058 6,121 Total . 2,260,254 27,441 - The ToTAL AMoUNT of DUTY on LEGACIES, PRobATEs, and ADMINISTRATIONs. received in Ireland in the year 1839, ending January 5th, 1840, was— Amount of Duty on Legacies received . e 27,443!. Amount of Duty on Probates and Administrations, 42,2377. These statements show the increasing accumulation of property in Ireland. - 149 REVENUE received in the UNITED KING Dom for STAMP DUTY on Legacies Probates, Administrations, and Testamentary Inventories in each year, from January 5th, 1823, to January 5th, 1836. Years, Pºland Scotland. Great Britain. Ireland. 1824. 36 #. 2.É 36 Legacies . 930,881 50,359 981,241 16,296 Probates 782,042 38,556 820,599 29,411 1825. Legacies . 988,087 61,370 1,049,458 23,552 Probates 805,222 46,718 851,940 31,112 1826. Legacies . . 992,100 64,805 1,056,906 30,258 Probates 831,137 43,374 874,511 34,552 1827. Legacies . 869,208 54,114 923,323 21,053 Probates 762,459 52,578 815,037 38,102 1828. Legacies . . 967,377 G5,676 1,033,053 35,750 Probates . 830,800 37,989 868,789 32,166 1829. Legacies . 1,105,250 65,043 1,170,294 27,557 Probates 833,744 43,850 877,594 41,659 1830. - Legacies . . 1,119,936 58,773 1,178,709 29,325 Probates . 835,273 42,709 877,982 46,400 1831. Legacies . 1,153,305 69,954 1,223,260 24,628 Probates 857,909 46,029 903,938 37,125 1832. Legacies . . 1,075,264 69,194 1,144,459 19,353 Probates . 833,592 43,340 876,939 41,728 1833. Legacies . . 1,123,800 81,252 1,205,053 25,974 Probates 803,911 41,268 845,179 39,508 1834. Legacies . . 1,093,343 56,674 1,150,017 25,463 Probates 839,041 46,422 885,463 38,543 1835. - Legacies . . 1,140,229 69,509 1,209,739 29,273 Probates 864,393 67,455 931,848 44,324 1836. Legacies . . 1,106,364 72,518 1,178,883 27,284 Probates . . . 848,066 51,544 899,611 40,996 The internal postage of Ireland is an excellent criterion of the condition of the internal trade of the country. The following is an official statement of the amount received for postage of letters at the various post-offices in each county of Ireland, in each of the years 1830 and 1836 (excepting Dublin):— PART III. M 150 Counties. Antrim Armagh Carlow Cavan . Clare Cork e Donegal . Down . Fermanagh Galway Rerry Kildare Rilkenny . Leitrim Limerick . Londonderry ºeº Išing’s County . I 830, 1836. Counties. 1830, 1836. £ . . 36 36 sć 13,360 | 16,587 Broughtforward | 182,946 181,917 2,789 3,952 Longford . . 2,262 2,428 2,290 2,600 || Louth . 4,707 5,345 3,219 3,918 || Mayo 3,901 || 4,448 2,244 2,787 || Meath 2,483 2,756 20,154 25,415 Monaghan 2,168 2,722 2,977 3,856 Queen's County. 2,874 3,108 8,052 8,824 Roscommon 2,376 2,952 1,524 2,461 || Sligo 2,789 3,585 7,117. 8,650 Tipperary . 9,037 10,845 2,963 3,388 Tyrone . 4,637 5,872 3,281 3,926 Waterford 6,534 7,325 3,851 4,688 Westmeath 4,184 5,080 3,209 3,921 Wexford 5,145 5,847 1,447 2,024 || Wicklow . 2,713 3,072 7,542 || 9,185 5,836 7,216 Total 147,681 || 178,801 In the above we observe, that every county (the metropolitan is excluded, because that is no test of internal communication) presents an increase ; while, at the very same periods, the Post Office Revenue in England was declining, or stationary, in each county. In the following Table we see a progressive increase, trebling in amount since the commencement of the present century, while for many years the Post Office Revenue of Great Britain was almost stationary:— GRoss RECEIPTs of the PoST OFFICE REVENUE, IRELAND, from 1800 to 1838, inclusive.* First Period. Second Period. Third Period. 1800 1801 1802 I803 1804 1805 1806 1807 1808 1809 1810 I811 1812 . 3684,040 65,030 102,293 I02,518 108,844 118,429 146,682 149,857 158,749 180,510 180,670 195,531 189,963 1813 . 1814 . 1815 1816 . 1817 . 1818 1819 1820 . 1821 . 1822 1823 1824 . 1825 . . #195,453 203,226 212,562 225,000 212,269 203,456 197,510 197,677 192,511 187,120 186,024 188,826 199,602 1826 1827 1828 I 829 1830 1831 I832 1833 1834 1835 1836 1837 1838 .#207,177 . 207,757 . 216,232 . 239,559 . 241,063 . . 247,711 . . 256,976 . . 242,671 232,071 240,471 . 245,664 . 255,070 . 250,000+ Total £1,783,116 Total £2,601,236 Total £3,382,422 * The gross produce of the Twopenny Post, Dublin, for the year ending 5th January, 1838, was 125,721/. I5] RETURN of the Number and amount MONEY ORDERS ISSUED, AND COST OF THE OFFICES. of Money ORDERs Issued and Paid in Ireland during each Quarter, from the Quarter ending 5th April 1837, to that ending 5th January 1842. TOTAL, ° Number. Amount. £ - 5 April e 14,716 22,520 1839 & 5 July º º 18,872 29,297 5 October tº e 19,473 30,268 5 January . . . 19,133 29,779 I840 April tº e 24,061 32,861 July . . 34,136 45,103 October • * 38,998 51,082 January . . . 45,700 69,087 1841 April º 58,495 95,150 July . . . 69,784 111,042 5 October de & 75,157 120,370 1842 5 January º 80,385 134,733 The public conveyances on five parts of Ireland since 1800 show the increased commerce of the people. Years. Dublin. Belfast. Cork. Limerick. Derry. Total. 1800 | Mail Coaches . 4 1 I l 0 7 Stage Coaches. 8 0 0 0 0. 8 Caravans O 0. 0 () 0 () Passengers . . 151 5 5 5 0 I66 1820 | Mail Coaches . II. 4 4 2 I 22 Stage Coaches. 20 4 3 3 0 30 Caravans H2 4 0 1 0 17 Passengers . . 389 12 83 58 5 661 1829 || Mail Coaches . I 3 4 6 4 3 30 Stage Coaches. 22 6 4 / 3 0 35 Caravans : I2 4 0 l 0 17 Passengers . . 612 179 118 94 24 102.7 1840 | Mail Coaches . * Stage Coaches. No Returns. ! Caravans - : Passengers . . The increase is very remarkable. NEwsPAPERs.-At the period of the Union there were but seven Dublin and eighteen country newspapers, with a very limited circulation. Now there are twenty-seven Dublin newspapers, with a circulation of three millions and a half; and in the country districts sixty newspapers, with an annual circulation averaging M 2 152 two millions and a half. (See Statistical Chart for number in each county.) Dublin, after London, is the only city in the United Kingdom that publishes a daily paper. The Irish journals are as well conducted as those of any other part of the British Empire, and, considering the strong party feeling that generally exists in the sister island, there is a very commendable absence of personality and rival vituperation. The number of advertisements in the five years, from 1829 to 1833, was 611,223. In the subsequent five years ending 1839, the number had increased to 854,520, being an increase of 243,297. Number of NEWSPAPERS in IRELAND. Years. Dublin. Country. | Total. Circulation. 1800 . à e 7 18 25. 1830 . . • * } 7 49 66 4,035,314 1831 . ity & 19 53 72 4,261,430 1833 . . . . 22 56 78 4,332,572 1839 . § & K. 90 5,782,857 1840 . . . . . 6,057,795 NEWSPAPER STAMPs.-Return to an Address of the Honourable the House of Com- mons, dated 17th of June, 1842, for a Return, moved by Mr. Brotherton, of the Aggregate Number of STAMPs issued for NEwsPAPERs in IRELAND in each year, from the 1st of January, 1827, till 1st of January, 1842–(In continuation of Parliamentary Paper, No. 530, Sess. 1827.) Years. Ireland. Years. | Ireland. Years. Ireland. 1827 3,545,846 1832 4,458,990 1837 5,262,211 }828 3,790,272 1833 4.332,572 1838 5,312,232 1829 3,953,550 1834 4,084,442 1839 5,782,857 1830 4,035,314 1835 4,290,836 1840 6,057,795 1831 4,261,430 1836 4,286,438 1841 - || 5,990,033 Total | 19,586,412 Total 2,353,278 || Total 28,405,128 Accountant and Comptroller, General’s Office, Stamps and Taxes, Y. THOMAS LIGHTFOOT, A.G. 30th June, 1842. The number issued was, in 1840 § & & . 6,057,795 << … 1827 . . . . . 3,545,846 Showing an increase, since 1827, in one year, of . . 2,511,949 While political intelligence is spreading, it is very satisfactory to observe that the drinking of ardent spirits is diminishing. i53 The number of gallons of spirits taken out for consumption in Ireland was, for years ending 5th January— Än 1841 . •e; • • . Gallons 7,401,051 1842 . . . . . . 6,485,443 1843 . +) º <> & $ . 5,290,650 The number of bankruptcies in Ireland is also a test of the condition of the people ; they have increased of late years in England, but not in Ireland. Number of CoMMISSIONS of BANKRUPT which have been issued in each year, in Ireland, from Ist January, 1823; and of the Number of CERTIFICATEs which have been granted upon such Commissions; and of the Number of COMMISSIONS which have been SUPERSEDED, during each year of the same periods. From COMMISSIONS. CERTIFICATES. SU PERSEDEAS’s. 1 January - 1823 to 1 January J.824 52 27 | 2 1825 62 21 1U) 1826 90 23 I () 1827 . . 87 29 17 1828 . . 73 25 | 1 1829 . . £30 31 9 1830 78 32 12 1831 64 3] I3 1832 69 i8 6 1833 56 22 7 691 259 107 The actual Number of The actual Number of . The actual Number of Commissions issued in Certificates granted in Supersedeas's issued in those years. those years; of which those years. number, 37 were Certi- - ficates granted on Com- missions which issued prior to the 1st January 1823. P. PLUNKET, Secretary of Bankrupts. The Stamp-Duty on Fire Insurance in Ireland, in 1837, was 40,4717. In 1842, the amount was 46,7691. The value of Farming Stock insured in Ireland, in 1836, was 179,819.; in 1841 it was increased to 446,8471. The following Tabular Return of : the County Cess of Ireland, from 182 The annual augmenting of the Coun SUMMARy of the AMoUNT of County CESS levied in each County, County of [House of Common: COUNTIES, &c. 1825. 1826. 1827. 1828. 1829. 1830. 1831. Antrim, County 32,094 34,491 37,630 || 43,011 || 41,609 || 42,628 || 44,238 Armagh, ditto . . 21,538 23,351 23,072 24,761 25,211 23,849 23,234 Carlow, ditto . . . . 8,741 || 9,300 | 10,916 9,654 || 9,898 || 9,253 11,360 Carrickfergus, County Town 548 583 745 663 794 760 850 Cavan, County 23,059 18,014 22,819 22,275 23,470 22,687 24,992 Clare, ditto 30,579 22,149 28,236 || 34,402 || 32,233 || 33,275 27,602 Cork, ditto 82,116 || 83,585 | 89,715 69,829 | 72,968 63,112 || 67,835 Cork, City . cy 27,319 || 28,156 26,253 26,699 || 27,058 || 27,648 || 27,752 Donegal, County 30,941 | 19,850 24,025 29,597 27,419 29,152 24,607 Down, ditto º 31,679 28,961 31,054 || 32,083 || 31,661 35,984 38,958 Dublin, ditto . 20,831 19,646 20,056 17,907 || 19,027 20,258 20,366 Dublin, City . . . 29,004 || 28,701 || 25,426 26,211 27,303 28,306 29,663 Drogheda, County Town . 1,116 1,327 1,147 1,044 994 1,135 935 Fermanagh, County 16,295 || 17,137 17,007 | 20,576 | 18,832 15,134 18,447 Galway, ditto . 28,821 28,065 22,880 27,132 || 27,871 27,452 33,430 Galway, County Town 3,783 2,825 3,441 3,744 3,340 4,058 3,842 Kerry, County t 23,627 | 18,899 || 24,502 25,030 26,738 28,444 32,673 Kildare, ditto . e 17,898 || 18,237 18,768 18,722 | 18,427 | 20,453 17,206 Kilkenny, ditto e 18,422 17,976 | 19,816 || 17,807 | 18,720 | 18,264 || 19,379 Rilkenny, City . 2,029 2,183 2,193 2,064 | 1,826 2,273 || 2,232 King’s County. 14,524 14,760 14,552 14,176 14,500 14,402 15,092 Leitrim, County . 17,072 15,451 13,138 || 13,821 | 12,851 | 13,011 || 14,907 Limerick, ditto 31,574 28,061 || 32,512 32,776 || 31,432 30,909 || 30,120 Limerick, City . e & 6,360 5,333 5,600 6,385 6,523 6,555 5,921 Londonderry, City & County 26,487 22,622 26,173 26,435 | 27,105 || 27,696 24,102 Longford, County 10,285 10,787 | 10,702 || 13,109 8,980 | 12,682 10,723. Louth, ditto . . . . I1,719 14,490 11,742 11,418 10,731 10,796 || 10,236 Mayo, ditto 27,552 23,690 25,311 24,519 27,916 || 25,623 16,852 Meath, ditto 28,777 25,119 28,346 27,524 24,737 26,336 25,899 Monaghan, ditto. 19,860 | 19,345 17,307 20,919 21,562 18,733 19,577 Queen's, ditto . 16,002 || 14,487 | 16,555 18,378 17,898 || 21,290 17,472 Roscommon, ditto 20,092 | 19,859 21,431 21,332 27,671 20,952 24,441 Sligo, ditto 22,105 || 19,253 20,485 21,508 || 22,735 | 17,290 20,668 Tipperary, ditto . 48,836 46,143 49,404 || 48,885 50,440 || 51,847 52,197 Tyrone, ditto . 34,344 29,772 | 34,857 42,915 44,250 44,170 41,616 Waterford, ditto , 18,459 17,436 20,143 21,483 | 19,755 | 16,765 17,195 Waterford, City 3,895 4,815 6,094 5,151 4,327 3,864 4,263 Westmeath, County 15,595 || 15,175 16,387 | 16,823 || 16,843 16,061 15,305 Wexford, ditto 28,603 || 27,898 || 25,658 27,687 || 31,421 28,303 || 33,728 Wicklow, ditto . 21,808 || 19,777 18,715 17,182 | 18,320 | 19,596 || 17,704 ToTALs . |874,411 | 817,729 |864,836 |885,655 | 895,415 |881,025 | 887,638 1838, shows an increase, between the first and last year, of 242,407/. less shows no impoverishment. - ty, and County of a Town in Ireland, in each Year since the Year 1824. th June, 1839.] C 3: 1832. 1833. 1834. 1835. 1836, 1837. 1838. Total. # | - pº £ £ f #3 £ £ £ £ 42,776 || 46,341 || 45,612 || 41,002 48,651 50,722 53,256 604,066 | 1. 23,803 || 23,933 23,763 || 26,415 27,954 || 24,499 28,820 344,209 || 2. 12,816 14,022 14,779 | 15,163 13,450 14,421 16,739 170,519 || 3. 903 928 732 839 902 900 1,051 11,205 || 4. 23,755 23,986 23,543 22,593 21,251 24,734 || 26,585 323,770 5. 51,535 | 42,042 49,024 || 44,290 41,594 || 48,565 49,262 534,794 || 6. 69,375 80,620 77,049 62,798 70,666 | 68,265 78,951 || 1,036,892 || 7. 29,00I 28,585 26,379 29,067 28,901 || 31,758 25,594 390,177 | 8. 27,261 25,314 24,723 27,609 32,508 || 30,462 34,623 388,097 | 9. 39,053 || 39,344 39,313 43,103 40,600 | 40,731 48,486 || 521,017 | 10. 20,613 22,336 23,523 23,181 23,672 22,883 24,220 298,527 | II. 32,151 || 32,967 34,982 33,565 38,295 || 38,919 40,618 446,118 12. 1,641 2,011 1,411 1,488 1,258 1,385 665 17,562 13. I6,300 | 16,559 17,795 | 16,346 21,715 21,711 25,345 259,205 14. 39,972 38,218 41,988 43,938 44,713 || 43,074 44,528 492,090 15. 3,951 4,902 || 4,944 5,637 3,905 || 4,294 4,957 57,629 | 16. 31,780 || 33,077 29,902 || 30,979 29,170 25,108 28,697 388,632 17. 20,927 | 19,681 | 20,181 | 19,864 20,750 20,903 23,399 275,423 | 18. 21,795 29,582 30,532 29,793 31,324 24,223 31,001 328,639 19. 2,331 2,980 || 3,326 3,556 2,817 | 2,781 3,173 35,770 20. 15,661 | 18,127 20,710 21,058 23,058 17,846 21,490 239,961 21. 14,900 13,862 15,256 15,638 15,412 || 14,484 18,791 208,600 22. 30,438 31,934 32,926 32,088 33,398 || 36,258 35,941 450,374 || 23. 5,580 5,775 6,317 | 6,311 6,622 3,807 10,154 87,250 24. 23,601 || 25,328 24,326 23,996 24,587 26,798 28,087 357,351 25. 10,231 || 11,154 | 12,278 11,270 14,891 12,943 17,679 167,723 26. 9,907 | 12,966 13,577 | 10,925 13,409 || 11,693 15,041 168,654 27. 23,991 || 28,048 31,022 || 27,051 29,941 34,928 31,289 377,739 28. 28,448 || 31,591 27,505 || 25,990 25,914 22,135 29,853 378,180 29. 18,963 19,313 | 19,172 | 16,854 19,860 | 19,290 21,598 272,361 |30. 19,864 22,683 22,950 21,575 23,258 || 19,566 23,128 275,114 31. 30,045 27,490 25,773 27,356 26,647 25,622 31,679 350,397 || 32. 17,273 18,554 21,533 22,531 22,282 15,000 20,749 281,973 33. 54,739 55,975 57,836 56,795 65,531 || 58,018 60,015 756,670 34. 36,973 || 33,621 || 38,486 || 39,279 54,852 44,241 50,388 569,772 |35. 20,159 18,850 20,953 23,866 24,426 21,422 23,293 284,211 || 36. 4,212 || 4,025 | 5,334 4,928 5,534 6,268 7,311 70,028 37. 15,127 | 17,134 17,625 18,272 17,516 | 16,224 19,166 233,261 38. 26,410 || 31,797 || 32,696 29,030 30,723 29,260 37,547 420,768 |39. 18,518 20,136 20,040 21,702 21,141 | 19,595 23,627 277,867 40. 936,796 |975,811 |999,835 |977,763 | 1,043,120 |995,757 | 1,116,818 || 13,152,615 |41. I56 The mode in which the Grand J ury Presentments, or County Cess, for the whole of Ireland in the year 1838 were expended, is thus shown :- New roads, bridges, pipes, gullets, quay-walls, or cutting down hills, and filling up hollows and ditches, 112,973!, ; repairs of roads, bridges, pipes, gullets, walls, &c., 314,1197. ; court or session-houses, erection or repair, 11,714!. ; gaols, bridewells, houses of correction, building or repairing, 6,721. ; all other prison and bridewell expenses, including salaries, 98,8181. ; police and police establishments, and payments to witnesses, 165,7637. , salaries of all county officers not included above, 110,5137.; public charities, 117,650l. ; Repayment of advances to government, 129,0817. ; Miscellaneous, not included above, 71,609l.—1,138,965!. Deduct re-presentments, &c., 7,919l. Total for the whole of Ireland, 1,131,046l. The County Cess, or Grand Jury Presentments, levied for local purposes, were, for all Ireland, in 1842, 1,183,485l. Of - this the sum of 133,338/. was for new roads, bridges, &c.; 347,2697, was for repairs of roads and bridges; 108,004!. was for gaols, bridewells, houses of correction, and session- houses, erection or repair; 179,513!, for police, police establishments, and pay- ments of witnesses; 96,475l., for salaries of county officers; 104,640ſ, for public charities; 131,5281. for repayment of advances to Government; and 90,912!. mis- cellaneous–Total, 1,183,485l. In 1800, the Excise Revenue of Ireland was 475,7321. The following is an Account of the Ämount of Duties of Excise collected in each Revenue District in Ireland, in each Year since 1828:— YEARS. CoLLECTIONS. - - - 1828. 1829. 1830. | 1831. 1832. 1833. 1834. 1835. 1836, 1837. I838. 1839. 1840. 1841. 1842. gé £ £ £ £ aff £ £ £ £ gf 26 £ Armagh. 84,076 76,156 78,777| 66,515 69,739 72,137, 76,506 59,846 69,095 60,791 Athlone . . 38,047| 36,996 35,387 33,583| 40,825, 36,205 36,681 35,274, 35,086 30,609 Clonmel 75,924 64,672 68,201| 89,534 82,718, 81,865 76,514 77,970ſ 85,934 80,220 Coleraine . . 51,216 40,269 36,331|| 33,817| 41,963 42,973 44,577 42,440, 46,398. 42,417 Cork. . . 306,723. 265,477 253,849; 289,725| 311,462. 267,733| 251,875 213,376 252,015, 188,307 Drogheda. . . 68,529. 65,722. 85,753 87,650 95,903 86,501| 79,471 85,875, 84,369| 76,031 Dublin . . . 458,779| 462,698 452,933, 528,939 524,558. 445,442. 415,490 2. 2. 345,059. 353,540 354,866 ºz 2. ºz Dundalk . . . 122,501. 108,118 110,258. 119,340 99,085 90,901. 105,417 3 3' | 104,286 112,297 102,932| < O C Foxford . 25,673| 20,976 16,763. 18,182 15,348 16,296 17,224 aſ ºd 17,905 23,515| 26,788 tº : : Galway 65,840 71,189 70,059 65,325' 58,050 50,795. 47,283 : # 51,684. 52,63}| 42,890 : # E. Kilkenny 57,938 49,310|| 52,466 55,459 54,982 50,267. 69,137 5 5 76.144. 75,772 72,266 5 5 5 Limerick . . 93,197 77,615| 88,353. 107,598 94,153 85,159 86,050 ë g 70,368. 83,394 71,508 * tº Lisburne 242,063. 209,526, 187,043| 226,390 179,487| 151,267. 165,373 170,438, 181,891. 181,777 Londonderry 74,945. 73,797 70,542 80,696|| 72,142 58,504 64,458 74,274 76,758 73,956 Mallow . 80,954. 74,540 71,008 98,148 88,566 78,107| 93,055 91,042, 96,744 87,867 Maryborough 66,129. 58,576 66,284| 71,822 72,821 76,895 81,923 68,675 75,218 70,747 Naas. 53,442 44,326|| 51,034 52,968 57,249 56,405 57,208 47,053| 48,884. 51,544 Sligo . 39,483| 37,823 40,068| 39,740 31,654. 24,040 31,171 44,920 47,212 44,644 Tralee . 12,397 9,268 8,13] 7,129| 10,509 10,089 11,433 10,349 12,652 11,413 Waterford . 68,778 66,324 66,003: 70,817| 75,752. 69,624 68,349 73,101| 77,313| 66,255 Wexford . . 74,326|| 66,391 77,081| 78,809| 75,926 72,066 81,852 66,465. 83,868 78,191 Totals . 2,160,971|1,979,780|1,986,335|2,222, 1962,152,9021,923,2601,961,057 1,826,5541,974,5931,816.030 This remarkable increase in the Excise indicates most unequivocally the improved condition of the people. Recently the Tea duties have been removed from the Excise to the Customs, which makes more than £500,000 difference against the Excise. 158 PUBLIC WoRKs.—The conduct of the Imperial Legislature with reference to money for public works, is very striking — AUGMENTATION of GRANTs by the Irish Parliament for 6 years previous - & £79,314 to the Union (1800) . tº e tº te Q e e & AUGMENTATION of GRANTs by Imperial Parliament for 4 years previous #396,834 to 1817 e & § • • * e tº tº * e 5 GRANTs by the Imperial Parliament for Ireland :— Fruiu Jail. 1801, From Jan. 1817, to Jam. 1817. to Jan. 1833. Total. To Charitable and Literary Institutions £1,995,128 . . fº,230,622 = #4,225,750 Fººt of Manufactures and 868,174 . . 472,247 = 1,340,421 griculture Pº. Works and Employment *} 1,535,336 . . 1,536,824 = 3,072,160 Total . . . #4,398,638 . . $4,239,693 = £8,638,33] Money granted by the Imperial Parliament for the IMPROVEMENT of HARBOURS in or connected with Ireland, was, for— Howth 345,194!., Kingstown 304,335l., Donaghadee 132,672., Port Patrick 125,379/., Dunmore 79,175l., Hobbs Point 23,422l.-Total, #1,010,177. By the Act 1st and 2nd W. IV. c. 33, an advance of 500,000l. was made in support of public works in Ireland. Upwards of one million sterling has been advanced by the Legislature to carry the Irish Poor-Law Act into operation. Various other items might be added to show the liberality of the Imperial Legislature towards Ireland. MoNEY voted by the British House of Commons and Acts of the Imperial Par- liament, for PUBLIC WORKS in Ireland, under the direction of the Irish Board of Works”. INLAND NAVIGATION. Inland Navigation . . $4,999 || 1s12ſ Inland Navigation . . £10,309 Ditto ditto . . . . . 11,000 Lagan ditto . . . . . 2,900 I)itto ditto . . . . . 52,323 Inland Navigati & tº. º gation . . 13,402 Lagan ditto. . . . . 1,997 | 1818 Lagan ditto . . . . . 1,900 Inland Navigation . 42,461 tº 6 tº 18054 Navig e 2 Inland Navigation . . 10,309 “l Lagan ditto . . . . . 997 | 1814 { Royal Canal . . . . 882 1806 Inland Navigation . . 43,418 1 Inland Navigation . . 68,213 1807 {{..." Navigation . . 74,702 815% Lagan ditto . . . . . 2,946 Lagan ditto . . . . 5,054 1816 (#. Navigation . . 65,309 1804 1808 { Inland Navigation . . 35,098 Lagan ditto . . . . . 800 Lagan Ditto . . . . 1,413 1817 Inland Navigation . . 20, 154 Inland Navigation . . 20,488 Lagan ditto . . . . . 1,300. 1809 e -- . tº 4 tº Lagan ditto . . . . . 2,600 Inland Navigation . . 4,000 18] 0 Inland Navigation . . 56,209 Additional Allowance to Lagan ditto . . . . . 150 | 1818 Chairman . . . . 276 1811 Inland Navigation . . 35,169 Grand Canal . . . . lº Lagan ditto . . . . . . 2,750 Royal Canal . . . . 200,000 * Mr. G. Lewis Smyth has given many details on this subject in a recent pamphlet respecting railroads in Ireland, and to prove that all the grants of the Im- perial Parliament have been extravagantly squandered, and used in “Irish Jobs.” 1 9 {) Inland Navigation . Additional Allowance to Chairman . . . . Lough Allen Canal . . Inland Navigation . Additional Allowance to Chairman . . . . ſº Navigation . 1819 1820 1821 Additional Allowance to Chairman Lough Allen Canal . . Inland Navigation Additional Allowance to Chairman e Survey of the Shannon. Inland Navigation . Additional Allowance to Chairman . . . . 1822 1823 . 365,475 276 5,000 4,480 276 3,450 276 4,000 4,000 276 2,023 3,500 276 1824 Inland Navigation . 366,100 1825 Ditto . 4,500 1826 Ditto 4,681 Ditto . . . . . . . 5,299 1827 Ulster Canal . . . . 120,000 Wellesley Bridge, Lime- rick . . . . . . 50,000 1828 Ditto . 4,748 1829 Ditto . 5,852 1830 Ditto . 5,547 1831 Ditto 5,300 1832 Ditto . 2,650 Total 361,190,528. The following is a list of other votes for Public Works in Ireland, during the same period. 1809 { Improving Howth Har- bour 1810 Ditto ditto 1811 Improving Post Roads. Ditto ditto Improving Howth Har- 1812 bour . . . tº e Bog Commission Pier at Ardglass 1813 Improving Post Roads. Ditto Ditto 1814 pij at Ardglass . 1815 Improving Post Roads. Bridge at Londonderry 1816 Improving Post Roads. Ditto ditto 18174 Ardglass Harbour . Dunleary ditto 1828 Ditto . 1829 Ditto & 1830 Ditto . . . . . . . 1831 Ditto . . . . . . 1833 Dunmore Harbou Ditto . . . . Galway Roads . . 1884 £6,000 3,814 26,001 59,673 10,000 3,000 5,000 76,961 57,796 5,883 6,3653 15,000 55,878 39,289 103 30,000 20,000 14,000 22,800 11,000 7,500 4,000 5,000 1818 Dunmore Harbour . . .612,923 Howth ditto . 10,135 1819 Dunmore ditto 8,000 Howth ditto 5,000 1820 Dunmore Harbour . 12,000 Howth ditto 6,700 1821 T) unmore ditto . 12,900 Howth ditto 6,440 1822 Ditto ditto . 3,978 Dunmore ditto 10,000 For Employment of the Poor . . . . 100,000 1823 ( Howth Harbour 4,348 T) unmore ditto 8,000 Kingstown ditto . . 30,000 1824 Howth ditto . . . 4,000 1826 Public Works . 45,500 1827 Ditto . . . . 36,000 1835 Dunmore Harbour . 5,473 Galway Roads . . . . . 13,000 1836 Dunmore Harbour . 527 Public Works under 6 Geo. IV. c. 25, and 7 and 8 Geo. IV. c. 47. 200,000 Total . 31,077,299 But this is not all. Mr. Smyth says, that the “existing Board of Works” was appointed in 1831, when the salaries of the Com- missioners, formerly only 500l. a-year, were raised,—that of the Chairman to 1,000l.”, and of the others to 600l. a-year each. Very extensive duties, and full power as to the direction of the * Sir J. Burgoyne's salary was further raised last year to 1,2007, 160 various public works, administered or assisted by the former Boards, and the control of every new enterprise, to which assist- ance might be applied, were given to the new body, who, to promote public works in Ireland, have been voted from the treasury:- - 1 and 2 William IV. c. 33,500,000l. ; Grant Fund, 50,000l. ; 1 and 2 William IV. c. 103, 100,000l. ; Repayments re-issuable, 120,000l. ; I Victoria, c. 21, Grant Fund, 50,0007. ; 1 and 2 Victoria, c. 88, 50,000l. ; * Expenses of Board, 1831, 1,110ſ. ; 1832, 3,564. ; 1833, 4,434. ; 1834, 3,276. ; 1835, 8,565l. ; 1836, 3,140l. ; 1837, 3,591. ; 1838, 3,206/. ; Shannon and Railway Commission, 50,000?. -- 5,000l. + 12,700l., 67,700l.—Total, 968,576/. From 1881 to the present time the following sums of money have been awarded to Limerick by the Board of Works, which is said to owe its origin to Mr. Spring Rice. The sums will be found numbered, as here, in the Parliamentary Report for last year:— No. 41. Road from Woodford to new line to Limerick, 9597. 46. Road from Glenquin to Goulburn Bridge, County Limerick, 600l. 5. Limerick Navigation Company to improve Works, 8,910. 6. Road leading to Ennis, 2057, 7. Ditto to Waterford, 560/. 15. Completing Wellesley Bridge and Docks, if 25,000l. 34. Road leading to Waterford, 2962. 35. Road leading to Ennis, 117l. 36. Road leading from Abbeyfeal to Glinn, 1, 1811. 61. Rebuilding Thomond Bridge, 9,000l. 68. Barrington's Hospital, 2,500ſ, 70. Limerick Navigation Company to improve Quays, &c., 6,500l. 75. Road from Mitchelstown to Kilfinnane, 1,150l. 80. Limerick Bridge, 40,000l. 93. Road from Buttevant to Kilfinnane, 400l.—Total, 97,3797. The following RETURN shows the Gross Amount of PUBLIC MoMEY advanced under each separate Head of Account for PUBLIC WoRKS in IRELAND. A lengthened detailed statement was laid before Parliament, 17th August, 1839, showing the specific application of each sum of money granted:— Arts and Agriculture : The Cork-street Society, Dublin,923!. ; the Royal Dublin Society, 285,438/. ; the Farming Society, Dublin, 87,1321. ; the Linen Board, Dub- łin, 537,656. Bogs and Waste Lands, 32,633. Buildings: Bridges, 91,810?. ; Chapels, 2,1131. ; Churches, 749,54II, ; Docks, 923. ; Gaols and other Prisons, 486,995l. ; Infirmaries, Hospitals, &c., 435,1677. ; Law Courts and Sessions-houses, 80,444. Light-houses, 104,0287. ; Record Offices, 6,97 5l. ; Round Towers, &c., of defence, 85,7657. ; School-houses, 33,648l. ; Workhouses, 8007. Fisheries, 7,914. Harbours and Ports, 1,285,6607. Inland Navigation, 1,159,8497. Mines, 32,859. Poor (relief of), 693,3997. Post Roads, 883,363/. Public Works of a Miscellaneous Character, 1,743,136l.—Total of Advances from 1800 to 1st June, 1839, 8,828,1411. W. H. HARDINGE. Record Office, Custom House Buildings, Dublin, 8th June, 1839. * These sums are from the votes for the respective years; but the actual expenses have proved, in general, 1,000l. a-year more. t Besides 55,3847. 13s. 4d. previously advanced for the same purpose. 16] Annexed is an abstract of the Eleventh (the most recent) Annual Report from the Board of Public Works in Ireland. The Report will indicate to some extent the care bestowed on even the most trifling department of the internal economy of Ireland. This Report is exclusive of the extensive and expen- sive works going on at the river Shannon. - “l. LoANS AND GRANTS FOR PUBLIC WORKS.—The state of all the Loans and Grants made by us will be found in the Appendix. “LoANs.-The sums which have been made applicable to loans are— “1st. Originally appropriated by the Act I and 2 Will. IV. c. 33, 500,0007; 2nd. Moneys received of Principal of Loans, the amount of which is re-issuable under the 60th section of the 1 and 2 Will. IV. c. 33, 305,717 l. ; 3rd. Additional sum appro- priated by the Act of 6 and 7 Will. IV. c. 108, but not considered by the Lords of the Treasury to be re-issuable, 100,000l. ; 4th. A portion of the sum of 50,000/. applicable to Public Works in Ireland, under the 14th section of the I and 2 Vict. c. 88, 46,000l.—Gross Fund, 951,7171. “From the Gross Fund of 951,717ſ, deduct net amount of Loans sanctioned, acted on, or in operation, up to 31st of December, 1842–924,937., which leaves available at this date an amount of 26,7807. “The whole amount of Exchequer-bills issued on account of these loans to the 5th January, 1843, was,831,850l.; of these an amount has been paid off of 623,450/. leaving outstanding, 208,400l. “The whole sum transferred to the credit of Her Majesty's Exchequer on this account, eaclusive of 100,000l., to be accounted for to the Paymaster of Civil Services in repayment of loans to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, 459,212/. “GRANTS.–The sums applicable to Grants are— “1st. The Fund originally appropriated by the Act 1 and 2 Will. IV. c. 33, 50,000l. ; 2nd. A further sum provided by the Act 1 Vict. c. 21, 50,000l. ; 3rd. A portion of the sum of 50,000l. provided by the Act 1 and 2 Vict. c. 88, 4,000l. Total, 104,400l. “From the accompanying account will be seen the amount of grants sanctioned up to the 31st of December, 1842, and the state of progress in the several works for which they were made. “In former Reports, we have enlarged upon the benefits which have resulted from the application of these funds to the construction of new lines of roads, particularly through wild and uncultivated districts, and opening communications between the sea and the interior of the country, in the last season, a period of great distress, owing to the previous failure of the potato crops in parts of the west and south-west of Ireland. By a happy coincidence, we had the power of accelerating the com- mencement of three works in Connemara, and two in the county of Kerry, under our immediate direction, just at the time, and in the districts, where the populations was suffering under the greatest privations; by the arrangement made, the employ- ment was divided and diffused, so as to give to every family a portion of its advan- tage, and the persons engaged received wages every week, and thus relieſ was afforded to several thousands. In referring to this circumstance it is not with the intention of advocating the necessity of setting forward public works on principle, solely with a view of giving employment in a case of such emergency, but when well- 162 designed projects, calculated in their results to effect extensive and permanent improvement, can be made auxiliary to such a desirable object, the consequences must be highly Satisfactory, and put an additional value on the operations of a Grant Fund. | “The Ulster Canal, extending from the river Erne, near Belturbet, in the county of Cavan, to the navigable water of the river Blackwater, in the county of Tyrone, and connecting Lough Erne and Lough Neagh, has been completed with the aid of a loan from this board, and opened for the passage of boats during the last season. Two steamers have been established on Lough Neagh for the purpose of towing boats between the Ulster canal and the Lagan and Newry navigations, leading to the seaports of Belfast and Newry. A steam-vessel has also been lately placed on Lough Erne; thus, a speedy and regular communication has commenced and will be main- tained throughout the line, and it is expected that a large increase of traffic will result, as well as the opening of new sources of trade in the districts embraced by the Ulster canal and the extensive lakes with which it is connected. “II. CoILECTIONS of REPAYMENTS OF ODD LoANS FROM THE CONSOLIDATED FUND, UNDER THE 57TH GEO. III. AND OTHER ACTS.–The repayments on this account have been comparatively small, the balances on Loans to Grand Juries are in gradual course of extinction, except some few instances, where a difference in account has arisen; in the cases of loans to public bodies on the security of the tolls to be derived from the undertakings a heavy accumulation of debt has accrued, and which, in most instances, will probably never be cleared off. The loans in this state of embarrassment are of very old standing, and must have been made under a principle, not admitted of late years, having reference far more to the effecting public improvements than regard to the prospect of repayment.” “In the instance of the loans to the trustees of the Navan Turnpike-road, we have, by a summary process, allowed by the Act of 4 Vict., c. 6, s. 5, entered into possession. The tolls are received, and the works for the maintenance of the road are carried on under the immediate direction of this Board, and the surplus of the income will be applied towards the liquidation of the debt. “By this arrangement, while the road is maintained in good order, the funds appropriated to repayment of the loan have been greatly increased. “III. INLAND NAVIGATION.—These works, three in number, are but of a small extent; the produce of their tolls is not considerable in amount, but their mainte- nance is not attended with heavy expense. . . “IV. RoADS AND BRIDGES.—A considerable extent of public works is maintained in the west and south of Ireland, under the provisions of the Act, 6 Geo. IV., c. 101, such works having been constructed wholly or in part at the public expense ; the last of such maintenance being repaid by grand jury presentments. “ Upon the same principle, the roads which have been formed by the aid of grants under the Public Works Act, l and 2 Will. IV., c. 33, &c., are maintained by this Board out of funds advanced from the Exchequer and repaid by grand jury presentments. “The principle has been extended to the repair of post-roads, on which the royal mail is carried by the section of the Grand Jury Act, 6th and 7th Will. IV., c. 116, which authorises this Board, on the requisition of the Postmaster-General, and with the sanction of the Lord Lieutenant, to apply such immediate repair as may enable the vehicles by which the mails are conveyed to keep the prescribed rate of travelling. “The Board very seldom receive any complaints of the management of these roads, | 63 which are generally in superior order to others of the same districts, and are maintained, as we believe, at a moderate expense. « V. PHOENIX PARK AND DUBLIN BUILDINGs.-The works at Dublin Castle have been those of ordinary maintenance and gradual improvement towards the state which it is desirable they should attain. “The additions and alterations projected for the Chief Secretary’s office have been completed, and part of the rooms occupied. « V. Four Courts.-The several Courts have been put into an efficient state of repair; the Masters' New Offices and Bankruptcy Courts have been completed, and are now occupied ; their former offices have afforded accommodation to several branches of the Law Offices, which was much wanted. “Increased and improved accommodation for the records of some of the Law Courts is urgently required, and projects for attaining that object are under consideration. “The Pumping Apparatus, for supplying the whole of the building with water, has been completed, which will be found a valuable acquisition in the event of a fire occurring in any part of this extensive establishment. “At the Custom-house, Queen’s Inns, and the other Public Buildings in Dublin, only the ordinary repairs for maintenance have been required. - “WICE-REGAL LODGE.-The new range of Stables and Coach-houses required for the accommodation of his Excelleucy has been completed ; the Establishment heretofore existing was very inadequate in quality and extent. “At the Chief and Under Secretary’s only the ordinary repairs have been required to maintain the Houses, Offices, and Gardens in a suitable state for occupation. “By order of the Lords Commissioners of her Majesty's Treasury, the buildings of the Royal Hospital at Kilmainham, and the Hibernian School in the Phoenix Park, have been placed in charge of this Board, and provision for their maintenance has been made in the Estimates for 1843. “The Depôt for Convicts in Smithfield (lately occupied as a Penitentiary), has also been landed over to the Department, to be maintained by Parliamentary Estimates. “VI. DUNMORE HARBOUR.—This Harbour did not sustain any material damage during the past year. The Packet Station having been removed, but few vessels resort to this harbour. - “WII. KINGSTOWN HARBOUR.—The usual Return of Wessels which have made use of this harbour during the last year, as well as in the two preceding years, accompanies this Report. “The Eastern Pier Head has been raised to the proper height to receive the coping and platform course, upon which a suitable Light-house will be erected. The work of the Pier-head has been constructed in a very superior manner, both as regards the execution and the materials. “Considerable preparations had been made, by driving piles and erecting a stage upon which to set up and traverse the machinery requisite for the construction of the Western Pier-head ; these works of preparation were, however, destroyed by a tremendous gale from the south-east, which occurred in the early part of the month of November last; by this circumstance the commencement of the operations with the diving-bell will be necessarily retarded, and in the mean time the best consideration will be given to the preparatory measures calculated to afford the I64 greatest security during the laying-in of the foundation, and the subsequent erection of the superstructure in that particularly exposed situation. *. “VIII. HowTH IIARBOUR.—The works have been maintained in a generally good state ; some repairs, but not to any serious extent, are required to the Sea Pavement, the Wharf Roadway, and the flights of Steps for landing and embarking, which have sustained some injury. These matters will be attended to in the coming season, and their repair will not be expensive. “IX. DONAGHADEE HARBOUR.—The repairing and strengthening of the Sea Pavement of the Breakwater, or Sea Defence, have been continued with effect, and are nearly completed. - “X. LUNATIC ASYLUMS.—Considerable additions, with improvements, have been made, with the sanction of his Excellency the Lord-Lieutenant in Council, at the Clonmel District Lunatic Asylum, where increase of accommodation was much required. “The subject of improvement in the ventilation and security of the patients at the Ballinasloe District Asylum has been taken into consideration under the same authority, and plans for effecting the object have been submitted ; as also for some minor improvements in the Asylum of the Maryborough District. “We have the honour to be “Your Lordships' most obedient humble Servants, J. F. BURGoyNE, BRoof: T. OTTLEY, J. RADCLIFF.” The state of Banking in Ireland, and its defects, will be given in the Financial Chapter. The statements contained in the preceding pages amply confirm the truth of the facts developed in Part II., on the Shipping, Commerce, and Manufactures of Ireland. The evidence of the augmentation of wealth, the progress of civilisation, and the general welfare of the people, is full substantiated on the most irrefutable testimony. . PART IV. POPULATION AND EDUCATION OF IRELAND. CHAPTER VI. Population Augmentation from 1641 to 1800, and from 1800 to 1840;-Number of Houses;–Sexual Proportions;–General Area and Arable Land and Inhabitants in each County;-Occupations of the Inhabitants ;-Comparative Greater Density of Population of Ireland than any other Part of the World; —Causes of Irish Inferiority, Physical and Natural, not Owing to the Union or Government ;-Education of the People. WE have tested the state of Irelaud in 1elaliuli to her political institutions and civil and religious freedom ; her external com- merce and shipping, internal trade, and social progress since the Union; let us now proceed another stage in the argument, and ascertain the truth or falsity of the allegation that, by means of the Union, Ireland has been depopulated, and “hundreds of thousands" destroyed. An increase of population is a convincing test of the advancing state of a nation. It was correctly observed as such by Arthur Young, in his Tour through Ireland, in 1766, when he observes: “Ireland everywhere evinces the marks of a rapid increase of population.” Various censuses have been made of the popula- tion of Ireland, but they have in general been framed on inaccu- rate data. At the end of Elizabeth's reign the population was estimated at not more than 700,000, and before the rebellion in 1641, at 1,456,000.* In— 1672 . . . at 1,100,000 || 1725 . . . at 2,317,374 1695 . . . . 1,034,102 || 1754 . . . . 2,372,634 1702 . . . . 1,320,008 || 1767 . . . . 2,544,276 1712 . . . . . 2,099,094 || 1777 . . . . 2,690,565 1718 . . . . 2,169,048 || 1785 . . . . 2,845,932 * The population of England in 1682 was so great as 7,369,230, on a surface of 49,450 square miles ; so that it has scarcely been doubled in 150 years ; but in Ireland has been doubled in about forty years. PART IV. N I66 These returns were all vague, some being founded on the estimates of private individuals, others on the hearth-money collectors' returns. In 1805, Newenham estimated the popu- lation at 5,395,456, and an incomplete census of 1812 gives it at 5,937,356. The number of inhabitants is now upwards of eight millions, independent of nearly half a million of Irish now residing in England and Scotland, and of a large yearly emigration, which from 1831 to 1841 has been 403,459. By the general law of population, there is now, however, a less rapid increase than formerly ; the number of females, how- ever, still exceeds the number of males in the proportion of 103+º, and until the sexes are equal, population is not sta- tionary ; nor does the population begin to retrograde until the number of male births exceeds those of females. Population in Ireland has increased much faster than property, and hence the still comparative difference in the wages and comforts of Ireland in relation to Great Britain. The preponderating number of the female population is a sure test of augmentation and of prosperity. The relative numbers of the sexes at three periods were as follow :- Sexes. 1821. 1831, 1841. Males . º . 3,341,926 3,794,880 4,019,576 Females . . . 3,459,901 3,972,521 || 4,155,548 6,801,827 | 7,767,401 || 8,175,124 Proportion of Females to 100 Males . 103.7% 104.4%; 103-#5 In the West Indies, during slavery, the male population and male births preponderated over those of females. But since the abolition of slavery, the female births predominate. In new-peopled countries, such as America, Australia, &c., the female births predominate, and continue so, until population has reached the limit of subsistence. - When population and subsistence are at a par, the numbers of the sexes are equal; and when subsistence is below popula- 167 tion, the male births predominate, and population is diminished to the level of subsistence. We are as yet very imperfectly acquainted with the fixed laws that govern the increase or decrease of population ; but, adopting the generally recognised assertion,-that population in- creases in the ratio of food and comforts, it must be admitted, that as Ireland has doubled its population in less than half a century, there must have been a great augmentation of food, and of material prosperity conducive to the social advancement of a nation. In addition to the Census returns of the resident population of Ireland in 1841, we ought to add, first, the numbers who have emigrated to the Colonies and United States from 1831 to 1841, viz. 403,459, which, with the low addition of 14 per cent. for births, gives 25,012–428,471. Then we must add the recruits who have entered the army during the same period from 1831 to 1841, viz. 39,179. Next, we must look at the number of persons of Irish birth, residing in England, Scotland, and Wales on the 7th of June, 1841, viz. 419,256, and estimating that only one-fourth of this number have been added since the Census of 1831, we have another abstraction (not allowing for children) from Ireland of 104,814. The total of these three sums will be 572,464, which added to the actual resident popu- lation on the 7th June, 1841, gives 8,747,588, which abstracted from the population of 1831, similarly computed, viz. 7,854,317, shows at the very least an increase on ten years of 893,271, or nearly twelve per cent. Now, when we consider how densely peopled Ireland was in 1831, this augmentation is extraordinary. The whole increase in Scotland between 1831 and 1841, was only 10 ºr per cent. ; and, separating the manufacturing counties from the agricultural, (which more nearly resemble Ireland,) the increase in the farming Scotch counties was only 4% per cent. The unity of the physical law of population is manifested in Scotland as in Ireland ; that is, population diminishes when density increases beyond a certain ratio. Thus, in Scotland the increase between the years 1801 and N 2 I68 1811 was fourteen per cent., viz. from 1,599,068 to 1,805,688; between 1811 and 1821, sixteen per cent; between 1821 and 1831 thirteen per cent. ; and between 1831 and 1841 ten per cent. And let it be observed that Scotland has only 2,620,601 inhabitants on an area nearly as large as Ireland. In many of the Scotch countics there has been, during the last ten years, an actual decrease on the population; but no Scotch demagogue thinks of saying they were “slaughtered by the Union with England.” In Argyleshire the decrease was nearly four per cent. ; in Dumfries and Haddington, Nairn and Peebles, one; in Kinross, Perth, and Sutherland, three per cent. from 1831 to 1841. In England we find the same law manifested. The increase between 1801 and 1811 was fourteen and-a-half per cent. ; between 1811 and 1821, seventeen and-a-half; between 1821 and 1831, sia teen, and between 1831 and 1841 fourteen per cent. In Wales, for the same periods, the rates of increase respectively were, 13, 17, 12, and 13 per cent. Probably, no country in the world, (excepting the United States, where there is a vast extent of unoccupied and fertile land,) has increased its population so rapidly as Ireland since the Union. - The Population Teturns for 1821 and 1831, represent a very large increase between those two periods; in some counties as much as one in five ; in others, nearly one to four. The increase was in— Donegal . . 20 per cent. Galway . . 23 per cent. Clare . . . 24 ditto. Mayo . . 24 ditto. It would be tedious to particularise further : suffice it to Say, that the extraordinary increase which has taken place in the population of Ireland since 1800—namely, from four to more than eight millions, (independent of extensive emigrations to Great Britain, the United States, and the Colonies, amount- ing to at least three millions, during forty years,) most amply refutes the allegation contained in the “Address of the Loyal National Repeal Association to the Inhabitants of Countries subject to the British Crown,” dated 13th September, 1848,- wherein it is stated that “One great proof of increasing prosperity 169 às found in the due augmentation of the people: whilst the most decisive evidence of human misery is found in the fact of a retrograding popu- lation. In Ireland that misery is evinced to the eatent of an ANNUAL Tetrocession of more than seven hundred thousand souls.” And at the great Repeal Meeting at Tara-hill, the author of the preceding-named address, and leader of the Repeal agitation, thus reiterated the assertion,-" Thus had seven hundred thousand Irishmen been slaughtered by the Union, and by the tyranny of the “Government which administered it.” An impartial public will now be able to estimate the truth of these gross allegations of the WHOLESALE DESTRUCTION of THE PEOPLE of IRELAND ! Three recent censuses of the Irish population and houses are as follow :- 1821. 1831. 1841. Provinces. Population, H nuisas Bnpnlafinn, Hnnses. Populafiſm, Hollies, Leinster . 1,757,492 278,398 1,961,109 296,369 1,978,731 || 320,051 Ulster 1,998,484 359,801 2,353,928 412,023 2,386,373 || 436,767 Munster . 1,935,612 306,995 || 2,163,694 341,438 2,396,161 377,665 Connaught 1,110,229 197,408 1,360,783 237,919 1,418,859 249,877 Totals 6,801,827 | 1,142,602 || 7,839,514 | 1,287,749 || 8,180,124 1,384,360 The augmentation of houses and population in Ulster province, where there was tranquillity during the period under considera- tion, is a striking feature in the country. Ireland contained, in 1792, only 701,102 houses, and the increase of the number of houses from 1821 to 1841 is upwards of 241,758*, while it is a pleasing circumstance to be enabled to state, that the new buildings are all of the better class of habitations. Even in Dublin, the decay of which has been so loudly lamented, the improvement has been truly remarkable. Since the Union, more than one hundred handsome streets and squares have been added to Dublin; and from 1821 to 1831, the number of new houses built have been 2,374. Building is now extending in every direction in Cork, Limerick, Waterford, Belfast, &c., and the houses are well built, slated, and neat, in architectural style. * The valuation of the houses in Dublin, inside the Circular Road, in 1831, was 704,747. 170 In 1813, Dublin contained but 110,437 inhabitants; it now possesses, within the limits of the Circular Road, a largely aug- mented population, better lodged, better fed, and better paid as wages for labour, than they have ever heretofore been. 2,213 houses were built in Dublin from 1800 to 1834, and the rental on 17,324 amounts to 704,757l, or 40l. per house; and the annual rental added to Dublin since the Union has amounted to 128,520l. - - The state of the provincial towns of Ireland is shown in the following comparative Table of 1821, 1831, and 1841. If the census for 1813 and 1821 had been correct, as well as those previous to the Union, the augmentation of the town population would have been manifest, and would be well deserving of attention. Moreover several of the cities named in the following Table have had their boundaries so entirely altered by the municipal, that the returns for 1841 no longer serve for compa- rison with the preceding years. Limerick city, for instance, has had about 17,000 persons transferred to the Baronies of Clan- william and Pubblebrian. PopULATION and Number of Houses in several Cities and Towns in Ireland, for 1821, 1831, and 1841, exclusive of alterations in the latter year. 1821. 1831. 1841. Nay Towns. - me of Population. B.º: Population. ãº. Population. #: Dublin . 175,585 13,578 203,752 15,952 232,726 21,771 Belfast . 37,277 5,494 53,287 8,700 75,308 12,875 Newry . e 10,013 1,489 13,071 2,257 18,907 3,620 Londonderry . 9,313 1,252 13,251 1,513 15,196 2,419 Cork 100,658 11,180 107,007 12,860 106,055 14,274 Arklow. 3,808 551 4,383 702 6,237 1,052 Downpatrick . 4,123 787 4,784 897 8,812 1,710 Dungannon 3,243 498 3,515 652 3,801 675 Athy . . 1,838 310 4,494 733 4,698 844 T}rogheda . 18,118 3,164 17,365 3,311 17,300 3,654 Tullamore. 5,517 955 6,342 1,111 9,008 1,781 Athlone"Town and Borough 7,543 1,019 11,362 1,853 10,337 1,763 Armagh 8,493 1,189 9,189 1,540 12,112 2,051 Tralee . 7,547 1,039 9,562 1,426 12,534 1,754 Wexford . 8,326 1,261 10,673 1,823 11,252 Dundalk . 9,256 1,493 10,078 1,725 13,204 2,435 Sligo • 9,943 1,480 || 15,152 2,667 15,861 2,819 Galway. 27,775 3,957 33,120 4,675 29,968 Limerick 59,045 7.208 || 66,675 8,257 65,296 Total 506,361 67,904 || 597,072 72,654 (6,618,612 || 75,497 171 Ireland, in proportion to its cultivable surface, is too densely peopled. The number of individuals to each square mile of arable land will be seen by the Statistical Chart prefixed to this work. The comparative density of population in different counties, with the cultivated lands distinguished from the general area, is thus given in the Census Returns for Ireland in 1841 : — ºntº, #. Arable Land.* # .# Total Area. § #à § containing * Square rººm. ‘s 83; S is 83 : Persºn *P*| Acres. . ź # gº Acres. . ź ### LEINSTER. - Carlow . 184,059 287.59 72,172| 25l. 220,740 344.91 209 Dublin 196,063 306:35, 113,778] 37] 220,894 345' 15| 330 Kildare . 356,787 557:48, 104,090 187 4.17,946 653° 04: 159 Kilkenny 470,102 734-54 73,157| 236 508,183 794-04| 218 King's 337,256 526:96| 130,239| 247 493,083| 770-44 169 Longford 191,823| 299-72 108,117| 36] 269,045. 420.38 257 Louth 178,972 279-65. 96,479| 345 200,706 313-6 308 Meath 547,391 855.3 171,726, 201 579,435 905-37| 190 Quodn’t. 349,492 Rºſa 138,873 959 423,737| 662-09| 210 Westmeath . 365,218 570-65. 131,316. 230 452,840 707:56, 185 Wexford 510,702 797-97. 173,267| 217 574,196 897. 18 193 Wicklow 280,393 438'll 117,892. 269 499,837 781. 15] Total 3,961,188 6,189.36||1,531,106| 247 || 4,860,642 7,594.76 202 MUNSTER. - Clare 455,009| 710.95 267,907|| 377 827,266 1,292.6 207 Cork 1,308,882] 2,045-14| 683,919|| 334 1,839,818, 2,874.72 238 Kerry 414,614 647-83| 269,406|| 416 1,185,319. 1,852-06 145 Limerick 526,876 823-24, 274,520 i 333 1678,083| 1,059.5 259 Tipperary $43,887. 1,31857 364,261|| 276 | 1,059,372 1,655.27 220 Waterford . 325,845 T508:35 lagº07|| 393 || 460,028 71879. 207 Total . 3,874,613. 6,054.082,009,220; 332 6,049,886 9,452.94| 212 ULSTER. Antrim . 503,288| 786.39| 256,352| 326 743,269 1,161.36 221 Carrickfergus 12,483 19.5 5,494| 282 16,571 25.89| 212 Armagh . . 265,243 414:44, 211,893| 5]] 327,298 5 11.4 414 Cavan . . . . 375,473 586.68. 234,914| 400 || 476,858; 745.09, 315 Donegal . . 393,191| 614:36 290,022 472 | 1,192,964. 1,864.01. 156 Down 514,180 803:41. 323,807| 403 610,284 953-57| 339 Fermanagh . . . 289,228 451.92 150,795 334 456,985 714.04] 2II Londonderry 318,282 497.31] IQ7,622 397 517,036|| 807-87| 245 Monaghan . 285,885. 446-7 || 191,30}| 428 3.19,453. 499°14' 383 Tyrone 450,286 703:57| 298,498. 424 805,930, 1,259 27] 237 Total 3,407,539| 5,324-28|2,160,698 406 5,466,648 8,541.64; 253 CoNNAUGHT. Galway . 742,805. 1,160-63. 403,746 348 1,564,553| 2,444.61|| 165 Leitrim 249,350 389.61| 155,297 398 392,363 613-07|| 253 Mayo 497,587 777-48, 369,138 : 475 J,363,034 2,129.74 \ 173 Roscommon 440,522 688-32 243,539 #354 606,923 948:32 257 Sligo 290,696 454'21. 166,915 367 || 461,293| 720.77|| 231 Total 2,220,960| 3,470.25||1,338,635 386 || 4,388,166 6,856-51, 195 General Total |13,464,300021,3797.|7,039,659) 335 |20,756,342|32,445.85 217 172 It will be seen from the above, that (excluding towns) the total number of persons to the square mile of arable land is 335. In Connaught, a large portion of which is mountain, lake, river, and bog, the number is 386; and in Ulster, of which a very great portion is also uncultivable, the proportion is so high as 406. It is a great mistake to call Ireland “ the Emerald Isle,” or, as it is sometimes termed, “ the Green Isle.” The really very fertile land is of small extent compared to the entire area; while a very large portion is of inferior land—reclaimed bog or moun- tain sides, from which the stones and rocks have been removed. In the Irish “Guide Book,” published in Dublin, in 1838, the area of the lakes, bogs, and mountains are given for each county : the aggregate in acres for each province is as follows:— Provinces. Lakes. M ...; º, Og. Total. Acres. Acres. Acres. Leinster e * 44,652 1,905,368 1,950,020 Ulster . * @ 183,796 1,469,922 1,653,718 Munster & º 44,652 1,905,368 1,950,020 Connaught . . . 194,477 1,330,022 1,524,499 Totals . 467,577 6,610,680 7,078,257 By this calculation nearly half a million acres (467,577) are covered with lakes, and more than six millions (6,610,680) acres with unimproved mountain and bog According to the table from the population census for 1841, just given, the arable land is, acres, 13,464,300, while the whole of the area of Ireland is 20,765,342, being a difference of 7,301,042– more than one-third of the entire surface of the island It is necessary to travel through Ireland to see that it is not merely the people that are poor, but that the soil itself is in many places exceedingly poor. Take, for instance, the county of Kerry, which has 416 persons to the square mile of arable land. In this county there are about 600,000 acres in lakes, bogs, and rocky mountains, with scarcely a tree or blade of herbage. Half the surface of the county is utterly waste as regards tillage or pasturage. Travel from Tarbert, on the Shannon, 173 through Tralee to Killarney — and the desolateness of the country will be immediately apparent. Then from Killarney to Glengarry, or Glengarriff-with the exception of two or three small isolated spots (and the neat town of Kenmare, where the Marquess of Lansdown has done so much good)– there is scarcely a wilder district in the world. The road is hewn through rocks—one tunnel alone is a quarter of a mile through the mountain ; and the mountains rise around in arid peaks, without tree or herbage. For forty miles of the road, there does not seem sufficient means of support for forty human beings. Not a bird even is to be seen in this dreary and solitary grandeur. - Even the country that is cultivated thence to Cork viá Ban- try, Skibbereen, and Bandon, is merely good by comparison; and it is only on the banks of such rivers as the Lee and other streams that the traveller again has his eye cheered with foliage and herbage. Turn to the wilds of Connemara, where the traveller's eye becomes wearied with mile after mile of utter barrenness—desolate mountains and boggy ravines—incapable of sustaining any description of animated life. Proceeding northward to the county Donegal, we find that the extent of arable land is put down at only 393,191 acres out of a total area of 1,192,964 acres; nearly three-fourths are barren waste, where there are 472 individuals to the square mile of arable land. Mayo stands in the same position,-only one-third of the area is habitable, and there are 475 individuals to each square mile of arable land. In Tyrone there are 424; in Monaghan, 428; in Down, 403; in Cavan, 400 ; and in Armagh 511 mouths to each square mile of cultivable surface. Then the centre of Ireland may be traversed for fifty miles and nothing seen but bogs. Considering that Ireland is almost a purely agricultural country; and, except in the north, dependent solely on the fer- tility of the soil; she is probably more densely peopled than any part of the world. Indeed, excepting the two great tea-dis- tricts of China, Ireland is more densely peopled than that great T74 The Saxon system of tithing used in China, and the extreme vigilance of the police, leaves us than three hundred and fifty no doubt of the truth of this census, which was praised by the million inhabitants—who have immense manufactures, and a 3,II]S Iſl(OI’é hich cont lture. That this assertion may not be subject to doubt, the following census of the provinces of China, taken from an official work empire, w agricu called the Ta-tsing, published by the Imperial Government of vast extent of internal commerce to support them as well as Pekin in 1825, is here given. celebrated Dr. Morrison for its accuracy. OZI“9Zgºț8/883|000‘69 I“I|[8Zºg Ig‘II|ZIO‘998‘Zgg|£zgºgzz“I|938-19A e puu ſeņoſ, $3|$3$86 || 496, | g[ gº | #91|000ff0ī 1019，6% |18800&ºgg |800'ſ gl | · · Įstious %%%%:90 || 8ſ93 | 0f 0g 1841|000:98 #8Ťg8L 1829 gºſſz |008‘991 | - ūna įooożī Ļ3 }}{{{8}}} | gſ43 | 0893 | 38 |000:01 （9，98 |6īz 88zºg ſºgg'ſ 9 | - aoiſòſoași ſ ? }}}}}}}9 || 9Ë6%| 9 % || 89_|000， ºg 1908‘g9I, |0zºº 199íg |696， 201 || • • ubúumĀ §§§§ 1，898|ſºy | ºg 28 | 293|000‘gº 1916 190‘I |Oizºſo0ff| |89zºgg |- ! !subūŞ 99% 99% ſº | §§§, || 39 ºg 1998|000ffz |gz8zg0'I IZIºz80%z |#0Ľg9 | · ·, uguoſ į = %%%%% |88|| I | ſg 08 | [[}|000'88 |gºlº392 |g09'zz0，97 |0.24% ſl | ° §ueņbnoĒ Ī Ē 99，989|09|089%| 8|| 93 ||6||8|000'6% ſytºſ 186 |666 970'ez |0gz‘81 || • • įsâuenē 998:34.48 ||ºſſºſºđ| 99 68 | 8ț¢|000'Lºg |1.86%z6, 128，066ºzz ||676'89 || ~ ~ |Iſaqoqăš 993399;ſſ || 483 || gſ 98 |ſſſ|000ºgg |408‘Lºz‘I Þ9，896'sz |#0Lºgº | :§§§ | §§§§§§§ | 398, | ſ_º} | {{{|000ýzęI 192ſ8gſz 1099'Iī0‘zz |196‘z6 | - ſubūtieſyſ | № 99999033 | 981. I | 03 08 | 049|000'69 |g6gſgºl ſºlººgzºz |0ĢI'68 | ° §uepțaqõī, ſ Ř, 99&%$$$ | 3033 | 3 93||9||3|000:92 ||20ę“， 28 |0ī£'// cºl |08ťgg | · · üļoſoï 078.188.09 | 0.34%|Qt §§|tſº|00，66 |19çºzº logo‘yurgi ļºgººz | . . uolūtā) ’90 uțAoudºñºĒĒĒg 5� q989ĢĒğ | $ $ $ | ） ğ | -30xo*9Țl MI9A9UſoņeIndoa || . -Ē ° | 3 №. 2, | ſº ğ ºsºțuoIoO 9ų puſe ‘sºouſ A0āä ſuºpuºdøOI Qū）, ‘Kreq.reſī, jo 9AȚsnįoxò “Iſaoſ,I vního ſo ºoº‘NOILy"Imaoq 175 In China we see there are 288 to the square mile, of whom not much more than one half are probably dependent on agricul- ture. In Ireland the total population is 8,175,238, which on 32,445 square miles, gives 251 to the square mile ; but, taking the cultivable land (21,037 square miles) as a true test of a pure, agricultural population, we have 389 mouths to the square mile in Ireland - - We shall next examine the area and population of England and Scotland. According to the evidence of Mr. William Cowling before the Select Committee on Emigration, the following was the cultivated and total area of England and Scotland. Irelandº is given from census of 1841. Cultivated Acres. Total Acres. Square Miles. England and Wales . 38,749,000 . . 37,094,400 F 47,960 Scotland . . . 5,265,000 . . 19,738,930 = 30,842 *Ireland . . . 13,464,300 . . 20,765,342 = 32,445 The number of individuals to each square mile according to the census of 1841. No. of Mouths to Square - Population. Miles of whole Area. England and Wales . º . 15,906,741 © & 272 Scotland to * tº . . 2,620,184 tº e 86 Ireland º º tº e . 8,175,238 tº º 251 Now when we consider the vast accumulation of wealth in Great Britain, its eight centuries of progressive civilisation, its manufactures, internal and external trade, and other sources of wealth, the density of the population of Ireland will be the more fully seen. Comparing Ireland in density of population with other coun- tries, we shall yet more clearly trace one of the main causes of the present state of the Sister Island, where population has so far and so rapidly outstripped the augmentation of property. Number of inhabitants to the square mile in the following countries:— Austria . & . 138 Naples and The Two Sardinia. . . . 16 Bavaria . . . 145 Sicilies . . 190 Spain . º . 67 Bohemia . º . 203 | Norway . e . 9 Sweden º . . 17 Denmark . . . 93 || Papal States . . 158 | Switzerland . . 143 France . e . 161 | Portugal º . 97 | Turkey (Europe) . 20 Greece ſº . . 61 | Prussia . . . 138 Do (Asia) . . 20 Hanover o . 128 Russia (in Europe) 26 || Wirtemberg . . 208 United States . . 14 I76 ſ * / 2. i Ireland has a far denser population than any of the above- named countries; and, excepting the United States, she alone has doubled her population since the commencement of the present century. It is very desirable that in every consideration affecting Ireland this most important consideration should be a main object for reflection. We should remember that, even in an agricultural point of view, Ireland is a poor country; that there are nearly one hundred distinct mountains, or mountain ridges, varying in height from 1000 to 3500 feet; that there are more than one hundred lakes or loughs, covering a great extent of surface ; together with rivers and bogs almost innumerable; while the land actually under cultivation does not, acre for acre, produce one-third the agricultural produce of England ; and this not solely owing to imperfect cultivation, or to want of capital and i manure, but owing to the intrinsic poorness of the soil, the exceeding moisture of the climate, and, excepting some rich spots, the stony and boggy nature of the country. A population of 389 to each square mile of cultivable sur- face in a country depending mainly on the productions of an imperfectly tilled and poorly manured soil, would be too much for England, with all her accumulated wealth, trade, and manufactures. We may now resume the examination of other portions of our subject. By the following Table, prepared by the Census Commis- sioners, we are enabled, with some degree of accuracy, to ascer- tain the proportion of persons in Ireland employed in the pro- duction of food, clothing, &c. 177 LEINSTER. MUNSTER. |ULSTER. CoNNAUGHT. IRELAND. ă ă ## šā #5 ##| 3 : 33 33 2.É o 3 ~! p p TE * = OCCUPATIONS. Number. # § Number. §§ Number. ââ Number. # Number. # ää ää §§ ää §§ tº ‘s É's § 5 É's É's Ministering to Food, Producers 425,921. 21.6578,198 24.1| 478,009| 20. |372,013, 26.21,854,141. 22.7 Manufacturers 5,277 .3| 3,502 .2 3,842 .2| 1,374 .1 13,995 .2 Traders . . 12,665 .6| 10,282 .4 9,586 .4| 3,402 2| 35,935 .4 Total 443,863. 22.5591,982 24.7| 491,437| 20.6376,789. 26.5||1,904,071. 23.3 Ministering to Clothing. Cloth Manufacturers 71,258, 3.6 91,850 3.8 381,145|| 16. 124,971, 8.8 669,224 8.2 Leather Workers 18,777 .9| 17,294 .7 15,883 .7. 5,879 .4| 57,833 .7 Clothes-makers 46,595 2.4 39,137| 1.6 62,805 2.6| 19,461| 1.4| 167.998 2. Traders 2,304 .1) 1,321 .1 2,285 .1 359 . 6,269 .1 Total 138,934 7. 149,602 6.2 462,118, 19.4|150,670 10.6, 901,324|11. Ministering to Lodging, &c. Workers in Stone . 10,198 .5| 8,374 .3| 8,528 .4| 3,104 .2| 30,204 .4 ,, . Wood 20,536 1. 19,066 .8] 17,829 .7| 6,655 .5| 64,086 .8 5 5 Metal . 15,410 .8| 12,736 .5| 11,457 .5| 4,594 .3| 44,197 .5 Miscellaneous 10,313| .5 6,239 .3 4,994| .2| 2,240 .2| 23,786. .3 Traders . . . . 941 .l 560. . 467| . 125 2,093 . Total 57,398 2.9| 46,975 1.9 43,275|| 1.8 16,718, 1.2 164,366 2. | Ministering to Health 2,848 .2| 2, 27 .] 1,358 . 638| . 6,871 .l 75 Charity 108) . 89| . 46| . 10| . 253] . 25 Justice 8,426 .4| 4,761| .2| 3,728 .1| 2,626 .2| 19,541 .3 ... Education 5,365. .3| 4,781| .2 4,639| .2| 2,029 .1| 16,814 .2 25 Religion 2,435 . 1 2,060 . I 1,866 . I 831|| . 1 7,192 . I Total 19,182 1. 13,718 .6|| 11,637 .4| 6,134 .4 50,671 .4 Unclassified. - -º-º-º-º-º Ministering to Arts | 1,122 .1| 1,088 . 526 . 759| .1 3,495 ,, Trade 22,769| 1.1. 18,664 .8| 12,527 .5| 5,589 .4 59,549 .7 55 Travelling 6,511 .3| 6,530 .3 3,880 .2| 2,054 .1| 18,975 .3| Miscellaneous 138,806 7. 135,829. 5.7| 88,360. 3.7 46,414 3.3 409,409, 5. Total . . 169,208; 8.5|162,111| 6.8| 105,293| 4.4 54,816 3.9| 491,428 6. General Total . |828,585| 41.9964,388|40.2|1,113,760| 46.6|605,127| 42.6|3,511,860 43. This Table shows that two-thirds of the males, and more than one-third of the whole population of Ireland above the age of 15, are engaged in producing, preparing, or selling food; and if we reflect how sensitively such a popu- 178 lation must feel (as producers), any diminution in the price of their chief article of production, we shall see a great cause of the distress that is from time to time suffered. The average price of Wheat and Oats in Ireland, per barrel and per bushel, calculated upon the Return advertised in the Dublin Gazette, for the years ending 1st day of May, 1841, 1842, and 1843, WàS— W HEAT, W HEAT, OATs, OATs, ! per barrel. per bushel. | per barrel. per bushel. S. d. S. d. S. d. S. d. 1841 32 5 8 14 || 13 11 3 5 Years { 1842 30 8 7 8 || 12 0 3 0 1843 27 0 6 9 10 7 2 7 THos. ATKINS, 29th June, 1843. Clerk of Corn Table, City-Dublin. This great reduction in two years of the price of the staples of Irish produce, must undoubtedly have affected the country. The number of small farmers, or cottier system of husbandry, is another point not to be overlooked in considering the state of Ireland, although foreign to the objects of this work; to discern the political economy branch of this question, it may not be unadvisable to give the following Table, from the census of 1841, showing the number of farmers, labourers, and servants in 1831 and 1841, although its minute accuracy is questionable. The ToTAL PopULATION of IRELAND, according to the Census of 1841; accompanied by an ABSTRACT of the Total Number of Persons in Ireland ascertained, by the Commissioners of Public Instruction, in 1834, to belong to each Religious Per- suasion at the time of their Inquiry. Austract of the total. Number or reasons in Ireland TOTAL Ascertained by the Commissioners of Public Instruction to belong to each POPULATION Religious Persuasion, of IRELAND According to the Members of Roman * Other Total Established - Presbyterians. | Protestant of Census of 1841. Church. Catholics. Dissenters. Abstract. 