his very reverend agent, Dean Stannus. At a meeting of the Killultagh
and Derryvolgie Farming Society, in 1849, he stated that he had great
pleasure in subscribing to almost everything said by Mr. M'Call.
He had taken great pains to convince the late Lord Hertfort that
tenant-right was one of the greatest possible boons, _as well to the
landlords themselves_ as to the tenants. So advantageous did he regard
it to the interest of Lord Hertfort and the tenants, that if it were
not preserved he would not continue agent to the estate. Tenant-right
was his security for the Marquis of Hertfort's rent, and he would not
ask a tenant to relinquish a single rood of land without paying him at
the rate of 10 l. to 12 l. an acre for it.

Firmly believing in the statements thus emphatically and solemnly made
to them from time to time, that on this estate tenant-right was as
good as a lease, the tenants went on building houses, and making
permanent improvements in Lisburn and elsewhere, depending on this
security. And, indeed, the value of such security could scarcely be
presented under more favourable circumstances. The absentee landlord
receiving such a princely revenue, and absorbed in his Parisian
pursuits, seemed to leave everything to his agent. The agent was
rector of the parish of Lisburn, a dignitary of the Church, a
gentleman of the highest social position, with many excellent points
in his character, and pledged before the world, again and again,
to respect rigidly and scrupulously the enormous property which
a confiding tenantry had invested in this estate. If, under these
circumstances, the security of tenant-right fails, where else can it
be trusted? If it be proved, by open and public proceedings, that on
the Hertfort estate, the distinctly recognised property of the tenant
is liable to be seized and wrested from him by the agent, it is clear
to demonstration that such property absolutely requires the protection