THE SAXON IN IRELAND. *
Tins work may be called an economico-agricultural romance ; combining action, discourse, travels, discussion touching prices, reclamation of wastes, emigration to the Colonies, settlement in Ireland, and a glance at field-sports; the whole wound up by a Robinson-Crusoe-looking picture of preparations for a new home in the wilds of Erris, on the -very borders of the Atlantic.
The hero of the piece is a gentleman farmer; but unremune- rating prices, the transition state brought on by late legislation, the "burdens" upon the agriculturist, including the many calls upon private charity, the public subscriptions which a man can- not put aside without odium, the long blacksmith's bills," &c., render his business a losing concern. At the opening we see him sitting under a tree, meditative and melancholy, in com- pany with his wife and the curate of the parish. The divine, as becomes his profession, speaks first. He gently glances at the abandonment of protection, and then passes on to the sole seeming resource of the unsuccessful agriculturist, emigration. Against this, however, the curate sets his face, tersely touching off the dark points of the different colonies, and suggests Ireland. The upshot is, that the curate's parishioner so far adopts his proposition as to start on a tour of inspection to that country. Four-and-twenty hours in actual route bring him to Galway ; whence he makes a journey through the districts of Ballanahinch Joyce's Country, and Murrisk, to Westport. He spies the nakedness of the land as he goes along, and estimates its capabilities, while with business in- vestigation he mingles scenic descriptions, a few sketches of cha- racters and incidents, as well as an occasional remark on landlords, peasants, and the innumerable other topics which Ireland seems doomed to give rise to. On a subsequent occasion he made New- port his starting-place ; examining the vicinity and exploring a portion of the barony of Erris, under the guidance of Mr. S., an
The Saxon in Ireland ; or the Rambles of an Englishman in Search of a Settle- ment in the West of Ireland. With Frontispiece and Map. Published by Murray.
English settler, and the fidus Achates of the action. At the re- commendation of this experienced man, the gentleman farmer finally purchases a property only separated by some gently rising grounds from Tallaghan Bay ; and the action closes with that most pleasing of human affairs, laying out a new plan upon one's own acres.
As a literary production, The Saxon in Ireland is hardly equal to the purpose and opportunities of the writer. More attractive books have been written upon a partial tour in Ireland, by persons who did not penetrate into so wild districts, and who can hardly be said to have had a motive. Our author has rather a slangish tone in the parts that take the dramatic form, and his facts are very often too ordinary for selection. His descriptions of the wild and romantic in scenery are unimpressive from their flatness, and from being out of place. His account of not remarkable places reminds one of Goldsmith's Journey to Kentish Town. It was not worth writing a book, for instance, to communicate such par- ticulars as these- " A little below the flax-mills, and on the opposite side of the river, is Newport Rectory, the beautiful residence of the very worthy clergyman the i
Rev. Mr. Gildea. The church is on the opposite hill, n a commanding situa- tion, close to the grounds of Newport House. The Roman Catholic chapel occupies the brow of another eminence apparently further removed from the town."
Some passages descriptive of the people are interesting ; such as this account of a funeral.
"I had sat lonr, on the castle-wall of Doona, wondering how it was that a country so beautiful, so blessed by Heaven, could be thus desolate and wretched, when my eye, wandering over the dark and gloomy Lough Fahy, caught sight of a procession slowly approaching a ruined church that stood bleak and lonely on the hill-side. It was a funeral. I had heard of Irish funerals, but never having witnessed one, I descended from my position and took a circuitous direction to the spot. To my surprise there was no lamenta- tion, nor indeed any sound save the heavy tread of the bearers, who when they had deposited their burden within the ruin at once departed. I raised myself upon the stone-work of what had once been the chaneel, and watched the proceedings within. The coffin, which was a mere deal box of the rudest workmanship, rested on the ground ; several persons were engaged removing some stones from the surface. This done, they scratched away a few inches depth of—I would willingly call it mould or earth—but it was not quite that, it was a substance well known in Metropolitan churchyards. This done, they raised a similar box, which was now exposed to view, and in its place they crammed the one just brought. Around was scattered a shocking collection of sculls, tibix, and other bones. I counted twenty-four sculls. The accumulation of decayed animal matter reached up to the piscina, or place for holy water, so as almost to conceal it ; and the fetor was so noisome that I turned away with disgust. Nothing in unfortunate Ireland has so completely convinced me of thedebased condition of the people as these melancholy exhibitions ; they are a disgrace to the country, negativing its pretensions to be considered a civilized or Christi= land. The destitution, the filth, the nakedness of the Irish cottage, may be removed by removing the poverty which engendered them ; faults, no doubt, they are, and grievous ones, but they are the faults of circumstance : here it is the heart, the moral feeling, that is deficient ; men, nay even women can stand by and see the remains of all they held dear crammed for a while into a mere shallow hole till the place is wanted for some other tenant, and then the body is dragged from its resting-place, and exposed on the bare earth for dogs to devour and the elements to do their work upon it. A custom like this is no less detri- mental to the health than to the morals, and many places are rendered by it almost inaccessible to those who are not habituated to such things."
