132 



IRELAND (SOCIAL STATE.) 



which so much insight is to be obtained into the 

 character of the Irish peasantry, and into the condi- 

 tion of the country , and state of things among the 

 lower classes of society, as by listening to these 

 prosecutions (or fair murders. There were many of 

 these prosecutions at the Knnis assizes ; and, although 

 I liad already heard much of the factions, into which 

 the peasantry are divided, I had no conception of 

 the extent of this evil, nor of the bitterness with 

 which this spirit of faction is attended. However 

 these factions may have originated, there is now no 

 distinction among their adherents, excepting that 

 which arises from the possession of a different name. 

 The O'Sullivans are as distinct a people from the 

 O'Neils as the Dutch from the Belgians. The 

 factions have chiefs, who possess authority. Regular 

 agreements are made to have a battle ; the time 

 agreed upon is generally when a fair takes place ; 

 ami. at these fights, there is regular marshalling, 

 and " wheeling ;" and, as for its being a crime to 

 break a " boy's " head, such an idea never enters 

 the brain of any one. The spirit of faction is 

 brought into court by almost every witness in these 

 prosecutions. I saw a witness, a woman, brought 

 in support of the prosecution for a homicide com- 

 mitted on some cousin, who, on being desired to 

 identify the prisoners, and the court-keeper's long 

 rod being put into her hand, that she might point 

 them out, struck each of them a smart blow on the 

 head. As for finding out the truth, by the mere 

 evidence of the witnesses, it is generally impossible. 

 Almost all worth knowing, is elicited on the cross- 

 examination ; and it is always by the appearance 

 and manner of the witness, more than by his words, 

 that the truth is to be gathered. All the witnesses, 

 examined for the prosecution, were, by their own 

 account, mere lookers-on at the battle ; nor stick, 

 nor stone had they. Their party had no mind to 

 fight that day ; but, in making this assertion, they 

 always take care to let it be known, that, if they had 

 had a mind to fight, they could have handled their 

 shillelahs to some purpose. On the other hand, all 

 the witnesses for the prisoner aver just the same of 

 themselves ; so that it is more by what witnesses 

 wont tell, than by what they do tell, that truth is 

 discovered. Half the witnesses called, on both 

 sides, have broken heads ; and it is not unfrequently 

 by a comparison of the injuries received on both 

 sides, and by the evidence of the doctor, that one is 

 helped to the truth. To save a relation from punish- 

 ment, or to punish any one who has injured a rela- 

 tion, an Irish peasant will swear anything. This 

 would be called, by some, hatred of the law ; but, 

 although, in swearing falsely, the Irish peasant 

 wishes to defeat the ends of justice, he does not do 

 so merely because he hates justice and the law, but 

 because he thinks he is bound to save his relation, or 

 any one of his faction. If the name of the man who 

 was killed be O'Grady, then every witness who 

 comes up to be sworn for the prosecution is also an 

 O'Grady ; or, if they be women, they were O'Graclys 

 before they were married ; and, if the name of the 

 prisoner be O'Neil, then all the witnesses for the 

 defence are O'Neils ; or, if there be any exceptions 

 in name, still there is a relationship of some kind." 



But the destitution and misery existing among the 

 Irish peasantry is still more appalling than the 

 extent of crime. " The great mass of the labouring 

 class in Ireland," (to use the same authority), " have 

 no constant employment. Throughout the greater 

 part of Leinster, Munster, and Connaught, a large 

 majority of the labouring poor are unable to find 

 constant employment. With the exception of Bel- 

 fast, and in some few places where public works had 

 created a temporary demand, I found nowhere full 



employment for the people. As for their means of 

 subsistence, when out of employment, little suffices. 

 If they have not, themselves, a patch of potato land, 

 they, or their wives, beg among the farmers round 

 the country ; relations, who have a little to spare, 

 help them ; and the priest also does something for 

 them. The diet of those who are in employment 

 consists of a scanty meal or two of potatoes, with the 

 addition, at times, of a little buttermilk. The diet 

 of the far greater number who are not in employ- 

 ment, consists of as many dry potatoes as serve just 

 to sustain life. In Ulster, things are rather better : 

 there are fewer of the latter class ; and the former 

 have more plentiful meals. As for clothing, an 

 English beggar would not lift off the ground the 

 clothes worn by old and young of the lower classes 

 of Leinster, Munster, and Connaught. The young 

 can scarcely be said to be clothed at all. Excluding 

 the large towns, such as Belfast, Cork, and Limerick, 

 and the labour employed on the domains of a very 

 few resident noblemen, tenpence, without diet, are 

 the highest wages ever given for constant employ, 

 ment : ninepence and eightpence is the more usual 

 rate ; and, in some places, sixpence is willingly 

 accepted, for constant employment. With diet, 

 sixpence is the usual sum given. The wages of 

 occasional employment vary with the occasion : at 

 seasons of particular demand, one shilling, or more, 

 even, may be given ; but, at all other times, any 

 number of labourers may be hired, by the week, at 

 eightpence, and even lower. The labour of women 

 and children is scarcely wanted, where half the male 

 population are unemployed. Women employed in 

 agricultural labour, are generally some part of the 

 family of the landholder. Where not one half of the 

 people are in .constant employment, it would be 

 unfair to state the average amount of employment 

 obtained by a labourer throughout the year, to be 

 more than for one half of the year : during that half 

 year, his wages cannot be fairly stated at more than 

 8d. for four months ; and for the other two months, 

 seed and harvest times, Is. The hundred and four 

 working days, at 8d. are 3 9s. 4d. ; and the fifty- 

 two days, at Is., added to this, make 6 Is. 4d.; 

 which is all the labourer, obtaining an average 

 amount of employment, may earn in a year : and 

 this sum, divided by 365 the number of days which 

 the labourer lias to support himself and his<family 

 gives him, per day, not quite FOURPENCE ! I am quite 

 confident, that if the whole yearly earnings of the 

 labourers of Ireland were divided by the whole 

 number of labourers, the result would be mider this 

 sum, FOURPENCE a day for the labourers of Ireland. 

 Early marriages and a numerous progeny are uni- 

 versal. If the labourer has four children able to 

 work, the probability is, that he has at least four 

 younger children to support : the occasional labour, 

 and scanty remuneration paid for the labour of a 

 child, will certainly not do more than suffice for its 

 own support throughout the year; and when we 

 consider the general dearth of employment, and the 

 large families of the Irish peasants, we may fairly 

 conclude, that the labourer has to support his wife 

 and two children by his own labour, which we have 

 seen averages 4d. per day. With respect to the 

 yearly expense of food, two stone and a half of 

 potatoes, no more than suffice for the daily support 

 of a labourer, his wife, and two children ; and 

 taking the average price of potatoes at 2d per 

 stone, a very low average, mere subsistence cannot 

 be purchased with the whole amount of wages, sup- 

 posing the whole amount available for subsistence ; 

 but rent has to be paid. Formerly the pig was 

 sufficient for this ; but the market has so fallen, 

 that something is wanted besides the pig to make 



