The Conditions and Prospects of Ireland (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1848 Excerpt: ...outrage, or from the want of suitable society. Property cannot be as valuable to a non-resident proprietor, as it might be made by one who would give it his personal attention. If the difficulties were removed which now prevent the free sale of landed property, some one who could attend to it would purchase from the non-resident owner; and if the number of resident proprietors were increased, the inducements to residence would be greater on account of the improved society, whilst the danger of outrage would be less. Allusion has been already made to the penal code, as having had a serious effect in depressing the industry of the country. It affected the Roman Catholics directly, lessening their motives for exertion, by taking from them the means of investing their profits in land; and it indirectly affected the dominant class, by creating in them a spirit of pride and exclusiveness, which looked to other means than industry for the acquisition of wealth. It is the unvarying result of partial and oppressive legislation, to injure both the oppressor and the oppressed. In that part of Ulster where the population was almost exclusively Protestant, the linen manufacture has flourished; but the woollen manufacture, which at one time was extensively carried on in the south of Ireland, has almost wholly ceased. It is true that, in accordance with the mistaken policy already alluded to, the manufacture of woollen goods was systematically discouraged by the government; yet its final decay seems due to other causes. It flourished during the period of legal restriction, even to the extent of exporting to England in the face of heavy duties; but has gradually fallen away to its present reduced condition, since the restrictions have been removed, and our woollen manufact...