A Practical Viczv of the Irish Land Question 



325 



elder branches of the family, whilst the educa- 

 tion and associates of the junior members 

 were decidedly superior. Estates were often 

 let upon long leases, seldom containing any 

 restrictive clauses, probably beyond the term 

 of the life of the owner. Thus all personal 

 interest was banished, all responsibility re- 

 moved. With the lease the landlord liad 

 ignored his duties, and signed away all his 

 rights, except that of receiving the rent — so 

 long as that was paid he had no further 

 claim upon or interest in his property. Any 

 desire on his part to effect change in 

 the system of cultivation, or develop the 

 resources of his estate, would only have 

 met with the most strenuous opposition from 

 the tenants, and therefore no other course 

 than being satisfied with the then state of 

 things was open to him. He was, as owner, 

 practically reduced to the same position 

 with regard to his property, as any one having 

 money invested in the Three Per Cents. 

 This, I contend, is one effect of the long 

 lease system : it annihilates the landlord's in- 

 terest in and influence over his property, and 

 excludes that wholesome personal super- 

 vision and interest which many tenants re- 

 quire to stimulate them to progress and good 

 cultivation. Again, where property was not 

 let upon lease, and the landlord was an 

 absentee, an agent, practically as much an 

 absentee as himself, was appointed, whose 

 whole aim and object was to squeeze as 

 much rent out of the land as he could. 

 This gentleman, generally an attorney by 

 profession, and wholly ignorant of agricul- 

 tural practice, was not slow to take advan- 

 tage of the keen competition for land, and 

 to put a rack-rent upon every acre. The 

 estate was seldom or ever visited, unless to 

 make a seizure, or eject a tenant. In- 

 dustry and good cultivation were ignored, 

 and the more money could be obtained, 

 and law mixed up with the relations 

 between landlord and tenants, the more 

 grist was brought to the agent's mill. Here, 

 then, we have the effects of an opposite kind of 

 absenteeism without leases ; no security for 

 the tenant, and a consequent amount of ter- 

 rorism and corruption. One circumstance con- 



nected with absenteeism is very striking ; it is, 

 that we seldom find any trace of modern prac- 

 tice as carried out elsewhere being introduced 

 into Ireland by the owners of the soil, though 

 their opportunities of observation must have 

 been extensive, and the short-comings of home 

 practices very apparent by comparison. With 

 the Irish residents the same system of 

 agency generally existed, sporting and gamb- 

 ling occupying more of their attention, and ab- 

 sorbing more of their time and money than 

 either the duties or development of their 

 estates. Only in rare instances was any know- 

 ledge of agricultural practice considered an 

 essential element of a proprietor's education, 

 and thus discernment, the offspring of good 

 training, was absent in the management of their 

 property. Many had estates so encumbered 

 and fettered, that if they had had the heart 

 and head, they had not the means or power to 

 effect the necessary changes, and pay that at- 

 tention to the comforts of their tenantiy which 

 their position demanded from them. 



CHAP. HI. 



Long Leases and Short Leases. 



I HAVE said enough of these particular 

 types of landlords to answer the question, 

 why we have so little development of our 

 resources, and why so universal a complaint 

 of neglect and misrule is made by the tenants. 

 Still, it must not be supposed that Irish pro- 

 prietorship is confined to these two classes ; 

 we have amongst us a large body of kind- 

 hearted, attentive men, who identify them- 

 selves with the interests of their tenantry, and 

 who act upon the maxim that property has its 

 duties as well as its rights. One would have 

 thought that, if the evils complained of con- 

 sisted solely in absenteeism and mismanage- 

 ment, a marked difference would be observ- 

 able in these cases, both in the condition of 

 the tenantry and the cultivation of the soil — • 

 in fact, that these estates would form an oasis 

 in the desert. In some instances an improved 

 appearance is visible, but in the majority they 

 seem to be much the same as the surrounding 

 land. The tenantry console themselves in 

 being better off than their neighbours, having 

 less rent to pay, feeling greater security, and 



