being the voice of wisdom. It is the cry of crafty landlords swelled by the shouts of some obsequious tenants, but is not the manly utterance of the true wants and wishes of sensible, unsordid Highlanders. MR CAIRD AGAIN: OR THE PEEL MISSIONARY TO IRELAND. THE great agriculturist of Auchness having dispatched a pilotpamphlet to indicate his literary course, has now, it appears, come out as an established member of the republic of letters, and inflicted a lusty little volume upon the reading world. The price of his new work (we believe nine or ten shillings) seems rather heavy in these days of declension; but as we presume the illustrious Caird is about to exchange high farming for high book-making, he must do his best to make authorship as profitable as potato planting. The origin of mighty undertakings is an interesting theme, and therefore the story of Mr Caird's advent to Ireland, and his consequent concoction of a book of travels, must attract the attention of all enquiring minds. Our readers cannot have forgotten Sir Robert Peel's autumnal sojourn at Eilan Aigas-— what shots he fired-and what deer of Lord Lovat's he did not kill; but the statesman was not lost in the sportsman, as we shall speedily see. Mr Caird having committed to paper and print his astonishing revelations regarding the mystery of high farming, the ex-Premier pitched upon the Auchness romancer as just the man fitted to gather facts in support of his (Sir Robert's) renowned plan for the plantation of Connaught; and, upon an earnest representation of the matter to the Whig Government, it is alleged that Mr Caird was sent to investigate, at the public expense, Ireland's aptitude for high farming, with a special view to the "West of Ireland as a Field of Investment for Capital." Accordingly, the literary farmer of Baldoon (we were on the point of writing Balderdash) packs up his portmanteau, and departs with dignified speed for the sister island. We are sure, from his acknowledgments of innumerable attentions, that his right honourable patron provided him with a case of well-crammed credentials, calling upon all Peelites to come to the succour of their chief, by helping Mr Caird to puff off the plantation scheme. We can fancy Baldoon filled with a sense of the important aid he was to render to his somewhat nonplussed employer In my pocket I have letters, So Mr Caird pops over to Dublin, then repairs to the West, "skims o'er the plain" with Camilla swiftness of step, eating, drinking, and sleeping at every great man's house on his route, and swallowing down with his champagne every tale which his aristocratic hosts were pleased to palm upon him as to the probable feeling of the population towards immigrant farmers," or, in other words, towards Peel's plantation schemers. But Mr Caird, in order to requite his noble and gentle entertainers, makes his pages do the work of the Times' supplement, by advertising countless farms which lords and baronets are desirous to let, and he puffs them off in a canny style, which would befit a Caledonian George Robins. To us, who know Ireland thoroughly, this seems the main drift of Mr Caird's book-for of sound, useful, or novel information respecting that country, the volume is as barren as the Bog of Allen is of five shift crops, or other subtleties of Auchness husbandry, barring the potato. Even when Mr Caird falls upon a theme which it might be supposed his habits qualified him to descant upon, his failure of the faculty of discernment disables him from doing the slightest justice to the subject. For example, he meets with East Lothian farmers, who had transferred themselves to Ireland long before the fine plans of ruining themselves by means of high farming had seized hold of Scottish agriculturists; Mr Caird notices their success in the midst of surrounding wretchedness and failure, but he omits to tell us why the Scotch are incomparably the most eligible improvers for Ireland. The fact is, that their thrifty habits, and economical mode of livingtheir attention to small savings and small gains-fit them to give a good example in a very poor country, which would be equally damaged by English expensiveness and Irish improvidence. As we do not meet with anything in Mr Caird's travels which may not be found in the commonest road-book or gazeteer, we will spare our readers the recital of his common-places. We take it, that our tourist went to Ireland as a sort of Connaught Ranger on the staff of Sir Robert Peel, whose grand plantation project is still uppermost as a stepping-stone to another snatch of premiership. "A comprehensive scheme, like that developed by Sir Robert Peel in the last session of Parliament, is absolutely necessary for the safety of the west of Ireland," asserts Caird the confidant. But we assert, in our turn, that Sir Robert Peel's plantation scheme, so far as it could be comprehended (for it was a chaos of contrarieties), would, if acted upon, inflict an Iliad of woes upon Ireland. The ex-Premier takes a line out of history, just as a cotton-spinner draws a thread out of a handful of wool. He reads that Sir Francis Bacon planned the plantation of Ulster, which was a depopulated country; and Sir Robert Peel proposes to make a plantation in Connaught, for which the way is to be prepared by driving out and expatriating the inhabitants, and, in effect, confiscating their property. Truly the mantle of the Verulam philosopher has not fallen upon the Drayton man of money." 