THE 



ANNUAL CYCLOPAEDIA. 



A 



ABSENTEE. This term, with its natural de- 

 rivatives, absenteeism, absenteeship, etc., has be- 

 come somewhat conspicuous in contemporary 

 literature, and is generally regarded as of re- 

 cent origin. But it has a very respectable an- 

 tiquity, dating back at least to 1537, when the 

 so-called Absentee Parliament was held at 

 Dublin, Ireland (Act of Absentees 28 Henry 

 VIII, chapter 3). Of Henry VIII, Camden 

 says (1605), that lie ''enriched himselfe by the 

 spoyles of Abbays . . . and absenties in Ire- 

 land." Swift, in the ' Argument against Bish- 

 ops " (1761), says, "The farmer would be 

 screwed up to the utmost penny by the agents 

 and stewards of absentees. 1 ' In the present 

 century the term is used so commonly that 

 citations are unnecessary, and those that have 

 been given are quoted merely to show that the 

 original meaning has survived the changes of 

 centuries. Absenteeism is not peculiar to Ire- 

 land. History abounds with " absentee kings " 

 as well as landlords. " The Norwegians," says 

 the historian Freeman, in his " Xorman Con- 

 quest," "preferred a foreign and absentee 

 king," and Wallace (" Russia ") refers to the 

 ' prevailing absenteeism among the landlords." 



In general the term carries with it an inti- 

 mation of reproach. Its simple meaning is 

 one who habitually or systematically stays 

 away from home; the attainder of reproach is 

 derived from the assumption that any one who 

 derives his income from investments on prop- 

 erty in one country, and spends it in another, 

 necessarily impoverishes the land from which 

 his income is derived. The case of Ireland is 

 the most noteworthy of any for the considera- 

 tion of American readers, inasmuch as absen- 

 teeism is more general there than among any 

 other English-speaking people, and to it has 

 been ascribed a great part of the ills to which 

 the Irish peasantry have fallen heir. In any 

 argument in favor of home residence, however, 

 it is necessary to assume that the personal 

 presence, influence, and example of the land- 

 lords would be upon the whole beneficial. In 

 VOL. xxvm. 1 A 



point of fact, Ireland is probably quitt as well 

 off" with a considerable fraction of her landed 

 gentry beyond the seas as she would be if they 

 remained persistently at home. 



In 1672 Sir William Petty estimated that one 

 fourth of the personal property in Ireland be- 

 longed to absentees, and Prior in his list pub- 

 lished in 1729 reckoned their income at 350,- 

 000. In 1769 the estimated income of the ab- 

 sentees was 581,700, and Swift in his time 

 declared that one third of the rental of Ireland 

 was spent in England. Absenteeism, accord- 

 ing to the best authorities, continued to in- 

 crease until the peace of 1816, when ic began 

 to diminish. Pveturns presented to Parliament 

 in 1872 showed that 25'5 per cent, of Irish soil 

 was owned by absentee proprietors, and 26 per 

 cent, by proprietors who, though resident in 

 Ireland, did not live upon their own premises. 

 Prior to these returns a large number of es- 

 tates had been impoverished by idle and ex- 

 travagant squireens, and in 1848 and 1849 laws 

 were passed facilitating the sale of encumbered 

 estates, which has continued up to the present 

 time, and has upon the whole reduced the 

 average of absenteeism by subdividing the large 

 estates and combining the small ones so that 

 the present tendency is toward properties of 

 moderate size. 



Many historians, however, hold that while 

 Ireland had her own Parliament the local no- 

 bility and gentry lived largely on their estate^ 

 in summer but passed the winter in Dublin, 

 thus spending their incomes among their own 

 tenantry, or at least favoring the local circula- 

 tion of ready money. With the union of Ire- 

 land with Great Britain (1801) London naturally 

 became the political metropolis common to both 

 countries. Moreover, the agrarian disturbances 

 rendered residences so uncomfortable and dan- 

 gerous that a large number of landed pro- 

 prietors removed their families to the Continent 

 and rarely visited Ireland. 



The absentees have not lacked defenders, 

 who hold that absence has no injurious effect 



