M I S C E L L A N 1 E S» 



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stead of doing so, how do many of 

 them act ? They oftea depute 

 their managers upon the Grand 

 Jury of the county. This ma- 

 nager gets his iobs done without 

 question or interruption ; his roads 

 and his bridges, and his park walls, 

 all are conceded. 



For my part, I am wholly at a 

 loss to conceive how those per- 

 manent absentees can reconcile it 

 to their feelings or their interests 

 to remain silent spectators of such 

 a state of things, or how they can 

 forbear to raise their voices in be- 

 half of their unhappy country, 

 and attempt to open the eyes of 

 our English neighbours ; who, 

 generally speaking, know about as 

 much of the Irish, as they do of 

 the Hindoos. Does a visitor come 

 to Ireland, to compile a book of 

 travels, what is his course ? He is 

 handed about from one country 

 gentleman to another, all interested 

 in concealing from him the true 

 state of the country ; he passes 

 from Squire to Squire, each rival- 

 ing the other in entertaining their 

 guest, all busy in pouring false- 

 hoods into his ears, touching the 

 disturbed state of the country, and 

 the vicious habits of the people. 



Such is the crusade of informa- 

 tion upon which the English tra- 

 veller sets forward ; and he re- 

 turns to his own country with all 

 his unfortunate prejudices doubled 

 . and confirmed, m a kind of moral 

 despair of the welfare of such a 

 wicked race, having made up his 

 mind that nothing ought to be 

 done for this lawless and degraded 

 country. And, indeed, such an 

 extravagant excess have those in- 

 tolerant opinions of the state of 

 Ireland attained, that I shall not 

 be surprised to hear of some po- 



litical projector coming forward, 

 and renovating the obsolete igno- 

 rance and the prejudices of a Har- 

 rington, who, in his Oceana, calls 

 the people of Ireland an untame- 

 able race; declaring, that they 

 ought to be exterminated, and the 

 country colonised by Jews ; that 

 thus the state of this island would 

 be bettered, and the commerce of 

 England extended and improved. 



Gentlemen, I will tell you what 

 those absentees ought particularly 

 to do ; they ought to promote the 

 establishment of houses of refuge, 

 houses of industry, school-houses, 

 and set the example upon their 

 own estates, of building decent 

 cottages, so that the Irish peasant 

 may have, at least, the comforts 

 of an " English sow ;" for aa 

 English farmer would refuse to 

 eat the flesh of a hog, so lodged 

 and fed as an Irish peasant is. Are 

 the farms of an English land- 

 holder out of lease, or his cottages 

 in a state of dilapidation ? He re- 

 builds every one of them for his 

 tenants, or he covenants to supply 

 them with materials for the pur- 

 pose. But how are matters con- 

 ducted in this country ? Why, if 

 there is a house likely to fall into 

 ruins, upon an expiring lease, the 

 new rack-rent tenant must re- 

 build it hiuisLlf: and can you 

 wonder if your plantations are 

 visited for the purpose, or if your 

 young trees are turned into plough 

 handles, spade handles, or roofs 

 for their cabins? They are more 

 than Egyptian task masters, who 

 call for bricks without furnishing 

 a supply of straw. Again, I say, 

 that those occasional absentees 

 ought to come home, and not 

 remain abroad, resting upon the 

 local manager, a species of «' lo- 



