64 ON THE STATE OF IRELAND. [BOOK I. 



this barony the landlords allow their tenants to be only 

 two months in arrear ; and if the farmers do not pay, they 

 sell the lease, and, retaining what is due to them, they 

 give the rest to the ejected tenant. All the witnesses de- 

 pose, that the enormous prices given for farms are occa- 

 sioned by there being no other means of living, as the 

 country has neither manufactures nor commerce. 



In the barony of Tyrkennedy the landlords never abate 

 the price of the rent, and the farmers are generally a 

 year in arrear of payment : the land is extremely subdi- 

 vided. Scotch farmers, who have been brought over, 

 have declared that it is impossible to improve agriculture 

 under such a system of division of the land. The capital of 

 the farmers, large and small, is declining so rapidly, that 

 there is not one pig killed now for ten that were killed some 

 years ago. 



In the barony of Omagh it was stated, that under any 

 circumstances the peasantry would be most anxious to get 

 land ; even if manufactures were thriving, they would still 

 seek land. It is remarkable, that in almost all the ba- 

 ronies the witnesses deposed, that the peasants desire the 

 independence of possessing a farm ; and that even if other 

 labour was found them, producing 5s. a week (which 

 would be much more than they can gain with their small 

 farms), many of them would not quit their land. 



The Commissioners inquired whether the taxes or the 

 tithes were one great cause of the misery. The general 

 answer was, that the diminution of these taxes would not 

 afford any relief; that the landlords would be benefited 

 by it ; that many of the taxes have since the peace been 

 removed, and that no reduction in the value of land has 

 taken place. The tithes of the English clergy, it was stated, 



