132 ON THE STATE OF IRELAND. [BOOK II. 



The theories of the eighteenth century have 

 struck deep root in the minds of people on the 

 continent ; whilst in England, the highest classes of 

 society have always received them with fear and 

 distrust, however great the authority of those who 

 supported them. Montesquieu and Adam Smith 

 have established a school in the rest of Europe : 

 no laws of entail, no rights of primogeniture, no 

 restrictions in the sale, purchase or division of 

 lands ; consequently no territorial property, espe- 

 cially among the religious orders ; no corporation of 

 arts and trades, no apprenticeships. "Let things 

 alone/' has been the general motto. The En- 

 glish Parliament, exclusively composed of land- 

 owners, have allowed the ancient regulations re- 

 specting corporations of arts and trades, as well as 

 apprenticeships, to lose their power, as if it were 

 a matter of indifference. These inquiries will show 

 what have been the effects of this relaxation. 



The same Parliament, on the contrary, has main- 

 tained the ancient jurisprudence relative to terri- 

 torial property in England. But in Ireland, where 

 the English could not reside, as we have already 

 seen, the Parliament has not interfered ; that is to 

 say, the landowner has not been obliged to make 

 enclosures, to form water-courses, to drain the 

 bog-lands, to open new roads, or to keep up the 

 old ones. 



