PROTESTANT COLONIES.—A new plan for bringing under cultivation the waste
lands of Ireland, and at the same time of strengthening the Protestants there, has been promulged by the Orange Clubs, and will probably be acted on,—though we fear not to such an extent as to serve -either the patriotic or the party views of its projectors. It is proposed to settle Protestant families in townships of one thousand acres, ten acres being assigned to each family. By locating them together, it is supposed they will be sufficiently strong for mutual defence in case of attack—(by whom ?)—and by their persevering labour " the swamps will be drained, the heather will disappear, and in place of mountain (?) and morass, the eye will rest upon cultivated fields and rich meadows." The most extensive and most successful attempt at reclaiming morass hitherto made in Great Britain, (we believe it is still going on) was that of Mr. HOME DRUMMOND, in the neighbourhood of Stirling, in Scotland. The cottagers were located in nearly the same way as it is proposed by the Orange Clubs to locate their Protestant colonies ; but the reclaiming process was prosecuted as by-work; there was a sufficient demand in the surrounding country for ordinary labour. The drainage was effected at the expense of Mr. DRUMMOND ; and it was made subservient to the carrying away of the superfluous moss, that could hardly have been got rid of had its transport cost either labour or money. -Assistance was given by the proprietor, and numerous expedients were had recourse to by the cottagers to eke out in the first years of their settlement a scanty sub- sistence. • Among these we have heard that illicit distillation was one very generally practised. For the most part, the families settled under Mr. DRUMMOND'S auspices did well ; and ma.ly of them realized con- siderable sums by their cleared lands, which enabled them to quit the ;.nsiness of reclaiming bog for other and more respectable callings. ;• the Orange Clubs wish to effect any thing valuable or extensive, they would do well to commence on Mr. Duaimmoivn's plan and prin- ciples. They will have obstacles in their way, from the diminished value of agricultural produce, which he had not to contend with ; and the difficulty of procuring employment for the unoccupied hours of the settlers will be a still greater bar to success.
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