8,175,238 852,064 6,427,712 || 642,356. 21,808 || 7,943,940 * { } { }} 93% ºf 6/I ‘gioJuloo put unſeawa Iglaue:3 ui Sso15oid sqi Aous IIIA ‘Kununoo tº Jo Squg|Iqbūuſ out, Jo SSBIo Ieſu IgoA au, on “SqugAires se pokoiduo uoſygindod tº Jo uoſ).Iodoid ou.I. tºp 5uIAOIIoy ou.I. FARMERS, AGRICULTURAL LABOURERS, and SERVANTS in Ireland, in 1831 and 1841. 1831.1841.P، roportion rº¿Ë "::...',on º©er Van DS ģ§ 8§§ağ5$reſ ·ğreſ;re3„’E¿ PROVINCES,Ëğă | ŘÍ: , | }， ）;§.ğTË | 5 § 3|º.£; ſåtň3§ § .lation. #-#5 #3£ 5 g5 | § € 3！3$ $& g &# $º și?gº ſºö on º cae65 №3G g H | $3 o $ of q2 c.5 |-4 Name of the § §§ 5 : #. #. s ###. § District P = | s= | # ºf 3 # O § 3.5 É Asylum. O ... § 'E 3. .# 3. # B 5 §§ 9.8 : K-4 * ~ * Public Works and Employment of 1,535,336 1,536,824 3,072,160 the Poor . . . . . . . Total 4,398,638 || 4,239,693 8,638,331 From 1819 to 1830, the Bounties and other expenses of the Irish Fisheries establishment amounted to 259,358/. The grants of money made by the Irish and by the Imperial Parliaments are also in favour of the liberality and munificence of the latter :— . The average grants by the Irish Parliament, for six years previous to the Union, were 79,314!. Ditto by the Imperial Parliament for four years previous to 1817, 369,8647. Independent of heavy charges for the administration of Justice, for Police, Coast Guard Service, and other public pur- poses, and irrespective of the cost of various Civil establishments of the Army in Ireland, and of a charge for Naval defence, of Colonial establishment, or Diplomacy, the following statement shows the money voted by the Imperial Parliament, during the three years ending 1843, for the undermentioned purposes in Ireland:— . The Parliamentary grants for Public Offices, lateLinen Board, Public Education in Ireland, about . tº e º & e- 40,000 Wel’e . . . . . . £150,000 | Late Treasury and Irish An- Roman Catholic College, Ire- nuity Office, ditto 10,000 land . . . . . . . . . 25,774 || Various Dublin Hospitals . . 101,594 Belfast Academical Society . , 5,850 | Non-conforming and other Mi- Royal Dublin Society . . . . 16,000 nisters . . . . . . . 105,867 Royal Irish and Hibernian Concordatum Fund and other Academies . . . . . 1,800 Allowances . . . . , 22,476 Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 60,000 || Townland Survey of Ireland . 17,000 Household of ditto . 19,762 | Shannon Navigation . 19,330 Secretary’s and Privy Council Poor Law Commission . . . 60,000 Office . . . . . . . . . . . . 67,424 || Stationery, Printing, and Bind- Commissioners of Public Works 7,200 ing . . . . . . . . . 30,000 Printing Proclamations 17,282 | Disembodied Militia, 346 offi- Public Buildings, &c. . . 59,919 cers and 326 staff . . 100,000 Kingstown Harbour . . . 30,000 *=s===s=º-º £967,278 241 In order that it may be fully seen that the revenue raised in Ireland is inadequate to the direct as well as to the indirect expenditure which is incurred by the Imperial Treasury for the expenses of the Crown, of the Navy, of the head de- partments of the State, of the Colonies, the Diplomatic Service, Packets and Post Office, and various other large items, it may be sufficient to observe that the expenditure in Ireland, for the year ending January 5th, 1842, was, for the Army, 946,000l. ; the Ordnance, 110,420/.; the Miscellaneous 331,738/. ; payment for interest and management of the National Debt, 1,186,9837. ; and 575,9811. other permanent charges on the Consolidated Fund ;—total, 3,151,123ſ., out of a revenue of only 4,100,000l. If Ireland were required to pay taxes in proportion to Scotland, or to area and population, it would be necessary to treble her taxation, in order to contribute rateably to the Imperial expenditure. -- - - Without dwelling further on this branch of the subject, it may be assumed that the whole taxation of Ireland does not afford a sufficient sum to pay a fair quota of the expenses incurred on behalf of Ireland by the Imperial Treasury. - The assertions demonstrated by facts in this Chapter to be true are —first, that Ireland is now one of the least taxed countries in Europe; second, that the amount of taxes levied per head in Ireland is now only one-half the amount levied at the period of the Union; third, that the taxes levied in Ireland are only one-fifth per head the amount levied in England, and one- third the amount levied in Scotland; fourth, that in thirty-three years the difference of taxation between Great Britain and Ireland is more than three hundred million sterling in favour of Ireland; and fifth, that there has been no violation of the Act of Union. CHAPTER X. State of Banking in Ireland;—Defects of the System ;—History of Each Public Bank;-Conduct of the Bank of Ireland;—History of Loan Funds. THE Banking Establishments of a country are intimately identified with its prosperity or adversity ; and affect materially its public and private finances. A brief exposition of the state of Banking in Ireland, before and after the Union, may here be introduced, in illustration of one of the great evils under which Ireland now labours; and which it is of vital consequence to the country should be early and effectively rectified. The Bank of Ireland was brought into operation in 1783, with a capital of 600,000l. Irish currency, under a complete monopoly charter from the Irish Parliament. From 1784 to 1799, the dividend paid was 5 to 6 per cent. In 1800, the dividend on 1,500,000l. capital was 7 per cent. In 1809, capital 2,500,000l., and dividend, up to 1814, was 7% per cent. In 1821, a bonus of 500,000l. was added to the original capital; and on the 3,000,000l. capital, 10 per cent. was paid to 1829; and thence, to 1835, 9 per cent. dividend was paid. From 1802 to 1822, one million one hundred thousand pounds sterling was added from profits to the capital of the Bank, independent of annual dividends of 7 to 10 per cent. This statement shows that banking as well as commer- cial profits increased from the time of the Union. Ireland has, however, materially suffered from want of a sound and expansive banking system. In England, many private bankers have failed since 1800, and their place is as yet imper- fectly supplied by public banks. In 1800 (March 25) the num- ber of bankers issuing notes in Ireland was II; in January, 1801, No. 23; in 1802, No. 29; in 1803, No. 30; in 1804, No. 40. 243 The number of notes paying duty, in the like period, was— Years. lºd. 3d. - 4d. 1800 * . 148,112 ę & 198,361 . . 104,248 180] tº º, 245,673 ſº tº 147,211 tº gº 65,201 1802 tº dº 941,894 * * 196,108 & e 95,600 1803 & & 823,673 tº º 204,940 ge e 67,594 1804 . . 1,110,217 tº tº 256,801 tº e 90,265 This extensive issue of paper money, consequent on the re- striction of cash payments, led, finally, to the most disastrous failures among the private bankers, to whom it is alleged no aid whatever was afforded by the Bank of Ireland; that establish- ment, on the contrary—under the monopoly of its charter, it is further alleged—made every effort to prevent the formation of any other public bank, to fill the place, as in England, of the defunct private banks. - In 1820, no less than eleven banks, some of them of consider- able influence and extensive credit, broke in rapid succession ; and, with the exception of two firms in Mallow and Wexford, there was not, excepting those in Dublin, Cork, and Belfast, a solvent bank remaining. - Mr. George Lewis Smyth, in his work on “Banking in Ireland,”* makes the following statement on this subject, and which will fully explain the reason why Ireland has so long been deprived of an efficient banking system and monetary circulation, which is as essential to the body politic as a due circulation of blood is to the body corporate. “In this extremity, and not before, the Government of Lord Liverpool found it necessary to interpose, and place some check upon the career of the Bank of Ireland, by opening out facilities for conducting a better description of Banking business than had hitherto been practised,—it was determined to try the experiment of Joint Stock Banks in Ireland, as well as in England ; and the Bank of Ireland, upon being allowed to add half a million to its capital, parted with so much of its monopoly as enabled Banking Companies, with more than six partners, to carry on the business of Banking at a distance of fifty Irish miles from Dublin. This was effected by the 1st and 2d Geo. IV. c. 72. The reluctance with which this agree- ment was entered into, on the part of the Bank, may be inferred from some circum- stances which immediately ensued. Early doubts were raised, and legal opinions taken, upon the construction of the Act of Parliament, which marred its practical utility. From what quarter, at whose instigation, and at whose cost these doubts were raised, canvassed, and enforced, it is hardly necessary to indicate. In the end it was successfully maintained, that every partner in an Irish Joint Stock Bank * Published by Hooper, Pall Mall, London, 1840. 244 ought to be a resident in Ireland; and thus the Irish were suddenly cut off from the co-operation of the English capitalists, without whose assistance they were them- selves wholly to encounter the competition of the Bank of Ireland. So far, the Bank broke faith with Parliament and the public : it had obtained a certain boon, half a million of money, as the price of a fixed concession, and having secured its own share of the terms, it turned boldly round to pick holes in the Act of Parlia- ment, by which the agreement was regulated, and sought to prevent the improve- ment which the national interests so urgently demanded. - “It took four years to cffcct a redrcss of this artful picce of injustice. Tight, however, ultimately prevailed, and the Provincial Bank of Ireland was established by a Proprietary of the highest respectability and ample wealth; as might have been foreseen, the difficulties offered to the success of the Provincial Bank by the Directors of the Bank of Ireland, were numerous and severe. Several heavy and keenly-timed runs upon the Provincial took place, of which, as no accurate or authentic account has been given, we are not, perhaps, formally warranted in laying to the charge of the Bank of Ireland. “The Provincial Bank of Ireland, as already stated, was founded in 1824, and before 1826 the Bank of Ireland was at open war with it. The first step taken in the very unbecoming course of opposition upon which the Bank of Ireland now entered, was to set up Branch Banks of its own, in the towns in which the Pro- vincial Bank proposed to carry on business; the next was, to resist, with all its most active weight and energetic influence, the 6th of Geo. IV. c. 42, which was about to pass for the sole purpose of simplifying and explaining the preceding Act of Parliament upon the same subject. “This was a course not ungracious only, but most vexatiously inconsistent. From the year 1783 to the year 1824, the terms of the monopoly enjoyed by the Bank of Ireland forbad the establishment of a second Joint Stock Bank in Ireland; the Bank of Ireland had not Dublin alone, with its circle of fifty miles, exclusively to itself, but it reigned paramount over the whole island also. Nevertheless, during that long series of years, it never once extended itself into the Provinces—it set up not a single Branch Bank; it left the country entirely dependent upon the circula- tion of Private Banks ; the great majority of those concerns were well known to possess no adequate means ; the failures that ultimately took place amongst them, entailed on the public losses estimated at the amount of twenty millions sterling ; and yet, during this long interval, in the presence of these heavy sufferings, the Bank of Ireland confined its operations to Dublin. But the moment the urgency of the circumstances invited others into the field—as soon as London capitalists published a prospectus, in which they promised to afford certain towns in the country parts of Ireland that accommodation which the Bank of Ireland had so long denied them, the Bank at once set up a determined opposition in those very towns, and resorted to every means within its reach to embarrass and defeat the new adventurer. It thus not only refused to do the good required, when it alone had the power, but it laboured to deter others from rendering it, even when the Legislature had specifically interfered for the purpose. With a view of driving the young rival out of the field, it was resolved not to recognise it in any transaction, not to exchange notes with it, to insist upon cash payments for its notes at the branches, and to refuse to pay gold in the very same places for its own. Perhaps the worst feature in this vexatious act, is to be found in the fact that the Bank of Ireland had, just before, been in the habit of paying gold for its paper throughout the country, and that it now inconvenienced the public by denying gold for its 245 issues everywhere but in Dublin, for the sole purpose of damaging the business of the Provincial Bank. The genuine bitterness of civil strife and mercenary collision could not have been more inveterately displayed than it was in all these wild YY1CaSUII'êS. • - “The next litigation got up by the Bank of Ireland with the Provincial, was a qui tam action for paying (not issuing) notes in Dublin. After this suit had been decided against them in the Irish Courts, they brought it to the House of Lords as an appeal; and had not Messrs. Spring Rice and Dawson, together with other official men, been on the direction of the Provincial Bank, it is hard to say what the result might have been, or to what extremities the monopolists might have pro- ceeded. Fortunately for the country, the interposition of the gentlemen just named was successful; the suit was compromised, and an Act passed expressly to allow the Joint Stock Banks an agency in Dublin, for the purpose of paying there, and within fifty miles, notes issued in the country. The Act (6 Geo. IV. c. 42), how- ever, hardly comes up to the intention of the Legislature. It is so vaguely worded, and so imperfectly drawn, that litigious or dishonest parties, residing within fifty miles of Dublin, who may have obtained discount accommodation from the branch of a Joint Stock Bank fifty miles beyond Dublin, may question the legal right of such Joint Stock Bank to recover from them a just debt, because the party accom- modated with the discount resided witHIN the Bank of Ireland monopoly. “It is impossible for any serious mind to suppose, that a country, like Ireland, could have continued to sustain the shocks produced by such a series of Bank failures as those which took place from the establishment of the Bank of Ireland to the introduction of the Joint Stock Banking System, which may be truly said to have saved the country. During the fifty years it has held the fortunes of the island in its grasp, it has vivified no branch of the national industry, it has pro- moted no manufactures, it has created no new trade, and saved no old one from decay. It has evidently had but one rule of action—to make money—to run no risks—to let others lose, as often and deeply as might be—but never to neglect the profit which its monopoly insured, of gaining by whatever business happened to be carried on. All argument, we think, upon this head is superseded by the one strong fact—that the sum total of its bad debts, since the day of its creation, amounts to only £338,500. It had upwards of a million of disposable surplus capital in 1836; and it is in evidence, before a Committee of the House of Com- mons, that it would not lend the moderate sum of 20,000l. to the Agricultural Bank, though bills to the amount of 60,000l., and the personal guarantee of the Directors, were offered as a security for the loan ; and every man of sense was struck with alarm, at the apparently inevitable consequences of a general stoppage upon the part of all the Joint Stock Banks in Ireland.” Another step taken by the Bank of Ireland to preserve a monopoly of the paper circulation was to refuse Bank of England notes, which were actually at a discount, the Bank of Ireland charging half per cent. On them, even to bankers. Consequent upon the failure of the Private Banks, in 1820, some of whom stopped payment for very large sums (Colclough's, in the small town of New Ross, with about 4,000 inhabitants, for 200,000l., PART V. S 246 Cottar & Kellar, of Cork, for 420,000l. ; Williams & Finn, of Dublin, for 300,000l., “without ever having been worth a shil- ling);”* Messrs. Alexander & Co. stopped in Dublin, with issues and liabilities to the extent of half a million. In June, 1813, Messrs. Stephen & James Roche, bankers in Cork, owed to the public 376,166l. Irish currency. Now, when we consider the rapid growth of so many unsound banks, their failure need not surprise. Mr. G. L. Smyth says:-- “Previously to the year 1783, the standard grievances with all Irish writers on Political Economy, were two in number, that there were none but private Bankers in Ireland, who issued notes without restraint or responsibility, and that the dis- parity of exchanges with England involved ruinous losses to Irish commerce. To these causes, by common consent, were the great runs upon the Banks, and the failures of 1720, 1745, 1760, and 1770, ascribed. We have, therefore, during the first stage, the fixed producing causes, and the sum of the consequent evils, in four panics, during a term of sixty-three years, and the failure of some seven or eight Banks. In the second stage, comprising a term of forty years, we have the same complaints of excessive paper money, and still more adverse exchanges; and a series of panics which left only four Banks out of fifty, not bankrupt, or averse from business. Instead of mitigating, therefore, the monopoly of the Bank of Ireland increased and aggravated the mercantile convulsions of the country. Strange and improbable as the principal incidents in the history of Banking in Ireland must appear, antecedent to the chartering of the national establishment in 1783, they are infinitely surpassed in wildness and inconsistency by the chance-medley produced by subsequent events. Not only before the Bank was chartered, but even before the suspension of cash payments, the business of Banking in Ireland was principally confined to Dublin. There were not, in 1797, more than half-a-dozen Banksi in the south of Ireland, and none in the north or west ; but after that year almost every place had its Bank, and every conceivable mode and device for circulating money was resorted to. For instance, Wexford, a small town, which, even in 1821, had a population of only 8,326 inhabitants, and a proportionately limited trade, had, between the years 1800 and 1804, no less than seven Banks. The fate of such commercial establishments will be conjectured at once :—five failed rather quickly, and one gave up business. Two new ones immediately started, to fill the vacuum thus created, which soon after shared the fate of their predecessors. Of the whole number, only one, that of the Messrs. Redmond, conducted business with honour and profit. It was the earliest of the Wexford Banks, and about the last private Bank that existed in Ireland. New Ross, again, a smaller town than Wexford, and more than twenty miles from it, had four Banks, only one of which was standing in 1812, and even that * Sir J. Newport's Evidence before the Lords' Committee, in 1826. + Namely, three in Dublin, three in Cork, one in Clonmel, one in Limerick, and one in Waterford.—Lords’ Committee on Circulation, &c. 1826, Evidence of J. Roche, Esq., p. 52. - 247 afterwards gave way. Similar instances, in abundance, are to be cited in various other places, but the repetition would be tiresome. The wild growth of these mushroom establishments has been already given in detail from the Commons’ Report of 1804, which shows that eleven Banks, in 1800, had become twenty-three in 1801; twenty-nine, in 1802; thirty, in 1803; and fifty, in 1804. In 1812, Mr. Wakefield published his Political Survey of Ireland, and stated that, of the fifty Banks in 1804, there then remained only nineteen extant. One adverse circumstance or other had swept away the rest. Notwithstanding this sharp warning, new spe- culators had rushed into the field with as little prudence as fear, so that, notwith- standing the failure of thirty-one out of fifty Banks, between 1804 and 1812, only six years, there were still thirty-three Banks open in 1812. “These adventurers resorted to expedients of all kinds for the purpose of forcing a trade. They supplied small traders with their notes, and used to pay a premium to get them into circulation. The Bankers themselves were in the habit of attending markets and fairs like so many hucksters, each putting off his own commodity as best he might. Their favourite issue was not promissory notes, but post bills, at ten days' sight, which, being generally unaccepted, were paid, if at all, at convenience. But the mischief did not rest with the multitude of Bankers. Besides the fifty private firms already spoken of, there were as many as 295 petty dealers and chap- men, grocers, spirit-dealers, apothecaries, and shopkeepers of all sorts, inundating the country with a species of I. O. U., called silver money, which was a direct viola- tion of the law, and ranged, in nominal amount, from threepence-halfpenny to ten shillings. This fraudulent paper was principally spread over the south and south- west of Ireland, which further suffered under an enormous distribution of forged notes, the unlettered population being, in that respect, easily imposed upon. In 1810 the circulation of the Bank of Ireland rose to more than 3,000,000l., and there was a panic ; in 1820 it exceeded 5,000,000l., and there was another panic. Then began an accumulative series of those rapid failures which seem to be known to no other country, and which spread indescribable calamity and consternation over the whole surface of the island. In the month of June the Banking firm of Roche and Co., of Cork, failed; and, on the same morning, that of Leslie and Co. suspended payment in the same city. By the next Saturday, Messrs. Maunsell, of Limerick, had closed their doors. These embarrassments were quickly followed by the stop- page of Messrs. Riall, at Clonmel ; Sause, at Carrick-on-Suir ; Newport, at Waterford ; Loughnan, at Kilkenny ; Alexander, at Dublin; until, within a single month, eleven Banks had broken, and in the whole south of Ireland, there remained open only two houses—Messrs. Delacour, at Mallow, and Redmond, at Wexford.” Let us now examine what was the state of the Bank of Ireland during these failures. In 1797, the circulation of the Bank of Ireland was 621,917. In 1808, 2,827,000l. In 1809, 3,068,100). In 1810, 3,157,300l. In 1813, 4,212,600l. In 1821, 5,182,600l. In 1825, 6,309,300l. During the whole of these periods numerous private banks were in operation, all large issuers of their own notes. Mark now the contrast. In 1843, the whole circulation of the Bank of Ireland, with branch S 2 248 banks of its own in every large town, is only 3,100,000l. ; and this, added to the circulation of the few existing joint stock public (there being only two private banks remaining in Ireland) banks, namely 1,900,000l., gives at present only 5,000,000l. for the whole kingdom - - Mr. G. L. Smyth, in a valuable exposition of the question on the last proposition for renewing the Bank of Ireland charter; and, after an analysis of the evidence before Parliament on the subject, thus sums up his remarks; and in so doing, aids me in demonstrating that one of the chief grievances of Ireland is her banking system; and that to its imperfections and errors we may ascribe why Ireland has not yet derived the full benefits of her legis- lative and commercial Union with England. “Such, in its main outlines, is the history of the Bank of Ireland. However viewed, and whenever examined, its character, we apprehend, will be found one and the same, and its conduct, under every circumstance, viciously consistent in misdeeds. The law of the land, well-meaning, we admit, but certainly injudicious and mistaken, has authorised it to erect itself into a condition of paramount ascen- dancy, equally odious and opulent ; and a sheer Sordid, un-Irish prudence has infelicitously distinguished all its transactions. In the midst of general impoverish- ment, public debility, and national depression, we find it enriched, strengthened, and exalted ; often as discontent and insubordination have agitated and vexed the island, the Bank has always stood hale and pursy ; the rebellion of 1798; the insurrection of 1800 ; the panics of 1810, 1820, 1825, and 1836 ; the famines, too numerous to be recounted, and too horrid to be described, have encountered it, swept by it, and left it stronger in resources, grosser in wealth, and more formidable in power than they found it. Crisis after crisis, convulsion upon convulsion, came upon the devoted country, but the Bank has never once been moved,—never swerved in the slightest degree from its selfish centre. Indifferent alike to the public prosperity or distress, and equally insensible to pity or generosity, it never gave nor lent its still accumulating funds to diminish the wrongs and losses it had itself to a great extent produced, but coolly turned over the victims of its base monopoly to Government and the empire, for that relief to which all feeling minds admitted they had irresistible claims. Its story is nothing but a gross sum of addition, and its charter is the abstract and concentration of all our Irish riches, sucking in the nutritive qualities of the soil, and the productive energies of the people, and leaving all around exhaustion and barrenness. It has been the vam- pire of the national prosperity, and, had it not been seized and checked in 1825 by its authors, the Government, it would have absorbed and dried up the last resources of the country. +. We shall now examine the condition of each Public Bank. The Reports of the House of Commons contain various inte- resting details of the present state of banking in Ireland:— 249 The first joint-stock banking company established in Ireland, after the passing of the 6 Geo. IV. c. 42, was in Belfast, where the Northern Banking Company, founded upon a private bank of the same name, commenced business January 1, 1825. Its establishment, in 1836, stood thus:–it had ten branches, varying in distance from six to sixty miles from the central office. Its nominal capital was 500,000l., in 5,000 shares of 100l. each ; all of which had been subscribed for, though only 4,889 had been allotted. The paid-up capital was 122,275l., produced by three calls, amounting to 271. 1s. 8d. Irish, or 25l. British. No shares had been forfeited. There had been five per cent. dividend paid yearly until 1835, when six per cent. was divided ; seven per cent. in 1836, and eight per cent. in 1837; besides a bonus of 21. 19s. 1; d. per share, in September, 1827; and another, of two pounds a share, in September, 1832. The deed of settlement, dated 1st of August, 1824, had been signed by 264 persons. Its promissory notes are made payable only where issued ; but, in point of fact, are paid at the head bank, and all its branches. No post bills are issued. Interest is allowed on accounts current, at the rate of two and a half per cent. ; on deposits remaining three months, and not six, two and a half per cent. ; and if they remain six months, or upwards, three per cent. These rates commenced in August, 1835; prior to which no interest had been allowed on accounts current, and only two and a half per cent. on deposits. The dividends of this bank are paid half-yearly, in March and September.* - The published reports and stated accounts of this company, from 1836 to the present date, exhibit a healthy condition of still growing strength and prosperity, notwithstanding the intervening difficulties under which the commercial world in general has laboured. At the end of 1836, the dividend was seven per cent., and the undivided profits 49,590/. 0s. 3d. In 1837, the dividend was fixed at the increased rate of eight per cent. ; and there was a net surplus on the year of 4,176!. 5s. 7d., in addition to the amount of undivided profits just stated. In 1838, the dividend rose to nine per cent., and the surplus on the year’s trade was 1,9297. 9s. 6d. In September, 1839, the surplus remaining, after the usual deductions, having amounted to 53,3267. 11s. 2d., the dividend was increased to ten per cent., and, at the same time, a bonus of five pounds per share was declared, being twenty per cent. on the paid-up capital. This left the balance of undivided profits, 28,871. lls. 2d., and the business of the company still increasing. The Hibernian Joint Stock Loan and Banking Company ranks, in point of semi- ority, as the second establishment of its class in Ireland, having begun business in June, 1825, under a special Act of Parliament. It has no branches ; its capital is 1,000,000l., in 10,000 shares, of 100l. each ; the whole of which were issued : 250,000l. have been paid up, in calls of 15!, per share, 15th July, 1824 ; 10!. per share, 30th August, 1824; and, December 27, 1825, eight and one-third on the above, to assimilate the currency. No shares have been forfeited, and the dividend had been four per cent. per annum, without variation, up to 1836. The deed of settlement, dated 11th April, 1825, bore 1,063 signatures, being all the original proprietors : a copy of the deed was furnished to the Committee of the House of Commons. The accounts are Submitted to a board of management, who appoint a committee, of their own body, to compare them with the books, and audit and examine them. They are presented to and received by the proprietary, vouched by the signatures of a sub-committee. It issues no promissory notes, or bank post * Commons' Report, 1837, Appendix I. pp. 55, 56. 250 bills, allows no interest on balances, but pays two and a half per cent. On deposits remaining three months.” At the last half-yearly meeting, December 2nd, 1839, a satisfactory report pro- posed to raise the dividend, for the first time, from four to five per cent. out of clear profits, and exhibited the condition of the Company as follows:– ABSTRACT of the Affairs to 1st November, 1839, pursuant to the Deed of Settlement. Assets of the Company . . . . . . . . . . . f*$5,774 15 0 Due to thc Public . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145,813 12 4 #289,061 2 8 Capital of the Company £1,000,000; 25 per cent, paid . #250,000 0 0 Balance to Credit of Profit and Loss, in favour of the Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #39,961 2 8 The Provincial Bank of Ireland began to form its establishment at the end of 1824, and opened its first branch at Cork, in September, 1825. In 1836 it had thirty-three branches, but no central office in Ireland, the seat of its management being in London. Its nominal capital is 2,000,000l., in 20,000 shares, of 100l. each, the whole of which have been issued. 25l. have been paid up on each. The first dividend, declared in Midsummer, 1826, was four per cent., which con- tinued at the same rate until Midsummer, 1831, when it was raised to five per cent. ; in 1833, to six ; in 1834, to seven ; and, in 1835, to eight per cent. The deed of settlement bears date 1st August, 1825, and was signed by 692 shareholders. The accounts are made up annually, audited, and examined by the Directors, who also prepare the reports from such accounts for publication. These documents are gene- rally well written, and full of information respecting the monetary and Banking affairs of Ireland. It has no post bills, and its promissory notes are all payable at the respective places of issue. The interest on balances or deposits varies according to agreement, from one to two-and-a-half per cent.f The general sense entertained of the want of such a Bank; the large sum of ready money, 300,000l., which was increased to half a million in the course of two years, with which the Directors presented themselves to the Irish public; the rank and reputation of the members of the Board, which included several first-rate London Bankers, some members of the Administration of the day,+ and members of Parlia- ment, distinguished for their abilities and knowledge of Irish affairs; the politic exhibition of eminent men of different political opinions, co-operating cordially for commercial purposes, all these rare and happy coincidences gave a high value to the Provincial Bank in the eyes of the agricultural and trading interests of Ireland, and drew a proportionate extent of excellent business, which the consistent manner in which its operations have been conducted has preserved to the present day. In 1827, a very favourable privilege was conceded to it by Government, the revenue of the Irish Excise, Stamps, and Post Office, being ordered to be paid into its branches, * Commons’ Report, 1837, Appendix I. p. 55. + Report, 1837, Appendix I. p. 83. † The change of Ministry, in 1830, instead of diminishing, increased the reputation of the Provincial Bank in this respect, for in 1836 it ranked amongst its Directors two Cabinet Ministers—the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the President of the Board of Trade. 251 and that beyond the circle of fifty miles round Dublin, reserved to the Bank of Ireland. In return for this concession, the Directors undertook to keep at their branches, at all times, a specific proportion of gold, according to their circulation : confidential returns of this fund being made, from week to week, to the Chancellor of the Exchequer for the time being. The Bank has a head agency in Dublin, and a deputation of Directors is in the habit of visiting the branches throughout the country occasionally. The Secretary generally goes through them once a-year. The Directors are allowed 5,000l. a-year under the deed of settlement, but they have never drawn more than 4,000l. a-year, and they observe an arrangement by which no single Director can receive more than 250l. in one year. The Bank has distinguished itself by the spirit and effect with which it has resisted repeated runs upon its branches, particularly in the years 1828, 1830 (twice), 1831, 1833, and 1836. The severest of these was that in 1828, when the Directors sent no less a sum than 500,000l. to Ireland in gold. They give cash credits on the Scotch system, and have discounted bills for sums so small as ten pounds, and five pounds ; though the practice is one they would not encourage.* In 1836, 4,000 shares, of ten pounds each, were distributed amongst the Proprietors, out of the reserved profits; and, at the same time, the Directors took power of issuing 16,000 shares, of ten pounds, in the event of their seeing fit to increase the capital of the Company. The rate at which the business and profits of this Com- pany have prospered, may be inferred from the gradual increase of the amount of undivided profits, which, according to the annual reports, stood, in 1828, at 16,900l. ; in 1829, at 19,500l. ; in 1833, at 50, 1987. ; and, in 1836, at 124,855l. The Report, dated May 16, 1839, gave the following state of accounts :— Paid-up Capital, 540,000l., Dividend eight per cent., Branches thirty-six. Rest, or undivided Profits, March 31, 1838 . . . . #92,873 12 6 Less Dividends, at Midsummer and Christmas, 1838 43,200 0 0 49,673 12 6 Add Net Profits for year ending March, 1839, all ex- penses, and bad and doubtful debts deducted . . 56,773 18 9 Rest, or undivided Profits, March 30, 1839 . . . elog,447 II 3 This report was accompanied by an announcement that the Directors found them- selves fully able to keep up the dividend of eight per cent., and pay besides, in July following, a bonus, or extra dividend, of the like amount. - The Belfast Banking Company commenced business 1st August, 1827; and in 1837, had twenty branches, situate from seven to ninety-six miles distant from the head-office. Its capital is 500,000l., in 5,000 shares, of 100l. each, all of which have been issued: 125,000l. were paid up, in three calls, making twenty-five pounds per share paid up. No shares had been forfeited. Besides a bonus of 20,000l., there had been the following dividends :— - 5 per cent. per annum, from 1st August, 1827, till 1st February, 1835. 1st February, 1835, till 1st February, 1836. 7 , 3 y ,, 1st February, 1836, till 1st February, 1837. The deed of settlement was dated 2nd July, 1827, and signed by 337 persons. It was printed and published immediately after being perfected, in 1827. The notes are payable at the place of issue, but are freely paid, in gold, at the branches, head- 6 95 7 ? 5 y * Joint Stock Banks Report, 1837, p. 290. 252 office, and at Dublin. No post bills are issued ; two and a half and three per cent interest is allowed on deposits, and two and three per cent. on balances. The National Bank of Ireland commenced at Carrick-on-Suir, January 28, 1835, and, in 1836, had fourteen branches, twenty sub-branches, and eight agencies. Its capital is 1,000,000l. English, and 818,900l. Irish, in 20,000 English shares, of fifty pounds ; and 81,890 Irish, of ten pounds. Of the English shares 19,999 were issued, and of the Irish 66,506; the English capital paid up amounts to 245,575l. 10s., and Irish, to 166,262/. The calls were, English, deposit five pounds, and two calls, of five pounds and 21. 10s.-45,585l. 10s. ; the Irish, fifty shillings a share, 166,2627. Fifty English shares had been forfeited, and the dividend had been uniformly five per cent., except at Cork, where it reached six per cent. in 1836. The English deed, dated 6th January, 1835, signed by 277 persons, has neither been printed nor published. The accounts are examined and agreed to by the Directors, before the annual meetings. Among the branches there were held :— 330 by Waterford, in its own right . e g e . 3825 0 0 15 by Carrick-on-Suir, as security º g * e e 37 10 0 70 by Limerick, ditto . e e º . . 175 0 0 8 by Sligo, ditto . . . . . . 20 0 0 350 by Wexford, ditto & º e - . 875 0 0 31107 10 0 The notes are only made payable where issued; no post bills are issued : the interest on deposits varies from two to three per cent., and on current accounts, from one to two per cent. ; two and a half was the maximum rate, until November, 1836, after which it rose to three per cent.* The account of the National Bank of Ireland, dated May 22, 1839, gave the fol- lowing results:— a Undivided Profits, December 31, 1837 . º * © . ºf 405 18 0 Net Profit for the year ending December, 1838. º . . 22,796 11 £23,202 9 6 Deduct half year's dividend at Midsummer, 1838, and Christ- mas, 1838 º e • º © © & º . 17,500 0 0 6 Leaving undivided Profit, December, 1838 . . . . #5,702 9 6 THE ROYAL BANK OF IRELAND commenced business 26th September, 1836, as a Bank of discount and deposit only, in Dublin. It has no branches; its capital is 1,500,000l., in 30,000 shares, of fifty pounds each; 20,930 of these have been issued, upon which the paid-up capital, in 1837, was 199,275l., in two calls. No dividend had been declared in 1837, when the Committee on Joint Stock Banks was sitting. The deed of settlement, dated 1st September, 1836, was signed by 306 persons, and sent to the Committee, but not printed. It empowers the proprietors to appoint three auditors to examine the accounts, and gives the Bank a primary lien on its shares, in cases of debts being due by its shareholders. The Bank does not hold any shares on its own account, and issues neither promissory notes nor bank-post bills. It allows interest at two per cent. on running accounts, and two and a half and three per cent, on permanent deposits.-- * Commons’ Report, 1837, Appendix I. p. 99. + Commons’ Report, 1837, Appendix, pp. 95 and 96. 253 . The subsequent progress of this Company has been very satisfactory. It dis- counted, in 1839, to the amount of more than a million and a half, and incurred no greater lóss on the whole, by bad debts, than 2521. The last report, dated Novem- ber 13, 1839, correctly describes the affairs of the Bank as being in a healthy and progressively improving condition": the accounts then promulgated were as follow :- The paid-up Capital on the 31st August, 1839, was º £208,850 0 0% The Net Profits of the year ended at the above date, after pay- ment of the ordinary expenses, and deducting all bad and doubtful debts, amounted to . g {º e º e Out of which the shareholders have received two half-yearly dividends, at the rate of five per cent. per annum f10,440 And there has been allocated towards the reduction of the original outlay for Bank premises, and good- will of Sir Robert Shaw and Co.'s business . 4. 500 10,940 0 0 13,864 19 9 Leaving a surplus, on the year, of . e . g . . ºf 2,924 19 9 The reserve fund, as stated at the last annual meeting, was . #7,771 9 0 Deduct sum then voted to Directors, as remuneration for their services . • . te * tº º e tº • 1,000 0 0 Add surplus on the present year, as per preceding statement . 2,924 19 9 - Making a reserve fund, at this date, of . tº g * * . #9,696 8 9 THE ULSTER BANKING CoMPANY, which commenced business July 1, 1837, and had eleven branches, distant from six to seventy miles from the central office at Belfast; its capital is 1,000,000l., in 100,000 shares of ten pounds each; of which 81,850 were issued, producing a paid-up capital, in two calls, amounting to 204,325l. No shares had been forfeited, or dividend due, when the Joint Stock Banks Com- mittee reported. The deed of settlement, dated April 1, 1836, signed by 802 per- sons, and sent to the Committee, directs the accounts to be audited by seven proprietors of 200 shares, who are chosen annually for that purpose. No shares are held by the Bank, but 18,150 shares were then unissued. The notes are payable at each branch where issued ; and there are no post bills: three per cent. interest is paid on deposits, and two per cent, on balances.t The London and Dublin Bank was formed in 1842 by Mr. Medley, to whose energy, enterprise, intelligence, and patriotism Ireland is indebted for the introduction of the Provincial Bank of Ireland, and its careful superintendence for twelve years: it has a nominal capital of 1,000,000l., and commenced business this year within the monopoly circle of the Bank of Ireland. It * It appears that 60,000l., of this sum belong to English shareholders, and the remainder to Irish. + Commons’ Report, 1837, Appendix, p. 76. 254 does not issue notes. A Joint Stock Bank has been recently formed in Tipperary, which issues Bank of Ireland notes. It is stated to be doing extremely well. The name and capital of the Irish Banks are thus given :— - IRISH PUBLIC BANKS. * en No. ital, Name of Company. mºa. Fºl. cºal Bank of Ireland . . . . . . . . . . . 1783 3,000,000 Hibernian Joint Stock Bank . . . . . . 1824 225 1,000,000 Northern Banking Company . . . . . . 1824 208 500,000 Provincial Bank of Ireland . . . . . . I825 644 || 2,000,000 Belfast Banking Company . . . . . . . 1826 292 500,000 National Bank of Ireland . . . . . . . 1835 250 | 1,000,000 The Limerick National Bank of Ireland . . 1835 523 Ulster Banking Company . . . . . . . 1836 117 Royal Bank of Ireland . . . . . . . . . . . Tipperary Banking Company . tº gº º º London and Dublin Bank . . . . . . . 1843 1,000,000 The following Return shows the amount of the circulation of Unstamped Promissory Notes, on which Composition in lieu of Stamp Duty has been paid, by the several Banking Establishments in Ireland, for the Half-year ended 31st Decem- ber, 1836:— BANKING ESTABLISHMENTS. 3. The National Bank of Ireland. . º e e . . fººl,100 Limerick ditto g g ſº º 56,200 Clonmel ditto . e e e tº 54,700 Carrick-on-Suir ditto e & tº 30,400 Waterford ditto . g & & & 69,300 Wexford and Enniscorthy ditto tº e * g 31,300 Tipperary ditto . © e & © 72,500 Tralee ditto g g e e 28,200 Total of the National Bank of Ireland . . #583,700 The Agricultural and Commercial Bank of Ireland . . $341,400 Belfast Banking Company . o * tº . . 249,000 Northern ditto of Belfast . * © * 175,700 |Ulster ditto ditto . e . . 106,200 Provincial Bank of Ireland © g ge & & 769,600 Total of the Joint Stock Banks . . £1,641,900° The following are the Returns to an order of the Honourable the House of Commons, dated 31st May, 1836:—for, * Commons' Report 1835, Appendix Iv. p. 168. 255 I.—A Return of all Banking Establishments in Ireland, with all Branch Banks and places where established, in the year ending January, 1826, with the Amount of Notes in circulation. BANKING ESTABLISHMENTS.--The Bank of Ireland Dublin ; branch banks—Bel- fast, Clonmel, Cork, Londonderry, Newry, Waterford, Westport. Messrs. La Touche & Co., Dublin, four partners. Messrs. Finlay & Co., Dublin, three partners. Sir Robert Shaw & Co., Dublin, three partners. Messrs. Ball and Co., Dublin, four partners. Joseph Pike, Cork, one partner. C. H. and J. Leslie, Cork, two part- ners. Messrs. Batt & Co., Belfast, three partners. Messrs. Tennant & Co., Belfast, five partners. Robert Delacour, Mallow, one partner. T. & W. Roche, Limerick, two partners. Messrs. Scott & Co., Waterford, four partners. Messrs. Redmond & Co., Wexford, two partners. The Hibernian Joint Stock Company, Dublin. The Provincial Bank of Ireland; branch banks—Clonmel, Cork, Lon- donderry, Limerick. The Northern Banking Company, Belfast ; branch banks— Armagh, Ballymena, Banbridge, Coleraine, Downpatrick, Dungannon, London- derry, Lurgan, Magherafelt, Monaghan, Newry, Tanderagee. The amount of notes in circulation in January 1826. As the Bank of Ireland pays a commuted sum, agreed upon annually between the Bank and the Treasury, in lieu of stamp duty on their notes, there is no record in the books of this department, from which the amount of their notes in circulation in January 1826 can be obtained. - No record of the amount of any of the other bankers’ notes in circulation was made in this office until 1828, when the Act 9 Geo. 4, c. 80, empowered Irish bankers to compound for the duties on their notes. The accounts of all previous years show only the number of notes stamped and the amount of duties received on them ; but these data would not show the amount of circulation in any year, and those for the year ended January 1826, would be particularly deceptive as to the circulation of that year, the bankers having then supplied themselves with stamped notes of the imperial currency to replace those of Irish currency in actual circula- tion, or lying in the hands of individuals, and these forming their own reserve. 2.—Similar Return for the year ending January 1836. BANKING ESTABLISHMENTS.—The Bank of Ireland, Dublin ; branch banks— Armagh, Belfast, Carlow, Clonmel, Cork, Drogheda, Galway, Kilkenny, Limerick, Londonderry, Longford, Mountmellick, Newry, Sligo, Tralee, Waterford, West- port, Wexford, Youghal. Messrs. La Touche & Co., Dublin, four partners. Sir Robert Shaw, Bart., and Co., Dublin, three partners. Messrs. Ball & Co., Dublin three partners. Messrs. Boyle & Co., Dublin, five partners. Messrs. Guinness & Co., Dublin, four partners. The Hibernian Joint Stock Company, Dublin. The Provincial Bank of Ireland; branch banks—Armagh, Athlone, Banbridge, Bandon, Ballina, Ballymena, Ballyshannon, Belfast, Cavan, Clonmel, Coleraine, Cork, Down- patrick, Dungannon, Dungarvan, Ennis, Enniskillen, Galway, Kilkenny, Limerick Londonderry, Lurgan, Mallow, Monaghan, Moneymore, Omagh, Parsonstown, Strabane, Sligo, Tralee, Waterford, Wexford, Youghal. The Northern Banking Company, Belfast; branch banks—Ballymena, Coleraine, Downpatrick, Lisburn, Londonderry, Turgan, Magherafelt, Newtown, Limavady. The Belfast Banking Company, Belfast ; branch banks—Armagh, Ballymena, Ballymoney, Banbridge, Coleraine, Cookstown, Dungannon, Londonderry, Lurgan, Monaghan, Magherafelt, Newtown Limavady, Strabane, Tanderagee. The Agricultural and Commercial 256 Bank of Ireland ; branch banks—Bandon, Castlebar, Ennis, Enniscorthy, Limerick, Nenagh, New Ross, Tuam. The National Bank of Ireland; branch banks— Clonmel, Cork, Carrick-on-Suir, Dungarvan, Enniscorthy, Fermoy, Galway, Kil- kenny, Limerick, New Ross, Roscrea, Tipperary, Tralee, Waterford. The Limerick National Bank of Ireland, Limerick ; branch banks — Charleville, Kilrush, Rathkeale. 3. - The amount of notes in circulation in January, 1836. As the Bank of Ireland pays a commuted sum, agreed upon annually between the bank and the treasury, in lieu of stamp duty on their notes, there is no record in the Books of this department, from which the amount of their notes in circulation in January 1836 can be obtained. The amount of the notes of the joint-stock and private banking companies in Ireland, in January 1836, (as shown by their accounts of unstamped notes in cir- culation, in the half-year ended December 1835) was 1,713,900l. The Average Amount of the Unstamped Promissory Notes, on which Composition, in lieu of Stamp Duty, has been paid to the several Banking Establishments in Ireland, for the half-year ended 31st December, 1837, was— The Bank of Ireland, supposed to be . £3,200,000 ,, Provincial Bank of Ireland * * 688,000 ,, National Bank of Ireland . . 36157,600 , Limerick do. g * * 66,300 ,, Clonmel do. . ſº º 70,600 ,, Carrick-on-Suir do. º tº ſº 32,600 , Waterford do. Is * tº 80,500 ,, Wexford and Enniscorthy, do. . 31,100 ,, Tipperary do. . tº tº º 79,800 ,, Tralee do. e e o 28,700 ,, Cork do. . tº tº gº 85,000 , Kilkenny do. & & & 28,100 Bºssºvº ºsmºsºms 660,300 The Belfast Banking Company . * © . . 167,400 ,, Northern do. of Belfast . * ſº . 136,600 ,, Ulster do. of do. . . . 133,400 ,, Agricultural and Commercial Bank of Ireland . 18,300 ,, Provident Bank of Ireland . 6. & & 6,000 Messrs. Ball and Co., of Dublin g º g . 16,500 gº ºsmºs ºsmºsºmsº Total £5,036,500 An Estimate of the Proportions in which the total amount of Bankers’ Notes in Ireland circulate in each of the Four Provinces. Assuming the amount of Notes circulated in Ireland to be 5,000,000l. The Province of Leinster may be considered to have . © e . £1,700,000 ?? Ulster 3? º g * tº gº 1,400,000 35 Munster 72 te tº ſº e 1,300,000 ?? Connaught ?? g iº & & e 600,000 Total . © . £5,000,000 These statements clearly show how small the money circula- tion of Ireland compared with England or Scotland ; it is not 257 probable that the circulation has increased since the Union, although the population has been doubled, and the trade trebled, and indeed in several branches quadrupled. The following official document shows the state of the paper circulation up to the 29th April, 1843, which is the period of the year when most money is required for trade and agriculture. EN GLAND AND SCOTLAN ID. England, Bank of . & g gº tº . 620,329,000 Private Banks tº g e º * 4 & 4,990,000 Joint Stock Banks . . . * > º e 3,111,446 Scotland, Private and Joint Stock Banks tº e 2,487,311 Totals England and Scotland . e . #30,917,757 IR.E.T., A N D. Joint Stock Banks . & * e gº , f1,971,759 Bank of Ireland . g g * * * ºn 3,153,350 Total Ireland g . & * g . 365,125,109 Total United Kingdom e e & . . E86,042,866 Thus we perceive that out of thirty-six million bank note circulation, Ireland has no more than five million. But this is not the only defect in the circulation. The number of bills of exchange circulated is exceedingly small compared with Great Britain; and their number is on the increase, yet their amount is still very limited. Thus, where the stamps on the bills of exchange in Great Britain represent four hundred million sterling (as in the year 1839),” in Ireland they only represent fifty five million sterling. In 1826-7 the stamps for bills of exchange in Ireland are stated, by Mr. Leatham, the banker, to have been only 34,557,833, which shows an increase of twenty millions storling, in favour of the year 1839 over 1826-7 ; but still the amount is small compared with Groat Britain. There are thirty public banks in Scotland, with upwards of three hundred branch banks. The enormous sum of money under the control of these banks will be seen when it is stated that only seven of these banks represent sums varying from three to seven millions sterling; or, taking the medium sum at 4,500,000l. (which is below the reality), it shows a banking power of 31,500,000l. for seven out of thirty banks in Scotland. The value * 394,203,000l. Great Britain. 55,615,722. Ireland. 75,479,120l. Foreign bills. 258 of these banks will be further seen when we reflect that the inhabitants of the comparatively insignificant town of Dumfries contribute a permanent deposit fund to the banks having offices there, exceeding a million sterling. * - Now, if seven out of thirty public banks in Scotland have a monied power of 31,000,000l. it is not unreasonable to allow 9,000,000l. monied power for the remaining twenty-three banks, which would give Scotland, for less than three millions of inhabi- tants, a banking, or monied power, of forty million sterling, while Ireland, with more than eight million inhabitants, and a superior soil, climate, and geographical position to Scotland, has not a monied, or banking power, exceeding sixteen million sterling, including the chartered “Bank of Ireland,” whose whole capital of 3,000,000l. is lent to government, and, therefore, utterly valueless to the commercial operations of Ireland. The total Bank-note circulation of Ireland is about 5,000,000l. ; and the Coin circulation is probably not more than 5,000,000l., making 10,000,000l. for more than eight million people. By contrasting that country with England, where sixteen million people have upwards of five hundred Banks and Branch Banks; a metallic circulation in gold and silver coin of about 30,000,000l. sterling ; a bank-note circulation belonging to the Bank of England and Private and Joint Stock Banks in England and Wales of 28,000,000l. sterling, exclusive of bills of exchange and promissory notes to the annual amount of more than 200,000,000l. ; of exchequer bills to the average amount of 10,000,000l. sterling, and of various stocks, bonds, and cheques all available to a certain extent for circulation, and affording a representative for the transfer of property ; we shall thus more clearly perceive the absolute necessity of conferring on Ireland an abundant and expansive currency. - The deposits in the Scotch Banks are computed at 35,000,000l. sterling; and these, together with the paid-up capital of those * See that valuable publication the Bankers' Circular, edited by Henry Burgess, the secretary to the country bankers, for much useful information and philosophic remarks on this vital subject. 259 Banks, the notes and short-dated bills constantly in circulation, show a constantly available banking capital of 50,000,000l. sterling for less than three million inhabitants. In Glasgow alone the annual discounts exceed, it is said, 50,000,000l. per annum; the Banks, therefore, always hold more than 12,000,000l. bills averaging three months’ date. This will demonstrate how defective Ireland still is in banking facilities. LOAN FUNDS.–Before closing this chapter, reference should be made to a system of Loan Funds, which are in extensive operation in Ireland, indicating the necessity of supplying a sound banking system. It is said, that the charges of the Loan Funds amount to thirteen per cent. The ordinary rate of interest in Ireland is six per cent. The progress of the Loan Funds and Monts de Piété in Ireland is thus shown since 1838 :— No. of Loans * : * ~ * No. of Societies. and Pledges. Total Circulation. 1838 | No distinction between 50 . . 148,528 . . £180,526 1839 - Loan Funds and Monts - 157 . . 352,469 e e 816,473 1840 de º: 215 . . 463,751 . . 1,164,046 Loan Funds . . 268 * 1841: ... de Piété . §). 276 . } 762,711 . . 1,500,553 Loan Funds . . 300 1842.É. de Piété . }} 307 . } 182,067 . . 1,738,067 The following abstract from the First Annual Report of the Commissioners of the Central Loan Fund Board of Ireland, (pursuant to the Act 1 and 2 Vict. c. 78), ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, 27th August, 1839, will explain the nature of these institutions:— -- “During the last thirty years, various associations have been formed in London, with the view of improving the condition of the Irish peasantry. Some of these associations bestowed pecuniary grants to encourage the Straw Hat Manufacture; and others to improve the Fisheries, or the state of Agriculture, either by small loans of money, or by grants of fishing-tackle, or of farming or manufacturing implements. These transactions were carried on through the medium of local committees, who corresponded with the parent associations in London. The English subscriptions towards relieving the famine of 1822 having exceeded the expenditure, the surplus was fortunately entrusted to a few eminent bankers and merchants in London, who allocated it among ten of the most distressed counties, as a permanent fund (now called the Irish Reproductive Loan Fund), for organising Loan Societies; and a large portion of the surplus was accordingly transferred to county trustees, who have established a number of branch offices in their respective counties. “The beneficial effects of all these institutions being generally acknowledged, it 260 was deemed advisable to introduce a bill for their further encouragement. This Bill (which passed in May, 1823) enacted, that any number of persons, desirous of forming a Charitable Loan Society, either by lending small sums of money, or implements of industry, should lodge with the clerk of the peace a copy of their rules; that loans not exceeding 10!, in any one year might be made to any person upon notes of hand, which would be free of stamp duty ; that these loans would be recoverable by the treasurer of the society ; that legal interest only would be chargeable; that none of the trustees or managers were to receive any remune- ration, but clerks were to be paid such salaries, or other necessary expenses, as the rules of each society sanctioned. Any looms, wheels, or other implements, lent out by a society, were, before delivery, to be stamped, and were to be saved from distress for rent, or debt. “A few years' additional experience demonstrated that many abuses were creeping in under the Act of 1823, and that the beneficial principles of the Loan Fund system could not be worked out, without an alteration in the law. For although the trustees and directors of Loan Societies were personally excluded from all remu- neration, yet by the sweeping language “ of all necessary expenses to be paid to clerks,” without any limit, members of the families of directors were in some instances largely remunerated, and little or no profit was realised. Some of the London Associations issued their grants also to the local committees free of interest ; and as many of these committees charged the borrowers six per cent., a large profit arose, which was however swallowed up by expensive and irresponsible management. “To meet these circumstances, an Act passed in 1836, authorising the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland to appoint a Central Board of Commissioners, with power to them to inspect the books of all Loan Societies established under the Act. The rules also were to be examined and certified by a revising barrister, before being lodged with the clerk of the peace ; and any society violating the rules was liable to suspension by the Board. The loans were to be repayable by instalments, and interest, not exceeding the rate of 6d. in the pound, of twenty weeks, was chargeable to the borrower ; while all profits over and above the limited expense of manager ment, were to be appropriated to local charitable purposes, such as maintaining an hospital or schools, or aiding in the purchase of clothing or fuel for the poor, &c. And each society was also to send up to the Board a yearly account of its pro- ceedings. In 1838 an amendment of the Act passed, giving the Board power to reduce prospectively the salaries to clerks, if they were out of proportion to the extent of business; and every treasurer was imperatively required to find security. The Board were also directed to report annually to Parliament. + “With these preliminary explanations the Board have now the honour to state, that 201 Loan Societies have been registered under the Acts of 1836 and 1838. The Act of 1836 having allowed all previously existing societies to continue undis- turbed, this was corrected by the Act of 1838, which after twelve months repealed the Act of 1823, Saving as to the societies formed by the London Reproductive Loan Fund. - “Not a few of the old Loan Societies have been acting on the mistaken principle of giving out their loans, in some cases, free of interest, and in many cases at rates below the legal amount. “Loans on such terms were granted and received too much under the humiliating impression of being charitable donations, whereby great injury was done to the character and feelings of the people. The most prosperous societies 261 are those where the borrowers are charged the full rate of interest, and where they are also moderately fined, unless the weekly instalments be regularly paid up. “No loan is made except to industrious men of certified good conduct. By the weekly instalments, habits of punctuality are formed, and the people taught to value their time ; while the moral benefit from these regulations oftentimes exceeds the pecuniary advantages to the individual. “Each borrower, by attending for twenty weeks with his instalments, is kept under the notice of the committee ; he knows well that failure in punctuality or misconduct will deprive him of all further aid, and he is thus excited and encou- raged to sobriety and industry. “No funds having yet been placed at the disposal of the Board, these institutions have hitherto traded on donations and deposits. - “Debentures are granted to depositors, bearing interest not exceeding six per cent. When a loan is made, the whole interest is generally at once deducted from . it ; but the loan being usually repayable by twenty weekly instalments, the society has every week a large sum returned to it, which is again issued in new loans, thereby making interest upon interest. In this manner, and by the imposition of small fines, the profits of a loan society are very considerable. “It does not come within the terms of the Report, required by the Act of Tarliament, to enumerate the many instances known to the Board of poor men being elevated into comfortable farmers and shopkeepers by aid from Loan Socie- ties, of dissolute characters being reformed by the refusal to grant them loans, and of those who were at one time sluggish and inactive becoming enterprising dealers in consequence of the judicious application of a small loan. “It is the intention of the Board to submit a detailed statement on these points to the Lord Lieutenant ; but they cannot refrain from observing that Loan Socie- ties are admirably calculated to advance the middle and humbler classes of society, and that they are unobtrusively doing so in every quarter of Ireland, to a very great extent. - - “ (Signed) CLONCURRY, C. FITZSIMON, WM. Hodges, THOMAS HUTTON.” JAMES JoBIN BAGOT, “The following is a list of Loan Societies in the Provinces of Munster and Connaught, which are established by, or are in connection with, the London Cha- ritable Association, commonly called the Irish Reproductive Loan Institution, the Rules and Regulations of which have been duly enrolled under Acts 4th and 10th of his late Majesty George the Fourth :— - “County of Clare.—Ennis, Kilrush, Knock, Kilmaly, Inch, Newmarket, Raha- line, Killilagh, Kilshanny, Scattery Island, Newgrove, Mount Shannon, Clonlea. “Cork.-Bantry, Rosscarbery, Ballinspittle, Templetrine, Dunmanway, Glen- rille, Timoleague, Donoughmore, Magourney, Glanmire, Dripsey, Mitchelstown, Kildinan and Rathcormick, Kilmalooda, Cloyne, Mallow, Leddington and Macro- ney, Clonakilty, Lislee, Courtmasherry, Dunbullogue, Rathbarry, Ballymurry and Inniskean, Cork City. . “Galway.—Ballinasloe, Albert, Ardskea, Gardenfield, Ballymoe, Dunamon, Dunmore, Ballygar and Athleague, Headfort, Mount. Talbot, Silane, Loughrea, Tuam, Mount Shannon, Ahascragh, Castlehacket, Cloverfield, Ballybanagher, Ballindery, Corofin, Outerard, Woodford, Kilconickney, Anna, Galway Town. PART V. T 262 « Kerry.—Valentia, Tralee, Killarney, Tannavalla, Ballyheigue and Banna, Can- negh, Ardfert, Chutehall, Pyrmont, Bawmcloun, Kilcolman, Shannonview, Duagh Glebe, Cahirciveen, Killury Glebe, Mount Eagle, Dromin, Bahoss, Kenmare, Sneem. « Leitrim.—Annaduff, Aughavass, Carrick-on-Shannon, Clooncumber, Drumod, Drumshambo Glebe, Kiltubride, Manorhamilton, Mohill. « Limerick.—Chapel Russell, Grange, Knocklong, Iveross, Limericle City. « Mayo.—Castlebar, Castlemacgarret, Aghlish, Ballyhean, Foxford, Woodville, Bellcarra, Lagaturn, Turlogh, Toomore, Ballinrobe, Hollymount, Westport, New- port, Ballinahaglish, Kilbelfad, Dunfeeny, Killconduff, Addergoole, Attymas, Rathrea, Claremorris, Rathgranaher, Greenhill, Cloonane, Breafy, Kilticommogue, Carramore, Cong, Erris, Islandeady, Burrishoole, Ballina. “ Roscommon.—Castlerea, Fuerty, Elphin, Ballymoe and Dunamon, Knockadoe, Knockgrohery, Kiltoom, Frenchpark, Cappagh, Kilmore, Athlone, Strokestown, Mount-Talbot, Aughnasurn, Aughram. A « Sligo.—Sligo Town, Calry, Collooney, Chaffpool, Banada, Doo, Temple-house, Skreen. “ Tipperary.—Feathard, Cahir, Roscrea, Thurles, Finnoe, Cashel, Tipperary, Borris-a-Kane, Nenagh. - “The above list is furnished from the returns made to the London Board by the Trustees acting for the several counties above named. “Signed by order and on behalf of the Directors of the London Board, “W ILLIAM BELL, Chairman, “W. H. HYETT, Secretary and Manager. “ London, 17th January, 1839.” The fall of prices after the war, and the adoption of a gold standard of 37. 17s. 10; d. an ounce, affected Ireland as well as other parts of the United Kingdom ; but the reduction in the wages of labour was the more seriously manifested in Ireland, by reason of the imperfect banking system, and very limited circu- lation of paper and metallic money. In England and Scotland the effects of the transition from war to peace, and the restoration of cash payments, at the rate of the old standard in Queen Elizabeth's reign, aided also by the extensive employment of machinery, were in some degree counteracted by an extended bank. ing system. But Ireland had no such mitigation. . . . The extraordinary reduction of wages in Ireland will be seen by the following statement from the Irish Hand-loom Weavers' Commission :- - In the Septemmial period from 1792 to 1799, the weavers’ weekly average earnings at the before-mentioned fabric would be 21.6s. 8d. £ s. d From 1799 to 1806. I 18 4 From 1806 to 1813 I I I 8 Average price per ell, 1s. 7d. 263 ll. Ils. 8d. would, at the then price of potatoes, purchase 1,284 lbs. at 2s. 9d. per 112 lbs., or 192 lbs. of oatmeal at 18s. 6d. per 112 lbs. Divide each of them by 2, and it will show the command his wages gave him over each of these two necessaries of life. From 1813 to 1820 . $ wº . £1. 1s. 8d. Average price per ell, 1s. 1d. This would purchase 939 lbs. of potatoes at 2s. 7d. per 112 lbs., or 132 lbs. of oatmeal at 18s. 4d., showing a decline of 203 lbs. of food between the two periods last named. From 1820 to 1827 . e e tº e 12s. 6d. Average price per ell, 7%d. - This would purchase 600 lbs. of potatoes at 2s. 4d., or 104 lbs. of oatmeal at 13s. 3d., showing a command of 352 lbs. of food. From 1827 to 1834 . * * © º 6s. 8d. Average price per ell, 4d. - This would purchase 448 lbs. of potatoes at 1s. 8d., or 59 lbs. of oatmeal at 12s. 7d. per 112 lbs., showing an average command of 253 lbs. of food. From 1834 to 1838 . tº * © . 