to them about what was in my mind, and in six months from that mornin' there was a dhrove iv us as good as a quarter of a mile along the road to Dundalk. Most of all the neighbours agreed there was nothin' for them but to imigrate; and a sorrowful party you may be sure we were, leaving our beautiful homes, that seemed mournin' afther us, they looked so sorrowful all shut up, and neither man nor baste in the sunny fields about them. I mind myself could'nt keep in the tear when young Maguire says to me, stoopin' to pluck a blade of the green whate, that I mightu't see his face, the crathur,

Jemmy," says he, "where will we be when that corn's yellow?"

"God knows, Johnny avich," says I, "but wherever we are, HE will be the poor exile's safeguard; and I hope, says I, that the next that comes to Lisnasharra may be as happy in it as was them that's lavin' it with broken hearts this mornin'."

"Amen!" says Johnny, and troth, sir, you could see the tears rollin' down the poor boy's cheeks. But the devil a hair myself cared if it was to Kamskathy, or the deserts iv Arabia I was goin', when I had my own lawful and wedded wife to wander with me through the world.

"We were betther nor three weeks at sea, when the weather began to grow mighty stormy; and the women was wishing hard to be across, and by dad maybe more nor the women wished it, though they didn't let on. Well, sir, one evening, when the sun was goin' down, and the whole sky about it that red and blackish, that you'd think it was a town on fire, I comes up to where the captain was standin' wid a spy-glass in his fist, musin' like, and lookin' out over the wild waters. He was a murtherin' rogue this captain, and would still be muttherin' and grumblin' about one thing or another, and for ever cursin' the bloody Irish papishes; but we seldom noticed him either good or bad, seein' he was no betther nor an ignorant hathen, to curse God's cratures out among the elements, and nothin' but the black ocean below him and them. Howsomdever as I comes up, he says, 'Faix,' says he, 'the papishes are in clover now any way?

"Why then, more power to you cap

tain," says I, spakin' up to him for as gruff as he was, but troth myself thinks it's your ould sweetheart," manin' the ould vessel your honour, for he used still to call her his beautiful Peggy, all as one as if it was a christian woman was in it; 'faix, says I, myself thinks its ould crazy Jane has all the clover to herself, for by gor she's retchin' and roarin' that you'd swear she was goin' to burst.'

The storm riz, and such days and nights as we had, tossin' about in that wild sea, and with a sky ten times wilder hangin' over us, for not an inch iv it you'd think but was torn up, with the lightnin' flyin' out on every side; and sure I mind as myself and another were looking at the tempest, for what could we do but look at it, God help us, he says to me, 'Jemmy,' says he, "if the sea was made o' whiskey now!" "And if it was?' says I.

"Och murdher if it was,' says he, what a sight it would be for the man in the moon to see the world afire such a night as this!'

"Well sir, you'd think that ould tatherthe-wind was just takin' her divarsion out o' the ocean, the way it pitched her and tumbled her, but the divil a sink it would sink her. The women ran here and there, screechin' all sorts o' murther; but somehow it was worse to see the men walkin' about like ghosts, for the ship was soon beyant their management, and it was hard on them, you know, to be forced to give themselves and the women up for lost. The captain would sometimes roar to lower the boats, but then he'd see it was only reg'lar madness he was talkin', for if the sea was wild at first, by gor now it was mad outright; but at long last one night, when we thought the ould vessel was sinkin' they let them down, and as they did there was a rush across the deck, and then rose among the thunder the horrible scream that would have split your heart, and I doubt there's none livin' to tell who escaped in the boats, or how many poor

