The Sun.
London, England, 1861-10-01 00:00:00

Tail', L9N-DON, FUE'iDAY EVENING, OCTOTIE;-?, 1, 1861.

just as our lot is to labour for our subsiskence,rso;i6
independence of spirit, to industry sustained--'well
directed inOnstry—tbere wilt he a sure mea.-iure of
sueeez;-_: by way of reward. (Hear, applause.)
And, gentlemen, I might :ffo further, end notice
what occurs to me as another important element in
tl-1e future prosperity of agriculture in this country.
I wculd say that it is the diffusion—the wider dif-
fusiou—of education among the agricultural classes.
Formerly it used to be thought that a farmer re-
quired no education, and, in fact, I have heard
people say that education was a bad thing for a
farmer—(laughter)—because it took him off his
work. (Renewed laughter.) I think, _however,
that we are getting rid of by degreeS, at all events,
of that idea; and the truth is, when we come to
consider it, we not only find that education is ne-
cessary for a farmer, but the occupation of farming
above all occupation with which I am acquainted
requires the benefits and advantages of education.
I pass over the primary and elementary part of edu-
cation, such as reading, writing, and accounts,
because you will all agree with me that in this lies
the only means of acquiring information, and the
only mode by which ary person who has got pro-
perty or money can expect to thrive in the employ-
ment he has undertaken. (Applause.) But look
to the other kind of information the farmer really
requires. How is a farmer enabled to tell hovt to
properly manure his lands, or how can he under-
stand the combinations of fertilising elements of the
soil, unless he has, at all events, an elementary
knowledge of chemistry ? How is he to be able to
tell with regard to the strata of the ground which
he cultivates, and the minerals which it contains,
and the best mode of arranging the different
soils, without a considerable knowledge of the
sciences of which one of the most distinguished
proficients, Mr. Stewart, is sitting opposite me—l
allude to geology and mineralogy ? How is a far-
mer able to tell you how to use the instruments of
his employment, and the advantages of various
implements which are coming into use in agri-
culture every day in this country, unless he pos-
sesses a knowledge of mechanics ? (Hear.) How
is a farmer without knowledge of the science which
regulates supply and demand to know how he can
best dispose of, or keep in store, the produce of his
farm ? I might, gentlemen, increase the tally of
knowledge which the farmer requires to possess,
Lut I tlt; not it at all necessary to pursue it
further. Lady Londonderry has told you that you
have got throughout this property a number of most
excellent schools, in which the elements of an edu-
cation of this kind can be acquired, This is a
matter which, perhaps, more concerns your children
than yourselves, but I hope you will allow me to
say that this is a questicn in which you have got a
solemn duty to discharge towards your children,
and unless you wish your sons who are to come
after you and to be the tenants on this property as
you have been—unless you wish them to be un-
skilled labourers, cultivating the ground without
hope of prosperity, you must sacrifice a little the
advantage which you might derive from their labour
in early years in order to allow them to go to
school--(hear, and applause)—and to remain a
proper time there, so that you may have the satisfac-
tion of thinking that those who may come after you
may be men rising in the world, cultivating their
farms better than you may have done—keeping
with the spirit of the times and the progress of
agriculture. (Hear, and applause.) Now, there
are other elements of prosperity and success in
agriculture which any person who looks at this
neighbourhood now, and who remembers what it
was some 15 or 20 years ago, cannot fail to have
suggested to his mind. You mentioned one
road to-day made in this neighbourhood. But
look at the other roads which traverse this part
of the country in every direction. There are
roads which are equal, if not superior, to any
which I have ever seen in any part of the kingdom.
Your farms, I dare say, are not so well cultivated
as they might be, but they are much better than
they were 15 or 20 years ago. You have got rail-
ways approaching you, one on the one side of you
and one on the other—ralways the e&ct of which
must be to increase the value of your property.
You have got that splendid harbour of Carnlough
before the window, where you can ship your pro-
duce and import your supplies; and, gentlemen,
just as there are these wonderful marks of progress
and of increase in this part of the country, so I
am happy to think the same may be said with re-
gard to the whole of Ireland. (Applause.) Ireland
in the last 15 years has -been passing through' a
fearful, but necessary, ordeal. Fifteen years ago
that awful scourge of Providence, the famine, visited
this land. It was not on every estate in Ireland
that the proprietor was able to stem and mitigate
that fearful calamity and scourge as the head of this
property was able to do. And we see the conse
quences. In the soutn and west of Ireland a num

ber of properties changed hands. Scotch-and Eng-
lish capital was introduced, and what has been the
result ? Why, I was only reading in the news-
paper the other day a description of what the cor-
respondent of the Tunes saw in the south and west of
Ireland. lle tells us of farms of 3,000, 4,000, and
5,000 acres in size, with large farmsteads, supplied
with water power and steam power, the farms
giving most excellent employment to the popula-
tion of the country. In districts where wages
formerly were from 2s. to 33. a week the wages are
now from 7s. to 83., and even 10s. per week. This
is the state of things now in the south and west of
Ireland. We may all rejoice that such is the state
of things there. What is the consequence to the
people: ? That there is abroad at the present moment
in Ireland a spirit of peace, of prosperity, of hap-
piness in the population, and of loyalty and obe-
dience to the laws, such as never hal prevailed in
any former period in this country. When at the
present moment we see a great nation across the
Atlantic, of the same lineage and language, of
the same birth and parentage almost, as our-
selves—when we see the North against
the South, the father sometimes against the son, the
brother against the brother, international combat,
and all about a cause of dispute on which no two

men in their country are agreed as to what it is—
when we see that we may well look with pride and

happiness on the union and harmony which pre-
vail in all parts of these kingdoms. (Applause.)
It is in the development of the industrial and, above

all, the agricultural resources—it is in the improve-
►nent in point of social progress of the people, in the
_ _ _

spread of education among the people Lit is in the
spirit of enlightened and liberal enterprise among
the people, such as has characterised every work on
this estate—it is in that interchange of kindly feel-

ing between the owners and occupiers of land, such
as we see expressed in this case, that the renovation

of this country is being effected—it is owing to and
by these things that Ireland is becoming in reality
what poetically she has often been described to be—

" Great, glorious, and free;
"First flower of the earth and first gem of the sea."

(Applause.) And, gentlemen, therefore it is with

all happy auguries for the future I propose to you
the toast, "Prosperity to Agriculture." (Prolonged

cheering.)

THE VINTAGE IN FRANCE.—The vintage is being
carried on with great activity in the South of France and in
Burgundy. "In our department," says the Courrier dtc
Gard, " the grapes are perfectly ripe, and yield a juice of
such sweetness and colour that they will produce very
superior wine, Moreover, the grapes are of such
large size that a greater quantity of wine is expected
than at one time seemed probable. The Journal de
Saone-et-Loire thus speaks of the vintage in the Macon-
nais :—'• The vintage is favoured with magnificent wea-
ther. Everywhere the grapes are fine, there being very
few that have not ripened. The belief accordingly is that
the wine will be of a superior quality. Some samples
which have already been obtained are rich in colour and
in alcohol, and extremely smooth to the palate, in place of
being rough, as was at first apprehended."

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