The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1822-10-23 00:00:00

RETRENCHMENT.

Amongst the benefits likely to result from the
official investigations made lately by some of the
Commissioners from the Board of Customs. in
several of the minor ports throughout Ireland, there
it one of no small importance to the revenues of the
cousitry, by winch it is proposed t• effect a colls.
siderable diminution in the expenditure attached
to the collection of the import duties. It is stated,
and seemingly upon good authority, that such hrs
brew the &chilli% trade of these ports, where large

hews 7d.

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and expensive revenue establishments had been
kept up, that the receipts had not produced rondo
a.lecpiate to the payment of the salaries to the.indi-
viduali employed in their collection: if Ibis be the
fact, and it is in one respect a distressing picessie
of the commerce of the country, surely it is fell
time that these places, which almost may be raoked
as insecure., should be abolished. In order to
commence this salutary change, we Are given to itn-
aristusid, that sit the expiration of the current gear-
ter, it is proposed to unite the collection of the im-
port duties iu several of the minor ports to those prin-
cipal ports in their vicinity, leaving only at the
former a superintending officer, who will solely have
to discharge the goods imported.—(lbid.)

STATE OP IRELAND IN JULY. 1522.

In ten long articles published in this Paper dar-
ing the last Wilmer, we endeavoured to trees the.
_causes and effects of the lamentable distswlnimees
which then disgraced the southern counties of this
kingdom. Since that period tranquillity has been
restored, and scarcity and distress, little short -of
famine in some dotricts, has succeeded. Noble
and philanthropic etiUrtr on the part of the English
people have been made, by voluntary subscription,
to check or alleviate it ; but while we feel truly
grateful for this generosity. vie strongly doubt the
policy or efficacy of it, as a means of improving the
state of Ireland, and therefore we hail with much
more pleasure the spun shown in both Houses of
Parliament, and indeed by the Government itself,
to take into deep and serious consideration the state
or tin. unhappy country; but all legislative inter-
ference, however powerful, will be of little avail, if
the enlightened classes of the Irish people them-
srlees do not seriously and cordially co-operate in
the great and interesting work of betterit .-, the con-
dition of their country, and altering the °habits of
the people, for it cannot be accomplished without
their assistance. It is in vain to expect a good,
morel, or molusitious tenant, where these is an un-
feeling landlord—or a good servant, with • bad
master ; the lower and unenlightened classes must
be stimulated by example, and encouraged by sym-
pathy, vigilance, and generosity—be it, therefore,
our task in this short essay, to take • brief view of
the relation between landlord and tenant, generally
—sod of the state of the labouring classes in this
country.

Thai mocha the miseries of Ireland love sprung
from the want of that friendly understanding be-
tween landlord and tenant, which en happily ex-
ists in England. we believe is not denied—whet
then. we ask, has been the system and policy of the
Irish landlords (with some exceptions) for a series of
years past Has it not been to extort the highest
rate of rent, to levy it promptly and cruelly by dis-
tress. exectilions, ejectment., or otherwise, and at
the expiration of the lease, to disregard all the ties
between landlord and tenant, so sacredly adhe►ed
to in the sister country, and prefer a stranger, if a
few slielliuga per ucre more were offered, and thus
drive the poor tenant and his family from a spot to
which he was perhaps fondly attached, from birth.
habit, and education ? This conduct has effectually
broken all that confidence which should salient be-
tween the parties, and has made the tenantry ►n re-
turn (in many instances), dishonest, litigious, sod
ungrateful, and we are willing to admit that
latterly they have turned the tables on their oppress.
sera with a dreadful vengeance, leaving their lands
deteriorated and deserted. the tenements destroyed,
■ heavy loss of rents, &c., heap of law ripeness--
such are the disastrous consequences of the unfree-.
py system pu►sued by a great army of Iltr Iced-
lords of licland ; and what other results could be .
expected ? The lower classes will ever, more y►e
less, take their tone from, sod shape their conduct, .
after, the higher Hassel in every country, and liana,-
the powerful influence of example. We have been
told that there is no faith to he kept with the lower
cl of tenants in this country ; we deny tba
fact, as a general principle, but if we admitted it far
argument sake, we would ►eply, that it is the coo..
duct of the landlords that has driven them to it.
The state of the case is plainly this—a great
portion of the gentry or middlemen in Ireland,
took large tracts of land during the high war
times, from the year 1797 to 1814 ; they ex-
pended large sums (p►obably their entire wealth)
in improvements and cultivation, and there sub-
set them to small occupying tenants. On the
peace, came the reduction sod re-action. until
lands nearly reached the value of 1792; they ap-
plied to the head landlords. who offered iu ionic
instances to take surrenders, but refused all abase-
ments, the lands being scarcely worth the origins!
rent; they still clung pertivaciou►ly to the laud,
where their property wall sunk. in the vain and
hopeless expectation that times would mend ;
meantime, the poor wretched occupier was often,
the victim of both, frequently diatrained by ti.r
head landlord for relit lie had already paid the
middleman, and after for the extreme rack.rent he!
assumed. Thus maitre, remained until all were
swept away by an ejectment, and theta, probably .
the occupier came in on something of equitable
terms; red, in this respect, we amok the situation
of the lower chimes of truantry in this country he.
been materially bettered and le...proved, by being
brought in more immediate contact with the pro-
'dieter. but the vices engendered uuder the grind-
ing and tyrannic sway of the middleman, still re-
mains in many instances with them.
In justice we are bound to say, that there are a
class of middlemen (lint proterhly strictly deverviegi
that appellation), who by payment of lines, or large
expenditure, slid early taker, have rendered thews-
selves a species of proprietors. 'red who form a most
useful class of gentry, whether as uccupiers Or laud.
lords; being always resident, they know thecllll.
racier, ci►cumstances, and resources of their tenon-
try, and treat them with clemency or severity as
they merit, and in this respect feint a good model
for the agents and managers of sonic large proprie.
tors' estates, both resident end absent, and wits

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