86 MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 



There is in man, not excluding Irishmen and 

 Iliylilandmen, a natural propensity to abridge 

 labour by artificial means, whenever those 

 means are placed within his reach. The 

 manufacturing and commercial greatness of 

 England and the Lowlands of Scotland has 

 not been achieved by our aristocracy, but by 

 our labouring people. Place the same means 

 within the hands of Irishmen which English- 

 men have enjoyed, and the same result will be 

 ultimately obtained. The full employment of 

 the whole of the agricultural population at 

 wages above what they can make at hand- 

 loom weaving, or similar branches of manu- 

 facturing industry, would not only remove the 

 present restraints upon the application of 

 inanimate power to machinery, but also call 

 into life the latent ingenuity and mechanical 

 talents of Irishmen. The rising generation of 

 the different classes of the Sister Isle would 

 become initiated into the different arts, ac- 

 cording to their natural acquirements, and 

 hence ultimately manufacture what goods they 

 require for their own use. 



In England, the agricultural population in 

 point of numbers is to that of the other 



