but the time of the famine marks a broad division in the general history of the island. No one who knew Ireland before this latest period of her "long agony," and knows her now, will dispute the greatness of the revolution that has taken place. With the exception of occasional outbreaks, the result of political agitation, the whole tone of national feeling is changed. Material prosperity is steadily progressive. A spirit of enterprise is abroad among the people. The arts of peace are flourishing, and the great body of the nation are engaged in quiet pursuits of agriculture and The spirit of discontent is kept up chiefly by professional agitators, who require only a firmer hand to keep them from their mischievous work. In most parts of the country life and property are as safe as in England.

commerce.

The Lord-Lieutenant, Earl Spencer, during his "progress" through the north of Ireland last autumn, had a pleasant tale to tell in his speeches. He told that the deposits in Government Funds and Joint Stock Banks, in Trustee and Post-office Savings' Banks, had increased year by year in the last five years at the rate of a million sterling. The total aggregate of such investments is now above £67,000,000 in Ireland. The bank-note circulation had shown a continuous increase during the same period. He told how railway returns and the prices of all commercial

stocks and funds were steadily rising.

He told of the

progress of education, and the prosperity of agriculture and trade, especially in Belfast, where he went officially to open the agricultural show and the magnificent new docks. He spoke of the diminution of the number of indictable offences in all parts of the country, and, what was most gratifying and hopeful, the number of political and agrarian crimes had been greatly reduced.

This prosperity was everywhere manifest in Ulster. At Lurgan, for instance, the Chairman of the Town Commissioners, in his address to the Lord-Lieutenant, said that "the population of the town had increased thirty per cent., and the property seventy per cent., since the visit of Lord Carlisle eleven years before."

Having followed this vice-regal progress, as a good opportunity for observation, I can bear testimony, not only to the signs of healthy prosperity in Ulster, but to the demonstrations of loyalty among all sections of the community. I saw demonstrations of another kind, very soon after, both in Lurgan and Belfast, but the turbulent factions that then brought disgrace upon Ulster were in numbers and character contemptible, contrasted with the crowds of orderly and peaceable and industrious people, poor and rich, Catholic and Protestant, who gave hearty welcome to the Queen's

representative in the festival week of the Lord-Lieutenant's visit.

If the same visible proofs of prosperity and of demonstrative loyalty are not found in other parts of Ireland, there is at least good ground for congratulation on the decrease of many evil and discouraging signs of the national condition. For this I am happy to give the testimony of one of the oldest law officials, Mr. Seed, who has been for upwards of forty years Crown Solicitor. Mr. Seed says, "The spirit of the country is more peaceable; the administration of justice is becoming more respected and more feared. than it ever yet has been; the people being taught that the law is more powerful than themselves, and that in upholding it they find the surest protection for their lives and properties. I firmly believe that crime will decrease, and the improved and improving condition of the country and the people under recent legislation, and the present firm and impartial enforcement and administration of the law, will yet restore it to perfect tranquillity and peace. Even at the present time I believe Ireland is, as a whole, freer from serious and aggravated crime than any other country in Europe."

In an article in the Times on the condition of the country at the close of 1872, the same hopeful strain was expressed :-"Ireland is prosperous; her trade

and her wealth are increasing together, crime is steadily on the decline, and public order is undisturbed. The improvement of affairs has been diffused through all classes of society. Farmers and shopkeepers are making money alike; labourers have demanded better wages, and obtained them without difficulty; while everywhere there are signs of enterprise, activity, and confidence in the mercantile community. Our correspondent who transmits this intelligence looks round him in vain for the signs of poverty and embarrassment only too visible in former years-lists of bankruptcies and failures, notices of sales, closed shops, and tenantless houses. Few of these once familiar objects are now to be seen. Industry thrives and is well remunerated, commerce is rapidly expanding, and the trade of Dublin is growing at such a rate that a large increase in the dock accommodation is urgently required. In short, Ireland begins the year now opened with a material prosperity little inferior to that of England. In all that makes, or should make, a nation rich, she is evidently flourishing."

This improvement is not all due to political causes, or to better government. Many social changes have been quietly and steadily going on amidst the more noisy and conspicuous public agitations. The increased communication with England by steam navi

gation; the improvement of roads, and the formation. of railways; Mr. Bianconi and his cars; Father Mathew and the Temperance movement; the introduction of the Poor Law; the organization of police and of the constabulary; the Encumbered Estates Act, and other measures for helping Irish property out of the slough of past neglect; the cheap post and the money-order system; the establishment of the National Schools and of the Queen's Colleges; the Landlord and Tenant Act; the constant flow of emigration; the progress of agriculture and commerce; these and many other social movements, apart from political and religious questions, have helped to make the Ireland of our time different from the Ireland of other days.