The recent census shows that although the population of England has increased 14½ per cent., there has been, in the purely agricultural districts, a decrease in the population,--a sure sign of want of prosperity. In all parts farms are badly cultivated, in a foul condition, or out of cultivation altogether; neither the landlord nor the tenant, have sufficient capital to make improvements.[76] A clergyman writes from a rural parish:-- “I fear nothing will lessen the evil, the land of England will gradually go out of cultivation, and our villages will become impoverished and empty till the country is all urban, and the population effeminate and demoralized. Then may follow a great war, and disaster will ensue.” Emerson warned England of the fact that her-- “Robust rural Saxon population had degenerated, in the mills, to the Leicester stockinger, and to the imbecile Manchester spinner far on the way to be spiders and needles.”[77] Why did a handful of undisciplined Boers beat our soldiers in the Transvaal? Simply because they are physically a finer set of men than our 5 ft. 3 in. army, rapidly degenerating for want of a healthy agricultural population for recruiting purposes. FOOTNOTES: [76] See _Fortnightly Review_, November, 1883. [77] Emerson--Traits, Chap. X. CHAPTER XXI. IRELAND UNDER THE WHEELS. I repeat the assertion that Ireland has been _ruined by Free Trade_. Let us take a brief retrospect of Ireland before the introduction of Free Trade. At the earlier part of this century Ireland showed great capabilities for improvement and national prosperity, and (in spite of the somewhat selfish policy of England, which did not sufficiently protect from herself the industries of Ireland) she gave undoubted signs of a steady but rapid advance in prosperity. Between the years 1825 and 1835, her exports and imports were more than doubled. Her population between 1821 and 1841 increased from 6,802,000 to 8,196,000. That this population was not too great for the land, is proved by the fact that the whole resources of land were not utilized; moreover, her population was far smaller per square mile than the population of Holland or Belgium[78]--countries that enjoy a high state of prosperity. In the years of 1826 and 1835, the ratio of exports was as follows:-- 1826. 1835. Oxen 1·0 to 1·7 Pigs 1·0 ” 5·1 Sheep 1·0 ” 2·0 Butter 1·0 ” 1·7 Wheat, oats, &c. 1·0 ” 1·9 The county cess rose between 1825 and 1838 in the ratio of 1·0 to 1·5. The transfers of invested funds from England to Ireland between the years 1832 and 1841 exceeded those from Ireland, to England by £1,840,000. Deposits in savings banks, in 1831 and 1841, were relatively in the proportion of 1·00 to 2·24. Crime and offences were diminishing. The Weavers Commission in 1840 reported as follows:--