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represent? which ought it to represent? assuredly, a previous exportation; and if so, it cannot be "drawn against commodities that are to be exported from Ireland." The truth is, this previous exportation is a very troublesome thing to Mr. McCulloch, because the commodities which have been exported can never be the same commodities which are to be exported, or that must be exported.

The next question, and the last which I shall notice, is,

"Then in every instance in which a demand arises for a bill of exchange to remit rents, it is, in point of fact, a demand for exportation of Irish produce, that would not otherwise have existed?"-Mr. McCulloch replied,

"Undoubtedly."-It is here assumed, in the first place, that a demand arises for a bill of exchange to remit rents; and, secondly, that the demand for this bill of exchange is the cause of a demand for exportation of Irish produce that would not otherwise have existed. Let us examine these two positions.

First, a demand arises for a bill of exchange to remit rents: -very well;-now, a bill of exchange ought to represent a bonâ fide transaction: it ought to represent an exportation of Irish produce previously to its being drawn; and if there was a previous exportation, (without which no such bill ought to exist,) the buying of that bill cannot have been the cause of that previous exportation. I do not mean to say that bills of exchange are never drawn in Ireland in anticipation of shipments; but I do mean to say that it is not the regular, established mode of business. There are few factors who will not grant occasional facilities, and, in some instances, even standing credits, to correspondents in whom they have perfect confidence; but it is not usual to make such accommodations a system, and the basis of their whole business.

Secondly, it is assumed that a demand for a bill of exchange to remit rents is the cause of a demand for exportation of Irish produce that would not otherwise have existed.

The advocates for absenteeism seem to be strangely haunted by an exportation of Irish produce, which they fancy must necessarily take place in consequence of a demand for bills of exchange to remit rents. Now, always excepting his own particular consumption, which would be just the same at home, I should like to know, what Irish commodities are exported when a landlord is an absentee, that would not be exported if he were to stay at home.

I admit that an absentee's consumption of Irish produce in a foreign country is the cause of an increase of the exports of Ireland to that extent, but necessarily accompanied, let it be always remembered, by an equivalent decrease of imports into Ireland.

The subject seems hardly tangible: it is so perfectly visionary that it is like fighting a shadow. One can find no connection between the sale of a bill of exchange to remit rents, and a subsequent exportation of Irish produce; or conceive how it can be the cause of a demand for exportation that would not otherwise have existed, if any thing more is meant than the absentee's particular consumption of Irish produce; and I suppose it will hardly be contended that the whole revenue of absentees is expended in Irish produce. The demand for Irish produce exists just the same whether the landlord resides in London or in Dublin: when he becomes an absentee, the export demand is increased, and the home trade diminished, to the extent of the consumption of his own establishment; but the exportation for the supply of others remains the same: the English horses continue to eat Irish oats, and the English men continue to eat Irish wheat, butter, and bacon; and they would be supplied with these articles whether the landlords live in Dublin or at the Antipodes.

The sale of a bill of exchange to remit rents cannot be the cause of a demand for exportation of articles which would be exported whether there were any bills required to remit rents, or

not.

But if I were to concede the point as respects the exportation of Irish produce to the full extent contended for by Mr. McCulloch, it would still leave the main point at issue undecided; namely, whether the expenditure of Irish revenue at home would not be more beneficial to Ireland than if it were expended abroad? Mr. McCulloch, with more courage than discretion, says, in so many words, "the revenue of a landlord when he is an absentee is as much expended in Ireland as if he were living in it."There is no qualifying such language as this; it leaves no possibility of retreat. The fact is, Mr. McCulloch has fallen into an error. Finding that there is the same quantity of labor, and of capital employed in producing the commodities, whether they are consumed abroad, or at home, and that, consequently, it can make no difference, either to the landlords, or to tenants, or to the agricultural laborers, he has not thought it necessary to inquire any further; but, contented with these indisputable truths, too hastily concluded that absenteeism cannot possibly be injurious to a country. It is surprising that Mr. McCulloch should have overlooked, or not thought it worth while to consider, what occurs between production and consumption. Had he examined the subject of distribution, and remarked where the profits of the retail trade fall, when goods are consumed abroad, and when they are consumed at home, he could not have failed to discover that Ireland loses the whole of the profits of the retail trade on the whole amount expended by absentees.

