subjects of investigation must be the condition of the class by which crime is committed; and although upon this subject the evidence which has been adduced incidentally, and as it were, by anticipation, in the preceding part of this article is sufficient to satisfy any reasonable person that the peasantry of Ireland are frequently placed in a situation where, according to the Bishop of Cloyne, "they must either perish by observing the regulations of property, or by violating the laws of society," yet we think it advisable to adduce a few passages upon the subject from the statements addressed to the committee by some of the witnesses, whose information upon that point was the most extensive,

Mr. Barrington says that, "there being no manufactures in Ireland, the actual existence of the peasantry depends upon their having land; and the whole disturbances of the country are produced by a desire to possess it."

"The persons chiefly engaged in the commission of outrage are the lowest description of labourers and farm servants persons without land and without employment."

Major Warburton says, that "there is a great deal of misery, in every shape, among the lower classes of the Irish population, whether they have land or not; that the destitution produced by turning persons out of their land when they have no other means of existence, is a very great source of crime, as such a state of things must naturally involve the people in criminal endeavours to procure the means of maintaining their families."

Mr. Tomkins Brew says, "that the people of Clare are in a state of great destitution, and likely to become progressively worse; that such is also the case in other parts of Ireland; and that the whole west of Ireland is subject to periodical starvation; that there is great difficulty among the peasantry in procuring land for potatoes, although they are willing to pay from 81. to 10l. an acre for it; that the facility of intercourse between England and the western coasts of Ireland has, in his opinion, greatly increased the destitution of the lower classes, by inducing the landed gentry of Clare to speculate largely in cattle, and increase grazing, so that a great deal of the land which was formerly given to the poor for potatoes is now put under artificial tillage to feed cattle in the house, whilst the new system has also diminished the demand for labour; that such destitution is likely to increase; and that the population is increasing every day."

Mr. Tabiteau says, that " there is great destitution in his district (Tipperary); that the wages of an able-bodied man do not average more than 8d. a.day all the year round; that they amount to about 1s. a day for about half the year; that the disturbances mostly prevail during the season when there is no employment; that when they have no employment they have nothing to depend upon, unless thay can get a bit of ground; and that something about land is the cause of all the murders committed there."

Mr. Drummond says, "The result of the inquiries made by the Railway Commissioners in Ireland was to ascertain that, while there was a great increase in the commercial transactions of the country, the condition of the class from which criminals are furnished, their condition as to their material comfort, was actually deteriorating."

"I think, says he, that Ireland at the present moment may be regarded as in a state of transition. The subdivision of land no longer proceeds as heretofore; it is now checked, and a contrary process is taking place by the enlargement and consolidation of farms, while the population, which depends upon the land alone for support, is still increasing. The demand for land is consequently, and of necessity, greater than it was before, while there is a decrease in the supply of it arising from the consolidation of farms. I think that is an adequate cause for the deterioration in the condition of the labouring poor. In a former answer I alluded to that circumstance with reference to the state of crime, showing that a great proportion of the violent infractions of the law prevalent proceeded from this class; and that, as long as from any cause there is increasing destitution, there will, as a matter of course, be increasing crime, which can be checked only by main force.

I think the fact I have alluded to, of the increased destitution of the peasantry, and the consequent incentive to crime, has been a very great cause of the difficulties which the Government has had to contend with. Where destitution is, there crime will be found as a matter of course; and with increased destitution there will be an increase of crime. From this cause alone the Government has, within the last four years, had much to contend with. Much misery and crime arise from this transition state of society, though, ultimately, Ireland will certainly be much improved."

Captain Warburton says, that "there is decidedly a constant want of employment amongst the people in the counties which he has been acquainted with. The disturbances in Tipperary prevail more in that part of the year when the people are without employment."

Sir W. Somerville says, that "in Meath a large portion of the lower classes are in a state of great misery and destitution."

Colonel Shaw Kennedy states, that "the great groundwork of all Whiteboy offences is

connected with land; that the increase of crime is attributable more to social than political causes. Political agitation and religious differences appear only to increase crime by affecting the social condition of the people. Whatever affects the tenancy of land will instantly affect crime."

Major Warburton says, that "agrarian objects are a more fertile source of crime than any other in Ireland."

