THE REDEMPTION OF IRELAND.
You may make anything of the Irishman—out of Ireland : the difficulty is to make him a good citizen, and a happy one, at home. The very nature of the necessity is the greatest obstacle to its fulfilment. The people are miserably poor, because the agriculture is badly managed ; being poor, they are desperate and dangerous ; being desperate and dangerous, they frighten away their lanilords, as well as orderly people and commercial enterprisers ; and with absenteeism and the reign of terror, there are ill-managed estates and deficiency of available capital, preventing improvement. Thus the hopeless circle revolves. If you begin improvements, you must dislodge the half-starving cottiers who swarm upon the over-divided land; but take away their last reliance, and they shoot you or your agents. Philanthropy and the spirit of enterprise are alike disheart- ened. Remove the Irishman from his own country, and the evil disappears. He is a fair agricultural labourer in England. Irish landowners are noted for villanous management of their estates in Ireland ; yet one never hears that estates here which happen to pertain to Irishmen are worse managed than those of their neighbours. Again, in the Colonies, the Irish make indus- trious orderly colonists, and as landowners there, have earned no opprobrious preeminence. Occasional sallies there may be, such as the rows like faction-fights in Manchester or London, the dis- turbances among the labourers on the works of the Canadian canals, sufficient to show that the race is still the same ; but these irregularities are exceptional cases—the enormities of Irish society. in England or the Colonies, not its "normal state." With better circumstances, then, the Irishman displays a better disposition. But where it most concerns him, in his native country, it has seemed as if any attempt to better his circum- stances must be hopeless. You cannot penetrate the thicket and hold your ground long enough to make a clearance, before you are driven away or destroyed by the pestilent atmosphere. Im- provement, indeed, has been essayed, without essential alterations of the system ; and at certain places and times the condition of the people has been bettered. But the effort has been forced, the effect partial and transitory ; the Thebes of a day relapsing to its old wretchedness when losing the Epaminondas of the district. There was no new system established to work by itself. What is wanted is a radical change—some totally different system. A plan has been suggested, which we state nearly in the terms communicated to us ; thinking it may merit attention, as illustrat- ing the possibility of handling the subject—on paper at least—if it be considered with a sufficiently comprehensive grasp. Ireland should be as thoroughly and as speedily as possible assimilated to England. If the Repeal agitation were bona fide nothing more than the blind instinctive demand of the Irish peo- ple, it would be a just retort upon that English Government which has established a formal Union without really consummat- ing it. Ireland has been annexed, not united to England. To make it one with us, enabling laws in that country should be assimilated to those of England, substantially, and not merely in the letter and the form. For instance, O'Connell is perpetually contrasting the comparatively broad Parliamentary franchise of England with the limited franchise of Ireland : he does so with abundant bad taste in the manner, but the complaint is true. A Mere extension to Ireland of the ipsissima verba in the English statute would not suffice, because, as Irish burgesses and cottiers are poorer than people of the corresponding classes and rate of intelligence in England, a franchise literally- the same would be substantially higher and more exclusive. Give them really an equivalent franchise. That is only one specimen of many ways in which Ireland might be made, truly and in good faith, an extension of England with respect to all enabling laws. The Roman Catholic population of Ireland should be relieved from all charge direct or indirect, on account of the Protestant Church. Protestant England is compelled to support none but her Protestant Church; Presbyterian Scotland has her Presbyte- rian Church ; and to be equal, Ireland ought to be burthened by none but her Roman Catholic Church. This proposition is quite distinct from the question of "appropriation" or the "spoliation" of the Protestant Church in Ireland ; and for the present purpose it may be considered quite separately from the subject of" appro- priation." The Church professes to be identical with the Church of England : let it be made so in practice. It possesses certain revenues, obtained by confiscations, pious endowments, and in a variety of ways. The property may be excessive or not ; it might Rr might not be equitably reduced : but that is beside the fact that " would be quite possible to abolish all tithe-charge and such Cicims upon the Roman Catholics of Ireland, and make an equiva- lent endowment of the Protestant Church in Ireland—whether by funds invested, by lands granted, or otherwise. Rendered inde- pendent of Roman Catholic support, appealing to popular notice less through the medium of the process-server, the Protestant Church would far better fulfil its professed