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A man with an invention on which he has spent his life, but has no means to get it developed for the good of humanity—or even patented for himself-must feel the pinch of poverty very acutely.

To sum up the matter, the longer I live, the more I am convinced that the general view in respect to material means is a false one. That great riches are a misfortune is quite true; the effect of them in the moral sense (with here and there a glorious exception, however) is deplorable: a shower of gold falling continuously upon any body (or soul) is as the waters of a petrifying spring. But, on the other hand, the occasional and precarious dripping of coppers has by no means a genial effect. If the one recipient becomes hard as the nether millstone, the other (just as after constant 'pinching' a limb becomes insensible) grows callous, and also (though it seems like a contradiction in terms) sometimes acquires a certain dreadful suppleness. Nothing is more monstrous than the generally received opinion with respect to a moderate competence; that fatal gift,' as it is called, which encourages idleness in youth by doing away with the necessity for exertion. I never hear the same people inveighing against great inheritances, which are much more open to such objections. The fact is, if a young man is naturally indolent, the spur of necessity will drive him but a very little way, while the having enough to live upon is often the means of preserving his self-respect. One often hears what humiliating things men will do for money, whereas the truth is that they do them for the want of it. It is not the temptation which induces them, but the pinch. Give me neither poverty nor riches,' was Agur's prayer; 'feed me with food convenient for me, lest I be full and deny Thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor and steal.' And there are many things, flatteries, disgraceful humiliations, hypocrisies, which are almost as bad as stealing. One of the sharpest pinches of poverty to some minds must be their inability (because of their dependency on him and that of others upon them) to tell a man what they think of him.

Riches and poverty are of course but relative terms; but the happiest material position in which a man can be placed is that of 'means with a margin. Then, however small his income may be, however it may behove him to cut and contrive,' as the housekeepers call it, he does not feel the pinch of poverty. I have known a rich man say to an acquaintance of this class, 'My good friend, if you only knew how very small are the pleasures my money gives me which you yourself cannot purchase!' And for once it was not one of those cheap and empty consolations which the wealthy are so ready to bestow upon their less fortunate fellow-creatures. Dives was, in that instance, quite right in his remark; only we must remember he was not speaking to Lazarus. A dinner of herbs where love is,' is doubtless quite sufficient for us; only there must be enough of it, and the herbs should be nicely cooked in an omelette.

JAMES PAYN.

IRISH ABSENTEEISM.

In the course of the anti-rent agitation, which has been attracting so much notice in Ireland of late, the grievance of Absenteeism has been prominently and forcibly adverted to on more than one occasion. It is an old grievance, one that runs through Irish history from the very earliest times, sowing its seeds from century to century, and leaving ever a harvest of ills for future generations to reap.

A considerable period has elapsed since the subject was last discussed the state of Ireland has in the meanwhile materially changed, and now that the matter is being again brought into notice, it is most desirable the question should be carefully examined whether Irish absenteeism is really an evil and a grievance, and if so, how, and to what extent, it is such. More or less mistaken views have, as a rule, been held regarding it; authorities even have differed; and the parties concerned have each paraded and insisted upon the conclusions most in accordance with their personal interests and sympathies. The word 'absentee' has been variously defined. Some people only consider a landowner an absentee if he resides permanently out of Ireland. Others apply the term to a landowner who resides so little on his property that it is in no way benefited by the expenditure of the revenue which he derives from it, or by his personal presence-irrespective of whether he resides in Ireland or not. It is unnecessary to waste time in discussing which is the more accurate definition. The difference between them is merely one of degree, and the actual meaning of the word will make itself clear as we proceed.

Absenteeism begins to figure early in Irish history. So far back as the reign of Richard the Second its effects had begun to attract notice. Many of the English lords to whom grants of land had originally been made were found to have withdrawn to England, and as the Irish immediately resumed possession of the estates thus neglected, the English cause lost ground. This was deemed to be an evil requiring a remedy, and an Act was passed forfeiting two-thirds of the profits of the estates of all absentees.

In the reign of Henry the Eighth the non-residence of landowners again attracted attention, and the Legislature, recognising the very undesirable effects of the practice, applied a remedy of rather an

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effectual character, inflicting no less a penalty than forfeiture on several absentee landowners, and confiscating to the Crown the Irish estates of the Duke of Norfolk, the Earl of Shrewsbury, and others.1

The subject again comes into prominence in Elizabeth's reign, absenteeism having been the principal cause of the failure of her scheme for the settlement of Munster, and for the regeneration thereby of that portion of Ireland. The English nobles to whom she granted extensive estates out of the confiscated lands, were unwilling to take up their permanent residence in Ireland, and after a short time began to neglect their estates there, and to withdraw to England, and the scheme of settlement ended therefore in total failure.

The causes of this failure were subsequently so clearly recognised that when James the First was projecting the settlement of Ulster, the greatest care was taken to prevent a repetition of such results; and the success of his scheme was, in no small measure, due to the stringent conditions which were imposed on the settlers as to residence and as to the performance of the duties of their position as landFrom time to time after this, as we turn the leaves of Irish history, or peruse works relating to the state of the country, we find writer after writer referring to the subject.

owners.

Sir William Temple, writing from Dublin at the end of the seventeenth century, said :—

The country loses the expense of many of the richest persons or families at home, and mighty sums of money must needs go over from hence into England, which the great stock of rich native commodities here can make the only amends for. These circumstances, so prejudicial to the increase of trade and riches in a country, seem natural, or at least have ever been incident to the government here.

