Page:Irish Emigration and The Tenure of Land in Ireland.djvu/215

Rh I now come to the third point in our inquiry — viz., whether it is fair to refer the evictions in Ireland to the injustice of the landlords rather than to the neglect of their legitimate obligations on the part of the tenants. What has been already said almost answers this question, while the fact that two-thirds of the registered ejectments are for non-payment of rent speaks for itself. But as it is the fashion to talk of the act of eviction as if it were a crime, I would ask your readers to analyze the nature of the operation.

First, let us define the respective rights of landlord and tenant. A landlord is an owner of land ; that is to say, he has either bought it himself, or inherited it from those who have bought it. In either case, the laud he possesses represents a specific amount of capital, accumulated either by his own industry or by that of his forefathers, for which he is content to receive interest at a rate seldom exceeding 2½ or 3 per cent. I may here observe that considerable prominence has been given of late to

tional stimulus of bad seasons, revived in all its strength. It is calculated that within the year 1SG1 not less than 100,000 emigrants left the Irish shores. As far as regards the emigrants themselves and their posterity, or the general interests of the human race, it would be folly to regret this result. The children of the immigrant Irish receive the education of Americans, and enter, more rapidly and completely than would havo been possible in the country of their descent, into the benefits of a higher state of civilization."

Mill's Polit. Econ.p. ll*, Vol. f.