themselves ever so warmly, in finishing the Canal, we can never hope
for the Coal, unless the Nation makes a Waggon-Way of about 5000 Yards
to the River; and as this will cost as many thousand Pounds, we must
wait at least a Summer or two for that, in case the Parliament shou'd
generously add this small Sum to all their former Bounties. When I
consider, that this Kingdom loses so immensely every Year, that we want
our Canal and our Coals, it makes me uneasy to think, we are after so
many Years disputing about them, when we ought to be enjoying them; but
as the remaining Part of the Expence, to finish this noble Design, is
quite inconsiderable, compared to the Benefit we expect from it; and as
the Nation must not be trifled with any longer, I hope we shall see it
soon compleated. For some Years it has had the good Fortune, to be
conducted through many Obstacles, under the Direction of a Prelate[5],
to whose Skill and Zeal, whenever the Canal succeeds, _Ireland_ is
deeply indebted, and will be forever oblig'd on that Account, to
mention his Name with Honour. This is an encouraging Circumstance, and
this further Hope of its Success, is left us, that it is now in the
Hands of the natural Guardians of our Country, the Parliament; and as
they well know what a vast Influence cheap or dear Coals have on many
of our Manufactures, they will never let us be much longer deprived of
this Blessing, which we expect from their Zeal to relieve all the Wants
of _Ireland_.
[5] _His Grace of Tuam._
SWIFT. They need not be told, (though however if I was alive I would
tell them of it) that if it cost us 20000 _l._ more, the Design well
deserves it; and if it took a much larger Sum, it wou'd be a cheap
Purchase of 60000 _l._ _per Annum_ saved to _Ireland_, which will be
unquestionably the Case in a few Years. After having been such
Spendthrifts so long, it looks like Impudence for us to talk of saving;
but as Sickness is sometimes the Cause of Health, so Misfortunes and
Misconduct may force us to be happy. It seems impossible, that either
our Canal, or our Collieries, can any longer be delayed or neglected,
and much less left in utter Danger of miscarrying, as I know it was for
some Time; but I must say, it is a Grief to every Friend of _Ireland_,
and a Satire on our Understandings, as well as our public Spirit, that
we were so long in discovering such a Leak, and afterwards so tedious
in stopping it up. If we were not a Nation as much made for Plunder, as
smaller Animals are for Prey, we should long since have remedied this
and many other Evils; but 'tis our peculiar Lot, to starve, like our
old Friend _Tantalus_, with the Meat at our Mouths, to want Bread with
the richest Fields in _Europe_ under our Feet, and to want Fire with
the noblest Mountains of Coals before our Eyes.
PRIOR. To see our Errors is one good Step to remove them; and if once
our Legislature sets vigorously about proper Methods and Remedies for
all our Distresses, there is Hope that their Zeal may make Things take
a happier Turn, for this poor Kingdom.
SWIFT. I wish I may see such a blessed Change in our Affairs, but
Seasons and Aspects are a little unpromising; and what discourages me
the more is, another dreadful Quality of our People, that of their
being so ready to desert and forsake their Country, which they leave as
sillily as Birds quit their Nests, upon every little Fright or
Disturbance, or just to gratify a wandering Humour, and to chuse a
Situation they like better. Our Noblemen and Gentlemen leave us for
Pleasure and Amusement, and our Poor for Bread and Wages, which we
cannot or will not provide them at home; and some run off for mere
Safety, as they see our Distresses, and fly from us by the same sort of
Instinct that Rats forsake a falling House. Thus a Family where the
Master first deserts the Children, and then the Servants follow his
Example, can hardly be reduced to a worse Condition than we are, by
this epidemical Madness of wandering to _England_. Though the great
Gain she makes by their residing there, will never allow her to drive
them back to us, yet one wou'd expect the very Contempt and Neglect
they meet with there, wou'd make them return to a Country, where they
wou'd be so much honour'd, and where they well know they are so much
