Readers of J.H. Andrews, A paper landscape: The Ordnance Survey in nineteenth
century Ireland (Oxford UP, 1975: reissued Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2003),
will no doubt have been intrigued by a quotation at the very beginning,
attributed to Lord Salisbury in 1883: 'The most disagreeable part of the three
kingdoms is Ireland, and therefore Ireland has a splendid map.' Unfortunately,
no source is given for this! I can now remedy the deficiency: it was spoken in
the House of Lords on 12 June 1883 (Paliamentary Debates ['Hansard'], series 3,
vol 280, cols 329-32: quotation on 332), in the course of a debate following a
question on the Ordnance Survey, and the full quotation is as follows:

'THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY said, he could also bear testimony to the enormous
amount of inconvenience which had been caused by the delay that had taken place
in the publication of the 6-inch map. Any envy expressed of the superior
facilities that foreign nations had of transferring land with little or no
expense or difficulty was really hypocritical, as long as no measures were taken
to furnish the maps which must be necessary for such purposes. They seemed to
have gone on the principle of serving first those parts of the Kingdom which
were the most disagreeable to the Government, and which were not in so much need
of the maps as England. The most disagreeable part of the Three Kingdoms was
Ireland, and, therefore, Ireland had a splendid map. Next to Ireland, Scotland
was the most disagreeable part of the country to the Government, and,
consequently, Scotland had a map; but poor, meek, humble, submissive England was
necessarily left to the last.'

(Note that indirect was translated into direct speech.) 'Disagreeable' here can
be roughly translated as 'bolshy'!

Richard Oliver



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