be introduced into Ireland without producing grave discontent, and provoking determined resistance. The small farmer has clung to his little holding, because when employment is not continuous, he is not safe against the workhouse without the possession of a patch of land. He cannot be induced peaceably to let go his hold of it, and trust himself the life of a labourer, unless, when he has thus altered his condition, he be protected against what is to him the worst result of temporary distress. Even when wages are higher, and work more regular than now, he will require to be secured against bad seasons and the consequent fluctuations of employment, whether general, or local. If the Irish labourer be placed in the same position as the Englishman, with respect to public relief, our peasant farmers and cottiers will, with far less difficulty, be induced to resign the holdings which they cannot cultivate properly; and the inevitable process of consolidation will go on with less detriment to the interests of the poor, and less danger to the peace of the community. If the difference in the law be maintained, then, I say, either the notion of introducing the English system of land management will have to be abandoned, and another, perhaps more conformable to the Continental model, will have to be introduced in its stead; or, should the effort to multiply the large farms be continued, it will produce general popular discontent and social disorganisation.
One of the greatest evils of Ireland is the disaffection to the government which undeniably exists, and it is our duty to do everything in our power to correct this state of feeling, by removing all just causes of complaint. Now I have no wish to depreciate the value to the lower classes of what are properly called political reforms; in their direct, and still more in their remote results, they often powerfully affect the interests of the poor. But this at least cannot be denied, that questions of a strictly social kind affect them far more nearly, and come more home to their business and their bosoms. And I cannot imagine anything possessing more real and vital interest for a labouring man than the answer to the questions, What is to befall him in case of temporary pressure for want of work? What is to be the lot of his widow in the event of his untimely death? What will be the condition of his orphans; what will be their prospects of material subsistence, and to what moral and religious influences will their young minds be exposed, when deprived at once of the means of support and of a father's control and guardianship?
What, then, must be the feelings of the Irish working man, when he ascertains that in relation to every one of these questions, the law deals much more liberally with the English labourer than with himself? Those of my hearers who have followed the discussions of this Society do not need to be informed that such is in fact the case.
Every destitute person in England has a legal right to relief on submitting to the prescribed tests. In Ireland no such right exists; the guardians are the sole judges whether a person is destitute, and from their decision, there is no appeal.
In England, as we have seen, the able-bodied can obtain relief out of the workhouse at the discretion of the Central Board and the
