IRISH EMIGRATION

AND

THE TENURE OF LAND IN IRELAND.

BY

THE RT. HON. LORD DUFFERIN, K.P.

LONDON:

WILLIS, SOTHERAN, & CO.,

42, CHARING CROSS, (OPPOSITE CRAIG'S COURT.)

1

PREFACE.

THE greater portion of the contents of the following pages, appeared originally in the form of letters to the Times.

Those letters were written in the hopes of inducing my fellow-countrymen to pause, before adopting without further investigation a theory with regard to Irish emigration and what has been called "the exterminating policy of Irish Landlords," which, after having been for years industriously propagated in Ireland, had at last received the imprimatur of one or two influential Members of Parliament.

But though hastily committed to paper, the views I thus submitted to the public were the result of diligent enquiry, and long-continued observation of the changing phases of our national existence. Nothing but an uncontrollable conviction of the injustice of the accusations with which the landed proprietors of Ireland are assailed, and of the gross incorrectness of the data on which those accusations are founded, would have induced me to embark in so uncongenial a controversy, my natural repugnance to which

was enhanced by the generosity of sentiment exhibited towards our unfortunate country, in those very speeches to portions of which I felt compelled to take exception. That persons of great intelligence should fall into error on the subjects in question did not surprise me. In any country it is difficult to disentangle the threads of popular sentiment, or to follow out the intricate operation of economical laws, but in Ireland, a hundred influences,many of them compatible with the purest patriotism, and the most scrupulous integrity, had contrived to prejudice local opinion, and to mislead the national conscience. Yet it would be from such sources alone, that a popular champion would naturally seek inspiration, and if his view of the situation should betray considerable misapprehension of the real facts of the case-it would be unfair to doubt the genuineness of his convictions, or to receive with any other feelings than those of respect and gratitude, any suggestions he might have to offer.

Though deeply sensible of my unfitness to do more than offer a slight contribution to the investigation which has been undertaken of late by many eminent persons, into the relations of Irish tenants with their landlords, there was a certain respect in which I felt I occupied an advantageous position. On the one hand, as a northern landlord, I had no interest in refuting accusations, from which, by general consent, the landlords of Ulster have been

exempted; while, on the other, the phenomena which were supposed to justify them as against the proprietors of the South and West, and the difficulties incident to estate management in Ireland, were sufficiently common both to North and South, to make me familiar with their true origin and character. On this account I was able to enter upon a review of the past, with as much impartiality, and perhaps more acquaintance with the subject than persons totally unconnected with the landed interest of the country. I may indeed be told, that because I am a landlord, I must therefore be prejudiced in favour of the class: I can only reply that I am not conscious of any such partiality, and that I do not even understand the possibility of feeling greater sympathy with the legitimate aspirations of one section of the community, than with those of any other. It has always seemed to me that a true statesman should guard the rights and promote the welfare of the diverse but inextricably associated interests of the Nation with an undistinguishing solicitude.

Even with respect to the future, if I am opposed to many of the changes in the land laws of Ireland which have been suggested, it is not merely because they are detrimental to the interests of the landed proprietors, but because they are gross infractions of the first principles of Liberty, Justice, and Government, and fraught with mischief to the community at large.