This was an experiment, and it succeeded
beyond expectation.
Owen M'Carthy did not work with more zeal and ability as an humble
cotter than he did when a farmer; but the tide was against him as a
landholder, and instead of having advanced, he actually lost ground
until he became a pauper. No doubt the peculiarly unfavorable run of two
hard seasons, darkened by sickness and famine, were formidable obstacles
to him; but he must eventually have failed, even had they not occurred.
They accelerated his downfall, but did not cause it.
The Irish people, though poor, are exceedingly anxious to be
independent. Their highest ambition is to hold a farm. So strong is this
principle in them, that they will, without a single penny of capital, or
any visible means to rely on, without consideration or forethought, come
forward and offer a rent which, if they reflected only for a moment,
they must feel to be unreasonably high. This, indeed, is a great evil
in Ireland. But what, in the meantime, must we think of those imprudent
landlords, and their more imprudent agents, who let their land to
such persons, without proper inquiry into their means, knowledge of
agriculture, and general character as moral and industrious men? A farm
of land is to be let; it is advertised through the parish; application
is to be made before such a day, to so and so.
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