2 PREFACE. 



or in defence, in furtherance of reforms or in 

 resistance to them ; but very little has been 

 written, as Dr. Bonn writes, from the point of 

 view of pure sociology. He gives us dry light 

 on Ireland. No Irishman, no Enghshman, 

 could do that ; and in this lies the special 

 quality and value of his work. We are not 

 accustomed to this objective method of. treat- 

 ment, and it is hardly to be expected that we 

 shall altogether enjoy it. But Dr. Bonn did 

 not write to please us, or even to teach us, but 

 simply to give the fruit of his observations to 

 the readers of the German scientific publication 

 in which this essay first appeared.* He did not 

 then contemplate its appearance in an English 

 translation. But it seemed worth making known 

 to English readers for two reasons : first, because 

 it brings together in small compass and in 

 systematic order a multitude of facts gleaned 

 from very extensive studies in the central 

 economic question of modern Ireland ; secondly, 

 because it contains much critical comment on 



'" Archiv fiir Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik, Verlag von 

 J. C. B. Mohr in Tubingen, xix Band, i Heft, u. xx Band, 

 3 Heft. " Die irische Agrarfrage," von Dr. oec. publ. Moritz 

 Julius Bonn. Thanks are due to the Editors of the " Archiv " 

 for permission to pubhsh this translation. 



