THE FALLS OF BALLYSHANNON. 279 



in general, and the very peculiar nature of 

 this species of property. All property is an 

 artificial creation for the benefit of the pub- 

 lic. A private individual is permitted to 

 have property in land, in order that it may 

 be worth his while to work it, so as to pro- 

 duce wheat and bread ; and it would not 

 be worth his while, if any one might help 

 himself to his crop. Don't suppose that 

 the law does this for the benefit of the 

 cultivator, but for the benefit of those whom 

 it excludes — that is to say, the public — that 

 they may have bread to eat. Micky Byrne 

 is permitted to poison his trout-stream with 

 that beastly field of flax, and the law does 

 not allow us to prevent him ; but that is 

 not out of kindness to Micky Byrne, but 

 that you, and I, and all of us, should have, 

 when we want it, a new set of shirts. And 

 so, also, with these salmon. Parliament has 

 no particular affection for the proprietor of 

 this fishery, nor for the renter ; it legislates 

 for the many, and creates a proprietor, be- 

 cause, from the peculiar nature of the salmon, 

 there must necessarily be a proprietor, in 

 order that the markets of Liverpool should 

 be supplied, and the rich Papists of Cheshire 



