thing. The system
in this case being to deny their husbands employment upon the property,
in order to drive them, by the strong scourge of necessity, off it, the
poor men were compelled to seek it elsewhere, whilst their sorrowing and
heart-broken families were fain to remain and beg a morsel from those
who were best acquainted with the history of their expulsion, and who,
consequently, could yield to them and their little ones a more cordial
and liberal sympathy. After thus witnessing the consequences of bad
management, and worse feeling, in the shape of houses desolate, villages
levelled, farms waste, old age homeless, and feeble mothers tottering
under their weaker children--after witnessing, I say, all this, we came
to the village called Drum Dhu, being one of those out of which these
unhappy creatures were so mercilessly driven.

"A village of this description is, to say the least of it, no credit to
the landed proprietors of any country. It is the necessary result of a
bad system. But we know that if the landlord paid the attention which
he ought to pay, to both the rights and duties of his property, a bad
system could never be established upon it. I am far from saying, indeed,
my dear Spinageberd, there are not cases in which the landlord finds
himself in circumstances of great difficulty. Bad, unprincipled,
vindictive, and idle tenants enough there are in this country--as I am
given to understand from those who know it best--plotting scoundrels,
who, like tainted sheep, are not only corrupt themselves, but
infect others, whom they bring along with themselves to their proper
destination, the gallows. Enough and too many of these there are to be
found, who are cruel without cause, and treacherous without provocation;
and this is evident, by the criminal records of the country, from
which it is clear that it is not in general the aggrieved man who takes
justice in his own hands, but the idle profligate I speak of now. Many
indeed of all these, it is an act due to public peace and tranquility to
dislodge from any and from every estate; but at the same time, it is not
just that the many innocent should suffer as well as the guilty few. To
return, however, to the landlord. It often happens, that when portions
of his property fall out of lease, he finds it over-stocked with a swarm
of paupers, who are not his tenants at all and never were--but who in
consequence of the vices of sub-letting, have multiplied in proportion