law regulating the relations of landlord and tenant were based upon
justice and equity, the wrong done by the late earl, if any, was a
wrong for which the tenants should in no way be held responsible. The
wrong was done to the heir-at-law. To him, and not to the tenants,
compensation should have been made by the executors. And after all, it
was really to him that the money was advanced to buy up the leases,
in order to save him from assassination, for the tenants had no legal
claim upon them.

The natural, proper, and honest course, then, for the landlord, was to
have kept the 30,600 l. as compensation to himself for the mistake
of his predecessor, and to let the leases stand. If he considered
the peace of the country, if he wished to inspire in the minds of
the people respect for the rights of property, or confidence in the
Government, he would not have adopted the desperate course of breaking
120 contracts, kindling the flames of agitation, and planting Ribbon
lodges all over a district hitherto peaceful and tranquil. But he was
bent on crushing the independent yeomanry into the abject condition
of tenants-at-will. To carry out this purpose, Mr. Trench was
indispensable. He knew how to tame the wild Irish. And Mr. Trench was
equal to the occasion. He went to reside a few weeks at Tullamore, to
reconnoitre the enemy's position. He writes as if this was the first
time he made acquaintance with the estate. But his own residence
was in the Queen's County, not far off; and there is good reason to
believe that he knew all about Geashill long before; and all about
every estate belonging to an English absentee in the four provinces;
for he had, growing up around him, a young generation of land-agents,
trained in all the arts of modern management, and one of the ablest
of these, his son, Mr. T.W. Trench, became his partner in this agency.
Mr. Trench's tactics are not new, though he excels all men in their