The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1852-12-01

governments MS been created by Ireland. This
intractable country has been enabled to exact from
its former opmessors most fearful and protracted
Ietribution. Doubtless for many generations, it
suffered under English misrule, but when these
rulers had seen the error of their ways, and endea-
vored BY every kind Of expedient and Indulgence 70
compensate for the evil done, they found this victim
Of Improvement not only incursble, but absolutely
formidable, from the destructive contsgion o. Us
maladies TO the whole imperial oonstisusion rae
account of injury has been now more than sq9ayea.
II the Irish people were oppressed ana uoeraaca IN
times past-it they were robbed by absent propr1e,
tors Of the produce of their and-H we dlsranchsed
their constituencies and disregarded their COM
plants they have since done little less for Our
Attempts ct compensation have been uniformly
turned against us; offerings have been received
with thanklessness; our wisest remedial measures
have been thwarted by tho suicidal ness Of
the sufferers themselves; and it has been openly
avowed that the true political function Of Ireland 10
10 embarrass, annoy and ipjure the government and
population ofEngland This desperate con dition has
sue gested an nermnabe series ofinquries theories
aad experiments The aHtagonsm ofcreeds; the admit
nisration 0ustce the operations franchise the
condition OF the municipal corporations, AID the I'M
recognized rights OF the pO0r-these and many other
points were successfully enounced as comprising the
true source of Ircland's difficulties How they were
encountered need scarcely be told. Roman Catholic
emar cPation, astipendiary magistracy, animproved
police amended registrations, mum ipal reform, and
the ish Poor law, will rise before the readers mind
rs he reflects on that memorable destiny which has
chained the energies of Englands Legislators to the
O1bOTuerb assures
appeared one and ALL to leave the root of the evil
untouched. Ireland was Ireland still. At last the
the hand of Providence was added to the efforts Of
man, and terrible famine swept the country Of its
wYetched and unteachable inhabitants. Whist may
be the ultimate effect Of this awful visitation cannot
yet be coDjectured, but in the meantime appeal has
been made to one more resort, and the ownership
we'll the occupation of Irish soil has been trans
ferred to another race Of men Political theorists
won't to intimate, on the failure of each egisla
tive expedient that the actual and veritable origin
Of Irish evil lay in the proprietorship Of the aHd,
and that where most titles were insecure and few
Ownerships more than nominal it was vain to look
for anything else but reckessness and ruin. This
theory 10 now, in its turn, enoountering tho test
OF practice. The Encountered Estates act is doing
its work, and few brief sentences will teach the
reader what social revolution three years of its
agency have wrought.
Since the 2lst Of October, 1s49 when the first
petition was pretented under the act, no fewer than
293. 573 acres Of Irish ground have changed hands
by purchase and sale. This whole extent of land
may now be presumed to have passed from nominal
propietors into the possession Of owners whose title
recognize and discharge the duties attaching to
to upwards Of ESQ 600, heretofore disspated b.
tween conflicting and i'll satisfied claimants, will
nor excuse for evading the obligations involved.
The Irish landlords WILL to this extent, become &c.
nuine bona fde proprietors, deriving direct and
substantial income from their estates, and qualified
tanning to their character. II, alleged, this
transmigration of owners was the one thing needful
for the real regeneration of Ireland, the genuine
remedy has been at length applied.
The subject is 20 remarkable, and the interests at
stake 10 enormous, that the reader may desire
more circumstantial exposition of the proceedings
referred to. The Encountered Estates Court has
been occupied since October, lS49, in facilitating
the sale and disposal of Irish properties involved
- to be scarcely otherwise negotiable. Its inter-
vention was obtained upon petition, and its agency
was intended to supersede that of the ordinary
courts just as, in times Of political emergency dis
tatoriai authority supplants tho machinery Of law.
1t was, in fact with reference to this particular OBJ
jsct, revolutionary tribunal instituted for the
press purpose Of severing, by legal fores the inex
Der, ls49; to July, 1852, this court received 3s9
petitions averaging seventy in every month. By
It's fundamentally sales were effected to the prodi
gious amount Of l5,0s3 of purchase money;
sum which was compounded Of e. 1873 249 from
Munster, E1 969, 800 from Leinster, eel, 49l, 052
from Conpaught, and Gl POL All from Ulster. At
first the operations of the court rapid that
less than i've months from the fling of q petition
served to bring the estate to sale though, as the
business accumulated this period was considerably
increased Of the classes affected by the act some
idea may be formed from the circumstance that the
prcprietors Of the estates thus provided with mar
ket comprised one marquis, seventeen earls, three
viscounts, one lord by courtesy, five barons, six
Acnorables, ore right honorable, twenty one ba-
members of Parliament. and eight 0 er membsr, Of
Parliament; and the general necessity of the mea-
sure is deducible with great directness from the
single fact that the membranes on property of
which the gross produce, at l64 years average pur
chase, was little more than millions, exceeded
thirty millions.
An interesting point for consideration is the par
tcular description Of the new proprietors Of these
It will perhaps, surprise the reader TO hear that
hundie and fourteen only-representing Gl 100 COO
Of the gross purchase money were English and
Scotch. e, non Irish but Of this number moro
than one-half came from London and its vicinity.
One buyer contributed by Calcutta, and another
by the United States, eight by Scotland, and the
rest almost indiiferently by the Eoglish counties
In description, they comprise fifty two gentry, (of
whom eight were persons of title) thirty six manu-.
lecturers and merchants Gncluding eight firms, }
six insurance and land companies, and twenty farm
ers. The great bulk, however, Of the purchasers
appears to have been supplied by Ireland ITSELF and
10 have been formed of small bidders for lots Of
Ell GOO value and under. who WILL at any rate, re-
present actual owners with real interests and sub
staDtial responsibilities Most devoutly is it to be
hoped that they will demean themselves conform
ably to their opportunities for into such hands
than million acres of Irish sail will now have pass
cd, and this mighty change involves the last con-
ceivable experiment for the social regeneration Of
Ireland