82 ON THE STATE OF IRELAND. [BOOK I. 



farmers to their country, they are easily induced to quit it, 

 since the land yields nothing, whatever labour they bestow 

 on it. 



In the barony of Talbotstown, the witnesses say, the 

 proprietors are disposed to consolidate their lands ; never- 

 theless, the country has been, especially of late, peaceable 

 and free from any outrage, owing to the general persuasion 

 of the people that the Government are resolved on re- 

 dressing their grievances and improving their condition. 

 One proprietor, a young man, went to Scotland to study 

 agriculture, and on his return he caused 114 families, who 

 were established on his estates, to be ejected by legal force ; 

 he however granted them assistance. 



Throughout this barony the rent of large farms is from 

 twenty to thirty per cent, less than that of small ones. In 

 the provinces of Munster and Ulster, according to the 

 witnesses, there exists the same tendency to consolidation. 

 In many baronies the disturbances have hindered the pro- 

 gress of this system; in others it has been adopted by 

 force. In almost every part, however, consolidation is easily 

 put into execution, by rendering some assistance to the 

 families who are compelled to quit the land. 



In the barony of Middlethird the Commissioners were 

 accosted one day by a man who had been turned out of 

 his farm, and who declared to them that he would kill any 

 one that should dare to take the land which he had culti- 

 vated. The Commissioners then asked him what would 

 become of his wife and children if he were hanged. " I 

 should die/ 5 said he, " for the cause of the people ; and as 

 I have contributed to support the women and children of 

 many persons hanged for the same cause, the people would 

 support mine." 



