The Sun.
London, England, 1867-09-14 00:00:00

IRELAND.

DUBLIN, Sept. 13.
At the dinner of the Lisnaskea Agricultural
Society, which was held on Wednesday evening,
Lord Erne, who presided, gave some sound advice
to the farmers, mingled with unpalatable truths of
which it is necessary to remind them. No one ad-
ministers a lecture with better grace, or has a stronger
claim to be listened to with respect. He has founded
societies for the improvement of the farmers on his
extensive estates in Donegal and Fermanagh, and
is a liberal contributor to every institution which is
calculated to promote their interests, i'nd he Pos-
sesses a practical experience which entitles him to
speak with authority upon agricultural subjects.
After expressing regret that the farming of Ireland
was so inferior to that of England and Scotland,
which are not solely dependent upon agriculture, as
Ireland is, he alluded to the important topic of the
Irish butter trade. He was sorry that it did not
hold the same command of the English markets
which it used to do. He attributed this to the fault
of the farmers themselves. He reminded them that
they have now to compete with the butter from
Holland and from France. The Dutch farmers have
large dairies, and can make up a tub from one
milking, which is then of one colour, and is pre-
ferred to the Irish, which is too often made up
piecemal. The French are superior in cleanliness.
He read a letter he had received from Mr. Fowler,
of Manchester, an extensive buyer, who confirmed
the statement of others as to the causes of the dis-
favour with which Irish butter is now regarded. He
says ;—" The foreign butters are preferred to the
Irish butter, because they are so fresh. All the
foreign butter brought to England is sold within 10
days of being churned. Foreign butters are scrupu-
lously clean, while Irish butter containshair and dirt
of various kinds, as well as too much salt and brine,
particularly that from the south of Ireland, and much
too frequently that from the north. The chief fault
of the Irish farmer is the practice of ' holding' which
prevails. They hold' their butter for two or three
months at a time, and I have actually known it
held' for a year for the purpose of getting the
highest prices of the season. The butter thus dete-
riorates and becomes stale and rancid. English coa-
sumers are not fond of stale and rancid butter, and
prefer French, which is quite fresh."
Mr. Fowler, it may be observed, cannot be sus-
pected of entertaining any prejudice against Irish
produce, for he is a native of the north of Ireland.
Lord Erne enforced the necessity of improvement if
the Irish farmers did not wish to see their butter
used only for greasing axles. Oa the subject of flax
he offered some remarks to the same effect. There
wat not sufficient care taken in the cultivation of it,
and therefore the Belgian flax commands a better
price. He attributed the decrease in the number of
acres under the crop this year to the reaction caused
by over-cultivation in former years, and he coun-
selled the farmers not to put it in too often. Another
evidence of neglect which he animadverted on was
the quantity of weeds in the country. On this sub-
ject he observed:—" I saw more weeds in one day
here than during an entire journey from Holyhead
to London. It is extraordinary to see the weeds in
this country. I have frequently brought the sub-
ject before my tenants, and told them that the weeds
take up as much suction from the ground as the
crop itself. I have heard that the seeds from one
thistle will grow 30,000 or 40,000 more, and by not
destroying them you do incalculable harm. In Scot-
land there is a law by which you can serve a notice
upon your neighbour, and compel him, under a
penalty of £5, to remove the weeds from his land.
We have no law of the kind, but we ought to have,
for it would be very beneficial. The weeds, being
indigenous, take more nourishment out of the
ground than the crops, and thus effect a serious loss."
With such proofs of gross negligence as are thus
pointed out by one of their best friends it is not to
be wondered at that the condition of Irish farmers
is not better than it is. Lord Erne next adverted to
the scarcity of Irish labourers, advised that they
should be better taken care of, and declared his in- I
tention of offering a premium for the best house
specially constructed for that class.
The necessity of improving the dwellings of the
small farmers and the labouring poor is beginning i
to be felt more keenly, but the efforts to supply the
admitted want have been as yet upon a limited scale.
It is due to one of the London companies, however,
to observe that they have taken the matter up in a
practical and liberal spirit. A deputation from the
Drapers' Company have been visiting their estates
in the county of Derry for the last fortnight, in-
quiring into the grievances of the tenants, and re-
dressing them so far as possible. This company have
lately erected rows of houses at Moneymore, at a
cost of £3,000, and are letting them off at a rent
which gives them only 3 per cent.
The Banbridge investigation, at which Mr. Rea
is on the other side, defending the Orangemen who
are charged with breaking the law at Scawa on the
13th of July, was postponed to the 20th inst. Mr.
Rea's defence is likely to present some original fea-
tures. His material witness, without whom he can-
not proceed, is, it may be remembered, Mr. Bernard
Hughes, a wealthy Roman Catholic baker of Belfast,
who will be produced to prove that orange and purple
are not party colours. This he is expected to do
upon the most unexceptionable authority, having
seen the Pope himself wearing purple robes, and his
bodyguard dressed in orange. If he succeed in im-
pressing the magistrates with this view, he will be
regarded as a liberator. He suggests an ingenious
expedient for blending the hues of party in an
"arch of peace," or at least for lessening the
attachment of the Orangemen to their darling
colours. Meanwhile the prosecutions are being
turned to account for political purposes, and ad-
vantage is taker. of them to open a breach between
the Government and the Orange party. Mr.
Johnstone, of Ballykilbeg, who is the embodiment
of the discontented feeling of the north, has entered
upon his canvass in Belfast, and the favourable re-
ception which he has met with so far as he has yet
gone is regarded with evident satisfaction by those
whose game it is to fan the flame of irritation. There
is, however, a growing conviction in the minds of
reflecting people in the north that, however repug-
nant to its sympathisers, the Government had no
other course open than to enforce the law impar-
tially so long as it remains on the statute-book. The
policy of retaining it is another question upon which
different opinions are held.
By way of inducement to the Lords of the Admi-
ralty to increase the number of hands at the new
dock, the labourers, porters, and watermen of
Queenstown have struck for higher wages. The rate
had been raised from 3s. to 4s. a day, but even that
is considered insufficient and they demand more.
This is a practical commentary upon the complaints
of the local press respecting the slow progress of the
Government works.
The election for the county of Galaway, in place
of the late Lord Dunkellin, was held yesterday, the
High Sheriff presiding. Mr. Bodkin proposed, and
Capt. Blakeney seconded the nomination of Lord

