The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1851-08-07
EUROPEAN AFFAIRS.

ulation in Ireland as developed by the returns OF
the Irish census for the decade ending in 1851 IL
has thus been made manifest that that land one Of
the farest ofthe globe preeminent for soil as well
for climate, richer than almost any other in the Ia
Dor of its children, where that labor is properly di
rected and rewarded, as the wonderful improve
ment Of our own country by Irish sinews proves,
has lost 100000 human beings in ten years
Its strength has persisted by mans, not Gods,
hand. In ls4l it contained s,l75,l24, and in
1851 it possesses but 65l5,794 souls. Estimating
the least proper increase under good Govern
ment at half a million, and we have q total Of
more than two millions Of human beings lost to
Ireland by the combination Of miseries under
which she groans a loss which, in an industrial
point of view, cannot fail to do far more injury
(economicsl) to the Realm, of which she forms an
important integer, than is repaid by whatever ad-
vsntsges the Government of Britain may fancy it
draws from the perpetuation of the ancient checks
chains burdens, and disabilities, which, together,
have worked out this terrible result.
OF the details of the returns, we may mention
that there is decrease in the population Of every
county, except Dublin while there is an in
crease in that of all the towns Galway, for i'm
stance, has increased no less than 43 per centum
while in Belfast the increase amounts to 80 per
oentum The total emigration from Great Brit
ain and Ireland in the decade amounts to some
,494 1885, nne-tenths of which is believed to have
been Irish. The people Of New York know well
that the far greater part of the Irish emigration
consists of adults in the prime of life; thus not
only deducting out Of fair proportion from her
capacity to work out her own regeneration in this
age, but fsarfully from her means of so recupe-
rating as to promise TO effect that so desirable
object in reasonable time Famine has doubtless
done its share of this terrible work. But the
cause Of famine in Ireland may clearly be traced
to the sources Of all ihe other multiplied evils
which have within the last century distracted
from her strength, moran, lndustr,sl, and ,ss.s -
CAL until she is left in the ptisble condition in
which we now find her. Absentee landlordism
has been her bane. For the support Of this class
Of her voluntary exiles, the food raised from her
fruitful soil has gone beyond her limits, to pay
rent I've may almost write, but the meanest
coarsest, and least nutritious Of the products Of
the industry of the isle.
The absentee landlords have for half century
dictated her government to the successive Minis
tries of Great Britain. At their solicitation and
upon their advice has the Irish policy of the
British Government been framed. They are
thus the authors of the bloody feuds between
Catholics and Protestants, the secret murders,
NJ h.
fights of parties to which their own dependents
on the one side and the lower orders Of Irish Ro-
manists on the other have been so prone for the
last half century - all to prove up the better
Christianity of the creed of either party, it will
be remembered. II has been to minister to their
love of excess that conscre, serfdom, and middle
man exactions, have grown up to form the most
marked features of the Irish system Of this age
They have eaten out the vitsls Of the people, IN
til at least one in every four who should now
riehtfuly be in Ireland is dead from starvation
or disease, or banished from the land that should
claim them as hers. There Is q terrible lesson
upon the evils of bad government to be drawn
from her condition. 1t is notorious that, for the
last half century, Ireland has been completely as
:. s..ss-s
istry She has been treated, so far as her own
representations are concerned, without the least
regard to her wishes or views as to her rights
and interests. When Irish advice has been con-
cieved necessary, the absentee landlord class has
been alone consulted. She has been led hither
by promises never meant to be fulfilled, and driv-
en- thither at the point of the policemans pole or
&c tha hau ham md
Of no avail England-philanthrop liberal, and
enlightened England - has worked her will on
Ireland until she has destroyed in the short space
Of ten years, absolutely and economically, full
one-fourth, or two millions, Of the Irish people.
This is a fact so manifest to all who will read
that its force is not to be broken by any system
of scribbling, such as the English always resort
to, by way Of explaining away the bearing of
truths going to prove that English cupidity has
murdered more human beings, more heartlessly
and directly than that Of any nation under the
sun, not even excepting Spain. The ignorant
Irish have given their bodies las soldiers to carry
out this never-varyng purpose Of their masters;
for it is equally notorious that the mass of the
armies with which she directly and indirectly
murdered million year for thirty years in In
dia, in her wars and Government in that quarter
were sons of the sod"
Some of our readers doubtless wonder ut the
contempt we are prone to entertain for English
philanthropic professions. IL such persons will
only seriously ponder on the condition Of Ireland
wrought out by England, wherein public opinion
is declared to have even more power on the Gov
eminent than in our own land, they will proba-
bly, agree with us in the propriety Of judging
English professions wholly by English practice
and in feeling indignant at English philanthropic
ISLANDERS and abuse Of the United States, wherein
there is less absolute physical suffering in q
year than curses poor human nature every week
In the United Kingdom, while we have no popu-
lation more degraded and ignorant in fact than
she possesses in equal ratio with US according to
total population. Each arriving steamer brings
accounts of meeting after meeting, held in Eng
land, Ireland, and Scotland, wherein her British
subjects, bent on picking the mote out Of their
brothers eye, denounce us roundly for failing in
faith, practical Christianity, and charity. These
speeches are delivered with suffering Ireland ~
ing III roncu vi eho Vory hauu Eni10o III uonouuo-
ing us, which they themselves assure us control,
govern, and direct, ultimately, the British Gov
ernment in all things in which they choose to exert
themselves We know it will be answered that
Romanist influence has had much to do in pro-
ducing the present state of things in Ireland. As
true Is that may be- England has had it in her
power to SO guide and govern that influence as to
take care that it did no mischief. On the instant
the Pope proposed to take measures to extend il
to England herself, how vehemently did her
Protestant sons Of oil churches rise up against
his usurpation. The very recent enactment Of