ear, or
in any other manner whatever, of any land of greater extent than the
quarter of a statute acre, shall be deemed and taken to be a destitute
poor person under the provisions of this Act, or of any former Act of
Parliament. Nor shall it be lawful for any Board of Guardians to grant
any relief whatever, in or out of the Workhouse, to any such occupier,
his wife or children. And if any person, having been such occupier as
aforesaid, shall apply to any Board of Guardians for relief as a
destitute poor person, it shall not be lawful for such Guardians to
grant such relief, until they shall be satisfied that such person has,
_bona fide_, and without collusion, absolutely parted with and
surrendered any right or title which he may have had to the occupation
of any land over and above such extent as aforesaid, of one quarter of a
statute acre." So that by this carefully prepared clause, the head of a
family who happened to hold a single foot of ground over one rood, was
put outside the pale of relief, with his whole family. A more complete
engine for the slaughter and expatriation of a people was never
designed. The previous clause offered facilities for emigrating to those
who would give up their land--the quarter-acre-clause compelled them to
give it up, or die of hunger. In the fulness of his generosity Mr.
Gregory had, he said, originally intended to insert "half an acre" in
the clause, but, like many well-intentioned men, he was over-ruled: he
had, he said, been lately in Ireland, and people there who had more
knowledge of the subject than he could lay claim to, told him half an
acre was _too extensive_, so he made it a quarter of an acre. It is not
hard to conjecture who his advisers were on this occasion.

This clause met with more opposition than the former one, but only from
a small band of kind, good-hearted men, Smith O'Brien called it a cruel
enactment; but as he had heard the Government were for it, he knew, he
said, to remonstrate against it was useless. Mr. Curteis, the member for
Rye, said the clause was meant for the benefit of Irish landlords--a
class that deserved little sympathy from the House or the country. Sir
George Grey, one of the Secretaries of State, supported the clause,
because he had always understood that small holdings were the bane of
Ireland; from which observation it is clear he accepted it as an
exterminating clause. Now, suppose it is admitted that small holdings
were the bane of Ire