= 00

A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND

T

THE

LIFE'S WOKK IN IEELAND

I OF A LANDLORD

WHO TEIED TO DO HIS DUTY

BY W. BENCE JONES

OF LISSELAN

ILonUon

MACMILLAN AND CO.
1880

HD
G25"

PREFACE.

IN reading the following papers I must ask attention
to the dates at which they were written, else it may
be thought there are differences between them at
some points. The subject-matter of all being the
same, the same facts are now and then mentioned in
different papers in a somewhat different point of view,
suggested by the circumstances. Such repetitions
could of course have been omitted, but the small
differences seemed to give a reality to the whole, and
besides, the points repeated are generally the turning-
points of the subject.

In order to form a sound judgment, there are
several matters that must be borne clearly in mind.

FICTION 1. That all Ireland is alike and in the
same hopeless and distressful state. The real diffi-
culty to be met is only in part of Connaught and
some other remote and mountainous places, perhaps
one-fourth of Ireland. In the rest there is no real

vi PREFACE.

difficulty, though the agitation has of course been
carried everywhere to try what can be got from it.

FICTION 2. That no landlord has done anything
to improve the land or the people, or spent any
money for that end.

Many landlords, like myself, have spent very
large sums for that end, and with thoroughly satis-
factory results in all ways. More expenditure is no
doubt wanted.

FICTION 3. That evictions are cruel and equivalent
to signing the death-warrant of tenants, who have
no choice but the workhouse, there to remain till
they die.

Broken tenants are to be met with in every sort
of occupation. I have had some who have done
thoroughly well, much better than they could have
done as farmers. Others are labourers, well off as
such. Their children grow up as good as any others.
There is not one word of truth in this complaint.

FICTION 4. That tenants in Ireland are too poor
to contract freely.

They are the keenest and best bargainers in
Europe, and more often get the best of the bargain
than the other side does. Jews cannot live in Ireland.
They have no chance. Not to hold contracts binding
at once opens the door to a flood of mischief. Forty

PREFACE. vii

years ago this practice was common in regard to all
public contracts. Any one who wished to get a
contract took it at any price, and then trusted by the
help of. his friends to fight through it to advantage
by scamping the conditions, or getting increased pay-
ment. Till we conquered and routed this system,
many of us (all who were honest) lived in a state of
declared war with a large part of our neighbours.
Since we won the battle, nobody thinks of taking a
contract who does not mean to fulfil it.

Lastly, I venture to remind all that there are
three such evils in the world as lying, drink, and
debt. Unhappily not only have these vices pene-
trated to the Holy Isle of Ireland, but there is sad
reason to believe they took up their permanent abode
there and have thriven ever since.

Any tenants who are subject to such bad habits
are on the sure road to ruin. Are they to be pro-
tected from the effects of their own faults ? or, like
the rest of mankind suffering from the same vices,
left to the ordinary consequences of these ?

W. BENCE JONES.

DECEMBER 1, 1880.

viii PREFACE.

THAT which has happened in the few days since
the above was written throws so much light on the
whole question, that I think it is right to tell it.
My rent-day, as usual, was December 7. This was
well known to all. It was thought, if I could be
driven to accept Griffiths' valuation instead of the
rent due, it would be a great triumph, as all knew
how well off my tenants are, and the punctuality
and ease with which they pay their rent, especially
in a thoroughly good season like this. .

If I had to give way, others might be more easily
coerced.

So a systematic attempt was made. For a week
or two before reports were common that my tenants
would only pay Griffiths' valuation, and meant to
come in a body on the rent-day, to say so.

But as it was known so many were very friendly
with me and my family that they were sure to pay,
the first step taken by the Land League was to send
a notice to the tenants by post, ordering them not to
pay more than Griffiths' valuation. On the morning
of Friday, December 3, market-day, a threatening
notice was found stuck on my hall door, and a hole

PREFACE. xi

dug in the grass near, fully three inches deep, as an
emblematical grave, in which, the notice said, I and
my son were to be buried. Threatening notices were
also stuck up about the town of Clonakilty, denounc-
ing all sorts of injuries to any of my tenants who
paid more than Griffiths' valuation.

On Saturday morning the Cork Examiner and
Herald had reports of a speech made at Clonakilty
the day before at the Land League by the Eev.
Father O'Leary, a young priest of the parish ; most
part of it was mere coarse abuse of me, the sweepings
of all the vulgar dislikes for twenty years past in a small
town, arising from everything besides land — e.g. that
as a magistrate I fined a publican, for selling porter
on Sunday, more than some approved of, which, as
there are more than forty public-houses in the town,
is very likely. He luckily condescended to particu-
lars in what he said was oppression of a few tenants,
which I will answer farther on. Some one was so
ashamed of this speech as wholly discreditable to the
Eoman Catholic Clergy and Church, that in both
papers the speaker was called Mr. O'Leary, instead
of Father O'Leary.

Those who take any active part in the Land
League in Clonakilty are, in addition to the Priest,
only inferior townspeople, or a chance farmer or

PREFACE.

two, none of whom enjoy any respect from the
inhabitants of the neighbourhood.

These threatening notices, I am told, are all
written by a shoemaker.

Monday, 6th, there was a Fair, and our tenants at
it were again threatened worse than ever, especially
those friendly to us. One very old man, who is very
rich though paying near three times Griffiths' valua-
tion, and who has long been an actual friend of me
and my children, was stopped in the dusk and had
some water thrown in his face to make believe it
was vitriol, and was urgently threatened.

The *7th was my rent-day. Some men posted
themselves in the ruins of an old house, a mile off
(not on my land), and, as any tenant came near, ran
out and thrust before his eyes a threatening notice.

The tenants assented at the gate. A few, from one
reason or other, paid about £100 : about £1300 should
have been paid.

In time about six came into my room and offered
Griffiths' valuation. The rent of four of them was
£100 a year each, or more. Two of them had
leases freely taken from me. The other two were
yearly tenants, who had held at the same rents for
thirty or forty years. The two leaseholders grumbled
about high rent. Their rent is £1 per acre for

PREFACE.

really good land. The other two had nothing to say.
They knew, and I knew, they had done capitally out
of their land, and that it was worth more than they
pay for it.

They begged earnestly I would not think the
worse of them for not paying. It was all fear they
said. To the whole of them I said, they could go
their own way, and I would go mine. They were all
civil beyond description, all inquiring affectionately
for one of my sons who was ill.

When these went out no more would come in to
me. The great object of the rest was to keep out of
sight of the window of the room where I was, for fear
I should see them. They were dodging out of sight
round corners, and, in fact, I did not see half of them.
• I heard afterwards that before they separated
one or two schemers proposed all should lodge
Griffiths' valuation in the Bank in the names of two
or three. But they were much too cunning for that.
It would have suited the two or three too well.
Anything so sheepish as the whole affair I never
imagined. It was beyond laughable, except for the
miserable moral state it showed. I had many mess-
ages before the rent-day telling me to have no fear
of the rent ; it would be paid directly the law was
again in force. I still get such messages, and I hear

xii PREFACE.

of tenants paying money into the Bank to keep for
paying it. It was quite clear our tenants were all,
or nearly all, more than ready to pay their rent as
usual ; and as there is not at this moment one shilling
of arrears due in the rent-book, there can be no doubt,
in such a year as this, that there were very few or
none unable to do so. From first to last the whole
thing was intimidation practised by the Land League,
and fear on the part of the tenants. Of course, besides
the emblematical grave, I have constant threats of
being shot. It is only in Ireland that in the nine-
teenth century any one can really enter into the
meaning of Job's comforters. From a certain vein
of the Old Woman, that is very common here, every-
body comes with a kindness it is impossible not to
value, to condole with one in one's troubles, and
everybody repeats all the rumours that are afloat
with different exaggerations and circumstances, real
or imagined ; so that, if one did not know the coun-
try, one's life would be a bad one.

But, further, I am threatened that I shall be Boy-
cotted. As I have a large number of sheep and
cattle fattening, it is known it would bother me much
if they could frighten away my labourers. My
bailiff sent three carts of oats to be sold in Bandon
market in ordinary course. The carts were followed

PREFACE. xiii

about by a mob howling that no one dared to buy the
oats. I beg those Englishmen who are so tender over
constitutional rights in Ireland to consider what these
facts mean. On the morning of the llth the Land
League sent threatening notices by post to all my men
to try to frighten them away, which they will probably
succeed in doing. The Government of England
surely never in civilised times so abandoned its
peaceable subjects to lawlessness and misrule. It is
a scandal and wrong such as was never known among
us in the worst times. I told the tenants on the
rent -day that I meant to shut up my house and
place, put all the land into grass, and give no more
employment. The land will pay much better at
present in grass, and the saving in wages and outlay
will leave me much more money to spend than I have
ever had. The loss of wages to the labourers would
be very great, as they sensibly feel, and they begin to
ask, Who will pay us our wages ? The good wages
that I pay are of course a help, and I have let them
know that if they will stand by me they need have
no fear that I shall not stand by them. What will
be the result of course I cannot tell. I have got
some police brought near to encourage them, but I
fear the reign of terror is too strong for them.

Father O'Leary said in his speech, which I have

xiv PREFACE.

mentioned, that I oppressed my tenants with rent,
and he named two cases, besides some tenants of
land near the town of Clonakilty.

One of the cases was a Mrs. "Welsh, who died last
September. Her farm was hired from my grandfather,
her father-in-law, more than fifty years ago, and has
been held since at the same rent. Forty years ago I
arranged with her husband he should have it for his
life at the same rent. He died ten years after, when,
as the rent was very low, 14s. 3d. per acre, and prices
had risen much, I was at full liberty to increase the
rent. As Mrs. Welsh was a widow with children, I
let her go on on the same terms till her death last
September, more than thirty years. She married her
eldest daughter to a wealthy match, and gave her
£140 fortune. To her second daughter she gave £130
on marriage. The same to her third daughter. The
fourth daughter is still unmarried, and she bought a
farm for her and stocked it last autumn, that must
have cost as much. She took a farm of 200 acres for
her eldest son, — getting it by a recommendation to the
landlord that I gave her, — which must have cost her
£200 to stock, and she left £90 in cash and my farm
fully stocked at her death. I asked her son £1 per
acre for the farm for thirty -one years, most of it
being good land. I clear nearly £2 per acre off

PREFACE.

adjoining land, which I farm myself, and which is
less good. This is what the Tenant League calls
rack-renting. The second case is still stronger. A
tenant named Lucey held 118 acres of a farm I
bought, at £84 rent. Much of the farm is the very
best land in the parish, really first-rate land. I
offered him the farm at £1 per acre. He refused it
again and again, sowed flax in the most of it, and
did all the injury he could. The excellence of the
land made me hold it myself with a dairy. The
first year I cleared £151 net as rent. Five years
after, 1870, the farm cleared £223. In 1875 it
cleared £283. In 1880 it cleared £288. This
is clear of all deductions except the interest on the
value of the cows, — perhaps £30, — and about £10
interest on money laid out in draining, etc. I
asked the tenant £120 rent for the farm, which
Father O'Leary and the Land League declare was
a rack-rent. All the others complained of are on
some land I have, that is very near the town.
Fields near the town let at £3 per acre. Three
acres feed a cow. The milk sells for IJd. to 2d. per
quart in the town, and the cows thus pay £14 to
£18 each, from which £9 deducted for rent of three
acres leaves a good profit.

As the land is farther off from the town it lets for

xvi PREFACE.

£2 per acre. It is very good land, with town
manure near, and letting freely to townspeople for
£4 per acre up to £6 per acre. It runs towards the
sea, where a bank of calcareous sand is very advan-
tageous for manure.

Hayes, who is mentioned as oppressed, was a
butter-dealer on a large scale. His mother was so
before him, and made money by it. She built a large
store for butter, and for working it, and raised the
old clay -mortar walls of the dwelling-house, and
slated it. Hayes did the same for a cow-house. The
old walls built with clay -mortar can still be seen.
Hayes's brother also dealt in butter, and had a farm
from me on the same land. He died of smallpox,
leaving his widow £3000, made wholly whilst my
tenant from the business. Hayes's land would let for
much more rent than he pays to persons in Clonakilty
as accommodation land.

White, who is also complained of, has very good
land with southern aspect, adjoining Hayes's. It, too,
has much advantage from seaweed and calcareous
sand as manure. The farm next White's, which does
not belong to me, let last year to a well-off shopkeeper
at 45s. 6d. per acre. It is not as good land as White's.
I believe White's land is well worth the rent of £2
per acre, and assert that land near a town has a fair

PREFACE. xvii

accommodation value which it returns to the occupier
quite different from land in the country.

Father O'Leary knew these facts and others, and
by suppressing them he made that appear true which
he knew was false. I think his conduct will not be
approved by his Church.

I have never raised any man's rent except at
long intervals of thirty-one years or his life. I fix the
rent carefully on my own judgment, taking fully into
account the tenant's backwardness and want of skill.
If after two or three years I think him still over-
weighted, I do some improvement on a barn or cow-
house that adds to the value of his farm. There is,
of course, endless talk ; but I have never known an
industrious man to fail on my valuation.

W. B. J.

DECEMBER 12, 1880.

CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.

PAGE

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS' WORK IN IRELAND — January 1,

1865 . . . ,/ . . 1

CHAPTER II.

IRISH RENTS — January 16, 1868 . . . 22

CHAPTER III.

IRELAND AS IT WAS AND AS IT is — January 22, 1868 27

CHAPTER IV.

THE IRISH LAND QUESTION — February 1868 , 36

CHAPTER Y.

LEASES — September 1869 . . .47

CHAPTER VI.

THE "TIMES'" IRISH SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT ON

THE LAND QUESTION — September 1869 . 53

xx CONTENTS.

CHAPTER VII.

PAGE

IRISH DISAFFECTION — September 1871 . . 60

CHAPTER VIII.

FENIANISM AND IRISH DISAFFECTION — 1873 . .66

CHAPTER IX.

EFFECT OF LAND ACT — December 1873 . . 78

CHAPTER X. •

IRELAND, 1840-1880 — April 1880 . . .85

CHAPTER XL

IRELAND : ITS SOCIAL STATE — July 1880 . . 125

CHAPTER XII.

ULSTER TENANT-RIGHT — December 1, 1880 . .163

CHAPTER XIII.

TENANT-RIGHT AND THE THREE F's . . .181

CHAPTER XIV.

WHAT WILL DO GOOD IN IRELAND 204

CONTENTS.

CHAPTEE XV.

PAGE

ON CLIMATE AND THE SUPPLY OF LABOUR AS AFFECT-
ING AGRICULTURE IN IRELAND — 1872 246

CHAPTER XVI.

THE EFFECTS OF THE LAW OF SETTLEMENT OF LAND

—June 1872 275

APPENDIX.

I. LISSELAN, COUNTY CORK . . .291

II. DAIRIES AT SHOW OF ROYAL AGRICULTURAL

SOCIETY OF ENGLAND, 1879 . . .299

III. To MY TENANTS AND THEIR WIVES . .312

IV. A LETTER TO THE TENANTS OF AGHALUSKY,

LISSELAN, AND CLOHEEN . . .316

CHAPTEE I.

TWENTY-FIVE YEAKS' WORK IN IRELAND.
JANUARY 1, 1865.

IT may perhaps be useful to give some account of
twenty -five years' work in the management and
improvement of an estate in Ireland.

Five years ago much was heard of the greatly
improved state of all classes in that country, and
their general prosperity. During the past two or
three years, however, statements very much the
reverse have been common. The gloomiest pictures
have been drawn by some, and it has been doubted
whether any substantial improvement in the condi-
tion of the people, especially the tenants, has taken
place. It has been said the land is not paying even
for outlay on drainage, that the settlers from England
and Scotland are not thriving, and in short that hope-
lessness is as much the fate of Ireland as ever.

A plain narrative of what has actually been
done on one estate may throw some light on these
opposing accounts, and enable a judgment to be

B

2 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

formed, — What degree of truth there is in either or
both of them ?

The estate is in the South of Ireland. It origin-
ally consisted of about 2000 acres, but has gradu-
ally been increased by purchase to near 4000. It
had been left wholly to agents, and thoroughly
neglected. One hasty visit in two generations of
owners was all the personal care known to have
been given to it. It need hardly be said no money
had been laid out on it. From accidental causes
the farms were less subdivided than on many
estates. They averaged about 25 acres. Some
contained 50 acres or more, and many were from
10 to 15 acres.

It is on the Carboniferous slate formation. The
surface is undulating, with somewhat rounded hills,
300 or 400 feet high. The soil on 'the hills is
generally rather thin, i.e. the rock not far from the
surface and often breaking out, but in quality a fair
turnip loam. The bottoms, and sometimes sides of
the hills were wet with springs, and peaty, often cut-
out peat-bog, but occasionally deep good land. On
the whole it is land of fair quality, but Very little
could be called thoroughly good land. The climate
is one of the wettest in Europe, cool in summer
and mild in winter.

The course of treatment (farming it can hardly
be called) pursued formerly was paring and burning
for potatoes, with such manure as there was applied

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS' WORK. 3

to the same crop. This manure was chiefly earth
drawn the previous autumn to the yard, and mixed
with the small quantity of dung a starved horse
or two, and the few cattle kept, made, and some-
times with calcareous sea-sand besides. The potatoes
were followed by wheat, and if the land would bear
it, this again by oats once or twice, and then left to
rest, as it was called, three or four years, i.e. to grow
weeds (no grass seeds or clover whatever being
usually sown) till some sort of skin was formed,
enough to burn again. It may easily be judged
what was the result of such a course. Very little
stock could be kept; 20 bushels of wheat per acre
were thought a capital crop — 12 bushels were more
frequent ; green crops were almost unknown ; drain-
ing hardly thought of. Eents were very irregularly
paid, and tenants were little better than paupers.
A reduction of rents on the estate had been tried,
but arrears still accumulated. There never was any
certainty what money would be received, and it was
a source of constant vexation and difficulty to the
landlord, whilst the tenants were most of them
always in trouble. All this was before the potato
failure was thought of.

It was at last resolved to try a system of
improvement that had succeeded elsewhere.

An agent was altogether dispensed with. All
former arrears of rent, with trifling exceptions, were
wiped off, and it was announced that all future

A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

rent would be rigorously insisted on about three
months .after it fell due, on regular half-yearly days,
fixed conveniently to suit local fairs. Two or three
of the worst tenants, believed to be incorrigible,
were ejected in terrorem, and their farms divided
among the better sort. The growth of small quan-
tities of clover and turnips was made compulsory,
and a Scotchman set to work to teach how to do it.
Prizes of improved ploughs were offered for the best
crops, and a small model farm was started.

It was uphill work for some time, and only
carried out by personal influence and superintend-
ence ; but at the end of five years the stock on the
estate had doubled, and the rent was regularly paid
on a single day in each half-year without trouble,
whilst not more than six or eight tenants, including
the first victims, had been turned out. It need
hardly be added that the rest were better off than
they had ever been before.

All this had been done by two or three visits in
the year from England, but at this time circum-
stances led me to reside on the estate. Things went
on thus improving for two or three more years, then
the potato failure and famine came, with the com-
plete upset of the social state previously existing.
By that time we had got into such a condition that
the first failure of 1845 seemed hardly to affect
the tenants. Even in the great failure of 1846
there was nothing like distress among them. The

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS* WORK. 5

larger dependence upon stock, and the larger experi-
ence in the growth and use of clover and turnips,
enabled them to face the troubles of the times much
better than their neighbours ; but when the summer
of 1847 came, with the great emigration, and pro-
spect of still further failure, it became clear that the
system that had formerly answered could no longer
do so.

I think the direct effect of the break-down of
the social system in Ireland, depending on the
potato crop, has never been sufficiently observed
in England. It was not merely a famine, where, as
soon as it was over, people had only to go on again
in the old ruts, but a great social upset, where, after
it was over, quite new ways had to be entered on,
which very few knew anything about, and in which
no one could feel any confidence whether he would
succeed or fail. The difficulties to be got over were
really immense.

In the district of which I am writing, a complete
truck system prevailed. The tenant provided the
labourer with cabin, potato land (the labourer man-
uring it himself), grass for two or three sheep, the
wool of which was spun into frieze for coats, etc.,
by the labourer's wife, a small patch of flax, spun in
the same way for linen, and he drew home the turf
which the labourer and his family had dried them-
selves. All this was paid for by work at so much
per day, the man himself being fed on potatoes by

6 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

the farmer whilst at work besides. The farmer thus
got his labour and a manured field for corn the
following year without money out of pocket, whilst
the labourer got all the chief necessaries of his life
in exchange for his labour, also without money.

It is easy to see the effect of the potato failure
upon such a system. Money wages at once became
indispensable. This was just what the farmer had
not to give, whilst the labourer could not otherwise
live. He therefore could not stay where he was,
and so the farmer lost his labour and his manured
field, whilst the cabin became roofless. And hence
an entirely different social state was forced in;
farming became more of a business, requiring outlay
of money at least to some extent, and so dairy and
stock farming have increased, because needing less
of such outlay than tillage. This again has caused
less employment for the labourer, whilst from the
day his labour was paid for in money, the attraction
of the higher money price of such labour in America
operated with double force, and hence increased
emigration. To the smaller and poorer farmers,
who had little or no stock, the change was doubly
severe. In addition to other troubles, they were
forced to buy meal on credit for themselves and
their families for many months of the year. Doubt-
ful if any new plans would succeed, and without
means to carry such out, they were indeed between
the upper and nether millstones.

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS' WORK. 7

But to return from this digression. In the
summer of 1847 several of the worst -off tenants
on the estate proposed to give up their farms and
emigrate, although a reduction of rent had been
made, to continue whilst the bad times lasted.
They were given some help to enable them to
emigrate, and many of them went off.

But a general discouragement and unsettlement
throughout the country now set in. No one, either
landlord or tenant, felt any confidence in the future,
or in fact could see what was the best course to
follow. Throughout the country numbers of tenants
were giving up their farms and going away. Often
all the tenants of a plough-land would run off by
night to a distance with stock and crops, leaving
the landlord to recover the possession of the land as
he could by ejectment, perhaps twelve months after-
wards, and with a heavy arrear of rates upon it. It
was a common saying among the tenants that " the
landlords and labourers would soon have the land all
to themselves." It was a terribly anxious time. No
one could tell from half-year to half-year what course
things would take, and that he might not have every
acre he owned thrown on his hands. To lay out
capital at such a time on improvements and doubtful
farming was felt to be nothing less than spending
what might be wanted before long for actual sub-
sistence. Few who went through that time of
wretchedness will ever forget it.

8 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

Of course, under these circumstances, it was
impossible to relet any land thus given up at the
former rent. Yet if relet for less, it would have
caused still more trouble among the remaining
tenants, who would have resorted to all means in
order to get a like reduction on their own farms. It
was therefore resolved to keep in hand any land that
could not be relet at the former rent. Four to five
hundred acres were thus taken up. This was done
simply to avoid worse evils. The land, in spite of
the improved condition of the tenants, was still
miserably poor, and of course it was the worst who
failed. All the objections to "gentlemen's farming"
were strongly felt, and no instance was known in
the district of such farming having paid. The
opinion of those best able to judge was, that tenants
could make such land pay best, and there were
many instances of gentlemen taking up considerable
farms, and after spending largely on them for a few
years, being glad to get out of them again. Of
course, there was the general consideration the other
way: that improved farming, with reasonable skill
and judgment and capital, ought to pay better than
the wretched system prevailing. But no one was
known to have done it, and the almost universal
opinion of the country found loud expression in the
saying, "He will soon be tired of that." No one
who has not tried it can tell what is required to face
the discouragement of having to work out a plan

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS' WORK. 9

against the universal opinion of everybody about
him, Still it had to be done. It was partly
smoothed over by the idea that at the worst it would
answer to improve somewhat the very poorest of the
land, and perhaps in a year or two times would
mend, and it might be relet at the former rent.
During the famine years a good deal of draining
and reclamation of waste land had been carried on,
for the sake of giving employment. It was intended
that the tenants should pay the interest on this, but
they were generally unable or unwilling to do so.
So a good deal of this sort of land had also to be
held.

.Thus another new system was started. The
buildings of the former model farm of 5 0 acres were
enlarged, and partially adapted for 500 acres now in
hand ; and it was resolved to try sheep largely, as
not requiring outlay for buildings. The land was
greatly scattered, just as it happened to be given up
by the tenants. Some of it was three miles from
the buildings, but it was well placed for roads. It
has since been constantly changing to some extent,
parts being let to adjoining tenants when it could be
done to advantage, and other farms of tenants who
failed added instead. One advantage there was.
Much tillage was clearly unsuitable both to the soil
and climate. The rainfall and constantly mild
moist atmosphere, so unsuited to corn, were the very
conditions needed for grass. There was no trouble

10 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

in getting a close sole of grass in three years, such
as an English farmer might easily suppose was old
pasture; and most good farmers agreed that dairy
and stock farming paid better than anything else in
this district, even before the famine.

The course of farming followed was to break up
the land for oats, where it would give a crop ; then
turnips manured, half of them fed on the land by
sheep with hay, and the rest given to cows and
young stock in the yard, only a few head being
fattened. The turnips were followed by oats again
and grass-seeds, and the land was then left in grass
for four or five years, or till it was convenient again
to go over it. The poorest fields were first attacked,
because it was thought if the land was let again in a
few years, an improved face on these parts would
help to let it, and ensure a better rent. But in truth
they looked such utter starve-alls, that for the sake
of one's own feelings it was needful to improve them.
The effect of the turnips fed off with sheep was little
short of magical. Even on the worst land it never
failed at 'once to give a good crop of oats and seeds
after, and to put the land thenceforth in a state to
pay something.

On parts of the land that were suitable, and
where the old buildings answered, small dairies were
started ; the cows being let to some of the best of the
labourers, whose wives understood butter -making.
Any tenants who were turned out and did not

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS* WORK. 11

emigrate, were, if they liked, employed with their
families, but treated merely as other labourers.
Some of these have proved our very best men, and
are still with us. It has for years been their pride
to go to mass better dressed than the small farmers
around.

Yet the results of the first three or four years, as
shown in the balance-sheets, were far from encourag-
ing : 7s. or 8s. per acre for rent and interest was the
best that could be made, after charging all that
could be fairly charged to capital as permanent
improvements. And for this a large outlay was
needful. The land that had been gone over, no
doubt had a very improved appearance, but the
whole required the same process. The lea oats
seldom returned the seed and labour, and 50 or 60
acres manured in a year made slow progress over
500.

But in spite of discouragement it was resolved
to go on. The former rent of the land thus taken
up varied from 9s. 6 d. to 20s. per acre. It averaged
on the whole about 17s. At length in 1851 the
return for rent and interest rose to 12s. per acre;
1852 was no better; but in 1853, a year of high
prices for everything, the balance suddenly started
to 27s. The next year, however, it went back to
22s. In 1855 it was 23s. 6d., and in 1856 it fell
off again to 21s. 6d. In 1857, however, another
great step was gained, and 31s. was reached, though

12 A LIFERS WORK IN IRELAND.

in 1858, from accidental causes, it again went back
to 22s. 6 d. 1859 was somewhat better, but only
25s. At last in 1860 and 1861 it again exceeded
30s. ; then came 1862, the first of our series of wet
years, only producing 20s.; and 1863, still worse,
18s. These deficiencies were, however, partly caused
by 80 acres of poor land having been thrown in,
and by a change of bailiff, and throughout it must
be remembered that additions of poor land and other
accidental causes partly account for the fluctua-
tions.

May 1864, again, however, brought the profit up
to 28s. 6d. It is believed we have not yet nearly
reached the highest profit to be made. It is certain
all the land is capable of far higher condition.
These results have been lona fide balances, after
charging bailiff's salary and all expenses ; not land-
lord's improvements, as buildings, drains, and fences.
They have been made up always to May 1, because
corn and stock had then been mostly sold, and so
little was left for valuation, except permanent stock
'which has been kept at a nearly uniform and rather
low price. A good deal of guano and bones is
used yearly, and all charged to the year, but not
much cake or corn was used for feeding, though
we are now beginning to do so largely. It need
not be said the crops have improved, especially
where the land has come a second time under
manuring. Nor that the land itself is in a different

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS' WORK. 13

condition. Its whole appearance is changed. It
would be hard for any one who had not seen the
process to believe it is the same land.

Now as to the effect on the rest of the estate,
After the famine years were over, the same course
as before was pursued with the tenants. Whatever
rents they had promised were punctually enforced,
unless for very definite causes, and any tenant that
could not pay was considered unfit to remain on the
land. On the other hand, they were allowed to
understand, that no one paying his rent would have
it raised or be dispossessed during his life, unless
for gross misconduct. The objections to so long a
tenure were not overlooked, but on the whole it
was considered an advisable concession to the feel-
ings and prejudices prevailing in the country. Of
course where a tenant died or gave up, his successor
had to make a new bargain, and in this way a
steady rise in the rental has gone on. No sale of
his interest (as it is called) by a tenant to a suc-
cessor was ever allowed, directly or indirectly. The
tenants saw before I did that the farm was paying.
And the first result was to put an end to all schem-
ing. The talk " He will soon be tired of that,"
gave place to, " No wonder he can make it pay,
with capital and no rent to pay." It was useless
to pretend poverty and neglect their farms in hope
of getting a reduction of rent, or throw them up in
order to spite the landlord. They saw that the

14 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

more land was surrendered, the better profit would
be made.

The rent being strictly enforced, and yet never
raised during a tenant's life, there was one clear
way of success left open, and only one, viz. — indus-
try and manuring the land. All saw that if they
did not take this way they would lose their farms,
from which a better profit would be made, whilst if
they did succeed, they were safe to reap the fruits
themselves for a reasonable time. In bad years 'the
utmost exertion and economy were no doubt neces-
sary in order to pay the rent, but then, when good
years came, nothing was hanging over them, and
all the profit was their own. Anything like habitual
neglect or extravagance thus very soon felt the
pinch. It made constant steady exertion and self-
reliance almost compulsory, and thus tended to cor-
rect a weakness of national character. It is a
remarkable fact, that from beginning to end there
has not been a single instance of a really industrious
tenant ever failing. However bad the times, every
honest hard-working man has got through. Some-
thing also was due to the tenants seeing a de-
termination that somehow the estate should be
thoroughly improved. Building, draining, fencing,
reclamation of waste, were all steadily carried on.
The opinion of the labourers, who found themselves
better off than their neighbours, with constant work
for themselves and their families, was also not
without influence.

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS1 WORK. 15

As soon as it was found practically that tenants
could make money under such a strict system (as it
was thought), a considerable moral effect was pro-
duced. One must live in Ireland fully to appreciate
the difference between " a warm" or even " snug "
Irish farmer, and the same man out at elbows. It
is hard to believe they are of the same race.
Nothing has been done for many years to urge or
encourage particular crops, even turnips. The one
only exhortation has been " Manure your land
better." It was very early seen that more manure
is all that is wanted to make the land pay, and
that nothing else will do it. Whatever the causes,
however, it is certain the tenants have thriven
wonderfully, and are thriving more and more every
year. They have every appearance of prosperity
about them. The arrears on the estate at the
present time amount to £3. The rent day, instead
of a day of long faces and complaints on one side,
and sharp words on the other, is got over by three
or four hours' work with pleasant greetings and
cheerful words. I do not think it is possible there
should be a better feeling between landlord and
tenant than exists. No driver (or under-agent as
such men now call themselves, the vilest class in
the country) has been kept at all for many years.
I believe there are very few on the estate who do
not feel that though the management is strict, yet
it is considerate, and that they are regarded with

16 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

sincere goodwill and personal liking. I know that
they show similar goodwill in return. Many of
them have actually come to understand that it is
better for them their landlord should know they are
well off, than they should keep up the time-honoured
practice of protesting their poverty on all occasions.
I have said that in the past ten years near 2000
acres have been added to the estate by purchase.
This has been done by separate purchases of 3 0 0 or
400 acres each. The same plan has been followed
with these, except in one important point, which
perhaps, more than anything else, proves how
thorough the success has been. Any really idle or
bad tenants have been at once got rid of (there
were, however, very few of these). With the rest,
whenever there were no leases, the rents were con*
siderably raised. I was under no engagement,
express or implied, with these tenants, and there-
fore felt at liberty to make my own terms with
them. I accordingly let them the land at the
highest rent in my opinion it was worth to them.
This was often a very considerable advance on the
former rent, but was still less than in my judgment
the land was intrinsically worth, and than I believed
I could make of it by farming it myself. It could
not have been carried through, unless the men had
known I should take up the land myself if my offer
was not accepted ; but nevertheless there was ter-
rible grumbling in every case, and vehement predic-

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS' WORK. 17

tions of certain ruin under such a rent. Three or
four years in every case have, however, altered the
story. Every single man has thriven. They had
no choice but industry and manuring the land, and
these soon made a much greater difference to them
than the higher rent, and both the tenants and
farms are now in quite other condition than they
were in when the purchases were made. I need
not add the purchases pay a good deal better interest
than that at which they were bought. Two unfor-
tunates were so unwise as to refuse the offers made
to them ; many and bitter have been their lament-
ations since.

So plain has the whole thing become, that hav-
ing lately taken an old tenant, in whose judgment
I had confidence, to help me in valuing land I
wished to buy, I had to discuss with him how much
the rents might be raised. In giving his opinion
that a much higher rent might be charged, he added,
" Of course they will grumble, and maybe at first
have hard work to pay, but in five years they will
be as well off as the rest of us." I was met not
long ago with the following speech : — " I cannot
understand how it is. Your property is let one-
third higher than many others in the neighbour-
hood, and yet your tenants are twice as independent
and well to do as those who are paying so much
lower rents."

The answer, I believe, is in the facts stated above,
c

18 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

And this is the result of twenty -five years' work.
I need not point out what a rise of five shillings
per acre in the rent means to the landlord, if at the
same time his land is in as good or better condition.
I believe, besides this, that if raising the condition
of the tenants and labourers had been the one object
aimed at (and in truth it was in great part the
original object, as a matter' of duty), it could not
have been more successfully reached in the time.

To conclude. I believe deliberately, that there
is a mine of wealth for both landlords and tenants
in the land of Ireland. Both classes are nearly
equally to blame for not working it. The capital
required is sufficiently within the reach of both.
The proportion of the rent that the repairs of an
English estate cost, would do the landlord's part
quite as fast as is desirable ; while on every estate
there are tenants enough with sufficient capital to
farm the whole of it well, if the idle drones were
gradually got rid of. Many landlords are greatly
to blame for ignorant neglect of their estates. All
that is wanting on their parts is that they should
make1 the most of their land, with fair dealing
towards the tenants, as men do elsewhere, and with
the clear recognition of the fact that the interests
of landlord and tenant are really inseparable. On
the other hand, the tenants are to be blamed for
very unreasonable expectations. They look on a
farm literally as a possession of an inheritance, not

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS' WORK. 19

as a business, subject to similar risks and conditions
as any other business, and from which if a man can
make a living whilst in it, and when he leaves it
can carry away something more than he began with,
he may be well satisfied. They think that any
improvement in their farms gives them a claim to
indefinite consideration. It may have repaid them
ten times over, but that goes for nothing, and they
lose far greater profits to themselves, for fear their
landlords might gain by a higher rent even years
after. Nothing can better show their feeling than
the fact that a twenty -one years' lease is thought
hardly worth having. The instances of landlords
unduly taking advantage of a tenant's improvements
are at least as rare as in England or Scotland, and
there is nothing but these silly expectations and
the suggestions of tenant-right agitators to hinder
any prudent tenant from farming well.

Good tenants are just as valuable to Irish as to
English or Scotch landlords, and their value is at
least equally felt. Such tenants have no difficulty
in making fair agreements both as to rents and im-
provements. Among the bad tenants there are
some as thorough rogues and schemers as can be
found in the three kingdoms; yet when one of these
is got rid of, just the same outcry is raised by
tenant-right advocates as if Virtue herself was
suffering.

In judging of the state of Ireland, I think very

20 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

few realise how utterly low the condition of the
country was in the year 1800, or any time in the
previous century that may be taken as a starting
point. It was a state of excessive backwardness,
not to call it by the harsher name of barbarism ;
and if this is lost sight of, no one can judge fairly
of the progress that has been made. I believe for-
getfulness of this fact is the key to half the con-
tradictory views of the condition of Ireland ; that,
in truth, great progress has been made, though the
state of things is still far short of what is to be
wished for. In some districts the progress has been
much greater than in others. In the district I have
been writing of, I am certain it has been immense.
We are in a wholly different state in all respects
from that we were in twenty-five years ago. Men's
ideas are quite changed. I can remember when the
improvement of an estate and its tenantry was
always spoken of as an impossibility, the dream of
an inexperienced enthusiast. It is very different
now. Twenty -five years ago, except on the farms
of gentlemen and townspeople holding land, a plough
was not to be seen. I do not think there was one
on my estate. There were things called ploughs
that would scratch the surface, but all the art of
man could never turn a furrow with them — i.e. with
a log of wood sharpened and shod with iron, and
the other parts of a form like the pictures of the
implements used by the ancient Eomans. Ten or

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS1 WORK. 21

fifteen years before that time, the carts had solid
discs of wood by way of wheels. A clergyman,
still living, told me that when he got a large parish
in the neighbourhood there were three carts in it
that had spoke wheels. When one of these went
along the road people used to run down from their
work two or three fields off to look at the wonder.
I doubt whether in the same time greater progress
was ever made in any country; but bad years of
course check progress, and we are apt to forget how
long it takes to remove the recollection of past evils
and abuses, and to break clear of their effects.
There are many men still alive who can tell all the
incidents of the rebellion of 1798 in their own
neighbourhood from what they saw as boys. It is
only a few years since men were alive who could
tell what they had themselves suffered from the
penal laws. Numberless other facts could be men-
tioned, showing the utter backwardness of the
country fifty years ago.

Finally, it must always be remembered there is
still plenty to do, and will be for many a long year,
and those who only look at what is wanting will
have no trouble in making a strong case.

22 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

CHAPTEK II.

IRISH RENTS.
JANUARY 16, 1868.

IT is often said in England that rents in Ireland are
unduly high from over-competition for land.

I farm between 600 and TOO acres. The rent
when I took it in hand averaged 17s. per acre, and
I only began to farm it because no one, in spite of
competition, would give me that rent for it.

The clear net profit for rent and interest over
all expenses, bailiff and everything for the past
fifteen years — i.e. since 1852 to May 1867 — has
steadily increased from 21s. 6d. to 35s. 6d. The
past two years have cleared 35s. 6d., and the
land is steadily getting into higher condition, and
will pay still more.

This farm has been well farmed in all ways.
Besides, I have had in hand two outlying farms of
80 and 120 acres, not large enough to support a
separate farming staff of horses, etc., and too far off
to be well worked with the large farm.

These have been worked much as a common

IRISH RENTS. 23

Irish farmer of fair means would have farmed them,
— the land, as it was, put in grass without any
special efforts to improve it, and then stocked. They
have made a still larger profit after the first year or
two — very seldom under 40s. per acre. This has
arisen from less outlay in working them, but, of
course, they are not improving like the large farm.

The accounts have been kept simply as a matter
of business for my own guidance, and everything I
know of charged against each year, sometimes even
in excess, lest I should be deceiving myself ; because,
strange as it may seem after the talk that often
goes on about Irish landlords, most of them are
quite aware that land cannot pay more in their
own hands or a tenant's than it can be made to
produce — that you cannot have more from a cat
than its skin.

I have tried once or twice to let farms, with
proper house, buildings, etc., and in good condition,
at a fair proportion below the rent I was making.
It was still a good deal above the former rent. So
no good tenant with means and character would
give me the rent, and I go on farming them myself.
My object was, having proved I could do the thing
myself, to show a working tenant doing it also
nearly as well. But in this, so far, I have not suc-
ceeded. The land is a rather light turnip loam,
useful, but very far from high quality land, with a
very damp climate that makes oats the only corn

24 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

that will succeed, but perfect for roots and grass.
The acres are English acres.

Now, as to tenants. I have about 3000 acres
let to tenants. The rent for the past twenty years
has been paid on two fixed days in the year, with-
out agent or under agent. I begin at 10 A.M., and
before 3 the half-year's rent has been paid and
lodged in the bank, three miles off. Of the whole
number of tenants, there are only five or six who
are not thriving according to my wish, though I
charge as smart* rents as I think the land can pay
well.

Two years ago the sister of one tenant married
with a fortune of £500, and the tenant got nearly
as much with his wife in return. Fortunes of £100
and over are common, and less than £50 would be
thought very low. I mention these, because at no
time is the true wealth or poverty of tenants in
Ireland so surely shown as in their marriages.

One part of the estate runs up to a small town,
and the land is held by shopkeepers and others who
are well off. Having other means of living, they
have no motive for giving more rent than will leave
them a fair profit, yet nowhere else is there anything
like such competition for the land nor such improve-
ment on it. The rents are rising accordingly. But
the reason is plain. New milk that used to sell for
Id. per quart in the town has for some years sold
for 1-Jd., butter having risen in the same propor-

IRISH RENTS. 25

tion. Land for potatoes lets to artisans in the
town, and labourers earning much higher wages, at
£4 to £5 per acre, instead of £2 or £3. Curiously,
too, carpenters, masons, shoemakers, etc., though
earning much higher wages themselves, especially
grudge paying the higher wages of labourers for
cultivating their potato gardens, so they put the
same manure on half the former quantity of land
to save labour and raise a better crop. Of course,
the land gains by this. In fact, these town tenants
cram the land with manure. The farming is still
very bad, but they have learnt the one lesson of
manure, and thus are making a better profit at high
rents than they used to make at low.

Is this undue competition or exorbitant rents ?
Or the fair profit of good management and judgment
paying both landlord and tenant ? As to ill-will
on the estate, there is none of it. Of the few
tenants who are not thriving, two are good sort
of fellows, but careless and lazy, of the "raal ould
sort ;" two are old men past work, without families
(one has a son, a scamp now in gaol, who, when
loose, will not work, but spend all he can wring
out) ; three are being eaten up alive by relatives
they have got as helpers and labourers on the farms ;
one is a pet of a neighbouring gentleman, and loses
pounds in picking up half-crowns ; and the last is a
small shopkeeper whose business has failed. In
twenty- five years that I have lived in Ireland, and

26 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

all through the famine, I have never had a single
instance among my own tenants, or among my
neighbours', of an industrious, honest tenant who
has failed or lost his land. I have seen honest,
idle fellows fail, and one or two industrious scamps
from their own scheming. Wonderful as it may
seem, a good tenant is as valuable to a middling or
bad Irish landlord as to another, and he knows it.
And there are very many Irish landlords who are
neither bad nor middling.

I have omitted to say that all sheep and cattle
produce, including dairy, has been for years from
50 to 100 per cent higher than it was fifteen years
ago in Ireland, partly from improved markets, partly
from improved communications, partly from im-
proved quality.

My books and land are open to any one who
thinks well to look into the above statements.

IRELAND AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS. 27

CHAPTEK III.

IRELAND AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS.
JANUARY 22, 1868.

IN judging of the state of Ireland there is one main
point that time is yearly making more obscure. No
one in England, and very few in Ireland, realise what
was the state of that country fifty or seventy years
ago. Everything was low and excessively backward,
socially and physically, to an extent that is now very
hard to conceive. If I call it by the harsh name of
utter barbarism, it will be only the truth. It is plain
that without a clear view of the state of things at the
starting-point from which improvement began, it is
impossible to judge what has been the degree of pro-
gress. My opinion is clear that, however much is
wanting, the improvement has been immense, but is
overlooked because the starting-point is not properly
observed.

Read any accounts of the rebellion of 1*798.
Consider the horrible savagery on both sides. It
suits each party now to talk of the misdeeds of its
opponents. The truth is that no savages ever per-

28 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

petrated more cruel outrages on humanity than both
sides committed. One was on the side of the rebel-
lion, the other on the side of Government — that was
the only difference. I allude to 1798, because many
memoirs and journals of that time enable an opinion
to be formed by those who do not know Ireland.

Does any one think that the character of those
who thus acted on both sides ceased to be the same
when the rebellion was over ; or that the same temper
and vices did not go on in them and their children ?

There are men still alive who can tell every in-
cident of the rebellion in their own neighbourhood
from what their own eyes saw as boys. I have had
such details related to me by an eye-witness, with

his notes on the persons engaged, as Jack 's or

Pat 's (men whom I knew) father, or uncle, or

other relative. Everybody can tell the story, from
hearsay, of numerous and fearful murders, often of
unoffending persons, and even women and children,
and no less cruel retaliation on rebels — i.e. any one
suspected as rebels. So clear are these traditions,
that half the fears of Fenian outrages the two last
winters were from the recollection of that time. And,
on the other side, I had many instances myself of
farmers and labourers among my neighbours in down-
right fear of " the army " (as they called even a com-
pany of soldiers) from the opposite recollections of
that time, and begging me for protection.

Now, compare the Fenian outrages in the outbreak

IRELAND AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS. 29

last March with 1798. One policeman in Kerry
dangerously wounded ; one in Cork killed. I forget
if there was a third. Then outrages on private per-
sons. One bank manager at Kilmallock, of inquisi-
tive disposition, standing outside his door to see the
fun while the police barrack was besieged, got a bullet
in his jaw ; and that was all with armed bands going
about for days.

It may give some idea of the physical state of the
country if I give some facts about the district I know
best — i.e. the large district extending seventy or
eighty miles to the west of Cork. Seventy years ago
the post went into it once a fortnight, but then only
as far as Bandon — twenty miles. There was no post
any farther, and the district fifty or sixty miles off
did without. The roads, little better than rocky
paths, went up and down hills as steep as it was pos-
sible for a horse to travel. A gentleman living thirty-
five miles from Cork told me it used to take him in
summer from early in the morning till dark to get
home, with four horses. If he did not start till
breakfast time, it was a good journey to be home by
midnight. He usually walked himself, beating his
carriage by hours. His next neighbour, twelve miles
farther, had to make two days of it. When he got
near home there was a part of the road that it was
impossible for horses to drag a carriage up — a sort of
stairs of rock — so word was sent before that the
master was coming, and tenants and labourers turned

30 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

out to meet him, and dragged the carriage up this rock
by main force, while the horses had enough to do to
get up themselves.

This place was called " The Leap." The king's
writ was considered useless beyond that place, and to
this day a saying remains in the country, " Beyond
the Leap beyond the law." Great tracts were in-
accessible to wheels, and all horse-work was done by
panniers on the horses' backs. Illicit stills nourished
everywhere, because kegs of whisky were carried so
much easier than corn in bulk. A friend who under-
took the improvement of an estate of 11.000 acres, in
1822, told me no wheeled vehicle had then ever
entered it ; and once, at first, having lost himself on
the estate snipe-shooting, they had to send two miles
for the man who could speak English to tell him the
way home.

In a previous chapter I have spoken of the carts
with discs of wood instead of wheels, and the wret-
ched apologies for ploughs that alone were used in
the country. In 1788 Arthur Young saw horses
drawing such ploughs by their tails. At that time
turnips or clover were nearly unknown in the dis-
trict. Turnips were never grown except by gentlemen,
and clover or grass seeds of any kind were only sown
in small patches. Corn crops were taken year after
year, as long as the land would grow any, and then it
was left to rest, as it was called — i.e. to grow weeds
and nothing else, till a skin formed that could be

IRELAND AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS. 31

pared and burnt for potatoes and corn again. All
this is now wholly changed.

When I first knew the country, thirty or thirty-
five years ago, any idea of improving an estate or its
tenants was scouted by every one as an impossibility,
the dream of an enthusiast. It did seem a very hope-
less task, with the country overrun with population, in
this district not tenants but labourers. Very seldom
the old potatoes held out till the new crop was fit to
dig, and begging and starvation for a month or two,
and sometimes longer, were the consequence. Fever
was regular every summer more or less. The first
charity I took part in was getting a fever hospital
built, and direly was it wanted. Now it is never
used unless for cholera.

If I said overnight I wanted 50 men for a job
of work, there would be 100 waiting next morning
begging for employment ; and the wages 6d. per day.
I paid 8d., and was thought a model of liberality. It
was a great mass of poverty that you seemed to
make no impression on, do what you would to relieve
it. It appeared just to close in upon you again on
all sides as if nothing had been done.

It was the most hopeless, dispiriting work con-
ceivable, and, looking back on it, I do not know how
one faced it, and can wonder at no one who gave it
up in despair. And this went on until the famine
twenty years ago.

I cannot stop without one more illustration. More

32 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

than twenty years ago, walking with a friend who had
been at work in the country for many years, he drew
my attention to a very fine old man we met, above
the class of farmers. " There is an instance of the
change in this country," said my friend. " I remem-
ber old B. the greatest faction-fighter and leader of a
faction in the country." Faction fights went on then
at every large fair, unless magistrates and troops were
there to stop them (it was before the new police), and
often they were not stopped without bloodshed. " At

that time on Colonel 's estate they could get no

rent whatever paid, and the agent gave up. One
morning old B. walked in to the Colonel and said, " If
I get a year's rent paid in a week, will you make me
your agent?' c If you get me half-a-y ear's rent,' was
the answer, ' you shall be agent and welcome.' So
B. gathered his faction and went down with a strong
band to the estate, and announced his intention of
living with his band at free quarters on the tenants
till the year's rent was paid, and on the day week
after the first interview the Colonel found the year's
rent on his breakfast table."

At and after this time, to keep up his prestige, at
the principal fair in the district, B., arrayed in a
cocked hat, and with a broadsword at his side, used
to march the fair — i.e. walk round it when thickest
with his greatcoat held by one sleeve over his shoulder
behind him as a challenge to all the world to dare
to tread on it. Just think of the state of society in

IRELAND AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS. 33

which such things were possible. " Yet," added my
friend, " a week or two ago old B. caught a boy in his
garden, probably after his gooseberries, and gave him
two or three cuts with his switch, and the next day,
when the boy threatened to summon him for the
assault, paid a pound rather than be taken before the
magistrate."

In truth, the change to the present time is very
great. Land, houses, everything, have another face,
however much is still wanting. Compare any small
town with what it was. I remember, a few years
ago, a middle-aged man at a public dinner saying,
in reference to this improvement, "When I was a
boy, for a bet I undertook to throw a heavy sledge
hammer over the highest house in the town. Now,
no man could throw it half the height of many houses.
We had bogs then close to the town on all sides where
now are fine pastures."

In appearance and dress neither men nor women
are the same people they were before the famine.
Wages are double and steadily rising. If a bad time
comes, fair exertion can grapple with and substantially
relieve it. The very complaint that the tenant class
have millions in the banks they would like to invest
in improvements (though only very partially true) is
proof how the farmers have thriven. The cattle and
sheep compared with their forefathers, would form
very fit illustrations for a new edition of Mr. Darwin's
book. Good roads everywhere. On the main lines

D

34 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

of communication great roads, that I can remember
being called military roads, and such they really were,
made after 1798, open the country.

Eead any engineer's report within the last seven
years of any bridges or river drainage or waterworks.
There is sure to be a statement that special provision
is necessary because the floods come down now so
much quicker in consequence of the improved land-
drainage on the upper streams and feeders. Some
one must have done this drainage. If the landlords,
it proves that they are at work for good. If the
tenants, it proves there must be many tenants who,
somehow or other, are not afraid of their improve-
ments being taken advantage of by landlords.

Consider, also, what is proved by the character
and conduct of the police. All Irishmen, mostly
Roman Catholics, but by the union of firm discipline
and fair dealing perfectly efficient and trustworthy.

Look, on the other hand, at the drawbacks there
have been to the progress of the country. Agitation
for emancipation till 1829. Then tithe war till 1835.
Then O'Connell's rent and repeal agitation till 1844.
Then Smith O'Brien's foolery till 1848; and, lastly,
the still greater foolery of Fenianism in the past
three years.

The fifteen years from 1850 till 1865 was the only
period of moderate quiet Ireland has had since 1798,
and that was just the period of greatest improvement
of all classes. Men forget that it takes generations,

IRELAND AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS

35

and not years, to improve all classes in a country,
and it is emphatically all classes in Ireland that need
improvement.

The greatest difficulty in bringing about improve-
ment in Ireland is that all classes, in nearly equal
degree, though perhaps in different ways, require to
be raised. Time and patience are essential for that.

36 A LIFE'S WORK TN IRELAND.

CHAPTEE IV.

THE IKISH LAND QUESTION.
FEBRUARY 1868.

I HAVE stated in previous chapters the common-sense
views of a resident on rents in Ireland, and the
great improvement in that country since the begin-
ning of the century. I wish to do so once more on
what is called " the land question." It should never
be lost sight of that the farmers are only half the
agricultural population. The labourers are the other
half.1 The interest of the labourers is not at all
identical with that of the farmers. Their treatment
by the farmers is of the very closest and hardest
kind. Such cases come before any one living in
Ireland continually. I cannot tell how often in the
year the words of Solomon in the Proverbs rise in
my mind about " the poor man that oppresseth the
poor," etc. If the farmers were treated by the land-
lords with one -half the hardness they show the
labourers, there would be plenty heard about it. One

1 The number of labourers has greatly lessened since this
was written.

THE IRISH LAND QUESTION. 37

or two landowners in a district giving employment
in draining or farming largely affect all the labourers
in it for good. Not only do wages rise, but more
than one member of a family being often employed,
ideas of comfort and prosperity in their condition of
life are spread that are very valuable. Several of
my labourers' families draw 20s. to 25s. per week
wages. I need not add with what effect !

May heaven forgive those who represent the Irish
tenant as an innocent, simple being, unable to take
care of his own interests or make a bargain for him-
self. A more barefaced fiction was never put for-
ward. If any one in England has a doubt on the
subject, let him try a dealing with the first Irishman
he can catch (who is sure to be a cousin, at least, of
some tenant at home), and he will soon find out if he
has not met his match.

Of course, as in every class everywhere, some are
sharper and some softer ; but as a body Irish tenants
are as -sharp and shrewd and as well able to hold
their own as any class in the country. Like others
of the lower orders, they have a strong Iov6 of law,
and are much better up to it than English tenants.
They resort to it with entire freedom, and are re-
strained by no scruples from taking advantage of
every quirk, honest or dishonest, that the very inge-
nious body of attorneys who now abound in every
corner of the land can suggest for the moderate fee
of 5s.

38 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

They are neither worse nor better than any other
class. They have all the faults of the country and
the good qualities. There are the same good and bad
qualities among them in the very same proportions
and degrees as in the Irish M.P.'s, for example, whom
every one knows and can judge of. Personally, I
have much more good than bad to say of those I have
to deal with or am acquainted with. I know them
to be improving much in all respects, especially in
knowledge, though they have still much to learn.
In every district there are a number of thriving,
well-to-do, strong farmers (as they are called here),
whose numbers are steadily increasing. There are
many good fellows among them, and many also back-
ward and lazy, and some as thorough schemers as can
be found in the three kingdoms.

One chief reason why few leases are now granted
is the impossibility of enforcing covenants against
tenants who have small means of payment. One
party is, therefore, bound by the lease, while the
other is not bound. As to covenants for good farming,
they would be just laughed at ; and what is the use
of other covenants when damages for their breach
cannot be realised ? To the more substantial tenants
who are growing up very few would refuse a lease
for twenty-one years. I have no leases, but every
good tenant (all mine, but a few) knows he may
have a lease for twenty-one years for asking. Tenants
would prefer thirty-one years very naturally; but

THE IRISH LAND QUESTION. 39

considering the chances of change in prices and the
value of gold, is there anything unreasonable in
thinking twenty-one long enough ?

When it is said that a tenant on leaving a farm
should be paid the unexhausted value of any per-
manent improvement he has made in it, I do not
believe there is one landlord in a hundred that
objects to such a proposition. The only conditions
desired are that the improvements shall be bond fide
improvements, properly done and recorded, so as to
avoid after disputes and the setting up of indefinite
and fraudulent claims.

The want of such provisions was the great defect
in Mr. Fortescue's Bill of 1866. There was nothing
to secure that the improvement was bond fide made
at all or was properly done. It was not even
registered. All was left to be ascertained years after,
when, perhaps, most of those were dead who knew
the facts, and litigation and numerous frauds would
have been the sure result.

Much has been made of the question whether the
landlord's assent to the improvement shall first be
required. Except as a question of principle, I have
always thought this was of little practical import-
ance to either party, provided only the improve-
ments are bond fide made and well done and recorded.
The number of landlords who are such idiots as to
refuse their assent to real improvements that would
better secure their rent, and at some after time add

40 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

to it, is so small as to make no practical difference
to the country ; and, on the other hand, so long as the
improvements are real and well done and recorded,
to pay the fair unexhausted value can be no loss to
any landlord, whether he assented beforehand or not.
It is a mere delusion that farmers in Ireland are
burning to carry out useful improvements, and are
kept back by the landlords. It is earnestly to be
wished the fact was so, for the remedy would then be
easy. There is one test of the anxiety of the farmers
to improve that always seems to me conclusive.
How do they carry out those parts of their work that
will repay them in a single year, such as cleaning the
land of weeds, and sowing and gathering the crops in
proper time? Cleaning of weeds pays on the one
crop. The sowing and reaping in proper time costs
no more than when done too late, and often less.
Every one with the most superficial knowledge
of Ireland knows that the cleaning of the land is
simply execrable, and that one-fourth to one-half the
crop is often lost by its being sown too late or
gathered too late. Not an autumn passes that hay
nearly black may not be seen in cocks for months ;
and I have often observed that fine weather early in
harvest is sure to do fatal harm, because so many
presume on it, and leave the crops for bad weather.
Every year I see crops manured well enough to give
a full return reduced to one-half by being sown late
and half-cleaned. What is the use of talking about

THE IRISH LAND QUESTION. 41

a desire to spend money or labour in permanent im-
provements by men of this sort ? Very few farmers
have the knowledge, or skill, or energy needful for
carrying out the draining of half- a - dozen acres. They
do not rightly know how to go about it, even with
the money in their pockets. The money or trouble
it will cost is the one thing thought of ; the effect of
the work and result are overlooked. One of my
labourers does far more work than a farmer's labourer.
When tenants do attempt a job, nine times out of ten,
unless it is a shopkeeper from a town or person above
the farmer class, the drains are made two feet deep,
or a little over. They do not half dry the land, and
choke in a few years. It is much the same with
buildings. Unless the landlord helps and insists on
their being well done, they are scamped to save a few
shillings, so as to lessen their value by half.

It is the fear of having to pay for such half-done
improvements, and of claims with even less founda-
tion, that has caused dislike of Tenants' Compensation
Bills ? It is for the true interests of the tenants
themselves that such improvements as they make
should be done effectively and well. It is only their
ignorance that makes them content with inferior or
bad work. Litigation or fraud can never do good to
either tenant or landlord.

Lord Mayo's Bill of last Session was the greatest
boon that was ever offered to the tenant-farmer of
any country. It gave as full compensation for lond

42 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

fide works as the Bill of 1866, and by registration
prevented after-fraud and litigation. Its system of
loans was of great value to the tenant. It was, of
course, received with a howl in the House of
Commons by the extreme Irish party; but the
people at home were wiser than their M.P.'s, and
have seen how great the gain would be. Everybody
now wishes for it — as a pis oiler at least.

But it is said fixity of tenure and peasant pro-
prietors are the true remedy. Besides other objec-
tions to fixity of tenure, it would just stereotype the
evils of all estates now badly managed. There are
many estates still divided into farms too small to
support a family, or with farms carved out by the
tenants themselves on the principle of a good field
and a bad one to each, so that a man's share is
situated in half a dozen different spots. (I had lately
such a case, a purchase, with one thriving tenant on
it out of many at very low rent, and he had nineteen
acres in seven separate bits.) Neglect, and not bad
intention, is the main fault of Irish landlords, and on
110 estates are the tenants so ill off as on those where
they have been left to arrange for themselves, and
allowed to get in arrear from indulgence. Fixity of
tenure would cruelly injure those who have spent
life and money in improving the condition of their
estates and tenants, in the expectation that they or
their children would profit by it ; while it would do
little hurt to the neglectful landowner, who cares only

THE IRISH LAND QUESTION. 43

for his rent. Those who had screwed their rents up
to the utmost would be least hurt, while whoever let
lowest would lose most. It would also at once
deprive all the more intelligent and improving
owners of every motive for improving their estates.
It is these men who have been and are now the
pioneers and leaders in all agricultural improvements,
— the very improvements the country most needs.
To throw them overboard can produce but one
effect.

