rincipal laws conferring power on the
landlords, adding that he did not believe there was a more fertile
source of murder and outrage than those powers. "_Thus_," said he, "_the
source of crime is directly traceable to the legislation of this
House_." The repeal of those Land Laws was one of the remedies which he
called for, but not the only one. He wanted the House to determine at
once to do justice to Ireland politically as well as in relation to the
law of landlord and tenant. In the first place, he said Ireland had not
an adequate number of members to represent her in the House, next she
wanted an extension of the franchise, thirdly, corporate reform, and,
lastly, a satisfactory arrangement of the temporalities of the church.
These four general remedies he demanded from the House, as a mode of
coercing the people of Ireland, by their affections and their interests,
into a desire to continue the Union with England. "I want," he said,
"the House to determine at once to do justice to Ireland politically as
well as in relation to the law of landlord and tenant."

He maintained that the Land Laws passed since the Union should be
repealed, and above all he called for full compensation for every
improvement made by the tenant. "Labour," he said, "is the property of
the tenant, and if the tenant by his labour and skill improved the land,
and made it more valuable, let him have the benefit of those
improvements, before the landlord turns him out of possession." In Lord
Devon's report he found the superior tranquillity of Ulster was traced
to the security given to the tenant by tenant right, in proof of which
he quoted the evidence of Mr. Handcock, Lord Lurgan's agent, and other
Northern witnesses who were examined before the Devon Commission. "This
then," he continued, "is the evidence of the North of Ireland as to the
value of tenant right. How often have I heard all the boast of the
superior tranquillity of the North? It was because they were better
treated by their landlords, and, generally speaking, there was a better
feeling there towards the landlords, and because the tenants were
allowed to sell their tenant right. In the County Tipperary there is an
agrarian law, which is the law of ejectment; in the province of Ulster
there is a general law giving the tenants valuable rights. He (Mr.
O'Connell) called upon the House to make their choice between the two.
Now was the time for the choice. The country had arrived at a st