1854, to 24,014 in 1855, being an increase of only 201, or less than one in one hundred. The increase in Connaught is more than in the whole of Ireland, shewing that in the remaining provinces, although the total number of horses has increased, the number kept for recreation has diminished. I may here observe, as an instance of the low value placed upon stock by the Census Commissioners, that eight pounds is given as the average value of a horse. If any gentleman doubts whether that is a low figure, let him put eight pounds in his pocket, and go to a fair to buy a horse with the money, and judge what kind of animal he can get for it.

Again, I find that cattle have increased in the year 1855 from 3,497,901 to 3,556,616, being an increase of 58,715, or a little less than 1 in 60; while the number of milch cows has increased in the same period from 1,517,672 to 1,557,595, being an increase of 39,923, or more than one in forty. This increase is chiefly caused by the greater number of small farmers who can afford to keep one or two milch cows. It is well known that milch cows are kept in a much larger proportion by the small farmers than by the large proprietors, who do not wish to depend much upon a stock which requires so much care and labour to make it profitable.

I have, however, to observe that in the year 1855, as compared with the year 1854, there is a considerable falling off in two articles of no slight importance to the small farmer, viz., swine and flax. In the former, the number has been reduced from 1,342,549 in 1854, to 1,174,224 in 1855, being a falling off of 168,325. I cannot account for the decrease, unless by supposing (it is a mere conjecture) that there was something connected with the time or the manner in which the returns were taken in 1854, that increased the number apparently of pigs under the age of one year; for it is in the young animals that the decrease has taken place. A comparison of the numbers returned for a few successive years will shew the grounds on which I hazard this conjecture, and may shew the convenience of having such returns made every year, and its effect in preventing hasty conclusions being drawn from the returns of any one year. In 1841, being the date of the latest return which was made prior to the famine, the value of the pigs, estimated at £1 5s. a head, was £1,412,813. This was reduced in 1849, the first return made after the famine, to £795,463, shewing a reduction of nearly one half. From that period, the number increased steadily, at the rate of about £100,000 a year in value, or 80,000 in numbers, until the return of the year 1853, which shewed a value of £1,431,181. From that, in 1854, the number increased suddenly to £1,678,186, being an increase of £247,005 in one year, or more than double the increase which had taken place in any of the preceding years. This increase was observable chiefly in the number of pigs under one year old. Thus, although the return for 1855 is less than the extraordinary number returned for the year 1854, it is greater than the number returned for any preceding year; and it exceeds by 44,000 heads, the number possessed by the people in 1841, when the population of the country was one million and a half more than it is now. There is nothing discouraging in this, when carefully considered.

I shall now make a few short remarks on the flax returns. These shew a cultivation of 97,192 acres in the present year, against 151,403 acres in the year 1854, being a decrease of 54,211 acres in the year; and a similar decrease may be observed by comparing the present with any of the four years immediately preceding. It is probable that this falling off may be attributed chiefly to two circumstances; first, the high price of provisions, which made the cultivation of wheat or any kind of corn more profitable than that of flax. This would be a very satisfactory cause; for it is best for themselves and for the country, that the farmer should cultivate chiefly those crops from which they themselves derive the greatest profit.

A second reason for the diminished cultivation of flax this year was, that it was carried on under an unnatural stimulus for three or four years preceding. Farmers were not left to act entirely on their own judgment, but were in many instances persuaded by lectures and addresses, that flax must be a certain profit to the cultivator in almost any situation, and under any circumstances. The difficulty of procuring a market for the produce was apparently obviated by promises made, in many instances, to purchase the crop at a remunerating price, as soon as it was pulled. The hopes thus excited were disappointed, and many who engaged in the cultivation of flax, with very little knowledge of the subject, but in confident expectation that when they had surmounted all the difficulties caused by their ignorance, they might at least be sure of a good and ready market for their crop, found actually that there was not any person within their reach who would purchase it on any terms. I have heard that in remote districts of Ireland, flax may be found two or three old, which the growers have been hitherto unable to sell. Most of us have read their letters in the newspapers, complaining bitterly of the manner in which their hopes were disappointed, and warning others not to be led astray by the same delusion.

years

However, notwithstanding the falling off in this year, the num ber of acres cultivated in 1855 is greater than it was in 1841; being 97,192 against 83,445 in 1841, and in 1809 the number of acres under cultivation of flax was 76,474. The growth of flax is now almost entirely confined to Ulster; Cork being the only county in any of the other three provinces in which more than one thousand acres is under flax cultivation. On the whole, we have no reason to be discouraged at the apparent decrease in pigs and flax; though they have been deemed the chief source of the cottager's wealth, and the materials of his industry.