Mr. Kemmis says that, "in Tipperary, there was always a great number of outrages, of which the greatest number (three-fourths or more) are attributable to the letting and disposition of land; that, on the Leinster Circuit, outrages are mostly agrarian."

Mr. Barrington says, that "the late outrages in Clare have been put an end to by giving the people some ground for potatoes. The general cause of outrages at all times in Ireland is anxiety to possess land: such has been the case since 1761. Whilst I have been crown solicitor (for five and twenty years) I could trace almost every outrage to some dispute about land."

Mr. Tierney says that "the prevailing cause of outrages is the letting and possession of land, and the dispossessing of the former tenants and occupiers."

Mr. Hickman says that, in Roscommon, Leitrim, and Sligo, the outrages arise from the taking of land; that they all arise from land, wages, &c."

Mr. Piers Gale says, that "outrage has almost always a connexion with land; that there are no manufacturers in Ireland; and if a poor man is deprived of his land, whether he has rightful possession or not, or whether he pays his rent or not, he has little to depend on, and therefore they are extremely reluctant to leave it, and indignant if any take it over their

heads."

Mr. Maxwell Hamilton says, that "one great cause of outrage, the collection of tithes, has diminished, of course; that Armagh, in consequence of religious party-differences, is the most disturbed county on the circuit; that the disturbances are produced by Orange processions, which are now, in consequence of the change in the law, attended by only the lowest class of Protestants."

Captain B. Warburton (stipendiary magistrate) says, that "the murders and outrages that have happened lately in Galway have arisen from disputes about land; and that the principal and primary object of all associations among the peasantry is the taking and keeping of land."

Mr. Tabiteau (a resident magistrate) states, that " something about land is the cause of all murders in Ireland."

Mr. Tomkins Brew says, that "the cause of the crime of Terryaltism, in Clare, was the tenants receiving notice to quit; that the attacks on houses in Clare, in 1837, proceeded from the scarcity of provisions; when a supply came, the outrages all ceased."

Judge Moore says, that "the outrages in Clare, Galway, and Limerick, in 1830 and 1831, arose from the pressure on the lower orders by the extreme price of potato-land. The people turned up the green ground in order to increase the quantity and diminish the price of potato-ground."

Mr. Barrington says, that "the threatening notices lately served upon the farmers in the county of Clare were produced by the anxiety of the poor people to get con-acres."

Mr. Sylvanus Jones says, that "the outrages committed in Wexford lately have been the result of persons taking land over the heads of others."

Mr. Seed states, that "the two great causes of outrages are faction-fights and disputes about land." (See the same witness, 10,750 to 10,755, for a description of the desperate character of these fights, and the complete success of Lord Normanby's government in puting them down.)

Mr. Barnes (stipendiary magistrate) says, that "the murders in Longford were the con sequence of people being turned off their land and strangers put in; that those put out were Catholics-those put in were Protestants."

In 1836-8 more than 330 ejectments issued from the quarter sessions' court of Longford, besides those from the superior courts; that before 1833 the barony of Longford was the quietest in the county of Longford, and the county itself the quietest in Ireland."

Lord Lurgan states, that "there exists in Ireland a most intimate connection between crime and the management of landed property."

Sir William Somerville says, that "the only violent outrage he can recollect in Meath, for three or four years, is the murder of Mr. Hatch, which was committed 'for the old cause of ejectment,' he having put a tenant out at the expiration of his lease."

Mr. Warburton says, that "the outrages were directed against Catholics as well as Protestants."

Mr. Maxwell Hamilton says, that "no outrages were committed against Protestants as such, nor any of a religious character."

Mr. Kemmis says, that "on the Leinster circuit outrages are mostly agrarian, committed neither on account of religion nor of politics."

Mr. Barrington says that "the outrages have always been local; that certainly no outrages have upon his circuit been directed against any persons on account of their professing any particular religious creed; that they have been always committed against men of all reli

gions indiscriminately; and that in his twenty-five years' experience he never knew an outrage committed for a political object."

Mr. Hickman says, that "he never knew one offence committed against a man on account of religion; nor any of a rebellious character; that they all arise from land, wages, &c." Mr. Piers Gale says, that "it scarcely ever happens that religion has any thing to do with outrages on the Home circuit. He never knew an instance in which the outrage seemed to be directed against the institutions of the country, except one, and that is now pending for trial."

