IRELAND, 1840-1880. 119 



Ireland. Seutimeut they ascribe ^vliolly to fear of 

 them and to their merits. And the return they make 

 for it is only to demand more of their own way, as 

 all can now see. 



The faults and neglects of landlords justly caused 

 a prejudice against them, and the blame for the state 

 of the country was laid at their door. The mistake 

 was in the further inference that the tenants were all 

 that could be wished. In truth there is not one point 

 in which they were better than the landlords, and 

 they had their own faults besides. If they had been 

 angels of light, they could hardly have been more 

 bolstered up than they were. As these measures 

 applied to good and bad alike, it is easy to judge 

 what has been the effect on the bad. It has been all 

 that could do harm and check improvement. The 

 thing wanted was to discourage the bad and to 

 encourage the good, just as the natural course of the 

 world would do. Men's own faults, the same as I 

 have described in Irish tenants, make some unpros- 

 perous ; the opposite good qualities make others 

 prosper. And so the good take the place of the bad. 

 In no other way short of a miracle can improvement 

 come about. My estate is better off than others, 

 simply because there are more good tenants on it, 

 and fewer bad ones. If the bad as well as the good 

 had been kept, it would be simply where other 

 unimproved estates are. 



To keep this bad and inferior class of tenants, is 



