19 DECEMBER 1846, Page 8

POSTSCRIPT.

SATURDAY NIGHT.

The light of hope does at last break on Ireland-from" Saxon" England. The Daily News announces that a great comprehensive measure of redemp- tion is resolved upon' and is to be promulgated by Ministers in Parlia- ment. It is to be hoped that there is no error either as to the comprehen- siveness or the boldness of the measure; but if there is not, Lord John Russell and his colleagues have resolved to attempt one of the greatest tasks ever undertaken by a Ministry, with a truly "wise hardihood." We select the heads of the measure, compressing the text of our contemporary-

The chief laws at present in operation, for employment, improvement, and drainage in Ireland, are to be continued; but to be amended and made more efficient.

The action of the poor-house will be put forward as a check, to fling back the loiterer, who could find employment elsewhere, from burdening relief-funds; but the Warden of the Poor [equivalent to the English Overseer] will be empowered to give relief in all Cans to the infirm and the really destitute. Emigration will be provided. Not only will depats be formed at home, but active and beneficent preparations will be made in the Colonies, so as to insure those who wish to emigrate against all the risks of the poor, unprovided, and ignorant emigrant. The peculiarity, however, of the present plan of emigration is, that it will be coupled with the choice of settlement at home. A Commission will be issued for the purchase of waste lands; which are to be enclosed, reclaimed, cultivated, and then offered in no large lots for sale, with such facilities as will render them a premium for industry and frugality, and the foundation of a class of Irish yeomen. There are other lands, n t waste, that are but half-cultivated, and which, in the hands of the poor, incumbered, embarrassed landlord, are as profitless to the community as the bog or the heath. To render these more available, liberty will be given to sell entailed property.

Government will be empowered to proceed to the sale of a portion of those estates indebted to Government which have not paid up the interest or instalment agreed upon. Of course this is no time even for the faintest word of criticism; but it may be said, that if hlinisters proceed in the spirit of wise and benevolent courage, they will command the aid of earnest men among all parties in council upon their scheme, and hearty support in carrying it out.

The accounts received in Dublin from the country on Thursday are of much the same tenour as usual. On the whole, however, there seems less outrage. The papers are rife with "horrors." Among others, the Cork Examiner mentions a case at Beenaen, of two men who died from starvation, and whose bodies remained unburied until the rats began to remove them piecemeal. The shopkeepers contributed, towards the pur- chase of a coffin, sums amounting only to a halfpenny and a penny.

A correspondent at Liverpool sends us the subjoined return of cattle im- ported into that town, this year, from Ireland, with a valuation per head.

An Amount qf Cattle imported into Liverpool from the lat to the 7th December inclusive.

FROM IRELAND.

Cows. Sheep. Pigs. Stories. Mules. Calves. Lambs.

3,853 .. 4,759 .. 7,539 .. 24 .. - • . - ..

-

prev.... 123,556

.. 125,108 .. 289,113 .. 2,512 • • - • • 1,285 .. 51,072

Comrrwum.

27

.. 1,714 .. 1,651 .. 1 .. - ..

15

Prev.... 8,277

.. 152,402 .. 22,754 .. 107 .. - .. 944 • . 10,884

Ditto from the 8th to the 14th December inclusive.

FROM IRELAND.

COWS.

Sheep. Pigs. Horses. Mules. Calves. Lambs.

2,509 • • 2,297 .• 6,340 . • 54 .• - .. 38 .. -

TNT. . • • 127,409 - 129,867 .. 296,652 .. 2,536 .. - .. 1,285 .. 51,072

COASTWISE.

29 .. 1,916 .. 1,031 .. - - - .. 5 .. - Prey. • • • 8,304 154,116 .. 24,405 .. 108 .. - - 959 .. 10,884 Estimated Value of Cattle imported from theist January to the 14th December 1846. Cows 127,409 at 201. each, £2,548,180 Sheep 129,867 at 30s. each, 194,790

Piss 296,652 at 51. each, 1,483,260

Horses 2,536 at 151. each, 38,040 Calves 1,285 at 503. each, 3,212 Lambs 51,072 at 15s. each, 38,304 Total £4,305,786

If to this return be added the imports of stock into Bristol and Glasgow, the total value cannot be less than six millions of money; "a pretty fair stun," observes our correspondent, "for the pauperized nation to pocket."

"Ireland has on an average exported three million quarters of grain to this country; her imports this year far exceed her exports; her grain crops -were all average ones, wheat beyond an average crop. Supposing that the food of four millions of people was destroyed by the potato disease, here we have three million quarters of grain that formerly was exported kept at home-sufficient to keep three million souls for twelve months. "You may rest assured that there is humbug or worse at the bottom of this high famine. As long as John Bull pays, so long will Pat roar; and the more he gets, the louder he will cry."