Read Ebook: A history of the Irish poor law in connexion with the condition of the people by Nicholls George Sir

Font size: 10 px 15 px 20 px 25 px 30 px 35 px

Background color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Text color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Apply/Save settings

Ebook has 1200 lines and 180592 words, and 24 pages

These Acts certainly indicate the existence of very rude and barbarous practices in some parts of Ireland--so rude indeed, that one finds some difficulty in giving credence to them; but that they did prevail, there can be no reasonable doubt. To plough by the tail, to strip the wool off sheep, and to burn corn in the straw, are doubtless all indications of a lamentable state of backwardness and barbarism; but how far this backwardness was owing to "a natural lazie disposition" in the Irish tenantry, or whether it was the "better to enable them to be flitting from their lands to deceive their landlords of their rents," as asserted above, or occasioned by the oppressive conduct of the landlords, as described by Spenser, it is impossible to say with certainty. Most likely all these causes were in operation, together with a general feeling of insecurity, a backward state of civilization, and a feeble and uncertain administration of the law.

See ante, p. 7.

Another cause of backwardness and disorder is indicated by the 'Act for the suppressing of Cosherers and idle Wanderers.' This Act commences with the following recital--"Whereas there are many young gentlemen of this kingdom that have little or nothing to live on of their own, and will not apply themselves to labour or other honest industrious courses to support themselves, but do live idly and inordinately, coshering upon the country, and sessing themselves their followers their horses and their greyhounds upon the poor inhabitants, sometimes exacting money from them to spare them and their tenants, and to go elsewhere to their eaught and edraugh, viz. supper and breakfast, and sometimes craving helps from them; all which the poor people dare not deny them, sometimes for shame, but most commonly for fear of mischief to be done them so refusing, and therefore do bear it although unwillingly, and many times when they are scarce able so to do, and yet dare not complain for fear of the inconveniences aforesaid, and to that end do make cuts levies and plotments upon themselves to pay them, and give such entertainment and helps to the utter impoverishing and disabling of the poor inhabitants to pay their duties to the king, and their rents unto their landlords; and by that lawless kind of life of these idle gentlemen and others, being commonly active young men, and such as seek to have many followers and dependants upon them, many other inconveniences are likely to arise, for they are apt upon the least occasion of disturbance or insurrection, to rifle and make booty of his Majesty's loyal subjects, and to be heads and leaders of outlaws and rebels, and in the mean time do and must sometimes support their excessive and expenceful drinking and gaming by secret stealths, or growing into debts often-times filch and stand upon their keeping, and are not amenable to law"--wherefore for prevention of such inconveniences it is enacted, that if any person or persons shall directly or indirectly follow any of the above practices in future, the justices of assize are to cause them to be apprehended and bound to good behaviour, and imprisoned until good sureties for the same be given. These "cosherers" are apparently the same class of persons described by Spenser as infesting the country half a century before, too proud to beg, too idle to labour, and for the most part living by the plunder and intimidation of the poor tenantry. There could hardly have been a greater obstruction to improvement, or a more certain incentive to violence and disorder, than the conduct of these "cosherers and idle wanderers" as above described. They must have been in every way a curse to the country, stirring up and perpetuating whatever was pernicious oppressive and demoralizing, and subverting whatever had a contrary tendency.

Ante, p. 6.

We have now approached the period of what is emphatically called "the great Rebellion," which was followed by the Commonwealth, the Protectorate, and the Restoration; and then, after an interval, by the Revolution of 1688, which led to the establishment of constitutional monarchy. But in none of these periods, although all highly interesting and important in an historical point of view, do we find anything in Irish legislation so immediately bearing upon our present subject, as to call for citation or remark.

See 'History of the English Poor Law,' vol. i. pp. 302, 372, 373 and 385.

Ante, p. 24.

