188 PRACTICABILITY OF IMPROVING IRELAND. 



the first step in the reclaiming of the bogs, should, necessarily, be to 

 let down the rivers to their ancient beds, and make these beds the 

 main drains ; and thus by removing river obstructions the cheapest 

 mode of extricating the submerged land, and of drainage, would be 

 adopted : and the discovery of this lusus fluvium may well suggest 

 the remedy. 



But, in addition to this, an advantage would be found in the 

 manure thrown up, while deepening these natural channels, and 

 much of the expense reimbursed. 



How much has been the growth of bog from neglecting the rivers, 

 and how much the inland navigation has been injured by such neg- 

 lect may be conceived, when we are informed that the river Blackwater 

 was navigable for 40 miles from its mouth when Lord Orrery wrote 

 about 130 or 140 years ago: but at present it is navigable for not 

 more than 15 miles. And many other rivers formerly furnished a 

 more extensive navigation than they do at present. Were it not too 

 tedious, and perhaps uncalled for, in a discourse, more for general 

 information than minute detail, it would be possible to adduce in- 

 stances enough to excite the greatest encouragement to improve the 

 Irish rivers. But it may be sufficient to awaken the capitalist, to 

 remind him that his capital would be increased, more than an hun- 

 dred per cent, by the simple process of the spade and the pick-axe. 

 I hope it will not be deemed too obtrusive thus to address an En- 

 glish reader, so much and so particularly, upon what may appear to 

 concern Ireland alone; but I know there are several persons who do 

 not consider it irrelevant or uninteresting ; and I can say, one of the 

 greatest pleasures I ever felt, is in perceiving that the Sun of Britain 

 is beginning to dawn upon Ireland, and promises to usher in a bet- 

 ter day, I wish it were come to that point that would enable me to say, 



" Jam redit et Virgo redeont Saturnia regna" 

 * * * ' * * 



" ferrea primam 

 Desiuet, ac toto surget gens aurea inundo." 



Yes, I hail the approach of Justice, however tardy she may have 

 been ; and the return of a less rigid age to our neglected country 

 Indeed it cannot be irrelevant, neither should it be uninteresting, 

 when we consider how integrally blended must be the welfare of 

 these two islands : for one weight and one measure should adjust 

 our common intercourse. Swayed by these considerations, and fully 

 persuaded of English good sense, and a national principle of right 

 and justice, so generally pervading this people I shall venture 

 further on in that course I was pursuing. 



To the enterprizing and capitalist I would now address myself, to 

 encourage such persons to cast a thought upon Ireland. I tell them 