6s. 3d. Average price per ell, 3:#d. This would purchase 400 lbs. of potatoes at 1s. 9d per hundred, or 69 lbs. of oat- meal at 11s. 5d., showing an average command of 234 lbſ. of food. . The average prices of oatmeal and potatoes, above given, are taken from the books at the poor-house, taken on the 1st January each year. The weavers have to buy from the retailer, and pay from 4d. to 7d. for the hundred above the cur- rent price of the market. The poor-house contract for their potatoes and meal, and get each at the cheapest period of the year, and at the best market. The weavers buy usually upon credit, from week to week, and generally only from half a stone to a whole stone. From 1800 to 1816 the rents of houses increased considerably. A house capable of containing three looms would be almost six guineas a year ; latterly they hav declined, and now perhaps would be 5i, or 57. 10s. a year. James Parke, another witness, says, on the subject of weavers’ earnings— In 1791 a man could earn, by a fair day’s weaving, about 4s. a day. In 1800, from 2s. 6d. to 3s. 6d. a day. In 1810, from 2s. to 2s. 6d. a day. In 1820, about 1s. 6d. a day. In 1830 In 1838, at the present time, they could not earn more than from 10d. to ls. It is correctly observed by the author of a recent pamphlet entitled “The South of Ireland and her Poor,” p. 123,” that “In Ireland people are in want, not from a scarcity—not from an ea traordinary rise in the price of provisions owing to bad years, BUT FROM A w ANT OF MONEY.” • - It is for this reason that an efficient banking system is so * Published by Saunders and Ottley, London, 1843. T 2 264 essentially requisite; and pending its formation, the promotion of public works would be very advantageous. The author of the present work, desirous of seeing a railroad constructed between Dublin and Cork, laid before Her Majesty's Government, nine months ago, propositions, of which the following are an abstract; but for the insane Repeal agitation, that railroad would most probably have now been in course of formation, and twenty thousand men employed at each end of the line: the outlay required being about two millions sterling. The saving to Government by closing the Post-office Packet-stations at Water- ford and Milford, and by conveying the Mails and troops throughout the South of Ireland, would be about 40,000l. a year. Po INTs FoE THE conside RATION of SIR ROBERT PEEL, AND HER MAJESTY's GovePNMENT. March, 1843. ist.—That Government should bring in a Public Bill for the construction of a Railway from Dublin to Cork, with power, if expedient, to extend branches to Limerick and Waterford. 2nd.—That the working of the Bill, and the management of the Railway, be vested in twenty-four Directors, chosen by the Proprietors of the Stock : Directors to be subject, in certain cases, to the control of the Railway department of the Board of Trade. 3rd.—Company to have a right to enter on, and purchase, or acquire lands for the purpose of the Railway ; disputes as to the value of lands to be referred to two arbitrators; one to be chosen by each party, with power to call in an umpire whose decision shall be final. Proprietors of lands to be paid in shares, whose responsibility will cease on official notice of their transfer being given to the Directors. 4th-Government to guarantee to the holders of the Debentures of the Com- pany, interest at the rate of three per cent. per annum, for seven years, from 1st January, 1845, on the instalments paid up ; interest to accrue from the same date. The Government guarantee to be fulfilled only in the event of the receipts of the Railway being insufficient to meet the expenditure, and to pay three per cent, to the Proprietors. - 5th.-In order that no time be lost in commencing the works, Government to advance 500,000l. Exchequer bills, to be issued from time to time as the works require ; the money to be advanced on the security of the Railway at the rate of two per cent, per annum, and to be repaid within twenty years. - In consideration of this Loan and Guarantee, the Company to convey her Majesty's mails on the Line of Railway at one-half the present cost ; her Majesty's troops and military stores and baggage to be also conveyed at one half of the usual charge. R. M. MARTIN. CHAPTER XI. Representation of Ireland in the Imperial Parliament ;-Extent of Irish Business in Parliament ; –Municipal Corporations;–Absenteeism investigated;—Irish Constabulary 5–Improved Prison Discipline. - PARLIAMENTARY REPRESENTATION. — Among other alleged grievances, the assertion that “the representation of Ireland is most wnjustly and unfairly disproportioned to the population and resources of Ireland” stands prominent; and it is contended “she ought to have got by the Reform Bill at least from 70 to 100 additional members.” This “political injury" as it is termed, (see Preface, page iv.) is set forth with a minuteness of detail in which the actual truth is carefully suppressed, and the principle of Universal Suffrage set forth, as if population constituted the sole qualification for Parliamentary representation. - Previous to the Legislative Union, Parliamentary reform had been frequently discussed in the British Legislature, and in 1 reland, where it took precedence of Catholic Emancipation ; indeed, in England it formed the annual topic of the Session until on the 18th April, 1784, Mr. Pitt, then Prime Minister, after a speech of considerable length, moved “ that leave be given to bring in a bill to amend the representation of the people of England in Parliament.” By this bill Mr. Pitt proposed, 1st, To transfer the right of choosing representatives from 36 of such boroughs, as had already or were falling into decay, to the counties, and to such chief towns and cities as were then unrepresented. 2nd, That a fund should be provided for the purpose of giving to the owners and holders of such boroughs disfranchised an appreciated compensation for their property. The motion was lost by 248 to 174. When the measure of a Legislative Union was proposed between Great Britain and Ireland, Mr. Pitt 266 deemed that period a good opportunity to effect the long-desired reform in the Parliamentary representation of Ireland, particu- larly as, out of 300 members in the Irish House of Commons, 200 were stated by Mr. Grattan, in 1793, to be the nominees of private individuals; and from 40 to 50 members were returned, it is said, by constituencies of not more than ten electors. It was therefore resolved, and agreed to by the Irish Parlia- ment, to abolish eighty-three nomination boroughs, and to pay the proprietor of each borough 15,000l., for which purpose the sum of 1,245,000l. was voted and paid by the Irish parliament. (See names of boroughs in Appendix.) This was in unison with Mr. Pitt's proposition for Parliamentary reform in England, and which the French revolution, by alarming the minds of many persons, alone prevented being adopted for Great Britain. This fact, it may be here remarked, is the grand charge against Mr. Pitt and his ministry, of having carried the Union with Ireland by fraud and corruption. When Parliamentary reform took place in England in 1832, fifty-five boroughs, returning two members each, were totally disfranchised; and thirty boroughs were half disfranchised, i. e. they were only to return one member instead of two. Manches- ter, Birmingham, Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield, and other large towns were empowered to return representatives to the Imperial Parliament; and the changes in the number of members of Par- liament are thus shown :- No. of Members before Reform Bill. No. of Members after Reform Bill. England and Wales . º . 513 | England and Wales . © . 500 Ireland . . . º e . 100 | Ireland º g º º . 105 Scotland . e e e . 45 | Scotland . tº o e . 53 Total . . 658 Total . . 638 Thus it appears that by the Reform Bill of 1832, England lost thirteen members, and Ireland gained five; and yet we are told by the Repealers of “the complicated enormity of this injustice 1" We come now to consider the second part of the assertion, namely, that Ireland ought to have obtained the power to return one hundred additional members in the Imperial Parliament at the 267 time of the Reform Bill. No person who understood or appre- ciated the British Constitution, could honestly make such a propo- sition. Ireland was neither by population, trade, wealth, or intelligence, entitled by right to send one hundred members to the Imperial Legislature in 1801. Neither in England, Ireland, or Scotland, has mere population ever been the test of Parliamentary representation;” and simple justice at the period of the Union would have proportioned the representation of Ireland in the Imperial Parliament in the same ratio as the Revenue, namely, “in the proportion of fifteen parts for Great Britain, and two parts for Ireland.” Thus, the utmost number of representatives that Ireland was entitled to at the time of the Union was seventy- four : in addition to this twenty-six more members were added, yet this is called “an iniquity without a single ingredient of recipro- city.” [See Preface, p. vi.] How stands the proportion of Parliamentary representation now to the revenue contributed by Ireland 2 Taking the annual revenue of Great Britain as ten times greater than that of Ireland, [see page 231], namely, as forty millions sterling to four millions, i. * The following abstract shows the total number of members sent to the House of Commons by the several counties, cities, towns, and boroughs, in England, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland respectively ; with the amount of population, accord- ing to the census of 1841 ; together with the proportion of the number of members returned in respect to the population of the three parts of the United Kingdom : — GENERAL SUMMA R.Y. # §§ th # #3 *-* . º ă 3 3 # 35% # 3 $2.É. 3 # ; ; º § ää ###| |##| 5 # |zá|##| # #2 .# = $º J 5 ‘53 5 5 .# É 53 5. ă ſº 㺠#ä #5 3 ſq ā; 2, 5 Pi— : á ##| ### |##| ## 35 |3: Tº: 32 O 3 : 3 5 g = P: É 3 6 England & Wales | 159, 9,795,758, 337 6,110,983| 4 || 50015,906,741|31,813 Ireland e 64 7,370,533 39| 804,705| 2 | 105 8,175,238 77,859 Scotland. 30, 1,657,985, 23 962,199 – 53 2,620,184.49,487| Total . . . 253|18,824,276. 399| 7,877,887| 6 || 65826,702,163 † REVENUE IN 1832. Gross. Net. Great Britain e . 3649,836,355 £43,066,592 Ireland . & * & 4,435,098 3,767,204 Difference o º , 645,401,257 £39,299,388 Thus the “Gross payments of ordinary revenues into the Exchequer” were for 268 Ireland would only be entitled to send fifty-five members to the Imperial Legislature, as the one-tenth proportion of 553 repre- sentatives from Great Britain. The facts, therefore, stand thus: at the period of the Union, Ireland obtained in the Imperial Legislature twenty-sia, representatives more than she ought in justice to have received; and at this moment she has fifty repre- sentatives in the Imperial Parliament more than she is entitled to by her contributions to the Imperial revenue to send to Parliament. In the words of the address of the Repealers, see Preface, p. ii. “We leave these facts to fester as they are ſ” Scotland contributes more largely to the Imperial revenue than Ireland, and yet Scotland has but fifty-three, while Ireland has 105 representatives in the Imperial Legislature. It is alleged that Wales, “with a population of 800,000 has 36,000 voters; while Cork county, with 720,000 inhabitants, has only 2,000 voters.” But this proves, if true, that Wales is wealthier, and its property not subdivided into one-acre farms.-The same franchise exists in Ireland as in Great Britain; there is no inequality; and the only point to be regretted on this head is, that the franchise is too low in Ireland; that persons little, if at all, removed above the condition of day-labourers, are vested with a high political trust which they are incapable of estimating, and who are unable, by their very position, to understand the great and complex questions which ought to decide an elector in the all-important choice of a representative. The small number of persons really entitled to the elective franchise for Parliamentary representation, is seen by a return to the House of Commons, of April 27, 1843, No. 235, showing the valuation of every Union in Ireland, including every County. The total number of persons rated in the last rate, in 108 Unions, was 997 ,434; of these, the number whose valuation was not greater than one pound sterling, was 149,962; under 21, 138,143; 398,220l.; 4l., 75,572; 5l., 63,818. Thus the number of persons whose valuations were not greater than 5l. was 525,713, out of a Great Britain more than eleven times the amount of those of Ireland; in such proportion should have been the Parliamentary representation at the period of the Union, and in 1832. (See Revenue Payments.) 269 total of 997,434, showing more than one-half of the valuations less than 5!, per annum. How utterly unfit is such a constituency to decide on the great questions of Imperial Legislation | Democracy has had a most baneful sway, especially for the last few years, in Ireland. A mass of ignorant and excited people have been led or driven to the hustings by a few artful leaders and ambitious demagogues; thus rendering popular representation a curse instead of a blessing, and endangering the constitutional equipoise, so necessary for the preservation of a mixed or Monarchical Government. The conferring of the elective franchise, by the Irish Parliament, on the forty-shilling freeholders in Ireland, has been the fruitful source of many and dire ills; and every effort should be made to expunge from the registry in Ireland all who are not most clearly entitled to a vote. Under the present state of things, those who are the enemies of the Union (and they may also be justly termed the enemies of Ireland), are enabled to sit in Parliament to obstruct all useful legislation—but to lend an active hand for the dismem- berment of the Empire — the destruction of the Protestant church—and the establishment of Republican principles. A continuance of the present agitation must inevitably tend to an agrarian war—to a contest between property and population —to a servile strife, which must end in general ruin and desola- tion. And yet what are the means proposed to arrest this terrible result, by the “Loyal Repeal Association"?—A separation of Ireland from England; an “independent " Irish Parliament; wniversal suffrage, i. e., “to every male adult, 21 years of age, who has not been convicted of crime or afflicted with mental derange- ment,” vote by ballot; shortening the duration of Parliament; the “equalisation of electoral districts;” and the “abolition of the absurd property qualification.” This, together with what is termed “ fixity of tenure”—which means converting the tenant into the landlord, the abolition of any support for the Established Church, and the confiscation of the property of the absentees, is the foundation of the political constitution proposed for Ireland by the “Loyal National Repeal 270 Association.” It is painful to reflect that any men whose under- standing is raised above the faculties of the Savage—and more especially those who have received a tithe of the advantages derived from civilisation and constitutional government—could be induced to tolerate the inculcation and dissemination of doctrines which are utterly incompatible with the existence of civil life, the rights of property, and the preservation of individual or of general freedom. If it be necessary to destroy rapacious animals, and poisonous reptiles—to root out weeds from the soil, and to purify the air from pestiferous effluvia, how much more necessary is it to extirpate sedition, and, in self-defence, to remove those who first corrupt society, and then prey upon its vitals. The law of self-defence is equally as applicable to a commu- nity as to an individual; and the Government that permits its powers to be usurped by unauthorised individuals, which quietly Sanctions the assembling of men in thousands for the purpose of overawing the State, and which silently permits the wide-spread and repeated inculcation of the most treasonable and anarchical doctrines, that Government has abdicated its functions, and deserves punishment. It is thus that nations have perished, and justly perished, since they had no longer the will or the power to uphold the bonds of civil life, to maintain established order, and to protect private rights and public virtue. It was after this manner that Catiline destroyed Rome; and it is after the same manner that another Catiline is endeavouring to destroy Britain. IRISH PARLIAMENTARY BUSINESS.—Another of the allegations of the opponents of the Union is, that “Irish complaints are unheeded, remonstrances unavailing, application to the Legislature for redress wnavailing : and the poor boon of inquiry, conceded to the advocate of the megro and of the hill-coolie, has been denied to the moral, the temperate, the religious, the brave Irish nation.”—Address of Repealers; see Preface, p. 9. It might be supposed that the Imperial Parliament paid no attention to Irish business. The Imperial Parliament has ever 271 lent a willing ear to investigate the real or imaginary grievances of the people of Ireland; this will partly be seen by the various Reports from Commissioners and from Select Committees appointed to consider Irish affairs since the Union. Of these Reports the following is a list :— Com- Commis- g * * - mittees. Sioners. 1801 Committees.—On Orders respecting the Union—On Offices in Ireland, disqualifying persons from Parliament . ... 2 1802 Committee—Linen Manufacture tº tº tº & . . ] Commissioners—Accounts & * & cº & & tº I 1803 Committee—State of the Poor—Irish Exchanges t . . 2 Commissioners–Port of Dublin tº e tº * º e I 1805 Committee—Grand Canal . © & e g º . . ] 1806 Commissioners — Fees and Gratuities—Public Offices—Public Pavement — Accounts e 4 1809 Commissioners – Board of Education – Paving (Dublin) — Prisons—Accounts g o © & g tº 1810 Committees—Bogs e * º * º & s . I Commissioners—Bogs–Accounts * tº © g tº g 2 1811 Committees—Bogs—Public Offices—Board of Education . . 3 Commissioners—Brewers (Dublin)—Wexford Petition—Public Incomo and Fypenditure t g ſº ſº º 3 1812 Committees—Cork Green-Coat Hospital—Grand Jury Present- ment—Grand Canal Company * g . . 3 Commissioners—Public Income—Public Offices—Accounts — Education . © & tº $ to & e tº 4 1813 Committees—Bogs—Irish Currency—Madhouses ſº . . 3 Commissioners—Education—Public Offices—Inland Navigation —Accounts—Roard of Education e * e tº 5 1814 Committees—Bogs—Grand Jury Presentments . † . . 2 Commissioners—Royal Canal Company—Bogs—Public Offices —Accounts * * g © * tº e & 4 1815 Committees—Public Income and Expenditure—Grand Jury Presentments—Poor . wº ge ſº tº g ... 3 Commissioners—Education Royal Canal Company—Accounts 3 1816 Committees—Public Income—Grand Jury Presentments — Illicit Distillation. & e e & ge wº ... 3 Commissioners—Education—Public Accounts—Inland Naviga- tion . e . . º e • - gº º 3 1817 Committee—Lunatics © * ... 1 Commissioners—Education—Courts of Justice . wº sº e 2 1818 Committees.—Fever Hospitals—Grand Jury Presentments .. 2 Commissioners — Education — Auditing Accounts — Courts of Justice g © e e e & * 3 1819 Commissioners. — Prisons—Education — Courts of Justice— Public Accounts º © º g g e 4 182: Commissioners.-Courts of Justice—Education—House of In- dustry (Dublin)—Accounts º ſº & & tº 4 1821 Committees.—To consider Report of Commissioners, on Courts of Justice & º e © º tº & ... 1 Commissioners.—Dunmore Harbour — Fisheries—Courts of Justice—Exchequer—Education . © º * 5 1822 Committees.—Dublin Local Taxation—Grand Jury Present- ments—Limerick Local Taxation gº g tº: ... 3 Commissioners.-Courts of Justice—Education–Fisheries . 3 1823 Committees.—Dublin Local Taxation—To consider Reports of Courts of Justice—Labouring Poor . o ... 3 Commissioners. — Public Accounts — Education — Prisons — JFisheries—Employment of Poor & & g 5 272 Com- Commis- mittees. Sioners. 1824 Committees.—Dublin Local Taxation — Insurrection Act — Valuation of Laud e o e - - - Commissioners.-Revenue—Courts of Justice — Public Ac- counts—Fisheries—Public Records tº ë º 1825 Committees.—Dublin Local Taxation—Linen Trade—State of Ireland—Petition of Ballinasloe relative to Roman Catholic Association & © º º • º Commissioners.—Courts of Justice—Fisheries—Education— Revenue e e e º º o e e 1826 Committees.—Butter Trade—Market Tolls—Promissory Notes Commissioners.-Revenue—Dunleary Harbour — Public Ac- counts—Fisheries—Roads and Bridges—Justice (2) . 1827 Committees.—Grand Jury Presentments e º tº e Commissioners—Accounts — Courts of Justice — Roads and Bridges—Prisons—Paving Board — Richmond Peni- tentiary–Fisheries—Schools and Middleton—Educa- tion º - * - • º * te º 1828 Committees.—Education—Wagrants e º º e º Commissioners. — Public Accounts — Roads and Bridges — Courts of Justice—Prisons—Fisheries—Education— - Records - • • - & º e © 1829 Committees.—To consider Eighteenth Report of Judicial In- quiry—Kilrea Petition (forged signatures)—Miscella- neous. Estimates & e º e © º e Commissioners.-Post Office Revenue — Public Accounts — Courts of Justice—Roads and Bridges—Prisons— Fisheries º g º ſº e º © 6. 1830 Committees.—On Nineteenth Report of Judicial Inquiry—Poor Commissioners.-Roads and Bridges—Courts of Justice—Edu- cation—Records e º - e e tº e 1830-31 Commissioners.-Courts of Justice—Prisons—Roads and Bridges • e & tº e e - e 1831-32 Committees.—Boundary Commission—Post Office Commu- nication—Tithes—Turnpike Roads—State of Ireland. Commissioners.-Ecclesiastical Inquiry—Courts of Justice— Education—Public Accounts—Prisons e * • 1833 Committees.—Derry Bridge—Dublin and Kingston Ship Canal —Corporations e e º & e º * Commissioners.- Accounts—Prisons — Public Works—Eccle- siastical Inquiry Total Total number of Reports of Select Committees º e . 60 of Commissioners - * º º º 114 3 5 60 5 7 114 Thus, in the course of the thirty-two years that elapsed between 1801 and 1833, there have been sixty Committees of Inquiry, and 114 Reports of Commissioners, making in the whole 174, all bearing upon Irish interests. But it has not been merely by Committees and Commissioners that legislation has been carried on for Ireland. The following is a Return of the Number of Acts of Parliament, Public, Local, and Personal, passed from the Year 1800 to the Year 1833, both 273 inclusive; distinguishing the Public from the Local and Personal, and showing the number of each class passed in each Year for England, or England and Wales, for Scotland, for Great Britain, for Great Britain and Ireland, and Ireland separately; together with the Total Number of each for the whole Number of Years. [House of Commons, No. 411, June 25th, 1834.] YEAR. 1800 1801 I802 1803 1804 1805 1806 1807 2d Sess. 1808 1809 1810 1811 I812 1813 1814 1815 I816 1817 1818 1819 1820 2d Sess. 1821 1822 1823 1824 1825 1826 1827 1828 I829 1830 1831 2d Sess. 1832 1833 PUBLIC ACTS. g | Local & PERsonAL Acts. 3 : y- - > . 9,946 | Queen’s . . . 13,304 Carlow º . 8,803 || Kildare . . . 11,477 | Roscommon. . 12,856 Carrickfergus,Town 161 || Kilkenny . . 17,009 | Sligo te . . 9,322 Cavan . . . 9,616 || Kilkenny, City . 945 Tipperary . . 37,666 Clare . e . 15,849 || King’s º . 12,504 || Tyrone . . . 7,596 Cork º . . 25,466 | Leitrim . . . 8,187 Waterford . . 8,531 Cork, City . . 5,896 || Limerick . . 17,170 Waterford, City . 2,291 Donegal . . . 12,448 Limerick, City . 3,697 | Westmeath . . 11,875 Down . © . 8,751 | Londonderry . . 5,071 | Wexford. . . 12,946 Drogheda, Town . 491 || Longford . . 8,506 || Wicklow . . 10,004 Dublin . . 9,853 || Louth . . . 9,432 | Reserve . . . 9,195 Fermanagh . . 6,531 Mayo . - . 13,688 Galway e . 23,985 Meath . . . 14,002 Grand Total . 421,019 Of this sum, 260,623!, was defrayed from the Imperial revenue, and the remainder was borne by the different counties, cities, and towns. Ireland owes the formation of this excellent peace- preservative and crime-detective force to the Imperial Legislature. The Imperial Legislature votes 32,000l. a year for the Police of T}ublin; and during the past year 61,4491. was voted by Parlia- ment for Criminal Prosecutions and Law Charges. The disembodied Militia of Ireland consists of 346 officers and 326 staff; whose annual cost for 1844 is 33,5897. The number of arms now in possession of the Yeomanry of Ireland is— muskets, 25,360; pistols, 30; carbines, 357; spears, 1,398. The Ulster Counties contain the greater part of these arms. These forces, as well as several thousand able-bodied military pen- sioners, are ready for effective operation at a few days' notice; and would instantly suppress a rebellion, however widely spread, or whencesoever originating.” * When the Pretender landed in North Britain, the Irish Protestants raised the following corps in the support of the house of Hanover, each corps consisting of eight or nine companies (the Tyrone regiment had sixteen companies), all per- fectly armed, equipped, and trained. Leinster raised sixteen regiments of dragoons, and fourteen ditto of foot ; Ulster and Munster, forty regiments of dragoons, and twenty-two of foot ; Connaught, twelve of dragoons, and three of foot. For King William, and in defence of the Reformation, the Irish Protestants raised 40,000 chosen troops; and in 1798, as well as at the time of Elizabeth, of Cromwell, and at numerous other periods, they have been the connecting link between England and Ireland, a bulwark round the throne, and a mound of defence for constitutional freedom. - - 286 PRISON DISCIPLINE.—In the twentieth Report of the Inspectors- general of the Prisons of Ireland, we have a succinct view of the general state of the prisons of Ireland in 1841. The gaols of Ireland are regulated by an act of Parliament passed in the year 1826, viz. 7 Geo. IV., c. 74; at which period the Right Honour- able Henry Goulburn º was Chief Secretary, and under his directions, all the prison acts hitherto in force were consolidated or repealed. By the 55th clause of this act the inspectors-general of prisons are required annually to inspect and report upon each prison of every description in the kingdom, and every place where lunatics or idiots are confined, which report is to be divided into two circuits, and transmitted to the Chief Secretary of Ireland, and laid before both Houses of Parliament. A copy of this report, as it respects each county, is to be sent to the several grand juries; and, exclusive of these, the act requires a general statement of the progress of prison discipline in each district. County GAOLs.--It may be useful to place on record a short account of the state the prisons of Ireland were found in by the Inspectors-General of Prisons, on their first appointment in the year 1821, in order to show what has been effected since that period, and to enable the public to judge of the progress that has been made and what remains still to be done. Improvements in this peculiar department can only be gradual, and ought to be the result of public approbation and opinion, grounded on experience of the practical effects of discipline and a Penitentiary system. The Commissioners’ powers under the Prison Act are very properly limited, but the support they have generally received from the grand juries, boards of superintendence and magistracy, has far exceeded their most sanguine expectations; and they gladly bear testimony to the fact, that their suggestions to grand juries for improve- ments in the buildings, in classification, in the employment of prisoners, &c., have always been received with indulgence, and gradually acted upon with Zeal, in most of the counties in Ireland. In 1821, when the Commissioners commenced their important duties, they found the county gaols of Ireland, (with a few valuable exceptions, such as Limerick and Cork,) in a state very unpleasant to revert to. They were for the most part scenes of filth, fraud, and vice, with scarcely one good resident officer, without accommoda- tion, clothing, classification, employment, inspection, school instruction, order, or cleanliness ; the law totally disregarded, male and female prisoners often not separated, spirits sold openly in many gaols, and frequently by the under officers. The expen- diture in the diet amounting to 9d., and in some cases 1s. per head per day, which was a manifest fraud on the county, going on for years unobserved or at least unnoticed; the families of prisoners being frequently fed from the overplus food issued to each prisoner—this fact can scarcely be credited, were it not that the Com- missioners frequently found small bags of meal in the cells, and on asking the reason, * Mr. Goulburn paid great attention to the local improvement of Ireland.—R.M.M. 287 it was averred that it was the saving of the daily issue, kept for handing over to visitors on the market days. In the reports of that day these defects were noticed, and in the following year the grand juries in general took up the subject of prison discipline, the evils complained of were gradually removing, and new gaols or additions were in progress of building, or being presented for, in the counties of Cork City, Drogheda, Roscommon, City of Limerick, Sligo, Monaghan, Longford, Leitrim, Londonderry, Galway, Clare, Kilkenny, Louth, and Dublin. Limerick and Cork counties had already built new gaols, and commenced improve- ments in discipline. In a very few years after, the following counties built large additions or new gaols, viz., Carlow, Donegal, Tyrone, Down, Cavan, Kerry, King's County, Queen's County, Mayo, and Tipperary. And, finally, within these few years, the following counties have erected new gaols, presented for, or are building additions:—Antrim, Westmeath, Meath, Kildare, Waterford County, Wexford, Fermanagh, Town of Galway. And there remain yet to be built—Armagh, City of Kilkenny, City of Waterford, and Dublin City (Newgate). And some of the latter are town gaols, where the grand juries are looking forward to sending their prisoners to the county gaol under the Corporation Act. It is true that in the progress of Prison Discipline, and the increase of crime with the population, many of the above prisons require additional cells, and steps are annually taken to provide them. But, on the whole, none of the evils detailed now exist, nor can exist without being known, inquired into, and remedied. In most of the prisons a new grade of qualified Governors and under-officers are pro- vided, as vacancies occurred, from the good feeling of High Sheriffs, who have liberally abandoned their patronage to the Crand Jurics, Boards of Superintendence, or Inspectors-General of Prisons, and these local Boards of Superintendence which were a new creation under the Prison Act of 1826, have, in almost every instance, worked well, and to their zeal is owing most of the improvements in the Irish Gaol department. Classification of prisoners according to crime, is a new feature within these 20 years, and in every gaol it is carried on to a considerable extent. The employment and industry of prisoners are increasing, and in some degree to be found in all Irish gaols, without exception. The Inspection of a Turnkey over each class and School instruction is the practice in each gaol, and a gaol drcss for cvery prisoner is very general; and the cleanliness and good order of all the County prisons is borne testimony to by the Judges of Assize, and many strangers who now frequently visit these establishments. One more vital improvement remains to be noticed, viz.: the change from licentiousness to order, in the female side of the prison. The Act of 1826 provided for matrons and female assistants to regulate the female criminals, and now, in all gaols, they are separated from the male classes, clothed instructed, and employed, frequently visited by benevolent ladies, under the regu- lations of Mrs. Fry; and the result has been the reform of many poor criminals, whose case must have been hopeless, under the former vicious system, previous to 1820, when almost promiscuous intercourse was permitted in some gaols without control or inspection. The hospitals, the mode of keeping the accounts of prisons, and the various duties required from the resident and non-resident officers, and an ample oppor- tunity given for all reasonable complaints from prisoners, have been all gradually provided for and regulated ; and though many difficulties exist, and from the nature 288 of the department, improvements will continually be offered for adoption, yet, on the whole, the Commissioners say they cannot but be gratified with the state of the gaols, as a national system, under due restraint and inspection, and a legal remedy provided (however tedious) for all evils. An extensive Female Prison has been in operation for the last seven years, in Dublin, on the Commissioners’ suggestion to the Irish Government. It is an expe- riment at present peculiar to Ireland, as to the possibility of such a system being carried on with usefulness and effect by female officers, quite unconnected with a Male Prison. It is succeeding at present far beyond original expectations. BRIDEwBLLS.–The minor prisons of Ireland, under this head, amount to about II0, and, in 1821, amounted to 140, including Manor Court Prisons. They were all, with four exceptions, literally Black Holes or Dungeons, and so called commonly ; there was no registry of the inmates, no food, or inspection ; and committals to them, as well as discharges, were unknown beyond the immediate neighbourhood. It was a system opening a door for the greatest abuse ; and the Commissioners say they could detail instances of prisoners being detained for months in them, and being allowed to sleep out of them at night, as an act of necessary benevolence. It is gratifying to state that this national nuisance has been swept away by the Prison Act of l826, submitted by the Commissioners to the Right Honourable Henry Goulburn, then Chief Secretary of Ireland, who took much pains to correct all these abuses, and worded much of the Act himself, by altering and correcting some of the suggestions. Almost all the Manor Court Prisons, and several Bridewells, were abolished by this Act of Parliament, and the remainder placed under sound regulations and checks; inspection was provided for, quarterly returns made to the Commissioners’ office of all committals and discharges, and food secured for the prisoners, repairs enforced, and furniture obtained. This improvement took effect at once, as all that were not thus improved under the Act were declared abolished, if his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant so ordered it; and the fact is, that now the whole country is provided with neat small temporary prisons for use at Sessions, and till prisoners can be removed to the County Gaol, and most of them are new buildings. There are only six exceptions, viz.: the towns of Antrim, Cove, Youghal, Woodford, Borrisokane, and Lismore; and at Borrisokane and Woodford new bridewells are about to be erected. Compare this improved state of things, with the evidence given by the member for Limerick, before the House of Lords, in the year 1819, viz.:- “The most prolific source of suffering in the Prison discipline of Ireland may be traced to the County Bridewells. They are wretched places of confinement, one of which is to be found in each town and village almost. There is no possibility of enforcing the regulations of the Law. In a miserable building, prisoners are confined for days and weeks, without yards, without inspection, or care of health or morals; men and women are thrown together in cold cells, without bedding, on damp clay floors ; no chaplain attends, no surgeon is appointed, no regular supply of food is provided ; all is fraud, oppression, and misery.” DEBTors’ PRIsons.—Many of these have been recently abandoned, and all the Manor Court Prisons for trifling debts are swept away. All fees have been abolished, and pauper debtors are fed ; and notwithstanding the difficulty that presents itself to improvement, from the unwillingness to use coercion with prisoners not criminals, yet much has been effected towards obtaining cleanliness and good order. LUNATIC As YLUMS.–The places of confinement, public and private, are placed, by act of Parliament, under the Commissioners’ inspection. The only public asylums 289 that existed when they commenced duty in 1821, for the cure of this malady, were those of Dublin and Cork, exclusive of a few private asylums, chiefly in the neigh- bourhood of Dublin, which are conducted on humane and judicious principles ; all others were temporary receptacles for idiots and incurable cases, in the gaols and houses of industry scattered through the county towns, and where no means could be provided for the cure and proper care of such patients. Classification and healthy employment could not be obtained in such places, and their cases appeared hopeless. At the Commissioners’ suggestion, in the year 1823, an act of Parliament passed, legalising District Lunatic Asylums, at the joint expense of three or more counties. In the following year, three of them were in progress of building, viz. at Armagh, Limerick, and Belfast : regulations were made by the Commissioners, and approved of by Government, for regulating these asylums, and there now exist nine of them, on a large scale, including in their several districts every county in Ireland. Thus is established a National School for discovering the best mode of treating this disease, a ground-work is laid for a house of reception for all pauper cases of lunacy or idiotism in the kingdom, only requiring an additional wing to the building, as numbers increase. The management of these asylums, both medical and moral, has met with universal approbation, and the cures effected, and convalescents sent home, are proofs of the soundness of the treatment. The expense is heavy on the public doubtless, and no pains should be spared to lessen it; but as a great national effort to relieve all such cases, the Commissioners are of opinion it is not equalled in Europe or America. PROGREss of PRIson DISCIPLINE IN THE YEAR 1841.-Early in the last year, a new and important subject in Prison Discipline has engaged the attention of the public, viz. –the total separation of prisoners from each other, through the means of separate cells by day and might, separate yards for exercise, and separate stalls in the chapel. This system, in its more perfect state, reached Europe from America; but it had for some years been practised in Glasgow Bridewell with inferior accommodation, but with considerable success. It has now become more general, the latter prison has been fitted up with this view—an extensive building has been erected in Perth for this Penitentiary system—a model Prison for the same purpose is erecting in London, by the Government, and the Middlesex House of Correction carries on the separate system to a considerable extent. In the com- mencement of the last year, the Irish Commissioners obtained an Act of Parliament legalising this separation under regulations; the subject was brought before the Grand Juries in Ireland, and the Boards of Superintendence, by a circular letter from the Commissioners, accompanied by a small plan for heating and ventilating the cells, and enlarging a few of them, with the view of gradually commencing the system, on economical terms, and trying by experiment, its effects, previous to recommending so large an outlay as altering the entire prison would cost; and it is but right to state, that the then Inspectors General of Prisons, had some doubts as to the expediency of the system being adopted at once, without some checks and protection being first established against the possibility of its degenerating into anything like cruelty, from the want of sufficient guards and inspection, or into injury to the health of individuals, from too continued a confinement, unless accompanied by constant employment, the use of books, and frequent intercourse with officers or visitors, not prisoners. County GAOLs.-A Commission has been employed for some months to revise the Grand Jury Laws for Presentments, &c. &c., and to inquire into the duties and emoluments of all Prison Officers, &c., and to report on measures for improving the 290 system and all expenditure now practised in each county in Ireland. At present, the Governors and Resident Officers have no certainty for the permanence of their situation, beyond one year, or for the amount of their income, beyond half a year. To the liberality of the Grand Juries, and the zealous support given to the Com- missioners, by most of the Boards of Superintendence, Ireland is much indebted for the present good state of the gaols, and the following progress in employment and discipline within the last year :- Antrim and Tipperary.—In the counties of Antrim and Tipperary two new prisons are presented for, and in progress, on a large scale, and provided with ample means, by ventilated large cells, &c., to carry on the separate system. In the former case it will be a model prison in Ireland for all Penitentiary arrangements. That at Nenagh, is occasioned by the county being lately divided into two Ridings, and should the High Sheriff appoint a highly-qualified Governor, it will also be a model for the separate system. This improvement is the more valuable, because in the county of Antrim there has hitherto existed no means of carrying on any sound principles of discipline from the total want of accommodation, and in Tipperary county, the excellent Gaol system pursued was materially counteracted by the crowded state of the Clonmel prison. In the five counties of Clare, Fermanagh, Kilkenny, Wicklow, and Wexford, additions have been presented for, and are in progress, which will enable the Boards of Superintendence to try the separate confinement of individuals, as the Act per- mits. Clare prison has always been well managed, and reported on most favourably, but the other four County Gaols were so deficient in accommodation, that the buildings in progress will prove eventually a manifest improvement in prison disci- pline, within the last year. Down, Queen’s County, Kildare, Donegal, Mayo, Galway, Cork, Meath, Leitrim, Londonderry, Sligo, Longford, Limerick, Westmeath, Monaghan, King’s County, Tyrone, Roscommon. In these eighteen Counties new gaols have been erected within the last fifteen years, and prison discipline in all its branches has been gradually progressing, especially in the important point of employing the prisoners in useful and profitable work. In none of these counties has any provision been yet made for the entire separation of prisoners, but the Commissioners doubt not that the several Grand Juries will liberally provide for it, as soon as a little more experience has proved the importance and value of it in practice. Carlow, Cavan, Kerry, and Waterford. —In Carlow and Cavan, additions have been made which enable the Board of Superintendence to conduct the details of discipline in a very creditable manner; each prisoner has a cell at night. The employment of the prisoners in useful work is increasing, and the subject of total separation is under consideration.—In Kerry Gaol, at Tralee, a large addition is necessary to enable the Officers to proceed with a Penitentiary system, and espe- cially in the female classes. What can be done in the way of good order, with the present accommodation, is effected by a zealous Local Inspector, and the Resident Officers.--The Waterford County Gaol is remarkable for its rapid progress in every species of discipline and good order, since the appointment of the present Governor, 291 who has made the worst gaol in the kingdom an example to others for interior economy, industry, and discipline. Armagh and Louth.-These are the only prisons that have remained for many years without material alteration or addition. The County of Louth Gaol at Dundalk, is very creditably managed. County of Dublin and City of Dublin.—The County of Dublin Gaol, at Kilmainham, remains at present in the same state as reported for many years—an ill-constructed gaol, and much retarded in discipline by the detention in it of Government convicts, previous to embarkation. This difficulty, we have every reason to believe, is on the eve of being removed by a depôt for male convicts being established in the vacant prison in Smithfield. On this being effected, we believe a great progress will be made in the year 1842, in the internal management of the prison, by establishing employment for all the prisoners, as well as economy in the diet, and more accommodation for classification. The Board of Super- intendence are disposed to give every aid in their power. In the City of Dublin Prisons, the Commissioners report that the system established for the classification of prisons, by the Privy Council, works well, viz. : —The tried males in Richmond Bridewell; the tried females in Grangegorman-lane Penitentiary ; and the untried males and females in the City Gaol of Newgate. Grangegorman-lane Female Prison continues to support the hopes entertained of its usefulness as a penitentiary for this class of prisoners, separated totally from a male prison. The separate system is carried on with good effect, and several prisoners, at the expiration of their sentences, have been, at their own request, sent to the two charitable institutions, “ Refuges for Destitute and Penitent Female Prisoners,” and many have been thus restored to society, reformed characters. The Richmond Bridewell for tried males is in progress of becoming a valuable institution. The great difficulty is in procuring useful and profitable work, and establishing for the boys' class (who have been removed here from Smithfield), a system of trades and instruction, calculated to make them industrious and good subjects. Town GAOLs.-Cork, Drogheda, Galway, Kilkenny, Limerick, Waterford.— In Cork, Galway, Limerick, and Drogheda, new town Gaols have been erected or considerably added to, some years since. - BRIDEwBLLs.—There are in Ireland more than 100 of these minor prisons; they are only used as temporary places of confinement till removed to the County Gaol, are chiefly confined to the Sessions towns, and contain only a few cells, seldom exceeding eight, with two day-rooms and yards for the separation of the sexes, and only one keeper. These prisons are recognised by the Irish Prison Act, and pro- vision made for the registry of prisoners, as to their committal and discharge, for the diet of those unable to feed themselves, and for the furniture, blankets, &c. New bridewells are building and nearly finished in the towns of Ballinamore, Market Hill, Magherafelt, Ballinasloe, Gort, and Tipperary ; and there only remain the following towns to be provided with new prisons, to enable the Commissioners to report the system to be working well as respects the legal accommodation, viz — Antrim, Kinsale, Youghal, Cove, Lismore, Woodford, Newry, and Borrisokane. In the two latter, presentments are in progress and expected to be made at next Assizes. In the counties of Longford, Carlow, and Kildare only, there are no bridewells ; but in all the other counties the Board of Superintendence have generally taken charge of these minor prisons, and receive Reports from them, and the system 292 established by the Boards of the counties of Cork, Clare, Limerick, Queen's County, Tipperary, and Waterford, of occasionally requiring the Governors of the County Gaols to inspect and report upon them, has worked well in securing efficiency on the part of the keepers, and the just expenditure of public money, in repairs and diet. We cannot close this outline of the state of our bridewells and the progress of improvement, without stating our hope that a legislative enactment will secure an adequate salary to all bridewell keepers, and provide for qualified officers being appointed, by some check in the selection resting on competent authority. LUNATIC ASYLUMs.-Public opinion has been much engaged of late years in Europe on the subject of Lunatic Asylums, and the best means of providing for the care and cure of those afflicted with this disease. District Asylums have been for some years established throughout Ireland, under an Act of Parliament, including every county, and the expenses provided for by a proportionate County Cess. Ten extensive new buildings were erected, with some acres of land attached, and it was hoped that a national provision would be thus made for all the Lunatics and Idiots in the kingdom. Had sufficient accommodation been provided for all, doubtless it would be an admirable provision, and peculiar to Ireland ; however, from the number of cases, this extended view of the subject has partially failed ; but the Commissioners look to additions to these Asylums for so desirable an object. These establishments, with a very extensive one in Cork, are the only great Pauper Asylums for such cases, and the success that has attended them in the cure, care, and comfort of the poor inmates has been much admired by all those eminent visitors and persons who are interested in, and capable of judging of, the practice and merits of such institutions. They are all under the care and superintendence of a Board of Governors and a Medical Officer, aided by a moral Manager and Matron, residing in the building. Employment in agriculture, gardening, and other works, has proved eminently successful in the treatment of the disease; and it is gratifying to report that the system (though probably capable of much improvement) is pro- gressing in usefulness and worthy of example. There are only ten private Lunatic Asylums in Ireland, kept for profit by individuals: the inmates appear to be kindly treated, without unnecessary restraint, and amply provided with the comforts required in their unhappy situation. The extensive asylum in Dublin, conducted by the executors of Dean Swift, is well managed, and is creditable to the Directing Committee and the Moral Governor. The foregoing details do great credit to the Inspectors-General of Irish Prisons, who make an annual report to the Secretary of State, on all matters coming within their cognizance. The facts herein stated demonstrate that in the management of the Prisons, as in every other department, the greatest attention has been paid by the British Government. PART WI. HISTORY OF THE IRISH CHURCH, AND ORIGIN OF THE REBELLIONS AND OF THE PENAL ENACTMENTS. CHAPTER XII. Early British and Irish Church ;-Opposition to Romanism ;-Reformation under Henry VIII.;-Rebellions against Protestantism;-Subsequent introduction of a New or Romish Church ;-Cause of the Penal Laws;—Present State of THE IRISH CHURCH. IN tracing the history of the Irish Church, and investigating the origin of the penal enactments against the Roman Catholics, it will be necessary to examine the leading political as well as ecclesiastical events of Irish history: and to ascertain whether the penal laws sprung from religious bigotry, or from State necessity and the imperious rule of self-preservation. Christianity was introduced into the British Isles about the middle or towards the close of the first century. Joseph of Arimathea, it is said, sailed from Judaea to Marseilles, and, crossing France, proceeded to England, where he preached the Gospel and founded Glastonbury Abbey, A.D. 64. This tradition is doubted. The earliest and most accurate ecclesiastical writers are of opinion that St. Paul was the founder of Christianity in Britain; and it is remarkable that the Cathedral of the Metro- polis of the British Empire was, when founded (A.D. 604), called after that Divinely-illuminated man. Lucius, one of the British kings of the seventeen states into which England and Wales were divided at the period of the invasion of the Romans, was converted to Christianity, according to the venerable Bede, A.D. 167. Lucius, after his PART VI. X. 294 conversion, cordially espoused the Christian faith, endeavoured to the utmost of his power to abolish the superstitious rites and human sacrifices of the Druids, and built and endowed many churches; among others, those of London, Winchester, and Gloucester. We are imperfectly acquainted with the progress of Christianity during the third century in England; Origen, writing about the year A.D. 234, remarks, “The power of God our Saviour is even with them who are in Britain shut out from the world.” Tertullian, writing during the same century, mentions “places in the British Isles, inaccessible to the Romans, but which had become subject to the dominion of Christ.” Christianity in Britain suffered from the persecutions of Dio- clesian, the Roman Emperor, at the commencement of the fourth century; at which period, Alban of Verulam was the first British martyr to the faith of Christ. Constantius Chlorus, the prede- cessor of Constantine, A. D. 305, restored peace and toleration to the British Christians. Eusebius, who lived A.D. 325, observes, that some of the Apostles crossed the ocean to the British Isles. St.Chrysostom, writing about the year A.D.890, says, “Although thou didst go unto the ocean and those British Isles—although thou didst sail unto the Euxine Sea—although thou didst go to the Southern quarters, thou shouldst hear all men everywhere discoursing matters out of the Scripture, with another voice indeed, but not with another faith; and with a different tongue, but with an according judgment.” Here we clearly perceive that the Bible was then given to “all men,” and not restricted to the priests. At the council for the settlement of the Donatist Controversy, held in France A.D. 314, three bishops and two subordinates attended to represent the British Church. British representative bishops also attended at the Councils of Nice (A.D. 325), of Sardis (A.D. 347), and of Ariminum (A.D. 359.) [See Collier's Church History.] - . Heresies commenced in the British Church A.D. 360, when Arianism and Pelagianism were disseminated. Thus, while Arius, 295 a Presbyter of the Alexandrian Church, at the Council of Nice denied the Supreme Divinity of the Saviour, and considered Him merely the highest of created beings—Pelagius, a monk of the British Church, was spreading almost equally heretical doc- trines; one of the principal of which asserted that infants are born as free from sin as was Adam before the fall, and that men are capable of being saved by their own merits and free-will, and irrespective of the grace of God. The spread of such pernicious heresies in an infant church necessarily obstructed its progress, and the manner in which they were checked by apparently ordinary means, is in unison with the whole manifestations of the providence of God in his miraculous and merciful preser- vation of the British Church. The Roman power—that Image of Brass with feet of clay—ceased to rule England, and mouldered into decay, as must all merely human empires unsanctified by Christian principles. The Picts and Scots (the Irish were then designated Scots), made frequent harassing incursions from the north into the southern parts of the island, and were only repulsed A.D. 380, by the aid of the Roman forces, under Maximus; but on the withdrawal of the Imperial troops to defend their capital from the Goths, Huns, and Vandals, the British king, Vortigern, was in his extremity compelled to solicit the aid of the Pagan Saxons, who, under their leaders, the brothers Hengist and Horsa, were then deemed invincible and “equal to the gods” in battle. The Saxons, on the expulsion of the Picts and Scots, about the year 450, determined to remain in Britain, and being joined by numerous bodies of their countrymen, they commenced a series of sanguinary contests with the Britons for the possession and sovereignty of the island. Paganism was for a time permitted to triumph over the false principles of Christianity which Arian- ism and Pelagianism had established, and the Saxons became masters of the greater part of England, which they divided into seven kingdoms. The pure Christians, however, kept their faith and retired into Cornwall and Wales, and the fastnesses of the island least accessible to the Saxon invaders. X 2 296 The persecution to which the British Christians were sub- jected by the Pagan Saxons were very severe. Thus, Cerdicus, first King of the West Saxons, (Hampshire, Devonshire, &c.), after a successful battle with the Britons, at Winchester, A.D. 495, killed all the monks belonging to the church of St. Amplialus, and turned it into an idolatrous temple. Paganism for more than a century overshadowed the greater part of England; the mythology of Woden (or Odin) and Thor and the idols of the sun and moon supplanted the spiritual truth of the Gospel and the pure religion of Christ: and although Bangor, in NorthWales, and Caerleon on the river Usk, were still pious and learned depositories of the Christian faith, yet it was not until the year A.D. 597, on the conversion of Ethelbert, the Saxon King of Kent, by Augustine, that Christian principles began generally to resume their sway in Britain. Ireland, however, having been exempt from the Roman con- quests, and unsubjected to Saxon invasion, received the light of Christianity at an early period, most probably from Britain, from the contiguous coasts of Wales or Cornwall, whence missionaries were sent to various countries. Peace, so essential to the inculcation of Christianity, at this time prevailed in Ireland, whose inhabitants were most probably then, for the greater part, of a similar race to those who inhabited the shores of the contiguous islands of Britain; for Tacitus, the Roman Historian, describing Ireland, says “The dispositions and habits of the people differ not much from Britain ;” and at the time of the Roman invasion of Britain, the Damnonii or Dannonii in- habited Cornwall and Devon; and the Belgae or “Firlbogs” other parts of the island; these races were also colonisers of Ireland. At what period Christianity was introduced into Ireland we have no record. St. Patrick is said to have landed in Ireland A.D. 432, bringing with him moral, pious, and honoured persons to preach the Gospel in that country, where, it is said, he had been a slave in his youth, having been captured by some Irish pirates, in his sixteenth year, from his native country, and then sold as a slave for six years to a Pagan Prince in the North of 297 Ireland, near Bally mena, in the county Antrim, where he was employed feeding cattle. When in bondage and tribulation, he says, “The Lord brought me to a sense of the unbelief of my heart, that I might even at a late season call my sins to remem- brance, and turn with all my heart to my Lord, who regarded my low estate, and taking pity on my youth and ignorance, watched over me before I knew Him, or had sense to discern between good and evil, and counselled me and comforted me, as a father doth a son.” (“Confession,” chap. i. § 1.) In Chapter ii. St. Patrick still further, and in equally beautiful and touching language, thus portrays his feelings. “When I had come to Ireland I was employed every day in feeding cattle, and fre- quently in the day I used to have recourse to prayer, and the love of God was thus growing stronger and stronger, and His fear and faith were increasing in me, so that in a single day I would give tterance to as many as an hundred prayers, and in the night almost as many. And I used to remain in the woods too, and on the mountain, and would rise for prayer before daylight, in the midst of snow and ice and rain, and felt no injury from it, nor was there any sloth in me, as I now see, because the Spirit was fervent within me.” (Chap. ii.) And again, thus—“I was not from my childhood a believer in the only God, but continued in death and in unbelief until I was severely chastened: and in truth I have been humbled by hunger and nakedness, and it was my lot to traverse Ireland every day sore against my will, until I was almost exhausted. But this proved rather a benefit to me, because by means of it I have been corrected by the Lord, and he has fitted me for being at this day what was once far from me, so that I should interest or concern myself about the salvation of others, when I used to have no such thoughts even for myself.” On the termination of six years' slavery, St. Patrick gained his liberty; and he says that in a vision he was directed to a distant port, from whence a vessel would convey him home; after his return he was again made a captive, but in sixty days he re-obtained liberty, and joyfully returned to his parents. St. Patrick is by some said to have been a Scotchman, from 298 Kirk Patrick; by others (and which is more probable) he is said to have been a Cornishman. In his “Confessions,” he himself says he was born at Benhaven. It is generally admitted that his parents were British ; his father a deacon, named Calphurnius, and his grandfather a Priest, named Potitus; and that he was educated in Christian principles is evident from the following words in this Confession : “I was brought into Ireland in cap- tivity, along with so many thousands of persons, according to what we deserved, for our turning astray from God and not keeping his commandments; and for being disobedient to our priests who pointed out to us the way of salvation.” It should here be stated that Dr. Ledwich, a celebrated Irish Antiquary, doubts that St. Patrick had any real existence before the ninth century; these doubts were also expressed in 1618 and in 1700; and it is alleged that there is little or no mention of St. Patrick in any of the writers who lived within the three hundred years following the time of his reputed death. This, however, is said to be accounted for by the destruction of the Irish monasteries and libraries, and from the Danish incur- sions which had the same disastrous, desolating, and barbarising effects on Ireland that the Saxon invasions had on Britain. Archbishop Ussher, Bishops Stillingfleet and Lloyd, Collier and Mosheim, agree in receiving the reputed “Confessions” of St. Patrick, and the period of his mission to Ireland, as genuine. Adopting, however, the generally-received opinion, that it was in the fifth and not in the ninth century that St. Patrick proceeded to Ireland from Britain for the conversion of the Irish, let us glance briefly at the event. St. Patrick escaped from slavery in Ireland in his twenty-third year; but in his heart he was desirous of returning thither to preach the Gospel. He describes in his “Confessions” nightly visions, entreating him to return to the people, and walk among them, which he finally resolved on, contrary to the anxious wishes of his parents and seniors. To prepare for his sacred mission, St. Patrick placed himself under the teaching of the celebrated St. Martin, Bishop of Tours 299 with whom he studied several years. It does not appear that St. Patrick ever visited Rome, or that he ever received any com- mission from the Pope, or, as he should be designated, the Bishop of Rome. St. Patrick, it is said, landed on his holy mission first at Wicklow, A.D. 432, but meeting with much opposition from the Pagans, he re-embarked, and landed, it is said, in the Bay of Dun- drum, county Down, whose Prince, Dichu, he soon converted to Christianity. During the next year, A.D. 433, he preached before Leogaire, the chief ruler of the island, at Tarah, county Meath, when the King and many of his subjects became converts to Christianity. From Leinster St. Patrick proceeded to Munster, and converted its King (or Prince) Angus, at Cashel, which was then made the Archbishopric of the province. Finally, after great and pious labours, St. Patrick returned to the county Down, where he founded the Cathedral church of Armagh, A.D. 472, and there died and was buried.* This early minister of Christ may justly be considered the first Christian missionary from Britain for the civilisation of Ireland. In his “Confessions,” written towards the close of his good and well-spent life, he speaks of the abundant grace bestowed on him in permitting him boldly to proclaim everywhere the name of God to “the Irish, who had never before had knowledge of God among them, who worshipped nothing but unclean idols up to that time, and had become of late the Lord's people, and God's children.” Throughout the life of St. Patrick, and in the acknowledged genuine writings of him, we find no trace of Popish doctrines; the study of the Bible was everywhere inculcated, and it was expounded day and night to the people; no celibacy of the priesthood was enjoined (his father and grandfather were priests); no invocation to saints, no earthly remission of sins, no transubstantiation, no mention of Purgatory, no prayers for the dead, no miraculous and absurd legends, no holy relics, no subservience to tradition, * St. Patrick died on the 17th March, on which day his festival is kept; as the early Christians considered the day of their death in this world the date of their birth into another world, and therefore most deserving of commemoration. 300 no earthly rule of guidance but the Scriptures, no supremacy acknowledged to the Bishops of Rome. The religion of St. Patrick was the faith of the pure and primitive Christian Church, before the Word and its doctrines became perverted by Popish delusion and artfully-inculcated superstition, by which foreign Romish priests sought to bind the bodies and souls of men to the will of one or more individuals.” It would be irrelevant to the purpose to trace the progress of the Irish Church from St. Patrick, and his worthy successor, St. Columba, the Irish Apostle of the Highlands and Western Islands of Scotland (A.D. 565) and the founder and first Abbot of Iona. Nennius, who wrote A.D. 858, says that St. Patrick founded 365 churches, ordained 365 bishops and 3,000 pres- byters, and that in Connaught alone he converted 12,000 persons to Christianity. It is on record, that St. Columba founded three hundred monasteries and churches in Ireland and Scotland. Like St. Patrick, he makes no mention of Purgatory or of any other Romish rite; the dissemination and expounding of the Scriptures was his great delight and business in life; and he held no communion and received no mission from the Bishop of Rome. Before quitting this branch of the subject, it may be necessary to observe, that the early British and Irish Churches were closely united in doctrines; and the Universities of Oxford and Cam- bridge are said to have been originally established or refounded by distinguished and pious Irishmen, who then held much and deserved influence in England. But the physical contests * The Bishop of Rome assumed the title and authority of Prince of the Patriarchs, which was doubtless the origin of the title of Pope, or Pontiff. The Bishop of Rome was, even in the fourth century, merely a provincial Bishop— with no power over his contemporaries and co-equals, the Bishops of Antioch, Alexandria, and Constantinople. By a pretended hereditary succession, he claimed the authority, prerogatives, and rights of St. Peter, the supposed Prince of the Apostles, and arrogantly, as well as blasphemously, gave himself out for the supreme head of the Universal Church, the vicegerent of Christ on earth 1 † Johannes Erigena was invited over by Alfred, A.D. 883 or 884. For an interesting detail connected with this subject, see a Speech delivered at Mayo, in 1826, by Eneas MacDonnell, Esq., an exemplary Catholic gentleman, whose writings have been so useful to his country, and who cannot be called a “Romanist,” but truly a “ Catholic.” 