Hubert Canning Burke, who was returned without
opposition. Sir Thos. Burke returned thanks on be-
half of Lord Burke, who was absent. The meeting
was afterwards converted into one for the purpose
of doing honour to the memory of Lord Dunkellin.
It was addressed by Mr. Gregory, M.P., Mr. P.
Joyce, D.L., Mr. Justice Morris, Mr. G. Morris,
M.P., and other gentlemen, who spoke of the virtues
and talents of the deceased in the warmest terms.
It was resolved that a statue should be erected to his
memory. A subscription list was opened to carry
out the project, and some handsome contributions
were handed in by the gentlemen present.

PAYMENTS FOR WHEAT.—The value of the wheat
imported into England the first six months of this year
amounted to £10,039,389, as compared with £5
,227,794 in
the corresponding period of 1866, and £3,281,547 in the
corresponding period of 1865. Tho largest slice of these
payments went to Russia, the value of the Russian wheat
imported to June 30 this year being £3,387,343, as com-
pared with £1,772,271 to the corresponding date of 1866,
and £1,086,037 to the corresponding date of 1865. The
value of the Prussian wheat imported in the first halves of
the last three years was £2,706,743 (1867), £996,862 (1866),
and £1,113,353 (1865) respectively. The United States
sent us. to June 30 this year wheat to the value of
£714,632, as compared with £162,977 to the corresponding
date of 1866, and £95,119 to the corresponding date of
1865.

Miscellaneous Foreign News.

(From Correspondent of the Anglo-American Times.)
PARIS, Sept. 12.

