IRELAND AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS. 27 



CHAPTEK III. 



IRELAND AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS. 

 JANUARY 22, 1868. 



IN judging of the state of Ireland there is one main 

 point that time is yearly making more obscure. No 

 one in England, and very few in Ireland, realise what 

 was the state of that country fifty or seventy years 

 ago. Everything was low and excessively backward, 

 socially and physically, to an extent that is now very 

 hard to conceive. If I call it by the harsh name of 

 utter barbarism, it will be only the truth. It is plain 

 that without a clear view of the state of things at the 

 starting-point from which improvement began, it is 

 impossible to judge what has been the degree of pro- 

 gress. My opinion is clear that, however much is 

 wanting, the improvement has been immense, but is 

 overlooked because the starting-point is not properly 

 observed. 



Read any accounts of the rebellion of 1*798. 

 Consider the horrible savagery on both sides. It 

 suits each party now to talk of the misdeeds of its 

 opponents. The truth is that no savages ever per- 



