372 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 



there have had to pay, was not remuneration for im- 

 provements which had no existence, but a payment 

 for the peaceable possession of his lease ; or, as it was 

 naively called, the goodwill of the outgoing tenant. 

 It was difficult not to perceive in this a real right 

 of partnership. When this right has existed from 

 time immemorial, as in Ulster, where it appears to 

 have been introduced with James I/s great experiment 

 of Protestant colonisation, and with the view of at- 

 tracting foreign settlers by the expectation of great 

 advantages, nothing can be said against it ; but where it 

 was only recently established, it is evident that its 

 introduction could not take place without altering the 

 conditions of property. Attempts have also been made 

 in France to establish something of the same kind. Such 

 is that which, in certain parts of the department of the 

 Nord, is called le mauvais gr& (the ill will) ; that is to 

 say, a regular coalition among the farmers to force pro- 

 prietors to let their lands low, or to give previously a 

 large indemnity to the outgoing farmer, whether he has 

 improved the land or not. But this abuse, which is 

 opposed to every kind of agricultural advancement, 

 and which has, in addition, a demoralising effect 

 upon the rural population, has never extended very far 

 with us. 



Whatever may have been the wrongs of Irish pro- 



his chief attention should be directed to exhaust the means he has previously 

 applied. Hence the soil, for a considerable part of the lease, both at its close, as 

 we have seen, and at its commencement when this exhaustion is under the pro- 

 cess of repair may be said to be very partially performing its full functions. 

 Unless, therefore, some well-considered principle of remuneration for unexhausted 

 improvements be devised, we fear we must be content to submit to a material 

 curtailment of the supplies which the soil is otherwise capable of furnishing. 

 Tenant-right, no doubt, owes its origin to the conflicting interests of individuals ; 

 but before the problem is fully solved, it will require the introduction of higher 

 elements. J. D. 



