132 IMPROVED STATE OF IRELAND. such as would recal the memory of the earliest days of the Church. I hope, nay, fully believe, that they are mistaken in these gloomy anticipations; but when will come the time that religious differences shall no longer set one class of Irish against their brethren, and Ireland against the rest of our common country? I trust that that glorious time will certainly arrive; but it cannot be conjured up by any legerdemain of Legislation; it must follow the gradual education and enlightenment of the People. This digression has already been much too long; but, before I entirely quit the subject, I must express my deliberate conviction that Ireland has very much improved within the last few years, although not nearly to the extent she ought to have done. Such are her natural resources and capabilities, and so long have they been lying, as it were, fallow, that neither the crime-inducing system of agitation, nor the ignorance-cherishing genius of Popery, has been able to repress them. All Mr. IMPROVED STATE OF IRELAND. 133 O'Connell's mis-statements and sophistries cannot rail the seal of truth from the Parliamentary returns, which attest the improving state of the country: and in no direction can the tourist travel, without observing evidence of the same fact in the many public works completed, or in progress, the greatly extended means of internal communication, the confessedly better administration of justice, the manifest improvements on most large properties, the better clothing and cheaper necessaries of the lower orders, and, above all, the increasing diffusion of education among the same. These, and many other similar signs of improvement, must, I conceive, be admitted by any impartial person acquainted with what Ireland was and is. But still, I again and again repeat, that they are not at all commensurate with her capabilities, nor with what I earnestly trust she will attain, when she shall have broken through those trammels to which I have above alluded. 134 IMPROVED STATE OF IRELAND. It was impossible to avoid referring to the present state and future prospects of Ireland, while speaking of the man with whom her fate for weal or woe has been so much linked; and, feeling deeply for the interests of Ireland, as I am sure does every Englishman, I could not help declaring the result of my observations on some of the subjects that at present most concern her welfare.. CHAPTER VI. Bad Roads-Steg Fort-Its probable destination - Kenmare River and Town-Glengarriffe - Beauty of the Glen and Bay-Captain White's Demesne - Nocturnal Adventure-Arrival at Bantry. BUT to return to my narrative. The distance from Derrinane to Sneem is about eight miles; and there is a road lately made near the shores of Kenmare Bay, by which carriages can very easily approach within three or four miles of the Liberator's residence; nearer than that it is not possible for them to go, except by the aid of a great number of men. I preferred, however, the old road, which passes among the mountains, that I might have an opportunity of visiting a very remarkable 136 RUGGED ROADS. monument of the olden time, called Steg Fort. I was prepared by description to encounter a bad road; but its actual roughness and steepness exceeded my worst anticipations. Immediately after crossing the short plain at the head of Derrinane's little creek, I came to a rugged mountain's side, up which I had to climb by a rocky path, so full of stones and holes, that my pony, mountaineer as he was, experienced no small difficulty in picking his way. This continued for some miles, with only the alternations of steep ascents and worse descents. I meanwhile inquired repeatedly and anxiously for Steg Fort; and, wherever I was fortunate in meeting with a person that spoke English, was sure to receive the readiest and most good-humoured, though not always the clearest, direction. I was entirely alone, in the wildest part of the wildest province in Ireland, but felt the fullest assurance that, as |