The Act passed in 1635, 'for the suppression of cosherers and idle wanderers,' has already been noticed. In 1707 another was passed explaining and amending the former, and entitled 'An Act for the more effectual suppressing tories robbers and rapparees, and for preventing persons becoming tories or resorting to them.' It directs--"that all loose idle vagrants, and such as pretend to be Irish gentlemen, and will not work nor betake themselves to any honest trade or livelihood, but wander about demanding victuals and coshering from house to house among their fosterers followers and others, and also loose persons of infamous lives and characters, upon presentments of the grand juries at assizes and general quarter sessions, and upon warrant of the justices, shall be imprisoned until sent on board the fleet, or transported to some of her Majesties plantations in America, whither the justices are empowered to send them, unless sufficient security for their good behaviour be given. Many persons are moreover said to make a trade of obtaining robbery money from the country, pretending to have been robbed, "whereas they never were robbed, or were not robbed of near the value they allege, and so get money on that account which they never lost"--Wherefore it is directed that all persons pretending to be robbed, shall not only give notice thereof to some neighbouring justice, but likewise to the high constable, who is forthwith to publish the same in all the market towns of the barony.

Ante, p. 34.

There appears to have been another species of fraud in connexion with this "robbery money," for the principal inhabitants, when applotments were made for reimbursing the persons that had been robbed, do it is said, "usually lay the whole burthen on the poorer sort, that are least able to bear it, or least able to resist or pursue the tories, and thereby they pay little or nothing themselves, who ought to be charged according to their abilities"--Wherefore the parties aggrieved are authorised to appeal to the judges of assize, who are empowered to examine into the case upon oath, and to determine the same. We thus see how apt a law, however good in itself, is to be perverted to a bad purpose. The making the county answerable for reimbursing a person who had been plundered, would seem calculated to array all the inhabitants on the side of honesty and good order; but without preventing robbery, the law in this case appears to have given rise to a fraudulent trafficking in "robbery money," and to gross injustice in other respects. There is no other Act of the Irish parliament in Anne's reign requiring to be noticed, but there is one in that of her successor which must not be passed over.

Ante, p. 35.

See 'History of the English Poor Law,' vol. i. p. 183.

In 1735 an Act was passed for establishing a workhouse at Cork, similar in its main provisions to that which was passed for Dublin in 1703. The present Act however makes provision for rebuilding the cathedral church of St. Finbarry, as well as "for erecting a workhouse in the city of Cork for employing and maintaining the poor, punishing vagabonds, and providing for and educating foundling children." With respect to the former of these provisions, it is only necessary to remark, that the money authorised to be raised by a coal-tax, was directed to be applied during the first four years to the purposes of the cathedral; and we may therefore abstain from further noticing that point, and proceed at once to a consideration of the other provisions of the Act.

If the number of male foundlings should become so great, that the fund appropriated to the maintenance of the workhouse proves insufficient for continuing them therein until they severally attain the age of 21 years, the governors or assistants are empowered to place out so many of the male children to such art trade or calling, or to the sea service, or to be household servants, for any term not exceeding seven years, as they shall judge necessary and expedient. The female children are to be instructed in such proper trades and employments, and disposed of at such ages and in such manner, as the governors may deem advisable; and in order to prevent the improper interference of the parents of such deserted children, many of whom being Roman catholics are said to strive to hinder their children from being brought up protestants, the governors of the workhouses of Dublin and Cork are empowered to exchange the children maintained therein, whenever such interchange shall be agreed upon by the respective governors. This appears the only material addition suggested by the experience obtained in the thirty years between the passing of the two Acts, and it strikingly illustrates the difficulty of dealing with matters connected in any way with differences in religion. Here are parents so wanting in natural affection as to desert their own progeny, and leave them to be cared for by their protestant fellow-subjects, and who yet make it a point of conscience to hinder their children's being brought up in the religion of their protectors. It would seem impossible to carry unreasoning inconsistency further.

Foundling hospitals have, from a remote period, existed on the continent of Europe, especially in Italy and France. It appears to have been thought that by providing a place where mothers might deposit their illegitimate offspring in safety, the frequent recurrence of child-murder would be prevented. But it may be doubted whether the exemption from the consequences of illicit intercourse, does not tend to relax moral restraints, and to increase the number of illegitimate children.

