"
He maintained that the Land Laws passed since the Union should be
repealed, and above all he called for full compensation for every
improvement made by the tenant. "Labour," he said, "is the property of
the tenant, and if the tenant by his labour and skill improved the land,
and made it more valuable, let him have the benefit of those
improvements, before the landlord turns him out of possession." In Lord
Devon's report he found the superior tranquillity of Ulster was traced
to the security given to the tenant by tenant right, in proof of which
he quoted the evidence of Mr. Handcock, Lord Lurgan's agent, and other
Northern witnesses who were examined before the Devon Commission. "This
then," he continued, "is the evidence of the North of Ireland as to the
value of tenant right. How often have I heard all the boast of the
superior tranquillity of the North? It was because they were better
treated by their landlords, and, generally speaking, there was a better
feeling there towards the landlords, and because the tenants were
allowed to sell their tenant right. In the County Tipperary there is an
agrarian law, which is the law of ejectment; in the province of Ulster
there is a general law giving the tenants valuable rights.
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