CH. I.] LANDLORDS AND TENANTS. 41 



the proprietors of the soil, to this day, let it in 

 small portions, whilst in the latter the land is only 

 let in large farms. 



One cause is the following : the English, when 

 they conquered Ireland, remained the principal 

 landholders, and at first let the lands upon the 

 same system as in England, that is, in large farms. 

 But the English, after having adopted the Refor- 

 mation, desired to establish it in Ireland. This 

 the Irish unanimously resisted. The English, con- 

 querors in 1640, confiscated under Cromwell all 

 the territorial possessions of the Catholics ; and 

 Lord Clare, Chancellor of Ireland in 1810, de- 

 clared, that since the former period fifteen-six- 

 teenths of the soil of Ireland had been confiscated 

 at different times. From 1640 to 1788 the Catho- 

 lics were not allowed to possess landed property in 

 Ireland ; they had incurred a civil death, and the 

 lands passed to the nearest Protestant relative by 

 right of primogeniture, from male to male. From 

 that moment nearly the whole of the lands in Ire- 

 land became the prey of the English ^ but their 

 irritated vassals kept up a warfare with them, and 

 they were unable to reside upon their estates. In 

 order to derive from their lands some revenue, 

 they had therefore no alternative but to let them 

 to middle-men, who sublet them in smaller por- 

 tions, leaving to the under-tenants the power to 

 divide and sublet them still further. 



