Memoir of Arthur Young, Esq. 291 



gross absurdity of the measure ; and shewed, that the wretched 

 tillage was at the expense of the richest pasturage in the King's 

 dominions ; and with such strength and perspicuity was this 

 position supported, that it carried with it immediate conviction ; 

 and, in the very first session of parliament, after the publication 

 of this work, the bounty was reduced to one half, and, finally, 

 wholly abolished, by which a saving accrued to the Irish 

 nation of eighty thousand pounds a year ! What will posterity 

 say of this country, when they learn that all Mr. Young received 

 for this great and disinterested effort of political acuteness and 

 judgment was a cold letter of thanks from the Dublin Society. 

 " The future biographer," says Mr. Wakefield, " may be 

 inclined to remark, that his country behaved to him as Frederic 

 boasted he had done to Voltaire, he had treated him like a lemon, 

 squeezed out the juice, and then fiung away the rind, (Statistical 

 Account of Ireland*, Vol. I.) Mr. Young also proved, in his 

 masterly observations on the penal code of laws against the 

 Roman Catholics, that they Avere not laws against the religion, 

 but against the industry of the country; and his arguments 

 have been frequently quoted both by writers and public 

 speakers, as authority for the repeal of those obnoxious sta- 

 tutes, and his advice, to a considerable extent, has been 

 followed. Amongst the manuscripts which he has left, nu- 

 merous are the letters in commendation of this work, which 

 were written to him by the most eminent men in Europe. 

 Lord Chancellor Loughborough told him, that he had been 

 much struck and delighted with his masterly arguments upon 

 the subject of the corn bounty, adding, " Ireland ought to 

 have rewarded you for so important a service." In the year 

 1777, he was presented with a medal by the Salford Agri- 



• I have peculiar satisfaction in adducing the testimony of this en- 

 lightened writer, because his agricultural and political knowledge 

 enabled him to appreciate the merits of Mr. Young. " Truth," says he, 

 ".■compels me to declare, although the assertion may reproach my country, 

 that he has been ill re([uited for his exertions in her service, and, that during 

 the best days of his life, she seems to have been coldly insensible to the 

 value of his indefatigable and important labours." 

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