The Sun.
London, England, 1852-11-23 00:00:00

purpose, would meet with the general approval of the
House.

Lord-J. RUSSELL wag understood to approve of the
suggestion.
Sir J. WALMSLEY intimated that he would, under
the circumstances, abandon the motion.
The motion for " a call " was then, by leave, with-
drawn.

LAW OF LANDLORD AND TENANT (IRELAND).
Mx. NAPIER, who was most imperfectly heard in his
opening observations, rose to move for leave to bring in a
bill to amend the law of landlord and tenant in Ireland.
Having asked the indulgence of the house, he acknow-
ledged that he owed a debt of gratitude to those who, al-
though unsuccessful, had preceded him in the same field,
and of whose researches he had gladly availed himself.
The pressure upon agriculture in Ireland—however per-
sons might dispute the cause—was an acknowledged fact,
and the effect had been to induce people in that country to
entertain the most extravagant expectations from the legis-
latjire—a circumstance of which designing persons had
taken advantage to inflame and disturb their minds. He
did not hope to meet such expectations, as he only hoped to
do what was practical, and must therefore be limited in
proportion. Having stated that he had deeply considered
the question since 1848, when Mr. S. Crawford introduced
his measure, the right hon. and learned gentleman quoted
the opinion of Sir Robert Peel as the desirableness of an
amendment in the law of landlord and tenant, and pro-
ceed to say that) wishing to be as completely informed as
possible on the subject, he had employed two gentlemen to
make a detail wort of the state of things in the north of
Ireland, and their book had received the approbation of
Mr. Holmes, the father of the Irish bar. (Hear.)
The following was Mr. Holmes's opinion :—" I have re-
ceiaaal the book which you were so kind as to send me—
your work 'On the tenure and improvement of land in
Ireland, &c., &c. I deferred acknowledging the gift
unail I could in some degree appreciate its value. I have
now read it, and I consider it due both to you and myself to
declare that I have derived from the persual the greatest
satisfaetion anti most useful information. It is a work
which exhibits industry and research, professional know-
ledge and talent, judicious observation and benevolent
purpose in an eminent degree, and a rare unity of brevity
with comprehensiveness, on one of the most important and
interesting subjects which can in these times engage and
fix the attention of every class of society, and which de-
inands the prompt and decisive interference of the Legis-
lature. That your valuable work may have the influence
which it ought to have with those who possess the power
of giving effedt to its wise recommendations, is my sincere
wish." Of the information furnished by these gentlemen
lie had largely availed himself. Looking at the state of
Ireland, he believed that the present was the most fitting
momgnt for the revision of the code. Landed property
was rising in value, some estates fetching 30 years' pur-
chase. Ireland had great resources, but she required se-
curity for life and property, and that could only be given
by just laws. (Hear, hear.) Next she required an ar-
rangement of the land question, for being an agricultural
country, she could not expect commerce and manufactures
until she had first attained full development in agriculture.
The land question was attended with two classes of diffi-
culties, the permanent and the temporary. With regard
to the permanent difficulties, they often heard discussions
as to the causes of the state of Ireland. One said it was
the priests, another the parsons ; sometime; it was charged.
to British policy, at °tiler times to Irish neglect. His
opinion was that all these elements had contributed their
quota. (A laugh.) It was very remarkable that what
Sir John- Davis wrote as prophecy in the reign, of Eliza-
beth heal become history in the reign of Victoria. Davis
remarked that the ancient customs of Ireland which made
uncertain the right of property was the true cause of the
barbarism and desolation of the laud. Spenser also de-
- - precated the Irish system, and it was remarkable that up
to a very recent period a very large portion of the country
was still occupied by tenants at will. They would find
much also of the causes of Irish depression in English
laws. They punished the people for non-conformity in
• what they never taught them to understand, and when it
was urged thafetho people did not understand English it
was decreed that to accommodate them the church service
should be read in Latin. (A laugh.) They had pressed on
the union before there was assimulation, and as a general
rule their fault had been to press too hardly on with such
. legislation. The laud had been granted to absentees, who
in turn handed it to middlemen, and the result had been
to overrun the whole country with middlemen. The re-
sult was, that whenever any calamity afflicted the coun-
try, the people foundered at once. 3.1 r. Pitt had testified
how Government had shut out Ireland from commerce
with our colonies and with the world. The consequence
was the vicious state of society he had described—the
competition for land, the accumulation of incumbrances
on property, the absence of improvements, and a super-
abundance of unemployed labour. A large proportion of
these incumbrances had originated at the beginning of the
present or the close of the last century, and, being based
on fictitious value, it was impossible in a country where
the possession of land had become a necessary of life to
the people, and was subject to the severest competition in
consequence, to regulate its value as you could in England
or Scotland, and the result was, that when things were
brought to their natural level, and war prices no longer
prevailed, the whole state of property in Ireland was found
tg be vicious. The multiplication of forty shilling freeholds
for political pm-poses had also, by increasing the number of
small holdings, increased the difficulty, and it. might be
added, that corruption. and coercion had tended to the same
result. After the war the attention of Parliament was di-
rected by numerous select committees to the state of Ire-
land. The right hon. and learned gentleman referred to
the reports of the committees of 1819, 1823, of the inquiry
instituted in
.1827 by Mrs. Fry and her brother, in con-
nexion with the Society of Friends ; the committee of
1830 ;of the Devon Commission—all referring to the land
question as the groat difficulty of Ireland ; and the latter
- suggesting as-remedies—extended facilities for the sale and
transfer of land, the granting of leases for moderate terms,
giving power to the Bank of Ireland to make advances