The purpose of the author's tour gives its practical feature and importance to the book, as raising the question of emigration to Ireland in preference to the Colonies, and helping in some measure to solve it. Of the six classes of probable emigrants, Ireland may be altogether put aside as regards four. The mere labourer, who is so welcome to the colonists, would be mad to think of Ireland : there is native labour in abundance, which if not so good abstract- edly as that of the English and Scotch, is more adapted to the pe- culiar kind of work to be done, is much cheaper, and we apprehend much safer to employ. For the mechanic there is no opening in Ireland, unless it be here and there some artisan of the strictly useful kind, who has a little capital to support him while his busi- ness as a small master is forming. To young adventurers who go out with some knowledge of a business or profession which they hope to turn to account, or with prospects still vaguer, Ireland is still more hopeless ; the country has too many of that class already. The small capitalist, who chiefly looks to an investment in land, would scarcely find Ireland answer his purpose. Food is dearer than in the remoter parts of our agricultural Colonies—proximity to the English market prevents it from becoming anything like a drug; there is not nearly so much choice, with, we suspect, more liabilities of mistake in the choosing; and there is a greater risk of social collision. To the large capitalist, bent upon increasing his fortune while he is founding a territorial property, Ireland under the Encumbered Estates Act offers in some points of view a better field than the Colonies, as removing him less from society and from the means of procuring the comforts to which he has been accustomed. But a person like our author is the man to settle in Ireland, either as proprietor or tenant, accord- ing to his means. An agriculturist of middle age is not re- moved to a new sphere where his previous experience and his habits of nicety are rather mischievous than useful; he is with- in two or three days of family and friends, let them live where they may in Britain ; if there is more to contend with (as, in spite of our author, we suspect there is) in the factions and prejudices of the country, labour is easily procurable ; and, according to his ac- count, there are districts more promising than anything in the Colonies, and many places throughout the West of Ireland quite as much so. This is his picture of a part of the neighbourhood in which he finally settled.
"So much had I been impressed with the capabilities of this district, the peculiarity of its scenery, and above all, by the excellent qualities of my new friend, that I determined to look out for a suitable settlement for my- self in his neighbourhood. With view, I proposed that we should tra-
verse the mountains, and thus personally inspect their inmost recesses. Pursuing the course of the Owen-a-vrea river from the bridge, we soon at- tained an abrupt elevation in the midst of that vast plain which lies a the foot of the mountains, disclosing many thousand acres of impraveable land, but now a cheerless waste. As we stood -upon this eminence, the capabili- ties of profitable improvement immediately before us struck us bath ; and I detail them as one instance among too many how this fine country is neglected and unappreciated. The river here divides itself into several small branches; the banks for a considerable distance on these were of a deep alluvial soil, producing rich natural grasses, and mani- festly capable, by a mere trifling outlay, of 'being transformed into good meadow or arabte lands. I should say, that immediately around the spot on which we stood there were at least two hundred acres of thin description. We also noticed that the principal branch of the river possossed considerable mill-power ; there being a gradual fall of at least thirty feet, with an abundant supply of water at all times for the use of machinery, however extensive. The ground, too, was pleasingly un- dulated; and by planting the abrupt sides of the eminences, and converting the little plains into meadows, a most desirable and profitable location would be at once created. And yet this spot, lovely area in its neglected state, presenting every requisite for a mast flourishing settlement, and near, moreover, to a public road, is unappropriated, while thousands are crowding to the antipodes at an immense expense of money, time, and toil, for the very inferior settlements they may acquire in those uninteresting and too often profitless regions. Proceeding along the plain, we found several situations where excellent farms might be squared out, presenting many of the same favourable features with the former ; and we both agreed in think- ing, that in the hands of even a moderate capitalist this extensive district might be subdivided into various holdings, so as to bring, with a moderate outlay, a large return in rental."
Nor is the country deficient in the means for field-sports. "The fox, the otter, and the badger abound ; and the naturalist will here find several species of the eagle, besides many other birds of prey. These make havoc among the game and fish; and were their numbers reasonably diminished, I know no country which would present more unbounded grati- fication to the sportsman. But it is not these things that so particularly in- terest me in the contemplation of this district, though as adjuncts to more important advantages they certainly have their weight. The agricultural capabilities of the soil are so manifest everywhere in the plain and on the lower slopes of the mountains, that it seems surprising that this district has for so many ages been so little known and so partially cultivated. Under a proper system of culture this land would have yielded employment and food for multitudes ; whereas now it has barely supported a scanty and scattered population of a few hundreds, and returned to the proprietor a mere acknowledgment of ownership in the shape of paltry rents for the pasturage of cattle. On the banks of the rivers and brooks large tracks of deep al- luvial soil are to be found, which only require fencing and partially draining to form meadows of immediate value. On these spots also, if reduced into till;,ee, would grow crops of grain, with little help ; but if well and gene- I rously farmed would amply repay the labour and capital bestowed upon them. The Bellaveeny estate, which lies at the foot of the Greenaun and Claggan mountains, particularly bears out this description. The verdant banks of this stream, and the many tributaries which flow into it, invite that attention which they have never yet received; and it is impossible not to perceive at a glance that a valuable property might be formed from many thousand acres of land now lying neglected and almost desert." Three points, however, should be borne in mind by the intend- I ing settler in Ireland. Has he ample means to carry out the un- dertaking in which he is about to embark ? has he tact to manage or temper to put up with the people ? has he skill to judge of the value of his intending purchase ; or if he takes a lease, can he rely upon his professional adviser and his intended landlord ? Finally, ill success in Ireland will be more vital than in the Colo- ! nies, as the only opening in that cotmtry is agricultural, in a limited range, and partakes of the nature of a speculation.
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