301 between the British and Saxon races were succeeded by con- tentions between the Saxon Church and that of the British and Irish—the Saxon claiming authority from the Bishop of Rome ; the British and Irish repudiating any supremacy in the Romish Church. During the Nestorian Controversy, in the sixth century, the Irish bishops united in opposing the views taken by the Romish Church on this subject; and Baronius heads his Annals (A.D. 566) thus—“THE IRISH BISHops SCHISMATICs.” The Irish Church also opposed the Romish Church as to the proper time for the solemnisation of Easter. - The British bishops, on the arrival of St. Augustine, considered themselves totally independent of any foreign jurisdiction. St. Augustine, aided by King Ethelbert, invited them to a conference A.D. 601, and endeavoured to persuade them to enter into the views of the Bishop of Rome—Pope Gregory; but they objected to receive Augustine for their Archbishop; whereupon he menaced them that they would ere long feel the power of the Saxon swords; and accordingly, soon after, Ethelfrid, the pagan king of Northumberland, invaded Wales with great slaughter, and among others put to death twelve hundred monks at Bangor, in cold blood. Laurentius, who succeeded Augustine in the See of Canterbury, also endeavoured to bring the British and Irish (then called Scots) Church under his control. Laurentius says, “The Irish differ not at all from the Britons in their habits. For Bishop Daganus, when he came to us, would not take meat with us, no, not so much as in the same lodging where we were eating.” This hostility to the Romish Church is still further exemplified by the following stanza, translated from the Welsh of Taliesin, Chief of the Bards, who wrote about A. D. 620. “Woe be to that priest yborn, That will not cleanly weed his corn, - And preach his charge among ! Woe be to that shepherd, I say, That will not watch his fold alway, As to his office doth belong ! Woe be to him that doth not keep From Romish wolves his shocp, With staff and weapon strong t”* * From the “Chronicles of Wales,” quoted by Archbishop Ussher, in his “Reli- gion of the Ancient Irish.” 302 Wilfrid, a Romish priest, was chosen Archbishop of York A.D. 664, but at first declined the office, lest he should receive his consecration from those who had been ordained by the Irish Bishops, whose communion the Apostolic See rejected. The rejection was reciprocal. Aldhelm, Abbot of Malmesbury, by direction of a synod of bishops, wrote, in a letter still extant, to Geruntius, King of the Britons of West Wales (or Cornwall), A.D. 690, urging a union between the British and Romish Churches; he shows, in the most forcible language, the utter contempt and abhorrence which the British and Irish Churches had for pro- fessors of the Romish doctrines. His language is very remark- able: thus—“The British priests on the other side of the channel of the Severn, puffed up with a conceit of the peculiar purity of their own conversation, do utterly abominate the thought of communion with us, insomuch that they will not condescend, either to join in prayers with us at church, or to sit at meat at the same table with us in the kindly intercourse of society : nay, the very fragments that remain of our dishes, and what is left after our refreshments, they throw out to be eaten by their gluttonous dogs and filthy pigs. The vessels too and cups which we use, they take care to have scoured and purified, either with sandy clay from the gravel- pit, or with yellow ashes from their cinders. They cannot bring themselves to salute us peaceably. . . . . . . But further, if any of our people, that is, the Catholic party, will go to them for the purpose of living among them, they do not condescend to admit such persons to their company and society, until they are forced to perform a quarantine of forty days’ penance.” One of the canons of the Anglo-Saxon Church, compiled about A.D. 700, is to this effect—“That such as have received ordination from the bishops of the Scots (i.e., the Irish) or Britons, who in the matter of Easter+ and the tonsure are not united to the * Bonifacii Epistolae, No. 44. + Some of the early Christians, particularly those of lesser Asia, differed from the Romish Church in celebrating Easter, on the third day after the Passover—on what- ever day of the week it might fall, and did not restrict it to a Sunday. The tonsure, by which the Irish was long distinguished from the Romish Church—consisted in the Irish shaving off the hair in front of the head from ear to ear, allowing it to grow behind—in this consisted their tonsure ; the Romish persuasion, on the other 303 Catholic Church, must again by imposition of hands be confirmed by a Catholic bishop, &c.” Bede, writing A.D. 781, says, that “even to this day it is the manner of the Britons to entertain a contempt for the faith and religion of the English, and to hold no more intercourse with them of any sort than they would with Pagans.” The historian Hume adverts to the acknowledged independence and self-control of the original and truly Christian Church of Ireland. He says—“The Irish followed the doctrines of her first teachers, and never acknowledged any subjection to the See of Rome.” Bede tells us that the celebrated St. Colmar, an Irishman, was bishop of Lindisferne; a council was called upon to dispute the point of the celebration of Easter. St. Colmar argued thus:— “This Easter, which I used to observe, I received from my elders, who sent me bishop hither, which all our fathers, men beloved of God, are known to have celebrated after the same manner, which, that it may not seem unto any to be contemned and rejected, is the same which the blessed Evangelist St. John, the disciple especially beloved by our Lord, with all the churches that he did oversee, is read to have celebrated. I marvel how such men call that absurd in which we follow the example of so great an Apostle, one who was thought worthy of reposing upon the bosom of his Lord ; and can it be believed that such men as Our vener- able father Columbkill and his successors would have thought or acted things contrary to the precepts of the sacred writings?” St. Colmar defended the Church of Ireland, while Wilfrid defended the Church of Rome; and it is on record, that Frido- genus, a Roman Catholic, informs us that St. Colmar still further added thus:–“ We abide by the custom of our fathers, which was given to us by Polycarp, the disciple of St. John.” About the year A.D. 553, a question arose about the celebrated “Three chapters,” which naturally “awakened the alarm of the See of Rome.” hand, were accustomed to shave the hair from the top, leaving only a circle of it to grow round the head at the lowermost part—this they absurdly professed to have derived from St. Peter. * Ussher's Religion of the Ancient Irish, chap. x. † Hist, Ec. lib. ii. cap. 20, 304 The Irish took a part opposed to Rome. Cardinal Baronius, in his Annals, A.D. 566, says, “All the bishops that were in Ireland with most earnest study rose up conjointly for the defence of the three chapters;* and when they perceived that the Church of Rome did both revive the condemnation of the three chapters, and strengthened the fifth Synodi with her consent, they departed from her, and clave to the rest of the schismatics, animated with that vain confidence that they did stand for the Catholic faith while they defended those things that were con- cluded in the Council of Chalcedon.”: It would be unnecessary to multiply further instances || in corroboration of the assertion that the early Irish and British Churches were truly apostolic—that is, of the pure and primitive faith of the Apostles; that they denied the superior authority of a Bishop of Rome, called a Pope; and that for several centuries they kept free from the heresies, superstitions, and enslaving doctrines of the Church of Rome. To trace the progress of Learning and of Christianity in the sixth, seventh, and eighth centuries throughout Britain—including England, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland, would be out of place; suffice it to say, that the Christian missionaries and others * The “three chapters” supported the alleged Nestorian heresy, or doctrine taught by Nestorius, Bishop of Constantinople—namely, that God, the Word, and the Man Christ Jesus, were different persons under the same appearance. This doctrine was condemned by the third general Council held at Ephesus, A.D. 431, at which two hundred bishops were present. The “three chapters” defended Nesto- rius, who most probably viewed the Triune of the Godhead spiritually, and endea- voured to explain it by separate personality. † The Fifth Synod, or Council of Constantinople, condemned the “three chapters,” and confirmed the acts of the previous four Councils. The decrees of the fifth Synod were long rejected by bishops in Italy and Africa. # The Council, or Synod of Chalcedon was held A.D. 451, and attended by 630 bishops, who condemned the then rising doctrine that “there is but one nature com- pounded of the Divine and human, instead of two distinct natures united in one person.’’ - | See a most valuable and instructive little work, termed, “A Primer of the Church History of Ireland from the Introduction of Christianity to the Formation of the modern Irish Branch of the Church of Rome,” recently published in Dublin by the Rev. Robert King. The work ought to be widely disseminated; it might induce many of the Roman Catholic Church to return to the precepts and independence of the early Irish Church, and to think and act for themselves, 305 frequently passed from one country to another, and that the Irish Church held out against the Romish Church much more vigorously than the British or Saxon Churches, which, even in the reign of Alfred, became corrupted—Alfred having intro- duced from Rome, where he was partly educated, the veneration for relics. - During the ninth century, Ireland suffered severely from the continual and devastating ravages of the Danes, Norwegians, and other northern tribes, who came in swarms from their own inclement climate and sterile shores to plunder or establish themselves on the temperate and more fertile coasts of Ireland. The desolation caused by these fierce barbarians (then Pagans) was extreme. They traversed the whole island, plundered and burnt the chief cities and towns, massacred, without distinction, persons of every age, sex, or condition; hundreds of monks perished by the sword, and the Christian clergy were in particular the victims of their ferocity. In the county Down, at the Monastery of Bangor, nine hundred monks were put to the sword ; and similar atrocities, with the dates thereof, are recorded as having occurred at Waterford, Lismore, Cork, Limerick, Ferns, Clonfert, Slane, Kildare, Clon- macknoise, Kells, Clonard, Glendaloch, Swords, and other places. Armagh was repeatedly invaded, pillaged, and burnt—three times in one month, A.D. 831. Again, in the years 840, 848, 852, 869, 891, and 1015—when the Primate, clergy, and students were massacred or driven from the country. Ireland was at this period divided into five petty kingdoms— Leinster, Ulster, Munster, Connaught, and Meath—one of whose rulers was nominally acknowledged as chief monarch of the whole island. But this regal federal alliance was far more weak and insuf- ficient for all useful purposes than even the federal republicanism of the United States in the present day. The five Irish Kings were unable to cope with Turgesius, son of Harold Harfager, King of Norway, who invaded Ireland with a numerous predatory body, A.D. 815, and whose career was everywhere marked by desola- tion, rapine, and murder. - 306 However repulsed, the defeat was but temporary; new and more sanguinary swarms—like locusts in search of food—arrived from the Scandinavian forests; attacking first theseaports, and then, emboldened by success, penetrating into the interior, and sacking and burning every town that offered the least resistance. In the year 838, Turgesius took Dublin by storm, and declared himself Supreme Monarch of Ireland—a dignity then held by Malachy I. Turgesius persecuted the Christians everywhere, and compelled them to seek safety by concealment in the woods and in caves. The monasteries were razed to the ground, the libraries burned, and the churches that were spared the flames, were converted into heathen temples. The effect on Ireland of such ruthless invasions for nearly three centuries may be readily imagined,—civilisation rapidly disappeared, and although the Danes had passed from Paganism to a nominal Christianity, and planted Ostman, or Eastman (so the Danes were called) bishoprics in Dublin, Waterford, and Limerick, in subordination to the Archbishops of Canterbury, yet the greater part of Ireland had relapsed into barbarism, leaving but few vestiges of its former condition ; while the con- tests between the Irish Christians and the Danes continued unabated with varied success to either party. At the beginning of the eleventh century Malachy II., then Supreme Monarch of Ireland, was displaced to make room for the celebrated Brian Boiromhe, or Boru, King of Munster, by whose valour and wisdom it was hoped the Danes would be expelled. Brian entered on his arduous duties in his seventy-sixth year, and made great efforts to renovate the country. He fell in battle with the Danes at Clontarf, on Good Friday, 23rd April, A.D. 1014, in the eighty-eighth year of his age, after a long and sanguinary contest, in which the Danes were defeated, although Brian was betrayed by the treachery of Malachy, who retired from the battle with the forces of Meath. Fresh reinforcements, however, arrived from Denmark, and in the very next year Armagh, Clonard, Swords, and other towns, were plundered by the Danes, whose disastrous ravages continued 307 throughout the eleventh century, wherever and whenever there was anything to plunder, or the slightest appearance of accumu- lating wealth. The Danes still held sway in Dublin, Waterford, and other places, although the quintuple regal federal alliance with a Supreme Monarch of all Ireland still existed. . In the year 1074, Gothric, king of the Danes in Dublin, with the “consent of the clergy and people of Dublin, chose one Patrick for their bishop, and directed him into England to be con- secrated by Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, who sent him back with commendatory letters as well to the said Gothric, King of the Ostmans,as to Terdeluchus, or Tirlogh, the Chief King or Monarch of the Irish.” On the death of Patrick, A.D. 1085, Donatus, one of Lanfranc's own monks, was consecrated there and sent over as Bishop of Dublin. These bishops only exercised episcopal office within the walls of the city. The people of Waterford, following the example of Dublin, erected a bishopric, and the new bishop, Malchus, a monk of Winchester, was sent for consecration to Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury. Gregory was made Bishop of Dublin, A.D. 1122, and the writ of Henry I. to the Archbishop of Canterbury was as follows:– “Henry, King of England, to Ralph, Archbishop of Canter- bury, greeting:—the King of Ireland hath signified to me by his writ, and the burgesses of Dublin, that they have chosen this Gregory for their bishop, and send him unto you to be conse- crated ; wherefore, I wish you, in compliance with their request, to perform his consecration without delay. Witness, Ranulph, our Chancellor, at Windsor.” - The Irish Church still struggled against any foreign authority, whether that of the Archbishop of Canterbury or the Bishop of Rome. This is seen in the following extract of a letter from the whole assembly of the clergy in Dublin to the Archbishop of Can- terbury—“Know wou for verily that the Bishops of Ireland have great indignation towards us, and that Bishop most of all that dwelleth at Armagh, because we will not obey their ordination but will always be wnder your government.” 308 We are now approaching the period of the landing of Henry II. in Ireland, and yet there is no trace of the Irish Church having been up to that time in subjection to the See of Rome. The letter of Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, to Samuel, Bishop of Dublin, A.D. 1110, given in page 3 of this work, shows indeed that Canterbury claimed and exercised a jurisdiction over the Ostman bishops in Dublin and Waterford. One of the strong reasons for Popes Adrian IV. and Alexander III. granting Bulls to Henry II. for the occupation of Ireland, was with a view of bringing Ireland under Papal sway, which the Irish Church had hitherto strongly resisted, and even refused to pay “Peter's Pence"—namely, a tax of one penny levied on each house in England, and first granted by Ina, King of the West Saxons, A.D. 725, for the establishment and support of an English college at Rome. The Bull of Pope Adrian IV. (who was an English- man), is as follows:– BULL OF POPE ADRIAN IV,. ADDRESSED TO KING HENRY II. OF ENGLAND, (A.D. 1155,) GRANTING HIM “THE PRIVILEGE of TAKING PossEssIon of IRELAND AND THE ISLAND'S ADJACENT, SAVING THE RIGHTS OF THE CHURCH of RomE AND OF OTHER CHURCHES.” “Adrian, Bishop, servant of the servants of God, to our well-beloved son in Christ, the illustrious King of the English, Health and Apostolical Benediction. “Your highness contemplates the laudable and profitable work of gaining a glorious reputation on earth, and enhancing the recompense of future bliss in heaven, by turning your thoughts, in the true spirit of a Catholic prince, to widen- ing the bounds of the Church, and explaining the true Christian faith to ignorant and uncivilised tribes, and exterminating the nurseries of vices from the heritage of the Lord : and in order to the better execution of this project, you implore the counsel and countenance of the Apostolic See. In which matter the more mature the deliberation and the greater the discretion with which you proceed, so much greater, we trust, will be the success that will, with the Lord’s permission, attend your exertions. “Certainly there is no doubt but that Ireland and all the islands upon which Christ the Sun of Righteousness hath shined, and which have received instruction in the Christian faith, do belong of right to St. Peter and the Holy Roman Church, as your grace also admits. Wherefore we are the more ready to introduce into them a faithful plantation, and a stock acceptable to God, in proportion as we are convinced from conscientious motives that this is urgently required of us. “You have signified to us, son well-beloved in Christ, your desire to enter the island of Ireland, in order to bring that people into subjection to laws, and to exter- minate the nurseries of vices from the country; and that you are willing to pay to St. Peter an annual tribute of one penny for every house, and to preserve unin- jured and inviolate the ecclesiastical rights of that land. 309 “We therefore, treating your pious and laudable desire with the favour which it deserves, and graciously acceding to your petition, express our will and pleasure that in order to widen the bounds of the Church, to check the spread of vice, to reform morals and inculcate virtues, in order to the advancement of the Christian religion, you should enter that island, and do what shall tend to the honour of God, and the welfare of that land. And let the people of that land receive you in an honourable manner, and respect you as their lord : provided always that ecclesias- tical rights be uninjured and inviolate, and the annual payment of one penny for every house be secured to St. Peter and the Holy Roman Church. “If then you shall think fit to carry out to its execution the plan which you have conceived in your mind, endeavour diligently to improve that nation by incul- cating good morals: and exert yourself, both personally and by means of such agents as you employ, whom you shall have found suitable to the work, for their faith, conversation, and life, that the Church may be adorned there, the religion of the Christian faith be planted and grow, and the things pertaining to the honour of God and the salvation of souls be ordered by you in such a way, that you may deserve to obtain from God a higher degree of reward in eternity, and succeed in gaining on earth a name glorious throughout all generations.” The arrogant assumption of authority where none previously existed is manifest in this document, in which it is absurdly asserted that “ Ireland do belong of right to St. Peter and the Holy Roman Church.” The Normans, not the Saxons, then ruled in England, and the struggle between the Civil and Ecclesiastical power for pre- eminence was commencing in the persons of Henry II, and Thomas à Becket. Henry was in no hurry to accept a sovereignty which he must have been conscious ought not to have been assumed by the Bishop of Rome; and, therefore, for nearly twenty years the Bull of Adrian was unheeded; and it was not until Henry's subjects, Robert Fitzstephen, Maurice Fitzgerald, Raymond Le Gros, Strongbow, and others, had landed at Waterford, A.D. 1170 and 1171, by invitation from Dermot Macmorough, king of Leinster, and commenced the expulsion of the Danes, that Henry resolved on the complete annexation of Ireland to the Crown of England. Pope Alexander, the successor of Adrian, eagerly covetous for “ Peter's Pence,” which the Irish Church had hitherto strenu- ously refused, issued a Bull, A.D. 1172, confirming the grant of his predecessors of the “Lordship of Ireland,” but specially enjoining “the annual payment of one penny for every house in PART VI. Y 310 Ireland,” which people his Holiness called “a barbarous nation,” with “filthy practices.” It will be seen by the Bull—which is as follows—that Alexander describes the Irish Church as having been hitherto “in a disorderly state,” meaning thereby, probably, that it protested against the supremacy of the Bishop of Rome, and refused to “pay pence to Blessed Peter and the Holy Roman Church, as in England.” BULL of Pop E ALEXANDER III., ADDRESSED TO THE SAME KING HENRY II., con FIRMING THE PRECED ING BULL OF POPE ADRIAN Iv.–A.D. 1172. “ Alexander, Bishop, servant of the servants of God, to our well-beloved son in Christ, the illustrious king of the English, Health and Apostolical Bene- diction. “Forasmuch as those grants of our predecessors, which are known to have been made on reasonable grounds, are worthy to be confirmed by a permanent Sanction; We therefore, following in the footsteps of the late venerable Pope Adrian, and considering the fruits of our desire, do ratify and confirm the permission of the said Pope, given you, relative to the lordship of the kingdom of Ireland : (reserv- ing to Blessed Peter and the Holy Roman Church, as in England, so also in Ireland, the annual payment of one penny for every house :) to the end that the filthy practices of that land may be abolished, and the barbarous nation, which is called by the Christian name, may through your clemency attain to some decency of manners : and that, when the Church of that country, which has been hitherto in a disorderly state, shall have been reduced to order, that people may by your means possess for the future the reality as well as the name of the Christian pro- fession.” Henry II., on his landing at Waterford, 19th October, 1171, was received as a FRIEND and ALLY by the Irish, and not as an invader. The trifling hostile opposition experienced was prin- cipally from the Danes, and the Irish connected with them, at Waterford, Wexford, and Dublin. Roger Hoveden, a Romish Historian of that day, says that “All the Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots of all Ireland came to the King of England, (at Waterford), and received him for king and lord of Ireland; swearing fealty to him and his heirs, and the power of reigning over them for ever; and then they gave him their instruments. And after the example set them by the clergy, the aforesaid kings and princes of Ireland, (namely the Kings of Cork, Limerick, Ossory, Meath, and Reginald of Water- ford, who had been summoned by King Henry's command to 3.11 appear in his presence, and almost all the nobles of Ireland, (except the King of Connaught, who claimed to be lord of the entire island, all these) “ did in like manner receive Henry, King of England, for lord and King of Ireland, and they became his men, and swore fealty to him and his heirs against all men.” Hoveden's history contains a list of the four archbishops and twenty-nine bishops then existing in Ireland ; and says that “all these as well archbishops as bishops received Henry, King of England, and his heirs, for their kings and lords for ever, which they also confirmed by their written instruments.’” Roderick O'Conner, king of Connaught, and nominally ruler of all Ireland, after several petty skirmishes, did fealty also to Henry, A.D. 1175, when he deputed three eminent Ecclesiastics— the Archbishop of Tuam, the Abbot of Brandon, and Master Laurence, styled “Chancellor of the King of Connaught”—to attend Henry's council at Windsor, and do homage and pay tribute as liege man to the King of England. Henry assembled an Ecclesiastical Council at Cashel, A.D. 1172, for the better regulation of the affairs of the Irish Church; at which three of the Archbishops and most of the Bishops were present. Nicholas, chaplain to Henry II., and Ralph, archdeacon, also attended. The Primate Gelasius was prevented being at Cashel, by his age and infirmities, but he afterwards came to Dublin, and ratified the acts passed by the Council of Cashel. It is said that a Synod was held at the same time in Ulster, where opposition was still strongly manifested against the assumed authority and ordinances of the Romish Bishop, and against those ordinances of the Cashel Synod, which favoured Romanism either directly or indirectly through the English Church. The Bishop of Rome had been preparing to introduce his power into Ireland, by sending Cardinal Paparo as his Legate to Ireland, A.D. 1152, with four Palls, or ordination dresses, for the four Irish archbishops, by which the Pope thus hoped to prevent their consecration by the See of Canterbury. Cardinal Paparo held a Synod at Kells, but several of the Irish bishops, and many * Rog. Hoved. annal. ad an. 1171. Y 2 312 of the clergy, refused to attend, and thus sanction by their presence the assumed authority of the Church of Rome. Henry II., however, in fulfilment of his promise to the Pope, procured the passing of the following enactments, at the Synod of Cashell, A. D. 1172, which are thus recorded by the Rev. Robert King:— Giraldus Cambrensis, the celebrated historian who lived at that time, gives a detailed account of the acts passed in it, “in the very words,” he says, “in which they were originally published.” They are prefaced by him with the following observations : —“The king, influenced by a strong desire to promote the honour of God, and the worship of Christ, in those parts, summoned a council of the entire Clergy of Ireland to meet at Cashel. And there, the enormities and filthy practices of the people of that land having been inquired into and enumerated publicly, and also carefully committed to writing, under the seal of the bishop of Lismore, the legate who then ranked in dignity above the rest there present, he issued several sacred enactments, which are still upon record, concerning the contract of marriage, the payment of tithes, the honouring of churches with due devoutness, and attending at them with frequency; these things he did, endeavouring withal by every possible means to reduce the state of that Church to the model of the Church of England.” The legate here spoken of was Christian bishop of Lismore, who presided as the Pope's agent in this council. The enactments after having been subscribed to, were confirmed by the King’s authority. According to Giraldus, they were as follow :— I.—That all the faithful in Ireland, desisting from connexions within the pro- hibited degrees of kindred and affinity, shall henceforth confine themselves to legitimate marriages. II.—That children shall be catechised, [i.e. their godfathers should be inter- rogatedt] at the church door, and baptized in the holy font at churches where baptisms are allowed to take place. III.-That all the faithful of Christ shall pay tithes of their cattle, corn, and other produce, to the church of the parish to which they belong. IV.-That all Church lands, and property on them, shall be entirely free from all exactions of laymen. And in particular that no petty princes, calls, or any nobles of Ireland, shall exact for themselves or their families entertainment or free quarter upon Church estates, as has been usual ; nor presume, henceforward, to extort it by violence : and that those detestable contributions which are wont to be levied from the Church farms four times a year by the neighbouring earls, shall be levied no more. W.--That in the case of homicide committed by the laity, when they compound with their enemies for the offence, the clergy who may be their relatives shall pay no part of the fine. VI.—That all heads of families among the faithful, when visited with sickness, shall make their will in the presence of their confessor and neighbours with becoming solemnity, and divide their moveable property into three parts, after deducting debt and servants' wages beforehand : one part to be for the children ; another for the lawful wife ; the third to defray the funeral expenses. And if they * Girald. Cam. Hib. Expug. Pars. I. cap. xxxiii. + Collier Ec. Hist, Book W. 313 have no children lawfully begotten, let them be divided into two parts, between himself and his wife ; and if his wife be dead, let them be divided between himself and his children. VII.--That those who die with a good confession shall be buried with suitable obsequies, and the accompaniment of wakes and masses. Likewise that all offices of Divine service shall for the future, in all parts of Ireland, be regulated after the *model of Holy Church, according to the observances of the Church of England. From these remarkable and indicatory enactments we learn that the Irish Church was induced to conform to the English Church then, to some extent, in conformity with the Church of Rome, and that tithes were established. - Henry II. after spending Christmas in Dublin, in a temporary residence built with hurdles, after the Irish fashion, was obliged to return to England, to meet the inquiry instituted by the Bishop of Rome on the death of Thomas à Becket; but not until he had convened a council at Lismore, where, according to Mathew Paris, the laws of England were by all gratefully accepted, and established under the sanction of a solemn oath. Henry also made a division of districts into shires, and nominated sheriffs, to several counties with itinerant ministers of justice of Ireland, and a Lord Deputy, with Irish state officers. It would be foreign to my purpose to trace in detail the narrative of Irish history through several centuries of local dissensions and provincial contests, offensive and defensive, not only between the various Irish princes and chieftains, but also between the Norman settlers themselves. Ireland—as England after the landing of the Saxons—had its dark age, but it was of longer duration than that of the sister island; and the petty strife that existed seems to have arisen from Norman and Celtic feudal principles, rather than from any antipathy between opposing or antagonistic races. It was not merely among the Irish chiefs and English settlers that strife existed during the dark ages, or from the period of the Synod of Cashel, A.D. 1172, to the holding of a Parliament in Dublin, A. D. 1537, under Henry VIII. when the usurped supremacy of the Pope was abolished, and thence to the period A.D. 1551, under Edward VI., when the English Liturgy was 314 introduced into the Irish Church, instead of the Latin mass. During this long and anarchical state, the archbishops, bishops, and all classes of the clergy, were in constant strife, and engaged even in bloody disputes. For twenty years—from 1429 to 1449– the Archbishops of Armagh were unable to attend the sittings of the Irish parliament by reason of personal quarrels with the Archbishops of Dublin, as to their respective rights of having a cross borne before each, not only in his own diocese but in the diocese of the other. f The Bishops of Waterford and Lismore quarrelled respecting certain lands, A.D. 1210. A commission having decided in favour of the Bishop of Lismore, his right reverend antagonist besieged the cathedral of Lismore, dragged the bishop away while cele- brating Divine service, and cast him, loaded with irons, into a dungeon at Dungarvan, where the unfortunate prelate was treated with the most cruel indignities. The following instances of Ecclesiastical strife and bloodshed are recorded in the Rev. Robert King's admirable “Primer of the Church History of Ireland :”— A.D. 1346. A parliament holden in Kilkenny, having granted the king, Edward III., a supply of money for the exigencies of the state, the archbishop of Cashel, and the bishops of his province, threatened the severest penalties against any who contributed to the subsidy; and having gone to Clonmel, they in their pontifical robes, openly, in the middle of the street, excommunicated all who had advised, granted, or levied the money. (See Rom. xiii. 6.) A.D. 1326. Punishment of heretics by corporal tortures was used in Ireland as well as in other countries at this time, and about the year 1326, Adam Duff, an Irishman, was burned in College Green, Dublin, being accused of denying many Scripture truths, the Incarnation, the Resurrection, &c. And about 1353, two other Irishmen were convicted of heresy, and burned by order of the Bishop of Waterford. A.D. 1353. The Archbishop of Cashel, enraged at the Bishop of Waterford for inflicting the aforesaid punishment without his license, assaulted him (the bishop), towards midnight, in his lodgings, grievously wounded him, and robbed him of his goods. A.D. 1369. The Bishop of Limerick being summoned to appear before the Archbishop of Cashel, to answer certain charges against him, attacked him with much violence, drew his blood, and compelled him to fly from Limerick. He also entered the city in his robes of state, and excommunicated by bell, book, and candle, all who had supplied the archbishop with food or entertainment; and after- wards, when the archbishop was to preach a customary sermon at Limerick, the bishop forbade any one to attend, on pain of excommunication, and excommunicated by name those who were present at the sermon. 315 A.D. 1442. John Prene, Archbishop of Armagh, having a dispute with the dean and chapter of Raphoe, about the profits of the bishopric of Raphoe, excom- municated the dean and chapter, and granted forty days’ indulgences to all who should fall upon their persons, and seize or dissipate their substance. A.D. 1525. In this year, a Bishop of Leighlin was murdered by his archdeacon, because he had rebuked him for his insolence, obstimacy, and other crimes, and threatened him with further correction. It would be painful to narrate the conduct of many of the minor clergy—the profligacy arising from the Romish ordinance of priestly celibacy—and the general corruption and political disputes that ensued, as exemplified in the first chapter of this work—when the whole country was torn by rival factions, by blood-feuds between the Ormonds and the Desmonds, and other chieftains, who not only made war on each other, but threatened hostilities against the sovereign. Henry VIII. ascended the British throne 22nd April, 1509. The Protestant Reformation—as it is termed, but, more properly speaking, the restoration of the pure and Apostolic Churches of England and Ireland before they became corrupted by the Church of Rome—had long been preparing in England by Wicliff and other renovators of the true faith; but in Ireland no measures had been adopted, and no men had arisen to pioneer the way for the necessary restoration of Christian principles. Henry, conscious of the absurdity of the pretensions of the Bishop of Rome, perceiving how the people of England and Ireland were plundered by various impositions, and naturally indignant at the despotic power exercised in his own kingdom, through Papal agents, resolved in the years 1532 and 1533, on the abolition of “Peter's pence,” “first-fruits,” “tenths,” and various other taxes levied for the Church of Rome, under false and fraudulent pretences. These just and indispensable measures were succeeded in 1534 by the following question being proposed to the bishops and clergy of England—namely, “Whether the Bishop of Rome has in the word of God any greater jurisdiction in the realm of England than any other foreign bishop.” The universities, chapters, monks, friars, &c., throughout England, answered, generally, in the negative, one bishop only (Fisher) dissenting. Parliament ratified the 316 decision of the clergy, and the assumption of jurisdiction in England by the Bishop of Rome was entirely abolished. More difficulty was experienced in Ireland in consequence of the feudal state and less advanced intelligence of the people. The principal opposition was experienced from George Cromer, an Englishman, Archbishop of Armagh. The Primate possessed much influence, and induced several to join him in upholding the supremacy of the Bishop of Rome, as it was feared that by acknow- ledging Henry head of the Church, the domination of the ecclesias- tical establishment would be diminished, and its almost absolute authority would be nullified by the civil power then struggling for complete pre-eminence in England and in Ireland. The extravagant pretensions of the Church of Rome to supreme power will be seen by the following extracts from a vow of obedience to the Pope or Bishop of Rome, which was transmitted with a commission from Rome to Ireland about this time, and which George Cromer, the Primate, and his clergy circulated and craftily enforced among the people :- “I, A. B., from this present hour forward in the presence of the Holy Trinity &c., . . . . shall and will be always obedient to the Holy See of St. Peter of Rome, and to my holy lord the Pope of Rome, and his successors, in all things, as well spiritual as temporal, &c., &c. “I count all acts, made or to be made by heretical powers, of no force, or to be practised, or obeyed by myself or any other son of the mother Church of Rome. “I do further declare him or her, father or mother, brother or sister, son or daughter, husband or wife, whole or aunt, nephew or niece, kinsman or kinswoman, master or mistress, and all others, nearest or dearest relations, friend or acquaintance whatsoever, accursed, that either do or shall hold, for time to come, any ecclesias- tical or civil authority above the mother Church, or that do or shall obey for the time to come, any of her the mother Church’s opposers or enemies, or con- trary to the same, of which I have here sworn unto; so God, the blessed Virgin, St. Peter, St. Paul, and the holy evangelists, help, &c.” In July, 1534, the Archbishopric of Dublin fell vacant, and Henry appointed to the see George Brown, who had been educated at Oxford, in an Augustine Friary, who had been elected Pro- vincial of his Order in England, and who had long preached the necessity of praying to Christ alone and not to the Virgin and a host of Saints. George Brown was consecrated by Cranmer, 317 Archbishop of Canterbury ; Fisher, Bishop of Rochester; and Shaxton, Bishop of Salisbury. The usual course of ordination was adopted, with this important difference, that, instead of receiving the pall, &c., from a foreign bishop, he received them from the legal authorities of his own country. Archbishop Brown entered zealously on his duties, and was aided by a body of commissioners in removing the Roman authority from Ireland. He was opposed, however, by some of the old English-descended lords, who dreaded the supremacy of Henry more than they did that of a foreign bishop. It was, therefore, deemed advisable to convene a Parliament in Dublin, A.D. 1537, under Lord Leonard Grey, the Lord-Deputy, and to make special enactments relative to changes in the Church. Among the acts passed in this Parliament was one for encourag- ing “the English order, habit, and language ;” spiritual promo- tions to be given only to such persons as could speak English, unless after four proclamations in the next market town none could be found conversant in the language. Parochial English schools were to be established throughout the country, and a sum of money devoted to the purpose. The clergyman of each parish was to be bound by an oath to “endeavour to learn and teach the English tongue to all and every being under his rule ; and to bid the beads in the English tongue, and preach the word of God in English, if he can preach.” A large part of the chieftains of Ireland adhered to the Protes- tant and acknowleged IIenry VIII., not merely “Lord,” the previous title, but “King ” of Ireland, and at the same time gave him supreme power at the head of the church. Phelan, the historian, says, “The lords of English descent, irritated by a too successful rivalry—the Irish still brooding over the original treachery of the Church, and its bitter consequences to themselves —and both turbulent, eager for ascending and accustomed to refer everything to the arbitration of the sword, would naturally rejoice in the downfall of this arrogant order. Accordingly, when Henry VIII. asserted his claim to the complete sovereignty of the island, all the nobles arrayed themselves on the side of the 3.18 Crown. They abolished the subordinate title of Lord, the only one which the Pope had permitted to be assumed, and proclaimed him King of Ireland and supreme head of the Church.”—(130 Phelan.) The indenture between the chiefs and Henry VIII. runs thus:—“Indentured the 26th of September, 34 Henry VIII. between the Irish chiefs and Henry VIII. :-They will accept and hold his said Majesty and the Kings his successors as the supreme head on earth, immediately under Christ, of the Church of England and Ireland.” In 1538, Archbishop Brown, accom- panied by the Lord Chancellor and others, visited Wexford, Carlow, Waterford, Tipperary, Clonmel, &c., setting forth the true word of God, denouncing the worship of images, and ex- pounding the king's supremacy. In a letter to the English Government, about two months after, from Dublin, it is stated— “At Clonmel was with us two archbishops and eight bishops, in whose presence my lord of Dublin preached, in advancing the king's supremacy, and the extinguishment of the Bishop of Rome. And, his sermon finished, all the said bishops, in all the open audience took the oath mentioned in the acts of parliament, both touching the king's succession and supremacy before me the king's chancellor; and divers others there present did the like.” Among the signatures to the letter here mentioned is that of the arch- bishop himself. These statements show that most of the bishops acceded to the reformed religion; on the back of the roll acknow- ledging Henry VIII. supreme head of the Church are the names of the following archbishops and bishops—Dublin, Cassel, Tuam, Waterford, Kildare, Ferney, Immolacien, and Lymic (Limerick). And it may here be remarked that out of the nineteen prelates assembled in the reign of Elizabeth, in a Parliament held by the Earl of Sussex, January, 1560, two only, Walsh of Meath, and Leodrus of Kildare, refused to renounce the jurisdiction of the Roman Pontiff. We are also told in Phelan’s Policy of the Church of Rome, that “For eleven years her (Elizabeth's) measures were unmolested by the Papal government, and received without oppo- sition by the great body of the Roman Catholics. The laity everywhere frequented the churches. Multitudes of the priests 319 adopted the prescribed changes, and continued to officiate in their former cures; and the majority of the prelates leading or following the popular opinion, retained their sees, and exercised their functions according to the reformed ritual.” Idolatry was, to a great extent, banished in Dublin and else- where; images, &c., were removed from the cathedrals and churches, and English translations of the Lord's Prayer, Creed, and Ten Commandments substituted. No second Church was as yet formed in Ireland ; the Church of Ireland was, in fact, restored by Henry VIII. to the freedom from Romish jurisdic- tion, and superstitious rites and foreign language, which it enjoyed previous to the Synod of Cashel, A.D. 1172, under Henry II., when the idolatries, language, and supremacy of the Church of Rome were first introduced into Ireland. The personal conduct of Henry VIII., his appropriation of the incomes of the Monasteries to the benefit of his favourites, instead of to the education of the people and the improvement of the Church, his bigotted adherence to Romish doctrines, even when strenuously opposing a foreign usurpation, and his appointment of prelates, who were still at heart Romanists, tended little to the advancement of the Reformation, and gave Rome time to endeavour to attempt the recovery of her power in Ireland, whose people, the wily Italians clearly perceived, were better fitted for their yoke than the English or Scotch. The successors of Henry VIII.” had therefore an arduous and dangerous task to complete. Faward VI. was pious, zealous in the advancement of the Reformation, but too young and inex- perienced to attempt much in the way of innovation, and his counsellers began even then to feel the effects of Romish intrigues in Ireland. The Rev. Robert King states, that— “The majority of the bishops and clergy at this time were in favour of the Romish creed and practice, under the patronage of Primate Dowdall. But King * Names. Born. Reigns began. Reigned. Reigns ended. | Age. A. D. Y. • D Henry VIII. 1492.1509, April 22|37 M 9 1547, Jan. 28' 55 Edward VI. 1537.1547, Jam. 28 6 5 4 4 6 9|1553, July 6 15 11||1558, Nov. 17| 42 7 Mary . . 15161553, July 6 5 1603, Mar. 24 69 Elizabeth . 1533,1558, Nov. 1744 320 Edward having several opportunities, when vacancies occurred among the Irish bishops, of appointing others, took care to make his selections in such a way as to increase the number of prelates favourable to religious reformation. And thus five at least of those appointed by him were friends and supporters of the Reformation ; namely, Lancaster of Kildare, Travers of Leighlin, Casey of Limerick, Bale of Ossory, and, finally, Goodacre, Archbishop of Armagh, successor to Primate Dow- dall. All these were appointed in A.D. 1550 and the two following years. But the most striking improvement in the state of religion in Ireland during this reign, was the introduction of the English Liturgy into the churches, in accordance with an order from the King, addressed to the Lord Deputy, Sir Anthony St. Leger, on the 6th of February, 1551. The first step taken by the Viceroy on receiving this order, and before he pro- ceeded to notify it by a general proclamation, was to call together an assembly of the archbishops and bishops of Ireland, on the 1st of March, 1551 : and to acquaint them with his Majesty's order, as also with the opinions of those bishops and clergy of England who had acceded to the order. The feelings of the Romish party in reference to the new Liturgy, and the principle of common prayer in general, are curiously illustrated by a remark made by Primate Dowdall in his reply to the communication of the Lord Deputy on this occasion. “ Then,” said he, “shall every illiterate fellow read mass;” grounding an absurd objection on that which was one of the great advantages of the new Liturgy, viz., that it was composed in a language plain and intelligible to the unlearned portion of the community. To the Primate’s contemptuons objection the Lord Deputy returned a mild and judicious answer. “No,” said he, “ your Grace is mistaken : for we have too many illiterate priests amongst us already, who neither can pronounce the Latin, nor know what it means, no more than the common people that hear them ; but when the people hear the Liturgy in English, they and the priest will then under- stand what they pray for.” After some further conference or altercation, the Primate and his party left the assembly. The Archbishop of Dublin remained and received the King's order, commending it to his brethren who were present. Some of the more moderate bishops and clergy followed his example, among whom were Staples, Bishop of Meath ; Lancaster, Bishop of Kildare ; Travers, Bishop of Leighlin ; and Coyn, Bishop of Limerick. The result of this assembly was a proclamation issued by the Lord Deputy for carrying the order into effect, and the consequent celebration of divine worship according to the English Liturgy, on Easter-day, in Christ Church cathedral, Dublin, in presence of the Viceroy, the Archbishop, and the Mayor and bailiffs of the city, when the Archbishop preached an able sermon on the eighteenth verse of the hundred-and-nineteenth Psalm–Open mine eyes that I may see the wonders of thy Law. Very soon after this the Lord Deputy St. Leger was recalled, and Sir James Crofts, a gentleman of his Majesty's privy chamber, was appointed to the govern- ment of Ireland by letters patent, the twenty-ninth of April, 1551. Soon after- wards he arrived, bringing with him instructions for himself and the council, one of which was, “To propagate the worship of God in the English tongue ; and the service to be translated into Irish in those places which need it.” It would have been well had the purpose expressed in the latter clause of this sentence been as promptly and vigorously executed as it was happily and prudently projected. But it seems to have fallen to the ground, the short duration of the reign of King Edward having probably prevented its execution. 32 { During the reign of Edward VI., Hugh Goodacre was conse- crated in Christ Church, Dublin, 2nd February, 1553, to the Archbishopric of Armagh; the Archbishop of Dublin, and the Bishops of Kildare, of Down, and of Connor, officiating; at the same time the celebrated John Bale, also an Englishman, was consecrated for the vacant Bishopric of Ossory. Bale had been cast into prison in the reign of Henry VIII., first, by Lee, Archbishop of York; and afterwards, by Stokesby, Bishop of London, for preaching against the Romish religion, especially the invocation of Saints, and the worshipping of images. By Edward the Sixth's own choice, Bale was appointed Bishop of Ossory. It is recorded that Bale was much thwarted in his diocese at Kilkenny; and, owing to the ignorance and bigotry of the people, he could make little impression on them. The Holy Communion of the Lord's Supper was accompanied with various unprofitable and vain ceremonies, such as “bowings and beckings, kneelings and knockings, the Lord's death, after St. Paul’s doctrine, neither preached nor yet spoken of:” and the dead were bewailed with “ prodigious howlings and patterings,” as if the redemption by Christ's passion were not sufficient to procure quiet for the souls of the deceased, and to deliver them out of hell without these “sorrowful sorceries.” These and many other superstitious usages of those times, Bishop Bale censures in no very measured terms. Of his own preaching he gives the following account:—“I earnestly exhorted the people to repentance for sin, and required them to give credit to the Gospel of salvation ; to acknowledge and believe, that there was but one God; and Him alone, with- out any other, sincerely to worship: to confess one Christ for an only Saviour and Redeemer, and to trust in none other man's prayers, merits, nor yet deservings, but in His alone for salva- tion. I treated at large both of the heavenly and political state of the Christian Church, and helpers I found none among my prebendaries and clergy, but adversaries a great number.” He told them also “that their prayers for the dead procured no redemption to the souls departed; redemption of souls being only in Christ, of Christ, and by Christ:” adding “ that the priest's 322 office, by Christ's straight commandment, was chiefly to preach and instruct the people in the doctrine and ways of God, and not to occupy so much of the time in chanting, piping, and singing.” And further, he used every exertion to have the Book of Common Prayer introduced into the churches of his diocese, but found to his great vexation that the opposition of his clergy rendered these endeavours unsuccessful. - On the accession to the throne of Mary, the sister of Edward VI., the persecution of the Church of Ireland, as well as that of the Church of England, commenced: and the lives of the Reformed Clergy in Ireland were at once placed in jeopardy—not merely from the Sovereign but from assassins, and those instigated by the Romanists, who made a death-like struggle for their restora- tion to power. For instance, Bishop Bale continuing publicly to preach the truths of the Gospel, was assaulted by Romanish agents in his own palace, and narrowly escaped with his life, after five of his servants had been slain before his face, in defence of their master. He was hunted like a wild beast from place to place, until he reached a place of safe refuge on the Continent. In this, as in the burning of the venerable Bishops Cranmer, Latimer, and Ridley,” who had committed no treason against the Sovereign or her government, we see the persecuting, intolerant, and blood-thirsty spirit of the Romish (not the Irish) Church, and the subsequent necessity for the enactment of penal laws— for the mere preservation of human life, without any reference whatever to religion. One of the earliest measures adopted in Ireland was the recal * Cranmer and the other victims were brought to the stake not for treason or rebellion, but “to expiate the pretended crime of preferring the dictates of the Gospel to the despotic laws of Rome.”—Mosheim’s Ecclesiastical History, vol. ii. page 60. Cranmer was executed “either because Cardinal Poole would no longer be kept from being Archbishop, (which he could not be as long as Cranmer lived,) or that the Queen could not be gotten to forget his being the chief instrument of her mother's divorce.”—Baker's History of England, page 321. “The active part Ridley had taken in the establishment of the new discipline, and the construction of the Liturgy, together with his intimate connexion with Cran. mer, marked him out as one of the most prominent victims to the temporary restoration of papal authority.”—Gorton's Biographical Dictionary, vol. ii. p. 761. 323 of Dowdall, the opponent of the Reformation, from exile on the Continent, whither he had fled of his own accord. Dowdall was reinvested with the dignity of Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of all Ireland. A commission to Dowdall, a month after his restoration (April, 1554), authorised the restoration of the Romish religion, the re-establishment of celibacy among the clergy, and the punishment of those who had married. In the same year, 1554, Browne, Archbishop of Dublin, and other prelates favourable to the Reformation, were deprived of their sees, and several obliged to flee to the Continent for their lives, where they died. “Mary pursued with fire and sword, and all the marks of unrelenting vengeance, the promoters of a pure and rational religion.” Mary despatched Dr. Cole to Ireland with a commission for punishing the Protestants; Cole stopped at Chester, and being waited on by the Mayor, a Romanist, Dr. Cole's zeal outran his discretion, and he exclaimed to the Mayor, while holding up a leathern box, “Here is a commission that shall lash the heretics of Ire- land.” The landlady, Elizabeth Edmonds, who was a Protestant, and had a brother of the same creed in Dublin, became alarmed, watched her opportunity, and placed a pack of cards, wrapped up in a sheet of paper, and abstracted the commission. Dr. Cole arrived in Dublin, 7th October, 1558. The Lord-Lieutenant con- vened a full council to receive Dr. Cole and hear the Queen's com- mission read, but when with great solemnity the box was opened, nothing but a pack of cards was found. The astonished Doctor declared he had received a commission, and proceeded to England to obtain another, or a copy; but while on his journey, the brief but iniquitous career of Mary was stopped, and the lives of many Protestants were saved. Mrs. Edmonds received a pension of forty pounds a year from Queen Elizabeth. Elizabeth ascended the throne 17th November, 1558, and one of her first measures was the restoration of the Church Service in English, as had been the case in the reign of Edward VI., when the Book of Common Prayer (the first book printed in Ireland) was published, A.D. 1551. * Mosheim’s Ecclesiastical History, p. 63. 324 The Earl of Sussex was appointed Lord-Lieutenant, and his instructions were that he should “set up the worship of God as it is England.” The Litany was sung in English in Christ Church, Dublin, which gave great offence to the advocates of popish customs. By an act of the IRISH Parliament, A.D. 1559 (Pat. 1, Eliz. p. 2, m, 32d), there were passed among other acts “an acte for the uniformy tie of common prayer and service in the churche and admynystration of the sacraments in the church.” “An acte againste suche persons as shall unreverentlye speake agaynst the sacrament of the bodye and blode of Christe, com- monlye called the sacrament of the alter, and for the receivynge thereof under bothe kyndes.” + “An acterestoring the crowne the auncient jurisdiction over the state ecclesiasticall and spirituall, and abolyshinge all power repugnant to the same.” “An acte for the conferrynge and consecratynge of arche- bushopps and bushopps within this realme.” By the same Parliament, the late “pryorye or hospytall of Seynt Jones Jerusalem,” in Ireland, were restored to the Crown; Mary having cancelled the act of Henry VIII. A parliament was held in Dublin, January, 1560, when an act was passed, of which the most important clauses were— Sec. V. No foreign power to exercise ecclesiastical jurisdiction in this realm. - - Sec. VI. Such jurisdiction annexed to the crown. Sec. VII. Ecclesiastical persons and officers, judges, justices, mayors, temporal officers, and every other person that hath the Queen's wages to take the oath of supremacy. Sec. VIII. Penalty for refusing the oath, forfeiture of office and of promotion during life. - Sec. XVII. Commissioners to exercise spiritual jurisdiction shall not adjudge anything heresy, but what is so judged by the canonical scriptures, or the first four general councils, or any other general council, or by Parliament. In the year 1569, an act of the Irish Parliament, sess. 3, ch, ix. was passed for “turning of countries, that be not yet shire 325 grounds into shire grounds.” In 1570, (12th Eliz. ch. 1,) an act was passed reciting the ignorance of the people, for want of school discipline: a free-school, with a master of English birth, was ordered to be erected in every diocese. In the same year, an act was passed, (ch. 4,) granting letters patent, with certain reservations, “to the Irishy or degenerated Englishry,” holding by Irish custom and not by tenure. In 1571, John Fitzgerald, or the White Knight, was attainted after his death. - - These constitute the chief Irish parliamentary acts of Elizabeth's reign, and there is in no one instance a harsh or intolerant expres- sion ; no life was taken or even threatened for religious opinions, but every effort was made to instruct the people and settle the country. In 1571 the Queen provided, at her own expense, a fount of types in the Irish language, “in the hope that God in His mercy would raise up some to translate the New Testament into their mother-tongue.” A large Bible was placed in the middle of the choir of each cathedral of Christ Church and St, Patrick, to which the people eagerly resorted to read and hear the contents. Of nineteen Irish Bishops present on the renunciation of the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome, in 1560, only two (Walsh, of Meath, and Leverons, of Kildare), refused to take the oath of supremacy. For this they were not beheaded. Leverons afterwards kept a school in Limerick; but Walsh, who preached and inveighed against any supremacy but that of Rome, and against the Book of Common Prayer, was obliged to leave Ireland. Both these bishops had been placed in Ireland by Mary, who despoiled Protestants of their sees to give them offices. It is acknowledged by writers of the Romish communion, whenever it suits their argument, that during the reign of Elizabeth the penal laws, if such they could be called, were not executed with rigour. The oath of supremacy was purposely framed and explained to acknowledge merely the sole jurisdiction of the Crown over all persons and all causes ecclesiastical or civil ; and a renunciation of all foreign power and jurisdiction was freely agreed to by the Irish chieftains at the beginning of PART VI. Z 326 the reign of Elizabeth, until the propagation of Romish doctrines artfully inculcated that a Woman was incapable of holy orders, and could not claim any ecclesiastical supremacy. So also the act enforcing the penalty of one shilling on all who failed attend- ing the reformed worship, met with a general compliance among the Papists in England, until the excommunication of the Queen; and in Ireland no penalty was requisite, because there were at first no recusants, as all of the Roman communion resorted to the Established Churches. Plowden, in his “History of Ireland,” book ii. ch. iv. says, that “during her whole reign, in Ireland we wead of no imprisonment, banishment, or evecution of any priest for the sake of his religion.” These are sufficient answers to the numerous falsehoods propagated relative to the cruelties practised during the reign of Elizabeth against the professors of the Romish faith. But the advocates of Papal supremacy, and the adherents of the Court of Rome, made desperate and almost demoniacal efforts to recover or retain their usurped power in Ireland. Elizabeth was anathematised, her dominions given to Philip of Spain, and it was declared lawful to slay her. The following are extracts from the Papal Bull issued against Elizabeth, A.D.1570. It was entitled “The Damnation and Ea.communication of Queen Elizabeth.” It commenced thus: “He that reigneth on high committed one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church (out of which there is no salvation) to one alone upon earth, namely, to Peter, and to Peter's successor, the Bishop of Rome. Him alone he made prince over all people, and all kingdoms, to pluck up, destroy, scatter, consume, plant, and build, that he may contain the faithful that are knit together with the bond of charity, in the unity of the Spirit.” Then, after an enumer- ation of Elizabeth's alleged crimes against the holy see, his Holiness proceeds: “We do, out of the fulness of our Apostolic power, declare the aforesaid Elizabeth, being a heretic, and a favourer of heretics, to have incurred the sentence of anathema, and to be cut off from the unity of the body of Christ. And, moreover, we do declare her to be deprived of her pretended title to the kingdom aforesaid, and of all dominion, dignity, and privilege. And also, the mobility, subjects, and people of the said kingdom, and all others, 327 who have in any sort sworn unto her, to be for ever absolved from any such oath. And we do command and interdict all and every the noblemen, subjects, and people, that they presume not to obey her, or her monitions, mandates, and laws.” The natural result of this monstrous and unchristian system of denunciation was a series of attempts on the Queen's life in England, by Romish priests and their agents; and in Ireland by the most formidable efforts for the overthrow of the Queen's power. In 1583, Somerville attempted to kill the Queen. The plot was discovered, and its author only escaped a public execution by strangling himself in prison. In 1585 Parry came into England with a determination to take the Queen's life. He was discovered and condemned. On his trial he produced a letter he had received from the Pope, sending him his benediction with a plenary indulgence for the murder he was going to commit. In 1586 the life of the Queen was attempted by Anthony Babington, who was discovered and executed. In 1587 another plot was discovered to kill the Queen, devised by an Englishman of the name of Moody. In 1592-3-4 several persons were commissioned by the Court of Rome to poison or assassinate the Queen. In 1592 Patrick Cullen received absolution and the sacrament from the Jesuit Holt, by whom it was determined a meritorious deed to kill the Queen. In 1594 Williams and York came over to England for the same purpose, having first received the sacrament in the Jesuits' College. s In 1597 Squire came over from Spain with the same object in view, namely, the assassination of the Queen. It was observed by Sir Edward Coke, “that since the Jesuits set foot in England there never passed four years without a perni- cious treason.” Although the government of Elizabeth in Ireland was marked by clemency and justice, no means were left untried to stir up rebellion, and without even an ostensible cause. * Elizabeth's temper was sorely fretted with the affairs of Ireland; and she frequently exclaimed that the mere mention of the subject “made her ill.”—R. M.M. Z 2 328 The Roman Catholic historians acknowledge, that during the reign of Elizabeth, O’Nial, (who had previously, in the year 1562, presented himself in high costume at her Majesty's Court as Sovereign of Ulster, and who was graciously received, and dis- missed with presents,) became the “most furious and relentless enemy of England, carrying fire and sword through the whole North, burning down the reformed churches, pursuing the propagators of the Reformation, and calling up the dormant spirit of Irishmen in every corner of the island.” - In 1580 Gregory XIII. to aid the Geraldines in their rebellion against England, issued the following Bull, wherein a war with England is considered equally as meritorious as “a war against the Turks for the recovery of the Holy Land 1’’ BULL of Pop E GREGORY XIII., (A.D. 1580,) INCITING THE IRISH TO REBELLION AGAINST QUEEN ELIZ AIBETH. “Gregory XIII., Pope, to all and singular the Archbishops, Bishops, and other Prelates, as also to the Princes, Earls, Barons, Clergy, Nobility, and People, of the kingdom of Ireland, Health and Apostolical Benediction. “Whereas in recent years we have by our letters exhorted you to assist (in order to the recovery of your liberty and the defence and preservation of it against the heretics) James Geraldine, of worthy memory, (who was endeavouring, with most high-minded zeal, to shake off the cruel yoke of slavery imposed on you by the English deserters from the Holy Roman Church), and to aid him with promptness and energy in his preparations to make war on God's enemies and yours ; “And whereas to encourage you to engage in this service with greater alacrity we granted to all the contrite and confessed, who should follow the aforesaid General James and his army, the champion and defender of the Catholic faith, and who should join themselves to him, or support his cause in this expedition, by their counsel, countenance, military stores, arms, and other necessaries of war, or in any manner whatsoever, a plenary pardon and remission of all their sins, and the same privileges which have been usually bestowed by the Popes of Rome on persons setting out to the war with the Turks, and for the recovery of the Holy Land ; “And whereas further, tidings have been recently received by us, not without deep distress of mind on our part, that the aforesaid James, in a valiant encounter with the enemy, (as it hath pleased the Lord), hath been slain ; and that our - beloved son, John Geraldine, his kinsman, (of exemplary piety and heroism, which are to be attributed to God, whose cause is at issue,) hath succeeded to him in this expedition, and hath already performed many valiant deeds in his worthy struggle for the Catholic faith ; We therefore, in the strongest manner of which we are capable, exhort, require, and urge you in the Lord, all and singular, to study to aid the said General John and his army against the aforesaid heretics, by every means in your power, according to the admonitions which we addressed to 329 you for the regulation of your conduct toward the said James while he was yet alive. “For We, in dependence on the mercy of Almighty God, and the authority of Blessed Peter and Paul his Apostles, do grant and by these presents bestow on all and singular of you, who having confessed and communicated, shall do the things contained in the letter aforesaid, for the said John and his army, or who, after his death, (in case it should perchance happen, which God vouchsafe to avert,) shall adhere to and favour his brother James, the same plenary indulgence and remis- sion of your sins, as persons obtain who engage in the war against the Turks and for the recovery of the Holy Land ; these privileges to continue in force so long as the said brothers John and James shall survive. “But inasmuch as it would be difficult for these our letters to come to the notice of all who may be concerned in them, our pleasure is, that the printed copies of them also, after having been subscribed by the hand of a Notary Public, and stamped with the seal of a Church dignitary, shall be received everywhere with the same full and implicit confidence as if these presents had been exhibited or shown. “Given at St. Peter's, Rome, under the seal of the Fisherman, May 13, 1580, in the eighth year of our Pontificate. & CAES, GLORIERIUS.” The above Bull is taken from O’Sullivan’s “Compendium of the [R.] Catholic History of Ireland,” (Tom 2, lib. iv. cap. 17,) and it may also be seen in the History of Romish Treasons, by Henry Foulis, B.D.” London. 