Page:Letters to Lord John Russell on the Further Measures for the Social Amelioration of Ireland.djvu/43

40 concession to them of that which ought to be the first law of the social compact, the right to reap what they may sow—to enjoy what they may create.

By what particular legislation this should be accomplished may admit of dispute. Not so, that it must be immediately and thoroughly done, if Ireland is henceforth to maintain her population by the development of her ample natural resources. Many demand for this purpose the universal extension of the kind of tenant right which has made Ulster prosperous,—as compared with the other three provinces—has maintained harmony between land, lord and tenant, securing his rent to the former, and comfort to the latter—has always preserved the province from agrarian outrage, and saved its inhabitants from the extremity of famine last year—a system, in fact, which has been tried and found successful on the experience of centuries.

Others, objecting to the extreme difficulty of estimating the good will which custom, not law, has appropriated to the Ulster tenant, recommend a compensation t)n quitting for permanent improvements, to be valued by some independent arbitrator.

Some, under the term "fixity of tenure," would give to every occupier an absolute property in his holding, subject only to his present rent, or one to be determined in future by some third party.

The last proposal partakes, no doubt, of a revolu-