ms of
tenants), and, at the same time, of satisfying the claims of many of
the warmest advocates of the tenant class. It is calculated to protect
the farmers from selfish landlords, whose conduct has tended much to
produce the serious disaffection that now prevails.

'I need not burthen you with a lengthened recital of the facts which
render such legislation absolutely necessary to the tranquillity of
society. In outline, however, they may be briefly stated--

'_First_--The great mass of Irish tenantry have no better title to
their holdings than the will of their landlords.

'_Second_--Education is daily rendering the tenant class more
impatient of the condition of dependence which their want of title
necessitates.

'_Third_--Every good tenant must improve his land more or less, in
order to live in comparative comfort.

'_Fourth_--The rentals of Ireland are steadily following the
improvements of the tenants. Some landlords suffer a considerable
margin to exist between the actual value and the rent paid; while
others lose no opportunity of forcing the rents to the highest amount
that circumstances permit.

'_Fifth_--Although good tenants must improve in order to live
comfortably, their improvements are not one-fourth of what the
condition of the country invites, and are far below what they would be
if the occupiers were afforded equitable security.

'_Sixth_--Trade, manufactures, and industrial occupations require
local accumulations of surplus capital in order to their prosperity;
and such accumulations are hindered by the general want of security
of tenure. Society at large is therefore deeply interested in the
protection of the tenant class.

'_Seventh_--The increased expense of the governmental establishments,
civil and military, which Irish disaffection entails, renders it a
matter of imperial importance that the Irish land question should be
satisfactorily settled.

'Irish rentals have, in some counties, increased more than tenfold
since the beginning of the eighteenth century.'

The next witness shall be a landlord, one of the best and noblest of
his class. At a tenant-right meeting of the county Longford, the Earl
of Granard said:--'The proposition commences by asserting that which
has been acknowledged by successive administrations--that the present
state of the land laws of Ireland is highly unsatisfactory. The
necessity for their reform has been urged upon parliament since the
days of O'Connell u