The Chief
Secretary's letter (I speak with all respect), though well meant, was in
many cases impracticable; and the late Treasury Minute, also
well-intentioned though it be, is for the most part _incomprehensible_;
and when the three are taken together, or brought partially into
operation together, as in some places is attempted, the Irish gentry
would require a forty-horse power of intellect to understand or avail
themselves of them."[127] "I do not say, as many do," Mr. Moore
continues, "that the roads will be spoiled by cutting down the hills; on
the contrary, it will be of the greatest advantage to have level
highways through the land; but I do say, that there could not by
possibility have been a more absurd misapplication of the labour and the
power of the country. _Level roads are a good thing, but food is
better._ And what will level highways do for the poor of Ireland next
year, if they have nothing to eat?"[128] When Mr. Moore penned these
lines he assumed, we must suppose, that all roads undertaken by
Government would be completed, which would, in its way, be an
improvement; but such was not the case.
At this time a class of landowners, and an extremely numerous one,
raised the cry of "excessive population.
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