But fixity of tenure has been tried. There are
many long leases everywhere. There are three such
cases in this neighbourhood. One adjoins my land.
The owner, living at a distance, thought he would
secure his rent and be satisfied, so he offered leases
for 1000 years. The tenants said it was not long
enough, and, thinking it did not make much odds to
him, he made it 2000. The tenants are of the average
sort ; they have much improvable land. In the
famine they very nearly failed. One small field of
one and a quarter acre reclaimed is the whole im-
provement done in the twenty-five years that I have
known the land. My tenants are richer men. In
the other cases the leases are for 200 and 100 years.
The tenants are neither worse nor better off than the
average. One lately sold out to go to America.
On being asked why, he said his landlord was good
and fair (as is the case — a Eoman Catholic and a
Liberal) ; but the farm was not large enough to

44 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

support him and his family in comfort, and so he
thought it best to go.

If it is thought Mr. Bright's plan of small
proprietors would answer, it can be tried with no
risk or loss. Very simple machinery — the same,
indeed, that now makes loans for draining, etc. —
would make loans to two -thirds of the value to
occupiers buying the fee of their farms in the Estates
Court. Both interest and principal would be secure,
so that the cost would be nothing to the country, and
the plan could be extended if it succeeded.

I do not believe it would go far, glad as I
should be if it did so. There has for many years
been a company at Manchester, called "The Irish
Land Company," for this very purpose — buying land
in the Estates Court and selling it again to the tenants.
It has bought a great deal of land, but has sold very
little, if any, and very naturally complains much of
the apathy of the occupiers.

It is said by some that " political economy " will
not do for Ireland. I believe, on the contrary, the
direct opposite is the truth. The one thing to be
avoided is doing anything that cannot be justified by
sound principle. Ignorance and neglect and general
backwardness are the main causes of the troubles of
both landlords and tenants. So far as my knowledge
goes, whenever an estate is managed on strict business
principles, as an enlightened man alive to his own
interest, and looking closely to it, but acting fairly

THE IRISH LAND QUESTION. 45

and uprightly, as he would in any other sort of
business, the tenants as a body are prospering and
contented. The great fault of the landlords has been
and is that they do not spend money in developing
their estates as they ought to do, and might do, to the
advantage of themselves and all classes in the country.
But there are some who do it, and example in success
is contagious. The younger ones are doing it more
than the older, and much the larger part of the
draining done is done by the owners. It is surely
self-evident that in a purely agricultural country the
development of the resources of the land is the one
source of increased prosperity to all classes. Any
honest and sound mode of forcing on that develop-
ment is justifiable, but quackery and partisanship can
do no good. Belying on a class more backward and
ignorant, and at this moment doing less than that
whose defects it is wanted to supply, is only leaning
on a broken reed. Improved public opinion is prob-
ably the greatest remedy.

Ireland is the very land of enormous exaggerations
and want of common sense. The art of making
capital out of a little by-talk both tall and soft is
here understood to perfection, while the scheming,
both personal and political, is wholly without bounds
or conscience, the reverse of all that is independent
and manly. Only those living in it can realise the
extent of these evils. Yet all the time the great
majority of the people, of all ranks, both Koman

46 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

Catholic and Protestant, go on quietly their own way,
and are very little and but indirectly influenced by
the talk around them, desiring quiet above all
things. If I may sum up in one sentence the experi-
ence of twenty-five years in the country, it would be
that resolutely doing what is right, with fair con-
sideration towards others and complete disregard of
talk, is the surest way of improving Ireland.

LEASES. 47

CHAPTEE V.

LEASES.
SEPTEMBER 1869.

I THINK Lord Portsmouth is wrong in attributing
the fact of leases not often being given in Ireland to
political motives.

Any one who considers that nearly all the M.P.'s
in Koinan Catholic parts of Ireland are of one party,
and nearly all in Protestant parts of the other party,
will see that tenants' votes really are not of sufficient
value to make any one sacrifice his pecuniary interests
for their sake. It does not pay. The end is not at-
tained. On both sides the game is too hollow to make
it worth while. Here and there a grandee with politi-
cal ends to gain may, perhaps, act on such motives.
But a very great majority of landlords care far too
much for their pecuniary interests. In spite of tall
talk, not one-tenth of the sacrifices are made for politics
in Ireland that are made in England or Scotland.

I have watched the matter for thirty years, and
am convinced this idea of political motives being an
obstacle to leases is mainly a tradition for the state

48 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

of things a generation or two back, when political
influence meant very substantial gains. A few
modern instances have been taken hold of, and ex-
aggerated for opposite political ends, and , thus the
idea has become current.

I believe the true reason more leases have not
been granted in Ireland is a commonplace one.
Practically, it is not possible to enforce against the
tenant any covenant in a lease, except that of paying
the rent, and this can be just as well enforced when
there is no lease.

The effect of a lease is, therefore, altogether one-
sided. Practically, the landlord is bound by it, while
the tenant is not. This is especially the case when
the tenant, from any cause, fails to dwell on his
farm. I suppose no one doubts that idleness, drink,
family quarrels, folly and ignorance of all sorts, do
break tenants in Ireland as often as elsewhere. My
experience is, that these faults are more common
here than elsewhere. When a tenant with a lease
begins to fail, the land is cropped and scourged with-
out either manure or mercy. The stock is gradually
sold, unavoidably causing more cropping, buildings
are neglected, and often wrecked, ruinous bargains in
advance for even two or three years made, selling the
right of cropping the fields for a little ready money,
and thus payment of the rent is kept up sufficiently to
prevent an ejectment till the land is reduced to a state
that is inconceivable by any one who has not seen it.

LEASES. 49

I am describing real instances that have hap-
pened to myself under a lease. I have had the land
reduced till it would not even grow weeds.

When there is no lease, this process is very
much shortened. A couple of years of waste is the
most that can occur.

It is forgotten that Irish tenants not usually
having substantial means, when the landlord comes
to look for his covenants, be they ever so reasonable,
he finds it a case of suing a beggar and catching a

, and when the tenant has means, as tenants are

naturally and rightly put on juries, it must be an
extraordinarily clear case indeed in which a landlord
can get a verdict for breach of covenant.

All those covenants that are universal on well-
managed estates in England and Scotland for treat-
ment of the land, especially in the last years of the
term, against repeated corn crops, the sale of hay and
straw off the farm, ploughing up valuable grass lands,
upholding buildings even when built by the land-
lord, wholly or in part, or allowed for (which is far
more common than the advocates of one side repre-
sent), are of no use at all in Ireland. A lease is
literally on the part of the tenant, "Heads I win,
tails you lose." Can anybody wonder with such a
state of things that leases are not common. Surely,
these common motives of self-interest are enough to
account for the facts ?

The one motive in favour of giving leases is, that

50 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

the security may induce the tenant to farm better,
and a higher rent be the result at the end of his term.

And, as if to cut away this one motive, a higher
rent at the end of the term is the very thing tenant-
right agitators most object to.

The truth, however, is, that the improvement of
an estate, so far as it depends on the tenant, is not
the result of a lease or no lease ; but of the character
of the landlord, and those who represent him.

I can show an estate with very few leases, I will
venture to say> though I do not know Lord Ports-
mouth's estate, just as highly improved as it, and
with the great majority of the tenants flourishing in
all ways ; and, which is the surest test, yearly pro-
ducing sums of money for the marriage of their sons
and daughters that astonish me, well as I know their
circumstances.

After more than twenty years' work, I shall in
two or three years more have finished the drainage of
the whole, which I and not the tenants have done.
There is hardly a good building I have not helped
to build; and as soon as the outlay for draining
is over, I mean to take the buildings in hand, and
do all of them wholly myself, instead of leaving them
to the tenants to do partly. It is the simple matter
of fact that, every year that passes, the treatment of
the land in Ireland is improving, and the tenants as
a class are making more money. Many of those who
talk loudest about tenant-right are men in the neigh-

LEASES. 51

bourhood of large towns, with good capital, and in the
same position as tenants in England or Scotland
hiring farms ; and instances can be given of some
among them who have hired farms for short terms at
very favourable rents for themselves, and very natu-
rally desire fixity of tenure at the same rate.

Nowhere in the world do questions so much re-
quire to be looked at from both sides as in Ireland ;
if for nothing else, because of the wretched want of
truth that is the prevailing sin of the country. The
Church has been overturned in order to conciliate
the Eoman Catholics, and at once demands are put
forward by them on education, that all other parties
agree cannot be conceded ; but which will give ten
times more active trouble than the Church question
ever gave. Both sides ought to have been looked to
from the first.

It is the same with the land. There are, no doubt,
bad landlords to be found in Ireland, and there
are also good landlords, to whose example and exer-
tions a very large part of the present improved state
of things is due. There are also good tenants deserv-
ing every fair encouragement, and there are a large
number of tenants as hopelessly and incorrigibly bad
as can be, some from faults of character, some from
ignorance, some from circumstances; such as hold-
ing a small plot of land that no human skill in such
a climate could enable to support with comfort the
mouths upon it, or having such a holding scattered

52 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

about in six or eight different patches of an acre or
two each. (Not seven years ago I bought 400 acres,
the farms of which were all thus in hotch-pot. They
did not remain so many months. In another case,
on a friend's estate, one such patch was three miles
apart from another.)

Nothing is easier than to look only at the bad
landlords and the good tenants, and to shut your
eyes to the existence of good landlords and bad
tenants, and a result will then be arrived at that
landlords ought to be eliminated, and the present
tenants stereotyped.

Common sense, in looking at both sides of the
question, is all that is needed to form a sound judg-
ment. If any one doubts, let him seek out the Irish
who are in his neighbourhood. He will find very
few who are not the brothers and relatives of tenants
here. He will find a fair proportion of good ones,
and the rest will give him some idea of the diffi-
culties to be faced.

THE LAND QUESTION. 53

CHAPTER VI.

THE " TIMES " IRISH SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT ON

THE LAND QUESTION.

SEPTEMBER 1869.

IRISH landlords have a clear injustice at the present
time of which to complain — the extent to which mere
hearsay is being used as evidence against them.

A number of men, M.P.'s, newspaper correspond-
ents, and others, have been travelling about Ireland
this autumn. They hear much and they see whatever
a short time allows, but the value of what they hear
or see mainly depends upon whose hands they chance
to fall into. Not to insist on the fact that the moral
habits of the country are thoroughly untruthful, and
that the inquirers, being total strangers, have no
means of judging in what degree their informants can
be relied on, and who out of all question are undeserv-
ing of credit, it is plain that the truth as to every
story of landlord's misdoings depends upon all the
facts being known. If the question, " When it
happened?" is asked, it may turn out to have been
thirty years ago, under a state of things that has

54 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

wholly or nearly passed away. If "where?" be
asked, it may turn out to have been in a district very
unlike most of the country. If " how often ?" it may
turn out to have happened very seldom, or even that
such a thing was never heard of before ; as in the
case of Mr. Scully's monstrous proceedings, which
caused the Ballycohey outrage. If it is asked
" whether all the facts are told ?" it may prove to be
like the Times' correspondent's blunder about Clon-
mel. He was told of land on a mountain that had
been wholly reclaimed by poor men, who were settled
on it by the late Sir "W. Osborne, and he wrote very
strongly and properly on the hardship of turning out
such men without compensation for what they had
done and the equitable rights such improvements
give. Of course, he was not told that the men who
reclaimed this mountain had so multiplied and got
into such misery, that when the famine occurred, the
owner had to buy them out and help them to emi-
grate, and that their land was relet to the present
occupiers, who had nothing to do with its reclama-
tion. In truth, every reason that makes hearsay
evidence inadmissible in a court of justice is still
stronger against its being believed on such a subject
as this. Many informants from whom the hearsay
is got have the strongest motives for misrepresenting
the facts, and, as their names are not given, know
well they can do so with impunity. It is a fact that
some of those the Times' correspondent (e.g.) allows

THE LAND QUESTION. 55

it to appear were his informants are notoriously
among the very worst landlords in the country ; and
some of his aggrieved tenants are not peasants at all,
but half-sir holders of large farms ; men in all respects
perfectly able to take care of themselves, and much
more likely to wrong a landlord than any landlord is
likely to wrong them — the very class who used to be
middlemen, the hardest and sharpest in the country.

In truth, the grossest sinner in this matter of hear-
say is the Times' special correspondent. Time and
place and name are in most cases withheld, and
often the case is told so vaguely that it is impossible to
identify it, and it cannot be contradicted because no
one is sure what is referred to. Over and over again
grave charges begin with — " I have been told," " I
have heard," " It is said." Sometimes he cannot
help seeing that the statement, as made to him, is
either untrue or exaggerated. But instead of there-
fore rejecting it, because he is not sure as to what is
true and what is false — a mild qualification in part
is added, and a belief in the substance expressed, so
as to give a colour to the story more unjust and in-
jurious towards those charged than if it had been
asserted to be true. In that case the statement would
perhaps have been seen to carry its own confutation
on its face.

Of no county from which he has yet written has
the Times' correspondent given so black a character
as of the county of Cork. Now I have lived there as

56 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

an Englishman for twenty-six years, and I knew it
for some years before. During that time there have
been hardly any serious agrarian crimes of any sort.
Landlords and their families have gone in and out by
day and by night with the most absolute fearless-
ness, and without precautions of any kind. Eoman
Catholic judges, consistent Liberals, who, besides long
experience of all Ireland as judges, having been pre-
viously law officers of the Crown, have had specially
to attend to such subjects, have repeatedly compli-
mented the county on its state, and attributed it to
the way the resident proprietors discharge theii
duties. Since the famine the whole state of the rural
population, both farmers and labourers, has com-
pletely changed. They are so improved, they are not
like the same people. There are few estates on which
there are not now ten well-to-do farmers for one
there was before the famine. The fortunes these
peasant farmers give their daughters are increasing
year by year. £100, £150, £200 are common. I
actually saw a settlement on a marriage two years
ago, where £300 was paid; and such fortunes are
given when there are three or four children to be
provided for on the same scale. I do not know of
there having been even a suspicion of a proposed
clearance in the county for twenty years past. The
main products of the county (those its soil best
suits), butter, pigs, stock of all sorts, fat and store,
cattle and sheep, have doubled in price and greatly

THE LAND QUESTION. 57

improved in quality in the past fifteen years ; yet it
is very rare to find rents raised more than 20 or
25 per cent, and on a majority of farms they have
not been raised at all. Finally, the complaint most
often heard from farmers is that there are no farms to
let ; a pretty sure proof that, somehow, tenants are
seldom turned out. It is admitted that in this county
the practice of tenants selling the goodwill of their
farms does not exist. This means that County Cork
landlords have not been in the habit of making in-
coming tenants pay up the arrears of those who
failed. They have had the sense to see that to clean
out an incoming tenant of his capital is the worst
thing possible both for him and themselves, because
it necessarily cripples him in stocking and manuring
and doing well in his farm, and often ties a log of
debt about his neck that is his ruin. It is believed
that this is one cause of the peaceableness of the
county. It is hard for an honest man who hires a
farm from the owner, paying only the rent he agreed
for, to fancy it is in any sense his own. And if a
rogue hires it, he knows at bottom, as well as the
other, that he has no right in it but what he agreed
for. Thus indefinite ideas of right have been pre-
vented. I think these facts, for they are facts, show
that the Times' correspondent has not given the whole
case, even when he is not otherwise incorrect.

But in truth he is often far from correct. He is
wholly wanting in that which is the best part of a

58 'A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

lawyer's training, the instinct of getting at the real
facts. Take his account of a wrong he says he found
out himself — a tenant who had built a house costing
£100, ejected for non-payment of a year's rent — £28.
A few questions by any one who knows the country
would show that this story cannot be accurate.
What was the actual cost of the house or near it ?
It is plain £100 is only a round guess. Over three
and a half years' rent spent on a dwelling-house
would be an unusual outlay by a wealthy landlord in
England. It is quite beyond the habits and ideas of
an Irish tenant. It is a safe rule in Ireland to divide
all figures by 2, but even £50 would be much more
than the usual cost of a house for such a farm.
Then, when was the house built ? Did the landlord
pay for the timber (as is most common), or for timber
and slates ? If the house was built fifteen years ago,
before the great rise in the cost of building, it is
certain the cost was very moderate. If the landlord
did not help, it is equally certain everything was
done (naturally) in the most inferior and cheap way.
Clay for mortar (stone abounds everywhere), the worst
sort of timber, excessively slight, a flat roof with
common small slates (the county abounds in inferior
slate), earth floors, small windows, not meant to
open ; no one who has not seen it could believe the
cheapness with which inferior buildings were and are
put up. If the facts were investigated, I believe it
would be found the cost was not nearly half the sum

THE LAND QUESTION. 59

stated. Then as to the rent due. Whether holding
by lease or by the year, a year's rent must have been
due before an ejectment for non-payment of rent could
be begun, and it is very unlikely a decree could be
got till a large part of another half-year had passed.
Then if the year fell due at Michaelmas, it is certain
the tenant got his crops. They would be threshed
and gone long before a decree was executed, and be-
sides it is almost the universal custom to give a leav-
ing tenant his crops and stock, besides forgiving him
the arrears and any law costs. If the year's rent fell
due at Lady Day, by the time a decree was executed
it would be too late in the spring for the landlord to
sow any crops in the land that year. It is clear,
therefore, that more than a year's rent was owing, or
spoilt as they say here, and the story is not all told
at that end either.

60 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

CHAPTEE VII.

IRISH DISAFFECTION.
SEPTEMBER 1871.

I AM convinced that a great majority of the Irish
people desire quiet and order before all things.

It is the fact, that never before was there such
prosperity of all classes in Ireland. Farmers are
especially thriving. Shopkeepers in every small
town are carrying on a trade such as was undreamt
of twenty years ago. The goods shown to-day in
their shop windows include numbers of articles of
comfort and even luxury, such as then it would have
been thought silly to ask for. Artisans and labourers
are getting wages unknown before.

No doubt it is a natural consequence that when
Jeshurun waxes fat, he should kick, yet such
kicking partakes more of the nature of capering than
of vice. Any way, it is quite different from the
kicking caused by want and dire misery.

Further, there was never a time in the memory
of any one living when disaffection and discontent
did not prevail among large classes in Ireland. The

IRISH DISAFFECTION. 61

farther you go back in the present « century, the
greater and more widespread was such disaffection.
Even thirty years ago, in O'Connell's Kepeal agita-
tion, the movement was out of all measure greater
than it is now. Less than twenty years before that,
there was positive insurrection in many parts. In
truth, peaceful progress has been steadily advancing
and bearing its sure fruit, only men cannot learn
that generations, not years, are needed for a people to
emerge from the state of abject barbarism in which
Ireland was sunk in the eighteenth century.

Lately we have had Fenianism. It was really a
reflex product of American social and political ideas.
It did not deserve anything like the importance that
was given to it. It never touched the true industrial
classes in Ireland, except town artisans and some of
the labourers. But no sooner had it exploded than
it was worked for their own ends by Irish politicians.

It should never be overlooked that Irish poli-
ticians live by using every sort of disaffection and
discontent that may exist in the country for their
own purposes, even though they may not have sym-
pathised and may not still sympathise with the
particular disaffection itself. Home Kule has now
been started. It is nothing but Kepeal under another
name. If it did not mean that, nobody would care
for it. If it was not Kepeal, it would be only a
bigger Grand Jury with more power of jobbing for a
few. But being what it is, Kepeal, it absorbs

62 A LIFERS WORK IN IRELAND.

Fenianism and all Fenian sympathies on the one side
and the politicians who have capital to make out of
agitation on the other.

The stronghold of Fenianism was in the large
towns. It had no strength at all anywhere else,
except in one or two of the very worst districts of
the country. The town of Limerick and much of
the county (the Kilmallock fight will not have been
forgotten), with Dublin and Cork towns, were the
most infected places.

No one can have watched the late Limerick
election without seeing that sympathy with Fenian-
ism, and 'nothing else, was its true characteristic.
The Attorney -General had prosecuted the Fenians,
Mr. Butt had defended them : the release of the
Fenian soldiers still undergoing their sentences was
a constant and main topic. Mr. Smyth, the Home
Rule M.P. for Westmeath, had just played the same
card in the Phoenix Park. The Limerick Eoman
Catholic priests were not allowed to take any part in
the election. Many of Mr. Butt's chief committee
men declared they would not act if any Eoman
Catholic priests were on the committee. This has
from the first been a leading principle of Fenianism,
not to suffer the Roman Catholic clergy to interfere.
It is quite well known to be the true feeling of those
who call themselves the leaders. It is thoroughly
American, and is destined, directly or indirectly, to
have a larger result than anything else about

IRISH DISAFFECTION. 63

Fenianism. It is no doubt true that if there had
been a contest, the savage violence of the Fenian
partisans was such that bloodshed would surely have
occurred. Every threat of violence, every word of
Eepeal, was loudly applauded. All else was ignored.

I think it is therefore quite jclear what is the
issue now before the country. It is simply Fenianism
and Eepeal. I shall surely be, asked, What are its
prospects and what is the danger from it? I ain
convinced there is no danger, provided the law be
firmly enforced. Without that, all other remedies
will be useless, or worse than useless.

I have already said the great majority of the
people desire above all things peace and quiet.
Every day there is less doubt what view the Irish
Protestants take of Home Eule. They have no
sympathy with Fenianism or Eepeal. The Census
has made clear how great is the strength of the
Protestants. It is certain that by next year, 1872,
their numbers will be one to two and a half, and the
two and a half steadily diminishing each year by
emigration.1 Such a minority, independently of its
greater education, intelligence, wealth, and habits of
energy, is conclusive of such a question as this. The
majority, even if of one mind, cannot put down such
a minority and dare not try. It is not half big
enough for the purpose.

But the majority is not all of one mind, nor any-

i The Census proved to be very slightly above this proportion.

64 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

thing like it. I am not one of those who think ill of
Koman Catholics as such ; a large proportion of them
are fully to be relied upon. They know well enough
what awaits them at the hands of such as Mr. Butt
and his friends in a Fenian or Eepeal Government.
Nothing is more astonishing to us here than the way
in which Mr. Butt's character and conduct seem to
have been forgotten in England. Some Eoman
Catholics may no doubt be influenced in voting at an
election and may flirt with Home Eule for personal
ends, just as a few Protestants may do, but a very
large proportion of them will not help it.

It is the fashion to say the Eoman Catholic
priests will have to follow their people into disaffec-
tion. I believe the priests have never before had so
hard a game to play. The interests, or supposed
interests, of the Eoman Catholic Church have hitherto
been bound up with their own personal power. This
power has been very great, and is prized by them
above everything. On the other hand, it is certain
that the Fenians positively hate priestly interference
of any sort. Their leaders love power as much as
the priests do, and they are eaten up by an insatiable
vanity of self that never will submit to the rule of
the priests or any one else. If they ever had the
upper hand, there would be an end of the power of
the priests, and the priests know it.

Ifor a time, and in some places, especially large
towns, where hitherto the power of the priests has

IRISH DISAFFECTION. 65

not been so unlimited as elsewhere, there will be
attempts at compromise, just as there were at
Limerick — the open management in the hands of the
Fenian Eepealers and secret conditions with the
priests. But this will not do generally. It would
soon issue in the loss of most of their personal power
by the priests. They will not give up this power.

What the result will be no one can foretell ; but
it is clear this Fenian principle of non-submission to
the priests will bring about a state of parties in
Ireland such as has never before existed. The priests
cannot follow into Fenian Kepeal such of their
people as join it, except by giving up most of their
power. They have never been placed in such a
dilemma before.

66 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

CHAPTEK VIII.

FENIANISM AND IRISH DISAFFECTION.

1873.

FENIANISM was the greatest imposture of modern
times. It was an exhibition of the worst side of
Irish character. Its origin was in the United States,
and it depended, for such life as it had, on the sub-
scriptions of the Irish of the States, raised systema-
tically by persons who were paid a percentage on the
sums they collected, and who probably stole as much
more as they liked, any real audit being plainly
impossible. A desire somehow to help the old home,
and that anxious fear of each other, which is so
marked a feature in Irish character, and is such a
contrast to English independence, were the motives
for giving. Without doubt the credulity of the
givers was frightfully imposed upon.

In Ireland the movement had a certain hold in
the large cities of Dublin, Cork, and Limerick, and in
one or two of the most turbulent country districts,
notably in parts of Tipperary and Limerick. In the
smaller towns there were a few members of the

FENIANISM AND IRISH DISAFFECTION. 67

brotherhood, but very few; a dozen or twenty in
most towns was a full allowance, scarcely more than
the number of the police stationed in the same place.
Every man among them was known to the police,
and they were carefully watched. In the cities they
were the merest rabble of shop-boys, and such like.
In the smaller towns some were rather above this
class, the sons of traders, and persons in better
circumstances, but still none had any force of charac-
ter or influence. Of course the foremost were exalted
into A's and B's and the other mysterious ranks of the
society, thus tickling the small vanity that is such
a misfortune in Ireland. Some of these men used to
go out on Sundays and holidays to the out-of-the-way
parishes in their neighbourhood, and with their own
money, or money supplied from America, give unlimited
drink to any young fellows they could collect, which,
with such an inducement, it was not hard to do, and
then they would go through the farce of measuring
with a tape to see if the youths were tall enough for
the Fenian army, and similar rubbish.

The movement, such as it was, drew into itself all
the disaffection and half-disaffection that existed in
the country, all the remnants of O'ConnelTs Eepealers,
Smith O'Brien's cabbage garden rebels, the personal
jealousy towards England and Englishmen, that tem-
r and discontent which go to form extreme opinions
other countries, even in England and Scotland.

The thoroughly understood tactics in Ireland are,

68 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

that even though you may not be disloyal or wish
for separation from England, yet if you have any
cause for discontent, or think you have, or desire any
change political or religious, you should join and further
any agitation that is on foot for the chance of what
may be got. In this way Fenianism had a sort of
shadow of strength, though really without substance.
Throughout nearly all the country districts it was
without even this small pretence to strength; but
then another Irish device came into play — the en-
deavour to cause fear. When an Irishman gets into
a dispute or quarrel, his first remedy is always to
boast and to threaten, and, strange to say, these boast-
ings and threatenings have an effect on the enemy,
though he knows how empty they are.

Every kind of report was circulated to add to the
importance of the Fenians, their drillings and inten-
tions. Drilling was the favourite tale, with time
and place particularised. No doubt near Dublin and
Cork there was some drilling, though not much,
hut in the country neither the drillers could be found
nor any one who saw the drilling, or even any one who
could say he heard it from a man who saw it. When
any one came to me to tell of drilling, I always asked
" Did you see them drilling ? " " No." " How do you

know they were drilling?" Jack told me!" "Did

Jackseethem?" "No, but Pat told him." Icould

never get nearer than that. Magistrates and police
were all alive for information, but none could be had.

FENIANISM AND IRISH DISAFFECTION. 69

Alarmists took this dearth of evidence as another
cause for fear, arguing that the organisation was so
perfect that no one could find out what was doing.
Tn truth there was no real organisation in the country
parts, and therefore nothing to find out. But every
chance advantage was taken to cause fear, and the
timidity of the peaceable part of the community, and
their credulity, made them swallow anything, how-
ever absurd. Each small town believed that the
next town, fifteen and twenty miles off, was " a hot-
bed of Fenianism" (that was the favourite expression),
though its own local knowledge obliged it to confess
that it was not bad itself. Amongst the over-
whelming majority of loyal and innocent, there was
thus great terror, and every ridiculous story was at
once believed and exaggerated. Cool-headed men, to
whom abundant opportunities of knowledge both
private and public were open, and who had the
strongest personal motives for forming a sound judg-
ment, since wives, children, and all that they had were
at stake, — said from first to last that the movement
was unmixed imposture, and acted accordingly.

It is a matter of history that an outbreak was
attempted near Dublin and in Tipperary, and that
an effort was made from Cork to join the "Tipperary
boys." The story of Fenianism at Cork and its
neighbourhood, is a good illustration of what the
movement really was. It had considerable hold
there, Cork being a city of 80,000 souls and a sink

70 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

of all that was worst in Munster, whilst as the place
for embarkation for America it had conveniences of
its own for such a purpose.

When the outbreak occurred, 2000 or 3000 of the
lowest rabble of Cork started for Tipperary to assist.
They were physically worse than inferior. A stipen-
diary magistrate, a man of much police experience,
who saw them returning, and also many of them in
gaol, described them as not even sturdy roughs, but
the most wretched assemblage of shop -boys and
butchers' and bakers' boys he had ever met with — a
thoroughly useless class, without one quality to fit
them for their enterprise. About fifteen miles from
Cork this mob came to a country police barrack in
a lonely place, with its five policemen. This they
resolved to attack. The house was a bad one for
defence, and the police had to withdraw to the upper
storey as the best way of defending themselves. The
Fenians got in below, and fearing, though so many,
to storm the five men above, they set fire to the
house. But as the fire grew serious they became
frightened lest the policemen should be burnt, so
they entreated them to come out, declaring that
their victims would be committing suicide if they
stayed there, and they brought a ladder and put
it to a window to help them to come down, which
accordingly they did, as soon as the fire made it
necessary. All this had taken time, and it was
known that there were troops at Mallow, six or

FENIANISM AND IRISH DISAFFECTION. 71

seven miles off, between them and Tipperary, so
somehow the report arose that these troops were
coming to attack them. Whereupon a panic ensued,
and they dispersed in every direction across the
country, leaving the five policemen they had captured
to go where they pleased, every man of the mob only
thinking how to get safe back to Cork by some
roundabout or bye -way. Most succeeded in this,
but the weather was unusually severe, and, not daring
to go by the direct roads, many had to lie out for a
night or two with little or no food, and arrived back
in Cork the most pitiable objects imaginable. Many
were taken, but were so absurdly harmless that they
were not thought worth prosecuting. A magistrate,
whose country place is a few miles from Cork in an
unfrequented direction, walking about his grounds,
captured three or four lying hid in his shrubbery.
When he had got them he did not know what to do
with them, for all the police of the next station were
away on special service elsewhere, so finally he re-
solved to let them go, as in no way dangerous to any
one, and so he did. They went down on their knees
and blessed him as their greatest benefactor.

When the shock of the failure of the outbreak
had passed off, it was thought needful to do some-
thing for the revival of the Fenian spirits in Cork.

There was an old Martello tower on Cork Harbour,
under the care of two superannuated artillerymen,
with their wives and families. On an evening when

72 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

it was known that one of the defenders was absent
in Cork, and whilst the other was at tea with the
two wives, the Fenians invaded the tower, and cap-
tured it without resistance. They retired in due
course, carrying off a very few old muskets.

It was known that the Cork police had a sort of
parade every morning at half-past nine, at their chief
barrack, when all the men were present before going
on duty for the day. So one morning, as a gunmaker
was opening his shop and arranging his window, very
few people being in the street at that hour, some men
walked in, fastened the door, put a pistol to the shop-
man's head, threatening to kill him if he resisted;
swept into bags such arms, revolvers, etc., as suited
their purpose ; walked off, and dived into low back
streets in the neighbourhood, where all traces of them
were lost.

The Corporation had a little store in a lonely
place outside the town, where the shopkeepers kept
their gunpowder, for fear of explosions, bringing it
into the town in small quantities for sale. This was
broken into at night, and some powder stolen.

A gentleman who had been in the army, and
lived a mile or two from Cork, was known to be
paralysed, and to keep arms, so it was thought both
safe and glorious to attack him. He was in his
sitting-room, unable to move from his chair, but
hearing the noise, and being suspicious, he told his
wife to give him his pistols, and on the men coming

FENIANISM AND IRISH DISAFFECTION. 73

in, he fired at one, and hit him in the groin. Upon
this they all ran away. Having only women in the
house besides himself, it was some hours before they
ventured out for help. The unlucky man shot was
found not far from the door, near a wall, dying of his
wound. He was an underkeeper from a private
lunatic asylum a mile off. His comrades were so
frightened that they dared not stay to help him in
any way, or attempt to carry him off with them.

Another gentleman's house was attacked when
he was alone in it with his servants. He managed
to get upstairs where he had arms, and began to
shout out his intention of shooting them all from a
window commanding the door by which they had got
in, enforcing his threats with a shot or two. Not
knowing the house well, they soon got frightened,
and ended by entreating the housekeeper to beg the
master not to shoot them, and they would go away
peaceably. So a treaty was made on these terms
between a single man on one side and a large party
on the other, and they left the house without doing
any damage.

Another night, a militia regiment being quartered
at Mallow, and the arms deposited in a store join-
ing the outer wall of the barrack, a hole was broken
through from the outside by a party from Cork, and
a few of the arms were stolen.

It will be observed that in all these cases, there
is not the least sign of resolution, but an attempt to

74 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

cause fear and keep up excitement, sometimes quite
melodramatic. This was the object intended, and
nothing else.

If any one wishes to see what the movement was
worth, let him read the narrative in Fraser's Maga-
zine for July 18*72, of the man calling himself
General Cluseret. He had been mixed up in the
American war, and in divers revolutionary out-
breaks in Europe, and was supposed to have some
military skill. The Fenians had proposed to him to
take the command in Ireland, and he came to Lon-
don for that purpose. But first, he asked to be
satisfied that 10,000 men were armed and in some
degree organised. Afterwards he reduced his demand
to 5000 men. There were neither one nor the other,
nor any number of men, either armed or ready to
take arms. His contempt ex-pressed for the whole
affair is the best comment on it.

The true cause of the weakness of Fenianism and
all such movements in Ireland, and indeed of many
other mischiefs of very different kinds, is the want
of truth in the Irish character. Of course, there are
exceptions, but speaking generally there is no truth
amongst them, hardly more in one class than in
another. It is a main cause of the troubles of the
country, but it also draws the teeth of seditious
movements. The very quickness and cleverness of
the Irish, which is most striking and admirable, adds
to the effect of this want of truth. Every one at

FENIANISM AND IRISH DISAFFECTION. 75

bottom understands his neighbour's motives and his
game. No one places undue weight on his words, or
thinks the worse of him for acting differently from
the way he had said he would act, or ought to act,
should interest lead in that direction. Every one
would do the same himself if he had the chance.
For example, when a swindler, .whom every one
knows to be a swindler, and would not trust with
five shillings, is a leader of a movement like Home
Eule, that is no objection at all even in the eyes of
men of fair character. They will join the movement
all the same, and think they can use it for their
own ends. The whole machinery of agitation, the
newspapers, meetings, speeches, lies, are so thoroughly
understood and worked, that any one might be de-
ceived by it.

It is because men living in the country have the
same battle with untruth to fight every day of their
lives, that they often take so much less serious a
view of Irish agitation than those who know Ireland
less well. The great fact that no one really trusts
another, and the weakness this causes in any
seditious movement, is simply fatal to it. It is an
old moral that some truth is needed even for success-
ful wickedness.

One of the most remarkable results of Fenianism
was how, directly it was over, everybody sprang
upon it to make political capital out of it. The
murder of the police officer at Manchester and the

76 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

Clerkenwell outrage, though both plainly the work
of a few, caused an undue excitement in England.
This added to the value of the opportunity, and it
was worked accordingly.

But the worst mischief of all was the way Mr.
Gladstone and some of his supporters, though none
to the same extent as Mr. Gladstone himself, used
Fenianism to justify the Irish measures of his Govern-
ment. No opinion either for or against those measures
is needed here, whether as affecting the Church or the
Land. Any one who likes may take for granted that
they were right and fit. But the way in which
Fenianism was used as a justification for them was
unmixedly mischievous and bad. It made the acts
appear like concessions to violence and rebellion, and
lessened any chance of their doing good. The demands
from the disaffected party in Ireland have grown
more and more unreasonable ever since. They feel
that it is impossible to say now what may not be
granted by Parliament, and that fear is the most
effectual of motives for reaching their ends.

No doubt thorough justice should be the principle
of dealing with Ireland, but besides this, and before
all things else, it is needful that the law, whatever it
may be, shall be enforced on all.

It is a great mistake to think that blarney will
succeed with those who are the most perfect masters
of blarney in the whole world, and sentimental

FENIANISM AND IRISH DISAFFECTION. 77

blarneying talk in high places has of late been a
curse to Ireland.

P.S. — Much of the above account of Fenianism
applies, mutatis mutandis, to the agitation of the Land
League. The Land Leaguers have taken a social
end to aim at, which would profit every man of one
class if it could succeed to ever so small an extent. It
is natural and innocent that every tenant should prefer
to pay less rent than more. The desire to do this, and
so to benefit himself at the cost of his landlord, is the
whole strength of the agitation. Add to this the
belief that Messrs. Glads tone and Bright and a majority
of the present Government are hostile to the landlords
and glad of a reason for injuring them, and still more,
and before all else, that though life and property are
unsafe in a large part of Ireland, no effective step is
taken to enforce law and order. It is this last fact
that gives its strength to the agitation and causes
it to differ from all other agitations that have gone
before it. — November 1880.

78 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

CHAPTEK IX.

EFFECT OF LAND ACT.
DECEMBER 1873.

I DO not want to express any opinion for or against
the Land Act. There it is, as a fact, and landlords
and tenants alike have to make the best of it.

Here is one bad effect of it, however, that was not
intended or foreseen — the exaggerated and unscru-
pulous opinion of their own claims that the Act has
raised in the minds of many of the tenant party and
their advocates, and of which the bitter tone that many
newspaper correspondents write in is a symptom.

The Courts are really as favourable to the tenants
as it is possible for any courts to be. Such leaning
as they have is in favour of the tenants and against
the landlords; and whenever there is a fair doubt
the tenant gets the benefit of it. Yet these men will
speak of the Courts as some have done, because the
Courts have felt themselves obliged by justice to
give decisions against the claims of tenants. The
truth is that many of the claims of tenants have
been grossly extortionate. What is to be thought of

EFFECT OF LAND ACT. 79

a tenant who, having bought the fag end of a lease
from a previous tenant, and failing in agreeing with
the landlord for a new one, at its expiration thinks
himself justified in putting in a claim for the cost of
all the labour and horse-work used in the ordinary
cultivation of the farm during all the years he held
the old lease, as an unexhausted improvement ? Can
there be any wonder that one of the judges, Mr.
Justice Fitzgerald, in hearing an appeal at the pre-
sent summer assizes, 1873, on one of these exagge-
rated claims by a tenant, remonstrated strongly
against the practice, and said it had become one
main duty of the Courts to protect landlords against
such exorbitant claims ?

The very name of contract is hateful to many,
because these exaggerated claims rest on undefined
ideas of rights, which break down before definite facts.
It is absolutely certain that the principle of the Land
Act was to take the actual usages of each district or
estate as constituting an implied contract on both
sides. "Where there was an express contract or lease,
that held good. Where there was no express contract,
the implied contract from usage was made binding,
as the custom of the country is in England. No
doubt this rule caused hardship in individual cases
both to some landlords and some tenants, but in the
great majority of cases it was fair enough. No rule
could possibly have met with fairness all the numer-
ous diversities of individual circumstances. The

80 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

Land Act never professed to lay down a new abstract
system of the rights of landlords and tenants. On
the contrary, it took the rights as it found them in
fact, from usage, and as they were acted on by good
landlords. But as to permanent improvements, it
shifted the presumption from being in favour of the
landlord to being in favour of the tenant. The com-
monest justice required that the present tenants
should only have the benefit of what they had done
themselves, or some one belonging to them had done.
What other tenants, strangers to them, had done, did
not concern them, whoever else it concerned. Again,
many improvements, as draining, pay thoroughly for
themselves in a certain number of years. A tenant
was not to be paid twice over for such improvements ;
hence the limitations of the Act in these respects.
The decision that tenant-right in Ulster, though sale-
able when the tenant is dispossessed by the act of the
landlord, cannot be sold at the mere will of the
tenant without the consent of the landlord, which so
much excites the anger of some, only means that
such was the usage before the Act, and therefore
the Court so held. It will be found that what I
have said explains any apparent anomalies. There
may have been individual cases of the exercise of
the coveted rights, but no such general usage.

Consider how great was the gain to Irish tenants
from the Land Act — all existing usages of the Ulster
tenant-right legalised elsewhere, four, five, seven

EFFECT OF LAND ACT. 81

years' compensation for capricious eviction, or else
the security of a thirty-one years' lease ; compensa-
tion for all permanent improvements, and for unex-
hausted manures. The truth is, the facts are proving,
what many asserted before the Land Act, that the
faults of the Irish tenants themselves, and not the
circumstances in which they are placed, are the cause
of their being what they are. There are some good
tenants, no doubt, but they are comparatively few,
and the number of those who have made considerable
permanent improvements is very few indeed. The
reason the Courts cannot give, in many cases, larger
compensation is, that when it comes to the proof, the
permanent improvements are not there. These ex-
aggerated claims are put in in the hope of raising a
prejudice on behalf of the tenant, on the principle
that where there is so much cry there must be some
wool After the Land Act passed I went to every
tenant on an estate of 4000 acres, and took down in
writing his statement of what permanent improve-
ments he had made, and their cost. I wrote down
strictly his own statement, even when I knew it was
untrue, in that case adding my own comment sepa-
rately. It is a greatly improved estate, much before
its neighbours, and the tenants are nearly all well-to-
do, and do not owe a shilling of arrears. Yet there
were only two or three cases in which the cost of the
improvements, as stated by the tenant himself, ex-
ceeded one year's rent, and these two or three were

G

82 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

little over it. No one ever gets rid of a tenant for
the most justifiable cause without losing far more
than a year's rent. I believe my experience will
hold good in most other parts of Ireland — with ex-
ceptions, no doubt, but exceptions are not the rule to
be acted upon. The statement that the improvements
of tenants have made half the value of the land, has
not a shadow of proof to support it. It is very signi-
ficant that on this subject an advocate of the tenants
expressly excludes the decisions of the Courts, which
hear both sides of the question, and confines himself
to the evidence on his own side. Valeat quantum.
It is easy to make out a case in that way.

In conclusion, I have only to protest against the
whine (so often a last resort in this subject) that
Irish tenants were not free agents in hiring land.
So long as the world lasts, if one man wishes to hire
what another man is not obliged to let, but can make
money of by holding himself, the latter will have the
best of the bargain — that is all. It is just the same
in all buying and selling. The Irish tenant class are
the shrewdest, the keenest, and most cunning bar-
gainers in Europe. Even the lazy and useless, who
would let any amount of money slip through their
fingers for want of a little self -exertion, are un-
matched in a bargain. If there is only one soft or
weak spot in a landlord's position or character, it is
absolutely certain to be taken advantage of, and is
taken advantage of to the utmost. If a landlord is

EFFECT OF LAND ACT. 83

at any time so unwise as to insist on a higher rent
for his land than it is worth, it may be taken, but it
is taken by men of no means, trusting to the chapter
of accidents to running in arrear, getting remissions,
etc. There is no fear that such men ever make per-
manent improvements. Any one who has had to do
with land management in Ireland knows that when
times are good and prices of produce high there is a
much better demand for land, and higher rents are
freely offered by solvent tenants for any land to let.
When times are bad and prices low, much lower
rents have to be accepted. I have seen this variation
many times in my experience, both before and since
the famine. There cannot be a more healthy sign of
the market. But then in Ireland, when bad times
come, those who hired land in good times at a higher
rent suitable to the times, set to work to howl in
hope of getting a reduction of rent. Tenants in
Ireland, like tenants elsewhere, have hired land for
their own profit, and (putting aside exceptional times,
like the famine, which no prudence could meet) a
large majority of tenants have made a profit by
the land they have hired, in spite of want of capital,
ignorance and idleness, that would have ensured
failure in any other business on earth but farming.
That some have failed is no wonder. The wonder
is that with such habits so many succeeded. In
tliirty-five years' experience I have never known
one honest industrious tenant to fail.

84 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

I haye no personal interest in Ulster tenant-right
one way or other, but having watched it closely all
my life, I am convinced the gain of it is only to
the tenant who first gets it, having got his land
without having had to pay for it, or who is able to
stretch it, and so get a higher price than he paid for
the same value. In all other respects it is a loss to
both the tenant and landlord. There is the same
objection to it that there is to letting land with a fine,
with the further evil that the fine is fixed by a keen
competition. The principle of tenant-right never was
compensation for permanent improvements made by
tenants, but sale of the right of occupation. This is
proved by the right having been as strongly claimed
and allowed where no improvements whatever had
been made by the tenant on the farm, or very small
improvements, as when there were considerable im-
provements.

IRELAND, 1840-1880. 85

CHAPTEE X.

IRELAND, 1840-1880.
APRIL 1880 (Macmillan's Magazine).

HAVING been at work for over forty years improving
an estate in Ireland, on the old-fashioned, downright
way common sense suggests, it has been urged upon
me that it might do good at the present time to give
an account of what has been done. I have had no
new plans of improvement, but began simply with a
very neglected estate in the extreme South, having one
advantage only, that the subdivision of farms had not
yet gone so far as elsewhere (most being still twenty
or thirty acres in extent). I have nothing to boast
of, except that the work has succeeded. The plan
pursued has been gradually, with some reasonable
consideration, to get rid of the bad tenants, and give
their land to the good ones who remained, thus
enabling them to do better still. It was nothing
else but a process of Natural Selection, in which the
tenant's own qualities, good or bad, were made the
cause of the Survival of the Fittest.

It was clearly seen from the first that the Irish

86 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

difficulty was a moral difficulty and nothing else —
in the true sense of the word mores — as I think no
one could doubt who saw the typical Irish tenant as
I saw him forty years ago, dirty and ragged, his
breeches without a button at the knees, and his
worsted stockings about- his heels, hopelessly unim-
provable for any useful end involving continued hard
work or steady purpose. I had no thought either for
or against clearing the estate, as it is called. I wanted
it in the hands of good tenants.

The hindrances to any man's prosperity in Ireland,
of whatever class, are simply his own faults. A few
may have met with hardships and drawbacks, as some
will do in every country under the sun, I suppose, so
long as this world is not Heaven. But every honest
industrious man in any walk of life in Ireland has
chances of prospering better than he would have else-
where, so far as my knowledge extends. And the
best proof is that honest, industrious men invariably
prosper. I am constantly asked by men of different
classes, What they shall do with their sons ? I have
the same answer for all. If honest and true, their
chances in Ireland are far better than any others I
know of anywhere.

There has been no difficulty in the way of any
man in Ireland that ordinary industry and energy
could not get over. The true hindrances have been
his own faults. Drink, indolence, debt, and schem-
ing, with ignorance and want of self-reliance as

IRELAND, 1840-1880. 87

consequences. 1. Drink is much the most common
and ruinous fault, not alone drunkenness, but taking
a drop whenever he has a chance. The enormous
multitude of public-houses lately mentioned in the
House of Lords, and of which I could give grievous
proofs, shows clearly the drinking habits of the people.
I know of nothing that might do so much good as
lessening the number of public-houses by one-half,
by permitting only one renewal for every two vacan-
cies that happen. 2. Idleness. Let any one look at the
armies of docks and thistles enough to seed a parish in
every field he passes — even in the beloved potato gar-
dens— and the matting of couch besides, which farmer
and wife and children look at with idle hands because
such weeds are supposed to keep the crop warm.
Milk unskimmed till a green fungus shows on it, and
all chance of good butter is gone, though so small an
improvement in the quality of the butter as would
make it worth 2d. per Ib. extra, would put a million
a year into Irish pockets. Haycocks left in the
field and the rain until near winter, and their value
so reduced by half. I name these things because
their profit or loss is all in the same year, and to do
them rightly would pay many fold, even if the farm
were given up at the year's end. 3. Debt I need not
speak of. It is universal. Nor 4, Scheming, which
has been the very life-blood of agitation (since the
time of O'Connell downward), and of almost every-
thing else that is done in Ireland, being, as it is, the

88 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

natural outcome of the universal want of truth. 5.
Ignorance. Not the want of the three K's, but of
common-sense principles and facts, the knowledge of
which seems like an inheritance of light when one
has lived long in Ireland. The ignorance is equally
great whether it relates to farming or any other kind
of work or duty, either Magistrates', or Poor Law
business, or any other, for the right performance of
which a knowledge of sound social principles is
wanted.

There are a few points I had perhaps better begin
by disposing of.

The Land Act made little difference to me. My
work was done long before it was dreamed of. I had
very few bad tenants left. Most of the land was in
the hands of the good tenants, with farms of sufficient
size to employ a pair of horses thoroughly, the mini-
mum size with which it is possible for any one to
farm economically. The chief effect of the Land Act
on me has been, that when a tenant from any cause
has gone to the bad — I am obliged to wait for some
years longer until he hangs himself completely, before
I can get rid of him. It is mainly a matter of time,
and that he is thus able to reduce his farm more than
it otherwise would have been reduced. Once a tenant
has reduced his farm, he is sure to fail sooner or later,
whatever help he may get, or lucky seasons may hap-
pen to him. It is never a single fault that, in my

IRELAND, 1840-1880. 89

experience, sinks a tenant. Even drink takes a long
time by itself. But the man who drinks is generally
indolent too, and often quarrelsome with his family and
neighbours. And as he finds himself doing badly, he
gets in debt to banks and usurers, and so his end
is hastened.

All through the bad famine times, and the many
years I have been in Ireland, I never knew a single
case of an honest, industrious tenant, either my own
or my neighbours', having failed. At the rate land is
usually let, if the farm has not been run out, and no
big leak like drink exists, it is sure to pull its
occupier through till better times come. Again and
again I have seen tenants under great drawbacks, as
widows with young children, do better than their
neighbours who had far more chances, only because
they worked on quietly and steadily even on a bad
system. Once a tenant's faults have brought him
low, I never knew an instance of his recovery. His
impoverished land was the stone round his neck that
drowned him.

It would be much better for all concerned, land-
lord and tenant and labourer, as well as for the
country, that when a tenant has run out his farm he
should give it up quickly, instead of struggling on for
years in deepening debt, under the operation of the
Land Act. He would have more left if he gave up
quickly, because he would be less in debt, and his
land, because less reduced, would yield more produce

90 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

afterwards. In this way the Land Act is a real
hindrance to improvement, a grievous one to those
who had not got their estates in order before it
passed. Instead of its being possible to improve a
neglected estate in ten or twelve years (as it was when
my work was done), a much longer time and greater
loss of money are unavoidable. Fewer landlords,
therefore, are willing or able to undertake its im-
provement. In this respect the Act is wholly hurt-
ful, with no gain to set against the loss, except that
of enabling bad tenants to hang on some years longer,
whilst more thoroughly ruining themselves. The
Act was a makeshift resting on no sound principle.
It has stopped a small evil at the cost of hindering
all improving landlords from doing good, and retard-
ing the improvement of the country.

But the most curious evil the Act has caused has
been by the greater facilities for debt it has given the
tenants. As by the Act a tenant cannot now be
turned out of his farm without large compensation,
except for non-payment of rent, he is by so much a
safer debtor to banks and usurers and shopkeepers.
One of the most discouraging features of Irish
character is indifference to debt. It is almost as bad
in one class as in another. So long as money can be
borrowed anyhow to go on with, everybody seems to
think all is right. Whatever the cause, it is certain
that the extent to which people of all sorts, from the
labourer upwards, go in debt, is ruinous. . Debt of

IRELAND, 1840-1880. 91

course at last produces its certain fruit. And whilst
being ruined, the debtor and his family are kept in
chronic misery. Some of us, for many years past,
have protested that this almost universal state of
debt is one great evil to the country. The banks are
greatly to blame for lending to men they know to be
insolvent, provided they can get security. The pinch
of the past year has revealed what neither friends
nor opponents of the Land Act foresaw — numbers of
tenants have borrowed on the strength of the better
security the Act gave them, and as in a tight year
banks and all lenders have to draw in for their own
safety, these men are in trouble in consequence.
The money has been spent unproductively. I need
not say what is the result.

By the Land Act Parliament tried to give pro-
tection to tenants against the landlords, and it has
produced ill effects in another direction worse than
those it was meant to cure. To prevent a very few
capricious evictions it has1 greatly increased the faci-
lities for debt, and will surely ruin great numbers for
one it saves from capricious eviction. Debt slips on,
little felt in better years except by the renewal of
bills, a tight year like the present comes, and the
man is ruined. Some of our wise M.P.'s have talked
of a bill to hinder ejectments for non-payment of rent
. for twelve months. But what good is it possible for
a ruined man to do in a farm ? I ejected one tenant
last winter ; and between the time I got the decree

92 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

and its execution a fortnight afterwards, no less than
five or six decrees for debts were executed upon the
stock he had, and it is known there are more still to
come. The occupation of a farm by a ruined tenant
is a loss to all, especially to himself and the public.
Stopping ejectments could cure nothing. It would
leave the evil and its cause untouched. When will
men learn that a pauper is a pauper and nothing else,
whether he is a tenant or not ? and so long as he is
a pauper, he can only act as such. It would make a
change above words in Ireland, if men could only
learn to know a fact when they see it before their
eyes.

The Home Eule party have come to think it the
most hopeful plan that tenants, with the help of loans
from the Government, should buy the fee-simple of
their own farms whenever the estate is for sale, and
so become peasant proprietors.

If moderation and judgment are used in the num-
ber and quality of such peasant purchasers, no objec-
tion can be made to this plan. A good tenant will
make a good peasant proprietor, and a bad tenant the
reverse. The plan must be carried out gradually, and
the purchaser find lond fide a substantial part of the
purchase-money. Some such plan, by the help of
Land banks, would probably do good in England and
Scotland too, as it is believed to do in Prussia. The
change of tenure will not make a bad tenant, who is
in debt, into a good solvent peasant proprietor. The

IRELAND, 1840-1880. 93

worst misery in Ireland has been on a few small
estates, one of them belonging to the Crown, on which
the tenants were in fact proprietors, and allowed to
do just as they liked. There are plenty of long leases,
long enough to make the tenants substantially owners.
As I have already said, adjoining my property there
are a number of tenants with leases of 2000 years.
None of them show any improvement tending to
prove that small proprietors would do better than the
present tenants, but rather the other way. My ten-
ants are far better off than these men.

No doubt the number of owners of land in Ireland
is too small. It will be no remedy for this to do hurt
in another direction. It is by great industry, skill, and
thrift alone that peasant proprietors thrive in other
countries. The class of small landowners in Belgium
and elsewhere work harder and live harder than any
other class in Europe ; and not only the men, but all
the rest of their families too, including women. They
have often, too, a skill in farming inherited from many
previous generations. The same lesson comes from
America. The owners of small farms there, which
they farm themselves, are many of them giving up the
business. The work is too hard, and other businesses
pay more money. It is not too much to say that the
Irish peasant is wanting in every quality needful for
success as a small landowner. It is seldom that he has
either skill or industry. He is clever enough, but he
has no backbone. When he succeeds as a tenant, it

94 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

is mostly because the rent is so light. He lives too
in a climate the worst possible for small farming,
where corn never grows well, not even oats, whilst
grass and turnips thrive by nature with little trouble.

A word on fixity of tenure, or making the Ulster
tenant-right compulsory all over. Ireland, so that all
tenants shall be at liberty to sell their farms to the
highest bidder, with little reference to the landlord.

Tenant-right was made legally binding in Ulster
because the Ulster landowners had, almost without
exception, freely consented to it and acted upon it.
The points in the custom favourable to the land-
owners (mainly the security for present rent at a time
when rents were very ill paid) were the consideration
for this consent. A large proportion of the Ulster
tenants have bought their farms from the former
occupiers with the consent of the landlords, who got
their arrears of rent out of the purchase -money.
There was therefore a clear equity in the matter.
And by the Land Act, wherever else in Ireland the
customs "substantially" exist they are as legally
binding as in Ulster. And even when a limited sum
has been paid by the incoming to the outgoing tenant
with the landlord's knowledge, that sum is a charge
on the farm against the owner if the tenant leaves it.

It is plain that to make the Ulster customs com-
pulsory where they have not existed, and where a
tenant has paid nothing on getting possession of his
farm, would be simply to rob the owner of part of

IRELAND, 1840-1880.

95

his reversion, and give a bonus gratis to whoever
chanced to be tenant. There is just the same objec-
tion to the three F's, so much talked of. They are
the same as Tenant-right, and more thoroughly unjust
to owners. It is quite different from the case of
the tenant having himself paid a predecessor for
the right of occupation. That a tenant is to get
ten to twenty years' purchase for that which cost
him nothing, and which the landowner never thought
of giving him when he let the farm, will not bear
discussion.

No doubt it would give great satisfaction to ten-
ants who never paid a shilling for it, that on leaving
their farms (even for non-payment of rent) they should
get a large sum from the owner or succeeding tenant.
But besides the question of wrong, the custom of an
incoming tenant paying a large sum to his predecessor
must be hurtful to all, except the man who pockets
the money. It clears out of capital every man who
takes a farm, except the very richest, and shortens
the available capital even of these. The competition
is far keener than under the most rack-renting land-
lord. The payment occurs at the very time when a
tenant most wants all his capital in order to stock
and manure his new farm. In Ulster not only all
the capital the new tenant has is thus paid away, but
all he can borrow besides, for the sake of getting more
land. The practice is very opposite to that of the
landlords and agents of well-managed estates in Eng-

96 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

land and Scotland, who never accept a new tenant till
lie has shown that he has sufficient capital to farm the
land thoroughly well. By the Ulster tenant-right it
is secured that a new tenant shall have insufficient
capital, or none at all. What happens in Ulster
proves that the assertion that tenants mostly save
money to buy more land, is quite untrue ; very few
do so.

Such a custom is really more injurious to the
tenant than to the landowner. All landowners in
other parts, with any knowledge of their business,
guard especially against it. I can say that I clearly
saw the evil forty years ago, and have taken the
utmost care since that no tenant of mine should
ever pay a shilling to a predecessor, though I
have very few tenants to whom I either have
not let his farm or let him such an addition to
it as to make it in substance a new letting. I
always took precautions to keep it, to the last
moment, so uncertain to whom I should give the
land, that all were afraid to pay anything to the
outgoing tenant, knowing that a suspicion of their
having paid anything, would secure their not getting
the farm.

No tenant in Ireland that I ever knew had
capital enough to farm his land well/and I think
it suicidal for him, and a sure loss to me, that any
part of his capital should be paid to his predecessor
instead of being available to farm his land well.

IRELAND, 1840-1880. 97

Whenever good farming becomes general, the
customs will be found to be ruinous in Ulster
too. So long as the linen trade, and especially
hand-loom weaving, prevailed in country parts, the
injury of tenant-right was not felt. The weaving
supplied capital to buy small lots of land, and farm
them afterwards. That the Ulster tenant-right is no
security against starvation or distress is clear from
the state of parts of Donegal. The Ulster tenant-
right prevails to the utmost height in Donegal, and
the distress in Donegal now is quite as bad as in the
worst parts of Connaught, if not worse.

I now come to my own doings for the improve-
ment of an estate of nearly 4000 acres. I have said
the estate had been thoroughly neglected. My
grandfather never saw it in his life. My father
never saw it but once, when he drove along the
mail-coach road that skirts it in a carriage, stopped
for half -an -hour to talk to the tenants who met him,
and then drove back again. The agent was bad,
and about 1838 turned out dishonest and took a
large sum of rent for his own use. It was needful
that some one should look after the estate. I had
been brought up at Harrow and Balliol, and was
a lawyer about London on the Home Circuit.
Having been born and lived much in Suffolk, on
the very edge of Norfolk, where some knowledge
of farming, like Dogberry's reading and writing,

98 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

comes by nature, I undertook to look after the
estate. In fact I knew all about the theory of
good farming, but very little of the practical
working details.

I soon made up my mind to do without any
agent and manage the estate wholly myself, going
over two or three times a year to receive the rent
and do what was needful. There was not a house
upon it where I could put up for a night.

At that time Mr. W. Blacker, of Armagh, was
considered the most successful agent in Ireland. He
had done wonders on some ill-managed estates, and
as I was well known to some of his principals, he
kindly received me for a fortnight, showed me
all his doings, and took me to stay with some other
owners in the neighbouring counties, where the same
system was at work.

Of course there were bad and good among our
tenants ; many were in arrears, some largely. The
first step was to get rid of the arrears. A few, who
were well off, were asked to pay them off gradually.
The same form was gone through with all. But, in
fact, much the greater number were forgiven wholly,
and were only asked to pay future rents regularly.

There were a good many old leases, of farms of
100 acres, made before the year 1800/ These had
been subdivided into four farms, the old lease still
existing ; and of course the four tenants were legally
answerable for each other. Though it involved some

IRELAND, 1840-1880. 99

legal risk, each was allowed to pay his own rent,
and the mutual liability abolished, so as to give1 a
better chance for exertion to the good ones.

All tenants were allowed to understand that,
lease or no lease, they should hold their farms at
the same rent for their lives, and the rent should
only be raised to those who came after them. The
only exception was in case of gross misconduct of
any kind ; but it was duly impressed on all that
whatever rent any one had contracted to pay, must
be paid regularly on fixed days. The principle acted
on was that every man should fulfil whatever con-
tract he had made, or give up the land to me as
owner.

