ABSENTEEISM OF LANDLORDS. 47 



in their duties as landlords in that country ; 

 that they should make no provision for their 

 own families, but spend the whole of their 

 surplus incomes in advancing the wages of their 

 agricultural labourers in Ireland : it must be 

 obvious to every one acquainted with the rental 

 of landed property in that island, that this 

 surrender w r ould not raise the requisite sum 

 which the adverse circumstances of the case 

 require. And farther, if we grant this boon 

 to Ireland, we must also, as a matter of justice, 

 grant the same to England ; so that in the end 

 w r e leave the Sister Isle where we found her, 

 some 28,000,0007. short annually from being 

 able to discharge her duties to her labouring 

 population engaged in agriculture, and of bring- 

 ing them to a level with those of this country. 

 Moreover, if landlords were to change their 

 rentals from the channel in which they flow at 

 present, what would become of their present 

 recipients, who number two to one of the 

 others in this country ? Is not a large amount 

 of our present commercial distress traceable to 

 this source? We are aware of the argument 

 so often brought forward by many, that the 

 rental of the landlord cannot be better spent 