missionary character; and the people would be relieved from a galling impost. To complete the equality of the Roman Catholics in religious affairs, their own clergy- should be endowed. In this matter, it should be remembered that adherents of the Roman Catholic faith are usually most liberal in their endowments; and that, setting aside all reference to the confiscations of the Reformation and its transfers of ecclesiastical property, the Church has been debarred by penal laws from private gifts and bequests; so that morally the State may be said to owe the Church a considerable debt. It is indeed averred that the Roman Catholic priesthood would not accept of a State endowment. Such repudiations before the event are not uncommon with priesthoods. In our own church, we see Bishops clutch the crosier with the notorious phrase in their mouths, "Nob episcopari " ; and in Ireland we have wit- nessed, within a very recent period, the acceptance of more than one benefit from the State, in spite of very vehement denunciations beforehand. The endowment might be offered in a way so rea- sonable and frank as to secure its acceptance. Political and religious equality would be needed to put the Irish people in such a temper that they would profit by more material improvements ; but still the desideratum would be, a machinery to introduce those improvements ; and that is the point to which we now come. The management of the land, as a system, is wretched, and it seems impossible for individuals to make a beginning in a better system. Let the State try. It surely could find means to purchase land for the purpose of the experi- ment. One kind of difficulty suggests in itself a means of pur- chase. In apology for the supineness of landlords, it is alleged that great numbers are so embarrassed, that practically they are not the possessors of their own lands ; which are really possessed by the holders of mortgages. Thus the land is nomi- nally owned by a person, often an absentee, who has a very limited interest in the estate, no power over its management, and no resources; while the holder of the mortgage lacks that com- plete authority and ownership which would enable him to devote his resources to the improvement of the soil with the certainty of reaping the profits. The first step should be to ex- tricate such lands from that entanglement ; and perhaps in doing so a way might be opened for doing more. An act of Parliament should be passed enabling the landowner so circumstanced to give up the fee of his land to the State, and to receive in lieu of it a ter- minable annuity equal in purchaseable value to his present bene- ficial interest in the land (income) ; and, to save the vested interests of immediate expectants, the annuity might probably extend for a period of not less than two lives. To the landowner the differ- ence between his present income and the larger annuity would be a bonus on the surrender of the land. The State to redeem the mortgage, and assume full title to the land ; which would now be relieved of its proprietary embarrassments ; while the State would have acquired a field whereon to act for the immediate improvement of Ireland. The land, however purchased, would want an occupant to work it; and by the proposed plan anew sort of tenant should be created for it. There should be at least two such tenants, but we will at first consider one. A joint-stock company should be established, with a board sitting in London, to be called the Company for the Redemption of Irish Lands. The lands obtained by the State would be granted to this company, on lease. The company would pay a fixed yearly rent, of a rate so mode- rate as to do little more than reimburse the State for the expenses of working the plan, interest on the public money sunk inclusive. The lease would be forfeit on the nonpayment of the rent ; and it would be terminable on notice given for a predetermined period, (say ten or twenty years,) or on payment of a fine at a predeter- mined rate, at the option of Government. The company would occupy the lands on certain conditions : it would cultivate them on its own account, being absolutely debarred from subletting; it would build cottages and effect improvements ; it would at once substitute hired labour for cultivation by the cottier system,— converting the cottier tenants into resident labourers, who would pay house-rent and receive wages. In effecting this change, the company would receive thoroughly sufficient civilDrqtajtion from the State, to the extent, if necessary, of foilitml techpation. Pending the experiment, Ribandism should fie absolutely crushed by a resort to overwhelming strength. Waste lands are in many respects like the Iii00 whieh we have
