THE PERIOD FOR REPAYMENT. 179 



lay, and for these the landlord is entitled to take some 

 security. But it is quite unfair for Parliament to leaye 

 the tenant at the mercy of the landlord in this matter. 

 The landlord says to his tenant, " I do not force you to 

 take this loan : judge for yourself; but if you do take it, 

 you must repay the whole." This places the tenant at 

 a great disadvantage. He knows he cannot get on at all 

 without drains, fences, and farm-buildings ; and rather 

 than want them altogether, he accepts the landlord's 

 terms. But why is the landlord allowed to make terms 

 with the money of the State ? That money is advanced 

 for the general good, and all who participate in its 

 advantages are entitled to pay for doing so. 



It would, therefore, be an act of justice to the 

 tenantry of both countries — at the least, to extend the 

 period for repayment of the loans, and so diminish 

 the tenant's annual instalments. 



In the present state of landed property in Ireland, 

 these outlays cannot be made without the aid of Govern- 

 ment. The advances of Government are charged on 

 the land in spite of encumbrances and entails. The 

 Government alone can do it with safety, and therefore 

 the burden is laid on the Government. 



Yet it is an unnatural and perilous necessity which 

 compels a constitutional government to become a 

 gigantic mortgagee ; and it may undoubtedly come, 

 at some future period of our history, to give to the 

 executive a dangerous control over the aristocracy. 

 Surely it would be a safer as well as a simpler remedy 

 to remove all impediments, of whatever nature, to the 

 free transfer of land, and thus to try whether there is 



