THE FISHERIES. 113 



owners : frequently some individual of the crew be- 

 comes sole owner. Now this system, Ave conceive, 

 can only be carried out in Ireland by means of Go- 

 vernment aid, through the medium, for instance, of 

 a loan-fund, which might be formed, we conceive, 

 by the Government, upon a system perfectly safe 

 as regards security. 



But the poUtical economists ! — what will they 

 say ? They will certainly raise a host of objections. 

 It was a saying of Napoleon's, '' that a government 

 of pohtical economists would grind an empire of ada- 

 mant to powder." But what will they say ? They 

 will begin with capital^ and make us acquainted with 

 its rights ; and having expatiated upon the laissez 

 faire, or principle of non-interference, they will then 

 explain to us the law of competition. Then, say 

 they, leave competition unrestricted, and capital free, 

 and it follows quite plainly, that your manufactures 

 and resources will develop themselves. This rea- 

 soning, which the economists are so fond of, stripped 

 of its technicality, and addressed to the labourer, or 

 the artisan, means simply this : — let money be the 

 tyrant, and labour the slave, and let wages bow 

 down for ever before the Moloch of capital — but 

 this is digression from our subject : our purpose is, 

 in relation to our fisheries, to see how these econo- 

 mic principles have been applied, and are still sought 

 to be applied, to Ireland — the political economists in 

 effect say : let prostrate Ireland, which can neither 

 walk, nor creep, get up, and compete with England, 



