hey would very soon seek and
acquire a knowledge of letters if previously ignorant of them. In short,
the Industrial Education of the Irish Peasantry is the noblest and the
most hopeful idea yet broached for their intellectual and social
elevation, and I have great hope of its speedy triumph. It is now being
agitated in Dublin and many other localities, a central and many
auxiliary schools having already been established. But I will speak
further on this point in another letter.

Galway has an immense and steady water-power within half a mile of its
harbor, on the outlet of Lakes Corrib and Mash, by means of which it
enjoys an admirable internal navigation extending some sixty miles
northward. Here Manufactures might be established with a certainty of
commanding the cheapest power, cheapest labor and cheapest fuel to be
had in the world. I never saw a spot where so much water power yet
unused could be obtained at so trifling a cost as here directly on the
west line of the town and within half a mile of its center. A beautiful
Marble is found on the line of the Railroad only a few miles from the
town, and all along the line to Dublin the abundance and excellence of
the building-stone are remarkable. Timber and Brick come down the Lake
outlet as fast as they are wanted, while Provisions are here cheap as in
any part of the British Isles. Nature has plainly designed Galway for a
great and prosperous city, the site of extensive manufactures, the
emporium of an important trade, and the gateway of Europe toward
America; but whether all this is or is not to be dashed by the fatality
which has hitherto attended Irish prospects, remains to be seen. I trust
that it is not, but that a new Liverpool is destined soon to arise here;
and that, should I ever again visit Europe, I shall first land on the
quay of Galway.

XLII.

IRELAND--SOUTH.

DUBLIN, Tuesday, Aug. 5, 1851.

I had hoped to see all of Ireland that is accessible by Railroad from
this city, but Time will not permit. Having remained here over Sunday, I
had only Monday left for a trip Southward, and that would just suffice
for reaching Limerick and returning without attempting Cork. So at 7
yesterday morning I took the "Great Southern and Western Railroad," and
was set down in Limerick (130 miles) at a quarter before 1, passing
Kildare, with its "Curragh" or spacious race-ground, Maryborough and
Thurles on the way. Portarlington, Mount Melick, Mountrath a