contrary, it is extended to the utmost bound of nature's original intention; whereas, in Ireland, where food is neither in the same quantity nor of the same quality, the body cannot expand itself, but is dwarfed and stunted in its dimensions."Ib., p. 186. Arthur Young describes the physical state of the Irish peasantry in 1776-8 in terms which might with scarcely any alteration be applied to them at the present time. The engraving of an Irish cabin, contained in his work (Part II., p. 25), is an exact representation of the hovels in which the Irish peasants still live. Some strong expressions of Lord Clare when AttorneyGeneral, with respect to the poverty of the peasants in the south have been already quoted (p. 27). Similar statements occur in another speech delivered by him in 1787: "I agree with the Right Honourable Gentleman [Mr. Grattan],” he says, "that the lower order of the people in Munster are in a state of oppression, abject poverty, sloth, dirt and misery, not to be equalled in any other part of the world." This he attributes"in the first place to their own indolence, and in the next, to a class of men called middlemen, a set of gentry who, having no inheritance, no education, no profession or other means of life than by getting between the inheritor and cultivator of the soil, grind the poor people to powder.”—Irish Debates, vol. vii., p. 343. 66 Wolfe Tone, in a journal published in his Life, gives an account of the proceedings at a meeting of the committee for foreign affairs at the Hague, to which he was taken by General Hoche, in June, 1797, in order to discuss some arrangements with respect to the intended invasion of Ireland. "A member of the committee (he says), I believe it was Van Leyden, then asked us, supposing everything succeeded to our wish, what was the definite object of the Irish people. To which we replied categorically, that it was to throw off the yoke of England, break for ever the connexion now existing with that country, and constitute ourselves a free and independent people. They all expressed their satisfaction at this reply; and Van Leyden observed, that he had travelled through Ireland, and to judge from the luxury of the rich, and extreme misery of the poor, no country in Europe had so crying a necessity for a revolution. To which Lewines and I replied, as is most religiously the truth, that our great motive for our conduct in this business was the conviction of the wretched state of our peasantry, and the determination, if possible, to amend it."-P. 251. 66 See also the statements as to the miserable condition of the Irish immigrants into the west of Scotland before 1790, cited from Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland, in the Appendix to the Report on the Irish Poor in Great Britain, pp. 154, 155. For example, it is stated of the parish of Leswalt in Wigtonshire: Few of the natives of this country are in very indigent circumstances; but we have constant supplies from Ireland of poor emaciated persons, whose very aspect excites compassion. Every week brings fresh cargoes to Portpatrick, and they are permitted to traverse the country at large. This is a grievance that has long been complained of, but hitherto without redress."-Vol. iii., p. 321. Those who affirm that poverty has increased in Ireland may wish to convey any one of three different meanings: 1st. They may mean that the physical condition of the Irish poor has been deteriorated; that the poor are worse fed, worse clad, and worse lodged. 2nd. They may mean that the class of poor bears a larger proportion than heretofore to the class of rich; for example, that whereas formerly sixty-five persons out of a hundred belonged to the class of poor, ninety out of a hundred now belong to that class. 3rd. They may mean that there are more poor persons in the country; that the absolute number of poor is larger than it was. That there is a greater number of poor persons in Ireland now than at any previous time, is certain; it is also probable, from the manner in which the population has increased, (see above, p. 57,) that their relative number, as compared with that of the rich, is larger than at any former period; but there is no ground whatever for supposing that the standard of physical comfort among the mass of the Irish peasantry was ever higher than it is at the present time. (Note B.-p. 97.) THE number of Crimes reported by the Inspectors General of Police * The number of Riots in Ulster appears greater than it should be: the returns for Crimes in the order of their frequency in the four provinces In all four provinces the serving of illegal notices is one of the five most frequent crimes. In all, except Ulster, assaults connected with combination, attacks on houses, and illegal notices are among the five most frequent crimes. In all, except Munster, injury to property and robbery are among the five most frequent crimes; in Ulster and Connaught robbery is the most frequent crime. In Munster alone burning and homicide are among the five most frequent crimes. In Ulster the riots appear in this statement more numerous than they were, for the reason stated at the foot of the return. The following tables were abstracted from the same documents as those inserted in the text, p. 103-6. |