property.

The Royal Commission, under the chairmanship of Lord Bessborough, which
was then appointed, reported in the following year that the Land Act of
1870 afforded no protection to the tenant who remained in his holding,
since compensation for improvements could only be claimed on giving up a
tenancy. The Commissioners, by a majority of four to one, declared
themselves in favour of the "three F.s," which the leader of the
Opposition denounced as "Force, Fraud, and Folly," and the Commissioners
justified their attitude by this statement, which was echoed by the
Richmond Commission, which reported soon after,--"freedom of contract,
in the case of the majority of Irish tenants, large and small, does not
really exist," the reason being that tenants in occupation were ready to
pay any rent rather than sacrifice the capital and labour they had sunk
in their holdings. The good seasons after 1870 had made this rise in
rent possible, but with the bad winter of 1880 the results became
disastrous.

In this manner the "three F.s," which the Land League demanded, and
which were secured by the Act of 1881, were conceded against the will of
the Government by sheer force of circumstances. A rumour which gained
currency early in 1880, that the Bessborough Commission would report in
their favour, was stigmatised by Mr. Gladstone as incredible, and the
adoption of the principle enunciated by the Commissioners resulted in
the resignation from the Cabinet of the Duke of Argyll. The demands
which had been made in 1850 by the Tenant League, the first concerted
action of North and South since the Union, were repeated. They included
a fair valuation of rent, the right of a tenant to sell his interest at
the highest market value, and security from eviction so long as he paid
his rent. Their claims were scouted in 1870, and it was not till eleven