wanted. At the same Time I make no doubt, if the old Statutes, which
punish'd all Absentees with the Forfeiture of their Lands here, were to
be revived, and they were thereby obliged, to improve the Industry,
Arts and Manufactures of our People, _England_ wou'd in Time receive
great Advantages by the Change. Mean while they, and all the Earth, see
the Destruction they bring on us, by their deserting us in so
ungenerous a Manner; and tho' the Cause and the Cure are so evident, it
avails us no more, than the Knowledge of his Distemper does the poor
Wretch that lies a dying. If they stay'd with us, and help'd us, we
shou'd soon recover our natural Strength of Constitution, and become
both an industrious and an important People; whereas now, we are almost
a Cypher in the active and commercial World, and a mere Appendix to
another Nation; while, like ill-coupled Hounds, by drawing different
Ways, we sometimes rather disturb than help one another. If I had Hopes
to get a Law pass'd, to burn every Clergyman who does not reside, to
hang every Gentleman, and behead every Nobleman, who desert their
Country for their Amusement, I wou'd even be content to return to the
World, and sollicit Votes for it; but without taking up the Burden of
Life again, I shou'd feel Joy in my Grave, to have their Estates
saddled with a constant Tax as a Fine for Absence. How lightly soever
Gentlemen regard this Desertion of their native Soil, it is certainly a
Crime no good or great Mind can be capable of: And the Officer who
quits his Quarters, or the Sailor who forsakes his Ship, do not better
deserve to be mulk'd in their Pay than they do.
PRIOR. I think it a little odd, Mr. _Dean_, that while we see our
Countrymen deserting us so generally, and lament it so loudly, we yet
take such Measures as if we thought they did not go away fast enough;
and therefore send off our Criminals, to labour, and breed, and enrich
_America_. Tho' this wretched Island is the most improvable, and the
least improved Part of the habitable Earth, we drive away from us our
Felons, though, if we kept them confin'd to hard Labour, the Kingdom
wou'd receive all the Profit of their Work, and by this Means a
converted Criminal, like a penitent Sinner, wou'd be of more Use, and a
better Man, than if he had never transgressed at all.
SWIFT. There may be some ill Consequences in that Method of punishing
Felons, as well as some good ones; for in a Complication of Disorders,
such as _Ireland_ labours under, what helps the one is pernicious to
the other. It is our peculiar Misery, that the Desertion of some of our
People does not hurt us more, than the Sleepiness, the Inactivity and
Heedlessness of those that stay behind. Many of our common _Irish_ know
as little of the Benefits of useful Labour, as the Savages in the _West
Indies_; and are more inclined to live by Theft and Rapine, than by
using their Hands and toiling their Bodies. Nay, Crowds of our
Gentlemen are as indolent (as we observed on another Occasion) as their
Slaves are lazy; and seem as unwilling to improve their Estates, as if
they thought their Tenures were as uncertain, and as subject to Change,
as ever their Ancestors found them. At present, there are few Kingdoms
in _Europe_, where the Titles to them are so indisputably settled as
they are in _Ireland_, and yet they improve more in _France_, where all
depends on the King's Will, than in _Ireland_, where the Property of
the Subject is so impregnably secured by the Laws. Of such Force is the
Genius of a Nation in regulating our Manners, and forming our Customs.
I assure you, dear _Tom_, I could name Crowds of our _Irish_ Gentlemen,
that wou'd double their Estates, if they would live on them, and ditch
them, and drain them, and build them, and plant them, with half the
Skill and Application of a rich sensible Farmer in _England_; nay, I
know some of them that are so situated, that they would quadruple their
Rents in some Years, if they wou'd build Towns, and set up Manufactures
on them with proper Care. There are few of them that have not before
their Eyes (if they wou'd open them) Instances of these Things in every
County, and yet are no more influenced by it, than if there was no more
Encouragement for Arts or Industry, thinking or working, in this
Island, than there is in _Borneo_ or _Madagascar_.
