The Statesman.
London, England, 1823-01-03 00:00:00

TROY Tag numiN MERCADMItIe ADVltaikfint.

TO THE M kRQUESS OF LANSDOWNE.
Mr Loan—We mean to be understood literally, when
we ammo, that five per cent. has not been received of the
last year's rental of ilr&land. We reiterate these re-
marks; because the great fact ought to be perpetually
present to your Lordship's mind. We mention charac-
While anecdotes, if your Lordship will permit the
`hltrase to he so applied—of the cooditiod of the landed
interest of Ireland, nut for thelr'enriosity, bat as sere-
leg more accurately to, give aleneral outline of the de-
solation which prevails irl this coantry, than could be
ietptired by a general description, however ably that
vat ght be worked up. With this view, we shall tell your
Lordship seedier story.
There Is a great landed proprietor in the west of Ire-
land, and county or Mayo, a gentleman who might have
pretensions to the representation of the county, not-
withstanding the opposition of the Sligo and other in-
terests, and %hose income we have heard rated from .
fifteen to twenty .thoassted pounds a Year. Thiagentle-
man could obtain no rents at all on last Lady-day. It
was found perfectly neeleas to drive his tenants, to cant
their stock, or to leaarcerate their persons. The Ba-
rony in which the ben of his property lies, is a mail-
time and mountainous district, very generally barren,
or only fit for slteep walks. The steep, of
course, are of an inferior description, like those
of Wales, or the Highlands of Scotland, perhaps
worse, for your Lordship knows, that in the res
mote and secluded part of the kingdom very little
attention is, or can be paid to the breed. The Middle-
men. as we inentioned on a former occaside;* havins
been for the most part extinguished, and the sob-tenants
without capital or enterprise, little attention can be
paid to any thing in this part of the country, except to
the planting of potatoes,the sowing of a few onts,and the
tending of the starving flocks. The potatoes they keep.
After what has occurred last winter and spring, partieu-
lady in the very district to which we are referring, no
one would he so mad as to demand them. Even if they
were seised, they would not be bosght, for there is no
money to purchase them, nor would they pay the ert-1
pence of sending them to other parts of the country,
should they be able to obtain,which they would not,a mar-;
ket any where else. The potatoes,therefore,are safe from
the landlord, and fortunately, in this part of Ireland,
irons the tithe proctor, fur your Lordship knows, that in
most parts of Connaught, potatoes are not subjected to
this horril,le imposition. As Cie Peasantry, however,
never ett meat, the sheep was the only equivalent which
the tenants had to offer. The landlord—for what could
be do'. Accepted the sheep of his tenantry as a dis-
charge, in part, of their obligations. Twenty thousand
sheep were delivered over to to our landlord's agent,and
he allowed Ins. a-head—ho offered the whole for 6s, 81
per—be was not able to obtain this. To ship them off for
Dnblin, or to drive thenito the city, would be so expen-
sive, that the experiment, afti7. being entertained fur a
few days, was abandoned. What was he to do ?
What, indeed, can any Landlord do? They are
talking here, as in England, of County Meetings. Of
these wo have hitherto had only one—namely, that of
the county of Galway. Previous to the meeting of this
County—we know it was the intention of the promoters
of it, to introduce the subject of Tithes, as one which
grievously pressed on the owners and occupiers of land.
Indeed it was given out, that the principal object of the
meeting was to pass a resolution against the present
mode of collecting theSvevenues of the Church ; fur,
after all, a change in the system was the only intelligible
mode by which any assistance could be given to the
Agricultural People. They met—but in the presence of
some representatives of the Church, iu the presence of
the only people among them, who have now an income
—namely, those who live upon the Taxes—Collectors,
County Treasurers &c.—they did not dare to come
to the point—the only point for which they met. Your
Lordship must not be surprised at this want of spirit or
infirmity of purpose among the Gentlemen -of - the
County of Galway, or indeed among the Gentlemen
of any other County in Ireland. Perhaps you have observ-
ed, even in Britain, some manifestations of a similar kind.
You have seen therea Sheriff of a great county, unceremo-
niously turn his back upon the majority of its proprietors,
and refuse to convoke a Meeting at their Requisition.
You have seen with • what a tame and' christian spirit,
the aforesaid proprietors bore the affront. The truth is,
that the character of the English as well as the Irish
Gentleman is completely changed. The taxes have
changed it.—The present deterioration of their means
have c attributed, in &certain degree, to fix, anal perpe-
tuate this change. Most of them—most of the middling'
Gentry—possess little places, or look for them, and their
efforts, as a body, are completely neatralized by their
wants. In Ireland, though there are not so many places
to give away, yet the same little intriguing, the same
system of trafficking.the votes of their villages to the
Court Member for a place, or the promise of place, pre-
vails to an extent of which the public, even in England,
can have very little idea. The Galway Meeting was,
under the influence of this very general feeling, rendered
abortive to all substantial purposes, and a milk and
water eet of Resolutions was passed, and a Petition to the
Legislature.
Thus it is, in one word, the Peasantry. are without
wages„and almost without work—an unf hie season
would leave them without food, and the Legislature has
left them without a provision. The Partners, as a body,
are extinguished—the Gentry are without an income—
the Law Courts without business, while the Chancery is
full—tke Merchant constantly contracting his transact-
ions, for the Country Dealers are without capital or
credit ; add to this, that a fierce political religious pre-
judice prevails in almost every part of the country,
and your Lurrdsbip has a picture of the State of Ire-
land.

