228 ON THE STATE OF IRELAND. [BOOK III. 



which are calculated to amount to about 6,800,000 a 

 year. The additional charge for labour would therefore 

 come to about that sum. 



It could not be expected that the tenantry should bear 

 this burthen ; they have not capital to do so, even if the 

 further sum they were required to expend on labour were 

 likely to make a profitable return ; but we are persuaded 

 that it could do no such thing. If the law required 

 that the whole number of agricultural labourers in Ireland 

 should be set to work, there must be constantly employed 

 in Ireland about five labourers for every two employed on 

 the same extent of cultivated land in Great Britain ; the 

 labourers too would not be freely taken by their employers, 

 and bound to please them or lose their employment, but 

 would be forced upon them, and entitled to be paid a cer- 

 tain sum whether they gave satisfaction or not ; under 

 such circumstances, labour could not be expected to yield 

 a profitable return to those who paid for it. 



The charge must therefore come upon the landlords. 

 Now the rental of the country at present goes to feed 

 commerce, to give employment directly or indirectly to 

 profitable labourers, and to keep society in a healthy state. 

 If any considerable portion of it were devoted to the sup- 

 port of unprofitable labourers, it would be in a great de- 

 gree consumed without being reproduced, commerce must 

 decay, and the demand for agricultural produce and all 

 commodities (save potatoes and coarse clothing) must im- 

 mediately contract ; rents must therefore diminish, while 

 the number of persons out of employment and in need of 

 support must increase, and general ruin be the result. 



To apprehend all this may to some appear visionary. 

 In order, therefore, to show how possible it is, we give the 



