“The first principle, therefore, which an Irish landlord—­or, indeed any landlord—­should lay down, as his fixed and unerring guide, is ever to remember that his tenantry are his best friends—­his only patrons—­and that instead of looking down upon them with contempt, neglect, or even indifference, he should feel that they are his chief benefactors, who prop his influence, maintain his rank, and support his authority.

“The second is—­that the duties of the landlord to his tenantry are much greater, and far more important than those of his tenantry to him, and should at least be quite as equitably and attentively discharged.

“The third is—­to remember that the great mass of the population in Ireland belong to one creed, and the great bulk of landed proprietors to another; and to take care that none of those fierce and iniquitous prerogatives of power, which are claimed and exercised by those who possess property, shall be suffered, in the name of religion, or politics, or prejudice of any kind, to disturb or abridge the civil or religious rights of the people, and thus weaken the bonds which should render the interests of landlord and tenant identical.  Prejudice so exercised is tyranny.  Every landlord should remember that the soil is of no religion.

“The fourth is—­simply to remember that those who live upon our property have bodies and souls, passions, reflections, and feelings like ourselves.  That they are susceptible of hunger, cold, grief, joy, sickness, and sorrow—­that they love their children and domestic relatives, are attached to their religion, bound by strong and heartfelt ties to the soil they live on, and are, in fact, moved by all those general laws and principles of life and nature, which go to make up social and individual happiness—­to remember, in short, that they are men who have higher destinies in life, than merely administering to the wants, excesses, or crimes of others; and that no condition has ever yet been known to subsist between landlord and tenant, or even between man and man, by which one party is required to surrender comfort, freedom, and enjoyment, in fact, all that life is good for, merely to gratify the wants, vices, or ambition of the other.

“The fifth and last is—­not by oppression, cruelty, or rapacity, to goad the people into madness and outrage, under the plausible name of law or justice; or to drive the national mind—­which is a clear one—­into reflections that may lead it to fall back upon first principles, or force it to remember that the universal consent by which the rights of property are acknowledged, may, under the exasperation of overstrained pressure, in a land so peculiarly circumstanced as Ireland is, be altogether withheld, and thus its whole foundations shaken or overturned, and the justice of individual claims and prescriptive right lost in the tumult.

“These principles are simple, my Lord, but they ought at least to be better known, or what would be still more desirable, better practised.  As, however, my paper is nearly filled, I shall finish my communication with a short fab!e, to which I beg your lordship’s serious attention.