{"product_id":"2940012396556","title":"IRELAND - A Tale","description":"Proofed and corrected from the scanned original edition.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e*****\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePREFACE.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThought it is my business to treat of the permanent rather than of the transient causes of the distress of Ireland,—of her economy rather than her polities,—I have been perplexed by some of the difficulties which at present beset all who would communicate with the public on her behalf. It is impossible to foresee while writing what may have happened, before our thoughts are printed, to change the aspect of affairs, and modify the counsel we would offer. No pains have been spared to ascertain the correctness of the data on which my story is constructed; yet I have felt through the whole course of it that I might finally resolve to keep it back as useless, there being a strong probability that it might, a few weeks hence, appear antiquated in comparison with the treatises which may then be wanted. I cannot but trust, however, that leisure will soon be spared from the consideration of emergencies for an investigation into the long-subsisting causes of Irish distress ; that the painful labour of punishing crime may give place to the more hopeful task of superseding it; and that the government may ere long turn from enforcing obnoxious laws to fostering the resources of the country.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMany will think with me that the title of this story is too grand for its contents; and more may be disappointed oil finding how few are my personages, and how little I have dealt with the horrors of the time.—The purpose of my title is to direct the work into the hands of those whom it most concerns; and my personages arc few because it is my object to show, in a confined space. how long a series of evils may befall individuals in a society conducted like that of Ireland, and by what a repetition of grievances its members are driven into disaffection and violence. As for the incidents of the tale, my choice was influenced by the consideration, not of what would best suit the purposes of fiction, but of what would most serve the cause of the Irish poor. A much more thrilling and moving story might have been made of conspiracy, rebellion, and slaughter by weapon and by gibbet ; but these scenes want no further development than may be found in our daily newspapers; while the silent miseries of the cottier, the unpitied grievances of the spirit-broken labourer cannot have been sufficiently made known, since they still subsist. These miseries, protracted from generation to generation, are the origin of the more lively horrors of which everybody hears. Let them be superseded, and there !will be an end of the rebellion and slaughter which spring from them.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNow that it is the fashion with a certain portion of society to denounce every exposition of state impolicy as inflammatory, I may be exposed to the common charge of attempting to excite the disaffection, some of whose causes I have attempted to expose. Since it is no longer a secret, however, that Ireland has been and is misgoverned, and since the readiest method of winning back the discontented to their allegiance is to allow those things to be grievances which are felt to be so, and to show a disposition to afford redress, I cannot but hold the part of true loyalty to be to expose abuses fearlessly and temperately, and to stimulate the government to the reparation of past errors and the improvement of its principles of policy. Such should be my loyalty if I had access to the councils of the state ; and such it is now that I can speak only as a well-wisher to Ireland, and an indignant witness of her wrongs.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAn excerpt from:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Summary of Principles illustrated in this Volume.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhatever affects the security of property, or intercepts the due reward of labour, impairs the subsistence-fund by discouraging industry and forethought.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePartnership tenancies affect the security of property by rendering one tenant answerable for the obligations of all his partners, while he has no control over the management of their portions.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA gradation of landlords on one estate has the same effect, by rendering one tenant liable to the claims of more than one landlord.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe levying of fines on a whole district for an illegal practice going on in one part of it, has the same effect, by rendering the honest man liable for the malpractices of the knave.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe imposition of a church establishment on those who already support another church, intercepts the due reward of labour, by taking from the labourer a portion of his earnings for an object from which he derives no benefit.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe practice of letting land to the highest bidder, without regard to former service or to the merits of the applicants, intercepts the due reward of the labourer, by decreeing his gains to expire with his lease.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll these practices having prevailed in Ireland, her subsistence-fund is proportionably impaired...","brand":"Leila's Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47168138379504,"sku":"2940012396556","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940012396556_p0.jpg?v=1763568457","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940012396556","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}