But is plainly the result of free-trade principles expanding her commerce in fifty years at least fourfold; we do not, however, think it a sound basis of prosperity in Ireland, that we should rely solely upon the progress of such prosperity in England, because England is not in so dependant a position if her commerce should meet with any check. if that prosperity be for a moment stayed which wants our beef and mutton at a high price, what would be the result to Ireland? The country converted from tillage to grazing; our working people gone; would not the consequences of such depression be complete prostration ? We may ask what would be the condition of Ireland if a disease like the cattle plague appeared under such circumstances ? It is remarkable that about eighty years ago the population of Ireland was about the same as at the present time, the numbers of cattle and sheep but little difference, while corn and cereal crops produced sufficient for her own consumption. Cattle or sheep did not alter very much in numbers up to 1846. Leases were then made containing covenants to till a portion. Will "history repeat itself? Corn productions rapidly increased with the population, until, as mentioned, the surplus reached six millions value for export-notwithstanding that the population was increasing, and that agriculture was in a most crude state. Since 1846, Ireland has lost three millions of her people. She is exporting ten millions' worth of cattle now, but losing in corn and cereal produce twelve millions annually. Will the increased floating capital in stock on the land, balance this deficiency? There is no doubt that the vast amount of this capital evidences increased and increasing national wealth, but is the basis on which it rests thoroughly sound. It would be no extraordinary change in England that would reduce the present exhorbitant prices of meat three or four pence per pound, it would be far above an average of former years, even with that reduction, but we may ask what would be the effect in Ireland? We do not desire to see the numbers of cattle and sheep less, but we feel that the country should guard against being dependent upon any one production. In the north of Ireland the famine was comparatively little felt because the people had varied occupations and resources. The greatest sufferings were when the people relied on the potato as a food. We may now be drifting into danger if cattle production supersedes tillage to the extent that is threatened. We believe that a mixed system of agriculture could be made as productive of cattle and sheep, and at the same time save the country by increased corn production the six millions now annually paid to foreign countries. We do not desire to advocate the rotative principle of cultivation so long existing in England and Scotland, and so successful, but we put it to owners of second and third class land whether it is their interest to let extensive tracts go under grass which may be found unproductive when a change cannot well be made. Our desire is that the whole subject may be fairly considered, for most assuredly it involves not only the future prosperity of the agricultural interest, but, to a large extent, the well-being of the country generally. ་ OUR PORTRAIT GALLERY, SECOND SERIES.-No. 5. THE RIGHT HON. ABRAHAM BREWSTER, Ex-Lord Chancellor of Ireland, Privy Councillor, &c., &c. SOME years ago, a young barrister having strolled into a Nisi Prius Court at Dublin, was struck by an incident which there occurred. A case of some importance was proceeding, as was obvious from the counsel who were engaged in it being some of the heavy metal of the profession, and the examining counsel at the moment was a gentleman of some position, the late Mr. Collins, Q.C., who had got hold of an elderly gentleman, somewhat deaf, to extract a narrative from; the witness represented the side on which Mr. Collins was retained, and, as he did not answer as was expected, counsel got more loud in his questions, believing the witness did not hear, till he so vehemently shouted his questions that the witness ultimately became. rough, and would not answer at all. The cross-examining counsel then took him in hand, and in subdued tones put his questions, especially avoiding aught like noise, and the result was the witness answered in the readiest and most candid manner every question the cross-examining counsel propounded. The casual who had wandered into court, saw at once the more accurate knowledge of the world and of human nature which the crossexamining counsel had exhibited, and having interrogated a bystander as to his antecedents, was duly informed that the judicious person was Mr. Brewster, Q.C. The trifling incident remained impressed on the observer, and it may be taken as an illustration of the tact and art which placed Mr. Brewster at the