THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



U7 



went ?" My notion was, " What are we going to do for oiir- 

 selvea? (applause.) But, however, cue night in the House 

 of Couiiuona a good raaiiy theories were started, and I thought 

 that one had not been tried yet, and I said, " Will you just 

 let us alone for ten years?" (applause.) That was in the year 

 1849. Well, I stand here in the year 1859, and when I look 

 back on that period. I own I entertain great hopes of the future 

 prosperity of Ireland. I allude to the progress of its agriculture 

 and how it has been improved by the application of science ; 

 and after all, science dignifies the meaue&t process. Dr. 

 Waller has well alluded to the advantages that would be 

 produced by relieving humanity from physical drudgery and 

 labour; but that is not to relieve humanity fiom labour. I 

 sometimes object to the phrase I hear of the " working 

 classes," or " working men," as applied merely to operatives 

 and mechanics, and others occupied in the lower departments 

 of human labour. For myself, I say that I am proud 

 of having been always a " working" man (applause). There 

 are various modes of working. The good work of the influence 

 of a resident landlord is one on which much of the 

 moral life aud health of the community depeads. Often- 

 times, oA-ing to the absence of their natural proprietors, 

 properties in this country come under my hand ; and in 

 such iustancca those moral inflnences which, in properties 

 naturally circumstanced, contribute so much to social progress, 

 are all removed, and in place of that a kind of coarse ma- 

 chinery is substituted, which I am afraid produces very bad 

 effects in many places. There was one parfxular district of 

 the country to which the attention of the House of Commons 

 was directed as supplying the counties of Louth, Armagh, and 

 Monaghan with a large proportion of the crime committed in 

 them ; and the matter underwent investigation by a committee. 

 What were the peculiarities of that district ? There was the 

 small cotter population — the miserable two-acre farm, and the 

 inhabitant living on the potato— there was the absence of all 

 the proprietors — the presence of the Court of Chancery and 

 its receiver (laughter), aud the secret society— all these things 

 heaped together in that locality. Remove the causes, and 

 you get rid of the effects ; and give me the good resident- 

 landlord discharging his duties faithfully as a worthy 

 man, and availing himself of the position and influence 

 that God has entrusted him with, in order to promote 

 the happiness of those around him. I would say this of 

 the Irish people— and I say it heartily and sincerely of them — 

 that I do not think there are on this earth a people more 

 susceptible of justice and kindness (applause) ; and I think 

 they especially apprecia'e the kindness of their gentry. They 

 respect the gentry. Master Brooke was once asked by Sir 

 James Graham how he got the people to do certain things in 

 connexion with a particular estate. " Oh," said he, "the Irish 

 will do anything for a gentlemui" (laughter and applause). At 

 the time of the famine, when I corresponded with your lordship 

 about the state of the west, knowing that you were one of those 

 who took the deepest interest and did the most at that critical 

 time, when a'l was apparently sinking there, I remember with 

 what a heavy heart I used to go down to the House of 

 Commons. What is the state of the west now ? Look at 

 the prosperity thatMs likely to come there. Its harbours appear 

 to me to be destined by Providence to be a connecting link 

 between America and the manufacturing districts of England, 

 Look at that country, with its water-power ; don't you think 

 the capitalist will soon be there? With such men as the noble 

 lord doing their duty faithfully amongst their tenantry, and 

 with the application of science, skill, and capital, I see no 

 limit to the prosperity of this country, and from all I know — 

 and I have some means of knowledge more than I used to have 



—I believe there never was a period when Ireland was in a 

 more prosperous and healthy state than it is at the moment I am 

 now addressing you (applause). I wish yon, then, to give the 

 noble lord a hearty vote of thanks to be carried by acclamation. 

 I wish you to do so because he is a proprietor who, under 

 great difliculties and trials in that part of the country, which 

 thank God, has now risen above all its difficulties, has so nobly 

 done his duty ; and I wish you to give it because I think the 

 influence of such men ought to be encouraged by the opinion 

 and the approval of men like yourselves, who are so deeply 

 interested in everything that concerns the welfare of this 

 country. I was rejoiced this morning at receiving a letter from 

 gentlemen who are concerned in establishing the Roman 

 Catholic reformatory at Glancree asking me to contribute. 

 Reformatories are now a great improvement. In place of pun- 

 ishing with vindictive severity and penal action thoae unfor- 

 tunate persona who, through ignorance and temptation, are but 

 too often precipitated into crime, we look on it now as more 

 the duty of man to make one human heart— as Lord Carlisle 

 has said— act upon another, and to endeavour by a reformatory 

 process to reclaim the criminal (applause). Taking the two sec- 

 tions of the community, the Protestant and the Roman Catholic, 

 I would say that they are now at liberty to contend — not like 

 the thorn and the briar, which has the sharpest thorns, but 

 like the vine and the olive, which will bear the richest fruit 

 (applause). There is also a reformatory institution in Wick- 

 low, and I got this morning a letter from them asking me to 

 contribute. Well, now, I think it would be a very good thing, 

 I confess, if there were a mutual contribution in good-will ou 

 the part of those who are competent to do it, of both religions 

 (applause). I would follow the example which the noble lord 

 sets in his community in these respects, and knowing no 

 difference, but going on the principle of the constitution aud 

 civil equality, I would call upon you to do good unto all men, 

 but especially unto those of the household of faith (loud ap- 

 plause). Like a true Irishman, I forgot the principal thing 

 which I was to call attention to, namely, the memory of a 

 nobleman who used to attend our meetings, and whose loss I 

 think we oughtall to regret as a great national calamity — lallude 

 to the late Marquia of Waterford, I have a little memorandum 

 about him, which shows the value of a resident nobleman such 

 as he was. In giving an account of his establishment it states 

 that he had a regularly-organized school in which his grooms 

 were all taught by a master, and their minds improved, and a 

 Sunday-school was kept for them ; and that the farm, including 

 grass, &c., extended over 4,600 acres. The day before he died 

 he audited his account of expenditure upon labourers' houses, 

 stables, dairy, and garden for the past year, which amounted to 

 11,000/.; aud within the last few years he had expended, be- 

 sides this, 12,000Z. on farm-buildings. He had more than 

 300 head of horned cattle, and 1,500 sheep; aud his weekly 

 payments to labourers was upwards of 100/. During the last 

 year he employed more than 300 labourers daily. During the 

 years ot distress, consequent ou the famine, he daily employed 

 upwards of 600 labourers. Not relying upon his own judgment 

 as to the breed of cattle, his practice was to purchase prize 

 animals at the shows in England and Ireland, and these were 

 given for the use of the county and the tenantry. In order to 

 afford eraployraent to the people, a factory was established by 

 him at Kilmaclhomas for making Irish frieze, the whole profits 

 of which went to the augmenting of the factory. 5,000/. waa 

 expended yearly on the county Waterford estate, and 3,000^. 

 yearly on the county Derry estate. I think it right to 

 allude to the memory of such a nobleman, and to eay that 

 while we honour the living we should not be forgetful of the 

 memory of the dead. 