Judge Moore says, that "the disturbances of 1830-1 had nothing of a political nor of a religious character; that the Roman Catholics must have suffered most, as they were the most numerous."

Mr. Cahill states, that "the crimes which he knows to have been committed in Ireland were totally disconnected with politics."

Mr. Barrington says, that "the payment of tithes has been the cause of outrage, but not the payment of rent, or of the county cess. The grand-jury county cess is applied in public works in the necessary repair of the roads of the county; nine parts in ten of it are employed in labour."

After the mass of evidence which we have adduced upon the condition of the class by which all crimes are committed in Ireland, we imagine that no reader can doubt in the smallest degree, that by far the greatest part of the outrages committed in that country arise from the oppression of the criminals by the higher classes of the landed proprietors; that the state of society induced by those classes is so horrible, as to cause the commission of crime to be considered as one method of self-preservation; that the causes and objects of all crime in Ireland are local, personal, and material; and that, generally speaking, they have no connection whatever with religion or politics. Amongst the witnesses whom we have cited in support of this statement, are the crown prosecutors of the six circuits in Ireland, namely, Mr. Barrington (Munster) - Mr. Kemmis (Leinster) Mr. Hickman (Connaught) - Mr. Gale (Home) - Mr. Tierney (of the North-west) — and Mr. Hamilton (of the North-eastern circuit). Of these gentlemen, Mr. Tierney has been in office twelve years, Mr. Hamilton sixteen, Mr. Gale and Mr. Barrington each twenty-five, whilst Mr. Kemmis's experience extends over eight and thirty years, during which he states that he has never missed a circuit. It is evident from the date of their appointments that they were all promoted by Conservative administrations; and some of them, we believe, are tolerably staunch Tories. Yet every one of these gentlemen affirms concerning his own district, that all the crime therein committed was the result of destitution and oppression, and of causes purely animal and territorial, without any admixture of religious or political inducements. Lord Powerscourt, however, has another way of accounting for the matter, and lays it all at the door of narrow-minded clergymen and agitating demagogues. The consequence of this agitation, laical and clerical, is, according to Lord Powerscourt, that "the ignorant and credulous are induced to suppose grievances where none really exist, and where they would have discovered none if they had not been put into their heads by others." (Pamphlet, p. 132.) If we had not read this passage we should certainly have ventured to think that an Irish peasant, or small farmer, did not require the assistance of a narrow-minded clergyman, or of a long-tongued agitator, to show him that he, the peasant or farmer aforesaid, had very little and very bad food, that he had very little and very bad clothing, that he had little or no bedding, that his cabin was burnt or levelled with the ground, that he himself, with his wife and children, was hunted like a wild beast out of the residence which he had himself erected; and was reduced to the hideous condition, which left him no choice except that of perishing by hunger in submission to the laws, or of dying upon the scaffold for the violation of them.

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[To be continued in our next Number.]

"A wind-like joy will rush
Through every tree and bush,
Bending softly in affection,
And spontaneous benediction.

"Insects, that only may

Live in a sunbright ray,

To my whiteness, to my whiteness,
Shall be drawn, as to a brightness.

"And every moth and bee
Shall near me reverently,

Wheeling round me, wheeling o'er me,
Coronals of motioned glory.

"I ween, the very skies

Will look down in surprise, When low on earth they see me, With my cloudy aspect dreamy.

"Ten nightingales shall flee
Their woods, for love of me,

Singing sadly all the suntide,
Never waiting for the moontide!

"Three larks shall leave a cloud,

To my whiter beauty vowed, Singing gladly all the moontide, Never waiting for the suntide."

So praying, did she win

South winds to let her in, In her loneness, in her loneness, And the fairer for that oneness:

But out, alas for her!
No thing did minister

To her praises, to her praises,
More than might unto a daisy's.

No tree nor bush was seen To boast a perfect green, Scarcely having, scarcely having One leaf broad enow for waving.

The little flies did crawl
Along the southern wall,

Faintly shifting, faintly shifting

Wings scarce strong enow for lifting.

The nightingale did please

To loiter beyond seas.
Guess him in the happy islands,
Learning music from the silence.