The most convenient times for paying rents were
early in July for spring rents, and early in December
for harvest rents. A month before the day fixed,
a printed note was sent to each tenant to say I
should be in Ireland that day, and requested pay-
ment then. No turnips and very little clover were
grown by any tenants ; potatoes followed by wheat,
and then oats, oats, oats, whilst the land would grow
any ; paring and burning often for potatoes. No grass
seeds were sown when the land was left to " rest,"
as it was called ; i.e. to grow weeds till another skin
had formed, that could be pared and burnt again.

This was the blessed system by which it is now
said that the tenant of former days brought the land
into cultivation, and is supposed to have conferred

100 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

a benefit on the owners, for which the present
successor of the tenant ought to be compensated;
but by which, in truth, the soul was worked out
of the land by exhaustive cropping and little
manuring.

A Scotch grieve was brought over to teach the
tenants to grow turnips and clover. It was necessary
to go myself to every tenant and urge him to grow
half an acre or an acre of turnips. Seed was dis-
tributed. The clover [seed (of which he knew the
value, and which was got good and cheaply from
London) was sold on credit till after harvest. The
Scotchman's business was to watch the plots for
turnips, help in the sowing and thinning, and
advise in all ways. Prizes of Scotch ploughs were
offered for the best turnips. Before, there had not
been a good plough on the estate; wooden things
only, that would only scratch the surface, and with
which no man could turn a furrow. That grass
seeds should be sown in all corn crops was insisted
on. The land never having grown clover before,
it grew like a dwarf wall. Such crops I never saw
before or since ; they were a pleasure to look at.

These steps told very quickly ; the additional
food grown for cattle, made all stock rapidly
thrive and increase. It was easy to rear a few
extra calves ; better-fed stock gave more and better
manure, and thus crops of all sorts improved too.
The improved payments of rent were a surprise.

IRELAND, 1840-1880. 101

Except those who were too far gone for recovery,
all rents were paid on the days fixed; and, till the
famine came, all trouble seemed to be over. I have
often begun at eleven, and by three had a full half-
year's rent in bank, without one defaulter, or one
angry word.

The first tenant who did not pay — a lazy schemer
as ever lived, and a Protestant — was turned out, and
his thirty-one acres (divided into twenty-nine fields)
started as a model farm under the Scotchman.

At that time many of the tenants had farms
which were very much scattered, fields in four or five
separate parts, often far off, the waste and incon-
venience of which were a great loss to them. The
first improvement aimed at was to get each man's
land about his house and yard, joining the rest that
he had. The regular payment of rent on fixed days,
so that there were no overhanging arrears, was very
beneficial to the tenants themselves. Every one felt
that when his rent was paid the surplus was his
own; and many began to prepare for the next
payment from the time the previous rent was
paid. This lightened the difficulty much. It soon
appeared that some were too far gone to recover, and
they gradually failed. They were offered forgiveness
of whatever they owed, allowed to take away freely
all they had, and given a small sum — usually £10,
if they left without causing expense for law. Hardly
any refused the offer. There were scarcely any

102 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

ejectments. At that time there was no doubt we
were greatly over -populated. Emigration was the
great resource, and most went to America.

As I did my own business, and kept my own
counsel, no one could guess, when a broken tenant
gave up, to whom I should let his land. I used it
in consolidating the farms of others. I offered A
(the next neighbour perhaps) ten acres of it, pro-
vided he gave up five outlying acres he had in a
distant part. Then I offered the five acres which A
gave up, to B who was near to them, provided he gave
up two acres, another separate bit of his, to C, and so
on. Every good tenant soon found out that a broken
tenant being put out might mean a substantial gain
to himself, one very dear to his heart; he got the
field close to his own. house that he had coveted all
his life, his very Naboth's vineyard, which had been
the cause of endless strife from the mutual trespass
of his own and his neighbour's cattle. I gave up all
thought for the time of getting more rent for land
thus added to farms. The old rents were charged.

Thus public opinion on the estate, when any
tenant was put out, became wholly on my side.
They knew better than I did that he was quite
broken, and that not paying his rent was only the
last symptom. And as all hoped to gain by his
misfortune, he met with no sympathy. Anything
so different from the difficulties and heart-rending
scenes supposed to happen when a tenant in Ireland

IRELAND, 1840-1880. 103

is dispossessed I suppose was never seen. The men
put out knew that they got better terms than they
could get by going to law, and so were satisfied ;
and everybody else was glad. Improvements made
by the tenant there were none, and of course he had
the rent forgiven to cover any supposed value he had
added to the farm.

In this way in a few years every tenant's land
was put near his house and yard, where he could
farm it with most advantage, and at least cost of
labour ; and as he paid no more per acre than under
the former system, the gain to him was great. Be-
sides, some farms were much enlarged which had
been small before, and so were enabled to employ
a pair of horses fully.

The next step was to arrange roads for each farm,
so that every part of it might be accessible to carts
for drawing manure on the fields, and drawing home
the crops. Before, though the country is not moun-
tainous, but only somewhat hilly, many farms had
large parts that no cart could approach. Whenever
manure was carried out, it was in panniers on the
backs of horses ; and, of course, very little was thus
carried.

To utilise the existing roads and lanes, widening
them, and adding bits of new road where necessary,
was not a very heavy job, and a couple of years'
work did all that was wanted in this way, and made
every farm practicable for an industrious tenant.

104 A LIFE'S WORK *N IRELAND.

These things were hardly completed when the
famine of 1845-6 fell on us. In 1843 I went to live
in Ireland. It is not too much to say that the famine
knocked the whole previously existing social state
into chaos. Our tenants stood the crash much better
than their neighbours. There was no starvation, or
even want, among them. With good stock, and food
for stock, they easily got through 1846. Farmers
then had many labourers living on their farms, for
all of whom I provided work in draining. I do not
remember a single application for work from a tenant
whilst he held on as such.

But the spring and summer of 1847, especi-
ally when it appeared that the potatoes were again
diseased, altogether upset most of the less well-off
tenants. America was the only bourne. No one
who has lived in Ireland can doubt that farmers with
their habits could not get on there without potatoes.
Potatoes were twisted into every thought and idea
they had, and they were utterly ignorant of all else,
except the modicum of knowledge of turnips and
better farming which my Scotchman had put into
them. The gain of even this trifle was evident in those
who remained, and helped them much, as it did also
neighbours who were near enough to copy them in
part. Especially it lessened the hopeless feeling
amongst them that it was impossible to live and
farm without potatoes. Still it was the common
saying amongst the farmers, " The landlords and the

IRELAND, 1840-1880. 105

labourers will soon have all the land to themselves."
That was the universal feeling. Many hundred acres,
the land of those who gave up, were thrown on my
hands. I tried to let at the old rents to those who
remained, but such was the state of prostration among
all that no one was willing to close. The rents were
low before, and I was unwilling to make a greater
sacrifice, so I had to undertake it myself. At first I
meant to hold it only till I could let it fairly. In
Norfolk, where most of my knowledge of farming was
gained, landlords' farming was thought never to pay.
And I knew no instance in Ireland of such farming
and land improvement having paid. Sheep, how-
ever, did not require buildings, and lambs were luckily
very cheap. Useful lambs, fit for any farmer, were
bought for five shillings each in July. Four hundred
lambs for £100 was not a serious pull on capital ;
they were equal to such as would now cost twenty-
five shillings each. Weaned calves in autumn cost
twenty-five shillings to thirty shillings each.

Draining and improvements went on, for though
many tenants were gone, many labourers remained
and needed work. There was much wet land on the
farms given up. Any tenant who failed was offered
work on the improvements. Often they were allowed
to stay in their former houses as labourers till I could
build better ones. Some of the most trustworthy
labourers I have had were these broken tenants. I
have them still, after thirty-five years, and sons of

106 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

such. Their pride has been to go to mass better
dressed than the small farmers around. No one can
doubt that they have lived more comfortable lives.
As to ill-will between us, there never was a bit, but
thorough friendship.

For many years it was very up-hill work. The
land was so utterly worn out that it seemed as if no
manuring would recover it. At length folding sheep
on turnips, for which at first I thought the climate
too wet, began to tell. But from not fully under-
standing it, we killed the sheep horribly. I have
seen five or six sheep hung up by their heels on
the hurdles in one morning. So the balance for rent
and interest at the year's end was for a long time
small. Then it improved, and made a jump. We
gradually learnt how to meet the difficulties, till the
hope arose that we could make the land pay more in our
own hands than if let to tenants. In time the profits
took to making a jump every third or fourth year,
and passed the old rent, and so went on till there
was a clear net balance of profit for rent and interest
of over forty shillings per acre, the old rent having
averaged a good deal under twenty shillings per acre.
And as the quantity of land in hand had now in-
creased to near 1000 acres, I need not point out that
such a profit as £1000 a year above the former rent
was comfortable. The balance-sheets since 1845 can
all be produced. At least it is certain from them
that I have not cheated myself. The accounts are

IRELAND, 1840-1880. 107

made up each year to May 1, because crop and fat
stock are then all sold, and the least is left to valua-
tion. May 1, 1878, the profit was only thirty-four
shillings per acre ; May 1, 1879, only twenty-seven
shillings and sixpence. We are sure from prices
that May 1, 1880, will be much higher again, and
have no fears for the future. This guess came true ;
the net return was 38s. per acre. Gradually the land
has been farmed much more highly, bought manures
and feeding stuffs being largely used. The outlay
for these on May 1, 1879, exceeded twenty shillings
per acre of the farm, all charged in full to the year ;
and the quantity used increases every year steadily.
Without good feeding with cake and corn we could
do nothing, though our best fields of swedes are
often 35 tons per acre, grown by 12 cwt. per acre of
bought manure, besides what is made on the farm.
The gross produce yielded by the land now is fully
four times what it was in the hands of small occupiers.
The course of farming followed has been mere
commonplace — simply manuring the land well and
feeding the stock well. There has been no fancy
stock kept. A good bull or two, and rams, and a
stallion, have been kept, of which the tenants have
had the benefit too. The worst fields have each year
been ploughed for the sake of manuring them. There
has been no plunging in any way. Gradually, as it
was seen to pay, more bought manures (especially
bones, as we have a bone mill) were used, and more

108 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

corn and cake for feeding stock. All improvements,
including manures and cake, have been paid for out
of income ; of course out of the profit returned by
the manures and improvement itself. I have thus
gradually felt my way into success ; because of the
uncertainty of what would pay in Ireland it was
more prudent thus to act. The outlay on manure
and cake now exceeds £1000 in the year. Very few
new machines are used. There is nothing done that
any common farmer of fair means who is industrious
cannot carry out on the scale that fits his own farm.
From the way we have taken up the land, that
which I hold has been the poorest by nature and the
most exhausted by the worst tenants. In fact, speak-
ing generally, I hold all the worst land, and the ten-
ants all the better land, on the property. Anything
more miserable than its state cannot be conceived. I
have often laughed at tenant-right advocates who urge
that they have a claim to compensation for having
reclaimed the land from a state of nature. The truth
is the bad tenants took every good thing out of the
land that nature at first put in it, and left it as near
a caput mortuum as possible. By paring and burn-
ing and over-cropping they had brought it so down
that it would not even grow couch. A few docks
and thistles, and a tuft of hard grass here and there,
with the bare red soil between, was not uncommon.
I have seen turnip drills, made ten years before, from
which the few small bulbs had been pulled, and the

IRELAND, 1840-1880. 109

tenant had not thought it worth while to plough the
field for corn. Three or four good manurings with
intervals of grass have not brought such land up to a
fair average state. I had to pay for the neglect and
faults of those who went before me, bad tenants
having been the doers of the mischief. I do not say
this to complain, but to show why the land was so
many years before it paid, and what had to be faced.
All was terribly run down; some worse than the
rest. The true trouble in Ireland is, What to do with
bad tenants ?

No tenant was ever turned out because I wished
for his land on account of its goodness, or to round
off other land in hand. I just took up what the
tenants could not live on, and made the best of it. I
heard myself described lately as a man who had a
passion for taking up bad land and making good land
of it.

Whilst this has gone on the rest of the tenants
have gradually come to thrive thoroughly. Of some,
on the deaths of their fathers, or when large addi-
tions have been made to their farms, the rents have
been raised. This has been done on my own prac-
tical judgment, as farming like land myself, but
making allowance for the tenants being ignorant
and bad farmers still. As a body they are far
better off than an equal number on any neighbour-
ing estate. Except from his own personal faults,
chiefly from drink, that a tenant should fail is un-

110 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

known. But we have had some cases of the fathers
having been worthy, industrious men, who did well,
and their sons having turned out worthless. The
bad times and prices of the last three years made
five tenants last winter unable to pay their rents.
Every one of the five was an habitual drinker, who had
been going down for the last ten years, but struggled
on by the help of friends and chances, till the pre-
sent bad times brought the crisis. Two are already
gone. Two more, one of whom holds near fifty acres,
have not a four-footed beast, beyond a cat, on their
land, and are sure soon to follow, and the fifth like-
wise, unless unusual luck should cause a respite.
There is the very best of goodwill between the
tenants and me and my family.

* To act strictly in any way is so unusual in Ire-
land that it is impossible for the course I have
always taken to be popular, and indeed the rules I
act on are often not liked. But the tenants thrive
and are richer than others, and it is hard to get over
that. I am sure there is not one of them who does
not know that I wish to see him thrive, and will do
whatever is reasonable to help him. They consult
me on all sorts of subjects (outside their position as
tenants), and act on my opinion. I have had one
who deals in guano send me £500 of his own to
London to buy guano for him.

A firm, resolute hand — which gives scheming no
chance, and will not listen to a whine, but which acts

IRELAND, 1840-1880. Ill

fairly and on proper occasion kindly, because it is
right to do so, and not from that favouritism towards
the individual, which is one of the curses of the
country — is a positive help to tenants, because it
encourages self-reliance. Above all else it is needful
that whatever one has once said should be strictly
kept to -r that no one should have the least doubt
that, whatever advantage he has been allowed to
look for he is quite certain to get, is a most powerful
lever for influence, and gives tenfold force to any
threats it may be needful to use.

I have stated fully what I have done with my
own farm because I think it tends to prove my point
that the evils of Ireland are moral. There is nothing
to hinder any one else from doing what I have done.
It has not been done by large wealth. The estate at
first was only half its present size. Happily the
famine forced me when still young to live well within
the income, and in the then doubt whether farming
or improvements in Ireland could be made to pay,
it was necessary, if one was not to go into it as a
speculation, to meet all outlay, even that for farm-
ing stock, out of surplus income. It was of course
hard work; as one who did the same in another
county said to me, " We had to live on bread and
cheese for many years," but it has repaid itself since
in money and in self-satisfaction twenty times over.
The estate begins to be a pleasure to look at. If

112 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

men will not live within their incomes they can do
nothing good, and are only a sort of showy paupers.

As to the tenants, though they farm better than
their neighbours, and have quite given up the worst
bad practices — such as two corn crops running ; and
though many have sufficient capital to farm well the
quantity of land they hold ; they are still very far
from being good farmers, or making the most profit
from their land. It is quite certain, however, that
they are far before any small proprietors in Ireland.
The profit they are able to make in good years, and
are known to make, is very large. If Parliament
gave them a large part of the interest in the estate
that now belongs to me, there is no doubt they would
prefer it. But there could be no advantage to any
one from such a change of property. The land was
all bought by me and those from whom I have
inherited. The tenants agreed freely to hire it, and
have all had the benefit of their bargains. The
majority have made, and are making, good profit,
and those who have failed have done so from their
personal faults. If the same system is persevered in,
there is no doubt, that as the tenants' knowledge,
skill, and capital increase, they will be able fairly to
pay higher rents for the land and make a larger profit
for themselves besides.

All the draining on the estate has been done by
me ; and none, except one bog, on which turf is still
cut, remains to be done. Sometimes I have drained

IRELAND, 1840-1880. 113

for the tenants and charged them an increased rent
of 5 per cent on the outlay. When, however, more
than a few acres of a farm needed draining, the
tenant usually begged me to take it off his hands,
and allow him a reduction of the acreable rent for
the number of wet acres taken. This was a gain, of
course, to him, but I agreed to it, his real reason for
asking it being that he had not horses strong enough
to plough rough land, nor skill or courage to turn it
to profit. After a time it paid me far better than
worn-out upland that did not need draining.

At the present time buildings and all kinds of
other improvements are going on. In fact for over
thirty years there has been a steady outlay for im-
provements of £700 to £800 per annum. This for
more than thirty years amounts to upwards of
£25,000 laid out on permanent improvements. Of
course the early improvements now yield, directly or
indirectly, the money required for the annual outlay
on more improvements. And so the work goes on.
When I began I can remember having thought, that
if I had the estate for ten years, with liberty to spend
as much of the income as I liked upon it, it would
be in good order. I have now been at work for the
best part of my life, and I see it will be necessary
that my son should work at it, as I have done, for
his life too, before the estate will be in the condition
it ought to be in.

It is only by spending capital upon it that land
I

114 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

can be put into good condition and supplied with
the buildings necessary for its full productiveness,
whether it be in Ireland or anywhere else. The land
of Ireland needs all the available capital of all its
landlords and tenants together, for two or three
generations, to put it in a proper state. And yet
wiseacres tell us that if only the landlords (who own
much more capital, and have much larger credit than
the tenants) are thrown overboard, the tenants will
be able to do it all by themselves, both their own
proper part and the landowners' part too. Any one
who likes to believe this, I advise to make himself
acquainted personally with what the average Irish
tenants really are, and with the improvements which
they make, where circumstances of tenure are favour-
able.

It will be found that much the larger part of such
improvements as have been made has been done by
Vtndlords. I have often asserted that I have drained
more land than all the tenants together for twenty
miles round on every side. If I said I have drained
twice as much, I believe I should be still far within
the truth. I have said that my tenants are much
before most of those on neighbouring properties in
wealth and good farming. In a previous chapter
I have shown how small an outlay the tenants had
made on improvements. It can be judged therefore
how far the claim for improvement by tenants really
goes. Add to this that tenants now employ very

IRELAND, 1840-1880. 115

little labour at miserable wages. They cultivate only
as much land as their own sons can work. The rest
lies in grass. An old and infirm man is alone paid.

A friend who has seen what I have done asked
me lately, " Would the plan you have followed answer
in Connaught on estates subdivided into from seven
to twenty acres?" I answered, I do not know
Connaught, but I think there is no other practical
plan that it is possible to follow, and in time it would
answer.

Let any one soberly consider what it is possible
to do with a bad tenant of seven to twenty acres of
land (whether he is bad from drink, or idleness, or
poverty, or any other fault or misfortune) except to
take his land away, and give it to his neighbour, who
is doing better, and to whom it will be a means of
doing better still ?

What is it possible for a half -ruined tenant
(which these men in debt really are) to do on a patch
of inferior bog, and rock, and mountain, without
potatoes ? Even in good years he can only just keep
his head above water. And in bad years he either
gets more in debt, or has to get relief somewhere to
keep him alive. Even in our better district nearly
all the small tenants were half-ruined by the famine
of 1847, and got thoroughly in debk I have watched
them ever since. They have never recovered their
position in the days of potatoes. When a few good
years came they did fairly, and were better off; but

116 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

every bad year upset some wholly, and crippled
others, however low their rents were. That rents
are low does not set a poor tenant on his legs, as can
be proved in thousands of cases. His habits are his true
enemies — what I have called his morals. And then
comes the question, which patriots and agitators always
ignore. What is to become of the pauper-tenant's
children ? But if he loses his land, and turns labourer,
or takes up some other occupation, or emigrates, his
children grow up in his new occupation as useful as
any others. I know myself many children of broken
tenants thoroughly useful men and women, whom I
have gladly employed. They often claim an acquaint-
ance with me on this ground : — " My father was so-
and-so, who you turned out." If they had continued
to clem over their bit of ground they could only have
been as useless as their fathers and mothers were.

In my judgment this difficulty, What will become
of the children ? is by far the most weighty objection
to small occupiers of any tenure.

For the last thirty years there has been no
difficulty whatever in young men and women getting
employment in Ireland at fair wages. Thousands
and tens of thousands have risen and thriven in this
way, and are now far above any small occupiers in
every respect.

It is not half realised how backward and barbar-
ous the state of Ireland was half a century ago. My
memory goes back beyond fifty years, and I can tell

IRELAND, 1840-1880.

117

the impression which visits to Ireland then made on
a public school boy. One felt the difference from
the tone in England all over. It was a totally
different state of society, and principle, and thought.
The very stories one heard about what was going on
were like those of another state of existence. Any
suggestion for improving an estate was laughed to
scorn by every one, as the dream of an enthusiast,
and no one then believed it possible to improve either
the Irish land or tenant.

The communication with England then was very
different from what it is now. I can remember
crossing in a sailing packet from Cork to Bristol, and
having what was thought an excellent passage of
only three days. The passage often lasted for weeks.
I have heard of six weeks. I believe that nothing
has done so much good for Ireland, in all ways, as
the improved facilities of communication with Eng-
land. The effect has been incalculable in a hundred
unobserved ways.

The best symptom in the present distress is the
number both of landlords and tenants who are
borrowing money for draining. It makes one hope
that knowledge is at length penetrating to the dark
places of the land, and that permanent good results
may appear hereafter. The previous apathy of land-
lords in neglecting to drain and improve their land
was incomprehensible and sadly wrong.

To these difficulties let it be added that the

118 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

country has been made into a political hotbed.
We live under that most liberal constitutional prin-
ciple that one man is as good as another, if not much
better; though those who claim such rights have not
one quality to fit them for properly using them, and
are wholly the tools of others. How can any one
wonder that such results as we see are daily produced?
Home Kule M.P.'s have done great good in proving
to men elsewhere the true nature of Irish doings.
They are the crime de la cr&me of the large part of
the people they represent. The changed tone of
opinion in England is their work ; and they should
be thanked for it.

I have lived for a great many years in the country,
and every year that passes I find more kindliness and
good-will, and like those better with whom I am
brought in contact. No one can be more alive to the
good qualities of the people than I am. To me, too,
life in Ireland has been very gainful, as it is to all
honest men who take pains and have any sense.
Moreover, I see that in many things the country has
much advanced since I first knew it, and I thoroughly
recognise what is so often overlooked, that improve-
ment in the habits of a people is the work of gener-
ations rather than of years. But I am sure that the
sentimental view of Irish questions which was acted
on of late, and accepted as right and true, is of the
very opposite character, and actually hinders im-
provement. Truth and facts are before all things in

IRELAND, 1840-1880. 119

Ireland. Sentiment they ascribe wholly 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

120 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

the end aimed at, for their own purposes, by one
party in Ireland. Every day may be seen statements
in the papers, as if it was the duty of landlords to
preserve the occupiers of these seven to ten acre
plots of bad land, supply them both with seeds and
potatoes to plant their land, and afterwards forego
the rent, and much else. It is nothing to save their
lives from hunger : the aim is to preserve them as
tenants. The truth is, landlords are greatly to blame
for ever having permitted such miserable holdings to
exist ; and the only possible course of amendment is
to treat the land as neglected estates would be treated
in England or Scotland — to remove gradually the
worst tenants and let their land to the best. If any
one reckons the value of their plots, he will find that
if they had them rent free it would not support them.
I do not know Connaught, but I know Munster
well, and the talk that the Irish people dislike emi-
gration is not true. My part is poor, the extreme
south of County Cork, and it is believed there is not
a poor family in that part of the country that has not
near relatives in America ; my own tenants, labourers,
and servants all have, as we often hear from their
letters. There is no reluctance to emigrate, hardly
so much as natural feeling would be expected to
cause anywhere. They have gone to all parts of the
world. One thoroughly thriving tenant has two
daughters in Queensland, both married, one to a
shopkeeper so well off that when the son of the

IRELAND, 1840-1880. 121

squire of the parish at home went to Queensland
with wife and children and good capital, and failed
in one of their bad times, even falling into want, she
and her husband helped them all to return home
again. The other daughter is married to a " Chinee,"
and seems to like it, which is odd. She writes that
"Chinees" are considered to make good husbands
out there. There is no doubt she is well off in
money. A housemaid, a good servant, who had saved
money after four years with us, went lately to New
Zealand because she thought her chances of marriage
at home were grown rather stale (to use the Irish
expression). She writes in great prosperity. It is
quite certain in our part we consider ourselves to be
Citizens of the world, and are ready to take advan-
tage of any opening in any part of the globe that
promises success and gain. It may be different in
Connaught. But is it realised what a patch of bog
and rock in Connaught really is, to which such patri-
otic attachment is supposed, and which therefore
will be clung to, in preference to the magnificent
land of Manitoba and North- West America, where
splendid crops of corn grow in succession without
manure ?

One thing at least is certain, that the spread of
education and intelligence that has made the Munster
peasant glad to emigrate anywhere, and even marry
a Chinese, will produce the same effect in Connaught,
so soon as it reaches the same point there. The con-

122 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

trast of the patch of Connaught bog versus the corn-
fields of Manitoba, is beyond what human nature
could bear. A benevolent person could not do a
greater kindness than to print large handbills with
descriptions of North American corn-lands, and direc-
tions how to reach them, to be posted in all parts of
Connaught and distributed to every national school
child on its way home from school.

In my district there was no distress last winter
beyond others. Not so much as before winter.
There is nothing that the poor-law was not more
than able to cope with. February 1, there were
three more paupers in the union than in 18*79 ;
March 1, there were ten more. But nothing is more
certain than that where the carcase is, there the
eagles will be gathered together. Any amount of
relief will be gladly accepted. The feeling is simply
universal, " Why should we not get our share of
what is going?" I contend, therefore, that the
natural way of meeting the Irish difficulty is the
true and only sure way— that bad tenants should
lose their land by the effect of their own faults, and
good ones should get it instead of them, and that
the artificial course of trying to bolster up bad
tenants should be abandoned. A bad tenant may
be useful as a labourer, or in some other occupation.
If he is not, his children will probably become so.
As an emigrant he surely betters his own condition,
and gives his children a far better life than at home.

IRELAND, 1840-1880. 123

All the capital of landlord and tenant united, and
much more, is wanted to put the land in the con-
dition it ought to be in. If permanent improve-
ments will pay 5 per cent on the cost, the landlord is
well paid. Whereas manuring his farm will almost
always pay the tenant 20 per cent, and often much
more. The natural and right thing is for the land-
lord to do the permanent improvements, charging an
extra rent for the outlay, and tenants the manuring.

It will not have escaped notice that some of the
Home Kule M.P.'s objected to loans to landlords for
draining, because it would enable them to charge higher
rents for such drained land. A better proof could
not be given of the narrow ignorance of such men.
As if draining does not benefit all round — landlord,
tenant, and labourer — and can't be hindered from
doing so !

Outlay of capital on the land is the sine qud non
of the improvement of Ireland. Whatever else is
done or not done, that must be done, if the country
is to be improved. It adds to the wealth of all, and
is the surest evidence that a country is emerging from
backwardness and poverty.

There is one strong recommendation of the course
I have urged : every step taken in it is so much
secured for good. Whereas it is always the danger
of heroic remedies that they may make the last state
worse than the first, like that of the man in the
rospels. It will, of course, be said I write as a

124 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

landlord. No doubt I do ; and if I had not known
the real value of sentimental talk, I should have had
no business to live in Ireland, and could not have
succeeded there. But I write as one who knew from
the first that his own prosperity was involved in the
prosperity of his tenants, and who, after forty years'
experience, has found his course to succeed. Above
all, I write in the certainty that the owning and
improving of land is a business, as much as cotton-
spinning, and nothing else ; that it can only prosper
when managed on business principles, whether it
be in England, Ireland, or Scotland, and that the
tall talk of politicians in Ireland is only an empty
wind-bag, full only of scheming, and sure to collapse
when met by a resolute will.

IRELAND— ITS SOCIAL STATE. 125

CHAPTEE XI.

IRELAND — ITS SOCIAL STATE.
JULY 1880. (From Macmillan's Magazine.)

I AM told that it will be useful to give some expla-
nations touching my paper on " Ireland from 1840 to
1880 " in April last, and to add what I can on the
Social state of Ireland, a question which underlies
all particular questions like that of land. I fear it
will be impossible to write about the social state of
Ireland without saying things that will give offence.
I shall be sorry if this proves to be so. It is far from
my wish, but in Ireland men fear to speak the truth
when unpleasant. It is right and necessary the
truth should be told. These then are the motives
with which I write.

The Freeman's Journal spoke of my paper in a
friendly tone on the whole, but objects that, as my
grandfather never saw the estate, and my father never
saw it but once cursorily, their neglect was the true
cause of the state in which I found it.

The fuller facts, I think, show whether this is
true.

126 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

1. My grandfather, in the busy practice of a pro-
fession, bought the estate when past mid-life as an
investment. His only son, after eighteen years in the
Dragoons, married and settled in England. It was
more than twenty years afterwards, when he was on
the wrong side of fifty, that the estate became his.
Less than ten years after that time I took it in hand.
My grandfather's and father's view of management was
to let the land at moderate rents, and allow the tenants
to do as they liked in most things. As to using any
harshness, even when the tenants neglected the prim-
ary duty of paying their moderate rents, such a thought
never crossed their minds. Their fault was, that they"
were not before their time, and were too easy. No
doubt the tenants would have prospered more if the
estate had been managed with business-like strictness.
Still there was nothing, except their own faults, to
hinder them from prospering ; and the burthen of their
being in the condition in which I found them lies on
themselves and on no one else. It was just a case of
land bought for ordinary fair motives, in confidence
on the law of the country, and treated in the ordinary
fair way of that time. I believe this was the case
with nearly all purchases within the last hundred
years, in which time a large part of the country has
been bought.

There seems to be a notion that owners of land
in Ireland acquired it in some other way than it was
acquired in England. Except perhaps a few great

IRELAND— ITS SOCIAL STATE. 127

estates that were forfeited in old times, such was not
in any way the case. I have seen much land change
hands in forty years, and never knew a case in which
it was bought for other than honest reasons, such as
prevail elsewhere.

2. The Freeman thinks that I speak too favour-
ably of emigration as a remedy for Irish ills. I doubt
if any right-minded man who knew the country parts
of Ireland from 1835 to 1845 could have any doubt
that emigration was then an unmixed blessing to the
poor people. They were simply eating one another
up alive. I distinctly remember feeling that to give
work was the greatest of all charities, and that whilst
that state of things existed, it was a pressing duty to
spend every shilling one could in that way. Though
no effect seemed to be produced on the mass of poverty,
still the payment of the small wages then current made
all the difference in life to those who were lucky
enough to be employed.

Can any one doubt therefore that the departure of
half these poor people to where work at good wages
abounded, was a blessing to themselves, and a bless-
ing too to the other half who stayed behind — because
they got more work at better pay ? This is the very-
cause of the rise of wages from 3s. and 4s. per week
in 1840, to 9s. and 12s. in 1880.

And when emigration is looked at by the light of
the knowledge we have of how Irish emigrants have
prospered in America and elsewhere, any objection to

128

A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

it must be scouted as cruelty. In my part it is get
ting common for emigrants to come back, sometime
with money, meaning to stay permanently; othei
only for the winter, or a time, or because they have
been ill. There is but one tale with all — of the good
wages and prosperity they found in America. Then
all our people have near relations there, many whom
we employed, or knew as children, before they left.
They are a frequent topic for talk — what and how
they are doing; whether they are married, and to
whom, etc. They usually marry some one from the
same neighbourhood at home, and we sometimes hear
of visits between the old people here, who before knew
nothing of each other, on account of the marriage in
America. Letters are often given us to read. Some-
times there are inquiries about every member of our
family by name, and messages of good- will. In these
ways the evidence is conclusive that emigration has
been a mere blessing and source of prosperity directly
and indirectly.

Once more, every one, man and woman alike, who
gets into any " trouble " at home, whether it be by
breach of the criminal law or social or moral law, or
by misfortune, is sure quickly to emigrate, partly for
the sake of a new start, partly because their means of
living at home having been shaken, if not destroyed,
they can more easily make a living in a new country.
I believe this to be the whole explanation of th<
favourable nature of Irish criminal statistics. The

IRELAND—ITS SOCIAL STATE. 129

criminal a go away, and so offend no more. Again
and again the police have come to me, as a magistrate,
asking for a warrant to arrest some offender, and
adding, " If he is not taken at once, he will surely be
off to America." Whenever the offence was such as
at all to justify it, my answer has been, " That is the
very reason I will not issue a warrant. You could do
nothing to him if you caught him that would be half
so good for the country as his running away to
America ; so let him go." For these reasons I value
emigration.

3. In an agricultural paper there is an explosion
against me by a tenant-righter from Lurgan. This
writer knows nothing whatever of me or my doings,
except what he read in the newspapers ; yet every-
thing I said I had done, every motive I showed, is
misrepresented and sneered at. I only notice him
because he affords a convenient peg on which to hang
some things I wish to say. He has, like the rest of
his set, but one idea, and that is what is best described
as a belief in the Divine right of tenants. The Divine
right of kings was absolute wisdom compared with
this. It had at least a noble theory to rest on — that
a king embodied all virtues ; and it relied on prin-
ciples that raised men above selfishness and their own
personal gain. But this supposed right of tenants
has no theory or principle at all to rest on. It is a
mere scheming for private gain, by which the most
indolent and worthless tenants will gain most, often

K

130 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

at the cost of honest men. That because a man hires
a farm, large or small, yearly or for a fixed number of
years, on quite definite terms, the agreement being
often in writing, he thereby becomes entitled to large
rights of property that formerly belonged without
doubt to the owner from whom he hired it, and which
that owner never had a thought of giving him, could
never be conceived anywhere out of Ireland. An
abstract name is put to the thing the tenant wishes
for. We hear of " fixity of tenure," simply meaning,
that instead of holding the land for the term agreed
for and promised, the tenant is to have it for ever and
ever. Then, it being seen that, if the previous owner
could raise the rent as he thought proper, fixity of
tenure might not be of much value, it is claimed that
there shall be a valuation for rents by the Govern-
ment. The valuation for poor-rates and other local
taxes was made by Sir E. Griffiths for the Government
many years ago. It was meant only as a relative valu-
ation for taxation. The prices of different sorts of
produce were laid down by the Act of 15 and 16 Vic.
c. 63, according to which the valuation was to be made.
These prices were — wheat, 7s. 6d. per cwt. ; oats, 4s.
lOd. ; barley, 5s. 6d. ; flax, 49s. ; butter, 65s. 4d. ; beef,
35s. 6d. ; mutton, 41s. ; pork, 42s. — all about half the
prices at which such produce usually sells for now.

Yet, because this valuation is so low, it is now
spoken of as the highest standard by which rents
ought to be fixed ; and above all things there is to be

IRELAND—ITS SOCIAL STATE. 131

no competition as to the rent to be paid to the land-
lord, though the keenest competition is wished for as
to the money to be paid to the outgoing tenant for
his goodwill.

But the right to hold farms for ever and ever, and
at rents fixed without any honest competition, is
not enough. Idleness or drink might still ruin a
good many. So the further claim is put in that if,
from any cause, whether non-payment of rent, or
having quite exhausted the farm, the tenant has to
leave it, he should still be allowed to sell his right of
occupancy to the highest bidder, and so, if times are
good, put a large sum in his pocket ; and whoever
buys such occupancy is to have a similar right of
selling it whenever he sees fit, without regard to the
landowner.

Any one can see that this simply deprives the
landowner of part of his reversion and gives it to the
tenant. The owner may have spent a large sum on
improving the reversion, as I have done (£700 to £800
a year, for between thirty and forty years — equal to
£25,000). Again, on the faith of the law of the coun-
try, that honest right should prevail, he may have
trusted, as I did, that those who were to succeed him
should reap the profit of his outlay. It is to be taken
from him, and given to the present tenants, good and
bad alike, without repayment even of the money that
can be proved to have been spent upon it. If the
State has sufficient grounds for taking away the re-

132 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

version from its owners, let it do so honestly by pay-
ing for it, as has been done in other cases. Even
the Ulster tenants paid for their tenant-right. The
landowner may be able to show that he let the farm
to the tenant himself without any such rights; in
many cases by lease. In my own case about three-
fifths of my tenants hold by lease, and the rest only
have not leases, because having been promised their
farms for their lives at the old rent, and my word
always kept to them, they prefer the benefit of the
promise to a new bargain and lease. A great number
of landlords have spent largely — some more, some
less — upon their land, and so have the same rights
that I have. Why are landlords to be deprived of
what is theirs honestly ? All this applies to every
plan of free sale no less than to Ulster tenant-right.

Others propose to confiscate the land itself, paying
for it twenty years' purchase of the Government
valuation already mentioned (which is about half the
present true letting-value), and sinking the value of
the reversion. Their plan is, by refusing rents, and
making it hard for owners to get them paid, further
to beat down the value. The Government is to have
the privilege of paying the purchase -money and
getting back from the tenant what it can of it by
instalments.

Let it be added further, to show the small weight
of the tenant party, that the whole population of
Ireland is less than five millions and a half. In 1871

IRELAND—ITS SOCIAL STATE. 133

it was five millions three hundred thousand ; next
year it will probably be less ; of whom one million
and a half are Protestants — a very different state of
tilings from what I can remember, when in many parts,
like my own, the proportion was twelve to one. Men
forget that the fact of a majority does not lessen the
strength of a resolute minority. Of the remaining
four millions, it is believed that the small tenants,
who would gain anything by such measures, are less
than half a million, besides their wives and children.
This is not a great number, nor such as to give any
sufficient justification for setting aside sound principles
of dealing with the land, even as a question of policy.

4. The simple fact is, that, with very few excep-
tions, tenants have not improved their farms ; they
have not been industrious, or skilful, or sober; a
large proportion are indolent and scheming; the
rents have been less than the value ; nor has there
been any general oppression or hardship put on them
to hinder their prosperity.

Though the evidence given before the Duke of
Richmond's Commission on agricultural distress has
not yet been made public, yet the nature of that evi-
dence is known. Professor Baldwin of Glasnevin,
who is one of the Assistant Commissioners for

t[reland, has sent in a report, and has been partly
jxamined besides. He is, at least, a disinterested,
md not a landlord's, witness ; yet I believe it is not
jossible that anything could be stronger than the

134 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

opinion he has given on the faults of Irish tenants
and their worthlessness as farmers.

5. I suppose there was never a question the facts
and statistics of which were so little taken into
account. Everything has been taken for granted on
sentiment. The only important question to the great
majority of the people is, in what way the general
prosperity of the country will be best promoted ? in
what way the most capital will be laid out ? how the
best wages will be paid, and who will pay them ? so
that the comfort of the whole people may be most
advanced in better houses, clothes, and all else.

There is no doubt Ireland is a poor country com-
pared with England, and all the capital of all classes,
including the landlords, is not enough to lay out in
developing its resources. The capital of the occupy-
ing tenants is not enough for farming their land
moderately well in their own backward style. For
anything like good farming, with better stock and
enough bought manures and cattle foods, it is wholly
insufficient. It is only a chance tenant who has any
money to spare that he could lay out on draining or
permanent buildings. The Land Act is said to have
failed ; the true reason is because tenants cannot get
compensation for improvements which they have
not made. The tenants' friends in Parliament are
now asking that the owners' power of ejecting for
non-payment of rent may be taken away for one year
and a half and treated as a capricious eviction.

IRELAND— ITS SOCIAL STATE. 135

What chance is there that men who ask this will be
able to lay out hundreds of pounds in permanent im-
provements and improved farming? The truth is,
that to look to the tenants for such an outlay is a
mere pretence. They cannot do it, and have not the
qualities to enable them to make it succeed, even if
they had the money to pay for it. I have had well-
to-do tenants ask me to let my men do some special
job for them that was properly their own, and offer
to repay me the cost. They said I should do it so
much cheaper than they could get it done, that it
would be a considerable gain to them. Nearly all
the improvements now existing have been made by
the owners of the land, except a certain number of
dwelling-houses, about which a not unhealthy vanity
has grown up ; and even of these in most cases the
landlord has paid a large part of the cost — usually
half. The statements made of tenants having made
improvements are very rarely true, unless thatched
cabins and a multitude of useless fences are im-
provements. The tenants are unable to carry out
any heavy job of reclamation, as much for want of
knowledge as of means.

Further, the improvements in farming during the
last twenty years have been almost wholly the effect
of the example of the landowners' Scotch bailiffs —
"stewards" as they are called in Ireland. Some
landowners, not satisfied with their own know-
ledge of farming, have sent their sons to Scotland

136 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND. "

to learn the very best system and ways of treating
land.

In the past winter most pf the loans for giving
employment to the poor were taken by landowners.
In a Barony in the remotest part of County Cork,
where there was really some distress, two landowners
undertook to employ every poor man in it. Who are
able to do the draining and reclamation if the land-
owners give such works up ? Some landowners have
built good labourers' houses for their people, with
gardens, etc., attached. The wages they pay, 9s. to 12s.
per week, and sometimes more, are without exception
far above those paid by farmers. My rule has always
been to pay a little over the usual (not the farmers')
rate of the district. When a family is industrious, often
two or more members of it are employed as labourers.
I had a family for the last few years — new-comers
to the parish — of whom I employed the father and
two sons at 9s. per week each, and the mother and
daughter at 6s. each — 39s. in all, besides house, etc.,
free. At the end of three years they were no better
off than when they came, and I had the satisfaction
of finding that my good wages had gone to get their
house blessed, to drive out the fairies, who were sus-
pected of haunting it !

The farmers in my part now employ scarcely any
labourers. They only till so much of their land as
they can manage with their own help, as they call it.
They will not pay the wages. A few employ a

IRELAND-ITS SOCIAL STATE. 137

servant boy who lives in the house, and sometimes an
old or very inferior man who is miserably paid, and
whom they also feed because he could not work at
all on his home-feeding. It is still a kind of conacre
system ; house and potato land, grass for a sheep or
two, at a price agreed on, to be paid by the man's
labour reckoned at 6d. per day. During a part of
the year, when potatoes are over, a certain number
of sacks of Indian meal are got from a dealer at
usurious interest till the next harvest; the farmer
giving security. This and the interest are paid for in
the same way by the labourer. It is a sorely oppres-
sive system. Bad work, badly paid for, with schem-
ing and trickery, and law at all corners. If the
labourers depended on the work given them by far-
mers, their position would be quite hopeless, except
by their leaving the country. From first to last the
landlords who give employment are the only persons
who have done anything for labourers. The hard-
ness with which the farmers treat their labourers is
grievous ; very few show them a trace of the con-
sideration they so loudly cry for to their own land-
lords. If the landlords treated the tenants with
half the hardness the tenants show to the labourers,
they might very justly complain.

6. Nor does the matter end here. The produce
of the land when well farmed is far greater than
when farmed by ordinary tenants. I had occasion a
few months ago to talk over with my Scotch bailiff

138 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

what was the increase of produce from the land in
my own hands compared with the produce of the
same land when let to tenants. I cannot prove how
much the land yielded when let to tenants ; so that no
certainty could be attained on that point; but we were
both clearly of opinion that the produce was more
than four times as great now. Several things lead
me to think that it is much more than four times.
The net profit — after paying Scotchman and all else
— is near four times the Government (Griffith's)
valuation of the land.

7. It is easy to judge what is the effect of good wages
on labourers, and on the many other persons of all
sorts who depend on the expenditure of money
wages, or on dealing that is paid for at last out of
wages. In my village of a dozen houses, a baker has
set up. I built him a large oven that is in work
every day, where since the time of Adam a loaf was
never baked before, and where until the last few
years scarcely any bread was used. He has opened
a general shop too, where almost everything may be
bought. What has happened on the small scale of
my village is going on everywhere else on a much
larger scale. The former tenants of my farm spent
nothing on bought manures, or on bought foods for
stock. Now, we spend over £1 per acre yearly all
round on such things, and could not make the farm
pay without them.

Such gains as I have described are just what

IRELAND— ITS SOCIAL STATE. 139

absenteeism deprives the country of. That some
one should spend money on such improvements is the
necessary root of any prosperity in Ireland ; but, as
the toes of the Divine right of tenants are thereby
trodden on, the evils of absenteeism are overlooked,
and the shouts are directed against the wicked im-
proving owners, who lay out money, and look for a
return in better rents. The whole argument is, that
outlay of capital on the land and better farming
cause the prosperity of the country and of all classes
in it. Those who have lived there as long as I have,
see the change unmistakably, and in those parts of
the country where the largest outlay has gone on, the
comfort of the people is much the greatest.

It may reasonably be asked, — If this is so, what
is to be done to make things go on in Ireland, as they
do in England and Scotland ?

To answer this question we must realise what is
the general state of Ireland, what are its shortcomings
and their causes ?

1. It may be doubted whether the intermixture
of races between England, Scotland, and Ireland is
not much greater than has been often supposed,
though there are differences of race. The great differ-
ence does not probably lie in that.

In very early times the state of Ireland was one
of constant conflict between tribes. Like the Ish-
maelites, a man's hand was against every man, and
every man's hand against him. The country was very

140 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

thinly peopled, especially inland. In the reign of
Queen Elizabeth we know that the troops had to cut
their way through the woods in the West Biding of
Cork to reach the rebels in remote parts after the
great Tyrone rising. It was a state of constant war.

2. In such circumstances tribal virtues and vices
would be strongly developed. Fidelity to one's own
tribe, and utter treachery and deceit towards its
enemies (i.e. all others), with constant violence,
would be the normal state. This in substance is very
much what we find now. Men are singularly faith-
ful in many relations of life and to comrades even in
ill-doing. They readily combine for all sorts of ends,
especially for their own personal interests. I have
long believed that the force of Trades Unions both
in England and in America owes much to the Irish
element. It is easy to see how such tribal feelings
would adapt themselves to differences in religion and
to class differences, and would be kept alive by the
disturbed and half conquered state of the country
from the time of Henry II. to the present century.

The most striking illustration of the readiness to
form parties and " Factions " (which differ little from
tribes) that I know of, was that of the Two Year
Olds and Three Year Olds in Tipperary, of which so
much was heard a few years ago. The whole original
cause of dispute was that there existed a bull on the
borders of two parishes, which the people of one
parish said was two years old at a certain time,

IRELAND— ITS SOCIAL STATE. 141

whilst the people of the other parish said he was
three years old. So, as neither faction would admit
it was wrong, they fought, and battered, and killed
each other at fairs and markets, and Sundays and
holidays after mass, according to the approved system
of faction -fights of fifty years ago. The Two Year
Olds and Three Year Olds spread wider and wider
over a considerable district of Tipperary and Limerick.
They were again and again cursed by archbishops, and
bishops, and priests. After seeming to die out they
revived several times, and subsided only after many
years.

No Irishman ever breaks the law without having
one eye watching over his shoulder, to be sure his
way of escape is open. I remember when I first
went over, a characteristic story was current. A
man was under sentence of death for some bad crime.
A gentleman, near whom he had lived, chanced to
know that the man had meant to shoot him. He
went to the jail the day before the man was to be
hanged, and said to him, " You might as well tell me,
Pat, since it can now make no difference to you, why
you did not shoot me; for I know you meant to
do it." The gentleman was a capital shot, always
carried arms, and was known to be very resolute.
The answer was, " Well, your honour, it's true it will
make no odds .to me now; so I'll tell ye. I had
ye covered twice from behind a ditch, and as I was
going to pull the trigger the thought went through

142 A LIFE'S WORK TN IRELAND.

my head, ' By , if I miss him, it's all up with

me.'"

Whenever the law is enforced, it is vastly power-
ful for good, all appearances to the contrary notwith-
standing. The common saying among themselves
when quarrelling and before it comes to blows, " I'll
forgive you the law, if you'll strike me," is conclusive
proof how strong a deterrent the law is, and how
every man keeps it before his eyes. The influence in
Ms neighbourhood of an active magistrate, who is just
and determined, is another strong proof. The un-
mixed and unvarying hatred shown in Parliament by
all Irish patriots, to the law, and police, and to all
that helps to make these efficient, shows that they
know who are their real enemies. The curious readi-
ness to go security for neighbours who borrow money,
or in any way want security, comes from this same
clan feeling. It is nothing short of folly, and ends in
the ruin of numbers.

It is sadly certain, too, that untruth towards all the
rest of the world grievously prevails. It is the most
painful part of living in Ireland. It meets one at
every turn, and among all sorts and classes. One is
forced to become as hard as the nether millstone, and
simply believe nothing at all, if one would not be the
prey of every schemer. No doubt there are indi-
viduals who speak the truth. God forbid there should
not be. And there are degrees of truth (or untruth)
that one learns to recognise. There is a common

IRELAND— ITS SOCIAL STATE. 143

expression, which I can never hear without laughing.
When any one wishes to convince you that another
may be believed about something in which his in-
terest is not concerned, he will say, " You know, sir,
Jack is a man who would not tell ye a lie for no-
thing." There is, no doubt, a distinction in this,
though the moral attainment of Jack may not be of
very high value. One has to judge mainly by proba-
bilities. Happily everybody in his heart is alive to
the untruth. The man himself feels it, and does not
expect to be believed, though he may hope it. Then
there is the enemy with his story on the other side ;
so that practically it is easier to make up your mind,
if you thoroughly know the people and their interests,
than could beforehand be thought possible.

The first thing needful for any one who has to
deal with Irish questions, but who does not know the
people, is clearly to recognise this universal untruth.
If he takes that fairly and fully into account, he has
no great difficulty in forming a sound judgment.
Otherwise he is the prey of whoever can get his ear.

It is not only the deliberate falsehoods, but the
unreliableness throughout, that has to be met. There
is an atmosphere of untruth and half-truth surround-
ing everything, so that those who are true themselves,
but have been brought up in this atmosphere, seem
unconscious of it, and treat want of truth with a for-
bearance it does not deserve. Nobody seems to
expect that truth and right shall prevail. When, as

144 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

a magistrate, one has decided against a man, there is
no wonder he should think you have decided contrary
to truth and right ; but .when one has decided in a
man's favour, it is a hard case when he meets you
and says, "God bless your honour; it was only
through you I got the better of that blackguard."
The man does not believe in the truth and right of
his own case, and thinks he won by favour.

Untruth is at the bottom of the universal schem-
ing and jobbing that prevails. Without that such
scheming would be impossible, and the plausible
assurance and confidence with which it is all done —
the assertion of the very highest motives only — often
puts one in doubt whether to laugh or cry.

The most painful proof of the depth to which un-
truth prevails amongst us is the way in which some
of the Bishops and most of the clergy of the Church
of Ireland have acted under the Disestablishment Act.
The jobbing and money-getting that has gone on, espe-
. cially under the power given of Compounding, was such
as no one could have believed possible. The Act gave
the power to compound, i.e. of selling out his annuity
for a lump sum, free from the claim the Church Act
gave, that the clergyman should continue to do duty
in the Church. It required the consent of the Eepre-
sentative Body, plainly in order that Compounding
might only be done under such arrangements as would
not be a loss to the Church. Compounding in some
cases, and to a moderate and fair extent, was a gain,

IRELAND— ITS SOCIAL STATE. 145

but if carried far was a great loss to the Church.
The Eepresentative Body was very soon induced to
give the full right of compounding at their own
pleasure to all clergymen. We were assured they were
so conscientious, that the right might be granted safely.

It has come to pass that almost all men promoted
to better livings, compound for their former incum-
bencies before they finally accept the better ones,
and so, besides the income of the better livings, put
large sums in their pockets for ever, that otherwise
would and should have remained to the Church ! I
could quote cases within my own knowledge, in which
a Bishop appointed to a see, with a thoroughly
secured income of over £1500 a year, compounded
for a living he had held before, and put more than
£5000 besides into his pocket for ever, that otherwise
would have gone to the Disestablished Church. I
could tell of a Dean having a small living, and being
promoted to a much better living, and compounding
for the smaller living, and pocketing £2000 out of it,
besides the larger income of his new parish.

I am thankful to add that we have a few cases of
clergymen who refused to take a shilling of such
gains, because they said the money belonged to God's
service, and not to themselves. All honour be to
them!

3. There is no such thing as a healthy public
opinion in Ireland among any class. There is no-
thing and no one to put anybody to shame, what-

L

146 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

ever his conduct may be. Men often do acts, after
which, if done in England, they would never again
venture to look an honest man in the face. In Ire-
land they walk about as confident as ever, as if
they had done nothing to be ashamed of. Nobody
treats them as worse than others, or seems to think
them so.

4. There is no royal road to better the condition
of Ireland or to improve its land. A country in
such a backward and undeveloped state is simply in
a state of childhood. For this reason the strictest
application of sound rules of right and wrong, and of
those economical principles of free and open com-
petition that have so helped the prosperity of Eng-
land, are of supreme importance.

5. That the law should be always enforced is one
of the greatest needs of the country. "When there is
any difficulty in enforcing it, it is a sure proof that
the law needs to be strengthened, so that it may be
enforced. No one should be left the least hope that
he can evade the law. It is not severity that is
wanted — it is the certainty of punishment for wrong-
doing.

I believe that a sure punishment of one month
on the treadmill, if it might be inflicted summarily,
on the same principles as are held to justify arrest
when the Habeas Corpus Act is suspended, would
keep the most disturbed district quiet. I acted on
this view during the Fenian troubles, only of course

IRELAND— ITS SOCIAL STATE. 147

I was bound by the rules of evidence. Whenever I
could, I sent all who broke the law to the treadmill
for a month. The result was capital. The punish-
ment seemed so light that their very friends laughed
at them. But their own remark, after the month
was over, was, " Whisha, 'twould kill Samson." It did
come sharp on men of a sort not much used to hard
work. Afterwards I got a message from some of them
that I was so impartial that they would not object
to be tried for their lives by me. So it is clear I did
not sin in over-severity.

If indicted, they would have had the chance of a
" friend on the jury," who would not find a verdict.
Under Lord O'Hagan's last unfortunate Jury Act,
there are very few counties in which a conviction for
many sorts of crimes can be got. In Ireland, this
" friend on the jury " is one of the institutions of the
country, and one of its curses. Magistrates in Ireland
have often to serve on juries, and I have often done
so. Whenever a prejudice of religion, or any other,
could be brought into a case anyhow, though it was a
purely civil case, the end was certain. It was utterly
disgusting work, and added to one's conviction of
the grievous untruthfulness of the country. Any
one who had been a lawyer could see the counsel on
one side fighting to make a case for influencing a
juror to stand out, and so no verdict. There is a
public butter market in Cork, where business is done
to an immense value, but which is a wholly close

148 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

market, and has no legal rights whatever. In my
memory there have been five actions tried against
it with a view to open the market. In every one the
Judge summed up strongly against it ; but a friend
on the jury (the market is very influential) refused
to agree to a verdict, and so the market went on
again as before, and does so still.

It can be judged of from this, what are the chances
of a verdict in criminal cases in which religion or class
interests are concerned. The effect of the new Jury
Act is, that whilst in form promoting impartiality in
the selection of a jury, it really enables the criminal
to escape scatheless, whether he is guilty or not, be-
cause the jury is not impartial.

As proofs of the effect of enforcing the law, I
would recall O'Connell's trial after his agitation for
Repeal. A conviction was got, he was put in prison,
but not long after escaped by a writ of error in the
House of Lords upon a technical fault in the proceed-
ings. Yet such was the effect of its being seen and
felt that the Government would put the law in foi
and no longer allow itself to be trifled with, that
agitation collapsed, and he never again could recovt
his influence. So in the Fenian scare, the same nigl
that it was announced in the House of Commons th*
the Habeas Corpus would be suspended in Irelam
the steamers to England were full of Fenians gettii
out of reach of the expected Act ; they thought the
Standing Orders would be suspended, and the Act

IRELAND— ITS SOCIAL STATE. 149

passed at once. When lately the Westmeath Act
passed, which in substance gave power to suspend
the Habeas Corpus in proclaimed districts, they knew
there was not so much hurry, so waited for the third
reading in the House of Lords. There was a com-
plete reign of terror in Westmeath, kept up by only
about twelve or twenty ruffians, all known to the
police. They murdered the stationmaster at Mullin-
gar, because he was strict to the porters, and others.
A labourer could not be discharged without danger.
As soon as the third reading of the Act passed, the
whole set went together to America from Queenstown,
and the country was quiet.

I never took a serious view of the Fenian affair.
I thought it one of those Irish follies only needing
to have a firm foot placed on it to be put down.

In the small town near me a set of silly boys and
others " began the war " as they called it. Beginning
the war consisted in trying to rescue any drunken
men the police arrested and were taking to Bridewell.
They did not succeed in rescuing anybody, but in a
few days two or three attempts were made, and the
police were hustled and struck. Summonses for the
next Petty Sessions were issued, and threats were
used by the Fenians, that, if any one was punished,
it would be the worse for the magistrates, etc. etc.
I did not hear of the matter till the day before the
Petty Sessions, and having then asked what precau-
tions had been taken to prevent a rescue and protect

150 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

the magistrates, was told that a good many extra
police had been ordered in. I at once said that was
quite enough to make a successful fight, but not
enough to prevent a row from taking place (the only
right principle to act on in Ireland), and as there
were dragoons thirteen miles off, I signed a requisi-
tion for a small party of them to come over next
morning. At ten o'clock there they were, drawn up
outside the town, and waiting for a magistrate to
billet them.

The result was the most amiable quiet. The
officers sat with us for their amusement all day. I
went to Court resolved, if possible, that some one
should go to the treadmill for a month for his
country's good. Too much fuss had been made about
the first cases, and it was necessary to send them to
Quarter Sessions for trial, which had the effect of
letting the offenders out on bail. At length three
unhappy fellows had cases proved against them, and
I persuaded the other J.P/s to sentence them to one
month on the treadmill. In ordinary course they
would have been forwarded to Cork gaol next day.
And I knew that there would be an ovation of
Fenians, and perhaps a row, when they started.

It was a frosty evening, and I asked the officer of
the dragoons how fast he should go home if we let
him go. " About six miles an hour," was the answer.
I replied, " The door of the gaol at B. is just opposite
your barrack gate. Will you take charge of these

IRELAND— ITS SOCIAL STATE. 151

men in a car and lodge them in it ?" My friend was
only too happy to go home on such conditions. In a
quarter of an hour the soldiers were at the back door
of our Bridewell, mounted. The prisoners were in a
car with two policemen, and all trotted off, whilst
their friends knew nothing of what was happening,
and there was not a soul to cheer them. A note to the
county jailor requested him to give them as much of
the treadmill as the law permitted. And a grim answer
came back, that he would take care they should re-
turn with a salutary dread of that establishment.

So there was no more war or trouble with Fen-
ianism in that place. Some time after the men had
done their month, happening to meet the head con-
stable, I asked how his friends were going on. The
answer was, " Oh, sir, you might send them for a
message down the pump, if you wished. When they
meet me in the street, if they are the same side, they
cross over to the other, for fear I should say they
jostled me."

6. Home Eule is even a more pitiful sham than
Fenianism. In O'ConnelTs agitation the leaders were
at least men of intellect and power of mind. Every-
body knows what the Leaders and the Led are now.
The one good they have done is to make this known
to all. A firm grasp by the Government would put an
end to them.

It is this artificial character of Irish agitations, and
that they are not caused by real present grievances,

152 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

that makes much of the difficulty. Agitations are in
substance got up by the agitators, upon the remains
of the ill-will of former days, and are purposely
contrived to give all the trouble possible in every
way. Every one in them means to go as far as he
can, without getting himself personally into trouble.
The more bad motives and ill-will he can infuse, and
the more alarm and excitement he can cause, the
more his end is attained.

Yet all this time the real danger to the peace of
the country is very small, as all sensible men, and
even the agitators too, know well. Of course, the
classes which would gain by the agitation, if it could
succeed, back it up as well as they can. Why should
they not do so ? If agitators in England proposed to
give a great dole to some poor class out of the
pockets of another class, would they too not shout
for it? What does the fear of Socialism on the
Continent, especially in Germany, mean ? Its root
is the same as that of Irish agitation.

But in Ireland the class that hopes to gain by it
has no idea of committing itself. If the agitation
succeeds, it will gain something. If it fails, it loses
nothing that it had before. It is just making-believe,
like all the rest. I firmly believe the mass of the
people are quiet and willing to obey the law, only they
cannot resist trying what can be had at the cost of
others by scheming, when the hope is held out to them.

7. Another great need of the country is more

IRELAND— ITS SOCIAL STATE. 153

industry. They are not an industrious people. Hard
work, however gainful, is disliked. They will work
hard by fits and starts ; but the steady backbone is
not there. There is nothing to hinder any man from
reaping the fruit of his industry. Many do so.
Things are not now as they were before the famine,
when, if a tenant lost his bit of land, there was little
for him to fall back on. Labour is now well paid,
whilst there is every facility for earning still higher
wages in England and America. The man who clings
to a wretched bit of land in Ireland, that is unable to
support him and his, is just a pauper, and must be so
for ever if he stays.

What Mr. Eobert Chambers, with Scotch canni-
ness, calls the "peasant proprietor craze" needs
qualities that are very rare in Ireland — great industry,
skill, and self-exertion.

