[Mr. T.P. O'Connor]
I call the attention of the hon. Member for South
Belfast to the fact that, in spite of the enormous
increase in the population of Belfast, there has
been a decrease in the population of Ulster. The
decrease in the province of Leinster is 41,297; in
Munster 98,568, in Connaught 69,876, and in the
favoured province of Ulster, 68,463.
What becomes of the population? Is emigration
from a country a sign of prosperity, especially
in a country like that of Ireland, where the
devotion of the people to their native soil
amounts to a passion almost terrible in its
intensity? Out of a population of 8,197,000
in 1841 it is estimated that only four and a
half millions are now left in Ireland. "Fully
2,000 a week," says the chronicler, "have been
departing from the port of Queenstown alone for
the United States for weeks past, and before
the season is spent the big exodus that is
flowing rapidly will only leave behind in Ireland
the remains of a great race." That is a very
tragic and terrible picture which I recommend to
the right hon. Gentleman for his best reflections.
This diminution of the population of Ireland
can be directly traced to the evil and foolish
legislation of this House and the destruction
of the Irish Parliament. I beg to call the attention
of the Chief Secretary to the fact that in 1900 the
emigration from Ireland amounted to 47,107, or an
increase of 3,347 over that of 1899. My hon. friend
called attention to that disastrous epoch in the
history of Ireland in 1853, when Mr. Gladstone
introduced changes in the fiscal relations of
that country. My explanation of that extraordinary
departure from sound finance on the part of
Mr. Gladstone is that it is to be attributed
to one of the faults and flaws of his great
intellect. He was in the habit of concentrating
his attention on a particular question which
interested him, and he was blind and deaf at
the time to every other question. I remember that
in the first speech I made in this House in
1880 I called his attention to the fact that
besides the oppression of the Christians in
the East there was a little oppression of the
Christians in the West in the shape of rack-rents
in Ireland; and the right hon. Gentleman had to
confess that he was ignorant of the facts as to
the case in Ireland. Ireland had just escaped
from the famine, and I will read the returns of
emigration for the three years preceding 1853 and
the subsequent year. In 1851 the number of emigrants
from Ireland from 1st May was 152,060; in 1852, 190,322;
in 1853, 173,148; and in 1854, 140,555. At the moment
that Ireland was bleeding at every pore that was the
moment chosen to impose a new system of taxation
upon her. But where do these Irish emigrants go?
That, I think, is a matter which British statesmen
may very well consider from the point of view of
British interests. Last year, out of 50,000 people
who left Ireland, 126 went to New Zealand, 834 to
Australia, 472 to Canada now bubbling over with
Imperial enthusiasm, and to the United States 37,765,
or 83.4 per cent. of the whole. I take another
test. 79.7 per cent. of the men were labourers
and 81.0 per cent. of the women were servants, and
we know what that means.
