prey and

rible language of Mr. Burke, that “young men govern there without society, and without sympathy with the native. An endless, hopeless prospect of new flights of birds of passage is for ever passing before the eyes of the people. The cries of India are given to seas and winds, to be blown about in every breaking up of the monsoon, over a remote and unhearing ocean.” But in the realm and parliament of England there is not a voice raised to inquire how the highest functions of government are discharged to so many millions of men—how British faith is kept-how British power is secured-and, above all, how the welfare of native India is provided for!

ARTICLE VII.

Sixth Annual Report from the Board of Public Works in

Ireland. Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed

11th June, 1838. Second Report of the Commissioners of Railways for Ireland.

1838. The Second Report of the Commissioners appointed to consider and recommend a general system of Railways for Ireland has been for some time before the public. In whatever light we regard it,—whether as a mass of statistical information affording data for a series of legislative measures, or of well-considered calculations showing the probable products, expenses, and chances of railway communication in Ireland,—it is the most valuable document that any of the numerous commissions on Irish subjects has produced. How so much information could be procured in so short a time would surprise us, if we were not aware that the labours of previous commissions, and of existing boards, have been useful adjuncts to its production; but we have still much that is new, and the whole is admirably pertinent to the one great

a

subject which, so far as Ireland is concerned, outweighs all others,—that of providing employment for the people. The true question of political economy-on the solution of which depends the happiness of millions, and perhaps the tranquillity of the empire-is, how is the unemployed population of Ireland to be put on work in a manner that will be useful to the state ? How is the large mass of dormant wealth in Ireland, whether consisting in labour, or in the materials for labour, to be developed ? A simple observer would remark, that it did not require much reflection to solve this problem; for when labour is so abundant as to be what in commercial phrase is termed“ a drug," and when the materials for labour equally abound, there is nothing to be done but to put the people to work on the materials that are at their hands, in order to produce every thing that is requisite to elevate themselves in the social scale, and to increase the wealth of the state. Simple, however, as this may appear theoretically, it is a difficult thing to achieve in practice. England, with all the materials of wealth concealed in her bosom, possessed an unemployed, and consequently a burthensome population, until one man, the Duke of Bridgewater, whose name should be ever held in grateful remembrance, gave an impulse to the national energies by commencing a system of canalization, which the inert government of the day never dreamt of, and which has since been steadily and rapidly developing the national wealth to a degree that the most ardent speculator could never in the flights of a sanguine imagination have contemplated. To a system of internal communication, which

. distributes the products of labour with speed, regularity, and economy, England owes its prosperity : that a like system would produce like effects in Ireland, experience abundantly attests. But that country unhappily has no Duke of Bridgewater; and it is the duty of government, because it is for the advantage of the empire, to give the necessary impulse.

When society would derive a benefit from a public work, which private interest might not consider a sufficiently tempting speculation, or might not possess the means to accomplish, we hold it to be the part of the government, which represents the general interest, to be the undertaker. We apprehend that this has been the case of Ireland for many a day, and we have already shown in a former article * that the community have profited most amply by the little in the way of public works which the government has effected in that country.

The formation of roads is amongst the rudiments of civilization. Let us for a moment suppose that the different countries in Europe had declined to construct them until it might appear to suit the interest of private individuals to undertake them in contemplation of the traffic by which they were to be remunerated-how few would yet have been constructed, and how would the march of civilization have been stayed ! Roads were not more necessary in the infancy of society than canals and railroads are at present; the one affording the most economical, and therefore the most desirable means of transit for heavy merchandise; the other the most rapid, and therefore the most desirable mode of conveyance for passengers and certain light goods. The imperfection of the means of internal communication is one of the chief causes of the miseries of Ireland. This was strongly exemplified at seasons of famine,-periodical in that country, as they have been in all others emerging from barbarism. Only a few years ago, when potatoes were at a famine price in the west of Ireland, they were cheap and abundant within a short distance, between which district and that where famine existed there was no means of communication. We have already remarked how favourably Ireland is situated, and how abundantly nature has supplied her with the means of water-communication, from her insular position, her extensive lakes, or, as they appear, inland seas, and the rivers by which the surface of the country is intersected. Let the state advance the funds in the first instance for perfecting these natural advantages, and it will be amply compensated by a developement of internal resources, and a prosperity which will be felt and shared in by every portion of the empire.