Instead of being a sort which the State should
strive to root in the soil, the State (if it is to do
anything) should put paupers like these somewhere
where they can earn a better living, and the children
can grow up in comfort and decency, different from
the state of their parents. Such paupers are useful
to agitators, and to no one else. They form, in fact,
the agitator's stock-in-trade, and the agitators accord-
ingly do their best to preserve them. The more that
is done for them by the State, or any one else, the
worse they will be. They are in the position of a
protected interest under the very worst circum-

154 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

stances, because they never had any industry or
exertion in them. To treat them as some seem to
wish is pure protectionism. And as with other pro-
tected interests, Free Competition, in the same way
as it has been brought to bear on all the other pro-
tected interests of the kingdom, is the only way to
cure the evils that arise from it.

Those who propose heroic cures are, without
exception, men who have no personal knowledge of
land or of farming. All the powers on earth cannot
improve land, except by the expenditure of capital of
some sort, or of labour which is capital. These men
have no sort of capital, they hinder those who have it
from expending it, and will not work hard themselves.

The principle of the Land Act was economically
unsound. It was really a measure of protectionism
for one kind of business — small farming in the hands
of the least industrious class in the three kingdoms.
The business of small farming needs the stimulus of
free competition more than almost any other busi-
ness; and protection to small farmers was sure to
produce, and has produced, the same effects on them
that it has produced everywhere else.

8. One thing that makes the progress of Ireland
slow is that it is only within the last ten years that
the personal recollections of the Eebellion of 1*798
have passed away. Ten years ago there were many
alive who could tell of the crimes and horrors they
had actually seen or heard. And there is a reality in

IRELAND— ITS SOCIAL STATE. 155

the accounts of such things by old people who have
been eye-witnesses, that makes them very different
from hearsay second-hand stories.

It is not many years since, taking shelter in a
cabin from a shower, an old woman told me all that
happened during the rebellion of 1798 in my own
neighbourhood. Chancing to repeat what she had
told me to a friend, a General Officer of Artillery
from another district, he answered, " Kemember it ?
why, I was out, and helping to put the rebellion
down." It appeared that his father, having fought
manfully as a Eoyalist in South Carolina during
the American Eevolution, and lost in it wife and
child and all that he had there, when the rebellion
of '98 broke out, was put in command of a camp
of volunteers, etc., twelve miles from his home in
Ireland. My friend was twelve years old, and when
his father started for his command, his mother hid
the boy's shoes, to prevent his following. When his
father got up next morning, there was the boy with-
out shoes in the corner of the tent. So he was
allowed to stay and go through it.

Soon after, talking over the subject with an old
poor-law guardian, he said, "Oh, I remember all about
it. I was a boy and lay behind the ditch, to see it
all, when there was the fighting at the cross above."

This fighting is known in history as the Battle of
Ballinascarthy, which I well recollect to have heard
of often in childhood, because our best tenant had

156 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

been killed at it with a year's rent in his pocket,
which was never seen after.

Part of a regiment of militia from the north of
Ireland had been quartered at the small town near,
to keep the district quiet. It was known that some
of the men had been tampered with by the rebels.
So the militia were ordered to march one morning for
Cork, whilst some regulars were sent from Cork to
take their place.

My friend the guardian described it : — " They
went along the old road as far as the Big Cross
(marked on the Ordnance map still as Croppy's
Cross). There the rebels were waiting for them in
the fields. The captain was on horseback, and he
stood upon the bit of grass in the middle, where the

roads meet, and the sergeant by his side. Jack

he put up his gun to shoot the officer, and before he

could do it, the sergeant shot him. Then Jim he

shot the sergeant; and they were just going at it
hammer and tongs (no doubt in hopes to master and
kill the officers and loyal men) when, sure enough,
the army from Cork was seen coming over the hill
along the road, not a quarter of a mile off. Then
they ran away down the fields as hard as they could

go, and the soldiers after them. And then Peter ,

and Mick , and Pat , and Denis , with a

dozen others — whose names he mentioned as fathers,
or uncles, or related to people one knew about — were
all killed."

IRELAND— ITS SOCIAL STATE. 157

Can it be wondered at that, when living accounts
of fights like this, and of many others worse and far
more barbarous, could be heard from eye-witnesses,
breaking the law should be thought little of ? I can
remember how the horror of the stories I heard
fastened itself on my imagination in early youth :
such as the burning of the Shea family in the county
Tipperary, the murder of another family at Wild
Goose Lodge, and many others.

Whilst such things as these are present in men's
minds, not as matters of history, but as realities, a
country cannot be peaceable ; everything in the way
of outrage seems possible and easy.

Then wherever men have the idea of outrage in
their minds, intimidation is sure to present itself as
advantageous. In fact, in Ireland, in any difficulty, the
first resource of many is intimidation. The frequent
threatening letters we read of in the papers are a
proof of this, though ninety-nine out of a hundred
are rubbish — only attempts to frighten. The threats
are by no means always threats of outrage, but of all
kinds of indefinite wrath, loss of favour and of help,
which the unhappy offender will or shall encounter.
Many will threaten, and try to intimidate, who never
really intend to commit an outrage. Then the people
are curiously afraid of each other. Again and again,
when I have suggested to a man that he should do
something that was likely to be unpopular with some
of his neighbours, I have had the answer, " How

158 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

could I tell, but may be when I was not expecting it
I'd get a blow of a stone on my head, from behind
a ditch, that might kill me ? "

9. The idea that a man is independently to act
on his own judgment about public questions does not
seem to exist. I remember many years ago, during
the reign of Lord Palmerston, his Attorney-General
was member of Parliament for County Cork. He
had to seek re-election on his appointment, and
though a thoroughly respectable Eoman Catholic, the
Koman Catholic priests opposed him, to punish Lord
Palmerston for something he had done. The Attor-
ney-General was a native of the small town near me,
where he had many relatives, and was very popular.
So the people and Roman Catholic clergy of it were
all with him, but not so in other parishes. I went to
vote for him, and when I got near the polling-place,
I saw a mob, which, as soon as they saw me, started
off towards me. I soon found they were townspeople,
who had caught a very respectable and thriving
tenant of mine from a neighbouring parish, going to
vote against their popular Attorney-General. They
had had him some time, arguing that I was going
to vote for their man, so he had no right to vote
the other way, and when I came, I should make him
vote as they wished. He declared he was sure I
should not ask him. So all eagerly rushed at me,
entreating me to make him vote right. The coolness
of the man, who was only gratifying his priest, and

IRELAND— ITS SOCIAL STATE. 159

the excitement of the crowd, were most amusing to
see. I told him, of course, to do as he liked, to the
sore disappointment of my neighbours. It was most
characteristic. Nowhere are the mischiefs of govern-
ment by party so evident as in a country in the con-
dition of Ireland. The questions that divide parties
in England and Scotland are only on the surface,
compared with those that are at stake in Ireland.
It is not alone differences of religion, but all the
rights of property, as hitherto understood, that are in
the balance.

10. The system of competitive examination for
all the minor Government appointments, as Excise,
Customs, etc., has done great good if only by lessen-
ing the party patronage to be given away. The
number of successful candidates has been much be-
yond the proportion of the numbers of the people.
A good schoolmaster, able to grind up youths for
the examination, does great good and gets well paid.
The successive masters of a national school in the
small town near, of which I am the manager, have
more than once passed three or four candidates,
out of a total of eighty to one hundred vacancies for
the three kingdoms. The school is only attended by
Protestant children, of whom we have many. But
for grinding youths for Government examinations,
Roman Catholics come to our masters as freely as
Protestants. Religious differences don't count when
there is something to be got, and Roman Catholics

160 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

succeed as well as Protestants when they have an
equally good teacher.

11. Whatever appointments, high or low, are
made for party reasons are often grievously jobbed ;
and there is no difference in that respect in my ex-
perience between the two parties ; one is as bad as
the other. Thus, the appointments to the magistracy
are often very bad. Men are not seldom appointed
who are wholly unfit, without education, knowledge,
character, or even property. Eeligion or politics are
the only motive. The queer thing is that some of
the worst appointments are those of men of a differ-
ent religion from that supposed to be allied with the
party by whom the appointment is made. "We have
men nominated of whom it is doubtful if they can
read and write, and others who, unless direly maligned,
have themselves been guilty of all sorts of offences.
No one can believe the harm such appointments
do. The Stipendiary magistrates, too, are appointed
for party reasons, and many of them are very in-
ferior, and of no value ; in no way men of the high
character that well-paid Government officials ought
to be. Of course, some are fit men, but others are
such as a magistrate who knows his business would
prefer not to have with him, if there was any diffi-
culty.

The same evil is visible, though in a less degree,
in the Chairmen of Quarter Sessious. Having at-
tended Quarter Sessions for nearly forty years in

IRELAND— ITS SOCIAL STATE. 161

Ireland, I have of course seen a great variety, and
many whom I knew are dead or have left. Whilst
some were men to be respected, I have seen things
permitted by others, and done by them, and a want
of uprightness, that, as a lawyer, made one's blood
boil. Going to Ireland fresh from years of Circuit
and Sessions, and having also acted for years as a
magistrate for Suffolk, with a colleague on the Bench
who had been himself a lawyer, and was quite the
best magistrate I ever knew, I grieved from the first
over these great defects in the administration of
justice in Ireland, and have never ceased to lament
them.

Appointing the best man to be found, and mak-
ing the administration of justice the first object, is
not cared for as it ought to be ; and though the out-
ward forms may be carefully kept up, yet on many
questions there is an evident bias, which is very
hurtful. Let what I have said of the absence of a
healthy public opinion be always remembered, as
well as the backward state of tilings fifty or a
hundred years ago. The improvement since that
time will then be seen to be great, and in spite of all
drawbacks, it is still going on.

The object to aim at is to raise into a higher
state poor and backward people, who by help of potato
cultivation had grown up in numbers that potatoes
alone could barely support, and who have neither
industry, self-reliance, nor knowledge of anything fit-
M

162 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

ting them for such higher state, now when potatoes
can no longer be relied on. And the question is,
whether this can best be done by acting on plans which
are partly speculative theories about peasant proprie-
torship, partly the scheming of those who have their
own ends to serve, and partly the sentimental views
of politicians, all seeking to employ means hitherto
unknown among us, and which would be unjust and
dishonest to the class of owners ; or by following the
plain common-sense ways of practical men, who un-
derstand land, and which have succeeded in their
hands, and whether they wholly succeed or not, must
do good so far as they go.

ULSTER TENANT-RIGHT. 163

CHAPTER XII.

ULSTER TENANT-RIGHT.
DECEMBER 1, 1880. (Partly from Macmillan's Magazine.)

IN discussing the proposed remedies -for Irish diffi-
culties it is needful to bear clearly in mind the facts
that have been established in former papers, before all
things, the thorough Scheming and falsehood that run
through everything said and done in Ireland. It has
been suggested to me that out of Ireland it will not
be understood what is meant by scheming. It is the
working to make personal gain out of everything,
small or great, without respect to truth or honesty, —
e.g. saying that tenants have brought the land out of
a valueless state by nature into productiveness ; that
they have made valuable permanent improvements,
that they are charged unduly high rents, and their
improvements taken advantage of by the landlords ;
that they are treated with hardness and capriciously
evicted — these are statements almost wholly untrue,
and if in a few cases true, are only so in part. They
are put forward as the ground for every sort of unjus-
tifiable claim, in hope of getting some personal gain.

164 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

The real state of the country is one of great back-
wardness in civilisation. Education, habits, and ideas,
are those of a semi-barbarous people. They have both
the virtues and vices of that state. Eead the daily
account in the papers of outrages committed. To
say nothing of shocking murders, consider what such
facts as these mean. — Not long ago the house of a
poor man in County Limerick, who had given offence,
was beset. They tied him down in bed and cut off
his ears. Of course this is better than burning him
and his wife and children alive in their house, as
was done in the same district within the memory of
many. Only to cut off the man's ears shows progress.
But what a progress ! It is still grievous barbarism,
if less horrible than formerly. Since then other poor
men's ears have been cut off. Cutting off ears or
slitting them is fast becoming an institution in Ire-
land. It has become a positive cause of fear to harm-
less people. Yet there are a large number of Irish
M.P.'s who feel no shame in stirring up an agitation,
of which these acts are the sure fruit, and when such
cruelties have been done, palliate and excuse them,
and deny that they are answerable for such wicked-
ness, and think it is enough to assert it is the fault
of the Government or landlords, and face it out with
vehement assertion.

The country being in this state of semi-barbarism,
with parts on the eastern side more advanced,
parts on the western side more backward, the first

ULSTER TENANT-RIGHT. 165

fact to be observed is, that the average Irish peasant
has no desire for progress and civilisation. His view
is that he ought to be left all the rough advantages
of his uncivilised condition, and that besides con-
cessions ought to be made to him (at whose cost he
cares not), to make up to him, and more, for all the
disadvantages of that condition. The strongest ground
on which he asks for such concessions is his poverty,
and he and his M.P.'s urge the extreme poverty of
the poorest part of Connaught as a sufficient reason
why concessions should be extended over the three-
fourths of Ireland that are much farther advanced.
He has no thought that concession, not founded on
strict right, must be ruinous to the country, and in
the end even to himself. The present moment and
his personal gain are all he can think of, and by this
importunity of poverty, like the clamour of the sturdy
beggar, he does influence those who act on sentiment
rather than on facts. It is these very men who use
threats and commit outrages to keep up, as far as
possible, a Eeign of Terror. Nearly all the fine senti-
ments of patriotism and the rest, that are put forward,
are the merest shams, invented for the occasion,
having no foundation in fact. The strongest feeling
of patriotism is jealousy of England. The legislation
of 1870 proceeded on the view that most Irish tenants
are good and worthy men, and most Irish landlords
the reverse ; the truth being, that the proportion of
bad tenants in Ireland, indolent, drinking, and use-

166 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

less, is grievously large, and though some landlords
neglect their duties by not laying out money on their
land, the proportion of those who treat their tenants
with any harshness is very small.

The Devon Commission in 1844 visited every
corner of Ireland and investigated every case of hard-
ship that could be heard of. The result was so trifling
that for a generation complaints of hardship ceased.
Lately such complaints have again begun, it is believed
with less foundation even than in 1844. Whenever
definite complaints have been made, they have been
shown to be untrue. One good of the new Com-
mission is, that it will test all such complaints. This
is the reason why it is objected to by the Land
League.

We who live in the country know the men and
the details of the cases in our own districts that are
brought forward. I know the facts about two such
cases that have been the pretence for neighbouring
land meetings, and assert that, from first to last, they
rest on mere untruth. It is upon men in this social
and moral state that the franchise has been conferred.
They are placed in what is to them a constitutional
hotbed, with the same rights as sober, intelligent,
and educated men in England and Scotland enjoy.
A better illustration cannot be found than in the
Borough Franchise. In England in boroughs every
householder has a vote. In Ireland a £4 valuation
is required for a vote. If a household franchise was

ULSTER TENANT-RIGHT. 167

given, the occupier of every thatched hovel would
have a vote, and the whole political power in such
boroughs (not including large towns) would be put
into the hands of the occupiers of these hovels. A
hovel is a house, and a house may be a hovel. There-
fore the immense difference between the occupiers of
hovels in Irish boroughs and houses in England is
put aside.

What wonder can there be that dwellers in such
wretched hovels as can be seen in the purlieus of
every Irish town think that the only use of a vote is
to try and get some personal gain for themselves, and
are ready to follow the foolishness of agitators, who
are really only the worst of their own sort, much
worse than most of the poor people, having all their
faults and none of their good qualities ? The one
argument in favour of the extension of the franchise
in Ireland is, that the members returned now are
such a thoroughly bad set, that it is impossible worse
can be found, whatever the franchise may be. It is
hard to answer this.

The extension of the Ulster tenant-right custom
to the rest of Ireland is often spoken of as a remedy
for all the evils of the country. Such an exten-
sion would be contrary to all principles of honest
dealing towards the owners of land. By the Ulster
tenant-right, whenever the tenant leaves his farm
from any cause, he is usually entitled to sell (what is
called) his interest in it to the highest bidder, pro-

168

A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

vided he is not a bad character. The transaction
is wholly between the outgoing and incoming tenants,
the landlord having nothing to do with it, except that
any arrears of rent due are paid out of the purchase-
money. The landlord may object to the purchaser if
he is of bad character. But the faults that would
justify such an objection are not of the kind that are
common among those who have money enough to
buy a farm. So that this right in the landlord is
of little consequence. In theory, too, the landlord is
at liberty to raise the rent. But the practical
difficulties in his way, unless the rise be very trifling
or the rent unduly low, are so great, that it is very
seldom he can accomplish it. The rate of purchase
is sometimes as high as twenty years of the rent and
over. Ten years' purchase is thought an ordinary
and moderate rate. The price depends upon the
acreable rent, and all the other incidents that affect
the letting value of land, especially the demand for
farms at the moment. Whether the times are good
or bad makes a great difference in the price of tenant-
right. It has been asserted that tenant-right existed
in Ulster more than 200 years ago. The proof of
this, however, is very indifferent. Whether it ex-
isted or not, it is certain its great extension occurred
at the latter part of the last century, when the great
improvement of the linen trade took place. Hand-
spinning of linen thread and handloom-weaving were
then universal in many parts of Ireland. They went

ULSTER TENANT-RIGHT. 169

on in every farmer's and labourer's house. The land
in Ulster had already been very much subdivided.
When the linen trade flourished, it enabled industrious
families to make money and pay great sums for the
tenant-right of the small lots of their neighbours,
willing to sell from any cause.

The spinning-wheel and the loom afterwards
earned the means of stocking and manuring the land
bought. Tenant-right can only live when the rent is
under the true value of the land. If the land is let
at the full value, the tenant has nothing to sell.
Very little thought will show it is impossible men
should go on, from generation to generation, paying
the full value of the land in rent, and a great sum
of money besides on entry. In those days, and long
after, rents were very ill paid in Ireland ; the land-
lords lost in this way very largely. As under tenant-
right all arrears of rent due were paid out of the
purchase-money, most Ulster landlords acquiesced in
the system, and sanctioned it. The purchaser paid
his money into the landlord's office ; the arrears were
taken out of it, and the balance handed to the out-
going tenant. It was well known that often incoming
tenants thus paid away not only all their own money,
but also all they were able to borrow from their
friends besides, in order to buy Tenant-right.

When thus stripped of capital it was impossible
a tenant should farm the land well. If a few bad
years chanced to come he was ruined, and had to sell

170

A LIFE >S WORK IN IRELAND.

his interest again for whatever it would fetch, sub-
mitting to the loss. Any arrears of rent that he might
have accumulated in his turn were stopped out of
the money that was payable to Mm, and thus he
often became a pauper, or near it. The immense
effect of bad or good years upon Tenant-right has never
been duly observed. It is much greater than upon
tenants holding in the common way. Further, Tenant-
right is a chattel. It may be sold by a creditor for
debt, and it may be left by will or settled independ-
ently of the farm itself. Sales by creditors are
common, they are just the same as ejectments in
effect. Tenant-right, too, is left often to wife and
younger children as a provision, and so has to be paid
over again by the son who gets the farm, thus pump-
ing the farm dry of capital every generation, at the
very time when a young, energetic man enters on it,
who could do much good if he had the capital.
Tenant-right rested wholly upon custom ; the cus-
tom is said to vary in nearly every county in Ulster.
It had no legal authority, but the customs were so un-
doubted that hardly any one thought of disregarding
them, or indeed would have ventured to do so. The
Land Act gave the customs legal right. Having
been acted on by landlord and tenant alike, there was a
clear equity in favour of the customs, and it was right
that any legal doubt about them should be removed.
There have been disputes under the Land Act,
but they have been about small accessories of the

ULSTER TENANT-RIGHT. 171

customs. These have been decided on appeal by
the judges of the superior courts named for that pur-
pose. It has been established that a limitation of
the customs on estates to four years' purchase is good.
This was settled as to Lord Erne's estate in Ulster,
where the tenants are very flourishing. Four years
was insisted on, because by paying more the new ten-
ant stripped himself so bare of capital as to have none
for farming the land. There have been other like minor
points. The decisions, it should be observed, wholly
turn on the question, What was the custom of the
estate ? The tenants had bought their several rights
in their farms expressly under the custom of the estate,
well known to them and the landlord. What they had
bought and paid for, the same, and no other, they
had a just claim to sell. The tenants' efforts of
course have been to claim and get the utmost custom
that prevails anywhere. Whenever a decision was
made contrary to their interest, of course a howl and
clamour rose up about it. Several small attempts
have been made in Parliament to get an Act passed
reversing the judges' decisions. All have failed.
The custom is the universal rule of right everywhere.
About 1840 I went to Ulster to inform myself on
the management of land there. Previous to that
time the difficulties in the management of land in
Ulster were as great as in other provinces. Tenants
were usually as badly off and unsatisfactory as else-
where. The linen trade had led to great subdivision

172 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

of farms. The arrears of rent on many estates were
grievous. The intermixing of fields of different
occupiers caused a great loss to the tenants. How is
it possible to farm to advantage when the farmer has
several fields, an acre or two each in different parts
of the estate, that he must go a quarter or half a mile
round to get into !

As I have said before, I happened to know Mr.
W. Blacker, of Armagh. He had started the plan
of getting over a Scotch grieve and fixing him on
an estate, whose whole business it should be to
go amongst the tenants to teach them better farm-
ing, and especially how to grow clover and turnips,
before quite unknown. This answered well. The
increased food for stock soon produced more and
better manure ; this gave better crops, and a wonder-
ful change was effected. I stayed some time with
Mr. Blacker, and remember going over an estate with
him which he had bought for a friend. It was
bought with a large arrear of rent upon it, every
shilling of which by this plan was paid up in a few
years, and the purchase-money thus largely reduced,
whilst the tenants prospered much.

Nothing could be more interesting or instructive
than the results Mr. Blacker showed. His example
had been followed by many other landlords, some-
times by getting Scotch grieves, sometimes by trans-
planting one of Mr. Blacker's good tenants into one
of their farms as an example. Having gone with him

ULSTER TENANT-RIGHT. 173

for a tour in the counties of Tyrone and Fermanagh,
to see what was going on there among his pupils, I
remember at one place we went to visit one of Mr.
Blacker's transplanted tenants, and found he had
given up all the good ways in which he had been
instructed, and had relapsed into barbarous native
habits.

Whilst Blacker was reproving his erring sheep,
an old neighbouring tenant, who had joined himself
to us in our walk, as the way is in Ireland, came up
to his landlord and me, and said, "Whisha, your
honour, ye brought that fellow to be a parable to us,
and sure he is as bad as any of us." It was too true.

It will thus be seen that though the looms were
then in almost every house in a large part of Ulster,
Tenant-right did not save the country from the com-
mon troubles of Irish bad farming and subdividing
land, nor raise the condition of the people. It never
could do so. Still less can it do so in the other pro-
vinces, where very few are able to pay large sums to
get possession of farms but shopkeepers who have
made money in business. What is the gain from
such men as farmers ? A great trade in Ulster for
many generations has enriched many of the people,
and Scotch blood and habits have helped to make
Ulster more prosperous. That is all. After the
Land Act passed in 1870 we had several very pros-
perous years for farmers. The prices paid for Ten-
ant-right rose higher and higher; and the years

174 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

being good, and, as usual, Hope telling a flattering
tale, all were sure that prosperity would be eter-
nal, only greater prosperity still. Sellers and buyers
both could not praise Tenant-right enough. Though
those of us who remembered that after the famine
in 1846 the price of Tenant-right fell to almost
nothing, and knew its unsoundness in principle,
always predicted what would happen in the changes
and chances of time. The last three years the tall
talk in Ulster itself in favour of Tenant-right has
greatly come down. Of course there are many who
still praise it, and the interests of all who now occupy
land are involved in it to the extent of hoping to be
able to sell out of their farms well. The present
discontent in Ulster is wholly caused by a heavy fall
in the price of Tenant-right. Let the account of
Donegal in Mr. Tuke's pamphlet on Irish Distress
and its Remedies, p. 8 et seq., be read. These letters
give the most instructive view of Tenant-right that I
have ever seen. They prove that it in no way meets
the farmer's troubles and difficulties.

It will be seen then that Tenant-right is no security
even against starvation. Tenant-right is as strong
in Donegal as in any other part of Ulster; yet, as
Mr. Tuke tells us, whole parishes were starving last
winter, though every man had this valuable Tenant-
right, as it is supposed to be, which he could have
sold not long before for ten to twenty years' purchase.
A few with better or larger lots, that could still find

ULSTER TENANT-RIGHT. 175

purchasers, sold out at a low price to go to America.
(Page 11.) The rest were fed by charity. Large
parts all over Ulster, in spite of Tenant-right, are no
better than the rest of Ireland. And this is put forth
as a system to cure all the evils of the country ! The
sure result of a bad system is, it breaks down when
the pinch comes. For forty years past it has been
my clear opinion, as a practical farmer, that the time
would come when Ulster would be the poorest part
of Ireland, because Tenant-right sucked away from
the land the capital that ought to enrich it. Nor are
the difficulties at all confined to Donegal. Wherever
the effect of the linen trade is not felt, the tenants are
in the same state as in Donegal.

In the English Agricultural Gazette of August
30, there are two letters from an Ulster farmer who
is plainly a man of some education, and, we are told
by Mr. Morton, the editor, has often sent him valu-
able practical notes on farming subjects. The letters
are nothing else but a prolonged scream against rents
and landlords, with really piteous and pitiable appeals
to landlords and to Parliament to lower rents out of
charity, and every other motive he can think of. Of
course he does not say that he or his predecessor
bought the Tenant-right of his farm from the previous
tenant for a large sum, knowing perfectly the rent it
was subject to, and without any thought of the land-
lord, thus proving the farm to be worth more than
the rent he pays. He calls himself one of an

176 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

oppressed and down-trodden class ; talks of landlords
rolling in wealth, and tries to excite every prejudice
and ill-feeling that the Land League habitually relies
on, because, having made a bad bargain in buying
Tenant-right, his landlord does not save him from
the consequent loss.

Well may Mr. A. M. Sullivan, the Home Eule
M.P., suggest, as he does, that the price of Tenant-
right shall be fixed by arbitration as well as the rent.
I wonder how the tenants who have Tenant-right to
sell will like that proposal. It is a blessed foretaste
of the wise principles on which Ireland will be
governed under Home Eule. Why should not every-
thing be decided by arbitration ? prices of corn and
meat, e.g. As one wrote lately, why should tenants
get a great boon in price, and buyers of bread and
meat pay as long a price as ever ?

To any one who can read between the lines,
both Mr. Sullivan's letter and Mr. Tuke's pam-
phlet are more than instructive. The Land Act
makes Tenant-right legally binding in all parts of
Ireland as much as in Ulster, wherever like customs
exist. There are many estates in other parts, of
which Lord Portsmouth in Wexford is a leading
example, on which the custom of Tenant-right has
been allowed to grow up. Whenever this has
happened with the consent of landlord and tenant,
no one has a right to say anything against it. If it
is unsound in principle, it must be left to cure itself

ULSTER TENANT-RIGHT. 177

in time, and meanwhile it does not hinder others
from acting on sounder principles, or stop, except to
a small extent, the general progress of the country,
which depends on sound principle and on nothing
else. Tenant-right is liked by agents, because it
greatly lessens their trouble in collecting rents and
getting rid of bad tenants, who must be turned out.
The rent is always safe, and a broken tenant goes
out with much less trouble when he is to receive a
lot of money on doing so ; though to oblige the
landlord to pay a fat, idle, drinking tenant because
he ruins himself would be absurd. Naturally when a
tenant paid nothing at all for his farm at hiring, he
finds it pleasant and profitable if he leaves it to
receive a great sum also for nothing.

Forty years ago, I remember, it was much dis-
cussed in the South, among landowners and agents,
whether the introduction of the Ulster Tenant-right
on their estates would be advantageous.

Having thoroughly seen its working in Ulster, I
have never had any doubt that the common way of
fair contract between landlord and tenant was much
better for both ; that the tenants would gain far
more by using their money in better stocking and
manuring their farms, and that they need every
shilling for those purposes ; that paying away their
capital to outgoing tenants who had to leave land
they had utterly exhausted, and which could only
be restored by more capital, could only be ruinous.

N

178 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

Besides, in those days very few of my men had any
money. What could they have done under Tenant-
right, and with their farms often intermixed in four
or five separate parts of the estate ? Unless hy going
in debt, not one of them under the Ulster custom
could have got an acre more than he had, or a better
situated field.

m

The payment of the arrears of rent out of the
purchase money of Tenant-right differs nothing from
the payment of a fine to the landlord, which in Eng-
land everybody understands is ruinous to any estate,
and so has been almost wholly abandoned there.
Nothing but the great ignorance in Ireland of sound
principles relating to land prevents such a system
being scouted as the utter folly it really is. Whether
the incoming tenant pays his money to the outgoing
tenant for Tenant-right, or to a landlord as a fine,
equally drains him of capital. It is in substance a
fine far beyond the amount ever heard of anywhere
else, or that the hardest landlord ever exacted. Such
fines as seven, or ten, or twenty years' value were
never dreamed of in business ; the usual copyhold fines
never approached such a sum. It is certain that if
Tenant-right was made compulsory throughout Ire-
land, all understanding landlords would be forced only
to let on heavy fines to secure themselves.

This ignorance extends to men of ability and
character. A man so much respected as Judge
Longfield, whom I wish to speak of only with the

ULSTER TENANT-RIGHT. 179

regard I feel for him, is as ignorant in this way as
others. Judge Longfield's article in the Fortnightly
for August shows throughout that he knows nothing
of practical farming and management of land. Yet
it is on such knowledge of land that the question
turns, and no legal knowledge will make up for the
want of it. Judge Longfield does not say a word on
the undoubted evil of stripping a tenant bare of the
capital wanted for better farming his land, but pro-
poses that somehow the tenant should pay seven years'
rent to the landlord for Tenant-right. Seven years of
£50 a year rent of a farm is £350. Where are many
tenants to be found with capital enough to pay this,
make all permanent improvements, and farm the land
besides ? My tenants are richer than most, yet only
one or two would be able to do this, except by going
in debt. Judge Longfield's whole scheme is a milder
Ulster Tenant-right, honestly recognising in part the
rights of owners to their land. Why have they not
the same right to the whole as to part ? It is open
to the same difficulties and objections still, as a breach
of the rights of owners, unless he means it to be left
as voluntary. He suggests the rent may vary every
ten years, upon principles as complicated as a Chinese
puzzle, just as if nobody had ever heard of the work-
ing of leases for nineteen or twenty -one years in
Scotland, and their benefit, and that the best farming
authorities in the kingdom believe such twenty -one

180

A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

year leases are the greatest gain to landlords and
tenants alike ; and that under the modern system of
high feeding and manuring, which alone pays, it is
impossible in less than nineteen years to recompense
the tenant for honest outlay in good farming.

TENANT-RIGHT AND THE THREE F'S. 181

CHAPTEK XIII.

TENANT-RIGHT AND THE THREE F'S.

THE sentiment of some politicians in England has
caused the Tenant-right system to be spoken of
with tolerance. It will not, however, bear discus-
sion on principle. That on which legal Tenant-right
wholly rests is custom. In Parliament it was put on
the same ground as copyhold custom in England.

In forty years no tenant of mine has ever paid or
received a shilling for Tenant-right. If the custom
is to be acted on in my case (and thousands of others),
Tenant-right is simply impossible. I have given
nearly all my tenants larger, many much larger,
farms than they had. Every field is near the home-
stead, and none of them are scattered about. Most are
paying smart rents, but there are no arrears. Many
tenants have become wealthy. The two rent-days are
fixed at times most convenient to them for paying.
No excuse except positive misfortune is taken.

I shall be happy to show them against the tenants
of any equal number of acres on Lord Portsmouth's
estate, or any other, where Tenant-right is allowed, in

182 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

wealth, condition of their farms, and good farming. If
any one thinks Lord Portsmouth's example is of weight
in the question, I ask him to come and see my land.

The simple fact is that money laid out by the
farmer in manuring exhausted land will pay him
many times better than any other way he can spend
it. Ten, twenty, fifty per cent is a common return.
Often all the money comes back in the first crop, and
pays well for years after. What money my men had
they thus laid out, instead of stripping themselves
bare to buy Tenant-right. In consequence, the con-
dition of their farms is much better, and when times
were good they were fast making money. Many are
now wealthy men. There are few who are not com-
fortable, or whom I should wish to change.

Thus the fatal objection to the Ulster Tenant-
right is that it absorbs, in buying it, all or a great
part of whatever capital an incoming tenant has, and
leaves him often without the means of farming well,
and always crippled in means. There can be no
doubt that in Ireland the farming class is far less
wealthy than the same class in England and Scotland.
Yet whilst there every care is taken to let only men
with sufficient capital into farms ; it is said here it will
be for the advantage of all future Irish farmers to pay
away a great part of the small capital they have to
the outgoing tenants, who nine times out of ten
failed because they were indolent or drank, and that a
heavy fine in the shape of arrears of rent should be

TENANT-RIGHT AND THE THREE F'S. 183

paid to the landlords. The money he gets will be
probably spent by the broken tenant in idling and
drinking, instead of his being forced to work and earn
an honest living as a laboTirer, which any one in most
parts of Ireland, out of Connaught, who likes, can do
now as easily as he could in England or Scotland.

An actual case will enable the best judgment to
be formed. Last January I ejected a tenant for non-
payment of rent who was a drunken rake. His farm
was fifty-two acres, at £52 a year. It was good land,
but for many years he had done nothing to it in
manuring or anything else. Twice I have seen his
corn left in the field till winter, being not worth
paying labourers to cut it, and he too lazy to do it
himself, though idling about all day at the public -
houses, that were unluckily near him. But he kept
his eight cows, which he let to a dairyman, his own
wife, a strong young woman, being too idle to manage
them. The cows paid his rent, and more, till last
year, when I was glad to get rid of him as an eyesore
and discredit to the estate. I relet the farm at once
for £64 per annum to a Scotchman. I engaged to
put up good buildings that will cost £200. There
were a good house and barn before, a large part of
the cost of which I paid more than thirty-five years
ago for the tenant's father, an honest thriving fellow,
who lived comfortably and prospered. All other
buildings were wholly ruinous, the land dirty and
exhausted. ' If there had been Ulster Tenant-right

184 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

at ten years' purchase, at least £520, should have been
paid to this worthless man for nothing. The land
was all dry by nature : there were no other improve-
ments on it. The Scotchman would have had to
pay the £520 Tenant-right, though without any con-
sideration for doing so. And he would of course have
had to put up buildings for himself costing £200 —
£720 capital spent for a farm of fifty -two acres.
Where was the capital then to come from for stock-
ing, manuring, and farming it ? £10 an acre, £500
was wanted for this purpose. Nowhere are men to
be found with £1200 capital to lay out in occupying
a farm of fifty-two acres. The interest on the money
alone at 10 per cent would be £120 a year, 47s. 6d.
per acre, leaving the rent of 24s. per acre, a trifle by
comparison. In England or Scotland a farmer with
£1200 would hire 150 acres of land. With that
quantity he could do something, and earn his 10
per cent well. No one with that capital would hire
fifty-two acres, nor would any one who knew his
business do so in Ireland. Having added largely to
nearly all my tenants' farms, without the increase of
land having cost them one shilling of capital in any
way, I am able to give any number of similar cases.

Here is another illustration. Soon after I came
home from London last July I met in the street a
prosperous old fellow who has a large farm from a
neighbour, and with whom I had very long been
friendly. After mutual inquiry after each other's

TENANT-RIGHT AND THE THREE F'S. 185

health, which in Ireland often takes a sort of Oriental
character, I said, " Well, Andy, how . are you getting
on these times ? " " I've got a new farm of forty-
seven acres," was the answer. "At what rent?"
"Oh, the rent's cheap enough, 10s. per acre. Sure
you know the land, it's bounding you and me. 'Tis

that 's farm, and under my own landlord too."

" I hope you didn't pay much money for it, Andy ? "
" 'Deed I did— a dale too much. I had to pay £300."
" What could make you such a fool as that, Andy ?
I thought you were a knowing man." "Sure that

, who bounds it the other side, offered £300 for it.

I knew well it was too much, but my family made me
give it, though I knew it was not worth it." " What's
the interest of your £300, Andy ? " " Sure it's £15 a
year." " And what term of the farm have you ? You
know you ought to get back the £300 by the time
the term is out." " I've no term at all. There is no
lease of it, but I have great confidence in my land-
lord." " You are an old man. Suppose you die, and
your landlord dies, and the estate has to be managed
by trustees for his children, how long can they leave
your son land at 10s. an acre that is worth 20s. ? "
And so I went on to show my friend his folly, and
that it would have been much better for him to have
kept his £300 in his pocket, and hired a farm at 20s.
per acre, with thirty -one years' lease. His £300
spent in manuring would have come back quickly,
and made a rich man of him. In his case I have no

186 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

doubt the stocking of his new farm was got by skimp-
ing his old farm, and so cost double its true value.
No doubt in law he got Tenant-right for his £300, but
he paid thirteen years' purchase of the rent for it,
much beyond its worth.

So much do I feel the importance to myself of a
new tenant having his whole capital available, that I
do not make him pay any of the expense of his lease,
or even the stamps upon it. What would be thought
of a landlord who took £300 yearly for a farm of
forty-seven acres ? Yet Parliament is asked to make
such a system compulsory as a boon to tenants.

Another objection to Tenant-right is the great
competition when land subject to it is so hired, far
more severe than the pressure the most screwing
landlord ever puts on his tenants. The usual rent of
the country is much below the value of the land.
Even those who look for higher rent, take care that
it is not more than the tenant is able to pay, else the
rent is only promised, and cannot be paid. But with
Tenant-right, the competition is wholly unchecked;
it is extreme, and often ruinous. The outgoing tenant
of course wants the last penny. He cares nothing at
all for the future of the farm. With the jealous
habits of our people towards each other, they often
bid quite without sense from boastfulness. It is here
the influence of a landlord with judgment can use-
fully come in. If he had any real power, he would
not accept a tenant who got the farm by such com-

TENANT-RIGHT AND THE THREE F'S. 187

petition, nor allow a son who succeeds to the farm to
be stripped bare of the capital needful to farm the
land for the gain of the rest of the family.

Once Tenant-right is made compulsory by law,
there is an end of the landlord's power for good, though
men in Parliament often talk as if after landlords
have been fleeced at pleasure they are still to co-
operate, as it is called, in carrying out the measures
for their own injury. Some complain that landlords
do not thus co-operate in working the Land Act. It
would be just as reasonable to expect that a sheep
should co-operate with the shearer who clips it, or with
the butcher who cuts its throat. What is the use of
expecting that landlords will exert themselves, and
take trouble, and incur odium in regulating well an
estate, when they will gain nothing by its good
management, nor lose if it is badly managed ? Let it
be observed, too, that if the Tenant-right system was
made compulsory in the rest of Ireland, it is only the
present tenants who would gain anything. Their
successors would have to pay the utmost farthing of
the value of the land. It would put a great gift into
the pockets of existing tenants out of the landlord's
reversion, with great injury to the incoming tenant.

It is overlooked, too, that even now there are
estates in the south on which though nominally the
tenants are allowed to sell their interest, a large fine
to the landlord, in spite of the Settlement, is besides
required to be paid. The Tenant-right dodges the

188 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

part of the Settlement that forbids fines. The money
nominally is paid to the outgoing tenant, who hands
it to the landlord. I know a large estate on which
this is the custom. One hundred pounds is the least
sum to be paid to the landlord on any sale. This
cannot be stopped. It can be done, secretly, if forbid-
den openly. And it is not worse in any way than
Tenant-right, though ruinous to both parties.

Another bad effect of Tenant-right is, that it
deprives the owner of the power of selecting the best
tenants for vacant farms, nor can he re-arrange farms,
the fields of which are scattered and intermixed.
Whoever will give most money to the broken tenant
must get the farm just as it stands. On neglected
estates these intermixed farms are very common. It
is impossible the tenants can improve till they are
re-arranged. It would have paid me best to hold
myself this farm of fifty-two acres I mentioned just
now. I let it to the Scotchman, because I thought his
good farming, as a man who had to make it pay,
would be a capital example, and do good. In parts
of England and Scotland, it is not uncommon for a
clever, industrious labourer, who has saved some
money, to hire a small farm, perhaps with the help of
friends, and if tunes favour him, to work himself up
gradually into the position of a considerable farmer.
These are often the best farmers in the country, and
their rise is thoroughly wholesome and useful to all.
But under Tenant-right such choice of good tenants

TENANT-RIGHT AND THE THREE F'S. 189

would have no place. The first step, where Tenant-
right exists, is that to hire even fifty acres of land a
man must have large capital to pay for the Tenant-
right, besides enough to make all permanent improve-
ments himself, and of course farm the land afterwards.

This brings me to another objection. It is never
worth while for a landlord to lay out money in im-
provements where there is Tenant-right. Practically
he could not raise the rent enough to pay the interest
on any large outlay for improvements, and if he made
such, he would be adding to the value of what the
tenant would have to sell at leaving. There can thus
be no sufficient profit to the landlord to lead him to
lay out money in improvements.

Thus all money laid out in improvements in every
case would have to be found by the tenant alone.
Those of us who now do all improvements ourselves
would cease to do so. The greater number who now
pay part of the cost of improvements or draining,
since the Land Act law don't, would also stop doing
so. Loans for draining, of which so many have
been taken by landlords, would cease to be taken;
though all the available capital of landlords and
tenants together for generations is wanted to make
the necessary permanent improvements on land in
Ireland. Those who wish the landlords to leave the
country, could not do better than promote the exten-
sion of Tenant-right. Whoever knows how much the
good working of every part of Local government is

A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

the work by the much-abused landlords, had better
well consider the question. It may be relied on,
there is no need to add to the inducement for any
man of education not to live in Ireland, and but for
the pleasure and profit of seeing an estate improve,
very few would undergo it. To few can it prove
more profitable than it has done to me. Besides the
gain from an improved estate, the rent of which
hitherto has been paid with very little trouble and no
ill-will from the tenants, and from very successful
farming, I bought much land after the famine, which
has paid me well.

Yet, in spite of such gain, and the pleasure of
seeing one's people thriving, and being on such terms
with them, it is a sorely heavy drag to live here.
And though I have seen as lovely a place grow up
tinder my hands as can be found in the South of
Ireland, if the Government likes to pay the honest
value of it all, I shall gladly leave it, and think my
son a gainer by the change. This by the way.

These are some of the practical objections to
making the Ulster Tenant-right compulsory, and to
that modification which some have described as " The
Three F's — Fixity of tenure, Fair rents, valued by
County Court judges, and Free liberty to the tenant to
sell his interest. All these plans have the same evils
as Ulster Tenant right.

There are other objections on principle in every
way. A number of witnesses in favour of Tenant-

TENANT-RIGHT AND THE THREE F'S. 191

right were called before the Duke of Kichmond's
Commission on agricultural distress. This question
was put to each of them : " A man hires land for the
purpose of farming it. He lays out a considerable
sum in improvements, which repay him, both prin-
cipal and interest. Where, or on what principle of
right, does he get a just claim to be paid a large sum
besides if he leave the farm?" Of course no one
could answer the question, and the chief witness, who
was sent over to expound Judge Longfield's plan,
lost his temper wholly over it.

The claim of tenants who have not, with the
assent of the landlord, paid their predecessors for
Tenant-right,, to receive a large sum on leaving the
farm, is, as lawyers would say, wholly without con-
sideration. The tenant has paid or done nothing to
give him a just right to be thus paid. At best, it is
a case of nudum pactum, and therefore, void for want
of consideration, even though there had been an express
contract. And, besides, the payment is really taken
out of the reversion, which belongs to the landlord,
and the value of which it reduces. If an incoming
tenant is to pay £500 for a farm of fifty acres, the
interest on that sum at 5 per cent is £25 a -year,
supposing he gets his money back on leaving. This
is 10s. per acre on the farm, and if he had not to pay
his £500, but had to pay 5s. an acre extra rent
instead, he would be a gainer of £12 : 10s. a-year. If
he had to pay 10s. per acre extra rent, he would still

192 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

be better off, because he would have his £500 capital
to lay out in manure which would help to make the
rent. The 10s. per acre, therefore, is a clear reduction
out of the landlord's reversion.

However it may be concealed, the future rent of
the farm is lessened, and in the long run must be
lessened accordingly, by these payments for Tenant-
right. The landowner loses whatever the tenant
gains.

According to all principles of right, the State
cannot justly thus take away this reversion or
any part of it. If there is good cause for the
State taking away a man's property, it is bound
to pay the honest value for it. There is no escaping
this result, if right and justice are still to prevail
among us. I know of no way in which this duty
can be escaped. There is talk sometimes in Ireland
that by tenant-right the tenant gains, but the land-
lord does not lose. This is mere ignorance, the
ignorance of men who do not understand the business
of dealing with land. If the landowner knows how
to make his land pay by farming it himself (as at
least some of us do), the payment of tenant-right to
a broken tenant at once appears in its true light. I
have already shown that it is only the lowness of the
rent that enables ten or twenty years' purchase to be
given for tenant-right.

We have further positive evidence now, such as
we never had before, of the value of land in Ireland.

TENANT-RIGHT AND THE THREE F'S. 193

M. de Molinari is a Belgian, and a political economist,
familiar with the subject, and a man of influence and
weight in France, a thoroughly sound authority on
such a question, and plainly disinterested. After
carefully seeing the land here, he states without hesi-
tation that it is let at -half the rent similar land would
let for in Belgium. This quite agrees with my own
experience. As I said in a former paper, for many
years I have made double the rent that used to be
paid by tenants on 1000 acres in my own hands.

If the drawbacks and greater expenses there must
always be in a gentleman's farming are fairly taken
into account, it is certain this 1000 acres is honestly
worth double the rent the tenants used to pay for it,
thus corroborating M. de Molinari's opinion. Again
and again, when an exhausted farm has been given
up, I have put as many cows on it as the broken
tenant had. It has paid me a net profit of double the
former rent. This was before I had time to manure
and improve the land. In all the years I have lived
here I never once had a farm in fair condition given
up to me.

At a Land meeting near me lately, though the
object was to attack others, I received the larger
share of the abuse. As they had not a word to say
of any tenant being ill-used, they said, as they came
they saw on both sides of my property many gables
of ruined houses, but on my land they could not see
one. They were sure I had turned out many tenants

o

194 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

to get possession of the 1000 acres I farm myself.
I must have pulled down the gables on purpose. No
doubt 16 or 17 tenants held the land I now farm.
Though their rents were very low, and less than half
the net amount I now make out of the same land,
and they had never been raised, all lived in great
poverty, and many gave up their land freely. There
are now 22 good labourers' cottages on the same
land, besides three or four of the old tenants' houses,
which, repaired, do duty at present for labourers.

Some one told me the other day my labourers
are " claner, nater dressed, and fatter looking," than
any body of men in the country ; they, their wives
and children, came to the house last summer (as
they do every year) for some small festivity, A
more hearty, healthy lot could not be found in the
three kingdoms. This is not wonderful, as I pay
fully £25 per week in wages. I can prove they
have now as many blankets to their beds as they
want. Forty years ago I am assured there was
not one blanket in the whole land. At our Cloth-
ing Club, which has now existed for so many years
that there is no doubt in the minds of most but that
the Queen sends the money for it in some way, our
own people have for some years begun to take sheets
instead of blankets — a pitch of luxury which is con-
sidered to be rather a scandal.

One tenant who had an old lease of thirty acres,
was a widow without children; she brought in a

TENANT-RIGHT AND THE THREE F'S. 195

stout nephew, with wife and children, to work for
her, who hoped to succeed her in the farm. They
held on at the rent fixed in 1796, till they had
not one four-footed beast left — neither horse, cow,
sheep, nor pig. They used to let the grass to
neighbours who had stock, and cultivate without
manuring any fields that gave the chance of a crop.
My Scotchman passing their house one day in spring
during an ordinary year found the whole family
actually starving. The wife just confined, and
without a morsel for herself or baby, and all the
picture of hunger ; so that he gave them money out
of his own pocket for present relief.

They then gave up the land. The man was
taken as a labourer ; he is an honest worker, and
they were allowed to live in a tenant's house near
their former farm, till it tumbled down, when a good
cottage was built for them. Through the rest of the
summer we could see the man, his wife and children,
all visibly swelling out in face — they were naturally
ruddy hearty folk — till their fatness became a joke
among us. They are with us still, twelve years after,
except that the old widow is dead. We take no
excuse for labourers not working. A more prosperous
set, leading more comfortable lives, does not exist.

My next offence, stated at the land-meeting, was
that my garden wall bristled with broken glass, which
I suppose was taken as showing an unworthy dis-
trust of the Irish people. The main public road

196 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

goes by the wall, and the carmen who cany loads
along it at night, found out that, by drawing them
close to the wall, they could step from the top of
the load to the top of the wall, and the fruit-trees
inside were a regular ladder by which to climb down
and up again. They did not take much, as last year
having been so wet, the peaches ripened badly. It
amused us to see the stones and half-eaten sour fruit
of those they had tried.

My third offence was that, in an account I
printed of the International Dairies at the Kilburn
Agricultural Show, near London, 1879, for the infor-
mation of the farmers of our county, I contrasted
the bright, clean German dairymaid, wearing blue
ribbons and a smart cap, with the dirty drudges so
many dairymaids are in Ireland. A man who could
so speak of Irishwomen was declared unfit to live in
the country. What is to be thought of those who
could put forward such a mixture of rubbish as
serious blame to anybody ?

There is still a further difficulty in the way
of compulsory Tenant-right, that much land is let
on lease. Leases are definite contracts between land-
lord and tenant. What is to be done about them ?
I have still an old middle-man's lease of four lives
with one left, aged nearly seventy. There are 340
acres for £105 a year, worth £340 a year to let, and
double if I farm them myself. The occupiers are a
gentleman and two ordinary farmers. What should
be done with such a case ?

TENANT-RIGHT AND THE THREE F'S. 197

On one of the lands I bought, a tenant, having
another large farm adjoining, has a thirty-one years'
lease of 124 acres of splendid land, at a low rent. The
farm, when let to him, had been in the occupation of
the owner, and there was a clause that by paying at
any time £100 (probably a fine the tenant had given)
possession might be resumed. They bound me not to
take advantage of this clause. The lease will be out
five years hence. I can easily make five times the
rent out of this farm. I have elsewhere 150 acres,
let for 5s. 9d. per acre, on thirty -one -year leases,
worth three times the rent, or 15s. per acre. This,
too, was bought with the leases running and the
value taken into account in the purchase-money.

It will probably be answered at once, Definite
contracts cannot be touched. Even the Land Act
excepted leases from most of its provisions — from
all important ones, and made future leases for thirty-
one years the alternative for such provisions. Ac-
cordingly since the Land Act great numbers of leases
have been given. Three-fifths of my estate is let on
lease.

Since the establishment of the Landed Estates
Court, it has sold all the land that has passed through
it, with most careful statements in a schedule to each
conveyance of the precise rights of every tenant by
lease or otherwise. This schedule is absolutely
binding between landlord and tenant as if a con-
tract. How can Parliament vary it, except by con-

198 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

sent? Besides, on many estates there have been
contracts or promises as definite as any leases, and
that have been acted on in favour of the tenants,
without one exception, for near half a century. These
have been more favourable to tenants than if they
had leases under the Land Act.

Forty years ago I let my tenants know that, with
the single exception of gross misconduct, each should
hold his land for his life without increase of rent.
The rent should only be raised to his successor.
This was, of course, equivalent to a lease for thirty
years. Practically it has been more. Out of kind-
ness one had to make a concession to the widow and
children, if a man died young. There were a few
old leases, and an old verbal promise of thirty-one
years to the tenants of one ploughland. The holders
of these had to be given the same advantage of my
promise as the yearly tenants.

Nearly two-fifths of my people still hold under
this arrangement. These are now all old, and a few
years will place their successors under leases. I
have given these details, because they show plainly
the arrangement under which great numbers of
tenants, in all parts, hold under respectable landlords.
The State would have to recognise such contracts
and promises, whether legal or honourable, because
tenants have profited by them for long courses of
years. A compulsory Tenant-right in such cases
would be an outrage on right. If ever the question

TENANT-RIGHT AND THE THREE F'S. 199

is gone into as one of right, many such cases will be
proved in which thorough consideration and indul-
gence have been shown to the tenants. Knowing
England better than I know Ireland, I assert that
Irish tenants, as a body, are treated with a consider-
ation and indulgence, especially in the rent charged for
the land, such as English tenants never asked for nor
expected. The statement of the Land Leaguers to
the contrary are bare lies. If they had any facts of
this kind to prove, why should they hesitate to prove
them before the new Commission ?

In Mr. Courtney's speech lately at Liverpool,
advocating fixity of tenure and fair rents, he said
there must be a revaluation of rents throughout
Ireland, undoubtedly, else easy -dealing landlords
would suffer where hard ones gained. It is certain
that such a revaluation would be necessary, if any
approach to honest dealing was desired.

What the process of such a revaluation will be I
cannot imagine. To me it seems that Mr. Courtney
must be in a condition of primaeval innocence in his
knowledge of land, and what belongs to it. The
valuation of land by the best valuers, though quite
honest men, is very uncertain. To settle the value
of land by evidence, and such evidence as can be
had in Ireland, before such men as County Court
Judges, would be simply robbery of the owners ;
and, unless such robbery was perpetrated, the howl-
ing of those who howl now would be louder still.

200 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

Then what is a fair rent ? Is it what an honest, in-
dustrious tenant of reasonable means can make of
the land ? or what an indolent, ignorant man, per-
haps a drunkard and a pauper, can make ? The most
easy and liberal rule on this point, strictly and
honestly applied, would cause ten evictions for one
that is now made by landlords. The strictest land-
lords among us do not evict one quarter of those who
ought to be evicted, if the good of the country was duly
considered. It is industry that makes the whole dif-
ference. In no business can any one get rich in any
way, except by self-exertion. Half the time spent in
work that is now spent in trying to get something
out of landlords by scheming, would make rich men of
numbers of tenants. No part of M. de Molinari's letter
to the Journal des D&ats was more striking than
that in which he described the sadly low social and
moral state of many Irish tenants, and divided them
into two classes — one with fair-sized farms at mode-
rate rents, who were industrious, paying their rents
and living comfortably ; the other with small farms
at equally easy rents, but idle, in debt, and steeped
in whisky, who could not support themselves if
they held the land rent-free. Professor Baldwin's
evidence before the Duke of Eichmond's Commis-
sion on Agricultural Distress is also very remarkable
as to the entire badness and worthlessness in all re-
spects of the large class of bad Irish tenants. Even
if the County Court Judge had to decide what is a

TENANT-RIGHT AND THE THREE F'S. 201

fair rent, what good would be done by his decision to
bad tenants ? They are sure to fail sooner or later.
But, to decide what is a fair rent, it must first be
decided what is the fair price of corn, and mutton,
and beef, and pork, and butter, and all other agri-
cultural products which vary every year ; and after
a fair price for these has been fixed, no progress has
been made till it has been decided what will be the
demand and supply of these things for the next
thirty-one years. And there are half a dozen other
questions, equally hard to answer, that must be
settled before an honest decision can be given.

The truth is, there is no fair value of land ; the
value varies in England, in Scotland, everywhere,
with the skill, the industry of the farmer, with the
climate, with the prices of particular sorts of pro-
duce, and the cost of production, just like the price
of other kinds of goods. The true point is, what
profit can the farmer make by the land ? That is
all that matters. Acts of Parliament cannot regu-
late prices nor values ; neither can arbitrations,
which are at best only lawsuits. Shades of departed
free-traders and an ti- corn -law leaguers! what are
your former colleagues and successors coming to ?
They think they can direct by Act of Parliament how
the businesses of landowning and farming shall be
carried on, and by the same means regulate the
price of the chief raw material of those businesses,
viz. land. To a man who began life nearly seventy

202 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

years ago as a Tory, and was made a free-trader by
facts which common sense would not let him ignore,
one view alone is possible, of the reason why so
many Liberals, in dealing with Ireland, set at naught
every sound principle of free-trade and the universal
gain of free -dealing, with which they thrashed us
formerly into good sense. The curse of party politics
is upon them. Partly for party ends, and partly from
sentimentalism, they have for years flattered the im-
agination of the farming classes in Ireland with hopes
of what is really Communism, and what cannot be
realised till England has ceased to be England. Talk
about the upas-tree, and rooting natives in the soil —
that an eviction is the same as the death-warrant of
a tenant ; it is these words of Mr. Gladstone that
have done most of the evil. We are reaping what
he then sowed. No declarations, like Mr. Forster's
excellent one, that the law shall be enforced, weigh
in the least. The flattery is believed, the threats are
disbelieved, as is ' natural. We, who see and know
what becomes of broken tenants, are sure such words
have no shade of truth in them ; but the hopes they
raise are unbounded. Playing with fire in a straw-
yard is nothing compared to such talk, and this too
from the Prime Minister. It is not for me to draw
the moral.

Hitherto the immense magnitude and difficulty of
such a task as the Government settling rents has been
felt by all independent men of any intelligence and
forethought.

TENANT-RIGHT AND THE THREE F>S. 203

It is a task such as no Government in the world
ever attempted.

If Government is to protect tenants in their own
bargains as to rents, there is an end of free-trade in
anything, and Protectionists have been right all the
time.

Such things rest on no principle if free -trade
means anything. The object is to do away with
competition among tenants. Nowhere is competi-
tion so much wanted to enforce better farming on
tenants.

Fixity of tenure leaves the tenant to go on as
badly as before ; and, besides, it does this by confis-
cating part of the landowners' reversion.

204 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

CHAPTEK XIV.

WHAT WILL DO GOOD IN IRELAND.

EVERYBODY who is interested in such subjects is
inclined favourably towards any plan for promoting
Peasant Proprietorship in Ireland. At first sight it
seems that with tenants used to small farms, for which
they have to pay rent, a plan that shall make them
owners of their farms, and after some years free them
from having to pay rent, must much promote their
prosperity.

It is certain too, that both in England, Scotland,
and Ireland, the land is in too few hands, and any
honest plan by which more men would become
owners of land would be a gain to the country.

But when the whole case is looked at in its details,
it is by no means certain that any such plan can be
made to work, except to a very limited extent, in
Ireland. There is very much to be said for the view
that, whilst realising to the full the good of Peasant
Proprietorship, yet it is one of the goods of an earlier
and simpler stage of civilisation than that which we
have reached in the end of the nineteenth century,

WHAT WILL DO GOOD IN IRELAND. 205

that small landholders belong to a time when men
were content with a harder and humbler way of
living than even labourers are now satisfied with ;
and that we cannot now produce artificially by
any efforts of our own a large system of peasant
proprietors, because the necessary conditions are
absent. Now and then, and here and there, in-
dividuals may chance to have the qualities that will
enable them to succeed as peasant proprietors ; but
on any large scale it is impossible. There is no
people in all Northern Europe in whom the necessary
conditions are so wanting as the Irish.

The conditions needed for success as peasant
proprietors are great industry and skill in farming.
In every country of Europe where small farms and
peasant proprietors have flourished, these conditions of
industry and skill have existed in an unusual degree.
The skill is often hereditary, coming down from
several generations. It is enough to mention Belgium,
parts of France, and the Channel Islands, the latter
having a further advantage in the immense quantity
of sea- weed thrown on shore, affording an unlimited
supply of manure gratis, and no part of any
island being more than three miles from the shore.
Let any one read the report on the farming of
Belgium by Dr. Vb'elcker and Mr. H. M. Jenkins in
volume vi., Second Series, of the Journal of the Eoyal
Agricultural Society of England, and he will find the
facts reported at length by two of the most competent

206- A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

authorities we have. He will find Belgium contrasted
with Ireland in this respect, and the result estab-
lished that small owners of land work harder and live
harder than any other class in Europe. Again, in M. de
Molinari's first letter to the Ddbats, September 22, is
this statement: — "Examples in support of this system
are not wanting. Men please themselves by citing
especially that of the peasant proprietor of Erance
and Belgium, only they forget to add that the small
proprietorship of Erance and Belgium was created by
the work of ages, and that the peasants began by
acquiring the qualities of order and economy that are
indispensable for the good carrying on of proprietor-
ship before they became proprietors. They worked
and saved penny by penny the capital which they
have employed in the acquisition, and later in
the increase, of their small domains. Nothing of the
sort is required of the Irish tenants ; it is proposed
to suppress the apprenticeship of landowning in their
favour, and the worst result will be to consolidate
in Ireland agrarian pauperism."

