"[316] Mr. Senior exposes this fallacy in the following words;
"This reasoning assumes that the landlord, whilst resident in Ireland,
himself personally devours all the cattle produced on his estates; for,
on no other supposition can there be the very same amount of commodities
for the people of Ireland to subsist upon, whether their cattle are
retained in Ireland or exported."[317] It may be said with equal truth,
that to assume, as Mr. M'Culloch assumes, the Irish absentee's residence
in England to be of no advantage to the people there, is assuming that
"himself personally" devours all the cattle and corn sent to him in the
shape of rent. But the landlord does not in either case devour all the
beef and all the corn; by far the greater portion of those products go
to house, and clothe, and feed the persons who minister to his various
wants.
In the beginning of his Essay on Absenteeism Mr. M'Culloch, referring
with apparent satisfaction to his evidence before the Committee, says,
"it had been previously established, and is now universally conceded
that the gentlemen who consume nothing in their families but what is
brought from abroad are quite as good, as useful, and as meritorious
subjects as they could be, if, they consume nothing but what is produced
at home; and such being the case, it will require a sharper eye than has
yet looked at this subject, to discover the great injury which is said
to be done by their going abroad.
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