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Article ACCOUNT OF A TOUR TO KILLARNEY, &c. ← Page 4 of 5 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Account Of A Tour To Killarney, &C.
parochial provision made for the indi gent as in England . Potatoesand butter-milk is the constant and almost invariable food of the poor people in this part of Ireland , therefore a scarcity of potatoes amounts to a scarcity of every thing ; and , when it is considered that many of the cabins contain a large family , a forcible diminution of their little stock is a species of oppression very forcibl y felt . A class of peasants to
superior these keeps a cow , or a horse , and sometimes both , the , maintenance of ivhich has been much derived from public lands , or commonage , enjoyed by the poor from one generation to another ; but , since English manners and English improvements have been introduced into Ireland , commons have been inclosed and made into deerparks , and the poor shut out from what they deem the spontaneous gift of nature , or right by prescription . On this subject Dr . Goldsmith , in his sweet poem of The Deserted Village , justl y says ,
" Those fenceless fields the sons of wealth divide , " And e ' en the bare-worn common is deny'd . " The poor creatures being thus distressed by the proctor and the incloser of land , against whom no redress can be obtained by a process " of law , they rose up in support of a cause , to which they were urged by resentment and the common feelings of human nature : proctors were
dragged out of their beds at midni g ht , and frequently buried up to their necks in earth ; newly erected park-walls were levelled to the ground , and several other kinds of outrage and violence committed . The country was soon alarmed , and revenge followed with great severity , many of the poor wretches being taken and executed in different parts of the provinces of Munster and Leinsterand ( in order to render
, much evidence unnecessary ) an act of parliament was passed , which declared it felony for any person to be seen in the White Boy uniform *' . In consequence of this sanguinary and impolitic act , many hundreds have been hanged in different places , yet the White Boys are by no . . means extirpated or totally silenced ; nor , indeed , is it likely that the effect should cease before the cause is removed .
In the act of parliament I have just mentioned they are termed deluded wretches , as though the framers of that act were desirous of proclaiming their own ignorance , by declaring that delusion and . wretchedness were crimes deserving of death . No generous Briton would allow the Corsican opposition to the yoke of Genoa to be stiled rebellion , nor did our king fail to afford a ' comfortable asylum to their illustrious
Paoli , when he could stand no longer in the cause of freedom ; yet will the _ same people permit this shameful oppression in a distant part of their own empire ; and nobody thinks about liberty and patriotic resistance when he talks of a "White Boy . Of my journey thus far I have now g iven you the best account in my power , in which I hope I have avoided a tedious minuteness on the one hand , or slipping into negligent omission on the other . Other travellers , as they are differently affected , will express themselves dif-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Account Of A Tour To Killarney, &C.
parochial provision made for the indi gent as in England . Potatoesand butter-milk is the constant and almost invariable food of the poor people in this part of Ireland , therefore a scarcity of potatoes amounts to a scarcity of every thing ; and , when it is considered that many of the cabins contain a large family , a forcible diminution of their little stock is a species of oppression very forcibl y felt . A class of peasants to
superior these keeps a cow , or a horse , and sometimes both , the , maintenance of ivhich has been much derived from public lands , or commonage , enjoyed by the poor from one generation to another ; but , since English manners and English improvements have been introduced into Ireland , commons have been inclosed and made into deerparks , and the poor shut out from what they deem the spontaneous gift of nature , or right by prescription . On this subject Dr . Goldsmith , in his sweet poem of The Deserted Village , justl y says ,
" Those fenceless fields the sons of wealth divide , " And e ' en the bare-worn common is deny'd . " The poor creatures being thus distressed by the proctor and the incloser of land , against whom no redress can be obtained by a process " of law , they rose up in support of a cause , to which they were urged by resentment and the common feelings of human nature : proctors were
dragged out of their beds at midni g ht , and frequently buried up to their necks in earth ; newly erected park-walls were levelled to the ground , and several other kinds of outrage and violence committed . The country was soon alarmed , and revenge followed with great severity , many of the poor wretches being taken and executed in different parts of the provinces of Munster and Leinsterand ( in order to render
, much evidence unnecessary ) an act of parliament was passed , which declared it felony for any person to be seen in the White Boy uniform *' . In consequence of this sanguinary and impolitic act , many hundreds have been hanged in different places , yet the White Boys are by no . . means extirpated or totally silenced ; nor , indeed , is it likely that the effect should cease before the cause is removed .
In the act of parliament I have just mentioned they are termed deluded wretches , as though the framers of that act were desirous of proclaiming their own ignorance , by declaring that delusion and . wretchedness were crimes deserving of death . No generous Briton would allow the Corsican opposition to the yoke of Genoa to be stiled rebellion , nor did our king fail to afford a ' comfortable asylum to their illustrious
Paoli , when he could stand no longer in the cause of freedom ; yet will the _ same people permit this shameful oppression in a distant part of their own empire ; and nobody thinks about liberty and patriotic resistance when he talks of a "White Boy . Of my journey thus far I have now g iven you the best account in my power , in which I hope I have avoided a tedious minuteness on the one hand , or slipping into negligent omission on the other . Other travellers , as they are differently affected , will express themselves dif-