The debate on the distress in the West was continued
on Monday night, when Mr. Lecky pointed out that it was not the Government or the landlords who were to blame for the distress, but the Atlantic Ocean. The peasants of the West were living on a land which could not give them permanent support. They had to deal with the same sort of soil in por- tions of Scotland. There it had been given over to sporting, which brought a great deal of money into the country, and afforded a great deal of employment. " The prosperity of those parts of Scotland depended on the sporting industry and upon the development of the tourist traffic, which had brought great numbers of rich Englishmen to see the scenery, which was very beautiful, but certainly not more beautiful than that of Mayo or the cliff scenery of Donegal." We are glad Mr. Lecky had the courage to insist upon this view of the question. There is another place in Europe in which, though the scenery is beautiful, the climate and the soil are incapable of supporting the people in decent comfort, but where also the people are passionately attached to their homes. Yet that place—the Engadine—is inhabited by some of the
happiest and most prosperous people in the world. This is not due to the Government of the Canton of the Grisons or to the Swiss Republic, but to the fact that men do not try to live by agriculture in the Engadine. They go forth when young (men and women) all over Europe and America, and return in middle life to their well-loved but barren valleys. On a division Mr. Davitt's amendment was negatived by a majority of 81 (203 to 122).
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