by him to the Chief Secretary.  In those letters he accuses the Government of being mere theorists, ignorant of the practical way of relieving Ireland.  “The Labour Act,” he says, “was worse than absurd—­it was in many respects pernicious.  The Chief Secretary’s letter (I speak with all respect), though well meant, was in many cases impracticable; and the late Treasury Minute, also well-intentioned though it be, is for the most part incomprehensible; and when the three are taken together, or brought partially into operation together, as in some places is attempted, the Irish gentry would require a forty-horse power of intellect to understand or avail themselves of them."[127] “I do not say, as many do,” Mr. Moore continues, “that the roads will be spoiled by cutting down the hills; on the contrary, it will be of the greatest advantage to have level highways through the land; but I do say, that there could not by possibility have been a more absurd misapplication of the labour and the power of the country. Level roads are a good thing, but food is better. And what will level highways do for the poor of Ireland next year, if they have nothing to eat?"[128] When Mr. Moore penned these lines he assumed, we must suppose, that all roads undertaken by Government would be completed, which would, in its way, be an improvement; but such was not the case.

At this time a class of landowners, and an extremely numerous one, raised the cry of “excessive population.”  They were anxious to clear their lands, not of rocks or briars, but of human beings; and in their opinion the country could be saved only by a vast system of emigration.  Mr. Moore denies that such excess existed, and therefore condemns emigration. “It is not a fact,” he says, “that Ireland is over-peopled; the contrary is the fact.  But the strength of Ireland, her bone and sinew, like her unequalled water-power, is either unapplied or misapplied."[129] “Simply two things,” in his opinion, were required—­“immediate occupation for the people, and that that occupation shall, as far as possible, be made conducive towards providing for the exigencies of coming seasons ...  WE WANT EMPLOYMENT WHICH CAN BE MADE IMMEDIATELY AVAILABLE FOR THE PRODUCTION OF FOOD—­and nothing will or can answer this purpose, save only to employ the people in tilling and cultivating the soil; and not a moment is to be lost!"[130] One is inclined to doubt the feasibility of sending the labouring population of Ireland in upon the tillage farms, to trench, and dig, and plough, and sow; but Mr. Moore had his practical plan for doing it; and although he does not go into details, it does not seem to offer insuperable difficulties.  “The plan I would suggest,” he writes, “is briefly this:  to HIRE THE LABOURERS TO THE SMALL FARMERS ALL THROUGH THE COUNTRY, AT HALF-PRICE, TO TILL THE GROUND.  The farmers would be delighted at the arrangement."[131]