And as "the reception of vagabonds and strolling beggars into the same house, or within the same walls with children, will be manifestly injurious by the setting a bad example,"--it is enacted that no vagabond or strolling beggar shall be sent into the same house, or kept within the same walls with the children; but when apprehended shall be sent to bridewell, or to such other place as the governors shall appoint, separate and apart from the said children, and be there maintained and set to work at the expense of the corporation, under such management and regulation as the governors shall prescribe, the produce of their labour to be applied in aid of the revenues of the institution. The governors and the court of assistants are empowered to inflict reasonable punishment or correction from time to time, on any vagabond beggar or poor person within the said bridewell, or other place of confinement; and each of the governors, and every justice of peace, may apprehend any poor persons begging or seeking relief, and all vagabonds and strolling beggars, within the city and liberties. The beadles, constables, and inhabitants generally, are moreover required to seize and take all such persons before one of the said governors, or one of the said justices, in order to their being committed to bridewell or other appointed place, until the next quarterly court of governors, who may confine the beggars and idle vagabonds so committed for any term not exceeding three years, "there to be kept to hard labour, or otherwise usefully employed, as they shall see cause and shall order and direct."

Ante, pp. 22 and 28.

The corporations, constituted as above, are empowered to grant badges to such of the helpless poor as have resided one year in their respective counties cities or towns, with a licence to beg within such limits for such time as may be thought fit; and are also empowered to appoint certain of the justices to grant badges and licences likewise--"specifying the names and places of birth and the character of the persons so licensed, and the causes as nearly as may be collected of their poverty, and whether reduced to that state by sickness or misfortune."

The said corporation are moreover required as soon as they possess sufficient funds, to build hospitals to be called workhouses or houses of industry for the relief of the poor in their respective counties, "as plain, as durable, and at as moderate expense as may be;" which hospitals are to be divided into four parts, one for such poor helpless men, and one other for such poor helpless women as shall be judged worthy of admission, a third for the reception of men able to labour and committed as vagabonds or sturdy beggars, and the fourth for idle strolling and disorderly women committed to the hospital and found fit for labour.

Every man above the age of fifteen found begging without a licence, and not wearing a badge, is to be committed to the stocks for any time not exceeding three hours for the first offence, and six hours for every subsequent offence; and old persevering offenders may be indicted at the sessions, and if convicted are to suffer imprisonment not exceeding two months; after which if they again offend they may be publicly whipped, and be again imprisoned for four months, and so on continually for every subsequent offence. Every female found begging without a licence and badge, may be confined in any place appointed for that purpose, not exceeding three hours for the first offence, and for every subsequent offence not exceeding six hours; and every old and persevering offender is, as in the case of the men, to be proceeded against at the sessions; and in order that these directions may be carried into effect, the corporations are empowered to appoint "such and so many persons as they shall think fit, at reasonable salaries, to seize and arrest all such persons whom they shall find begging without such licence and badge, and carry them before the next justice, who may commit the party to the stocks or otherwise as aforesaid." Justices are moreover empowered on their own view, to cause such persons to be seized and dealt with as is above directed for every first and subsequent offence.

Whenever a poor person deemed worthy of having a licence to beg, has one or more children under the age of ten years not apprenticed or otherwise provided for, the age and number of such children are to be inserted in the licence by the person applied to in such case, or he may "at his or their election take such and so many of them as he or they shall think fit from the parent, and convey such child or children to the committee of that county, city or town, and insert the names of the rest in the parents' licence." If any fatherless or deserted poor children under eight years of age are found strolling and begging, they are to be conveyed to the committee of the particular county city or town, to be placed in such charter school nursery as will receive them when under eight, and the rest are to be apprenticed. The committees are required to keep up a correspondence with the Protestant Charter Schools Society, that they may be informed from time to time when there is accommodation for poor children, in order "that all poor children may as much as possible be prevented from strolling, and may be put to trades or to industry."

