“The Tullygrindem estate is, I am sorry to say, in a still more disheartening condition.  There is a very bitter and knowing family living on the townland of Beleeven, named M’Loughlin, who contrive to spread dangerous and destructive principles among the tenantry.  They are cunning, unscrupulous, and vindictive, but cautious, plausible, and cloaked with the deepest hypocrisy.  I have been endeavoring for years to conciliate, or rather, reform them by kindness, but hitherto without effect; whether I shall ultimately succeed in purifying this fountain-head of bigotry and unconstitutional principle—­I do not wish to use a shorter, but a much stronger term—­I cannot yet say.  I shall, at all events, from a sense of justice to you, my Lord, and of kindness—­mistaken it may be, I grant you—­to them, continue to make the desirable attempt.  My amiable friend, Hickman, has certainly been made the dupe of their adroitness, but, indeed, he is too simple and credulous for this world, as every kind-hearted man, with great benevolence and little judgment, usually is.  If I had not risen honestly and honorably, as I trust I may say, through the gradations of office upon this property, I think it probable I, might myself have been deceived and misled by the natural and seductive tact of this dangerous family.  Mr. Hickman espouses their quarrel, not exactly their quarrel, but their cause against me; but that is so completely in accordance with his easy simplicity of character, and his pardonable love of popularity, that it rather endears him to, me than otherwise.

“Indeed, I may say, my Lord, candidly and confidentially, that there is a spirit abroad upon your estates, which requires to be vigilantly watched, and checked with all due and reasonable promptitude; I allude principally to these M’Loughlins, and when I state that my excellent and well disposed friend is absolutely popular among your tenantry, even although he made them pay up to the very last gale, and that I am by no means in good odor with them, you will not be surprised when I furnish your lordship with a key to this same state of feeling which exists so generally in this country.  This, then, my Lord, is the secret:—­whenever an Irish agent devotes himself honestly to the wants, wishes, and interests of his employer, especially if he be needy and pressed for money, so sure will he become unpopular with the tenantry.  Now, I am somewhat unpopular with the tenantry, and my amiable friend, Hickman, is beloved by them; but I think your lordship by this time understands the why and the wherefore on both sides.  As your agent, my Lord, I should regret such popularity, at the same time, I think the intentions of poor, sweet, amiable Hickman’s heart, are such as we must all love and admire.

“With respect, my Lord, to the manufacture of the “forties,” as a certain comical class of freeholders are termed, I could have easily undertaken to double the number you mention, on the most reasonable terms, were it not for the discouraging system adopted by Mr. Hickman.  As it is, I must see what can be done; but your lordship knows that I can take no step either in this or anything else, until my appointment shall be finally confirmed.  Perhaps you are not aware of the remarkable document, on the subject in question, which has recently gone its rounds in this country.  It is called—­