Untitled

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 7165, 8 September 1886, Page 4

v IRELAND ANDiEBE IRISa.-j-No. 18. Tub, tragic, death pt tho powerful chief Sh n U'Neil, during a chance fr^y with his UeivU, foes, tlio M'Conneta, in Antrim, Jim , 15G7, di 1 not s 'cure peacd to disti 'etc.! (i< la'j'.J, ;is it was fondly hoped by tiro Knsrlish (sovernmpnt. Justly remarks tin* hisloritin t'rom-whos^ writings I have nircaiiy copiously quoted : " \Vjlint the low coiintues (now Holland and Belgium) were to Spain, Ireland was to England ; a d'-punu'ent piu.ir.co occupied by a/popula- _ bbu Jieu iv blood, in crued, and 'in temperumunt." Philip the Second 1 , again eotientcd tosend'help to the Irislj people, despatched an emissary to Ireland to enquire into the con'Htion of the 'country. Prom tbo rcpoit forwarded to theiKing of Spain by this emissary, one Diogo Ortiz, ua extidct or-two .given by FrouUe, may be of soiiio interest : " Waterford," saye he, " contains nearly a thousand! houses. It is surrounded by al'a 1 ' etoije wall, something lt'6s tliau a milo in circuin?erenvv, with sevuuteeu towers, and cannon on them to keep off tho savages (the native Irish). It is the richest itown ia Ireland, after Dublin, and vessels of from tlirt'O'to four hundred tons lie tit tpe quays inside the fortifications! The trade of the port is with Ir.illicu, Portugal, Audulus,ia, aud Biscay, where they send fis^, hides, 'salt mi.at, and, at timrs, wheat and barley. The tow us coutrol tlu adjoining 'country, for tha pioplt- depend rn'iucin to buy such things as ibey need, and to dispose of thm flocks aud wool. As a nation, the Irish lire most improvident. They live almost wholly on meat, and uso but little bread (eornieudo macho enrne v/. poco pan). The fiult is not with the land; it is extremely fertile, and if properly cultivated would produce all that Spain produces, exuept olives and.onwges; bnt the people au lazy and do not like work. (Ln gvnte es u,uy ol P 'az3iia, ecemigra de t/üb.-ijur). Whu lour men sow a hundred j come to reap; an 1 lie who has most success in , robbing hits neighbour, is counted most a man. Thtie is little order among them beyond Uie 'juris lictioa of the' towns.Every petty gentleman lives ia at atone tower, where he gathers all the rasculß oE the neighbourhood ; and of those towers there .is aa infinite number." .i . . . " They (the Irish), continues the Spaninrd, "all look-to Spain : to deliver thjem from English t> ranny, to save their souls, and give them .back the blessed Mass. The Alass indeed they everywhere still use in . their own houses. In YoUghnl tiiere ore yet two monasteries, a Franciscan and a Dominican. The friars are much [troubled by the English. When their persecutors are iv the neighbourhood they emigrate to the mountains, or hide ia their! cellars ; when the coast is clear they returp to their houses. Everywhere, , both in the cities aul in the country, there is a universal desire ior the appearance of a (Spanish Armada to deliver them from | slavery', und to restore their churches to them." Vr'ious schemes were now proposed by tbe jKuglish Government for tbe pacification of Ireland. A thousand English' soldiers j"ust disbanded, after the termination of o'A'eil'a rebellion, were to be sent-over as .military settlers: among thtjm werej farmer?, pjou ;hwrijhi_s, cartwrights, smiths, and cai^euters. Fishermen were to be,ted?pted over to form fishing establishments at the mouths ot rivers, which in time " mi^ht grow into' haven towns." The chief obstacle was that not uncommon difficulty in similar tjclitmts subsequently,, want of money. Another scheme was .that one able-bodied emigrant should be ' selected from' every two parishes in England, a couuty rale being levied towards the maintenance of thesa able-bodied" emigrants " duriug the first year. Each emigrant was to have a i avm allotted to him, " and the land distribution was to be so .arranged that these military colonists might "dwell together in the manner of towns, to' the number of one hundred households at least." Every gentleman emigrant who crossed over to Ireland' at his own expense was to have au increase of grant in proportiou to ttie uumber oi servantß that he mi^ht lake with him. The Queen was to pi o vide food-depots till the first year's crops were got in, aud the Crown payments were to furnish a fund to repay the cost of the oiigintil outfit. If this proposal were declined by the English Parlijrueci, then Cecil declared the Queen would be obliged to require its aid to collect and maintain soldiers to garrison the country.

EaiiONT.

[to be continued.]