PRIOR. There are many Reasons to be assigned, for this great Mistake in
the Conduct of some of our _Irish_ Gentlemen, Mr. _Dean_, if we wanted
to examine into these Matters; but as to what you was saying, as to
their neglecting to live, and plant, and build on their Estates, I have
wondered, since we cannot hope to get a Law to force our Absentees
home, that we don't make one to oblige all Gentlemen, to build and keep
in Repair one Mansion-house on their Lands, of such and such
Dimensions, with proper Offices, suitable to their Incomes. If this
took in even Freeholders of 20 or 30 _l._ a Year, throughout the
Kingdom, it would have a great Effect, and encrease the Number of our
Inhabitants, in this deserted Country, as well as the King's Revenue,
by many thousand additional Hearths, and comfortable Places of
Residence. At the same Time, I cannot see one Objection to so useful a
Law, but that nobody would get by it but the Public, and that many
private Gentlemen and Absentees wou'd be forced to be useful to us and
their Families whether they wou'd or no, which wou'd probably be
thought a terrible Hardship by some People.
SWIFT. Why, _Tom_, I cannot but say, such a Law wou'd be of great Use
in so naked a Country as this, where one wou'd imagine many of us were
descended from the Ringleaders in the Building the Tower of _Babel_;
and that by their being then punished, for meddling too much in Stone
and Morter, we have contracted an Aversion to all Building ever since;
but whenever such a Law is to be pass'd, I could wish they wou'd add
another to it, that wou'd not only build our Country, but plant it
surprisingly too.
PRIOR. And pray what Law is it? For I am ready, like some good Patriots
(who get others to think for them) to vote for it, right or wrong; nay,
before I know what it is, since so good a Friend proposes it.
SWIFT. Why, my Act of Parliament is enough to frighten all good
Protestants, and is to impower every Landlord, notwithstanding
Settlements, to set Leases for ever, of ten or twenty Acres, even to
Papists, at the full reserved Rent, who wou'd build good Houses of
Stone and Lime, of such and such Dimensions, and inclose and plant an
Orchard and Garden of at least one Acre, and keep them in Repair, on
pain of voiding the Tenure. This wou'd, in a few Years, increase the
Number of our Houses and Orchards prodigiously; and the more as our
Natives are very fond of having Lands and Tenements in their own
Country, and are willing to give this Pledge of their Allegiance, which
so many of them, for Want of such Ties, sit too loose in. I am sensible
what an Outcry, many honest Gentlemen wou'd make to this Law; but I am
sure it wou'd improve our Country to an high Degree; nor do I see what
shou'd hinder us to allow Papists to purchase Lands, (and especially
the old forfeited Lands) to a limited Value, and without allowing them
a Vote, provided they built and inclosed them in proportion to the
Estate: But who can bear to throw away their Thoughts on a Nation, that
mind their own Dreams and Habits of Thinking more than the Reasonings
of others; who cannot be prevailed on to set up new Manufactures, at
the Instances and Exhortations of a Lord Lieutenant, nay, not at the
Advice, and, shall I add, even the Entreaties of that illustrious
Patriot and Friend to _Ireland_, my Lord _Ch----d_.
PRIOR. You mean the making Paper here, which that Nobleman, with a Zeal
equal to his Understanding, honoured me with so many Letters about; and
took so much Pains, with many useful Friends of our Country, to get
effectually established in _Ireland_.
SWIFT. I do; and I want to vent my Spleen, in abusing my Countrymen,
for the inconsiderable Progress which has been made in so excellent a
Design. Certainly, though we have made some Advances that Way, if we
had carried them on with the least Share of that Nobleman's Spirit, we
shou'd have brought it to much greater Perfection than we have done.
Even with what little Care and Encouragement we have bestowed on it, if
we continue to cultivate it, we may expect in some Years to improve it
so far, as to be able to export large Quantities, and see it swell and
increase, in proportion to the great Material for it, our Linen. But,
as if we were afraid too many Arts wou'd enrich us too fast, or take up
more Hands than we cou'd spare; we have given this useful Undertaking
so little Assistance, that it has by no means made the Advances we
cou'd have expected from it; and we have just left it, like a lovely
exotic Flower, to live or die at the Mercy of an unfavourable Season,
and a wintry Climate. This puts our Giddiness, in overlooking every
offered Advantage, and our Supineness as to all Attempts to improve our
Circumstances, in a very indifferent Light; we wear better Linen, and
more of it, than most of our neighbouring Kingdoms, (our Numbers and
Poverty fairly considered) nay, and we wear them to Rags too, and yet
we will not save those Rags for the Paper-mill; nor will we, when they
are turned into Paper, buy it, while we can purchase better and dearer
from _France_ and _Holland_. In short, we are a People, _Tom_,
miserable amidst a Crowd of Opportunities to be happy, for Want of a
little Activity and Management, a little Sobriety and Care; and one of
the most alleviating Circumstances of my Death was, my being delivered
from the Torment, of endeavouring to serve _Ireland_ to no Purpose.
