It began with Henry II.; Elizabeth renewed it; James I. enlarged it; Cromwell smote it with the sword, and Charles II. passed an act for its settlement. It was reopened by William of Orange, and it is not settled yet. It requires heroic treatment, and that need not be expected from an alien Parliament composed chiefly of landlords. The tenure of land now is very different from what it was in Celtic times. The Irish then held by tanistry, and Spenser, who lived in those days and gained 3028 acres of land by its overthrow, tells us what it was. These are his very words: "Their" (viz., the Irish)" ancestors had no estate in any of their lands, seigniories, or hereditaments, longer than during their own lives, as they allege; for all the Irish do hold their land by tanistry; which is (say they) no more but a personal estate for his lifetime, that is, tanist, by reason that he is admitted thereunto by election of the country." Tanistry meant fixity of tenure. The land belonged to the people, and the Tanist (prince) could not forfeit or alienate it, as he held only a life interest. The very doctrine of the United States Constitution, which provides that "no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture, except during the life of the person attainted." Tanistry was racy of the soil, and the people were attached to it; but whether it could ever be expanded and adapt itself to a more complex form of life, is now mere speculation. Persons capable of judging say it could. But Fuimus Troes; tanistry is dead, and another system has long since taken its place. The origin of feudalism is very uncertain, but its principle is very simple. Feudalism means that the absolute right of all the lands of a country is vested in the king, and the individual holding any portion was only his man or tenant. The theory is, the king can do no wrong, but his tenant can; and as the king can take back what he gave, his tenants' lands are subject to the law of forfeiture. The Irish never took to it. With an instinct almost amounting to logic, they felt it boded them no good. The function of government is to maintain justice; not the summum jus, summa injuria of the pagans, but justice such as St. Augustine saw it, the basis and exemplar of human law; and as one form of government may be able to administer justice as well as another, the Irish would ere now be reconciled to feudalism if it brought not only "civilitie," but just laws and prosperity. Under feudalism England grew strong and wealthy, but it was only a blight to Ireland; and we now come to examine into what it has produced there. We quote from the official report, or, as it is called, the Doomsday Book. It contains a list of names and figures as tiresome as Homer's catalogue of the heroes who fought before the walls of Troy. The record was not gotten up for party purposes, for we are told, "It is not in tended to display individual wealth, or to mark its decline, or by speculative inquiry to promote personal or political objects." Through the instrumentality of this system every part of Ireland has been forfeited to the crown, and a horde of needy adventurers fastened on the country. Henry II. pretended a title besides his sword, and established his followers in the Pale. The Earl of Desmond was driven into rebellion, and thereby his great principality in Munster, over half a million acres, was confiscated and divided among Elizabeth's favorites. James I. had no difficulty in finding a bill of attainder against O'Neill, and he was thus enabled to bestow all Ulster on his Scotch countrymen. Strafford compelled juries to find the titles of nearly all the estates in Connaught defective, and these lands were forfeited to the king. Cromwell a second time confiscated a great part of Munster; and after the expulsion of James II., vast portions of the land were forfeited again. Thus within the last three hundred years all the land has been forfeited, and parts of it several times. The new owners of the soil had or have little or no sympathy with the people, and lived amongst them almost like any army fortified in an enemy's country. At present, all the land is owned by about 11,000 persons, omitting small holders of no special consequence. Scotland consists mainly of crags and lakes, and one-fourth of it is owned by twenty-four persons; but in England, holders of 100, and under 500 acres are in the largest proportion, that is, they own one-fifth of the land. In Ireland, the same class do not own the one-tenth; so that extensive proprietors hold by far the greatest portion of the soil. What has all this to do with the present state of Ireland? Almost as much as cause with effect. "Spend me, but defend me," was the common saying of the Irish clansman to his tanist or chief. His modern lord spends him by rackrents, and defends him by the crow-bar brigade. They are loud about vested rights, forgetting how they acquire them; but they are silent regarding concomitant duties. It