The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1877-01-14
a TALE OF Ruin.
dublin Natson.l

cred at Oxford by Mr.. CaroWelI, CnteI
Secretary for ireland; cit is the gentle,
to swear that Ireland 10 prosperous and
improving, he is not At for his situation"
Certainly il has always been the habit with
Dublin Castle folk to seize every oppor-
tunity of picturing the Irish people as
prosperous and improving. Whatever was
the character of the seasOn-whether the
harvest was good or bad, whether the COM
mercial depression was more or less marked
than usual, whether or, not widespread
distress prevailed, and relief committees
were found to be necessary in almost every
town in three out of the four provinces
there has never been wanting Lord
Lieutenant Chief Secretary, an Attorney
General, or some other we'll paid member
of the official corps, to mako "ireiands
growing prosperity" the theme of eloquent
deliverances. THIS policy of faissnood
reached it's greatest development. as every
one knows, ander the bucolic auspices of
the Carlisle administration, when the
country, though sick to the very heart, was
constantly de- scribed as q perfect Arcadia
of happiness aud plenty. Now, If We mem
ton IN this connection the address which
Mr.. Jo~n .han Pin delivered last week at
the opening meeting OF the otaEstica. oe
ciety, and the salient passages OF which we
print in our second page TO. da-, We are far
from implying that The late member for
Dublin is to be placed in the same cate
CORY with the Earl of Carlisle and the
other glorious cuitivators OF the eloquence
of mutual congratulation to whom re1e
nee is made. Mr.. PIN is ir-minded
man, and we are sure he would not con
sciously tell an untruth Nevertheless, he
has, on this occasion, laid himself open TO
serious censure. He tells us many things
which are calculated to bring the hot flush
of indignation to the cheek, but they do
not stir his emotions. al have no sym
pathy," he says, with those who think it
patriotic to declare that their country is
going to ruin; and believe that such Ian
guage, being unwarranted by facts, ls
neither creditable to the man who uses it,
nor conducive to the best interests of the
country" The question ia whetheG it is
unwarranted by facts, and this question ID
not to be disposed of by "a sentence OF con-
temptuous condemnation passed on person:
who look back over series OF disasters for
which history scarcely furnishes Il parallel.
For ourselves, we do not deny that ireland
has improved in some respects since the
period of the fam ne, and we are quite will
ling to take for granted all the figures th st
Mr.. PIN brings forward TO prove the point
But we do not see that we are, In conse-
uuspce, obliged to admit that the retro
spect is one to give satisfaction, or even
that Sour progress, although less rapid
than that of England OF Scotland, has been
real and solid" 1t may be true, for in :
stance, that, as respects the whole of
Ireland, there has been an increase OF ship
ping in the thirty-one years from 3.9o3, 4S2
to 10, or LAY tons "; that our profits, as de-
monstrated by the income TAX assessments,
increased from GA, $50, 479 in April 1854, to
f9, TT ,59S in 1874 that We have better
! house accommodation now than in lS47 ;
that we have, as we are SO often reminded,
| more money on deposit in our banks that
| we pay more for the probate OF willis that
We have more cattle, asses, and poultry
| do EHn n
| On the other side are a series of facts which
are nothing short of appalling. The pop
| ulation, which is the chief of all the ele
| meuts of production, has suffered reduc
ton " which" says Mr.. Pin, is probably
unprecedented i'll any country except az
the effect of long continued wars" lr
round numbers, d" it may he assu med that
the Elimination between 1886 aud 1876 ha'
been more than 3.000,0 900 persons" in q
total population of only eight millions anC
a quarter. 1t would surely have been ad
visable if Mr.. PIN had set down the loss tt
the country 10 pounds, shillings, and pence
of this enormous drain of vital power, anC
told us plainly whether or not it balanced
the increase in the value of cattle, sheep
pigs, asses, and hens. In all agriculture
countries the small farmers are tue malt
producers OF wealth; and even in cnuntrle'
such as France and Belgium, in whict
manufactures and agriculture flourish to
gether, they constitute one of the chic
mainstays of the commonwealth. In Ire
land this class is being gradually weeded
out; so that even since l96l-omitting alto
gether the frlghtful statistics of the two
preceding decennial periods-the number
of persons occupying land has decreased by
about 40, 900. " the decrease being creates
as respects those who hold less than thirty
acres" Even if it be the destiny OF IRELAND
to become simply I" fruitful mother o
flocks and herds" if the rearing and feeding
~ $Ia inla oh nnf of
occup.ers, the object as Mr.. PIN himself
says, will be attained most profita5iy BY
1.-The mixed system of agriculture, in whici
there will be sufficient tllage to supply hin
with Winter food, as we'll as food for house
feeding :" and he is fortified in his opinion
by the experience of Scotland, ia which
there has been both an increace of tiilag'
and au increase of live stock. But in Ire
land the consolidation of holdings has beer
accompanied almost everywhere by larg
decrease of tillage, the number of acre
under cereal crops having gone down from
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