ears in lieu of L10, and the land is to become the possession of
the tenant instead of the landlord as long as he may pay this reduced
rent. In fact all the bonds which have bound the landlord to his land
are to be annihilated. So also are the bonds which bind the tenant,
who will sell the property so acquired when he shall have found that
that for which he pays L8 per annum shall have become worth L10 in
the market.

It is useless to argue with the commissioners, or with the
Government, as to the inexpediency of such an attempt to alter the
laws for governing the world, which have forced themselves on the
world's acceptance. Many such attempts have been made to alter these
laws. The Romans said that twelve per cent. should be the interest
for money. A feeling long prevailed in England that legitimate
interest should not exceed five per cent. It is now acknowledged that
money is worth what it will fetch; and the interests of the young,
the foolish, and the reckless, who are tempted to pay too much for
it, are protected only by public opinion. The usurer is hated, and
the hands of the honest men are against him. That suffices to give
the borrower such protection as is needed. So it is with landlords
and tenants. Injury is no doubt done, and injustice is enabled to
prevail here and there. But it is the lesser injury, the lesser
injustice, which cannot be prevented in the long run by any attempt
to escape the law of "_caveat emptor_."

It is, however, vain to talk to benevolent commissioners, or to
a Government working by eloquence and guided by philanthropy,
regardless of political economy. "Would you have the heart," asks
the benevolent commissioner, "to evict the poor man from his small
holding on which he has lived all his life, where his only sympathies
lie, and send him abroad to a distant land, where his solitary tie
will be that of labour?" The benevolent commissioner thus expresses
with great talk and with something also of the eloquence of his
employers the feeling which prevails on that side of the question.
But that which he deprecates is just what I could do; and having
seen many Irishmen both in America and in Ireland, I know that the
American Irishman is the happiest man of the two. He eats more; and
in much eating the happiness of mankind depends greatly. He is better
clothed, better sheltered, and better instructed. Though his women
wail when he departs, he sends home money to fetch them. This may
be fo