The Sun.
London, England, 1846-09-30 00:00:00

,fiLatititt.t .11n.4

LONDON, WEDNESDAt, SEPTEMBER 30, 1846.

Before Parliament can re-assemble, whether the
period of its meeting be the approaching 4th of
November, or whether the length of its prorogation
be extended, it is most desirable that the present in.
terval should be occupied by a serious consideration
of the exigencies by the existence of which Ireland is
reduced to such woeful desolation, and by the satisfac-
tion of which that island would be endowed with a
plenitude of prosperity. Ireland is not an appendage, it
is an integral portion of the British Empire : it is not a
costly jewel in the diadem of VICTORIA, it is a
portion of her golden circlet. In endeavouring to
meliorate the condition of that country we are not
aiming at the aggrandisement of any profitable de-
pendency—we are struggling for the preservation
and perpetuation of our own dignity, we are attempt-
ing to allay our own agonies, we are striving to remove
a political leprosy from our own flesh and blood,
to satisfy our own thirst and hunger, and to
realise our own happiness. Never was a moral
blunder more calamitous or egregious than the one
which has tended to the estrangement of the popula-
tion of these islands ; it has originated many invi-
dious distinctions where no distinctions could really
exist. Sassenach, though an idle epithet coined by
circumstances, has proved itself a bugbear equally
potent and infelicitous with the buckler of Gorgon ;
it has jarred in upon the cordiality of the British
islanders, and ossified the hearts which had
previously pulsated with friendship. Such, at least,
were the misunderstandings engendered until very
recently. Now matters are regarded as in a very
different position. Englishmen evince a sincere
anxiety for the improvement and happiness of Ire-
land, Irishmen are satisfied that their interests are
acquiring a deep importance in England ; both have
betrayed an alacrity to coalesce for their own com-
mon advantage. Geographically, St. George's Channel
separates the lesser island from the greater, but vir-
tually it is no longer in existence.
For years the political and social advancement of
Ireland has formed the grand object of the internal
policy of Great Britain. Ministers have en-
deavoured, one after the other, to discover
and enforce the measures most suitable for
the attainment of that object. Administrations have
fallen, in succession, while striving to exorcise the
demon of misery by which Ireland has been pos-
sessed. One of the most eminent of modern states-
men declared, even when his ministerial influence
was at its perihelium, that his greatest difficulty was

Ireland. So many, indeed, have failed in the attempt to
legislate successfully for that country, so many astute
intellets have acknowledged themselves incapable of
eradicating its numerous and enormous evils, that at
a superficial glance it would absolutely appear im-
practicable. But common sense tells us that the realisa-
tion of happiness to Ireland is not an impossibility.
Look at the broad and indubitable reality, and what are
the inferences to be drawn from that examination ?

Why, that every facility is afforded by nature, by
morality, and by education, for the elevation of that
inland to the very pinnacle of national prosperity !
Here is Ireland, one of the most fertile regions of the
globe; its soil naturally strewed with verdure, its atmo-
sphere by turns sufficiently humid and sufficiently warm
to facilitate vegetation ; its people generous, tractable,
muscular, industrious, obedient, patient, and domestic.
And yet, notwithstanding all these advantages, pro-
visions are scarce even in times of abundance, ill-will

is incessantly fostered between the peasantry and
their employers, one vegetable is the principal pro-
duce of the land, and the principal article of con-
sumption amongst its people. Insubordination
in consequence, developing itself where tranquillity
might; by proper management, be the pervading and
permanent characteristic. Idleness is forced upon
thousands of an industrious race ; and so extreme are
the privations caused by a murrain in one single
species of tuber, that the population are
compelled to satisfy the rage of famine by
devouring seaweeds and hedge-nettles. So much
starvation in a spot naturally so fruitful ; so much
penury among men so capable of and anxious for
labour ; so much rancour and bad blood in

a peasantry so remarkable for their predis-
position to gentleness and domesticity, are facts
so glaringly anomalous as to demonstrate by their
very existence the feasibility of their removal. The
antithesis formed by the actual degradation of Ire-
land, with the capacities possessed by Ireland for un-
bounded wealth and unstinted happiness, is at one
and the same time mournful and consolatory. It is
mournful, inasmuch as it shows how much wretched-
ness might have been spared to her by merely cor-
responding with her natural endowments; and it is
consolitary, inasmuch as it testifies that by similar
means her future redemption from misery may be ac-
complished.

Impressed with these extraordinary considerations,
we turn with hope and with confidence to the de-
liberations of the present Government. Our Minis-
ters are, of course, availing themselves of the present
interval of the prorogation for the consideration of
the important questions bearing upon Ireland. In
their individual meditations, as well as in their col-
lective councils, that political problem will, without
doubt, take the precedency of all others. Many
schemes will naturally present themselves, many will
be, and have been, tendered by those who partake in
their anxiety, by private correspondents, and through
the columns of the press. 'We ourselves have offered
suggestions from time to time, and we shall continue
to do so with pertinacity and earnestness until the
great woes of our sister country shall be eradicated
by the Legislature.
Actuated by the same feelings, we publish the fol-
lowing proposition from an intelligent correspondent,
and we do so the more readily because it is based
upon justice and humanity, and because it accords
with all our preceding views upon the matter. The
writer, in addressing the Ministry to the subjoined
effect, is building up a scheme upon no specious
hypothesis of good—he is addressing himself in
homely phrase to the plain sense of our rulers :
" The Legislature," says he, " has successfully ar-
ranged the complicated and difficult question of tithes
in England, which affected the interests of the clergy,
and removed one of the greatest impediments
to the improved cultivation of the land. As
our population is increasing, and the surface of
the land is limited, it is very desirable,
both as the means of employment and increasing the
amount of subsistence, that. all the land in Ireland
which can be brought into cultivation should be ac-
cessible to the people in a fair and equitable manner.
My suggestion is, for the Legislature to deal with
the uncultivated land in Ireland on a similar plan
and principle which they have adopted with respect to
the tithes in England. Perhaps the interests of the
landholders may be more complex and difficult than
the parties connected with tithes, but it may be pos-
sible to arrange a plan by which the land may be
liberated from its present bondage, without injury or
injustice to the laadholder, by this means thrown
open in the market to those who are willing to un-
dertake its cultivation.

►► I am not aware of any insuperable difficulties to
prevent the Legislature, by an Act of Parliament,
placing the uncultivated lands in the hands of
Commissioners (similar to the tithes), empowering
them to call to their aid competent persons to value
the land which is uncultivated, and pay the owners
its fair value ; the Commissioners to be empowered
to dispose of the land to the public as it comes into
their possession. The purchasers would have a simple
and good title, a number of capitalists would
be eager to become purchasers, the soil would be
cultivated, and the population find ample employment.
The landholders, in many cases, would be delivered
from heavy burdens; the money received for unpro-
fitable land would be employed in improving land