text:  May we not fairly suppose that when Mr O'Connell denounces his friends he would not hesitate to drag his political opponents to the bar of public opinion; and that the paucity of _facts_ which he is able to adduce against the landed gentry is a proof that they have not neglected the duties of their station in so flagrant a manner as his wholesale denunciations would lead us to expect? How can we be surprised at Irish absenteeism? Can we expect that any man who can avoid it will willingly expose the lives of himself and his family by taking up his residence amongst the "Thugs" of Tipperary? If an absentee comes to reside personally to superintend the improvement of his property and takes part of his own estate to make a demesne and build a mansion he must dispossess someone--_and like Lord Norbury he is shot_