Page:Irish Emigration and The Tenure of Land in Ireland.djvu/245

Rh in the line of their second sons, I should have cordially agreed with him, especially as the fact of estates being now in the course of sale at the rate of £1,000,000 a year in the Landed Estates Court renders his offer of a premium unnecessary.

With regard to the eventual result of Mr. Bright's scheme on the happiness of the people I do not feel so certain. In the first place, the practical difficulties in the way of its execution would be enormous:—unless land is let much lower than Mr. Bright would probably care to admit, there are not many tenants who could afford to pay, in addition to their usual obligations, 5 or 6 per cent, for a number of years on whatever sum the fee simple of their holdings might be worth; and, in the next—until the operation was completed, Government would find itself charged with the responsibilities of a land agency of a most onerous character, over property scattered in innumerable small subdivisions up and down the country. Occasions would arise when the increased rent would cease to be forthcoming, and, as trustees for the tax-payer, the State would have to proceed against the defaulting