A portion of the English press, but a very small one, sympathised with
those miserable beings who were cast out of their dwellings to perish by
the roadside. The _Morning Chronicle_, in one of its leaders, thus dealt
with the subject: "We shall here state at once our opinion, in plain
terms, respecting this clearing system, by which a population, which has
for generations lived and multiplied on the land, is, on the plea of
legal rights, suddenly turned adrift, without a provision, to find a
living where there is no living to be found. It is a thing which no
pretence of private right or public utility ought to induce society to
tolerate for a moment. No legitimate construction of any right of
ownership in land, which it is for the interest of society to permit,
will warrant it. We hold, at the same time, that to prevent the growth
of a redundant population on an estate is not only not blameable, but it
is one of the chief duties of a landowner, having the power over his
tenants which the Irish system gives. As it is his duty, so it is, on
any extended computation, his pecuniary interest. He is to be commended
for preventing over population, but to be detested for tolerating first,
and then exterminating it.
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