Wise Policy of the Canadian Parliament

John Francis Maguire
1868
CHAPTER VII (6) start of chapter

To get rid of this intolerable grievance, which was properly regarded as a grave public evil as well as individual oppression, the Canadian Legislature passed a law alike vigorous and comprehensive. The 'casual rights,' specially including those mentioned, were bought by the State at a cost little short of One Million Sterling; and an arrangement was made for the capitalisation and purchase of the rent by the tenant, and its compulsory sale by the landlord. Here was an instance of serious danger wisely averted by a measure which in the British Parliament would possibly be considered revolutionary, if not altogether confiscatory in its character. But statesmen in new countries are either more vigorous or more far-seeing than statesmen in old countries, who are trammelled by traditions and enfeebled by prejudices; besides, the very instinct of a young nation is to remove from its path every visible impediment to its progress.

The Irish in America, first published in 1868, provides an invaluable account of the extreme difficulties that 19th Century Irish immigrants faced in their new homeland and the progress which they had nonetheless made in the years since arriving on a foreign shore. A new edition, including additional notes and an index, has been published by Books Ulster/LibraryIreland:

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