hon. Member for Roscommon (The | Members the Bill was pronounced to be O'Conor Don) that it would not have a unjust, and fraught with danger to the much better chance of passing in an community, he believed they would be Irish Parliament; but, at the same as unanimous in condemning the meatime, it was to be regretted that such sure as they had been in supporting it. proposals had been brought forward, He concurred in the eulogium passed whether they were likely to become law on the people of Ulster, and he went or not, because they were likely to be entirely with the observations of his hon. believed in by farmers in Ireland, since and learned Friend as to the propriety their effect would be to place sums of of considering the various parts of the money, not belonging to them, in the Bill which dealt with Ulster tenant pockets of the farmers without any ex- right. If proposals were made with ertion on their part. When such pro- the view of remedying some of the shortspects were held out to them, was it comings in the Act of 1870, he consilikely that they would devote themselves dered that would be a fair subject for with steadiness, energy, and industry to consideration on the part of the Governthe legitimate means of improving their ment and the House. As to the three holdings? Reference had been made proposals made with the view of settling to certain clauses in the Land Act. He the Land Question, he doubted very believed they would all have been glad much with regard to the first for a land to see the ownership of land distributed register whether, considering the adamong a larger number of persons in mirable arrangements of the Landed Ireland; but was it not probable that Estates Court, they would gain much one of the reasons for the comparative by it. As to the second, that relating non-success of the clauses known by the to amendments in the Land Act, he name of his right hon. Friend the Mem- thought they might consider it, and as ber for Birmingham (Mr. Bright) was to the Civil Bill Courts Bill, he was as the hope held out to tenants that they anxious as anyone could be to facilitate would be brought into practical posses- the progress of that Bill. But it was sion of their holdings without payment? perfectly easy to see how artificial was Objectionable as the Bill was, however, the excitement created in Ireland on this he was glad it had received an ample subject. How long had it been growing discussion. He believed the time thus and how had it been fostered? It was occupied would not be lost; but that the unfortunate legacy of the excitement the strong expression of opinion which attending the Act of 1870. If they exhad been heard not only from English amined into the history of the Bill of the but from Irish Members against the hon. and learned Member, they would Bill would not be without a salutary see how with leaps and bounds he had effect in Ireland. advanced to meet the demands made on behalf of the tenant-farmers of Ireland. He held that the demand of the Bill was an unreal demand, and when the tenant-farmers of Ireland were assured by the result of that night's proceedings, as they would be assured, that Parliament had no intention of granting their wild and extravagant demands-when they no longer entertained the hope that some political Party, on the pinch of necessity, would grant them-they would regret that they had been led into this agitation. He now understood that the hon. and learned Member for Limerick had given up the clauses with regard to the fixing of the rent, but it would not do for the hon. and learned Member to have two political voices. He must not tell the people in Ireland that nothing less than this Bill would satisfy them, and then say in this House that this

THE SOLICITOR GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. PLUNKET) agreed with the noble Lord who had just spoken in thinking that the ample discussion of the Bill which had taken place was matter for congratulation. It was difficult to treat the subject seriously, so preposterous were the proposals which the House were asked to adopt. There could be no doubt that a considerable number of Irish Members had pledged themselves on the national platform to fixity of tenure, free sales, and value of rents as the result of an agitation which had been increasing for the last five or six years. The question was one which had, in that form, been taking hold of the minds of the peasantry. But when they came to read that debate, and learned that by an overwhelming verdict of English, Scotch, Welsh, and Irish The Marquess of Hartington

sembly. Was there no hope that this artificial, vicious, dangerous, and injurious agitation would die away? Yes, there was such hope for it now in Ireland as there had been never before. There were influences at work in Ireland more powerful even than the advocacy of his hon. and learned Friend, or than the most able and skilful agitators. Education and prosperity were walking through the land, bringing with them civilization; silent and unseen, but irresistible as the forces of gravity and attraction. Appeals made to class interests, to old traditions, to past wrongs, would then no longer be made with success. We should then see the happy day for which true Irishmen had long looked, though often with a trembling and fitful expectation, when the peasantry of Ireland would rely on their own enterprise and industry for their prosperity, wealth, and happiness, and not upon the spoliation of classes or the prospect of obtaining property which was not theirs, and when they would be as contented, as happy, as loyal, and as prosperous as the peasantry of any other portion of Her Majesty's dominions.

