He wandered about, looking in vain for shelter from those who dared not
give it. He was expelled with circumstances of peculiar cruelty from one
cabin. He was found next morning, cold, stiff, and dead, on the ground
outside. The poor people who had refused him shelter, were tried for
their lives. They were found guilty of manslaughter _only_, in
consideration of the agent's order. The agent was not found guilty of
anything, nor even tried. The landlord was supposed to be a model
landlord, and his estates were held up at the very time as models; yet
evictions had been fearfully and constantly carried out on them. Mr.
Butt has well observed: "The rules of the estate are often the most
arbitrary and the most sternly enforced upon great estates, the property
of men of the highest station, upon which rents are moderate, and no
harshness practised to the tenantry, who implicitly submit." Such
landlords generally consider emigration the great remedy for the evils
of Ireland. They point to their own well-regulated and well-weeded
estates; but they do not tell you all the human suffering it cost to
exile those who were turned out to make room for large dairy farms, or
all the quiet tyranny exercised over those who still remain. Neither
does it occur to them that their successors may raise these moderate
rents at a moment's notice; and if their demands are not complied with,
he may eject these "comfortable farmers" without one farthing of
compensation for all their improvements and their years of labour.

I have shown how the serfdom of the Irish tenant leads to misery. But
the subject is one which would require a volume. No one can understand
the depth of Irish misery who has not lived in Ireland, and taken pains
to become acquainted with the habits and manner of life of the lower
orders. The tenant who is kept at starvation point to pay his landlord's
rent, has no means of providing for his family. He cannot encourage
trade; his sons cannot get work to do, if they are taught trades.