Page:Irish Emigration and The Tenure of Land in Ireland.djvu/156

Rh But as the result of such an arrangement would be to fill the majority of the farms in Ireland, in the course of a few years, with tenants paying a double rent, i.e. the Parliamentary rent to their landlords, and the interest on the fine squeezed out of them by the lucky individual to whom Parliament had attributed a share in the original owner's proprietory rights, it is difficult to see what could be the advantage of the change. It may indeed be urged that the vice in the system would only blaze into life on a change of tenancy:—but changes of tenancy are continually taking place:—not only by the surrender of farms, but on the death of every occupant. His sons succeed:—they all consider they have an equal claim to the holding:—if permitted they subdivide it; —if not