Again, if we take the agricultural population belonging to the Established Church in the south of Ireland, in the diocese of Ferns (which includes the whole country of Wexford except three parishes, part of Wicklow, and one parish in Carlow),we get the following result:—
| In 1834 . . . . | 24,672 |
| In 1861 . . . . | 14,383 |
Showing a decrease in 1861, 10,280, or 42 per cent.
If we take the Roman Catholic population in the diocese of Tuam, the largest diocese in Connaught (which includes a large part of Galway, part of Mayo, and one parish in Roscommon), we get:—
| In 1834 . . . . | 467,870 |
| In 1861 . . . . | 302,367 |
Showing a decrease of 165,603, or 35 per cent.
In the same way, if we take the Roman Catholics in the diocese of Ardfert and Aghador (which includes all Kerry except two parishes, and part of Cork), we get:—
| In 1834 . . . . | 227,131 |
| In 1861 . . . . | 215,028 |
Showing a decrease of 82,103, or at the rate of 28 per cent.
It appears, therefore, that there has been about the same decrease of agricultural population from 1834 to 1861, in Derry, in Wexford, in Galway, and in Kerry; the same among the original Celts, the Scotch settlers, and the English settlers; the same in the diocese which includes the estates of the London Companies; the Protestant landlords of Wexford, the county of Kerry, with its large resident proprietors, many of them Roman Catholics, and in Galway.
The Presbyterian and Protestant emigration commenced earlier, and took place to a large extent before the famine, because they were then better educated than the Roman Catholics. When a generation of Roman Catholics grew up, who had been educated in the National Schools, commenced in 1830, they followed the example of the Presbyterians and the members of the Established Church. The famine accelerated this movement, but it would have taken place before the present time if the famine had never occurred.