A

LETTER TO THE ELECTORS,

ON THE

CATHOLIC QUESTION.

BY THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH, &c. &c.

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A LETTER,

&c. &c.

WHY is not a Catholic to be believed on his oath ?

What says the law of the land to this extravagant piece of injustice? It is no challenge against a juryman, to say he is a Catholic; he sits in judgment on your life and your property. Did any man ever hear it said that such or such a person was put to death, or that he lost his property, because a Catholic was among the jurymen? Is the question ever put? Does it ever enter into the mind of the attorney or counsellor to inquire of the faith of the jury? If a man sell a horse, or a house, or a field, does he ask if the purchaser is a Catholic? Appeal to your own experience, and try by the fairest of all tests, the justice of this enormous charge.

We are in treaty with many of the powers of Europe, because we believe in the good faith of Catholics. Two-thirds of Europe are, in fact, Catholics; are they all perjured? For the first fourteen centuries all the Christian world were Catholics; did they live in a constant state of perjury? I am sure these objections against the Catholics are often made by very serious and honest men, but I much doubt if Voltaire has advanced any thing against the Christian religion so horrible, as to say that two-thirds of those who profess it are unfit for all the purposes of civil life; for who is fit to live in society who does not respect oaths? But if this imputation be true, what folly to agitate such questions as the civil emancipation of the Catholics. If they are always ready to support falsehood by an appeal to God, why are they suffered to breathe the air of England, or to drink of the waters of England? why are they not driven into the howling wilderness? But now they possess, and bequeath, and witness, and decide civil rights; and save life as physicians, and defend property as lawyers, and

judge property as jurymen; and you pass laws, enabling them to command all your fleets and armies,' and then you turn round on the very man whom you have made the master of the European seas, and the arbiter of nations, and tell him he is not to be believed on his oath.

I have lived a little in the world, but I never happened to hear a single Catholic even suspected of getting into office by violating his oath the oath which they are accused of violating is an insuperable barrier to them all. Is there a more disgraceful spectacle in the world than that of the Duke of Norfolk hovering round the House of Lords in the execution of his office, which he cannot enter as a peer of the realm ? disgraceful to the bigotry and injustice of his country, to his own sense of duty, honorable in the extreme: he is the leader of a band of ancient and highprincipled gentlemen, who submit patiently to obscurity and privation, rather than do violence to their conscience. In all the fury of party, I never heard the name of a single Catholic mentioned, who was suspected of having gained or aimed at any political advantage by violating his oath. I have never heard so bitter a slander supported by the slightest proof. Every man in the circle of his acquaintance has met with Catholics, and lived with them probably as companions. If this immoral lubricity were their characteristic, it would surely be perceived in common life. Every man's experience would corroborate the imputation; but I can honestly say that some of the best and most excellent men I have ever met with have been Catholics; perfectly alive to the evil and inconvenience of their situation, but thinking themselves bound by the law of God and the law of honor, not to avoid persecution by falsehood and apostacy. But why (as has been asked ten thousand times before) do you lay such a stress on these oaths of exclusion, if the Catholics do not respect oaths? You compel me, a Catholic, to make a declaration against transubstantiation : for what purpose but to keep me out of parliament ? Why, then, I respect oaths and declarations, or else I should perjure myself, and get into parliament; and if I do not respect oaths, of what use is it to enact them in order to keep me out? A farmer has some sheep, which he chooses to keep from a certain field, and to effect this object he builds a wall: there are two objections to his proceeding the first is, that it is for the good of the farm that the sheep should come into the field; and so the wall is not only useless, but pernicious. The second is, that he himself thoroughly believes, at the time of building the wall, that all the sheep are in

There is no law to prevent a Catholic from having the command of British fleet or a British army.

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