The Sun.
London, England, 1839-03-15 00:00:00

In 1830
In 1836

an increase in one article of ccmmerce between two coun-
tries such as the annals of commerce could possibly parallel
And the most convincing proof of the effect which this
supply from Ireland had had. in relieving us from a de-
pendency for food upon foreign States was afforded by the
decreasing importation from other countries in each year
since 1806. In the five years from 1800 to 1805 the
average imports of foreign wheat into England was 686.560
quarters; 1805 to 1810, 715,336 quarters; 1810 to 1820,
459,578 quarters ; 1820 to 1830, 534,992 quarters ; 1830
to 1835, 398,509 quarters. And the fact of this decrease
in importation from 686,560 qrs. to one-half the amount
was the more striking when it was remembered that the
population of Great Britain had increased from 10,942,646
in 1801 to 16,539,818 in 1831. And on this point, on the
probable influence of Irish agriculture in liberating us
from any dependence upon Continental States, he ( Mr.
E. T.) could not quote a more popular authority than that
of one who was himself an opponent of the existing Corn-
laws, Mr. AP Culloch, in whose Dictior ary of Commerce
occurred the following passage, to which he ( Mr. E. T.)
would beg to call the attention of the House.—(Hear.)
" Previous to 1806, when a perfectly free corn-trade was,
for the first time established between Great Britain and
Ireland, the yearly imports did not amount to 400,000
quarters, whereas they now (1832) amount to 2,400,000.
Any one who has ever been in Ireland, or is aware of the
wretched state of agriculture there, and of the amazing fer-
tility of the soil, must be satisfied that a very slight im-
provement would occasion an extraordinary increase in the
imports from that country; and it is believed by those best
qualified to form an opinion on such a subject, that the set-
tlement of the Catholic question, and the disfranchisement
of the forty-shilling freeholders, by promoting the public
tranquillity, and taking away one of the principal induce-
ments to the pernicious practice of splitting farms, has, in
this respect already had great influence, and that it will
eventually lead to the most material improvements. Hence
it is by no means improbable, that the growing imports
from Ireland may, at no distant period, reduce our prices
to the level of those of the Continent, and even render
us an occasionally exporting country."—( Hear.)
But it was not in the article of gain alone that our agri-
cultural interest in Ireland had benefited by the
Union with Great Britain. Every species of agricultural
produce had received an equal encouragement—exhibited
an equal increase. \Vit'nout fatiguing the Ilousa with sta-
tistical details and arrays of figures, which were always
tedious and uninteresting, he ( Mr. E. T.) would go no
farther blck than to compare the exports to England o
agricultural articles, exclusive of grain, in the year 1835
with the same trade in 1825. We exported to England
In 1825. In 1835.
Oxen and black cattle .. 63,524 head 98,150
Sheep
Pigs
Butter 474,161.cwt. 827,009
Flax and tow

