A Practical Viciv of the Irish Land Question 



227 



ments with the owners in fee, and thus a 

 catastrophe unforeseen and unparalleled in 

 history, overtook a system which, when 

 brought to trial, proved as rotten as the 

 potato itself The provisions of the law, 

 public charity, and the grant of millions from 

 England, were insufficient to meet so sweep- 

 ing and universal a famine ; property ceased 

 to yield a rental, and was swamped by rates ; 

 owners in fee became pauperised, and the 

 poor died by thousands from actual starv^a- 

 tion. With such a state of things it was not 

 to be wondered at that all was chaos and 

 panic, and that much time was spent, and 

 much suffering endured, before means could 

 be devised to combat the pressing necessities 

 of the poor, and institute such changes in the 

 system of agriculture as the altered circum- 

 stances required. 



The repeal of the Corn-laws at that time 

 l^rought in a supply of food to our starving 

 people, and helped in some degree to mitigate 

 the magnitude of the evils under which we 

 laboured, but whilst it created a temporary 

 plenty, it produced a peniianent reduction in 

 the price of grain, the high rate of which, 

 coupled with the cheapness of labour under 

 the potato culture, was the source whence 

 the rack-rents of former days had been de- 

 rived. The farmer and the labourer from 

 this period had to occupy a perfectly new 

 position. The latter could no longer be 

 paid in kind, the former, from the universal 

 pauperism that prevailed, was saddled with 

 heavy rates, and had largely increased ex- 

 penses in his family and his labour account, 

 whilst by the alteration in the law he suffered 

 a considerable reduction in the price of his 

 com. Expenditure increased, receipts dimin- 

 ished — some change had to be made — class 

 had to meet class and endeavour to patch up 

 a system which had so signally failed. As 

 sweeping as the disease so sweeping had the 

 remedy to be ; a population of 8,000,000 

 under the new era could no longer obtain 

 food and employment ; the cause which had 

 produced famine and starvation amongst the 

 lower classes had paralyzed the hands of the 

 upper, and ever}-thing was at a dead lock — 

 land without capital to cultivate it, and people 



without food and employment. To remedy 

 this state of things two means were adopted — 

 the Encumbered Estates Court for our bankrupt 

 proprietors, and emigi-ation for our starving 

 and unemployed poor. Small farmers could no 

 longer pay rent for their litde miserable 

 patches of land, or even hold them had they 

 been OAvners in fee. Still the remedies adopted 

 were considered bymany to savour of injustice, 

 and to be the fruit born of the misrule of the 

 countr}-. The Encumbered Estates Court 

 had the effect of placing men of capital upon 

 the bankrupt estates, andremoving many of the 

 old families, who, either from extravagance, too 

 great a reliance upon the potato culture, or 

 the common ruin that surrounded them, had 

 been drawn within the vortex. It is hardly 

 to be wondered at that a system producing 

 ease and plenty to the people, and extrava- 

 gant rent rolls to the proprietors, should have 

 been universally adopted, or that, while it 

 lasted, its soundness should never have been 

 challenged. The stoppage was as unforeseen 

 as the cause of the disease — hidden in im- 

 penetrable mystery — as long as things went 

 well all slumbered and slept, the failure of the 

 potato came and the dream was ended. It 

 now became apparent to the small farmers 

 that they could no longer hold their own ; 

 America, fortunately, was open to them, and 

 an exodus unparalleled in the world fol- 

 lowed, a population of eight millions being 

 rapidly reduced to about five millions. 

 This reduction, like cutting the masts 

 away from a sinking ship, has enabled us to 

 right ourselves, and I believe we have every 

 cause to be thankful that so great a number 

 of our countr}^men had such a haven to flee 

 to. They left behind famine and poverty 

 directly caused by an all-wise Providence, 

 and a country so overwhelmed by the catas- 

 trophe, that it was impossible that anything 

 short of lightening the cargo could save the 

 sinking ship. Had these people to endure 

 great hardship, had their exodus been carried 

 out with great personal danger and loss of 

 life, there might have been some regret at the 

 movement; but when they, by a safe, easy, 

 and cheap transit, severed themselves from 

 poverty, starvation, and death, and at once 



