lation, and intelligent and active local management. For the first, we must look to parliament; for the second, to our own exertions. For the efficient management of the poor law, the assistance of an intelligent middle class is required; and this class has yet to be raised up in the greater part of Ireland. If the tenantry be encouraged to improve their holdings by some more efficient security than they now enjoy, we may anticipate that the respectability and the pecuniary means of the tenant-farmers being greatly increased, a middle class will thus be created. If freedom be given to the sale and transfer of land, we may hope that the infusion of a larger body of resident proprietors will raise the general character of society, will afford ample means for the proper administration of all local affairs, and will give security for life and property, and increased stability to all the institutions of the country.

CHAPTER XII.

Principles of free trade should be extended to land-Necessary to meet the various difficulties of Ireland-Injurious effects of insecurity-of settlements-of incumbrances-Neglect of his estate by a tenant for life, in the endeavour to save money for his younger children-Debts frequently created, which ultimately ruin the family, notwithstanding the settlement-Permanency of property in land a great social advantage-Are entails necessary for this object?-Power of settlement may be limited by law-Inability to grant long leases, or to sell land, very injurious to towns-Beneficial effects of a free sale in the case of Birkenhead-Land must pass into the hands of men of capital, in order to afford employment-Important results to be anticipated from increased facilities for sale and transfer of land-Something must be done -Encumbered estates' bill-Probable effects, if it had passed-Property under the courts-Tenure by lives renewable for ever-Intermediate interests Leases in perpetuity-Heavy expenses on transfers of landed property-Difficulty of proving a clear title-National registry proposed-No small proprietors or yeomanry in Ireland—It is desirable to encourage the formation of such a class-Effects of large estates in Spain-in Sardinia-Effects of a better distribution of property in Norway-in Northern Italy-in Switzerland-in Holland-in Belgium— Industry of squatters on a mountain-common in Ireland-Opinion of Arthur Young as to the effects of property in land upon industry-Revolution in the tenure of landed property in Prussia-Beneficial results -Independent character of small proprietors-Compulsory subdivision of property in France injurious-Freedom of sale the best system -Honesty of the French people attributed to the general diffusion of property-Laws of landed property similar in England and IrelandProperty better distributed in England-Number of proprietors has diminished in England-Entails not essential to the maintenance of an aristocracy-Recapitulation-Suggestions-Conclusion.

The commercial legislation of the last few years has been marked by the reduction of imposts on

many important articles of consumption, by the removal or lessening of discriminating or protective duties, and by various arrangements giving greater facilities for the conducting of mercantile affairs. The year 1846 saw the abrogation of the protective duty on corn and other agricultural produce, and last year witnessed the partial relaxation of the navigation laws, which had heretofore been esteemed the chief support of the naval power of Great Britain. The change

of opinion on these subjects has been great indeed, and the public are even prepared for further progress in the same direction; believing that all attempts to force trade out of its natural channels, are injurious to the well-being of the community; and that to remove all restrictions on buying and selling, to allow every one to buy in the cheapest market and sell in the dearest, is the surest way to promote our commercial prosperity. Are we to have a free trade in the products of the land, and not in the land itself? Are the utmost facilities to be given to the sale and transfer of all other articles, and is land alone to be considered as requiring an exception in this respect?

Let the principle of commercial freedom be fully and fairly carried out. Let it apply to land as well as to other property. Will not this principle meet the various difficulties of Ireland, more

Is

surely and more quickly than any other remedy which has been proposed? Are not all other remedies incomplete without this? Unless land be freely sold, how is English capital to be introduced for its culture? How are we to obtain a resident proprietary, unless those who prefer living in other countries be enabled to sell their Irish property, thus permitting it to fall into the hands of those who can give it their personal attention? not the local demand of a numerous gentry and middle class, necessary for the support of the fish-` eries of the western coast; and how can such be created, unless the great landed proprietors be enabled to sell portions of their estates? How can the large population heretofore dependent on con-acre be employed, unless capital for the payment of wages be supplied, by the introduction of new men to the ownership of the soil? How is outrage to be repressed? How are the laws to be enforced? How can the free institutions of the country be maintained, except through the agency of a numerous and educated middle class ? On the intelligent and effective working of a middle class, depend the social and political institutions of a free state; without such support, the freedom of England would soon be changed into anarchy or despotic authority. Can that freedom ever exist in Ireland, until a numerous middle class be raised

any

up throughout the country? And can a middle class be created in Ireland in other way, than by the free sale of land, by the sub-division of estates, and the consequently increased number of resident proprietors? Is there any system of tenant-right, or any plan of compensation for permanent improvements, which will give half the stimulus to exertion, that actual ownership gives to him who tills his own ground?

In the earlier chapters, the writer endeavour'ed to point out some of the causes, which have so unfavorably influenced the industrial character of the people of Ireland. He has shown that the want of industry is not fairly attributable to their Celtic origin or their religious creed, but that it is the natural result of the want of that security for the possession of property, and for the enjoyment of the fruits of labour, which is essential as a motive to exertion. He has attempted to prove that the industrious character of the English people is the slow growth of centuries of peaceful freedom, the rights of property being held sacred, and the law being supreme. The success of Irish emigrants in America has been alluded to, as a proof that under favourable circumstances Irishmen would succeed at home. A comparison has been instituted between the different parts of Ireland, tending to show that the eastern counties differ less from England