It was considered necessary to have an English garrison in the land. To accomplish this the Irish were driven out of the North of Ireland, and when I say driven out, I mean driven out. They were forced to go, man, woman and child, into the wilds of Connaught. Then the land vacated by this exodus, at the end of a bayonet--British rule always means bayonet, British statesmanship begins and ends with a bayonet, that being the only thing in the world that does not think--this land was divided up among the dissolute villains who infested the British Court, and for whom, they being the alleged sons of nobles, something must be done. But a condition was attached to these grants of stolen lands. No native Irishman was to have a holding there. It was considered necessary that there should be in Ireland a garrison of what they chose to call "loyal" citizens, to hold the robbed and outraged Irish who had been driven into the South in check. Therefore the North of Ireland was given to the dissolute younger sons of dissolute English Lords, upon condition that their tenants should be English or Scotch, and in all cases Protestants. [Illustration: IN A DISCONTENTED DISTRICT.] [Sidenote: "CUSTOM."] To get English or Scotch farmers to join in this wholesale brigandage, there had to be some inducement held out. They were not compelled to come upon the ground, and they made their bargain with the Lords. They insisted upon fixity of tenure, a low rent and free sale, which is to say they would not enter upon these stolen lands except upon a low rent, and if they made improvements they should have the benefit thereof, and if they chose to quit the lands they should have the right to sell the improvements they had made, and that the improvements should be a part of the value of the lands, and their interest therein should be an interest in law and equity. This was agreed to, and on these conditions the North of Ireland was settled by English and Scotch Protestants; the "custom" known as "Ulster custom" was established, and is law to-day. [Illustration: PROTECTING A GENTLEMAN FARMER.] But "Ulster custom" does not extend over the entire island. While the farmer in Ulster has fair rent, fixity of tenure and free sale, the farmer of Cork and Tipperary has nothing of the kind. He is a simple tenant at will. He holds a farm at the will of his landlord; his life is in the hands of a dissolute scoundrel who has no brains, backed by a dissolute scoundrel in the form of an agent who has brains, and both of these scoundrels are backed by the bayonets of the most infamous government on the face of the earth. "Ulster custom" gives the tenant some rights. "Cork custom" is quite another thing. "Ulster custom" was a bribe. "Cork custom" is robbery. It is a system of wholesale confiscation of labor, of body and soul.