Anybody can now see that the true view of the Irish cultivator was to regard him as a kind of copyholder or customary freeholder, or whatever other name best fits a man who has possessory interests in a piece of land, held at the landlord’s will, but that will controlled by custom.
Morley describes the perspective of the Irish cultivator as akin to a customary landholder under landlord control.
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If the idea was the direct gift of heaven, the policy was due to the sagacity and mother-wit of the great ecclesiastical statesmen.
Yet they had certainly no less value and truth than they ever had, and perhaps were more needed than ever in face of the present chaos of opinion.
What I expect is a healthful, slow fermentation in many minds, working towards the final product.
The plan for Ireland ought to be produced by the government of the day.
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