PRIOR. Indeed, Mr. _Dean_, I cannot but allow there is too much Truth
in many of your Attacks and Abuses of our unfortunate Countrymen; and
yet I am tempted to return to my old Reveries, and to think,
notwithstanding all their Disadvantages, if I had lived ten Years
longer in _Ireland_, I shou'd have been able to have made vast
Alterations among them for the better.
SWIFT. No, _Tom_, not if you had lived longer than _Methuselah_.
Consider, Man, tho' there are Remedies for the Sick, and Helps for the
Dying, there are none for the Dead; and in that Light, I have been used
to consider _Ireland_ of a long Time. But prithee, _Tom_, let me know
the whole of your Scheme; What wou'd you have done?
PRIOR. Why, if you will hear me calmly, Mr. _Dean_, I will give you a
fair Account of what I wou'd have attempted at least, and to open all
my Heart to you, that was one of the main Subjects I called at your
Tomb to talk to you on, to see if we could get any of these Crawlers on
the Earth to attempt it, by oar artfully suggesting it to him. In
short, my Project was, by procuring greater and more numerous
Subscriptions, and by extending and enlarging the Plan of the _Dublin_
Society, to have promoted more than ever the general Good of the
Kingdom.
SWIFT. You might as well Talk to most People, of the general Good of
_Japan_. I have told you already they have no Notions of such Things:
Their Thoughts, their Taste, their Passions have another Turn. Did you
expect to get more from those, who think too much is given already?
Why, Man, do you forget the Pains, the Application, the Time, and the
Expence, it cost an old Gentleman of our Acquaintance, to procure the
first Subscriptions? Recollect also, that after such plain, visible,
good Effects were seen by the whole Kingdom, what Numbers of those, who
seemed to subscribe with Zeal, withdrew their Subscriptions; and then
consider what Success you could have of obtaining larger and more
numerous Contributions.
PRIOR. I am but too sensible, there would be some Difficulty in it, Mr.
_Dean_; but, cold and dead as most Men are, to all great and generous
Attempts to serve us, I know by Experience, that there are yet left in
_Ireland_ a few chosen Spirits, who wou'd have concurr'd in such a
Design, and who had Hearts and Fortunes suited to the Task, and almost
equal to the Burthen. But happen what would, I am sure, I should have
got some reasonable additional Subsidies; and though possibly they
would have been too small to answer my Purpose; yet, still, I should at
least, have pav'd the Way for some happier Man who would have come
after me; and I should have the Comfort to think, that my too eager
Zeal to serve others, and disserve myself, could not give great
Offence; especially, as Men are not likely to meet Impertinences of
this Kind, every Day. This I am confident of, that the Use and
Advantage which that Society, (blessed be God) has been of to
_Ireland_, will secure a large adventitious Fund to her hereafter; and
tho' by the Arts of evil Men, it may be damped, or dropped for some
Years, there never will be wanting, worthy Spirits in the rising
Generation, who will remember how happily, that Society was set up and
supported, by a few active Gentlemen; and, that it may be restored
again, and an adequate Fund provided for it, by the same Resolution and
Zeal. But, after all, Mr. _Dean_, I make little Question (if I had
lived, to apply for larger Subscriptions) I should not have been
disappointed; and, if I had succeeded, _Ireland_ should have had Cause
to remember my good Fortune.
SWIFT. Alas! _Tom_, your Hopes were over-heated, I fear; though there
are many Squanderers, there are few Givers in _Ireland_ and even among
those few, the greater Part instead of giving their Benefactions while
they live, and can see them well applied; are laid in their Graves,
before their Donations are of use to the Living; for People only bestow
their Substance to others, as they do their old Cloathes to their
Servants, when they can use them no longer. This, makes me fear, _Tom_,
you would have got in few Contributions, among our own Countrymen.