matter of arranging the rent was a mere matter of detail. It was this sort of thing that had demoralized the people of Ireland. They were led to expect the fulfilment of these wild desires, and when the time came they got nothing at all, or very little. Under the provisions of the Bill, into which he would not at that hour of the evening enter further, the landlords of Ireland would be deprived of their property without receiving any compensation. They would be merely idle rent-chargers on the face of the land. Freedom of contract was abolished in every portion of the measure which touched upon contract at all, and the present generation of tenant-farmers would receive that to which they were not entitled, and which would be taken out of the pockets of the landlords for their benefit. In speaking of such a measure he could use no milder term than that it would be an act of Parliamentary plunder. And what was there to justify the proposals of the hon. and learned Member for Limerick? They could not be justified by the Returns which had been quoted by the hon. Member for Cork (Mr. Downing), for, as had been shown by his hon. and MR. BUTT, in reply, said, that if learned Friend the Member for London- violence of assertion could put an end derry (Mr. R. Smyth), his figures to this Bill, its existence would be imvanished down to almost nothing when perilled indeed. He deprecated the the actual number of evictions came to caricature given of the provisions of the be taken into account. It was also Bill by more than one hon. Member; somewhat remarkable that after two and with regard to the criticism that it long days' debate the supporters of the would prevent the landlord from reBill, who had, no doubt, been well primed covering arrears of rent, he declared by the tenant-farmers' associations, could that it did not interfere with a single adduce only three cases of real hardship remedy which the landlord now had for to justify them in bringing before the the enforcement of arrears. The prinHouse so sweeping a measure of confis- ciple of the Bill was fixity of tenure and cation. The hon. and learned Member fair rents, which could only be ascerfor Limerick cited some dramatic cases, tained by valuation. Everything else but had to go back 10 years for the was a detail. He denied altogether the most recent of them. It was a serious statement of the noble Marquess that responsibility which learned, able, and there was no evidence of the failure of eloquent men undertook when they en- the Act of 1870. Abundant evidence deavoured to associate with the present to this effect had been supplied from time those traditions of oppression cen- many quarters. It had been said that turies ago which were enough to make the Ulster custom was nothing but the any honest heart ache, and told the mere tolerance of the landlords; but peasantry of Ireland that because their that this was not so, clearly appeared land was confiscated three times over from Gordon's History of Ireland. When long ago they were therefore to rest the Marquess of Donegal refused to resatisfied with nothing less than the ful-new the leases on his estate, some of the filment of the claim put forward in this Bill, which the hon. and learned Member must know would never be conceded by that great and famous As

tenants rebelled, and were taken to gaol, whereupon 50,000 persons marched into the town of Belfast and took them out. The Protestant juries, however, acquitted

the men-first in Ulster, and afterwards the tenantry protection against it. He in Dublin, to which city the venue had did not say the system he recommended been removed by the Government. Ulti- was perfect, but he insisted in the first mately, Lord Donegal renewed the leases, place that the land should be held in without a fine, according to the tenant perpetuity. An eminent judicial authoright custom. It had been calculated rity held that the Land Act had done a that £24,000,000 of property was held great deal of mischief to the tenants alby the tenure of that old custom, which though he had thought at first it would had since been recognized by the Act of do them good, because there had latterly 1870. Again, Parliament had sanc- been a great number of ejectments under tioned the principle that the tenant had notices to quit. For himself, he wished a property in the improvements he had that he could devise any means by which made. How was that principle respected they could really protect the tenant and all over Ireland? He would tell them give him security for his improvements, it was made away with. Agreements and yet give the landlord the power of had been sent round on large estates. arbitrary eviction; but his ingenuity ["Name"] He would name-the Duke failed to enable him to do so. Eviction of Leinster's, the Marquess of Lans- was ruin in Ireland; no compensation downe's. Agreements had been sent that they could give would make it anyround on the Duke of Leinster's estate, thing but ruin to many tenants. He dexterously drawn up, altering the rent, proposed to meet that state of things varying the tenure; and the tenants by allowing the tenant to ask for perwere told that if they did not return next petuity of tenure. He believed, howmorning to the office and give their con- ever, that the effect of the Bill, if passed, sent, notice to quit would be served. would be that in a great many instances There was not one of those agreements the landlord and tenant would go on as which did not confiscate the rights which they were now doing. The tenant would Parliament had conferred on the tenant. be afraid to ask for perpetuity, because All over Ireland-not in consequence if he did so there must be an increase of this Bill, the Bill was in consequence of his rent; and, on the other hand, the of it-landlords were raising their rents. landlord would be afraid to increase the Mr. Edward O'Brien, himself a landlord, rent because the tenant would apply for said that under the Act of 1870 the secu- perpetuity. The matter would be arrity for the tenants' improvements totally ranged by arbitration. It was not true broke down, and that it provided no that the arbitrators who would fix the guarantee, direct or indirect, that the amount of rent under this Bill would rent should not be screwed up until the necessarily be tenant - farmers. The tenant was reduced to the verge of ruin, | landlord could appoint his own agent or and the value of the improvements be- the agent of any other landlord or any came the property of the landlord. He person engaged in farming an arbitrarepeated, the landlords in Ireland were tor on that matter. He was told that increasing their rents, doubling them, he was going to increase rent all over and in many cases even doubling the Ireland. The only time he had spoken valuation. This was general all over on this question out of the House was Ireland, and the effort of the landlords when he was requested at a meetto increase their rents was attended with ing of the Farmers' Club to take the utmost cruelty. Last year he had the Land Question in hand. He told asked for a Royal Commission on this the meeting that if he brought in subject, but he was refused. He now a Bill on the subject they must repeated the demand for a Royal Commission, and he called on the hon. Member for Carlow (Mr. Kavanagh), and those who sympathized with him, to vindicate the honour of the class to which he belonged from the odium which was being brought upon them by the proceedings of some of the Irish landlords. As long as there were landlords who exercised their power in doing injustice and wrong it would be necessary to give Mr. Butt

