Page:Irish Emigration and The Tenure of Land in Ireland.djvu/11

Rh 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.