Prcsbytcriaiiism, wc are lold, implies 

 a inoilc of climclj ;;ovciiimcnt only, no 

 iiiaKoi what m;iy be the faitli or pro- 

 fession of its rncnihcrs. Tiic worship 

 of such congregations iriay be Chris- 

 tian or anti-chrislian ; but, provided 

 the congregations be organizeil in a 

 '•frlain inaniicr, and assume a certain 

 appellalion, they are Presbyterian. 

 'I'liesc congregations may adore ihc 

 goddess of reason, or bow down before 

 the idols of Africa or India, and thry 

 would slill be Presbylerian. Wc would 

 not object to a name, but names arc 

 sonietiuics niatlers of importance. 



The Pn'sbjierian cliurch is one of 

 great euiinenco in the world. It were 

 well if it could be known what arc her 

 tenets. Numbers are led into error by 

 assuming tiiat the profession of the 

 church of Seotbind is that of the Pres- 

 byterian chuieh generally. In Ireland 

 this <".hureh makes no profession of 

 faith. 



TIjo " liegium Donnni' is given to 

 all congregaiious in Ireland assuming 

 the name of Presbyterian, who choose 

 to lake it. In this way tliere may be 

 a great Socinian and Deistical esta- 

 blishment in that country paid in part 

 out of the jiublic purse. 'I'hc disciples 

 of Hume and Voltaire, and the follow- 

 ers of Socinus, might tax the country, 

 that their philosophers may moralize in 

 (heir |iiilpils, and argue at leisure upon 

 causi; and < ffect, and all the phenomcua 

 of (he nioial and physical world. 



Tllli I'OI-; tATIOK. 



A poor and crowded population like 

 that of Ireland, is, indued, a sad thing; 

 but this hapless slate is not owing, as 

 Mi. iSIaJtiius thinks, tu the potato ; this 

 perseenled root is altogether innocent 

 of the mischief; it has certainly facili- 

 tated the increase of population ; but 

 it would also have aided (he aecumula- 

 lioii of wealth, if wealth could have 

 been accunuilatcd in Ireland. I!ut 

 wiiile Great Lrilain drank the life-blood 

 of Ihc land, it was in vain that the 

 |)eople of Ireland lived cheajily, and 

 endured pri\utions ; it was in vain, also, 

 that they grew up into a great nation ; 

 their growlli was stalk and stem, the 

 tree never llowered. 



If a family live cheaply and arc indus- 

 trious, they will probaby become rich. 

 •So it is with a nation: if the Irish li\e 

 chielly upon potatoes and export their 

 corn, tlii.y ought to have moie money, 

 and mcjri; oi what money ctnild pur- 

 chase; bul the money which ihey ought 

 \o have — that i. , the dillerencc bitwccil 



iMoMHLY WaU. Nu. M\. 



O'DriscoVs Views of Inland. 525 



a corn and a potato diet, goes in Irelan«i 

 to pay tithes, taxes, and rents. The 

 eflect, however, would not be so inju- 

 rious to the country, if so many of the 

 land-owners did not reside abroad, and 

 if the peasant had not two churches, 

 perhaps wc ought to say three churches, 

 to jiay. Suppose the peasantry lived, 

 as in England, more upon corn, the only 

 consequence would be, that such high 

 rriils and taxes could not be paid ; 

 but Ihc population would be very little 

 diminished. 



The regret is not, that the poor 

 in Ireland live upon potatoes, but that 

 they live upon little else, and princi- 

 pally that their cottages arc so bad, and 

 their accommodations so wretched. 

 Now their cottages and accommodations 

 may be quite as bad, though they 

 feasted upon corn. The people derive 

 no advantage from their frugality, and 

 the nation but little from its populous- 

 ness. Mr. Malthus has found a short 

 way of disposing of the case of Ireland, 

 by throwing all the blame of her cala- 

 mities upon the potato; but this writer 

 knew little of Ireland, and appears to 

 have inquired less about it than he did 

 concerning the inhabitants of Kamts- 

 chatka and Japan: though the effect 

 of (he potato upon population, of which 

 Ireland aObrds the most perfect, if not 

 the only instance, is a qucsUou of very 

 great interest. 



The potato has not occasioned nor 

 increased the calamities of the Irish; 

 but these have reduced this people 

 to a more cx(ensivo use of that food 

 than otherwise would have happened. 

 The pressure of the last few years has 

 also brought the i)otato much more 

 inio use amongst the poor in England 

 than formerly ; and it will be found 

 dillicult for them, perhaps, to rise again 

 to the u.se of corn. War, famine, and 

 disaster, of various kinds, had brought 

 down the poor of Ireland to the use 

 of the potato, and there they have ro- 

 niaincd. 



It is sometimes gravely proposed 

 (hat wc should proscribe (he potato 

 as a means of improving (he condition 

 of the people of Ireland ; but wc should 



rather improve the condition of tiio 

 people as an cflcclual means of banish- 

 ing the potato. Whenever a family 

 emerges out of extreme poverty, they 

 relinquish the exclusive use of this 

 root, and betake themselves to better 

 di(t. 



The potato was the refuge and re- 

 source of the people of Irclttud in the' 

 4 L days 



