THE FISHERIES. 73 



may say, that the continued agitations which dis- 

 tract the country prevent ahke the introduction of 

 capital, or the due care and culture of our resources 

 by the Government; but let us hope that a new era is 

 now at length opening upon us, and that the Celt has 

 learned, in famine and misfortune, an enduring lesson 

 — " Sweet are the uses of adversity " — assuredly in 

 that school an improving lesson has been taught him, 

 and an opportunity for social ameliorations now pre- 

 sents itself in this country, such as was never before 

 presented at any period of our unhappy history. Fa- 

 mine and pestilence have swept over the land ; the 

 affrighted inhabitants are abandoning their homes, 

 seeking distant shores; a new industrial class, and a 

 new proprietary, are springing up around us ; fresh 

 scions have been implanted, and new vigour infused ; 

 and an amalgamation of interests and of races will be 

 the inevitable result : railroads expand, ready to re- 

 ceive and distribute all the products of the land, or 

 treasures of the deep : space is almost annihilated, 

 and engineering science almost joins together the 

 two islands ; the legal incumbrances on the soil are 

 removed ; capital but seeks to divert itself into some 

 peaceful and profitable channel, and even labour is 

 redundant, if the Poorhouses but ope their ponder- 

 ous jaws. Surely, this is England's opportunity, 

 and here are the elements of a time-enduring and 

 invigorating union. 



In urging our cause, and stating the case of the 

 fisheries, we shall make this concluding obsp'-vation 



