Before then, the fishing was all carried on along shore in little cobles, almost within sight of land. The native fishery also extended northward, along the east coast of Scotland and the Orkney and Shetland Isles, until now the herring fishery of Scotland forms one of the greatest industries in the United Kingdom, and gives employment, directly or indirectly, to close upon half a million of people, or to one-seventh of the whole population of Scotland.
Taking these facts into consideration, therefore, there is no reason to despair of seeing, before many years have elapsed, a large development of the fishing industry of Ireland. We may yet see Galway the Yarmouth, Achill the Grimsby, and Killybegs the Wick of the West. Modern society in Ireland, as everywhere else, can only be transformed through the agency of labour, industry, and commerce--inspired by the spirit of work, and maintained by the accumulations of capital. The first end of all labour is security,--security to person, possession, and property, so that all may enjoy in peace the fruits of their industry. For no liberty, no freedom, can really exist which does not include the first liberty of all--the right of public and private safety.
To show what energy and industry can do in Ireland, it is only necessary to point to Belfast, one of the most prosperous and enterprising towns in the British Islands. The land is the same, the climate is the same, and the laws are the same, as those which prevail in other parts of Ireland. Belfast is the great centre of Irish manufactures and commerce, and what she has been able to do might be done elsewhere, with the same amount of energy and enterprise. But it is not land, or climate, or altered laws that are wanted. It is men to lead and direct, and men to follow with anxious and persevering industry. It is always the Man society wants.
The influence of Belfast extends far out into the country. As you approach it from Sligo, you begin to see that you are nearing a place where industry has accumulated capital, and where it has been invested in cultivating and beautifying the land. After you pass Enniskillen, the fields become more highly cultivated. The drill-rows are more regular; the hedges are clipped; the weeds no longer hide the crops, as they sometimes do in the far west. The country is also adorned with copses, woods, and avenues. A new crop begins to appear in the fields--a crop almost peculiar to the neighbourhood of Belfast. It is a plant with a very slender erect green stem, which, when full grown, branches at the top into a loose corymb of blue flowers. This is the flax plant, the cultivation and preparation of which gives employment to a great number of persons, and is to a large extent the foundation of the prosperity of Belfast.
The first appearance of the linen industry of Ireland, as we approach Belfast from the west, is observed at Portadown. Its position on the Bann, with its water power, has enabled this town, as well as the other places on the river, to secure and maintain their due share in the linen manufacture. Factories with their long chimneys begin to appear. The fields are richly cultivated, and a general air of well-being pervades the district. Lurgan is reached, so celebrated for its diapers; and the fields there about are used as bleaching-greens. Then comes Lisburn, a populous and thriving town, the inhabitants of which are mostly engaged in their staple trade, the manufacture of damasks. This was really the first centre of the linen trade.
Though Lord Strafford, during his government of Ireland, encouraged the flax industry, by sending to Holland for flax-seed, and inviting Flemish and French artisans to settle in Ireland, it was not until the Huguenots, who had been banished from France by the persecutions of Louis XIV., settled in Ireland in such large numbers, that the manufacture became firmly established. The Crommelins, the Goyers, and the Dupres, were the real founders of this great branch of industry."Ulster," said Sir John Davies, "is a very desert or wilderness; the inhabitants thereof having for the most part no certain habitation in any towns or villages." In 1659, Belfast contained only 600 inhabitants: Carrickfergus was more important, and had 1312 inhabitants. But about 1660, the Long Bridge over the Lagan was built, and prosperity began to dawn upon the little town. It was situated at the head of a navigable lough, and formed an outlet for the manufacturing products of the inland country. Ships of any burden, however, could not come near the town. The cargoes, down even to a recent date, had to be discharged into lighters at Garmoyle. Streams of water made their way to the Lough through the mud banks; and a rivulet ran through what is now known as the High Street.
The population gradually increased. In 1788 Belfast had 12,000inhabitants. But it was not until after the Union with Great Britain that the town made so great a stride. At the beginning of the present century it had about 20,000 inhabitants. At every successive census, the progress made was extraordinary, until now the population of Belfast amounts to over 225,000. There is scarcely an instance of so large a rate of increase in the British Islands, save in the exceptional case of Middlesborough, which was the result of the opening out of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, and the discovery of ironstone in the hills of Cleveland in Yorkshire. Dundee and Barrow are supposed to present the next most rapid increases of population.
