IRISH TOWNS.

Southland Times, Issue 1237, 15 April 1870, Page 3

IRISH TOWNS.

The HSmes special correspondent on the Trish land question writes as follows : — Belfast, the centre of the linen trade of Ulster, and the chief place for the export of the manufacture, is the most flourishing town I liave seen in Ireland. Dublin, half a capital and half a seat of commerce, has a magnificent yet rather a slovenly appearance ; Cork has a look of long settled wealth, but not of daring and brilliant industry. Compared with either, Belfast is what Glasgow and Greenock are to Edinburgh, what Leeds and Birmingham are to Bristol — a spot where new wealth and enterprise have rapidly made a noble creation, and are eclipsing the more Stationary growths of older and more slow civilisation. The town, built on the banks of the Lagan, where It opens into its fine estuary, was possibly of very ancient origin, but it owes its first rise to a Huguenot colony, which, after the of the Edict of Nantes, planted on what was then a desolate morass the germs of a manufacture that had thriven in their hands along the elopes of the Loire and the Seine. Yet the settlement of the exiles was not very successful ; and Belfast in the days of Arthur Young was a town of some 15,000 souls only, which, though known for its linen fabrics, and already possessing an increasing trade, was probably not a third the size of Cork. A circumstance not without interest to a Btuderit of the Land Question of Ireland Is said to have afterwards given a sudden impulse to the prosperity of the place; and to have launched it upon the path of progress. Belfast had previously Been under the tutelage of the Donegal family, but towards the close of the last century it was emancipated from the restraints of short leases, the Lord Donegal of that generation having granted a number of perpetuities, and what hitherto had been a mere county town grew speedily into the capital of a province. The rest was done by the gradual concentration of the linen manufacture into a few spots, and T)y the improvements made in machinery ; j and at present Belfast is not only the j second city in Ireland in population, but it excels all the cities of the island in the signs of flourishing wealth and industry. ! The architecture of the houses In the principal streets is particularly good, and even attractive ; the marts and shops are well laid out and gay ; and the busy liaunts of the citizens' toil lead to .retired terraces and villas, occasionally admirably planned and decorated. The chief features of Belfast, however, are the rows of shipping that throng the quays, and the chimneys soaring from the factories below — the material proofs of the energy and skill which have given the place fts deserved renown. A few of the \ churches are not without beauty; but you miss, as usually is the case in these modern centres of civilised life, the glory of the mediaval city, the spire, high above the square massive tower, and commanding the landscape on every side. Belfast ! Is situate on the confines of Antrim and Down, which, almost separated into a distinct county by Lough Neagh and the ; line of the Barm, form the eastern division, of the province of Ulster. This i magnificent tract, in ancient times the land of the O'Neill's and other Celtic tribes, was subjugated and came under the power of the Crown in the reigns of j Elizabeth and James 1., Down having been colonised under the first Sovereign, and Antrim under her Scottish successor. In both instances English and Scotch settlers took possession of the conquered territory, the Plantation, however, effected by James being more methodical, and regular society grew up in a great degree upon the same type as it has done in Fermanagh and Londonderry. In Antrim and Down the invading colonists became a class of proprietors and occupiers, established in the land as land- j lords and tenants. They Have shaped the fortunes of the whole community, j and here, as elsewhere, they gradually extended to the vanquished aboriginal race the benefits of the kindly usages ■which, had been formed in their mutual relations. The result has been considerable social progress, the diffusion of civilisation and wealth, and, with rare exceptions!, geaeral tranquility.