And the increased amount of our agricultural exports to
, Great Britain in 1835, over those of ten years before, was
no less a sum than 2,850,450/ —( Hear, hear, hoar.)
Nor was this all—the advantages we had reaped, were not
confined to the raw produce of our lands alone, but the
same impetus had been communicated to all those branches
of manufacture which were connected with or dependant
upon laud, and of which Ireland fifty years ago, might be
said to be utterly destitute. He (Mr. E. T.) referred to
the trade which had recently sprung up in grinding flour
and other grain, in malting, brewing, distilling,_ and every
other process dependent upon agriculture. Now, to take
one of these departments. Solate as 1792, there was but
one considerable flour mill in the entire of the north of
Ireland, and till within a very recent period, the mills of
Bristol and of Liverpool, enjoy cd a complete monopoly of
the trade in converting Irish wheat into flour. The pro-
cess was performed now at home. The aspect of affairs
was widely altered, and there was scarcely a county of im-
portance in Ireland which was not abundantly supplied
with extensive mills. Antrim, Down, Monaghan, and
Tyrone, were amply provided for, and some of these esta-
blishments, such as those on the estate of Lord Calcdon, in
the county of Armagh, and of Mr. Alexander, in the
county of Carlow, were not surpassed in the empire, either
in the extent of their operations, or the excellence of their
machinery.—( Hear, hear.) Almost every mill likewise in
Ireland, combined the aid of steam with water-power, thus,
not only evincing an advance in the science, but
showing evidence of a steady, as well as an increasing
market, when it was thus necessary toprovide for
the summer as well as the winter demand. The number
of registered flour mills in Ireland in 1835 was 1,882,
and they were still rapidly increasing ; and these exports
to Great Britain of wheat-meal, flour, and oat-meal, which
was, in 1825, 599,124 cwt., had risen in 1835 to
984,480 cwt., being an increase in ten years of 1,390,000
cwt. Closely connected with this was the process of
malting and brewing, and the export .of the latter, which
was comparatively of recent date, was not the least sur-
prising feature in the case of such trading prosperity. In
1825 the export of malt liquor from Ireland to this coun-
try was almost unknown; it had grown up entirely within
the last few years, and in 1835 the quantity landed in
Great Britain amounted to no less than 2,686,688 gallons.
Distillation, the manufacture of starch, and every other
produce for converting the raw produce of the land into
articles of commerce, seemed to have felt the same impe-
tus, and to have advanced in an equal ratio with the march
of agriculture itself—nor was it possible to contemplate
without alarm and dismay the possibility of a change of
policy on the part of the country which could have the
effect of throwing them back, without feeling. that the
confusion, the ruin, and the destitution which must
eusne would be infinitely worse than their original
nothingness and poverty.—( Cries of " Hear, hear.")
He (Mr. E, Teanent) was prepared to be met here by the
same argument by which the protective system had been
assailed in England, and to be told, that admitting the
prosperity of those manufactures which shared in the fa-
vour and protection shown to agriculture, that this was
no argument as regarded other branches which were not
dependent on it, but which was represented as oppressed
and depressed by the protections afforded to it. So far
from suffering any depression, these manufactures were in
Ireland participators of the general prosperity, and advanc-
ing pari passe with their common patron and parent the
agriculture of Ireland. Indeed, when we contemplated
the enormous proportion of manufacturing produce con-
sumed by the home market alone, there was no difficulty
in perceiving that the prosperity of Irish manufactures
must of necessity rise and fall with agricultural elevation
or depression. He would not fatigue the House with mi-
nute details upon this branch of the subject, which would
necessarily participate of the uninviting character of all
statistical statements. The silk trade of Ireland had not
for years been so flourishing as at present, and her wool-
I:nmandaetur manufacture,thougha , 0
n le of the m
essesied in apparent extent, was
stated by mr. \ iin
intelligent capi.
talists in Ireland, to be on a sounder basis, and in a healthier
position than it had been since 1 823, when the duties on
woollen goods imported from England into Ireland ceased.
Besides any apparent diminution in the
woollens during this space was amply accounted
home
mfao tbevaetthuereimo!
mense increase of imports of English cloths. 'Phis amounted in
1825 to 3,384,918 yam, Is and in 1835 to 7,834,000. In the
same manner the manufacture of cottons had not been increas-
ing in amount in Ireland, but that this did not arise from any
national depression was attested by the enormous increase in
the cotton exports from England during the same space.
There were exported in 1825, 4,996,88 is yards, and in 1835,
1.1,17.1,000. Another circumstance also, which accounted for
the apparent diminution of manufacturing labour in cottons in
Ireland, was the fact that the difference had been transferred
to the new and more profitable manufacture of linen and linen
yarns. The trade in the latter article, now one of our most
valuable exports to the Continent., having entirely sprung up
within the last eight or ten years. In addition to 9 cotton-mills
of about 350-horse power, they had in Belfast, at this moment,
and within a few miles of it. no less than 23 linen mills, work-
ing 120,000 spindles, every one of which had been erected or
converted from a cotton to a linen mill within the last seven or
eight years, and within the last three they had originated for
themselves an export trade of their produce to France which, if
not prohibited by the imposition of duties by that country, pro-
mised to become one of the most valuable branches of British com-
merce. But he (Mr. E. Tennent) was prepared to be met by
another and a different species of argument, which had before
now been repeatedly urged, that all this agricultural encourage-
ment accorded to Ireland was a positive pecuniary loss to Great
Britain. and that whilst the labour market was over stocked by
Irish immigration her produce was reduced in:value in the mar-
ket by Irish competition, and that it would be more desirable
that the Irish labourer should stay at home to consume the pro-
duce he raised, and thus leave remunerating prices to the Eng-
lish farmer. Nothing could be more fallacious than this argu-
ment, and before proceeding to an easy proof that the real state
of the case was diamotricalry the reverse of that advanced, he
would beg the attention of the House to a very brief extract
from the third Report of the Commissioners of Poor-law In-
quiry in Ireland:—
" Those who complain of the introduction of Irish produce
into England should be informed, too, that it takes no money
from England ; that part of it goes to pay the rents of Irish
absentee landlords; and that the rest is exchanged for English
manufactures ; that if it did not go into England, English ma-
nufactures would not go into Ireland ; and that there would not
be one penny more than at present applicable to the purchase of
the agricultural produce of Great Britain. In proportion as the
quantity of Irish produce sent into England was reduced, the
quantity of English manufactures sent into Ireland must be re-
duced, and the English manufacturer's means of purchasing any
agricultural produce must contract accordingly. The price,
therefore, would not rise, for the quantity consumed would di-
minish, and the effect would be to throw the English labourer
who works for the Irish market, and the Irish who works for
the English, both out of employment, to the destruction of
them, the injuries of their employers, and the general deterio-
ration of the interest of both countries. All this may be shown,
not merely by general reasoning, but by an appeal to facts. As
the import of Irish produce into England has increased, so has
the import of English manufactures into Ireland."
Now he (Mr. Emerson Tennent) had appealed to facts, the
evidence of which most amply attested and bore out the ac-
curacy of the assertion, and it would be found in every instance
that precisely as Irish exports to England had increased in
amount, precisely in the same proportion had a market been
opened and a demand created for English manufactures in Ire-
land. He would earnestly beg the attention of the House for
one moment to this part of the subject. The value of Irish
exports to Great Britain, and of exports from Great Britain to
Ireland from 1801 to 1825 inclusive, was as follows :
Exports Exports
To Great Britain From Great Britain
In 1801 3,270,350/. 3,537,725/.
1305 ...... 4,067,717/. 4,288,167/.
1809 ...... 5,316,557/. 4,588,305/.
1813 6,7 46,353/. ....•• 5,410,326/.
1817 4,722,766/. •••••• 5,696,613/.
1821 5,333,838/. 7,117,452/.
1825 7,045,936/. 8,531,3551.
In 1835 Ireland exported to Great Britain agricultural pro-
duce to the amount of 12,083,558/., and took back in return of
British and Colonial produce no less an amount than
10,918,459/. 4s. 4d. Some items in that amount marked also
the increasing prosperity of Ireland; for instance, she im-
ported in