less cogent than miracles appealed to the faithful in the first age of Christianity. Gibbon himself, had he been taught to reason in a wise and discerning spirit, would have felt that his inferences from admitted premises were not the conclusions to which they properly led; and the sceptical or ill-assured who will now make use of the lights provided for them by our author, will see that the incidents of human life, and the vicissitudes of nations, bear token of an almighty power presiding over them, not less convincingly than if they were such as in common speech we term miraculous.

It is, indeed, little less than marvellous to have Greece and Rome revealing themselves, as it were, to us; the one in its exquisite literature and philosophy-the other in its schemes of universal conquest and all-controlling law; and each acknowledging that it was compelled to minister in the service of a power to which it was inveterately hostile. Greece lending to idolatry all the seductions with which genius of the highest order could render vice attractive;-Rome serving in the cause of idolatry with a devotedness, and bringing to its aid a force which seemed to promise to it domi. nion, absolute, universal, enduringRome, blending in its own agencies (when in time the elegancies of Grecian art had prevailed, and the vanquished had infused its spirit into the victor), captivations to ensnare the fancy with the stern and unrelenting force by which wills are subdued; and both, in their several estates, and orders, and seasons, working the downfall of the empire they laboured to extend, and preparing the way before that kingdom to which they were the most devoted enemies. Who can reflect on such a portion of history with. out discerning the power of Him "who ordereth the unruly wills and affections of sinful men," in their influence on national history, no less than on the lives of individuals.

And here, we are reminded, by the reasoning of the reverend author, how strangely wise and learned men may sometimes misinterpret the Scope and bearing of prophecy. Mr. Maitland, in his view of the prophecies of Daniel, denies that the Grecian empire can be regarded as answering to the conditions of Daniel's third kingdom, and

assigns his reason:-"It answers," he says, "to the characteristic of the second (namely, inferiority to the preceding); it does not answer the characteristic of the third, of which, and of which only, it is declared that it shall bear rule over all the earth." "The characteristic of universal sovereignty, which does not apply to the Grecian empire, does apply, if not exclusively, at least with peculiar propriety, to the Roman empire." We do not think that Mr. Maitland had reflected on the influence of Grecian genius when he made these observations. To us it has always appeared that no sovereignty ever yet attained on earth by an earthly power is comparable to that of Greece. Her elo quence, her poetry, her history, her arts her philosophy, her science-in these consisted her true power, and in these she acquired universal and imperishable dominion. She seems in her day of success to have effaced memorials of antecedent nations, and in her fall to have acquired ascendancy over the spirit of her conqueror. In the history and the drama of Greece, preceding monarchies disappeared; and when Rome waxed great in splendour as in power, it was when she had become animated and refined by Grecian art and genius. By her own conquering sons, she spread her power over the east, and when shorn of her material strength, she made Rome her minister to bend the ruder realms of the west to her dominion. Great and very extensive, indeed, for evil and for good, was that dominion; its power was upon the senses and the spirit-upon the vices and the virtues of mankindstatesman, sophist, soldier-poet, profligate, philosopher-historian, fabulist, sorcerer, juggler, sage-all acknowledged their masters among the worthies and the notorious of Greece; and, even at this day, truth and falsehood in adverse forms of religion acknowledge her-Protestantism, thanking her for the Septuagint version of the Old Testament-and Romanism for a subtle philosophy that keeps transubstantiation in countenance.

