Ireland

the second in size of the British Isles. It lies west of Great Britain, from which it is separated by the Irish Sea. The northeast point is but thirteen and one-half miles distant from Scotland. The southeast coast is separated from England by St. George's Channel, forty-seven miles in width at its narrowest point. The greatest length of Ireland is 306 miles; its greatest width 182. The area is 32,583 square miles, a little larger than Maine. Geographers say, that the coast has been drowned, that is to say, that it has sunk slowly. The mouths of the rivers are now deep estuaries. There are thirty excellent harbors, fourteen of which are deep enough for the largest seagoing vessels. The island is divided into four provinces, Leinster, Munster, Ulster, and Connaught. These are subdivided into thirty-two counties. Of these Limerick, Tipperary, Cork, and Kilkenny are names famous in literature and history. Kerry, Clare, Galway, Sligo, and Tyrone are hardly less so. Much of the coast is rough. There are numerous low mountain peaks having a height of from 2,000 to 3,000 feet. The interior is an undulating plain from 200 to 500 feet high. Rainfall is abundant and quite evenly distributed. It is not so great as in the Highlands of Scotland, but more abundant than in eastern England. The average fall is from thirty-four to forty-four inches. The rivers are therefore larger than might be expected from the area of the island. The Shannon and the Liffey are the principal streams. There are numerous beautiful lakes. The most noted are the Lakes of Killarney in County Kerry. Lake Erne in the interior has a total length of forty miles.

MINERALS. The rocks of Ireland are chiefly granite, limestone, and basalt. The overlying coal-bearing measures that extend over so great a part of England and the Lowlands of Scotland have been ground off by former glacial action and carried out to sea. There are a few limited coal beds, however. There is an abundance of iron of excellent quality, but there is lack of coal with which to work it. There is a little silver, some lead, and more copper, but, generally speaking, Ireland is not rich in mineral wealth.

PEAT. From one-seventh to one-fifth of the island is covered with deposits of peat, the formation of which is assisted by the mists which wrap Ireland a large part of the year. In the low lands this peat is from ten to forty feet in depth. The largest peat bed is the bog of Allen. It is described as a dreary waste of red ironstained morass, the monotony of which is relieved here and there by a turf hovel. In the mountain valleys and on the slopes the peat formations are perhaps a foot in thickness. The deeper deposits contain many interesting remains kept by the preservative quality of peat, such as logs of oak, fir, animal and human skeletons, coins, old trees, canoes, etc. The surface of Ireland was at one time covered largely with forests. The deep peat beds show that they occupy the former site of oak forests, which were, in turn, succeeded by forests of fir. Ireland now lacks timber.

ANIMALS. The wolf hound, formerly bred for the chase, is one of the largest and finest breeds of dogs known. The wolf, fox, and stag were formerly known. The ancient Irish elk was far larger than a moose. At present there are few wild mammals except rodents. There are neither snakes nor toads. Bird lovers count up 120 species of land and water birds. Fish of excellent quality, including the salmon, are to be found in the lakes, streams, and estuaries.

SOIL AND CLIMATE. The temperature of Ireland is very even throughout the year.

In winter, it seldom falls below 40 deg. In summer the heat seldom rises above 62 deg. The soil is rich. Certain regions are said to have the best soil found in the British Isles. All the common cereals and vegetables are cultivated. The harvest is not infrequently ruined, however, by prolonged summer rains. The principal field crops named in order of importance are oats, potatoes, turnips, barley, wheat, beans, and peas. The country is especially adapted to grass. A moist climate and rich soil produce the finest pasturage in the world.

MANUFACTURES. The chief cities of Ireland are Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Limerick, Londonderry, and Waterford. Ireland was celebrated at an early day for its commerce. Irish flax is of excellent quality. Belfast is the greatest linen center in the world. Cotton manufacturing has diminished. Irish lace has a high reputation. The art of making lace has been taught in convent schools. It has now declined. Silk weaving was introduced by French Huguenots after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Ireland vies with Scotland in the production and consumption of whisky. The peasants of Ireland, like the mountaineers of Tennessee, have been famous for the maintenance of small stills in secret places with the purpose of escaping the government tax on whisky. In 1685 between 2,000 and 3,000 stills were seized and destroyed. Even as late as 1880 the excise officers destroyed 685. The commerce of Ireland is treated in the articles on the various cities. A considerable network of canals covers a part of Ireland. They were formerly used for the transportation of passengers, but since the introduction of railways have been used for freight only.