1681, p. 306. It may be necessary to illustrate the effect of the Romish intrigues, by adverting to some of the rebellions, whose histories prove that these insurrections did not arise from what has been unjustly called “Protestant bigotry,” and at the same time demonstrate that the confiscations which took place were the inevitable result of treason, on the broadest and most dangerous scale. Whenever these confiscations are now adverted to, the cause is studiously concealed; the direful civil wars and desola- tion kept up by a few feudal chieftains is sedulously kept out of view ; and it is never even hinted that life as well as property was forfeited for unprovoked and bloody rebellions—aided by foreign invasions. About the year 1580, Stukeley, an adventurer of English birth, proceeded from Ireland to Rome, and persuaded Pope Gregory XIII. that he might create a son of his–Giacomo Buoncompagno—King of Ireland. The Pope created Stukeley Marquis of Leinster, Earl of Wexford and Carlow, and Baron of Ross. One thousand Italian robbers were pardoned by the Pope, on consideration of their aiding Stukeley's designs. Philip of Spain agreed to pay this banditti, not being then aware that the 330 Pope's son was his rival for the Sovereignty of Ireland. Stukeley was killed in Africa, along with Don Sebastian, whom he accompanied in an expedition, on the promise of subsequent aid from Portugal, in Ireland. Fitzmaurice, (Geraldine,) in conjunction with Saunders, an English Ecclesiastic, and Allen, an Irish Priest, prevailed on the Pope to organise another invasion of Ireland. A Bull was drawn up, addressed to all the Prelates and Princes of Ireland, exhort- ing them to assist Fitzmaurice; a banner was solemnly conse- crated; Saunders was invested with the dignity of Legate; a holy benediction was pronounced; and, with supplies of money, the “Champions of the faith in defence of the holy Church " were sent to Philip, who was to provide the necessary armament. Fitzmaurice landed in Kerry with eighty Spaniards, and some English and Irish fugitives. They were joined by Sir John Desmond, who carried on a most harassing warfare, on one occasion surprising and destroying 200 of the British army. The Papal banner was hoisted, 700 Spaniards and Italians arrived as a reinforcement, with arms and ammunition for 5000 men, and with a considerable sum of money. The Papal troops defeated the Deputy Lord Grey, at Glendalough ; and it was not until a con- siderable naval and military armament was despatched from England that this Popish invasion was subdued. Desmond, the chief of the insurrection, was killed by one Kelly, in a hut, whither he had fled as a fugitive; his head was brought to the Earl of Ormond, who transmitted it to England, where it was impaled on London Bridge. Thus ended the Desmond race, after four centuries of strife and fitful grandeur, with the assumed title of Princes. The lands forfeited by Desmond's rebellion for the Pope, are said to have amounted to 574,628 acres. The rebellions of Tirowen, commonly called Hugh Earl of Tyrone, form a prominent feature in the history of Ireland. Like all other Irish insurrections since the period of the Reformation, their avowedly chief object was the supremacy of the Bishop of Rome in Ireland, and the dominance of the Romish form of religion. Hugh Tyrone, although of illegitimate birth, was recognised 331 as the active head of an ancient sept or clan. He received an English education, and improved an ordinary person by a polished exterior. His temper was subtle, insinuating, and readily accommodated to the wild manners of his countrymen, as well as to the graces of a court. By great plausibility, Tyrone induced the Parliament, Perrot the Lord Deputy, and, finally, Elizabeth (who was much pleased with his manners, protestations of loyalty, and coincidence with her sentiments), to grant him, by letters patent under the Great Seal of England, the title and inheritance of John O'Nial, who had been attainted, and his estate vested in the Crown. The Earldom of Tyrone and its large possessions being obtained, the next step was to get permission from the Lord Deputy to main- tain six companies always ready for military service; a permission which the government incautiously granted. Tyrone, by chang- ing the men as soon as they were disciplined and had learnt the use of arms, and substituting others, soon made all his people familiar with martial tactics. Under the pretence of building a spacious mansion-house (con- sidered in those days a mark of civilisation and a test of allegiance), Tyrone was permitted to import a vast quantity of lead for cisterns and battlements, &c. The Ulster Scots were aided by Tyrone in their petty excursions, and a pledge exacted of their aid being given in return whenever required. At this period the storm which dispersed the Spanish Armada drove seventeen of its ships, containing 5400 men, on the north and north-west coast of Ireland. Tyrone incurred the suspicion of having entered into a formal treaty with the Spaniards, and of having concerted schemes for another invasion. Other Irish Lords, including O'Ruarc of Breffany, openly avowed their attachment to Spain, and defended the Spaniards against the Lord Deputy. Tyrone, in order to throw Elizabeth off her guard respecting the suspicions of his treachery and treason, repaired again to England, lulled the fears of the Queen, and induced the Earl of Ormonde and Sir Christopher Hatton to become his sureties; and he returned to Ireland to mature his treachery and plans, fortified by the unsuspecting kindness and promises of Elizabeth. 332 On the appointment of Sir William Russell, son to the Duke of Bedford, to the office of Lord Deputy, in place of Fitzwilliam, A.D. 1594, Tyrone commenced his insurrection in the north-west and west, and Sir John Norris, a distinguished officer, was sent against him, with 3000 men. Tyrone alternately fought or negotiated, as best suited his purpose. At Blackwater Fort he obtained a complete victory over Sir Henry Bagnal, when fifteen hundred of the Queen's troops and thirteen gallant officers were slain; and the fort, with the royal artillery, ammunition, and provisions, fell into the hands of the rebels. This action raised high the renown of Tyrone. Various other chiefs joined him—including O’Donnel, Prince of Tyrconnel or Donegal; Maguire, the Lord of Fermanagh ; and Magauran, the titular or self-styled Romish Archbishop of Armagh, who was em- ployed by the Pope as his agent, for the purpose of exciting the Irish to exertions in the cause of the Romish religion. This war- like prelate was killed in Connaught, whither he had proceeded to organise the forces of Tyrone; so also was a Romish Vicar Apostolic, named M*Egan, who issued excommunications against all who should give quarter to prisoners of the Queen's army, and who finally fell in battle, leading a troop of cavalry, with a sword in one hand and a breviary and beads in the other Elizabeth despatched Essex to Ireland as her Lord Deputy, with the fullest powers of delegated sovereignty, and aided by a force of 20,000 men. About this time, Elizabeth received a letter from James of Scotland, informing her that Philip, King of Spain, with whom Tyrone was in secret intelligence, had prepared “twelf thousand men for Irland against the beginning of Aprile next, under the conduct of one Dom Jehan de Cordua ; as also, that all the fenci- ble men of Spain and Portugall are quinted, and of every fyfte men of thame is composed ane armie of fourtie thousand men; and for thaire transporting, thaire is aboute the number of threttie shippes and argousiers prepared and brocht out of Italie, besides a number of his own cuntrie shippes, making in all fourscore great shippes and twentie pinnaches.” The Earl of Essex effected nothing against the rebels; while Tyrone received supplies of money and ammunition from Spain, 333 and promises of speedy reinforcements. Tyrone issued a mani- festo, 15th Nov. 1599, in which he declared himself the champion of the Romish faith, and dwelt exclusively on the interests of the Roman Catholic religion. He also made a pilgrimage to the Holy Cross of Tipperary. In conjunction with the titular Earl of Des- mond and Florence MacCarthy, he wrote to Clement, praying him to take the Irish Church into the protection of Rome, and to ex- communicate that incurable heretic, Elizabeth. Clement, then Bishop of Rome, sent over to Tyrone a Spanish Ecclesiastic named Don Matteo Oviedo, on whom he had the audacity to confer the title of Archbishop of Dublin. Oviedo was the bearer of supplies, and also of a hallowed plume which Clement declared belonged to a “Phoenix,” and which he was desirous to crown Tyrone with, as a token of his parental affection and reverence for the “Prince of Ulster.” The Bishop of Rome also aided him by issuing the following “Bull” against the “Here- tics,” or Protestants, and granting “plenary pardons and remission of all their sins” to those who would follow Tyrone and his army, who are described by the Court of Rome as “ the assertors and champions of the Catholic faith.” The Bull, which is similar to the one granted, in 1580, by Gregory XIII. to James Geraldine, runs thus— BULL OF POPE CLEMENT VIII. EXCITING THE IRISH TO JOIN IN THE REBELLION OF HUGH o'NEILL.—A.D. 1600. “To All and Singular, our Venerable brethren, the Archbishops, Bishops, and Prelates; also to our beloved children, the Princes, Earls, Barons, and People of the Kingdom of Ireland, Health and Apostolical Benediction. “Whereas we have learned, that in pursuance of the exhortations addressed to you this sometime past, by the Popes of Rome our predecessors, and by ourselves and the Apostolic see, for the recovery of your liberty, and the defence and pre- servation of it against the heretics, you have with united hearts and efforts, followed, and supplied with aid and assistance, first James Geraldine of worthy memory, (who exerted himself to the best of his power with most spirited resolu- tion, so long as he lived, to shake off the cruel yoke of slavery imposed upon you by the English deserters from the Holy Roman Church ;) after that, John Geraldine, kinsman of the said James; and most recently our beloved son, the noble Lord Hugh, Prince O’Neill, styled Earl Tyrone, Baron of Dungannon, and Captain General of the Catholic army in Ireland : and Whereas further, we learn that the Generals themselves and their soldiers, have in progress of time, the hand of the Lord of Hosts assisting them, performed very many noble exploits in valiant combat with the enemy, and are still ready for the like hereafter ; 334 “We therefore, (to encourage you, and the General, and soldiers aforesaid, to exert yourselves with the more alacrity for the time to come likewise, to put your shoulder to this expedition against the aforesaid heretics,) desiring to bestow upon you spiritual graces and favours, after the example set us by our predecessors aforesaid, and in dependence on the mercy of Almighty God, and the authority of Blessed Peter and Paul, his Apostles, Do mercifully grant in the Lord, to all of you and singular, (if truly penitent and confessed, and likewise refreshed with the Holy Communion, if it be possible,) who shall follow the aforesaid General Hugh and his army, the assertors and champions of the Catholic faith, and who shall join yourselves to them, or give them help in this expedition by counsel, countenance, military stores, rams, and other implements of war, or in any manner whatsoever ; and also to the said General Hugh and his soldiers all and singular, we grant, a plenary pardon and remission of all their sins, and the same indulgences as have been usually allowed by the Popes of Rome to persons setting out for the war against the Turks, and for the recovery of the Holy Land : our decretals concern- ing the not granting of indulgences in such form, and on the occasion of receiving the Jubilee year's indulgences, and any other apostolic constitutions and ordinances to the contrary, (if this be requisite) notwithstanding. - “But inasmuch as it would be diſticult for these our presents to come to the knowledge of all who may be concerned in them ; our will is, that the printed copies of them also, having been subscribed by the hand of a Notary Public, and confirmed by the seal of a Church Dignitary, shall be received everywhere with the same reliance on their authority, as would be placed in these presents. “Given at St. Peter's, Rome, under the seal of the Fisherman, April, 18, 1600, in the ninth year of our Pontificate. - “ M. WESTRIUS BARBIANUS.” The above Bull is taken from Collier's Church History; see the collection of Records at the end of that work. No. 97. Let us pause for a moment to comment on these proceedings. Tyrone, an illegitimate son—and even, if legitimate, not the real head of his sept—is invested by Elizabeth with an earldom and vast possessions; he is forgiven many offences at different times; and great local powers are conferred on him. Without even any alleged grievance, he enters into alliances with the King of Spain and the Bishop of Rome, for the destruction of that power to which he had on several occasions taken a solemn oath of fealty; and he earnestly laboured for the overthrow of a religion by which he had not been persecuted, but under which he had ex- perienced the greatest toleration and freedom. “Let us,” says Tyrone, “join altogether to deliver the countrie from the infection of heresy, and for the planting of the Roman Catholic religion.” And in his correspondence with the Lord Deputies, he insisted that the Roman Catholic religion should be the established, exclusive, and national religion of Ireland. The war was not 335 therefore merely against English rule, or for ambitious objects. It was a war of religion, and amply illustrates the absolute necessity of the penal laws, which were only brought into effective operation when life and property were no longer secure for those who differed from the Roman Catholic faith. Lord Mountjoy, who succeeded the Earl of Essex, A.D. 1600, in the government of Ireland, proceeded vigorously against Tyrone, who had captured Lord Ormonde, and cut off Sir Warham St. Leger and Sir Thomas Norris. Tyrone, beaten in several actions, was obliged to retire to his fastnesses. In 1602, the Spanish fleet, under Don Juan D’Aguila, with 6000 of the best troops of Spain—then deemed invincible—appeared off Cork, and finally anchored in Kinsale and in Baltimore. Fortu- mately, Lord Mountjoy had dispirited Tyrone and his followers in the North ; so that the Spaniards, who were animated with the hope of finding the whole kingdom burning with the same religious devotion “to destroy the heretics,” were disappointed at the reception they experienced. The Spaniards took several forts, which it was asserted were “held for Christ and the King of Spain,” and Tyrone, with the rem- nant of his northern forces, proceeded to the aid of the Spaniards, who were reinforced by six ships, under the command of Alphonzo Ocampo, containing 2000 troops with ordnance and ammunition, which were landed at Castlehaven. Intelligence also arrived that more troops and supplies would follow. The whole country, from Kinsale and Limerick westward, declared in favour of the invaders. All the Irish and several of the English race cast off the mask of submission; and the cry of “Ireland for the Irish " was raised by Tyrone in 1603—as it now is—under the pretended garb of “peace” and “loyalty,” in 1843. Tyrone with his army cut off communication with Cork. Elizabeth, however, made the most strenuous efforts for the pre- servation of Ireland. The Earl of Thomond was despatched from England with 1000 men; 2000 infantry and some cavalry landed at Waterford; and Admiral Sir Richard Leviston arrived at Cork with tenships of war, 2000 infantry, and supplies of military stores. It is not necessary to detail the military proceedings; suffice 336 it to say, that the Lord-Deputy first defeated Tyrone, with the loss of 1200 slain and 800 wounded ; the Spaniards were routed, hemmed in, and finally capitulated and evacuated the country. Tyrone now presented himself before the Lord-Deputy Mount- joy, and on his knees made the most unqualified submission, renouncing for ever the name of O’Nial, with the titles and estates thereto appertaining. Scarcely had he done so, and obtained pardon, when he heard of the death of Elizabeth, on which he burst into tears, denouncing his precipitation, and lamenting the opportunity of striking another blow. Every effort was, however, made to conciliate Tyrone; on the accession of James, an act passed the Irish Parliament, A.D. 1603 (Jac. 1, p. 3, m. 12), in which, after reciting the offences of Tyrone, yet, in consideration of his “unfayned repentance,” and having “abandoned his adherence to all forreiyne prynces, and offered himself in his oune person to doe service upon any other rebells within that realme of Ireland,” he was “confirmed into his state and condition of a good subject and in the rancke and dignitie of an earle,” and so forth. The act prohibited any stigma being for the future cast on Tyrone for the past, and he was restored into royal grace and favour. But Tyrone was too deeply imbued with the spirit of Romanism to remain quiescent; he engaged along with the Earl of Tyrcon- nel and other Irish lords and gentlemen of the North in a new plot and treason ; assistance was solicited from Spain and Brussels, and the war was to commence by surprising the Castle of Dublin, and murdering the Lord Deputy and his council. These pro- ceedings were being organised at the same time as the gunpowder plot was forming in England (A.D. 1605); but the plot being dis- covered, Tyrone and Tyrconnel fled to the Continent, never to return ; and the vast tracts of country which they and other traitors held in Ulster were escheated to the Crown,” on which * By an act of the Irish Parliament, 33rd Henry VIII. Sess. 2, ch. iv., nobility was constituted a fortification of the realm. Grantees of the Crown confederating to the amount of treason with rebels, attempting war or invasion, transgressing in any part their duty of allegiance, or not performing the covenants in their letters patent, forfeit their honours, lands, &c. These covenants were ordered to be inserted in all gifts or grants by the Crown. 337 James proceeded to plant Ulster with Scotch and English colonies; one of the wisest measures—excepting the Union— ever adopted for Ireland. During the reign of James I. no laws were proposed in Ireland against the professors or teachers of Popery ; even the bill for keeping the anniversary of the 5th of November for ever was silently laid aside; invidious acts against the native Irish were repealed ; Tyrone was pardoned his last rebellion; and Sir James Gough, one of the recusant Papist deputation to England, gave out, on his return, that he had the King's commands to the Deputy for allowing free exercise of the Romish religion, provided only they should entertain no priests who should advocate the deposing power of the Pope. This toleration did not bear any mark of religious persecution. But these lenient proceedings emboldened the Papists to make still greater efforts for the restoration of their supremacy ; hence the gunpowder plot and various other treasons; and the organisation of another rebellion by the lately pardoned Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnel. - During the reign of James, the Pope organised a distinct Romish Church for Ireland which did not before exist, and which in the ensuing reign, and indeed ever since, has been the fruitful parent of dire and innumerable ills. The origin of this new Romish hierarchy in Ireland, and which it is artfully, but falsely, asserted belongs to the “ancient religion,” is thus described by Philip O’Sullivan, a Romish Author, who, in 1621, was living an exile at the Court of Spain, and who admits that, in 1621, all the Irish sees were occupied by Protestants, and that there were but four nominal or titular bishops connected with the Romish Church in Ireland, two only of whom resided in Ireland, and the other two abroad. - “In Ireland likewise,” says O'Sullivan,“ there are some still attaching themselves to the religious orders; still more are receiving ordination for the Sacred office. These administer the sacraments, assist such as are firm in the faith, establish the wavering, support the falling, raise up the downcast; they expound the Holy Gospel, preach to the people, expose the artful designs of the heretics. The more frequently they are ordered to quit the kingdom, the more readily they remain in it, and even flock together to it. To avoid being observed by the English, they dress themselves in the apparel of lay persons, and represent themselves, some as merchants, or 338 medical men, some as knights equipped with Sword and dirk, others under other characters and pretences. “But in order that there may be priests in all parts of the kingdom to attend to the cure of souls, a salutary plan has been set on foot ; for the better understanding of which we are to recollect, that in Ireland there are four archbishoprics and a large number of bishoprics; and that at the present day (A.D. 1621) they are all held by ringleaders of heresy, (i. e. Protestant bishops,) and that (R.) Catholic pre- lates are not appointed to their titles unless in some few instances, for this reason, that without the ecclesiastical dues it seems that such a number of bishops could not support their rank and consequence. For which reason four (titular) arch- bishops who have been consecrated by the Roman pontiff, are appointing priests, or clerks, or persons of the religious orders, for vicars-general in the suffragan bishoprics, with the sanction of the apostolic see. These latter again appoint others for the charge of the parish churches. And Eugene Macmagauran, the (titular) archbishop of Dublin, and David O'Carney, of Cashel, encountering great perils and immense labours, are personally feeding the sheep belonging to their archbishoprics. While Peter Lombard, (the titular) archbishop of Armagh, and Florence O’Mel- conry, of Tuam, (who for many reasons is unable to live safe from the English in Ireland,) have entrusted the care of their provinces to vicars.” Many other statements might be quoted to prove that the exist- ing Romish Church is an innovation ; that it is not the ancient Church of Ireland, but that, on the contrary, the existing esta- blished or Protestant Church is, as near as time and circumstances will permit, the pure church which existed in Ireland previous to the Synod of Cashell (A.D. 1172), and anterior to the success of Romish and foreign priests and creeds in Ireland. &c. We may now proceed to an examination of the disastrous con- sequences that followed the formation of a Romish Church in Ireland—as exemplified by the rebellion, and the massacre of the Irish Protestants in 1641, and in subsequent years. The religionists, now termed “Roman Catholics,” were, pro- perly speaking, “Dissenters ” from the reformed or restored Church of Christ; and but for the intrigues and discontent of the Bishop of Rome and his emissaries, they would have gradually merged into the Established Church, or formed an inconsiderable body of dissenters, after the manner of the Presbyterians. But Papacy had, by means of Wickliff, Huss, Luther, and other reformers, received a deadly blow, and it was resolved to make the most powerful efforts for the renewed domination of the crafty Italians at Rome, who viewed England and Ireland as the richest domains for plunder, and for the extension of their spiritual 339 control over men. Ireland, by reason of the character of the people, its insularity, and its distance from the seat of supreme government, and the predominance in its parliament of members not strongly opposed to the subtile pretensions of the Court of Rome, was deemed the most fitting field for the concentration of the intrigues and force of Rome, whose Bishop, Pope Urban VIII., by a Bull, in 1626, exhorted the Irish to die rather than take that “pestilentoath of supremacy to an usurper, who had wrested the sceptre of the Catholic Church from the vicar of Christ.” With blasphe- mies such as these the susceptible minds of the people of Ireland were continually filled, and the most sanguinary principles were daily inculcated from the altar by Romish priests. The favour with which Charles I. was said to regard the Romish religion; his preference for arbitrary to constitutional power; the influence which his Queen, Henrietta, a Romanist, and daughter of Henry IV., held over the mind of the king,-all conspired to encourage the measures of the Bishop of Rome. And let it not be said that those who were in favour of the Romish doctrines were at this time oppressed; on the contrary, a majority of the Irish House of Commons were Roman Catholics, and the Roman Catholic Peers sat in the Council; many of the magistrates and sheriffs were of the Romanist persuasion; any statutes against the “Recusants,” (as the Romanists were then termed), were a dead letter; the Protestants and the Recusants lived intermixed; both went publicly to their places of worship during the reign of James I. and Charles I., down to the morning of Saturday, 23rd October, 1641, when the massacre of the Protestants com- menced. I repeat, that previous to this rebellion, and notwith- standing the conduct of the Romanists and their rebellions and foreign intrigues in the reign of Elizabeth, the Romanists laboured under no disadvantages inseparable from a state religion. They were simply required by law, under a penalty of one shilling, to go to the National Church, and hear the Scriptures read and taught, conformable to the usage of primitive Christians. Even this enact- ment was not enforced. The prospect of disorder, rebellion, and weakness in England, 340 was, in the reign of Charles I., as in the reign of Victoria I., hailed with delight by the foreign or Romish party in Ireland. Charles I. sent over Lord Falkland as his deputy, with secret instructions as to the Papists (or followers of the Pope). The more tolerant that Falkland became, the more encroaching and exacting became the Papists. The Protestants were alarmed, Falkland was recalled, and Archbishop Loftus, Lord Ely the chancellor, and Richard Lord Cork the treasurer, were appointed the Lords Justices. They endeavoured to stop the encroachments of the Papists, but were soon commanded to desist by Charles ; this was hailed as a triumph by the Papists; and a fraternity of Carmelites, in the habit of their order, made a public procession, celebrating their forbidden rites in the streets of Dublin. The Archbishop of Dublin, and the chief magistrates of the city, ordered some troops to disperse them, but the Carmelites and their followers fought the soldiers, and compelled their retreat. - r The objects sought by the Court of Rome were the same as those now professed—namely, “Ireland for the Irish.” This pithy but comprehensive expression meant that Ireland was no longer to be a part of England, and that the Romish, and not the English Church, was to be supreme. To this was added the formation of an Irish republic under the spiritual sway of the Pope. These objects were first concealed, and, as it will be subse- quently seen, were afterwards openly avowed. The vigorous despotism of Strafford for a time kept down the attempt to carry these ideas into execution ; but the Court of Rome warily ever bides its time: it is immaterial who may be Pope or Bishop of Rome—the same principles are sedulously, quietly, but effectively maintained and put in force when the opportunity serves. For fourteen years previous to 1641, the Irish rebellion was in course of organisation by emissaries dispersed throughout Ireland. In 1634, Heber M*Mahon, an Irish clergyman, gave information to Strafford of a gene- ral rising being intended, and which was to be assisted and headed from abroad. Strafford, a man of bold character, and whose secret instructions from Charles were to get the support 34f of the Roman Catholics, little heeded the information—made some ordinary preparations, and directed the proceedings of the Irish agents abroad to be watched and reported to him. The plans of the conspirators were organised on the Continent, and their Ecclesiastical agents were poured, swarm after swarm, into Ireland. The English ministry received intimation of an unusual ferment among the Irish at the foreign Courts, and that Some conspiracy was forming. Vane, the Secretary of State, was directed to inform the Lords Justices that “there had passed from Spain and other foreign parts an unspeakable number of Irish Churchmen for England and Ireland, and some good old soldiers, under pretence of raising levies for the King of Spain, and that it was whispered by the Irish Friars in that kingdom, that a rising was shortly to be expected in Ireland.” Vane added, particularly, “in Connaught.” The necessary precautions were immediately taken inConnaught, which prevented the rebellion arising there; but all the other parts of Ireland, being unsuspected, were neglected. The principal avowed actors at the beginning of the rebellion in Ireland, were Sir Phelim O’Nial, who had been educated in England, at Lincoln's Inn, had been a Protestant, but relapsed into Popery and alienage from England. Richard Plunkett, also educated in England, Lord M'Guire, and Roger Moore who had been much abroad, and when there had been imbued with a hatred of Protestantism and England,which were then synonymous. The family of Moore was at one time powerful, and had been expelled from their possessions during the reign of Mary. Roger or Rory O'Moore was graceful in person, of engaging manners, of ready pliability to the habits around him, apt at discerning the characters of his associates, ambitious, vain, accom- plished, and brave. He was therefore naturally beloved by his countrymen: songs in his praise were everywhere sung, Irish military standards were wrought with his name, and the national countersign was “God, our Lady, and Roger Moore.” . Moore was the chief agent of the Court of Rome in the rebellion, and he scrupled at no falsehood or act to ensure the success PART VI. A A 342 of the diabolical scheme which the Pope had entrusted to his management. On Strafford's execution, the Lords Justices of Ireland were Sir William Parsons, an intriguer, and Sir John Borlase, an aged and indolent soldier. The period was deemed favourable, and several meetings of the confederates were held, when the day for the general rising was first fixed for the 5th October, 1641; but it was subsequently resolved that on the 23rd October, the Castle of Dublin should be surprised, and that, if possible, on the same day, all the forts and garrisons throughout the country should be simultaneously seized. The more moderate of the Papists recommended that the English and Protestants, when at their mercy, should be simply banished, as the Moors had been from Spain: and it was a pretty generally adopted idea, “as soon as Ireland was conquered, that an army of 30,000 men should be sent into England, aided by supplies from France and Spain, to reduce the whole island of Britain to the Pope's obedience, and after- wards to chastise the Hollanders.” In Ireland the design was to repeal every English statute, to establish the Roman Catholic religion and hierarchy in affluence, pomp, and power; to expel the British settlers, and reinvest all the old proprietors, or their descendants, with their former estates; to refuse all connection or intercourse with England, and to confiscate the goods of all who opposed the new order of things. The more politic gave out that they were “taking up arms to support the royal authority against the rebellion of the people of England,” and a spurious document, with an old seal of the king's attached, was circulated to give authenticity to the report. At a meeting of the Romish clergy, they deliberated and settled affairs as if they were already masters of Ireland. - The discovery of the intended rebellion was as remarkable as that of the Gunpowder Treason. On the eve of Friday, 22d October, 1641, the Lords Justices had not the slightest idea of * See Liber Munerum Publicorum Hibernia, ab A.D. 1152 usque A.D. 1827, Part I. page 60. Almost every statement in this Chapter will be found con- firmed and amply detailed in the Official Record from which these facts are taken. 343 one of the most wide-spread conspiracies probably ever organised, —so powerful is the Romish faith over even the tongues of its supporters. In the Castle of Dublin there were but eight warders and forty halberdiers; but there were also 1,500 barrels of gunpowder, arms, match and bullet, accoutrements for 10,000 men, and thirty-five pieces of artillery; all of which the rebels eagerly expected to possess. On the 22d, and in the evening, a Protestant named Owen O'Conally was incautiously made ac- quainted with the plans that were to be adopted on the following morning; and, after narrowly escaping with his life, he hurried off to the Castle and acquainted the Lords Justices. Instant steps were adopted; several of the principal conspirators in Dublin — including M*Guire and M*Mahon — were seized; despatches were sent to the Lords President of Munster and of Connaught to provide for the common safety, and the Earl of Ormond was summoned to repair to Dublin with his troops. But all communication with the North was cut off; the con- spirators rose at the appointed time in their different quarters, and were generally successful. On the evening of 22d October, Sir Phelim O’Nial invited himself and his friends to sup with the brave and hospitable old General Lord Caulfield, the governor of Charlemont Castle, then a place of great consequence. They were received with the most cordial hospitality; and while at supper, on a signal given, the noble host, his family, and the castle were simultaneously seized, and the place was ransacked. Sir Phelim then hastened to Dungannon Fort, which he soon occupied. The town and castle of Mountjoy were seized by some of his followers, Tanderagee was surprised by the sept of O'Hanlon : Newry was betrayed to Sir Conn Magennis; almost all Fermanagh was occupied by Roger M'Guire; the sept of Mahon seized every place of strength in Monaghan ; Lurgan was surrendered on conditions by Sir Wm. Brownlow ; O'Reily and the sheriff, his brother, who were Roman Catholics, and then representatives in the Irish Parlia- ment for the county of Cavan, headed their followers and occupied several forts and castles which were surrendered to them. The A A 2 344 county of Longford was summoned to arms by its Popish sheriff; and every castle, house, and plantation of the Protestant inha- bitants were seized. Leitrim followed this example; and within eight days the rebels were complete masters of eight entire counties, and nearly of two others; and Sir Phelim O’Nial was at the head of 30,000 men, great quantities of arms, ammunition, and stores having fallen into the hands of the rebels. The Protestants everywhere mingled with the Papists, on the most friendly terms; and, without any real or assumed superiority, were so completely stupified and confounded with the suddenness of the insurrection, that they were incapable of any combined efforts for the mutual defence; those who heard of the commo- tions in their neighbourhood remained at home to protect their families and property, and thus fell, one by one, an easy prey to the rebels. In conformity with the hypocritical pretence of the present day, and its existing and most dangerous agitation, so, in 1641, the cry at first was, “a peaceable revolution,” “no bloodshed,” “no personal violence,” “ loyalty to the sovereign.” - Mr. Rowley Lascelles, in his valuable official Reports, “Liber Munerum Publicorum Hibernia,” printed in 1826-7, records the following awful but authentic facts, and which will amply explain why the penal laws were subsequently rigorously enacted against the Romanists—not merely because they were of a different form of religion, but because no man’s life was safe from their con- spiracies and horrible plots:–“ Upon the repulse of Sir Phelim O'Nial from the castle of Augher, he ordered all the British Pro- testants in three adjacent parishes to be put to the sword. Upon his defeat at Lisburn, Lord Caulfield, O’Nial's former host, and fifty other prisoners were murdered. Others of their prisoners, on pretence of forwarding them to the nearest British Settlement, were goaded forward like beasts of burthen by their guards ; some were inclosed in a house or in a castle, to which fire was set, with a savage indifference to their cries, and a fiendish-like triumph over their eaſpiring agonies 1 Sometimes the captives were drowned in the first river they arrived at ; ONE HUND RED AND NINETY WERE AT ONCE THROWN HE A D- I.ONG FROM THE BRIDGE OF PortADow N ; Irish ecclesiastics 345 encouraging this deed by their presence. The very women, it is said, embrued their hands in the blood of these helpless hostages; even children were seen playing unconsciously with their feeble hands in gore /* Such is the dreadful but true statement made by the late Mr. Rowley Lascelles, of the Middle Temple, who was appointed by Government a few years since to examine the Irish State Records and Rolls, and whose work has been printed by Government as an authentic document. It would be painful to narrate the demoniac deeds of this unprovoked rebellion ; but in order that the allegation respecting the origin of the penal laws may be fully understood, the fol- lowing extract from the “Annals of Ireland,” with the official evidence, is given :- - By Sir Phelim O’Nial’s express order, Lieutenant James Maxwell, brother to Dr. Robert Maxwell, afterwards Bishop of Kilmore, was dragged out of his bed, raving in the height of a burning fever, driven two miles, and murdered ; his wife, great with child, stripped stark naked, and drowned in the Blackwater—the child half born. Mr. Starkey, aged an hundred years, was, with his two daughters, stripped naked, the daughters forced to support and lead their father, and, having gone three quarters of a mile, they were all three drowned in a turf pit. (Dr. Maa- 20ell’s Ezamination, p. 9, and Evamination of Captain John Perkins, of the County Tyrone, pp. 6, 7.) - Five hundred Protestants were murdered at Armagh, besides forty-eight families in the parish of Killaman. (Captain Perkin's Earamination, p. 6, and Anthony Strafford's Ea'amination at Armagh, p. 2.) Three hundred Protestants were stripped naked, and put into the church of Loughgall, whereof about an hundred were murdered in the church, amongst whom was John Gregg, who was quartered, and his quarters thrown in the face of his father Richard Gregg. The said Richard Gregg was then murdered, having received seventeen or eighteen wounds, and his body was quartered in the presence of his unfortunate wife, Mrs. Alice Gregg, who made an affidavit of the foregoing circumstances before Dean Jones, and the other Commissioners appointed for the purpose of ascertaining the cruelties practised by the rebels. (See Borlase's Appendia, p. 111.) - - Fifteen hundred Protestants were murdered in three parishes in the County of Armagh. (James Shaw’s Earamination, p. 1.) Two-and-twenty Protestants were put into a thatched house in the parish of Kil- more, and there burned alive. (Earaminations of Smith, Clerk, Fillis, Stanhaw, Tullerton, Machet, and Constable, of the County of Armagh, and also of Captain John Parkins, of the County of Tyrone.) The Rev. Mr. Robinson, his wife, and three children, were drowned. Mr. William Blundell was drawn by the neck in a rope up and down the Blackwater, at Charlemont, to make him confess his money, and in three weeks after, he, with his wife and seven children, were drowned. Forty-four other persons were murdered, 346 at several times, in the same place, where, among other horrible acts, a wife was compelled to hang her own husband. (Examinations of Edward Saltenstall, George Littlefield, and Margaret Bromley, of Armagh.-See Borlase's Appendia, p. 110.) One hundred and eighty Protestants were drowned at the bridge of Callon, and one hundred more in a Lough near Ballymacilmurrogh. (Captain Anthony Straf. ford's Ea'amination at Armagh, p. 2.) - Fifty Protestants were murdered at Blackwater church. The wife of Arnold Taylor, great with child, had her belly ripped up, and was then drowned—Thomas Mason was buried alive—the brains of three Protestants were knocked out with a hatchet in the church of Banburb—eight women were drowned in the river near the same church—and Mrs. Howard and Mrs. Franklin (both great with child,) were murdered with six of their children. (Examinations of Fillis, Stanhaw, Frank- land, Smith, Clerk, Tullerton, Price, Harcourt, and Parry, of the County of Armagh.) In the County of Tyrone, the Rev. John Mather, and the Rev. Mr. Blyth, though they had Sir Phelim O’Nial's protection, were murdered with sixTY PROTESTANT FAMILIES of the town of Dungannon. (Examinations of John Perkins, Esq., of the County of Tyrone, and Captain Anthony Strafford, of the County of Armagh.) Between Charlemont and Dungannon, about 400 were murdered, and 206 were drowned in the Blackwater and the river of Banburb. Thirteen were murdered in one morning by Patrick MacCarew, of Dungannon. Two young rebels killed one hundred and forty women and children, and the wife of Bryan Kelly, of Loughall, murdered five-and-forty with her own hands. Robert Bickerdick and his wife were drowned in the Bwatelack, where Thomas and James Carlisle, and ninety-eight per- sons were put to death. Three hundred were put to death on the way to Coleraine, by order of Sir Phelim O’Nial and his brother Tirlagh, and three hundred were drowned in one day, at a mill-pool in the parish of Killamoon. (See the Examinations of Carlisle, Perkins, and Stratford ; or Borlase's Appendia, p. 123.) In this dreadful persecution, those who through fear had conformed to Popery, though few in number, did not escape the fury of the rebels—but they were the last who were cut off. The rebels about this time, lest they should be charged with more murders than they committed, commanded their Priests to bring in a true account of them—from which it appeared, that from the 23rd of October, 1641, to the month of March, 1643, one hundred and fifty-four thousand Protestants were murdered, whether in Ulster, or the whole kingdom, Doctor Robert Maxwell, who saw the return, durst not venture to inquire. (Dr. Mawwell's Evamination, p. 7.) “ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-Four THous AND PROTES- TANTS MURDERED.” l–Pages—volumes indeed—might be filled with these dreadful deeds, which were perpetrated under the sacred name of religion, which was used as a means of hardening the heart to the cries of suffering humanity. Hume, in the sixth volume of his History, page 410 to 436, styles this insurrection as a rebellion without provocation, and worthy to be held in perpetual detestation and abhorrence. The English, as heretics abhorred of God, were marked out by the priests for slaughter; and, of all actions, to rid the world of 347 these declared enemies to Romish faith and piety, was represented as the most meritorious deed; and while their victims were in the agonies of death, the shouts and imprecations of their demoniac assassins rung in their ears, that their present sufferings were but the commencement of eternal torments. - Well indeed, has it been observed by Mosheim + that “the maintenance of all liberty, civil and religious, depends on circum- scribing Popery within proper bounds, since Popery is not a system of innocent speculative opinions, but a yoke of despotism : an enormous mixture of priests and princely tyranny, designed to enslave the consciences of mankind, and to destroy their most sacred and invaluable rights.” The greater part of Ireland was at the mercy of the Papists in 1642; the life and property of no Protestant was safe, and the Bible was everywhere, and in a most ignominious manner, burnt or destroyed. The Lords of the Pale—namely, Lords Fingal, Gormanstown, Slane, Louth, Dunsany, Trimleston, and Netterville, although at first professing peace and loyalty, soon openly co-operated with the rebels, and with about one thousand principal gentle- men, joined Roger Moore (who styled himself the Champion of Church and State), at the Hill of Tara, from whence mani- festoes were sent into Connaught and Munster. The establish- ment of Ireland as a “Romish nation” was now carried into effect; a general synod of all the Romish clergy of Ireland was convened at Kilkenny, in May, 1642. The first act of this assembly was to declare the rebellion “both just and necessary.” They ordained provisional courts subordinate to a great national council : sent embassies to foreign powers, and in particular to the Bishop of Rome, to solicit further aid ; framed an oath of association in appointing the members of the Supreme council, and appointed a general assembly of the Nation in October, 1642, of which Lord Mount Garret was chosen Presi- dent. The “Nation *—consisting of Popish spiritual and tem- poral lords, with special Popish deputies from every county and * Appendix to Ecclesiastical History of the 18th Century, page 59. 348 city in the possession of the rebels—met at Kilkenny, 25th Oct., 1642. It continued its sittings as a parliament from day to day, and was divided into an upper and lower house. It will be perceived that the project of 1842-43—of having 300 delegates of the “Nation" in Dublin, at the “Repeal Hall,” is quite in unison with the proceedings of 1642. The records of this Popish assembly at Kilkenny are now before me, and the coincidence of the measures there adopted is exactly in accord- ance with the avowed and unavowed but known objects and inten- tions of the present Repealers. A supreme council was formed out of twenty-four persons, to be chosen by the general assembly. This council was to exercise the executive and judicial powers, and a guard of five hundred infantry and two hundred cavalry was assigned for the protection of the council. A great seal for the “Nation ” was ordered; “all persons of whatsoever nation adhering to the English to come from them to the Romanists by the end of November.” On the 28th October, 1642, “a committee appointed to inquire how money and muni- tion come from foreign parts hath been disposed of;” on the same day, ordered, that “Mr. Baron shall bring into this house, in writing, the proposition and messages from foreign parts, com- mitted to him from the Pope's Nuncio and others.” A committee of the Earl of Castlehaven, Viscount Gormanstown, and repre- sentatives from each province, were appointed “to lay down a model of civil government;” the oath of association was ordered to be administered to every person, by all the priests in their respective parishes. - Nov. 13th, 1642. “30,000l. in money to be applotted, and levied forthwith in Leinster, for the public service. ‘14th. Supreme council to have the disposition and manage- ment of the admiralty of the seas for the public use and service.” Commissioners were appointed to negotiate with foreign princes and states; coin was ordered to be struck; the members of the assembly were ordered to be paid so much per day; an institu- tion and order of knighthood concerning the honour of St. Patrick was ordered to be prepared; martial government was established 349 in different districts, and the rebellion was styled a “holy war.” I have also before me “the instructions to be observed and pur- sued by the Lord Bishop of Fernis, and Nicholas Plunkett, Esq., commissioners appointed and authorized by and in behalf of the confederated Roman Catholics of Ireland in the Court of Rome,” dated “Kilkenny, 18th January, 1647,” and also those to France and Spain, of the same date; they are signed by all the Roman Catholic Prelates and others; but it would be superfluous to quote these treasonable papers. It should be remembered that this rebellion and its con- sequences occurred before there was any civil war in England. Innocent X. was at this time Bishop of Rome; he rejoiced at the rebellion in Ireland, and sent over to Ireland as his Minister, or Nuncio, John Battista Rinuncini, Archbishop of Fermo, a Flo- rentine, of noble birth, eloquent and graceful, but of a fierce and superstitious fanaticism. Rinuncini, who arrived at Kilkenny 12th November, declared that he was the instrument appointed by Providence for the “reconversion of the British islands,” and soon took upon himself supreme authority in Ireland. For a time there was a murderous contest between the forces of Lord Ormond on behalf of Charles, and of General Preston on behalf of the Council,—and of various other chiefs, viz., Owen O'Nial, Lord Inchiquin, the Scottish General Monroe, Lord Blaney, and others; but in these times, as in all similar contests in Ireland, the arts and intrigues of the Papacy prevailed over every com- petitor. Mr. Lascelles, in his official report, -after narrating the defeat of Ormond, aided by the Marquess of Clanricarde and Lord Digby, -says, “ Soldiers and officers, the gentry as well as the country people, flocked round this vain prelate (Rinuncini), breathing vengeance against the Ormondists (the supporters of the English monarchy) and clamouring for religion, for the clergy, and the Pope's Envoy. In a moment, all that power which the confederated Roman Catholics had so long exerted—the whole dignity and authority of their assemblies, together with the authority of their councils, were utterly dissolved and lost. A few ecclesiastics seemed absolute lords of the island, and were so to all 350 intents and purposes. The Nuncio (Rinuncini) made his public entry into Kilkenny with all the pomp of royalty; and all affairs, civil and ecclesiastical, were resigned to his absolute control.” The Members of the Supreme Council (the rebel or popular Council assembled at Kilkenny, and mentioned at page 347) and other promoters of the treaty (a treaty of peace with Ormond) were imprisoned; and Rinuncini wrote to Rome for instructions respecting the ceremonial between the Papal Minister and the Chief Civil Governor of Dublin, whom Rinuncini was about to appoint. - - -- To trace the progress of the rebellion up to the arrival of Cromwell, in 1649, would be beyond the limits of this work; suffice it to say, that the bonds of civil society were utterly broken. Murder and pillage, under the pretence of religion, stalked with hideous fury through the land: there was no principle of Royalty, or Puritanism, or Parliamentism, in the ascendant —nothing but Romanism in its most intense bigotry, but without even the poor advantage of its temporal as well as moral despotism, triumphed. Several hundred thousand people perished by the sword, by fire, by famine, and by pestilence,” until the whole nation was more like a set of infuriated savages broke loose from restraint than like a congregation of human beings. To Oliver Cromwell belongs the merit of having restored order, of having secured peace, and of having re-established the founda- tions of civil society. Cromwell landed in Dublin, 15th August, 1649, with a veteran army, a formidable train of artillery, a good supply of money and military stores. Previous to the arrival of the Protector, the Prince of Wales was proclaimed King of Ireland, and Prince Rupert was expected with a fleet and succours. The statesman- like mind of Cromwell saw at a glance, that terror must be diffused at once throughout Ireland, as a speedy means of restoring order and peace. His first act in Dublin was one of clemency—he offered “indemnity and protection to those who would * Seventeen thousand Protestants perished by the plague in Dublin, in one summer only, not to mention the casualties by war, famine, and disease. From 1641 to 1651, Ireland lost one-third of its population. 351 submit to the Parliament; and having regulated all matters, whether civil or military, he appointed Sir Theophilus Jones Governor of Dublin, and took the field with 10,000 men. The city which had most engaged the attention of both parties was Drogheda; its position on the high road to Ulster—the strength of the fortifications, which were well defended by a large body of picked troops under the command of a distinguished Roman Catholic officer, Sir Arthur Aston, aided by many other skilful officers, and with ample supplies of provisions and military stores to sustain the longest siege, rendered its immediate capture an object of the highest importance, and decisive of the fate of Ireland. Instead of sitting down to a formal siege, which his enemies expected, Cromwell summoned the Governor to sur- render at discretion, and on receiving a refusal he opened a cannonade for two days. A breach being effected, the British troops twice attempted to enter, and were twice repulsed. Crom- well headed his men on the third assault: the contest was most fierce; but the besiegers were finally triumphant; and the garrison, it is said, were put to the sword, the fight having only ceased when there were no longer living but a few of the brave and infatuated defendants. The effect of this terrible slaughter was soon manifest: in a brief period, Trim, Dundalk, Carlingford, Newry, Iisburn, Belfast, and Coleraine, in the North,-Wexford and Ross, in the East,--the chief garrisons of Munster—declared for Cromwell:—Carlow, Kilkenny, Carrick, Waterford, Dun- garvan, Clonmel, Naas, Athy, Maryborough, Castledermot, and other places, were all reduced; and in six months, of which four were in the winter season, Ireland was saved from final ruin. The short-sighted moralist may condemn the fearful slaughter at Drogheda ; but, in reality, it was an act of mercy to all Ireland. During the recent commotions at Bristol and Nottingham, a few efficient rounds of grape-shot, and a vigorous charge of cavalry— by which a few score of unfortunate human beings might have suffered—would at once have suppressed the riots, and saved the lives of many hundreds. This apparent severity is therefore an act of mercy. Thus was it with Cromwell: the example of 352 Drogheda was a death-blow to his foes; he knew well that the battle of Worcester had yet to be fought; Scotland was to be conquered; and the salvation of the three countries depended on the success of Cromwell's efforts to restore the dominion of the law in Ireland. England, Scotland, and Ireland, owe a great debt to Oliver Cromwell, whose bones lie buried where Tyburn-Gate once stood, and whose character has yet to be impartially written. Like all men of great minds, Cromwell believed himself a chosen instru- ment in the hands of Providence. Wise in council, brave in the field, hating foreigners and Papal domination, and ardently attached to England and her religion, Cromwell collected the fragments of broken regal power; and although surrounded by anarchy and intrigues at home, and by enemies abroad, he gave peace to our distracted borders; consolidated more firmly than they had ever before been the interests of England, Ireland, and Scotland; and, as he himself proudly boasted, “made the hair of an Englishman’s head feared and respected in every part of the world.” The lands of Sir Phelim O'Nial and other rebels were most justly confiscated, and given principally to the soldiers who had restored order, and to those who had advanced money for the army and Government. If men possessed of property will rebel and unhinge the whole fabric of society, it must not be deemed tyranny to confiscate the estates of the rebels; for this is one of the best safeguards for the quiet enjoyment of property, and the maintenance of a stable Government. The benefits which Cromwell conferred on Ireland were so great, that it is stated by Leland, the Roman Catholic historian, that many of the clergy did not scruple to insinuate, that if they must submit to an heretical Government, they might as well sub- mit to Cromwell as to Ormond. Some were said to have even offered up prayers for the success of the Parliamentary General. So effectual were the measures adopted by Cromwell, that Mr. Lascelles notes, “it is remarkable that in less than two years after Clanrickarde had left Ireland, (in 1652, by which the ten years' 353 rebellion was terminated), the new Government seemed per- fectly established.” Lord Clarendon says, there were numerous buildings raised for ornament, as well as use, with orderly and regular plantations of trees, fences, and inclosures made through- out Ireland. . - Purchases, too, were commonly made at very valuable rates, and jointures settled on marriages, with all other conveyances executed as in a country which had been long in peace, and was now likely to remain in tranquillity. The Protector summoned forty Representatives from Ireland to the British Parliament, and thus in reality the interests of both countries were consulted. Mr. Lascelles, although strongly objecting to the arbitrary and unconstitutional Government of Cromwell, after adverting to his clemency towards the Roman Catholics, says: — “Cromwell's Government of Ireland now (A.D. 1653) and afterwards, under his son, was the most popular - that country ever experienced before or since. In the adminis- tration of justice, and in all matters as between man and man only, his administration was worthy of the greatest legislator, and of the best king.” • *- - It is very remarkable, that Cromwell's Government of Scotland is, by the confession of all writers, allowed to have been the most popular in that country also. - - Finally, the administration of Cromwell in Ireland was “singularly able, discreet, and popular,” and “addresses were transmitted from the inhabitants of every county in Ireland, expressing their resolution of adhering to the Protector against all those who, from their particular animosities, would endeavour to re-imbroil the State.” Yet it is among the calumnies of the present day to vilify the Irish Government of Cromwell, and thus endeavour to influence the minds of the ignorant and prejudiced against the British and Protestants. w At the period of the Restoration, an Irish Parliament was assembled in Dublin, and a resolution was passed by the Commons, that no man should sit in that house who had not taken the oaths of allegiance and supremacy. The Roman Catholics refused to 354 do so, and were rightly excluded; but it was not on religious but on civil grounds that they were excluded. The terms “Irish rebel” and “Irish Roman Catholic” were at that time synonymous, and those who had suffered by ten years' desolating civil war, commenced by the Romanists without cause, and aided by the Bishop of Rome and the Kings of Spain and France, would have been false to their country, if, after the past melancholy events and the fatal experience they possessed, they had neglected the obtainment of some bulwark for the preservation of peace and of civil liberty. To designate these wise and indispensable precautions against future rebellions as “Protestant bigotry” and “religious animosity” is a gross perversion of truth. But although the Romanists refused to disavow allegiance to any other chief except their Sovereign, yet they were not interfered with in the free exercise of their religion, which was then celebrated in Dublin with extraordinary splendour. Commissions of the peace were granted to professed Papists, and Popish aldermen and a Popish common council existed in Dublin. Charles II. was in heart a Roman Catholic, as far as his libertine life would allow him to profess any religion; and he was disposed to grant every claim that the Romanists might make. During the reign of Charles, plots against Protestantism were always hatching in Ireland, and his death alone prevented the completion of a most formidable conspiracy, as wide-spread as that of 1641, but better organised. It was resolved to recal the Duke of Ormond, to “remodel the army in Ireland,” that is, form it of Romanists. Richard Talbot, champion of the Popish party, was to be invested with the Lord Lieutenancy. The details of this plot were never fully divulged; the Duke of York was one of the chief leaders: but Providence in its mercy saved Ireland from another massacre, at a period when the Papists were to the Protestants as fifteen to one. We now arrive at the events of the reign of James II., who ascended the throne, February 6, 1685; and whose reign for- tunately lasted (like that of Mary) for only a brief period, namely, 355 two years and a half. Bred a Roman Catholic by his mother, James made the most violent efforts for the restoration of the Romish power. The Earl of Castlemain was sent as his agent to the Pope, with the submission of the King, to prepare for the real subjection of England to Rome. The King attended mass in state. Four Romish Bishops were consecrated in the King's chapel, and then despatched throughout the country as “Apostolic Vicars.” Six Protestant Bishops were thrown into the Tower for their defence of the Protestant religion, and various other acts were done, not only against the Established Church, but also in conformity with the true spirit of Popery against the liberties of the people. But in Ireland, where the number of Protestants was still so few, the measures adopted for the elevation of Popery were most alarming. The Roman Catholics were proportionally elated, and the Protestants depressed, on the accession of James. Ormond, the Protestant, was recalled, and Forbes, Lord Granard, appointed Deputy. James, in a letter under his own hand, assured Granard that nothing should be done to prejudice the established religion: a promise neither kept nor intended to be kept. The Irish Militia which had been embodied, armed, and disciplined by the Duke of Ormond, and composed entirely of Protestants, were next compelled to give up their arms, and this at a time when there were strong rumours of another Protestant massacre like that of 1641. Bands of robbers, called informers, started up and swore that various Protestants had formerly spoken against the King when Duke of York; and any Roman Catholic, whether from revenge, interest, or prejudice, could thus cause the imprison- ment of a Protestant and the confiscation of his property. A petition for a general reversal of the outlawries, occasioned by the rebellion of 1641, was prepared and received; the great seal of Ireland was taken from Primate Boyle; three Protestant Judges, without any objection whatever being alleged against their conduct, were removed and replaced by three Roman Catholics—Rice, Nugent, and Daly; and these, with other Popish lawyers, were admitted into the Privy Council, without 356 being required to take the oath of supremacy. The King refused to fill the vacant Archbishopric of Cashel, as the revenues of this and of other sees were to be given to the Romanists. Orders were issued by the King for the Priests to appear publicly in the habits of their order; the Protestants were prohibited to treat of controversial subjects from the pulpit; Roman Catholics were ordered to be admitted into all Corporations, and into the offices of Sheriff and Justices of the Peace: and Richard Talbot, now Earl of Tyrconnel, a Romanist, was appointed Lord Lieu- tenant of Ireland. Several Corporations were dissolved; others were compelled, or induced, to resign their Charters; the pension (then almost its sole subsistence) of Dublin University was stopped; and the heads of a Bill were framed under pretence of relieving the distressed and injured Irish, which unhinged the whole settlement of the country, and gave the King absolute discretion over the entire landed property of Ireland The effect of these proceedings was soon manifested. It was openly declared that not one Protestant would be left in the army; and now that the Romanists had arms, they would soon take the land. Tenants were cautioned not to pay any rents to ENGLISH Landlords, and the Popish Clergy forbad the payment of tithes to PROTESTANT incumbents. On Lord Clarendon's delivering over his Deputyship to the Earl of Tyrconnel, he embarked for England, and was attended or followed by “fifteen hundred Pro- testant families.” Many merchants sold their effects, and aban- doned a country where they clearly foresaw the re-establishment of Popery and a convulsion of the Government. This was the very course which the Papists wished; then, as now, their object was to disgust and drive all Protestants and moderate men of property from Ireland,-to intimidate many by the murder of some—and to do so under pretence of grievances about land, and not on account of religion. . - - It is unnecessary to follow the proceedings of James, which led to his final expulsion from England on 31st December, 1688; but so well were his plans laid in Ireland, that, upon the landing of the Prince of Orange, at Torbay, Tyrconnel, the Lord Deputy, 357 issued commissions for levying troops; the Priests urged their followers to fly to arms; and in every quarter of Ireland an armed rabble started up, who called themselves the “King's soldiers.” The Protestants received intelligence of an intended general massacre; some fled to the coasts, and crowded in any vessel they could obtain, to England, abandoning, for the sake of their lives, their lands, houses, property, and business. Others took refuge in walled towns and Protestant garrisons; collected the arms still left among them, and resolved to die in defence of their religion and liberty. The cities of Londonderry and Enniskillen finally became the only strongholds for the Protestants, and English interest; the whole of Ireland being in the hands of the Roman Catholics; and Tyrconnel, the Roman Catholic Lord-Lieutenant, was at the head of an army of nearly 40,000 rebels. James, aided by France and Rome, resolved on attempting to create a separate and Popish kingdom in Ireland. On 12th March, 1689, attended by fourteen ships-of-war, six frigates, and three fire-ships, James landed at Kinsale; his body-guard consist- ing of 1200 Irish, English, and Scottish Roman Catholics, with one hundred French officers, and attended by the Count d’Avaux as ambassador from the King of France. Tyrconnel met James at Cork, where, to show his zeal for the Romish Sovereign, he executed a Protestant magistrate, who ventured an opposition. James made a triumphal entry into Dublin, with the “Host.” borne before him in solemn procession, which he devoutly adored, to the delight of the attending Priests. The first thing done was to prohibit any Protestant being a Member of the Privy Council; the Fellows and Scholars of Trinity College, Dublin, were turned out of the University by the soldiers of James; the communion plate, library, furniture, and property (of some obnoxious members in particular) were seized; the College chambers converted into prisons; and the College chapel into a magazine. Christ Church, Dublin, and other places, were converted into Roman Catholic chapels; and the Protestant clergy, for the most part, were deprived of their ordinary subsistence. A mock Parliament was convened in Dublin, in which various new Popish PART VI, B B 358 peers, and those whose outlawries were reversed, sat; a Bill for repealing the Acts of Settlement passed, with a preamble, which exculpated the Irish from the rebellion of 1641; and with a clause, declaring forfeited the estates of all those dwelling in any of the three Kingdoms since 1st August, 1688, who did not acknowledge James, or who aided or corresponded with those in rebellion against him. Another Act of this truly Irish Tarliament involved in one un- distinguished attainder all the adherents of King William, and affected to preclude James from the power of pardoning after 1st November, 1689. A third Act vested the personal estates of absenlees in the King. And it should be added, that not more than five Protestants were permitted to assemble together. Such was an Irish Parliament under James II. Such would be another Irish Parliament under any leader who would even promise to hold Ireland in subjection to Rome, -destroy the Protestant religion, —and to separate Ireland from Great Britain. Space is not afforded me to trace, even in outline, the details of the struggle between James and William in Ireland; it is impos- sible, however, to examine the dreadful history of this war between Protestantism and Papacy without seeing the protecting power of supreme Providence over the advocates of a pure worship. A small city like Londonderry, defended not by soldiers, but by its citizens, and suffering from treachery within, although perishing for want of even the most loathsome food, and daily destroyed by pestilence, withstood for months the furious cannonades of James at the head of twenty thousand troops, and was finally triumphant. At the battle of the Boyne, where the fate of England as well as that of Ireland was decided, William was wounded, and had repeated, (almost miraculous,) escapes with his life. Under Divine permission, William, at the head of 36,000 brave, expe- rienced, disciplined, and well-appointed English, Dutch, and Danish troops, finally expelled James from Ireland, and Dublin became again the chief seat of British Government. Drogheda, Waterford, Duncannon, Wexford, and Clonmel, were next taken possession of by William in person ; Marlborough, after some severe losses, reduced Cork and Kinsale; Ginckel (one of 359 William's generals), with 18,000 men attacked and beat St. Ruth (a French general), and Sarsfield, advantageously posted at Augh- rim, and commanding 20,000 infantry and 5000 cavalry; who had been (just previous to the battle) promised by their priests “the most ravishing prospects of eternal life,” if they would slay the heretics. Limerick, which William had besieged in vain in 1690, capitu- lated in September 1691, to General Ginckel, after the besiegers, in a terrible assault, had made a lodgment within ten yards of Thomond Bridge, and slain 600 of the enemy, whose bodies filled the bridge up to the battlements, driven about 150 into the river, who perished, and taken 126 officers and soldiers prisoners. Two days after the surrender of Limerick, a formidable French fleet arrived in the river Shannon, for the relief of General Sarsfield and the Irish and French garrison; the fleet had on board 10,000 men, with abundant supplies of arms, ammunition, stores, and provisions. The capitulation of Limerick terminated the hopes of James in Ireland, and the unhappy country which, for many years, had been made the arena of foreign intrigues and Popish influence and plots against England, again enjoyed a temporary repose under the British government. Before passing from this subject, a brief allusion may be made to what is called the “Treaty of Limerick,” meaning the terms on which the garrison capitulated, and which it is erroneously alleged were violated by the Protestants. An abstract of the act of Parliament (William III. ch. 2,) is now before me; and I perfectly agree with Mr. Lascelles, as stated in his official report, that “All the conditions were on his part punctiliously ful- filled by William.” The first conditions sought by the Limerick garrison were too extravagant; the second, which were conceded, were, that the Irish Roman Catholics should enjoy their religion as in the reign of Charles II. ; that all included in the capitula- tion should enjoy their estates, callings, and professions as in that reign under the acts of settlement and explanation; their gentry should be allowed the use of arms, and that no oaths should in the meantime be required of any except the oath of allegiance. 