424 Prutestant Colonies of I rcla7id. [Ocr. 



Corrib, Mash, and Caira ; by cutting a gallery 3,000 yards long through 

 a limestone rock between the first and second of those lakes, an interior 

 navigation of 50 miles would be opened up, and 1 7,000 acres of land 

 now under water would be drained. The cost of the gallery is estimated 

 at 30,000/., and the value of the land gained 330,000/. 



By removing the bar of the Cashen river in Newry, you open a navi- 

 gation of 30 miles, and drain 200,000 acres of waste land. 



By removing a small impediment in the river of Lough Gara, a large 

 tract of submerged land would be gained. 



By removing the bar of the Shannon at Athlone, you could drain a 

 large tract of land at Lough Ree. 



]\Ir. Malthus and others have urged many objections against this only 

 check upon tl»e indolence, rapacity, and consequent tyranny of the upper 

 classes of society : — first, that in England it produces an unnatural 

 increase of the population ; yet the increase of the population of Ireland 

 within the last half century, has been vastly greater than that of England. 

 -This disproportionate increase has arisen in a great measure from the 

 non-existence of any such check upon the landlords, who subdivide their 

 lands in order to obtain high rents. Another objection is, that it 

 increases progressively the number of paupers. The fact is the reverse, 

 for the number of paupers have decreased, though the popvdation has 

 doubled since 1688. At that time, ]\Ir. Gregory King states, that the 

 population was five millions and a half, and the number of paupers 

 1,200,000; in 1811 the population of England was eleven millions and 

 a half, and the number of poor one million. He complains of the 

 increased expence without any reference to the price of provisions — the 

 change in the value of money — the comparative comfort of the upper 

 orders — the fearful increase of the rational debt by the American and 

 French wars, and the consequent heavy pressure of taxation which falls 

 upon the operatives as the most extensive class of consumers. But the 

 only fair standard to try the poor rates, in this respect, is by the relation 

 they bear to the contemporaneous income of the country. Trying them 

 by this test, we find that the relative expence has decreased in an inverse 

 ratio to the increase of the income of the country. In 1688 the income 

 was 30 millions, the poor rate two millions, that is, fifteen to one ; — in 

 1811 the income was 300 millions, the poor rate eight millions, being in 

 proportion of thirty-two to one. He likewise asserts, that this provision 

 destroys industry. Why, the act of Elizabeth says — empluij the people, 

 or support them, as consumers of your property — then it is a tax upon 

 the indolence and avarice of those who have capital to expend in the 

 employment of the people, and will make no exertion for that purpose. 

 This provision makes the upper classes of society industrious, who are 

 least disposed to be so ; they are thus instigated to seek the real sources of 

 productive employment for the people, which has raised the national 

 income to 500 millions. In Ireland, where there exists no measure to 

 insist on employment, half the nation is without it, and in a state of utter 

 destitution ; their scanty supply of the worst species of food is to a great 

 extent obtained by a licentious mendicancy, which generates habits, 

 feelings, and vices, inconsistent with the well being of society. 



Is not the first law of nature self-preservation ? If so, can IMr. Mal- 

 thus conceive property or life secure surrounded by a starving multi- 

 tude ? The first cry of the French Revolution was for bread. We 

 conceive that a public provision for employment of the people would be 



