The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1826-03-02 00:00:00

IRELAND.

• n
• " The .Orievances,of Ireland, their Causes and their Remedies:
• in a Letter to Sir Francis Burdett, Ban., Al.P.—By William
Stifteb, Req."—Hunter.
he opportunity which Mr. !Murcia has had of observing
• Ileg local condition of the Irish has given him advantages
• idlieh he bat well employed in discussing the important
topics to which he has drawn the attention of the public
in the present pamphlet. After all that has been said and
vreittan on the affairs of Ireland, we, on this side the
Cbannel, have for the most part but a very slender and
imperfect knowledge of its real state, or of the various
Cantles which keep down its prosperity. Mr. Sturch has
given us a mass of interesting information in a short com-
pass ; every page bears the marks of an enlightened mind.
IVe would most earnestly recommend attention to the fol-
lowing original and most important remarks on the subject
. of pr-ly chiding
.freeholds, upou which so touch misrcpre-
&emotion has gone abroad :
• By far the mot powerful and universally *venting cause of the
wretched state of a great part of the population of Ireland, appears
to me to be one which, although its origin and its long continu-
ance mey possibly be traced to the want of a good general govern-
ment, yet it is now beyond the power of any government on earth
to remove ; and with which, indeed, the State has no right what-
ever &reedy to interfere. I mean the too generally prevalent
C.OI!OIII of letting lands. or as it is usually called in Ireland, and
indeed in some parts of England, setting, or permitting them to be
underlet, in very email holdinp,--at very high rents,—to needy
persons.—lnd upon long leases.
This cogent hss, no doubt, been greatly extended by the strange
interpretation put in modern times on the Irish act of parliament,
which limits the right of voting for knights of the shire to forty
shilling freeholders. The words of the Act are, " And every elec-
tor of the said knights, to dispend and have, lauds and tenements
of estate of freehold, of the yearly value of fort y shillings over and
above all charges." Now the plain meaning of these words world
seem to be, that no person shall be entitled to vote for a knight of
the shire who is not possessed of a freehold, the yearly value of
which, to let, is at least forty shillings more than all charges pay-
able by him out of it ; and which, therefore, if fairly let, would
leave him a surplus rent of, at least, forty shillings to ' dispend."
This. I believe, is the interpretation uniformly given in this coun-
try to nearly the sane words to the English statutes; and in this
country. I think, no man would be permitted to vote as a free-
holder, merely or. the ground of his being lessee for life of a piece
of land fur which he pays rack rent, and which consequently leaves
Mtn nothing to dispend, whether that rack rent were forty shillings
• or forty pounds.
But in Ireland this language seems to be understood in a very
different sense. There every poor tenant for life of an acre, or a
piece of an acre. for which he pays a rent, quite equal to, or per-
haps far beyond its !ell value, who derives, or thinks he derives,
by his daily labour, a profit of forty shilling' annually out of his
mirerabie holding, believes himself' juttilled. and is so considered
. bp others, in sweating that he has a freehold of the clear Yearly
value of forty shillings at the least, shove all charges payable out of
the mime ; and haying registered his lease, and takes this orth, is
admitted to vote for the county. Every freeholder of this descrip-
tion is expected to give his vote according to the direction of his
superior. Many of them conceive it to be their duti, and most of
them feel it to be their interest. For the torbary or bog which
supplies their fuel, and the limestone so valuable for manure, being
a:ways reserved to the lord, whose tenants make use of them only
by his permission, whoever should presume to exercise his judg-
ment, and vote according to his conscience. would probably feel
severely the consequenres of his rashness. If this wretched system
does reit amount to perjury, it is, at least, beyond doubt a gross
and fraudulent misconstruction and perversion of the law.
It geom.l know not how, to be very generally taken for grant.
• ed that in Ireland this wretched system is law; and the measure
• roomed by Mr. LITTLETON, if his explanation of it in the
House of Commons on the 46th of April is correctly reported, pro-
• seeded on this supposition. His complaint was, that a forty shil-
ling krielkold is too low a quali!ication to entitle a man to a vote
: f^r a county. and he wished it to be raised to ten pounds, not con.
'Meting, by the way, that the latter, if it be rack rent, will partake
- no more than the homer of the essence of a freeholder's qualifies-
, rise as we understand it in England ; namely, the possession of an
teeniest income, arising from the rent or value of the land, of forty
shillings at the le Alt over and above all charges. But I think I
have said enough to show that this wretched system is, in fact, not
• law in Ireland any more than in England; the legal qualification
• being, in point of property, the same in both countries ; and no
. good remote has been produced for altering it in either. The peat.
e dam indeed, in the twocountries is very different. lam not aware
of the exigence of this abuse in any part of England—in Ireland it
is univerod, and that it ought without delay to be utterly abolished,
I confess I see nut how any honest man in his tight senses can
doabt tor a momert ; not. however, by altering the qualification,
bet if possible by establishing some effectual bar against fraud and
pel•ry.
Bet the temptation to increase the number of dependent voters
is not the only nor the original cause of the minute subdivision of
ranee. It is a thing of much longer standing. It had its source In
that insecurity which belonged to the bad government, or rather
the no government of early times, and which, by rendering it very