He goes on in a very striking passage, too long
for quotation, to show the similarity between the
small Irish farmer and hand -spinners and hand-
loom-weavers in England and elsewhere, and adds
that such farmers will be at last only more miser-
ably overwhelmed in the ruin of the false system to
which their unwise friends are trying to attach them.
All these letters, as giving the opinion of a wholly

WHAT WILL DO GOOD IN IRELAND. 207

disinterested witness, and one used to the consider-
ation of such questions, and an authority upon them,
deserve the most earnest attention.

My own feeling is very favourable to peasant
proprietors, whenever men can be found who have
the qualities that will enable them to succeed in
such a position. As a practical farmer, I know that
unless a man has the habits that M. de Molinari
speaks of — industry and skill — he can never do well
in a farm, either as a tenant or proprietor. In the
County Cork there are a great number of tenants
with long leases, that put them substantially in the
position of proprietors. On one side, joining me,
there is a property let to all the tenants for 2000
years. It is very improvable, wet and stony, only
wanting labour to make it good useful land. On the
other side a tenant has a lease for 100 years, and a
splendid tract of wet land, with a capital slope down
to the river. He has never made one drain in it,
though to drain it would pay him twentyfold, and
he could have borrowed money at 1 per cent last
winter from the Government to do it. He and the
tenants for 2000 years, who also did nothing but
work under 1 per cent loans, are not half as well
off as my tenants, nor their farms as productive.

These are some of the difficulties in the way of
Peasant Proprietorship.

I think it is certain that it is only by carefully
selecting fit buyers, that selling land to tenants will

208 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

answer any good purpose, — a bad tenant is sure to
make a bad proprietor. That is the key of the
question and of all the plans of fixity of tenure.
All cut off or limit the common chances of improve-
ment. All end in small gains to present occupiers,
confiscated from the owners, and leave the occupiers
just where they were, not raising them a single peg,
but more firmly convinced than before that scheming
is much better than industry. Instead of having the
good habits needful for thriving as proprietors, in-
ferior and bad Irish tenants have bad habits, which
ensure their failure, whatever position they may
hold in whatever walk of life. Trying the experi-
ment on the scale that the Church Act and Bright's
clauses in the Land Act sanction can do no harm.
Bright's clauses might be made more effective, if the
Government was empowered to bid for land that
is offered for sale. Having bought it, Government
might sell the farms to any tenants likely to do well
as proprietors, and who would honestly pay one-third
of the purchase-money. Much has been urged by
Mr. Shaw Lefevre and others, who believe in Peasant
Proprietorship, in favour of tenants being required
.to pay only one -fourth of the purchase -money,
instead of one -third. I believe such a difference
is insignificant. It is the difference between 13s. 4d.
and 15s.; whoever could pay the one would have no
serious difficulty with the other. I prefer one-third
because it is rather a more substantial part.

WHAT WILL DO GOOD IN IRELAND. 209

I would only sell to those who were fit to buy.
It would be a positive benefit in Ireland to have the
distinction between good and bad farmers drawn
thus definitely. To those who could not buy, or
were not fit to do so, let thirty-one years' leases at
the true value be given, which nine times, out of ten
would be more than their former rent. And if
within three or five years they still did not come in
and buy, I would sell the land, subject to these
leases, to the best bidder. In this way there would
be no loss to the Government, because the higher
rents would make the fee even of residues of this
kind sell better. There would be no injustice nor
even hardship to any one, landlord or tenant, whilst
those who were fit would become proprietors.

Let any one read in Mr. Tuke's pamphlet his
account of the peasant proprietors he saw, who had
bought under the Church Act. It is clear that of
those he saw, whoever were thriving tenants throve
as proprietors, whilst bad tenants went to the wall
as proprietors, thus proving my statement. Pro-
fessor Baldwin gave an account to the Duke of
Kichmond's Commission of what he saw on another
estate, bought under the Church Act by the tenants.
Before the Act passed they had been a very fairly
thriving body of tenants. Ten years after, he found
them nearly all pauper proprietors. Common sense
suggests, as I have said, that the habits of Irish
peasants are not changed by their ceasing to be

p

210 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

tenants and becoming proprietors. And I believe
there is conclusive direct evidence to the same effect
to any extent. If it is not clearly recognised that
the great number of bad tenants who lose their farms
from any cause, nineteen times out of twenty are
just useless poor creatures who in no circumstances
can do good with land, it is impossible to remedy
the troubles of the country.

This, then, is the working of the other panacea —
peasant proprietorship. It is no panacea at all.
Carefully worked, it may be made to do some good ;
as it might too, I think in England and Scotland.
I have long believed that by a system of Land
Banks, more or less on the model of the Prussian
Land Banks, advances might be made without risk
to help any one in the three kingdoms who wishes
to buy a limited portion of land, and thus the number
of landed proprietors be fairly increased, and those
appeased who suffer in any degree under land-
hunger. Such advances, if made gradually, and
with a firm resolution to enforce repayment, would
be quite safe.

In Ireland the curious readiness to place money
on deposit in banks, and the great sums so deposited,
enable a Land Bank to be set up with great ad-
vantage. Depositors now only receive usually 1
per cent for their money ; the offer of 2 per cent
would procure a great sum. By arrangement with
the Bank of Ireland, which now has many branches

WHAT WILL DO GOOD IN IRELAND. 211

in country places, the Government, by offering 2
per cent, could probably get any sum wanted for
advances to enable occupiers to buy their farm. I
would suggest that only a definite sum yearly should
be advanced, say £100,000, so that by the time a
really large sum total was reached, a substantial part
of the first advances would have been repaid. With
firmness there need be no loss, as there has not been
a shilling of loss on the millions advanced to land-
owners for drainage, who ex hypothesi are so bad,
whilst tenants are so good. The only risk of loss is if
we have a Government that for its own political pur-
poses does not care to resist the beggar's whine. Any
doubt in Ireland whether money need be paid or not,
is sure to settle itself the wrong way, against paying.

Of course advances by the Government for such a
purpose cannot be justified on the highest economical
principles. But the object of increasing the number
of owners of land is a good and important one. And
if it can be brought about without cost to the tax-
payers and with no serious risk, it is worth trying.
But the same advantage should be given to persons
in England and Scotland who wish to buy land to a
moderate extent. With like limitation as to the
amount to be advanced, and with proper selection of
borrowers, so as to avoid speculators, there would be
less risk than in Ireland, and no less advantage.

To do away with the invidious feeling that land
is a monopoly in few hands is no small object. A

212 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

few men have a genius for the cultivation of land.
It is to these men that land-hunger is a real hardship.
The excessive wealth of the country does raise the
price of land to an artificial and perhaps undue value,
which loans on easy terms to small buyers would in
some degree remedy.

It will be said a bank like this, to enable tenants
and others to buy land for themselves, is the proper
work of private persons, especially of the patriotic
and benevolent class, who in Ireland profess such
anxiety to help the tenants. No doubt this is true.
O'Connell founded a large bank, which has thriven for
over forty years, and holds many millions on deposit
at 1 per cent. Another patriotic Home Kule M.P.
has also founded a successful bank, which also holds
a great sum on deposit at 1 per cent, and which pays
a dividend usually of 10 per cent. It is clear these
banks could lend to farmers the money they hold at
1 per cent, at a moderate rate for making purchases
of their farms, and at no risk. No more useful or
good national object could be imagined.

But, alas, these patriotic banks can also lend the
money, for which they pay 1 per cent, on small bills
to the same farming class at the satisfactory interest
of 8 per cent, and the temptation to do this is irre-
sistible. So these virtuous M.P.'s pocket their 10
per cent dividends, and join in the cry to rob the
landowners, to enable their farming customers to go
deeper in debt, and give better security.

WHAT WILL DO GOOD IN IRELAND. 213

It is the undue facilities for borrowing, given by
those very banks to farmers, that cause the grievous
indebtedness of the class I have heretofore spoken of.

It is gravely suggested that such troubles as these
can be set right by robbing the landlords, and above
all by driving away or crippling every landlord who
improves his property. I again suggest that it will
be wise to look to the end. »

M. de Molinari here too leaves no doubt of the
right direction.

He asserts that no people in Europe at present
are so wanting in all the qualities needful for success-
ful peasant proprietors. No one can doubt that he
is right, and the practical question at once arises —
Can those needful qualities be acquired ? And how ?
No remedy is worth anything that does not lead to
this end. If the proposed remedy will not do this,
no choice is left but to look deeper and in another
direction.

That which lies at the bottom of the trouble
is the thorough untruth that prevails in Ireland,
especially among politicians. The whole agitation
is got up, in hope of gaining something by it. It
is only money -grasping, without one high idea.
The extreme party urges confiscation, and the more
moderate party Ulster tenant-right. Present private
gain is the only end of both. For any man to
succeed in dealing with such people it is necessary
he should see and understand their faults. The

214 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

exact temper wanted for dealing with them success-
fully is downright intelligent honesty that will not
be humbugged. The present agitation deliberately
aims at causing such a state of disturbance as may
be unbearable, and so force unjust concessions on
the ground that something must be done.

In one word, all in Ireland is more or less mixed
up with scheming ; nothing is simply true. It is
quite as easy to advocate Mr. ParnelTs views as
Tenant-right views. Untruth is as necessary to one
as to the other, only slightly different untruth. The
real mischief of the sentimental flattery addressed to
these poor people is that it encourages this schem-
ing. If any of us who live here, and has to manage
his own concerns, and take his part in the local
business of the country (justice business, etc.), acted
or talked in this sentimental way, he would be simply
drowned in the flood of lies that would pour in on him.
Our mode of proceeding is the very opposite. We
believe nothing at all until it has been proved to be
true, and even then we know it is sure to be hugely
exaggerated ; or facts, more or less true, perhaps,
applied to circumstances in a relation that makes
them untrue. We are careful to raise no expecta-
tions, but simply to do what is just and right.

The fault of Mr. Forster's Disturbance Bill
was this. There was distress last winter in the
western and mountainous parts of Ireland, but very
little in other parts, even of scheduled Unions. When

WHAT WILL DO GOOD IN IRELAND. 215

it was known that money could be had for relief,
wonderful exaggerations sprang up in all directions,
according to the universal principle here, "Why
should we not have our share of what is going, as
well as another ?" The poor can hardly be blamed
for this ; the ordinary poverty of every winter is
enough to make them glad of whatever they can get.
In Ireland there are very few men of any class who
can resist such a movement. Love of popularity, or,
more accurately, fear of unpopularity, makes nearly
all, Governments as well as others, as easy as pos-
sible about giving relief; and Mr. Forster's feelings
being moved by the distress in some parts, he ceased
to realise the difference between scheming and truth,
and took untruth to be true. So he proposed a
measure in the teeth of every sound principle of
estate -management, and which must have ruined
more tenants than it helped, and besides been a
grievous wrong to many landlords who know their
duty and have done it. To keep the tenants clear of
arrears, is the first principle of good estate-manage-
ment. The condition of any estate can be unfail-
ingly judged of, when it is known, what is the amount
of arrears upon it ? so, too, from the same facts, can
be known, what is the comfort the tenants live in ?

I should myself have suffered great loss had the
Bill passed, though I have no arrears. I am in a
scheduled Union, in which, on February 1, there were
three more paupers than in 1879. I had my summer

216 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

rent-day on July 10, when the Bill was still in doubt.
About two-thirds of the half-year's rent was paid,
where commonly nearly the whole would have been
paid. A number of the largest and best-off tenants
did not appear ; even some thoroughly wealthy shop-
keepers, who held town fields. It was easy to guess
who were readers of newspapers. The next day two
of the best tenants came, in the main worthy indus-
trious fellows ; the half-year's rent of whom was
£49 and £67 : 10s. They said they had no money.
I answered I could not afford that they should not
pay some rent. They might pay half in the next
ten days, and the rest at Michaelmas. I got a short
reply. They had no money and could not pay, but
might pay something after harvest. I then said, as
they took that tone, I would accept nothing less than
a half-year's rent in full; and if this was not paid before
Michaelmas, I would eject as soon as I could. I never
again asked for the rent. About September 1st, the
£49 tenant came suddenly with the rent in full in £5
notes ; the large notes being a sure sign it had been
lying ready for some time. Two days after the
£67 : 10s. tenant came in such haste that he would
not wait to change some Cork butter-buyer's cheques
for his butter of this season, dated before July 12,
the day when he told me he had no money. The
cheques were for more than I had asked him to pay
in July. If the Bill had passed, both would have
gone into arrears, and probably have ruined them-

WHAT WILL DO GOOD IN IRELAND. 217

selves in the end. I know one (and believe that
both) had joined the Land League.

Not to press for the payment of rent and to let
arrears accumulate is just the common old way of
dealing in this country, by which to go in debt is
considered to be of no consequence, so long as you
are not forced to pay it. It is hoped Providence may
provide some good years, that may make it easy to
pay the arrears or reduce them; and, if not, it is
hoped they, may not be pressed for. In either case
they are a dead log round the tenant's neck, which
depresses all his energies, because in a good year the
surplus is not his own, and does him no good, and in
the bad years he is more likely to be ruined, and lose
everything.

Here is another fact. Just before September 29,
a neighbour brought a young Liberal English M.P. to
see our doings. He had come over to inform himself
on the Irish question. Inter alia, I asked if he would
like to see a distressed tenant under ejectment for non-
payment of rent. Nothing he would like so much.
So I sent him to a widow, a poor woman, with beau-
tiful land, and faults enough to ruin five tenants.
She owed a year's rent, and was to be ejected in ten
days. I did not go with him, that he might ask and
see all he liked. His many questions had the effect
of convincing the widow he must be the sheriff's
officer, or some one who wished to take her land, or
had to do with her ejectment. So when he went away,

218 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

having made his investigation, she ran after him, and
told him she had the year's rent all ready in her house,
and meant to pay it ; and an hour after he had left
us she ran over in hot haste to me with the rent in
full. I sent a card after him to beg if he was in
Ireland another year he would let me know, because,
should I happen to have any more defaulting tenants
I should be so glad to take advantage of his assist-
ance.

The true remedy is to act on simple sound prin-
ciple— on that which is the true principle of free
trade — that the natural liberty Providence gives of
buying and selling, and dealing with what belongs to
any man, is best for all, and promotes the greatest
happiness of the greatest number. The ingenious
hair-splittings now so common to try and justify
confiscating that which honestly now belongs to
landowners, are instances of the opposite manner of
dealing. Nothing else can do real permanent good,
and raise the condition of the people. It is aston-
ishing how any one who has ever grasped the prin-
ciple of free dealing can lay it aside in regard to
such a country as Ireland, and fancy that continual
concession to indolent, ignorant men can promote
their prosperity and raise their moral condition.
The lazy, bad tenant is sure to be lazy and bad
though he got Tenant-right or was made a peasant -
proprietor, or put in any other employment. To talk
of rooting such men in the soil, as Mr. Gladstone did

WHAT WILL DO GOOD IN IRELAND. 219

in the debates on the Land Act of 1870, is proposing
to do that which is worst for the country. The
vanity of the ill-affected class in Ireland is pleased
by flattery, as it is by every word of respect and
every empty compliment they can pick up ; and so
that self-important, fractious, untrue character is
formed, without a grain of sense, even for attaining
its own ends, which is now so common in the
House of Commons and elsewhere, and which it is
impossible to deal with reasonably. Sound principle
and strong downright common sense can alone
answer. Let the flattering way of dealing with in-
dolent men be tried in any other industry, and the
results will be the same as have been produced in
Ireland.

The business of landowning or of farming can no
more be regulated by Act of Parliament than any
other business. Each is a true business, and can
only thrive when conducted on business principles.
No bolstering up, or favouring, or helping by Parlia-
ment, or any other way, will make the business
thrive. Industry and skill and capital can alone do
this. All else is only an attempt at protection. Like
other systems of protection, it is popular with those
who think they shall gain by it. It may seem to
succeed for a time. But the state, of Donegal, and
other parts of Ulster where the linen trade does not
exist proves clearly that one such mode of protec-
tion, viz. Tenant-right, is unsound. Moreover, more

220 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

than half Ulster at this moment is dissatisfied with
the Tenant-right it has. Like all other protected
trades, more protection is wanted — that more should
be taken from landowners and given to tenants with-
out payment for it.

I believe these facts cannot be met. Parliament
has never yet taken away from one body of men that
which it has recognised for centuries to belong to
them, and given it to others, however strong the
reasons of public policy may have been, except by
paying the owners honestly for what is taken away.
Nor could the principles of the Land Act, passed so
lately as 1870, be thrown overboard without the for-
feiture of. all self-respect.

I have been forced to use hard words about lying
and untruth much more often than I like. But there
was no choice. The extent to which these faults
prevail upon the subject cannot be realised out of
Ireland.

The opinion expressed by M. de Molinari, that
there is no royal road to prosperity in Ireland, is the
very same that I have constantly expressed and acted
on for forty years past. He says, increased produc-
tion can alone make men to be better off. The pro-
duction may be from land or manufactures, it matters
not which, but more production there must be for
more prosperity. Misery may be relieved by poor-
laws or charity, and, rightly, from another motive. It
is only from increased production in some way a

WHAT WILL DO GOOD IN IRELAND. 221

country can be better off. The poor fellows who
raised from the land I farm one-fourth of the pro-
duce it now yields, not only lived like paupers them-
selves, but sorely hindered the prosperity of the
country too, because they added nothing to its trade.
My labourers now, who work on the same fields, not
only spend much of their 10s. or 12s. a week in ways
that do good to trade, but the increased produce they
raise, beyond what the poor tenant used to raise, adds
greatly to the trade of the country. This truth lies at
the bottom of the whole question. Men may shut their
eyes to it, but they cannot escape it. Unless there is
increased produce, things can never be better. All
this is ignored by the Land League people. Their
end is that every man in Ireland should live at ease
under his own vine and fig tree, without rent or aught
else to disturb him, and work and drink as much or as
little as he likes. This might perhaps answer in a
way, if it could only be shown where the money is to
come from that will support him and his whilst he
thus lives like a gentleman. The idea of living at ease
like a gentleman has more to do with Irish troubles
than most men see.

But to take the subject in order.

M. de Molinari asks, If any one told the ouvriers
of Montmartre and Belville, Paris, that hence-
forth, on account of their poverty, they should only
pay half the present rent of their apparlements,
or none at all, what effect would it produce upon

222 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

them ? He adds, This is just what has been done in
Ireland.

The agitation now going on is meant to produce
its true work in England. The agitators believe that
people in England are really afraid of them — that the
Government will yield more in proportion as they can
increase this fear. The Land Act raised the expecta-
tions and excited the imagination of ignorant men
here, that Parliament could be induced to take from
the landlords to give to the tenants ; and Mr. Glad-
stone's unwise talk which I have quoted above, and
which is cited at every land meeting, inflamed all
such ideas. In parts of Ireland, no doubt, the agi-
tation has produced a dreadful state of things, but
still we have seen disturbances of the same kind, even
greater, at intervals of a few years, again and again,
since the beginning of the century. We know what
such agitation is worth, or rather, what it is not worth,
and how it ought to be met and put down ; and that
it is sure to collapse at once, directly it is known that .
the authorities are in earnest, and mean to put it down.
During nearly a generation that Lord Chancellor
Blackburne practically ruled Ireland, when the diffi-
culty from over-population and far greater poverty
was much worse, if outrages became numerous from
agitation or any other cause, the law was simply
put in force. A special commission was issued,
a few convictions obtained, and, without blood-
thirstiness or undue severity, all were convinced

WHAT WILL DO GOOD IN IRELAND. 223

the law could not be set aside, and quiet quickly
followed. When O'Connell had to be thus met,
Blackburne met him and put him down: whether
the Government was Conservative or Liberal, it was
the same. Lately a milder course has been taken.
By the Westmeath Act, ten years ago, the Lord
Lieutenant, when a county was proclaimed, could
order the arrest and detention in prison, at the
pleasure of the Crown, of any dangerous person. As
all those who had been doing wrong, and knew they
were therefore in danger of arrest, forthwith ran away
to America, where they were harmless, this plan
answered every good purpose. Scarcely any persons
were punished or even caught and shut up under the
Act. It was the highest sort of moral rule. Men's own
consciences judged them, and they bolted or not
accordingly. Quiet and no more outrages were the
result. I have already told how much Lord
O'Hagan's Jury Act has added to the troubles.

No one can doubt that law and order must be
enforced. To leave this uncertain for a day does an
injury to the poor people themselves, worse than the
worst injuries their agitators complain of many times
over, even if such were true, which they are not.
There is no trouble or difficulty in thus producing
quiet. Only Mr. Forster's plan cannot answer, of
using strong words one week in behalf of law and
order, and the next week watering them down by
speaking against the landlords or the House of Lords,

224 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

and so convincing the agitators that something may
be got out of him, even if he does put the law in
force.

Mr. Froude's article in the Nineteenth Centiwy
for September is as powerful a proof as could be that
law and order must be enforced, unless grievous injury
is to be done. It is no question of landlords or the
House of Lords. The moral mischief that is being
done by delay is immense. Let any man of decision
be sent to Connaught with the commission of the
peace for Galway, Mayo, and Sligo. Give him the
command of the police and as many extra men as he
needs. Let his directions be to enforce law and order.
He will not have been there a month before Con-
naught will be at peace. All that is necessary is
that a man of will and brains should be in command,
who will not let himself be trifled with.

But it is impossible that any sudden change for
the better can be made in districts that are now bad.
The popular cry may be yielded to, no doubt, but
this will be only laying up worse evils for the future.
Concession is sure to whet the appetite for more ; it
will not remove the evil. The object sought is per-
sonal money gain alone. In 1873 I pointed out in
the Times that the Land Act had thus only whetted
the appetite of agitators. It had satisfied no one.
More concession will only add to the same. The ill-
habits of the people still in substance exist. It is
only as better habits establish themselves that a

WHAT WILL DO GOOD IN IRELAND. 225

better state of things can grow up. Whenever an
estate has been well managed, the tenants made to
know that whatever any one promises will be held
binding on him — the rents undertaken will be re-
quired, and no humbug listened to, but honest, straight-
forward dealing be the rule — bad tenants be removed
and their land given to good tenants, the condition
and wealth of the people steadily improves. Good
tenants invariably make money. When they can do
this, what is there to fight about ? When the proper
time comes for a rise in the rent, and such rise is
made, they would be more than human, and much
less than Irishmen, if they did not kick a little.
But when the dealing is reasonable and resolute,
this does small harm. A wise notion has been
started that Irish tenants are so poor they cannot
contract freely. Heaven forgive the man who acts
on that view in Ireland ! That a man is not bound
by his contract, is the dodge of every rogue we have.
This is the constant struggle over workhouse and
all other public contracts, that when the contractor
loses by his contract, he should be let off or paid
more. Once it is known that contracts cannot be
got rid of, the attempts to get rid of them cease
miraculously.

The outlay on improvements, both by landlords and
tenants, lately has much increased. An honest census
of what landlords have done for the last thirty years
will show a total that is not anticipated ; such outlay

226 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

by landlords cannot be disregarded. If order pre-
vails it will go on steadily. A moderate part of men's'
incomes applied to this purpose will be enough. Money
so spent is not lost ; it will pay well in the end.

In the past year tenants have awakened to the
value of draining, and the loans at one per cent last
winter from the Government did great good. Though
in strictness of economic principles they might not
be justifiable, yet practically I believe the One per
cent loans were the most successful step that any
Government ever took. The country had advanced
sufficiently to profit by them. The gain to those
of us who had been draining for many years had
been observed, and fruit was now borne by our
example. In my Union forty-four loans for draining
were taken. I believe half of these were taken by
tenants for small sums, £100 and such like. This is
a larger total than was ever before spent by tenants
on drains within the memory of any one living. The
profit certain to be yielded, the drains having been well
sunk, under the inspection of Government officers, and
having outfalls (whilst many drains they heretofore
made for themselves were very shallow and without
any outfall), must do great good.

The sense of success will be such, that it might
be wise for the Government to offer once more loans
for draining to tenants at a cheap rate. Loans at
2 per cent, or even 2^, could be very small loss.
More loans would be taken at 2^ per cent (making

WHAT WILL DO GOOD IN IRELAND. 227

the total charge for principal and interest 5 per cent
for thirty years), after last year's experience, than
were taken at 1 per cent ; and an effect would thus
be produced in many parts that would secure drain-
ing in future going on of itself, to the immense advan-
tage of the country. In a district like this, which is
not mountainous, and where the wet land does not
lie usually in great tracts, but every farm has more
or less of its land wet, such as an industrious tenant
can drain for himself, the general conviction that
to leave land undrained is a dead loss, must work
wonders in a few years.

In much the larger part of Ireland, the only true
remedy is the better management of estates; that
bad tenants should be steadily weeded out, and their
land given to good tenants, without payments that
would reduce their capital. Three-fourths of Ireland
is in this condition.

There are in the country a sufficient number of
good tenants, fairly industrious and steady men, with
some knowledge of their business, who have too small
farms. And there are a large number of thoroughly
bad tenants, indolent, ignorant, and drinkers, who, as
I have shown, in whatever way they hold land, can
never do any good with it. Their faults are their ruin.
This class hardly exists in England or Scotland, and
accordingly its extent or even its existence in Ireland
is not realised. All are looked upon as poor and
honest men ; of course the agitators keep up that

228 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

idea by vehement but untrue assertion : the eject-
ment of one of these bad tenants is spoken of as
cruelty and wrong. Let it be considered what it is
to have in a farm a lazy, drinking, even if not
drunken, man, ignorant, without capital or know-
ledge of farming, and his land much exhausted.
How is it possible a country can improve when
much of the land is thus held ? There is no diffi-
culty with any one else but these. No landlord who
is not an idiot ever quarrels with a good tenant.
These bad tenants are the men for whom Mr. Forster's
Disturbance Bill was made, and who would have
prayed for his soul if he had carried it.

I have three bad tenants, all drunken; two of them
have no four-footed animals on their farms, one holding
forty-seven acres, at 5s. 9d.per acre : what is it possible
to do with such men when they cease to pay rent ?

When such men are turned out there is plenty
of work for them, if they will do it, in spite of Mr.
Gladstone's wholly untrue statement, that evictions
are the same as death-warrants, and, under the obliga-
tion to work, their children grow up into useful labour-
ing people. In what part of the earth can men be at
once idle and prosperous ? On what principle should
the land, these men have failed in, not be given to
good tenants, who will farm it better, and benefit the
country and themselves by so farming it ? This is
the common-sense course which has succeeded with
me and with all others having improving estates.

WHAT WILL DO GOOD IN IRELAND. 229

The principle professed in behalf of the Land Act
was that capricious evictions might be stopped, but
it was expressly added that no one wished to keep bad
tenants on the land. The Act, however, has been
put in force in a way that has tended directly to keep
bad tenants in their farms.

It has been held that the Act gave an absolute
right to every tenant of four to seven years' rent as
compensation for eviction. Non-payment of a year's
rent alone deprived him of this right. The landlord
no doubt might have a set-off against him. But the
most justifiable cause for eviction has been still
held a disturbance, and still left the burden of four
to seven years' rent to be paid by the landlord.

The only right course would have been that, if
there was justifiable cause for eviction, the landlords
should not incur the penalty.

I have had but one land case myself. A poor
old tenant had forty acres of capital land. Before I
bought it, he had divided the farm with his eldest
son, who was the most hopelessly lazy fellow I ever
knew. He soon could not pay his part of the rent.
So I had to turn him out, and take the loss of his
rent on myself, giving his land back to the father, as
he had another son ; this other son, when little more
than a boy, was convicted of a bad attempt at rape,
in one of my own fields, and got twelve months in
Cork gaol for it. He used habitually to rob his
father's potato pit, to supply money for his iniquities.

230 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

So there was an end of his chance as a tenant. The
old man had cows on his land, which he let to a
dairyman, and so paid his rent ; after his wife died,
he became so feeble he could not walk across the
room to his own door. A daughter had married a rich
farmer twenty miles off. She had to take her father
home to her house in a cart to save his life, and there
he lived for some years. The farm is part of the best
land I have : by manuring, it has paid me capitally
since. . I could not allow it to be thus left half waste,
and therefore served a notice to quit, and ejected. The
County Court judge agreed it was impossible I could
help ejecting in such a case, but yet ordered me to
pay four years' rent, over £150, for so doing. I think
it was a wrong decision, and so did most others who
heard it. Luckily I had a set-off for dilapidations,
that saved me in part, and by appealing to the' Judge
of Assize I forced on a compromise that still more
relieved me. This is the effect of the Land Act as
it is worked.

No reasonable landlord objected to capricious
evictions being stopped. The attempt to make out
a bastard Tenant-right, as has been done, has caused
great disgust, and turned many against the Act. It
is strange, the effect of unfair dealing, by men in the
position of judges towards those whom it is impos-
sible to deprive of much power, except by confisca-
tion, is not observed.

Nor is the requirement of thirty-one years' leases

WHAT WILL DO GOOD IN IRELAND. 231

to be complained of. I think this last requirement
might be extended in such a way that all future
lettings of land should be by lease for thirty-one
years. A twenty-one years' lease is long enough
in England and Scotland, and I am convinced is a
great gain to both tenant and landlord, because it
gives security for the tenant's expenditure. Though
thirty-one years may be too long a term, in some re-
spects, yet, with the ideas that prevail in Ireland (I do
not mean the wild view of the present moment), I
think the term need not be objected to.

More drainage by tenants, if landlords do not
themselves drain as they ought, and thirty-one-year
leases in all cases, will give much increased produce
from the land, and so satisfy M. de Molinari's principle.
It might be a condition of the lease that the tenant
should drain all wet land in the first fifteen years, if
the landlord did not do it, and the tenant get a charge
for the outlay in full. I have often thought a justifi-
able pressure on both landlord and tenant could be
had if the land was valued for rating, not as now at
its present value (but when more than 5 per
cent of the farm is wet and reclaimable), by valuing
it at what it would be worth if drained and re-
claimed. Those who now drain their land suffer an
injustice if their neighbours do not also drain. The
sums required for the Poor or the Eoads are applotted
on a fixed area, and those who raise the value of their
farms by draining pay a larger share of the sum so

232 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

applotted, whilst the neighbour who neglects his
duty is actually relieved of part of what he would
have had to pay. By valuing all as if the land had
been drained, this hardship may be set right, and a
mild screw put on the neglectful occupiers and owners
to do their duty. The gain to all from the general
drainage of the country exceeds all other possible
gains manifold.

M. de Molinari's last letter in the Dtbats of
September 22, deserves the most careful attention.
It is directly on the point I am now discussing, —
What can be done ? He says plainly, Ireland is truly
sick. It is sick of one of the worst forms of pauper-
ism,— agrarian pauperism. There are 200,000 to
300,000 tenants, representing more than a million of
souls, who cultivate an inferior refuse soil, so that in
good years they are only just above starvation, and
in bad years they are starving. It is these small
refuse farms that are the cause of the trouble ;
nothing else. They must be united to other farms,
so as to increase the size, and make each farm large
enough to support the farmer and his family, and
such as he can prosper in. The process has gone
on rapidly ever since the great famine. The Land
Act retarded it. But still it went on, neverthe-
less, and nothing but the union of farms, till they
can support a family, can produce a better state of
things.

I believe there is no answer to this statement.

WHAT WILL DO GOOD IN IRELAND. 233

In substance it agrees with what I have told as the
experience of a life in Ireland, lived not without
success. Take the case of one of these small tenants
M. de Molinari speaks of, who pays £9 a year. £9
a year is 180 shillings, less than 6d. per day ; so 6d.
per day would be his total gain if he had his land rent-
free. But much the larger number pay less than £5
a year rent. Well, £4: 10s. a year is less than 3d.
per day — his gain if rent-free. Can such sums alter
the tenant's position from poverty to comfort ? Will
3d. or 6d. per day added to the means of living of a
Connaught small tenant raise him to the wished-for
condition ? Any one can tell the answer. Compare
the state of these men with my labourers earning 12s.
per week, with free houses, garden, and potato-land,
and remember that, according to Mr. Gladstone, I
signed the death-warrant of many of them when I
evicted them long years ago.

In County Cork the number of the ejectments in
the last three years, that have been by creditors, mort-
gagees to whom the tenants pledged their farms for
money advanced, turns out to be near half the total
These are the direct effect of the tenant's debts and
his faults, with which the landlord had nothing to
do. The justification of Mr. Forster's Disturbance
Bill was the cruelty of landlords in ejecting tenants
in these bad times. Here is the answer.

Again, in this same letter, M. de Molinari de-
scribes what will necessarily happen if these bad

234 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

tenants are made peasant proprietors, or given a
greater hold on the land by Tenant-right or the Three
Fs : they will get deeper in debt in consequence, and
be more surely sold up by the creditors the first time
bad years come. I believe one cause that my tenants
are less in debt than others is, that all money-lenders
know that I feel no pity for them ; as my tenants
and I are on very friendly terms on the whole, the
money-lenders fear we may collogue (as it is called
here), and leave them in the lurch. My principle in
all such cases is, that though some of my tenants, I
am sorry to say, are not so honest as they should be,
yet money-lenders are so much worse rogues, that it
is no part of my duty to think about them, and if
a tenant likes to surrender his land, I decline to ask
what money he has borrowed.

I may be told that the course of gradual amend-
ment I suggest is too slow. My answer is, its slow-
ness is one of its chief recommendations. Amend-
ment of a people's habits cannot be fast, as I have
said before. Improvement will need generations to
effect ; but every step is a gain. The proximate cause
of the present agitation is the distress from failure of
crops in Connaught and some other parts. Smith
O'Brien's folly in 1848, just after the famine, pro-
ceeded from the very same causes. It must be clearly
understood that the state of Connaught and other
western mountainous and sea-coast districts differs
wholly from the rest of Ireland. Here and there an

WHAT WILL DO GOOD IN IRELAND. 235

out-of-the-way spot in other parts approaches their bad
state, but the quality of the land and condition of the
people are far different. Before the famine of 1846
the subdivision of farms caused us to approach to this
bad state. Since then we have advanced to a quite
different condition. In Sir Charles Trevelyan's
articles in the Edinburgh Revieiv for 1848, and
which he has lately reprinted, and from his letter to
the Times, in July last, it will be seen what was then
our condition and what we then went through. He
says plainly, that was done then, which M. de Moli-
nari advises to be the only possible thing that can be
done now. The distress was fully relieved whilst it
lasted. Afterwards the modest part was taken of
helping the healing work of Nature, and acting on
the sound principle of Laisser faire.

This, M. de Molinari adds, does not satisfy modern
doctors; but Ireland in time will learn that the
doctors are worse than the disease.

The Government of that time was Liberal, like the
present. Sir C. Trevelyan is surely a Liberal. He
had met the evil in Ireland, and grappled with it for
near two years, being then Secretary to the Treasury.
The words and acts of men like Sir C. Trevelyan and
M. de Molinari cannot be passed over in favour of a
brand-new revolution to turn everything upside
down.

I believe there is clear proof that poverty is the
only evil, and self-exertion the only cure. The dis-

236 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

trict in which I write is only twenty miles from
Skibbereen, and part of the Union was cut out of the
Skibbereen Union, and runs within ten miles of that
town. Every one knows what Skibbereen was in the
famine of 1846. This district was not so bad, because
there was less congestion of poor people from the poorer
districts beyond, yet the suffering and starvation in
it were terrible. The whole winter 1846-7 was like
a frightful nightmare to those who had to go through
it. In the following years more than half our people
emigrated. Where an estate had been only neglected
and subdivided, with low rent and no pressure,
tenants being suffered to do as they liked, they
emigrated more than from other lands. They had
made a harder pressure for themselves. These spots
had become much the same as rabbit-warrens. I
knew two such cases from which nearly all went to
America, though the rent was a mere trifle, and no
pressure or restraint put on them. A large part of
our population were labourers. There had been
much emigration before the famine, so that many
had friends in America : this helped to cause
emigration to be looked on with liking. Our land
is mostly of a quality that will not yield still
without good manuring. So it was not easy to do
much here without money. We are now one of the
most thriving parts of the South of Ireland, and im-
prove yearly. The land has got into larger farms ;
and though the farmers only half manure and give

WHAT WILL DO GOOD IN IRELAND. 237

very little employment, only tilling as much as their
own families can work, still, as prices of all grass pro-
ducts are very good, and wages are higher than
they were then, all are much better off, and there
have been no rent troubles.

There is a place of 400 acres near, called the
Common Mountain, that belongs to no one. It was
settled by squatters, who, in potato times, built cabins
and reclaimed fields and bits. The fee was in the
Crown, and the ownership by squatters was recognised.
They are mostly no better than paupers. Last spring
a large proportion had to get seed of champion
potatoes on credit from the Union. It is quite the
most turbulent part of the petty sessions district, and
for a long time, as a magistrate, I thought it right to
give double punishment to offenders from this part,
for the sake of preserving order there.

I believe, if the matter was fairly looked into,
this district and the greater part of the County Cork
would be found to give conclusive proof of the sound-
ness of the principles acted on by Sir C. Trevelyan
and the Government of 1847. If the evil is pauper-
ism— agrarian pauperism — surely to fix the present
paupers on the land, bad ones and all, by Ulster
Tenant-right, or fixity of tenure, or making them
peasant proprietors, can never cure the trouble.

It is the strongest confirmation of this view that
the whole effort of the present agitation is, to keep
the worst and the most useless tenants still in their

238 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

farms. They may be doing no good for themselves,
and never have done any good even in the best
times, and their bad habits and poverty may prove
they never are likely to do any good ; but there they
are to stay and vegetate, neither paying rent nor
benefiting themselves or the country.

It is strange men do not see that this means that
all the bad habits of the lowest class in the country
will be stereotyped among us, and all progress to a
better state of things stopped.

The main help in Connaught and that part of Ire-
land which is the worst, must be emigration. Wherever
there is a congestion of more on the soil than it can
support in comfort without trusting to potatoes, emi-
gration alone can relieve it. Of course no Government
can undertake emigration, still less enforce it ; they
would hinder it if they tried. But the Government can
give every facility for the purpose, and so open the
door for it as wide as possible. They can provide, as
ought to have been done long ago, proper agents at
the ports of embarkation, to advise and help all
emigrants asking for such help, and show where to
procure food and lodgings whilst waiting for the ship,
and forwarding them in every fair way. It is strange
this has not been done before. It is done for these
same poor people on their arrival at New York by
the American Government. There is reason to believe
emigrants are often grievously wronged and cheated
at our own ports before they embark. A reasonable

WHAT WILL DO GOOD IN IRELAND. 239

care for them in this respect would be a great
encouragement to emigration, and an act of charity
too. Boards of Guardians have power now to help
emigration from the rates. But larger powers might
be given to help, and in poor Unions loans for the
purpose granted, where the burden became too heavy.
When the Prime Minister of Canada, Sir J.
Macdonnell, was in London just before Parliament
was prorogued, he offered grants of the splendid land
in Manitoba, the wheat from which causes so much
fright to English farmers, 160 acres each to able-
bodied emigrants settling there; and he offered to
get an Act passed by the Colonial Parliament to
charge the cost of the emigration and support for
some months of the emigrant upon the land, in case
the cost had been advanced by any third party, as
Boards of Guardians, etc., so that, whether the emi-
grants stayed on the land or sold it, the money should
be repaid. A proper officer of the Government was to
see to the whole business, and procure repayment. The
proposal was communicated to Lord Dunraven (who
has travelled so much to the Far West, and has per-
sonal knowledge of the country) and to Lord Monck ;
they brought it before the House of Lords. Though
the climate is no doubt severe, still it must be a
very advantageous offer to poor emigrants. An
advance of £50, with what means he may have,
would be enough to pay for the emigration of most
farmers with their families. This, or even more,

240 A LIFE >S WORK IN IRELAND.

charged on 160 acres of good land, must be quite safe.
Arrangements could be made for large parties going
out together. If the offer is made known, and
facilities for embarking at this side are given, it is
likely a large emigration will follow, provided all are
convinced law and order will be enforced here, and
that those who stay at home must earn their living
by honest work. It has long appeared to me that,
if advances for emigration were made personal debts
from the emigrants in any Colony, duly recoverable
in a safe and cheap way by Act of Colonial Parlia-
ment, with proper officers there to enforce payment
if not otherwise repaid, it would be a great advantage
to many honest poor people who wish to emigrate.
We are sure that most emigrants do well, and could
repay an advance easily by instalments. Why should
they not do so ? Some would be lost, perhaps, by
the emigrants passing into the States : such loss
might be borne ; the majority would repay. All the
class of able healthy boys and girls in our workhouses,
growing up and able to work, might thus be sent out,
to their great gain and our relief. In our great town
workhouses with thousands of paupers, some such
resource is much wanted. The great workhouses in
the large towns, as Cork, Dublin, etc., are a grievous
evil, that never ought to have been allowed to grow up.
They are a disgrace to the Local Government Board,
and show how little sense prevails there. In Cork
there are over 2500 paupers in the workhouse. In

WHAT WILL DO GOOD IN IRELAND. 241

the two Dublin workhouses it is worse. They are born
there, marry there, live and die there. The quantity
of stimulants consumed in the houses is outrageous.
Poor Law Inspectors almost live in them to keep things
right, but still the evil goes on unchecked, a huge wen
of pauperism. Nothing so bad has existed in the three
kingdoms since the old Poor Laws of fifty years ago.
I am sure the sentimental thought, that it is a
hardship on a poor person to be forced by circum-
stances to emigrate, is a delusion. Irish people, when
removed from the influence of their own class, become
better workers, and more quiet and more prosperous.
They have many qualities that better fit them for
success in a new country than the English have.
The faults of home are their bane. The proportion
of those who succeed in America is very great.

To sum up : Agrarian pauperism is the true
trouble of Ireland, and increased production of some
sort the only possible cure, except in those parts
where emigration is wanted. In one hundred years
bad tenants will not produce more from the land
than they produce now, but probably "much less,
as their land becomes more exhausted. Let, there-
fore, every opportunity for emigration be given to all
unsuccessful and bad tenants and to all superfluous
labourers, and let the land they occupied go into the
hands of those who already hold land and are doing
well with it. There is immense room for profitable
employment for some generations in draining, with

R

242 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

profit to all. The ordinary loans, at a rate of interest
which causes no loss to Government, should be con-
tinued to landowners, as they have been for many
years past ; and for two or three years cheaper loans
at 2 or 2J per cent might be continued to farmers.
They will gain from draining thus done much more
than they would gain by any reduction of rent.

Until the check of distress that has been felt all
over the kingdom from the bad crops of the two
seasons came on, Ireland was fast improving, and
had greatly advanced compared with the state it was
in at the Union, or any time since. It will do so
again from natural oauses, if only law and order
are enforced. The doubt that foolish speeches and
foolish acts of men in authority have raised, whether
the law and rights of property will be upheld, has
caused a hundred times more hardship to individuals,
and to the tenants themselves, than all the hard acts
of landlords in the same time, and has tended sorely
to retard improvement in the country.

Mr. Froude truly says, " These words have raised
incendiarieS and assassins to the rank of patriots,
and encouraged them to go on with their work by
telling them that, if they were only violent and mis-
chievous enough, they would have their desires.
The one indispensable requirement in Ireland is
authority armed with power to make the law obeyed."
I cannot add a word to these weighty truths.

Unjust measures, disregarding the rights of pro-

WHAT WILL DO GOOD IN IRELAND. 243

perty, may gratify the covetousness of some and the
ill-will of others, by injuring the class of landowners,
but they will never improve the social state of the
people by a hair's breadth. Ireland, like all other
countries, contains good and bad of all classes.
Those of us who understand farming have no wish
to let our land at all, because, from the bad farming
of nearly all tenants, we can make much more of it
by holding it ourselves. I should be glad to farm
every acre of the 3900 that belong to me, and could
add much to my income by doing so. The labourers
I should employ would as a body be better off in all
ways than most of the tenants, and their number
would be greater. But I have not the least wish to
part with my old friends, and have no thought of
doing so ; only I can see no sense in rooting bad
tenants in the soil to be paupers, and the cause of
evil for generations to come.

No one who understands the question can doubt
that the price of all farming products, except corn,
has risen greatly in the last thirty years, and has
a tendency still to rise. The mode of farming, too,
has greatly improved. The use of bought manures,
and of cake and corn in feeding stock, has much
increased the profits of farming in ordinary tunes.
These are the causes of the rise of rents that has
taken place. Lately there has been a check, but
prices may, and probably will, increase again when
times improve. *

244 . A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

Landlords have a just claim to a share of such
increased prosperity according to what future prices
may prove to be. Every man of business is ot
course ready to adjust the rent accordingly with fair-
ness and consideration.

The same common sense and judgment that pro-
duce a prosperous estate and contented tenantry
in England and Scotland will do so in Ireland.
Whether we are few or many who try to reach this
good state, we are doing our duty, and the best
hope of the permanent progress of the country rests
on our success. Why, instead of being helped, are
our hands to be tied and our efforts hindered by
what is really an effort to give protection to all the
bad habits and backward ideas that have made Ire-
land a byword ? Surely England has not so far lost
the qualities that made her what she is, as to be un-
able to say law and order shall prevail, and upright
honesty to all classes alike be maintained. Without
these nothing else is worth having, nor can any
people prosper.

The difference between indolence and industry
is much greater than any difference of rent that any
landlord can propose. The difference between order
and the rule of the Land League is greater than that
between prosperity and ruin.

At bottom the question is whether the dealings
between landlord and tenant are to be governed by
open free contract, as, since the principles of Free

WHAT WILL DO GOOD IN IRELAND. 245

Trade were recognised, has been done in all other busi-
ness dealings amongst us. Or whether, because some
Irish tenants are poor and backward, and seek to get
a money advantage for themselves whether rightly or
wrongly, a fixed artificial system is to be set up for
this end, depriving owners of their honest reversion-
ary rights. It has never been thought that to give
largess to a pauper will cure him of his beggary,
still less of indolence and love of drink. Every-
where else in the world industry and self-exertion
are counted the only road to prosperity.

246 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

CHAPTEE XV.

ON CLIMATE AND THE SUPPLY OF LABOUR AS
AFFECTING AGRICULTURE IN IRELAND.

1872.

CLIMATE has been well described as the ruling prin-
ciple of agriculture.

The Irish climate is proverbially wet. Mr. Scott,
of the Meteorological Office, the highest authority in
the kingdom on this subject, informs me that the
rainfall of most part of Munster, all Connaught and
Donegal, Cornwall, Wales, and the West of Scot-
land, resemble each other, all are forty to fifty inches,
whilst the rainfall in Essex and the East of England
is about twenty inches, over forty inches is the aver-
age of County Cork. The rainfall of the West of
England, except Cornwall, and of the Eastern part
of Ireland does not differ much — thirty to thirty-five
inches. The rain increases down to Penzance, where
it is the same as in Munster. Meteorological ob-
servations are kept at very few places in Ireland,
and there is reason to believe that the local rainfall
in many places is much greater than any that has
been registered. It is certain that there is a damp-

THE CLIMATE OF IRELAND. 247

ness in the atmosphere, as shown in the effect on
household goods, clothes, etc., and an absence of hot,
dry weather in summer, especially in the South,
much beyond anything usual in most parts of the
West of England, even where the rainfall is the
same. Arthur Young said, long ago, " The worst of
the climate of Ireland is the constant moisture
without rain." I am inclined to think it might be
said more truly, The best of the climate is the
constant moisture. But, either way, whether for
good or bad, such is the climate. My experience has
been chiefly in the West Hiding, County Cork, and
there, beyond a few warm days in summer, some-
times not more than half-a-dozen, we know very
little of what hot weather means. In spite of this
dampness of atmosphere, the soil being generally
rather thin, and so drying very quickly, it is a
charming climate, mild in winter and cool in summer,
of a refreshing softness after the heat of English
summer weather, that causes a sense of actual
enjoyment from mere passing through the air, like
the enjoyment of a drive in the cool evening of a
roasting day.

The one drawback is the force of the south-west
winds, which are, however, the cause of our other
advantages.

Facts from the garden confirm this opinion.
Pears against a wall seldom ripen to their right
flavour. Peaches, except in especially warm and

248 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

sheltered places, will not do well. Peach-trees
continue growing throughout the autumn. I have
often seen them as full of leaves at Christmas as at
Midsummer. Of course the wood does not ripen,
and any frost kills this green wood, and often reduces
the tree in the following summer to bare branches,
with a tuft of green leaves at the end of each.
Apricots hardly ever bear fruit.

Such a climate as this plainly must have a very
great influence on farming ; a greater influence prob-
ably than any other natural cause.

Mr. Buchan, President of the Botanical Society
of Edinburgh, in his address to the society, November
9, 1871, thus speaks on the subject of the effects of
climate on the distribution of plants : —

" Bousingault examined the distribution of wheat
on the continent of Europe, and arrived at the con-
clusion that it required 8248° Fahr., from the time
it begins to grow in spring, for the proper ripening
of the seed ; and, moreover, that this heat must be
partitioned so as to secure a mean summer tempera-
ture of 58° during the development and maturation
of the seed. This minimum amount of heat
required for the maturing of the seeds is a vital
consideration. "We have proved in Scotland that a
mean temperature of 56° during the critical period,
with the average sunshine and rainfall of the.
Scottish summer, is sufficient to ripen wheat pro-
perly. Not only so, but it was found that the

THE CLIMATE OF IRELAND. 249

wheat crop of 1864 ripened well with only the
average temperature of 54*4°. In that year, how-
ever, the sunshine was much above the average, and
the mean of the daily maximum temperature was
high, being as high as in August 1861, when the
mean temperature was 57*4°.

" It is probable that the longer time the sun is
above the horizon in Scotland, as compared with
Germany and France, renders the ripening of this
cereal possible with a lower mean temperature, and
when this is combined with a clear dry atmosphere,
and consequently a blazing, scorching sunshine, grain
of excellent quality is ripened, though the mean
temperature rise no higher than 54*4°. From this
it is clear that in regarding the influence of temper-
ature on bringing plants to maturity, it is not mean
temperature merely, but the way in which the vital
element is distributed through the day and night,
particularly at the critical periods of the plants'
growth, which must be considered. A high mean
temperature, with little variation, implies a compara-
tively low day temperature ; and, on the other hand,
a moderately low mean temperature, with a large
daily range, implies a high day temperature ; so that
a climate with a comparatively low mean temperature
may yet afford the warmth required in carrying on the
higher functions of the plant which another climate
of a higher mean temperature could not supply.

" Now, that which in the highest degree deter-

250 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

mines the mode in which temperature is partitioned
throughout the twenty-four hours of the day is the
amount of cloud and the degree of moisture in the
atmosphere ; for a knowledge of which we must look
to the rainfall through the months of the year as
furnishing the best available key.

" The rainfall affects plants directly through the
nourishment it conveys to them, and indirectly
through the state of the sky which its amount or
absence implies. Indeed, so great is the influence
of rainfall on vegetation, that we cannot be far wrong
in regarding it as co-ordinate with that of tempera-
ture. Whatever the law may be which expresses
the atmospheric conditions that determine the limits
of the growth of species, it must include in its
functions both the heat and moisture of the air.

" Decandolle deduced the law for the distribution
of species over a region whose climates are marked
off from each other rather by variations of temper-
ature than of moisture. He then endeavoured to
extend it so as to account for the distribution of
the florae of other regions, the climates of which
may be characterised either as moist at all seasons
or subject to marked variations of moisture at stated
seasons. Perhaps not the least valuable of the re-
sults arrived at by him is the negative one stated in
these words : — ' On the borders of the Mediterranean
Sea, the limits appeared so often determined by the
humidity, or by causes still unknown, that the

THE CLIMATE OF IRELAND. 251

operations of temperature always escaped my cal-
culations.'

" It may be predicted that when the limits of
species have been drawn with some exactness for
Central and Northern Europe, the regions from which
Decandolle took his examples, they will be found to
coincide with no mere temperature lines, however
calculated and determined, inasmuch as there are
much greater differences in the climates of this
region than are generally supposed, as regards the
rainfall, particularly in the manner of its distribution
over the year." l

The practical result of these views seems to be
that the same summer temperature (I mean the
average temperature of each twenty-four hours) may
be arrived at in two ways : —

(1.) By cool days and warm nights ; or (2) by
hot days and cold nights. Hot days are necessary
for the growth of good corn crops, and if the days
are hot and sunshiny, cold nights are of less import-
ance. There is no doubt that the moisture and
clouds in the atmosphere of Ireland cause cool days,
with little sunshine ; and though the nights are
mild, that does not, for the purpose of corn-growing,
make up for the want of heat and sunshine by day.

Dr. Lloyd, the Provost of Trinity College, Dublin,
who is probably the best authority we have on the

1 "Transactions and Proceedings of the Botanical Society of
Edinburgh," vol. xi. Part II., 1873, pp. 262-264.

252 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

subject of Irish climate, has been good enough also
to suggest to me that another subsidiary action,
connected with those of temperature and moisture,
that plays a sensible part in the phenomena, is the
frequent lowering of temperature which occurs in
July in connection with the arrival of the mass of
condensed vapour from the Atlantic, and which,
unhappily for the cereals, occurs at the St. Swithin
period, just at the time when it is most injurious to
them, although advantageous to green crops. This
shows itself very decidedly in the annual curves of
temperature as well as of rainfall.

Mr. Whitley, in an article in the Journal of the
Eoyal Agricultural Society, gives the average summer
temperature of Cork at 65°, being, as he adds, the
highest in the British Islands. There can be no
doubt that this is founded on erroneous observations.
There is no such average summer temperature as §5°
in Ireland. It is probable that the average summer
temperature of the South of Ireland is about 60°.
But 60° is a sufficient average temperature for grow-
ing wheat well. It is much more than a sufficient
temperature for growing oats, which are believed
only to require from 54° to 57°. Yet good crops
of wheat can seldom be grown in Ireland, especially
in the South, and even oats, though so much hardier,
do not grow so well as in England and Scotland,
especially on land that is highly farmed. My ex-
perience is that it is increasingly hard to get a

THE CLIMATE OF IRELAND.

253

^proportionately good crop on high-farmed land than
on land in worse condition. This is the difficulty.
The temperature is high enough, according to re-
ceived views, to grow wheat or oats well. But they
do not grow well. Mr. Buchan's explanation is
probably the true one.

There is no series of accurate observations for any
long number of years extant. I have been favoured
by Mr. R H. Scott, Director of the Meteorological
Department, London, with the following Table : —

TABLE I. — MEAN MONTHLY BAROMETRICAL PRESSURE
and TEMPERATURE at VALENCIA and CORK.

VALENCIA.

CORK.

MONTHS.

Pressure.
Mean of 5

Temperature.
Mean of 5

Pressure.
Mean of 11

Temperature.
Mean of 13

Years.

Years.

Years.

Years.

8A.M.

Obser. only.
1866-1870.

8A.M.

Obser. only.

1857-1867.

1857-1869.

January .

29754

43-0

29-813

41-8

February

•895

44-1

•934

431

March

•874

45-4

•823

44-8

April

•922

49-2

•894

49-6

May .

29-861

52-9

•932

53-5

June.

30-105

567

•998

59-2

July.

30-016

60-0

•959

62-1

August

29-964

58-9

•929

60-5

September

•835

56-4

•909

57-0

October .

29-920

52-9

•833

51-0

November

30-015

46-8

•881

44-5

December

29-814

46-3

29-933

43-2

Mean for the year

29-915

51'1

29-903

50-9

NOTE. — The barometric values for Valencia are obtained from
values kept in the Meteorological Office. All the other averages
are comDuted by Mr. Buchan and published by him.

254 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

An interesting illustration has been mentioned
to me by Mr. Scott from the climate of the Scilly
Islands, which may be taken as an exaggeration of
the climate of Ireland. He says : —

" In Scilly the mean monthly temperature ranges
only from 45° to 6 3°, being a less variation than at any
other place in these islands. The north of Donegal
and Shetland most nearly approach it. The result
of this very equable spring temperature is that vege-
tation is always going on, and no crop or fruit will
ripen thoroughly. A few bad apples are the only fruit
besides gooseberries. The plants that flourish there
are sub-tropical, such as aloes, yuccas, mesembryan-
themums, and, of course, large geraniums and fuchsias.
The produce of the islands is to a great extent vege-
tables for the London market, especially new potatoes.

" The climate is an exaggeration of your southern
climate, such as Cape Clear, the mean temperature
for the year being 1° higher. The reason of the
very exceptional climate of Scilly is due in some
measure to the set of the currents at the mouth of
the English Channel."

I think the suitableness of the Irish climate for
growing potatoes was one cause that led to the great
extent of potato cultivation there before the famine,
which has hitherto been ascribed mainly to social
and political causes. Till the blight, potatoes
flourished in Ireland better than elsewhere, and
therefore were more grown.

THE CLIMATE OF IRELAND. 255

In the South of Ireland corn ripens, but with
difficulty, so that a good or bad crop of corn is
more dependent on the character of the season
than elsewhere, and the crop is more often inferior.
Over thirty years ago, before the famine, when I
began to farm in Ireland, the universal rotation in
the county of Cork, except near the mountains, was
potatoes on lea manured (and such lea as it was ! —
land left to rest, without grass seeds even, and one
mass of weeds ; and then the manuring ! — earth
drawn from the field, with a little calcareous sand
and the refuse of the dwelling-house mixed), fol-
lowed by wheat. Oats only came in as a scourging
crop when the land would no longer grow wheat.
The wheat was a poor crop, five or six barrels of
twenty stones, about equal to twenty-four bushels,
being considered good. Half that produce was
much more common. But as Corn-law prices then
ruled, farmers were content, except in bad years,
which in that climate were frequent.

After I had been farming pretty well for some
years, with only a moderate increase of crop, I
remember thinking the cause must be in the pre-
viously exhausted condition of the soil, and that I
might get over it and grow good wheat by a rotation
of (1) swedes, (2) rape, (3) wheat. The swedes and
rape were well manured with bones, besides other
manure, and half the swedes and all the rape were
eaten with sheep. The wheat looked all that

256 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

could be desired during the spring and summer
till harvest, but it was no sooner in shock than it
was enough to lift a sheaf to have a painful proof
of the crop's lightness. In fact, it was worse than
the crop of the small farmer in the next field, that
had not been a quarter so welldone by. There was
sunlight enough to ripen his thin, short-strawed
crop tolerably. But the ears of my handsome crop
were not half-filled, and much of the corn in them
was only fit for chickens' food. The same result
several years in succession at last taught its lesson.
V I gave up trying to grow any corn except oats.
The common farmers, too, have gradually ceased to
grow wheat, except a small piece for their own
consumption (as it is one of the curiosities of our
stage of development that every farmer thinks it
needful to grow the food of himself and his family
on his own farm ; so, as potatoes will no longer
grow well, he grows some wheat wherever he can
for home consumption). They, too, have taken to
oats as the chief crop. Wheat being usually lower
in price than it was in Corn-law times, and oats
much higher, no doubt tends to the same end. There
is a general opinion, too, that the local climate has
altered. The oats even are not the belter sorts of
oats. Black Tartary oats, the coarsest sort known,
succeed best by far. But even with oats, and
thoroughly good farming, the produce in corn is not
on the average of years what it should be ; nothing

THE CLIMATE OF IRELAND. 257

like what such farming would produce in England
or Scotland. The upland soil in my district is a
useful turnip loam, rather thin from the rock being
near the surface, but growing great crops of swedes.
(Manure as highly as we please, we cannot grow
half a Norfolk crop of mangolds, for the same reason*
I think, that we cannot grow good corn crops.) It
steadily improves with good farming in the yield of
grass, and in the quantity of stock it will feed, and
not at all slowly. The bottom land is generally
more or less peaty, with clay below, and when
drained is very good for grass. For years I have
used bought manures and cake largely ; last year to
the value of 20s. per acre over the whole farm of
seven hundred acres. Yet the corn hardly increases ;
fifty bushels of oats per acre is still as much as we
can grow in a good year, even after sheep folded on
swedes, with hay and cake. I am not able to give
measured quantities of any value, for the farm is
managed in subordination to the needs of the estate,
with sometimes a slice of good land let away in
order to improve a tenant's farm, sometimes a slice
of reclaimed land added to it, sometimes of land
given up by a bad tenant, and worn out to a degree
of exhaustion that will not grow either weeds or
couch (it is something to have come to look on a
good crop of couch as a hopeful sign of land), and
which swallows up all the manure of a year or two
as a starved beast swallows good feeding without

8

258 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

showing it. Kotation and exact quantities at
successive intervals thus are made almost impossible ;
but my conviction is strong, from close observation,
that the difficulty of growing larger crops of oats is
due to the climate, which, though in ordinary years
it will ripen a moderate crop, has too much moisture
and too little sunshine to ripen a really heavy crop,
except in chance seasons.

On the other hand, the very same climate that
is so unfavourable for corn is extraordinarily favour-
able for grass, which continues to grow often through
most part of the winter.

