PREFACE.
The Irish Poor Law was in its origin no more than a branch or offshoot of the English law, but it is a measure of so much importance, and has so close a bearing upon the social well-being of the Irish people, that it seems to be entitled to a separate consideration. The severe trials moreover to which the law has been exposed, and the changes that have been made in its organization and executive, have given to it a new and distinctive character, on which account also a separate description of its progress and the incidents connected with it appears to be necessary. Hence therefore the intention which I at first entertained of combining the history of the Irish Poor Law with that of its English parent has been abandoned, and it is now published as a separate and independent work.
Notwithstanding the separate publication of the histories however, it must always be remembered that the English and the Irish laws are similar in principle, and identical in their objects. The end sought to be attained by each is, to relieve the community from the demoralization as well as from the danger consequent on the prevalence of extensive and unmitigated destitution, and to do this in such a way as shall have the least possible tendency to create the evil which it is sought to guard against. This is the legitimate object of a Poor Law, and the facts and reasonings on which such a law is founded, are not limited to Ireland or England or Scotland, but are in their nature universal. I hardly need say that this object is distinct from charity, in the ordinary sense of the term, although it is undoubtedly charity in its largest acceptation, embracing the whole community—It is in truth the charity of the statesman and the philanthropist, seeking to secure the largest amount of good for his fellow men, with the smallest amount of accompanying evil.
The part that was assigned to me, first in the framing of the Irish Poor Law, and then in its introduction, seems to render any apology for my undertaking to write its history unnecessary. Although failing health and advancing years had compelled me to retire from the public service, I thought that I might still be usefully employed in recording the circumstances under which the law was established, and the events attending its administration; and I am most thankful for having been enabled to undertake the task, and for being permitted to bring it to a conclusion.
It is true that for the last nine years I have not been immediately connected with the Irish Poor Law, but I have nevertheless continued to watch its progress with the greatest solicitude, and have spared no pains to obtain information as to its working. I could indeed hardly have failed to do this, after the part I had taken in the framing of the measure, even without reference to the heavy trials through which the Irish people have passed, and which obtained for them universal sympathy and commiseration. If such was the general feeling with regard to Ireland in its season of trial, it will readily be believed that mine could not have formed an exception; and in the authorship of the present work, I may therefore I trust venture to claim credit, not only on account of my connexion with the origin and introduction of the law, but also for having attended to its subsequent progress, and acquired such a knowledge of its operation and results as to warrant the undertaking.
A history of the Irish Poor Law, explaining its origin and the principles on which it was founded, together with an account of its progress and the effects of its application would, it might reasonably be supposed, afford information that must be generally useful—that it would be useful to the administrators of the law, can hardly admit of doubt. Such a history would place before them in a complete and regular series, all that it would be necessary for them to know, and all that ought to be borne in mind, in order that the examples of the past may prepare them for promptly dealing with the present, or for anticipating the future. The following work has been framed chiefly with this view; and I can only say that I have earnestly endeavoured to make it sufficient for the purpose, without any other wish or object than that it should prove useful in a cause to which during several years my best energies were devoted, and to the furtherance of which I could no longer contribute in any other way.
G. N.
November 1856.