An Act to provide for the Execution of the Laws for the Relief of the Poor in Ireland, 10 & 11 Vic. cap. 90—[Passed 22nd July, 1847.]
An Act to make provision for the Punishment of Vagrants and Persons offending against the Laws in force for the Relief of the Destitute Poor in Ireland, 10 & 11 Vic. cap. 84—[Passed 22nd July, 1847.]
[59] “I would sincerely regret that anything I have said should appear to be written as if I sought occasion to point out errors and hold them up; far from it; I mention them with sorrow and a kindly wish that they may be corrected. The position of the respectable classes at this moment in many instances is surely pitiable. There is but one course by which this country can rise and take her proper position, and that is by a hearty and sincere determination to work for the public good, at the same time throwing aside all selfish and party feeling. In that case, there is no reason why we should despair; but otherwise, no mortal can either pass laws or propose any other thing which would be attended with success. In this I particularly allude to the Poor Law now about to be administered. I look upon it as an indirect absentee tax, drawing from those who did not contribute before, or in a very slight degree. It assures the poor man that from the land he must have support, and that what he labours on will one day sustain him when he can no longer toil. It will also compel others to consider that unless employment is provided, they must support him without a remunerative return,—and if this is rightly considered, then the heavy affliction which the Almighty has been pleased to lay on them will prove a lesson for good.
“On the subject of relief being given without having a corresponding return for it in labour, I feel very apprehensive that, owing to the habits of the lower orders, the present repugnance to entering the union-house may give way, and that for the sake of an idle life, they may accept the terms. To prevent this and rescue both landlord and peasant from certain ruin, there must be employment given fairly remunerative to both, not by Government, but by the owners of the soil. Until lately, what was the condition of the peasant? Work as he would, till and rear what he might, he could never hope to benefit. His portion was the potato only, shared, it may be said, with his pig. He dare not use anything else. Let misfortune come on him, or disease render him unable to work, he had no claim on the land. One a little less poor than himself might help him, but who else? The charity I have seen has been from the poor to the poor. Is it any wonder that they became spiritless, idle, and even worse?
“A townland near here, owned by a landlord who resides constantly away, is let to a middleman at 10s. an acre. That middleman resides away also, and he relets it to a person who lives in the county of Cork, and only occasionally comes there. It is sub-let again, until the price received for a quarter of an acre is 1ℓ. 10s. per annum. Can that place be otherwise than full of distress?
“Near it is another townland. The owner resides here, but he has never attended to it. In the late calamity he applied to me for seed and assistance, declaring his intention to provide seed at his own expense; and to insure its being sown, he said he should employ a person to superintend the sowing, as the land was prepared. His tenants were without food; but to encourage and assist in this case, an application was made by me to the Society of Friends for a supply to sustain the people while working, which was granted. The party supposed he had about sixty to provide for, but was frightened at over 600 applications for food; and it then came out that his land was underlet to an enormous degree. He had never paid proper attention by inspecting his farms, &c. The result is, that now he can neither get rent, nor the repayment of the value of the seed. What has been grown will not suffice to feed those who are located on the land. They cannot pay rent, and they will not give up their holdings. The population has been increased in such cases, and others, to an extent beyond what the land can bear. Another cause is, that the Roman Catholic clergy derive their income mainly from fees and contributions at marriages and christenings; and though there are some who see the disastrous result of encouraging the increase of the population, and are scrupulous on that head, still, as their subsistence depends on it, it cannot be expected that they will exert themselves in a way likely to deprive themselves of daily bread by discouraging thoughtless rushing into improvident marriages.”—Captain Mann’s Narrative.
[60] First Board of Works Series of 1846-7, page 338 to 341.
[61] The purposes to which these loans are applicable are as follows:—
1. The drainage of lands by any means which may be approved by the Commissioners.
2. The subsoiling, trenching, or otherwise deepening and improving the soil of lands.
3. The irrigation or warping of lands.
4. The embankment of lands from the sea or tidal waters, or rivers.
5. The inclosing or fencing, or improving the fences, drains, streams, or water-courses of land.
6. The reclamation of waste or other land.
7. The making of farm roads.
8. The clearing land of rocks and stones.
[62] By neglecting their estates, and omitting to construct proper farm buildings, and to make other necessary improvements, Irish landlords relinquish their position in rural society, and give free scope to the agrarian revolutionary plans which, under the disguise of “fixity of tenure” and “tenant right,” would dispossess the landlord, without conferring any permanent benefit on the tenant. In the smaller class of holdings, the entire gross produce is insufficient to support a family, without allowing for either rent, seed, or taxes; and even supposing that, with the dangerous help of the potato, eked out by harvest-work and begging, a rent is paid, the tendency to multiply and subdivide is so strong, that if the whole rent were given up, the holders would become in a generation or two much more numerous and equally poor. The fact is, that the main hope of extrication from the slough of despond in which the small holders in the centre and west of Ireland are at present sunk, is from the enterprise and capital and improved husbandry of the class of owners commonly known by the name of landlords.