I Tell All This Here Not To The Disgrace Of Ireland - Not For The
Triumph Of America.
The Irishman or American who thinks rightly on
the subject will know that the state of each country has arisen from
its opportunities.
Beggary does not prevail in new countries, and
but few old countries have managed to exist without it. As to
Ireland, we may rejoice to say that there is less of it now than
there was twenty years since. Things are mending there. But though
such excuses may be truly made - although an Englishman, when he sees
this squalor and poverty on the quays at Queenstown, consoles
himself with reflecting that the evil has been unavoidable, but will
perhaps soon be avoided - nevertheless he cannot but remember that
there is no such squalor and no such poverty in the land from which
he has returned. I claim no credit for the new country. I impute
no blame to the old country. But there is the fact. The Irishman
when he expatriates himself to one of those American States loses
much of that affectionate, confiding, master-worshiping nature which
makes him so good a fellow when at home. But he becomes more of a
man. He assumes a dignity which he never has known before. He
learns to regard his labor as his own property. That which he earns
he takes without thanks, but he desires to take no more than he
earns. To me personally, he has, perhaps, become less pleasant than
he was; - but to himself!
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