Alas! _Tom_, we seem to keep our Repentance for the Time past, and our
Charity for the Future; but the poor present Time, is sacrificed to the
meanest Avarice, the falsest Pleasures, or, the lowest Ambition;
without any Care of the general Welfare of our Country, or one social
Wish for the Happiness of our People.
PRIOR. I allow all this would hold true, if the great and admirable
Effects of the Society's Praemiums, did not make it highly probable,
that I should have prevailed with several of our worthiest Countrymen,
to have assisted so great and so successful an Undertaking. When Men
see they have it in their Power, if they will join together, to deliver
their Country from all its calamitous Distresses; and to be themselves
the Sources of infinite Blessings to Millions yet unborn, their Hands
rebell against their Hearts, and even Misers learn to be bounteous. I
am not ignorant, how much Men are under the Influence of their lowest
and poorest Passions, yet still I am of Opinion, as Stingy as they
generally are, if they evidently saw, where they could do much Good by
their Benefactions, we should have more of them in the World than we
have.
SWIFT. I doubt, _Tom_, you mistake that Matter egregiously, for nine
Tenths of our Donations, I fear, proceed more from our Vanity than our
Virtue. Numbers give, as our great Master tells us, to be seen of Men;
and for that Reason, probably, it is, that there are so few secret
Corbans offered up to Heaven, and not to the World; and if this be so,
'tis plain, that People give more for the Ostentation of having given,
than the good they hope to get done by it, and therefore you must have
met with few generous Subscribers.
PRIOR. I cannot approve of your Thoughts on this Point, nay, on the
contrary, I am confident most People give for the heavenly Joy of
giving, and the seeing much Good likely to be the Consequence of their
Bounty; and from the same Way of Thinking, where there is little Hope
of such Consequences, Men give more coldly and illiberally. I will also
add, that the perceiving, how unskilfully (and therefore
unsuccessfully) many bestow their Alms, is the Death of Charity, and
the great Obstacle to generous Donations in others. It grieves me to
say, that I have often observed, that too few give with Judgment.
_Perdere multi sciunt, donare pauci._
And Numbers, through an ill concerted generosity, do not half the Good
they might do, if they appropriated their Gifts with proper Skill, and
knew the happy Art of giving. But giving largely to the _Dublin_
Society, has not one Objection against it, and answers every End the
human Soul can ask for, when it scatters the Dung of the Earth, to
enrich the World. You well know, _Dean_, to give even to an useful
Purpose, which ends with the Occasion that calls for it, falls short of
those Charities, which extends their Views to future Ages; and
therefore, to assist Societies, that are contriving for the Welfare of
Nations, is a nobler Donation, than relieving private Wants that die
away with the Person relieved. I will go yet further, Mr. _Dean_, since
I have touch'd on this Topick, and assert, that to give, where Virtue
and Industry are the Consequence of the Benefaction, you must allow is
of higher Use, than relieving Distresses, which have been occasioned by
Vice or Extravagance, and may probably end in them. Nay, to give under
such Conditions, as must inevitably draw in others, to join in your
Charity, and enlarge your Hopes of serving Mankind, is of the greatest
Use; as it brings in Crowds to co-operate with you, and vastly out-do
your Benefactions; and to give to a Plan of Charity, which is as likely
to encrease as a River, the farther it goes, is of yet greater Service,
than to give where their Subscription Ends like a Shower of Rain, in
watering the Earth for a Moment, and vanishes with the next Sun.
Lastly, to give to a few, and yet to make Numbers industrious and
laborious, in Hopes of receiving your Bounty, though they never obtain
it, is of yet more Weight and Importance; and this is plainly the Case
of all Praemiums, where they are faithfully distributed. Now, all these
Considerations accompany every Subscription to my enlarged Plan, and
thence I was apt to flatter myself I should be successful, if I had
liv'd to apply for them.
SWIFT. Well, I shall drop any Dispute on that Point: But, pray, _Tom_,
be a little more minute in explaining your Views, and let me know if
you had many large additional Subscriptions, how would you have applied
them?