THE HATRED OF THE LAW IN IRELAND.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECE&TOR:1
SIR,—In the Spectator of the 1st inst., you say that over a great part of Ireland the law appears-to be not only distrusted, but hated. This is obviously true, and the reason is almost equally obvious. Ireland is a nation of small cultivators, deeply attached to their homes ; and until the Land Act of 1870, the' small cultivators, though personally free, had no rights recog- nised by the law ; they were tenants-at-will, subject to arbitrary demands for rent and arbitrary eviction at the pleasure of the' landlord, without any restraint from custom, equity, or implied or verbal contract ; the law was to them not a means of pro- tection, but of oppression. It is surprising that the power of the landlords was not much more abused than it was. The in- justice and cruelty of the system were disguised from Englishmen„ and, from the Irish landlords themselves, by the fiction which treated it as the result of free contract,—a fiction as true and as. false as that by which the lawyers of the Roman Empire justified' slavery, as the result of a free contract between a victor in war- and his captive, whereby the victor agreed to spare the life of' the captive, and the captive, in return, agreed to serve the victor.
The legislation of 1870 and 1881 has put an end to that system for ever. The peasants have now the protection of the law for their rights, and when they find that the law is on their side, they will, no doubt, be on the side of the law. But men, especially in Ireland, are slow to recognise that facts have changed, and a generation must pass away before an improved feeling can become general. Meantime, the duty of the Govern- ment is to hold steadily on, doing its best, whether by ordinary law or by exceptional legislation, to keep the peace and to do justice to all, and especially to do justice to the landlords, who are now the oppressed party.—I am, Sir, &c., JOSEPH JOHN
Old Forge, Dunaturry, County Antrim, April 12th.
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