The Express.
London, England, 1850-11-05 00:00:00

SECOND SERIES.
INDENT.)

(7ItOX •

(Prom the Daily Nees.)
THE MOUNTCASHELL ESTATES.

Then; has been a twofold operation in the effects
of the tremendous famine which so recently desolated
Ireland. In the first place, its political effect was to
dissipate the delusions or "nationality" which were
mystifying the Irish popular mind, misguiding the
muses of the country. The absurdity of looking for
the independence of Ireland, or the repeal of the
union, was made intelligible to every one, and a
clearer and broader light was cut upon the island. In
the second place, the sccial results of the famine are
in magnitude but inferior to the political consequences
of the famine. Tne social state of the aristocracy, of
the middle classes, and of the peasantry has been revo-
lutionised. Much of the aristocracy of Irelands only
titular, and has ceased to be territorial in its autho-
rity. The numbers of the middle classes in Munster
and Connaught have been diminished by emigration •
the same cause, joined with famine, has decreased
the swarming 'lumbers of the peasantry. There is •
want of capital and training in Ireland amongst the
industrial cloves, and the state of that country now
presents a wide and remunerative field for their
application.
That this new field exists in Ireland, and that the
social revolution now taking plus to rapidly in the
propertied classes of that country will open a great
channel for fresh capital and new energy, there is
little doubt.
The fall of so many of the Irish aristocracy might
'egg, at much sentimentalism. Bat the real has be-
come an object of each prime necessity in Ireland,
that we must pet aside idle sympathy. The list, in-
deed, is full. Amongst the estates offered for sale by
the Commissioners, are those of the Marquis of Donegal,
the Earls of Mountcashell, Aldborough, Carrick, King-
ston, Portarlington, Viscount Gort, the Lords Audley
and Longford, besides a host of commoners—Alexan-
der, now M.P. for Antrim ; the noted old Irish fami-
lies of M'Certhy of Carrignavar, O'Grady of Kilbally,
Owen, O'Flahertie of Galway ; the properties of
Standish Barry, Dillon Browne, and Callaghan,
late members for Cork County, Mayo, and
Cork city—O'Connell', of Kerry—of several baronets
too tedious to mention, and a whole host of miscel-
laneous proprietors. Some of these properties are
worth examination. Their state, past and present,
reveals the condition of Irish society, and gives means
of anticipating its future. Take, for example, the pro-
perty of Lord Mountcashelt, to be sold by the commie-
wooers on the Bth of this month. .