already described, masmudh as there is a very imperfect advan- tage derivable from them, while they are often :nuisance to adjacent cultivators. The company should be empowered to claim the cession of waste lands adjacent to its own, on equitable payment. Were sudh a machinery established, the following results might be expected. English enterprise, guaranteed a certain tenure and safety from aggression, would enter the comparatively untried field of Irish improvement. The ample profit to be obtained over and above the mere cost-rent exacted by the State would be a powerful inducement to the undertaking. As such a company would desire, and be able, to work its lands in the most profitable manner, it would introduce the best practices-English and Scotch practices adapted to Irish lands. The company's estates would thus become "model farms," not established and worked by the imper- fect dilettante motives of philanthropy, public spirit, scientific ardour, or the like generalized sentiments, but worked in the strict spirit of self-interest and lucre. They would not only be the better worked on that account, but the example would be the more im- pressive. The sight of Irish lands worked in an intelligent mode -of half-starving loitering cottiers, converted, in Ireland, to well- managed hired labourers-would have a powerful influence on the eianagers of neighbouring estates. There would be the desire to do the like. Attempts would no doubt be made to entice away the company's trained labourers ; while the comfortable pay of the company would enable it to hold a very liberal and inde- pendent position in the labour-market. But these very attempts to circumvent the company would but help to teach the value of the example. It is probable that some difficulty might arise from the fact that the lands first purchased by the State might lie apart. On the other hand, in the poorer districts it is probable that the example of cession thus encouraged by the bonus of a better income, paid without importuning the agent or braving "Molly Maguire," would spread so rapidly as to place considerable blocks here and there at the disposal of Government ; who would of course use due discretion in granting lands to the company. Those ungranted might be kept in cultivation by some sort of eontinuance of the present system, provisionally.
Two great cries would be raised in Ireland against the Lon- don Company,-that it was an absentee proprietary ; and that the profits of the enterprise were reserved, "as usual," for En- glishmen and Scotchmen. It would be very undesirable to have the Board in Dublin, as the confidence of English capitalists would be sensibly diminished. To have a joint Board with branches both in London and Dublin, would induce nothing but distracted councils, and stop the concern. There would, however, be several advantages 'in sanctioning the establishment of a simi- lar company for Ireland, with its own Board sitting in Dublin. It would disarm the two cries anticipated. The Irish Company would of course be very emulous of the London Company, anxious to work its lands as well ; and, as the same means would be open to it, no doubt it would succeed. There would then be exhibited the most impressive of all examples-lands leased, occupied, and worked by Irishmen, in the best manner, at a good profit. The Government would, at its own discretion, select either company to work any particular set of lands ; the object being to keep both in full work, with as much equality as possible in the quan- tity and circumstances of the lands in their several occupancy.
If the experiment succeeded thus far, it might be carrie& be- yond to a highly interesting stage. Of course, as we are not con- templating any social revolution, and the State would not desire to become the general proprietary of lands in Ireland, there would be limits to the experiment. For that purpose, on being satisfied with the advance made, or becoming possessed of too great an extent of property, the State might use its privilege of terminating the occupying company's lease by notice or fine ; the latter per- haps being the preferable course. Meanwhile, the lands would have acquired a considerably augmented value, and would com- mand a far higher price than when purchased by the State. They might therefore be resold to private persons. As profit would not be the object with Government, they would not necessarily be sold to the highest bidder : it would be important to have prima facie evidence that the bidder was to be a bona fide purchaser, not a mere speculator for resale ; that he was competent to fulfil the duties of property. The ability to pay a full value for the land, however, would be to some extent a test of his competency. It needs not be said that the utmost pains should be taken to exclude every just suspicion of favouritism in this disposal of the lands. Supposing this part of the process completed, we should see lands placed in a proper state of cultivation, and tenancy restored to Irish landowners, with full practical example of the method to work Vie soil for the advantage of all. We have not heard this proposal suggested dogmatically u a thing matured, or to be accepted as complete in all its parts, but merely as showing that some kind of measure might be contrived f‘r wresting the lands of Ireland, and therefore the country itself, from the hopeless circle of embarrassments in which it is now involved, yet doing so without in the smallest degree dis- turbing the institutions of the country. Perhaps the "wildest" thine.c about it is the notion that any statesman of them all would be bold enough to depart so far from what is the usual routine of .office in England, as to go to the bottom of the difficulty, and to devise a measure on the principles thus elicited, instead of merely stiving to tinker by the old rule of thumb.
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