Retribution For The
Accumulated Wrongs Which Mis-Government Had Heaped Upon Ireland He
Looked Upon As Inevitable, As Coming Down The Years Slowly But Surely To
The Place Of Meeting And Of Paying To The Uttermost Farthing.
Well, now,
these are queer sentiments for a landlord to hold and to utter publicly.
He acknowledged freely that
A great part - a very great part - of the
excessive rents extorted on pain of eviction, the eviction taking place
when the unfortunate fell behind, were really premiums paid on their own
labor. Furthermore, he acknowledged that he himself had raised the
tenants' rents on the estates for which he was agent, compelling them to
pay smartly for the work of their own hands. He spoke highly of the
people as a whole, of their patience, their kindliness to one another,
and their piety. He spoke of the case of one man, a peasant, who could
only speak broken English, who came under his notice by coming to him to
sell rye-grass to make up his rent. This man with the imperfect English
was a tenant of the gentleman's brother. He held three acres, two roods
of land in one place at a rent of L7 5s, where his house stood; one
acre, at L1 4s. Of course he or his ancestors built the house. His poor
rate and county cess is 16s, or $46.25 yearly for four acres, two roods
of land. If they got it for nothing they could not live on it, say some.
The best manure that can be put upon land is to salt it well with rent,
say Mr. Tottenham and Mr. Corscadden.
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