wretches was seen for a minute strugglin' in the boilin' waves afore they disappeared for ever. I spied a head, your honour, for the long black hair was streamin' through the foam, and I seen the pale face where the lightnin' was dashin' in among the waves, and I made one flyin' bound and caught her just as she was sinkin' down-down to where she now lies, dark and could, the threasure o' my heart. They threw me a rope, and I climbed up the side o' the ship, and afther thryin' long to recover my poor Nancy, we waked her there in that solitary wreck, where only a few deserted crathurs wandered up and down, as ghastly, and for all the world as like death as the poor corpse before them. It was a mournful night! and sure we all agreed it was our last, but next mornin' some o' them got a glimpse iv a sail, and they stood at the edge o' the ship with the eyes startin' out o' their heads; and no wonder if their raison was a trifle shook with starvation and hardship, but when they seen it makin' towards us, and that it would be up with us in no time, they knelt down every one o' them round the corpse, and they thanked God and the blessed Virgin for their own safety, and prayed for mercy on her poor sowl. God forgive me, your honour, I neither knelt nor prayed, nor cast a second look on the help HE sent us, but only on her that lay there, beyant help or hope, and sure when the vessel raiched us, the sight left my eyes, for they tore me away, and that's the last was ever seen o' the pride o' Lisnasharra. Well, sir, after a couple more days sailin', we were landed safe in Canada, and off we set, and never stopt till we got right into the forest, and here we're livin' not overly happy to be sure, but well enough considerin'. The misthress lives with ould Mrs. Doolan, and though there isn't one iv us but lost some friends on that awful night, yet we're

thankful that she was spared, though in troth, sir, to tell you the truth, I doubt she'll not be long among us. She never complains to mortal, the crather, yet it's easy seein' the poor heart's in trouble within. But there's a pleasant sight, your honour"

As he spoke, I observed lights glancing through the gloom, which encreasing in number and brilliancy as we approached, seemed like the welcome of cheerful and hospitable homes. We reached at length the little territory, and beautiful it was to behold it lying so still and solitary in the bosom of that magnificent wilderness. The harvest moon was at the full, and shed down her benignant light upon the yellow fields, amongst which the shanties were scattered here and there, "some in glimmer and some in gloom;" the farms stretching on every side into the darkness of the surrounding forest. I shall never forget my residence in that lonely sanctuary, nor the painful interest with which I contemplated the fate of the beautiful and unhappy exile, for even in the spring of life her days were numbered.

Some years had elapsed since that period, when I returned to the Canadian village; and I met my old friend M'Mahon, sadly worn; and old and wasted before his time. The cheerfulness of spirit which, when I saw him first, had in some degree survived all his misfortunes, was now extinguished; he had fallen into the sear and yellow leaf, a gloomy and hopeless man; but his brow reddened when standing uncovered beside a forest grave, the emigrant said-"There she lies sir, her troubles are over now-but God forgive them that had no feelings for their own flesh and blood, and could live in grandeur, while the flower of their flock wandered desolate and heartbroken through the world."”

To proceed with our Statistics, we shall take up the work at that division at which we left off in our last number. On looking to the returns of the quantities of British and Irish linen and sail-cloth exported from the United Kingdom, in each year, from 1820 to 1833, inclusive, we find that the Irish linen trade had been increasing rapidly up to 1824, but since that year has been yet more rapidly falling away. The English linen trade has progressively increased, and has more than doubled within the period we have stated. The export of British sail-cloth has been, upon the whole, rather increasing, and the same may be said with respect to the same manufacture in Ireland: but the trade in both these articles has been so irregular as to render it difficult to ascertain its actual state of deterioration or improvement; it being not unfrequently in one year double that of the preceding or following. The consumption of Irish linen in the United Kingdom was increasing up to 1826; but being placed under coast regulations in that year, and exempted from entry inwards, we have from that time forward no means of ascertaining whether it fell off again in the same manner, as we have already seen that the export trade of the same article has done. We have reason to think that it did so fall away; but we believe it has revived a little in the last few years.

Important, however, as the linen trade has been to Ireland, and especially to the most deserving portion of it, the province of Ulster, we cannot refrain from availing ourselves of this opportunity of expressing an opinion, to which a long residence in that part of the kingdom, and an intimate acquaintance with the habits of its peasantry has given rise, that much of the ill-health which must but too forcibly strike every one who is at all conversant with the circumstances and situation of the lower orders in Ulster, may be in a great degree attributed to the

