rts of Mayo is due in great measure to causes far beyond
the control of exterminators, or even of the arch-devourer John Bull
himself. In the old time, before the famine and before railroads and
imported grain, this far western corner of Ireland had a trade of its
own. I am not prepared to believe that the enormous warehouses of
Westport were ever filled to overflowing with merchandise, being
inclined rather to assign their vast size to that tendency towards
overbuilding which is a permanent characteristic of a generous and
hopeful people. Perhaps the trade of Westport might have expanded to
the dimensions of the gaunt warehouses which now look emptily on the
sea, but for adverse influences. At the period of the old French war
Westport was undoubtedly a great emporium for grain, especially oats,
for beef, pork, and military stores, which were shipped thence to our
army in the Peninsula. But other sources of supply and improved means
of communication have left the little seaport on the Atlantic, as it
were, on one side, and such vitality as exists in the coasting trade
of this part of the country is rather visible at Ballina than at
Westport. It is quite possible that under the old condition of affairs
the peasant whose oats were in brisk demand for cavalry stores fared
better than his son who fell on the evil days of the famine; but there
can be no doubt that the decline of Mayo as an exporting county can
hardly be laid to the charge of the depopulators of the land. So far
as can be descried through the cloud of prejudice which involves the
entire question, the land was no longer able to feed its inhabitants,
much less afford any surplus for sale or export.

The Marquis of Sligo, whose agent, Mr. Smith, was shot at--and
missed--last year, is almost as unpopular as Lord Lucan, for not only
have most of the people been swept from his country, but the rent was
raised on the remainder no longer ago than 1876. It is probably this
nobleman who was in the mind of the humourist who pointed out that the
shooting of an agent was hardly likely to intimidate that "distant
Trojan," the landlord. The Lucan and Sligo lands in Mayo have,
therefore, been managed on nearly parallel lines, and it is curious to
contrast with them the management of Sir Robert Blosse's estate. This
is another very large property, and has been conducted on the exactly
opposite principle to that pursued by Lords Sligo and Lucan. The
people have been let alone;