360 Free liberty was given to all to retire with their effects to any other country, and the Irish army were to be permitted to enter into any foreign service, and to be conveyed by the British government to any part of the Continent at the cost of govern- ment. Although William was then engaged in a dangerous Continental war, he refused to avail himself even of the observa- tion that the act for the conveyance of the Irish troops abroad was surreptitiously inserted into the treaty ; and rather than delay the performance even of this stipulation, disdaining all scruples as well as apprehensions of any kind, the king put his own service to considerable inconvenience, the numbers to be conveyed to the Continent being so considerable that it required three several fleets of transports for their embarkation. The Parliament which met after the treaty of Ryswick confirmed the articles of the Limerick capitulation, taking the year 1666, the date of the act of settlement, as also the last sitting of any regular Parliament in Ireland, as the standard whereby to declare the legal state of the Roman Catholics. “In all history there is not perhaps so distinct and perfect evidence of a treaty fulfilled beyond the letter of it as this very treaty of Limerick. There cannot be a more signal instance of disingenuous assurance and want of candour than for any person at this day to select the transaction of the Treaty of Limerick as an imputation of the good faith of the English King, or of the Irish Parliament.” + The report of the commissioners appointed to examine into the Irish forfeitures, stated that the number of persons outlawed on account of James's rebellion in 1689, was 3,921 ; and that the lands forfeited contained 1,060,792 (Irish) acres, and that some of these lands had been restored to the old proprietors by virtue of the capitulations of Limerick and Galway; others by reversal of outlawries, and by royal pardons. It will thus be seen that rebel- lions against the constituted authority for Papistical objects were the parents of the confiscations in Ireland, as well as of the Penal Laws. i We may pass over the events during the reigns of Queen Anne * Liber Munerum Publicorum Hiberniae, vol. i. p. 95. 361 and her successors; whether the object were that of a Pretender to the throne of England, or the aiding of a foreign enemy against the British Empire, the Irish Papists have ever been the class to be used by artful intriguers. The invasions of the French at Carrickfergus in 1760 (at the very period when the Duke of Bedford openly professed to favour the Roman Catholics); at Bantry in 1796 (consisting of 20 ships of the line, 15 frigates and transports for 20,000 men),” at Killala in 1798, were, under Provi- dence, frustrated as to any serious results, by the efforts of the Protestants of Ireland and of the British government; so also the unprovoked Popish rebellion of 1798, which was very near being a successful massacre and insurrection throughout the island. The singular and unnatural society termed “United Irishmen,” was, at its commencement, free from religious differences; but, ere long, the evil genius of Ireland (Romanism) triumphed, and a bloody rebellion ensued, in which deeds were perpetrated that would disgrace a herd of demons. Mr. Rowley Lascelles, in his official report states, that after the battle of Ross, in 1798, and when the insurgents had taken Wexford, “The rebels, after causing thirty of their prisoners to be either picketed or shot at the hall- door of Scullabogue House, forced the remainder—to the number of one hundred and eighty-four persons, men, women, and children, mostly Protestants, into a barn, when they deliberately consumed the barn with every living being therein by fire /* A Roman Catholic priest—Father Philip Roche, was named by the rebels * The French armament for the invasion of Ireland in 1796, at the invitation of the Irish rebels, consisted of twenty ships of the line, fifteen stout frigates, with the requisite number of transports for an army whose numbers were estimated at 15 to 25,000 men. Of this formidable squadron, seventeen sail—of which ten were ships of the line, anchored in Bantry Bay, 24th December, 1796. An overruling Providence saved Ireland from a terrific struggle, by scattering the hostile fleet in a storm, and inspiring the commanders with doubt and want of concord, so that the remnant only of this grand armament, part being destroyed by tempests, and part by the British squadron off Brest, returned to France, and without effecting a landing in Ireland. - This circumstance of a projected and nearly successful invasion within the meillory of the present generation, ought to teach reflecting Irishmen that, with a separate Legislature and apparent distinct nationality, Ireland would ever be a temptation to a hostile Power, and probably the battle-field of Europe. 362 their commander-in-chief. At the battle of Arklow, in 1798, where the rebels had 20,000 men (of whom 5000 were armed with muskets, and the remainder with formidable long pikes, sustained by three pieces of well-served artillery), a Roman Catholic priest, named Father Michael Murphy, was killed by a cannon-shot within thirty yards of the British lines, while leading on a furious assault of his men, under which the royal troops quailed and were very nearly routed. At Gorey, which was in the possession of the rebels in 1798, the Protestant Church was sprinkled and daubed with the blood of two Protestants, who were ignominiously massacred therein, after which the rebels destroyed the sacred edifice. In Kildare, the rebels put to death Mr. Crafford, a Protestant, by thrusting a pike upwards through his body, and then roasting him before a slow fire. “ONE OF HIs YouNG CHILDREN WAS ALSO PUT to DEATH IN A SIMILAR MANNER.” Mr. Boyd, an amiable, but a Protestant magistrate, had an iron pin thrust through his nose, his hands tied behind his back, and he was left fastened to a dung- hill until he eaſpired. One Protestant clergyman was bled to death in a pig-trough, after which the Roman Catholics danced and washed their feet in his blood / Let those who believe the charge against the Protestants of Ireland of “religious bigotry,” for their reluctance to confer political power on a vast number of uneducated and but nominally Christianised Roman Catholics, peruse, as the writer has done, pages upon pages of the most disgusting details of human ferocity, and savage fiend-like barbarity, as practised on the Protestants of Ireland in 1641 and 1798, and they will then see that this charge is, like other statements relating to Ireland, which, from being unscrupulously asserted and widely propagated, have at length been most erroneously supposed to have some foundation in truth. And let it be remembered that this rebellion arose after the elective franchise had been restored to the Roman Catholics, and a Roman Catholic College had been established by an act of the Irish Parliament at Maynooth, and after the passing of different acts in favour of the Papists, and removing disabilities— whether as regarded the possession of property or the dictates of 363 conscience, Indeed, both the British and Irish Parliaments vied with each other in removing with all practicable prudence the dis- qualifications under which the Romanists laboured, notwithstand- ing the experience of the past: but this did not prevent the insurrections of 1798 and of 1803. An examination of the debates in the Irish Parliament will de- monstrate most fully that the penal laws had reference to religion only so far as it influences political conduct and public liberty.” In the debate on the bill introduced by Luke Gardiner, after- wards Lord Mountjoy, into the Irish House of Commons in 1782, “for the further relief of His Majesty's subjects of Ireland professing the Roman Catholic religion,” and which had reference to their enjoyment of property, to the free exercise of religion, to education, marriage, and self-defence, Mr. Flood—the violent opponent of the Union—said, “The laws that followed the defeat of King James were not laws of persecution, but of political necessity.” + + + “If you give the Roman Catholics equal power with the Protestants, can a Protestant Constitution sur- vive?” + 4 + “But though we wish to extend toleration to Roman Catholics, we don’t wish to shake the government; we should allow them to purchase lands, but we should carefully guard against their possessing any power in the state.” * The rebellion of 1641 taught the thinking portion of the people of Ireland that their future safety depended on a perfect union with England. In the reign of Charles II, there was a Report of the Board of Trade to the Privy Council of Ireland, in which it was expressly recommended “ that endeavours should be used jor the Univn of the two Kingdoms under one Legislative Power, proportionably as had been heretofore done in the case of Wales.” This suggestion was disregarded. Again, in 1703, when the Scottish Union was in contemplation, the Irish Parlia- ment petitioned the Queen “to promote such Union with England as may best qualify the States of this Kingdom to be represented in the Parliament there.” The Queen's answer, after four months' consideration, was in the negative. In 1707, the Irish Parliament renewed their entreaties, and added, “ May God put it in your royal heart to add greater strength and lustre to your Crown by a still more comprehensive Union.” The proposition was again refused ; as there was a jealousy in England of the machinations of the Irish Roman Catholics, especially as exemplified in their support of James II., when Ireland was declared a “Popish Kingdom.” Lord Clare, in the discussion on the Roman Catholic claims, in the Irish Parliament, in 1793, said, “It was not until the attempt to unite the Parlia- ments of both countries had proved abortive that the great code of the Popery laws was enacted.” 364 Among other arguments used by Mr. Flood, in relation to the observation that Protestants were tolerated in Roman Catholic countries, he said, “The Protestants in every country acknowledged the Sovereign as head of the Church ; whereas Roman Catholics look to a foreign jurisdiction in matters ecclesiastical.” " It has given the Author much pain to write this chapter. Willingly would he bury in oblivion the melancholy events in the past history of Ireland ; but the falsehoods that have been sedulously promulgated by a few artful persons for their own private gain, the delusions that have been practised on a confiding and generous-minded people, the demoniac deeds to which several of the peasantry are now excited by fearful denunciations against the Sassenagh (Protestant), and the ruin that must inevitably fall on the innocent as well as on the guilty by a per- severance in the existing agitation, demands the publication of truth, for the sake of the well-meaning Roman Catholics. Let me be permitted also to express a hope that enlightened and benevolent priests, like Father Mathew, will openly abjure “Romanism” and become “Catholics "--that they will throw off all domination to a For EIGN Power, call a synod of their Clergyf in Ireland, and lay down Christian principles conformable to the early Church of St. Patrick. Irishmen ought to be ashamed of living in subservience to a foreign bishop, who has arrogantly assumed an authority which no earthly mortal possesses. Let this abjuration take place, and their Protestant brethren in England and in Ireland will welcome them with tears of joy, the baneful strife which has desolated their native land will terminate for ever, and the “Catholics " and the “Protestants” will then become one fold, under one Shepherd—nobly emulating each other in deeds of Christian charity, love, and brotherhood. This Chapter would be incomplete without some information respecting the Protestant Church in Ireland, the amount of * See Vol. i. p. 295, of Collectanea Politica, or the Political Transactions of Ireland, by William Wenman Seward, Dublin, 1801. + The English Roman Catholics have no hierarchy. The Roman Catholic priests nominate three priests to fill a vacant bishopric ; and the Pope elects one of the three at his option. 365 whose revenues have been so greatly exaggerated. By Parlia- mentary Return, No. 265, dated 10th May, 1833, it appears that the total number of benefices in the different dioceses of Ireland is 1456, of which the respective values are—465 from 30l. to 200l. ; 118 to 250l. ; 95 to 300l. ; 84 to 350l. ; 89 to 400l. ; 67 to 450l. ; 90 to 500/. ; 66 to 550l. ; 58 to 600l. ; 46 to 650l. ; 44 to 700l. ; 36 to 750l. ; 22 to 800l. ; 23 to 850l. ; 22 to 900l. ; 17 to 950l. ; 12 of 1,000l. ; 10 of 1,050l. ; 15 of I,100l. ; 10 of 1,150l. ; 13 of 1,200l. ; 2 of 1,250l. ; 5 of 1,300l. ; 2 of 1,350l. ; 7 of 1,400l. ; 2 of 1,450l. ; 5 of 1,500l. ; 4 of 1,550l. ; 5 of 1,600!, ; 3 of 1,700l. ; 2 of 1,750l. ; 2 of 1,800l. ; I of 1,950l.; I of 2,000l. ; 1 of 2,050l., I of 2,100l. ; 1 of 2,1507. ; 2 of 2,2007, ; 1 of 2,250l. ; 1 of 2,350l. ; 1 of 2,450l. ; I of 2,500l. ; 1 of 2,600l. ; and I upwards of 2,600l. Dublin has the greatest number of benefices, viz., 114; Meath, 106; Armagh, 88; Cloyne, 75; Ferns, 63; Derry, 57; Kildare, 50 ; and so on throughout thirty-three dioceses. By the Parliamentary Return, No. 81, March 24, 1835, it appears that the number of curates is 365; of whom 51 have less than 50l. a year; 240 have less than 100l. a year; and 49 have less than 150l. a year. There is scarcely a Roman Catholic priest in Ireland with less than 150l. a year—the average is 300l. Parliamentary Return, No. 651, August 12, 1833, shows the then gross and net income of parochial benefices, amounting, gross, to 526,136l., net 478,346l. on 1,184 returns; 272 returns not received. * - Parliamentary Return, No. 264, May 10, 1833, shows that the total gross income of all the Ecclesiastical Corporations in Ireland is 23,6061, and the expenditure on the canons, vicars choral, choir, repairs of cathedrals, &c., is 21,400l. Parliamentary Return, No. 461, July 31, 1835, shows the total income of the archbishops, bishops, dignitaries, and paro- chial clergy of Ireland, under the then proposed bill for the “better Regulation of Ecclesiastical Revenue and the Promotion of Religious and Moral Instruction in Ireland,” to be gross, 434,3721. ; net, 414,363/. - PART VI. C C 366 This statement is very remarkable. It appears that the net income of the whole Protestant Church in Ireland under the Ecclesiastical Tithe Composition, is but 266,7711. The net revenue from parochial glebe lands is 81,972 l. But referring to the par- liamentary document itself for details, it will be seen that the “Net Income” on the “Amount of Rent Charges payable on behalf of Parochial Clergy” is no more than 295,1211.7s.6d. Now, taking the Protestants of Ireland in number at one million, and the church revenue 300,000l., we find that the amount for their spiritual and moral instruction is only six shillings per annum for each Protestant. But when we further consider, that about nine-tenths of the landed property of Ireland belong to the Protestants, on whom the incidence of any taxation must ulti- mately fall, we are justified in inquiring the actual amount per head throughout Ireland, with reference to the Protestant Church. Taking the inhabitants of Ireland in round numbers at 8,000,000, and the net income of the Protestant Church in round numbers at 400,000l., we find that the whole taxation of Ireland in support of the Established Church is one shilling per head per annum. Can this be considered a national grievance 3 Can this be rightly viewed as a cause of suffering in Ireland? - Lord Bernard, M. P., in an excellent speech during the last Session, on the Protestant Church of Ireland, said : — “With reference to the operations of the Church and the application of its wealth, he would not enter into the statements made by the Noble Lord on the previous evening, but merely recite some statistics of a diocese with which he was acquainted. The Diocese of Cork during Bishop St. Lawrence's incumbency had 10 unions broken into 22 benefices, 28 curates pro- moted, 25 new places of worship erected, 81 scriptural schools; additional resident clergymen—20 rectors, and 23 curates. Since 1831, in Cork, Cloyne, and Ross—new churches, 12; churches building, 2.; licensed places of worship from want of churches, 45; glebe-houses built by clergymen, the commissioners being unable to build them, which fact proved the fallacy of a surplus 367 revenue : in 1726 there were but 141 glebe houses; in 1800, after nearly a century, but 295: in 1820 there were 768 glebe-houses, an increase of 473 in 20 years; in 1806, resident beneficed clergy, 693; curates, 560; in 1830 the number was nearly doubled, amounting to 1,200, with about 750 curates, a total of about 2,000; in 1843 the number of officiating clergy exceed 2,000, with church property reduced 70,000l. per annum, and a quarter from the remainder. The reduction of clerical income since 1833, amounting to 40l. per cent, has prevented the dissolution of unions and employment of additional curates. On the other hand, in his evidence before the Lords, Dr. Doyle stated the average income of the Roman Catholic clergy of Kildare and Leighlin to amount to 300!, per annum; the income of the Scottish clergy averaged 200l. per annum, exclusive of house and glebe. The building of glebe-houses, except from private sources, had ceased since 1833; one of the very strongest arguments that the revenues of the church of Ireland were insufficient to support the clergy of that church; he need only appeal to the fact, that at the present moment there was an institution in existence for establishing additional curacies in that country. He was a member of that association, and was sure that if its funds were sufficient ten times as many clergymen could be instantly employed. He called upon hon. gentlemen to remember, that at the time of the Emancipation Act, as far as pledges and words could go—and pledges were supposed to bind any national party,+they had the assurance of the Roman Catholics of Ireland that they would be content if they got their civil privileges, and there was their sworn evidence before the committee of the House of Lords that they had not a wish or intention to interfere with the property of the Protestant Church of that country.” The Protestant clergy are well-educated gentlemen, scattered over Ireland, and with their refinement of mind, and hospitality of feeling, may each be viewed as an oasis in the desert. In many districts I found the Protestant and Roman Catholic clergymen of the parish living on the most amicable terms; exchanging the friendly intercourse of life, and ready to aid each other in 368 works of charity and goodness. It is earnestly to be hoped that this good feeling and Christian principle may be perpe- tuated and extended; and that in future the only rivalry between the Protestant and “Catholic” creeds will be, which shall do the greatest amount of good to the poor and destitute. The points substantiated in the preceding pages are— 1st—That the early Irish Church was a pure church, and for several hundred years after its formation not only free from the domination of the Bishop of Rome, but in direct hostility to its doctrines. Consequently, that the “Ancient Church of Ireland” is the Apostolic—and not the “Romish Church,” which was one of dissent and innovation. The “Protestant Church,” as it is now called, is therefore the pure and ancient Faith and Apostolic Church of Ireland, and, as such, entitled to claim the hereditary endowments for its Ministers in the same manner that they are vested in the Ministers of the Established Church in England. 2nd—That the penal laws and the confiscation of property that have taken place in Ireland since the Reformation, were not the result of so-called “religious bigotry,” or of “English tyranny,” but the inevitable consequence of many and most formidable rebellions to destroy the lives of all those who pro- fessed the pure and ancient Faith of the country, and to abolish the free and constitutional principles of the land. 3rd—That the Irish Church as by Law Established is essen- tial to the maintenance of public liberty, equally conducive therefore to the peace, happiness, and civil liberty of the Ro- man Catholics and other Dissenters, and merely adequate in income to the existing due fulfilment of its sacred and national functions. PART WII. CONCLUSION.—IMPERIAL AND FEDERAL AILIANCE. CHAPTER, XIII. Imperial and Federal Alliances; – Effects of each Illustrated; — Royal and Legislative Incorporations of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland; Parallel Proceedings in 1798 and 1843 ;-Disastrous Consequences of a Separation, and Imperative Necessity for Preserving the British Empire in its REGAL and LEGISLATIVE UNION. I HAVE now brought to a conclusion a detailed examination of the charges preferred against England; and an impartial public will decide whether those charges be true or false, and whether the Legislative Union has been a curse or a blessing to Ireland. Although this work has been enlarged beyond the original intention, and several important documents still remain unpub- lished,” yet there is one subject requiring a few words of expla-. * It may be necessary to observe that the statistics and documents in this work are all derived from Parliamentary Papers or public documents. Not one figure has been obtained from Government. The materials from whence the work is prepared may be purchased at Messrs. Hansards’, the Printers to the House of Commons, and are thus accessible to all. Without the slightest aid from any individual these materials have been unsolicitedly collected, prepared, and printed in a few weeks by incessant labour day and night, sustained solely by a consciousness that the subject was of national importance, and deserved prompt and serious consideration. A large part of the work was in the hands of the printer, and printed before the suppression by Government of the Clontarf Meeting—October, 1843. Ten years ago, in 1833, the Author published a work entitled “ Ireland as it was—is—and ought to be ;" which, at the time, effectually aided in suppressing the Repeal agitation ; and while advocating the maintenance of the Union, he has also unceasingly urged an investigation of the real wants of Ireland, and an application of those remedies for her relief to which she is most justly entitled. The necessity for condensation has prevented the addition of various interesting matter, while the special nature of the question discussed, has precluded an investigation of the resources of Ireland, and of the means proposed for the advancement of that country. PART VII. ID D 370 nation—namely, the nature of a “Federal ” and an “Imperial” Union, in reference to the propositions set forth by the Irish Repealers. The space and time afforded for the discussion of this topic are very limited, but the facts detailed in the preceding pages demon- strating so fully the great and manifold advantages derived by Ireland from the Imperial Legislative Union with Great Britain, render this branch of the subject of comparatively minor import- ance. A few general propositions may be premised to illustrate the point under discussion. In all States desirous of permanence, Supreme legislation must exist somewhere, for the purpose of giving force and authority to the executive government. If the seat of supreme power be distant from the places governed, then subordinate legislatures may be created with delegated powers for local purposes. But those inferior legislatures must necessarily act in complete con- formity and obedience to the supreme authority from whence they have their origin, and by whose sanction they exist; they are, therefore, liable at any moment to be abrogated, and their rights may be revoked at the will of the originating power, to whom they owe their existence and continuance. . This general principle applies more particularly to an Imperial Government, like that of England, which is spread over a vast extent of the globe, and comprises various nations, speaking diverse languages, and differing in their degree of civilisation. Such a government is peculiarly adapted to a free people, with constitutional rights duly appreciated, vigilantly protected, and in its democratic influence balanced by a limited monarchy, an hereditary aristocracy, and an established uniformity of religion identified with the State. A Federal Government, on the other hand, consists of a union of several States, claiming each equal rights, authority, and power ; with independent legislatures,-scarcely acknowledging any controlling authority, either in the form of an individual ruler, or of a supreme assembly, and bound together more by mutual inclination than by any governing power acting in unity 371 for the general good. The United States of North America may be viewed as an example of what is termed a Federal Govern- ment. As the revolted colonies were first confederated, they were too loosely united to form a general body, and the necessity of constituting a supreme assembly, or congress, at Washington was soon felt. Still more recently—as in the case of M*Leod— one State by its act (New York) had nearly involved every other State in war with England. Congress have now passed an act compelling each State to submit such questions to the general government and Congress at Washington. Thus, step by step, the government at Washington will become an Imperial Govern- ment, or, if not, a dissolution of the Union will take place, feuds, and ultimately war, will ensue between the different States— Northern and Southern,-several fierce democratic republics will be created, and finally some military despot will crush each republic, and consolidate all into an absolute government. If no Imperial Representative government, with a limited monarchy and hereditary aristocracy, be established in the United States— such will be the inevitable result of several States holding separate parliaments. It is the cycle of events in unison with the passions of mankind, and in conformity with the history of all nations, Pagan or only nominally Christian. It is obvious, on reflection, that the Federal Union is a primary stage of society, and an Imperial Government a marked and indispensable step towards civilisation. The history of man- kind amply illustrates the truth of this observation. A Federal Union has in it no principle of preservation ; discordant interests soon arise ; petty passions, private jealousies, local feuds, exercise a baneful influence; direful contests arise; and, after long and harassing wars and desolation, the union of federalised states is either disintegrated into separate and hostile governments, or the iron heel of despotism crushes the discordant materials into an indiscriminate mass, to be ruled by brute force at the mercy of an individual tyrant. In all ages and in all countries such has been the inevitable course of federalised states. Athens had her federal allies in the AEgean Sea, and was destroyed. So also D ID 2 372 Sparta subsequent to the Peloponnesian war. Carthage and her republican federation also fell, as did Rome and its Italian and foreign municipia. Egypt, Syria, and Lydia were federally allied to the Persian monarchy. Hindostan was a collection of federal states, nominally under the authority of the Great Mogul, on our arrival in India; but the whole peninsula, with one hundred and fifty million of inhabitants, rapidly yielded to British sway on the slightest pressure of our power. Turkey, Egypt, and Syria is another illustration of the effect of federalisation, although differing in degree from that of other states. So also the Germanic Union, the Swiss Cantons, the Italian States, and the Union of Hungary and Austria, under one crown ; all either feeble and ineffective for general defence against a common enemy, or daily threatening a separation of their union, or a concentration of despotic power. The Netherlands, the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily, and the Duchy of Milan, were separate States with local Governments, but under a common head—the King of Spain; each was placed under a viceroy, the Alter ego of the Sovereign, with delegated powers. The inevitable result was a separation, although originating from various causes. This, however, strengthens my argument. It demonstrates that there is in the body politic, as in the human body, a dissolving ingredient always at work, requiring care, vigilance, counteractives, and continual restoratives, all under the control of a single organ, adapted for their reception, which influences the power of the executive whence emanate the functions of thought for the govern- ment of the whole frame. These remarks hold equally good whether applied to a conjunction of several representative states, or to an assembly of several nations under a despotism. Napoleon attempted the federal alliance of several states, under his own control as Emperor of France, namely, the kingdoms of Spain, Italy, Naples, Holland, Westphalia, and the Confederation of the Rhine. Even his master-mind failed, notwithstanding the vast military power which he despotically wielded, and that the sovereigns of the different states were either allied to him by blood, or creatures of his own formation. Our own country affords a 373 remarkable illustration of the two forms of government, federal and imperial, in its different stages of civilisation. When the Romans first landed, A.D. 83, they found England and Wales divided into seventeen separate kingdoms, with a nominal ruler over all. The result was that each kingdom fell separately and rapidly a prey to the invaders. On the withdrawal of the Romans, (A.D. 446,) the different Saxon chiefs founded different dynasties, and divided England into sevenkingdoms, but the weakness and imper- fection of this federation were felt on the incursions of the Danes, and a single sovereignty was established in England under Egbert, (A.D. 827,) from whom Queen Victoria is lineally descended. The foundations of the power of England were now laid; and the Imperial Union of the remainder of the British Isles was the consequent result. Up to the year A.D. 1282, Wales was a separate kingdom from that of England; and the Welsh pos- sessed their own language, laws, customs, and sovereignty. As might be expected, there was constant dissension and hostilities between the two countries. Periods of foreign war or internal disturbance in England were sure to be accompanied by Welsh aggressions, ravaging incursions, and imperious demands. Ed- ward I. wisely determined to put an end to this source of national weakness; and on Llewellyn, the Welsh king, refusing to do homage for his sovereignty to Edward, an English force was marched into the country, Llewellyn was slain in battle, the Welsh Kingdom was destroyed, Wales was annexed as a Principality to the English Crown, national animosity and distinctive rights were abolished, and the people were united under one Sovereign, one government, and one code of laws. Edward I. wisely refused to permit any Parliament” to be * The first authentic record of any assembly or parliament being held in Ireland was in the third year of the reign of Edward II., at Kilkenny, A.D. 1310; and the same year, there was another assembly or parliament held at Kildare. These assemblies were for local purposes, and for the purposes of registering and enforcing the orders and edicts of the Sovereign and Parliament of England. The relative numbers of the English, Oastmen, and Celts, or Irish, in Limerick, after the junction of Ireland to the throne of England, is shown by an entry in the Rotulus Placitorum of Edward II. (A.D. 1201): “Recognitio facta per sacramentum, 12 Anglorum, et 12 Ostmannorum, et 12 Hibernensium, de terris, ecclesiis, et cacteris pertinentiis ad Limericensem ecclesiam spectantibus.” - 374 assembled in Ireland. In the eighth year of his reign, the Irishmen in Ireland petitioned the King, that His Majesty would, out of his special grace, grant that they might for the future use and enjoy in Ireland the “lawes and customes of England.” Edward, then bent on uniting England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland in one kingdom, would do nothing therein without the advice and consent of the English inhabitants in Ireland, whom he commanded by a certain day to assemble, and to examine whether it would be for his and their damage to grant the petition, and further to certify unto him, the King, their opinion thereof, under the seal of his Chief Justice in Ireland or his Lieutenant, before his next Parliament at Westminster, that he might by the advice of his Council do what should be thought expedient therein. The extant roll of this is marked [Pat. 8 Ed. 1. m. 13 Hibern'.]. There is no answer on record to this petition. But in this and subsequent reigns there are records of licenses granted by special favour “to some particular Irish, to use the laws of England there, and to be tried by them,” which is evi- dence that no such general license as petitioned for was granted. After the union of Wales with England, the next legislative and social improvement to be desired was a similar incorporating union between England and Wales on the one part and Scotland on the other. The necessity of this measure was long felt; and the want of a union between the two countries gave rise to frequent wars, bitter feuds, and desolating incursions along the borders of England and Scotland. The masculine, patriotic, and prescient mind of Edward I. clearly perceived the manifold advantages of conjoining Scotland as well as Wales and Ireland in one government; and by the nomination of Baliol as his Deputy in Scotland, and his formidable invasions of that country at the head of one hundred thousand men (A.D. 1296), he pre- pared the way for its final annexation to the English Crown. When on his deathbed, his last injunction to his son was, never to rest until Scotland, like Wales, was reduced to one sovereignty. The weakness of his successor (Edward II.) and the foreign wars of Edward III. prevented the completion of this desirable measure. The wary policy of Henry VII., which 375 induced him to marry the Princess Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV. (A.D. 1485), and thus blend indissolubly the hitherto antagonistic Houses of York and Lancaster, also led this subtle and politic monarch to marry his eldest daughter Margaret to James IV., King of Scotland. Their son, James V., was suc- ceeded by his only child, the beautiful but unhappy Mary, who was driven from the throne of Scotland by her own subjects for her crimes. On the death of Elizabeth without issue, the crowns of England and Scotland were united in the person of James VI. King of Scotland (the son of Queen Mary), who now became James I. of England. But, although the thrones of Scotland and England were thus filled by one Sovereign, two separate parliaments still existed— the materials for disunion and animosity remained, and an occasion was soon found (A.D. 1627) for open hostilities. War was formally declared by Charles I. (previous to the Civil Wars) between England and Scotland as between two foreign nations, although the two kingdoms were united under one sovereign. Thus also would it be, were an endeavour now made to rule Ireland by a separate parliament, although under one crown. Cromwell, after conquering Scotland, wisely caused an Act of the English Parliament to be passed, abolishing Royalty in Scotland, annexed it as a conquered province to England and Wales, and, as he also had done with regard to Ireland, empowered Scotland to send a certain number of representatives to the English Parliament. During the tyrannical and dissolute reign of Charles II., parlia- ments were again unfortunately permitted to be held in Scotland and in Ireland, thus perpetuating the great evil of separate legis- latures which Cromwell had prudently abolished. The expulsion from England of James II., and the wars in which William III. was engaged in Ireland and in France, prevented attention being devoted to the state of Scotland; but after the accession of Anne, and the arrangement of preliminary articles (the Union being opposed in both countries), a final incorporation of the legislature of Scotland with that of England and Wales happily took place A.D. 1707, a century after the union of the two 376 Crowns, and the title of Great Britain was assumed. Scotland was to send forty-five representative Members and sixteen Peers to the United Legislature; a communion of privileges and advantages was declared; the Scotch Courts of Judicature remained intact; perfect freedom of trade and intercourse was ordained, and all laws except those which concerned private rights were to be similar throughout the United Kingdoms. The only remaining measure for the perfect consolidation of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, was the abolition of the dependent and subordinate legislative Assembly of Ireland and the complete incorporation of that country with Great Britain. From the period of the landing at Waterford of Henry II. (A.D. 1172), Ireland was a mere dependency of the British Crown, with a subordinate government and subordinate legis- lature, but with no distinctive rights or coequal powers.” In * In referring to the distracted state of Ireland in the 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries, it is forgotten, or studiously concealed, that intestine feuds among the native Irish themselves were the most frequent causes of disturbance. It was also unfortunate that the followers of Henry II. were principally Norman chieftains, imbued with all the feudal feelings of the age. A rivalry soon arose between these Teutonic races, the Celtic, Norman, and Oastmen chiefs, or heads of Septs, who sided with the Kings of Connaught, or Meath, or Ulster, as interest or passion predominated. Thus, the English, as the Anglo-Normans were called, soon became “ ipsis Hibernicis Hiberniores ;” and made war against each other at pleasure, and not unfrequently they threatened the Sovereign or his Deputy. The Geraldines, the Desmonds, Butlers, and many others, who are now claimed as “ Irish,” were Englishmen who settled in Ireland, and became feudal barons. Mr. Lascelles, in his Report—referring to the year A.D. 1333—says, “English free- holders in whole bodies at a time threw off their name, character, dress, and language, and became Irish. Desmond himself, an English baron, and a descendant too of an English baron, expelled all the English settlers from his immense estates, which were soon occupied by his Irish followers ; he became an Irish chieftain, acknowledging no other title or law.” Desmond obtained the title of Earl from Edward III., erected his demesnes in Tipperary into a Palatinate, and held a Par- liament at Kilkenny at the very moment the Lord-Lieutenant had convened another in Dublin. The English chiefs, thus converted into Irish Barons, erected their separate estates into County Palatines. Sir John Davis says, that “ the absolute Lords of these Palatinates made barons and knights, exercised high justice in all points within their territories, erected courts for civil and criminal causes, and for their own revenues, in the same form in which the king’s courts were established ; they con- stituted their own judges, seneschals, sheriffs, coroners, and escheators : so that the king's writs did not run in their counties which took up more than two parts of 377 1782, this dependent condition was raised into a sort of federal alliance,—that is, the Irish Parliament was allowed to initiate legislative measures; but their confirmation depended on the will of the sovereign, and on the signature of an English Minister who was responsible to the British and not to the Irish Parlia- ment. The Irish Lord Lieutenant was also appointed by and subject to the British Ministry; and in 1789 (after the loudly" proclaimed independence of Ireland), the Duke of Buckingham, then Viceroy, refused to carry to the Prince of Wales the addresses of both Houses of Parliament, on the ground of his oath of office to the English Government. Even this partial federal alliance would have caused a final separation, had not an Imperial Union taken place in 1800. This measure (as stated at page 363) had long been sought and petitioned for by the Irish people and Parliament, in the reign of Charles II., in 1703 (before the Scottish Union), and in 1707, but was refused by the British Parliament and Sovereign. * Time and circumstances—so essential to the growth and develop- ment of sound opinions—compelled in 1800 the adoption of a union between Great Britain and Ireland, as the only alternative to a political and national separation; and a century after the junction of the independent Scotch Legislature, the dependent and subsequently federalised Irish Legislature was incorporated with that of England, Wales, and Scotland: thus at last conjoining all four in one United Kingdom, under one Crown and one Par- liament. The immense benefits of this quadruple union have been gradually but surely developing for many years; and since the commencement of the present century, the four Kingdoms or States conjoined in the representative legislature under one Sovereign have defied a world in arms; United Britain has the English colony, but ran only in the church lands lying within the same, which were therefore called the Crosse, wherein the sheriff was nominated by the King.” In fact, they considered themselves lords over the life and property of all their feudatories. To talk, therefore, of an Irish Parliament at this period, and under such a regime, is a burlesque. The O’Briens, O'Connors, and O’Nials pursued the same independent course as the Desmonds, Fitzgeralds, and Ormonds, and for want of a complete legislative incorporation, the country was for centuries a scene of continued feudal warfare. 378 become the arbitress of Europe, and the sovereign of the largest, richest, and most wide-spread empire that ever existed on earth. An Imperial Government thus constructed and surrounded by representative delegates in one parliament, enables a constitutional monarch to rule, with equity, power, and permanence, over a much larger extent of territory than can be done under the despotism of any sovereign, however able and enlightened; or under any republic, whether federalised or in unity. Such an administrative system is, in fact, a most important advance in the science of legislative and of executive government, and is equally removed from the two extremes of individual tyranny or of general weakness; while it is at the same time conducive to that equipoise of popular liberty and of regal prerogative so essential to the maintenance of public freedom and of national supremacy. - It is contended, however, by the Repeal Agitators that Ireland is at perfect liberty to dissolve at any time the legislative con- nexion with England, Scotland, and Wales, and that the “Repeal of the Union" is merely the repeal of an Act of Parliament, and neither difficult nor culpable. But the several junctions of four sovereignties and four legislatures cannot be viewed as mere “Acts of Parliament,” which it is lawful for any individual or body of individuals to repeal. The Union of Ireland, as well as of Scotland, is a solemn compact, -a binding obligation, formed by mutual agreement and by mutual sacrifices for the benefit of all parties ; it has a moral and constitutional, as well as a legal authority and power; and as it is not possible to replace the contracting parties to the same relative position in which they stood previous to the Union, and by the fulfilment of which great benefits have been conferred at least on one of the parties to the Union (Ireland), so it is impossible to dissolve the Union, eacept by force of arms, and the consequent defeat and death of one or other party. - A treaty contracted by two independent nations may be broken at any time, by either of the contracting parties without the consent of the other, and they may return to the neutral or hostile state in which they had previously existed. Their 379 sovereigns and legislatures are distinct, their rights equal,—and they acknowledge no common superior to coerce both. There is, therefore, no analogy whatever between such a case and that of the legislative incorporation of the United Kingdom; and nothing but the complete destruction of the British monarchy and of those rights, duties, and principles which are anterior and of primary importance to even individual sovereignty, can sever the Legisla- tive Union of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. - It is, therefore, highly culpable to declare to the people of Ireland, as is now being done by the leader of the Repeal Agitation, that the only step requisite for the abolition of the Union between Great Britain and Ireland, is “the issuing by the Queen of writs for the assembling of an Irish Parliament.” The Sovereign of these realms has no more legal power to commit such an act than has the author of the above quoted assertion. James II. convened an Irish Parliament in Dublin (see page 357), but had he not subsequently fled from the kingdom, his life would have been the penalty of his treason. In 1745, the son of the Pretender, aided by the Scotch Peers Kilmarnock, Cromartie, Balmerino, and others, proclaimed in Edinburgh the dissolution of the Union between England and Scotland. Many of them were beheaded, on Tower Hill and elsewhere, for their rebellion and attempt to subvert the established institutions of the State and the Union of the two countries. In order, however, to disguise the real objects of those who govern the mass in Ireland, it is occasionally contended that they are merely seeking the establishment or restoration of a “ Domestic Legislature 1” - Blind or shallow must be the politician, who can be imposed on by so flimsy a pretext for the dissolution of the empire. The very language used exposes the fallacy; the emphatic declaration is, that “Ireland must be a kingdom again, and no longer a pro- and that “the claim of any body of men, other than King, Lords, and Commons of Ireland, to make laws to bind this kingdom, is unconstitutional, illegal, and a grievance " Does this language convey the idea of a desire for a mere local assembly 2 Is the erection of Ireland into an “independent kingdom, or nation,” vince;” 380 consistent with the idea of a Dom ESTIC Legislative Assembly for internal purposes f 'Tis true that a few years ago the latter proposition was merely advocated, but it was only to familiarise the public mind to the ulterior object now avowed—namely, a Legislature totally independent of Great Britain, and having Ireland and England connected by no other link than that of the crown, a link which, at the first feasible opportunity, might be snapt asunder, without immediate convulsion. Within a few days of each other, two distinct ideas were expressed by the leader of the Repeal Agitation—namely, an independent legislature for Ireland, and a domestic one:— “Ireland must be a nation again, and “The principle of domestic legislation no longer a province ; the claim of any has been extended to every place which body of men, other than the King, England has colonised ; I was looking Lords, and Commons of Ireland, to for Catholic emancipation as the first make laws to bind this kingdom, is ille- || step necessary to be taken for the esta- gal, unconstitutional, and a grievance.” blishment of a domestic legislature.”— —Dublin Freeman’s Journal. * Dublin Morning Register. It would not be surprising that such ideas should emanate from a simpleton; but certainly could not be expected from an artful individual for any good purpose towards his country. But according to the most recent proposed constitution for Ireland—as vaguely laid down by the leader of the Repeal Agitation in November 1843, in a letter addressed to Mr. Joseph Sturge, of Birmingham—the people of Ireland for all practical purposes would cease to be subjects of the British Crown, for they would cease to be subject to the legislative authority of the Imperial Parliament, to which the Crown itself is subordinate. It is stated in this unconstitutional letter that— “The Irish Parliament would influence the appointments of the servants of the Crown in Ireland, and the eaercise of the prerogative would therefore be under the control of the Irish Parliament, which would have Supreme Legislative Authority, and might reject treaties and tariffs made by the Crown ſ” Indeed, the Repealers have already issued demi-official an- nouncements of the treaties that the “Irish Government would be prepared to enter into, with France, Belgium, Spain, and Portugal, as soon as “Repeal” is settled, and the independence of Ireland finally established.” 3.81 Without pausing to comment on this treasonable language and proceedings, it may not be unimportant to reflect that the certain and speedy effect of establishing in Ireland a separate Legisla- ture (if such a proposition could by any possibility be accom- plished), would be the formation of a fierce and umbridled democracy, or the organisation of an official or a local oligarchy, which would be to a great extent independent of the people and of the supreme authority—unless the ruling power bought the oligarchy, and used it as an instrument for corrupting the Legislature. Domestic faction, petty ambition, and individual intrigues, would become the engrossing objects of public interest, and the evils of the past six hundred years would be revived in all their desolating influences, with augmented power, and with concentrated perniciousness. No separation of Ireland from Great Britain could take place without the consent of the people of England; and nothing but force and an inability to subdue Ireland would ever induce them to consent to an independent Legislature in Ireland, even with the nominal link of the Crown; for no British Minister would now undertake to govern two distinct Legislatures—consisting of two Houses of Commons and two Houses of Lords—and with a constant struggle in both countries for democratic ascendancy. The attempt, therefore, to construct what is absurdly or artfully called a “Domestic Legislature” in Ireland, would end in civil war. Whether the issue of this were ultimately in favour of the “Repealers” or not, the result would be equally disastrous for Ireland. If against them, a vast number of our fellow-citizens must inevitably perish; military law would be established; the progress of civilisation he entirely stopped ; the penal laws be re-enacted; and all the property of the rebels and their abettors would be confiscated. Ireland would be thrown back at least a century in her career. Supposing, however improbable such an idea may be, that the Repealers obtained their wish—“Ireland for the Irish”—that is, that the lower classes of society, with their few leaders, obtained supreme authority in Ireland; have they calculated that probably one- third of the present inhabitants of Ireland would perish by the 382 sword, by fire, and by pestilence; that the fleets and armed gun- boats of England would lay waste not only the coasts but many of the interior navigable districts; that society would be resolved into its primary elements, and the worst passions of our nature roused into a fierce fury, which ages would not quell? In what- ever aspect the subject be viewed—whether as a successful rebel- lion, which is almost an impossibility, or as a defeated insurrection, which is almost a physical certainty—the result must be disas- trous for Ireland. The very geographical position of Ireland to the westward of Great Britain, would render its legislative separation a question of paramount importance to England, for she would then be ever open to hostile attacks from foreign foes, or to internal insurrections and intrigues, which would be utterly subversive of domestic peace and national happiness. This is fully demonstrated in the previous chapter—respecting the French, Spanish, and Romish intrigues in Ireland since the Reformation. But to no portion of Her Majesty's subjects is the Union between Great Britain and Ireland of more inestimable value than to the poorer classes of society in Ireland, whose feelings and passions are now stimulated to madness, by artful appeals to their national pride. Adam Smith, in his “Wealth of Nations,” published in 1775, when advocating an “incorporating union” between Great Britain and the North American Colonies, as had been then done with Scotland, justly remarks, “By the wnion with England the middling and inferior ranks of the people of Scotland gained a complete deliverance from the power of an aristocracy which had always before oppressed them:” and he added the suggestion that “By the union with Great Britain the greater part of the people of all ranks in Ireland would gain an equally complete deliverance from a much more oppressive aristocracy.” . - Although but a comparatively brief period in the age of a nation has passed since the Union, yet much has been done for the people, as this work demonstrates; and much more would be done by the Imperial Legislature, but for the conduct of the Repealers— the misled as well as misleading “friends" of Ireland. There 383 is nothing to prevent a perfect incorporation of the people of Great Britain and of Ireland but the continuance of this destruc- tive agitation, in which the most perverted statements are put forth, in the hope of exciting national animosities. The similitudes between Great Britain and Ireland are those of language, laws, currency, municipalities, franchises, taxation, &c.; in the latter instance, and in the permission to issue one-pound notes, the difference being in favour of Ireland. This similitude does not exist between Great Britain and other parts of the empire. In the Colonies there are various laws and languages —Hindoo, Mahomedan, Dutch, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Venetian, and Greek. Hence, not only distance, but discordant materials, prevent the legislative incorporation of the Colonies with the United King- dom. Yet it is insidiously asserted that Ireland is worse off than the Colonies which possess domestic legislatures. Now it is pre- cisely because Canada, Jamaica, &c., are distant provinces, with no representatives in the Imperial Parliament, that they possess local assemblies; but those local assemblies are bound by the decrees of the King, Lords, and Commons at home ; if otherwise, they would not be domestic legislatures—they would be independent. A domestic legislature is bound by the general regulations of the parent Government; it has no voice in questions of state policy, or in the executive functions of Government. The “Domestic Legislatures” of the Colonies may at any time be revoked or abrogated by the Crown and Parliament, as was the case recently with those of Jamaica and Canada; and it is absurd. to pretend that the Repealers merely want such a legislature as the Colonies have. The Crown and the Imperial Parliament decide the form of government to be established in the British Dependencies, appoints the governors and the councils, regulates intercourse with other parts of the empire, as well as with independent States, exer- cises a veto for two years' duration on all acts passed in the local legislature of the Dependency, which the Governor convenes and prorogues at pleasure s—appoints officers from home to fill all the higher departments of the Government, the Law, the Church, and 384 even for the collecticn of customs; and where a legislative council, (imitative of the House of Lords) exists along with a legislative assembly, (imitative of a House of Commons,) the Crown nomi- nates the members of Council at its pleasure, “quamdiu se bene gesserint.” J. Space is not afforded me to discuss this subject further: suffi- cient has been said to demonstrate the beneficial effects of an Imperial Union between England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, by which each have enjoyed advantages they never could have otherwise obtained, and domestic peace has been preserved, while strife, rebellion, and warfare existed, until the incorporation of legislative as well as regal powers was completed. These observations are, however, made rather for the consideration of some well-meaning people who do not see through the pretences of the “Repeal Agitation,” and who think that a “Federal Union” might be tried. To such persons the facts throughout the whole of this work will, it is hoped, be a sufficient answer; and they will also see that the attempted federal union between Great Britain and Ireland in 1782 led to a bloody rebellion, which left no alternative but a complete incorporation or separation. The great majority of the reflecting people in the United Kingdom are now however penetrating the designs of the Repeal leaders; they see the studied reason for inventing falsehoods which will engender national hatred. It would be unnecessary to quote instances, or to refute the pretended massacre at Mullaghmast—which is merely a specimen of numerous other equally fallacious “facts” by which it is earnestly striven to foment strife between Englishmen and Irish- men. This however is but part of the old system as shown by the concluding passage of the annexed unrepealed Act of the Irish Parliament:— g “10th Henry VII., chap. xiii.-Inasmuch as diverse persons have assembled with banners displayed against the lieutenant and deputy of Ireland, supposing that it was not treason so to do, and many times the deputy hath bin put to reproch, and the commonweal set in adventure ; therefore be it ordained and enacted by this present parliament, that whatsoever person or persons, from this day forward, cause, assemble, or insurrection, conspiracies, or in anywise procure or stirre Irishry or Englishry to make warre against our Sovereign Lord the 385 King's authority—that is to say, his lieutenant or deputy, or justice, or else in any manner procure or stir the Irishry to make warr...wpon the Englishry, be deemed traytor atteynte of high treason, in likewis, as such assemble an insurrec- tion had been levied against the King’s own person.”—Dublin Library Copy of Irish Statutes. There can be no doubt in the mind of any man who looks beyond the cirele of passing events, that the main design of the present agitation, is ultimately “to stir p the Irishry to make warre upon the Englishry.” I have shown in the preceding pages (Part VI.), that the language of the rebels in 1641 was similar to the Repeal language of the present day. Such was also the case in the rebellion of 1798, which was organising for seven years before it broke out into open violence against the Government. In 1791, the Society of United Irishmen was announced, with the ostensible objects of Parliamentary Reform and Roman Catholic Emanci- pation; beneath these objects was the intended establishment of an Irish Republic ; which was subsequently openly avowed. In June, 1791, the object of the “United Irishmen” was stated to be “to form a Summary of the national will and pleasure in points most interesting to national happiness; and when this summary is formed, to put its doctrine as speedily as may be into practice will be the purpose of this Central Society or Lodge, from which other lodges in the different towns will radiate.” The course of external business was as follows ; it has evidently been copied by the “Loy AI, NATIONAL REPEAL Association, of 1843:— 1st. “Publication in order to propagate their principles and effectuate their ends.” “Inflammatory papers dispersed through the country, to encourage their proceedings.” “Various seditious and treasonable publications, vilifying and degrading the Government and Parliament; and with persevering industry issuing these and all other similar pub- lications at the cheapest rate among the lowest orders, which could alienate their minds from the duties of allegiancé, and inculcate the principles of insubordination and revolt.” This is done most exten- sively by the Repeal Association, who have several newspapers in Dublin and throughout the provinces in their pay or interest. Large sums are also spent in printing, and widely disseminating - PART VII. E E 386 throughout Ireland, books, tracts, songs, and pamphlets, containing the grossest falsehoods. It is calculated that, nine chances to One, these falsehoods are never refuted; and if some be detected, the lie has answered its purpose. It is one of the most melancholy features in the state of Ireland to witness, the barefaced vile calumnies propagated against England, without their truth being even questioned. 2nd. “Communication with the different towns to be kept up ; and every eaſertion used to accomplish a NATIONAL CoNVOCATION OF THE PEOPLE OF IRELAND, who may profit by past errors, and by many uneapected circumstances.” Every large town or district in Ireland has now its affiliated organization in communication with the chief sedition Lodge in Dublin; and the rapidity with which information of any important event is transmitted is remarkable. By means also of the signal-fires, a sort of telegraphic despatch is organised throughout Ireland which may readily be converted into the most deadly purposes. 3rd. “Communication with similar societies abroad.” Numerous Repeal Lodges are now formed and hold their weekly meetings in various parts of England and Scotland, in the United States of America, and in Paris. From these auxiliaries large sums of money are constantly transmitted to Dublin, with letters full of encouragement. Many of the peaceable and loyal people in Ireland are more alarmed at the prospect of foreign support, than at internal treason. Arms, ammunition, and men have been offered, as well as money ; but these the Repeal leaders for the present prudently and ostentatiously reject. The “uneapected circumstances” are not yet quite favourable for an open declara. tion. It is politic to cry “Peace, Peace,” until the fitting oppor- tunity for “War, War,” arrives. 4th. On the 14th July, 1791, (the Anniversary of the French Revolution), the members of the Society were to declare their determination “to maintain the rights and prerogatives of their nature as men, and the right of prerogative of Ireland as an INDE- PENDENT PEOPLE.” 