poor country, and needs the financial resources which only
the Imperial Parliament can provide. She is, moreover, a country divided
into hostile camps marked by strong racial and religious differences. As
Sir George Trevelyan long ago pointed out, there is not one Ireland,
there are two Irelands; and only so far as Ireland continues an
integral part of a larger whole can the antagonism between the two
elements be prevented from forming a dangerous obstacle to all real
progress.

Nationalist politicians, of course, diagnose the situation very
differently. Apply suitable remedial measures, say the Unionists, to the
social and economic conditions of the country, and it is not
unreasonable to hope that political discontent--or, in other words, the
demand for Home Rule--will gradually die away of itself. Give us Home
Rule, say the Nationalists, and all other things will be added to us.

The main object of the present paper is to give a bird's eye view of
Unionist policy in relation to rural development in Ireland during the
eventful years 1885-1905. It does not pretend to deal with the larger
issue raised between Unionism and Nationalism; but incidentally, it will
be found to throw some interesting side lights upon it.

The Irish Question in its most essential aspect is a Farmers' Question.
The difficulties which it presents have their deepest roots in an
unsatisfactory system of land tenure, excessive sub-division of
holdings, and antiquated methods of agricultural economy.

Mr. Gladstone endeavoured to deal with the system of land tenure in the
two important Acts of 1870 and 1881; but the system of dual ownership
which those Acts set up introduced, perhaps, as many evils as they
removed. It became more and more evident that the only effectual remedy
lay in the complete transference of the ownership of the land from the
landlord to the occupying tenant. The successful application of this
remedy with anything like fairness to both sides absolutely demanded the
use of State credit on a large scale. The plan actually adopted in a
succession of Land Acts passed by Unionist Governments, beginning with
the Ashbourne Act of 1885, and ending with the Wyndham Act of 1903, is
broadly speaking as follows:--The State purchases the interest of the
landlord outright and vests the ownership in the occupying tenant
subject to a fixed payment for a definite term of years. These annual
payments are not in the nature of rent: they represe