of

habit of the poorer classes, of wearing coarse linen clothing instead of woollen. It is true that the peasantry of Ulster are in Ireland proverbially designated as the "broad-cloth men," and that to a traveller merely passing through the country, the blue coat and brass buttons of the farmer will exhibit a pleasing contrast to the unsightly and uncouth great coat of the more southern peasant. This, however, proceeds from two causes-the first of which is the neatness which belongs to protestantism; the other is to be found in the fact, that there is no domestic woollen manufacture; the consequence which is, that all who can afford it purchase the English broad cloth; while those who are too poor to obtain this comfort, are compelled to clothe themselves with the coarser species of their own home-made linen. It is common, therefore, to meet in that part of the kingdom, in the sleet and snow of a winter's day, labourers working, clad, with the exception of their stockings, entirely in coarse linen, while their wives and daughters, as we have been told by the ladies of our family, for we do not pretend to assert any thing of our own knowledge about such mysteries, seldom possess the luxury of a flannel petticoat. It is obvious that diseases of the most afflicting nature must be, as we know they are, produced by the habit of enduring long continued wet and cold, with such covering, and allowing it afterwards to dry upon the person. That this has been a consequence of the linen trade of Ulster, is, we fear, but too true; but it is equally true that this evil has been increased rather than diminished by the failure of that trade; the former having called into existence a great number of looms, and trained a great portion of the peasantry to weave; while the latter threw those looms out of employment, and, by destroying the export, increased the domestic consumption. It is true that the introduc

VOL. VIII.

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tion of cotton manufactures has been of essential use in affording much more wholesome covering than linen; but the value of cotton is as a garment next the skin, while as a protection against wet and cold from without, it is scarcely more powerful than linen. We would earnestly wish to see the attention of Irish landlords in general, and especially of our Ulster representatives, directed to the encouragement, both personal and legislative, of a domestic woollen manufacture. We do not mean, nor perhaps under the circumstances would it be possible, to compete with the broad-cloth manufacturers of England although we protest against the idea that England has that right to impose a veto on the trade or manufactures of Ireland, which she certainly has to restrict those of her colonies; but we do mean that an active and energetic encouragement should be given to such a coarse woollen manufacture as would meet the wants and preserve the constitutions of that poorer, but most industrious and numerous class, who are unable to purchase English cloth, and could not, therefore, in such case, be considered as consumers withdrawn from the English market. This would have another good effect in rendering animal food cheaper in that province; as at present agriculture has so completely overpowered sheep-farming, that, to use the expressive phrase of the people themselves "a joint of mutton will soon be a sight to cure sore eyes."

But to return to our statistics. We find from some of the tables in this work, that the total consumption of wool in the United Kingdom has greatly increased of late years. In the year 1833, it amounted to nearly forty million lbs. This is likely to increase yet farther from the supply that we may expect from our Australian colonies.

The export trade of iron, we find to be increasing; but it is a fact rather remarkable, and we fear in some degree ominous to our manufacturing prospects; that this increase of export has taken place more in unwrought, than manufactured, iron and steel, in the proportion of about three to two. The export of British hardware and cutlery in 1831, was valued about £1,600,000. In twelve years the export of cutlery had nearly doubled; but that of unwrought

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steel had about trebled. The United States of America hold the highest rank among this class of customers. We have been informed on the best authority that the American orders at this moment in Sheffield would require 8 months to execute. The proportionate quantities exported to the principal foreign markets may be thus nearly expressed The United States, 73; North American Colonies, 11; Asia, 10; Germany, 7; British West Indies, 5; Mexico and South America, ditto; Gibraltar, Brazil, &c. 3. We were surprised to find the exports of lead rapidly and steadily diminishing. We can only account for this by the supposition that foreign nations got so tired of our gratuitous export of British lead during the late war, that they are afraid of having anything more to do with it. Here, however, again, America is by far our best market. It is remarkable that the quantity of British tin coined has been rapidly increasing, although the export of it continues stationary.

We regret that our limits will not permit us to notice the very interesting and minute statistics of our Newfoundland fisheries, &c. as well as of our whale, seal, cod, herring, and other fisheries.