387 England had already, in 1782, granted to the greatest possible extent the independent legislative rights of Ireland. But the same language of claiming “independence” and alleging griev- ances, is now held as was the case previous to all the other rebellions in Ireland. The Irish Parliament reported, 30th August, 1798, that “impudent falsehoods and calumnies were industriously propagated, representing the means to which the Government and Parliament were compelled to resort for the sup- pression of midnight robbery and murder, and for the discomfiture of rebellion, as the source of these complicated evils.” To the present moment it is falsely asserted, that the British Government pur- posely caused the rebellion of 1798, to produce a Union between both countries 6th. On 25th January, 1793, the United Irishmen declared themselves, in an address to the “ Irish nation,” as a “ Civic Union.” This address contains a plan of equal Representation of the people of Ireland in the House of Commons, and declares that “no property qualification shall be necessary to entitle any man to be a representative.” See Part W. of this work, page 269, for a similar declaration from the Repealers, to whom the existence of property in any hands but their own seems an intolerable grievance. - 7th. In 1796 the mask of Reform was thrown off, Repub- licanism was determined on, and a new organization was adopted. The original Civil organization was so arranged, that at any moment the members could be converted into military array wnder their respective leaders. The Secretary of each Society was the petty officer or serjeant; the Delegate of five Societies, or lower baronial Committee, was a Captain, with 60 men under his command; the Delegate of ten lower baronial Committees to the upper or district Committee, was a Colonel, with a battalion of 600 men under his command. The Colonels of each county sent in the names of three persons to the Executive Society in Dublin; one of these three was appointed by the Executive Adjutant-General of the county; and his duty was to receive and communicate all orders from E E 2 388 Dublin throughout his district. This is exactly the course now adopted by the “Loyal National Repeal Association,” whose “ Wardens” have adopted a most effective system of civil, and peaceable, organization, ready at any moment to be converted into a military and hostile demonstration. The most ordinary observer could not fail to witness this military organization at the recent “Monster Meetings” in Ireland; and which was rather prematurely officially announced and advertised at the Clontarf Meeting. The array is aided by banners and “Temperance Bands,” and bodies of men on horse- back distributed in different directions to maintain order. Fvery five men are under the surveillance of one, who is answerable for the good conduct of the other four: the “Repeal Wardens’ have complete control, and are obeyed implicitly. A wave of the white wand is sufficient to clear a passage, or restore order, without a word being spoken. Hence, during the vast assem- blages of the last nine months, under the pretence of petitioning (as was done also in 1797), not the slightest accident has occurred. The common people were recently told at the Repeal Banquet at Limerick to Mr. Smith O'Brien (who is now hailed as the lineal descendant of Brien Boru, King of all Ireland), that this avoidance of any accident or disturbance was “miraculous, and a proof that Heaven favoured their cause !” In a country where superstition is mistaken for religion, crafty leaders are always ready to inculcate such ideas; and they are sure to be aided by a priesthood whose livelihood depends, to a great extent, on the credulity of their flocks. To proceed with the 8th analogy:—In 1790, as at present, every member of the society paid a subscription, which was used to defend any of the associates if tried by Government, and “to eaſtend the Union.” “Sums of money to a considerable amount were levied upon the Roman Catholics in all parts of the Kingdom, by sub- scriptions and collections at their chapels and elsewhere. [See the Repeal Rent of 1843 and preceding years..] As in the existing “Loyal National Repeal Association,” the Society was divided into Committees of Finance, Correspondence, &c.; an annual 389 subscription of one guinea was demanded, and a common seal was adopted. Each country Committee had a Treasurer and Secretary, whose business it was to collect so MUCH Mon EY PER week from each member, which was paid by the different delegates of the different Societies progressively from one to the other, till it reached the head department in Dublin. The shilling subscriptions and “Repeal Cards” issued by the Repeal Wardens in the different districts of Ireland, is an im- provement on the system adopted by the incipient rebels of 1796: 9th. “The general direction was for each person to arm himself; such as could afford it, with fire-arms and ammunition ; others with pikes.” This is the case at the present moment. Large quantities of arms and almmunition are concealed in Ireland ; some buried in the earth or in caves, or concealed beneath the houses. The peasantry are also taught that pitchforks and scythes may rapidly be converted into destructive weapons; and, during the “Tithe Campaigns,” several of the police were killed by these implements. During the Polish war, whole regiments were armed with scythes. The pike-head is rapidly manufactured, and in the hands of a body of infuriated men a most terrific instrument at a charge, whether on cavalry or infantry. The people of Ireland are now encouraged to prepare for a general insurrection, by the Repeal leader, whose sickening cry of “peace and tranquillity” is so nauseating. This will be further seen by the following extract from one of his treasonable harangues to the people:— “Let no man tell me that the period will not shortly arrive when we shall NOT BE UNARMED (Loud cries of ‘IIcar, hear, hear !”) There is no liberty if every man is not allowed to carry his own arms ; every householder should have his own arms; and I hope we will see the day when they will we AR UNIFORM at their own eaſpense. (Hear, hear !) We shall take the place of the National Guard of other countries ; and look to doing AT PRESENT without arms. I hope that every village in Ireland will have eighteen, twenty, ay fifty volunteers. (Hear, hear !) It may be asked, Do I INTEND TO HAVE THE volunTEERS ARMED AGAIN ? I answer that I Do. (Great cheer- 390 ing.) I love the institution of a National Guard, and every man of character and responsibility should be armed.” Previous to the Popish rebellions and massacres of 1641, of 1689, of 1798, and of 1803, precisely similar sentiments were promulgated. It would be tedious to specify further the remarkable analogics between those disastrous periods and the present, but a few other points of resemblance require notice. 11th. In 1796 the Dublin Executive engaged in organising the rebellion, declared to the French Government, that the Roman Catholic Priests had ceased to be alarmed at the calumnies which had been propagated of French irreligion, and were well affected to the cause ; that some of them had rendered great Service in propagating, with DISCREET ZEAL, the system of the Irish Union.” It is so precisely at the present. Two Roman Catholic Priests, styling themselves “Archbishops,” and the majority of the sub- ordinate Priesthood (with the honourable exception of the excellent Father Mathew and a few others) are the prominent supporters of the Repeal agitation.* How short-sighted the Romish Church is Its prelates and its clergy do not see that Romanism cannot stand before democracy. In France, in Spain, and in Portugal, the triumph of the people was the prelude to the downfall of Papal authority—the confis- cation of the monasteries, and the degradation of the clergy. * A suggestion has been made that it would be advisable to take the Roman Catholic priesthood of Ireland into pay. Whether any sum of money would alter the character of the Church of Rome is very doubtful ; if the priests and people of Ireland would throw off all allegiance to a Foreign Power and become again an Irish Church; disseminating the Bible, praying and preaching in the mother-tongue, and conforming to the early ordinances of the pure and Apostolic Church, the whole subject would be deserving serious consideration. It has been calculated that the Romish Clergy in Ireland receive—“For annual confessions, 30,000l. ; for christenings per annum, 33,333/. ; unctions and burials, 60,000l. ; marriages, 360,000l. ; prayers for purgatory, 100,000l. ; collections at chapels, 541,632!. ; curates’ collections, 22,500l. ; college at Maynooth (Government grant), 9,000l. ; making a total of 1,426,465/.”— Manchester Times. It is estimated that there are 4,000 priests in Ireland. 1,426,4657, would give an average annual income of 365!, which is double the amount of the Established Church in England or Ireland. 39] Can they expect a different result in Ireland? If a repeal of the Union were effected, a democratic government would ensue, atheism and anarchy would go hand in hand throughout the Romish population,-and the spiritual power of the priesthood would be utterly destroyed. But without even obtaining the Repeal as sought, the Romish Church, by mixing personally in political and rebellious strife, is rapidly aiding its own downfall. 12th. “The seduction of the military was attempted; and printed papers circulated amongst the privates and non-commissioned officers, urging them to insubordination and revolt.” “Repeated attempts have been made to seduce the king's troops, of all descriptions, from their allegiance, and to deter his Majesty's loyal subjects from enrolling themselves in the Yeomanry corps.”f The newspaper organs of Repeal are attempting the same course now ; and in particular the Repeal leaders endeavour to sap the fidelity of the non-commissioned officers, by artful speeches at public dinners and Repeal meetings, whereat those faithful ser- vants of the Crown are told that they are the worst-used men in the world; and it is plainly intimated to them that they ought to act as the non-commissioned officers of the Spanish army recently did, and overturn the Government. The articles printed in the “Pilot,” “Nation,” and “Freeman's (what an abuse of the word “free l') Journal” on this subject, are most insidious and dan- gerous. - 13th. “Resolved, that we will pay no attention whatever to any suggestion that may be made by either House of Parliament to divert the public mind from the grand object we have in view, as nothing short of the complete emancipation of our country unill satisfy us,” &c.—[Irish Union, 1797.] This language is now daily uttered in Ireland, and during the last session, the Repeal leader, in order to mark more effectually his contempt for the Imperial Parliament, refused to attend its sittings, and advised his followers also to abstain from attending * See vol. iii. of Seward’s “Collectanea Politica,” published in 1804, in Dublin, and by Phillips, St. Paul's Church Yard. This valuable and impartial work contains all the details now quoted. + See Report of Select Committee of the Irish Parliament, August 30th, 1798. 392 an assembly which he says “has been packed with the most flagitious bribery to OPPRESS AND CRUSH THE IRISH NATION. From them (Englishmen or Scotchmen), there is neither redress or even hope.” 14th. While the rebellion of 1798 was gradually organising, “scarcely a night passed without numerous murders; in many places, the local inhabitants were obliged to fly for shelter into the ’ “Measures were pursued to intimidate the resident gentlemen of the country, by midnight attacks, in order to drive garrison towns.” them from their houses, or to enforce their connivance or support.” + The fearful massacre at Finnoe, the murder of Lord Norbury and others, the burnings and threatenings at the Marquis of Waterford's, illustrate the pursuance and revival of the diabolical system of 1798, which, as declared by the rebels themselves, had for its sole object the subversion of the Monarchical Constitution in Church and State, and the separation of Ireland from Great Britain. For the sake of the people of Ireland itself, irrespective of England, it is indispensable that the treasonable combination, termed the “Loyal National Repeal Association,” be finally crushed; there can be no amelioration attempted until this hot- bed of sedition be suppressed, and its wily and artful leaders imprisoned or banished, unless they return to the quiet pursuits of honest industry, instead of battening on the follies and crimes of their countrymen. No Government in Europe or in America, past or present, would tolerate the system of political-religious agitation that has been pursued in Ireland for the past ten years; and which, if continued, will render civil war, however sanguinary, preferable for the loyal and well-disposed part of Ireland. Brute force, the assembling of men in serried array and in countless masses, and the falsehoods daily prepared and disseminated by an efficiently organised assembly in Dublin, is rapidly destroying confidence between man and man, and undermining the whole fabric of Government, and of society. * See Repealers’ “Address to the Inhabitants of the Countries subject to the British Crown.”—Preface, p. ix. + See Report from the Secret Committee of the Irish Parliament, Aug. 30, 1798. 393 The tendency of such combinations as have been organised for repealing the Union, is thus shown by that truly great patriot, Washington, in a parting address to his countrymen, dated 17th September, 1796, when declining being again elected President, and adverting to the duty of every individual to obey the established Government which they had contributed to form :– “All obstructions to the eaecution of the laws, all combinations AND ASSOCIA- TIONS, under whatever plausible character, with the real character to DIRECT, CoNTROUL, countERACT, or AWE the REGULAR DELIBERATION and ACTION of the CONSTITUTED AUTHORITIES, are DESTRUCTIVE of this FUNDAMENTAL principle, and of FATAL TENDENCY. They serve to organise faction, to give it an artificial and ea traordinary force ; to put in the place of the delegated will of the nation, the will of a party, often a small, but ARTFUL and ENTERPRISING MINORITY OF THE COMMU- NITY; and, according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans, digested by com- mon counsels, and modified by mºutual interests. “ However combinations or associations of the above description may now and then answer popular ends, they are likly, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, BY WHICH CUNNING, AMBITIOUS, AND UNPRINCIPLED MEN will, BE ENABLED TO SUBVERT THE POWER OF THE PEOPLE, AND TO USURP FoR THEMSELVES THE REINS OF GOVERNMENT ; destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.” There can scarcely be a doubt in the mind of any loyal and intel- ligent British subject, that at any cost, at any sacrifice, whether of blood, or of wealth, this most desolating and most pernicious agitation in Ireland must be suppressed ; it is political suicide for England, even as regards herself, to permit its continuance; for the cffect of such lawless demonstrations—of such marked contempt of the constituted authorities—of such an utter viola- tion of the decencies of civilised language (in the foul epithets applied to the ministers of the Crown, and to the whole British nation) of such an entire abuse of the privileges of Constitu- tional freedom as have emanated from the Irish Repealers— will sooner or later be felt throughout Great Britain. “Repeal Lodges” are now being formed in almost every town in England and Scotland, aided by Roman Catholic priests, whose names appear among the leaders. The names of these lodges, and their organisation and contributions to Ireland, are before me, and they indicate a formidable extent of combination. It is not, 394 therefore, by the mere prosecution of an individual, whose pecu- niary wants and rapacious extravagance, and that of his family and followers, urge them to sustain an agitation by which they receive at least 50,000l. a year, that this demoralising agitation is to be destroyed, and life and property secured in Ireland. The evil ought to be extirpated from the root. If an act of the Imperial Legislature were passed, declaring that all persons found guilty of aiding or promoting in any way the Repeal of the Union between Great Britain and Ireland, as by law esta- blished, be transported beyond the seas, and their property be confiscated to the Crown, peace would be established in Ireland. There can be no doubt that the Imperial Legislature would promptly rally round the Minister, who would at once adopt this bold, just, and indispensable line of action. On the 25th February, 1834, five hundred and twenty three members of the United House of Commons declared their determination to preserve for ever the Union inviolate, and they responded to the echo the assertion of the leading British minister (Lord Althorp) in that House, that “civil war was to be preferred to a Repeal of the Union.” Ten years have elapsed, and Ireland is still subject to the same agitation, the effects of which are now beginning to be manifested by the perpetration of the most atrocious crimes. Most fully has it been shown in the preceding pages of this work, that there is not a shadow of truth in the allegations put forth by the Repeal leaders against the Union, but that this calum- niated measure, even amid the many drawbacks of long con- tinued and emaciating agitation, has been the means of con- ferring the greatest benefits and blessings on Ireland. No sane person would for a moment permit an incendiary or a madman to go through his house with a lighted torch in his hand, crying “PEACE, PEACE,--TRANQUILLITY, TRANQUILLITY ſ” It is worse than weakness or folly, therefore, to permit the continuation of dan- gerous proceedings having for their object the accomplishment of a separation of Ireland from England; the minister who would longer tolerate this treasonable or insane incendiarism, would betray his trust to the Crown, and commive at the inevitable dismemberment and destruction of the British Empire. APPENDIX. —-9– A. AN ACT FOR THE UNION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. Whereas, in pursuance of his Majesty’s most gracious recommendation to the two houses of Parliament in Great Britain and Ireland respectively, to consider of such measures as might best tend to strengthen and consolidate the connea’ion between the two kingdoms, the two houses of the Parliament of Great Britain, and the two houses of the Parliament of Ireland, have severally agreed and resolved, that in order to promote and secure the essential interests of Great Britain and Ireland, and to consolidate the strength, power, and resources of the British Empire, it will be advisable to concur in such measures as may best tend to unite the two kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, into one kingdom, in such manner and on such terms and conditions as may be established by the acts of the respective Parliaments of Great Britain and Ireland. And whereas, in furtherance of the said resolution, both houses of the said two Parliaments respectively, have likewise agreed upon certain Articles for effectuating and establishing the said purposes, in the tenor following :- ARTICLE FIRST.—That it be the first article of the Union of the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, that the said kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland shall, upon the first day of January, which shall be in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and one, and for ever, be united into one kingdom, by the name of “the United Kingdom of Grcat Britain and Ireland,” and that the royal style and titles appertaining to the imperial crown of the said united kingdom and its dependencies, and also the ensigns, armorial flags and banners thereof, shall be such as his Majesty by his royal proclamation under the great seal of the united lºingdom shall be pleased to appoint. ARTICLE SECOND.—That it be the second article of union, that the succession to the imperial crown of the said united kingdom, and of the dominions thereunto belonging, shall continue limited and settled in the same manner as the succession to the imperial crown of the said kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland now stands limited and settled, according to the existing laws, and to the terms of union between England and Scotland. ARTICLE THIRD.—That it be the third article of union, that the said united kingdom be represented in one and the same parliament, to be styled “The par- liament of the united Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.” * Passed in the 40th year Geo. III. ch. xxxviii. 396 ARTICLE FourTH.—That it be the fourth article of union, that four lords spiritual of Ireland, by rotation of sessions, and twenty-eight lords temporal of Ireland, elected for life by the peers of Ireland, shall be the number to sit and vote on the part of Ireland in the house of lords of the parliament of the united kingdom, and one hundred commoners, (two for each county of Ireland, two for the city of Dublin, two for the city of Cork, one for the university of Trinity college, and one for each of the thirty-one most considerable cities, towns, and boroughs) be the number to sit and vote on the part of Ireland in the house of commons of the par- liament of the united kingdom. That such act as shall be passed in the parliament of Ireland previous to the union, “to regulate the mode by which the lords spiritual and temporal, and the commons to serve in the parliament of the united kingdom on the part of Ireland, shall be summoned and returned to the said parliament,” shall be considered as forming part of the treaty of union, and shall be incorporated in the acts of the respective parliaments, by which the said union shall be ratified and established. That all questions touching the rotation or election of lords spiritual or temporal of Ireland to sit in the parliament of the united kingdom, shall be decided by the house of lords thereof; and whenever by reason of an equality of votes in the election of any such lords temporal, a complete election shall not be made according to the true intent of this article, the names of those peers for whom such equality of votes shall be so given, shall be written on pieces of paper of a similar form, and shall be put into a glass by the clerk of the parliaments, at the table of the house of lords, whilst the house is sitting, and the peer or peers whose name or names shall be first drawn out by the clerk of the parliaments, shall be deemed the peer or peers elected, as the case may be. * That any person holding any peerage of Ireland now subsisting, or hereafter to be created, shall not thereby be disqualified from being elected to serve, if he shall so think fit, or from serving, or continuing to serve, if he shall so think fit, for any county, city, or borough of Great Britain, in the house of commons of the united kingdom, unless he shall have been previously elected as above to sit in the house of lords of the united kingdom ; but that so long as such peer of Ireland shall so continue to be a member of the house of commons, he shall not be entitled to the privilege of peerage, nor be capable of being elected to serve as a peer on the part of Ireland, or of voting at any such election; and that he shall be liable to be sued, indicted, proceeded against, and tried as a commoner, for any offence with which he may be charged. That it shall be lawful for his Majesty, his heirs and successors, to create peers of that part of the united kingdom called Ireland, and to make promotions in the peerage thereof, after the union, provided that no new creation of any such peers shall take place after the union, until three of the peerages of Ireland, which shall have been existing at the time of the union, shall have become extinct, and upon such extinction of three peerages, that it shall be lawful for his Majesty, his heirs, and successors, to create one peer of that part of the united kingdom, called Ireland; and in like manner so often as three peerages of that part of the united kingdom, called Ireland, shall become extinct, it shall be lawful for his Majesty, his heirs and successors, to create one other peer of the said parl of the united kingdom ; and if it shall happen that the peers of that part of the united kingdom, called Ireland, shall, by extinction of peerages or otherwise, be reduced to the number of one hundred, exclusive of all such peers of that part of the united kingdom, called Ireland, as shall hold any peerage of Great Britain, subsisting at the time of the 397 union, or of the united kingdom created since the union, by which such peers shall be entitled to an hereditary seat in the house of lords of the united kingdom, then and in that case it shall and may be lawful for his Majesty, his heirs and successors, to create one peer of that part of the united kingdom, called Ireland, as often as any one of such one hundred peerages shall fall by extinction, or as often as any one peer of that part of the united kingdom, shall become entitled by descent or creation to an hereditary seat in the house of lords of the united kingdom, it being the true intent and meaning of this article, that at all times after the union, it shall and may be lawful for his Majesty, his heirs and successors, to keep up the peerage of that part of the united kingdom, called Ireland, to the number of one hundred, over and above the number of such of the said peers as shall be entitled by descent or creation to an hereditary seat in the house of lords of the united kingdom. That if any peerage shall at any time be in abeyance, such peerage shall be deemed and taken as an existing peerage, and no peerage shall be deemed extinct, unless on default of claimants to the inheritance of such peerage, for the space of one year from the death of the person who shall have been last possessed thereof, and if no claim shall be made to the inheritance of such peerage, in such form and manner as may from time to time be prescribed by the house of lords of the united king- dom, before the expiration of the said period of a year, then and in that case such peerage shall be deemed extinct, provided that nothing herein shall exclude any person from afterwards putting in a claim to the peerage so deemed extinct, and if such claim shall be allowed as valid by the judgment of the house of lords of the united kingdom reported to his Majesty, such peerage shall be considered as revived, and in case any new creation of a peerage of that part of the united kingdom, called Ireland, shall have taken place in the interval, in consequence of the supposed extinction of such peerage, then no new right of creation shall accrue to his Majesty, his heirs or successors, in consequence of the next extinction which shall take place of any peerage of that part of the united kingdom, called Ireland. That all questions touching the election of members to sit on the part of Ireland in the house of commons of the united kingdom, shall be heard and decided in the same manner as questions touching such elections in Great Britain now are, or at any time hereafter shall by law be heard and decided, subject nevertheless to such particular regulations in respect of Ireland, as from local circumstances the parliament of the united kingdom may from time to time deem expedient. That the qualifications in respect of property of the members elected on the part of Ireland, to sit in the house of commons of the united kingdom, shall be re- spectively the same as are now provided by law, in the cases of elections for counties and cities, and boroughs respectively, in that part of Great Britain, called England, unless any other provision shall hereafter be made in that respect by act of parliament of the united kingdom. That when his Majesty, his heirs or successors, shall declare his, her, or their pleasure for holding the first, or any subsequent parliament of the united kingdom, a proclamation shall issue under the great Seal of the united kingdom, to cause the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, who are to serve in the parlia- ment thereof on the part of Ireland, to be returned in such manner as by any act of this present Session of the parliament of Ireland shall be provided, and that the Lords spiritual and temporal, and commons of Great Britain shall, together with the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons so returned as aforesaid on the part of Ireland, constitute the two houses of the parliament of the united kingdom. 398 That if his Majesty, on or before the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and one, on which day the union is to take place, shall declare, under the great seal of Great Britain, that it is expedient that the lords and commons of the present parliament of Great Britain should be the members of the respective houses of the first parliament of the united kingdom on the part of Great Britain, then the said lords and commons of the present parliament of Great Britain shall accordingly be the members of the respective houses of the first parliament of the united kingdom on the part of Great Britain, and they, together with the lords spiritual and temporal, and columons so summoned and returned as above, on the part of Ireland, shall be the lords spiritual and temporal and commons of the first parliament of the united kingdom, and such first parliament may, (in that case) if not sooner dissolved, continue to sit so long as the present parliament of Great Britain may now by law continue to sit, if not sooner dissolved : Provided always, that until an act shall have passed in the parliament of the united kingdom, provid- ing in what cases persons holding offices or places of profit under the crown in Ireland, shall be incapable of being members of the house of commons of the par- liament of the united kingdom, no greater number of members than twenty holding such offices or places as aforesaid, shall be capable of sitting in the said house of commons of the parliament of the united kingdom ; and if such a number of mem- bers shall be returned to serve in the said house, as to make the whole number of members of the said house holding such offices or places as aforesaid more than twenty, then and in such case the seats or places of such members as shall have last accepted such offices or places shall be vacated, at the option of such members, So as to reduce the number of members holding such offices or places to the num- ber, twenty ; and no person holding any such office or place shall be capable of being elected, or of sitting in the said house, while there are twenty persons hold- ing such offices or places sitting in the said house; and that every one of the lords of parliament of the united kingdom, and every member of the house of commons of the united kingdom, in the first and all succeeding parliaments, shall, until the parliament of the united kingdom shall otherwise provide, take the oaths, and make and subscribe the declaration, and take and subscribe the oath now by law en- joined to be taken, made and subscribed by the lords and commons of the parlia- ment of Great Britain. That the lords of parliament on the part of Ireland, in the house of lords of the united kingdom, shall at all times have the same privileges of parliament which shall belong to the lords of parliament on the part of Great Britain, and the lords spiritual and temporal respectively on the part of Ireland, shall at all times have the same rights in respect of their sitting and voting upon the trial of peers as the lords spiritual and temporal respectively on the part of Great Britain ; and that all lords spiritual of Ireland shall have rank and precedency next, and immediately after the lords spiritual of the same rank and degree of Great Britain, and shall enjoy all privileges as fully as the lords spiritual of Great Britain do now, or may hereafter enjoy the same, the right and privilege of sitting in the house of lords, and the privileges depending thereon, and particularly the right of sitting on the trial of peers excepted ; and that the persons holding any temporal peerages of Ireland, existing at the time of the union, shall, from and after the union, have rank and precedency next, and immediately after all the persons holding peerages of the like orders and degrees in Great Britain subsisting at the time of the union ; and that all peerages of Ireland, created after the union, shall have rank and pre- cedency with the peerages of the united kingdom so created, according to the dates 399 of their creations ; and that all peerages, both of Great Britain and Ireland, now subsisting, or hereafter to be created, shall in all other respects from the date of the union be considered as peerages of the united kingdom, and that the peers of Ireland shall as peers of the united kingdom, be sued and tried as peers, except as aforesaid, and shall enjoy all privileges of peers as fully as the peers of Great Britain ; the right and privilege of sitting in the house of lords, and the privileges depending thereon, and the right of sitting on the trial of peers only excepted. ARTICLE FIFTH.—That it be the fifth article of union, that the churches of England and Ireland, as now by law established, be united into one protestant episcopal church, to be called “The united church of England and Ireland;” and that the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government of the said united church shall be and shall remain in full force for ever, as the same are now by law es- tablished for the church of England; and that the continuance and preservation of the said united church, as the established church of England and Ireland, shall be deemed and taken to be an essential and fundamental part of the union ; and that in like manner the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government of the church of Scotland shall remain, and be preserved as the same are now established by law, and by the acts for the union of the two kingdoms of England and Scotland. ARTICLE SIXTH.—That it be the sixth article of union, that his Majesty's subjects of Great Britain and Ireland shall, from and after the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and one, be entitled to the same privileges, and be on the same footing as to encouragements and bounties on the like articles, being the growth, produce, or manufacture of either country respectively, and generally in respect of trade and navigation in all ports and places in the united kingdom and its dependencies ; and that in all treaties made by his Majesty, his heirs and succes- sors, with any foreign power, his Majesty’s subjects of Ireland shall have the same privileges, and be on the same footing as his Majesty’s subjects of Great Britain. That from the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and one, all prohibitions and bounties on the export of articles, the growth, produce, or manu- facture of either country to the other, shall cease and determine; and that the said articles shall thenceforth be exported from one country to the other, without duty or bounty on such export. That all articles the growth, produce, or manufacture of either country (not hereinafter enumerated as subject to specific duties), shall from thenceforth be im- ported into each country from the other free from duty, other than such counter- vailing duties on the several articles enumerated in the schedule, No. I. A. and B. hereunto annexed, as are therein specified, or such other countervailing duties as shall hereafter be imposed by the parliament of the united kingdom in the manner hereinafter provided ; and that for the period of twenty years from the union, the articles enumerated in the schedule, No. II, hereunto annexed, shall be subject, on importation into each country from the other, to the duties specified in the said Schedule, No. II. And the woollen manufactures, known by the names of old and new drapery, shall pay on importation into each country from the other the duties now payable on importation into Ireland. Salt and hops, on importation into Ireland from Great Britain, duties not exceed- ing those which are now paid on importation into Ireland; and coals on importa- tion into Ireland from Great Britain, shall be subject to burthens not exceeding those to which they are now subject. That calicoes and muslins shall, on their importation into either country from the other, be subject and liable to the duties now payable on the same, on the im- 40ſ) portation thereof from Great Britain into Ireland, until the fifth day of January, one thousand eight hundred and eight; and from and after the said day the said duties shall be annually reduced by equal proportions as near as may be in each year, so as that the said duties shall stand at ten per centum from and after the fifth day of January, one thousand eight hundred and sixteen, until the fifth day of January, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-one; and that cotton yarn and cotton twist shall, on their importation into either country from the other, be sub- ject and liable to the duties now payable upon the same on the importation thereof from Great Britain into Ireland, until the fifth day of January, one thousand eight hundred and eight; and from and after the said day the said duties shall be annually reduced by equal proportions as near as may be in each year, so as that all duties shall cease on the said articles, from and after the fifth day of January, one thousand eight hundred and sixteen. That any articles of the growth, produce, or manufacture of either country, which are or may be subject to internal duty, or to duty on the materials of which they are composed, may be made subject, on their importation into each country respectively from the other, to such countervailing duty as shall appear to be just and reasonable in respect of such internal duty or duties on the materials, and that for the said purposes the articles specified in the said schedule, No. I. A. and B. shall be subject to the duties set forth therein, liable to be taken off, diminished, or increased in the manner herein specified, and that upon the export of the said articles from each country to the other respectively, a drawback shall be given equal in amount to the countervailing duty payable on such articles on the import thereof into the same country from the other, and that in like manner in future, it shall be competent to the united parliament to impose any new or additional coun- tervailing duties, or to take off or diminish such existing countervailing duties as may appear on like principles to be just and reasonable, in respect of any future or additional internal duty on any article of the growth, produce, or manufacture of either country, or of any new or additional duty on any materials of which such article may be composed, or of any abatement of duty on the same, and that when any such new or additional countervailing duty shall be so imposed on the import of any article into either country from the other, a drawback equal in amount to such countervailing duty shall be given in like manner on the export of every such article respectively from the same country to the other. That all articles the growth, produce, or manufacture of either country, when exported through the other, shall in all cases be exported subject to the same charges as if they had been exported directly from the country of which they were the growth, produce, or manufacture. That all duty charged on the import of foreign or colonial goods into either country, shall, on their export to the other, be either drawn back, or the amount (if any be retained) shall be placed to the credit of the country to which they shall be so exported, so long as the expenditure of the united kingdom shall be defrayed by proportional contributions ; provided always, that nothing herein shall extend to take away any duty, bounty, or prohibition which exists with respect to corn, meal, malt, flour, or biscuit, but that all duties, bounties, or prohibitions on the said articles may be regulated, varied, or repealed from time to time as the united parliament shall deem expedient. [Here follows a schedule of sixteen pages, detailing the amount of duties to be levied in Great Britain and Ireland on imports and exports into or from each king- dom on various articles, such as apparel, glass, paper, coaches, cabinet ware, 401 pottery, &c., the duty in each country respectively was ten per cent. As all these duties have been abolished, and the commerce between Great Britain and Ireland placed on the footing of coasting trade, it is unnecessary to reprint the schedules. —R. M. MARTIN.] - ARTICLE SEVENTH.--That it be the seventh article of the union that the charge arising from the payment of the interest and the sinking fund for the reduction of the principal of the debt incurred in either kingdom before the union shall continue to be separately defrayed by Great Britain and Ireland respectively, except as hereinafter provided. - That for the space of twenty years after the union shall take place, the contribu- tion of Great Britain and Ireland respectively towards the expenditure of the united kingdom in each year shall be defrayed in the proportion of fifteen parts for Great Britain, and two parts for Ireland; that at the expiration of the said twenty years the future expenditure of the united kingdom, (other than the interest and charges of the debt to which either country shall be separately liable,) shall be defrayed itſ such proportion as the parliaiuelil of the uniled kingdou shall decm. just and reasonable, upon a comparison of the real value of the exports and imports of the respective countries upon an average of the three years next preceiling ille period of revision, or on a comparison of the value of the quantities of the following articles consumed within the respective countries on a similar average, viz. beer, spirits, sugar, wine, tea, tobacco, and malt, or according to the aggregate propor- tion resulting from both these considerations combined, or on a comparison of the amount of income in each country estimated from the produce for the same period of a general tax, if such shall have been imposed on the same descriptions of income in both eountries; and that the parliament of the united kingdom shall afterwards proceed in like manner to revise and fix the said proportions according to the same rules or any of them at periods not more distant than twenty years, nor less than Seven years from each other, unless previous to any such period the parliament of the united kingdom shall have declared as hereinafter provided, that the expendi- ture of the united kingdom shall be defrayed indiscriminately by equal taxes im- posed on the like articles in both countries. That for the defraying the said expenditure, according to the rules above laid down, the revenues of Ireland shall hereafter constitute a consolidated fund which shall be charged in the first instance with the interest of the debt of Ireland, and with the sinking ſuild applicable to the reduction of the said debt, and the re- mainder shall be applied towards defraying the proportion of the united kingdom to which Ireland may be liable in each year. That the proportion of contrihntion fo which Greaf |Britain and Ireland will be liable, shall be raised by such taxes in each country respectively as the parliament of the united kingdom shall from time to time deem fit; provided always, that in regulating the taxes in each country, by which their respective proportions shall be levied, no article in Ireland shall be made liable to any new or additional duty by which the whole amount of duty payable thereon would exceed the amount which will be thereafter payable in England on the like article. That if at the end of any year any surplus shall accrue from the revenues of Ireland after defraying the interest, sinking fund, and proportional contribution and separate charges to which the said country shall then be liable, taxes shall be taken off to the amount of such surplus, or the surplus shall be applied by the par- liament of the united kingdom to local purposes in Ireland, or to make good any deficiency which may arise in the revenues of Ireland in time of peace, or PART VII. F F. 402 ". invested by the commissioners of the national debt of Ireland in the funds, to accu- mulate for the benefit of Ireland at compound interest, in case of the contribution of Ireland in time of war : Provided that the surplus so to accumulate shall at no future period be suffered to exceed the sum of five millions. That all monies to be raised after the union by loan in peace or war for the service of the united kingdom by the parliament thereof, shall be considered to be a joint debt, and the charges thereof shall be borne by the respective countries in the proportion of their respective contributions; provided that if at any time in raising their respective contributions hereby fixed for each country, the parliament of the united kingdom shall judge it fit to raise a greater proportion of such respec- tive contributions in one country within the year than in the other, or to set apart a greater proportion of sinking fund for the liquidation of the whole or any part of the loan raised on account of the one country than of that raised on account of the other country, then such part of the said loan, for the liquidation of which different provisions shall have been made for the respective countries shall be kept distinct, and shall be borne by each separately, and only that part of the said loan be deemed joint and common, for the reduction of which the respective countries shall have made provision in the proportion of their respective contributions. That if at any future day the separate debt of each country respectively shall have been liquidated, or if the values of their respective debts (estimated according to the amount of the interest and annuities attending the same, and of the sinking fund applicable to the reduction thereof, and to the period within which the whole capital of such debt shall appear to be redeemable by such sinking fund) shall be to each other in the same proportion with the respective contributions of each country respectively, or if the amount by which the value of the larger of such debts shall vary from such proportion shall not exceed one-hundredth part of the said value, and if it shall appear to the parliament of the united kingdom that the respective circumstances of the two countries will thenceforth admit of their con- tributing indiscriminately by equal taxes imposed on the same articles in each to the future expenditure of the united kingdom, it shall be competent to the parlia- ment of the united kingdom to declare that all future expense thenceforth to be incurred, together with the interest and charges of all joint debts contracted previous to such declaration, shall be so defrayed indiscriminately by equal taxes imposed on the same articles in each country, and thenceforth from time to time as circumstances may require to impose and apply such taxes accordingly, subject only to such particular exemptions or abatements in Ireland, and in that part of Great Britain called Scotland, as circumstances may appear from time to time to demand. - - - That from the period of such declaration, it shall no longer be necessary to regulate the contribution of the two countries towards the future expenditure of the united kingdom, according to any specific proportion, or according to any of the rules hereinbefore prescribed, provided nevertheless that the interest or charges which may remain on account of any part of the separate debt with which either country shall be chargeable, and which shall not be liquidated or consolidated pro- portionably as above, shall until extinguished continue to be defrayed by separate taxes in each country. - That a sum not less than the sum which has been granted by the parliament of Ireland, on the average of six years immediately preceding the first day of January, in the year one thousand eight hundred, in premiums for the internal encourage- * . ment of agriculture or manufactures, or for the maintaining institutions for pious 403. and charitable purposes, shall be applied for the period of twenty years after the union to such local purposes in Ireland, in such manner as the parliament of the united kingdom shall direct. - That from and after the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and one, all public revenue arising to the united kingdom from the territorial depen- dencies thereof, and applied to the general expenditure of the united kingdom, shall be so applied in the proportions of the respective contributions of the two countries. ARTICLE EIGHTH.—That it be the eighth article of union, that all laws in force at the time of the union, and all the courts of civil and ecclesiastical jurisdic- tion within the respective kingdoms, shall remain as now by law established within the same, subject only to such alterations and regulations from time to time as circumstances may appear to the parliament of the united kingdom to require ; provided that all writs of error and appeals depending at the time of the union, or hereafter to be brought, and which might now be finally decided by the house of lords of either kingdom, shall from and after the union be finally decided by the house of lords of the united kingdom, and provided that from and after the union there shall remain in Ireland an instance court of admiralty for the determination of causes civil and maritime only ; and that the appeal from sentences of the said court shall be to her Majesty’s delegates in his court of chancery in that part of the united kingdom called Ireland ; and that all laws at present in force in either king- dom which shall be contrary to any of the provisions which may be enacted by any act for carrying these articles into effect, be from and after the union repealed. And whereas the said articles having by address of the respective houses of par- liament in Great Britain and Ireland been humbly laid before his Majesty, his Majesty has been graciously pleased to approve the same, and to recommend it to his two houses of parliament in Great Britain and Ireland, to consider of such measures as may be necessary for giving effect to the said articles: In order there- fore to give full effect and validity to the same be it enacted by the King’s most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and tem- poral, and commons in this present parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, That the said foregoing recited articles, each and every one of them, accord- ing to the true intent and tenor thereof, be ratified, confirmed, and approved, and be, and they are hereby declared to be, the articles of the union of Great Britain and Ireland, and the same shall be in force and have effect for ever, from the first day of January, which shall be in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and one : provided that before that period an act shall have been passed by the parliament of Great Britain for carrying into effect, in the like manner, the said foregoing recited articles. - II. And whereas a bill, entitled, An Act to regulate the mode by which the lords spiritual and temporal, and the commons to serve in the parliament of the united kingdom on the part of Ireland, shall be summoned and returned to the said parlia- ment, has passed the two houses of the parliament of this kingdom, the tenor whereof is as follows: “An Act to regulate the mode by which the lords spiritual and tem- poral, and the commons to serve in the parliament of the united kingdom on the part of Ireland, shall be summoned and returned to the said parliament.” Whereas it is agreed by the fourth article of the union, that four lords spiri- tual of Ireland, by rotation of sessions, and twenty-eight lords temporal of Ireland, elected for life by the peers of Ireland, shall be the number to sit and vote on the part of Ireland in the house of lords of the parliament of the united kingdom, and one hundred commoners, (two for each county of Ireland, two for the city of F E 2 404 Dublin, two for the city of Cork, one for the college of the Holy Trinity of Dublin, and one for each of the thirty-one most considerable cities, towns, and boroughs,) be the number to sit and vote on the part of Ireland in the house of commons of the parliament of the united kingdom ; be it enacted by the King's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons in this present parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that the said four lords spiritual shall be taken from among the lords spiritual of Ireland in the manner following, that is to say, that one of the four archbishops of Ireland, and three of the eighteen bishops of Ireland, shall sit in the house of lords of the united parliament in each session thereof, the said right of sitting being regulated as between the said archbishops respectively by a rotation among the archiepiscopal sees from session to session, and in like manner that of the bishops by a like rotation among the episcopal sees ; that the primate of all Ireland for the time being shall sit in the first session of the parliament of the united kingdom ; the archbishop of Dublin, for the time being, in the second ; the archbishop of Cashel, for the time being, in the third ; the archbishop of Tuam, for the time being, in the fourth, and so by rotation of sessions for ever ; such rotation to proceed regularly and without interruption from session to session, notwithstanding any dissolution or expiration of parliament ; that three suffragan bishops shall in like manner sit according to rotation of their sees, from session to session, in the following order: the lord bishop of Meath, the lord bishop of Kildare, the lord bishop of Derry, in the first session of the parliament of the united kingdom ; the lord bishop of Raphoe, the lord bishop of Limerick, Ardfert, and Aghadoe, the lord bishop of Dromore, in the second session of the parliament of the united kingdom; the lord bishop of Elphin, the lord bishop of Down and Connor, the lord bishop of Waterford and Lismore, in the third session of the parliament of the united kingdom ; the lord bishop of Leighlin and Ferns, the lord bishop of Cloyne, the lord bishop of Cork and Ross, in the fourth session of the parliament of the united kingdom ; the lord bishop of Killaloe and Kilfenora, the lord bishop of Kilmore, the lord bishop of Clogher, in the fifth session of the parliament of the united king- dom; the lord bishop of Ossory, the lord bishop of Killala and Achonry, the lord bishop of Clonfert and Kilmacduagh, in the sixth session of the parliament of the united kingdom ; the said rotation to be nevertheless subject to such variation therefrom, from time to time, as is hereinafter provided : that the said twenty-eight temporal lords shall be chosen by all the temporal peers of Ireland in the manner herein after provided ; that each of the said lords temporal so chosen and entitled to sit in the house of lords of the parliament of the united kingdom during his life, and in case of his death, or forfeiture of any of the said lords temporal, the tem- poral peers of Ireland shall, in the manner herein after provided, choose another peer out of their own number to supply the place so vacant. III. And be it enacted, That of the one hundred commoners to sit on the part of Ireland in the united parliament, sixty-four shall be chosen for the counties, and thirty-six for the following cities and boroughs; videlicet, for each county of Ireland, two ; for the city of Dublin, two ; for the city of Cork, two ; for the college of the Holy Trinity of Dublin, one; for the city of Waterford, one ; for the city of Limerick, one ; for the borough of Belfast, one ; for the county and town of Drogheda, one ; for the county and town of Carrickfergus, one ; for the borough of Newry, one ; for the city of Kilkenny, one ; for the city of London- derry, one ; for the town of Galway, one ; for the borough of Clonmel, one ; for the town of Wexford, one ; for the town of Youghal, one; for the town of Ban- 405 donbridge, one ; for the borough of Armagh, one ; for the borough of Dundalk, one; for the town of Kinsale, one ; for the borough of Lisburne, one ; for the borough of Sligo, one ; for the borough of Catherlough, one ; for the borough of Ennis, one ; for the borough of Dungarvan, one ; for the borough of Downpatrick, one ; for the borough of Coleraine, one ; for the town of Mallow, one ; for the borough of Athlone, one ; for the town of New Ross, one ; for the borough of Tralee, one ; for the city of Cashel, one ; for the borough of Dungannon, one ; for the borough of Portarlington, one ; for the borough of Enniskillem, one. IV. And be it enacted, That in case of the summoning of a new parliament, or if the seat of any of the said commoners shall become vacant by death or otherwise, then the said counties, cities, or boroughs, or any of them, as the case may be, shall proceed to a new election ; and that all the other towns, cities, or corpo- rations, or boroughs, other than the aforesaid, shall cease to elect representatives to serve in parliament ; and no meeting shall at any time hereafter be summoned, called, convened, or held for the purpose of electing any person or persons to serve or act, or be considered as representative or representatives of any other place, town, city, corporation, or borough, other than the aforesaid, or as representative or representatives of the freemen, freeholders, householders or inhabitants thereof, either in the parliament of the united kingdom or elsewhere (unless it shall here- after be otherwise provided by the parliament of the united kingdom) and every person summoning, calling, or holding any such meeting or assembly, or taking any part in any such election or pretended election, shall, being thereof duly con- victed, incur and suffer the pains and penalties ordained and provided by the statute of provision and praemunire made in the sixteenth year of the reign of Richard the Second. - W. For the due election of the persons to be chosen to sit in the respective houses of the parliament of the united kingdom on the part of Ireland ; be it enacted, That on the day following that on which the act for establishing the union shall have received the royal assent, the primate of all Ireland, the lord bishop of Meath, the lord bishop of Kildare, and the lord bishop of Derry, shall be, and they are hereby declared to be the representatives of the lords spiritual of Ireland in the parliament of the united kingdom for the first session thereof; and that the temporal peers of Ireland shall assemble at twelve of the clock on the same day as aforesaid, in the now accustomed place of meeting of the house of lords of Ireland, and shall then and there proceed to elect twenty-eight lords temporal to represent the peerage of Ireland in the parliament of the united kingdom in the following manner, that is to say, the names of the peers shall be called over according to their rank, by the clerk of the crown, or his deputy, who shall then and there attend for that pur- pose, and each of the said peers who previous to the said day, and in the present parliament, shall have actually taken his seat in the house of lords of Ireland, and who shall there have taken the oaths, and signed the declaration, which are or shall be by law required to be taken and signed by the lords of the parliament of Ireland, before they can sit and vote in the parliament thereof, shall, when his name is called, deliver, either by himself or by his proxy (the name of such proxy having been previously entered in the books of the house of lords of Ireland, according to the present forms and usages thereof), to the clerk of the crown or his deputy (who shall then and there attend for that purpose), a list of twenty-eight of the temporal peers of Ireland, and the clerk of the crown, or his deputy, shall then and there publicly read the said lists, and shall then and there cast up the said lists, and publicly declare the names of the twenty-eight lords who shall be chosen 406 by the majority of votes in the said lists, and shall make a return of the said names to the house of lords of the first parliament of the united kingdom, and the twenty- eight lords so chosen by the majority of votes in the said lists shall, during their respective lives, sit as representatives of the peers of Ireland, in the house of lords of the united kingdom, and be entitled to receive writs of summons to that and every succeeding parliament; and in case a complete election shall not be made of the whole number of twenty-eight peers, by reason of an equality of votes, the clerk of the crown shall return such number in favour of whom a complete election shall have been made in one list, and in a second list shall return the names of those peers who shall have an equality of votes, but in favour of whom, by reason of such equality, a complete election shall not have been made ; and the names of the peers in the second list for whom an equal number of votes shall have been so given, shall be written on pieces of paper of a similar form, and shall be put into a glass by the clerk of the parliament of the united kingdom, at the table of the house of lords thereof, whilst the house is sitting, and the peer whose name shall be first drawn out by the clerk of the parliament, shall be deemed the peer elected, and so successively as often as the case may require ; and whenever the seat of any of the twenty-eight lords temporal so elected, shall be vacated by decease or forfeiture, the chancellor, the keeper, or commissioners of the great seal of the united kingdom, for the time being, upon receiving a certificate under the hand and seal of any two lords temporal of the parliament of the united kingdom, certi- fying the decease of such peer, or on view of the record of attainder of such peer, shall direct a writ to be issued under the great seal of the united kindom, to the chancellor, the keeper, or commissioners of the great Seal of Ireland, for the time being, directing him or them to cause writs to be issued by the clerk of the crown in Ireland, to every temporal peer of Ireland who shall have sat and voted in the house of lords of Ireland before the union, or whose right to sit and vote therein or to vote at such elections, shall on claim made in his behalf, have been admitted by the house of lords of Ireland, before the union, or after the union, by the house of lords of the united kingdom; and notice shall forthwith be published by the said clerk of the crown, in the London and Dublin Gazettes, of the issuing of such writs, and of the names and titles of all the peers to whom the same are directed, and to the said writs there shall be annexed a form of return thereof, in which a blank shall be left for the name of the peer to be elected, and the said writs shall enjoin each peer within fifty-two days from the test of the writ to return the same into the crown office of Ireland, with the blank filled up by inserting the name of the peer for whom he shall vote as the peer to succeed to the vacancy made by demise or forfeiture, as aforesaid, and the said writs and returns shall be bipartite, so as that the name of the peer to be chosen shall be written twice, that is once on each part of such writ and return, and so as that each part may also be subscribed by the peer to whom the same shall be directed, and likewise be sealed with his seal of arms, and one part of the said writs and returns so filled up, subscribed and sealed as above, shall remain of record in the crown office of Ireland, and the other part shall be certified by the clerk of the crown to the clerk of the parliament of the united kingdom, and no peer of Ireland except such as shall have been elected as representative peers on the part of Ireland in the house of lords of the united king- dom, and shall there have taken the oaths and signed the declaration prescribed by law, shall, under pain of suffering such punishment as the house of lords of the united kingdom may award and adjudge, make a return to such writ, unless he shall, after the issuing thereof, and before the day on which the writ is returnable, have taken 407 the oaths, and signed the declaration, which are or shall be taken by law required to be taken and signed by the lords of the united kingdom, before they can sit and vote in the parliament thereof, which oaths and declarations shall be either taken and subscribed in the court of chancery of Ireland, or before one of his Majesty's justices of the peace of that part of the united kingdom called Ireland, a certificate whereof signed by such justices of the peace, or by the register of the said court of chancery, shall be transmitted by such peer, with the return, and shall be annexed to that part thereof, remaining of record in the crown office of Ireland; and the clerk of the crown shall forthwith after the return day of the writs, cause to be published in the London and Dublin Gazettes, a notice of the name of the person chosen by the majority of votes, and the peer so chosen, shall during his life be one of the peers to sit and vote on the part of Ireland in the house of lords of the united kingdom ; and in case the votes shall be equal, the name of such persons who have an equal number of votes in their favour, shall be written on pieces of paper of a similar form, and shall be put into a glass by the clerk of the parliament of the united kingdom, at the table of the house of lords whilst the house is sitting, and the peer whose name shall be first drawn out by the clerk of the parliament shall be deemed the peer elected. VI. And be it enacted, That in case any lord spiritual being a temporal peer of the united kingdom, or being a temporal peer of that part of the united kingdom called Ireland, shall be chosen by the lords temporal to be one of the representa- tives of the lords temporal, in every such case during the life of such spiritual peer, being a temporal peer of the united kingdom, or being a temporal peer of that part of the united kingdom called Ireland, so chosen to represent the lords spiritual, the rotation of representation of the spiritual lords, shall proceed to the next spiritual lord without regard to such spiritual lord so chosen a temporal peer, that is to say, if such spiritual lord shall be an archbishop, then the rotation shall proceed to the archbishop whose see is next in rotation ; and if such spiritual lord shall be a suffragan bishop, then the rotation shall proceed to the suffragan bishop whose see is next in rotation. VII. And whereas by the said fourth article of union, it is agreed, that if his Majesty shall, on or before the first day of January next, declare under the great seal of Great Britain, that it is expedient that the lords and commons of the present parliament of Great Britain should be the members of the respective houses of the first parliament of the united kingdom on the part of Great Britain, then the lords and commons of the present parliament of Great Britain shall accordingly be the members of the respective houses of the first parliament of the united kingdom on the part of Great Britain; be it enacted for and in that case only, That the present members of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, and the two members for the city of Dublin, and the two members for the city of Cork, shall be, and they are hereby declared to be by virtue of this act, members for the said counties and cities in the first parliament of the united kingdom, and that on a day and hour to be appointed by his Majesty under the great seal of Ireland, previous to the said first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and one, the members then serving for the college of the holy Trinity of Dublin, and for each of the following cities or boroughs, that is to say, the city of Waterford, city of Limerick, borough of Bel- fast, county and town of Drogheda, county and town of Carrickfergus, borough of Newry, city of Kilkenny, city of Londonderry, town of Galway, borough of Clon- mel, town of Wexford, town of Youghal, town of Bandon Bridge, borough of Armagh, borough of Dundalk, town of Kinsale, borough of Lisburn, borough of 408 Sligo, borough of Catherlough, borough of Ennis, borough of Dungarvan, borough of Downpatrick, borough of Cq. traine, town of Mallow, borough of Athlone, town of New-Ross, borough of rale city of Cashel, borough of Dungannon, borough of Portarlington, and borough of Iniskillen, or any five or more of them, shall meet in the now usual place of rue, ag of the house of commons of Ireland, and the names of the members then, 3rving for the said places and boroughs shall be written on separate pieces " aper, and the said papers being folded up, shall be placed in a glass or glasses, and shall successively be drawn thereout by the clerk of the erown or his deputy, who shall then and there attend for that purpose, and the first drawn name of a me...ber of each of the aforesaid places or boroughs, shall be taken as the name of the member to serve for the said place or borough in the first parliament of the united kingdom, and a return of the said names shall be made by the clerk of the crown or his deputy, to the house of commons of the first parliament of the united kingdom, and a certificate thereof shall be given respec- tively by the said clerk of the crown or his deputy, to each of the members whose name shall have been so drawn ; provided always, That it may be allowed to any member of any of the said places or boroughs by personal application to be then and there made by him to the clerk of the crown or his deputy, or by declaration in writing under his hand, to be transmitted by him to the clerk of the crown pre- vious to the said day so appointed as above, to withdraw his name previous to the drawing of the names by lot, in which case or in that of a vacancy by death or otherwise, of one of the members of any of the said places or boroughs at the time of so drawing the names, the name of the other member shall be returned as afore- said, as the name of the member to serve for such place in the first parliament of the united kingdom ; or if both members for any such place or borough shall so withdraw their names, or if there shall be a vacancy of both members at the time aforesaid, the clerk of the crown shall certify the same to the house of commons of the first parliament of the united kingdom, and shall also express in such return whether any writ shall then have issued for the election of a member or members to supply such vacancy ; and if a writ shall so have issued for the election of one member only, such writ shall be superseded, and any election to be thereafter made thereupon, shall be null and of no effect, and if such writ shall have issued for the election of two members, the said two members shall be chosen accordingly, and their names being returned by the clerk of the crown to the house of commons of the parliament of the united kingdom, one of the said names shall then be drawn by lot in such manner and time as the said house of commons shall direct, and the person whose name shall be so drawn, shall be deemed to be the member to sit for such place in the first parliament of the united kingdom ; but if at the time afore- said no writ shall have issued to supply such vacancy, none shall thereafter issue until the same be ordered by resolution of the house of commons of the parliament of the united kingdom, as in the case of any other vacancy of a seat in the house of commons of the parliament of the united kingdom. VIII. And be it enacted, That whenever his Majesty, his heirs and successors, shall by proclamation under the great seal of the united kingdom, summon a new parliament of the united kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the chancellor, keeper, or commissioners of the great seal of Ireland, shall cause writs to be issued to the several counties, cities, the college of the holy Trinity of Dublin, and boroughs in that part of the united kingdom called Ireland, specified in this act, for the election of members to serve in the parliament of the united kingdom according to the number herein before set forth ; and whenever any vacancy of a seat in the 409 house of commons of the parliament of the un ted kingdom for any of the said counties, cities, or boroughs, or for the said col’ ge of the holy Trinity of Dublin, shall arise by death or otherwise, the chancellor, ºper, or commissioners of the great seal, upon such vacancy being certified to em respectively by the proper warrant, shall forthwith cause a writ to issue for tº election of a person to fill up such vacancy, and such writs and the returns theiàºn respectively being returned into the crown-office in that part of the united king called Ireland, shall from thence be transmitted to the crown-office in that part of the united kingdom called England, and be certified to the house of commons , the same manner as the like returns have been usually, or shall hereafter be certified, and copies of the said writs and returns attested by the chancellor, keeper, or commissioners of the great seal of Ireland for the time being, shall be preserved in the crown-office of Ireland, and shall be evidence of such writs and returns, in case the original writs and returns shall be lost. IX. Be it enacted, That the said bill so herein recited, be taken as a part of this act, and be deemed to all intents and purposes incorporated within the same : provided always, that the said herein recited bill shall receive the royal assent, and be passed into a law previous to the first day of January, which shall be in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and one : and provided also, that if the said herein recited bill shall not receive the royal assent, and be passed into a law previous to the said first said day of Jannary, which shall be in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and one, this act, and every part thereof, shall be of no force or validity whatsoever. X. And be it enacted, That the great seal of Ireland may, if his Majesty shall so think fit, after the union be used in like manner as before the union, except where it is otherwise provided by the foregoing articles, within that part of the united kingdom called Ireland, and that his Majesty may, so long as he shall think fit, continue the privy council of Ireland, to be his privy council for that part of the united kingdom called Ireland. IB. IRISH MEMBERs who votRD FOR THE UNION ON THE 6TH FEBRUARY, 1800. [So far from the measure of an Union being supported merely by the nominees of “roiter,” boroughs, it will be seen that the reverse was the case. The union was advocated by the representatives of the Cities and Counties of Cork, Limerick, Waterford, Galway, Kerry, Clare, Mayo, Longford, Leitrim, Carlow, Roscommon, Weaford, Queen's County, Down, Londonderry, Armagh, Belfast, Newry, Kilkenny, Monaghan, Clonmel, and other places.