1826.] Absenteeism, and the Edinburgh Revieiv. 343 



ther sweeping) used upon the question, comes, as nearly as we can un- 

 derstand, to this — that the Irish proprietors, in the mass, are such rascals, 

 that the country is better ofF witli their room than with their company. — 

 " An extensive landed proprietor," says the Reviewer, " has undoubtedly 

 the means, if he has the inclination, to do a great deal of good ; we have 

 now however to deal, not with landlords as they ought to be, but with those 

 of Ireland as they really are ;" — and then follows a long body of evidence 

 to shew that the estates worst managed in Ireland are those of resident 

 proprietors. Without setting any very high estimate upon the Samari- 

 tanship of Irish landlords, we should rather doubt whether they arc not 

 more likely to consider the welfare of those who are constantly before 

 them, than that of the people whose misery they may hear of, but with 

 whom they never come into contact; but, as we have already observed, 

 inquiry on this head is altogether a work of supererogation — because, if 

 absenteeism in itself be no evil, the character of the Irish absentees 

 becomes of no consequence, one way or the other. 



Now, our object has been very little to prove that which the great mass 

 of people are quite satisfied of, — that absenteeism is injurious to the inte- 

 rests of Ireland ; we wish merely to expose the sort of arguments by 

 which " political economy" demonstrates that it is not. And, with a very 

 few more examples of this pleasant sophistry, we must conclude — fortu- 

 nately they will be of such a character as to render comment unnecessary. 

 Thus, in page 65, we find that the only advantage gained by this 

 countrj', from the annual expenditure (in England) of three millions and 

 a half of Irish revenue ; — the profit upon that expenditure, lookingto the 

 way in which the mone}' is disposed of, being upon the average' fully 

 thirty per cent, to those who receive it, or one million sterling upon the 

 whole — the only profit England gains (according to the Edinburgh Re- 

 view) by the receipt of this large sum of revenue, is — " that there will be 

 a somewhat greater demand in the markets of England for certain species 

 of manufactured goods ; and, more of them being in consequence pro- 

 duced, the labour required for their production will be better divided, 

 and they will, in consequence, be produced a little more cheaply and ex- 

 peditiously" ! 



Again : " A village in the immediate neighbourhood of a gentleman's 

 seat" (in Ireland) " generally declines" (tumbles down, probably) " when 

 he becomes an absentee." — " This however, in most cases, is any 

 thing but an injury^ — " The inhabitants of such villages are generally 

 poor, needy dependants, destitute of all invention, and without any 

 wish to distinguish themselves. But when the proprietor becomes an 

 absentee, they then betake themselves to those manufacturing and com- 

 mercial cities where there is always a ready demand for labour," &c. In- 

 deed I And is our friend sure this is so ? that there is " always" a 

 ready demand for labour ? But we mend it. — " Stock and labour," says 

 Dr. Smith, " naturally seek the most advantageous employment ; they 

 naturally therefore resort as much as they can to the town, and desert 

 the country." — Then, if this be true, and " Dr. Smith" be orthodox, 

 why is it that these villagers remain " poor and needy," until compelled, 

 by famine, to grow rich, and to " distinguish" themselves? 



" Atoms, or systems " ! — The desires and operations of a Political 

 Economist are too vast, and too much in the theoretical spirit 

 of universal charity (which is apt to become in practice universal 

 regardlessness), to be relied on. Nations, like individuals, must move 