From the tables of the average prices of wheat, as published in the London Gazette, from 1770 to 1829, in periods of ten years, and the average of the next four years to 1833, inclusive, we find that they rose enormously during the war. The averages so taken were as follows, in each of those periods, price per quarter, 45s. 9d.-55s. 11d. 82s. 2d.--88s. 8d.-58s. 5s.-60s. 6d. The export of gunpowder was in 1833 increasing. We had hardly expected to find that the greatest demand for this article was on the western coast of Africa. The proportions of the market were as follows:-Africa, 32; America, 7; Europe, 4; Asia, 1. The whole export amounted to nearly four and a half million pounds.

We shall conclude this division of the work with two branches of information; the one as interesting to the fops, as the other to the school-boys of the empire. We find from the " Account of the goods actually in bonded warehouses in the port of London, on the 5th of January 1832 and 1833 respec

tively," that there were a hundred and seventy-seven thousand walking canes, and four million eight hundred thousand rattans, bonded in London on the fifth of January 1833. We are happy, however, to be able to congratulate the last of the two classes of gentry abovementioned, on the improvement of their moral character, to be inferred from the fact, that the store of rattans was less than in former years. We had almost forgotten to congratulate ourselves, and of course our admirers, the public at large, on the fact that the store of goose quills amounted to above fifteen millions and a half.

We shall now proceed to notice, what is to us, perhaps, the most important part of this work-the statements connected with the trade of Ireland; but before we enter on this subject, we must make a few observations upon an error, to us almost unaccountable, which is widely diffused among even the thinking classes of both kingdoms. We constantly hear persons gravely assuming that the encrease of the export trade of a country is a criterion of the comforts of its inhabitants. The difficulty chiefly to be met with in arguing with these persous, consists in their habit of confounding the export trade taken by itself, with the import trade which it produces; and of perpetually shifting their ground in their mode of viewing that export. In the observations we shall make, we shall take the liberty of binding them down by a few simple propositions. In the first place, then, we request them to commence by viewing exports and imports separately we shall presently give them leave to view them together. The exports of a country are of its produce that portion which its inhabitants do not consume-do not enjoy; that portion which is paid as purchasemoney for imports; that portion which is to be considered as decidedly a dead loss to the native, as the money paid for a horse is a dead loss to the purchaser. Here we are at issue with these gentlemen; for it is next to impossible to persuade them to view the subject in this manner; and yet they must see, if they would reflect, that the only possible mode of ascertaining whether the purchaser of the horse gains or loses by his bargain, is to place the sum paid for the horse on one side

of the account, viewed as a dead loss, that is, as an export; and to place the value of the horse on the other side of the account, viewed as a clear gain, that is, as an import; and then, by striking the balance of the purchase-money, or loss, or export, and the horse, or gain, or import, to ascertain whether the purchaser be a gainer or a loser by the transaction. How then do we estimate the gain? Simply thus we say that the horse was worth £50, while the money paid for him was but £40, and that the gain was therefore £10: that the value of the trade of the individual, as regarded that horse, was £10. Now, if the horse had been made a present to the man, he would have gained £50. Whence then does he only gain £10? Because the gain of £50 was compensated by the loss of £40. We are almost disposed to laugh at ourselves for taking the trouble to prove so simple an assertion, but we know by experience that this trouble is not unnecessary. Now then, we trust, that our position will not be disputed, that in order to ascertain whether the trade of a country be beneficial or injurious, we must view its export and import in opposite columns as loss and gain, and strike the balance between them. It is natural that the inhabitants of seaport towns should be unwilling to acknowledge this; because both species of trade are beneficial to them.

But we would beg leave to ask them one question. Are they in the habit of considering very high prices as a proof of the superfluous wealth of the people, or as a proof of their want of the article for which they pay those prices? They will answer, certainly the latter." Why then do they consider the export of an article as a proof that there is a superfluous quantity in the country? But we shall presently notice this more fully. To proceed then-the fair way to view this subject is to consider what would be the "beau ideal" of the intercourse of a nation with its neighbours. First then, let us see what would be the perfection of that intercourse, as respects the interests of the nation itself. It is obvious that the most fortunate nation would be that which imported every species of necessary and luxury of life, without any export or purchase-money whatever; and the number of whose inhabitants