Page:Irish Emigration and The Tenure of Land in Ireland.djvu/168

Rh of comfort than that which had satisfied their fathers. Mr. Thornton, in his Plea for a peasant proprietory, quotes the following passage from McCulloch, and, I think, every one acquainted with Ireland will acknowledge the truth of Mr. McCulloch's observations:—

"The strong predilection entertained by the great bulk of the children engaged in agriculture for the pursuits of their fathers has been remarked by every one in any degree familiar with rural affairs. Children at liberty to divide their father's estate, possess the greatest facilities for gratifying their natural inclination. They have the power of continuing in the line of life in which they have been educated, and which must in consequence be endeared to them by all those early associations which exert so strong an influence over future conduct. Moreover, the possession of a piece of ground gives a feeling of independence to a small capitalist or a poor man, that he cannot otherwise experience." A possession of this sort may fail to render him comfortable, "but it gives him a security against want; it furnishes him with a cottage, and unless it be unusually small it will enable him to raise such a supply of potatoes as will go far to support himself and his family. In no way, therefore, can a poor man be so independent. The possession of a piece of ground renders him in some measure his own master. It exempts him from the necessity of severe labour and unremitting application" From these considerations Mr. McCulloch concludes that the children of small landowners will choose "to reside on the little properties they have obtained from their ancestors, and that the process of division and subdivision will continue until the whole land has been parcelled out into patches, and filled with an agricultural population equally destitute of the means and the desire of rising in the world."—McCulloch's Edition of the Wealth of Nations, Vol. iv pp. 462.

"This reasoning," observes Mr. Thornton, "must be acknowledged to possess great force." It is an exact description of what has actually occurred. Extraneous circumstances, such as the