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Untitled Article
was excited in the great body of the people , and the insuperable obstacles removed which at present render almost all useful knowledge inaccessible to them , we might safely leave the inherent talent and energy of the people themselves , whose natural character is by no means that of apathy or stupidity , to accomplish the rest . " Did this people ( to adopt the expressions of the work before us ) constitute only a small proportion of the population , our duty by them would be the
same ; but when their number id comparison with the aggregate body has beeome so large , it is not saying too much when we affirm , that there is nothing which essentially regards their best interests that can safely be viewed but as a subject of national importance . It is not denied that in contemplating the interests of the United Kingdom generally , the effectual improvement of Ireland is now the question of b y far the greatest national importance . It is no longer important to Ireland alone , but almost equally so both to England and Scotland ; and that not since the Union only , but since the application of steam-navigation . For though , always lying in the bosom of Great Britain .
as if intended by nature for the most intimate and cordial connexion , past ages have shewn how possible it is for nations , * intersected by a narrow frith , ' to abhor each other . These days are now past , it is hoped , for ever ; at all events , the state is now one , and the moral condition of any given spot in it must needs become the interest of all ; otherwise it cannot now be long before the effects are felt in every corner of the empire . Let not then the present condition of the Native Irish population be disregarded . Setting political union altogether out of view , a bridge across St . George ' s Channel could not more effectually have opened up Ireland to us , or this country to it , than the invention referred to has done . To check or obstruct intercourse between
the people of these lands , if once practicable , is now impossible . The channel between them is now no obstruction ; and the people of both countries , to a great degree , like kindred waves , niust affect each other , if not mingle into one . Already we have about ninety or a hundred thousand of the Irish in London , about or above thirty thousand in Glasgow and its neighbourhood , to say nothing of other places . " Past neglect may be regretted ; so it ought to be , and so it will ; but the
crisis to which we have come is not to be deplored . It had been far better for both countries had it arrived long since . An iuterchange of kind offices is now not a thing of choice—a matter of opinion , if we have any regard to the prosperity and morals of Great Britain ; and it is a good thing when circumstances conspire to render the duty we owe to God and man imperative If we are governed by sound Christian principle , the improvement of such Irish districts must follow as one effect of frequent intercourse . This may , or at least certainly should , rouse to the duties of brotherhood , and ultimately increase the sum of national happiness , and peace , and power . "
We cannot conclude without earnestly recommending both this work and its subject to the serious attention of those who have a rational concern either for the true prosperity of their country , or for the happiness and improvement of their species , W . T .
Untitled Article
Anderson ' s Historical Sketches of the Native Irish . 255
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1831, page 255, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2596/page/39/
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