And this is the true explanation of the inclina-
tion to grass -farming that is almost universal in
Ireland, not only among large farmers and land-
owners farming on their own account, but equally
among middling and small farmers. The small
farmer formerly tilled more of his farm in proportion,
because it took much of his land to provide the food
for his family, but even before the famine the
constant argument used by small farmers seeking
more land was, "If I get more land I can leave
more out in grass." When a farmer failed, it was
always said, "He tilled too much of his land."
There was never any doubt but that the land paid
best in grass, when the farmer could afford to buy
stock. The climate was and is the ruling principle,
as Mr. Whitley said. Even when the grass farming
is bad, as it often is, it still pays better than the

THE CLIMATE OF IRELAND. 259

equally bad tillage farming that the same farmer
would practise on the same farm. The views in
favour of breaking up inferior grass so often urged
in drier climates have very little place in our wet
climate. There is very little land so bad that if it
is once in good condition will not grow grass well in
this climate. When the land needs breaking 4ip it
is almost always only as the best means of adding
condition in order again to put it in grass.

Of course what I have said in no way affects the
correctness of Mr. Pringle's complaints of bad grass-
farming. No doubt, too, there is some land that
cannot profitably be kept in grass beyond a few
years. I believe, also, there is a tract of country in
the East and North -East of Ireland, from Wexford
to Down inclusive, where the climate is more
favourable to tillage than elsewhere. [{(When land is
foul with weeds, and much worn out, cultivation
with heavy manuring of green crops, is the most
economical, if not the only way of getting it into
condition ; and without some roots and straw for
winter it is not easy on middling land to manage a
heavy stock to the best advantage ; but I think the
problem of profitable farming in these times in Ire-
land is (or at least is fast becoming) with how little
cultrwalion a farm in grass can be successfully man-
aged. \J There is a great change since the time when
Mr. Algernon Clarke, whom Mr. Pringle quotes as
his authority, wrote of Irish farming. The price of

260 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

stock, and of most grass products, has immensely
increased. The cost of labour has greatly increased
too ; not only are wages much higher, which is not
to be complained of, but labourers in Ireland usually
give less and worse labour for their hire. It was
bad enough before with low wages, it is worse now
with much higher wages, whatever it may ultimately
come to. Emigration, too, is steadily lessening the
supply of labour year by year. Several years ago,
being pretty forward with draining and such improve-
ments, I bethought me that it would be well to devote
money to the improvement of labourers' houses over
the estate. I had already built good houses for most
of the men in my own regular employment. When I
came practically to consider the subject I found that
everything was in such a transition state that it was
wiser to wait a while, and see what houses would
be really wanted and where. It was well I did so,
for now there are a number of labourers' houses on
all parts of the estate standing empty, some of them
fairly good slated houses, much superior to the
common cabins of the country ; more are yearly
being left empty.

Extra jobs of draining, etc., can no longer be
done in most years at a reasonable cost, or a fair
increase on former prices. Men are not to be had,
except a few at slack times of year, and they will
not do wet, unpleasant work except for very high
pay, and in their own lazy way. It is often said that

THE CLIMATE OF IRELAND. 261

one advantage of more and better cultivation would
be additional employment for labourers. I have
always thought this a fallacy. There is more pro-
fitable work in draining, etc., wanting to be done in
Ireland, exclusive of the reclamation of real waste
land, than all the labourers could do in two genera-
tions, even if they worked well. There is no
good reason, therefore, for the sake of the labourers,
to depart from the sound principle of political
economy, that such mode of farming should be
followed as will leave the largest net profit (true),
whether it be grass or tillage farming. In truth,
even such lightish land as I have described, when it
is laid down in grass in good condition, produces
excellently and for many years. The number of
years that it will produce well in grass without
showing signs of going back, wholly depends on the
condition it is in when laid down, and on the treat-
ment of the grass. In the neighbourhood of towns,
where manure can be bought, top-dressing grass is a
very favourite course, and is thought to answer
especially well. Except in such places manuring
grass is little understood or practised. How far
artificial manures, as recommended by Mr. Thomp-
son, of Kirby Hall,1 will effect a permanent improve-
ment in grass on such a soil as ours, which is not
strong land, may perhaps be doubtful ; but it is

1 Vide Journal Royal Agricultural Society, 2d series, vol. viii.
Parti. No. xv. p. 374.

262 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

certain that any phosphates of which the soil is
deprived by milk or grazing can be thus restored at
small cost ; and it is also certain that there are
many intelligent men in Ireland, ready to try Mr.
Thompson's prescription, and all other suggestions
for keeping up the condition of .grass land.

The conclusion I wish to draw from the facts
and considerations I have stated is, that Ireland,
notably the South and West, is from its climate
a land of grass, and that for farming profitably in
Ireland grass should be the first object, and tillage
only so far as it helps the grass. I believe this is
what all our best farmers are, consciously or uncon-
sciously, working to. Mr. Pringle's strictures on the
fault of much of our Irish grass-farming are gener-
ally quite true, and the remedy he proposes is in a
measure good, but only in a measure — not as an
end, but as a means to better grass. In truth our
grass privileges (as an American might call them)
are very great. Farmers, who know their business,
are doing excellently. It is sometimes said that
landowners farming their own land in Ireland lose
by it. Never was there a greater delusion. The
profit on grass-farming makes it all easy, whatever
scale a landlord farms on ; much easier than in a
country fit for tillage alone. Numbers of us are
making more than double the rent we used to get
for the land, when let to tenants, and three times
the present valuation of the land.

THE CLIMATE OF IRELAND. 263

When land is well laid down, the first year's
grass is very good. The second year is worse,
because the artificial grasses are dying out and the
natural grasses have not had time to take their
place. The third year the natural grasses are
established, and a close anoT excellent sward is the
result, equal to good old grass in the West of
England, and such as in Norfolk could not be got
in thirty years, hardly in twice thirty. I have
often said that such land as I have to deal with, in
the Norfolk climate would not be worth half what
it is in the Irish climate. Again, consider the
immense rise in the price of grass products in
Ireland. Twenty years ago, butter sold for 6d. to
6d. per lb. Good beef was often at 3d. and pork
at 2d. per lb. £2 to £3 was not thought a bad
price for a yearling heifer. I have bought good
fair stock lambs in July for 5s. each. Now prices
are some twice, some four times, some six times
these rates, all, be it observed, for grass products.
This rise of price has not yet produced its effects
on our farming, and on the value of land. Some of
it is still recent, at least in part — as the value of
young stock — and the argument is still used and
felt, " Perhaps these high prices will not hold."
But as soon as the prices of stock are felt to be
permanent — as the increasing demand for meat
from increasing wages in England shows it is likely
they will be permanent — that cause alone will be

264 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

sufficient to turn the balance in favour of grass
farming, wherever grass will grow fairly. I can
say that in the arrangements for my own farm
these considerations weigh more day by day. Corn
is not higher in price, the wages to be spent in
growing it are higher ; but grass products, that cost
little or no more wages, are many times higher in
price. Can there be a doubt, from this cause alone,
what the intelligent farmer will do in a climate
specially suited to grass ?

Grass farming in every form, and with every
sort of help from bought manures or bought food
for stock, cake, etc., is the true future before us.1

Water meadows, the especial advantage of which,
in the mild climate of Ireland, was pointed out by
Mr. Philip Pusey (in the Journal, vol. xi. p. 62)
more than twenty years ago, are a most valuable
resource to Irish grass farmers. Mowing upland
grass on second-rate land for hay is very exhausting
to the soil, and we do it as little as possible. We
cut hay mostly from bottom lands. But water
meadows in this climate are very productive, and
we grow unusual crops of hay on them, yet system-
atic watering is not nearly as common as it might
be. Small farmers are constantly squabbling amongst
themselves for the use of any rill of water near their

1 The new plan of feeding stock with decorticated cattle cake
or grass, promises to pay capitally. I have tried it in 1880 on a
large scale.

THE CLIMATE OF IRELAND. 265

farms. When they have got it, they often let it
run the whole winter over one spot, which is thus
made into a morass, especially as the cattle are
seldom kept out of the field. The opportunities of
making regular water meadows are very frequent,
and will be made use of more and more. I have
found a dressing of five or ten cwt. of bones per
acre on water meadows greatly to thicken the grass
and improve the quality of the hay. They are applied
as soon as the hay is off, so as to be well trodden
in by the stock eating the after-grass, and avoid
risk of the water washing them away when the
meadow is flooded in autumn. I believe they pay
well every few years, as often as the hay shows
any signs of becoming inferior. My theory, I know
not how correct, is that the water must contain the
other food of grass in larger proportion than phos-
phates. The bones thus make up all that is wanted.
The course on my own farm, which has been
arrived at simply from experience and the pressure
of facts, will, I think, show what we are coming to.
For nearly twenty years the course, instead of a
regular rotation, has been to choose fifty or sixty
acres of the worst grass on the farm each year for
ploughing. Most of this is sown with lea oats ; but
if the land is very poor, no oats are taken, and then
it is ploughed with two ploughs following each
other, one skimming the grass as lightly as possible,
the other turning a good furrow of earth over it.

266 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

It is then broken for turnips the next spring. But
there is more trouble in getting such land prepared
for turnips than after lea oats, and the plan can
only be followed to a limited extent.

The ewes are folded on the grass meant for lea
oats, before it is ploughed. But still the oats are
usually very bad. The older the grass, the worse
are the oats. It is plain the sod does not rot in
time to help the oats. In some districts they grow
two crops of oats in succession, on breaking up the
land; the first is bad, the second good enough,
because the sod by that time is rotten. But this
plan is exhausting, and leaves the land very foul.
With fifty or sixty acres of turnips we have been in
the habit of fattening 200 sheep and over 30
beasts, besides keeping 200 ewes and 200 hoggets
of the previous spring, 60 cows, and young stock,
rising yearlings and two-year-olds, about 35 to 40
head of each age — enough to stock the farm in the
following summer with little buying.

We have the last two years reduced the number
of acres broken each year to forty instead of fifty,
and still fatten and keep the same stock as before,
with the help of more cake. This of course lessens
the work of men and horses ; and if, as is said, a
ton of cake may be reckoned as roughly equal to an
acre* of turnips (which I do not think it is, of such
crops of turnips as we grow), there is no reason that
such a course should not answer and keep up the

THE CLIMATE OF IRELAND. 267

condition of the grass. In two or three years I
expect the extent ploughed may be reduced to
thirty acres each year, and with still more cake the
same winter stock be kept and fattened. Just now
I have a tract of cut-out bog that has been drained,
etc., coming in. This for its own sake needs
cultivation and turnip cropping, and so delays the
decrease of tillage. Oats with grass seeds follow
the turnips, unless the land is poor, when it is laid
down with rape and grass seeds, no corn crop being
taken. Experience can alone show how far we can
decrease cultivation, and keep up the condition of
the grass land. It can clearly be done to the extent
of one -half, i.e. twenty-five acres instead of fifty,
being ploughed each year. The net profit on the
farm is more than double the rent the tenants paid
for it when they failed, after charging to each year
all the cake and manure bought, bailiff's salary, and
every expense. The changed appearance of the
land is a pleasure to one's eyes. The stock are
more than double the number, and individually
double the weight of those the tenants kept.

It may seem strange to say it, but religion and
politics have been brought in Ireland even into the
question of farming, and whether grass or tillage are
best for the country is sought to be decided by what
is most to the advantage of the Eoman Catholic or
Protestant interests. The power of the Eoman
Catholic clergy and their party depends on the

A LIFERS WORK IN IRELAND.

number of Koman Catholics ; and tillage, as giving
more employment than grass, has been favoured
accordingly. Even the growth of flax has been
urged on the same grounds. I have already shown
the weakness of such reasoning, because there is
plenty of work for every one for long years in
draining and other improvements, far more profitable
to all concerned than it can be to try to force one
kind of farming instead of another that for any
reason is more profitable. But there is no doubt it
has been thought the increased employment from
tillage would check the emigration.

My own opinion is clear that the decrease of
labourers is going on so fast that by the end of the
next seven or ten years there will be no choice in
the matter, and it is very fortunate for us that the
increased price of grass products gives us so profit-
able a means of escape from what would be otherwise
a most serious difficulty. Those who have treated
their land best will have least trouble.

On one point alone Mr. Pringle, I think, is
quite wrong — when he argues against grass farming
because small farmers, holding 7 millions of acres,
keep on them stock to the value of 17^- millions of
money ; whilst large farmers, holding 8|- millions of
acres, keep on them stock valued only at 1 8 millions
of money. But the cattle on both sizes of farm are
valued at the same rate, £6 : 10s. per head. It is
evident that the cattle of the small farmer much

THE CLIMATE OF IRELAND. 269

more nearly approach this value than the cattle of
the large farmer. Large farmers, as a rule, have
much larger and more improved cattle of all ages
than small farmers ; and nearly all the fatting and
fat cattle. Mr. Thompson's estimate of the weight
of cattle killed in England is 600 Ibs. per head on
an average, which at present prices would make
their value a good deal over £20 each. The cattle
of large farmers in Ireland probably do not weigh
much less than the average of all English cattle
killed, and after all due allowance for the value
above £6 : 10s. of the cattle of small farmers, there
must be a large excess in the value per head of the
cattle of large farmers. If this excess is only fifty
per cent, and it is probably much more, it will quite
alter the inference Mr. Pringle draws. Considering
how few turnips, etc., Irish small farmers grow, and
how much they overstock their grass, and that they
use no cake or bought food, it would be strange
indeed if they thus grew more pounds of meat than
are grown on better managed large grass farms.

The last three years have been excellent seasons
for grass in Ireland. With the same stock every farmer
has had plenty of grass ; even those usually over-
stocked have had enough, and their stock has profited
accordingly. Many have thus been taught the les-
son of the profit from the better feeding of stock ; the
price a well-fed animal of any age has brought in the
market has been so out of proportion to the price of an

270 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

ill-fed one that the most backward has had the point
driven into his head, and efforts at better feeding for
the sake of the better profit have been numerous.
I think the young cattle sold in the next few years
will show the effect of this better feeding.

Such a number of calves as have been reared this
year in Ireland was never seen since the world
began. It is caused by the great price of young
stock in the past year. The country positively
swarms with calves. Hitherto small farmers have
usually reared only heifer calves and the bulls have
gone to the butcher at once. This year bulls and
heifers have been alike reared. This, too, if the
demand continues, will in a few years help greatly
to improve the quality of Irish stock. When the
bull calves were sold for a trifle to the butcher at
once, and many of the heifers kept as cows for him-
self, the backward farmer felt little the gain of
putting a good bull to his cows. Where now he has
so many to sell, the difference in the price of a well-
bred calf or yearling on such a number will soon
work more care in the choice of a bull. But most
of the calves must be sold before the winter, since it
is certain farmers have not food for half of them.

The same causes that have given us plenty of
grass have made the potato crop a great failure.
There has not been so much blight since the famine
as last year and this, and the crop has been very bad.
I think fewer potatoes will be grown in future, which

THE CLIMATE OF IRELAND. 271

again will lead to less cultivation and more and
better grass.

In spite of all the miseries of the famine, farmers
and labourers alike have since, as far as they could,
gone back to the old conacre potato system. This is
the explanation why for years the statistical returns
have shown a regular increase in the average of
potatoes ; only as potatoes did not grow well enough
to 'last the whole year, the system could not fully
re-establish itself as of old. Some modification to
supply food in spring and summer, when there were
no potatoes, was unavoidable. A few sacks of
Indian meal, bought on credit, was the means used.

The terms for farmers' labourers in this district
have been 3s. per week and the man's food at the
farm-house ; the cabin, charged 6d. per week, and the
conacre another sixpence per week, being stopped by
the farmer out of the 3s. On the balance, with
such potatoes as grew, wife and children existed.
Of course there were some minor privileges — pig,
cocks and hens, etc.

The strangest thing is that many labourers pre-
ferred such terms from small farmers to 8s. or 9s. a
week, with free house, potato-land, etc., from others.
I believe the secret is, that there was real work in
the one case, and no real work, but half-idle dawd-
ling in the other. This year the potatoes have failed
again in earnest, but the people are now so few the
effect will not be the same as at the famine. The

272 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

3s. per week, however, has broken down, as the
labourers have no potatoes. Labourers can now be
had in plenty for any job paying fair wages, and
next spring will show a larger emigration to
America than for years before.

It may seem presumptuous in one mainly con-
nected with Irish farming even to offer a hint to
English farmers, but I cannot help saying that I
think in many parts of England the difficulties as to
labour, etc., are the same as our difficulties, and the
remedies that suit us will also suit them. It seems
a safe general conclusion that wherever grass will
grow well, more grass will lessen labour. Where
permanent grass is attainable with difficulty, the
Scotch five -course rotation instead of the Norfolk
four-course, i.e. two years' grass instead of one, must
save near one-fifth of the labour on a farm.

More grass, with higher manuring and more cake,
seems to me the remedy, wherever possible, for dear
labour, at a time of great demand for all grass
products.

It is a very old opinion that the successful farmer
is he who, with skill and knowledge of general
principles, most clearly recognises the particular
facts and circumstances under which his farm is
placed, and applies his skill and knowledge to them
accordingly. That is all I contend for under the
very exceptional climate of Ireland, at a time when
labour is dear, and when the value of grass products

THE CLIMATE OF IRELAND. 273

is such as has never been known or heard of, and
seems likely so to continue, certainly in a measure,
and possibly to a still larger degree.

No doubt many cases can be given where culti-
vation to a considerable extent has been profitably
carried on in Ireland, but if the circumstances and
rotation of these farms are looked into, it will be
found that not more than a tenth or a twelfth of
their acreage is annually in green crop. This means
that a good deal more than half the farm is in grass
over one year old, and that the system is something
quite different from that of an arable farm in Nor-
folk or the Lothians. It will also, I think, be found
that many such farms have been in bad condition, and
their occupiers have been getting them into heart.

I am far from saying that during this process and
under this system their farms have not paid well ; my
own farm has for many years been a proof to the con-
trary. But the fact is, that once land is in condition,
grass in the Irish climate will pay best with as little
cultivation as may be, and that there is plenty of
more profitable work for the displaced labour in
draining, etc. Sound political economy teaches that
the most profitable application of labour, whoever
may gain by it, whether landlord, farmer, or work-
man, is the greatest gain to the community ; and
that all artificial attempts to force labour in a par-
ticular direction for the sake of secondary (even)
good objects are a mistake, and sure to end in dis-

T

274 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

appointment. I think this mistake is made by some
authorities on farming in Ireland ; and as political
economy is little else than the correct statement of
facts that are sure to produce the same results,
whether correctly or incorrectly stated, only with
serious loss in the meantime to those who are misled,
good may be done by putting forward the above

views.1

1 Journal of Royal Agricultural Society, vol. is., Second Series.

THE LA W OF SETTLEMENT OF LAND. 275

CHAPTER XVI.

THE EFFECTS OF THE LAW OF SETTLEMENT OF LAND.
JUNE 1872.

IT is of the very first importance that the bearings
and effects of the law of settlement should be clearly
understood. The law on this subject now is undoubted.
No settlement is valid beyond the life of a person or per-
sons living when it is made and twenty-one years after-
wards, i.e. till an unborn child attains its majority. But
in much the larger number of cases men live till their
children reach twenty-one years of age, and if settle-
ments on unborn children were wholly forbidden —
leaving owners of land to do as they like about settle-
ments for their own lives, or others living when the
settlement is made — a small minority of cases would
alone be affected, viz. those of men who are so unfortu-
nate as to die whilst their children are still minors.
Practically, very few even of such cases would suffer,
because, as the right of an owner whose children are
minors to dispose of his property to his children by
will could not well be interfered with, it is certain
most of these men, when dying or failing in health,

276 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

would settle their estates on their living children.
Nothing would give a chance of attaining the end
sought by the opponents of settlements but peremptory
prohibition of all limited estates in land, i.e. forbidding
all settlements whatever, whether on persons living or
yet unborn, that the owner of land, on his marriage or
otherwise, should be forbidden by law to settle his
estate for his own life or that of himself and his wife.
If settlements on unborn children were forbidden, but
not the power of settling for the lives of persons living,
it is clear that every motive which now makes men
settle their estates to the extent the law permits,
would operate just the same to make them settle
their estates as far as the altered law permitted, and
they would do so. A father, being absolute owner,
whose son was about to marry, would settle the
estate for the life of his son and his intended wife,
just as those who acquire landed property after they
have married now do. If the son was owner, he
would do as he does now, and for the same reasons.
It is the habits and ideas, I might almost say instincts,
of the class who own land, which have been the growth
of generations and even centuries, that are the true
cause of men striving to keep in their families the
land they own. Landowners, with very rare excep-
tions, wish -their families and estates should continue
after them. And then as settlements are mostly
made on marriage, it is really the influence of the
girl a man wants to marry and of her family, that

THE LA W OF SETTLEMENT OF LAND. 277

more than anything else causes settlements to be made.
Their wishes go even "beyond the law, and they would
tie their estates up longer if they could. If settle-
ments were forbidden by law, it is very doubtful if
to a great extent the same habits and ideas, which
cannot be rooted out, would not keep the land in
families much as at present. A few spendthrifts
might be sold up — the mass of landowners of steadi-
ness and character would act much as they do now.

It has never yet been proved that owners in fee
lay out more money in improving their land than
limited owners so spend. It is a pity the new Dooms-
day Book does not enter on that question. It is so
probable, if settlements were forbidden, that owners of
land would still in substance act as now, that in France,
where they are more logical than we are in carrying out
consequences, the law goes a step farther, and hinders
men from making their own wills. The law makes a
will for them to insure the partition of land. But even
in France the landowners' instinct prevails, and this
instinct is the same in the small French proprietor as
in the great English landlord. I think the subject of
settlements has not at all been thought out by many
of those who have taken it up. It involves settle-
ments of personal property really as much as of land.
Different rules could not stand. Distinctions would
be impossible between settlements of land and settle-
ments of the money for which land would sell.
Lawyers doubtless see the bearings of the subject and

278 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

its difficulties. J\Jr. J. S. Mill's late acknowledgment
in the Examiner newspaper of January 4, that a
change in the law of settlement would make little
difference in the number of owners of land, reduces
the question mainly to one of sentiment, and in
substance is throwing up the sponge. The distribu-
tion of the land in small quantities among large
numbers of the people has something to say for itself,
if it can be shown to produce greater happiness to the
majority. Hatred of an aristocracy and doctrinaire
radicalism are not yet English principles of action.
The true issue is, are English landowners to be
deprived of the right of settling their estates, when
they marry, on their intended wives and expected
children ?

The weak place in the argument of those who
wish to upset the present law of settlement of land
is in their facts, or more accurately their want of facts.
The utmost they can carry their case to is, that in
the opinion of Mr. So-and-So, of more or less authority
as a poor-law inspector or otherwise, the settlement
of land prevents a due outlay of capital upon it for
landlords' improvements, notably the building of
cottages. This is not proof, but opinion. Cases such
as those cited of settled estates that are unimproved,
plainly prove nothing at all; they have no more
weight than cases (which could be cited by the score)
of estates in strict settlement excellently managed,
on which every proper landlord's outlay has been

THE LA W OF SETTLEMENT OF LAND. 279

made. To make such evidence worth anything, the
cases need to be carried much farther. There are too
many other causes in operation besides the fact of the
land being in settlement or not, that might have pro-
duced the result — many would say, that did produce
the result. For instance, in this matter of building
cottages, that so much stress is laid on, with the former
system of pauper settlement still felt to operate
practically, and the fact that cottages will not pay the
interest on their cost, both telling as strongly on the
owners of estates in fee as on settled estates, and both
very influential, it is disingenuous to lay the blame
on some other cause, and say nothing about these.
Though the majority of estates may be in strict
settlement, there are also a large number of estates
held in fee. It is a question of easy inquiry, and
quite capable of proof, whether the estates in settle-
ment or those held in fee in the kingdom, or in given
portions of the kingdom, are in the best condition as
to landlords' improvements, cottages, etc. But there
is a third class of estates, inquiry into which would
be still more instructive, and which, I believe, are
very numerous, — those, namely, the bulk of which are
in settlement, but of which appreciable portions (one-
fourth or one-fifth, perhaps), from one cause or other,
as purchase, etc., are held in fee by the tenant for
life of the rest. My own property being thus circum-
stanced, I am the better able to speak of this class.
Such estates are very favourable examples : — 1. The

280 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

owner can sell part of the land held in fee to improve
the rest. 2. Such parts can be used in providing for
younger children. 3. He can improve the parts held
in fee to the utmost, and charge the cost, or leave the
whole value to younger children. 4. He can borrow
money on the best terms for such objects. 5. All the
time he has the income of the settled part of the
estate to live on, meet jointures or charges, etc. So
that if views adverse to settlements were true, the
land thus held in fee ought to be a very model of
improvement. Yet I will venture to say it is very
seldom that such land will be found to be either
better or worse managed than the parts of the estate
in settlement. To make out proof on the subject,
fair and full inquiry, such as I have here suggested,
ought to be made. But whilst it is asserted that
those who have got no land yet, have a passion for
getting it, it is assumed that those who have got it as
owners in fee will be ready to sell it for slight cause.
There was never a greater mistake. I believe the
case of an owner in fee being willing to sell part of
his estate in order to improve the rest is excessively
rare. The fund from which landlords' improvements
ought to be made is the rent. A moderate percentage
of the rental applied to this purpose is the proper
course. It is the want of will, not the want of power
to do this that is the true mischief. Men do not
know of, do not feel, its necessity and importance.
Often improvements, perhaps from want of manage-

THE LA W OF SETTLEMENT OF LAND. 281

ment, will not make a fair return. It is a delusion
that most tenants are willing to pay a fair interest on
landlords' improvements. They are willing enough
to ask for them, but many expect not to be charged
for them, and on many estates they are done without
charge, except perhaps for draining, which pays the
tenant double. Sense, knowledge of business and of
land, a skilful and trusty agent, the traditions and
habits of families, duty, even taste, have a great deal
to do with a landlord's making improvements, or not
doing so. No doubt there are landlords so wealthy
that large improvements are no burden, and others
so poor that they are a heavy burden ; but so it would
be if there were no settlements, and all the minor
motives I have alluded to would be equally operative.
There is no sort of doubt but that a very large number
of settled estates are well managed with due outlay
by the tenants for life. The true question is, whether
there is any such difference in the condition of estates
held in fee, compared with settled estates, as will
show a real superiority of one over the other. Upon
this, actual inquiry is the only evidence of value.
For one, I am not afraid of the result.

The foundation of the views against settlement of
land is, that tenants for life are less able and less
willing to spend money on improvements than owners
in fee. Let us see how far this goes. I will first
clear away a point that produces some confusion.
What is the true basis of the relation of landlord and

282 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

tenant ? Is it contract, express or implied ? or is it a
half feudal relation — a partial relic of lord and vassal,
with undefined benefits on the one side, and as unde-
fined returns on the other ?

It is plain in these days, whenever the question
is seriously asked, the answer must be, The relation
is one of contract only. Yet the idea that the rela-
tion is a half feudal one constantly appears in the
minds both of landlords and tenants. It influences
men's minds continually. In many districts (and in
part in many more) it is the true nature of the rela-
tion. Families hold their farms for generations.
Kents are fixed, not at the true value of the farm,
but with consideration of the person. All sorts of
landlord's improvements are made on the same prin-
ciple, and with little regard to the return they yield
to the landlord. This is the true cause of undue
expectations by the landlord of a return in the matter
of game, and the tenant's vote at elections.

But when such a question as whether tenants for
life or owners in fee are the best landlords is to be
considered, this semi-feudal idea must be wholly put
aside. The relation of landlord and tenant must be
treated as one of pure contract, and with all the in-
cidents of a contract which obtains in the case of any
other subject-matter.

When, therefore, it is asked whether a tenant for
life or owner in fee is more likely to spend money on
improvements in the land, it must be understood to

THE LA W OF SETTLEMENT OF LAND. 283

be improvement that will make a due return for the
outlay, such as a reasonable tenant will be willing to
pay interest upon during his term, and such as will
pay both landlord and tenant. Less than o per cent
cannot be considered as a fair return for the outlay
on such improvements, which are often buildings
more or less perishable. If they will not pay that,
they are fancy improvements, which wealthy men
with a taste for land improvement, and residing on
the estate, may make, but which really proceed from
motives nearly or wholly independent of the tenure.
Such an improvement as cottage -building may not
pay 5 per cent; though even that, by economy of
cost, and by adding a larger garden than usual to the
cottage, may be made to approach it. The indirect
gain from good cottages, in securing better labourers, is,
however, large. There is much more than Is. a week
difference between a good labourer and a middling
one ; a gain in this way of Is. a week, besides the
usual rent, will make a cottage pay well.

Is there any difficulty, therefore, in a tenant for
life making improvements that will pay 5 per cent on
the outlay ? I believe the difficulty is very small —
so small as to show that views of settlements hinder-
ing outlay on improvements are unsound. The very
hypothesis is, that the improvement to be made is a
valuable one, paying 5 per cent on the outlay. It is,
therefore, clearly right that the tenant who gets the
benefit of the improvement should pay 5 per cent on

284 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

its cost during his term. Good and intelligent tenants
will usually be glad to do so. Draining generally
pays much, more than 5 per cent. Buildings ought
to pay that at least. It must be remembered, if a
tenant has taken a farm with bad buildings, it is his
own fault if he has not taken it at a lower rent than
he would have had to pay for a farm with good build-
ings. All therefore that the tenant for life will have
to pay if the occupier pays 5 per cent on the cost of
the improvement, is the difference above that rate
needful to raise the money. Admit that he cannot
afford to pay for the improvement out of the rent,
and that he cannot borrow the money and mortgage
the land for it, he must then resort to a Land Improve-
ment Company for a loan at a rate to repay principal
and interest on a course of several years.

Now, one of the best of these companies, the
General Land Drainage and Improvement Company,
who have power by Act of Parliament to lend, with-
out investigation of title, and in spite of incumbrances
and settlements, will lend a sum of £2000 and up-
wards for £6 : 0 : 4 per cent for thirty-one years. The
charge, therefore, to a tenant for life, if the occupier
paid 5 per cent, would be about £20 a year for £2000,
£100 a year for £10,000.

That such a charge as this will hinder any tenant
for life from making an improvement that he would
have made if he had been owner in fee, I do not think
any one can contend. Very often the whole expense

THE LA W OF SETTLEMENT OF LAND. 285

would be recouped in the course of the term, indirectly
if not directly. No doubt there may be chance cases
where even this small expense cannot be afforded.
But they can be very few, not really influential on
the country at large.

When the question is thus brought to figures it
is plain enough that, whether settlements are right or
wrong, the objections urged against them are unsound.
In truth the proof is so simple, one is half-inclined
to doubt if it can be as cogent as it really is.

I believe that ignorance on the part of both land-
lords and tenants — sometimes the one, sometimes the
other — the want of true skill and knowledge in deal-
ing with the land, has far more to do with neglect of
improvements than any question of the tenure on
which the owner holds it. The relation of landlord
and tenant is often not looked on as a matter of
contract. Often there are unreasonable expectations.
Neither landlord nor agent nor tenant thoroughly
understand their business, or one of them does not,
and past experience of improvements so managed
has not shown a profit. No doubt sometimes men
who have made money in business buy land and lay
out largely in improvements, sometimes without re-
gard to profit, sometimes with a keen business know-
ledge of what they are doing. Such outlay is not
caused by their being owners in fee. Again, residence
on the estate has much to do with the making of
improvements.

286 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

I will end by repeating again that a thorough in-
vestigation of circumstances and facts is what is most
required in every part of this subject, not in priori
arguments from what any one thinks likely.

I have a few last words still to say on this subject.
I wish to draw attention to Lord Salisbury's speech,
on June 21, in the House of Lords, on the Bill for
giving tenants for life further powers to charge
against their successors the value of improvements
made on the estate. Lord Salisbury asserts that, if
settlements were abolished, an increase of mortgages,
not of sales, would be the result — that owners in fee
would never sell part of their land to make improve-
ments. If they wished to raise money for improve-
ments, they would always do it by mortgage. And
he asks the very pertinent question, whether land
thus in debt would not be as badly or worse off than
land in settlement ?

Is there not good reason for saying that the idea
that owners in fee will sell part of their land in order
to improve the rest, is a pure fiction ?

Again asking for facts, it may fairly be requested
that some instances of owners in fee who have sold
part of their land in order to improve the rest may
be given. Can they give half a dozen such cases,
where draining, for instance (which pays so well and
surely), has been thus effected ? Can they give any
one such case ?

If the view adverse to settlements was sound,

THE LA W OF SETTLEMENT OF LAND. 287

France ought to furnish plenty of such cases, since
there owners in fee abound. The readiness with
which owners in France mortgage their land in
order to buy more, even at undue prices, is notorious,
and so are the evil consequences of the debts thus
incurred ; but we have never heard they were willing
to sell part of their land to improve the rest, or even
to mortgage it for that purpose. Thus everything
points to the same conclusion — that other causes, not
the fact of the land being held by tenants for life
instead of by owners in fee, produce a readiness or
unreadiness to spend money on improvements.

It has been said that borrowing money from Land
Improvement Companies ends often in .a heavy
burden without a corresponding return for the outlay.
But this is no fault of the mode of raising the money,
the fault is in the way in which it has been laid out.
If the money had been raised by selling part of the
land or by mortgage, and laid out in the same way,
the loss would have been just the same.

No doubt much money is badly laid out on what
are called improvements in land. The business of
landowning is well understood by few. It is very
easy to be led into unprofitable or half-profitable im-
provements, and if money is laid out on these it can-
not pay, in whatever way it may have been raised.

The half-feudal idea of the relation between land-
lord and tenant tends to keep up such unprofitable
outlay. Improvements are asked for and expected

288 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

by tenants without reference to the question of
whether they will pay or not. Let the relation be
one of fair contract, in which each side shall do its
part, and there will be much fewer cases of improve-
ments that do not pay.

But in truth recognising landowning as a busi-
ness to be managed honestly and fairly like any
other business, but still as a business and resting on
business principles, will do more to promote all sound
land improvements, and will also be a greater money
gain to landlords and tenants alike, than most mea-
sures that can be devised.

As a class neither landlords nor tenants are
usually good men of business, and the world has ad-
vanced to that point when, whether they like it or
not, and whatever kindly and pleasant connections
may thereby be broken, the relations between land-
lord and tenant must be more and more those of
business. It will remove many difficulties. Take,
for instance, the game question, in many places so
fruitful of ill-will. Looked at as a question of busi-
ness, who will let the produce of his estate be de-
voured by such profitless vermin as a multitude of
rabbits and hares ?

So .with this question of improvements. It is
quite right to give tenants for life every additional
facility for charging the estate with the value of real
improvements. There may be hindrance to a few
for want of such power. If the improvement is duly

THE LA W OF SETTLEMENT OF LAND. 289

profitable, the remainderman cannot lose by having
to pay the charge for a limited number of years.

But the great point is the clear recognition by
landlord and steward and tenant that the whole
transaction is one of business, and must be made
profitable accordingly to all concerned. The larger
the sum laid out in profitable improvements, the
better for the landlord; the turning point is the
profit. If an improvement will not pay the interest
on its cost, it is a fancy improvement ; that may be
very fit for a wealthy man, but is not of public concern.
Labourers' cottages, as I have said, are, in one sense,
an exception, and the rise of wages is helping to get
over even that difficulty. Under a business system,
of course, too, there will be much fewer cases of rents
30 per cent below the true value of the land, and
of bad farmers injuring the estate. There is no
reason why it should be a harsh business system.
Thoroughly fair and honest dealing to all, landlords
no less than tenants, may well be its motto.

APPENDIX.

LISSELAN, COUNTY CORK.

(From Agricultural Gazette, 1880.)

ONE of the many grievances urged against the social
system of Ireland is the extent to which landlord absent-
eeism is practised. In round numbers, the rental of
the country may be set down at £13,000,000 sterling ;
and of this sum it is estimated that £3,000,000 are
annually drained out of the country by absentee land-
lords. Without offering an opinion on this state of
things, we may say that more real property and security
exist amongst the tenantry of resident landlords than
on the estates of absentee owners. The resident land-
lord, as a rule, sets an example of sound farming on
the land in his own hands, besides affording instruction
and encouragement at all times. Nay, many Irish
landlords set an example of frugality and thrift to their
tenants, which at the present day it would be well to
have universal. A remarkable instance of this has
come recently under our notice. Mr. Bence Jones's pro-
perty adjoins the public road from Clonakilty to Bandon,
reaching within about half-a-dozen miles of the latter
town.

292 A LIFERS WORK IN IRELAND.

The Home Farm approaches 1000 acres in extent,
including some outlying land let to dairymen. From
200 to 220 acres are annually devoted to crops. Sixty
acres of roots are grown, which, with the exception of
6 or 7 acres of mangels and a little carrots for the
farm horses, are all turnips. The climate is rather cold
and the situation too exposed to bring the mangels
to perfection. 100 acres of grain, all oats, are pro-
duced ; 60 acres are annually sown with seeds, part
of which is converted into hay in the first season, the
ground being subsequently pastured for a number of
years. There are besides 20 acres of old irrigated
meadow, which, after being cut in the summer, are
grazed in autumn. Finally there are about 700 or
800 acres of permanent grass.

It will thus be seen that the rotation is what is
known in Ireland as the convertible husbandry system,
by which the land, after being cultivated, manured, and
cleaned for a few years, is relaid down with fresh and
suitable " seeds." There is a judicious admixture of
tillage and stock farming, or what is called "mixed"
management, which of all others is the best adapted to
the circumstances of this country.

By drainage, trenching, subsoiling, clearing of stones,
furze, coarse herbage, liming, manuring, and the pursuit
of the course of cropping here indicated, Mr. Bence
Jones has reclaimed upwards of 400 acres. A good
deal of the farm did not, however, require drainage ; but
the fields have been enlarged and squared fences built,
and a vast quantity of planting effected. The land is
generally rather light in texture, and some of it rests
upon an open subsoil ; hence drainage in this case was
unnecessary.

APPENDIX. 293

Turnips are the crop usually taken after reclamation.
In addition to a fair dressing of farmyard dung, 12
cwt. of a mixture of crushed bones, superphosphate, and
guano was applied per statute acre. The average acre-
able yield of roots has been about 30 tons, but in the
present season it will not be more than 25 or 26 tons.
The high state of the fertility of the soil is attributable
to the manner in which the turnips are consumed by
sheep -folding. All the turnips are not left on the
ground ; of every ten drills, six are removed and four
allowed to remain alternately. The turnips are pulled,
cut into finger bits and supplied in troughs on the field,
the machine, troughs, and sheep, being transferred from
place to place, according as the ground is vacated. The
animals are likewise furnished with an abundance of
hay in racks, and a certain quantity of crushed cake and
corn. The land, as may be expected, yields a most
luxuriant crop of grain in the succeeding season ; and
is thus enriched for a number of years.

Since the work of reclamation has been in great part
accomplished, it has become necessary to break up a
considerable amount of the worst grass-producing land
with lea oats annually. A fair return is realised
with an application of 1 cwt. nitrate of soda and 2
cwt. superphosphate per acre. This year the oats, both
of the tillage and lea, has been unusually productive ;
while 14 cwt. grain has been the average of former
years, the results of the cropping of 1879 have been 1
ton of grain and 2| tons of straw.

The yield of hay this season has been also satisfactory
— fully 2 tons per acre ; and, notwithstanding the
variable character of the weather, it has been well saved,
a good deal of energy having been brought to bear in

294 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

the operation during a brief spell of sunshine. The
" seeds " are fed by calves in autumn, and in spring by
ewes and lambs, until the middle of April. This plan
is found not to injure the young grasses in the least.

The live stock at Lisselan consist of 100 milch cows,
and twenty-five young springers, eighty weanling calves,
about the same number of young cattle, two stud bulls
(Shorthorn) ; 200 fatting sheep, in addition to cattle
fatting in the stall, 200 breeding ewes, 200 lambs, etc.,
four rams, and eight to ten farm horses.

The cows are half-bred Shorthorns — excellent dairy
cattle, far and away above the average stock of the dis-
trict— and a few Alderneys to colour the produce. The
springers to replace the old and defective milkers are
annually selected from the most promising of the calves
produced on the place. The animals are pastured in
summer. During the summer six months the yield of
butter in other years averages about 6 Ib. weekly per
head, but in the present season it has fallen to about 5
Ib. per head per week Very little butter has hitherto
been produced in winter ; the animals are fed on hay
and straw with a small allowance of turnips — just as
much as maintains the system in a healthy state.

Mr. Jones has commenced butter-making according
to modern improved plans. He has recently erected a
commodious dairy. The milk room is a large, well-
ventilated apartment. The floor is made of concrete,
the walls are constructed of thick, substantial stone
masonry. The roof, which is high, is covered with
slate ; but with a view to the cleanliness of the apart-
ment, as well as to the equalisation of the temperature
in summer and winter, there is a ceiling • of timber
immediately underneath the slate. The windows are

APPENDIX. 295

furnished with fine wire -gauze screens. The pans
employed are the galvanised and common earthenware.
The churn is one of the barrel pattern. An American
butter-washing and kneading machine, which dispenses
with hand manipulation, has lately been added to the
stock. Two skimmings have been practised for some
time during the past season. The withdrawal of the
milk from the churn while the butter is yet in " grains "
is commencing to be regarded as of great importance by
the more enlightened class of dairy farmers in Ireland.

The first skimming is effected after an interval of
twelve hours, and the second in twelve to twenty-four
hours subsequently. The most delicious butter is made
from the cream of the first skimming. Most of it has
been sold in London during the past season, whither
it has been sent to private consumers, individual mer-
chants, and large co-operative stores, direct by the
producer; and, notwithstanding the low price which
for a considerable portion of the year prevailed in all
markets, and for the produce of all countries, it fetched
from Is. Id. to Is. 4d. per lb., when the market was at
its lowest ebb. The butter is mild cured, made up in
2 lb. rolls, and packed off in rectangular boxes con-
structed after the continental fashion. Butter is now
transferred from Bandon to London in twenty-four
hours, at a charge of ^d. per lb. The reduction in the
tariff was mainly, if not wholly, brought about through
the exertions of Mr. Bence Jones. The butter of some
of the neighbouring farmers is similarly packed off to
London. The cream is churned thrice weekly.

The calves are kept improving from birth. Milk is
given for the first three or four months, besides cake,
Indian meal, grass, and hay. As soon as the turnips

296 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

come in in winter, they are at once accustomed to take
a little. In the following summer there is an abundance
of grass supplemented with artificial food ; and roots,
hay, and artificials are supplied ad lib., in the second
winter after which the animals begin to be sold out as
heifer beef. Five cwt. is a common weight at the
age of two years, and the price realised varies from
£14 : 10s. to £18. Although we did not get figures
by which we could estimate the cost of production, we
were assured that this is a most paying system of man-
agement, and considering the age and selling prices,
there can, we fancy, be no doubt about it.

The sheep are all Shropshire Downs, with the excep-
tion of about fifty lambs bought in annually to supple-
ment the stock produced on the place, the 200 ewes
producing the remainder of the lambs. A little cake
is supplied in troughs on the grass to the ewes before
yeaning, and some mangels are given from the com-
mencement of January. The yeaning season runs from
February to April 1. The fields are well sheltered
with high fences made of stones and earth, and planted
with furze ; there are also yeaning sheds constructed
against the fences with hurdles, and covered on the top
with a thick thatch of furze, etc. After dropping, the
ewes get % Ib. cake per head daily. There is little or
no mortality during the process. Sixty of the most
forward of the progeny are sold fat as yearlings ; the
usual price is £3 : 5s., but this year it has fallen to
£2 : 17s. per head. The remainder, save what is re-
quired for breeding purposes, are sent out fat at two
years old. Mr. Law has found that it is a peculiarity
of a portion of the Shropshires, that they do not
thrive rapidly until approaching two years of age, when

APPENDIX. 297

they put on condition in a wonderfully short space of
time. The sheep are fattened by folding, as already
described. Plenty of hay is supplied in racks, together
with \ Ib. cake each. No ewes are retained for breeding
after they have reached the age of four or five years.
Sixty draft ewes are fattened out in August and Sep-
tember, and their place supplied by the same number
of the most suitable hoggets for breeding. Four rams
(Shropshire Downs) are kept — that is one ram for every
fifty ewes.

The farm offices, though somewhat elaborate, are
rather disconnected. But the land may be apportioned
amongst tenants at some future time, and it would not,
therefore, answer to have the buildings concentrated in
one block There is a mill worked by a three-quarter
shot water-wheel, which economises an enormous amount
of labour in sawing timber, which grows on the estate,
Mr. Jones being very fond of shedding of all kinds j
there is also an apparatus for grinding corn, and another
for crushing bones. The latter are bought up exten-
sively for manuring at £5 per ton.

A large number of labourers are constantly employed
on the land, reclaiming, fencing, etc. The farm labour
bill alone amounts to £400 per annum. Land which
was bought in fee at 5s. or 6s. per acre (some, indeed,
we were informed, was purchased long ago at Id. per
acre) would now let freely at from £1 to £2 per acre
per annum. The labourers are all furnished with com-
fortable cottages, and, besides land for potatoes, they
receive 9s. per week and upwards, many 12s. We ob-
tained this information from the labourers themselves.
The rate of remuneration is excellent for the district,
but they are required to work industriously. In summer

298 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

they must appear in the field, with breakfast taken, at
6 o'clock, with only one stop, at midday, and in winter as
soon as the light will permit. A number of mechanics
are also constantly employed \ 36 tons of artificial man-
ures, in addition to a large quantity of bones, are
annually purchased, and 100 tons- of concentrated food for
cattle and sheep, besides a large bill for farm seeds, etc.
On the whole, if the yearly outlay on this tract of land
were general throughout Ireland, we should be better
able to withstand the depression which now prevails.
Mr. Bence Jones's system cannot be said to be " high
farming," nor yet " low," but probably midway between
both, which would seem to be the most judicious, at
least for the circumstances of this country. It is proved
profitable ; it wears at a glance all the elements of suc-
cess. It is practical and easy of imitation, but the great
drawback to its extensive adoption is the want of capital
amongst the tenant-farmer community. This, for years
to come, must be the great drawback to our agricultural
systems; and it is well to caution legislators in time
against passing any measure which would detach land-
lord capital from the improvement of the soil. — C. B.

I do not know even the name of the writer of this
paper. I was never asked for any information on the
subject of it, or knew anything of it till I saw it in the
Agricultural Gazette. Some unimportant facts are not
quite accurately stated, but I judged it best to leave it
as it stands, except that I have changed a single word
here and there when such a change more exactly ex-
pressed the facts. W. B. J.

APPENDIX.

299

II.

DAIRIES AT SHOW OF

ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF

ENGLAND, 1879.

(Written for Distribution by Co. Cork Agricultural Society.)

I HAVE been asked to write an account of what I saw
of the International Dairy at the Kilburn Show. I
went there to learn all I could for myself, and with no
thought of writing a Report upon it, and so did not
examine all parts with the thoroughness that would
have been well, had my object been to report. I had
seen the dairy of the Aylesbury Company at Netting
Hill not long before, and so knew their system. The
German and French Dairies I went into much more
thoroughly. I spent two long mornings, of over three
hours each, at the dairies, and learnt more than many
years had before taught me. Dairies in actual work
are a new feature at the Shows of the Royal Agricul-
tural Society. French butter averages in the London
market 3d. per Ib. over English butter. French and
Danish salt butter compete in foreign markets, like Rio
Janeiro (where Cork butter used to reign supreme), at
prices of 2s. to 3s. per Ib., prices which are never heard
of for Irish butter. It, therefore, could not but be use-
ful to see such butter made by natives of those countries.
The system of the North Germans, Danes, Swedes, and
Norwegians is nearly the same, and all were represented

300 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

by Mr. Ahlborn. Of cheese-making I know nothing ;
I attended only to butter.

IMPROVED IMPLEMENTS.

The chief feature was the use of the Circular Butter-
working Machines for squeezing out the buttermilk. It
was impossible to see these machines at work without
being convinced of their great usefulness. They save
much labour, and squeeze out the buttermilk much more
thoroughly, leaving the butter much firmer than the
hand can do. It is easy with them to make up butter
without ever touching it by hand from first to last. In
North Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, their
use is almost universal ; in America, too, they are com-
mon. They are much too dear in price. But there is
no trouble in contriving a simple straight form, instead
of the circular form, at a very moderate cost within the
reach of all, if our machine-makers will condescend to
do so. I can say, from trial, that the small hand-
machine which only costs a few shillings, answers per-
fectly for a few cows, though too slow for a large dairy.

The sooner we work our butter by machines in
Ireland, instead of by hand, the better it will be for us.

There were many forms of churn, more of the com-
mon barrel churn (with small variations in the dashers),
than of any other. The Aylesbury Company used
barrel churns chiefly ; the French dairy had no other.
There was an eccentric churn that turned round and
up and down at the same time eccentrically; it cost
double the price of barrel churns, and seemed to have
no particular advantage. There was an American churn
that is much praised in the Report of our Secretary of
Legation at Washington for this year. In American

APPENDIX. 301

dairies it is said to be a great improvement. It is
simply a long box, without any dashers whatever in it,
hung on rockers. The churning is done simply by the
cream dashing against the ends of the box as it rocks
to and fro. It was tried, and the butter came in forty
minutes. It pleased me a good deal, but can be better
judged of from practical trial. It must be very easy to
keep clean, and ought to be made cheaply. It was said
to answer especially for the plan mentioned hereafter of
having the butter in the churn in fine grains, instead of
in a lump. The German dairy used the upright Holstein
churn, that carried all before it at the competition last
year at Bristol. It did its work very well, and was
very convenient for taking out the butter without using
the hand, after the head and dashers had been lifted
out. A small sieve dipped the butter out readily. The
judges' report, when published, will enable us to know
if last year's opinion in favour of this churn holds good
or not. It seemed fitter to be worked by power than
by hand. The previous impression on my mind, that
there is little gain in one form of churn above another,
was not much disturbed by what I saw. I have since
ordered of Messrs. M'Kenzie of Cork a barrel churn,
with a large opening into it, 1 5 inches by 8 ; and the
spiggot hole opposite to the opening for ventilation, as
on the whole the best.

SYSTEMS OF DIFFERENT COUNTRIES.
ENGLISH SYSTEM.

1. The English system was thoroughly good in sub-
stance, not differing from that usual in good private
dairies. The cream (as in all the dairies) was quite

302 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

sweet, the butter little handled — only, I believe, in
taking it out of the churn ; it was washed as usual, put
on the butter -working machine, and the buttermilk
squeezed out, and lifted with wooden trowels in a lump
on the table. The scales had a flat marble top, on which
a boy with trowels rapidly weighed out half-pounds.
These half-pounds he again, with the trowels, rolled on
the table (which, I believe, had a marble slab for its
top), till it formed a cone of 8 or 9 inches high. This
was very dexterously and nicely done. The stamp, to
make it a half-pound pat, was pressed down on the
point of the cone till it became a round pat of equal
thickness throughout. This, again, was turned on its
side upon the slab, the stamp still holding on, and form-
ing a guide for the size as well as a handle to it, so that
it could be again rolled round and round on its side till
the pat was smooth and looked well, the hand never
touching the butter after it took it out of the chum.
It was a very pretty sight to see it done. All the work
of the dairy was done by men and boys. The Manag-
ing Director, Mr. Allender, thinks women are of no use
in a dairy, and that it is much harder to get them to
keep, to rules. He advises any one who wants to have a
first-rate dairy to employ young men and boys who have
learnt the business. The butter-working machine used
at this dairy was an American machine. The edges of
the flutings of the roller that presses the butter are
much sharper than those of Ahlborn's German machine.
Ahlborn justifies the roundness of the edges of his
machine by saying that a dairymaid's knuckles are round
and not sharp. But the better opinion seems to be
that the round edges of the roller a little " smear " the
butter, and that the sharper edges are best.

APPENDIX. 303

GERMAN, DANISH, SWEDISH, AND NORWEGIAN
SYSTEMS.

2. With one exception, the practical making of the
butter at the German, Danish, and Swedish dairies,
seemed to me quite perfect.

The churning was done in the upright Holstein churn.
Directly the butter came, when it was still in small
grains like fine seed, slightly sticking together after the
manner of frog spawn, the churning was stopped, so
that the butter did not gather in lumps at all ; the top
of the churn was taken off, and the dasher taken out,
the buttermilk drawn off through a sieve to catch any
grains of butter, and the sides and top of the churn
washed with skim milk to collect the grains of butter
sticking to them. The butter was lifted out in a sieve,
still in fine grains (I put the point of my knife into the
churn, and took out some of the grains ; they were a
loose small heap of grains lightly touching each other
by their outer edges), a few rollings and tossings in the
sieve, and the butter was in a lump, the grains having
run together. It was thrown out on the table, thence
lifted with wooden trowels on the butter - working
machine, and a few turns of the roller over it, with one
or two more liftings by the trowels, and the work was
done. There was no washing at all. The buttermilk
was simply squeezed out by the machine. Some think
washing lessens the sweet freshness of butter. I doubt
it. In Ireland spring water is used. The reason
for this practice, of keeping the butter in fine grains,
so that the buttermilk can be got rid of with little
working, is that the less butter is worked the better

304 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

it is. Working, more or less, breaks up the texture.
Thus a finer and fresher quality and appearance are got
with little working, provided all the buttermilk is got
rid of.

Compared with the ordinary way of making up
butter, getting it together in the churn in lumps, which,
of course, enclose much buttermilk, and then working
out the buttermilk with a wooden dish or the dairy-
maid's knuckles — the saving of labour was very great.
From first to last the hand never touched the butter at
all. The labour used was a minimum, much less than
in the common way of butter-making.

The exception I have mentioned as a defect of this
system is, that the butter was not washed with water at
all. All was trusted to the butter -working machine
squeezing out the buttermilk. I think this is undesir-
able. Spring water can do the butter no harm. The
French system hereafter mentioned, by which Mr.
Jenkins tells us in his article in the last number of the
Journal, the splendid Normandy butter is made, that
sells in Paris for 3s. per lb., and nearly as dear at Kio
Janeiro salted or in tins, is much the same as that I
have just described. By the French system, when the
butter has just come in these fine grains, the buttermilk
is drawn off by the vent-hole through a sieve, the dairy-
maid holding the spiggot lightly in the vent, so as to
let little butter escape. Spring water is then poured in
and drawn off in the same way after a few turns of the
churn. This is done six or eight times, till the water
comes away quite clear, with no trace of buttermilk.
It is thought in this way, the butter being in fine grains
and no lumps to hold buttermilk in them, the butter-
milk is quite washed out. The only object of using

APPENDIX. 305

the butter-washing machine then is, to squeeze out any
extra water in it, and so make the butter firmer. I
have no doubt washing in this way is the best plan for
us. If we are still to use barrel churns, as the French
do, a small wooden dish or scoop, with holes in the
bottom, could easily be contrived to lift the butter out
of the churn without handling, or a larger hole to the
churn will do it. There is an impression that washing
with water hurts the flavour of butter, by washing out
the volatile oils, etc., that are in it. I can only doubt
if this is so.

The Schwartz system of setting the milk in deep tin
pails in iced water, so as to have the cream rise when
quite sweet, was shown at this dairy. How to get the
iced water is the only difficulty. The water must be
below 40 degrees, whilst in Ireland, even in winter,
spring water is not below 50 degrees. It answers well
in countries where a great heap of snow, covered with
earth like mangolds, will last through the summer. So
it is common in such Northern countries. There are
few places with us where the plan can be used economi-
cally. Happily, it is Dr. Voelcker's opinion that skim-
ming the milk, when still quite sweet, will make as good
b.utter. This we can all do, and as sweet milk makes
rather more butter than the same quantity of sour milk,
it is mere folly not to skim the milk sweet. About
Aylesbury they skim the milk after 12 hours for the
very best butter, and skim it again after another 1 2 or
24 hours for less good quality. Each, of course, is
churned separately. With the habits of our people, this
probably is the best plan for us, namely, to skim the
milk sweet after 12 or 24 hours; let it still stand, and
skim it again sour. Send the good butter from the first

X

306 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

skimming to London at a good price, and sell the bad
in Cork.

There was a very pretty arrangement, something be-
tween a table and a bowl, with a hole at the bottom to
let water escape, shown at this dairy. It was like half
a tree, of lime or some other white close-grained wood,
four or five feet long, and hollowed out very gradually
to the middle from near the sides, like a bowl ; it was
four or five inches deep, with no joints or crevices to
gather dirt, or be hard to keep clean.

THE FRENCH SYSTEM.

3. The French dairymaid used a large barrel churn,
for which it was complained the driving gear was too
slow. The churning in it, too, was stopped as soon as
the butter came, whilst it was in grains. The butter-
milk was washed away by repeated waters, as I have
described it, and this washing was trusted to, to remove
all buttermilk. The butter-working machine was not
used ; the wooden trowels were used. The butter was
lifted out of the churn by hand, and altogether the hand,
though not much used, was still more used in making
up the butter than was desirable. The whole churning
was worked up into a large tall cone, with a good deal
of plastering by trowel and hand. One plan the French
dairymaid had, which approved itself to me as very
good. As soon as the butter was washed, before she
took it out of the churn, she half filjed the churn with
cold water, and let it stand for half an hour to harden
the butter. The temperature of cream always rises
considerably (some 3 to 5 degrees) in churning. Letting
the butter thus stand in cold water must remove this

APPENDIX. 307

extra heat, and be good for it. It will be remembered
by many that in Mr. Byrne's excellent Prize Essay on
butter -making last autumn, he advised that in hot
weather, when butter is apt to be soft after churning,
the churn should be filled with cold water, and allowed
to stand, which, he said, would make the butter firm,
a recommendation that was new to many of us. The
French dairymaid goes a step farther, and lets her butter
always stand for half an hour in cold water on the same
principle. As firmness is a point of excellence in butter,
there can be little doubt this practice is right, and one
we ought to follow. Sometimes, I believe, salt is mixed
in the water — enough to salt the butter without putting
any more salt to it. It is said this is a good plan for
fresh and light salted butter.

ANOTHER NEW MACHINE.

An ingenious machine was exhibited, from Sweden
I think, for separating the cream from the milk me-
chanically, viz. by centrifugal action. It was not worked
either day that I was at the Show. It was reported
that the machine had an ugly trick, now and then, of
not only separating the cream, but also of separating
itself — into a hundred pieces, which would have been
awkward amongst the crowd of lookers-on ; besides, the
life of the engineer in charge of that part of the Show
was not insured. Prudently, it was not put to work.
It was worked successfully on a later day, however.
The plan is, that the milk trickles into the machine in
a small stream, and cream and milk trickle out at sepa-
rate spouts. The milk being heavier than cream, passes
to the outer side of the revolving vessel, whence it

308 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

escapes by its spout, whilst the cream, because lighter,
draws into the middle to its own spout. The machine
requires to be driven at very great, speed, so that there
are not many dairies where it could be used practically.
It is possible, however, in time it may be altered into a
more available form for ordinary use. The size of the
machine is small and convenient -looking enough. It
has since been improved, and is constantly at work at
Mr. Tisdale's Holland Park Dairy, Kensington, where
it seems to answer his purpose well.

GENERAL IMPRESSIONS.

The general impression left on my mind by the Show
was, that (besides the cleanliness and neatness of every
part of the dairies and of the dairy servants, whereof
the German dairymaid was a capital example, with her
smart cap and ribbons, a tidy working apron and bare
arms, her sleeves being rolled up to the shoulders that
she might work the harder, presenting a sore contrast
to many of our dirty dairywomen) there were few new
and unusual plans to be learnt by us from Kilburn. The
main points that would improve the quality of our butter
— (1) The perfect sweetness of the cream used. (2)
Perfectly getting rid of the buttermilk by keeping the
butter in grains, so that the buttermilk could be
washed out, instead of being worked out. (3) Avoiding
all touching of the butter by the hand, especially by
using the butter-working machines (so as to ensure
against any remains of buttermilk, and to improve the
firmness of the butter by making it drier).

APPENDIX. 309

MORAL.

All butter-makers invariably declare their own butter
is first-rate; but, to be plain, they do not speak the
truth. Making first-rate butter depends on very small
details ; it is surprising how small. Yet these details
make a great difference. Butter may be fairly good, a
long way from really bad butter, yet still be far from
first-rate. And the difference in price between such
butter and first-rate butter is very great. Butter is
wanted for the wealthiest consumers in the world, who
care much about quality, and very little about price.

(1.) The first leading fact is, that the price to con-
sumers in London is hardly ever less than from Is. 6d.
to 2s. 6d. per Ib. ; butter bought under 2s. per Ib. from
respectable shops is very seldom good. This is the
principal fact to be borne in mind. It proves that a
splendid market is there, of which we do not get the
advantage.

