A Frenchman's Walk in Ireland by The Chevalier De Latocnaye

CHAPTER XII - Lough Neagh-Belfast-Donaghadee

The coast nearly everywhere is of the same boldness from Fair Head to Cushendun, ten or eleven miles further to the east. The strait here between Scotland and Ireland resembles a large river, and, in fact, the distance between the two countries is not more than eleven Irish miles or fourteen English. It happens often, in calm weather, that open boats can cross from one side to the other.
It would seem to be quite easy to establish a regular packet between Campbeltown, in the Mull of Kantyre, and Cushendun, or if not regular, at any rate when wind and bad weather do not allow of the crossings to Holyhead, or even to Portpatrick. The different sects are separated in districts in the Province of Ulster. The inhabitants of Cushendun, as well as those of the country in the neighbourhood, are Catholics, and they have this peculiarity, that they do not speak English as do the inhabitants in other parts of the province, who for the most part would not understand Irish. From here to Glenarm the coast is followed by a road of difficult construction between the rocks and the sea. The coast is always high, and often presents the most extraordinary appearance. The rock is nearly always crowned by basalt, but the Causeway pillar formation is no longer found. The limestone which is beneath the basalt is not so white, being rather grey near Glenarm, a village which has nothing remarkable about it except the castle of the Marquis of Antrim, Quitting the coast, I had to cross the mountains to get to the interior, and I stopped at Broughshane, where most of the inhabitants are Presbyterians, One could hardly imagine that he is among the same people. The way of speaking, and even of dressing, is much more Scotch than Irish. Making a vigorous spurt, I reached the borders of Lough Neagh, or rather, I should say, Sea Neagh, and was received, with a kindness and politeness truly remarkable, at Shane's Castle by Lord O'Neill.
Lough Neagh is an immense sheet of water—they say forty to forty-five miles long by fifteen to twenty wide. It would appear that this lake did not always exist. It has very little depth, and at many places trees are found with their roots still in the bottom. Its greatest depth, at one place only, is seventy feet; at no other place does it exceed forty-two, and, commonly, it is not more than six to twelve feet deep. At certain parts its waters seem to have a mineral quality, as in the neighbouring soil numerous pieces of petrified wood have been found. On one of the days I went to the point where the river Bann leaves the lake, in order to see for myself what sort of obstruction had caused the formation of this inland sea. This cause I found to be, principally, the bed of the river; it is much too narrow for such a mass of water, and the river makes a curve of about two miles (although in a direct line the distance is not more than half a mile) before throwing itself into another lake, five or six miles long by two or three wide, and called Lough Beg. At the point of departure from this lake, there is a pretty considerable waterfall. If an effort were made to drain a large part of Lough Neagh, and render the river Bann navigable to the sea, the first thing to do would be to cut a deep canal in the direct line from Lough Neagh to Lough Beg, taking care to commence above the sand bar which wind and the current have caused to form at the spot where the river begins. This alone would diminish the volume of the water by five or six feet, and afterwards when the land drained had time to consolidate, and if it were found to be good for cultivation, and the vapour did not prove unhealthy,<37> the waterfall at Lough Beg could be attacked, and communicating canals could be made at other parts of the river where there are rocky obstructions. The sea is about thirty miles off, and there are not more than seventy feet of fall in all that great length, and the river, except at the rocky portions, hardly seems to flow. Through some of these obstructions, it seems to me quite feasible to cut passages for boats—a lock at each place would do all that is wanted—and then there would be communication by water between the principal towns of the North of Ireland, for Belfast has a canal to Lough Neagh, and there is another which goes to Newry.
The Bishop of Derry has built a magnificent palace on the other side of Lough Beg. The architecture is rather singular for a country house. It seems to be modelled on that of the Pantheon at Rome. Ballyscullion is absolutely circular, and light comes only from the roof. The edifice indeed has the air of a public building rather than that of a country house. The apartments of the interior are very richly furnished, and decorated by a great number of valuable paintings and pieces of sculpture. I am told that this house has cost Lord Bristol nearly eighty thousand pounds sterling. His Lordship has a mania for building superb palaces in Ireland and England, while he lives in ugly rat-holes on the Continent.
