Page:Irish Emigration and The Tenure of Land in Ireland.djvu/76

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In my previous observations I confined myself to the general question as to whether or not, in her present circumstances, and making due allowance for the individual suffering incident to all periods of transition, emigration had been a calamity or a blessing to Ireland; and I endeavoured to show, not only that emigration had on the whole been productive of advantage to both classes affected by it—viz., those who went and those who stayed at home—but that, whether beneficial or otherwise to the empire at large, it was a necessity of our own immediate situation.

I now propose to examine the specific charge directed against the landed proprietors of Ireland—viz., that the legalized injustice of their proceedings has been the principal and active occasion of emigration.

Many eminent persons say that such is the case. "The landlords are the cause of the emigration," is the naked and unqualified statement which has been put forward in Parliament. "More than a million persons have fallen victims to their injustice," is a common assertion, and various instances of wholesale evictions are referred to in illustration