The tenant has no voice in the bargain. He has no power to be one party
to a contract. This irresponsible power of an autocrat over serfs of the
soil is bad for both parties. I will try to tell these people's side of
the question as nearly in their own words as I can.
When the native population was driven off the good valley lands to the
hills of Donegal during the confiscation times, they built their cabins
in groups, like the Scotch _clachans_, for company, perhaps even
for protection. Each man broke up, clearing off stones and rooting up
whins, the best patch within his reach. He ditched and drained pieces of
low-lying bog, and paid for what he cultivated, all the rest being
common.
By what title the Clemens of Leitrim got lordship over the wild hills as
well as the fat lowlands I cannot tell; but all the country here, for
miles and miles, up hill and down vale, is his. The people have
absolutely no rights, far as the land is concerned.
The first move towards this dreadful state of things was called
"Squaring the farms." This was done to compel the people to pay for the
wild as well as the cultivated lands. Under the old system a man might
have a few goats or sheep, or a heifer, on the hills, and, if his crop
was not good, or a hail storm threshed out his oats, he could sacrifice
these to pay the rent. When the farms were squared each man drew lots
for his new holding. I am speaking of Lord Leitrim's estate. This was a
hard decree, but the tenant had no alternative but to submit. A man
often found himself squared out of the best of his clearing, squared out
of his cabin and all accommodation for his cow or horse, and squared on
to a new place without any house on it at all.
I made particular enquiry if Lord Leitrim had ever made any allowance or
compensation to a man deprived of the house, which he or his fathers had
built, after this summary fashion. No compensation. Every fixture put
upon the land belonged to the landlord absolutely.
"Was there ever any help allowed to a man in building a new house?"
"In a very few instances a man got a door and a couple of window-sashes
as a charitable assistance, not by any means as a compensation."
After some time the wild mountains, where there was nothing but rocks
and heather, were fenced off. Before this the goats and sheep grazed up
there. A new office rule made the price for a sheep or goat picking a
living among the heather. It was one shilling and sixpence for a sheep
with a lamb at her foot, and other animals in proportion. Still the
wretched men of the hills struggled to live on in the only homes they
had, or had ever known.
