IRELAND, 1840-1880. Ill 



fairly and on proper occasion kindly, because it is 

 right to do so, and not from that favouritism towards 

 the individual, which is one of the curses of the 

 country — is a positive help to tenants, because it 

 encourages self-reliance. Above all else it is needful 

 that whatever one has once said should be strictly 

 kept to ; that no one should have the least doubt 

 that, whatever advantage he has been allowed to 

 look for he is quite certain to get, is a most powerful 

 lever for influence, and gives tenfold force to any 

 threats it may be needful to use. 



I have stated fully what I have done with my 

 own farm because I think it tends to prove my point 

 that the evils of Ireland are moral. There is nothing 

 to hinder any one else from doing what I have done. 

 It has not been done by large wealth. The estate at 

 first was only half its present size. Happily the 

 famine forced me when still young to live well within 

 the income, and in the then doubt whether farming 

 or improvements in Ireland could be made to pay, 

 it was necessary, if one was not to go into it as a 

 speculation, to meet all outlay, even that for farm- 

 ing stock, out of surplus income. It was of course 

 hard work ; as one who did the same in another 

 county said to me, " We had to live on bread and 

 cheese for many years," but it has repaid itself since 

 in money and in self-satisfaction twenty times over. 

 The estate begins to be a pleasure to look at. If 



