5. That a change in those laws in a specified direction would pacify discontent and create agricultural prosperity.
A glance at any national newspaper or at the reports of an Irish debate, will show that I have not misrepresented the gist of the remarks to which I refer: "Millions of human beings have been driven across the Atlantic by the landlords of Ireland;" "Landlordism is the curse of the country;" "Emigration and the misery of the people is occasioned by the injustice of Parliament, and the iniquity of the laws which regulate the tenure of land;" "Ireland presents us with the spectacle of a whole nation fleeing from their oppressors;"—are the ordinary phrases in use.
Now, Sir, are these things true? That is the inquiry I propose to prosecute.
First, Has the Irish exodus, as it has been termed, been a calamity or the reverse?
We have to consider this question from two points of view, inasmuch as it has affected the condition of two classes of persons, namely, those who went away, and those who stayed at home.
There is one single fact which will probably be accepted as a safe indication of the effects of emigration on the destinies of those who took part in it. To their immortal honour, within 17 years after their departure they had sent back to Ireland upwards of 13,000,000l. of money,[1] chiefly for the
- ↑ See Appendix, p. 36.
