2o$ PRESENT DISTRESSES. 



The reader will naturally remark, that thefe are all exter- 

 nal authorities : fome of them feem to mark a diftrefs in Ire- 

 land, but others {peak very ftrongly a dire<2 contrary lan- 

 guage ; it remains to be obferved, that the interior authori- 

 ties have been much infilled on. It has been afferted, and by 

 very refpe&able perfcns, that rents have fallen, lands unte- 

 nanted, prices low*, people unemployed, and poverty uni- 

 verfal. The misfortune of thefe circumftances when pro- 

 duced as argument, is that they admit no proof. I afk for 

 figures and you give me anecdote: my lord this is ruined 

 the duke of t'other cannot afford to live at Dublin, the earl of 

 A. has no remittances, Mr. C. has 18,000!. arrears. This is 

 a repetition of the complaints which the Englifh houfe of com- 

 mons heard fo much of in 1 773. I am very far from denying 

 them, but only defire that aJJ'ertions may not be accepted as 

 proofs. They are national complaints when a new fyftem of 

 policy is called for, the palpable confequence of which is, that 

 they are exaggerated iuch complaints always were, and al- 

 ways will exceed the truth. 



Let it not however be imagined, that I contend Ireland 

 fufters none, or very little diilreis : while we fee very great 

 diftrefles in England we need not wonder that Ireland fliould, 

 though in a lefs degree, fuller likewife. We fee the funds 

 have in a few years fallen 27 per cent. The years pur- 

 chafe of land reduced from 33 to 23. The prices of all pro- 

 dudls fallen from 30 to 100 per cent. Wheat from 75. to 35. 

 a bufliel ; other grain in proportion. Wool from 1 8s. to 1 2s. 

 all greatly owing to the fcarcity of money arifing from the 

 high intereft paid for the public loans : I can hardly conceive 

 thofe operations to have drawn money from the channels of 

 induflry in every part of this ifland, without likewife affect- 

 ing our neighbour, much of whole national induftry was, if 

 T\v>\.fupported y at lead much affided by Englilh capitals. There- 

 fore, from reafoning, I fhould fuppofe they muft have been 

 fomewhlat diftreffed, but the preceding fads will not permit 

 me to imagine that diftrefs to be any thing like what is repre- 



fented, 



* 'January 24, 1780. / have this minute received from my 

 very obliging friend Mr. Bolton (member for Water jord) the 

 following note : 



** Butter has been here (IVaterford] all this 'winter at 4.2*. 

 per c"Mt. Pork at the beginning of the vainter 2$s. to 2$s. tyd. 

 from that it rofe by degrees, and is noiu 261. 6d. per c*wt." The 

 butter is very loiv, lower than for ten years; but pork keeps up 

 its price. At Limerick the minutes Jbevj that 2()s. $d. is a very 

 high price, and that 1 2s. vjas the price only eleven years ago. I 

 am yet in hopes, from an exprejfian in Mr. Bolton s letter, to re- 

 ceive the price of other commodities before the work is entirety 

 fni/bed at frefs. 