Among the various statistical returns which give information on the state of the country, none are more important than those which relate to the operation of the poor laws. On this head, the reports from the Poor Law Commissioners shew that the condition of the poor in Ireland is steadily improving every year. This improvement is such an agreeable subject of contemplation, that I cannot forbear stating a few facts and figures, although to most of those who hear me it must appear an idle repetition of what they already know. I shall, however, confine myself chiefly to the three years ending on the 29th days of September, 1852, 1853, and 1854. It is now a matter of history, that after the famine of 1847 pauperism

increased to such a degree, that more than two millions of people, i. e., about one-third of the entire population of the country, received either in-door or out-door relief during the year 1849. A steady reduction in the number of persons requiring relief then took place, so that the numbers relieved in the year ending 29th September, 1852, were 504,864 in-door relief, and 14,911 out-door relief; or, in round numbers, 520,000 altogether. In the year ending 29th September, 1853, the numbers were 396,436 in-door relief, and 13,232 out-door relief; or, in round numbers, 410,000 altogether; while, for the year ending on the 29th September, 1854, the numbers were 310,608 in-door relief, 9,008 out-door relief; or, in round numbers, 320,000 altogether; being a decrease of about 90,000 persons in the year, or 200,000 in the two years. Thus, notwithstanding the great decrease of pauperism that had previously been effected, a further decrease of about 40 per cent has taken place within the last two years.

A

Such statements as these would almost appear too good to be true, were it not that the returns furnished by the Poor Law Commissioners are given in such minute detail, and are so well arranged, that it is almost impossible that any serious error could escape detection. Some of those details shew the progress of a beneficial change in the condition of the country. Thus, the practice of paying the peasant for his labour in land, instead of money, has always been lamented as one source of the poverty and distress of the agricultural labourer. It made the labourer to a certain degree independent of the price of food. A deficient crop did not lead to increased exertion or increased economy during the early part of the year, and this frequently led to something approaching to a famine towards the end of the season. Thus, the month of June and the first week of July, until the new potatoes were ripe, was generally a period of privation, and frequently one of intense suffering. It was the famine season. This state of things had for some time an influence on the condition of the workhouses, making the number of paupers attain its maximum each year in the month of June. change in this respect was observed about the year 1851; and now, and for the last four years, the maximum number of paupers in each year is found to be in February, viz., the period of the year when there is the least demand for agricultural labour, instead of the month of June, that period when the peasant's little store of potatoes is generally exhausted. The month of October is the time when the number of paupers is the least. The variation, according to the season of the year, is very considerable, especially in able bodied men and women; the number in the month of October not being half as great as in the month of February preceding. Thus, the number of able bodied men in the Irish workhouses in the week ending the 14th of October, 1854, was 3,793; while, in the week ending on the 4th of February, 1854, it was 10,348; and in the week ending on the 24th of February, 1855, it was 7,735. The total number of paupers in each of the same three periods was, in round numbers, 70,000 for October, 1854; 116,000 for February, 1854; and 100,000 for February, 1855. The returns for the week ending the 23rd September, 1855, the latest period to which I have

been able to procure information, shew a further diminution in the number of paupers, viz., 56,517 as the number in the workhouse, against 66,697 in the corresponding week of 1854, being a diminution of 10,180 in the course of the year. A proportional decrease may be observed in the number receiving out-door relief, which is now reduced to about 150. It is true that the high price of provisions has prevented the poor rates from undergoing a corresponding reduction. The expense of maintaining each pauper is, owing to the high price of provisions, about 36 per cent more than it was during the year 1851 and 1852; notwitstanding which, the whole amount raised for poor rates is less than one million sterling. The sum does not appear large when compared with other sums collected in a different manner for a similar purpose.

