Page:A letter to the Right Hon. Chichester Fortescue, M.P. on the state of Ireland.djvu/17



us now, therefore, follow the course of legislation and government which has tended to cause or to cure the material and physical misery of Ireland. About 1760 began that contest for the occupation of land which, in the reign of Henry VIII., had begun to afflict England.

In England the great increase of trade, industry, and the introduction of the Poor Law of the 43rd of Elizabeth, maintained order and promoted the progress of society.

In Ireland the increase of trade and the growth of manufactures were nipped in the bud by the jealousy of England. No Poor Law was introduced; and from 1760 to 1829 the creation of fagot freeholds augmented greatly the struggle for small patches of land, from which alone the means of living were to be obtained.

Hence the murders, the agrarian outrages, the crimes against person and property of which Sir George Lewis has left so frightful a catalogue in his volume on 'Crime and Disturbance in Ireland.'

The remedies have been due partly to the Divine Providence and partly to human exertions. Many