Page:Letters to Lord John Russell on the Further Measures for the Social Amelioration of Ireland.djvu/40

LETTER IV.

Measure next in importance, a Tenant-right Law—The want of industry imputed to the Irish peasantry caused by the denial of the only motive to industry, security for enjoying its fruits— Objects of required measure must be retrospective, not prospective only—Must not depend on consent of landlord,

My Lord,

Great and primary, as the importance is of a measure for developing the vast resources of the waste lands, I am by no means desirous of putting this forward, any more than the Poor-law, as the one and only thing needed for the regeneration of Ireland. On the contrary, I have already spoken of an improvement of the law of land-tenure as almost equally indispensahle. This alone can bring about that rapid improvement and spirited cultivation of the lands now under tillage or in pasture, which are as certain to ameliorate the condition of the labourers and farmers, and to increase the produce and wealth of the country, as the reclamation of its wastes.

Now, there exists an almost universal agreement of opinion in Ireland upon the essential requisites of such an alteration of the law of land-tenure as will alone bring about this result; namely, that