(2.) The other main fact is, that the supply of first-
rate butter falls very far short of the demand. The
difference is made up by secondary butter, washed and
made up as well as they can by retailers. Only this
Spring I found the family of a friend paying 2s. 4d. per
Ib. for all their butter ; another family, living in one of
the best parts of London, had given up eating butter, be-
cause their patience was exhausted by getting bad butter
at Is. lOd. per Ib., and they thought it extravagant to
pay higher. It is believed country towns in a great
part of England are even worse supplied. It is quite
clear, therefore, there is a demand, at good prices, for
all the first-rate butter that can be made. The evil is

310 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

the same as with many other kinds of agricultural pro-
duce— the consumers pay too much, the producers
receive too little ; while middlemen grow rich.

I can bear witness that respectable retailers in London
and many other places are glad to buy direct from pro-
ducers at much higher prices than those of Irish markets.

Thus, in Summer I can sell all my butter packed in
French boxes, each holding 12 2-lb. rolls, at 14jd. to
15d. per lb., a very different return from 8d., the price
often of first quality in Cork. When the price is higher
in Cork, I can get a better price also. The retailers
sell it at 2d. per lb. profit. Their customers, who have
once bought it, will take no other from them, and any
delay in its arrival is sorely grumbled at. One retailer
having ordered two boxes the first week, ordered four
the next, and twelve the third. But the butter must
be first-rate, and uniformly good always.

The Irish Butter Markets — Cork Market above all —
are a grievous loss to the country. They are managed
wholly for the gain of the dealers, so that a large profit
may be made off bad butter as well as off good. The
competition in England falls hardest on inferior butter.
In consequence of the great importation of American
butter and of bosh (butterine), Irish farmers are fairly
in a corner. They are competing against inferior pro-
duce, that does not cost those who make it half what
Irish produce costs. First-rate butter is subject to no
such competition. There is not enough of it, probably
never will be. Certainly not until the habits of our
people have become the same as the habits of French
and German and Danish dairymaids, which, I fear, is a
far-off time. But our own markets hold out the least
encouragement to good butter, though much encourage-

APPENDIX. 311

ment to inferior butter. The whole system of dealing
in Cork Market needs to be changed. As was said to
me by a great butter-factor, " Cork Market keeps down
the price even of good butter by its great mass of mid-
dling and inferior butter hanging on the skirts of good
butter."

Till the markets are altered, those who make good
butter had better seek a market in England for them-
selves.

When the promised Minister of Agriculture is ap-
pointed, it is certain one of the first benefits he will
confer on Irish farmers will be the opening and wholly
altering Cork Market.

As good butter as any in the world can be made in
Ireland. That butter now does not pay us well is partly
our own fault in not making first-rate butter, partly that
of the middlemen we allow to get rich at our expense
in markets like Cork. It is the French dealers who
have made the value of French butter, by their influ-
ence on producers, and excellent market arrangements.

W. BENCE JONES.

LISSELAN, July 20, 1879.

312 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

III.
TO MY TENANTS AND THEIE WIVES.

FEBRUARY 1880.

MY FRIENDS — I want you all to understand the plan
of making up very light-salted butter in two-lb. rolls,
and sending it to London, which I have carried on for
over a year, and which has answered and paid me well.

It is quite simple. There is no difficulty about it,
except that it is different from the way you are used to.

Either 12 or 18 two-lb. rolls should be packed in
each box, which is lined with cheap linen.

The butter must be salted less than light-salted for
Cork. You can see the whole thing carried on at the
New Dairy at Carrig any day you please, and as often
as you please, and the boxes too.

Two things only are necessary to be kept to by
those who now make fairly good butter, different from
what they now usually do.

1. The milk must be skimmed, both in summer and
winter, whilst it is quite sweet. It must not be the
least sour. The cream too should be sweet.

2. Every drop of buttermilk must be taken out of
the butter.

These are not hard rules to keep to. If they are
not strictly kept to, it is useless to send butter to
London. Inferior butter in rolls sells worse than
inferior butter in firkins.

1. As to skimming the milk sweet. In London they

APPENDIX. 313

know the difference of taste between butter made from
sweet milk and butter made from sour milk, just as
well as you know the difference of taste between milk
that is sweet and milk that is sour. You cannot
deceive them about it. They will not give the price
for butter from sour milk, and it does not travel or
keep so well. After the milk has been skimmed
sweet for butter to go to London, you may let it stand
as much longer as you like, and skim it again and
again for a second quality of butter to sell in Cork.
Such second quality will be of a lighter colour, and will
not keep so well as butter from sweet milk. It is less
good.

2. The best way to get out all the buttermilk is to
stop churning the moment the butter comes, when it is
still in fine grains, like small seeds, and so the butter-
milk is not closed up within the lumps. Draw off the
buttermilk through a sieve* to catch any bits of butter.
Pour in spring water, and give 4 or 5 turns of the
churn. Draw it off again, and pour in more water, and
give a few more turns of the churn, and so on for 6 or
7 times, till the water comes away quite clear and
bright. Take out the butter, squeeze out the water,
and make it up in rolls of 2 Ibs. The butter should
not be touched by the hand at all, but with wooden
trowels.

This is the whole entire business and secret. It is
positively less trouble than the common old-fashioned
way. Some of you already partly wash your butter in
the churn. But you do not do it thoroughly enough,
or stop churning soon enough when it is still in fine
grains, or you let the milk stand till it is a little sour.
You will see you cannot lose by following these rules.

314 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

In the second skimming you get all the butter the milk
can possibly yield ; the difference is, the cream from sour
milk does injure the first skimming, and the best butter.

There are few who do not keep four cows, these can
fill a box of 24 Ibs., 12 rolls of two Ibs. Those who
cannot fill a 24-lb. box, should join with a neighbour,
and get some rolls from him. Three or four neighbours
had better join in sending their boxes at the same time.
The charge for carriage is the same for one box as for
two. So it does not answer to send less than two boxes.
They should be sent in one name with private marks or
numbers, to show to whom each belongs. The charge for
carriage to London from Cork for two boxes is just a half-
penny per Ib. They may go either by Dublin or Milford.
Dublin is the best for two boxes, Milford the cheapest
for larger lots. It will go by Dublin every evening at 8
p.m., and be delivered in London early the next morn-
ing but one ; butter that goes on Monday evening will
be delivered on Wednesday morning. It must be sent
for sale to a Butter Factor at the Central Market. I
can tell you the names of honest factors who will send
back the market price at once. Their charge for selling
is another halfpenny per Ib. So that the cost of selling
in London is one penny per Ib., all included. Three
boxes hold as much as one firkin, and the boxes cost
about the same to make — they ought to cost less. It
may be well to add that a thermometer, which can be
bought for 2s., is very useful for judging if, in winter,
the cream is warm enough to churn. 58 degrees is the
right heat for butter to come in proper time.

Any more information you want you can get from
me or from Mr. Law, and also you can learn the price
we get ourselves each week.

APPENDIX. 315

There can be no doubt that in this way you will
make a much better price than in Cork Market, if your
butter is good. Only remember that it is of no use to
send to London any butter not first-rate, and that
butter which will go first quality in Cork is not good
enough for London market. Even at Clonmell in
Tipperary, there are three qualities above Cork seconds.
Cork is probably the best market in the world for in-
ferior butter. Any one who wishes to make superior
butter, and who has not a good enough dairy, I shall
be glad to help to build one. Twopence per Ib. above
Cork price for butter would put over one million per
annum into the pockets of Irish farmers, without one
shilling of extra outlay. I get much more than two-
pence per Ib. above Cork price for all my butter. It is
wholly your own fault and backwardness if you do not
get this price.

The market is there ready, and it will cost you no
more to sell in it than it does to sell in Cork. The use
of brains and sense is all that is required ; and that by
cleanliness of vessels which you all know about whether
you practise it or not, and keeping to the easy rules
I have given you, you should make superior butter.

W. BENCE JONES.

LlSSELAN.

316

A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

IV.

A LETTER TO THE TENANTS OF AGHALUSKY,
LISSELAN, AND CLOHEEN.

JUNE 1841.

MY FRIENDS — I want to say a few words to you about
Green Crops.

Some of you, I know, cannot understand why I am
anxious that the tenants should grow green crops. One
says, " It is for his honour's amusement : " another,
" Because his honour's head is full of English farming,
which is not at all suited to poor Irishmen;" while a
third finds out, that it is because I want to ruin all the
poor farmers, or, at any rate, he is sure they will be
ruined if they follow my advice. Now, it is not for my
amusement, nor because my head is full of English
farming, nor in order that I may ruin poor farmers : it
is not for any of these reasons that I wish you to grow
clover and turnips ; but it is for a reason, which, when
I tell it you, you will all allow is a very good reason,
but which I think will surprise you a little. It is this.
— BECAUSE I WANT FARMERS TO HAVE MORE MANURE
THAN THEY NOW HAVE. I have now told you the
secret ; — and can any man in Ireland stand up and say,
that if this can be done, it will not be a benefit to every
farmer, great or small, rich or poor ?

Suppose that I had a great heap of manure in the
town of Clonakilty, and that I offered to give 100 butts
of it to any tenant who would draw that much home to

APPENDIX. 317

his farm, would you not think any man a great fool
who refused so good an offer <\ But suppose I not only
gave him the manure for nothing, but offered myself to
draw it home for him, and to pay him well for accepting
it, would you not say that a farmer who refused such
an offer must be the greatest fool that ever was born 1
In short, you would not believe that any man in Ireland,
let alone Carbery, could be found to refuse such an
offer.

Now, I must tell you plainly, that in neglecting
Green Crops, you are acting just as foolishly as the
man who would refuse the manure, though delivered at
his bahn, and paid for accepting it. And I will now
prove this to you.

Look at the quantity of dung which you are able to
collect in any one year, by the old system, of laying
part of your land out in grazing, feeding your cows and
horses out on this, and giving them in the house only
what little straw and potatoes you can spare. Even by
drawing a great deal of sand to add to it, and gathering
earth and scrapings from old ditches, you still have but
a very small quantity of manure, and this is poor thin
stuff, often more than half of it earth. Now, compare
with this the quantity of good rich manure you would
have, if you sowed with clover and turnips a moderate quan-
tity of land. I say, compare the quantity of manure
you could make this way with what you now make.
First, you would be able to keep more cows. Secondly,
being kept more in the house, and well fed, they would
make much more manure than they now do ; and much
richer, as good as that we just spoke of from Clonakilty.
Thirdly, none of it would be lost, as it often now is.
There it would be all ready in the bahn ; — no trouble of

318 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

drawing from Clonakilty. Is not this much the same
as giving you the manure, and drawing it home for
you 1 And would not the cows fed in this way, and
kept warm in the house in winter, instead of being
exposed in the fields to rain and cold, give very much
more milk, and much richer milk 1 and would not this
rich milk give more butter than you now get 1 You
will, besides, be able to keep many cows well, with no
more expense than you now keep a few ill ; and would
not this be very like paying you for accepting the
manure from Clonakilty 1 and do you really think that
a potato garden, manured with this rich manure, would
not pay you better than it does at present 1 and do you
think you would get a worse wheat crop afterwards 1
Now, put all these together, and tell me, if, in advising
you, and showing you how to grow clover and turnips,
and so to increase your manure, I am not doing you an
equal kindness as if I gave you the manure in Clona-
kilty? Remember, too, that there it is all ready in
your own bahn, just as much as if I drew it home for
you. And if you will in this way get much more
butter, and better crops of potatoes and wheat, will not
these as much put the money into your pockets, as if I
paid you for accepting the manure 2 And now, if all
this is so, is not what I said true, that you are acting
as foolishly in neglecting it, as the man who would
refuse the manure from Clonakilty, though paid to
accept it ? I will leave you to answer the question.

Depend upon it, my friends (for as such I wish to
regard you all), YOU ARE RUINED FOR WANT OF MANURE.
Those who are best off amongst you are not half as
well off as they might be, if they had more manure ;
and the poor man, whom I am obliged to put out of his

APPENDIX. 319

farm, gets into that state which causes his ruin, only
from the want of manure. It is not the loss of a horse,
or a cow, or a pig, or of all together, which ruins him ;
if his land were well manured, the very first crop would
enable him to buy a new horse, or cow, or pig; but
now his land is worn out for want of manure, and then
the first misfortune that comes upon him is his ruin ;
he has nothing that will enable him to recover it.

The English farmers have a very true saying, that
" DUNG IS THE MOTHER OF GOLD." Therefore, if only
they can get the dung, they know the gold is sure,
sooner or later, to find its way into their pockets, and
like wise people, they take care of the mother, for the
sake of the benefit, they know, her children will be to
them ; — they do not expect to have the children, with-
out first having the mother, any more than a man can
expect to have a litter of pigs, who has no sow.

But I know many of you have been ready long since
to say, " We know quite well the value of manure, and
we only wish we had plenty of it ; but how are poor
people to get it?" There is only one way, unless you
have money to go into the towns and buy manure, and
that way is, by feeding cattle on clover and turnips, or
other green crops. The English farmers have another
saying which clearly points out this way ? — No FOOD
NO CATTLE, NO CATTLE NO DUNG, NO DUNG NO CORN, NO
CORN NO GOLD." You see it is like building a house ; —
before you can have sound walls and a safe roof, you
must lay the foundations firmly ; the food for your cattle
is the foundation, — the dung, the corn, and the gold,
like the walls and roof, all rest upon this. If you will
not lay this foundation, you must not expect the corn
or the gold to come steadily in, any more than a man

320 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

can expect a safe roof or steady walls, who neglects to
lay a good foundation. I do not think, as some of you
suppose, that all English plans of farming are the best
for Irish farmers, but I am quite sure that the English
farmer is right in thinking, that in order to have his
barn full of corn, and his pocket full of gold, he must
have plenty of dung, and that he cannot have plenty
of dung unless he has plenty of cattle, and that he can-
not have plenty of cattle unless lie has food for them ;
and I shall be delighted if any Irish farmer will show
me how his brother farmer in England is wrong in this
calculation. When, therefore, any of you say to me, —
" We know the value of manure ; but how are we poor
farmers to get it 1" — my answer at once is, " By growing
food for cattle," — that is, clover and turnips. And you
will thus have what I told you at the beginning of this
letter, it was my object you should have, MORE MANURE.
Some people, I know, say, — "These clover and
turnips are the crops to ruin poor farmers." Now,
when next you hear anybody say this, just ask him, if
it will ruin a poor farmer to have more manure ; or if
it will ruin him to have better crops of corn ; and then
ask him to show you some better or cheaper way of
getting manure, than by keeping cattle (except, of
course, buying it, and, in that case, just ask him to give
you the money to do so) ; and then ask him to show you
how to keep cattle, without having food for them ; and
if he cannot answer these questions, or show you how
to do these things, why just set him down for an igno-
rant meddling fellow, who talks about things of which
he knows nothing ; and do not believe him when he
tells you that clover and turnips will be the ruin of
poor farmers.

APPENDIX. 321

To state then once more, as plainly as I can, the
plan I wish you to take up : it is this, — THAT YOU
SHOULD SOW WITH CLOVER AND TURNIPS A REASON-
ABLE PART OF THE LAND THAT YOU NOW LEAVE AS
GRAZING. I do not ask a large quantity, unless here-
after you shall think it most profitable for you to do
so. I say that you will get, at the very least, double
the weight of food for your cows and horses, from this
quantity of land if sown with clover and turnips, that
you now get from it as grazing ; and therefore that you
will be able to keep double the number of cows, and make
twice the quantity of manure that you now make ; and
that this manure will give you much better crops of
potatoes and wheat and oats, than you now get ; and
thus that you will be much better off. I believe, indeed,
that you will get much more than double the weight of
food from clover and turnips, that you now do from
grazing, and so will have much more than double the
quantity of manure ; but I am contented to take it
that it will only double the weight of food and manure :
— of this I am quite sure; and surely if it only does this,
it will be a great benefit to any farmer.

But some of you will say, " We think clover very
good sowing, but it is the turnips we do not like." I
do not wonder at you liking clover ; it is indeed a
most excellent crop, and admirably suited to your land
and climate. I have never in England seen such fine
clover as I have seen with some of you. The weight
of it you can get from two cuttings, if compared with
the weight of grass you could get from the same field
sown with the best hay-seeds in the country, will be
found very much greater. The clover-seed, besides,
does not cost so much as hay-seed. Nine pounds of

Y

322 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

clover-seed will sow an acre, and this at lOd. a pound
is 7s. 6d., and the rye-grass Is. 6d. more — in all 9s. for
an acre ; whilst to sow an acre with hay-seeds takes
eighteen or twenty firkins, often costing Is. a firkin —
say 1 8s. an acre, just double the price of the clover and
rye-grass. I know that by saving your own hay-seeds,
you think you get them cheaper, but this is not so
really. But another objection to hay -seeds is, that
when they are saved from ordinary land, which is
not very clean, there are always a great many seeds
of weeds amongst them, and these being sown with
the hay-seed, grow up and injure the next crop of
wheat very much. But clover-seed, on the -contrary,
has no seeds of weeds amongst it, and grows so thick
on the land, that it stifles and kills the weeds which
spring up ; and the roots of the clover, when ploughed
into the land, serve as a great help of manure for it.
It is besides well known, that to have land under good
clover for one year, rests it and refreshes it as much as
**f it was three years under poor grass ; so that I have
£fo doubt, but that by growing clover and rye-grass,
instead of hay-seed, you will find your land will yield
better crops of wheat than it now does. When all
these benefits of clover are added together, I really
wonder that any farmer will sow any more hay-seed.
It is like throwing money (or what in a farmer's
eyes should be still worse, manure) into the sea, to
do so.

But I must now go on to tell you why I think tur-
nips a more valuable crop for farmers, even than clover,
of which you begin to feel the benefit, and which I fully
admit is a very valuable crop too. But I say turnips
are more valuable.

APPENDIX. 323

In the first place, turnips give the farmer food for
his cows in winter, when lie has little else for them. In
summer, there is always some grass for the cows, even
with the worst farmers; and where a farmer grows
clover, his cows are. well off during summer, but then
what is there for them during winter 1 You all know
what a wretched state cows are in at the end of winter ;
they can scarcely get a mouthful in the fields ; and if it
was not for the little dry straw, and potatoes, and
chopped furze, they get in the house, they would gen-
erally starve. Now dry straw by itself is miserable
food for cows, but with turnips it is excellent. Cows
fed badly with dry straw, and a little potatoes and
chopped furze, give scarcely any milk, and make scarcely
any manure, so that for half the year they are no profit
to the farmer, which is what the farmer cannot afford.
But give them turnips and they are profitable through
the whole year.

Again, if a farmer has clover enough to keep four
cows through the summer and autumn, which he very
easily may have, I will thank you to tell me how he is
to keep those cows through the winter. He must either
give them a great many of his potatoes, which would
make him money in the spring, or sell at least two of
his cows. If he sells two, he loses the manure of those
two cows for near six months — half the year. He is
obliged to sell in November, when everybody knows
cows sell very cheap and badly, instead of being able to
keep them till May, when the same cows would fetch
at least £3 a-head more. If he has no turnips, the two
cows he keeps must be out in the fields at least all
day ; and, cows, when badly fed, do not make half
as much manure, nor half as rich, as when well fed ;

324 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

and this way again the farmer loses both in the quantity
and quality of his manure. The cold and wet in the
fields, and bad feeding, soon make the cows dry, and
thus the farmer again loses in milk and butter ; so that
when a farmer has no turnips, instead of having the
milk and butter and manure of four well-fed cows
during the six winter months, he has scarcely any milk
and butter, and the manure of only two cows ; and he
only gets in his yard half their manure, that is to say, he
only gets as much manure as one cow would make if
always in the house, instead of getting the manure of
four cows. He has, therefore, only one quarter of the
manure for his potatoes the next spring, that he would have
had if he had sown turnips. And in fact, he has not so
much as one quarter, because, as I said before, there is
the greatest difference between the quantity of manure
that a well-fed cow and a badly -fed cow will make ;
and, therefore, I think I am not wrong in saying that
the farmer who grows the most turnips one year, will have
the best crop of potatoes the next year, and of course his
wheat crop afterwards will also be better.

The plain fact is, that without turnips or mangel-
wurzel, or some crop of that kind as food for cattle in
winter, it is impossible to keep through the winter the same
number of cows, that your clover will enable you to keep
through the summer, or to make manure enough to keep your
land' in good heart, and this is the chief reason why
turnips are absolutely necessary for a farmer.

I know it may be said, that he may as well grow
potatoes, and give them to his cows, instead of turnips,
but there are several reasons why turnips are better.
In the first place, a farmer is always tempted to sell his
potatoes, instead of giving them to his cows, and then

APPENDIX. 325

of course he has not the manure for the next year. In
the next place, you may grow THREE TIMES the weight
of turnips on an acre, with the same manure, that you can of
potatoes.

I think that any of you who saw my turnip fields
last year, will bear witness, that I could not have got
one-third part of the weight of potatoes off the same
land. Remember it was the poorest and most worn-out
part of the farm — judge for yourselves if I could have
kept the same number of cows through the winter, if I
had planted the same land with potatoes, and even had
a good crop of them. By sowing turnips, I have first a
good profit from the cows (some of them made as much
as £3 a-head profit). Then just see what a heap of
manure I got, and all ready on the spot. Calculate for
yourselves what it would have cost me to buy that quan-
tity of manure, and then tell me if my turnips have
paid me.

Nor did it cost me so much to manure those turnips
as some of you suppose. The manure cost me just £3
an acre. But if I had sown the same fields with potatoes,
I must have sown forty-eight weights to the acre — the
price of which at 5 Jd. a weight, which I suppose is about
what they should be worth in April, would be £1 : 2s.
Now the turnip -seed only cost about 2s. per acre, so
that I saved £1 in the seed, which, taken from the £3
for manure, leaves only £2 for the cost of my turnips
per acre ; because I consider the expense of thinning
and weeding them, about equal to the expense of earth-
ing the potatoes. Recollect, that you often put £3 or
£4 worth or even more oar-weed on an acre of potatoes,
and tell me, if even where a man has to buy manure
for his turnips as I did, it is not a cheaper crop to him

326 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

than his potatoes. The only difference is, he cannot
sell them and make money of them, so soon, as he can
of his potatoes ; but he makes the money just as surely
by his cows, and by the quantity of manure he will get
for his next year's potatoes and wheat, as I hope to do
myself.

Besides this, turnips, if kept clean, do not reduce
the land so much as potatoes. They leave more of the
goodness of the manure in it ; and so you will get a
better wheat crop after them than you will after
potatoes, as James White of Ballinascarthy did last
year.

Nor are my turnips the only good ones in the coun-
try. Mr. Shuldhan of Dunmanway weighed part of his
turnips last year, and found that he had grown more
than thirty-two tons weight to the acre — that is above
six hundred and forty hundred-weight, or above three
thousand four hundred weights of twenty-one pounds,
and these of the best kind of turnips — Swedes, and
many other people have grown as much or more. What
do you think of this for food for cattle in winter 1

There are two or three objections which I know will
be made to what I have said. One man will say, " All
this may be true, but how is a poor farmer to get cattle
to eat all this clover and turnips]" I answer, in the
first place, the cows and horses and pigs (for growing
pigs will thrive on clover and turnips), that he now
keeps, will eat a great deal more than they now get, if
he will give it to them, and what is more, they will pay
for it too. The cows will give him more milk and butter,
the horses will be stronger and do more work, and the
Digs will grow and thrive better ; and all will make him
a great deal more manure, which is the grand thing of all.

APPENDIX. 327

Next, if he cannot afford to buy another cow or two, he
may manage to buy a poor yearling, which some one
else has half-starved, or a calf or two, or rear his own
calves, or some young pigs, and these, by their improve-
ment when well fed, will soon enable him to buy a good
cow. In short, let a man get any beast that will make
him manure, and he will soon find the improvement in
his crops will enable him to buy as many cows as he
pleases. Just remember what I paid some of you last
year for a little clover — £1 fora quarter of an acre, and
for only one cutting. Why, two cuttings of one acre of
it, at this price, would, if sold, pay the price of a cow.
Only let a man really exert himself, and I will answer
for it that he will succeed.

But some one else will say, that " they manure their
land well with sand and oar-weed and earth, which is
as good as having all this dung." This I wholly deny.
When a man has manured his land well with dung,
sand and oar-weed are excellent as additional manures,
but by themselves they are not nearly so good as people
think, and will not give good crops. As to putting on
earth, it is only robbing one part of the field for the
sake of another part : you gain nothing by it, unless
where you throw down an old ditch, or something of
that sort.

The chief objection, however, is, " We cannot spare
the dung for the turnips, we want it for the potatoes."
Now, no doubt, the potatoes will be the better of all
the dung you can give them ; and I allow that in giving
part of it to the turnips, you will, for that year, lose in
the potatoes ; but then the next year, YOU WILL GAIN

THREE TIMES OVER WHAT YOU LOST THE YEAR BEFORE.

The manure you will have, by feeding your cattle in the

328 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

house on the turnips through the winter, will be many
times more than what you lost in order to grow those
turnips ; and of course when you give this to your next
year's potato gardens, it will more than make up for
what you lost. It is, in fact, as if you put some of your
manure out at interest. You could not think a man had
made a bad bargain, who lent £l in May, to receive
£3 back that day year; yet this is really what you
are doing by sparing some of your manure for turnips
one year in order to have more manure the next ; the
only difference is, that the manure will pay you back
more than £3 for £1 ; and there is no fear of your
debtor running away. There is an old saying, "Those
that do not play cannot win." If you will not spare
something one year, it is impossible that you should be
better off the next. If you really know the value of
manure, you will not grudge a little loss at first, in
order so much to profit afterwards.

But I think I can hear another man objecting against
clover and turnips, " Sure but we get great trouble by
them." Now, any man who says this, really does not
deserve to have a farm at all. Can you grow any crop —
potatoes, wheat, or any other — without trouble 1 Would
it not be a pleasant thing if we had only to sit still,
and every kind of crop was to grow of itself 1 You can
get nothing in this world without trouble ; and no one
but an idle lazy fellow, would make this objection.
The real question is, not whether you will get trouble
by them, but whether they will pay you for your trouble.
I have no doubt but that they will do so, especially if
your wives make the butter, and you employ your
children in cutting the clover, and in hoeing and thin-
ning and pulling the turnips and in feeding the cows.

APPENDIX. 329

The children will then be a real benefit to you, instead
of a burthen, as they too often now are.

And so I have now come round to what I began this
letter with speaking about, the great value of manure ;
and my firm belief that it is because you have not
enough manure, you are not better off. It is the case
with tenants in most parts of Ireland. I have, as you
know, made myself acquainted with the circumstances
of all of you, and with the state of your different farms.
It is my clear opinion, that more manure is what you
all chiefly want. I have myself seen a gentleman's pro-
perty in another part of Ireland, upon which the tenants
were, a few years ago, much worse off than you are, and
with farms much smaller than yours ; by following the
plan I have advised you, namely, by sowing clover and
turnips, they are now a great deal more comfortably off than
you are ; — many of them paying their rent (and it is a
high rent) only by the butter which their clover and
turnips enable them to make, and so having all their
wheat and potatoes for themselves. Mind, this is Irish
farming, not English. Now I wish you to be as com-
fortable as that gentleman's tenants. I have done all
that I can do to lead you to it : will you do your part, by
taking the advice and assistance that is offered you for
your good, or not ? It is not because you can manage
now to pay your rent, that you will always be able to
do so. Depend upon it, bad times will come : we have
had them before, and you know how hard it was then
to get on ; you may be sure they will come again. In-
deed, by God's appointment, times are always changing :
sometimes bad, sometimes good. If you will exert
yourselves, you may now, while times are good, so pros-
per, as far less to be injured by the bad times ; but it

330 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

must be by honest industry, taking the means of im-
provement which are offered you, and which others
have found for their benefit.

I cannot bring this letter to an end, without showing
you the result of what I have advised, by the fortunes
of two farmers in the county of .

Timothy Hennessy and Patrick O'Brien were neigh-
bours. Each had a farm of about twenty acres.

A little before the time I am speaking of, Tim had
taken his farm, having some cows and other stock of his
own, and bearing the character of a decent man ; so that
his landlord thought he would make a good tenant, and
was glad to give him the farm. Tim, however, farmed
on the old plan ; he set his potatoes and his wheat, and
sowed a few firkins of hay-seeds with his wheat, and
so kept a good part of his land always for grazing, as
bawn-field, upon which, with the help of a quarter or
half an acre of furze-brake, he just managed to keep
two cows and his horse. In summer his cows did pretty
well ; it is true he got very little manure from them,
because they were obliged to be out in the field grazing,
both by day and night. Nor did they give nearly as
much milk or butter, as they would have done, if they
had been better fed ; still there was some grass for them,
and they gave some milk. But in winter, poor beasts !
they had a hard life of it. They were always out in
the field all day, as they must be there to try and get
a bellyful ; and often, for the same reason, they were
out all night also ; and you might hear them stand
lowing in the fields, from cold and hunger. Of course
they gave scarce any milk at this time ; the cold and
rain, and want of food, often quite dried them up.
However, Tim did the best he could : he kept them in

APPENDIX. 331

at night, when he had any straw or furze for them, and
they got what praties he could spare ; though he always
sorely grudged these last, as he knew praties would
fetch a fine price in April But often, with his best
management, he was obliged to sell one of the cows in
the middle of winter, when cows bore a bad price — not
more than £4 or £5 — instead of keeping her till the
spring, when she would have calved, or been near calv-
ing, and would have brought £8 at the least ; and even
when he did succeed in keeping them both through the
winter, they were always in the spring very weak and
poor, looking more like ghosts of dead cows than real
living ones. Their calves, besides, were weak and
sickly; and the cows being so reduced, did not after
calving give nearly so much milk as Tim had expected.
But the worst of the business is yet to come ; for Tim
was able to keep his stock so little in the house, and
had so little to give them to eat, that though he
gathered up all the dung dropped in fields, still he had
but a small quantity of manure for his potatoes, and
was always obliged to make shift with scrapings from
his ditches, and mixing earth and sand. For the first
few years of his being in the farm, Tim drew a good
deal of sand ; and, by buying oar-weed, he managed to
get a tolerable potato crop. To be sure, his wheat, after
the potatoes, was very moderate, still he consoled him-
self with thinking that there were few of the neighbours
who were much better off ; and he often reasoned with
himself, that his father and his grandfather had farmed
in the same way as he did ; and as it happened,
that the first few years he had the farm, times were
good, and wheat and oats, and pigs and butter, fetched
a good price, Tim, by tilling his old bawn- fields, and

332 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

working the best of his ground, managed to pay his rent,
and keep his head above water. Still, somehow, he
could not conceal from himself that his crops every
year got worse, and his land was more and more reduced.
When he was obliged to sell his cow in the autumn or
winter, in consequence of not having food for her, he
found it more and more difficult to buy another in her
place, till at last he was obliged to content himself with
only one cow, and of course found himself the next season
with still less manure for his garden ; and though by
the help of ditch-scrapings and earth, he planted the
same number of acres of potatoes, yet no one but him-
self was surprised that part of them were hardly worth
digging. Tim was not a man to give way to trifles, he
still struggled manfully, sowed every bit of land he
could with wheat, let several acres of bawn- field to
cottagers and labourers for gardens, though part of it
had only been in grazing one or two years; and, in
short, did his very best to recover himself.

That winter, however, he had the misfortune to lose
a fine fat pig, to which he had trusted to pay a good
part of his summer's rent. His landlord, however, as
he had before been tolerably regular, gave him time for
his rent, and Tim hoped by his wheat and the rent of
his gardens to make it all up after harvest ; but alas !
the bad times had come — wheat, which for several years
before had been 30s. a barrel, and sometimes more, now
fell to 18s. or 20s. per barrel; and oats fell as much.
Butter and pigs, to be sure, did not fall so much, but
Tim had been unfortunate with his pigs, and of course
his one cow could not give him much butter, especially
now that he had so much tillage, and of course so little
and weak grazing for her. The summer, too, in Ireland

APPENDIX. 333

turned out wet and cold, and the wheat did not fill
well ; there was but a small produce from it, though
before harvest it looked pretty well ; and this, with the
great fall 6f price, quite prevented him from doing what
he had expected. But another gale was now due, and
Tim's heart began to misgive him, that he should be
unable to recover himself ; he began to grow careless
and indifferent ; and to give up struggling as he formerly
had done. He must sell his cow. Even this way, he
was only able to pay one half-year's rent, but he again
got time for the rest, though every one plainly saw that
he had no means of meeting the gale, which would be
coming due the next summer. Tim and his family saw
this too ; and though they still hoped something might
be done for them, yet never in their lives had they
passed such a miserable winter. They had no heart for
anything, and to add to their troubles, their potatoes
(I told you before some of them were not worth digging)
ran short, and they were obliged to buy for the family,
and so spent the little money they had been gathering
against the rent.

But let us turn from this painful picture to Tim's
neighbour Pat. What has he been doing all this time 1
Pat had been farming on quite a different plan. Just
before Tirn took his farm, Pat's father had died, and his
landlord had given Pat the farm. Pat's father had left
him much in the same circumstances as Tim was in,
but then he had left a good sum of money as fortunes
to his two sisters. Pat knew he must one day pay this,
and it weighed him down very much. Just upon his
father's death, his landlord had been advising his tenants
to sow clover and turnips, as a means of improving their
condition, and had told them a good deal of the great

334 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

profits tenants in other parts of Ireland had made in
this way. He had, indeed, made it a condition, when
he gave Pat the farm, that he should grow these crops ;
and as Pat had no reason to think that hrs landlord
would advise him for his hurt, he resolved to try this
new plan, although, to say the truth, his old father had,
before his death, spoken against it ; and besides it vexed
him much to be laughed at by his neighbours for his
pains.

He began with only a couple of acres of clover, and
half an acre of turnips ; and though the first year the
turnips were not very good, yet they were a great help
to his two cows (for he, too, had like his neighbour
Tim, at first, but two cows). The cows gave him more
milk through the winter than they had ever done be-
fore, and he made something by the butter. Besides,
as he was very careful to follow the advice of keeping
them as much as possible in the house, he certainly had
much more manure than he had ever had before. In the
spring, his clover came on ; but on cutting it, he soon
found that even though he gave it to his horse as well
as to his cows, there would be more of it than they
could eat. He, therefore, made a cock of hay of part
of the first cutting, and resolved to rear the calves his
cows had given him, which would help to eat the second
cutting, and still further increase his manure. This
year, too, he prepared his land better for turnips, by
breaking it early in the winter ; and the turnips of the
former year having increased his stock of manure, he
was able to allow a larger share of it to the turnips of
this year. His crop was accordingly excellent — far be-
yond what he had expected ; and now the laugh began
to be on his side, and instead of his neighbours laugh-

APPENDIX. 335

ing at him, Pat began to laugh at them. He had, in
the spring, sown a still larger quantity of clover, and
knowing that this would, the next summer, require
more cattle to eat it, he made up his mind in the autumn
to buy another cow in calf, when they were very cheap,
and accordingly he sold his cock of hay, and with the
money and a little more he added to it, at the fair of

, he bought a cow for £4 : 10s., which one of his

neighbours was obliged to sell, having nothing to feed
her with through the winter. Though Pat's turnips
were good, still he was hard pressed to keep the three
cows and two calves through the winter, but Vhat with
straw, and furze, and turnips, and a few potatoes, he
did manage it ; and in the spring he found himself with
such a heap of manure, as had never been seen on the
farm before, and this he did not fail to increase with all
the sand and earth he could draw. I need hardly tell
you the effect of this — his potato crop was better than
ever ; the wheat after it was also very good, the grain
fine and full — so that not only did it produce well, but
he also got the best price. His cows being well fed,
gave much more milk and butter than they ever had
done before — in short, all prospered with him. I will
not stop to tell you how he got on during several years
after ; it is enough to say,, that every year he made
more and more manure, and his wheat and potatoes by
means of this still improved. By rearing his calves, and
buying another cow or two, when other people for want
of food found themselves obliged to sell, he increased
his stock so much, as to find that his butter alone went
near to pay his rent. While other farmers' wives and
children were doing nothing, and only putting their
husbands and fathers to expense in supporting them,

336 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND.

his wife was making him money by her butter, and even
his young children of six or seven years old were gain-
fully employed, cutting clover and attending to the
cows, and thinning and weeding the turnips, in summer,
and pulling his turnips and cutting and cleaning them,
in winter. When the cows were out in the field, as
they always were for two hours every day, the children
watched them. A happier family could not be found
in the county ; a pleasanter sight you could not see than
those honest people with their industrious children. The
children took the greatest delight in their employment,
and instead of being ill-mannered, and idle, and dis-
obedient to their parents, and a burthen to them, they
were of great use and benefit to them. Well, things
went on in this way during the good times ; and when
the bad times, which we saw breaking poor Tim, came
upon Pat, how did he get on ? Sure enough the bad
times did come, and Pat's wheat and potatoes were not
nearly so good as they had been, nor did he get the
price for them he had done. Still, even in that wet
summer, his land being in good heart, his wheat filled
better than his neighbours' ; and what was bad for his
wheat and potatoes, did no hurt to his clover and
turnips. As I told you, even when wheat and oats
were so low, butter and pigs bore a good price ; and
now Pat found the advantage of being able to pay his
rent with his butter. — Of course he did not, during these
bad times, put so much money into his pocket from his
wheat and potatoes, but his butter and pigs always paid
his rent and more, and so he was in no fear of losing
his farm. Indeed, had he lost it, there was not a
gentleman in the country but would have been glad to
have given him the best farm on his estate. Pat, too,

APPENDIX. 337

had his misfortunes. One year he lost a horse, and
another year his finest cow got choked by a turnip and
died ; but these things, which we have seen helped to
ruin his neighbour Tim, though, of course, they vexed
Pat much, and were a great loss to him, yet did not
seriously injure him — his land, as I have said, being
in good heart, the very first crop set him all right
again.

Ten years after the time, when my story begins, the
bad times had passed away, and all thanked God that
the good times had come again. But what a difference
it found in the situation of the two neighbours. It
found poor Tim without a farm, living in the neigh-
bouring town of , doubting whether he should go

to America, or what he should do with himself — his
family nearly starving about him. It found Pat one of
the most comfortable farmers in the country, having
paid his sisters their fortunes — not owing a sixpence
to any man, and with money in his pocket ; just on
the point of getting another farm, still larger than his
old one.

A gentleman who had been out of this country for
some years, but who had known Pat formerly, one day
asked him the question, — "How it was his circum-.
stances had so improved?" His answer was a very
short one : " SIR, UNDER GOD'S BLESSING, I OWE IT ALL

TO HAVING FOLLOWED MY LANDLORD'S ADVICE, IN
GROWING CLOVER AND TURNIPS."

That you may all be in Pat's circumstances, this time
ten years, is the object and hearty wish of

Your sincere friend,

WILLIAM BENCE JONES.
AGHALUSKY.

Z

338

APPENDIX.

I have added this letter to show the very primitive
state farming was in the bypast of Ireland, when I began
improving, and long before the famine.

W. B. J.

December 1880.

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picture as true to life as Boswell's 'Johnson' of the foremost practical
genius that Germany has produced since Frederick the Great. "

Blackburne.— BIOGRAPHY OF THE RIGHT HON.
FRANCIS BLACKBURNE, Late Lord Chancellor of Ireland.
Chiefly in connexion with his Public and Political Career. By his
Son, EDWARD BLACKBURNE, Q.C. With Portrait Engraved by
JEENS. 8vo. i2s.

Blanford (W. T.)— GEOLOGY AND ZOOLOGY OF
ABYSSINIA. By W. T. BLANFORD. 8vo. 2is.

Bronte. — CHARLOTTE BRONTE. A Monograph. By T.
WEMYSS REID. With Illustrations. Third Edition. Crown
8vo. 6s.

Brooke. — THE RAJA OF SARAWAK : an Account of Sir
James Brooke, K.C.B., LL.D. Given chiefly through Letters
or Journals. By GERTRUDE L. JACOB. With Portrait and
Maps. Two Vols. 8vo. 2$s.

Bryce. — Works by JAMES BRYCE, D.C.L., Regius Professor of

Civil Law, Oxford : —
THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE. Sixth Edition, Revised and

Enlarged. Crown 8vo. 7-r. 6d.

"It exactly supplies a want: it affords a key to much which men
read of in their books as isolated facts, but of which they have hitherto
had no connected exposition set before them." — SATURDAY REVIEW.

A 2

4 MACMILLAN'S CATALOGUE OF WORKS IN

BryCC. — continued.
TRANSCAUCASIA AND ARARAT: being Notes of a Vacation

Tour in the Autumn of 1876. With an Illustration and Map.

Third Edition. Crown 8vo. 9^.

"llfr. Bryce has written a lively and at the same time an instructive
description of the tour he made last year in and about the Caucasus. When
so well-informed a jurist travels into regions seldom visited, and even
walks up a mountain so rarely scaled as Ararat, he is justified in think-
ing that the impressions he brings home are worthy of being communicated
to the world at large, especially when a terrible war is casting a lurid glow
over the countries he has lately sttrveyed." — ATHEN^UM.

Burgoyne. — POLITICAL AND MILITARY EPISODES

DURING THE FIRST HALF OF THE REIGN OF
GEORGE III. Derived from the Life and Correspondence of
the Right Hon. J. Burgoyne, Lieut. -General in his Majesty's
Army, and M.P. for Preston. By E. B. DE FONBLANQUE. With
Portrait, Heliotype Plate, and Maps. 8vo. i6.r.

Burke. — EDMUND BURKE, a Historical Study. By JOHN
MORLEY, B.A., Oxon. Crown 8vo. yj. &/.

Burrows. — WORTHIES OF ALL SOULS : Four Centuries cf
English History. Illustrated from the College Archives. By
MONTAGU BURROWS, Chichele Professor of Modem History at '
Oxford, Fellow of All Souls. 8vo. 14*.
"A most amusing as well as a most instrtictive book. — GUARDIAN. •

Cameron. — OUR FUTURE HIGHWAY. By v. LOVETT

CAMERON, C.B., Commander R.N. With Illustrations. 2 vols.
Crown 8vo. \Shortly.

Campbell. — LOG-LETTERS FROM THE ''CHALLENGER.'*
By LORD GEORGE CAMPBELL. With Map. Fifth and cheaper
Edition. Crown 8vo. 6.r.
"A delightful book, which we heartily commend to the general reader."

— SATURDAY REVIEW.

" We do not hesitate to say that anything so fresh, so picturesque, so
generally delightful, as these log-letters has not appeared among books o
travel for a long time." — EXAMINER.

Campbell. — MY CIRCULAR NOTES : Extracts from Journals ;
Letters sent Home; Geological and other Notes, written while
Travelling Westwards round the World, from July 6th, 1874, to
July 6th, 1875. ^7 !• F- CAMPBELL, Author of "Frost and
Fire." Cheaper Issue. Crown 8vo. 6s.

HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, TRAVELS, ETC. 5

Campbell. — TURKS AND GREEKS. Notes of a recent Ex-
cursion. By the Hon. DUDLEY CAMPBELL, M.A. With Coloured
Map. Crown 8vo. 3^. 6d.

Carpenter. — LIFE AND WORK OF MARY CARPENTER
By the Rev. J. E. CARPENTER. With Portrait engraved by
JEENS. Crown 8vo. [Shortly.

Carstares. — WILLIAM CARSTARES : a Character and Career
of the Revolutionary Epoch (1649 — 1715). By ROBERT STORY,
Minister of Rosneath. 8vo. I2J.

Chatterton : A BIOGRAPHICAL STUDY. By DANIEL
WILSON, LL.D., Professor of History and English Literature in
University College, Toronto. Crown 8vo. 6s. 6</.

Chatterton : A STORY OF .THE YEAR 1770. By Professor
MASSON, LL.D. Crown 8vo.' 5^.

Clark. — MEMORIALS FROM JOURNALS AND LETTERS
OF SAMUEL CLARK, M.A., formerly Principal of the
National Society's Training College, Battersea. Edited with
Introduction by his WIFE. With Portrait. Crown 8vo. 'js. 6</.

Clifford (W. K.)— LECTURES AND ESSAYS. Edited by
LESLIE STEPHEN and FREDERICK POLLOCK, with Introduction
by F. POLLOCK. Two Portraits. 2 vols. Svo. 25^-.
The TIMES of October 22, 1879, says : — "Many a friend of the
autJior on first tak.ng tip these volumes and remembering his versatile
genius and his keen enjoyment cf all realms of intellectual activity must
have trembled lest they should behind to consist of fragmentary pieces of
•work, too disconnected to do justice to his powers of consecutive reasoning
and too varied to have any effect as a whole. Fortuna'ely those fears are
groundless .... It is not only in subject that the various papers are
closely related. Thei'e is also a singular consistency of view and of method
tJironghout .... It i s in the social and metaphysical subjects that the
richness of his intellect shows if self most forcibly in the variety and
originality of the idsas which he presents to us. To appreciate this variety,
it is necessary to read the book itself, for it treats, in some form or o'.her, of
nearly all the subjects of deepest Interest in this age of questioning"

Combe.— THE LIFE OF GEORGE COMBE, Author of "The

Constitution of Man." By CHARLES GIBBON. With Three
Portraits engraved by JEENS. Two Vols. Svo. 3zr.
' ' A graphic and interesting account of the long life and indefatigable
labours of a very remarkable man." — SCOTSMAN.

6 MACMILLAN'S CATALOGUE OF WORKS IN

Cooper. — ATHENE CANTABRIGIENSES. By CHARLES
HENRY COOPER, F.S.A., and THOMPSON COOPER, F.S.A.
Vol. I. 8vo., 1500—85, i8j. j Vol. II., 1586—1609, iSj-.

CorregglO. — ANTONIO ALLEGRI DA CORREGGIO. From
the German of Dr. JULIUS MEYER, Director of the Royal Gallery,
Berlin. Edited, with an Introduction, by Mrs. HEATON. Con-
taining Twenty Woodbury-type Illustrations. Royal Svo. Cloth
elegant. 31*. 6d;

COX (G. V.) — RECOLLECTIONS OF OXFORD. By G.
V. Cox, M.A., New College, late- Esquire Bedel and Coroner
in the University of Oxford. Cheaper Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s.

Cunynghame (Sir A. T.) — MY COMMAND IN SOUTH

AFRICA, 1874 — 78. Comprising Experiences of Travel in the
Colonies of South Africa and the Independent States. By Sir
ARTHUR THURLOW CUNYNGHAME, G.C.B., then Lieutenant-
Go vernor and Commander of the Forces in South Africa. Third
Edition. Svo. 12s. 6d.

The TIMES says : — "// is a volume of great interest, .... full of
incidents which vividly illustrate the condition of the Colonies and the
character and habits of the natives It contains valuable illus-
trations of Cape warfare, and at the present moment it cannot fail t&
command wide-spread attention."

" Daily News." — THE DAILY NEWS' CORRESPOND-

ENCE of the War between Germany and France, 1870 — I. Edited
with Notes and Comments. New Edition. Complete in One
Volume. With Maps and Plans. Crown Svo. 6s.

THE DAILY NEWS' CORRESPONDENCE of the War between
Russia and Turkey, to the fall of Kars. Including the letters of
Mr. Archibald Forbes, Mr. J. E. McGahan, and other Special
Correspondents in Europe and Asia. Second Edition, enlarged.
Cheaper Edition. Crown Svo. 6s.

FROM THE FALL OF KARS TO THE CONCLUSION OF
PEACE. Cheaper Edition. Crown Svo. 6s.

Davidson. — THE LIFE OF A SCOTTISH PROBATIONER;

being a Memoir of Thomas Davidson, with his Poems and

Letters. By JAMES BROWN, Minister of St. James's Street

Church, Paisley. Second Edition, revised and enlarged, with

Portrait. Crown Svo. JS. 6d.

Deas. — THE RIVER CLYDE. An Historical Description of the
Rise and Progress of the Harbour of Glasgow, and of the Im-
provement of the River from Glasgow to Port Glasgow. By J.
DEAS, M. Inst. C.E. Svo. IDS. 6af.

HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, TRAVELS, ETC. 7

Denison. — A HISTORY OF CAVALRY FROM THE EAR-
LIEST TIMES. With Lessons for the Future. By Lieut. -Col.
GEORGE DENISON, Commanding the Governor-General's Body
Guard, Canada, Author of " Modern Cavalry." \Vith Maps and
Plans. 8vo. i8j.

Dilke.— GREATER BRITAIN. A Record of Travel in English-
speaking Countries during 1866-7. (America, Australia, India.
By Sir CHARLES WENTWORTH DILKE, M.P. Sixth Edition-
Crown 8vo. 6s.

"Many of the subjects discussed in these pages '," says the DAILY NEWS,
" are of the widest interest, and such as no man who cares for the future
of his race and of the -world can afford to treat -with indifference. "

Doyle. — HISTORY OF AMERICA. By J. A. DOYLE. With

Maps. i8mo. 4^. 6d.

" Mr. Doyle's style is clear and simple, his facts are accurately stated,
and his book is meritoriously free from prejudice on questions where
partisanship runs high amongst us." — SATURDAY REVIEW.

Drummond of Hawthornden : THE STORY OF HIS
LIFE AND WRITINGS. By PROFESSOR MASSON. With Por-
trait and Vignette engraved by C. H. JEENS. Crown 8vo. IGJ. 6d.

Duff. — Works by M. E. GRANT-DUFF, M.P., late Under Secretary
of State for India : —

NOTES OF AN INDIAN JOURNEY. With Map. 8vo. IQJ-. 6d.
MISCELLANIES POLITICAL AND LITERARY. 8vo. IQJ. 6* ,

Eadie. — LIFE OF JOHN EADIE, D.D., LL.D. By JAMES

BROWN, D.D., Author ot "The Life of a Scottish Probationer."
With Portrait. Second Edition. Crown 8vo. fs. 6d.
"An ablywtitten and characteristic biography" — TIMES.

Elliott. — LIFE OF HENRY VENN ELLIOTT, of Brighton.
By JOSIAH BATEMAN, M.A. With Portrait, engraved by JEENS,
Extra fcap. 8vo. Third and Cheaper Edition, bs.

Elze. — ESSAYS ON SHAKESPEARE. By Dr. KARL ELZE.
Translated with the Author's sanction by L. DORA SCHMITZ.

8VO. I2J.

English Men of Letters. Edited by JOHN MORLEY. A
Series of Short Books to tell people what is best worth knowing
as to the Life, Character, and Works of some of the great
English Wiiters. In crown 8vo. Price 2s. 6d. earh.

MACMILLAWS CATALOGUE OF WORKS IN

English Men of Letters. — continued.

I. DR. JOHNSON. By LESLIE STEPHEN.

" The new series opens w?ll with Mr. Leslie Stephen's sketch of Dr.
Johnson. It could hardly have been done better ; and it -will convey to
the readers for whom it is intended a juster estimate of Johnson than
either of the two essays of Lord Macattlay " — PALL MALL GAZETTE.

II. SIR WALTER SCOTT. By R. H. HUTTON.

" The tone of the volume is excellent throughout." — ATHEN^UM.
" We could not wish for a more suggestive introduction to Scott and
his poems and novels" — EXAMINER.

III. GIBBON. ByJ. C. MORISON.

" As a clear, thoughtful, and attractive record of the life and works of
the greatest among the world's historians, it deserves the highest praise." —
EXAMINER.

IV. SHELLEY. By J. A. SYMONDS.

" The lovers of this great poet are to be congratulated on having at
their command so fresh, clear, and intelligent a presentment of the subject,
written by a man of adequate and wide culture." — ATHENVEUM.

V. HUME. By Professor HUXLEY.

"// may fairly be said that no one now living could have expounded
Hume with more sympathy or with equal perspicuity." — ATHENAEUM.

VI. GOLDSMITH. By WILLIAM BLACK.

" Mr. Black brings a fine sympathy and taste to bear in his criticism
of Goldsmith's writings as well as in his sketch of the incidents of his life"
ATHENVEUM.

VII. DEFOE. By W. MINTO.

' ' Aff. Minto's book is careful and accurate in all that is stated, and
faithful in all that it sttggests. It will repay reading more than once."
ATHENAEUM. ~-

VIII. BURNS. By Principal SHAIRP, Professor of Poetry in the
University of Oxford.

" It is impossible to desire fairer criticism than Principal Shairp^s
on B urn s^s poetry .... None of the series has given a trtier estimate
either of character or of genius than this little volume .... and all who
read it will be thoroughly grateful to the author for this monument to the
genius of Sco 'land's greatest poet " — SPECTATOR.

IX. SPENSER. By the Very Rev. the DEAN OF ST. PAUL'S.

" Dr. Church is master of his subject, and writes always with good
taste." — ACADEMY.

X. THACKERAY. By ANTHONY TROLLOPE.

" Mr. Trollope' s sketch is excellently adapted to fufil the purpose o/
the series in which it appears" — ATHENAEUM.
XT. BURKE. By JOHN MORLEY.
" Perhaps ike best criticism yd published on the life and character of

HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, TRAVELS, ETC. 9
English Men of Letters.— <w*//w/«/.

Burke is contained in Mr. Morley>s compendious biography. His style is
vigorous and polished, and both his political and personal judgment, and
his literary criticisms are just, generous, subtle, and in a high degree
interesting. " — S AT u R D AY R E VI E W.

MILTON. By MARK PATTISON. \Just ready.]

HAWTHORNE. By HENRY JAMES. ^

SOUTHEY. By Professor DOWDEN.

CHAUCER. By Professor WARD. I rr . . ,. ,

COWPER. By GOLDWIN SMITH. \ {.In preparation.}

BUNYAN. By J. A. FROUDE.
WORDSWORTH. By F. W. H. MYERS.
Others in preparation.

Eton College, History of. By H. C. MAXWELL LYTE,
M.A. With numerous Illustrations by Professor DELAMOTTE,
Coloured Plates, and a Steel Portrait of the Founder, engraved
by C. H. JEENS. New and cheaper Issue, with Corrections.
Medium 8vo. Cloth elegant. 2is.
" We are at length presented with a work on England's greatest public

school, worthy of the subject of which it treats. . . . A really -valuable and

authentic history of Eton College." — GUARDIAN.

European History, Narrated in a Series of Historical

Selections from the best Authorities. Edited and arranged by

E. M. SEWELL and C. M. YONGE. First Series, crown 8vo. 6s. ;

Second Series, 1088-1228, crown 8vo. 6s. Third Edition.

41 We know of scarcely anything" says the GUARDIAN, of this -volume,

"-which is so likely to raise to a higher level the average standard of

English education."

Faraday. — MICHAEL FARADAY. By j. H. GLADSTONE,

Ph.D., F.R.S. Second Edition, with Portrait engraved by JEENS
from a photograph by J. W ATKINS. Crown 8vo. 4^. 6d.
PORTRAIT. Artist's Proof. $s.

Forbes.— LIFE AND LETTERS OF JAMES DAVID

FORBES, F.R.S., late Principal of the United College in the
University of St. Andrews. By J. C. SHAIRP, LL.D., Principal
of the United College in the University of St. Andrews ; P. G.
TAIT, M.A., Professor of Natural Philosophy in the University
of Edinburgh; and A. ADAMS-REILLY, F.R.G.S. 8vo. with
Portraits, Map, and Illustrations, l6s.

Freeman. — Works by EDWARD A. FREEMAN, D.C.L.,LL.D. :—
HISTORICAL ESSAYS. Third Edition. 8vo. icw. 6d.
CONTENTS :— 7. "Tke Mythical and Romantic Elements in Early

English History;" II. "The Continuity of English History;^ III.

"The Relations between the Crowns of England and Scotland ; IV.

io MACMILLAWS CATALOGUE OF WORKS IN
Fre e m an — continued.

"St. Thomas of Canterbury and his Biographers;" V. " 77ie Reign oj
Edward the Third:" VI. " The Holy Roman Empire ;" VIL "The
Franks and the Gauls;" VIII. "The Early Sieges of Paris;" IX.
"Frederick the First, King of Italy ;" X. "The Emperor Frederick the
Second;" XI. "Charles the Bold ;" XII. " Presidential Government.

HISTORICAL ESSAYS. SECOND SERIES. 8vo. los. 6d.

The principal Essays are : — "Ancient Greece and Mediceval Italy :"
" Mr. Gladstone's Homer and the Homeiic Ages : " " The Historians
of Athens:" " The Athenian Democracy:" "Alexander the Great:"
"Greece during the Macedonian Period:" "Mommsens History of Rome :"
"Lttcius Cornelius Sulla :" " The Flavian Ccesars"

HISTORICAL ESSAYS. Third Series. Svo. \2s.

CONTENTS: — "First Impressions of Rome" "The Illyrian
Emperors and their Land." "Augusta Jreverorum." "The Get/is
at Ravenna." "Race and Language" "The Byzantine Empire"
"First Impressions of Athens." " Mediccval and Modern Greece."
"The Southern Slaves." "Sicilian Cycles." "The Normans at
Palermo."

COMPARATIVE POLITICS.— Lectures at the Royal Institution.

To which is added the " Unity of History," the Rede Lecture at

Cambridge, 1872. Svo. 14^.
THE HISTORY AND CONQUESTS OF THE SARACENS.

Six Lectures. Third Edition, with New Preface. Crown Svo.

3J. 6d.

HISTORICAL AND ARCHITECTURAL SKETCHES:
chiefly Italian. With Illustrations by the Author. Crown Svo.
icw. 6d.

HISTORY OF FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, from the Foun-
dation of the Achaian League to the Disruption of the United
States. Vol. I. General Introduction, History of the Greek
Federations. Svo. 2U.

OLD ENGLISH HISTORY. With Five Coloured Maps. Fourth
Edition. Extra fcap. Svo., half-bound. 6s.

" The book indeed is full of instruction and interest to students oj all
ages, and he must be a well-informed man indeed who will not rise
from its perusal with clearer and more accurate ideas of a too much
neglected portion of English history." — SPECTATOR.

HISTORY OF THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF WELLS,

as illustrating the History of the Cathedral Churches of the Old

Foundation. Crown Svo. 3*. 6d.

" The history assumes in Mr. freeman's hands a significance,' and, we

may add, a practical value as s^^ggestive of what a cathedral ought to be,

which make it well worthy of mention." — SPECTATOR.

HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, TRAVELS, ETC. n

Freeman — contimied.

THE GROWTH OF THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION
FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES. Crown 8vo. 5*. Third
Edition, revised.

GENERAL SKETCH OF EUROPEAN HISTORY. Being
Vol. I. of a Historical Course for Schools edited by E. A.
FREEMAN. New Edition, enlarged with Maps, Chronological
Table, Index, &c. i8mo. y. 6d.

lt It supplies the great "want of a good foundation for historical teach-
ing. The scheme is an excellent one, and this instalment has been
accepted in a way that promises much for the -volumes that are yet
to appear." — EDUCATIONAL TIMES.

THE OTTOMAN POWER IN EUROPE : its Nature, its Growth,
and its Decline. With Three Coloured Maps. Crown 8vo. 7*. 6d.

Galileo. — THE PRIVATE LIFE OF GALILEO. Compiled

principally from his Correspondence and that of his eldest
daughter, Sister Maria Celeste, Nun in the Franciscan Convent of
S. Matthew in Arcetri. With Portrait. Crown 8vo. 7-f. bd.

Geddes. — THE PROBLEM OF THE HOMERIC POEMS.

By W. D. GEDDES, LL.D., Professor of Greek in the University
of Aberdeen. Svo. 14^.

Gladstone — Works by the Right Hon.W. E. GLADSTONE, M.P. :—
JUVENTUS MUNDI. The Gods and Men of the Heroic Age.

Crown Svo. cloth. With Map. IGJ. 6d. Second Edition.
"Seldom" says the ATHENAEUM, " out of the great poems themselves,

have these Divinities looked so majestic and respectable. To read these

brilliant details is like standing on the 'Olympian threshold and gazing at

the inejfable brightness ivithin."

HOMERIC SYNCHRONISM. An inquiry into the Time and

Place of Homer. Crown Svo. 6s.

tl It is impossible not to admire the immense range of thought and
inquiry -which the author has displayed." — BRITISH QUARTERLY
REVIEW.

Goethe and Mendelssohn (1821—1831). Translated from the
German of Dr. KARL MENDELSSOHN, Son of the Composer, by
M. E. VON GLEHN. From the Private Diaries and Home
Letters of Mendelssohn, with Poems and Letters of Goethe never
before printed. Also with two New and Original Portraits, Fac-
similes, and Appendix of Twenty Letters hitherto unpublished.
Crown Svo. $s. Second Edition, enlarged.

