WASTE LANDS IN IRELAND. 



161 



By this motive alone am I now actuated ; and most sincerely 

 do I desire that the miseries to which I have alluded may be 

 averted from my countrymen ; miseries that not only filled 

 the newspapers with advertisements of the farmers', but of the 

 tradesmen s stock ; when the value of property was reduced to 

 so low an ebb, that in many instances purchasers were not to 

 be found even at public auctions. The affecting remembrance 

 of those times can never be effaced — times that must occur 

 again under our present circumstances with a free trade in 

 corn. Then will the tenant, who may have obtained the utmost 

 reduction of rent that he could conscientiously ask, perceive too 

 late that land rent-free could not prevent his ruin. The free 

 trade in corn that I would advocate is that which might easily 

 be derived from the millions of acres of waste lands in Ireland, 

 which, like Joseph's granaries, are stored with abundance. To 

 unlock them it only requires the key of enterprise, and then, 

 like Joseph, the Irish would freely give us of their corn in 

 return for our money. The exchange would tend greatly to 

 advance our sister kingdom, and secure our national inde- 

 pendence. The supply derived from thence, with a general 

 improvement in our present cultivation, would meet all our 

 necessities. Home commerce languishes for the circulation of 

 those sums annually sent abroad for wheat. To ensure per- 

 manent prosperity to the community, it is said, the price of 

 wheat ought to fluctuate at a lower rate ; I admit it ; but at 

 the same time, I aver that that reduction and fluctuation must 

 be maintained by native resources alone. The price of wheat 

 is immaterial to the farmer, provided he is remunerated, which 

 is now oftener the case, with a plentiful crop and a low price, 

 than with a scanty one and a high price. How anxious then 

 should he be to increase the productiveness of his land, and to 

 render his country independent of foreign aid ! This may be 

 accomplished if British farmers are true to themselves. May 

 they firmly resist the temptation to unite in the unreasonable 

 outcry against their landlords ! and soon the present storm will 

 blow over, the revolutionary clouds be dispersed, and the sun 

 of national prosperity shine again. 



It is impossible for the inexperienced to form a correct 

 estimate of the advantages of box-feeding cattle. The plan is 



M 



