Such, then, is an illustration of the motives which prompt one class
of emigrants to seek their fortune in other climes, while it is yet in
their power to do so. There is still a higher class, however, consisting
of strong farmers possessed of some property and wealth, who, on looking
around them, find that the mass of destitution which is so rapidly
increasing in every direction must necessarily press upon them in time,
and ultimately drag them down to its own level. But even if the naked
evils which pervade society among us were not capable of driving these
independent yeomen to other lands, we can assure our legislators
that what these circumstances, appalling as they are, may fail in
accomplishing, the recent act for the extra relief of able-bodied
paupers will complete--an act which, instead of being termed a Relief
Act, ought to be called an act for the ruin of the country, and the
confiscation of its property, both of which, if not repealed, it will
ultimately accomplish. We need not mention here cases of individual
neglect or injustice upon the part of landlords and agents, inasmuch as
we have partially founded our narrative upon a fact of this description.
It has been said, we know, and in many instances with truth, that the
Irish are a negligent and careless people--without that perseverance and
enterprise for which their neighbors on the other side of the channel
are so remarkable.
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