COLONEL TORRENS ON THE IRISH POOR-LAW QUESTION.
A VERY interesting pamphlet, by Colonel TORRENS,*" confirms our own view of the Irish Poor-law qtaestion. His object is to show the absolute necessity of .1 auxi`iiary measures" as means to the effective working of any Nor .law measure; and he makes out his case most completely, in our humble opinion. Relying on the Report of Cornroissioners long occupied with an inquiry into the economical coniVition of Ireland, founded, as that Report is, upon a great mass of trustworthy evidence, Colonel TOERENS questiona the uirsupported estimates, or rather as- sumptions, of Mr. Nicammis ; whih really consist of little more than the latter gentleman's ipse dint. In this. however, there is nothing new. The calculations or rather assertions of Mr. N-cnot.es, though adopted by Lord Jou N RUSSELL, have not found favour with a single person, it may be said, who is intimately ac- quainted with the state of Ireland. The novelty of Colonel TOR- BENS'S view of the Irish Poor. law question consists of a masterly application to that subject of Mr. IV aueetesn's doctrine as to the effect of " combination of lab ■tir" in augmenting what Dr. CHALMERS calls the " disposable population." Drawing largely .on England and America, Colonel Ton Rena establishes, we think, not only that the estimate of Mr. N Ram t.s is absurdly below the mark, but that if a Poor-law kir Ireland should accomplish its main object—the substitution of English farms for the Irish eottier system—millions will be added to the existing millions already without employment. But the gallant economist shall speak for himself.
"ow THE CAUSE OF DESTITUTION IN IRELAND. MAGNITUDE OF THE DIFFICULTY TO liE OVERCOME. "It is stated in the Third Report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the condition of the poorer classes in Ireland, upon. the authority of the Parliamentary Papers therein referred to. that in Great Britain 1,055,9S2 agri- cultural labourers raise produce to the value of 150,000.000/, while in Ireland
1,131,715 agricultural labourers raise produce writ th only 36,000,000/. Now,
as the natural quality of the last land resorted to in Ireland is superior, rather than inferior to the hot land resorted tr• in Engl Ind. one of two things most necessarily follow, from the different degrees of productive power with which agricultural labour is applied in the two countries, either the interest of money
and the general rate of prefitn, must be very min+ higher in England than in Ireland, or else the wages of labour must be very much lower in Ireland than
in England. But the interest of money, and the general rate of profit, are lower in England than they are in Ireland, and therefore, even if we had no evidence more direct respecting the condi ion of the working classes in Ireland, we could infer with unerring certainty, that wages in Ireland must be far more depressed than in England ; and that, while the rural labourers in Eng- land earn on the average no more than from Ss. to 10s. a week, the rural labourers in Ireland must be on the verge of starvation. But the evidence published with the Report establishas the frightful fact by the direct testimony of a host of witnesses. In Ireland, the average earnings of the labourer are only from 2s. to 2s. 6d. a week ; and 2.800,000 souls, unable to obtain em- ployment even at these miserable wages, have no means of escaping from famine, except by resorting to vas rarey or plunder.
" The cause of the low comparative rate of wages in Ireland must be already
apparent. It is stated in the statement, that in Ireland four labourers em- pioyed upon the soil raise a less quantity of produce than what is raised in Eng- land by one labourer so employed. The Irish labourer earns little, because he produces little. In Ireland the productive power of agricultural industry is so low, that the labour applied to that quality of land which pays no rent, yields notbing beyond that minimum quantity of subsistence which is barely suffi- cient to keep the family of the labourer alive : while the number of labourets in relation to this quantity of land is so much in excess, that there are '2 300,000 vagrants without any independent means of support, and kept alive by means of mendicity or theft. " The proximate cause of the destitution which prevails in Ireland, lathe low effective power of agricultural industry. But what is the ultimate and predis- posing came of the general malady ? Why are the effective powers of agricul- tural industry lower in Ireland than in England ? The last quality of land re- sorted to in Ireland is not less fertile than the last quality of land resorted to in England. Why, then, does it require four labourers to raise in Ireland that quantity of produce which is raised by one labourer in England ? We must obtain a correct solution of these questions before we can acquire an accurate knowledge of the evils of Ireland, or apply an appropriate remedy for their renea al.
"1 he want of combined labour and capital on the land is the cause of the low ef- fective powers of agricultural industry in Ireland. Industry pe, forms her miracles only when many hands are employed at the some time upon the same work. lu England, a farmer possessing adequate capital, cultivates 500 acres with the combined labour of fifteen hired labouters ; and therefore the produce is large in proportion to the number of bands employed in raising It. In Ireland, a peasant, nearly destitute of capital, cultivates ten acres by means of his own rolated and unassisted exertions; and therefore the quantity of produce is small, in proportion to the quantity of labour employed in raising it. " We have now art wed at the rout of the disease. The want of combined labour and capital upon the soil, is the cause of the defective agriculture of Leland ; and the defective agriculture is the cause of the poverty of the people. No measure for relieving the distress of the Irish people can have a chance of suecess, unless it be calculated to augment the productive powers of agriculture on that country, and to enable a given quantity of labour to extract from the soil a greater quantity of produce. In every country, the general scale of com- fort and accommodation must be mainly determined by the proportion of the wlade population which is required to raise food for the whole. If in any coun- try the productive powers of agricultural industry were so low that it required the whole of the people to raise the necessary supply of food, then the whole of the people must remain naked savages. It the labour of nine-tenths of the • •• A Letter to Lord John Eie.sell on the Ministerixl Measure for Establishing Poor has in Ireland, and on the Auxiliary Means which it will be neceasary to etn• ploy in en log that measure into eruct. By It. Torten., Esq., I.R.S." Published by Longman. people were sufficient to produce fond for the whole, one-tenth might be eau ployed in preparing clothing and other secondary necessaries • ' and the nation instead of consisting of naked, might be composed of half- naked savages. Ts: smaller the proportion of the whole population employed in providing food, the linger will be the proportion employed in producing secondary necessaries ass supevfluities ; rind, in any given state of manufacturing skill or of freedom of trade the more abundantly will the community be supplied with the comfort, and luxuries of life. This principle, while it accounts for the destitution 01 the peasantry of Ireland, shows that it will be impossible to place them enn
point of
equality with the peasantry of England, until, by the combination of labour eaa capital upon the soil, the productive powers of agriculture in Ireland shall be improved, that a given number of husbandmen, upon a given quality of lank shall be able to raise the same quantity of produce which the same number a hushandmen employed on the same quality of land are able to raise in Englend, It cannot be too often repeated, that the cause of the degraded and destitute state of the peasantry of Ireland is, the want of that application of combined la/soar to the lard, which allows a large produce to be raised by a few hand,.
