Page:Irish Emigration and The Tenure of Land in Ireland.djvu/125

Rh population and the development of the country's industrial resources.

But, first, had space permitted, I should have wished to exhibit, as I have already done with regard to emigration, the true nature and origin of the rack-renting system, which is invariably described as the offspring of landlord rapacity. As a matter of fact, it does not appear that the Irish landlords of former days dealt harshly with their tenantry. Even Mr. Butt admits that during the whole of the 18th century there were scarcely any evictions, and that long leases were almost universal; while Judge Longfield states that so late as 1835 there was very little land in the southern and western counties not on lease, and that "most of the leases were all in the tenants' favour." Nor is it alleged that the landlords themselves exacted exorbitant rents; the principal complaint against them is that they leased their lands to middlemen, and that sometimes they were separated from the actual occupiers of the soil by a dozen derivative tenures. From this fact it is evident that the rents they charged must have been comparatively moderate. But long leases at moderate rates are hardly a