COR 



223 



COR 



:>rk. The harbour is capable of containing an immense num- 

 y - ' ber of ships in perfect security, and is now a place of 

 rendezvous for fleets destined to the West Indies. Its 

 mouth is defended by Carlisle fort. The fortifications 

 on Spike Island are said to have cost a million ster- 

 ling. 



Manufactures of various kinds are carried on — linen, 

 checks, carpets, glue, gunpowder, glass, &c. There 

 are four distilleries, besides five or six rectifiers of spi- 

 rits, who work under special licence from the commis- 

 sioners of excise. The greatest distillery, carried on by 

 Mr Walker, makes 1 7,000 gallons per week, and works 

 from 9 to 1 months in the year. The other, belonging 

 to Messrs Hewson and Co. produces 9000 gallons per 

 week. The former is said to pay L. 200,000 per an- 

 num of duty to government. Besides many breweries 

 for ale and small beer, there are five for porter. The 

 principal one belongs to Beamish and Crawford, who 

 brew 2000 barrels of 46 gallons each per week, which 

 they sell at 10 d. per gallon. 



The principal exports of Cork are salted provisions, 

 beef, pork, and butter, which are collected there, for 

 being shipped, from all the southern parts of Ireland. 

 At an average 10,000 oxen and 8000 cows are slaugh- 

 tered annually. In 1807, about 3600 head of cattle 



were killed and .50,000 hogs ; but it appears the slaugh- 

 tering of the former is on the decline, and that of the lat- 

 ter on the increase. Dr Smith says, that the number 

 of cattle slaughtered from August to Christmas, in each 

 year, was little less than 100,000. In 1791, upwards 

 of 50,000 barrels of beef, and about 7000 tons of butter, 

 were exported. In 1806, the quantity of butter was 

 160,000 cwt. One half of the hides procured at Cork 

 are exported ; the other half, consisting of the heavy 

 ones, are retained at home for shoe leather. All the 

 linens and woollens from the south of Ireland, intended 

 for a foreign market, are shipped here. Corn, also, 

 porter, tallow, and cattle-hoofs, are exported. From a 

 report made to the House of Commons, it appears, that 

 in 1791 there was exported 49,080 barrels of corn — 

 23,374 cwt. of flour, meal, and bread — 55,525 barrels 

 of beef— 38,948 barrels of pork — 13 live hogs — 139,507 

 cwt. of butter— and 1,197,729 yards of linen cloth. In 

 1802, 18 5,059 gallons of Irish spirits were exported from 

 Cork; in 1803, the quantity was 492,665 gallons; in 

 1804, it was 340,965 gallons; in 1805, it was 311,241; 

 and in 1806, it was 199,027. The imports of Cork are 

 chiefly those ordinary articles of consumption, such as 

 groceries, coal, &c. which are not otherwise found it* 

 the resources of the city and county. 



Prices of Ox and Cow Hides, Rough Tallow, and Grain, at Cork, furnished to Mr Thomas Newenliam by 

 Mr Hacket, Farmer, Mr Hawkes, Tallow-chandler, and Mr Good, Corn Merchant, 30lh October 1811. 



1801. 1802. 1803. 



d. 

 Ox hides per cwt 53 



! 4.2 



9 6 

 \36 

 42 

 26 



Cow hides do. 

 Rough tallow per stone, of 16 lb. 

 Wheat per barrel of 20 stone . . 

 Barley do. 36 stone . . 



Oats do. 33 stone . . 



s. d. 



53 



06 



9 6 



40 



42 



29 



s. d. 



53 



54 

 9 6 



36 

 41 

 28 



1804. ^ 1805. 



* d. 

 53 

 56 

 9 6 

 36 

 40 

 28 



s. d. 



53 

 50 

 9 6 

 34 

 38 

 27 



1806. 



s. d. 



53 

 46 

 9 6 

 34 

 39 

 27 



1807- 



s. d. 



41 



34 

 9 6 



35 



42 



27 



1808. 1809. 1810. 1811. 



s. d. 

 55 

 32 

 13 

 36 

 44 

 36 



s. d. 

 56 

 34 

 12 

 38 

 44 

 36 



s. d. 

 46 



36 

 9 3 



37 

 44 

 35 



s. d. 



8 

 44 

 40 

 34 



In November 1 808 there were five bankers in Cork. 

 One of them has since failed for L. 420,000. There 

 was also a discount office. In 1 804, the private notes 

 m circulation from the Cork banks were thought by 

 Mr Roach to be L. 1,000,000. Mr Beresford estimated 

 them at L. 600,000. 



At each entrance to the town there is a gate ; but no 

 police has yet been established for preserving its or- 

 der, and attending to its economy. The corporation 

 consists of a mayor, two sheriffs, a recorder, and seve- 

 ral aldermen. The mayor is chosen by a kind of lot- 

 tery. No one is styled alderman till he has been 

 mayor. The mayor, while in office, has a salary of 

 L.500 per annum. Cork is the seat of a bishop. It 

 sends two members to the imperial parliament. The 

 electors are composed of about 1500 freemen of the 

 city, and a number of freeholders in the county of the 

 city which is pretty extensive. The population of this 

 city has been variously estimated. In the year 1732, 

 according to a return of the collectors of hearth mo- 

 ney given by Dr Smith, it amounted to 55,76"9, of 

 whom 17,983 were Protestants, and ">7,786 Catholics; 

 there being 2569 families of the former, and 5398 fa- 

 milies of the latter. According to Dr Beaufort, the 

 number of inhabitants, in I79J, was nearly 73,000, dis- 

 tributed among 810.) houses, which gives about 9 to a 

 house. Mr Newenham says, that, according to an accu- 

 rate enumeration made at his request by the Roman 

 Catholic clergy, within the four years preceding 1811, 



there are in the city, exclusive of the liberties, which are 

 very populous, 6416 inhabited houses, and 55,265 inha- 

 bitants, of whom 45/205 are Roman Catholics, and 

 10,060 Protestants ; making in the whole an increase 

 to the population since Dr Smith's estimate, of all that 

 may be supposed to inhabit the liberties. Mr Wake- 

 field thinks that there may be about 80,000; while 

 others make the number several thousands more. Cork 

 is situated in 51° 53' 54" North Lat. and 8° 30' West 

 Long. It is l6l miles south-west from Dublin. See 

 the works referred to at the end of lust article, (t) 



CORN, in agriculture, is said properly to mean. 

 " grain in the ear," or " grain unthrashed," but is ge- 

 nerally taken in the much more comprehensive sense, 

 of grain fit for food in whatever stage of preparation, 

 Wheat, rye, barley, oats, &c. and, according to the 

 current language of many farmers, even pulse, as pease 

 and beans, come under this denomination. Under the 

 head of Agriculture, we have treated so fully of the 

 various modes of raising corn, that the only subject: 

 which at present remains to be considered is our sys« 

 tein of corn laws. 



CORN LAWS form altogether a large body of en- 

 actments in our statute books, as they embrace the 

 home as well as the foreign trade in grain. Few de- 

 partments of our code have excited more serious dif- 

 ference of opinion ; the political economists contend- 

 ing, that the corn trade should be left wholly free and 

 unfettered, while the agriculturists insist, that it is in- 



Cork 



II 

 Corn-laws. 



