Of this very class, I believe, is your agent, Yellow Sam; so that any
favorable expressions you may have heard from your tenantry towards him,
were most probably the result of dissimulation and fear. Besides, sir,
here is a testimonial from M'Evoy's parish priest, in which his father
is spoken of as an honest, moral, and industrious man."
"If what you say, Mr. O'Brien, be correct," observed the Colonel, "you
know the Irish peasantry much better than I do. Decidedly, I have
always thought them in conversation exceedingly candid and sincere. With
respect to testimonials from priests to landlords in behalf of their
tenants, upon my honor I am sick of them. I actually received, about
four years ago, such an excellent character of two tenants, as induced
me to suppose them worthy of encouragement. But what was the fact? Why,
sir, they were two of the greatest firebrands on my estate, and put both
me and my agent to great trouble and expense. No, sir, I wouldn't give
a curse for a priest's testimonial upon such an occasion. These fellows
were subsequently convicted of arson on the clearest evidence, and
transported."
"Well, sir, I grant that you may have been misled in that instance.
However, from what I've observed, the two great faults of Irish
landlords are these:--In the first place, they suffer themselves
to remain ignorant of their tenantry; so much so, indeed, that they
frequently deny them access and redress when the poor people are anxious
to acquaint them with their grievances; for it is usual with landlords
to refer them to those very agents against whose cruelty and rapacity
they are appealing.
Pages:
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128