leave him to settle the clauses himself. He was asked to explain the Bill at a meeting of tenant farmers, and he distinctly said that the Bill he had prepared left it optional with a tenant to seek perpetuity of tenure; but he told them to remember that a great many of them held their land at a low rent, and that they could not get perpetuity unless they were willing and prepared to pay the highest rent that a solvent and re

sponsible tenant could fairly and reasonably pay. If the landlords could suggest a better tribunal than the Bill proposed for the fixing of rent he was ready to adopt it. He would not condescend to reply to the hon. Member for West Gloucestershire (Mr. Plunkett), who charged him with appealing to murder, a charge which displayed ignorance of more than Parliamentary language. His only regret was that it came from one with an Irish name, who might

say

"True patriots we, but be it understood We left our country for our country's good."

He

Dunbar, J.
Ennis, N.
Errington, G.
Fay, Č. J.
Gourley, E. T.
Henry, M.
Kirk, G. H.

Lawson, Sir W.
Lewis, Ó.
MacCarthy, J. G.
McKenna, Sir J. N.
Martin, P.
Meldon, C. H.

Moore, A.

Words added.

Smith, E.

Smyth, R.

Sullivan, A. M.

Synan, E. J.

Taylor, P. A.
Ward, M. F.
Whitworth, B.

TELLERS.

Nolan, Captain
Power, R.

Main Question, as amended, put, and agreed to.

Second Reading put off for six months.

This was the question-was the land tenure of Ireland in a satisfactory state? He ventured to say that it was not. agreed in this—that there was nothing more dangerous than constantly tampering with questions of property, and it was on that ground that he proposed a measure which would set at rest the Land Question in Ireland for the present generation. It was a great misfortune that the landlords of Ireland had not loyally accepted the spirit of the Act of 1870, and had not permitted it to give reasonable security to the tenant. He would not speak of disturbance; but he must remind the House that no country could be at peace where the sword of eviction was constantly hanging over the heads of the tenants. In conclusion, he asked the House to pass the Bill in order that an end might be put to the arbitrary power of landlords to evict their tenants, a power which was altogether LINEN AND HEMPEN AND OTHER MANUFACinconsistent with the principles that ought to guide the conduct of properties owned under the circumstances attaching to most of the estates in Ireland.

MR. A. MOORE said, he had spoken nine times previously, and he wished to state that although he thought the Bill would confiscate the rights of the landlords and would not touch those whom it was intended to benefit, yet being in favour of fixity of tenure and a new valuation, he felt bound to vote for it.

ISLE OF MAN (OFFICERS) BILL.

On Motion of Sir HENRY SELWIN-IBBETSON, Bill to make provision respecting the Superannuation Allowances or Pensions of persons employed in the service of Her Majesty in the Gobrought in by Sir HENRY SELWIN-IBBETSON and Mr. Secretary CROSS.

vernment of the Isle of Man, ordered to be

Bill presented, and read the first time. [Bill 215.]

TURES (IRELAND) BILL.

On Motion of Sir MICHAEL HICKS-BEACH, Bill to consolidate and continue the Laws relating to Linen, Hempen, and other ManufacSir MICHAEL HICKS-BEACH and Mr. SOLICITOR tures in Ireland, ordered to be brought in by GENERAL for IRELAND.

Bill presented, and read the first time. [Bill 216.] House adjourned at a quarter after Two o'clock.

Report Elementary Education Provisional | Convocation of the Province of CanterOrder Confirmation (Tolleshunt Major)* (114); General Police and Improvement (Scotland) Provisional Order Confirmation (Paisley) (112)-(Perth)* (113); Public Health (Scotland) Provisional Orders (Irvine and Dundonald)* (118); Provisional Orders (Ireland) Confirmation (Coleraine, &c.)* (107). Third Reading-Elementary Education Provisional Order Confirmation (Hornsey)* (104); Prevention of Crimes Act Amendment (125), and passed. Royal Assent-Trade Union Act (1871) Amendment [39 & 40 Vict. c. 22]; Jurors Qualification (Ireland) [39 & 40 Vict. c. 21]; Local Government Provisional Orders, Aberavon, &c. (No. 7) [39 & 40 Vict. c. 87]..