Ante, p. 25.

As soon as the houses of industry are provided and furnished for the purpose, the corporations are to place therein so many vagrants sturdy beggars and vagabonds, and so many helpless poor as their funds admit of; "and they are authorised and required to seize every strolling vagrant capable of labour who hath no place of abode, and who doth not live by his or her labour or industry, and every person above the age of fifteen who shall beg publicly without a licence or badge, and every strolling prostitute capable of labour, and to commit the said persons to the divisions allotted for them respectively in the said houses, and there to keep them to hard labour, and compel them to work, maintaining them properly," and inflicting reasonable punishment when necessary, for the periods named in the Act, varying from two months to four years.

We here see that provision has been made, partly by compulsory assessment, partly by voluntary contributions, and through the instrumentality of corporations specially appointed--for the badging and licensing of the poor to beg--for providing hospitals workhouses or houses of industry in every county at large and county of a city or town--for separately confining therein able-bodied vagabonds and disorderly women who are to be kept to hard labour--and for the maintenance therein of poor helpless men and women. Authority is likewise given to seize any one found begging without a badge or licence, and to send such as are above fifteen to the house of industry for punishment, whilst the children are to be placed at school or put out to trade or service. And finally, persons are appointed at reasonable salaries to carry these enactments against unlicensed begging into effect.

The foregoing is the last of the Acts of the Irish parliament which we shall have occasion to notice, and when the Union took place in 1800, the Imperial legislation superseded that which had been local.

A short account of the state of Ireland at this time will be a fitting conclusion of the present chapter, as well as a useful preparative for what is to follow. The best authority we can refer to for furnishing such an account I believe to be Arthur Young, who devoted three years from 1776 to 1778 inclusive, to a personal examination of the country, its agriculture, commerce, and the social condition of the people. I have had considerable opportunities of testing the accuracy of Arthur Young's statements, and making due allowance for the changes which must be presumed to have taken place during a period of some sixty years, they have appeared to me to exhibit the circumstances of the country about the time they were written with remarkable accuracy and perspicuity. Of these statements, the following is such a condensed summary as will, it is hoped, show the reader what were Arthur Young's views of the then condition of Ireland, more especially with regard to matters bearing upon our present subject.

See Arthur Young's Tour in Ireland in the years 1776-77-78 and brought down to 1779. 2 vols. 8vo. Published in 1780.

Arthur Young declares, that--to be ignorant of the condition of the labouring classes and the poor generally, is to be wanting in the first rudiments of political knowledge, and he states that he made every endeavour to obtain the best information on the subject, from persons in every class of life. According to some, the poor were all starving. According to others, they were in a very tolerable state of comfort.--Whilst a third party, who looked with a jaundiced eye on British administration, pointed at their poverty and rags as proofs of the cruel treatment of their country. When truth is thus liable to be warped, an inquirer should, he remarks, be slow to believe and assiduous to examine, and he intimates that such had universally been his practice.

The recompense for labour is the means of living. In England the recompense is given in money, in Ireland for the most part in land or commodities. Generally speaking the labouring poor in Ireland are said to have a fair bellyfull of potatoes, and the greater part of the year they also have milk. If there are cabins on a farm, the labourers reside in them. If there are none, the farmer marks out the potato-gardens, and the labourers raise their own cabins, the farmer often assisting them with the roof and other matters. A verbal contract is then made for the rent of the potato-garden, and the keep of one or two cows, as the case may be; after this the cottar works with the farmer at the rate of the neighbourhood, "usually sixpence halfpenny a day, a tally being kept, half by each party, and a notch cut for every day's labour." At the end of six or twelve months they reckon, and the balance is paid. Such it is said is the Irish cottar system, and it does not differ materially from that which prevailed in Scotland at a period somewhat anterior. Many cabins are however seen by the road-side or built in the ditch, the inhabitants of which have no potato-gardens--"a wandering family will fix themselves under a dry bank, and with a few sticks, furze, fern &c., make up a hovel no better than a pigsty, support themselves how they can by work begging and pilfering, and if the neighbourhood wants hands or takes no notice of them the hovel grows into a cabin"--these people are not cottars, but are paid in money for whatever work they perform, and consequently have no potato-ground.