top of his calling, a position which he has indisputably held for almost forty years. The Right Hon. Abraham Brewster, Ex-Lord Chancellor of Ireland, was born in the year 1796, the son of William Brewster, of Ballymutra, in the county of Wicklow, Esquire. The family would appear to have been English settlers, and probably had arrived in this country during the Protectorate. The name is not Irish, but there appears amid the records in the Castle, the name of a Sir Francis Brewster as one of the commissioners in the matter of the forfeited estates in Ireland after the restoration of Charles II., and he is also mentioned in Carte's "Life of the Duke of Ormond." Mr. Brewster entered Trinity College, Dublin, in 1812, and took his degree in 1817. His college career was not a brilliant one, and gave no forecast of the future reputation he has achieved. He was called to the Bar in 1819, and was married in the same year. Law Reporting in Ireland in those days was of an imperfect character, so that it is impossible from any existing memorials to trace Mr. Brewster's career in his early struggles. He selected the Leinster circuit as the scene of his forensic efforts, and at that time his contemporaries were Mr. T. B. C. Smith, afterwards Master of the Rolls, Mr. Richard Moore, afterwards Mr. Justice Moore, of the Queen's Bench, Mr. John Hatchell, once Member for the Borough of Windsor, and afterwards Commissioner of the Insolvent Court in Ireland, and Mr. James Scott, a leading Crown counsel of the circuit. His rise, however, if not rapid was continuous, for in 1835 he received a silk gown from Lord Plunkett, then the Chancellor of Ireland. His business thence increased enormously, and it may be safely affirmed that there was not a case of any great importance from that period down to his appointment as Lord Justice of Appeal, in which Mr. Brewster was not engaged on one side or the other. In fact, no gentleman of either the English or Irish Bar ever held so many special retainers, and every assizes found him fully occupied. It has been said there was but one court house in Ireland in which he had not been on a special retainer. This, too, occurred (the holding of special retainers) at a time when he had given up Common Law business in the Four Courts, and was leading counsel in the Court of Chancery. In 1841, during the Attorney-Generalship of the late Lord Chancellor Blackburn, Mr. Brewster was appointed Law Adviser at the Castle, and in 1846 he was Solicitor-General to the Peel Government for the few months of its existence; this position had brought him in contact with Sir James Graham, the then Home Secretary, on whom Mr. Brewster made a lasting impression, and when the Coalition Ministry of 1852, under Lord Aberdeen, came into power, Sir James being Foreign Secretary, Mr. Brewster became Attorney-General for Ireland. He continued in this office till the dissolution of Lord Aberdeen's Government in 1855, when, although solicited by Lord Palmerston to continue in office, Mr. Brewster thought fidelity to the Peel party necessitated his refusal, and he accordingly returned to his profession. He was succeeded in the official position by the present Judge Keogh, who had acted as Solicitor-General under him. In 1866 he was made Lord Justice of Appeal of the Court of Chancery, and in 1867 he became Lord Chancellor on the resignation of Mr. Blackburn; and, on the dissolution of the Disraeli Government, by whom he had been appointed Chancellor, he delivered up the seals, having sat in the Court of Chancery for the last time on the 17th of December, 1867. He had been made a Privy Councillor in 1853, and a Bencher of the King's Inns in 1846, so that Mr. Brewster's career is more or less identified with the public history of the country, with the leaders of the various governments, and with the public men of the period, for nearly half-a-century. What opportunities were thus afforded for knowledge of men and things, anyone acquainted with Ireland can readily imagine, and to a man of steady purpose and strong will, such chances were of incalculable value. They were not neglected by Mr. Brewster. His management of the public business when at the Castle, and during his official career, was firm and resolute, and no imputation ever rested on him of favouritism to one party more than to another. It was during his Attorney-Generalship that the prosecution of what is known as the Six-Mile Bridge affair occurred, and by some it was thought the Attorney-General prosecuted in that case with undue severity. The transaction took place during one of the contested elections for the county of Clare, when an escort, accompanied by a magistrate, of two officers, two sergeants, and forty men, protecting some voters on their way to the polling booths, were mercilessly attacked by a mob of hundreds, assaulted with |