Those who have seen the departure of emigrants at the Irish seaports, are not surprised at Irish disaffection—­are not surprised that the expatriated youth joins the first wild scheme, which promises to release his country from such cruel scenes, and shares his money equally between his starving relatives at home, and the men who, sometimes as deceivers, and sometimes with a patriotism like his own, live only for one object—­to obtain for Ireland by the sword, the justice which is denied to her by the law.

I conclude with statistics which are undeniable proofs of Irish misery.  The emigration at present amounts to 100,000 per annum.

[Illustration:  The Emigrants’ Farewell.]

From the 1st of May, 1851, to the 31st of December, 1865, 1,630,722 persons emigrated.  As the emigrants generally leave their young children after them for a time, and as aged and imbecile persons do not emigrate, the consequence is, that, from 1851 to 1861, the number of deaf and dumb increased from 5,180 to 5,653; the number of blind, from 5,787 to 6,879; and the number of lunatics and idiots, from 9,980 to 14,098.  In 1841, the estimated value of crops in Ireland was L50,000,000; in 1851, it was reduced to L43,000,000; and in 1861, to L35,000,000.  The number of gentlemen engaged in the learned professions is steadily decreasing; the traffic on Irish railways and the returns are steadily decreasing; the live stock in cattle, which was to have supplied and compensated for the live stock in men, is fearfully decreasing; the imports and exports are steadily decreasing.  The decrease in cultivated lands, from 1862 to 1863, amounted to 138,841 acres.

While the Preface to the Second Edition was passing through the press, my attention was called to an article, in the Pall Mall Gazette, on the Right Rev. Dr. Manning’s Letter to Earl Grey.  The writer of this article strongly recommends his Grace to publish a new edition of his Letter, omitting the last sixteen pages.  We have been advised, also, to issue a new edition of our HISTORY, to omit the Preface, and any remarks or facts that might tend to show that the Irish tenant was not the happiest and most contented being in God’s creation.

The Pall Mall Gazette argues—­if, indeed, mere assertion can be called argument—­first, “that Dr. Manning has obviously never examined the subject for himself, but takes his ideas and beliefs from the universal statements of angry and ignorant sufferers whom he has met in England, or from intemperate and utterly untrustworthy party speeches and pamphlets, whose assertions he receives as gospel;” yet Dr. Manning has given statements of facts, and the writer has not attempted to disprove them.  Second, he says:  “Dr. Manning echoes the thoughtless complaints of those who cry out against emigration as a great evil and a grievous wrong, when he might have known, if he had thought or inquired at all about the matter, not only that this emigration has been