The food of the smaller tenantry the cottars and labouring poor generally, was potatoes and milk, of which for the most part they are said to have a sufficiency. The English labourer's solitary and sparing meal of bread and cheese, is contrasted with "the Irishman's potato-bowl placed on the floor, the whole family upon their hams around it, devouring quantities almost incredible, the beggar seating himself to it with a hearty welcome, and the pig taking his share." It must be admitted that the contrast is sufficiently striking, and scenes such as here described were no doubt then often witnessed in Ireland, and with some little modification may even occasionally be met with at the present day. This luxurious abundance was however by no means universal, as is evident by statements in other parts of the work, where many of the people are described as living very poorly, "sometimes having for three months together only potatoes and salt and water." There is said to be a marked difference between the habits of the people in the north, and those inhabiting the southern and western districts. In the latter, land is alone looked to for affording the means of subsistence. The former are manufacturers as well as farmers, each man holding from 5 to 10 acres of land, and sometimes more, on which he raises the usual crops of corn and potatoes, together with a certain quantity of flax, which is prepared and spun, and sometimes also wove by himself and his family. This double occupation is however not favourable to excellence or improvement in either. The farming was bad, and the people generally very poor. The practice of subdividing the land, until it is brought down to the smallest modicum that can support a family, prevailed in the north as in the other parts of Ireland at that time, and has not entirely disappeared at the present day.

With regard to other matters, an Irish cabin is described as being the most miserable-looking hovel that can well be imagined. It is generally built of mud, and consists of only one room. There is neither chimney nor window. The door lets in the light, and should let out the smoke, but that for the sake of the heat it is mostly preferred to keep it in, which injures the complexion of the women. The roof, consisting of turf straw potato-stalks or heath, has often a hole in it, and weeds sprouting from every part, giving it all the appearance of a weedy dunghill, upon which a pig or a goat is sometimes seen grazing. The furniture accorded with the cabin, often consisting only of a pot for boiling the potatoes, and one or two stools probably broken. A bed is not always seen, the family often lying upon straw, equally partaken of by the cow and the pig. Sometimes however the cabin and furniture were seen of a better description, but on inquiry it generally appeared that the improvement had taken place within the last ten years.

The readiness with which habitations are procured in Ireland, and the facility of obtaining food for a family by means of the potato, are considered to be one cause of the rapid increase of population which is shown to have taken place towards the end of the 18th century. Marriage was, and indeed still is, more early and more universal in Ireland than in England. An unmarried farmer or cottar is there rarely seen, and even the house-servants, men as well as women, are commonly married. Yet notwithstanding the rapid increase of population, there was a continual emigration from the ports of Derry and Belfast, several ships being regularly engaged in this passenger trade as it was called, conveying emigrants to the American colonies. These emigrants were however chiefly from the northern counties, partly farmers partly weavers. When the linen trade, the great staple of Ireland flourished, the passenger trade was low, and when the former was low the latter flourished. The emigrants are said to have been chiefly protestants, the Roman catholics at that time rarely quitting the country.

See table at pages 11 and 12 ante.

Rebellion of 1798--The Union--Acts of the Imperial Parliament: respecting dispensaries, hospitals, and infirmaries--Examination of bogs--Fever hospitals--Officers of health--Lunatic asylums--Employment of the poor--Deserted children--Report of 1804 respecting the poor--Dublin House of Industry and Foundling Hospital--Reports of 1819 and 1823 on the state of disease and condition of the labouring poor--Report of 1830 on the state of the poorer classes--Report of the Committee on Education--Mr. Secretary Stanley's letter to the Duke of Leinster--Board of National Education--First and second Reports of commissioners for inquiring into the condition of the poorer classes--The author's 'Suggestions'--The commissioners' third Report--Reasons for and against a voluntary system of relief--Mr. Bicheno's 'Remarks on the Evidence'--Mr. G. C. Lewis's 'Remarks on the Third Report.'

