nglish or Scotch labourers: why are they not so when at home? Lord
Normanby's "unquestionable authority" is so very contradictory in his
assertions, that, had he not received the sanction of his lordship's
approbation, his own conflicting statements must have effectually
destroyed his credibility, but for the encomiums passed on it. In one
passage he condemns the landlords for the exorbitance of their rents;
while in the next he makes it a matter of pride and gratification that
he has _himself_, during his management, _raised_ the rental of the
property under his control _at least one-third_--while the adjoining
estate is much more favourably circumstanced, and much more cheaply let,
though by no means so prosperous.

When a nobleman, so long and so intimately connected with the country
whose interests are under discussion, as Lord Normanby was with Ireland,
and who, from the position which he occupied and the opportunities which
he possessed, ought to be particularly well informed on the question at
issue, solemnly assures us, from his place in Parliament, and in a
debate which he himself has originated, that the landlord and tenant
question is one on which the most profound ignorance exists in this
country, and that there never was a government which had so little local
knowledge as the present, and which, consequently, was so ill fitted to
legislate on the subject--when he laments other men's ignorance, and
glorifies himself on his own particular knowledge--when, we say, a
nobleman so circumstanced as the Marquis of Normanby, does all this, and
at the same time recommends a guide, by whom the ignorant may be
enlightened and the blind led, we are bound to believe that he has
accurately ascertained the trustworthiness of the person under whose
guidance he now would place us; and that he has maturely considered, and
carefully proved, the correctness of those statements on which he would
found legislation, by the test of his own experience. We are bound to
believe (and we do) that the noble lord is firmly convinced of the
accuracy of Mr Wiggins's views and principles, because they are exactly
similar to those on which, during his government, he always acted.
During his rule, the cause of the mob was every thing, and the cause of
the gentry was nothing. Can we, then, be surprised at the state in which
we find Ireland, and the difficulty experienced in hitting off the
measures requisite for the emergency--when we see "the m