Lord Mount...A*ll has estates in the north and
south of Ireland. His residence has always been at
Moore Park, a large but not well-kept demesne,
beautifully situate on the river Funchern, in the
county of Cork. Standing on the Kilworth mono-
tain,overlooking Lord Mountcashell's southern estate.,
you can see the splendid castle of Mitcheletown, the
romantic demesne of Castle Hyde, and the broad lands
of Moore Park, with their adjacent estates. The scenery
is bold and magnificent in its outline, and not devoid of
some historical interest. That vast plain stretching
westward was in Elizabeth's reign the estates of the
Earl* of Desmond, a powerful branch of the Norman
Fitzgerald.. In yonder lonely tower of Kilcolman
dwelt Spenser, the author of the " Faifie Qurebe ;"
and thither the gallant Raleigh bent his steps, when
both of them were proprietors of the forfeited lands of
the hens. of Desmond. There, at Cnberdriving
Castle, first lived the Hydes, who then got a vast por-
tion of the :same estate., and now the Kings and Hydes
are to follow the fate of the more illustrious Raleighs
and Spencers. The country is traversed by rivers which
afford splendid sites for manufactories, but only a few
corn mills are here and there visible. No tall chum-
nies rake up against the sky ; no busy bum of in-
dustry is heard in the hamlet ; no hive of manufac-
ture is to be seen in all that great plain which stretches
westward some thirty miles from Fermoy, along the
banks of the Bleckwater. The farms are ill managed,
and the children and growing girls are nearly all un-
employed. Such is the state of thiogs in the part of
the country where Lord Mountceshell's southern estates
are placed. We will soon see how different is the
state of things in industrious Ulster, where the
estates which are to be sold are located. But first •
few words of Lord Mountcsshell himself.
The mother of Lord tlonntcashell was Lady I ielena
King, sister of the present Lord Lorton, and grand-
aunt to the present Lord Kingston. She was a lady of
remarkable character and talents, and possessed con-
siderable literary accomplishments. She was a pupil of
Mazy Wolstonsaaft,who was for some time a governess
in the King family. A sister of the late Lady Mount-
oashell was the heroine of that extraordinary romance
in real life, which ended with the tragical death of
the late Colonel Fitzgerald at Kilwortb, upwards of
fifty years ago. The late Lady lane Peel was • sis-
ter of Lord Mountcashell, and was in her youth a
famous beauty. Lord Monntcashell took an active
part in the movement against the internal abuses
of the Irish established church; and after the Emanci-
pation Act of 1829, he raised his voice loudly against
the pluralities and absenteeism of the Irish clergy. A
long controversy ensued between him and the late
Bishop of Ferns, in which the peer worsted the
bishop, by the aid of truth and stubborn facts. The
exposure of the abuses in the church system had great
influence in the subsequent anti-tithe movement of
1832, and paved the way for the passing of Lord
Stanley's Irish Church Temporalities Act. In public
life, Lord Monntcashell has always been animated
with a conscientious desire to support whatever he
deeiFlcarli ht, and his reputation for high integrity
of character has always been acknowledged.
Let us now take a view of his lordship's northern
estates, to be sold by the commissioners on the Bth
instant. Wending our way to the north, and peas-
' lug through Dublin, we take the railway to Belfast,
and thence to Ballymena, in the county of Antrim,
where we find ourselves in the 'vs centre of Lord
Mountcashell's northern estate. What a totally dif-
ferent scene from that in the county of Cork! Here
in Antrim the climate is still the same, perhaps a
little worse. The skies are more clouded, the air
more keen. The soil was evidently less favoured
by nature than the county of Cork, yet what
a remarkable difference between the state of
the inhabitant population on the two estates!
The lands ere thickly studded with factories and
blush greens. The people are well-fed, well-
dime& and clean. The cottages, though not
equal le them is the advanced parts of England, are
OS
hellerlikete the hovels of the Eilworth Mountain
as Belgium is beyond Brittany. It is
sallaillibillibieetry, and of active social develop-
neat. The people are all at work, either urea the
land or la the factories • and the girls are all boy it
home, either upon embroidering muslin for some et
the Glasgow or Belfast houses, or in some of the
simpler forms of manufacturing labour. This sr
tit of the younger portion of the perelatissis
er he grand points of distinction Wrens the
slals of Ulster and Muster. The childrea

