"THE national benefits derivable from communication by railway are now universally admitted, and the period, it is to be hoped, has arrived for extending to Ireland a portion of the advantages which rapid and economical transit confer on agriculture and commerce, by which the welfare of the Sister Island, as well as that of England, will be materially promoted, and the unity of the British empire strengthened and consolidated. The Irish Railway Commissioners, among other advantages derivable from railways in Ireland, make the following remarks: "A well-arranged system of railways in Ireland would have the effect of continuing and extending throughout the country the benefits which the outports have obtained by the introduction of steam-vessels. The subsisting relations of business and commerce would be thereby extended and enlarged, and others formed, opening fresh resources to the industry and enterprise of the trading portion of the community; while an object of no less consideration would be immediately attained, in rendering agricultural produce, which may be called the grand staple of this country, at the same time more profitable to the producers, and accessible on easier terms to the principal purchasers and consumers.' 'In short, where the capabilities of the system are brought fully into operation, they present such an accumulation of advantages, as to render it an instrument of unequalled power in advancing the prosperity of a country.'-Irish Railway Commissioners' Report, pp. 91 and 95. "The line between Dublin and Cork, passing through, or connected with, several of the principal towns in Ireland with the richest intervening agricultural counties-some of the most populous districts, and, in proportion to its length, the fewest natural impediments-offers the greatest inducements for the formation of a railway, which shall connect the Irish metropolis with one of the finest harbours in the world. The Railway Commissioners appointed by the Crown, in 1836, make the following observations on this point: We earnestly recommend that every effort be made to combine into one interest, and under one management and control, the whole of the southern system of communication between Dublin and Cork, Limerick, Waterford, and Kilkenny. If a body of capitalists be found ready to undertake this great work as a whole, we presume that the general feeling of the Legislature and of the country will be to leave the execution of it as little fettered as possible, by restriction to the management of private enterprise; and, in addition to this, it would be just and advisable to relieve them from all needless expenses, to which, otherwise, in the existing state of the law they would be liable. With this view we recommend particularly that the Act of Parliament be granted free of any charge, as for a public measure; that a mode of determining the amounts to be paid in compensation of land and damages be adopted on principles more fixed and independent of private or local bias than the present practice, and that some general enactment be provided, authorising to a certain extent alterations of obvious utility, to be introduced with the original plan, without the costly expedient of resorting in every case to Parliament for a new or amended act. To accomplish so important an object as that contemplated, we may look forward to a certain degree of assistance from the state, as great, at least, as has been given for the encouragement of other public works in Ireland; and on those grounds of policy which, we believe, have not been disputed. We therefore suggest that Government should advance, by way of loan, a considerable proportion of the amount of the estimates, at the lowest rate of interest, and on the easiest terms of repayment, to be secured by a mortgage of the works.'—Irish Railway Commissioners' Report, 1838, p. 94. "The very moderate rate at which the land necessary for the formation of the railway may be obtained-the general flatness of the country through which it is intended to pass, and along which no tunnelling will be requisite the absence of numerous cross-roads and canals, thus saving the heavy expense of bridges and viaducts the avoidance of engineering expense, on account of the line having been already surveyed and laid down by Government the low wages of labour, together with the reduced price of stone, lime, and timber, and the diminished cost for termini at the principal towns in Ireland compared with England, justify the expectation of the work being accomplished within the given estimate; while increasing prosperity and augmenting traffic afford the most satisfactory prospect of an ample and enhanced return for the capital that may be invested, the calculations being the result of actual data, prepared by the official authorities for the information of Government." CONTENTS. PART I.-CHAPTER I. HISTORY OF THE LEGISLATIVE UNION AND ITS RESULTS IRISH COMMERCE Shipping-MANUFACTURES. CHAPTER II.-Commerce and Shipping of Ireland before the Union CHAPTER III.- Commercial, Shipping, and Manufacturing Prosperity of PAGE INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT AND SOCIAL PROGRESS OF IRELAND. CHAPTER IV.-Improvement of the Country Districts and Provincial Towns of Ireland since the Union-Internal Navigation and Trade-Varied Testimony of general Advancement in the Condition of the People. 101 CHAPTER V.-The Progress of Ireland tested, by Savings Banks, Post-Office, POPULATION AND EDUCATION OF IRELAND. CHAPTER VI.-Progressive Augmentation of Irish Population-Causes of CHAPTER VII.-National Education of the People since the Union CHAPTER VIII.-Institutions for the Relief of the Sick, Aged, and Indigent -Poor Laws and Number of Persons Relieved in the Union Work- CHAPTER XI.-Representation of Ireland in the Imperial Parliament - Extent of Irish Business in Parliament-Municipal Corporations- IRELAND BEFORE AND AFTER THE UNION. CHAPTER I. The Political State of Ireland from the Earliest Period to the Union ;-Showing its Misery and Turbulence under a Separate Legislature ;-The Origin of that Legislature, and its Non-Essential Feature of a Parliament by Want of the Power to Vote or Check Supplies to the Crown ;-the Cause of the Rebellion of 1798 demonstrated ;--that it was not Fostered by the British Government for the Purpose of Carrying the Union proved;-Ireland never so much an Independent Kingdom as at the Present Moment. IN examining the arguments in favour of a Repeal of the Legislative Union between Great Britain and Ireland, a primary point for discussion is the allegation, that "Ireland must be a kingdom again, and no longer a pitiful province." A minute investigation of the works of any historian who has written on Ireland demonstrates that she never possessed such practical liberty, or was so thoroughly a free kingdom, as at the present period. Of the aborigines of Erin we know as little with certainty as we do of the early inhabitants of Albion; but national pride has been strained to the utmost limit to display antiquity of descent. Cæsara, a niece of Noah, is said to have emigrated thither with a large retinue previous to the Deluge; this honour is, however, denied to Cæsara by some, who contend that the first coloniser was Partholan, a descendant of Japhet, who in the year of the world 1956, on the dispersion of the presumptuous builders of the Tower of Babel, sought refuge with his followers in the Emerald Isle, after being expelled from Greece. To the descendants of Shem, who refused to coalesce with the cursed |