The commencement of the nineteenth century is memorable for the legislative Union of Great Britain and Ireland. This measure, fraught with such important benefits to both countries, was probably hastened by what occurred in Ireland in 1798, when the partizans of democracy, excited by the events of the French Revolution, and stimulated by French emissaries and promises of support, broke out into open rebellion. The rebellion was however soon put down, although not without the sacrifice of many of the ignorant misguided people who had been led on to take a part in it; and the speech from the throne at the opening of the session on the 20th of November 1798, announced that "the French troops which had been landed for its support were compelled to surrender, and that the armaments destined for the same purpose were, by the vigilance and activity of our squadrons, captured or dispersed." On the 22nd of January following, a royal message relative to a union with Ireland was delivered to parliament, in which the king expressed his persuasion, that the unremitting industry with which the enemy persevered in their avowed design of effecting the separation of Ireland from this kingdom, cannot fail to engage the particular attention of both houses, and he recommended them to consider of the most effectual means of counteracting and defeating such design.

In the debate which followed the delivery of the royal message, Mr. Pitt observed--"Ireland is subject to great and deplorable evils, which have a deep root, for they lie in the situation of the country itself--in the present character manners and habits of its people--in their want of intelligence--in the unavoidable separation between certain classes--in the state of property--in its religious distinctions--in the rancour which bigotry engenders and superstition rears and cherishes." If such circumstances combine to make a country wretched, the remedy ought, he said, to be sought for in the institution of "an imperial legislature, standing aloof from local party connexion, and sufficiently removed from the influence of contending factions, to be the advocate or champion of neither. A legislature which will neither give way to the haughty pretensions of a few, nor open the door to popular inroads, to clamour, or to invasion of all sacred forms and regularities, under the false and imposing colours of philosophical improvement in the art of government." This, he said, "is the thing that is wanted in Ireland. Where is it to be found?--in that country or in this?--certainly in England; and to neglect to establish such a legislature when it is possible to do so, would be an improvidence which nothing could justify."

Much of the evil which Ireland then laboured under arose, Mr. Pitt considered, from the condition of the parliament of that country. "When there are two independent parliaments in one empire," he observed, "you have no security for a continuance of their harmony and cordial co-operation. We all have in our mouths a sentence that every good Englishman and good Irishman feels--we must stand or fall together, we should live and die together--but without such a measure as that which is about to be proposed, there can be no security for the continuance of that sentiment." And he concluded a long and powerful address, by saying, "I am bound to convey to this house every information which it may be in my power to give; but however acceptable to the one or to the other side of the house, however acceptable or otherwise to those whom I respect on the other side the water, my sentiments upon this subject may be, my duty compels me to speak them freely. I see the case so plainly, and I feel it so strongly, that there is no circumstance of apparent or probable difficulty, no apprehension of popularity, no fear of toil or labour, that shall prevent me from using every exertion which remains in my power to accomplish the work that is now before us, and on which I am persuaded depend the internal tranquillity of Ireland, the interest of the British empire at large, and I hope I may add, the happiness of a great part of the habitable world." The address in answer to the Royal message was carried without a division.

