reader's mind the advantages of minute cultivation, reminding him that the same writer has stated, in common with all others, the land of the country to be naturally the reverse of rich; in fact, a bad soil1." Speaking of one of the departments, he says, "there are 461,659 souls upon 302,235 hectares, which are equal to 746,521 English acres, being about five souls to eight English acres. But the population," he adds, "is much more dense in other districts; in that of Bruges alone, at the rate of three souls to four acres; and in that of Courtray, at the rate of one to an English acre. Notwithstanding this, one-third of the produce of the land is annually exported! than which no circumstance can better mark the skill, the industry, and frugality of the Flemish farmer"." (12.) In Great Britain, with all our boasted superiority in the soil and size of farms, and in the implements of agriculture, there are about forty acres to every ten souls, or twenty acres, probably, to every family throughout. But, perhaps, the mountainous districts of the north may prevent the comparison from being allowed. Well, then, to take Ireland, probably the richest soil of any country of equal extent in Europe, if not in the world, there are, including as before women and children in the calculation, nearly thirty acres for every ten persons: ·England and Wales have somewhat above. In a word, Ireland, in reference to its productive power, is much the worst peopled of any of the grand divisions of the kingdom. And yet our Emigration Committee publish such a K question as this, alluding to the small occupiers :→→→ "Are you aware that the greater proportion consist of possessions not greater than an acre of ground?" To which Mr. Malthus replies affirmatively. As this is onę of the pretended facts on which the scheme of publicly expatriating a part of the people, and privately clearing them, as it is termed, is evidently founded, it becomes necessary to examine it with some little attention. (13.) The last Irish census furnishes us with two facts: one is, that the usual calculation of persons to a family is between five and six'; and the other, that much the greater number of the entire population are not employed as agriculturists, meaning by such, I presume, occupiers of land. In the summary of Ireland, which is placed at the conclusion of the Population Returns, the total number of persons occupied, exclusive, of course, of young children, &c., is stated to be 2,836,815; whereof 1,138,069 were engaged in agriculture; 1,170,044 in trades, manufactures, and handicrafts; and 528,702 in occupátions different from the two former classes 2. In the statistical returns of the barony of Rathvilly, being, I believe, the only part of Ireland the survey of which was completed, or, at least, published, agreeably to an order of the House of Commons, in the year 1825, we have some details more minutely given than in the general census. There we find it stated that the families average five and a half persons nearly; the number of souls 17,359; of whom forty 1 1 Abstract of the Population of Ireland, Prelim. Obs. p. 6. eight per cent. of the employed were agriculturists, and fifty-two per cent. engaged in other pursuits. The area of the barony, in statute acres, is 49,745, or rather above the average density of population throughout the island, though there is not what can be called a town in the whole district. The number of farms is 1568, averaging, consequently, above thirty-one acres each. But the size of these vary as follows: there are 573 under five acres, 288 between five and ten, or, to calculate in English measure, eight and sixteen; 341 between sixteen and thirtytwo; 288 between thirty-two and eighty-one; 49 between eighty-one and 162; and 29 upwards of 162 acres each'. It is evident, from this statement, that the greater proportion of cultivators who are not in possession of more than an acre of ground, must be sought for in the first class, and, as we find in the same document that there are 516 freeholders of 40s. each, we should not err much in assuming that number to be principally made up of those whom the question put by the committee points at. But, to allow the utmost latitude to those who labour to make out so strong a case against the little cultivators of Ireland, supposing we deduct, for the first 573, two acres and a half of land each, there remains of land in the barony 48,313, to be divided amongst the remaining 995 farmers, leaving nearly fifty acres for each farm; deducting, however, about eight per cent., which, it appears, is the proportion not at present cultivated. This size is evidently far larger than the average one in the better parts of the Netherlands, "Statistical Returns, Barony of Rathvilly, p. 53. and is, as we observe, varied, from the smallest class up to those of a larger extent, in many instances, than the laws and customs of that country would allow. These gradations, however, have a most beneficial tendency, affording to the meritorious the means of advancement in life, and that hope of it which is the mainspring of all human exertion. A system like this, placed upon the basis of a labouring peasantry, who have themselves a little holding, and who, in addition to the employment it affords, would be fully engaged, if the possessorsof the soil were where they ought to be, seems to be that of the agriculture of the Netherlands, upon, perhaps, a somewhat larger scale; and a more beneficial or happy one cannot possibly be imagined. Wherever it is found connected with general suffering and distress, the cause of the latter is not to be sought for in the size of farms, and must be remedied, if it is to be redressed, by very different means than clearing either them or the country of their inhabitants. I think the above calculations, taken from the barony of Rathvilly, may be fairly enough extended to all Ireland. Taking the rural population at about five millions, which I should think too high a proportion of the whole, at least as far as can be judged from the face of the census, about 455,000 would be the number of farmers, supposing there were the same proportion in that occupation as in the barony of Rathvilly of these again, perhaps 166,000 may be the little cottage cultivators before spoken of, to whom we allotted two and a half instead of a single acre of ground: the remainder, it will be found, would have upwards of forty acres of cultivated land each, independently of a share in the 4,900,000 acres which, it appears, are in occupation at present (though not in a productive state), as they have now an annual value fixed upon them. This addition would average the farms at nearly sixty acres each. But I am, however, persuaded this calculation is much underrated, as it is plain, from the census, that the number of the agriculturists, as given above, is exaggerated. And as they have not, generally speaking, capital enough to cultivate farms of the average extent mentioned, nor ever will, while absenteeship and underletting prevails, it follows that there must be many farms of a very great size in Ireland; and such, however the fact is kept out of sight, is positively the case, and to a lamentable extent. But to lay no stress whatever upon the foregoing calculations, as founded upon a particular district of Ireland, which I have not seen, and which may, for aught I know, be a contrast to the rest; and returning, in order to avoid all cavil whatsoever, to the naked fact:-there are in Ireland 6,801,821 persons : calculating that there are between five and six persons to every family; and supposing that there were neither town nor city in the whole island-that there were no manner of employment or pursuit but agriculture, there are still ten acres of the most fertile land in the world to each family, one acre of which, we are assured on all hands, would far more than suffice for the sustenance of each, as they are content to live, and after all only two-thirds of the island is as yet under culture. |