The Report of the Railway Commissioners, in the various returns and documents relative to the existing navigations which they have collected, affords conclusive evidence of the

immense advantages that would result to Ireland from the completion of a system of canals, such as exists in England. When we observe how much has been effected by the disjointed and isolated lines now existing, we may form some idea of the great results which would flow from a well-combined and complete system. The consideration of this question, however, was subsidiary to the principal object of the Commissioners, which was, to recommend a general system for railways in Ireland, for the guidance of the legislature in the consideration of the projects that might be brought before it. To this end they have presented a general statistical view of that country,—the amount of the population, and the manner in which it is distributed and employed—the exports and imports, their amount, and through what channels carried on-the traffic on each road—the amount of postage received, and the number of banks established in each town, so as to define the relative importance of particular districts, with a view to exhibit the most favourable position for the main trunk-lines of railway. To this they add a survey of the country most valuable to the agriculturist and the engineer, showing its superficial capabilities and its geological structure. These facts are illustrated by valuable maps, and by engraved plans and sections.

As to the amount of the population, the commissioners state that it was, in the year 1731

2,010,221; 1791

4,206,602; 1821

6,801,827; 1831

7,767,401; 1834

7,943,960. Taking for a guide the rate of increase between 1821 and 1831, the population at the present time would amount to 8,523,750. The population of England, Wales, and Scotland, computed in the same manner from the census of 1821 and 1831, would amount, at present, to 18,226,725; whence it appears that the population of Ireland is within 393,075 of being equal to one-third of the population of the United Kingdom!

With respect to the distribution and employment of the population, they observe,

“A glance at this map will show that the population is most crowded and numerous in the counties of Armagh, Monaghan, and in part of the counties of Antrim and Down.

“ Diminishing in density, but still furnishing a large proportion to the square mile, the population cxtends over the counties of Longford, Westmeath, King's, Queen's, Kilkenny, Carlow, and Wexford; and thence a large mass, second only to the northern portion, spreads over the southern counties of Tipperary, Limerick, and parts of Cork and Waterford.

“ Beyond the Shannon lies a district very thickly peopled; and the parts of Roscommon, Leitrim, &c., adjacent to the river, have nearly the same proportion of inhabitants.

“ These four divisions of the population differ in social condition, in habits, character, and even in personal appearance, more than the narrow limits of their location within the same country would lead us to expect. The northern portion are better lodged, clothed, and fed than the others : the wages of labour are higher, being, on an average, about one shilling per day; and their food consists chiefly of meal, potatoes, and milk. They are a frugal, industrious, and intelligent race, inhabiting a district for the most part inferior in natural fertility to the southern portion of Ireland, but cultivating it better, and paying higher rents in proportion to the quality of the land, notwithstanding the higher rate of wages.

“ In the southern districts we find a population, whose condition is, in every respect, inferior to that of the northern ; their habitations are worse; their food inferior, consisting at best of potatoes and milk, without meal: the wages

of labour are found reduced from one shilling to eightpence per day; yet the peasantry are a robust, active, and athletic race, capable of great exertion ; often exposed to great privations; ignorant, but eager for instruction; and readily trained, under judicious management, to habits of order and steady industry.

“The population of the middle districts does not differ materially in condition from those of the south; but the inhabitants of the western district are decidedly inferior to both, in condition and appearance: their food consists of the potatoe alone, without meal, and in most cases without milk; their cabins are wretched hovels; their beds straw; the wages of labour are reduced to the lowest point, upon an average pot more than sixpence per day. Poverty and misery have deprived them of all energy: labour brings no adequate return, and every motive to exertion is destroyed. Agriculture is in the rudest and lowest state. The substantial farmer, employing labourers, and cultivating his land according to the improved modes of modern husbandry, is rarely to be found amongst them. The country is covered with small occupiers, and swarms with an indigent and wretched population. It is true, that some landed proprietors have made great exertions to introduce a better system of agriculture, and to improve the condition of their immediate tenants, and a few of the lesser proprietors have made humble attempts to imitate them ; 'but the great mass of the population exhibits a state of poverty bordering on destitution.

“ With respect to the employment of the people, it is essentially agricultural ; but in the northern district, besides their rural occupations,