The Sun.
London, England, 1849-04-27 00:00:00

ference to Ireland, and next to England. On other
questions the connexion of the interests of the two
islands may not be so readily seen, but on that of agri-
culture the connexion is so close, that if the lot
of the sister island lay in our hands alone,
if we were indeed the Saxon taskmasters the Irish
tell us we are, and not helpmates and brethren, sel-
fishness would be enough to spur us on to do all we
could for her. By whatever measure the agriculture
of Ireland has been bettered, by so much has our
share in her exports been increased. Adam Smith,
writing in 1776, only seventy years ago, doubted
(" Wealth of Nations," Book iv., chap. 2), whether
Irish cattle could be imported to any great extent,
and he gives many reasons for it, whereas we now
know, that through Glasgow, Fleetwood:, Liverpool,
and Bristol, we get large supplies ; through Liver-
pool alone to the value of 3,000,0001. yearly, of Irish
cattle. Of corn the import here has grown
from a trifle to more than the average of
our foreign imports. In 1804 the import of Irish
grain into England was 316,958 quarters ; in 1816,
821,192 quarters; in 1821, 1,822,816 quarters; in
1828, 2,26,135 quarters; in 1836, 2,929,322 quar-
ters; in 1840, 2,324,204 quarters; and in 1844,
3,251,901 quarters. Thus the quantity of grain ex-
ported from Ireland has grown eight or tenfold.
It is of no use to say that this is a further proof of
the evils of absenteeism, and of the growing misery
of Ireland. The number of absentee landlords
would not be so much greater in 1844 and
1849 than in 1804 and 1816. It would not
be tenfold. If anything, absenteeism has of
late years lessened in Ireland, and the
strong expression of public opinion here has
tended materially to check it. Indeed, what
can be so utterly foolish as to put down to ab-
senteeism the increasing exports of Irish food, and to
lose sight of the growing imports into Ireland of
English coals, iron, clothes, and other manufactures.
Above a million tons of coals are yearly taken from
this country to Ireland, yielding greatly to the
comforts of the people. As too the husbandry of
Ireland has improved, so has the demand for Eng-
lish implements,increased. As the condition of the
people has improved, so has the consumption of
English goods been extended. Therefore the in-
creased agricultural exports of Ireland are a true
measure of the increased advantages to the people
of both countries, nay, further, are they the most
truthful reasons for promoting the agriculture of
Ireland.
The average yearly consumption of foreign corn in
these islands, from 1842 to 1846, was 3,000,000 quar-
ters, which is far beneath the average of the exports
from Ireland. It is true in 1847 the imports from
abroad were 9,437,034 quarters, but that was the
year of the great dearth. In every year, therefore,
our great resource for corn is from Ireland.
Taking our yearly consumption of foreign corn at
two millions, or even three millions of quarters, it is
worth asking whether the bounds of production have
being already reached in Ireland, or whether it is
still possible to extend production there, so as to get
a further surplus of three million quarters. If that
can be done, the solution of the corn-law difficulty
has been reached, so far as touches provision for the
chances of war.
No one will think that the bounds of production
have been reached, and the question can only be as
to the three million quarters. The yield of grain in
Ireland was in 1847 reckoned by the Government
authorities at sixteen million quarters. The whole
surface of Ireland is 20,8Q8,271 acres, of which, in
1847, 5,000,000 acres, or one quarter only, under
crop, and of this two-thirds under corn-crops, and
the rest under crops of potatoes, turnips, beans, flax,
clover, grass seeds, &c.
The live stock of Ireland in 1847 is likewise worth
referring to, as a prcof of the growth of prosperity
even in a year of difficulty, as compared with 1841 :
1841. 1847. Increase.
Horses 552,569 ... 557.917 ... 5,348
Asses
Cattle
Sheep
Swine
Poultry
The two latter heads show a falling off of 730,642
swine and 6,643,372 poultry, % hich, however great in
themselves, are of little agricultural importance, and by
this time have been nearly made up. There is, how-
ever, a great increase in horned stock, showing that the
manure of 750,590 more beasts is available for corn