is true there has been, since 1870, a Tenants' Compensation Act, or an act to compensate ejected tenants for their improvements; but the landlord is the stronger party in court, and the object of the act is easily defeated. It is practically almost useless. During five years, from 1870 to 1875, the amount awarded to tenants under this act was at the rate of £15,191 per annum; no very great relief, when we learn that the number of tenant agricultural holdings, excluding towns and cities, was 608,864, with a rural population of 4,286,019. Thus nearly the entire population is almost at the mercy of a few thousand The total amount awarded to tenants during five years was £75,595. landlords; and with what mercy they have used their power we now come to consider. The census of the population was not regularly taken until recently. There was, indeed, a registry of the secular priests, that they may be readily found should the government require them. The tithe proctor also counted the tenth potato, the tenth sheaf, and the tenth lamb, to garnish the board of the parson; but the official census-man had not yet made his appearance. It is only in 1841 that he was materialized and became an institution. Since then we have reliable figures. The following is the summary, by provinces, of the number of persons in the four last enumerations: Between 1841 and 1851 the population decreased about onefifth-19.79 persons in every 100; from 1851 to 1861, 11.79 per cent.; and from 1861 to 1871, 6.67 per cent. From 1841 to 1871, thirty years, 2,783,623 persons disappeared. During the same period the population of England and Scotland steadily increased. Now Ireland is a very healthy country, as the statistics show. In 1871 the percentage of the sick to the population was only 1.3. When the planets do not move in their regular course, astronomers know there must be some disturbing force; when the population do not increase at the normal rate, there must be a deep cause. And what that cause is we know full well,-bad laws and bad landlords. Ill fares the land to hastening ills a prey, A bold peasantry, their country's pride, When once destroyed can never be supplied." The census-takers have divided the dwellings into four classes. The fourth class comprises all mud cabins having only one room; the third consists of a better description, of from two to four windows; the second are good farmhouses, or in town, houses having from five to nine rooms and windows; the first class includes all houses of a better description. The following table shows the house accommodation in 1841, 1851, 1861, and 1871. We give the sum total and omit the provinces. The Number of Families in each class of House Accommodation in 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871 were as under: Comparing these figures with the census of the population of the corresponding years, we find that as the people decreased, the ac- ' commodations improved, the worst class of houses being five times less in 1861 than it was twenty years before. But between 1861 and 1871 there is again a rapid increase of the worst class of houses. We have stated that about 11,000 persons own all the land. According to a report submitted to the House of Commons, April 23d, 1872, the annual value for rating purposes was £10,180,434, but its actual value is now about £27,000,000, and of this sum onethird is spent out of the country by absentees. Some say that Ireland has only sentimental grievances. Is this a merely sentimental grievance? Were one-third of England's income spent in Dublin, Killarney, and other noted places in Ireland, would the English like that sentiment? We opine not. They would bellow louder than the bulls of Bashan, and the absentees would hurry home in hot haste. We have attempted, perhaps with too much circumlocution, to describe the present industrial condition of Ireland. The picture is not a flattering one. "Tis true, pity 'tis 'tis true." The author of the work second at the head of this article being on the spot. must know this better than the present writer, and therefore we are amazed that he dubbed Ireland New. She is in the same slough of despond, and we fear will not soon emerge from it. Were Ireland-which we by no means advocate but suppose—a State of this Union, does any intelligent, candid man imagine she would remain many years as she is? No. Her mines would be worked; her hillsides would be ablaze with the furnace and the foundry; her banks, instead of being the substitute for the old stocking, would receive and give life to industrial enterprise; her fisheries would become a source of wealth and produce a body of hardy seamen; the white sails of her commerce would spread over every sea; the vision of her orators would be partially realized; a new spirit would be abroad and make new the face of the land, and millions would hail her O matre pulchra filia pulchrior. 1 "O daughter fairer than thy Mother fair."-Hor. Od. B. 1, v. 17. |