my attention to
this point in particular, and I have ascertained beyond question, from
the best possible sources of information, that nothing will satisfy
the people of this country but what they do not hesitate to name with
the most determined emphasis--'Fixity of Tenure.' Whether they are
Protestants or Catholics, Orangemen or Liberals, Presbyterians or
Churchmen, this is their unanimous demand, the cry in which they all
join to a man. Every case in which tenant-right is disregarded, or in
which, while admitted nominally, an attempt is made to evade it, or
to fritter it away, excites the bitterest feeling, in which the whole
community sympathises.

They deny, however, that the existing tenant-right is a sufficient
security:--

Because it depends on the option of the landlord, and cannot be
enforced by law.

Because even the best disposed landlord may be influenced to alter his
policy by the advice of an agent, by the influence of his family, or
by the state of his finances.

Because a good landlord, who knows the tenants and cares for them, may
be succeeded by a son who is a 'fast young man,' addicted to the
turf and overwhelmed in debt, while the estate gets into the hands of
usurers.

Because in such a case the law affords no protection to the property
of the tenant, which his family may have been accumulating on the
land since the first of them came over from England or Scotland,
and settled around their commander, after helping by their swords to
conquer the country, and preserve it to the crown of England.

Because it is not in human nature to avoid encroaching on the rights
and property of others, if it can be done at will--done legally, and
done under the pretext that it is necessary for 'improvement,' and
will be a benefit even to those who are despoiled.

Because the custom is no protection to a man's political rights as
a British subject. No tenant farmer can vote against his landlord in
obedience to his conscience without the risk of ruining his family.
The greater his interest in the land, the larger his investments,
the heavier his stake; the greater his accumulations in his bank--the
farm--the greater will be his dependence, the more complete
his political bondage. He has the more to lose. Therefore, if a
Conservative, he must vote for a Radical or a Catholic, who would pull
down the Church Establishment; or if a Catholic, he must vote for a
'No-popery' candidate, who ignores tenant-right, and