He created dual-ownership
throughout Ireland, and this led, as Lord Dufferin and other far-seeing
statesmen had foretold, to the land being starved of both capital and
industry. Irish agriculture was brought to the brink of ruin. The misery
of those involved in that pass was exploited to engineer an attack on
the fabric of social order, and the lawlessness so engendered was
adduced as an argument for dissolving the Union under which such
tragedies could occur.
The leaders of the Conservative Party, when confronted with this
situation, determined that their duty, in accordance with the spirit of
the Act of Union, demanded some use of the resources of a joint
exchequer for ministration to the peculiar needs of Ireland. They
decided that the credit of the State should be employed to effect the
abolition of dual-ownership by converting the occupiers of Irish farms
into owners of the soil. Let it be granted that this policy had been
advocated by John Bright and enshrined in the Land Law Acts of 1870 and
1881. It must be added that these pious intentions remained a "dead
letter" until adequate machinery for giving them effect was provided by
the Land Purchase Acts, commonly called the Ashbourne Acts, of 1885 and
1889.
Pages:
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412