on the security of land to enable the landlords to make
improvements, a register of contracts and agreements, and a
provision where no agreement existed for granting compensa-
tion to tenants for improvements made by them. The
Devon Committee reported that at the period of theinin-
spiry the number of small holdings was so great that it
would he impracticable for the landlord to carry out the
- improvements, and the tenants, who were not living, but
merely vegetating upon it, living on the potato with water
only for-their beverage, could of course do nothing. And
besides this; almost two millions of the rental of the coun-
try was in the hands of receivers under the Court of Chan-
cery. In such a state of society there could be no improve-
ments, and the result was that at the time of the commis-
sion, nations of acres were uncultivated, millions of the
people were unemployed, and millions of money lying
idle. The report of the Central Relief Committee of the
Soeiely of Friends, recently published, and which was also
a most valuable document, stated that at the period of the
famine, when all the world sympathised with Ireland,
there were several districts where there were ample means
for relieving the destitution which existed, but where in
eonaegitence of the vicious state of society, no agency could
be found for carrying out the charitable intentions of
those by whom such means of relief had been provided.
All this slowed the necessity for some legislation, and he
had accordingly endeavoured to apply his mind to devise a
way by which in some degree the evil might be met. It
had struck him, in the first place, that it was desirable to
provide means for enabling the owners themselves to snake
improvements—improvements by which the produce of
the soil might be increased, and employment given to the
people. There were several models which might be fol-
lowed in carrying out this object. First, there was the
Montgomery Act, which referred to Scotland ; there was
also another act, passed in 1845 ; and, subsequently, there
was the Landed Estates Improvement Act, passed by the
government of the late Sir Robert Peel—the act passed
for Great Britain in 1846, which authorised the lending
two millions of money for the purposes of drainaae ;
and then there was the Landed Improvement Act 'for
Ireland, passed in the first year of the government of
the noble lord (sT. Russell), and which had grown out of
the act of 1846. What occurred to him as the result of such
a measure was that in the first place farming was placed
under a totally new condition. It was admitted on all
hands that the farmers must be a better educated 'class
than they had been—that they could not go on under the
ignorant system of cultivation which formerly prevailed.
Already he found that a better course of cultivation was
beginning to . obtain, and which must extend, notwith-
standing the prejudice with which in many quarters it
was met. (Hear, hear.) But the first step towards the
improvement of the soil was drainage, and to that his first
Measure would refer. After quoting an article from the
Times of Sept., 1850, as to the necessity of greater know-
ledge andjmore capital being brought to bear on the busi-
ness of farming, he observed that Sir R. Peel, when intro-
ducing his measures for changing the commercial policy of
the country, had intimated his opinion that one result of
those measures would be the reduction of the prices of ag-
' ricultural produce by one-third ; and that if any one part
of the United Kingdom suffered more from the policy he
was then inaugurating than another, it would bo Ireland—
• that being*urely agricultural country. (Hear.) Sir R.
Peel was quite corsect in that opinion, and not only had
Ireland suffered more in comparison with England or Scot-
land, but there was a marked distinction even between the
result of those measures on some parts of Ireland as com-
e wed with others. In the neighbourhood of Belfast, where
thererwere ready means of communication, where capital
was abundant, where markets were plentiful, and com-
mercial enterprise was extensively carried on, there
tenants were prosperous and landlords were in a con-
ditionidau to make the necessary improvements on their
; but it was not . so in the purely agricultural
'1
ices. Under Sir R. Peel's acts, 2,000,0091. were ap-
cirtened to England and Scotland, and 1,000,000/. to
-I:etiLd. as_ the amount to be advanced on loan for the
lak-araa, of drainage. In Scotland the money was rapidly
un'gnoP4fbtr in Ireland the landlords could not take ad-
in it that ere lean set,
in consequence of a condition imposed
had imen
exe lean should only be granted when the money
however,
wrided and the improvements made. This,
amount au tahnotird in the following session, when the
2,000,0001., te be advanced was increased to
for the works arstho.allear was then allowed to-be advanced
pay ithimself out of his e landlord being first required to
et:o:lrPele:ekdet.
edify been a great benefit Twhh ie
amountu nad
loansubt -
applied for (under that
some extent for other sm,rt luainly for drainage, but to
buildings, &ea) was 4,08,5 gr. eats, m sub-soiling, farm
been Arantlioned, and 1,287,8841. this, 1,839,843/. had
He might observe furtker—for it s-a":' lily issued.
again—that a 190,1511. 4s, due in rose-:
April back
that :when money was lent to Ireland supposed
,ovornber.
1852, U 3,150/. had been repaid up to the 15% tse •
And even this slight defalessa -
Hear, hear.)
entirely to the neglect of the officers. The vsaa owing
dzainage effectea
midis that act had been the means o_f enabling the c_
P for, it had
to keep up itts produce oft green and rootacro ".`-`lll.r.Y
produce cereal crops ceased in a great degree
re-
quired thorough drainage. been some remark-
able There had °Ps which
instances of the beneficial operation of this act. One
gentleman, whose estate wise encumbered, induced his
hadso,
creditors to assent to his applying for a loan. He
an 3 it was, expended on drainage, and the result did .
been
that since thq,u the tenants had paid their rents, his in. cum-
bra.acea were paid off, and he had even a surplus. Again.
a gentleman in the south of Ireland obtained a loan for
dreinag,e, whose tenants were unwilling to have their
lands drained, and one of them even threatened
him with au action if it were attempted, and yet that very
t mant had since paid his rent punctually, and often
thaatked his landlord for having drained his land, for by
moans of that only had the land enabled him to pax his
rent, and even to have a surplus, and bo altogether in a.
. prosperous condition. -Ther- sweresixiataneasa in- which
drainage lied doubled the produce of the land, for drainage
.I)47_,IFALPW:ttieRIFJY.,- adapted, *Azclreland the Ciiina4e jleing