STATE OF IRELAND.
The condition of the sister kingdom was still one of faction, feud, and fiery religious and political agitation. Emigration to the British colonies, and the United States of America continued, and by this means the land was relieved of such a portion of its pauper population as lowered the poor-rates and gave relief to the occupiers. Increased attention began to be paid by the landlords to the cultivation of the soil, and commerce appeared somewhat to revive. The expectations of improvement in Ireland, which were entertained in England, were too sanguine. When these hopes of seeing Ireland more peaceable and prosperous were much cherished, tidings continually arrived of deeds of violence and blood, connected with the law of landlord and tenant. To this fruitful source of crime in Ireland, much of the evil state of things there was attributable. The landlords were exacting, and cherished no kindly feeling for the peasantry, especially where political and religious differences existed between the landlords and the priests. The people, on the other hand, shared with their spiritual advisers in a rancorous religious and political hostility to the landlords, whom they regarded as the descendants of invaders and plunderers. It was a common impression among the peasantry, that the rightful owners of the forfeited Irish estates were the descendants of those who had been dispossessed. Prophesies, attributed to various Irish saints, were in circulation among the people, promising the reconquest of Ireland by the children of her own land and of the true faith, the expulsion of the stranger, and the restoration of the soil to the families from whom it had been taken by the sword. With these feelings to the landowners on the part of the farming and labouring population in the Roman Catholic provinces of the country, it cannot be matter of surprise that any trick, or act of violence by which a landlord was deprived of his just rights, was regarded either as a “venial offence,” or no offence, or even a patriotic and virtuous act, according as the conscience of the rude casuist was more or less under such influences. Had the landlords as a body administered their estates in a spirit of justice; used their power to bring land questions under the influence of just and simple legislation; and, as magistrates and legislators, set an example of moderation, good sense, and true patriotism, the prejudices of the peasantry would have been worn down, in spite of sacerdotal or other influences to sustain and foster them. Such a happy state of affairs had not arrived in 1853, and the old tales of brutal and barbarous murders filled Europe-with a sense of astonishment and mystery as to the social and political condition of Ireland.
It was peculiarly remarkable that during the prevalence of a general state of affairs so lamentable, there should arise in Dublin a Palace of Industry, the sequel of that erected in Hyde Park. The site chosen was admirable—the lawn of Leinster House, at a former time the property of “Ireland’s only Duke,” but then in possession of the Dublin Royal Society. Mr. William Dargan, a celebrated contractor for railway works, with patriotic feeling, conceived the idea of erecting a building, at his own risk, for the display of the industrial products of Ireland. One thousand men were employed daily for many months in completing the structure, which was admirably adapted to its purpose.
On the 12th of May, the building was opened with much éclat. It was found more imposing and elegant than the public expected, and the pleasure felt by the people of Ireland and their British friends was thus much enhanced. It was divided into three “halls.” The centre hall was 425 feet long, and 100 feet wide; two lesser ones were each 355 feet long and 50 feet wide. The elevation of the three halls was equal, 65 feet. The whole area occupied by this Palace of Industry was 210,000 square feet. Light was admitted only from above, an arrangement which was deemed better for the peculiar kind of exhibition made than that of the London Crystal Palace, which was an edifice of glass, All the designs and plans, and the superintendence of the entire construction devolved on Mr. Dargan. He advanced £80,000 to the object, expecting a heavy loss, and repudiating any intention to derive any gain.
The exhibition was opened by the Lord-lieutenant, the Earl of St. Germans, attended by the Irish court. The Knights of St. Patrick joined the procession in all the insignia of their order. All were welcomed by the populace without, and the assembled rank and fashion within the building, with that enthusiasm characteristic of the Irish people. None received such applause as the generous and skilful man who originated and carried out the undertaking; and none of the many gifted and useful men who rendered the event memorable by their presence, deserved equal honours on the occasion. Mr. Dargan declined the honour of a baronetcy; that of knighthood was conferred on Mr. Benson, the architect.
The productions exhibited surpassed public expectation still more than did the building itself. Various descriptions of manufacture attracted the attention of visitors from Great Britain, the continent of Europe, and from America. The linen and damask of Ulster, the products of the Dublin silk-loom, especially the tabinets and poplins, fine woollen cloths, “Irish frize,” Limerick gloves and lace, received high encomiums from the manufacturing and commercial visitors from Great Britain and distant countries, as well as from the general public. It was, however, chiefly in works of art that the exhibition excelled. The splendid sculpture of M’Dowel, Hogan, and other sculptors, was most of all conspicuous. The paintings of Shee, M’Lise, O’Neil, and many more, almost rivalled the display of sculpture. There were also beautiful carvings in Irish oak, “bog oak,” * and arbutus, from the beautiful specimens which in natural woods crown the hill-sides in Kerry, especially near the Killarney Lakes.
* Found in the “peat” or “turf.” The word “bog,” so well known in India, and other portions of the East, as meaning a garden, has the same signification in Irish, and marks the places where gardens or woods once flourished, now reduced to masses of peat.
Old Irish illuminated MSS., the rarest in the world—no nation having attained the same perfection as the Irish in that department of taste—and specimens of ancient sculpture from before the Christian era, excited the attention of the lovers of antiquity, and admiration for the genius of ancient Ireland.
The English and French newspaper press and reviews complimented the Irish people upon those qualities of artistic taste which their exhibition proved them to possess, and the London Times asserted in several leaders, that whatever might be the superior qualities or advantages of the English people, industrial or otherwise, as compared with the Irish, the latter possessed in a far higher degree, artistic genius, and taste in its superior developments.
The queen and court of London felt great interest in the Dublin exhibition. Her majesty visited it, and expressed her gratification in a manner most flattering to the Irish people, and especially complimentary to the patriotism of Mr. Dargan. Her majesty’s visit to the exhibition was one of those happy circumstances in her reign, in which her noble qualities of head and heart were made conspicuous, and in which she appeared so auspiciously, as the healer of contention, the soother of social asperities, the patroness of art, and the encourager and rewarder of industry and merit. It was on the 29th of August the court visited the Irish metropolis. They arrived early on the morning of that day at Kingstown Jetty, and her majesty, accompanied by the Prince of Wales, and Prince Albert, drove through the streets of Dublin, which were thronged with multitudes of persons, offering the most enthusiastic and unanimous demonstrations of respect and welcome. In the evening, the city was brilliantly illuminated. Her majesty’s visit to the exhibition was one of the most gratifying incidents in modern Irish history. The royal party, while remaining in Dublin, drove much in the environs, and paid a visit to the house of Mr. Dargan, as a compliment to the enterprise and patriotism of that gentleman. Queen and people were delighted with the royal visit to Ireland, which also, as a matter of public policy, was wise and beneficent.