The spirit of the people was here in such a state of fermentation that it could easily have become dangerous in the absence of precautions. However, I am satisfied that there was not so much danger as some people pretended, although, certainly, there were some assassinations and other crimes, the authors of which cannot be traced. It would, however, be an injustice to accuse the entire mass of people for these crimes of a few individuals, and the greater part of them appear to have been committed through fear of being denounced by the persons who suffered. I have seen suspected persons arrested without the least difficulty and taken to prison, crossing, on the way, a market filled with country people, not one of whom showed any disposition to interfere. I saw here examples of excesses, but they are to be characterised as ridiculous rather than criminal. The curate of the parish had been a Catholic, and had been employed as chaplain in France and in Ireland. Seeing himself abandoned by his patrons, he renounced what are called the abominations of the Babylonish Woman, and immediately obtained a pension of £40 sterling per annum and the first vacant curacy.
The peasants, who always judge actions and their motives in a matter-of-fact, common-sense way, left him in peace, and contented themselves by staying away from his church. But he, wishing to show himself at this time ardently in favour of the Government and taking its side openly, they took a dislike to him, and hardly allowed a day to pass without showing him some insult or impertinence. They cut the tail, the horns, and the ears off his cow, and nailed them to his door. The poor beast, being no longer able to show itself respectably in public, he bought another, and four days after, it suffered from the same operation, and so a third. In the end, however, he thought it better to keep this last as it was, and when it was allowed out in a field, the people sent dogs after it. The curate complaining and protesting, they broke his windows and stopped his chimney.
The town of Antrim, capital of this county, is a poor little market-town without any appearance of trade or industry. Some distance off there is a round tower, which, according to the country folk, was at one time in the centre of the town. At present it is at least a mile from that centre, in the park of a country house. To go from here to Belfast, it is necessary to cross the mountains, which follow the coast round nearly the whole of Ireland.
I had heard so much about the troubles, the assassinations, and the conspiracies of which Belfast was the centre, that I felt considerable reluctance to proceed there. I was, however, agreeably surprised to find the town in perfect peace and quietness. Thus wags the world: if a storyteller, in going along the street, knows that there is in a building some six or seven hundred persons, and passing beneath the windows hears some noisy talk, he will say, and naturally, that there were seven hundred persons there making a frightful noise, while really the noise perhaps proceeded only from four or five excited persons, although it is put to the debit of the 695 quiet people. So it was at Belfast, the inhabitants seemed perfectly calm, and even less occupied by thought of politics than was the case in many other parts of the country.
Belfast has almost entirely the look of a Scotch town, and the character of the inhabitants has considerable resemblance to that of the people of Glasgow. If you start a conversation with them about the Emperor or General Clairfaix, they will possibly talk about the prices of sugar or linen, according as they are trading in one or other, or may remark that if peace is not made promptly they do not know how they are going to get rid of their muslin or how they are to buy wine. I do not say that they are wrong. I wish for peace, but, at the same time, care must be taken not to excite civil war in the country in order to have peace abroad. In any case, like marrying, the making of peace is not a thing to be done by one party; the other party must consent.
One day I went to Carrickfergus to see the castle that Thurot surprised during the late war. It is situated on a rock near the mouth of the bay of the same name. The French, to the number of 3000, arrived in two vessels, and within an hour or two took the castle by assault. If the commandant had known to profit by the terror which his expedition caused in the country, he certainly would have put Belfast under contribution. But he had with him an officer of genius, his superior, who was not willing to hazard the attempt until he had further support. His delay gave time for troops to arrive, and he was obliged to re-embark. At some distance by sea, he met the English vessels and fought them; the two French frigates were taken, and he himself was killed in the fight. The prison of the county is situated at Carrickfergus. It was at the time of my visit full of State prisoners, arrested on charges of murders which had been committed in the neighbourhood of Belfast. I remarked with pleasure that the town seemed perfectly peaceful, and that justice was allowed to have her way; further, that there was only a single sentinel at the prison gate.
It is said that it was near this town that the first King of Scotland was drowned in returning to Ireland.
Belfast is a rather pretty town, and trade in it seems to be very flourishing. Its principal industry is the manufacture of textiles; the Linen Hall is a building of considerable size. I have already mentioned that it is to the French refugees under Louis XIV that Ireland owes these establishments. More than once the ills of France have been the benefits of her neighbours.
