and rateable property, £216,817,624, deducting also one-third for Scotland and Ireland, leaving £144,545,083, it will be evident that although the poor have decreased, the burden on rateable property remains nearly the same, viz. between one-sixteenth and one-seventeenth of the gross produce; to which, you must remember to add, the support of the Established Religion, at an expense inevitably increasing with the progressive improvement of the land.

Having gone through these calculations, I think you must acknowledge, however reluctantly, that this distribution, though founded on law, is not consistent with equity; and that the distress of the agriculturists has arisen from the injustice under which they are suffering, although they may in some measure have mistaken the ground of their complaint.

It is curious to see how nearly the per centage that would now be required from the whole community for the support of the poor, tallies with their decrease; and, as it were, proves were, proves the accuracy of my positions. The tax, quoad the nation, has been lessened in proportion to their decrease; though, quoad the landed interest, it has remained almost stationary-and yet we are accused of being the most vigi

lant of any class in the protection of our own rights, and we are called upon to give up, in favour of our more rapidly improving brethren, the merchants and manufacturers, the only substantial equivalent that has been granted for our protection.

I should not have entered so much into detail, were it not that this question is of great importance as it regards Ireland. There are many persons who conceive that England is weighed down by the support of her poor; and many more who are prepared to argue that the number of our poor would increase, beyond calculation, if there were any legal provision for their support. I could perhaps convince some of them, had they patience to attend to me, that they are in error; but the shorter way is to show them how unequally and unjustly the expense of supporting the indigent is at present distributed among the different classes of society in Ireland.

The extremely poor are almost exclusively fed by those who are but one degree above them in the scale; and the tax thus levied upon the humanity of the hard-working and industrious peasant is much greater than would easily be supposed. As far as I have been able to ascertain, and I have diligently inquired in various parts of Ireland, the house of every poor labouring farmer contributes, on

an average, every year, not less than one ton of potatoes, worth at least thirty shillings, to the satchell of the wandering beggar; and that, too, over and above the relief which he is always willing to afford to those of his immediate kindred who may happen to be in want. We have a population of seven millions, and if we estimate them at five to a house, and if we allow that the rich also contribute, it will be evident that we are already paying for the relief of the poor, a voluntary tax of about £2,100,000; the greater part of which is levied from the poorest of those who have any thing to give, without the least return in the way of labour from the objects of their bounty. As the peasant's door is never closed during meal time, he cannot, and indeed he will not, discriminate, and consequently idleness and beggary are encouraged to prey upon the industry of the land.

I do not by any means intend to argue that the upper ranks in Ireland are deficient in a spirit of benevolence; I have reason to know that the contrary is the fact; and I only give the £2,100,000 as the first item of my budget. From the rich, besides their private charities, much more is levied by robbery, by reluctant labour, by large deficiencies in their rental. The same disposition is not, however,

to be found in all; and the absentees seldom feel what they cannot see. My only wish is to place the subject in its just light. It is my full belief that the burden of the poor rates would be cheerfully undertaken, if it were equally distributed upon the income or property of the country to the relief of the industrious farmer, and to the general diffusion of peace, comfort, and happiness throughout Ireland.

H.

LETTER XXXIV.

JUNE.

SINCE I last wrote to you, I have made a journey in Cunnemarra. You will smile at the idea of a journey within the compass of so few miles; but I can assure you that the badness of the roads, and the interest with which we view every little corner of our own little kingdom, makes a visit to the southern district, an undertaking of greater difficulty and importance to an inhabitant of the north than it would be to you to travel from London to Newcastle. We measure the height of every shrub and the extent of every bog; we examine the rocks, and speculate upon the probabilities of their affording either marble or slate; and we notice the dress of each peasant, and the appearance of each cabin, to determine whether they are better or worse than those in our own immediate neighbourhood. If worse, we are of course very happy in the proud consciousness of our own superiority; if better, we sieze on some share of the credit, for are we not on the