NEWS BY THE MAIL.

Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3572, 8 June 1880, Page 2

NEWS BY THE MAIL.

Mr Parnell concludes an article on the Irish Land Question in the North American Review as follows:—"It may seem strange to Americans that England should prefer to keep Ireland poor and miserable, rather than to make her. prosperous. But Ireland prosperous would mean Ireland populous and strong; and Ireland populous and strong would mean a great nation by no means satisGed to: remain a.mere province of England, ..governed by an English Parliament. Therefore, though England would find such a splendid market for her goods in Ireland, if she were wealthy, and though her revenue! from Ireland would be inoreaied^ an enormous extent, she prefers tolbse this market and tbis chance of increased revenues, because she fears that Irish' independence would; be the first fruits of Irish prosperity. In thai dreadful contingency, of course, England would not get any revenue at all from Ireland; so, perhaps, she understands her own buifc ness, and it is her beat policy, so far as her pocket* are concerned, to keep 1 Ireland weak and poor.' We fear thai the Scripture saying would be fulfilled in the case. of Ireland, if her internal resources were developed* and her agri« cultural system put on a natural basis: 'Now, when Jeshurun waxed fat, he kicked.'" <■>•'••■

Curious a» are the revelations made by the Registrar, however, . the returns of the tobacco trade furnish still more striking results. The authorities who have drawn up these statistics give us a series of facts (P) which in their close attention to detail, are as startling as they are amusing. Had. the authors of the tables contented themselves with an-! nouncing that in England so many thousands of pounds of tobacco are consumed ; that in Europe so many ounces of snuff are " sniffed ; or that in America so many cigars are consumed between. ' Yankee teeth, all would be well; but when we are gravely told that the total number of weeds smoked in the last named place is 2,083,356,362, we are simply staggered for a moment. The natural inquiry at once arises, " Where were the odd * two' reduced to ashes?" After speaking of billions and odd tens of millions, such a paltry detail as the odd two might havebeen left out. The units detract from the. dignity of the larger figures.