186 PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 



when perverted, might make themselves and those around them 

 miserable. The best guide in any condition of life were the 

 Holy Scriptures ; but these sacred writings, to be completely 

 effective, should be distributed in the vernacular Irish language; 

 since at least three millions of the inhabitants have an extreme 

 partiality for their native tongue. A verification of this could 

 be found in Ulster, which had formerly been the most boisterous 

 and most turbulent province of the four, but now a more moral, 

 orderly, and religious people could not be found in England. 

 There the people hear the truth not enveloped in strange sounds 

 but honestly, distinctly, and impressively pronounced in the 

 language of their birth place. Property, life, and social inter- 

 course are all secure and uninterrupted throughout the greater part 

 of Ulster, or, with as few interruptions as they meet with in any 

 populous district of Great Britain. The condition of Ulster was 

 placed in a much more striking point of view when contrasted 

 with the population, agriculture, &c., of the other provinces. 



Mr. Purdon stated that Ireland's export produce had increased, 

 and that, in consequence, the English had bread 15 per cent lower 

 than it would otherwise be ; whilst beef, mutton, and pork were 

 30 per cent lower, in consequence of the import of live stock from 

 the sister island. This might appear to be prosperous for Ireland, 

 but it really proved that the people could not afford to eat their 

 own food ; that they must remain in want though surrounded by 

 corn, fruits, flocks, and herds. Should the only crop, potatoes, 

 which they can call their own, fail, the providers of England 

 must supplicate that land for some crumbs of their own food, 

 or they must die. And here the lecturer could not omit his meed 

 of applause to the English, for answering so promptly the call of 

 famine from Ireland. In 1822 they subscribed, in money, 

 £300,000. ; which more than answered every demand. 



These kinds of exportation, however, prove that there is a want 

 of employment and of full means. We may deem of the degree 

 of a nation's civilization by what it deems the necessities of life; 

 some are content with the meanest sustenance, and must rank low 

 in human existence. The lecturer feared that many of the Irish 

 must be placed in the lowest rank ; their want of employment 

 cannot prove an unwillingness to work ; Mr. Nimmo and others, • 

 who have had opportunities of knowing, have related that they 

 will make extraordinary efforts to better their condition, by in- 

 dustry, when the means are placed within their reach. Most 

 Englishmen are aware that the Irish peasant will travel many 

 hundred miles, living scantily, to procure harvest work in England ; 

 and will return to his family and his mud cabin with his hard 

 earned pittance : can we then call him a lazy, idle, worthless 

 being ? 



As the live cattle carry with them their hides and tallow, a 

 certain degree of paralyzation must affect the tanneries, and soap 

 and candle manufactories in Ireland ; indeed it would argue a 