difficult to procure cultivators of substantial circumstances and re.
ppectable character, compelled the lord of the soil to accept of any
that lie could get ; and it was continued under the notion that such
tenants would be more dependent and submissive, and would pay
a larger portion of the produce of their labour in the shape of rent,
than others of a higher order.
That they are, in some respects, generally speaking, more de-
. pendent, we have already seen ; but that the state of abject sub-
mission in which they are held is any real advantage to either
party, is net so plain. When it is said that they would pay a
larger mot than nuue substantial tenants. it would be spore correct
to say they would proniise to pay; and indeed, so great a dread
bass many of these rciserable creatures of being turned adrift, that,
notion than lose the opportunity of getting possession of a farm,
they will promise any thing; but as to the performance there
would be so many failures that it would probably soon be evident
to any judicious and impartial observer, that it would be far more
advisable to let at a much lower rent to tenants of another charac-
ter. That the system itself of indefinite subdivision and exorbitant
tent is fraught with evil—that it is ruinous both to landlord and'
tenant—that it is the main spring of those never-ceasing dint:m-
icros and disturbances, that barbarism and ferocity which disgrace
the lower order', aed of that hardness of heart, that unfeeling dls.
regard to the miseries of the poor, which was a prominent feature in
thechsracter of the ancient lords of that unhappy country, and of
which teo large a portion is visible in that of their successors to this
day,—and that consequently it is directly opposed to the true in-
terest of the whole community, is as clear to me as the sun at noon
day.
After pointing nut in a vivid and forcible manner the
evils of that system which dooms the lush population to
poverty and potatoes, by depriving their industry at once
oi all its excitement and of all its resources, he adds :
Wilde this oppressive system exists no hope can be entertained
of the prevalence of content and satisfaction, and consequently of
perout,,vnt tranquillity in Ireland. The landholder must first be
confirmd tbs, the pour and ignorant, the lazy and dissolute, the
tenants of little patches of land and smoky. cabins, are not so
good: activity for the payment of rents, for the improvement of land,
and ab -Ye all for the preservation of the public peace, as men occu-
pying enlarged farms and comfortable dwellings, respectable both
for character and property, and entitled to r..-speet themselves as
sober, honest, it:dustrious, and in certain poipts at least, well-in.
harmed members of society.
Whenever this conviction shall generally take place, a great re-
torniation will speedily commence, and I trust be gradually and
happily aceneupltshed, to the unspeakable benefit of millions, both
catholic and protestant, yet unborn. I say gradually, because
'timid it be undirtaktb precipitately and unadvisedly, withowt due
regard to the interests and comfort of the present numerous tenan-.
Yy, the co^sequences of the measure would not be happy, but dim-
a. But if it shall be commenced wisely, and carried an
cauttooely anti with truly liberal and patriotic views, a more res.
pectehle description of tenants will be gradually introduced, farm,'
will he enlarged, comfortable houses will be erected on them, Dot
• by starving tenants but by landlords, as In England, waste lands
wiii,be brought Into cultivation, superior modes of tillage will be
adasded, wearing. will be better regulated, plantations of trees and
mime hedges with b; every where seen springing up, moderate rents
will be cheerful: r paid and if in addition to these impnrtant Improve-
mists. peace and gnod-will between all sects and parties, religious
and political, be recommended and encouraged, order and obe-
dience to just and equal laws will prevail ; anti the result will be,
to all claws of the inhabitants, from the hithest to the lowest,
espes.islly to those who shall Inmost active In promoting it, highly
bee-htial and delightful.
'ilia be:rimiest work, the Landon Companies, who have con-
siderable estates in Ulster. stud who are necessarily absentee land-
hints, will, I trust. take the lead. As corporate bodies, they have
r.., the same temptation to exact the utmost that can be obtained
in the way of rent, as those landlords whose families mug be pro-
vided for nut of their moves; and It behoves them to set an ex.
ample of benevolence and paeriolim worthy the imitation of every
Inah-laudford, whether resident or absentee.
Wore of these Companies° I can say of my own knowledge.
that they have long been situated by an ardent desire to improve
the condidoo of their ov:n tenants, and through them, if possible,
that of the whole country. And though I cannot pretend to much
actpisintance with the iffairs of the two other Compenies,t whose
lands are lately cone into possession, by the expiration of lone
teases, vet I have reason to he moored, that they entertain
the same beneroleOt anti public ginned views ; and it is earnest);
to be hoped, that this good example will lie followed by Id) the
' 6tlrer Companies, as their leas a expire.
Siateen years ago, the Company, of which I hare the happinee
to be a tosolber, sett over several of their burly. for the purpose of
• yi.iwitg their property. and making such observations as might
toed to porno) e these objects. whenever it should come into
thou .pessessinn. And shwa they became actually possessed of
. 'it in' ter ..rtiu..r ce of the dea:h of his late Majesty. in Ja-
nuary, 11420, they have sent over three several deputations of
their menders. each of whom had very minute and particular in.
stroolues to note every thing that might enable the Company to
wileretand in what way the greatest good might be effected. lam
happy to be able to add, that by the Reports of these deputation:,
, and the representations of their worthy, zealous, and intelligent

• The Fishmongers.
t The Drapai and the Oroces.