THE + CONDITION AND PROSPECTS OF IRELAND AND THE EVILS ARISING FROM THE PRESENT DISTRIBUTION "Something must be done to restrain the enormous accumulation of property in single hands, to facilitate its acquisition, and secure its possession to the mass of the community. Men must distinguish clearly between small tenancies and small properties; the former, as in Ireland, are but a source of servility, wretchedness, and crime; the latter, as in Norway, and in every other country where they have ever existed, have been a source no less sure of independence, comfort, and virtue." Arnold's Miscellaneous Works, page 501. "No one seems to deny the benefit of the division, and above all of the divisibility, of property within reasonable limits; and to such an extent as the force of circumstanceshe rise and decay of fortunes-the mutual relations of the money and land markets may egitimately require." Quarterly Review, No. CLVII. Art. VII. on Division of Property in France. PRINTED BY WEBB AND CHAPMAN, GREAT BRUNSWICK STREET. PREFACE. In the early part of last year, the author published a small pamphlet entitled, "Observations on the Evils resulting to Ireland from the insecurity of title and the existing Laws of Real Property, with some Suggestions towards a Remedy." The various information which has since come before him, as one of the secretaries to the Central Relief Association of the Society of Friends, has greatly strengthened the conviction previously entertained, that the circumstances under which the landed property of Ireland has been placed, have, more than any other cause, contributed to the poverty of the people, and have greatly increased the effects of the recent calamity. In the hope of rendering a more extended view of this subject interesting to the public, he has attempted to shew why the failure of the potato crop has been so severely felt in Ireland, and to point out what have appeared to him the best means of placing the country in a position of independence. In the last chapter, some portions of the pamphlet above alluded to are republished: and the same arguments are frequently repeated throughout the work, with a view of shewing the evils of large encumbered estates, and the necessity of such alterations in the laws, as may give security and simplicity of title; may facilitate and cheapen the means of transfer; may free the land from the various restrictions which interfere with its improvement; and may permit its sale to those who possess the capital indispensable for that purpose. He trusts that the details he has given of the recent calamity, of the means adopted for its temporary alleviation, and of the present position of the country, may prove interesting to many of those who have evinced their sympathy for the sufferings of the Irish peasantry, by the greatness of their liberality. Dublin, 20th of First Month, 1848. |