In the list, you will observe that these offerings of
affection are classed according to the parts of Ireland they
are drawn upon, and you will find that they are not confined
to one spot of it, but are general as regards the whole
country."--_Ireland. its Present Condition and Future
Prospects, In n letter addressed to the Right Honorable Sir
Robert Peel, Baronet, by Robert Murray. Esq. Dublin, James
M'Olashan, 21 D'Olier Street, 1847_.
Let it not be said, then, that the Irishman is deficient in any of the
moral elements or natural qualities which go to the formation of such
a character as might be made honorable to himself and beneficial to the
country. By the success of his exertions in a foreign land, it is clear
that he is not without industry, enterprise, and perseverance; and we
have no hesitation in saying that, if he were supplied at home with due
encouragement and adequate motive, his good qualities could be developed
with as much zeal, energy, and success as ever characterized them in a
foreign country.
We trust the reader may understand what the condition of the country, at
the period of our narrative to which we refer, must have been, when such
multitudes as we have described rushed to our great seaports in order to
emigrate; the worst feature in this annual movement being that, whilst
the decent, the industrious, and the moral, all influenced by creditable
motives, went to seek independence in a distant land, the idle, the
ignorant, and the destitute necessarily remain at home--all as a
burthen, and too many of them as a disgrace to the country.
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