The Good Landlord
Considers It An Infringement Of His Rights As A Landlord, To Take Away A
Power He Is Too Kind To Use, Although He Will Admit That Some Have Used
It Unmercifully.
A recent speech of Lord Lifford's complains that things are now claimed
as a right that used to be regarded as a favor on the part of the
landlords.
There is a strong, deep feeling among the best of the tenants
against such utterances as these and the spirit behind them.
XIX.
LANDLORD AND TENANT - THE LAND QUESTION FROM BOTH SIDES.
As far as I have travelled yet, in the mountains of Donegal, through
Derry, Antrim, Tyrone and Down, I have seen no trace of what Dr.
Hepworth lays to the charge of the Irish - laziness, never cultivating a
holding up to the line or into the corners. What excited my wonder again
and again, is the fact that up to the boundary ditch or hedge, into the
corners, up to the very edge of the rocks the tillage extended. I saw
men dig up little fields entirely with the spade among the sudden rocks
of Port-a-dorus. Some of the patches a horse with a plough attached
could not turn in, yet they were tilled; there was not a spade's breadth
left in any corner. And they paid high rent for this ground, rocks and
all. They fell behind in famine time - not so very far - and humbly
grateful were they for the help that came from outside in that time, and
a mercy that forgave a little of the rent. I saw men digging on the
mountain-side on the Leitrim estate, and wondered how they could keep
their footing. As far as I have seen, it is a slander on the people to
say they are averse to labor. On the contrary, they are very laborious,
and singularly uncareful for their personal comfort. I heard a fellow-
countryman at Moville talk of Paddy's laziness. I pointed out to him how
carefully mountain-side and rough bog were cultivated. He admitted it,
but spoke of want of rotation of crops and absence in many instances of
fall-ploughing. This, I humbly consider, is want of skill, or maybe want
of means - not laziness.
Every one says that the country depends almost solely on agriculture;
agriculture rests on farm labor; farm labor pays rents high enough to
produce periodical famine. The L90,000 rental of one estate, the L40,000
of another, is all produced by these lazy people. If there were any spot
so rocky, so wild, that it was under no rent, one might think them lazy
if they failed to make a living out of it, but they make a living and
help to support a landlord, too, out of these rocks and morasses. I hope
to see life farther south, and see if these lazy people exist there.
They do not exist in the north so far as I have seen.
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