at the same time informed that the rent was raised to an extent that
caused the possession to be a dead loss. On threatening to throw up
the concern, some reduction was made, which brought the rent as close
as possible to the full letting value.

I have been told by a well-informed gentleman, whose veracity I cannot
doubt, that it is quite common in the county of Down (and indeed
I have been told the same thing in other counties) to find an
_improving_ tenant paying 2 l. to 3 l. an acre for land, which he has
at his own expense brought up to a good state of cultivation,
while the adjoining land of his lazy neighbour--originally of equal
value--yields only 20 s. to 35 s. an acre. The obvious tendency of
this unjust and impolitic course on the part of landlords and agents,
is to discourage improvements, to dishearten the industrious, and to
fill the country with thriftless, desponding, and miserable occupiers,
living from hand to mouth. There are circumstances under which even
selfish men will toil hard, though others should share with them the
benefit of their labours; but if they feel that this partnership in
the profits of their industry is the result of a system of legalised
injustice, which enables unscrupulous men to appropriate at will the
whole of the profits, their moral sense so revolts against that system
that they resolve to do as little as they possibly can.

The consequence of these painful relations of landlord and tenant,
even in this comparatively happy county, is a perceptible degeneracy
in the manhood of the people. Talk to an old inhabitant, who has been
an attentive observer of his times, and he will tell you that
the vigorous and energetic, the intelligent and enterprising, are
departing to more favoured lands, and that this process has produced
a marked deterioration in the population within his memory. He can