, 1860-07-13
Irish Emigration.

Perhaps, in the whole range OF human
inquiry, no theme can be found which has
been the subject of more specnla ion and
experiment than the social and political
condition Of Ireland. 1t has been puzzle
to phlanthropists and legislators for scores
Of years, and seems destined to remain such.
At the present time there is great distress
among the poorer classes of the country,
and they are emigratng by Thousands
The returns of the Government shows a
very large deficiency in bread-stufs, the
present season is late and unfavorable, and
the prospect is gloomy in the extreme. The
long and severe winter, lasting from Sep
tember to April, has exhausted the stock
of provisions for both men and animals;
and in those districts where the supply was
less abundant, both men and animals are in
extreme want The authorities, in some
portions of the country, are taking meas
nres for relief, but many of the inhabitants
are forced to leave their native soil to avoid
starvation. In regard TO the exodus, the
Dublin Nation remarks:
"They are flying; through Dublin our
flying people pour daily in weeping crowds.
Away, away, away-and not willingly or
happily. They are not nomlde race. 1t
Is not an Arab community that has struck
the tent-poles; they are not dulI-hearted,
ploddng Saxon people, who, for meal
more in the month, would cross the globe
itself, and call it folly to feel less at home
in Kamschatka than in the land where
their fathers ashes for centuries repose.-
No, no; these are the people whosek very
heart-strings are wrung by the deaof eler-
nal exile; people who, almost to a fault
il a virtue So beautiful could ever be a fault
cling to the ancestral home; a people
who, if they could but liye-if they could
but eat an humble crust, \brQken amid the
hardest toil-ip ireland, the land Of their
hearts affections, would deem it sweeter
than the bread Of luxury in II foreign cline,
Away, away, away! Men thought it had
ceased, this terrible exodus; they thought
this fearful hemorrage had ceased to drain
the life blood Of our country. But here II
is full upon us again; the walls are rising
once more in every village. Whole COM
mnnities are quitting forever, in sorrow aud
despair, land for which they would freely
die"
1t seems useless TO speculate on the
causes which have produced such deplor-
able result The situation OF Ireland has
been wonderfully improved, temporarily, by
different acts of legislation for her benefit
Emancipation, reform, tilhe abolition, and
the encountered estates act, have successive
ly exerledAheir beneficial influence in favor
Of that unhappy country, but in II few years
tie old cry Of starvation wouId come upon
ears that had hoped for the continued pros
perily of their country. There must be a
cause, rNdicJn cause, Of this evil. Does
it not lie in the system Of right Of property
in land, which, amid all the legislative and
moral reforms which have been going Oh
during the present century, still remains the
same? Tley who till the soil do not owr
it, and, unfortunately, Irish rents are SC
high yet, that but little margin is lefl
Tor profit Some radical change must bt
made in the system of land ownership be
fore the social and commercial condition o
Ireland can be placed on footing Of per
maueut prosperity.