66 It, however, may be satisfactory to the friends of Ireland to be made aware, that there is at this moment going forward in the heart of Connaught a plantation scheme of much better promise than Sir Robert Peel's, although unprotected by London companies of gormandising speechifyers. The Society of Friends have purchased an immense tract of territory in Galway, with the view of spreading agricultural improvement-exciting industry, by giving a just and regularly-paid recompense for labour-and thus planting civilisation and comfort in a region teeming with neglected and oppressed human beings. Over this establishment-Colmanstown, model farm, Glantane-the society have placed Doctor Bewley, a man to whom Irish agriculture owes more of institutional instruction than to any other person. Doctor Bewley has given up a high position in a lucrative profession, to devote himself to the arts of amelioration in the wilds of Connaught; and his success is commensurate with his zeal. This is the true mode of effecting improvements-very different from orations after a Lord Mayor's dinner, or book-making perpetrated by missionary Caird! TENANT RIGHT. A writer who feels desirous of rendering any real service to the present generation must be endued with no common share of boldness and independence of mind; for he has to reckon upon finding himself in constant conflict with the popular fallacies of the day; and these same fraudulent crotchets put forward too with bluster ing confidence which makes truth and its advocates appear quite spiritless and unworthy of attention. The intellect of all classes is kept in continual excitement by paradoxes so intimately connected with men's passions and interests, that it is difficult to seize a quiet pause for inculcating the most obvious common-sense principles. The turbulent Irish agitators who are always in want of some fresh fuel to heat their furnace, laid hold some years since of the question commonly called Tenant Right; and by dint of clamour and bluster, they contrived to make people believe that next to food, it was the article most needed for the comfort and prosperity of all nations. Ulster is the paradisaical region where this splendid boon is, it seems to be found in perfection; and therefore we hailed with no small satisfaction an opportunity afforded us of scrutinizing in Armagh, Tyrone, and other northern counties, the practical working of so great a blessing. The first discovery of importance we made, was, that Tenant right is, in plain English, no right at all. It is a usage which owes its origin to the settlement of Ulster in the reign of James I., when that five times confiscated country, at length assumed the aspect of civilization and culture. In proportion as property became secure, the incentive to improvement pervaded even humble possessions; and at length the progress of prosperity showed itself in the shape of a conventional custom which usurps the name of tenant right. If the small holder of land is desirous of quitting his petty farm, he looks out for a successor who is willing to give him the most money for his good will, i. e. investiture in the tenancy, subject to the consent of the landlord. The first element of the landlord's concurrence is the complete clearance of all arrears of rent; and upon many estates there is a further condition, viz, that all debts due by the outgoing tenant to parties residing on the estate, shall be liquidated. The bargain, if sanctioned by the landlord, then matures into fulfilment, and is carried out under the auspices of the agent, with whom the money is deposited; and who primarily sets apart sufficient to clear off the landlord's claims, then pockets something on his own account, makes a dividend among the departing farmer's home creditors, and finally hands the balance, if balance there be, to the swain now forsaking his former fields. And is this all, cries some angry agriculturist who has been terribly touched with the Irish ravings on the grand subject of tenant right. Yes indeed, good friends Fallowfield or Turnip-top; there is not a jot or tittle more in the mystery of tenant right, than what we have endeavoured to explain for your edification. We watched the whole exercise of this mighty privilege, as it was marked out by several cases that fell under our observation ; and we could never detect any greater benefits than those we have described. Nevertheless, we are not willing to under-rate them. There is advantage both to landlord and tenant in an available arrangement which consults for the interests of each, and which promotes useful change. Still tenant right does not rise above the level of provincial usage; and herein we would say its chief excellency consists. A kindly, but rough adjustment takes place between landlord and tenant, and the social system is thereby strengthened and improved. But what do our blind reformers struggle to effect? They want to stamp tenant right with the stern sanction of law; and to substitute litigation for amicable agreement. We hold that a tenant can have no rights connected with land, save those which are freely conceded by the will of the proprietor. This is the true doctrine of landed possessions. Proprietors may be despotic, narrow-minded, churlish, or ignorant of their own true interests; but we totally deny and distrust the interposition of law between landlord and tenant. All that legislation can properly accomplish is to enforce the fulfilment of lawful contracts; but to dictate the matter or mode of those contracts is a death-knell to the just rights of property. It is in this spirit that we are anxious to plead the cause of the poor. We have never shrunk from visiting with emphatic censure all systematic attempts to oppress the humble tillers of the soil; we have pointed out the mischief and misery of compulsory emigration; we have shown the injustice and impolicy (reacting upon proprietors themselves) of withholding from small cultivators a sufficient proportion of land; we have earnestly inculcated the wisdom and generous expediency of granting leases to all who are accepted as tenants, and who are capable of turning land to good account; but it never once entered into our head that any of those errors could be averted, or those advantages attained, by means of any law or laws which all the lawyers in the empire should concur in framing. Our expectation lies in a totally different direction. We are of opinion that very many proprietors of the soil will awaken to the dangers and difficulties of their present position, and exercise the good sense which God has given them to |