The Irish Problem, and How to Solve It. (Ward and
Lock.)—The author of this volume briefly reviews the early history of the connec- tion of Ireland with England, and tells it in greater detail from the date of the Union. The present situation is described very fully. In fact, there is little fault to be found with the statement of the conditions of the problem ; the difficulty comes, as it is apt to come in such cases, when the writer addresses himself to "solve it." To this he devotes but a small space, and does not, as far as we can judge, make a very good use of that. That the Irish people really want repeal, is his firm belief, and he thinks that Land Bills, even of the very completest sort, are at the best but stop-gaps. Any such Bill must, he considers, contain the proviso that the purchaser must -occupy the land himself. Another of his opinions is that the exporta- tion of live stock and produce from Ireland is a ruinous practice ; a third, that the change of arable land into pasture is an evil (and this in spite of the manifest fact that the climate of Ireland is suited for pasturing, and is not suited for corn-growing) ; and a fourth, that Ireland is not, and never has been, over populated. All this does not sound very practical, and we must conclude that the author is better at getting together facts than at drawing conclusions from them. With this may be mentioned another volume concerned with facts only,—facts that cannot be neglected in forming an opinion on this question,—Landlords and Tenants in Ireland, by Finlay Dun (Long. mans). This is a reprint of the letters sent by the "Times' Commis- sioner" to that journal last winter, and containing an account of a very considerable number of Irish estates.
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