We have devoted so much of our space to the consideration of one of Dr. O'Sullivan's sermons, that we have become disabled from attempting a review of the second. We commend both sermons to the reader's

AN employment, such as fishing, that neither requires the investment of capital, nor the exercise of foresight; in which combination of labour is almost dispensable, and continuity of toil wholly unnecessary; yet, when pursued, that adds excitement to exertion, is admirably adapted to the intellectual condition, and irregular habits of barbarian communities: to that state of society, employing the antithetical language of Tacitus, “Cum iidem homines sic ament inertiam, et oderint quietem." These industrial peculiarities, which, among rude maritime tribes, cause fishing to be one of their great resources for the support of existence, render it, in an advanced stage of civilization, liable to many

economical disadvantages. The right of property, which, on land, has turned the marsh into the meadow, substituted the corn-field for the forest, and the live-stock of the farm for the wild animals of the chase, cannot exist in the sea-the ocean must for ever remain in a state of commonage. The fisher, unlike the hunter, may be induced, but cannot be compelled, to become a labourer, relying on capital for employment; he may remain for ages in a condition of isolation and independence-but, at the same time, of misery and poverty. The following table, and subsequent facts, will abundantly demonstrate these social truths and economical misfortunes.

It will be perceived from this humiliating table, that there are but 215 decked vessels engaged in the Irish fisheries--and of these, 193, on an average of thirty-three tons burden each, belong to the coast stretching

from the county of Wicklow to that of Louth; and are employed in the supply of Dublin, and its immediate vicinity thus leaving but forty-two decked vessels, of, on an average, twenty tons burden each, to fish on a

:

coast of more than 2,000 miles in extent. The returns of the Board of Public Works state that, in 1846, there were 2,432 sail-boats-18,643 row-boats-and 99,422 men and boys mployed in the Irish fisheries.

From these facts an approximation may be made, with tolerable accuracy, to the amount of capital applied to develop this great source of profit and industry; 1085 decked, or half-decked vessels, built to carry 17,412 tons, may be estimated to be worth £208,000, or, gear included, about £12 a ton; 9,000 sail-boats may be valued at £135, or £15 each; and 18,643 row-boats, at £116,000, or £6 a-piece, on an average. In all, £459,000.

Nearly 100,000 men and boys are stated to be employed in the Irish fisheries and but 25,000 in those of Great Britain. Those returns are, however, in some respect deceptive in neither country is the division of labour, on the coast, so perfect as to admit of accurate classification. On the western shores of Ireland, twothirds of the time of those termed fishermen are either employed at agriculture, or wasted in idleness. They are fishermen only for the short period the shoals approach the shore for the purpose of spawning. In the Portredford district, county Donegal, says a witness, examined before the Fisheries Inquiry Commission, "there are not, perhaps, more than six or eight persons, who are exclusively fishermen."* "All the working classes along this coast may be called fishermen, as all are fishing occasionally."† On the

coast of Galway, it was stated by Mr. Blake, "that a mere fisherman could hardly exist;"‡ and in Achill, it was alleged, "that there is no distinction between agriculturists and fishermen, as both pursuits are combined."§

In Europe civilization has deprived savage industry of the forest; but still has left it in possession of the sea. Whilst all other classes of society have been progressive and improving, fishermen alone have been either stationary, or retroceding. Mr. Hardiman, describing the fishermen of Galway,||

says, "they are still so wedded to old customs, that they invariably reject, with the most inveterate prejudice, any new improvement in their fishing apparatus, which is, consequently, now very little superior to that used centuries ago, by their ancestors."¶ And, speaking in another place of the inhabitants of Claddagh, the most active and energetic fishermen on the west coast of Ireland, says, "the language, and probably the manners of this singular colony have undergone no change, since the days of Saint Endeus, now nearly 1400 years ago." The writer of a very able article in the North British Review, (Mr. H. Millar, we believe), thus pourtrays a portion of the fishermen of Scotland. "If one wishes to acquaint one's self better than by books, with the modes of thinking, and degree of culture, which characterised our common people, ere the Reformation had given the country its parishes and grammar schools, or theological truth agitated and exercised the popular mind, the fisher communities of our coasts may be found the best possible spheres of observation. They are isolated fragments of the past, carried to the present on the current of time."** On the west coast of Ireland, the craft employed in fishing is inferior in construction to the currach, used two thousand years ago-the timber and hides of which these vessels were then formed have been superseded by osiers and canvas, and the mast has completely disappeared from them. Of the 100,000 men and boys engaged in the Irish fisheries, at least 85,000 fish from boats, on an average, of not more than two tons burden, propelled by what, with a strain of verbal courtesy, may be called oars. But, perhaps, the most remarkable evidence of the decline of the Irish fisheries is, that pilchards, formerly abundant, are now unknown in Ireland; they sometimes visit the shallows on the west coast, but cannot be taken for want of proper nets. What have been the causes that prevented the extension of the Irish fisheries? An answer may,

50.

perhaps, be found in the following

statements.