On the 31st of January following, Mr. Pitt submitted to the house of commons certain resolutions declaratory of the principles on which it was proposed to establish the union between the two countries, and explained most fully the various circumstances connected with the measure. It was not merely in a general view, he said, that the question ought to be considered--"We ought to look to it with a view peculiarly to the permanent interest and security of Ireland. When that country was threatened with the double danger of hostile attacks by enemies without, and of treason within, from what quarter did she derive the means of her deliverance?--From the naval force of Great Britain--from the voluntary exertions of her military of every description, not called for by law--and from her pecuniary resources--added to the loyalty and energy of the inhabitants of Ireland itself, of which it is impossible to speak with too much praise, and which shows how well they deserve to be called the brethren of Britons." Great Britain has, he observed, always felt a common interest in the safety of Ireland; "but the common interest was never so obvious and urgent as when the common enemy made her attack upon Great Britain through the medium of Ireland, and when their attack upon Ireland went to deprive her of her connexion with Great Britain, and to substitute in its stead the new government of the French Republic. When that danger threatened Ireland, the purse of Great Britain was as open for the wants of Ireland as for the necessities of England."

Among the great defects of Ireland, Mr. Pitt remarked, "one of the most prominent is its want of industry and capital--How are those wants to be supplied, but by blending more closely with Ireland the industry and the capital of this country?"--The advantages which Ireland will derive from the proposed arrangement are, he said, "the protection she will secure to herself in the hour of danger, the most effectual means of increasing her commerce and improving her agriculture, the command of English capital, the infusion of English manners and English industry necessarily tending to ameliorate her condition, to accelerate the progress of internal civilization, and to terminate the feuds and dissensions which now distract the country, and which she does not possess within herself the power either to control or to extinguish." And he added, "while I state thus strongly the commercial advantages to the sister kingdom, I have no alarm lest I should excite any sentiment of jealousy here. I know that the inhabitants of Great Britain wish well to the prosperity of Ireland; that if the kingdoms are really and solidly united, they feel that to increase the commercial wealth of one country, is not to diminish that of the other, but to increase the strength and power of both." He then cited the example of the union with Scotland--"a union as much opposed, and by much the same arguments prejudices and misconceptions, as are urged at this moment; creating too the same alarms, and provoking the same outrages as have lately taken place in Dublin." Yet the population of Edinburgh is said to have nearly doubled since the Union, a new city being added to the old; whilst the population of Glasgow since the Union, has increased in the proportion of between five and six to one. The division in favour of the measure was 140 to 15.

On the 2nd of April 1800 Mr. Pitt presented a message from the king, expressing his Majesty's satisfaction at being enabled to communicate to the house, the joint address of the lords and commons of Ireland, containing the terms proposed by them for an entire union between the two kingdoms; and he earnestly recommends the house to take all such further steps as may best tend to the speedy and complete execution of a work so happily begun, and so interesting to the security and happiness of his subjects, and to the general strength and prosperity of the British empire. The session terminated on the 29th of July, when the king in his speech from the throne congratulated both houses on the success of the steps taken for effecting the union of Great Britain and Ireland, emphatically adding--"This great measure on which my wishes have been long earnestly bent, I shall ever consider as the happiest event of my reign, being persuaded that nothing could so effectually contribute to extend to my Irish subjects, the full participation of the blessings derived from the British constitution, and to establish on the most solid foundation the strength prosperity and power of the whole empire."

It would seem impossible, having regard to the circumstances of the times, to doubt the necessity for such a union as was thus established, and perhaps equally impossible to doubt or over-estimate the benefits it was calculated to confer. But as in the case of Scotland a century previous, the Union was now denounced as an act of injustice and degradation to Ireland, although it is difficult to see how the combining of the two countries under one united government and common designation, thus adding to the security and general importance of both, could be an injustice or degradation to either. The author is able to remember the circumstances of that period, the alarms, the forebodings of evil, the fervid declamations of popular patriots, who regardless of the benefits that would ensue to their country, could only be induced to acquiesce in the measure by some immediate benefit accruing to themselves. The Union has indeed continued down even to the present day, to be declaimed against as a grievance by certain parties in Ireland, whenever for factious or sectarian objects it suited their purpose to do so; and the blending and amalgamation of the two peoples which was hoped for, and which was foretold and relied upon as a certain consequence of the Union by its great promoter, has therefore been less entire than it otherwise would have been. Notwithstanding this drawback however, the material resources of Ireland have vastly increased, and its general condition been in all respects greatly improved, since it has by the Union become an integral portion of the British empire.

