Topic of the Month. 



484 



ritory of the hysenas of the villages, or 

 the wolves of Caucasus make an in- 

 road upon the bears of Ural. Each 

 hunts in his own place, and neither 

 knows nor cares about the others. It 

 is very much the same with such a 

 peasantry as those of Ireland. Eman- 

 cipate the Catholics, repeal the union, 

 nay, even set up the red branch again 

 to-morrow; and, if all the local bur- 

 dens and relations continued as tliey 

 are at present, the gazettes of Captain 

 Rock would not contain one transac- 

 tion the less. 



The fact is, that these political pa- 

 naceas have been the curse of Ireland. 

 The men who should have looked into 

 the cure, have contented themselves 

 with hobbling about them ; till, while 

 no good has been done, a spirit of 

 animosity has been engendered among 

 the other classes. One faction has 

 become intolerably insolent, on the 

 pretence that by it the island has been 

 continued a part of the British em- 

 pire ; and the other has possessed it- 

 self of much popularity, because it 

 has chimed over matters which in 

 themselves really are nothing. Hence 

 has been produced a two-fold dark- 

 ness, — a darkness on the part of the 

 Irish, as to what is really the matter 

 with them ; and on the part of this 

 country, as to how the mischief may 

 be done away : and, while this re- 

 mains, the stale of matters cannot im- 

 prove. The Catholic restrictions may 

 have been foolish, and the government 

 of Ireland may have been bad ; but 

 what have these to do directly with 

 the state of the peasantry, who care 

 little for religion, and know nothing 

 about government ? If there be any 

 fault in the government of Ireland, it 

 is in this, — that it has allowed one 

 part of the people to oppress the other: 

 it has allowed the land- owner to 

 grind the land-occupier to the very 

 bones ; and, while the poor have not 

 the security of a parish rate, it has 

 enabled the employer to reduce their 

 wages to one moiety of what it is in 

 this country. 



Once give the Irish peasantry as 

 much stakes in the world as they of 

 England, Scotland, or Wales, and 

 tliey would very soon evince the same 

 habits. Make those of the one island 

 as completely dependent as they of 

 the other, and, ere long, the same 

 scenes would be enacted. 



If government is to do any good for 

 Ireland, let it pilcli orange and purple, 

 and green and white, and all colours 



y"jy ', 



of party, to the devtl; and re-modci 

 the law of the parishes, and especially 

 that between landlord and tenant. 

 Let the laws protect the people, so 

 that every man may get the honest 

 reward of his own labour; and no 

 fear but the people will respect the 

 laws : but, if you continue to allow one 

 man to command the labour of ano- 

 ther, without adequate reward, it is 

 not more than a fair retribulion that 

 that reward should be taken. To steal 

 the labour of a poor man is a fouler 

 theft than to steal the property of a 

 rich; because the ricii man has still 

 his labour as a fund in reserve, while 

 the poor man has notliiug. -j-* 



For the Monthly Magazine. 

 BKIEF NOTICES relative to the new YORK 



CANALS, from PUBLIC DOCUMENTS, 

 TOPOGUAPHICAL and STATISTICAL 



MANUALS, §c. recently published in 



the UNITED STATES. 



THE object is to form a junction of 

 the great lakes with the Atlantic ; 

 the commencement of some of the 

 canals in the western parts of the state 

 of New York, may be traced to the 

 year 1788. Some sketches of their 

 present state will be found in the 

 following extracts. 



In 1817 a fund vyas appropriated, by 

 the legislature, for commencing a 

 canal to unite the lakes Champlain 

 and Erie. In July, the commissaries 

 began their excavations at Rome, a 

 town in the state of New York ; on the 

 21st of October, 1819, water was in- 

 troduced; on the 22d, the first boat 

 was navigated between Rome and 

 Utica ; and, on the 23d, the navigation 

 was entirely open. In November of 

 the same year, a communication was 

 opened with lake Champlain ; and, on 

 the day following, the first boat com- 

 menced a navigation from Fort 

 Edward to Whitehall. In 1820, the 

 navigation of the middle part reached 

 from Utica to Montezuma on the 

 river Seneca, over an extent of ninety- 

 six miles. In that year, the tolls pro- 

 duced 6244 dollars in five months. 

 In 1821, the labours of the canal, 

 which was to unite lake Champlain 

 with lake Erie, and with Hudson's 

 river, near the village of Waterford, 

 were rapidly proceeding. An esti- 

 mate has been formed, judging I'rom 

 the progress of the labours, and the 

 experience acquired, that the two ca- 

 nals will be completed, at the latest, 

 about midsummer of 1824. They 

 will expand through a space of 425 

 miles. 



I 



