466 STUDIES, SCIENTIFIC AND SOCIAL 



from this fertile and beautiful but sadly misgoverned 

 island. The landlords seem to have had no real wish to 

 benefit the workers, even though at the same time they 

 would benefit themselves. Many no doubt were influenced 

 by their stewards and agents, who, if the new system pre- 

 vailed, would lose their often profitable employment, and, 

 more important still, their power and influence. Others 

 would not trust the peasantry with so much independence, 

 and others again would insist upon using the schools on 

 their estates as a means of influencing the children 

 against the religion of their parents. One landlord ap- 

 pears to have tried the experiment on a small farm of 

 a hundred acres, and though this was fairly successful 

 he did not carry it any further. In another case the 

 law itself intervened adversely. Mr. William Thompson, 

 a disciple of Bentham, had large estates in county Cork, 

 and having visited Ralahine he determined to adopt a 

 system so beneficial to all parties. He died un- 

 fortunately soon afterwards, but left his property to 

 trustees to have his wishes carried into effect. The 

 will, however, \vas disputed by his relatives, the nature 

 of the bequest being held to be a proof of insanity ! 

 The suit was carried from the Irish Probate Court to 

 the Court of Chancery, and finally settled in favour of 

 the claimants, thus stopping for ever an extension of 

 the principles and methods that had been so successful 

 at Ralahine ! 



The Last Days of the Great Experiment. 



We now approach the sad ending of a social experiment 

 which had been altogether successful and altogether 

 beneficial, things that do not always go together. Not 

 only had the admittedly too high rent been punctually 

 paid for three years, but the estate itself had been greatly 

 improved, by the bringing into cultivation of twenty acres 

 of almost worthless land ; by the erection of six additional 

 cottages ; by the purchase of a reaping machine and other 

 tools, and by some increase in the stock. The men, 

 women and children employed on the farm had increased 