Je me le demande, the humorous question of the
French comedian, finds its echo at present in most
of the French journals in reference to the probable
fate destined for the Universal Exposition, with, at
the same time, a plea more or less valid against its
approaching demolition. There are (says one elo-
quent writer) at present in the Champ de Mars
fountains, fish-ponds, churches, schools, magazines,
a theatre, a railway-station, a landing-place for
Frankfort by water, gardens, &c., without reckon-
ing the buildings in solid masonry, which architects
would have only to retouch a little to transform
into an immense city. It would be easy to
establish there different manufactories, since motive
force is already on the spot. To which may be
added that one would be spared the singular
spectacle afforded by the destruction in the twink-
ling of an eye of that which formerly required the
labour of a demi-cyci e to produce.
Another journalist, after eloquently dilating upon
the pleasures which have been afforded, especially to
Parisians by the Exposition, concludes his exordium
by a more reasonable proposition, viz.—to preserve
at least such portions of the Exposition as relate to
the past, and reproduce the history of vanished
ages, whilst, however, there are many grave
practical objections to the preservation of the Ex-
position even in an altered and improved shape.
These gentlemen would do well to remember that if
it be true, as asserted, that the Exposition has been
purchased in block by the Russian Government to
appear at St. Petersburg, possibly in the year 1868,
or not much later, all the advantages resulting
from it will be preserved, whilst new ones
will result from its transfer to another nation.
It will be hard if, with the advantage of the present
experience and the possession of the complete pre-
sent material, Russia will not develope farther pro-
gress. It would be unjust that one nation should
reap those advantages exclusively. Like conversa-
tion, and its humorous simile of the plate of peas,
every one should have its share. Moreover, it
is to be reflected that although not perhaps
concentrated in its present form all the various
component advantages afforded by the Exposition
are still within the reach of the Parisians in their
various public institutions, and in those reproduced
mementoes of bygone ages, which exist in books,
sculpture, painting, &c. Previous, however, to its
disappearance, I hope to point out on several occa-
sions to the reader the beauties and peculiarities of
the Palace of 1867. It is true that it will be de-
molished, which, according to the Constitutionnel, is
a thing decided ; and had we not that authority,
the signs of decadence, even in the case of ancient
Rome, are too unmistakeable to admit of a doubt on
the subject. As in the case of the mighty city,
when the pursuits of luxury and pleasure broke in
upon the stern virtue and severe simplicity of its
inhabitants, so in the case of the Exposition, whilst
men of talent are dispersing and exhibitors
are no longer to be found at their stalls,
the pursuit of pleasure has received an ad-
ditional impetus, and in its latter days the
Exposition seems changing from a gigantic repre-
sentation of utility and progress, past, present, and
to come, into a gigantic fair, wherein caf6s, con-
certs, theatres, and breweries, as the drinking
saloons are generally termed, form the principal at-
traction. The comparison between the latter days
of the Exposition, and those of Rome too, is singu-
larly induced and assisted by the scene going on
around one, the kiosks and temples, the varied
and picturesque costumes of Eastern nations, the
Nubians selling ther fruits and confitures, or offer-
ing to the visitor their sherbets, in the amphora-
shaped jars of antiquity, forcibly call to mind, if not
a Roman ayma, at least that of a Roman province.
But my moralising is exceeding its limits, and as I
trust yet to have many an opportunity of pointing
out to my readers, especially those to whom want of
time or opportunity preclude a personal visit, the
beauties of the Exposition, pass we on to the news
of the day. The political horizon of France is
apparently without a cloud, nowithstanding,
however, the Minister for Foreign Affairs has
deemed it necessary to address a circular to
the representatives of France abroad deny-
ing that the visit of Napoleon to Salzbourg
possessed any other character than that of condo-
lence, and quoting the circular issued by M. de
Vallette, the speech made by the Emperor of France
on the occasion of the opening of the Legislative
Assemblies, as well the language held equally by
the Minister of State in support of his assertion.
This proceeding has been rendered necessary by the
attacks of the German press, who appear to see in
the visit to Salzbourg an attempt on the part of
France to draw the Austrian monarch into an
alliance prejudicial to German interests, and espe-
cially to those of Prussia. The example of France has
been followed by Austria, as a telegraphic despatch
has been addressed from Berlin, expressing the per-
fect satisfaction of the Prussian Government with the
explanations of France and Austria, so that the year
which commenced so threateningly still preserves
its peaceful and festive character. As a sign of the
times, a letter has been published by General Turr,
advocating at the same time the establishment of
an autonomy for Hungary, Gallicia, Bohemia, and
a European association for the assuring a lasting
peace. The writer, who defends his subject in a
very able manner, calls upon England and France
to take the lead in this movement.

There is very little Court news at present. The
Emperor, Empress, and Prince Imperial have left
for Biarritz, whither the Prince de Metternich and
M. de Galtz will follow, the former remaining at
Biarritz, whilst the latter takes up his lodging at
Bayonne. The hunting establishment of the Em-
peror has been transferred from Rambouillet to
Compiegne, whither the Court will speedily adjourn.
Since the Ist of September the chase is in full acti-
vity, and some amusing anecdotes have occurred.
One is related of two chasseurs who had taken the
field together, but of whom one only was furnished
with a port d'armes or certificate at a most exciting
period ; when two splendid birds had fallen right
and left before the double barrel of one of our en-
thusiasts, there suddenly appeared in a side path of
thewood the uniform of a Garde de Chasse. The one
in possession of a certificate, whom we will call X.,
at once took to his heels, whilst his companion, stu-
pefied with astonishment, remained perfectly still,
leaning upon his piece. The Garde de Chasse, a
Dogberry of the first water, of course made up his
mind that the fugitive was the guilty person, and at
once followed him at top speed. X. led manfully
over brake and over briar, followed with equal pluck
by the gendarme. At length, however, after a
steeplechase of some half or three quarters of an
hour in length, the Garde de Chasse succeeded in
collaring our hero, who had just thrown himself
down upon a bank in a state of extreme
exhaustion. " Votre Port d'Armes," thundered
the Garde, equally exhausted, but radiant at the
thought of his capture. "Le Voila," said the sup-
posed poacher, taking it from his pocket. " Why,
then," said the incensed functionary, "this extra-
ordinary flight and run ?" " The doctor has ordered
me exercise," wa3 the calm reply. The keeper
sloped. It is hardly necessary to say that the other
sportsman had long previously set him the example.
In another a gendarme leaving his beat early, and
resting for a few moments in the neighbourhood of
a farm-house, has been taken fur a wild boar, and
treated accordingly.

A remarkable phenomenon has been produced
lately in several of the public promenades and gar-
dens of Paris. The foliage of the trees, which had
been burnt up by the excessive heat, has reblos-
somed, and in the grand avenue of the Champs
Elysees one may remark a bright green foliage
mingling with and succeeding, as it were, the yellow
leaves which the breath of September is already
commencing to strew thickly around, and from
which the blossoms are bursting as in a 'veritable
spring time. In the Boulevard Poissonniere one
can see a chesnut tree entirely bare of leaves, and
nevertheless covered with flowers ; whilst in the
garden of the Palais Royale the acacias present an
almost similar appearance.

Mons. Filon, Professor of Rhetoric at the Lycee
Grenoble, has been appointed preceptor to the
Prince Imperial, vice N. Meunier, M. Filen is