REGENERATION OF IRELAND. 135 



in that quarter of the country, are sent to America by those 

 great and enterprising firms, who receive gold in return. 

 Therefore, the woollen cloth shopkeeper, the grocer, the baker, 

 the butcher and the farmery are all benefitted by the em- 

 ployment given to the WEAVER ; and the landlord, Sir 

 Robert Adair, is made as secure for the amount of his 

 rent as if it were payable out of the Three-per-cents. It 

 is, therefore, evident that, with the exception of the amount 

 Sir Robert takes away to spend in London or elsewhere, the 

 whole of the money that comes annually from America 

 into Antrim for linen-cloth, finds its way, without obstruc- 

 tion, into the pockets of the industrious classes in that 

 county. This has been proved by the fact that during 

 the famine they were able not only to support them- 

 selves, but even to contribute towards the relief of the 

 destitute in the south and west of Ireland. 



' ' I regret to say that my efforts to make those facts 

 more known in this country in 1846 and 1847, and my 

 anxiety to place them before a class in Leinster, Minister, 

 and Connaught, whose interest it would be to encourage, 

 at any sacrifice, the manufacture of everything that can be 

 produced from the soil, proved unsuccessful. I left Dublin 

 in January 1847, and continued to keep the Flax- 

 question the growth of the raw material before the British 

 farmers and landowners. The result (as I shall prove in 

 my next) has been most satisfactory. As the Royal Dublin 

 Society has lately been favoured with the reading of an 

 able document on the condition and resources of this country, 

 written by M. J. Anketell, Esq., the opening question of 

 which was, 'CAN AGRICULTURE, WITHOUT MANUFACTURES, 

 EMPLOY THE PEOPLE OF IRELAND?' I cannot finish this 

 letter in a way more likely to interest those who wish to 

 see permanent improvement and employment carried out 

 on just principles, than by quoting a speech delivered a 



