"The first principle, therefore, which an Irish landlord--or, indeed any
landlord--should lay down, as his fixed and unerring guide, is ever to
remember that his tenantry are his best friends--his only patrons--and
that instead of looking down upon them with contempt, neglect, or even
indifference, he should feel that they are his chief benefactors, who
prop his influence, maintain his rank, and support his authority.

"The second is--that the duties of the landlord to his tenantry are much
greater, and far more important than those of his tenantry to him, and
should at least be quite as equitably and attentively discharged.

"The third is--to remember that the great mass of the population in
Ireland belong to one creed, and the great bulk of landed proprietors
to another; and to take care that none of those fierce and iniquitous
prerogatives of power, which are claimed and exercised by those who
possess property, shall be suffered, in the name of religion, or
politics, or prejudice of any kind, to disturb or abridge the civil or
religious rights of the people, and thus weaken the bonds which should
render the interests of landlord and tenant identical. Prejudice so
exercised is tyranny. Every landlord should remember that the soil is of
no religion.

"The fourth is--simply to remember that those who live upon our
property have bodies and souls, passions, reflections, and feelings
like ourselves. That they are susceptible of hunger, cold, grief,
joy, sickness, and sorrow--that they love their children and domestic
relatives, are attached to their religion, bound by strong and heartfelt
ties to the soil they live on, and are, in fact, moved by all those
general laws and principles of life and nature, which go to make up
social and individual happiness--to remember, in short, that they are
men who have higher destinies in life, than merely administering to the
wants, excesses, or crimes of others; and that no condition has ever yet
been known to subsist between landlord and tenant, or even between man
and man, by which one party is required to surrender comfort, freedom,
and enjoyment, in fact, all that life is good for, merely to gratify the
wants, vices, or ambition of the other.

"The fifth and last is--not by oppression, cruelty, or rapacity, to goad
the people into madness and outrage, under the plausible name of law
or justice; or to drive the national mind--which is a clear one--into
reflections that may lead