Page:The Irish problem (Hibernicus).djvu/7

 A PLEA FOR THE IRISH LAND.

are going to beg of our readers to join us for a while in considering the Irish Land Question from a new point of view—one at which both Landlord and Tenant can meet, and for a while cast off that cloak of selfish considerations which hinders each in his progress to a practicable solution of the difficulty. We propose to regard the question neither from the Landlord's point of view nor from the Tenant's point of view, but, with due regard to the reasonable rights of both, from the point at which that oft-quoted personage—the Intelligent Foreigner—would take his stand if asked for his opinion as to what would be best for the community at large. The Intelligent Foreigner regarding the question in the abstract would say—"Here is an island abounding in the elements of productiveness. Much of it is well-cultivated and fertile; but a great deal of it is ill-cultivated and not made to produce two-thirds of what it might. The soil of this island is chiefly owned by large proprietors who have no stimulus save that of a sense of moral obligation, in a greater or lesser stage of development, to induce them to advance the condition of their tenantries. They lack the stimulus of self-interest; for they can raise their rents, whether they have contributed to the improvement of the soil or not, so that an increase of their incomes is not dependant on their own careful thought and consideration as to the means by which the greatest quantity of produce may be elicited from the soil. They have nothing to do, unless impelled by their own good feeling, save to eat, drink, and be merry, while others without are toiling 'to make up the rent.' If the property of any given landlord wears a poor and neglected aspect, no odium falls upon him from the side of his fellow-landlords. He is not shunned as a man who does not meet his obligations. But what can you expect? Dirt and rags are proverbial in Ireland: and what wonder if some of her lords of the soil are 'clad width a dirty and ragged estate' on which nearly every cottage and field tells its tale of listlessness and neglect on the part both of the tenant whose abode is there, and of the landlord who does not stimulate the tenant to better things."

But are the landlords only to blame for this prevalence of ragged houses and tattered land? "No"—the Intelligent Foreigner will continue—"I have found ample evidence," he will say, "in

