86 POPULATION. 



perfectly harmlefs, but let them become a&ive in parliament, 

 and common fenfe ftiould exert her power to kick the abfurdity 

 out of doors. To do juftice to the Irifli, I found none of this 

 folly in that kingdom : many a violent oppofer of government 

 is to be found in that country, ready enough to confefs that 

 population increafes greatly ; the general ttnour of the in- 

 formation in the minutes declare the fame thing. 



There are feveral circumftances in Ireland extremely fa- 

 vourable to population, to which muft be attributed that coun- 

 try being fo much more populous than the ftate of manufacturing 

 induftry would feem to imply. There are five caufes, which 

 may be particularized among others of lels confequence. Firft, 

 There being no poor laws. Second, the habitations. Third, 

 The generality of marriage. Fourth, Children not being bur- 

 thenfome. Fifth, Potatoes the food. 



The laws of fettlement in England, which confine the poor 

 people to what is called their legal fettlements, one would 

 think framed with no other view than to be a check upon the 

 rational induftrv, it was, however, a branch of, and arofe from 

 thole monuments of barbarity and mifchief, our poor rates, for 

 when once the poor were made, what they ought never to be 

 confidered a burthen, it was incumbent on every parifh to lef- 

 fen as much as poffible their numbers ; thefe laws were there- 

 fore framed in the very fpirit of depopulation, and moft certainly 

 have for near two centuries proved a bar to the kingdom's be- 

 coming as populous as it would otherwile have done. For- 

 tunately for Ireland, it has hitherto kept free from thefe evils, 

 and from thence refults a great degree of her prefent populati- 

 on. Whole families in that country will move from one place 

 to another with freedom, fixing according to the demand for 

 their labour, and the encouragement they receive to fettle. 

 The liberty of doing this is certainly a premium on their induf- 

 trv, and confequently to their incrcafe. 



Thecabbins of the poor Irifli being fuch apparently miferable 

 habitations, is another* very evident encouragement to population. 

 In England, where the poor are in many refpe&s in fuch a fu- 

 perior ftate, a couple will not marry unlefs they can get a houfe, 

 to build which, take the kingdom through, will coft from 

 twenty-five to fixty pounds ; half the life, and all the vigour 

 and youth of a man and woman are pafled, before they can 

 fave fuch a fum ; and when they have got it, fo burthenfome 

 are poor to a parifli, that it is twenty to one if they get per- 

 niiilion to erec~l their cottage. But in Ireland the cabbin is not 

 an object of a moment's confideration ; to poffefs a cow and a 

 pig is an earlier aim ; the cabbin begins with a hovel, that is 

 created with two days labour, and the young couple pafs not 

 their youth in celibacy for want of a neft to produce their young 

 In. If it comes to t matter of calculation, it will then be but 

 as four pounds to thirty. 



Marriage 



