A FORGOTTEN ELEMENT IN THE LAND QUESTION.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.1
Sin,—Your article (in the Spectator of October 19th) on "A Forgotten Element in the Land Question," argues that the Irish peasantry will not be satisfied with any agrarian settle- ment unless it so " roots them in the soil" that eviction from house and farm are made impossible under any circumstances whatever. You may be right ; but how is this to be attained P Is the peasant to be prohibited from mortgaging his farm, and is no creditor to have power to take house and farm in execution ? Perhaps there is much to be said in favour of these suggestions— I believe, in some of the United States, the farmhouse, a certain number of acres, and a certain amount of farm stock cannot be seized by the creditor—but the greatness of such a change in our laws ought not to be disguised. Yet without it you cannot make eviction impossible. Such a law would, of course, prevent the peasant's property from being a security on which to borrow money. Perhaps this would be no evil. I remember, a generation ago, a sensible Irish county gentleman and magistrate, by no means given to extreme opinions, saying to me :—" I would repeal the law of mortgage. If a landowner wants money, let him sell." Such a law would also prevent the creation of charges in favour of widows and younger children, and as a consequence, would, I fear, greatly promote the minute division of land by will.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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