Fishing is a simple act, which being perfected by a single, and almost instantaneous effort, requires no successive processes or prolonged operation, being, in this respect, the reverse of agriculture, and of the rudest kind of manufacture. In it the relation of employer and labourer need not exist, and capital is therefore unnecessary for the payment of wages; and, indeed, along the whole of the western and southern coasts of Ireland the fisheries are conducted by small companies, varying from two to six in number for even the currach, worth not more than from 40s. to 50s., is generally owned by two, and sometimes by three joint proprietors. Those partners invest little in the pursuit, beyond the rudest labour, the paid-up capital not amounting to more than £2 a share. They labour in common, and the fish is divided in equal proportions. The Rundale system, on the sea, has had more pernicious consequences than even on the land; the ridge of a field belongs to a cultivator for at least a year-for that period he has a separate interest in its productiveness; but the advantages of severalty does not for a moment exist in the boat. There can be, therefore, no stimulus to superior personal effort; the average of labour must be that of the most feeble and unskilful hand on board. This system is fatal at onee to order and industry, partnership being incompatible with discipline, equality of reward with the competion of labour; by it the results of combination are neutralised-the exertion of individuality annihilated— and an inducement given to a minimum of toil.

In fisheries carried on in small boats, and with rude materials, much labour is expended before the shoal of fish is found; and but little can be stowed even when the take is successful, and time must be greatly wasted in bringing a trifling cargo to land. The results of industry can be but insignificant, where united exertion is nearly impracticable; combination of labor in a boat of two tons must be very imperfect, and its abridgment impossible, there being neither room

Fisheries Report, p. 45. The same History of the Town of Galway, p. 296.

nor strength for the application of machinery. Fishing from row-boats and currachs is limited to the shore, and confined to the calm; labour is, therefore, extravagantly wasted, and time enormously dissipated.

Grain, butter, cheese, and almost every other product of the farm, may be conveyed to any distance, however great, without injury; and cattle can be reared sufficiently near the market, to be driven to it without waste; but, in its fresh state, fish cannot (at least could not) be transferred to any place remote from the sea without being deteriorated or destroyed. This peculiarity in the nature of the article limited its consumption to the population near the coast, and made the traffic in fish, more than in that of any other kind of merchandise, depend on facilities for communication.

Except in the narrow intervals, where the limestone formation projects between the primitive rocks into the Atlantic ocean, as at Clew and Galway bays, and the mouth of the Shannon, the agricultural population of the interior of Ireland are separated from the inhabitants of the coast by a nearly continuous and lofty chain of mountains, within whose valleys, or near whose base, the towns are few, small, and scattered. The means of commerce within those elevated highlands are as primitive as the habits of labour are rude. The small horse, carrying on each side a creel—or the shaggy pony, with a double pannier— travels over roads formed, in many places, during summer by the dried beds of streams, and, in winter, on slippery and precipitous bridle-paths. Fish will keep fresh a day in summer, and a week in winter; thus, when the roads are dry, the heat is destructive, and when the temperature is favourable, the paths are impassable.

It would be as correct to say that the prairies of Texas are cultivated, because a few miserable Indians hunt across those immense plains, as that there are fisheries on the Irish coasts, because some wretched canoes creep along the shore. It matters not that "the Irish herring is much better in quality, and brings a higher price in the Scotch market, than the herring caught in Scotland;" or that "it is

fact is stated by Mr. Hardiman, in his