270 ON THE STATE OF IRELAND. [BOOK III. 



SECTION XIV. 



CONNECTED with the error that exists as to the effects 

 produced in England by the introduction of Irish corn, or 

 other agricultural produce, is a very common notion, that 

 the migration of Irish labourers to Great Britain is inju- 

 rious to the labourers there. To prove how much delu- 

 sion there is in this respect, we pray leave to refer to a 

 very valuable Report that has been made to us on the state 

 of the Irish poor in Great Britain, by Mr. George Corn- 

 wall Lewis, one of our Assistant Commissioners. It shows 

 that the Irish labourers who settle in towns in Great Bri- 

 tain do not cause a redundancy but supply a deficiency of 

 labour, that they keep work going, not wages down, and 

 that without them capital could not increase and fructify 

 as it does to the general good of the community. All this 

 is proved by one striking fact wages are highest where 

 the Irish are most numerous. Then as to the labourers 

 who go to Great Britain at the time of harvest, it is noto- 

 rious that the crops in many places could not be saved 

 without their aid ; the complaints, therefore, made of their 

 " incursions," as they are called, are equally unfounded 

 and unjust. 



REMARKS. 



The Commissioners draw a comparison which 

 in our opinion is not over just. In all times and 

 in all places the inhabitants of the high lands 

 have descended into the plains in harvest-time ; in 