LONDON:
FRIDAY, EVENING. JANUARY 3, I 523.

PRESIDENT'S ISIESSADE.

We have received this morning American papers,
to the 7th ult. which contain the President's Message to
Congress of the United States.
The Message is of the most pacific and conciliatory
character, but beyond that does not present much in-
terest. After a very :short preface, his Excellency ac•
quaints the Congress with the Convention of Naviga-
tion and Commerce concluded between the United
States and France, and with the 'prohibition having
been removed which had taken place in the commerce
between the United States and the British Colonies in
be West Indies. lie then proceeds to state that the

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decision of the Emperor of itut,da on the question sub•
haitted to him by the United States and Great Britain,
concerning the construction of the Ist Article of the
Tr••aty of Ghent had been received, and that a conven-
tion had been since concluded under the tnettiatiAt
of his Imperial Majesty. His Excellency, next,
after, 'motioning .that a Federal Government had,
been established in Florida on the principle • r.f
their system, enters into and developes the finan-
cial ;tate of the Union. From this, it appears, that
the receipts into the Treasury, during the three first
quarters of the year, have exceeded the sum of fourteen
millions seven hundred anti forty five thousand dollars:
The payment made at the Treasury, during the were
period, has exceeded twelve millions tete hundred
aid seventy nine thousand dollars. There were
in the Treasury on the first day of ,laauery last, a sum
exceediny, 4 millions, one hundred and 28 thousand
dollars, besides discharging all demands foe the
current service of the year including the interestand re-
imbursement of the Public Debt.Thetl per cent. Stock of
17961 mounting to 80 thousand dollars has been redeemer!.
His Excellency then having adverted to the serious mala-
dy which had visited some portion of the Union, noticrs
the cheerful pronpect arising from the encreasing mans -
factures of the States, and from the commercial differoncio
with France and Great Britain having been placed in a
trainof amicable arranpment,and concludes wit itslightly
referring to the differences that still existed between
Spain and she Independent Governments of Seeds Awe-
' rice, and between Russia and Turkey.

STOCK EXCBANGK, HALF-PAST Twat/ie.—Very tittle
business is doing bare this slurping, oaring to au m-
oonset of tbs price of the French Funds net havinz
arrferd from Paris this morning, in consequence of New
Year's Day being a Holiday in the ahove
Consols are 805.
FORKION Fur:use—The most business doing this more.
fortis in Colombian, owing to the New Charge
Ores baring arrived in Loudon. is above Stock.
; -
rase his rooming 5 par Cent. •
; Obili, —New Spanish, 44/1-0141,111-Ttew Prussian.
Sef—Old. SR—Russian, -..4tolo,nbian,fßi
to 71i—Perusiau, 77—Neapolitan, 771i—Spanish Serie.
diso.

Tite•Moniftur of ,Tuesday contains an -Ordonnance
convoking the Chambers for the 28th of this month.--
We hive added, in this day's paper, to the extracts from
the other Paris Journals we had previously received, au
artielesfrom the.Journut des Debate, which will be found
in another column, and read with no little intereit. '1 he
object of this article is to shetv that the difference b. -
tween time retired Minister and his successful rival intim .
Cabinet was but trifling, and that the latter firmly ad
hexes to the determination concerted with the Allies at
Verona.

FRENCH FVXDS, DEC. 31.—Five per ant. Consols
opened atSf. Q. ; declined to Stlf. 30. ; and closed at
88f. 60c. fur the acconitt, the transactions closed at 6Sr.
80e.—Bank Shares, 1,692 f. 50e.—Neapolitan Stock,
pg.—Spanish Bonds, 551.—Exchange on, London, one:
month, 2111. 46e. I three months, 25f. 30e.

NORFOLK COUNTY-MEETING.
This mast knporiant meeting takes place on this sc.;
day, and we have taken the steps necessary for giving;
in our paper of tomorrow, a copy of whatever petition
may be agreed upon, or, at least, the substance of it,
and a full report of all the proceedings at the Meeting,
which will disappoint us greatly if it be not, in its re-
sult, a Meeting of more consequence than any one that
In:s taken place in the country for a long time. It is in
Norfolk, where rents were so high ; where taxes are still
so high ; where farming-stock was so valuable and S!O
immense in quantity; it is in Norfolk where almost
every farm-house contained an occupant richer than
one half of the petty Princes of Germany, and having a
great deal more sense, and being ten thousand tiyws
more useful upon the face of the earth ; it is in Norfolk
where the slaughtering effects of the cash-measures have
been felt most acutely. It is for that county, therefore,
to take the leaden demanding an effectual remedy. We
are led to believe that it will tali/ such lead ; and we
have made arrangements for laying the steps taken at
this Meeting before the public to-morrow.