'' When the cause of the poverty of Ireland placed in the proper
view, we see at once the nature of the remedy which ought to be applied, an the extent of the difficulty which is opposed to its application. Englaul atd Ireland are so closely connected, steam navigation anti railroa,,1 communication are hringing the two countries into such immediate contact, that the reward of labour throughout the United Kingdom must speedily, conform to one common level. If Irish wages are not raised to an equality with English wages, English wages must fall to an equality with Irish wages. But the comequentee of such a fall in English wages we dare not even contranplate. The Celt mull be raised to the Saxon, not the Saxon brought Jowl,' to the Celt. In onler to effect this, two objects must be accomplished. Ir the first place, form ntat be consolidated, until the agricultural labour of Ireland can be performedby trio/ft/is of the labourers now employed in pe yorming it ; and in the second place, adequate provision must be made for nuuntaining the other three.fiftla of time present agricultural population, which the consolidation of farms must displace from their small holdings. "The magnitude of the difficulty to be overcome will be more distinctly see; if we state in figures the number of pons fur whom provision roust be made. As the present number of agricultural labourers in Ireland is 1,101,000,14 consolidation of farms necessary to place the agriculture of Ireland on the same fuming with the agriculture of England and Scotland, would throw three-fifth of that number, or 673,600 adult labour, out of employment; and as, by the census of 1831, the proportion between the male adults and the who!, population is one in four, the amount of the rural population, including tlie 678,600 adult labourers and their families thrown out of employment by the introduction of the British system of agriculture, would he 2,714,400. But there are already in Ireland, according to the Report of the Commissioners of Inquiry, 2,300,000 vagrants, for whom there is no regular employment, and who live by mendicity or plunder. The total number of persons therefore, for whom it would be necessary to provide, would amount to 5,014,400. " And now we have the whole case distinctly before us. Wages in Ireland cannot be raised to the level of wages in England, unless agricultural labour in Ireland be rendered as productive as agricultural labour in England. But agricultural labour in Ireland cannot be rendered as productive as agricultural labour in England, except by means of such a consolidation of farms, and corn. bination of labour and capital upon the land, as will, if unaccompanied by other measures of extensive relief, deprive 2,714,400 souk of the miserable subsistence which they at present derive from the soil, and thus increase the number of destitute vagrants to 5,014,400. Consequently, some gradual means of providing at least temporary support for 5,014,400, must be made to accompany any really efficient measure for bringing about that improvement in the condition of the labouring classes in Ireland which it loss now become in. perutive on the Legislature to realize. Is the government plan of a Poor-ha for Ireland, which your Lordship has introduced, calculated to realize this necessary improvement, and at the same time to fulfil the no less necessary condition of providing for the millions who, during the transition from a vicious to a better system, must be deprived of their present means of support?', Taxation for the support of the poor in workhouses, though only to the amount, as Mr. NICHOLLS estimates, of less than half a mil- lion per annum, will furnish the landlords of Ireland with a sutR• cient motive for clearing their estates of pauper tenants, and esta- blishing English farms: but then what is to become of the multi- tude thus rendered " disposable ?" If Ireland were alone in the Atlantic, the greater produce thus obtained would provide a new demand for manufactures in Ireland ; and the numbers thus re- moved from the soil might be "disposed of" in manufacturing. towns. But the increase of produce, arising from the English syss tern of combination of labour in agriculture, would come to England as rent. Even if it should remain in Ireland, what would become of the dispossessed tenantry daring the transition from Irish to English farming ? The land must be cleared of cottiers for a long while before it will yield food in the English proportion to labour. Where is the provision for that interval ? There is none in the Government plans, any more than for dealing with the present surplus of labourers. gThe Irish Poor-law by itself, then, appears more than ever impracticable without "auxiliary Tina- sures." The one measure of aid or preparation on which Colonel TORRENS relies, is Systematic Emigration. On this subject, how- ever, his pamphlet adds little or nothing to our snack of know- ledge. He promises, indeed, a "supplementary publication on the recent improvements made in the art of Colonization ;" ailed- , ing, we suppose, to the WAKEFIELD system, which he administers for an infant colony as Chairman of the South Australian Com- mission—which has been recommended to Parliament by a Com- mittee, and will presently be submitted to the House of Commons by Mr. WARD. As the Anti-Colonial Office have induced the Cabinet to threaten the utmost hostility to this measure, Colonel TORRENS has no time to lose, if he would render Mr. WARD valu- able assistance.
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