In a terrible frost, which made me think that it was time to finish my travels, I returned to the house of Mr. Birch near Comber. The proprietors in this neighbourhood were this day assembled in order to take measures for the surety of the country, in case of riot. The peasantry had stolen the arms of a party of cavalry a few days earlier. I cannot, for the life of me, understand how troops can allow their arms to be stolen. Perhaps it was here due to great confidence in the people round them. The thing might happen once—but twice—but thrice—!!!
All this country is made up of little hills of nearly equal height, and these continue on to Lough Strangford, which is nothing more than an arm of the sea, very wide, but with very little depth. The little town of Newtownards at the end of the lough is fairly well built, but it must suffer from the damp rising from this arm of the sea at low tide, when much of it is almost entirely dry. I may be reproached with having introduced this subject of drainage and drying lands too often, but certainly there is no country has such need for it. I shall repeat here what I have already said twenty times, and that is, that it is a shame to allow all these lakes and arms of the sea to exist, when the ground below them could be turned so advantageously to account. Nothing will better indicate the quantity of good land, which might be taken here from the sea, than the statement which I can make, that at four or five miles distant from the town it is customary, at low tide, to cross the bay on horseback, and even on foot. Although on this great space there may be certain stony places, by far the greater part of it is made up of a mixture of loam, sand, and shells.
I was received at Mount Stewart with much kindness by Lord and Lady Londonderry. My Lady is sister to the Viceroy of Ireland. She lives here a very retired life in the bosom of her amiable family, to the education of which she devotes the whole of her time. Lord Londonderry and his son were at this time raising a corps of volunteers and administering the oath of allegiance to peasants who presented themselves, Man is a sheep everywhere; they had much trouble in getting the first ten or twelve to join, and in the days following, seven or eight hundred came forward. The peasantry in this district seemed to be comfortably situated and are well clad. Not far away are the ruins of Greyabbey; the minister's house, which looks like a fine castle, is in the enclosure. I saw a spring which had some resemblance to the holy wells of the west, and I asked if it were customary for the peasantry to come here for devotions; but here the inhabitants are for the most part Presbyterians. They told me that the common belief is that any person drinking the water of this spring will never leave Ireland. As it was my intention to leave in a couple of days, I took care not to take it. Going back to Donaghadee, I was received by the postmaster, Mr. Smith, whose assistance in arranging my passage was very valuable. The number of cattle taken from here to Scotland is something inconceivable, and the farmers are obliged to submit to the impudent impositions of the owners of the boats which take the cattle. They ask as much as twenty guineas for a crossing, and as they hold the farmer in the hollow of their hands, he is obliged to pay what they ask, and this means that the cost of transport for horned cattle is as much as one guinea per beast. It seems to me that the country authorities ought to establish a regular tariff as is done at many places. Here the distance is scarcely twenty miles.<38>
In two hours and a half I was carried to the opposite side of the water, saluted anew the coast of Scotland, and counted myself happy that I had at last arrived at a place where I could rest in peace.
I had left Dublin on May 25, and I landed at Portpatrick on December 21, so I had spent more than six months on this walk, travelling without provisions, without cares, and without any baggage beyond what my pockets were able to contain.
My time, I must say, had been well employed; I had never spent time, indeed, with greater pleasure; my ideas had been enlarged; I had made the acquaintance of an interesting people too little known of their neighbours, and, unfortunately, too often the prey of avidity and caprice, leagued together during centuries for their vilification.
The surprising advance which this country has made during the last fifteen years leaves no doubt of the certainty of the prosperity which awaits it if the system of moderation lately adopted should be continued. Far be it from me to encourage any idea of revolt. The moderation of which I speak is that which every wise Government should exhibit in dealing with its faithful subjects, no matter what their religion may be. Too long these fatal quarrels have torn the bosom of Ireland. The cares of Government now are doubtless employed to extinguish them entirely. A happy experience will prove to England that the prosperity of this beautiful kingdom, far from being hurtful to her, will increase her own, and that in destroying the ridiculous prejudices which have been for ages existing against the most beautiful and richest part of her possessions, and in really making Ireland share the advantages of the beneficent laws by which she is, herself, governed, she will acquire the love of 4,000,000 of subjects, which her armies have conquered, but which justice alone will bring to submission.