Dean Swift, some years later, in a sermon on the causes of the wretched condition of Ireland, said :

The second cause of our miserable state is the folly, the vanity, and ingratitude of those vast numbers who think themselves too good to live in the country which gave them birth, and still gives them bread; and rather choose to pass their days and consume their wealth, and draw out the very vitals of their mother kingdom among those who heartily despise them.

And in the Drapier's Letters the absentees fall under the lash of his satire.

Arthur Young, in his Tour in Ireland in the year 1780, gives a list of absentees, and estimates their rental at 732,000l., whilst he

The preamble of the Act is worth quoting:-Forasmuch as it is notorious and evident that this, the King's land of Ireland, heretofore being inhabited, and in due obedience and subjection unto the King's most noble progenitors, hath principally grown into ruin, desolation, rebellion, and decay, by occasion that great dominions, lands, and possessions had descended to noblemen of the realm of England, who, leaving the same, have absented themselves out of the said land of Ireland, demouring within the said realm of England, and not providing for the good order and suretie of the same their possessions there,' &c.

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estimates the rental of all Ireland at 5,293,000l. On these figures he remarks:

The total, though not equal to what has been reported, is certainly an amazing drain upon a kingdom cut off from the reaction of a free trade, and such a one as must have a considerable effect in preventing the course of its prosperity.

It is not the simple amount of the rental being remitted into another country, but the damp on all sorts of improvements, and the total want of countenance and encouragement which the lower tenantry labour under.

Many passages of similar purport could also be quoted from other writers.

By about the date of Young's Tour, the Irish Parliament had become a body of considerable importance, and, on more than one occasion, absenteeism formed the subject of discussion in the Irish House of Commons.

In 1773 Sir J. Blaquiere succeeded so far as to induce the British Ministers to assent to a tax on the property of absentees, but his proposal was lost, when it came before the Irish House of Commons, by a majority of 14.

Ten years afterwards, when the Irish Parliament had freed itself from the restraining provisions of Poynings' Act, and had become ' independent,' the subject was brought forward by a Mr. Molyneux, who proposed that a tax of four shillings in the pound should be deducted from all sums remitted to persons having estates in Ireland and not residing therein six months in the year; and justified his proposal on the ground that the noblemen and gentlemen who possessed large estates in Ireland, but who spent their income in another country, did not contribute to the support of the State in proportion to the property they possessed. This scheme did not meet with much favour. The Attorney-General moved an amendment to show his abhorrence' of the tax, which he thought should be 'scouted out of the House with every mark of reprobation,' and the proposal was rejected by 184 to 22.

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And yet it would appear that the grievance was a real one. Adam Smith, who, at least, may be regarded as an impartial judge, recognised and admitted the truth of the arguments urged in favour of a tax. He pointed out that those who live in another country contribute nothing by their consumption towards the support of the Government of that country in which is situated the source of their revenue; and that where there is no land-tax, nor any tax on the transference of property, as was the case in Ireland, such absentees might derive a great revenue from the protection of a Government to the support of which they did not contribute a single shilling.3

2 It is to be borne in mind that at this time Ireland had her separate Exchequer and paid the expense of her own Government.

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He adds: The inequality is likely to be greatest in a country of which the Government is in some respects subordinate and dependent upon that of some other.

Another long discussion took place in the Irish House of Commons in 1797. The arguments already stated were reproduced. It was again pointed out that absentee landlords who were possessed of estates variously estimated between a fourth and a sixth of the whole country, escaped all taxation, and that the burden of the cost of government fell entirely on the residents in Ireland. The proposal of a tax was again made, but again negatived. Once more the floods of declamation were let loose against it. The measure was unjust, unconstitutional, and impolitic; unjust as being a partial tax, unconstitutional as restraining natural liberty, and impolitic as tending to deter strangers from settling in the country. It was meant to compel landlords to reside in Ireland, but it was the absolute inherent right of every free subject to choose his habitation and establish his residence in any part of her Majesty's dominions he might think proper, and the imposition of a fine or coercion by the operation of a partial tax would be a direct subversion of that right. It was a class tax; it would render necessary a registry of all lands, and it would go to the ruin of trade and credit by diverting the cash of the country from commercial purposes.

A perusal of these discussions does not impress one much with the manner in which subjects were debated in the Irish House of Commons. There is not the slightest vestige of the recognition of any responsibility on the part of landowners towards their tenants and towards their country; nor was there a single word said in condemnation of a practice which, to say the least of it, was greatly to be deprecated. The discussions, moreover, never rose to the height of the general question, but dealt merely with absenteeism as a fiscal grievance; and this it undoubtedly was, in spite of all arguments and Parliamentary majorities to the contrary. The grievance, however, was only one so long as each country maintained its own Government and its separate Exchequer. In 1801 the Governments were united; in 1817 the Exchequers amalgamated; thenceforward the cost of Government was paid out of Imperial Funds, and the fiscal grievance ended.

Absenteeism, however, was not limited in its effects to this comparatively small fiscal question, and its real gravity lay in no such narrow compass. It is no exaggeration to say that, throughout the whole recent history of Ireland, absenteeism has affected the entire community of that country, politically, socially, and economically: its consequences have been far-reaching, all-embracing, and lasting in their character; and not alone was the state of the country affected

The people who possess the most property in the dependent, will, in this case, generally choose to live in the governing country. Ireland is precisely in this situation, and we cannot, therefore, wonder that the proposal of a tax on absentees should be so very popular in that country.' See Wealth of Nations, Book v., ch. 2.

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