e longed for the old home
and its freedom, envying the lot of the sturdy peasant to whom I have
alluded. Poor fellow! he must give way at last. But his proud manhood
is the stuff of which Hampdens are made.

I have devoted much time and attention to personal enquiries from town
to town, from village to village, and from house to house, seeking
corroborative evidence from men of all ranks and professions, on the
effect of the _Improved Land System_ on the working classes, and I
will here faithfully record as briefly as possible the result of my
enquiries. I must premise a few words as to the principles of the
system which is called 'English.'

1. There is the principle of _contract_, by which alone any tenant
is to be permitted to occupy land. There is to be no foothold in the
island, from the centre all round to the sea, from the top of the
highest mountain to the shore at low-water-mark, for any Irishman in
his native land, unless he obtains it by contract from a landlord and
pays for it.

2. There is the principle of _compensation_ for unexhausted
improvements at the rate of five or six per cent. on the outlay,
provided the improvements have been made with the knowledge and
consent of the landlord. A certain number of years is held to be
sufficient to recoup the tenant for his outlay. If he is removed
before that time he is entitled to the balance of his invested
capital; just as if the relation were strictly commercial, and as if
he had no further claim than his percentage. If the landlord makes the
improvement--which he prefers doing, on the new system--he requires
the tenant to pay at the rate of four to six per cent. in the form of
rent--a clear gain to the landlord, who can borrow money on much lower
terms, and can hardly invest his capital so profitably or so safely
elsewhere.

3. _Absenteeism_ is no disadvantage or loss to the country. This
principle is in great favour with the agents. There is no theme on
which they are so eloquent or so argumentative. In the absence of the
landlord the agent is all-powerful. What the Irish lord deputy was to
the Tudors and Stuarts, the Irish agent now is to the great absentee
proprietor residing in London or Paris. He will undertake to
demonstrate that the West-end of London would be just as prosperous if
the Queen and her court resided constantly at Balmoral or Killarney;
if the parliament met alternately in Edinburgh and Dublin, and if
the government offices were all