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and we cannot think that a nation which spent a larger sum, only two years ago, in the mere relief of the sufferings of the Irish people, without any attempt at improvement, and very generally with a deteriorating (because not previously considered) effect on the resources of the country – and which spent £20,000,000 only a few years ago with very questionable effect, but certainly without being grudged, in attempting to assuage the sufferings, and raise the condition of the negroes in the West Indies – can repent the loss of a fourth part of that sum, in an attempt which can hardly by possibility fail of producing considerable effect, to provide remunerative employment for the hordes of Irish labourers in their own country, and arrest those grievous calamities which their diffusion over this country has brought on themselves, and on so many others who have come in contact with them.

      In thus stating the grounds of a very decided opinion as to the measure supplementary to the new poor-law, which is most essentially required for Ireland, we do not of course mean to deny, that various other means may be adopted, with more or less of good effect, in furtherance of the same grand object. We have no doubt that both religious and secular education are of the utmost importance to the civilisation and improvement of every country; and although we do not regard education, as some authors do, as the main remedy for the evils of over-population, (being thoroughly persuaded that nature has provided for this object more surely than education can, by that growth of artificial wants in the human mind, which is the result and the reward of pains taken to relieve suffering and secure comfort during youth,) we are as anxious as any of our contemporaries for the extension of education in Ireland. We believe that instruction in agriculture, as well as encouragement to industry, is very much needed in most parts of Ireland; and that measures for the direct communication of such instruction, both to landlords and tenants, may be very useful. We believe that in Ireland, as in this country, there is great need of sanitary regulations; and we trust that the draining, cleaning, and paving of the Irish towns will be regarded with as much interest as similar purifications in England and Scotland. But we think no one who reflects on the subject can fail to perceive two truths, and to acknowledge their direct bearing on the subject of Irish misery —first, that to a people nurtured in destitution and amidst scenes of suffering, something of the great mental stimuli of employment and hope must be applied, in order to enable them to appreciate, or permanently to profit by, any kind of education; and, secondly, that in the existence of laws securing sustenance to all the poor of a country, and at the same time enabling the higher ranks to exact labour as the price of that sustenance, we possess a security such as no other social arrangements can afford, for habitual attention to all means of bettering the condition of the poor, on the part of those who have it in their power to apply those means, and on whose exertions their successful application must necessarily depend. Thus the poor-laws of Ireland, and the subsidiary measures for procuring employment for the poor there, so far from being opposed to any wise system of instruction, or of sanitary improvement, must be regarded as in truth an essential preliminary to the truly beneficial operation of any system that may be devised for either of these purposes.

      THE CAXTONS.

      PART VIII

CHAPTER XXXV

      There entered, in the front drawing-room of my father's house in Russell Street – an Elf!!! clad in white, – small, delicate, with curls of jet over her shoulders; – with eyes so large and so lustrous that they shone through the room, as no eyes merely human could possibly shine. The Elf approached, and stood facing us. The sight was so unexpected, and the apparition so strange, that we remained for some moments in startled silence. At length my father, as the bolder and wiser man of the two, and the more fitted to deal with the eirie things of another world, had the audacity to step close up to the little creature, and, bending down to examine its face, said, "What do you want, my pretty child?"

      Pretty child! was it only a pretty child after all? Alas! it would be well if all we mistake for fairies at the first glance could resolve themselves only into pretty children!

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      Vittoria has told Constance that Raimond is to die; she then leaves her with the priest Anselmo —

      Con. (Endeavouring to rouse herself.) Did she not say

      That some one was to die? Have I not heard

      Some fearful tale? Who said that there should rest

      Blood on my soul? What blood? I never bore

      Hatred, kind father! unto aught that breathes;

      Raimond doth know it well. Raimond! High Heaven!

      It bursts upon me now! and he must die!

      For my sake – e'en for mine!

      Is it very probable that a person in the situation of Constance should have to go this round of associations to recall what had just been told her, that her lover was to be tried for his life?

      Constance, in order to save him by surrendering herself, rushes to the tribunal, where this mock trial is taking place. The

1

Vittoria has told Constance that Raimond is to die; she then leaves her with the priest Anselmo —

Con. (Endeavouring to rouse herself.) Did she not sayThat some one was to die? Have I not heardSome fearful tale? Who said that there should restBlood on my soul? What blood? I never boreHatred, kind father! unto aught that breathes;Raimond doth know it well. Raimond! High Heaven!It bursts upon me now! and he must die!For my sake – e'en for mine!

Is it very probable that a person in the situation of Constance should have to go this round of associations to recall what had just been told her, that her lover was to be tried for his life?

Constance, in order to save him by surrendering herself, rushes to the tribunal, where this mock trial is taking place. Their judges sentence both. Constance swoons in the arms of Raimond, and then ensues this piece of unaffecting bewilderment.

Con. (slowly recovering.)There was a voice which call'd me. Am I notA spirit freed from earth? – Have I not pass'dThe bitterness of death?Ans. Oh, haste, away!Con. Yes, Raimond calls me – (There he stands beside her!)He, too, is releasedFrom his cold bandage. We are free at last,And all is well – away![She is led out by Anselmo.

2

The numbers of Irish in the fever wards of the Royal Infirmary Edinburgh, in 1847, were, to the number of native Scotch, as 100 to 38; and in the fever hospitals of Glasgow, as 100 to 62; and the number of Irish were to the number of English in those wards, in both towns, as 100 to less than 2.

3

Ireland before and after the Union. By R. M. Martin, Esq., 3d edit., p. 88.

4

Ireland before and after the Union. By R. M. Martin, Esq., 3d edit.

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