enable him to give a proper amount of labour for his hire, and in order to raise him to a higher standard as a social being. We shall not consider the object finally accomplished until the people of Ireland live upon a bread and meat diet, like those of the best parts of England and Scotland. [71] The following is the proportion of agrarian crimes in each quarter from January 1845, to November 1847: In the Quarter ending Jan. 31, 1845, the proportion is one in 4¼ April 30, 1845, ” ” 3-1/12 July 31, 1845, ” ” 4⅖ Oct. 31, 1845, ” ” 5⅓ Jan. 31, 1846, ” ” 4 April 30, 1846, ” ” 3⅓ July 31, 1846, ” ” 8 Oct. 31, 1846, ” ” 19 Jan. 31, 1847, ” ” 54 April 30, 1847, ” ” 64 July 31, 1847, ” ” 42 Oct. 31, 1847, ” ” 12 The increase of agrarian crimes which has lately taken place, is more connected with resistance to the payment of rents, than with opposition to ejectments from the possession of land; and it has been almost entirely confined to the counties of Tipperary, Clare, Limerick, and Roscommon. Out of 195 crimes committed in the whole of Ireland in October 1847, 139 were committed in Clare, Limerick, and Tipperary; being 71 per cent. of the whole number, although the population of these three counties is only 13 per cent. of the population of Ireland. The districts in the north-west and south-west of Ireland, which suffered most from the failure of the potato crop in 1845-6, were at the same time remarkable for the absence of atrocious crimes. [72] The manner in which the Clanmorris and Blessington properties, and a portion of that belonging to the Cunningham family, have been disposed of, are instances in point. [73] Although we do not intend to excuse the system of the Penal Laws, it is fair to mention, that these measures of restraint were considered at the time to be necessary for the protection of the liberty and religion of the country, and that they were imposed at the conclusion of a desperate struggle, the renewal of which was for a long time a source of serious apprehension. The battles of the Boyne, Enniskillen, and Aughrim, the sieges of Londonderry and Limerick, and the critical operations at Athlone, ushered in the Penal Laws, the real object of which was to keep in check the great political party which had arrayed itself on the side of the Stuarts and of their principles of Government; and as the danger diminished, these Laws were gradually relaxed until they were finally abolished by the Catholic Emancipation Act in 1829. It will also be remembered that the Penal Laws were passed by the Irish Parliament and repealed by that of the United Kingdom. Transcriber’s Notes