re,
who, without acquiring the name of an "exterminator" or a "tyrant,"
has succeeded in shaking off the load of teeming population and the
abomination of "duty work" by degrees, and has now a magnificent farm
of his own which might bear the inspection of Mr. Clare Read himself,
and of all Norfolk to boot. Mr. Crowe, too, has not gone through the
ordeal of being shot at like Colonel Barnard, and if not specially
loved by the people, has no kind of quarrel with them. Mr. Burton, of
Carnelly, who owns 9,669 acres in Clare, has been fortunate in getting
some rent, mainly in consequence of his tact in driving round one day
to collect it himself and taking his tenants by surprise. But Mr.
Burton is an exception, both in tact and fortune, to the majority of
landlords of the second rank. Colonel Vandeleur has been very
unfortunate, like all landholders encumbered with what would be called
small farmers in England. The few really large farmers in Clare, as a
rule, have paid up either openly or privately, and in sentiment are
quite with the landlord class. The lesser landlords are talking of
nothing but Dublin writs, and declare that the so-called peace of the
county is only unbroken because no attempt is made to execute the law.

The farmers are of course peaceful enough so long as they are
permitted to send a rich harvest to market, to pocket the proceeds,
and to pay no rent. "But," said a small landholder to me, "is this law
and order? Because I know it is hopeless at this moment to recover my
rent, and therefore abstain from proceedings, does it follow that the
peace would not be broken were I to put the law into operation?" I am
sorry for this gentleman, for I know that he is what is called in
commerce a "weak holder," or one who can afford neither to conduct his
business with a firm hand nor to throw it aside till better times. He
must go on, for he has mortgages and settlements on his estates; and,
admitted that his tenants would go away to-morrow without any trouble,
he could not spare what they owe him, and assuredly would not find new
tenants for his farms. He of course is for the immediate suspension of
the Habeas Corpus Act, and declares that to be the most merciful
solution of the immediate difficulty. To him the "Three F's" appear
altogether diabolical, and he proposes the substitution of "Three
D's"--Disarmament, Disfranchisement, and a Dictator, the more military
the better.

From the medium and smaller farmers