—R. M. MARTIN.] Hen. Alex. Londonderry; Hon. D. Alex. Newtownards; R. Archdall, Killibegs ; Rd.' Annesley, Blessington ; William Bayly, Augher ; J. Beresford, Waterford co. 3. J. Beresford, jun. Coleraine; Col. M. Beresford, Swords; John Bingham, Tuam; J. H. Blake, Galway; Sir James Blackwood, Kileagh ; Sir John Blackguire, New- town ; Colonel Burton, Clare co. ; Lord Boyle, Cork co. ; Denis Browne, Mayo co. ; S. Stewart Bruce, Lisburne ; George Burdett, Gouran ; George Bunbury, Gouram; Arthur Browne, Trin. Col. ; Thomas Blighe, Athboy ; James Butler, Kilkenny: Lord Castlereagh, Down ; George Cavendish ; Sir H. Cavendish, Lismore ; S. B. Chinnery, Bandon ; James Cane, Ratoath ; Thomas Casey, Rilmallock; Colonel Cope, Armagh co.; Gen. Craddock, Middleton ; James Crosbie, Kerry co. ; Edward Cooke, Leighlin ; Chas. H. Coote, Queen's Co.; Isaac Corry, Newry; Sir James- 41() Cotter, Castlemartyr; Rd. Cotter, Charleville; William A. Crosbie, Trim ; A. Creighton, Lifford ; James Creighton, Lifford; James Cuffe, Tulsk; St. George Daly, Galway; Patrick Duigenan, Armagh; William Elliott, St. Canice; General Eustace, Fethard ; Major Eustace, Clonmines; Lord Chas. Fitzgerald, Ardfert; Wm. Forward, Johnstown ; Sir G. Fortescue, Trim ; A. Ferguson, Londonderry; Luke Fox, Mullingar; F. Fortescue, Monaghan ; R. A. Fitzgerald, Cork co. ; Maurice Fitzgerald, Kerry co. ; J. Galbraith, Augher ; Hen. D. Grady, Limerick ; W. Gregory, Portarlington ; General Gardiner, Clogher; William Gore, Carrick; Tichard Hare, Athy; William Hare, Athy; Gen. Heneker, Kildare; Peter Holmes Doneraile; George Hatton, Lisburne ; Hon. M. G. Hutchinson ; Hon. F. H. Hutchinson, Cork ; Hugh Howard, Johnstown ; William Handcock, Athlone ; J. Hobson, Clonekilty; Sir Were Hunt, Askeaton ; Richard Herbert, Granard ; Colonel Jackson, Randleson; D. Jephson, Mallow ; J. Jocelyn, Dundalk ; William Jones, Coleraine ; Theop. Jones, Leitrim co. ; Gen. Jackson, Randlestown ; Wm. Johnson, Roscommon ; Robert Johnson, Hillsboro’; John Keane, Youghal ; Jas. Kearney, Thomastown ; Henry Kemmis, Tralee ; William Knot, Taghmon; James Knox, Taghmon; Andrew Knox, Strabane; Sir R. Langrish, Knocktopher; Thomas Lindsay, Castlebar; John Longfield, Mallow ; Captain Longfield, Ballin- akill ; Montiford Longfield, Cork; Lord Loftus, Wexford co. ; General Lake, Armagh ; D. Latouche, Newcastle ; General Loftus, Bannow ; F. M'Namara, Rillibegs; Ross Mahon, Granard ; Richard Martin, Lanesboro’; John M. Mason, St. Canice; H. D. Massey, Clare co. ; E. M'Naghten, Antrim co. ; S. Moore, Clonmel; N. M. Moore, Strabane ; Lodge Morris, Dingle ; Sir R. Musgrave, Lis- more ; J. M'Clelland, Randlestown ; Colonel M’Donnell, Rathcormick; Richard M“Gennis, Carlingford ; George Miller ; James Mahon ; Edward May, Belfast; John M'Clean, Bannow ; Thomas Nesbitt ; Sir Wm. Newcomen, Longford; Richard Neville, Wexford; Wm. Odell, Limerick co. ; Charles Osborne, Carysfort ; J. M. Ormsby, Gorey ; Sir Chas. Ormsby, Duleek; F. Packenham, Longford ; Henry S. Prittie, Carlow; T. Prendergast, Clonekilty ; Richard Pennefather, Cashel ; Col. Packenham, Longford; Thomas Pepper, Kells; John Preston, Navan ; Sir R. Quin, Kilmallock; Sir Boyle Roche, Leighlin ; G. H. Reade, Fethard ; R. Rutledge, Duleek; James Rowly, Downpatrick ; Abel Ram, Wexford co. ; H. Skeffington, Antrim ; Baron W. Smith, Donegal; H. Mt. Standford, Roscommon ; Edward Stanley, Lanesboro’; John Stewart, Bangor ; John Stratton, Dundalk ; B. Stratford, Baltinglass ; J. Stratford, ditto; R. Sharkey, Dungarvan ; Sir Geo. Shee, Knocktopher ; J. Savage, Callan; Colonel Singleton ; Right Hon. J. Toler, Gorey ; F. French, Portarlington ; Lord Tyrone, Londonderry ; C. Tottenham, New Ross ; R. French, Galway ; Charles French, Newtownlimavady; William Talbot, Kilkenny; P. Tottenham, Clonmines; John Townsend, Castlemartyr; Robert Tighe, Carrick; Robert Uniacke, Youghal ; James Werner, Dungannon ; J. O. Wandeleur, Clare; Colonel Wemyss, Kilkenny; H. Westenra, Monaghan; B. B. Woodward, Middleton; R. Ward, Bangor; Patrick Walsh, Callan. Total number, 159. : NAMEs of THE MEMBERs of THE IRISH Hous E of CoMMONS WHO WOTED AGAINST THE UNION ON THE 6TH FEBRUARY, 1800. [By referring to the names and to the places represented, it will be seen that the “Orange Party” were the principal opponents of the union, as they dreaded the concession of Roman Catholic Emancipation.—R. M. MARTIN.] A. Acheson, Armagh co.; W. B. Armstrong, Wicklow; M. Archdall, Fermanagh co. ; D. Babbington, Ballyshannon ; John Ball, Drogheda ; William Burton, Carlow | 4 || 1 co.; John Claudius Beresford, city of Dublin ; Charles K. Bushe, Donegal ; William Blakeney, Athenry; H. W. Brooke, Donegal co, ; J. M.Barry, Newtownlimavady; B. Balfour, Belturbet ; Sir R. Butler, Carlow ; Peter Burrowes, Enniscorthy; Jno. Bagwell, Tipperary co. ; J. Bagwell, jun., Tipperary; W. Bagwell, Rathcor- mick; Lord Corry, Tyrone co. ; Lord Clements, Leitrim co. ; Tord Cole, Ferma- nagh co.; James E. Cooper, Sligo co.; R. S. Carew, Wexford city; N. Dalway, Carrickfergus; R. Dawson, Monaghan co. ; Francis Dobbs, Charlemont; John Egan, Tallagh; George Evans, Baltimore ; R. L. Edgeworth, Johnstown ; Sir John Freke, Baltimore ; Sir John Faulkner, Dublin co. ; Rt. Hon. Jas. Fitzgerald, Kildare; W. T. Fortescue, Louth co.; Right Hon. John Foster, ditto; A. French, Roscommon co. ; Thomas Foster, Dunleer ; C. Fortescue, Trim ; Sir Thos. Feth- erston, Longford co. ; H. Georges, Meath co. ; Henry Grattan, Wicklow ; Thomas Goold, Kilbeggan ; Hans Hamilton, Dublin co. ; Edw. Hardiman, Drogheda ; Thomas Hardy, Mullingar; Sir James Hoare, Askeaton ; A. C. Hamilton, Ennis- timon; William Hume, Wicklow co. ; Edward Hoare, Bamaher ; H. Irvine, Tulsk; G. King, Jamestown ; J. King, ditto ; Hon. G. Knox, Trin. College ; Right Hon. H. King, Boyle; G. Lambert, Kilbeggan; J. Latouche, Kildare co.; J. Latouche, jun., Harristown ; Robert Latouche, ditto ; C. P. Leslie, Monaghan co.; Edward Lee, Dungarvan ; Sir Thomas Lighton, Carlingford; Lord Maxwell, Cavan co. ; A. Montgomery, Drogheda; Sir J. M'Cartney, Naas; Arthur Moore, Tralee; Lord Mathew, Tipperary co. ; Stephen Moore, Kells; John Moore, Newry; Thos. Mahon, Roscommon co. ; Charles O’Hara, Sligo co.; S. C. Rowley, Kinsale ; Sir E. O'Brien, Clare ; J. M. O’Donnell, Ratoath ; Hon. Wm. O'Callaghan, Bandon; Rt. Hon. George Ogle, Dublin city; H. Osborne, Enniskillen; Joseph Preston, Navan ; Sir John Parnell, Queen's co. ; Henry Parnell, Maryboro’; William C. Plunkett, Charlemont; William B. Ponsonby, Kilkenny co. ; Major William Ponsonby, Fethard ; George Ponsonby, Galway ; Sir Lau. Parsons, King’s Co.; Rich. Power, Waterford co. ; Gustavus Rochfort, Westmeath co. ; John Rochfort, Tore ; Sir Wm. Richardson, Ballyshannon; William Ruxton, Ardee; John Reilly, Blessington; W. E. Reilly, Hillsborough ; C. Rowley, Meath co. ; Wm. Rowley, ditto ; F. Saunderson, Cavan co. ; Wm. Smith, Westmeath co.; James Stewart, Tyrone ; W. J. Skeffington, Antrim ; F. Savage, Down co. ; Francis Synge, Swords; Robert Shaw, Barnew ; William Saurin, Blessington ; Sir R. St. George, Athlone ; William Tighe, Innistigue ; Henry Tighe, ditto ; Wm. Alcock, Water- ford co. ; John Taylor, Fethard ; T. Townshend, Belturbet: C, Vereker, Limerick city; Owen Wynne, Sligo ; John Waller, Limerick; E. D. Wilson, Carrickfergus: N. Westby, Wicklow ; John Woulfe, Carlow; T. Whaley, Enniscorthy. Total number, 112. C. UNION COMPENSATIONS, IRELAND. A Return (from the Commissioners under Act 40 Geo. III. cap. 34.) of all Claims for Compensation, on account of Representative Franchises, which they have admitted; to what Amount ; and under what Conditions they have awarded Compensation ; and what Claims for Allowances, on a similar account, they have Tisallowed and Rejected. [The columns of the conditions and disallowed claims are omitted, as they occupy considerable space, and refer merely to the names of deceased persons and their 412 evectators, by whom the property vested in those persons, as in England, had been devised. The Return is No. 476, was printed by the House of Commons, March 18th, 1805; re-printed by the House of Commons, July 3rd, 1833.-R. M. MARTIN.] Cloghnekilty—Richard Earl of Shannon, 15,000l. Castlemartyr—Richard Earl of Shannon, 15,000l. Charleville—Richard Earl of Shannon, 7,500ſ. ; Edmond Earl of Cork, 7,500l. Newcastle—The Portrieve and Burgesses of the Borough of Newcastle, and the Right Hon. David Latouche, 15,000l. Ballinakill—Charles Marquis of Drogheda, 15,000l. St. Johnstown, in the County of Longford—The Right Hon. George Earl of Granard, 15,000l. Mullingar–George Earl of Granard, 15,000l. Harristown—The Sovereign Burgesses and Freemen of Harristown, and John Latouche, Esq., 15,000l. Boyle—Robert Earl of Erris, Executor of Robert late Earl of Kingston, 15,000l. Longford–Thomas Earl of Longford, 15,000l. Augher —John James Marquis of Abercorn, 15,000l. Kilbeggan—Gustavus Lambart, Esq., 15,000l. Castlebar—Richard Earl of Lucan, 15,000l. Kilmallock—Richard Oliver, Esq., 15,000l. Duleek—The Portrieve and Burgesses of the Borough of Duleek, and the Right Hon. Henry King and Robert French, Esq., Executors and Trustees named in the Will of Henry Bruen, Esq., 15,000l. Taghmon—The Portrieve and Burgesses of the Borough of Taghmon, and the Right Hon. Henry King and Robert French, Esq., Executors and Trustees named in the Will of Henry Bruen, 15,000l. Carrickdrumrushe—Robert Earl of Leitrim, 15,000l. Belturbet—Armar Earl of Belmore, 15,000l. Ballyshannon–Armar Earl of Bel- more, 15,000l. Newtownards—James Earl of Caledon, 15,000l. St. Johnstown, in the County of Donegal—Alice Countess of Wicklow, the Right Hon. William Forward, the Hon. Hugh Howard, 15,000l. Banagher—Right Hon. William Brabazon Ponsonby, 15,000l. Callan–George Lord Callan, 15,000l. Baltimore— Sir John Freke, Bart., 15,000l. Dinglecushe—Richard Boyle Townsend, 15,000l. Carysfort—John Earl of Carysfort, 15,000l. Rathcormack—Francis Earl of Ban- don, Hayes Lord Wiscount Doneraile, and Sampson Stawell, Esq., surviving Trustees named in the Will of William late Lord Riversdale, which bears date the 25th day of June, in the year 1787, 15,000l. Hillsborough—Arthur Marquis of Downshire, 15,000l. Monaghan—William Henry Earl of Clermont, Robert Lord Rossmore, Right Hon. Theophilus Jones, and Henry Westenra, Esq., 15,000l. Lifford—John Earl Erne, 15,000l. Ratoath—George Lowther, Esq., 15,000l. Fore—Arthur Marquis of Downshire, 15,000l. Ardfert—John Earl of Glandore, 15,000l. Gowran —Henry Welbore, Lord Wiscount Clifden, 15,000l. Thomas- town—Henry Welbore, Lord Wiscount Clifden, 15,000l. Clonmines—Charles Marquis of Ely, by the style of Earl of Ely, and Charles Tottenham, of Bally- curry, in the county of Wicklow, Esq., 15,000l. Bannow—Charles Marquis of Ely, by the style of Earl of Ely, and Charles Tottenham, of Ballycurry, in the county of Wicklow, Esq., 15,000l. Fethard, in the County of Weaford—Charles Marquis of Ely, by the style of Earl of Ely, and Charles Tottenham, of Ballycurry, in the county of Wicklow, Esq., 15,000l. Bangor—Henry Thomas Earl of Carrick, the Hon. Somerset Butler, commonly called Lord Wiscount Ikerrin, 7,500ſ. ; the Hon. Edward Ward, the Hon. Robert Ward, 7,500l. Jamestown—Gilbert King, Esq., 7,500l. ; John King, Esq., the Rev. John King, Archdeacon of Killala, and the Sovereign and Burgesses of the Borough of Jamestown, 7,500l. Killyleagh— Sir James Stevenson Blackwood, 15,000l. Newborough, otherwise Gorey—Stephen Ram, Esq., 15,000l. Blessington—Arthur Marquis of Downshire, 15,000l. Wick- low—William Tighe, Esq., 15,000l. Cavan—Theophilus Clements, Esq., 7,500l.; 413 Thomas Nesbitt, Esq., 7,500l. Philipstown—George Earl of Belvedere, Robert Herbert Earl of Lanesborough, and John King, Esq., and Elizabeth Countess of Lanesborough, his wife, 15,000l. Carlingford—Arthur Marquis of Downshire, 7,500l.; Thomas Moore, William Moore, and Robert Ross Rowan, Esqrs., Guardians of Ross Balfour Moore, Esq., a minor, 7,500l. Innistioge—William Tighe, Esq., and the Portrieve and Burgesses of the Borough of Innistioge, 15,000l. Dunleer—The Right Hon. John Foster, 7,500l.; Henry Coddington, of Oldbridge, in the County of Meath, Esq., and the Portrieve and Burgesses of the Borough of Dunleer, 7,500/. Askeyton—Henry Thomas Earl of Carrick, the Hon. Somerset Butler, commonly called Lord Ikerrin, 6850ſ. ; the Hon. Edward Massey, 6,850ſ. Sir Joseph Hoare, Bart., 200l. ; Sir Were Hunt, Bart., 1,1007. Charlemont—Francis William Earl of Charlemont, 15,000l. Midleton—George Lord Wiscount Midleton, and the Sove- reign Bailiffs and Burgesses of the Borough of Midleton, 15,000/. Naas—John Earl of Mayo, the Hon. and Rev. Richard Bourke, the Sovereign Portrieve, Bur- gesses, and Community of the Borough of Naas, 15,000l. Maryborough—The Right Hon. Sir John Parnell, Bart., 7,500l. ; the Right Hon. Charles Henry Coote, 7,500l. Emmiscorthy—Cornelius Lord Lismore, 12,300l. ; Robert Corn- wall, Esq., 2,700l. Atherdee, otherwise Ardee—Charles Ruxton, Esq., and William Parkinson Ruxton, Esq., 7,500l. ; William Ruxton, Esq., 7,500l. Doneraile— Hayes Lord Wiscount Doneraile, 15,960ſ. Lanesborough—Luke Lord Clonbrock, 15,000l. Kells—Thomas Marquis of Headfort, by the style of Earl of Bective, 15,000l. Lismore—William Duke of Devonshire, 15,000l. Tallagh—William Duke of Devonshire, 15,000l. Newtown Limavady—Robert Earl of Londonderry, 7,500l. ; the Hon. Henry Robert Stewart, commonly called Lord Wiscount Castle- reagh, 7,500l. Killybeggs, otherwise Callebegg, Henry Earl Conyngham, 15,000l. Athenry—Theophilus Blakeney, Esq., 15,000l. Athboy—John Earl of Darnley, 15,000l. Ballinglass—Edward late Earl of Aldborough in his lifetime, John Earl of Aldborough, by the name of the Hon. John Stratford, the Hon. and Rev. Francis Paul Stratford, and the Hon. Benjamin O’Neal Stratford, 15,000l. Feth- ard, County of Tipperary—Cornelius Lord Lismore, 7,500l. ; Thomas Barton, Esq., the Sovereign and Free Burgesses of the Borough of Fethard, 7,500l. ; Trim—The Hon. William Wellesley Pole, on behalf of Richard Marquis of Wellesley, 15,000l. Tuam—The Hon. Walter Yelverton, 1,000l. ; John Lord Clanmorris, 14,000l. Knocktopher—Sir George Shee, Bart., 1,1371. 10s. ; the Right Hon. Sir Hercules Langrishe, Bart., 13,862/. 10s. Granard—George Fulk Lyttle- ton, Esq., William Fulk Greville, Esq., 15,000l. Athy—William Lord Ennismore, 1,2007. ; William Duke of Leinster, and the Sovereign Bailiffs and Burgesses of the Borough of Athy, 13,800l. Kildare—William Duke of Leinster, the Sovereign Provosts and Burgesses of the Borough of Kildare, 15,000l. Randalstown— Charles Henry St. John Earl O’Neille, 15,000l. Strabane—John James Marquis of Abercorn, 15,000l. Tulsk—James Caulfield, Esq., guardian of St. George Caul- field, Esq., a minor, 15,000l. Donegal—Arthur Earl of Arran, and the Hon. Arthur Saunders Gore, commonly called Lord Viscount Sudley, 15,000l. Ros- common—Henry Lord Mount Sandford, 15,000l. Wavan—John Lord Tara, 7,500. Peter Earl of Ludlow, the Hon. Augustus Ludlow, commonly called Lord Preston, and the Portrieve, Burgesses, and Freemen of the Borough of Navan, 7,500l. Saint Canice—None, 15,000l. City of Clogher—None, 15,000l. Old Teighlin— None, 15,000l. Antrim–Clotworthy Earl of Massareene, 3,750l. ; Hon. Henry Skeffington, 3,750l. Hon. William John Skeffington, 3,750l. ; Hon. Chichester 4}.4 Skeffington, 3,750l. Swords — None, 15,000l. Total number of Boroughs abolished, 83. Returned pursuant to an Order of the Honourable House of Commons, dated the 21st day of February, 1805. BY ORDER OF THE COMMISSIONERS FOR COMPENSATION. Office of Commissioners for Compensation, Dublin, 11th March, 1805. D. [It has been asserted that large sums were spent in pensioning those who sup- ported the Union ; by the following official return, it will be seen that the pensions were solely for those whose offices were abolished at the Union ; a fair and just measure adopted in every reform or legislative change.—R. M. MARTIN.] Return to an Order of the Honourable the House of Commons, dated 28th June, . 1842, for a Return of the Names of all Persons to whom Pensions were granted as Compensation for any Office held in Ireland, at or previous to the Act of Union, with the Amount granted in each case; and of the Names of Per- sons now receiving such Pensions, with the Amount now payable to each Person. House of Lords.-The Earl of Clare, Speaker, 3,978!. ; the Earl of Mayo, Chairman of Committees, 1,443!. ; Lord Glentworth, Clerk of the Crown in Chan- cery, 3791. ; William Meeke, Clerk of the Parliaments, 2,705l. ; Thomas Lindsay, Usher of the Black Rod, 964!. ; Edward Westby, Master in Chancery, 1047. ; Thomas Walker, ditto, 1047. ; William Henn, sen., ditto, 104!. ; Stewart King, ditto, 1047. ; John Gayer, Deputy Clerk of the Parliaments, 651. ; Thomas Bour- chier, Deputy Clerk of the Crown, 101l. ; John Gregg, Clerk Assistant, 780l. ; Joseph Griffith, Reading Clerk, 2931. ; Henry Minchin, Serjeant-at-Arms, 314/. ; Richard C. Smith, jun., Committee Clerk, 231/.; Edmond Fenner, Journal Clerk, 2877. ; Bryan Camer, Yeoman Usher, 2437. ; William Walker, Additional Clerk, 70l.; Theobald R. O'Flaherty, Clerk in the Parliament Office, 747. ; Charles J. Jolly, Doorkeeper at Great Door, 921. ; John Polding, Doorkeeper to Robe Room, 92/. ; Patrick Martin, Doorkeeper to the Clerks’ Office 927. ; William Corbett, Doorkeeper to the Speaker’s Chamber, 1057. ; William Graham, Side Doorkeeper, 921. ; Paul Thompson, Doorkeeper at the New Entrance, 927. ; Geo. Paine, Addi- tional Doorkeeper, 92', ; Patrick Long, Messenger, 917. ; James Cavendish, ditto, 911. ; Michael Quinan, ditto, 917. ; John Tobin, ditto, 917. ; Albinia Taylor, Keeper of the Parliament House, 8777. ; Mary Forster, Housekeeper, 4727. ; Mary Ann Forster, Housemaid, 201. ; Sir Chichester Fortescue, Ulster King-at-Arms, 290l. ; Philip O’Brien, Gatekeeper, 421. ; Richard Taylor, Keeper of the Speaker's Chambers, 50l. ; Viscount Clifden, Clerk of the Council, 1817. ; Henry Upton, Deputy Clerk of the Council, 104!. ; John Patrickson, Deputy Clerk of the Coun- cil ; Usher of the Council Chamber; Solicitor for Turnpike Bills, 4217. ; William MºRay, Assistant Clerk of the Council, 100l. ; John Ebbs and Elizabeth Grant, Doorkeeper and Council Office Keeper, 147. ; John Dwyer, Secretary to the Lord Chancellor, 291. ; John Berresford, Purse Bearer to the Lord Chancellor, 147. ; Andrew Bowen, Water Porter, 4!. House of CoMMONS.–Right Hon. J. Foster, Speaker, 5,038l. ; Henry Alex- 415 ander, Chairman of Committee of Ways and Means, 500l. ; Sir G. F. Hill, Bart., Clerk of the House, 2,265l. ; Edward Cooke, Clerk of the House in reversion, 500l. ; John M'Clintock and W. F. M'Clintock, Serjeant-at-Arms, 1,200l. ; Edw. Tresham, Clerk Assistant, 504!. ; George F. Winstanley, Committee Clerk, 250l. ; Jonathan Rogers, ditto, 250l. ; James Rafferty, Assistant Clerk, 100l. ; Dawson Ellis, Super- annuated Engrossing Clerk, 140l. ; Charles H. Tandy, Engrossing Clerk, 398/. ; Tannley Richardson, Assistant ditto, 150l. ; William Rafferty, Clerk in the Chief Clerk’s Office, Clerk of the Fees and Minutes, 470l.; Henry Coddington, Deputy Serjeant-at-Arms, 350l. ; James Corry, Clerk of the Journals and Records, 660l. John Smith, Assistant dito, 230ſ. ; Roderick Connor, Attending Clerk, Journals and Records, 60l. ; Arthur Hume, Clerk of the Briefs, 100l. ; John Tudd, Assist- ant Clerk in Chief Clerk's Office, 637. ; John L. Foster, Speaker's Secretary, IOl.; George Donlery, Messenger, 68l. ; Robert Burnside, Back-door Keeper, 48l. ; Robert Fleming, ditto, 487. ; Joseph Doherty, Messenger, 46ſ. ; Dennis Smith, ditto, 46!. ; Lewis Donlery, ditto,36l. ; Richard Grace, ditto, 36!.; Robert Garland, ditto, 36!. ; Edward Barne, ditto, 36l. ; Dennis Brennan, ditto, 36!. ; Daniel Bren- nan, Messenger, 36!. ; Hugh Gahan, ditto, 36!. ; John Browne, ditto, 367. ; Andrew Carson, ditto, 36!. ; Patrick Ferral, ditto, 36!. ; Jeremiah Bannen, ditto, 517. ; Joseph Morley, ditto, 36!. ; George Shirley, ditto, 367. ; Michael Dalton, ditto, 36!.; John King, ditto, 367. ; William Browne, Distributor of Votes, 130l. ; Hugh Hig- gins, Assistant ditto, 30l.; Sarah Conner, Housekeeper ditto, 4017. ; John Kennedy, Doorkeeper, 1687. ; John Walsh, ditto, 168l. ; Mary Conner, House Attendant, 47. ; Thomas Seavers, Fire Lighter, lll. ; Rodney Wathum, ditto, 6l. ; Edmond H. Lord Glentworth, Clerk of the Hanaper, 1317. ; Thomas Bourchier, Deputy ditto, 521. ; John Beresford, Purse Bearer to Lord Chancellor, 337. ; Albinia Taylor, Keeper of the Parliament House, 140l. MISCELLANEous, under 40 Geo. 3, c. 34.—Thos. Pakenham, Secretary to Master- General of Ordnance, 100l. ; William Pakenham, Clerk to ditto, 50l. ; Hon. T. Pekenham, Master-General of the Ordnance, 1,200l. ; Charles Osborne, Junior Counsel to Commissioners of Revenue, 6821. ; William Taylor, 1st Clerk in Civil I)epartment, Chief Secretary’s Office, 80l. ; Peter Le Bas, Clerk in ditto, 1217. ; Charles Crow, Clerk in ditto, 1217. ; Charles B. Kippax, Clerk in ditto, 1217.; Edw. Cooke, Under Secretary in ditto, 791. ; John, Earl of Clare, Lord High Chancellor, 1617. ; John Dwyer, Secretary to ditto, 1307. ; John Berresford, Purse Bearer to ditto, 917. ; Francis Beaujohn, Trainbearer and Gentleman Usher to ditto, 547. ; William Pollock, 1st Clerk in Secretary of State's Office, Home Department, England, 547. ; Robert Reilly, Gentleman Porter to Lord Chancellor, 34!. ; Marcus Beresford, Lieut.-General of the Ordnance, 600l. ; Thomas Burgh, Treasurer and Paymaster to ditto, 500l. ; Thomas Burgh, Agent to Royal Artillery Regiment of Ireland, 1,112!. ; William Smith, 3d Clerk in Ordnance Office, 115l. ; Edward Dalton, Assistant Clerk in Secretary’s Office, Ordnance, 491. ; George F. D'Alton, 2d Clerk in Surveyor General’s Office, Ordnance, 125l. ; Thomas Dickinson, Clerk to Surveyor General of Ordnance, 250l. ; Capt. Richard Legge, Chief Fire-master of the Royal Laboratory, Ordnance, 150l. ; Stewart Bruce, Gentleman Usher to the Lord Lieutenant, 2371. ; James Galbraith, Clerk to Attorney-General of Ireland, 4461. ; John, Earl of Aldborough, Agent for all the Forces on the Irish Establish- ment serving abroad,981. ; Solomon Delane, Cork Herald-at-Arms, 185!.; William Boulger, 1st Clerk to the Clerk of the Ordnance, 250l. ; Anthony Cosgrave, Prin- cipal Messenger to Board of Ordnance, 947. ; Col. John Pratt, Comptroller Royal Laboratory, Ordnance, 2007, ; Abraham B. King, King's Stationer, 363/.; Matthew 416 Franks, Deputy Keeper of the Rolls, 725l. ; William Turner, Clerk of the Trea- surer of the Ordnance, 224!. ; Thomas Lindsay, Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod, 237. ; Samuel Medlicot, 2d to Principal Storekeeper, Ordnance, 145!. Geo. Charleton, Surgeon in attendance on Artificers of Ordnance, 421. ; Mary Manser, Housekeeper of Board of Ordnance, 1817. ; William Cadge, Clerk of the Deliveries, Ordnance, 195l. ; James Baynham, Assistant Fire-master in Royal Laboratory, Ordnance, 130l. ; John Dwyer, Secretary to the Lord Chancellor, 500l. ; Joseph Atkinson, Secretary to the Board of Ordnance, 520l.; Ponsonby Tottenham, Clerk of the Ordnance, 487. ; Robert Wynne, Clerk of Deliveries in Ordnance, 400l. ; William Mollan, 2d Clerk to the Clerk of the Ordnance, 125l. ; John Hughes, 1st Clerk to Principal Storekeeper, Ordnance, 2971. ; Thos. Remmis, Crown Solicitor, 314/. ; Richard Waller, Solicitor of the Revenue, 716!. ; Sir Chichester Fortescue, Ulster King-at-Arms, 140l. ; ditto, ditto, 6911. ; Donat Kinchy, Commissary of Camp, Equipage, and Stores, 1827. ; Elizabeth Litchfield, Necessary Woman to Privy Council, 3!, ; Thomas Cooper, Messenger to Privy Council of Great Britain, 3l. ; James Harding, Chamber Keeper in Privy Council, 7l. ; John D. Wheatly, Clerk in ditto, Great Britain, 21/, ; William Wan, ditto, ditto, 21. ; Henry Coles, Clerk to Secretary of Lord Lieutenant, resident in London, 218l. ; Patrick Mad- den, Messenger to ditto, 591. ; William Randall, Purse Bearer to Lord Chancellor of England, 15l. ; William Buller, Wax Chaffre in Chancery, Great Britain, 31. . The Rev. Wm. Lloyd, Sealer of the High Court of Chancery, 5l. ; Walter Pye, Wax Chaffre in Chancery, Great Britain, 31. ; Charles Dowse, Deputy Sealer in Chancery, England, 37. ; Thomas Hand, one of the Gentlemen to the Chamber of the Lord Chancellor of Great Britain, 6l. ; Joseph Vernon, ditto, ditto, ll. ; Geo. Lisbon, Porter to the Great Seal of Great Britain, 31. ; Henry Hughes, Clerk in the Crown Office in England, 71. ; John Hobson, Storekeeper in Ordnance Office, 616l. ; Maurice M*Donnell, a Labourer in the Ordnance, 18l. ; Richard Lane, ditto, ditto, 311. ; Fielding Lyster, Clerk to Secretary of the Ordnance, 224!. ; Hon. John Yorke, Clerk of the Crown in England, 330l. ; Robert Uniacke, Surveyor- general of the Ordnance, 1,206!. ; Mrs. Waite and Mrs. Cooke, Joint Housekeepers of Dublin Castle, 371. ; John Elliott, Labourer in the Ordnance, 497. ; William M“Kay, Clerk in Council Office, 40l. ; John Patrickson, Usher of Council Chamber, 56l. ; John Patrickson, Deputy Clerk of the Council, llll. ; Henry Upton, ditto, 1157. ; Lord Wiscount Clifden, a Clerk of the Privy Council, 217. ; Thomas Tighe, a Labourer in the Ordnance, 18l. ; John Ebbs, a Clerk in the Council Office, 60l. ; William Falkner, Clerk of the Council in England, 1717. ; Sir Stephen Cotrell, Clerk in the Privy Council in England, 6077. ; John Day, State Trumpeter, 8l. ; Christopher Pittner, ditto, 81. ; John Jenkinson, Secretary in London to Lord Lieutenant, 1,0271. ; William Henry Freemantle, Solicitor in England for revenue in Ireland, 1,0271. ; Timothy Kelly, State Trumpeter, 81. ; John Day, sen., ditto, 8l.; John Boyce, ditto, 81. ; Luke Heron, ditto,8l. ; Stephen Phillips, Office Keeper in Military Department, 31. ; Robert Pike, Chamber Keeper in Privy Council, Great Britain, 71. ; Thomas Rashleigh, Deputy Clerk of the Crown in England, 64ll...; Enos Smith, a Clerk in the Privy Council of Great Britain, 1697. ; Vincent Litchfield, ditto, ditto, 621. ; Edmund Connor, Publisher of the Army List, 1757, i. Charles P. Jones, Keeper of the Signet Office in England, 5t.; Thomas Ryland, Master Furbisher in Ordnance, 801. ; Earl of Carysfort, Commissioner for Custody of the Rolls, l,307. ; Earl of Glandore, ditto, ditto, 1,307. ; G. J. Ridsdale, Ath- lone Pursuivant, 921. ; Henry Minchin, Second Serjeant-at-Arms, 767. James Uniake, Clerk to Lieut.-General of the Ordnance, 70l. ; Viscount Limerick, Clerk 4.17 of the Crown, 405/. ; James Ormsby, Deputy Keeper of the Privy Seal, 791. ; Thomas Rylands, Master Furbisher of Ordnance, 80l. ; Thos. Bourchier, Deputy Clerk of the Crown, 168l. ; Richard C. Carr, Solicitor for the Revenue, 716!. ; Robert Grant, Clerk of the Works, Ordnance, 207.; Thomas Poyle, King's Messen- ger, 437. ; William Breton, ditto, 437. ; Thomas Dawes, ditto, 64!. ; James Flan- nagan, Porter at Chief Secretary’s Office, 107. ; James Hyde, King's Messenger, 64l. ; Henry Paine, Office-Keeper, Chief Secretary’s Office, 10l. ; John Erck, for loss of fees in Ordnance Office, 15l. ; John Erck, Publisher of Army List, 175l. ; Henry Paine, Office-Keeper, Chief Secretary's Office, 671. ; John Morton, Medical Supplier to Ordnance, 3111. ; Charles Farram, Draughtsman to Ordnance, 60l. ; John Devereux, Clerk to Comptroller of Royal Laboratory, 701. ; John Campbell, a Labourer to the Ordnance, 311. ; Henry Eustace, Aide-de-Camp to Master- General, Ordnance, 3327. ; William Turner, Paymaster of late Irish Artillery, 316l. ; Whitmore Davis, Commissary to Board of Ordnance, 1827, ; Wm. Smith, Solicitor-General, 1,3791. ; Wm. Monks, Assistant-Clerk of the Works, Ordnance, 80l. ; Right Hon. John Stewart, Attorney-General, 2,086l. ; Thos. M. Wistanley, Dublin Herald, 1857. ; Richard Griffith, Forage Master, 547. ; Thomas Acris, Storekeeper to the Ordnance, 911. ; Robert Grant, Clerk in the Ordnance, 85l. ; John Belson, Commissary of Ordnance, 1827. ; William Monks, Clerk of the Works in Ordnance, 737. ; Patrick Hacket, Storekeeper of Ordnance of Belfast, 917. ; Patrick Maher, Storekeeper of Ordnance of Tarbut, 917. ; Laurence Owens, Porter to the Lord Lieutenant, 36l. ; Richard Wrightoon, Clerk to Storekeeper in Ordnance, 381. ; James Reilly, Clerk to Surveyor-General of Ordnance, 38!. ; A. B. Ring, Printer to the late House of Commons, 921. ; Moses Barnett, Gatekeeper at the Ordnance Yard, 97. ; Ward Ramsay, Messenger to the Ordnance Board, 91. ; Charles Croker, Assistant Clerk of Check, Ordnance, 48l. ; H. Maryon, King's Messenger, 64!. ; George Grierson, King's Printer, 900l. ; Thomas Watson, Master Cutler to Board of Ordnance, 287. ; Robert M*Farland, Gatekeeper Ordnance Stores, 567. ; Gawin Lane, Crier in Court of Chancery, 1447. ; Richard Nash, Clerk in the Rolls Office, 357. - For the Paymaster of Civil Services, Paymaster of Civil Services Office, A. CHALMERS. Dublin Castle, 8th Aug. 1842. [Almost the whole of these pensioners are now dead.—R. M. M.] The practicability of DRAINING a large part of the Bogs of IRELAND has long occupied the public mind; the following Table, which is prepared from official data, will show the extent and depth of the several bogs—the names of the proprietors to whom they belong—and the estimated cost of drainage. There can be no doubt that great benefit would ensue by a reclamation of those bogs. PART VII. G G. Extracts from the Report s of the Commissioners appointed 15 th Sept. 1809, to inquire into the Submitted to the Society for the Districts. Counties. Western part of Bog of Al- len, called District of the Barrow . . º District of the Boyne —— of the Shannon of the Inny, and Lough Ree . e e — of Lough Gara . —— between Roscrea and Killynaule . . — westward of Ma- ryborough . . . — of Western extre- mity of Co. Clare of Banks of the Barrow • * * of Lough Corrib Three Districts . . . . . Dist. surrounding Lough Neagh, and extending to the River Bann . District of Iveragh . of Kenmare river of Laune and Lower Maine . . . . . of Upper Maine . of Slieve Laughar of river Cashen of Lough Ree . of southern extre- mity of river Suck . ——— of northern extre- mity of river Suck Mountain Bogs and Bogs less than 500 acres, not included in the Reports Eastern part of Bog of Allen. º of the Brusna. . . Kildare. King's and Queen’s Co. . Meath and Westmeath. ..[King's Co. Westmeath, Longford,and e Ring’s Co. { Longford and Westmeath ..] Roscommon, Sligo, Mayo Tipperary, Kilkenny, and Queen's Co. Queen’s Co. Clare. Kildare and King's Co. & ; . Galway and Mayo { ..[Kerry. .Mayo and Sligo. Antrim, Down, Tyrone, Ar- magh and Londonderry • Kerry, } Kerry. ..]IKerry. - .|Kerry and Cork. .|Kerry (northern part of) Longford, Leitrim, and Roscommon Galway and Roscommon } } } Galway and Roscommon Elevation above the Sea Extent in at low Water. English Cost of Drainage. Acres. Greatest Least height. height Feet. Feet. 36,430 g/7,017 19 8 || 312 228 41,075 66,978 8 8 || 329 203 42,370 75,065 6 7 || 350 232 44,594 87,233 13 8 || 324 125 34,500 63,435 7 13: 288 128 (*) 34,569 17,284 10 0 268 191 @ 83,689| 99,350 7 9 (5) 415 || 204 36,025 58,647 17 1 || 488 || 340 14,754 17,215 2 0 || 418 282 22,340 31,728 12 6 || 130 64 (4) 7,459 19,824 3 0 || 257 227 83,724. 117,982 0 0 || 326 46 161,962. 184,928 10 2 || 488 54 64,855 51,884 0 0 | 200 93 43,567 18,208 11 11 250 75 14,605 13,488 8 10 || 300 | 200 17,990 19,855 7 9 160 25 8,566 7,014 17 9 || 200 38 32,902 19,405 8 10 || 700 250 31,514 29,937 19 4 || 110 || 35 26,630 13,315 0 0 || 229 144 76,848 98,318 12 10 || 284 || 126 52,390 59,708 2 0 || 300 150 1,013,358|421,277,828 7 5% 1,816,642 2,830,000 Kerry, Sligo, Galway, and Wicklow, &c. Shannon: of the remaining three parts, two are to the south and one to the north of this division. . (1) This Commission cost 37,721. 18s. 2d., exclusive of the expense of Printing and Engraving Maps and Reports.-(2) Mr. Edgeworth estimates the cost of Drainage at iOs, per acre, and the cost of Reclamation at 8l. 15s. per acre; the entire expenditure, in order to reclaim the District of the Immy and Lough Ree, would be 181,619. –(3) Engineer’s Report, 492,77a. 1r. 23p.–(4) To this should be added the difference between the height of the Shannon at Carrick and Shannon Bridge.--(5) Engineer’s Report, 4,577a, 2r. 24p, NoTE.—One-fourth of the entire superficial extent of Ireland, included between a line drawn from Wicklow Head to Galway, and another line drawn from Howth Head to Sligo, comprises within it about six-sevenths of the Bogs of the Island, exclusive of mere mountain Bogs, and Bogs of less than 500 acres. Island from East to West is traversed by the Shannon from North to South; and were the Bogs to be divided into twenty parts, seventeen of them would be found between these lines, twelve parts west and five east of the This division of the - Nature and extent of the Bogs of Ireland, and the practicability of Draining and Cultivating Improvement of Ireland, by P. J. HARTE, Esq. fti; 4 I 4l 40 45 44 47 45 33 35 35 36 45 42 20 20 22 32 32 43 30 20 Rivers and Lakes into which it is proposed to drain the Bogs. Names of principal Proprietors. Engineers who surveyed, F eeti 22 t025 22 to25 & 22 to25 22 to 25 30 30 to 35 20 to30 16 to 20 18 to20 15 to 20 20 I5 to20 8 to 16 5 to 12 20 6 10 to 15 6 to 12 12 to 20 20 to 30 20 to 25 15 Shannon. Suck. Feagile and other Streams that fall into the Barrow Do. do. Streams which discharge into the Boyne. Do. do. into the Brusna. Blackwater, Brusna, and Shannon. Camlin and Inny. Streams which discharge into Lough Gara. Streams which discharge into the Nore and Suir. Streams which discharge into the Nore and Barrow Dunbeg, &c. Barrow. Streams which discharge into Lough Corrib. Lough Mask, Lough Conn, and Clew Bay. Blackwater, Bann, and Lough Neagh. Cashen, &c. Blackwater, &c. Lakes of Killarney. Gheestan and Laune. Blackwater, Coolraa, &c. Cachon. LoughsCorrib,Mask, Cara, and river Suck. |Lord Kenmare, Col. Crosbie, Mr. Herbert. The Duke of Leinster, Marquess of Down- shire, Lords Courtown and Downes,Tri- nity College, Wm. Murphy, Esq. &c. Marquess of Downshire, Lords Charleville, Digby, Rosse, Ashtown, Galway, Port- arlington, Rossmore, &c. Lords Longford, Darnley, Kilmaine, Bel- widere, Charleville, Lanesboro’, &c. &c. Lords Charleville, Digby, Mountrath, Farnham, Rosse, J. O'Brien, Esq. &c. Percy Magan, Ambrose Cox, Esqrs. &c. Duke of Buckingham, Lord Darnley, &c. Lord Dillon, Arth. French, Esq., O'Conor Don, &c. - Lords Kilkenny, Norbury, Portarlington, Upper Ossory, Carrick, Llandaff, Cour- town, Ashbrook, &c. - Lords Maryboro’, De Vesci, Norbury, Sir C. Coote, &c. Marquess Conyngham, Earl Milltown, Hon'bles. O. Wandeleur, and Col. Burton. Duke of Leinster, Marquess of Drogheda, Dean of St. Patrick’s, &c. Lords Louth, Clanmorris, Abp. Tuam, Messrs. Daly, Blake, Browne, Kirwan. Marquess of Sligo, Lords Lucan, Cremorne, Sir Samuel O’Malley, &c. Marquess of Lansdown, Lord Headly, Daniel O’Connell, Esq. &c. Mr. Bland, &c. Lords Kenmare, Ventry, Blenerhasset, &c. Headly, Mr. Messrs. Herbert, Cronin, &c. Lord Ennismure, &c. - Lords Leitrim, Longford, Belmore, Gran- ard, &c. Lords Clancarty, Clonbrock, Kilmaine, French, see of Clonfert, M.D.Bellew,esq. Lords Hartland, Mount Sandford, M. D. Bellew, Esq. M. D. R. Griffith, Esq. Do. J. A. Jones, Esq. J. Longfield, Esq. T. Townshend, Esq. R. L. Edgeworth, Esq. J. Longfield, Esq. David Agher, Esq. Do. T. Cockburn, Esq. Rd. Brassington, Esq. J. A. Jones, Esq. W. Bald, Esq. T. Townshend, Esq. A. Nimmo, Esq. Do. Do. Do. Bo. Do. R. L. Edgeworth, Esq. R. Griffith, Esq. Do. THE FALL FROM TIIE BOGS TO THE DRAIN. HEIGHTS OF THE PRINCIPAL RIVERS AND LAKES ABOVE THE SEA AT LOW WATER ; IN on DER. To show ft. in. ft. in. ft. in. The Shannon at shºwn; 114 4 The Suir • - Lough Innell º 262 4 Harbour g The Nore • - Lake of Killarney . 40 () Do. at Tarmonbarry 120 10 || Lough Allen . 160 3 || Lough Mask e & 48 0 The Barrow at Monastereven 208 4 || Lough Neagh 40 0 || Lough Con 30 0 Do. at Athy & 188 1 || Lough Foyle * Lough Gara , e 178 0 The Boyne at Edenderry , 241 7 Lough Corrib 16 0 || Lough Ree I 08 0 The Brusna at Ferbane . 153 7 || Lough Erne o e . 140 0 || Lough Owell • 350 0 The Suck at Ballinasloe . 1 16 0 03; With reference to the STATE of Cºryte inIRELAND, the following is a RETURN of OutRagesspecially reported to the CoNsTABULARY OFFICE during each of the Years 1837, 1838, 1839,1840, 1841, and 1842. It issatisfactory to perceive that Crime in general has mot increased, and that, in several importantdescriptions, it has diminished.1 ' OFFENCESAGAINSTTHE PERSON,wOFFENCES AGAINST PROPERTY. }8g|ğ | $2± Ë8§ | 3 |fº | §•g|| |ºș ļģ È©§5ſ=ſ.(19©O8 :|| 8 | 2 | №*-->È | 8 | 5 || 5 | g | }>,Ē|3|#$ | 8 || … ș|ğ|#|ğ| |}„|#|#|#|#| |#| |#|#| || .#| |#| |#|#|#|$ | 3 |#| |#|#| $|#|#| ? || |#|ğ | } | } |#|#| |#|#| |#| |#| || ģÈ | & | &#| ? |* | | & | ? |#| |#| |#|#| || 8 || . . 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Izº OFFENCES AGAINST THE PUBLIC PEACE.OTHER OFFENCES. và I ſåÅ | #ģË•} |# | |ğ |ğ 8 | 5§ || $ğ | ?Ë..ſº$ . | 5Tāſ ）; } ）;2 | šğ | %2*# | | }}< ģ | №5 | ſă! ºs | №E | 5ğ | }. || || ? || ' | , | 3 || |#| || ;'È Ě | ep• | Ř ? | ?È | ğ#|#|#| |#|#| |#|#| |#|#| |#|#|#|* ? |#| |g| & |ğ $ | } | }Œ | }}·& | & | & | ğ | 3 || |#|#| |#|#|#| 3 || |#|#| ?ºſ | ğ | 5 || ? | ? @ |#| |# |...# | ſ | A | Ă | Ă |  | Ă |  | |#|#| |#|Ā|Ē|| ğ | |#|#|##g|* |Ř|ž |3 Years! på | på | } | }} | .£‘ē | H | Ș | # | 9 | -5„ñ | 8 | pſ | 9 | ſ || 35 | 85 || ſ || ...:# 2 || 5 | ğ3Total. È | ? | ? |#|#$ | } | } | ? |#| |#| |#|#| |#|#| |#|#| ? |#| |#|#|#| ? || |ğğ|º |#|#|#|#| ğ |#|#| |#|#| |#| ? |#|#| |#|#| |#|ă |#|#| ? |#|#| |#| ? || |#|#|#| |#|g|Ř| $ğ |#|#|#|#| 5 ğ |#|#| |#|#| g | ? | ? | ? |#|#| |#|#| |#|#| |#|#| |#|#| |#|#|#|#|#|#|#| |#|#|#|#ğ |#|#|#|#| ? § | $ | Ē | } | } | }# | 5 | 5 | 5 || ă | ?$ | $| ğ | $|#| ? | ? |#|#|#|#| ? |#| Ă ă | #ž | $|ğ8|ğ| $ È |#| ? |#|#| Ă |  | ff | Ă |  | # | Ă | Ă |  | & |#|#|#|#|#| ? |#|#|#|#| 3 |$|$º|ſ“|5|fº||5|å 1837 | 246 | . || 110 | 18 |...|| 157 | 69 | 685 | $3 | 17 | 606 | 34 | 60 | 68 | 78 |...|| 38 |...|. ..|| 21 | 19 | 3 | 3 | 6 |...|| 2 | 3 || ... | 7 | 1 || ... |...|...|6,775 1838 | 179|. .. | 46 | 14 |...|| 121 | 53 | 417 | 20 | 8 | 330 | 20 | 47 | 81 | 48 |...|| 6 |...|...|| 23 | 22 |...|| 1 |...|...|| 8 | 1 | 4 | 1 |...|. . . .|...|4,945 1839; 180 |. .. | 57 | 20 |...| 85 | 65 | 513 | 22 | 12 | 280 | 10 | 41 | 65 | 55 |...|| 7 |...|. .. | 65 | 12 |...|. ...|...|...|| 5 || 2 | 10 || ... |...|. . . [...|...|5,039 1840|| 177 |. .. | 41 | 4 |...| 58 | 49 | 453 | 21 | 9 | 229 | 4 | 41 | 21 | 46 |...|| 13 |...|...| 68 | 7 |...|| 2 || 2 |...|| 7 | 3 | 11 | 2 |...|| 23 |...|...|4,626 1841 | ll1 | 2 | 66 | 8 | 2 | 113 | 60 | 752 | l5 | 4 | 295 || ... | 37 | 75 | 54 | 1 | 17 | 1 || 2 | 71 || II |...|...|...||18|| 25 | I || 9 | 3 || 2 || ... | 1 | 1 ||5,361 1842 158 | 2 | 55 | 8 | 3 | 78 | 51 | 825 | 26 | 7 | 387 | 5 | 71 |46|47|...|| 30 |...|| 1 | 99 | 12 |...|...|...|22||10 | 4 | 7 || 8 |...|. . . .||1||6,535 N.B.--The total number of Criminals returned by the Clerks of the Crown and Peace in 1842, was 21,186. Of these there could read and · write, males, 4,926 ; females, 625. Could read only, males, 2,212; females, 1,074. Could neither read nor write, males, 4,306 ; females, 2695. Instruction could not be ascertained, males, 4,343 ; females, 1,014. 422. According to the Official Report of the Inspectors-General of Prisons, &c, Ireland, in 1843, the following Table shows the number of PRIsonERs confined in the Gaols of Ireland, on the 31st December, 1842. No. of No. Of No. of Debtors. |Male Čiºnals. Female Criminals. #. No.of Lunatics. GAOLS. g - Sick in Male. |Female. Tried. Untried. Tried. Untried. Hospital. Male, Female. Antrim . . . . 31 2 24 52 13 37 11 | — tºº Armagh . . . 4l 4 48 18 20 5 5 gº-ºº-ºº. fºg Belfast * tºº *s 41 tº-º 26 º tº-º *Cºmº Rººg Carlow . 8 5 27 8 16 3 I I I Cavan . . . . 40 l 40 23 8 12 3 5 2 Clare . . . . 50 7 36 2] 6 4 4 3 2 Cork ſº t 23 2 109 17 26 12 7 : — &=º ’ l City . . 20 2 27 8 22 6 5 | — tºº Donegal . . . . 7 l 62 8 8 2 3 3 &ºi=sº Down º 5] 7 58 17 30 12 6 2 I Dublin 2] l 45 30 24 15 7 I I Newgate . . tºmºsº *s *sº 74 * ==º 60 20 9 2 Four Courts” Marshalsea, } 36 3 E=sº * fºssºme ºsmºs tº sº Grangegorman Eºmº jººm * Penitentiary, } e º t=====s f 190 10 — 28 Richmond Bridewell mºsºme — | 207 I * gºa 15 2I $ºg Fermanagh . . 45 4 33 7 14 8 12 5 3 Count 30 5 80 16 14 15 12 * º Galway, { Town 3. 8 *sº 12 8 6 6 * $º * Kerry . tº s 22 3 66 12 I0 8 4 2 3 º Naas . 2 } 23 17 11 5 4 3 amºs Kildare, {2, . 4 1 ll — 4 || – | – || 1 || – # Count 20 6 3] 12 15 7 l 7 2 Kilkenny, {{...” 7 | – || 9 || 10 | 1 7 | – | – || – King’s County . 4. 2 64 34 23 I6 4 4 l Leitrim & ſº 40 2 47 16 19 6 5 I 3 * g. Count 14 * 55 52 17 6 7 3 5 Limerick, { City y 9 | – | ll 16 8 10 4 || 1 || – Londonderry . 13 3 49 I3 I6 6 4 — sºng Longford . 2] 2 50 14 12 II. 4 5 2 Louth 10 3 30 8 9 9 5 2 l Drogheda 6 tºmºg 8 3 3 2 *sº I l Mayo . . . 45 I I05 17 22 12 6 2 3 Meath . . . . 5 2 22 8 4 2 2 7 8 Monaghan . . 54 5 40 9 18 7 13 3 I Queen's County 24 5 44 24 12 17 4 2 I Roscommon 24 I 49 30 26 I0 9 2 3 Sligo . tº gº II. 2 40 9 6 I 8 2 I Ti Nenagh, * tºº * fºg *=9 tºº tºmº *my &Eºs *PP”), j Clonmel 24 2 | 109 || 35 ; 28 26 15 || 5 || – Tyrone . . . . 33 4 5] 14 13 4 22 II | * 5 Waterford, { º i 2 ; . 1. 7 8 tºº. tºmº Westmeath . . 18 3 39 16 12 8 3 2 l Wexford . l4 º 30 9 13 10 3 6 2 Wicklow . 9 ſº 25 10 24 3 * 4 2 Total . 852 94 | 1,812 606 766 |, 397 251 126 85 423 ABSTRACT of a RETURN of the ToTAL Number of PARLIAMENTARY ELECToRs Registered for Counties, CITIES, and Boroughs in IRELAND, on the 1st day of February in each of the Years 1835 and 1843. s?50 3650 ºff 20 &20 & 10 || 36°10 | Rent- COUNTIES, Lease- | Free- | Free- | Lease-| Free- | Lease-I charg- || Total, holders holdersholdersholders' holders holders] ers. Total Number) Registered to ºf...} 11,150 2 7,054 1,034|44,575|4,495| 738|69,048 i; “”) Total Number Registered from 1st of February - 1835, to 1st § ? 12,823| 2 || 5,426, 1,534 37,252, 5,087. 1,625 63,389 February,1843, I inclusive . ...) NUMBER and QUALIFICATION of Parliamentary Electors. £30 | #20 | 620 £10 || 6′10 || 40s. 610 | ##, § #º CITIES. Free- || Free- | Lease- Free- Lease- Free- House- || 3: ; Cºy £5.5 holdersholders/holdersholdersholdersholders holders 3.3 # šā cº C Total Numbº) Registered to 1st of February, }| 759 772 || 367| 214 | 1,087| 1,502 8,290 33 |4,525 — 17,549 i; “”) Total Number) Registered from | 1st of February 1835, to 1st ..}}|1,314| 615 || 117|264 1,798 408|14,335. 54 |7,186 — 27,091 February, 1843, inclusive. NUMBER and QUALIFICATION of Parliamentary Electors. Free- | Le Householders. # É à 5 #~$ Boroughs. , ºr lººse- Q2 × :# 3.5 5’ Total holders!holders ſº º 3 ##, 9: g aff 10 || 365 15 f: *śā CŞ Total N Ambºº) “. . . Registered to Hºy 1st of February, 1,624 14 10,867 923 || 4 || 2,817 25 | 16,274 1835 . . . -- Total Number registered from 1st of February 1835, to 1st # Y| 633| 26 16,437| 240 || 7 |2,066 56 | 19,465 February, 1843, inclusive . SUMMIATRY. Total number of Parliamentary Electors, of all descriptions of qualification, registered for counties, cities, and boroughs in Ireland, to the 1st of February, 1835 * Cº. tº ſº º * º • n . 102,871 Total number registered from 1st of Feb., 1835 to 1st Feb., 1843 . 109,945 Increase cº tº º e gº e © º º gº 7,074 Total number of Parliamentary Electors, of all descriptions of qualification, - registered for counties, cities, and boroughs in Ireland, to the 1st of February, 1837 . ge tº º º e e e & . 124,277 Total number registered from 1st of Feb., 1835 to 1st of Feb., 1843 . . 109,945 Decrease & º & e & º o g . 14,332 424 EXPENSE OF POOR. LAW UNIONS IN IRELAND. #| # #& § , 5 § 3 3- b #3 ... 3 N A M E of first ### sšš. N A M E of first ### s:#; 3.” & º:#33 #3 & ::=3; of Admission #3; Fº's s; of Admissiou. 㺠= Hºcº 5 s : # 33 gº .#3 ||3: 33 U N I. O. N. of ### §§§ v N on of ### # Paupers. .8%; ; , § >~ Paupers. 3: $. ſº §§ 5 § 3; §, 5 §3. §. : -- ad co P; ; Tº Gly z $:I: p3 2: 3: pº sé. 36. Abbeyleix º -| 6 June 1842. 693 3,254||Gortin - * - 19 Feb. 1842. I83| 1,275 Ardee - t- -13 May 1842| 479| 2,342||Kells - * -|23 May 1842. 496 2,834 Armagh - - - 4 Jan. I842|| 786| 4,658||Kilkeel - * - I Sept. 1841 - 141 1,915 Athlone - - -|22 Nov. 1841 - - 3,766||Kilkenny * -|21 April 1842; 1,446|| 7,033 Ballieborough -|20 June 1842| 666 3,143|||Kilmallock - -|29 Mar. 1841 - - 5,128 Ballinasloe - -| 1 Jan. I842 676 5,359||Kinsale - * - 4 Dec. 1841, 309| 2,745 Ballinrobe sº -|26 May 1842 264. 2,639||Larne - * -| 4 Jan, 1843 I59 874 Ballycastle - 3 Jan. I843 78 826||Limerick es -|20 May 1841 - - 9,145 Balrothery - -|15 Mar, I841 - - 2,027||Lisburn - tºº -'ll Feb. 1841; 745| 8,212 Ealtinglass - -|28 Oct. 1841 - - 3,551||Lismore - & - 18 May 1842|| 198] 1,872 Banbridge tºº -22 June 1841 468| 4,980||Londonderry - -10 Nov. 1840. 553| 7,905 Bandon - - -|17 Nov. 1841 493 4,809||Longford * .# Mar. I842 677 4,385 Belfast - wº -|Il May 1841; 1,470 10,572||Loughrea * gº 25 Feb. 1842 - - 2,292 Boyle - s -|31 Dec. 1841 - - 2,172|Lurgan - * -'22 Feb. 1841 520 | 6,620 Callan - wis - 25 Mar. I842 - - 1,212||Magherafelt - -|11 Mar. 1842. 439| 2,720 Carrick-on-Shannon 21 July 1842 - - 1,461||Mallow - - 2 Aug. 1842|| 356; 1,736 Carrick-on-Suir - 8 July 1842 - - I,250||Midleton * -21 Aug. 1841 - - 3,682 Cashel - sº -|28 Jan. 1842 - - 3,157||Mohill - * - 8 June 1842 - - 1,245 Castleblaney - -|15 Dec. 1842| 248| 1,299||Monaghan & -25 May 1842: 347 2,574 Castlederg º - 2 Mar. I84l I46 2,243||Mullingar tºº - 8 Dec. 1842. 448 2,320 Cavan - gºt -|17 June 1842| 1,088 3,776||Navan - & - 4 May 1842. 406| 1,240 Celbridge * - 9 June 1841 293 3,554||Nenagh - * -|28 April 1842 - - 3,605 Clogheen tºr -|29 June 1842 432 2,546||Newcastle * - 15 Mar. 1841 472| 6,549 Clonmel - " - -] 1 Jan. 1841 535, 7,862||Newry - * -|I6 Dec. 1841 788) 4,342 Coleraine sº - 19 April 1842|| 506. 2,771||Newtownards - - 4 Jan. 1842|| 399| 3,446 Cookstown - -|31 May 1842|| 366 2,138||Newtown-Limavady 15 Mar. 1842. 237| 2,374 Cootehill º - 2 Dec. 1842|| 748 I,722||Omagh - * -|24 Aug. 1841 614 5,038 Cork * q-. - 1 Mar. I840 3,868] 37,547||Parsonstown - -| 2 April 1842 618; 3,812 Downpatrick - -17 Sept. 1842|| 628, 1,927||Rathdown - -I2 Oct. 1841 - - 2,121 Drogheda * -|16 Dec. 1841, 764 4,569||Rathkeale gº - 26 July 1841. 418, 5,489 Dublin, North - 4 May 1840 - - || 28,892||Roscrea - - 7 May 1842|| 631|| 1,117 Dublin, South -|24 April 1840 - - || 32,597 Scariff - * -|Il May 1842 - - 2,147 Dungannon - -|23 June 1842|| 422, 1,998||Shillelagh * -|I8 Feb. I842|| - - 2,610 Dungarwan - sº º żºł * : * *= 489 ||Skibbereen - -|19 Mar. 1842|| 400 3,651 Dunmanway - - 2 Oct. I84]. 224| 1,903||Sligo tº * - 17 Dec. 1841 - - 3,634 Dunshaughlin -|17 May 1841 502 4,395||Strabane * -|18 Nov. 1841 518, 4,180 Edenderry * - 19 Mar. 1842| - - 1,960||Thurles - es - || 7 Nov. 1842 364 994 Ennis - * -15 Dec. 1841 770, 5,196||Tipperary * - 3 July 1841 864, 8,057 Fermoy - sº - 6 July 1841 865; 7,209||Trim º sº -|11 Oct. 1841, 347 3,801 Galway - º -| 2 Mar. 1842 351, 3,544||Tullamore * - 9 June 1842 fºs 2,048 Gorey - tº- -|22 Jan. 1842 - - 966 - GOrt * jº -|11 Dec. 1841| 228, 2,475 TOTAL sº º - || 53,150|371,312 THE END, LONDON: -BRADBURY AND EVANs, PRINTERs, whiteFRIARs, E. R. R. A. T A. —é------- Page 52.—In total increase registered tonnage, for 467,465 read 456,961. ,, 52.-Transpose columns of Total tonnage, 5,014,205 and 3,499,944. 2, 175.—Cultivated Acres, for 38,749,000 read 28,749,000. , 174.—English acres in Hong-Kong for 02,652,800 read 92,652,800. 2, 238.-For “nearly one-fourth less '' read “one-third less.” N T COMPARATIVE STATISTICAL VIEW OF IRELAND, BY R. MONTGOMERY MARTIN, ESQ. [FROM “IRELAND BEFORE AND AFTER THE UNION.”] - # - ‘5 g; re;’ .8 .8 Religious P - || Total Number of Persons e w 8 —-s== § "c Tº ºr . §§ §: tº . Number of Scholars. eligious Persua º º II fººl. O Grand Jury Pre- |Number of News- Number of Newspaper Stamps Savings Banks. Certified Loan Funds for 1842. # wº ## Population. # § Number of Houses. ### §§ is # g T2- tº scholars º: i. ted, 5th of sentmcnts. papers, stamped. issued. & Population. # § ‘āb; # 5,3 * * = 3 § 3 #| || -- ‘5 . 3 th Number of Depositors Amount of Deposits .9 *4-4 rt; # g # g # = #. # '#'s. § R. 5:E #: §§ — º §3. # 5 o, th - cº, - gº — g e gº on 20th Nov. on 20th Nov. § 3 | * : # 3 ‘ā ā Chief Towns Hä Coast or 'g Counties. .5 # & § In 1841. # : # . § : $3 # 5 P-4 à rº- 3. 3 #: É #: º : # 3 # # 33 § 3. g § g ; : Gross. Gross. # # ää # .# ſº § ; : ‘5 É Inland. É. ## ##| In 1821. In 1831. #| In 1821. In 1881. In 1841. ### ## | #5 § # 5 5 | E3; ### ää ; : É g 5 3 a a T T º - ‘ā ā ää §§ ă ă ; g ; § 3% 3 Males. | Females. | Total. #3 #P-A. #3 # | 3: # ź & # C Prº ſº Prº * | *- }-i H H- 1829. 1831. 1841. 1829. 1831. 1841. 3 * * 3 || 2:3 * 5 5 5 H --------- - --- -- t—l - 2. --- -º-º-º-º-º-º-º: 36 só S. 36 - f £ 36 36 se |T| < 36 - Dublin 345 307| 335,891 379,739 170,930, 201,843. 372,773|1214| 35,740 42,570 45,460 1,145,800 343,740 18 63,202 724 23,425 32,540 18,628, 10,298 20,391 15,694. 11,887 27,581 52,752 72,014 15 29 27 ||,546,9592,586,0883,405,555 5,929, 8,70020,387 99,411 190,172 528,756 g| 9,384 18,228 4,489 Dublin & . 175,881|203,752,232,726|| 0 | Sea-coast willow . . . #| 36|| iio,767. 122,30|| 63,489 62,654. 126,143. 287| 17,289 lºſiº 3.93||1,170,000 382,000 12 4,421 25; 3,705 11,817 4,597 3,891| 7,999; 6,555 5,436 ll,991. 17,775|| 23,847| 0 || 0 || 0 gººse ſº *-* 153 361| 996 3,505, 7,800 26,787| 11 || 14,864 63,718 15,062 Wicklow . 2,046 2,472. 2,794| 32 | Ditto wºrri . ." § 793. 170.806 182,991 97,918, 104,115, 202,033. 253 29,159| 39,011 34,718, 2,523,168 236,547 14 | 15,471 380. 11,854. 19,368 7,129, 2,959 16,351. 9,792 6,578 16,370 32,728 39,217 | | 3 || 2 || 17,999 44,773. 60,000 1,286 1,651, 2,279 38,210 44,883 75,667 i2| 22,491, 96,548 21.632 werford. 8,326|| 10,673 l 1,252 94 | Ditto Carlow. .# 3; #3,952 81,649 42,428 43,800 86.228 299| 13,028, 13,906 IA-362. 1,038,000 130,080 15 7,815, 166 7,039 &46, 7,767. 1,400 7,010 4,433 3,702 8,135||11,621, 17,742 2 || 1 | 18,500 28,600 15,000 — | – || – * x=- * 9 || 10,337 34,057 10,988 Carlow. 8,035| 9,114 10,409. 49 || Inland : ||... . . . . . . . . ; 99.065 lii, Ai 58,030. 56,458. 114,488. 205 16,478 17,432 19:38; 1,265,000 209,400 13 7,776 2.14 5.39||...}}|,6,476 I,344 7,392 4,883 4,027 8,910, 17,206 22,697 0 | | | | | . JTA-, ..." 375 527 848 , 8,719 12,582. 21,720 4 || 5,882 26,530 7,617| Athy . 3,694| 4,494; 4,698 42 | Ditto § riºnny . . . . ; ; 131,946, 193,432 99,114 103,306, 202,420 275 29,949. 30.864. 33,338 1,705,554 18,424, 17 | 12,497. 384 14,51] 29,296 11,175 1,473 18,674, 8,921, 6,183 15,104 21,612. 34,813| 2 3 || 2 | 20,050 38.259 50,000. 571| 660. 1,249 16,880 18,477 43,926 17| 13,196 51,495. 16,556 Kilkenny . 23,230 23,741| 19,071| 72 | Ditto E- Fº Aft| $ool io;70 ii.2,391 57,610| 57,881. 115,491| 333 18,987| 19,327 9,350 .338,800 67.350. 12 3,856, 180 7,421; 9,444, 3,563. 1,559 7,775 3,283| 2,834 fill? 10,216 18,143 0 | | | | | - 15,025, 8,500 - || – || – || – gº * 9 | 12,001| 56,298 12,275 Longford . . 3,783| 4,354 4,966 74 | Ditto % i.” ". . . . . . . .ii. 330 ioiſoil 125,546 54,651, 57,328. 111,979| 400 21,291 22,099] 29,8]]| 1,204,000 58,000 16 || 7,715, 169| 4,169 7,207 10,188 1,241, 5,944 3,411, 2,838. 6,249 10,300 14,681| 0 | | | 0 || --... — gº 963| 1,177 2,425 24,198. 29,092 69,354|| 4 || 4,155| 16,935, 6,277 Dundalk . 9,256 10,078 10,782 51 | Sea-coast à || King's County # 537 isi,088 148,984. 72,651. 74,206 146,857 279| 22,564] 24,370 23,584 896,000. 137,500 15 10,118, 254 8,132 10:39)|| 3,458 2,116 3,036 4,945. 4.333 3.278 13,993 23,393 | 0 || 0 625, 4,335 — 326|| 494 1,208 8,247 12,937 38,040 8 || 8,512. 37,380 14,626 Tullamore 5,571 6,342 6,343| 63 Inland H §º county §§ 3; i34.375 lašš43 76,403 77,527. 153,930 288 23,105 23,067 26,408 816,000 240,000 14 | 12,258. 275 6,823 11,914 6,94]| 2,294 9,543 5,207 4,452 9,659 17,472. 23,069| 0 || 0 || 0 tº-mº +ºmsºmº e- 428 — 935. 13,233 — 28,080; 10 || 17,171 71,433| 21,260 Maryborough . 2,677 3,220, 3,633| 5 || | Ditto Westmeath %. 571 123,819, 166,883 70,385 70,917 141,300 248 23,001] 23:411| 24.8%. 1,040,000 57,000 13 || 5,740 216 7,326||9,987 3,075 lºſſ 3,339| 3,433 3,769 &893 13,937. 23.149 | 1 2 7,000 600 15,090 349 399 573 14,135 15,300 25,383| 10 | 15,786 52,249 12,391 Athione . . . 7,543| 11,362 3,320 75 | Ditto East Meath . § 56 iſſºis; 190309 100,140 99949, 200,089. 234 27,942 28,665 35,189 3,186,480. 597,465. 18 || 13,293 272, 7,629, 10,722 11,182 1,253 9,326 6,457 4,776. 11,233 26,701 36,014 I | 1 || 8 36,800 28,025 57,900 506 570. 1,345 14,922, 18,155 45,552 & 10,727 44,021 is 312||Drogheda . . . 18, 118 17,365. 17,300 29 | Sea-coast Total of the province |z,599, 6,1941,739,373.1961,109 963,6471,009,984|1,973,731. 219, 278,533| 296,369| 320,05116,928,8022,477,506 14+164,162 3,482|113,445,161,031 98,189 31,423.126,801 78,714. 60,806,139,520,247,433 353,975 22 || 32 38 1,646,9342,745,6983,612,04510,886|14,539.32,245,241,460 349,398 903,265,110 144,506. 568,892 156,485 268,157|309,967|327,294 | $ Antrim . e 1,161 787| 262,860 372,938 172,39] 188,484| 360,875. 460 46,661 58,778 65,151] 2,100,000 107,000 16 27,190 515, 20,788. 20,255] 20,430 15,823 3,997 14,625 11,042 25,667 44,314|| 63,937. 3 || 4 || 12 || 325,900. 443,900. 665,595. 1,873 2,733| 5,132 36,047 47,214 105,806 7| 29,475. 111,489 26,840 Belfast . 32,277 52,287| 75,308. 102 | Sea-coast Armagh . . . 512 it, 197.427. 220,653 113,892 118,501. 232,393 560 36,210 39,736 43,576. 1,500,000 99,797 II | 11,354, 332 13,195. 13,769. 6,076 7,823 5,191 7,121, 5,432 12,553 23,285. 32,782 1 || 0 || 0 5,400 — Lºmº 916 860, 1,813| 28,678 25,294 53,551| 6 || 21,556 80,161| 20,298 Armagh . Tº 8,493 9,189 10,245 82 | Inland Cavan . . . 746 537, 195,076 228,040 120,814 122,344, 243,158||414 35,504 38,982 42,383. 1,204,000 101,890 13 || 5,404 346 8,806 17,897 8,026 4,948 12,866 6,888 5,477| 12,365 27,409, 38,810 | | 0 || 0 2,574 — fºg *s 28, 205 — 440, 5,700 II | 18,822 88,223| 24,895 Cavan 2,322, 2,931|| 3,749| 70 | Ditto ; : Down e 35. 304 325,410 360,853 173,538, 187,908. 361,446 475 59,747 66,920 68,890) 1,396,000 172,329, 16 22,798 544. 19,546 22,614. 19,529. 15,982 6,354 15,668 11,195 26,863. 39,811 49,690 1 || 2 || 4 || 60,000 121,961. 210,500 1,527, 1,252, 3,790. 53,739. 38,047 116,763| 6 || 13,469| 38,575 &,172. Newry. gº 10,013| 13,071| 11,972 63 || Sea-coast § Donegal . . 1,365. Già 248,270 300,694. 145,821 150,627. 296,448 482 44,800 49,804. 53,503 - 800,000 80,000 6 || 3,916 376 9,521; 14,111 12,636, 7,145 6,847 7,460 6,623. 14,083| 24,607 36,667| 0 || 1 || 1 &= -º 4,456, 5,300 — 47 — sºmºsº 1,059 — 11 | 15,572 64,274 20,990 Ballyshannon 2,482| 3,420 3,513||129 | Ditto 5: | Londonderry 'goš 193| 193,869. 222,416. 106,825, 115,349. 222,174 446 34,69]| 39,980. 41,044. 1,900,000 79,625 12 || 10,390 380 . 6,721 13,716. 10,736 9,092] 4,513 9,353 8,293 17,646 24,102 30,683 || || 2 || 3 || 13,000 81,643 162,000 759 773 1,412 18,613 18,258. 34,188 3 || 4,375. 20.539 5,516 Londonderry . 16,971| 13,251 15,196 150 | Ditto 3 | Tyrone 1,360 704 261,865 304.247 153,463. 159,493 312,956 44; 47,164 34,386 7,891. 1,874,322 123,859 14 | 8,731. 435 12,562. 18,579| 11,983. 10,927 7,484 9,241; 7,779| 17,020 41,516 tº 1 | | | || 8,935, 4,800 — 705, 749 1,493 22,031| 22,668 42,894 18 || 32,217 129,950 32,188 Dungannon'. 3,243| 3,515| 3,801| 96 || Inland *|jºin . . . . . º 'º ºft|}; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; } | | | | Was sº so, ſº ::, ; ; ; ; ;|#; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; Fermanagh 714. 452 130,997 147,555 6, 79, ? 5 5 y y ? y y y 5 2 3. y 2 ,500 y 34- 5 2 5 l, 2 8 14,316 37,584 8 11,095 45,498 12,678 Enniskillen & 2,399 5,270 5,686 I02 Ditto Total of the Province 8,520, 5,309||1,990,471,2,353,928|1,161,7971,224,5762,386,373 431, 371,741. 412,023 486,767|12,182,231. 954,148 12# 96.204| 3,458,104,704 141,959|104,000 81,459 58,214 79,259 63,106142,365 254,391 349,990 9 || 13 22 || 426,284 615,2021,071,895 6,777 7,39515,811187,166 178,640 418,041 83 |164,557 653,654,171,196 81,398|106,782|133,600 Cork . 2,875 2,045 730,444 857,576 420,551 433,567. 854,118|408 114,459| 12:318||133,47# 3.019,889. 353,658 13 49,997 1288 50,343 (.341; 32.548 9,834 59:20: 37,557 26,808 64,455 ºil 13,124 | | | | | 165,069 Bºº 510,000 6,190 5,791|13,335.209,037. 225,450 425,073. 33 36,903 151,277 55,473 Cork . . . 100,658|107,007 80,720 160 | Sea-coast : | Kerr º 1353. T’643 216,185 263,280 147,307 146,573| 293,880. 452 35,598 43,095 48,231 859,520 107,395 6 || 7,433 354 13,638 20,369||13,320, 1,055 19,179 9,188 6,563. 15,751, 32,673 31,09] 2 || 2 || 2 || 14,950 37,646 32,500 898. 1,076. 1,580 30,636 35,435 45,790 0 0 0 0| Tralee . 7,547 9,562 11,363 192 | Ditto à . . . iº93 7 ji 208,089 263,262. 144,109 142,285 286,394 403 35,373 40,541, 46,099] 2,640,000 143,525, 13 6,475, 315 11,953; 20,352 7,083 698. 19,600. 9,531 6,315 15,846 27,602 52,683| 2 || 2 | | | 20,800 16,375 20,000 234 336|| 722. 5,460 7,537| 19,870| 7 || 3,935 14,112 7,088 Ennis 6,701| 7,771 9,318. 142| Inland à limerick iſogo. 324. 277,617, 200,080 161,997 168,032. 330,029 401 42,409 43,084. 49,808 1,884,079 303,142||18 || 13,402 461. 14,406 39,904 9,228 2,041 28,580, 17,340 11,793| 29,133 36,042. 47,639 | 3 || 3 | 189,729. 272,940 322,500 1,457. 1,869 3,583 44,810. 53,840. 119,483 2 654 2,210 1,186 Limerick . . . 59,045 66,575|| 48,391 119 | Ditto % | Tipperary 1.656, 1,313| 346,396 406,977. 216,650 218,903. 435,553. 330 55,297 63,796 68,650 2,100,000. 527,075|| 17 | 37,868 657 20,768 34,599. 16,408 2,852 31,321, 17,078 11,477 28,555 52,198 67,527| 2 || 3 || 4 || 31,495 63,825 96,000 1,427 2,018 3,976 35,739 51,412 120,838 25 28,187. 114,715 42.146|Clonmel. { 15,598 20,917| 13,505 104 | Ditto P wº.' * º ºg ifié.52i 172,519 95,576. 100,611, 196,187 385 23,860 24,704 29,404 855,018 72,261||12 || 17,334 284 8,107 15,453 7,389 1,509 13,871 7,845. 5,879 13,724; 21,606 34,951 2 || 3 || 5 || 93,810, 114,428 104,450 2,300 2,496 3,507. 61,803 68,583 99,619 10 | 15,945 69.394 ió926 waterford. . . . 28,679| 28,821 23,216 96 || Sea-coast > e **s-º-º-º-º-º: ------------- armºr-º- -" # ====== -º-º-º-º: Total of the Province 9,456 6,0551,935,7522,163,6941,186,1901,209,971,2,396,161 391 316,995. 341,438 377.55511,349,4881,422,056 134123,509 3,359,119,217,191,093 85,976] 17,989|171,754. 98,539| 68,925|167,464,265,678 342,026, 18 16 | 19 || 515,835. 893,999||1,085,450|12,50614,58626,703387,485. 442,257 830,673| 77| 85,624, 352,208/122,819 218,228239,653|186,513 = | Galway . . . . . 2,445 1,161 165,679. 429,211. 219,564. 229,334 {#93; 37; 58,117| 77,367 75,394 2,427,164. 186,000 12 20,016 405 12,818, 20,990 8,892 1,543 18,481| 10,820 7,008 17.828 37,497 54,692. 2 || 3 || 5 || 29,062 53,160 33,000, 380 120 212 11,671. 4,588 6,198 7| 6,573 29,409) 9,995 Galway * 27,775|| 33,120, 17,275|| 133 | Sea-coast # Leitrim 613 (390 124,785 145,457 77,501| 77,796 155,297 398 21,762. 31,259 26,649 500,009 36,131. 10 | -- 242 5,189 12,472, 4,437 2,507 9,786| 3,849| 2,798| 6,647 14,907. 20,790 0 || 0 || 0 I ſº tº-ºº- *" | *= | =s *g * tºº 12| 7,722. 32,697 13,092 Carrrick-on-Shannon| 1,673 1,428 1,984. 98 || Inland § May, 2,130 778 293,112 367,961| 194,198. 194,689| 388,887 500. 53,051 56,801 70,527 402,276 97,000 8 || 11,328, 341|| 9,335||16,185 7,532 1,642. 14,367 6,416 3,887| 10.303 16,851, 37,479| 1 || 3 || 6 || 17,000 43,636 86,000. 484. 551 1,207 13,675 17,431 39,048 I 3,610 18,941| 4,108 Castlebar . 5,404 6,373 5,137|159 | Ditto B Rºmmºn ‘. . . . . "343| 639| 208,729 246,601 127,016 126,575. 253,591 366 37,399 41,788 45,068. 1,283,280 240,768 13 14,793 309| 10.287| 15,459 5,203 3,012 14,254 6,312| 4,600 10,912 25,001| 30,334|| 0 || 2 | 2 gººse 7,751] 18,049. 233 255 735 7,658 7,855 25,620 7 || 7,207 27,306, 7,995 Roscommon . . . 3,015 3,513| 3,439| 95 | Ditto % Sligo. . . .. #21 135 146229, 171,508 89,563| 91,823 180,886 398 27,059 30,704 32,239, 960,420, 193,760 10 || 4,728 226 8,865. 10,666 5,563. 2,890 7,626 4,511| 3,448 7,959| 21,158. 20,825 1 || 2 || 2 | 16,953 8,825 25,400 213 — 609 6,050 — 20,581| 3 || 2,121 8,944 3,012 Sligo . 9,283| 25,152 12,272. 132 |Sea-coast 3 Total of the Province 6,858 3473 938,5341,360,738 707,852 711,017|1,418,859 411 197,388 237,919, 249,877 5,166,042 753,659 10# 50,865. 1,523 46,494 75,782. 31,627 11,594 64,514 31,908. 21,741. 53,649||135,414, 164,121 4 || 10 | 15 63,015 113,372. 162,449. 1,312 926. 2,763. 39,054 29,874. 91,447 30|27,233 117,397 38,202 47,150 69,586. 40,107 Grand Total . 32,43321,03116,604,1307,839,4694,019,4864,155,5488,175,124 388 1,164,5551,287,749 1,384,36045,626,5635,607,36912}}}|434,740|11,922,383,830|569,865319,792142,465,421,283|288,420,214,578,502,998|902,9161,215,539 53 || 71 || 94 (2,652,0784,368,2715,931,74931,48137,446.77,522,855,1651,000,1692,244,426|300|421,920.1,691,871.438,702. Total . 615,473.726,088 687,517 * The boundaries of the chief towns was considerably altered in the Census of 1841—and hence the apparent decrease. § 7º_~ ~ ~）， º „… •••S••••• •--|-· ~- « - Jº.…. &.*** ** • • • • • • • • • • • • • · · · · · · · · · · · · · * * · · | | F MICHIGAN | | | 55142 | | 0748 | | | | UNIVERSITY O | 3 9015 ·*…--~）;* * * Łºś gº º - gº - º Fº Fº º sº º sº § º †: º º, sº * **** sº § : :