The first parliament of "the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland," assembled on the 22nd of January 1801, when the king, in his opening speech, declared his confidence "that their deliberations will be uniformly directed to the great object of improving the benefits of that happy union, which by the blessing of Providence, has now been effected, and of promoting to the utmost the prosperity of every part of his dominions."

There were certain Acts passed subsequent to the Union which it will be requisite to notice, as they exhibit the views of the now united parliament in regard to Ireland and the relief of the Irish poor, and form also a necessary introduction to the more important measure which followed in 1838.

Ante, p. 51.

'An Act to appoint Commissioners for two years, to examine into the nature and extent of the several Bogs in Ireland &c.,' was passed in 1809, commencing with this recital--"whereas there are large tracts of undrained bog in Ireland, the draining whereof is necessary for their being brought into a state of tillage; and whereas the adding their contents to the lands already under cultivation, would not only increase the agriculture of Ireland, but is highly expedient towards promoting a secure supply of flax and hemp within the United Kingdom for the use of the navy, and support of the linen manufacture"--it is therefore enacted that the lord lieutenant may appoint not exceeding nine persons, to be commissioners for ascertaining the extent of such bogs as exceed 500 acres, and for inquiring into the practicability and best modes of draining the same, and the expense of so doing,--also as to the depth of bog soil, the nature of the strata underneath, the nature and distance of the manure best fitted for their improvement &c.--"together with the opinion of the said commissioners as to such measures as they shall deem necessary or expedient for carrying into speedy effect the drainage cultivation and improvement of all such bogs, and the future increase of timber in Ireland, by providing for the plantation and preservation of trees in such parts thereof as shall be best fitted for the purpose;" and it is further enacted that the commissioners shall act without a salary.

The corporations are required to build or hire houses for hospitals for relief of the poor who are ill of fever, in the several counties or counties of cities or towns, "as soon as they shall be possessed of funds sufficient for this purpose, as plain, as durable, and at as moderate expense as may be." The hospitals are to be divided into two parts, one for poor helpless men, the other for poor helpless women, and the corporations are to appoint masters, physicians, surgeons, apothecaries, nurses, and other fit persons and servants to govern and take care of such hospitals and the patients therein. Grand juries are empowered to present sums, not exceeding double the amount of private donations and subscriptions to fever hospitals, whether the same be attached to any dispensary or not, and they may also present in like proportion for local dispensaries; and whenever such presentments are certified by the clerk of the crown, the lord lieutenant may order an advance of money from the consolidated fund; and on the appearance of fever in any town or district, he may also appoint a board of health, with powers "to direct that all streets, lanes and courts, and all houses and all rooms therein, and all yards gardens or places belonging to such houses, shall be cleansed and purified, and that all nuisances prejudicial to health shall be removed therefrom."

The necessity for attending to the state of the poor generally, including the lunatic and insane poor, seems now to have been strongly felt, and this feeling naturally led to the passing of the present Act. Lunacy is said to be more prevalent in Ireland, than it is either in England or Scotland, whilst the poverty of the people caused it to be there, if possible, a greater affliction than elsewhere, and rendered greater care necessary for the protection of its hapless victims.

The foregoing are the only Acts requiring to be noticed, between the period of the Union and the passing of the Irish Poor Relief Act in 1838. They show the feeling of the legislature with regard to the state of Ireland, and seem to point to further measures as being necessary for amending its social defects. But in the interval there were moreover several commissions appointed by the crown, and several committees of parliament, whose reports contain much valuable information as to the state of the country and the condition of the people at the respective periods; and some of the more prominent of these we will now proceed to notice.

Ante, p. 79.

Ante, p. 45.

The grants were made annually, and these years are selected as indicating the average amount. The whole is abstracted from a return made to parliament in 1828, and from Warburton Whitlaw and Walsh's History of Dublin, published in 1818.

Share on: WhatsApp @Hash Facebook Tweet