It is stated on good authority (which has never, that I am aware of, been controverted), that upwards of a million sterling is each year sent home to the poor in Ireland by their friends and relatives abroad. I extract the following passage from Thom's Almanack:"The emigration from Ireland since 1847 has been carried on chiefly by remittances from those who had previously emigrated, and the Commissioners give the following statement of the amount of those remittances, which afford so honorable a testimony of the self-denial and affectionate disposition of the Irish. The contributions, either in the form of pre-paid passages or of money sent home by the Irish were returned to us as [I omit the previous years] in 1851, npwards of £990,000; in 1852, upwards of £1,404,000; and in 1853, upwards of £1,430,000." These sums shew that the sum raised by compulsory assessment from Irish property for the support of the Irish poor, is less than the sum voluntarily contributed for the same purpose by the Irish emigrants abroad, who, both in wealth and numbers, bear a very small proportion to the contributors to the poor rates.

Another circumstance noticed in the report, and which must tend to allay our apprehensions of the evil of hereditary pauperism, is the number of young persons not exceeding the age of 18 who leave the workhouse permanently, never to return. This number has exceeded 200,000 in the six years ending in 1854. Of these, no doubt, many have emigrated, but many must have procured permanent employment for themselves at home. We must remember that the emigrants, with few exceptions, must, in order to enable them to emigrate, have earned a comparatively large sum in addition to the cost of their support. It may be urged in reply, that our criminal records might furnish some explanation of the manner in which these persons obtain their support; but I believe that such is not the case. Of course, there will always be a considerable intercourse between the workhouse and the jail. Want of forbearance from present enjoyment and want of steady industry frequently lead to want, and want frequently leads to crime. Want increases the temptation to crime, while criminal habits are a certain road to want. But although it must therefore happen frequently, that the same person is at one time an inmate of the workhouse and at another time of the jail, this is not likely to be the case with the young persons who leave the workhouse never to

coined? It is evident we must look farther for an explanation; and this is to be found in the fact that the recent addition of gold to the general circulation of the world has been to a great extent not in addition to the pre-existing total amount, but in substitution for that part of it consisting of silver; the latter being driven out of circulation pro tanto, and melted down into bullion; some of which, indeed, may be recoined in other countries where there is a silver standard, but a greater portion, no doubt, is devoted to purposes other than coinage, or held over in expectation of an altered state of the bullion market. We are told that in France all silver money is rapidly melted; five-franc pieces are become rare in Paris; the bank pays notes in twenty-franc (gold) pieces; and in 1853 about £12,000,000 worth of silver were exported, since which the operation is believed to have proceeded at a still greater rate.* We do not wonder that a vessel is not overflowed, though a stream of water continually pours into it, if, while the fluid enters at one end, it goes out at the other; and so, in like manner, we should not be surprised that the recent enormous additions to the gold coinage have not filled the channels of circulation in proportion, since while, on the one side, gold has been pouring in, on the other, silver has been driven out.

its

There is another circumstance which has helped to conceal whatever change has as yet occurred in the value of gold; and this is to be found in the character of the variations in prices which have taken place of late years. Prices in general, it is true, have risen, and this, it was to be expected, should have led to the conclusion that money was becoming less valuable. But no such conclusion has been generally arrived at, and the reason seems to be, so far as those who give themselves any trouble in treating of the subject are concerned, that the changes which have come to pass have not been of such a kind as would, at first sight, be anticipated from a depreciation of the currency. This, in the end, usually affects all things alike; but the variations we have witnessed present no such uniformity, and must, therefore, it is presumed, be attributable to a variety of different causes affecting each article in particular, and not to any one which is common to all. Besides, there is a popular idea afloat, that any amount of dearness may be accounted for as the necessary consequence of a European war-a tradition handed down from the last we were engaged in, and which numbers now adopt with reference to the present; forgetting that in the former instance much of the dearness was the obvious result of the suspension of cash payment by the banks under the authority of the state, whereby a flood of paper money was poured over the country;

"Notre monnaie d'argent se fond á vue d'oeil. Les pièces de 5 francs sont devenues rares á Paris. La banque ne rembourse plus ses billets qu'avec des pièces de 20 francs. On peut fixer á près de 300 millions d'argent qui, en 1853, avait passé á l'étranger avec bénéfice pour les exportateurs. Depuis, ce chiffre á dû s'accroitre. Si la spéculation se prolongeait, il ne faudrait, suivant M. Cochut, que sept ou huit ans pour que tout l'argent existant en France, fût soutiré."—(La Presse, July 25, 1855.) The author of the article from which this extract is taken, M. Darimon, is not one of those who view with regret the gradual adoption, as a standard of value, of a metal in course of depreciation. He, on the contrary, approves highly of the employment of gold currency, and accordingly we have no grounds for condemning his account of the fate of French silver money as the exaggeration of an alarmist.

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