306 MORAL CONDITION OF THE WEST. 



Achil side into the Sound, and there narrowed the channel 

 considerably, we observed a human being couched on a stone 

 among the sea-weed. The deep water passed within an oar's 

 length of the spot, and as the boat flew like a falcon past the 

 point, the man rose and hailed us. We hove the hooker to. 

 It was Hennessey and nothing could dissuade him, notwith- 

 standing the risk was considerable, from coming on board to 

 give me a parting escort. 



Early next morning I found, myself in his majesty's mail,, 

 and with many a sincere adieu, bade farewell to my kind 

 cousin and his wild but warm-hearted followers. 



CHAPTER XLIII. 



Moral and physical condition of the west, past and present. 



HERE I am, safely over the Shannon : a laudable improve- 

 ment in the mode and rate of travelling of the Westport 

 mail facilitates one's intercourse with the kingdom of Con- 

 naught ; and in course of time I have little doubt but Erris 

 will be as approachable as Upper Canada, or any of the 

 remoter provinces. 



After my rambling observations upon men and manners, 

 you must permit me, like the last lawyer in a cause, to 

 condense the evidence, and make a general wind-up. 



With regard to the moral condition of the West, I cannot 

 conscientiously assert that any great improvement will be 

 traced for the last half-century. The two great classes, the 

 gentry and peasantry, have undergone a mighty revolution 

 in conduct, manners, and modes of thinking ; and yet one 

 will look in vain for commensurate advantages. It is 

 admitted that the former body have changed their generic 

 character altogether. We have the old school stigmatized 

 now for its aristocratic tyranny and petty assumption ; and 

 many a modern squire blesses God that he is not as others 

 were who preceded him. And yet our fathers were, I verily 

 believe, wiser in their generation, and better fitted for their 

 own times, than we. True, these days were little better 

 than barbarous. Denis Browne, and Dick Martin, and 



