226 ON THE STATE OF IRELAND. [BOOK III. 



that they are therefore, and not from any fault of their 

 own, in permanent want. 



As then actual relief is required by the able-bodied in 

 general in Ireland, the workhouse system, as applied to 

 them, must prove illusory ; and if it were established, we 

 are persuaded that it would be regarded by the bulk of 

 the population as a stratagem for debarring them of that 

 right to employment and support with which the law pro- 

 fessed to invest them. 



It is unnecessary to point out the feelings which must 

 thus be created, or the consequences to which they might 

 lead. We must add, that if workhouses were established, 

 and that want should send some of the labouring class 

 into them, we are satisfied that they would no sooner be 

 there, than the strict discipline which, as in England, it 

 would be needful to enforce, separation of families and so 

 forth, would produce resistance ; that tumults would en- 

 sue ; and that, after much trouble, expense, and mischief, 

 the system would necessarily be abandoned altogether. 



