CH. V.] CONSOLIDATION OF FARMS. 85 



since 1788 that the Catholics have been allowed 

 to hold lands. 



A state of civil strife, thus organized in each 

 parish, has prevented these new confiscators from 

 residing upon their estates ; in the course of time 

 the former landowners, who had been plundered, 

 became a class of middle-men between the new pro- 

 prietors and the rural population. They obtained 

 leases for fifty, eighty, and even a hundred years ; 

 and with a view to self-protection, they never sub- 

 let their lands to any but Catholics. The Pro- 

 test ants, supported by the administration and the 

 civil power, have endeavoured to maintain their 

 political ascendency; and thus for the last two 

 centuries a civil strife has been deeply organized, 

 which breaks out in one place or another every 

 five or ten years, but especially in the provinces 

 of the south and east. There the Protestants can- 

 not maintain their ground against the Catholics ; 

 since in these two provinces, out of every hundred 

 inhabitants, there are only four or five Protestants. 

 These are the owners, who endeavour to consoli- 

 date their lands, and with reason. On the other 

 hand, the Catholic population, seeing the small 

 number of their opponents, desire to rid the country 

 of them ; but the power of England is at hand 

 her troops arrive, and it ends by their remaining 

 masters wherever they present themselves. 



