THE IRISH FAMINE IN 1846. 49 



bankrupt. An ' Encumbered Estates Act ' was 

 passed, to sell off the lands of those proprietors 

 whose encumbrances had overwhelmed them, 

 and substitute others more capable of fulfilling 

 the duties of landowners. In a few years land 

 to the value of twenty-five millions sterling was 

 disposed of, twenty-four of which were dis- 

 tributed among creditors. In order to secure 

 the landowners' prompt attention in future to 

 the condition of the people, the incidence of the 

 poor-rates, which had previously been placed 

 wholly on the tenant-occupier, was divided 

 equally between him and the landowner. In 

 fifteen years, emigration and the sale of encum- 

 bered estates had removed the most needy class 

 of the population. Prosperity then began again 

 to dawn upon agriculture in Ireland ; works of 

 improvement followed the introduction of 

 capital, supplied partly by Government loans 

 and partly by the new landowners. Labour, 

 having become less plentiful, was better em- 

 ployed and more liberally paid, and the more 

 energetic of the small farmers were ready to 

 enlarge their holdings on every favourable 