crops.
The ways of getting a greater quantity of corn
from Ireland are thret fold ; first, by saving on the
present crop ; next, by a greater yield from the land
now sown ; third, by bringing more land under crop.
The crop is now, it is true, sixteen million quar-
ters, but it is badly gathered and badly threshed, the
threshing machine not being fully used in Ireland.
Little care is shown in sowing the crops, so that, 30
far from the best way of sowing the seed being followed,
much corn is wasted. A saving of five per cent.
under these heads would give yearly, say, eight hun-
dred thousand quarters more, or nearly as much as
the foreign corn taken into consumption in 1844
(982,287 quarters). The crop not being carefully
grown, the corn is not so good in weight and quality
as it might be.
That a greater yield can be got from the ground
now sown, all will say who know how badly the land
in Ireland is drained, and how much it wants the
help of lime and other manures. A better husbandry
under these heads would, perhaps, of itself give the
whole quantity of corn wanted.
There is, however, much more land which can yet
be brought under crop. Of 20,808,271 acres in
Ireland 13,464,300 were in 1841 reckoned as tillable,
being either then tilled, or in meadow or pasture ;
6,295,736 acres were untilled and waste, and
1,048,236 acres were in woodland, covered with
towns and buildings, or under water. Of the wastes
4,600,000 acres are reclaimable. The hills of Ire-
land, it must be remembered, do not rise much above
3,000 feet high, and, instead of being bare like those
of Scotland and IV ales, can commonly be ploughed
to their tops.
Twelve hundred thousand acres more under crop
in Ireland will give three millions of quarters of
grain yearly, and this does not touch the ques-
tion of what are the ultimate resources of Ireland.
The whole average under tillage in New South
Wales is only 163,331 acres, and yet it ships corn.
Here, again, we may turn back and ask what be-
yond the drainage loans has been done to make the
agricultural resources of Ireland available to herself,
and England, and the answer must be "nothing?'
There is enough to be done and many ways of
doing it. Sir Robert Peel's plan is one way, but
whatever is tried, it must not be paltry, partial, tin-
kering, and Whiggish, but must be on some great
scale. We may try as many plans as we like, but
each must be great and comprehensive in itself. No
totality of tinkering jobs will constitute a satisfactory
aggregate.
The plan about to be proposed complies with the
required conditions, while it does not claim to be a
panacea, nor to hinder other plans from being car-
ried out at the same time ; indeed, the more the
better will be the success of each. If railways are
promoted, so much the more successful will be any
outlay for drainage. If a settlement of Connaught
is to be made, so much the better for railways and
drainage, but there must be enough of each. We
must not make a plantation in the far- west of Con-
naught, drain a bog in Munster, make a canal in
Leinster, and open a railway in Ulster, and sit down
contented. The plantation must have draining,
roads, canals, and railways ; the lines of conveyance
must have traffic.
Sir R. Peel's plan undoubtedly touches a great evil,
but the machinery of a Government Commission can
never carry out the detail ; the evil remains to be dealt
with. The complication of interests and titles in land
constitutes, it must be owned, a monstrous difficulty
in the way of agricultural improvement in Ireland,
but no adequate means of remedying it have been pro-
vided by the Legislature. Their acts fail in this;
they are permissive, they give the power to sell, but
do not provide the buyers; they send an article into
the market, no doubt, but not in a marketable con-
dition.

Not only must the title be cleared, but the land
must be drained, farm-buildings be put up, and a
good tenantry be found. It is of no use to bring
land into the market to the present class of buyers ;
they are overdone, they have not the means of doing
what is wanted, other classes of buyers are to be
sought, and their requirements must be complied
with. Those Irish capitalists who now invest in
mortgages, stock, and shares, those English capitalists
who hold Irish mortgages, those English agricul-
turists who seek a wider field of enterprise, are the
classes who must be catered for. This must be done
in the way pointed out, and on a large scale ; Go-
vernment cannot do it, single capitalists cannot
cope with it, and a great corporation oly
seems available. This latter resource does not seem
to have come under inquiry; but it is worthy of it,
and seems that which has the best sanction from ex-
perience, and the best working powers.
Sir Robert Peel hip, indeed, made ready the way
for it, for the experience he has invoked is that im-
mediately applicable to a corporation. The Govern-
ment of James did little directly for the plan-
tations of
Ulster,eee e
effective
was individual en-
terprise
firmed,riseal e frtiie
and all the companies
om
corporationspani e sof uo ift d
En
e rtga
England
were invited to take part in the enterprise. The
RMuesricihaacntomApdavnenythuraearsb,atrheelyEoaaspt
of
fuigh Company,forb iteiher
England,d but
own purposes, there was no Bank
the great monetary corporations of the
appealed to. Not only was this appeal directeal. theere
Corporation of London, but to the several City com-
panies, from the rich Goldsmiths, the bankersofthe
day, to the wardens of the poorest mystery. In that
time were obtained the large estates of the Irish cor-
poration, of the Drapers' Company, and others. This
(worked well enough then, and why not now that we