nder the Act of 1881.

It was roundly denounced by the landlords.[5] Lord Hartington declared
that were it to pass it would have the effect of stopping the payment of
rent all over Ireland, and Sir Michael Hicks Beach spoke of it as "one
which, though purporting to be a mere instalment of justice to the poor
Irish tenant, is an act of gross injustice and confiscation to the
landlords of Ireland." The Bill was thrown out by a majority of
ninety-five, and the Plan of Campaign on the part of tenants against the
payment of impossible rents was the result.

A Royal Commission, under the chairmanship of Lord Cowper, was appointed
to inquire into the administration of the Land Laws. The Commission
reported in January, 1887, and bore out the grounds on which Parnell
had based his Bill of the previous year. It felt "constrained to
recommend an earlier revision of judicial rents on account of the
straitened circumstances of Irish farmers." It recommended that the term
of judicial rents should be lowered from fifteen years to five, that
those rents already fixed should be revised, and that leaseholders
should be brought under the Act of 1881. In reference to the Bill of the
year before Lord Salisbury had said that the revision of judicial rents
would not be honest and would be exceedingly inexpedient.[6] The Bill,
which is known as Lord Cadogan's, which was introduced on the last day
of March, 1887, and which purported to carry out the recommendations of
the Cowper Commission, opened the Land Court to leaseholders, setting
aside in this way the more solemn forms of agrarian contract. As regards
authorising the reduction of judicial rents on the ground of the fall in
prices, it did nothing, and the Prime Minister repeated his opinion that
"to do so would be to lay your axe at the root of the fabric of
civilised society."[7]

Mr. Balfour, who, in the month of March, had become Chief Secretary,
proclaimed with equal force that it would be folly and madness to break
these solemn contracts.[8] In the Bill, as at first brought in, the
Court had, in fact, power to vary contracts by fixing a composition for
outstanding debts and determining the period over which payment should
extend. In May the Government accepted the principle that the Court
should not only do this (settle the sum due by an applicant for relief
for outstanding debt), but also should fix a reasonable rent for the
rest of the term. The Ulster tenants insisted on this, b