12 MACMILLAN'S CATALOGUE OF WORKS IN

" . . . Every page is full of interest, not merely to the musi-
cian, but to the general reader. The book is a very charming one, on
a topic of deep and lasting interest.'11 — STANDARD.

Goldsmid. — TELEGRAPH AND TRAVEL. A Narrative of
the Formation and Development of Telegraphic Communication
between England and India, under the orders of Her Majesty's
Government, with incidental Notices of the Countries traversed by
the Lines. By Colonel Sir FREDERIC GOLDSMID, C.B., K.C.S.I.,
late Director of the Government Indo-European Telegraph. With
numerous Illustrations and Maps. 8vo. 2is.

" The merit of the work is a total absence of exaggeration, which does
not, however, preclude a vividness and vigour of style not always character-
istic of similar narratives." — STANDARD.

Gordon. — LAST LETTERS FROM EGYPT, to which are added
Letters from the Cape. By LADY DUFF GORDON. With a
Memoir by her Daughter, Mrs. Ross, and Portrait engraved by
JEENS. Second Edition. Crown 8vo. 9-r.

" The intending tourist ^vho wishes to acquaint himself with the country
he is about to visit, stands embarrassed amidst the riches presented for his
choice, and in the end probably rests contented with the sober usefulness of
Murray. He will not, however, if he is well advised, grudge a place in
his portmanteau to this book" — TIMES.

Gray. — CHINA. A History of the Laws, Manners, and Customs
of the People. By the VENERABLE JOHN HENRY GRAY. LL.D.,
Archdeacon of Hong Kong, formerly H.B.M. Consular Chaplain
at Canton. Edited by W. Gow Gregor. With 150 Full-page Illustra-
tions, being Facsimiles of Drawings by a Chinese Artist. 2 Vols.
Demy 8vo. 32^.
"Its pages contain the most truthful and vivid picture of Chinese life

which has ever been published.'1'' — ATHEN^UM.

" The only elaborate and valuable book w^ have had for many years

treating generally of the people of the Celestial Empire." — ACADEMY.

Green. — Works by JOHN RICHARD GREEN: —

HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH PEOPLE. Vol. I.— Early

England— Foreign Kings— The Charter— The Parliament. W7ith

8 Coloured Maps. 8vo. i6j. Vol. II. — The Monarchy,

1461 — 1540 ; the Restoration, 1540 — 1603. 8vo. l6s. Vol. HI.

— Puritan England, 1603 — 1660; the] Revolution, 1660—1688.

With 4 Maps. 8vo. i6s. [Vol. IV. in the press.

" Mr. Green has done a work which probably no one but himself could

have done. He has read and assimilated the results of all the labours of

students during the last half century in the field of English history, and

has given them a fresh meaning by his own independent study. He has

fused together by the force of sympathetic imagination all that he has so

HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, TRAVELS, ETC. 13

Green . — continued.

collected, and has %iven us a vivid and forcible sketch of the march of
English history. His book, both in its aims and its accomplishments,
rises far beyond any of a similar kind, and it will give the colouring to the
popular view to English history for some time to come." — EXAMINER.

A SHORT HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH PEOPLE. With

Coloured Maps, Genealogical Tables, and Chronological Annals.

Crown 8vo. Ss. 6d. Sixty-third Thousand.

" To say that Mr. Grterfs book is better than those "which have pre-
ceded it, would be to convey a very inadequate impression of its merits. It
stands alone as the one general history of the country, for the sake of
•which alt others, if young and old are wise, will be speedily and surely set
aside."

STRAY STUDIES FROM ENGLAND AND ITALY. Crown
8vo. Ss. 6d. Containing : Lambeth and the Archbishops — The
Florence of Dante — Venice and Rome — Early History of Oxford
—The District Visitor— Capri— Hotels in the Clouds— Sketches
in Sunshine, &c.

" One and all of the papers are eminently readable." — ATHENAEUM.

Guest.— LECTURES ON THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

By M. J. GUEST. With Map?. Crown 8vo. 6s.
" The book is pleasant reading, it is full of information, much of it is
valuable, most of it is correct, told in a gossipy and intelligible way" —
ATHENAEUM.

Hamerton.— -Works by P. G. HAMERTON .—
THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. With a Portrait of Leonardo da
Vinci, etched by LEOPOLD FLAMENG. Second Edition. Crown
ioj. 6d. 8vo.

" We have read the whole book rvith great pleasure, and we can re-
commend it strongly to all who can appreciate grave reflections on a very
important subject, excellently illustrated from the resources of a mind
stored with much reading and much keen obsetvation of real life." —
SATURDAY REVIEW.

THOUGHTS ABOUT ART. New Edition, revised, with an

Introduction. Crown 8vo. Ss. 6d.
"A manual of sound and thorotigh criticism on art" — STANDARD.

Hill. — THE RECORDER OF BIRMINGHAM. A Memoir of
Matthew Davenport Hill, with Selections from his Correspondence.
By his Daughters ROSAMOND and FLORENCE DAVENPORT-HILL.
With Portrait engraved by C. II. JEENS. 8vo. i6s.

14 MACMILLAN'S CATALOGUE OF WORKS IN

Hill.— WHAT WE SAW IN AUSTRALIA. By ROSAMOND

and FLORENCE HILL. Crown 8vo. IQS. 6d.

"May be recommended as an interesting and truthful picture cf the
condition of those lands which are so distant and vet so much like home."
— SATURDAY REVIEW.

Hodgson.— MEMOIR OF REV. -FRANCIS HODGSON,
B. D., Scholar, Poet, and Divine. By his Son, the Rev. JAMES
T. HODGSON, M.A. Containing numerous Letters from Lord
Byron and others. With Portrait engraved by JEENS. Two
Vols. Crown Svo. i8j.
" A book that has added so much of a healthy nature to our knowledge

cf Byron, and that contains so rich a store of delightful correspondence."

— ATHEN^JUM.

Hole. — A GENEALOGICAL STEMMA OF THE KINGS
OF ENGLAND AND FRANCE. By the Rev. C. HOLE,
M.A., Trinity College, Cambridge. On Sheet, is.

A BRIEF BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. Compiled and
Arranged by the Rev. CHARLES HOLE, M.A. Second Edition.
i8mo. 4s. 6d.

Hooker and Ball. — MAROCCO AND THE GREAT

ATLAS: Journal of a Tour in. By Sir JOSEPH D. HOOKER,

K. C.S.I., C.B., F.R.S., &c., and JOHN BALL, F.R.S. With an

Appendix, including a Sketch of the Geology of Marocco, by

G. MAW, F.L.S., F.G.S. With Illustrations and Map. Svo. 2is.

" // is long since any more interesting book of travels has issued from

our press" — SATURDAY REVIEW. " This is, without doubt, one of the

most interesting and valuable books of travel published for many years."

— SPECTATOR.

Hozier (H. M.) — Works by CAPTAIN HENRY M. HOZIER,
late Assistant Military Secretary to Lord Napier of Magdala : —

THE SEVEN WEEKS' WAR ; Its Antecedents and Incidents.
New and Cheaper Edition. With New Preface, Maps, and Plans.
Crown Svo. 6s.

THE INVASIONS OF ENGLAND : a History of the Past, with
Lessons for the Future. Two Vols. Sro. 28^.

Hiibner. — A RAMBLE ROUND THE WORLD IN 1871. By

M. LE BARON HUBNER, formerly Ambassador and Minister.

Translated by LADY HERBERT. New and Cheaper Edition.

With numerous Illustrations. Crown Svo. 6s.

"It is difficult to do ample justice t) this pleasant narrative of travel

. ... it does not contain a single dull paragraph" — MORNING POST.

HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, TRAVELS, ETC. 15

Hughes. — Works by THOMAS HUGHES, Q.C., Author of " Toin

Brown's School Days."

ALFRED THE GREAT. New Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s.
MEMOIR OF A BROTHER. With Portrait of GEORGE HUGHES,
after WATTS. Engraved by JEENS. Crown 8vo. $s. Sixth
Edition.

" The boy "who can read this book withottt deriving from it some addi-
tional impulse toiuards honourable, manly, and independent conduct, has
•no good stuff in him" — DAILY NEWS.

Hunt.— HISTORY OF ITALY. By the Rev. W. HUNT, M.A.

Being the Fourth Volume of the Historical Course for Schools.

Edited by EDWARD A. FREEMAN, D.C.L. i8mo. 3^.
" Mr. Hunt gives us a most compact but very readable little book, con-
taining in small compass a very complete outline of a complicated and
perplexing subject. It is a book which may be safely recommended to
others besides schoolboys" — JOHN BULL.

Irving.— THE ANNALS OF OUR TIME. A Diurnal of Events,
Social and Political, Home and Foreign, from the Accession of
Queen Victoria to the Peace of Versailles. By JOSEPH IRVING.
Fourth Edition. 8vo. half-bound. i6s.

ANNALS OF OUR TIME. Supplement. From Feb. 28, 1871,

to March 19, 1874. 8vo. 4^. 6d.
ANNALS OF OUR TIME. Second Supplement. From March,

1874, to the Occupation of Cyprus. 8vo. 4^-. 6d.
" We have before us a trusty and ready guide to the events of the
fast thirty years , available equally for the statesman, the politician, the
public writer, and the general reader." — TIMES.

James. — Works by HENRY JAMES, Jun. FRENCH POETS AND

NOVELISTS. Crown 8vo. Ss. 6d.

CONTENTS -.—Alfred de Musset ; Theophile Gautier ; Baudelaire;
Honor I d<> Balzac ; Gtorge Sand ; The Two Amperes ; Turgenieff, &c.

Johnson's Lives of the Poets.— The Six Chief

Lives— Milton, Dryden, Swift, Addison, Pope, Gray. With
Macaulay's " Life of Johnson." Edited, with Preface, by
MATTHEW ARNOLD. Crown 8vo. 6s.

Killen. — ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF IRELAND, from
the Earliest Date to the Present Time. By W. D. KILLEN, D.D.,
President of Assembly's College, Belfast, and Professor of Eccle-
siastical History. Two Vols. 8vo. 25^.
" Those who have the leisure will do Will to read these two volumes.

Thev are full of interest, and are the result of great research. . . . We

16 MACMILLAN'S CATALOGUE OF WORKS IN

have 110 hesitation in recommending the work to all who wish to imp) ove
their acquaintance with Irish history." — SPECTATOR.

Kingsley (Charles). — Works by the Rev. CHARLES KINGSLEY,
M.A., Rector of Eversley and Canon of Westminster. (For
other Works by the same Author, see THEOLOGICAL and BELLES
LETTRES Catalogues.)

ON THE ANCIEN REGIME as it existed on the Continent before
the FRENCH REVOLUTION. Three Lectures delivered at the
Royal Institution. Crown 8vo. 6s.

AT LAST : A CHRISTMAS in the WEST INDIES. With nearly
Fifty Illustrations. Sixth Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s.

Mr. Kingsley 's dream of forty years was at last fulfilled, when he
started on a Christmas expedition to the West Indies, for the purpose of
becoming personally acquainted with the scenes which h& has so vividly
described in " Westward Ho !" These two volumes are the journal of his
voyage. Records of natural history, sketches of tropical landscape, chapters
on education, vieivs of society, all find their place. " We can only say
that Mr. Kingsley 's account of a ' Christmas in the West Indies ' is in
every way worthy to be classed among his happiest productions" —
STANDARD.

THE ROMAN AND THE TEUTON. A Series of Lectures
delivered before the University of Cambridge. New and Cheaper
Edition, with Preface by Professor MAX MULLER. Crown 8vo. 6s.

PLAYS AND PURITANS, and other Historical Essays. With
Portrait of Sir WALTER RALEIGH. New Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s.

In addition to the Essay mentioned in the title, this volume contains
other two — one on "Sir Walter Raleigh and his Time," and one on
Froude's " History of England."

Kingsley (Henry). — TALES OF OLD TRAVEL,
narrated by HENRY KINGSLEY, F.R.G.S. With Eight

Re-

Sttus-

trationsby'UVA.RD. Fifth Edition. Crown 8vo.
" We know no better book for those who want knowledge or seek to
refresh it. As for the * sensational,' most novels are tame compared with
these narratives" — ATHEN^UM.

Lang. — CYPRUS : Its History, its Present Resources and P'uture

Prospects. By R. HAMILTON LANG, late H.M. Consul for the

Island of Cyprus. With Two Illustrations and Four Maps. 8vo. 14^.

" The fair and impartial account of her past and present to be found in

these pages has an undoubted claim on the attention of all intelligent

readi rs." — MORNIN G POST.

HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, TRAVELS, ETC. 17

LaOGOOn. — Translated from the Text of Lessing, with Preface and
Notes by the Right Hon. SIR ROBERT J. PHILLIMORE, D.C.L.
With Photographs. Svo. 12s.

Leonardo da Vinci and his Works. — Consisting of a
Life of Leonardo Da Vinci, by MRS. CHARLES W. H EATON,
Author of "Albrecht Durer of Niirnberg," &c., an Essay on his
Scientific and Literary Works by CHARLES CHRISTOPHER
BLACK, M.A., and an account of his more important Paintings
and Drawings. Illustrated with Permanent Photographs, Royal
Svo, cloth, extra gilt. 3U. 6d.

Liechtenstein, — HOLLAND HOUSE. By Princess MARIE

LIECHTENSTEIN. With Five Steel Engravings by C. H. JEENS,
after Paintings by WATTS and other celebrated Artists, and
numerous Illustrations drawn by Professor P. H. DELAMOTTE, and
engraved on Wood byj. D. COOPER, W. PALMER, andjEwrrr &
Co. Third and Cheaper Edition. Medium Svo. cloth elegant
i6j.

Also, an Edition containing, in addition to the above, about 40
Illustrations by the Woodbury-type process, and India Proofs of
the Steel Engravings. Two vols. medium 4to. half morocco
elegant. 4/. 4^.

Lloyd.— THE AGE OF PERICLES. A History of the Arts and
Politics of Greece from the Persian to the Peloponnesian War.
By W. WAI KISS LLOYD. Two Vols. Svo. 21 s.
" No such account of Greek art of the best period has yet been brought

together in an English work Mr. Lloyd has produced a book oj

unusual excellence and interest '." — PALL MALL GAZETTE.

Loch Etive and the Sons of Uisnach. — with Illus-
trations. Svo. 14^.

" Not only have we Loch Etive of the present time brought before us in
colours as true as the)' are vivid, but stirring scenes which happened on
the borders of the beautiful lake in semi-mythical times are conjured up
with singular skill. Noivhere else do ice remember to have met with such
a well-written account of the invasion of Scotland by the Irish" — GLOBE.

Loftie. — A RIDE IN EGYPT FROM SIOOT TO LUXOR, IN

1879 ; with Notes on the Present State and Ancient History of the
Nile Valley, and some account of the various ways of making the
voyage out and home. By the Rev. W. J. LOPTIE. With
Illustrations. Crown Svo. TOJ. 6d.

11 We prophesy that Mr. LofMs little book will accompany many
travellers on the Nile in thf coming winters" — TIMES.

i8 MACMILLAN'S CATALOGUE OF WORKS IN

Lubbock. — ADDRESSES, POLITICAL AND EDUCA-
TIONAL. By Sir JOHN LUBBOCK, Bart., M.P., D.C.L.,
F.R.S. 8vo. Ss. 6d.

Macdonell.— FRANCE SINCE THE FIRST EMPIRE. By

TAMES MACDONELL. Edited with Preface by his Wife. Crown
8vo. [Shortly.

Macarthur.— HISTORY OF SCOTLAND, By MARGARET

MACARTHUR. Being the Third Volume of the Historical Course

for Schools, Edited by EDWARD A. FREEMAN, D.C.L. Second

Edition. i8mo. 2s.

"It is an excellent summary, unimpeachable as to facts, and putting

them in tJie clearest and most impartial light attainable" — GUARDIAN.

" No previous History oj Scotland of the same bulk is anything liks so

trustworthy, or deserves to be so extensively used as a text-book" — GLOBE.

Macmillan (Rev. Hugh).— For other Works by same Author,

see THEOLOGICAL and SCIENTIFIC CATALOGUES.
HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS ; or, Rambles and Incidents in
search of Alpine Plants. Second Edition, revised and enlarged.
Globe 8vo. cloth. 6s.

"Botanical knowledge is blended with a loz>e of nature, a pious en-
thusiasm, and a rich felicity of diction not to be met with in any works
of kindred character, if we except those of Hugh Milltr" — TELEGRAPH.

Macready. — MACREADY'S REMINISCENCES AND SE-
LECTIONS FROM HIS DIARIES AND LETTERS. Edited
by Sir F. POLLOCK, Bart., one of his Executors. With Four
Portraits engraved by JEENS. New and Cheaper Edition. Crown
8vo. Is. 6d.

" As a careful and for the most part just estimate of the stage during
a very brilliant petiod, the attraction of these volumes can scarcely be
surpassed. .... Readers who have no special interest in theatrical
matters, but enjoy miscellaneous gossip, will be allured from page to page,
attracted by familiar names and by observations upon popular actors and
authors. "—SPECTATOR.

Mahaffy. — Works by the Rev. J. P. MAHAFFY, M.A., Fellow of

Trinity College, Dublin : —

SOCIAL LIFE IN GREECE FROM HOMER TO MENAN-
DER. Third Edition, revised and enlarged, with a new chapter
on Greek Art. Crown 8vo. 9*.

"// should be in the hands of all who desire thoroughly to understand
andjo enjoy Greek literature, and to get an intelligent idea of the old Greek
li fe, political, social, and religious " — GUARDIAN.

HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, TRAVELS, ETC. 19

Mahaffy.— continued.
RAMBLES AND STUDIES IN GREECE. With Illustrations.

Crown Svo. los. 6d. New and enlarged Edition, with Map and

Illustrations.
"A singularly instructive and agreeable volume.1" — ATHENAEUM.

" Maori." — SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRON-
TIER ; or, Twelve Years' Sporting Reminiscences of an Indigo
Planter. By "MAORI." With Illustrations. Svo. 14^.
"Every day's adventures, with all the joys and perils of the chase, are

told as only a keen and cunning sportsman can tell them." — STANDARD.

Margary.— THE JOURNEY OF AUGUSTUS RAYMOND
MARGARY FROM SHANGHAE TO BHAMO AND BAClv
TO MANWYNE. From his Journals and Letters, with a brief
Biographical Preface, a concluding chapter by Sir RUTHERFORD
ALCOCK, K.C.B., and a Steel Portrait engraved by JEENS, anH
Map. Svo. ioj. 6d.

11 There is a manliness, a cheerful spirit, an inherent vigour -which
was never overcome bv sickness or debility, a tact which conquered th-
prejudices of a strange and suspicious population, a quiet self-reliance,
always combined with deep religious feeling, unalloyed by either priggish-
ness, cant, or superstition, that ought to commend this volume to readers
sitting quietly at home who feel any pride in the high estimation accorded
to men of their race at Yarkand or at Khiva, in the heart of Africa, or
on the shores of iMke Seri-kul" — SATURDAY REVIEW.

Markham.— NORTHWARD HO! By Captain ALBERT H.
MARKHAM, R.N., Author of "The Great Frozen Sea," &c.
Including a Narrative of Captain Phipps's Expedition, by a Mid-
shipman. With Illustrations. Crown Svo. IOJ. 6d.
" Captain \Markhants interesting volume has the advantage of being

written by a man who is practically conversant with the subject"- — PALI.

MALL GAZETTE.

Martin.— THE HISTORY OF LLOYD'S, AND OF MARINE

INSURANCE IN GREAT BRITAIN. With an Appendix
containing Statistics relating to Marine Insurance. By FREDERICK
MARTIN, Author of "The Statesman's Year Book." Svo. 14*.

Martineau. — BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, 1852—1875.

By HARRIET MARTINEAU. With Additional Sketches, and Auto-
biographical Sketch. Fifth Edition. Crown Svo. 6s.

MaSSOn (David). — For other Works by same Author, jcv PHILO-
SOPHICAL and BELLES LETTRES CATALOGUES.

P 7

20 MACMILLAN'S CATALOGUE OF WORKS IN

MaSSOn (David). — continued.

CHATTERTON : A Story of the Year 1770. By DAVID MASSON,
LL.D., Professor of Rhetoric and English Literature in the Uni-
versity of Edinburgh. Crown 8vo. $s.

THE THREE DEVILS : Luther's, Goethe's, and Milton's ; and
other Essays. Crown 8vo. $s.

WORDSWORTH, SHELLEY, AND KEATS; and other
Essays. Crown 8vo. 5-r.

Mathews.— LIFE OF CHARLES j. MATHEWS, Chiefly

Autobiographical. With Selections from his Correspondence and

Speeches. Edited by CHARLES DICKENS.

" One of the pleasantest and most readable books of the season. From
first to last these two volumes are alive with the inimitable artist and
comedian. . . . The whole book is full of life, vigour, and wit, and ei'tn
through some of the gloomy episodes of volume two, will repay most careful
study. So complete, so varied a picture of a mans life is rarely to be met
with" — STANDARD.

Maurice. — THE FRIENDSHIP OF BOOKS; AND OTHER

LECTURES. By the REV. F. D. MAURICE. Edited with Pre-
face, by THOMAS HUGHES, Q.C. Crown 8vo. IDS. 6d.

Mayor (J. E. B.)— WORKS edited by JOHN E. B. MAYOR,
M.A., Kennedy Professor of Latin at Cambridge : —

CAMBRIDGE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. Part II
Autobiography of Matthew Robinson. Fcap. 8vo. $s. 6d.

LIFE OF BISHOP BEDELL. By his SON. Fcap. 8vo. 3-r. 6d.

Melbourne.— MEMOIRS OF THE RT. HON. WILLIAM,

SECOND VISCOUNT MELBOURNE. By W. M. TORRENS,
M.P. With Portrait after Sir. T. Lawrence. Second Edition.
2 Vols. 8vo. 32^.

" As might be expected, he has produced a book which will command
and reivard attention. It contains a great deal of valuable matter and
a great deal of animated, elegant writing." — QUARTERLY REVIEW.

Mendelssohn. — LETTERS AND RECOLLECTIONS. By

FERDINAND HILLER. Translated by M. E. VON GLEHN. With
Portrait from a Drawing by KARL MtiLLER, never before pub-
lished. Second Edition. Crown 8vo. "js. 6d.

" This is a very interesting addition to our knowledge of the great
German composer. It reveals him to us under a new light, as the warm-
hearted comrade, the musician whose soul was in his work, and the horns-
loving, domestic man." — STANDARD.

HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, TRAVELS, ETC. 21

Mere wether. —BY SEA AND BY LAND. Being a Trip
through Egypt, India, Ceylon, Australia, New Zealand, and
America — all Round the World. By HENRY ALWORTH MERE-
WETHER, one of Her Majesty's Counsel. Crown 8vo. 8j. 6d.

Michael Angelo Buonarotti ; Sculptor, Painter, Architect.

The Story of his Life and Labours. By C. C. BLACK, M.A.

Illustrated by 20 Permanent Photographs. Royal 8vo. cloth

elegant, 3U. 6d.

" The story of Michael Angelo s life remains interesting whatever be the
manner of telling it, and supported as it is by this beautiful series of photo-
graphs, the volume must take rank among the most spltndid of Christmas
books, fitted to serve and to outlive the season" — PALL MALL GAZETTE.

Michelet— A SUMMARY OF MODERN HISTORY. Trans-

lated from the French of M. MICHELET, and continued to the
present time by M. C. M. SIMPSON. Globe 8vo. 4*. 6at.

Milton. — LIFE OF JOHN MILTON. Narrated in connection
with the Political. Ecclesiastical, and Literary History of his Time.
By DAVID MASSON, M.A., LL.D., Professor of Rhetoric and
English Literature in the University of Edinburgh. With Portraits.
Vol. I. i.8f. Vol. II., 1638—1643. 8vo. i6s. Vol. III.
1643 — 1649. 8vo. i8j. Vols. IV. and V. 1649—1660. 32*.
Vol. VI. concluding the work in the press.

This -work is not only a Biography, but also a continuous Political, Eccle-
siastical, and Literary History of England through Miltoris whole time.

Mitford (A. B.)— TALES OF OLD JAPAN. By A. B.

MlTFORD, Second Secretary to the British Legation in Japan.
With upwards of 30 Illustrations, drawn and cut on Wood by
Japanese Artists. New and Cheaper Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s.
" These very original volumes will alwavs be interesting as memorials
of a most exceptional society, while regarded simply as tales, they are
sparkling, sensational, and dramatic :" — PALL MALL GAZETTE.

Monteiro. — ANGOLA AND THE RIVER CONGO. By

JOACHIM MONTEIRO. With numerous Illustrations from Sketches
taken on the spot, and a Map. Two Vols. crown 8vo, 2ls.

MoriSOn.— THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SAINT BERNARD,
Abbot of Clairvaux. By JAMES COTTER MORISON, M.A. New
Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s.

Moseley.— NOTES BY A NATURALIST ON THE CHAL-
LENGER : being an Account of various Observations made
during the Voyage of H.M.S. Challenger, Round the World,

22 MACMILLAN^S CATALOGUE OF WORKS IN

in 1872-76. By II. N. MOSELEY, F.R.S., Member of the
Scientific Staff of the Challenger. 8vo. with Maps, Coloured Plates,
and Woodcuts. 2is.

" This is certainly the most interesting and suggestive book, descriptive
of a naturalist's travels, which has been published since Mr. Darwin's
"• Journal of Researches ' appeared, more than forty years ago" — NATURE.
' ' We cannot point to any book of travels in our day more vivid in its
poivtrs of description, more varied in its subject matter, or more attractive
10 ivery educated reader " — SATURDAY REVIEW.

Murray — ROUND ABOUT FRANCE. By E. C. GRENVILLE

MURRAY. Crown 8vo. TS. 6d.

" These short essays are a perfect mine of information as to the present
condition and future prospects of political parties in France. . . . It is
at once extremely interesting and exceptionally instructive on a subject on
which few English people are well informed" — SCOTSMAN.

Napier. — MACVEY NAPIER'S SELECTED CORRE-
SPONDENCE. Edited by his Son, MACVEY NAPIER. 8vo. 14*.
The TIMES says : — ''It is replete with useful material for the bio-
graphers of many distinguished writers of the generation which is passing
away. Since reading it we understand several noteworthy men, and
Brougham in particular, far better than we did before. " " It would be
useless to attempt within our present limits to give any adequate idea of the
abundance of 'interesting passages which meet us in the lettei-s of Macaulay,
Brougham, Carlyle, Jeffrey, Senior, and many other well-known writers.
Especially piquant are Jeffrey's periodical criticisms on the contents oj
the Revieiv which he had formerly edited" — PALL MALL GAZETTE.

Napoleon.— THE HISTORY OF NAPOLEON i. By p.

LANFREY. A Translation with the sanction of the Author.

4 vols. 8vo. Vols. I. II. and III. price 12s. each. Vol. IV.

6s.

The PALL MALL GAZETTE says it is "one of the most striking
pieces of historical composition of which France has to boast," and the
SATURDAY REVIEW calls it "an excellent translation of a work on every
ground deserving to be translated. It is unquestionably and immeasurably
the best that has been produced. It is in fact the only work to which we
can turn for an accurate and trustworthy narrative of that extraordinary
career. . . . The book is the best and indeed the only triistworthy history
of Napoleon which has been written."

Nichol. — TABLES OF EUROPEAN LITERATURE AND
HISTORY, A.D. 200—1876. ByJ. NICHOL, LL.D., Professor
of English Language and Literature, Glasgow. 410. 6s. 6d.
TABLES OF ANCIENT LITERATURE AND HISTORY,
B.C. 1500— A. D. 200. By the same Author. 4to. 4.?. 6d.

HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, TRAVELS, ETC. 23
Nordenskidld's Arctic Voyages, 1858-79. — with

Maps and numerous Illustrations. 8vo. i6s.
" A volume of great interest and mi4ch scientific vahie." — NATURE.

Oliphant (Mrs.).— THE MAKERS OF FLORENCE : Dante
Giotto, Savonarola, and their City. By Mrs. OLIPHANT. "With
numerous Illustrations from drawings by Professor DELAMOTTE,
and portrait of Savonarola, engraved by JEENS. Second Edition.
Medium 8vo. Cloth extra. 2is.
" We are grateful to Mrs. Oliphant for her eloquent and beautiful

sketches of Dante, Fra Angelico, and Savonarola. They are picturesque,

full of life, and rich in detail, and they are charmingly illustrated by the

art of the engraver." — SPECTATOR.

Oliphant. — THE DUKE AND THE SCHOLAR; and other

Essays. By T. L. KINGTON OLIPHANT. 8vo. 7-r. 6d.
' ' This volume contains one of the most beautiful biographical essays we
have seen since Macaulay's days." — STANDARD.

Otte.— SCANDINAVIAN HISTORY. By E. C. OTTE. With
Maps. Extra fcap. 8vo. 6s.

Owens College Essays and Addresses. — By PRO-

FESSORS AND LECTURERS OF OWENS COLLEGE, MANCHESTER.
Published in Commemoration of the Opening of the New College
Buildings, October 7th, 1873. 8vo. I4J-

Palgrave (R. F. D.)— THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ;

Illustrations of its History and Practice. By REGINALD F. D.
PALGRAVE, Clerk Assistant of the House of Commons. New
and Revised Edition. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d.

Palgrave (Sir F.)— HISTORY OF NORMANDY AND
OF ENGLAND. By Sir FRANCIS PALGRAVE, Deputy Keeper
of Her Majesty's Public Records. Completing the History to the
Death of William Rufus. 4 Vols. Svo. 4/. 4*.

Palgrave (W. G.) — A NARRATIVE OF A YEAR'S

JOURNEY THROUGH CENTRAL AND EASTERN
ARABIA, 1862-3. By WILLIAM GIFFORD PALGRAVE, late of
the Eighth Regiment Bombay N. I. Sixth Edition. With Maps,
Plans, and Portrak of Author, engraved on steel by Jeens. Crown
Svo. ,6s.

" He has not only -written one of the best books on the Arabs and ont
of the best books on Arabia, but he has done so in a manner that must
command the respect no less than the admiration of his fellow-country-
men. " — FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW.

24 MACMILLAN'S CATALOGUE OF WORKS IN

Palgra ve . — continued.

ESSAYS ON EASTERN QUESTIONS. By W. GIFFORD
PALGRAVE. 8vo. los. 6d.

" These essays are full of anecdote and interest. The book is decidedly
a valuable addition to the stock of literature on which men must
base their opinion of the difficult social and political problems sug-
gested by the designs of Rzissia, the capacity of Mahometans Jor
sovereignty, and the good government and retention of India.1' —
SATURI AV REVIEW.

DUTCH GUIANA. With Maps and Plans. 8vo. gs.

"His pages are nearly exhaustive as far as facts and statistics go,
while they are lightened by graphic social sketches as well as sparkling
descriptions of scenery."— SATURDAY REVIEW.

Patteson. — LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN COLERIDGE

PATTESON, D.D., Missionary Bishop of the Melanesian Islands.

By CHARLOTTE M. YONGE, Author of " The Heir of RedclyfFe."

With Portraits after RICHMOND and from Photograph, engraved by

JEENS. With Map. Fifth Edition. Two Vols. Crown 8vo. 125.

" Miss Yonge's work is in one respect a model biography. It is made

up almost entirely of Patteson's own letters. Aware that he had left his

home once and for all, his correspondence took the form of a diary, and

as we read on we come to know the man, and to love him almost as if we

had seen him." — ATHENAEUM. "Such a life, with its grand lessons oj

unselfishness, is a blessing and an honour to the age in which it is lived ;

the biography cannot be studied without pleasure and profit, and indeed

we should think little of the man who did not rise from the study of it

better and wiser. Neither the Church nor the nation which produces

such sons need ever despair of its future." — SATURDAY REVIEW.

Pauli. — PICTURES OF OLD ENGLAND. By Dr. REINHOLD
PAULI. Translated, with the approval of the Author, by E. C.
OTTE. Cheaper Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s.

Payne. — A HISTORY OF EUROPEAN COLONIES. By

E. J. PAYNE, M.A. With Maps. i8mo. 4^. 6d.
The TIMES says : — ' ' We have seldom met with a historian capable oj
forming a more comprehensive, far-seeing, and unprejudiced estimate oj
events and peoples, and we can commend this little work as one certain to
prove of the highest interest to all thoughtful readers."

Persia. — EASTERN PERSIA. An Account of the Journeys of
the Persian Boundary Commission, 1870-1-2. — Vol. I. The Geo-
graphy, with Narratives by Majors ST. JOHN, LOVETT, and EUAN
SMITH, and an Introduction by Major-General Sir FREDERIC
GOLDSMID, C.B., K. C.S.I., British Commissioner and Arbitrator.

HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, TRAVELS, ETC. 25

With Maps and Illustrations. — Vol. II. The Zoology and Geology.
By W. T. BLANFORD, A.R.S.M., F.R.S. With Coloured Illus-
trations. Two Vols. 8vo. 42^.
" The volumes largely increase our store of informal ion about

countries with which Englishmen ought to be familiar

They throw into the shade all that hitherto has appeared in our tongue
respecting the local features of Persia, its scenery, its resources, even its
social condition. Thev contain also abundant evidence of English
endurance, daring, and spirit." — TIMES.

Prichard.— THE ADMINISTRATION OF INDIA. From
1859 to 1868. The First Ten Years of Administration under the
Crown. By T. T. PRICHARD, Barrister-at-Law. Two Vols.
Demy 8vo. With Map. 2ls.

Raphael. — RAPHAEL OF URBINO AND HIS FATHER

GIOVANNI SANTI. By J. D. PASSAVANT, formerly Director
of the Museum at Frankfort. With Twenty Permanent Photo-
graphs. Royal Svo. Handsomely bound. 31*. 6d.
The SATURDAY REVIEW says of them, " We have seen not a few

elegant specimens of Mr. Woodbury's new process, but we have seen

none that equal these."

Reynolds.— SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS AS A PORTRAIT
PAINTER. AN ESSAY. By J. CHURTON COLLINS, B.A.
Balliol College, Oxford. Illustrated by a Series of Portraits of
distinguished Beauties of the Court of George III. ; reproduced
in Autotype from Proof Impressions of the celebrated Engravings,
by VALENTINE GREEN, THOMAS WATSON, F. R. SMITH, E.
FISHER, and others. Folio half-morocco. ^5 $s.

Rogers (James E. Thorold). — HISTORICAL GLEAN-
INGS : A Series of Sketches. Montague, Walpole, Adam Smith,
Cobbett. By Prof. ROGERS. Crown Svo. 4^. 6d. Second Series.
Wiklif, Laud, Wilkes, and Home Tooke. Crown Svo. 6s.

Routledge. — CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF POPULAR

PROGRESS IN ENGLAND, chiefly in Relation to the Freedom
of the Press and Trial by Jury, 1660 — 1820. With application to
later years. By J. ROUTLEDGE. Svo. i6s.

" The volume abounds in facts and information, almost always useful
and often curious." — TIMES.

Rumford. — COUNT RUMFORD'S COMPLETE WORKS,

with Memoir, and Notices of his Daughter. By GEORGE ELLIS.
Five Vols. Svo. 4/. 14^. 6i/.

26 MACMILLAWS CATALOGUE OF WORKS IN
Seeley (Professor). — LECTURES AND ESSAYS. By

J. R. SEELEY, M.A. Professor of Modern History in the
University of Cambridge. Svo. icxr. 6d.

CONTENTS: — Roman Imperialism: I. The Great Roman Revolu-
tion; 2. The Proximate Cause of the Fall of the Roman Empire ;
The Later Empire. — Milton's Political Opinions — Milton's Poetry
— Elementary Principles in Art — Liberal Education in Universities
— English in Schools — The Church as a Teacher of Morality — The
Teaching of Politics : an Inaugural Lecture delivered at Cambridge.

Shelburne.— LIFE OF WILLIAM, EARL OF SHELBURNE,

AFTERWARDS FIRST MARQUIS OF LANSDOWNE.

With Extracts from his Papers and Correspondence. By Lord

EDMOND FITZMAURICE. In Three Vols. Svo. Vol. I. 1737 —

1766, 12s. ; Vol. ill. 1766—1776, I2s. ; Vol. III. 1776 — 1805. i6s.

"Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice has succeeded in placing before us a

wealth of new matter, which, while casting valuable and much-needed

light on several obscure passages in the political history of a hundred

years ago, has enabled us for the first time to form a clear and consistent

idea of his ancestor." — SPECTATOR.

Sime. — HISTORY OF GERMANY. By JAMES SIME, M.A.

i8mo. 3J-. Being Vol. V. of the Historical Course for Schools:

Edited by EDWARD A. FREEMAN, D.C.L.

" This is a remarkably clear and impressive History of Germany.'1'' —
STANDARD.

Squier. — PERU: INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL AND EX-

PLORATION IN THE LAND OF THE INCAS. By E. G.

SQUIER, M.A., F.S.A., late U.S. Commissioner to Peru. With

300 Illustrations. Second Edition. Svo. 2is.

The TIMES says : — " No more solid and trustworthy contribution haa

been made to an accurate knoivledge of what are among the most wonderful

ruins in the world. The work is really what its title implies. While of

the greatest importance as a contribution to Pet uvian archaeology, it is also a

thoroughly entertaining and instructive narrative of travel. Not the least

important feature mustbeconsideredthenumerous well executed illustrations ."

Strangford. — EGYPTIAN SHRINES AND SYRIAN SEPUL-
CHRES, including a Visit to Palmyra. By EMILY A. BEAUFORT
(Viscountess Strangford), Author of "The Eastern Shores of
the Adriatic." New Edition. Crown Svo. 7*. 6d.

Tait.— AN ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH HISTORY, based upon
Green's " Short History of the English People." By C. W. A.
TAIT, M.A., Assistant Master, Clifton College. Crown Svo.
3^. 6d.

'HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, TRAVELS, ETC. 27

Tait. — CATHARINE AND CRAUFURD TAIT, WIFE AND
SON OF ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL, ARCHBISHOP OF
CANTERBURY : a Memoir, Edited, at the request of the Arch-
bishop, by the Rev. W. BENHAM, B.D., Vicar of Margate, and
One of the Six Preachers of Canterbury Cathedral. With Two
Portraits engraved by JEENS. Crown 8vo. I2s. 6d.
" The volume can scarcely fail to be read widely and with deep interest.
. . . It is difficult to put it down when once taken in hand, still more
difficult to get through it without emotion. . . . We commend the volume
to those who knew Catharine and Craufurd Tait as one which will bring
back to their minds recollections of thiir characters as true as the recollec-
tions of the faces brought back by the two excellent portraits which adorn
the book ; -while to those who kneiv them not, we commend it as containing
the record of two noble Christian lives, which it will be a pleasure to
them to contemplate and an advantage to emulate." — TIMES.

Thomas.— THE LIFE OF JOHN THOMAS, Surgeon of the
"Earl of Oxford" East Indiaman, and First Baptist Missionary to
Bengal. By C. B. LEWIS, Baptist Missionary. 8vo. IQJ. 6d.

Thompson.— HISTORY OF ENGLAND. By EDITH THOMP-
SON. Being Vol. II. of the Historical Course for Schools, Edited
by EDWARD A. FREEMAN, D.C.L. New Edition, revised and
enlarged, with Maps. i8mo. 2s. 6d.

" Freedom from prejudice, simplicity of style, and accuracy of state-
ment, are the characteristics of this volume. It is a tntstworthy text-book,
and likely to be generally serviceable in schools."— PALL MALL GAZETTE.
" In its great accuracy and correctness of detail it stands far ahead of the
general run of school manuals. Its arrangement, too, is clear, and its
style simple and straightforward." — SATURDAY REVIEW.

Todhunter.— THE CONFLICT OF STUDIES ; AND
OTHER ESSAYS ON SUBJECTS CONNECTED WITH
EDUCATION. By ISAAC TODHUNTER, M.A., F.R.S., late
Fellow and Principal Mathematical Lecturer 01 St. John's College,
Cambridge. 8vo. IDJ. 6d.

Trench (Archbishop). — For other Works by the same Author,

see THEOLOGICAL and BELLES LETTRES CATALOGUES, and

page 30 of this Catalogue.
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS IN GERMANY, and other Lectures

on the Thirty Years' War. Second Edition, revised and enlarged.

Fcap. 8vo. 4J."
PLUTARCH, HIS LIFE, HIS LIVES, AND HIS MORALS.

Five Lectures. Second Edition, enlarged. Fcap. 8vo. $s. 6J.
LECTURES ON MEDIEVAL CHURCH HISTORY. Being

the substance of Lectures delivered in Queen's College, London.

Second Edition, revised. 8vo. I2J.

28 MACMILLAN'S CATALOGUE OF WORKS IN

Trench (Maria). — THE LIFE OF ST. TERESA. By MARIA
TRENCH. With Portrait engraved by JEENS. Crown 8vo, cloth
extra. &s. 6d.
"A book of rare interest.''1 — JOHN BULL.

Trench (Mrs. R.)— REMAINS OF THE LATE MRS.
RICHARD TRENCH. Being Selections from her Journals,
Letters, and other Papers. Edited by ARCHBISHOP TRENCH.
New and Cheaper Issue, with Portrait. 8vo. 6s.

Trollope.— A HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF
FLORENCE FROM THE EARLIEST INDEPENDENCE
OF THE COMMUNE TO THE FALL OF THE REPUBLIC
IN 1831. By T. ADOLPHUS TROLLOPE. 4 Vols. 8vo. Half
morocco, zis.

Uppingham by the Sea.— A NARRATIVE OF THE

YEAR AT BORTH. By J. H. S. Crown 8vo. 3*. 6d.

Victor Emmanuel II., First King of Italy.— HIS

LIFE. By G. S. GODKIN. 2 vols., crown 8vo. \6s.
"An extremely clear and interesting history of one of the most
important changes of later times." — EXAMINER.

Wallace.— THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO: the Land of the

Orang Utan and the Bird of Paradise. By ALFRED RUSSEL
WALLACE. A Narrative of Travel with Studies of Man and
Nature. With Maps and numerous Illustrations. Sixth Edition.
Crown 8vo. 7$. 6d.

" The result is a vivid picture of tropical life, which may be read with
unflagging interest, and a sufficient account of his scientific conclusions to
stimulate our appetite without wearying us by detail. In short, we may
safely say that we have never read a more agreeable book of its kind." —
SATURDAY REVIEW.

Ward.— A HISTORY OF ENGLISH DRAMATIC LITERA-
TURE TO THE DEATH OF QUEEN ANNE. By A. W.
WARD, M.A., Professor of History and English Literature in
Owens College, Manchester. Two Vols. 8vo. 32*.
" As full of interest as of information. To students of dramatic

literature invaluable, and may be equally recommended to readers for

mere pastime" — PALL MALL GAZETTE.

Ward (J.)— EXPERIENCES OF A DIPLOMATIST. Being
recollections of Germany founded on Diaries kept during the years
1840—1870. By JOHN WARD, C.B., late H.M. Minister-
Resident to the Hanse Towns. 8vo. iar. 6d.

HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, TRAVELS, ETC. 29

Waterton (C.)— WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA,
THE NORTH-WEST OF THE UNITED STATES, AND
THE ANTILLES IN 1812, 1816, 1820, and 1824. With
Original Instructions for the perfect Preservation of Birds, etc.,
for Cabinets of Natural History. By CHARLES WATERTON.
New Edition, edited with Biographical Introduction and Explana-
tory Index by the Rev. J. G. WOOD, M.A. With 100 Illustrations.
Cheaper Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s.

Wedgwood. — JOHN WESLEY AND THE EVANGELICAL

REACTION of the Eighteenth Century. By JULIA WEDGWOOD.
Crown 8vo. Ss. 6d.

Whe well.— WILLIAM WHEWELL, D.D., late Master of
Trinity College, Cambridge. An Account of his Writings, with
Selections from his Literary and Scientific Correspondence. By
I. TODHUNTER, M.A., F.R.S. Two Vols. 8vo. 2$s.

White.— -THE NATURAL HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES
OF SELBORNE. By GILBERT WHITE. Edited, with Memoir
and Notes, by FRANK BUCKLAND, A Chapter on Antiquities by
LORD SELBORNE, Map, &c., and numerous Illustrations by
P. H. DELAMOTTE. Royal 8vo. Cloth, extra gilt. Cheaper
Issue. 2is.

Also a Large Paper Edition, containing, in addition to the above,

upwards of Thirty Woodburytype Illustrations from Drawings

by Prof. DELAMOTTE. Two Vols. 410. Half morocco, elegant.

4/. 4J-.

"Mr. DelamottJs charming illustrations are a worthy decoration of so

dainty a book. They bring Selborne before us, and really help us to

understand why White's love for his native place n^ver grew cold" —

TIMES.

Wilson.— A MEMOIR OF GEORGE WILSON, M. D.,
F.R.S.E., Regius Professor of Technology in the University of
Edinburgh. By his SISTER. New Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s.

Wilson (Daniel, LL.D.) — Works by DANIEL WILSON,
LL.D., Professor of History and English Literature in University
College, Toronto : —
PREHISTORIC ANNALS OF SCOTLAND. New Edition,

with numerous Illustrations. Two Vols. demy 8vo. $6s.
" One of the most interesting, learned, and elegant works we have
seen for a long time."— WESTMINSTER REVIEW.

PREHISTORIC MAN : Researches into the Origin of Civilization
in the Old and New World. New Edition, revised and enlarged
throughout, with numerous Illustrations and two Coloured Platen
Two Vols. 8vo. 36.'.

30 MACMILLAWS CATALOGUE OF

Wilson. — continued.

tfA valuable work pleasantly "written and well worthy of attention
both by students and general readers.'''' — ACADEMY.

CHATTERTON : A Biographical Study. By DANIEL WILSON,
LL.D., Professor of History and English Literature in University
College, Toronto. Crown 8vo. 6s. 6d.

Yonge (Charlotte M.)— Works by CHARLOTTE M. YONGE,

Author of "The Heir of Redclyffe," &c., &c. :—
A PARALLEL HISTORY OF FRANCE AND ENGLAND :

consisting of Outlines and Dates. Oblong 4to. 3-r. 6d.

CAMEOS FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. From Rollo to Edward
II. Extra fcap. 8vo. Third Edition. 5^.

SECOND SERIES, THE WARS IN FRANCE. Extra fcap.
8vo. Third Edition. 5-r.

THIRD SERIES, THE WARS OF THE ROSES. Extra
fcap. 8vo. 5-r.

"Instead of dry details," says the NONCONFORMIST, " we have living
pictures > faithful, livid, and striking."

FOURTH SERIES. Reformation Times. Extra fcap. Svo. $s.

HISTORY OF FRANCE. Maps. i8mo. 3*. 6<t.

[Historic* I Course for Schools.

WORKS IN POLITICS, ETC. 31

POLITICS, POLITICAL, AND SOCIAL
ECONOMY, LAW, AND KINDRED
SUBJECTS.

Anglo-Saxon Law. — ESSAYS IN. Contents : Law Courts
— Land and Family Laws and Legal Procedure generally. With
Select cases. Medium 8vo. iSs.

Arnold. — THE ROMAN SYSTEM OF PROVINCIAL ADMIN-
ISTRATION TO THE ACCESSION OF CONSTANTINE
THE GREAT. Being the Arnold Prize Essay for 1879. By
W. T. Arnold, B.A. Crown 8vo. 6s.

Ball.— THE STUDENT'S GUIDE TO THE BAR. By
WALTER W. BALL, M.A., of the Inner Temple, Barrister-at-
Law. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d.
'* The student will here find a clear statement of the several steps by

which the degree of barrister is obtained, and also useful advice about

the advantages of a prolonged course of ' reading in Chambers. ' "•> —

ACADEMY.

Bernard. — FOUR LECTURES ON SUBJECTS CONNECTED

WITH DIPLOMACY. BY MONTAGUE BERNARD, M.A.,
Chichele Professor of International Law and Diplomacy, Oxford.
8vo. gs.

" Singularly interesting lectures, so able, clear, and attractive" — SPEC-
TATOR.

Bright (John, M.P.)— Works by the Right Hon. JOHN BRIGHT,
M.P.

SPEECHES ON QUESTIONS OF PUBLIC POLICY.
Edited by Professor THOROLD ROGERS. Author's Popular Edition.
Globe 8vo. 3*. &/.

"Mr. Brighfs speeches will always deserve to b* studied, as an,
apprenticeship to popular and parliamentarv oratory ; they will form
materials for the history of our time, and many brilliant passages,
perhaps some entire speeches, will really become a part of the living lit era-
ture of England " — DAILY NEWS.

LIBRARY EDITION. Two Vols. 8vo. With Portrait 2$s.

PUBLIC ADDRESSES. Edited by J. THOROLD ROGERS. Svo.
I4J.

32 MACMILLAWS CATALOGUE OF

Bucknill.— HABITUAL DRUNKENNESS AND INSANE
DRUNKARDS. By J. C. BUCKNILL, M.D., F.R.S., late
Lord Chancellor's Visitor of Lunatics. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d.

Cairnes. — Works by J. E. CAIRNES, M.A., Emeritus Professor of

Political Economy in University College, London.
ESSAYS IN POLITICAL ECONOMY, THEORETICAL
and APPLIED. By J. E. CAIRNES, M.A., Professor of Political •
Economy in University College, London. 8vo. IGJ. 6d.
POLITICAL ESSAYS. 8vo. icw. 6d.
SOME LEADING PRINCIPLES OF POLITICAL ECONOMY

NEWLY EXPOUNDED. 8vo. 14*.

CONTENTS : — Part I. Value. Part II. Labour and Capital. Part
IIL International Trade.

"A work which is perhaps the most valuable contribution to the science
made since the publication, a quarter of a century since, of Mr. Mill's
' Principles of Political Economy? " — DAILY NEWS.
THE CHARACTER AND LOGICAL METHOD OF POLL

TICAL ECONOMY. New Edition, enlarged. 8vo. fs. 6d,
" These lectures are admirably fitted to correct the slipshod generaliza-
tions which pass current as the science of Political Economy? — TIMES.

Cobden (Richard). — SPEECHES ON QUESTIONS OF

PUBLIC POLICY. By RICHARD COBDEN. Edited by the
Right Hon. John Bright, M.P., and J. E. Thorold Rogers.
Popular Edition. 8vo. 3^. 6d.

Fawcett. — Works by HENRY FAWCETT, M.A., M.P., Fellow of

Trinity Hall, and Professor of Political Economy in the University

of Cambridge : —
THE ECONOMIC POSITION OF THE BRITISH

LABOURER. Extra fcap. 8vo. 5-y.
MANUAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY. Fifth Edition, with

New Chapters on the Depreciation of Silver, etc. Crown 8vo.

I2S.

The DAILY NEWS says: " It forms one of the best introductions to the
principles of the science, and to its practical applications in the problems
of modern, and especially of English, government and society."

PAUPERISM : ITS CAUSES AND REMEDIES. Crown 8vo.
5J. 6J.

The ATHENAEUM calls the work "a repertory of interesting and wttt
digested information"

SPEECHES ON SOME CURRENT POLITICAL QUES-
TIONS. 8vo. lay. 6d.

" They will help to educate, not pd'haps, parties, but the educators of
parties." — DAILY NEWS.

WORKS IN POLITICS, ETC. 33

FawCCtt. — continued.

FREE TRADE AND PROTECTION: an Inquiry into the
Causes which have retarded the general adoption of Free Trade
since its introduction into England. Third Edition. 8vo. >js. 6d.
" No greater service can be rendered to the cause of Free Trade than a
dear explanation of the principles on which Free Trade rests. Pro-
fessor Fawcett has done this in the volume before us -with all his habitual
clearness of thought and expression" — ECONOMIST.

ESSAYS ON POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SUBJECTS. By
PROFESSOR FAWCETT, M.P., and MILLICENT GARRET.T
FAWCETT. 8vo. IQJ. 6d.

" They will all repay the perusal of the thinking reader" — DAILY
NEWS.

Fawcett (Mrs.) — Works by MILLICENT GARRETT FAWCETT.

POLITICAL ECONOMY FOR BEGINNERS. WITH QUES-
TIONS. New Edition. i8mo. 2s. 6d.

TTie DAILY NEWS calls it "clear, compact, and comprehensive;" and
the SPECTATOR says, "Mrs. Fawcetfs treatise is perfectly suited to its
purpose"

TALES IN POLITICAL ECONOMY. Crown 8vo. 3*.

" The idea is a good one, and it is quite wonderful what a mass of
economic teaching the author manages to compress into a small space. . . The
true doctrines of International Trade, Currency ', and the ratio between
Production and Population, are set before us and illustrated in a masterly
manner" — ATHENAEUM.

Freeman (E. A.), M.A., D.C.L.— COMPARATIVE

POLITICS. Lectures at the Royal Institution, to which is
added " The Unity of History," being the Rede Lecture delivered
at Cambridge in 1872. 8vo. l\s.

" We find in Mr. Freeman's, new volume the same sound, careful,
comprehensive qualities which have long ago raised him to so high a place
amongst historical writers. For historical discipline, then, as well as
historical information, Mr. Freeman's book is full of value." — PALL
MALL GAZETTE.

Goschen. — REPORTS AND SPEECHES ON LOCAL TAXA-
TION. By GEORGE J. GOSCHEN, M.P. Royal 8vo. 5*.
" The volume contains a vast mass of information of the highest value."
— ATHEN^UM.

Guide tO the Unprotected, in Every Day Matters Re-
lating to Property and Income. By a BANKER'S DAUGHTER.
Fourth Edition, Revised. Extra fcap. 8vo. 3*. &/.
c

34 MACMILLAN'S CATALOGUE OF

11 Many an unprotected female will bless the head -which planned and
the hand which compiled this admirable little manual. . . . This book
was veiy much wanted, and it could not have been bctttr done" —
MORNING STAR.

Hamilton.— MONEY AND VALUE: an Inquiry into the

Means and Ends of Economic Production, with an Appendix'

on the Depreciation of Silver and Indian Currency. By ROWLAND'

HAMILTON. 8vo. I2T.

" The subject is here dealt with in a luminous' style, and by presenting

it from a new point of view in connection -with the nature, and junctions

of money, a genuine, service has been rendered to commercial science" —

BRITISH QUARTERLY REVIEW.

Harwood. — DISESTABLISHMENT : a Defence of the Principle
of a National Church* By GEORGE HARWOOD, M. A. Svo. 12s.

Hill. — OUR COMMON LAND : and other Short Essays. By

OCTAVIA HILL. Extra fcap. 8vo. $s. 6d. -

CONTENTS : — Our Common Land. District Visiting. A More
Excellent Way of Charity. A 'Word on Good Citizenship. Open Spaces.
Effectual Charity. The Future of our Commons.

Historicus.— LETTERS ON SOME QUESTIONS OF
INTERNATIONAL LAW. Reprinted from the Times, with
considerable Additions. Svo. Js. ' 6d. Also, ADDITIONAL
LETTERS. Svo. 2s. 6<1. ' \a vxs> ^U^-.W^'A,- .

Holland.— THE TREATY RELATIONS 'OF RUSSIA AND

, TURKEY FROM 1774 TO 1853. A Lecture delivered at Oxford,
April 1877. By T. E. HOLLAND, D.C.L., Professor of Inter-
national Law and Diplomacy, Oxford. Crown Svo. 2s.

Hughes (Thos.)— THE OLD CHURCH: WHAT SHALL
WE DO WITH IT? By THOMAS HUGHES, Q.C. Crown

r> /-

Svo. 6s.

<wi,\ •> \<v\ .v\v*r\vj*

Jevons. — Works by W. STANLEY JEVONS, M.A., Professor of
Political Economy in University College, London. (For other
Works by the same Author, see EDUCATIONAL and PHILO-
SOPHICAL CATALOGUES.)

THE THEORY OF POLITICAL ECONOMY, Second Edition,

revised, with new Preface and Appendices. Svo. lOs. 6J.

* ''Professor Jeiions has done invaluable service by courageously claiming

political economy to be strictly a branch of Applied Mathematics."

—WESTMINSTER REVIEW.

PRIMER OF POLITICAL ECONOMY. iSmo. 'is.

WORKS IN POLITICS, ETC 35

Laveleye. — PRIMITIVE PROPERTY. By EMILE DE

LAVELEYE. Translated by G. R. I.. MARRIOTT, LL. B., with an
Introduction by T. E. CL-IFFE LESLIE, LL.B. 8vo. I2r.
" If is almost impossible to over-estimate the value of ihe well-digfsted
knowledge which it contains ; it is one of the most learned books that
have be;n contributed to the historical department of the literature of
economic science." — ATHENAEUM.

Leading Cases done into English. By an APPRENTICE

OF LINCOLN'S INN. Third Edition. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d.
• " Here is a rare treat for the lovers of quaint conceits •, who in reading
this charming little book will find enjoyment in the varied -metre and
graphic language in which, the several tales are told, no less than in the
accurate and pithy rendering of some of our most familiar ' Leading
Cases' " — SATURDAY REVIEW.

Lubbock.— ADDRESSES, POLITICAL AND EDUCA-
TIONAL. Bv Sir JOHN LUBBOCK, Bart., M.P., &c., &c.
8vo, pp. 209. "8... 6d.

The ten speeches given are (i) on the Imperial Policy of Great
Britain, (2) on the Tank Act of 1844, (3) on tne Present System
of Public School Education, 1876, (4) en the Pre.-ent System of
Elementary Education, (5) on the Income Tax, (6) on the National
Debt, (7) on the Declaration of Paris, (8) on Marine Insurances,
(9) on the Preservation of Ancient Monuuients, and (10) on Egypt.

Macdonell.— THE LAND QUESTION, WITH SPECIAL
REFERENCE TO ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND. By
JOHN MACDONELL, Bamsj.er-at-Law. Svo. los. bd.

Marshall. — THE ECONOMICS OF INDUSTRY. By A.

MARSHALL," M.A., Principal of University College, Bristol, and
MARY PALEY MARSHALL, late Lecturer at Newnham Hall,
Cambridge. Extra fcap. Svo. 2s. 6d.

Martin. — THE STATESMAN'S YEAR-BOOK: A statistics!

and Historical Annual of the States of the Civilized World,
for the year 1880. By FREDERICK MARTIN. Seventeenth Annual
Publication. Revised after Official Returns. Crown Svo. lor. 6J.
The Statesman's Year-Book is the only-work in the English language
which furnishes a dear and concise account of the actual condition of all
the States of Europe, the civilized countries of America, Asia, and
Africa, and the British Colonies and Dependencies in all parts of the
world. The new issue of. the work has been revised and corrected, on tht
basis of official reports received direct from the heads of the leading Govern-
ments of the world, in reply to letters sent to them by the Editor. Through
the valuable assistance thus given, it has been possible to cotlect an amount

36 MACMILLAWS CATALOGUE OF

of information, political, statistical, and commercial, of the latest date, and
of unimpeachable trustworthiness, such as no publication of the same
kind has ever been able to furnish. "As indispensable as Bradshaw" —
TIMES.

Monahan.— THE METHOD OF LAW: an Essay on the
Statement and Arrangement of the Legal Standard of Conduct.
By J. H. MONAHAN, Q. C. Crown 8vo. 6s.
" Will be found valuable by careful law students who have felt the

importance of gaining clear ideas regarding the relations between the parts

of the complex organism they have to study" — BRITISH QUARTERLY

REVIEW.

Paterson. — THE LIBERTY OF THE SUBJECT AND THE

LAWS OF ENGLAND RELATING TO THE SECURITY

OF THE PERSON. Commentaries on. By JAMES PATERSON,

M. A. , Barrister at Law, sometime Commissioner for English and

Irish Fisheries, etc. Cheaper issue. Two Vols. Crown 8vo. 21s.

" Two or three hours' dipping into these volumes, not to say reading them

through, will give legislators and stump orators a knowledge of the liberty

of a citizen of their country, in its principles, its fulness, and its modi'

ftcation, such as they probably in nine cases out of ten never had before"

—SCOTSMAN.

Phillimore. — PRIVATE LAW AMONG THE ROMANS,
from the Pandects. By JOHN GEORGE PHILLIMORE, Q.C. 8vo.
i6s.

Rogers.— COBDEN AND POLITICAL OPINION. ByJ. E.

THOROLD ROGERS. 8vo. IDJ. 6d.

" Will be found most usefal by politicians of every school, as it forms a
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Stephen (C. E.)— THE SERVICE OF THE POOR;

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WORKS ON LANGUAGE. 39

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STEPHEN.

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MORISON.

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SYMONDS.

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ENGLISH MEN OF LETTERS.— BURNS. By Principal
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the genius of Scotland's greatest poet." — Spectator.

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Rev. the DEAN OF ST. PAUL'S.

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