POPULATION. The population of Ireland was reported in 1901 at 4,458,775. Of these 3,310,028 were Catholic, 579,385 Episcopal, and 443,494 Presbyterian. The Catholic population represents, approximately, at least, the original Irish population. The others are largely English and Scotch intruders, the English in the vicinity of Dublin, the Scotch in the vicinity of Londonderry. The genuine Irish belong to the same race as the Britons, Manx, Cornishmen, Welsh, and Highlanders of Scotland. The native language is Erse, akin to Gaelic.

HISTORICAL. According to the most trustworthy accounts, a considerable civilization was developed in Ireland as early as 1000 B.C. This period of Irish history is so embellished with legends and traditions that fact is hardly distinguishable from fiction. An ancient parliament, or gathering of chiefs, met in Tara's Hall, famous in song. Christianity was introduced into the island in the fifth century, through the labors of St. Patrick and others. Monasteries were established; also religious communities of men and women, thought to bear a resemblance to the modern Shaker community. While England was still pagan, Ireland was a center of missionary effort. Colonies of Irish monks were established in Great Britain and in Germany. They were the determined opponents of Druidism in the eleventh century.

Historians have been wont to claim that Adrian IV, the only Englishman who ever sat in the papal chair, granted Ireland to Henry II of England. The statement rests on uncertain authority. About 1155, however, Henry gained the consent of the Irish clergy and invaded the island with 500 knights and an army of footmen. He occupied the level portions of the island, driving many tribes into the mountains. It is believed that Irish discord enabled the English to gain a footing. However that may be, English occupancy and misrule began together. The opposition of the O'Briens, O'Neills, O'Connors, O'Connells, and McCarthys was never wanting. For centuries the treatment accorded the Irish was little better than that shown the American Indians on this continent. At the time of the English Reformation an effort was made to induce the Irish Catholics to join the Episcopal church, but in vain. During the time of Cromwell an Irish uprising was put down with an iron hand. In a nine months' campaign, thousands of men were executed; 20,000 were sold into labor, little better than slavery, in the West Indies, and 40,000 Irishmen were driven from the island to enlist in the armies of various European countries. When later the Stuart family was driven from the throne of England the Irish stood by James II to the last. Their forces were dispersed at the battle of the Boyne, however, and English control of the island was complete.

We may look in vain for persecution more persistent than that experienced by the Irish in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Their lands were confiscated. They were obliged to pay tithes for the support of an alien church. They were forbidden to send their children to their own schools if taught by Catholics. Those who were able to place their children in school in foreign countries did so. The children of the masses were untaught. Their manufactures were crippled by selfish legislation intended to benefit English industries. A large part of the island was held by absentee landlords who lived in England and who instructed their agents to extort the last penny of rent. If a peasant made improvements, his rent was raised; if he refused to pay, he was evicted. The picture often drawn of a hard-hearted agent driving away the family cow, leaving starving children to cry at the mother's knee, is by no means an exaggeration. The consequence was a miserable, shiftless, hand-to-mouth cultivation of the soil, with a degree of poverty and distress hardly possible in a country designed by nature to be a land of plenty.

It was difficult for the Irish to make themselves heard. A Catholic was not allowed to hold office. A semblance of resistance to British authority had always been maintained in the Irish Parliament. In 1801 the British authorities led by Pitt are said to have expended $8,000,000 in bribing enough members to induce the Irish Parliament to unite with that of Great Britain. From that time on, however, Irish prospects began to look up somewhat. About the middle of the nineteenth century, during Gladstone's administration, more humane ideas prevailed in Parliament. Many helpful measures were passed. In brief, the hand of the government has been removed from church affairs. Public schools have been established throughout the island. In 1903 Parliament set aside a fund of $500,000,000 and put into effect a plan of loaning peasants the money at a low rate of interest with which to buy the farms they occupy, and what is more, the landlord is required to sell at a reasonable price. While it cannot be said that plenty yet prevails, peace has settled down over the island and better days are at hand.

In 1841 there were 8,000,000 people. There ought to be 11,000,000 at the present time, but famine, fever, and cholera carried away nearly 4,000,000; 3,754,899 emigrated to other countries during the latter half of the nineteenth century, the greater portion of them to the United States. The report for 1903 puts the population at 4,390,208, a mere third of what Ireland is capable of maintaining in comfort. The twelfth United States census shows that there are more Irish people in New York City alone than there are in the two chief cities of Ireland--Dublin and Belfast--taken together. In the United States there were, according to this census, 1,616,469 people who were born in Ireland, 4,001,461 children both of whose parents were Irish, and 979,586 with one native Irish parent. The total Irish population of the United States, including those with Irish grandparents and great-grandparents, is nearly double that of the mother country today.