It has been said that the well-conducted tenant has no security of
tenure, and consequently that he will not labour, when he is not
guaranteed the just remuneration for his toils. Now, it is a curious
circumstance, and ought to show the groundlessness of their complaints
on this head, that at the great popular demonstrations of Holy Cross,
Cashell, Kilmakthomas, or Wexford, not one single case was brought
forward where tenants have been deprived of their land, or despoiled
of the value of their improvements, so long as they honestly met their
engagements. There was abundance of declamation. "The tenant _might_
be turned adrift after improving the condition of his land," but there
was not a single fact adduced to show that he had been so treated. We
have gone fully into this question, for the purpose of disabusing the
minds of the ministry, and of showing them, that if they hope, by the
concession of a landlord-and-tenant bill, (founded on the demands of
its parliamentary advocates), to effect a change for the better in the
conduct and condition of the Irish people, they will find themselves
grievously disappointed. Every step which the present government have
taken to meet the wishes of the popular party in Ireland, has but led
them still deeper into the mire of social disorder. They repealed the
Arms Act, and by that most reprehensible proceeding, mainly produced
the state of anarchy and confusion which now exists; and within one
short year they are themselves compelled to pronounce condemnation
on their own imprudence. They most recklessly squandered the public
money on useless or mischievous works, sooner than expend it on the
improvement of the land, lest by benefiting the Irish proprietor they
should displease their patrons, the priests. They created a spirit of
insubordination and idleness amongst the people, by giving employment
on public works where no return was exacted by their numerous and
overpaid staff for the wages which were given, and where multitudes
were employed who did not require it, on the nomination of the priests,
while many who did were excluded from its benefits; and, to complete
the climax of their blunders, they conceded out-door relief, at a time,
and under circumstances, which must render such a measure not only a
curse to Ireland, but a grievous burden on the other portions of the
British empire. It has been declared by the minister that in twenty-two
unions the rental twice over would not be sufficient to support the
pauper inhabitants; while many of the popular Irish members maintain
that there are three times that number of unions placed in similar
circumstances, and in which the means of subsistence must come from
the Imperial treasury.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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