begin to earn wages just after their schooling
is completed, and habits of industry and
independence are formed which last for life.
This demand for hands of course greatly raises the
prios of agricultural labour, and thus in traversing the
estates of Lord Mountcaahell, we found the agricultural
labourers receiving Is. a day, and the women em-
ployed on farms getting 6d. a day. Thus with the
low prices of food, and a demand for the labour of
their growing girls, a poor man's family in the north
of Ireland, where manufactures prevail, is in a totally
'different state from that of a man of the same class in
Munster, with its great unreclaimed wastes, its
villages swarming with unemployed hands, and its
wages reduced to the lowest standard. The state of
the workhouse at Ballymena demonstrates the condition
of the district. On the 17th of October the number
of inmates in the workhnuse when we visited it was
only 227, this anion containing 23 electoral divisions.
There were but sixteen able bodied men in the entire
lhoure. The number of inmates was made up of the
aged, the infirm, and the young. We may remark
that we never saw a more cleanly or better arranzed
workhouse than that of Ballymena. Ia the week
previous to our visit there were 235 inmates-53
males, 66 females, 52 boys, 50 girls, and 12 infants.
The town of Ballymena itself is a very good spe-
cimen of one of the northern country towns in
Ireland. It is built of the basalt of the country,
and the dark black aspect of the houses gives the
place a very peculiar septet when contrasted in the
memory with the whitewashed and plaster-built
towns in the southern parts of Ireland. In trade and
population Ballymena is the second town in Antrim.
Every Satut day there is a great linen market, where
the brown linens are brought in by the country folk,
and bought op by the owners of the bleach greens.
Standing room can scarcely be had at market hour.
The buyers or their factors stand along the walls
raised above the crowd, and the linen is flung up in
small parcels to them, the buyers rapidly fingering
each bundle, and judging it by the eye. There are
three branch banks, a flax-spinning mill, and a distil-
lery, at Ballymena.
The estates of Lord Mountcashell stretch away to
the north and east of Ballymena. They include the
estates of Nene, Glenwhirry, Braid, and Galgorm,
let at a rental of 13,5511. with a considerable rise in
a few years. To estimate the value of such an estate
is not an easy matter, owing to its extent. It is, of
course, evident that the nominal and paid rental can-
not be of the same figure ; but this difference is very
little when contrasted with the southern properties
of the embarrassed proprietors. The whole estate is
commonly spoken of is the north of Ireland as pay-
log 12,0001. per annum, with a rise of between two
and three thousand pounds on the decease of two lives.
Oas of the beat features in the estate is the excellent
character of its tenants, not second to any in Eng-
land or Ireland for peaceful conuuct and energetic in-
dustry. Tenant right has always prevailed on
the estate, and there have been none of the
evictions that have occurred elsewhere. We
found the tenantry speak with feelings of great
kindness of Lord Mountcashell, and a regret that he
was distressed for money. What they said of him was
enough to confirm the reputation which Lord Mount-
earthen has always borne of an amiable landlord and
most honourable private character. Nevertheless, we
heard abundant grumbling from some of the tenants,
that their rents were too high, coupled with the
statemeut that they felt sure that if Lord Mountcashell
could do so that he would be glad to reduce their
rents. We have not the slightest doubt, from what
we saw and beard, that land is at present too high
let in the north of Ireland. But the present
depression of the empathy is not likely to last, mid
land will again rise in a few yeats.
The Mountcashell estates are parcelled out in small
farms, held by leases of various tenures. A few years
ago the tenantry offered to give Lord Mountcashell
100,0001., raised amongst themselves, if he would
give leases for ever. It is said that Lord Mount-
eashell offered leases in perpetuity on payment of ten
years' rent, and that after having accepted these
terms from a few of the tenants to whom they were
offered, he then got frightened at the idea of
leasing out all his estate. There was always a run-
ning gale on the property, and he then offered to
those of his tenants who paid up the half-year's rent
leases for 21 and 20 years. By referring to his rental
book, so ably drawn up by his lordship's solicitor, Mr.
P. Scott, of Dublin, we found that in the year 1846
Lord Mountcashell executed a vast number of leases
fcr 30 years. The late W. W. Simpson, of London,
strongly urged Lord Mountcashell rot to execute, but
it is said that his lordship gave the leases from a spirit
of honour, having promised them. The estate has,
certainly, not teen injured by the leases, as there is no
agitation going on amongst the tenantry, who are
content with their tenure.
From the estates of Lord Mountcashell there were
amongst the 227 inmates of the Ballymena Work-
house 9 off the Galgorm estate, 9 off the Kells, 1 from
Braid, and 7 from Glenwhirry. The greatest number
of inmates during the famine time in the Bally-
mena Workhouse was 1,230. Poor rates in the
union vary from Is. 4d. to 25., part of the assessment
being 6d. for the rate in aid, and the rest to cover the
debts of the famine time and building expenses. The
economic condition of a district is best shown by poor
law statistics, and the fact that on the 17th October
there were out of the 227 paupers in the whole dis-
trict 56 in the infirmary, 2 in fever hospital, 82 in
the schoolroom, and 87 in the body of the house, suffi-
ciently speaks for the absence of pauperism in the 23
division. of Ballymena union.
We could detect in the County of Antrim, notwith-
standing its prosperity and icdnstry, the want of resi-
dent proprietors. Good resident landlords, with inde-
pendent fortunes cannot but be a great advantage to
a rural district. The Ballymena estate, adjoining
Lord Mountcashell on the eastern aide, is held by Mr.
Sbafto Adair, the member for Cambridge, who is an
enterprising and liberal landlord. lie has made
abatements this year to his tenantry, on the condition
that the allowance remitted in money will be applied
to manuring their land better, and he has encouraged
draining. Though not resident in the country, he
repeatedly visits hie Ballymenaproperty, and he has a
most excellent agent in Mr. Dickie, an extensive linen
manufacturer, who superintends the Adair estates with
much skill and intelligeoee. Mr. Shafto Adair is anxious
to improve his tenantry, and to further the social ad-
vaucement of Ireland, and from his talents and libe-
ral turn of mind, may render very great service to the
county of Mifflin.
If the Mountcashell estates were sold amongst three
or four proprietors who would reside on them, it
would be a great advantage to all classes. The pea-
santry on them being such as would appreciate and
welcome new landlords, bringing wealth and atten-
tion to the soil.