The agent, however humane, cannot be expected to have the same interest in the people as a landlord _ought_ to have.

The agent is the instrument used to draw out the last farthing from the poor; he is constantly in collision with them.

They naturally dislike him; and he, not unnaturally, dislikes them.
The burden, therefore, of giving that relief to the poor, which they always require in times of sickness, and when they cannot get work, falls almost exclusively upon the priests and the convents.

Were it not for the exertions made by the priests and nuns throughout Ireland for the support of the poor, and to obtain work for them, and the immense sums of money sent to Ireland by emigrants, for the support of aged fathers and mothers, I believe the destitution would be something appalling, and that landlords would find it even more difficult than at present to get the high rents which they demand.

Yet, some of these same landlords, getting perhaps L20,000 or L40,000 a-year from their Irish estates, will not give the slightest help to establish industrial schools in connexion with convents, or to assist them when they are established, though they are the means of helping their own tenants to pay their rent.