in the Act_; and, consequently, the amount of valuation,
according to the Act prices, should be in each case _one-eighth less
than if the valuation were made according to the then prices_." Now, we
beg to impress upon the minds of our readers, that this valuation, by
which the fairness of the rents in Ireland is to be tested, was made
when the ascertained value of those productions on which it was to be
based were 12-1/2 per cent _above_ the prices according to which Mr
Griffith _was compelled by Act of Parliament to make it_; and that the
prices of butter, pigs, and cattle, are now, and have been, at least 20
per cent higher since 1830 than before that period; while corn has
varied but little, if any thing, from the price it then bore: in short,
that almost all the productions on which Mr Griffith's valuation is
founded, are now at least 33 per cent higher than they were taken to be
in the schedule by which he was guided. We must submit, then, that if
the rents paid come within 30 per cent of the government valuation, the
amount is less than the circumstances would warrant. And such is the
view Mr Griffith himself has taken; for he says--"I have uniformly
replied to applications from the guardians of Poor-law Unions, in
different parts of the country, respecting the addition that should be
made to the amount contained in the printed schedules of the general
valuation, to bring it to a rent value, that _if one-third be added_,
the result will give very nearly the full rent-value of the land under
ordinary proprietors." But if, on the other hand, we ascertain that the
actual rents paid assimilate in a great majority of instances to the
government valuation, in those parts of the country where destitution
and lawless violence prevail, we must acquit the landlords in those
districts of inhumanity and extortion; and this, too, on proofs adduced
by an individual whose competency and whose impartiality are alike
unimpeachable. "In regard to the difference between the valuation of
land adopted by me," (continues Mr Griffith,) "I have to observe, that
our valuation is about _twenty-five_ per cent under the full rent-value,
_but very near that of many of the principal landed proprietors in the
country_. * * * The foregoing observations will apply to all lands to
the eastward of the Shannon; _but within the last year, in comparing the
valuation made in the county Roscommon with the average letting prices
of land in that county, I