SECT. XVI.] RESULTS OF THE INQUIRY. 2J9 



of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries which 

 succeeded to the spirit of generosity that distin- 

 guished the fourteenth and fifteenth. 



The evil is done ; the poor have been despoiled 

 by the confiscation of the property of the clergy. 

 The Commissioners seek the remedy, and with good 

 faith. They labour in a country where England, 

 all-powerful, has for two centuries been making 

 every effort to eradicate the Catholic religion, and 

 has succeeded only in giving it new vigour. A 

 large proportion of the soil consists of bog-land, 

 heaths and uncultivated tracts. We shall not ask 

 Why not give this land to religious bodies con- 

 versant with agriculture, such as the Benedic- 

 tines, the Bernardines, the Carthusians and the 

 Trappists ? We are aware of the period in which 

 we write ; but we say, Why not allow them to 

 purchase these lands, or permit those noble-minded 

 men with whom Ireland abounds to purchase them 

 for these religious orders, with the especial charge 

 of maintaining the poor of all classes ? No, the 

 Commissioners propose, we see, after the most at- 

 tentive examination, to levy a tax to meet the exi- 

 gencies of the case, and this too after having pre- 

 viously recommended a multitude of taxes upon the 

 landowners, whose insolvency they have proved. 



