the first ports of the kingdom, steam vessels fitted in this manner, or vessels expressly constructed for the purpose, having on board powerfulsteam engines by which they could immediately be brought to the place where they might be wanted, and at the same time having machinery of enormous power for throwing water in quantities far beyond what has ever yet been done, might render the most important services in the extinguishment of fire. Some delay, it is true, might at times take place before the furnaces could be heated; but afterwards, the overwhelming body of water would be capable of subduing the most violent conflagration.

The force of these engines would also enable them to propel water by pipes to a very considerable distance around, so as to render it scarcely possible that any fire which might break out amongst shipping, or buildings within their range, could be of long continuance; thereby arresting the progress of what might otherwise be of the most disastrous consequences.

These suggestions unquestionably include only a small part of that wonderful capability for maritime purposes which steam engines and steam vessels possess, and which a few years will certainly develope. Every discovery which, through the use of gas or other means, may prove a substitute for steam, and every improvement in steam engines which may increase the impelling power, or diminish the weight or quantity of the machinery, will greatly add to the facility of their adoption on board of large vessels, and extend their application down to those of the smallest class. At present the whole system, both in its general application and more minute parts, can only be regarded as in an infant state. It has been said that the power of the steam engine is equally available, from the boring of a cannon to the pointing of a needle-who then, after a moment's reflection, can avoid feeling surprise that hitherto these great powers have only been applied to the purpose of impelling vessels through the sea, whilst the most laborious duties on board are performed by the crew? It is sufficient to instance the great fatigue and loss of time in weighing the anchor in a strong tide and heavy sea, at the very moment the powers of the engine are lying dormant, and the surplus steam let off in great quantities, when a capstan, fitted for the purpose, might immediately be brought to receive just so much power as was requisite; and this, and almost every other duty of that nature in the vessel, be promptly and effectually performed: thus producing an important reduction of the most severe manual labor.

These measures for the extinguishment of fire are alike available by land and by sea: the mode is as direct, the success as certain. Steam engines or water wheels, equally applicable to the same purpose, are the means through which the machinery of the most

extensive and valuable of our manufactories are now impelled. From their very nature these buildings are most combustible, and are frequently consumed, whilst they have, as a part of their apparatus, the means which would insure their immediate and effectual preservation, and that of every building within a considerable distance around them ;-independent of the many lives which might thus be preserved, even the reduction of the premiums of insurance, as in the case of steam vessels, would far more than repay every attendant expense.

If this plan the application of these powers to such purposes -is so clear and simple that even a child might have suggested it, and so palpable, when once discovered, that we are only surprised it could lie dormant for a day; these considerations augment rather than detract from its value, because they evince that it is established on a foundation which cannot disappoint the hopes of those who place their confidence in it. The measure is one in which we cannot be deceived, it is self-evident, and must carry a full conviction of its capabilities to every one in the slightest degree conversant with subjects.

With these convictions, I should feel it a dereliction of duty were I any longer to delay in submitting my plans, on a subject in which the preservation of human life is deeply concerned, to the consideration of those departments of his Majesty's government to which they more peculiarly belong to those gentlemen composing the Committee of the Royal National Institutions with whom I have the honor to act—and to the public at large, in order, if I am not mistaken in the ideas which I have formed of their utility and practicability, that they may thereby obtain every facility of being carried into effect.

29th September, 1824.

REMARKS

ON SOME OF

THE EVILS OF IRELAND,

AND THEIR REMOVAL.

BY A

PROTESTANT INHABITANT

OF THE PROVINCE OF ULSTER.

ORIGINAL.

LONDON:

JANUARY 20, 1825.

TO THE MEMBERS

OF THE

UNITED PARLIAMENT OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND,

THESE REMARKS

ARE RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED,

BY THE AUTHOR.

For some years Ireland has occupied so much of the attention of both Houses of Parliament, that there is reasonable ground to hope that it will soon resemble in every respect Scotland, or any of the counties in England.

But certain causes exist detrimental to this great object, and until they are removed, no partial system of law, no temporary expedients can avail, but the spirit of faction will predominate; and the island which is the nearest, and should be the dearest to Great Britain, will remain the most troublesome, and its people the most miserable, savage and uncivilised of all her dependencies.

The energy and splendid talents of the present Lord Lieutenant, the conciliating dispositions of the late Duke of Richmond, the Earls Fitzwilliam, Whitworth, and Talbot, and the abilities of the chief secretaries under their respective administrations have not had a fair field for exertion: the disorder exists in the heart of the soil, and their utmost efforts have proved and will prove futile till that be eradicated.

The present picture of Ireland exhibits the anomaly of a country at peace with all the world garrisoned by a numerous standing army, and a numerous body of police, for the purpose of preventing one body of citizens from cutting the throats of the other; the ministers of the established church supported by the labor of a people averse to their doctrines and ministry, and preferring the guidance of the religion of their forefathers: the nobility and gentry of the country (except a praiseworthy few) leaving their estates in the hands of rapacious minions, and spending their rents in England and foreign countries: the small farmers, too poor to set up

legal stills and without a fair market for their produce, tempted by high duties to distil their grain illicitly, hunted by troops of police and soldiers, and overflowing the prisons: roads made by interested persons without regard to the public welfare, and the public money consumed on idle projects without justice and liberal economy, and a great majority of the people on account of religious opinions laboring under disabilities, and prevented from entering into competition for the honors and advantages of their common country with their fellow-subjects.

That this is a too-highly colored picture few will assert; but the members of the united parliament have the power to metamorphose it, and from one of the most melancholy to render it one of the most pleasing subjects for political admiration.

The vulgar error of considering the interests of Great Britain and Ireland as adverse has subsided, and the zeal displayed by so many eminent members of both houses of parliament has created a general desire in the minds of others to improve her condition, to understand her situation, and place her in a fair way of prosperity, which task, though difficult, is practicable.

Having been resident in the North of Ireland for great part of the last four years, I could not avoid being struck with the difference of that country and England; and the causes of the inferiority of the former country appeared to arise from absentees, tithes, illicit distilleries, the number of beggars, the scarcity of magistrates, the system of road-making, and grand-jury jobs, and want of Catholic emancipation.

Some of these causes are more powerful and extensive in their effects than others, but all combine to degrade, demoralise, and keep in a state of wretchedness and barbarity the Irish people.

The road from Dublin to the North of Ireland through Drogheda, Monaghan, Omagh and Strabane, gives a traveller the most convincing proof of the injury a country sustains from the want of a resident nobility and gentry. Except a few instances of resident proprietors, who cultivate their estates with skill and liberality, the greatest part of the country through which this road runs is a dreary void; no hedges, trees, plants, or green crops; farming carried on in the most slovenly manner; the huts (for the wretched dwellings do not deserve the name of cottages), some of mud, some of stones, badly put together, with or without mortar, let in wind and rain; and the inhabitants, poor, destitute of all comfort, and in many parts without fuel, drag on a languid, wearisome existence, and resemble men crying out in the morning they wish it were evening, and in the evening they wish it were morning.

Drogheda is a large town, and has a considerable trade in grain; but like the other towns on this road, pays little attention to the