The Sun.
London, England, 1853-11-08 00:00:00

IRELAND IN 1853.

A Belfast journal (the Mercury) draws the following
sketch of the present condition of Ireland as contrasted
with that epoch in her history when professional agita-
tion ruled paramount in three, at least, out of the four
provinces

" Ireland has at length aroused herself. The turning
point seems to have been passed, and a new era in her
history is already commenced. Sectarian animosity
gradually dies away before the workings of social ad-
vancement ; and political agitation is not only less at-
tractive, but far less profitable than it was in those
palmy days when the prophets of Conciliation-hall were
wont to foretell the future glories of College-green. The
land of saints has also been famed as the theatre of
miracles ; and certainly in no other portion of Queen
Victoria's dominions have such miracles been wrought,
or such wonders performed, as those which, during the
past 10 years, followed in the wake of Ireland's current
history. In 1843 that extraordinary man, Daniel
O'Connell, wielded in this country an amount of political
influence never before equalled. Agitation kept four-
fifths of the population in one continuous scene of party
excitement, and poverty held its carnival amid the wild
orgies of theoretic patriotism. Very different indeed
is the present social aspect of Ireland, compared with
the period to which we have just referred. Peace
reigns in village and hamlet ; Burgh-quay has ceased
to send forth its lessons on ideal nationality, and men
begin to learn that self-exertion is the surest mode of
local advancement. Even Tipperary, so long famed in
the annals of agrarian warfare, forgets its former follies ;
indolence gives place to industry, and the results of suc-
cessful labour create new comforts, as they also produce
more contentment, among the people. William Dargan
is the real Young Irelander of 1853. His example
forms a living history more eloquent in its language than
the finest turned periods of ' patriotic' declamatists.
That one man's exertions have given a stimulus to en-
terprise, and a dignity to toil, which are likely to confer
the most important benefits on his native land. Ten
years ago the cry of • over-population rang from Conne-
mara to Coleraine ; the political voonomist read of the
eight millions,' and ran howling to his gods ' • and Mal-
thusian senators gazed on the lists of births in Irish
papers with the desperation of men about to be jostled
out of the world by hosts of Irish adventurers. Since
that period thousands and tens of thousands of our
people have located. themselves amid the valleys of the
United States, by the lakes of Canada, and even beyond
the far Pacific. In these lands the emigrants found
their labour well repaid, and their enterprise fully re-
warded. Every mail steamer brings with it some pecu-
niary aid from the emigrant pioneer to his friends in the
old country, and thus the success of one member of a
family encourages others, until, in many instances, a
dozen householders in one locality follow the track of
their leader. Only the other day we met a man from
the county of Armagh, who had been in Belfast to
secure his• son's passage to New York. Three of
his boys had gone thither in March last, and since
then they had -remitted their father 281. The old
man felt proud in relating the filial affection of his
children, and said he, too, expected to end his days be-
yond the Atlantic. Connected with all the various re-
generative influences which have been at work in Ire-
land since the famine year, emigration has done much
for those who leave, and at the same time perforined
great good to such as remain at home. Physical energy,
the bone and sinew of our people having had a new
value set on their labour, has ceased to be a drug in the
market. Every man willing to work finds a ready sale
for his exertions. Compulsory idleness no longer finds
a place in Ireland's grievance-list, and paragraphs on the
state of the country' rarely meet the eye in the papers
of the day. All these outward and visible signs of
better times lead us to hope that at length the people of
Ireland have found out that simple problem in social
ethics, that, in the advancement of any class, the mem-
bers of that class must put their own shoulders to the
wheel if they would insure successful operations.
Throughout the west of Ireland manufacturers are
making satisfactory progress, and we are happy to learn
that there is not alone a willingness to labour found
among the peasantry, but an advancing skill which
speaks highly of the. natural abilities of the workers.
The practical operation of the Encumbered Estates
Court has raised, up a new and more energetic race of
landowners—men who are introducing improved systems
of agriculture on their estates, and giving ample employ-
ment to the labourers in their several localities. Ten
years have, therefore, done wonders for Ireland : the
people are improved in habits and in morals ; their ideas
seem more steadily fixed on self-exertion, and, with their
bettered circumstances, they have become a peaceful as
well as an industrious people."

DEFEAT OF A CHURCH RATE.—Last week, a meeting
was convened in the church at Langtoft, for the pur-
pose of laying a church rate. Mr. George Robinson,
parish-clerk, moved, and Mr. Richard Gray, the occu-
pier of the tithe farm, seconded, a resolution that a
church-rate of 2d. in the pound should be laid. Mr.
Philip Wilson moved as an amendment, which was se-
conded by Mr. William Brounton, that the meeting be
adjourned to that day twelvemonth. After a good deal
of threatening on the part of the pro-rate party, the
amendment was carried by a good majority.—Eastern,
Counties Herald.
AN ANTI-MALTHUSIAN PRINTING-OFFICE.—The Buf-
falo Express says :—lt affords us unalloyed pleasure to
be able to announce that three employes of this office
have each, within the past six days, been presented with
a promising son. The climax was capped yesterday, at
12 o'clock a.m. precisely, by our associate, who now
glories for the first time in the paternal title. Verily he
is blessed with a noonday sun.
DIVORCE OBTAINABLE WFKH OR WITHOUT MONEY.—
" I've a friend who wants to get divorced," said a gen-
tleman to a legal friend, "how is he to set about it ?"
"If he is rich, go to Doctors' Commons, and, provided
he can prove the necessary facts, he may do so for a
thousand pounds." "But he hi poor, sir." "In that
case," said the lawyer, "he must go to the workhouse,
where, without proving any crime against his wife at
all, they will divorce them directly."