The million-peopled city
Garwood, John
1853
The Native Irish Poor more virtuous than the English Poor.
Nor, indeed, ought that unfavourable judgment to be passed on the Irish, on account of the crowded state of their rooms, which, at the first blush of the matter, we might be disposed to do. Mr. Garratt remarks very truly with reference to it:- | |
" You must not suppose that this wretched way of living is felt by them to be uncomfortable. They have no taste for anything different. The misery of an Irish hovel is proverbial, and though I think that some of them do miss the hills and the valleys outside, yet the accommodation inside is not worse than they have been accustomed to. Their habits are set immeasurably lower, as far as the comforts and decencies of life are concerned, than those of our English poor. And it is one great problem which is ever occurring to the mind of the thoughtful observer, how they can be raised." | |
It is also especially to be noticed, to the honour of the Irish, that, in spite of this crowded and promiscuous living and sleeping, as a nation they are, as to all offences against purity, more virtuous and moral than our own poor, and it is only as they become corrupted by a long residence in London, that offences against the seventh commandment become common among them. In their own country they are an example to us. Violations of the marriage tie are there almost unknown, an illegitimate child can scarcely be found, and young women who have committed themselves are scouted society in a manner which has no parallel in England among the same classes of the population. | |