The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1822-05-06 00:00:00

until some change shall take plege in the setting
of the Ueda, it will be in iivid to etipect the coun.
try cam be perisanently tm.ogodlited. Noble Lords
will be astonished to hear, that five or.joix persons
frequently stand between the original proprietor
and the unfortunate man who tills the soil. Aud
should every 'One of the intermediate lessors and
lessees neglect to pay the rent, the head landlord
will come upon the woikiiig farmer fur the gale,
though he may have paid it to the man wider
whom
.he immediately derives."
This forestalling of the land is applicable only to
Ireland, and, though singular, is no way difficult
to account for. Properly speaking, there has not
been fur near two centuries, nor is there, but one
manufacture in Ireland, that of linen, which is
confined to the province of Ulster. la the other
three, each much larger, there has been no em-
ployment for capital time out of mind, bet in land
Pr in its produce; no occupation fur the great
mime of the people, but what the cultivation and
the rearing of the 'Mak raised upon the ground
afforded : both srodenimble facts. The cortae-
queuce of the first has been that extraordinary
competition among the bidders for the land, which
gave rise to a (Alf d'avvre in its way, advertise..
nients from the proprietors to receive secret propo.
sale. The same cause engendered a swarm of land-
jobbers, who, upon .the same piece of ground, have
each a profit rent down to the farmer, sometimes
to the number of fire or six, as we have just seen
so forcibly stated. Hence the price of land has
Olways been infinitely higher in Ireland, the poorer
country, thou it) Eugland, the richer. The con.
sequence of the second fact must be obsiour.-
IFhe labouring classes, having no other resource or
means of existence but what the land afforded,
their labour became a drug in the market, the
*ice fluctuating from fourpence to eightpetice
itAig; not the half of what the peasant received in
the ether parts of Europe. Erect at those de-
iiiiarea rates mini), hundred thousand, could get
maseesployment. The expedient of submitting to
WAhi slaves for seven years, the price of their
prang to the American Colonies, arose, and took
lOW for ',vend years '25,000 annually. But this re-
maarce has for u long time ceased to exist, the grow.
ink population of the United States rendering it
necessary to discourage the introduction of
foreigners. Few Irish go to Canada, as the
passage must be paid down in money. Some
thOusanch.gereliniordly to England to mate upllie
the harvest, end true it is, beg their way. They
return with some scanty saviugs, and recosating
their travels and the names of the Noblemen they
sow and worked for, resider the 'hearers more dis-
gusted with 'their wretched situation.—But we are
not done with the siugularities peculiar to Ireland,
and which, iD fact, constitute it • country perfectly
uniting? In every other, the peasant and labourer
is maintaitied from the produce of the soil he cul-
tivate,. The French peasant cats breed, has hall
tf soup and bouilli three times • week, lie uses eggs,
and to his taupe '4 l'onion he cult afford some lard,
to his salad some oil; he drinks small
The Italian eels bread also, has his macaroni wit%
all, and a,lttticgrafed cheese, a bit of kid at times,
mid &Snits of the inferior wine of the country.—
This is Coder the teriff of the Lombardi and Flo-
resitines,'siol perhaps May exceed what he obtains in
the Papal territory, Bologna excepted. Bread,
beef. bacon. butter, sod cheese, are the general
food of the English peasant, his drink small liquor
of passable quality. Coming to the Irishman, we
oee Wm eat nothing but potatoes, raised by his own
lohour, •in the hours lie can devote to it, before
and after Iris day's work, from so acre fur which he
pays seven or eight guineas for the few months it
requires to mature the crop, ressgoing this sere to
the proprietor, ready to be *own with hatley rat
the spring ; water and • little buttermilk, when
he can get it, constitute his drink ; the family
winder:lhr, furniture of his cabin, culinary uten-
sils, and every thing about him, will be taken
high at the value of fifteen shillings.
It is evident now, that a great portion of the pro-
duce in every country is consumed by those who
raise it, while in Ireland, it is an unnatural surplus,
of which the peasant cannot loge. " Sic ens tam
robisfertis emirs bores."
Probably it is owing to this extraordinary circum-
stance that the country has been able to support
the remittance, it i. said, of near six millions annu-
ally, including the interest of the English !craw, she
whole of which is spent in England, and is nearly
one• half of the entire exports, manufacture and
produce included. The other Intl( is destined to
pay fur the manufactures and fureigii product)
which is imported.
It is not presumed that this paper can do any
justice to the subject it attempts to consider.
however, develops enough to prove a melancholy
tenth, which it is in vim any longer to disguise.
A war between poverty and riches has long
raged in this unhappy country, •ird every thing
boa hitherto con.pired to foment it. How often
has Government been reduced to the hard twee,.
arty of extinguishing its flames in the blood of lIN
unfortunate people, and what has experience shown
to be the result, but a temporary smothering of the
embers, ready to blaze out tan every new occasion ?
This alternation most ineciiahly Ko 1111 till the
Noblemen and lauded proptietois of Ireland, enter-
ing seriously into their own interest, shall take the
work in hand of 'Jemmy( the lower chanter, and
ameliorating their wretched condition ; and by be-
stowing on it the necessary pains, and submitting
'to the necessary sacrifices, shall establish that good
order and respect for the laws, which can alone en-
sure the safety of their properly, and put an end
to this war, so touch to be deplored.
It cannot escape remark, that nothing is item
posed in this paper to disturb the extant% relo.