A. C. Lambert is mentioned many times in the Wicklow Newsletter of the early 1870s, always in reference to the issue of land reform and the various Land Bills proposed at that time. He was a popular and intelligent contributor to the debate. The following extract, from his pamphlet Hints and Suggestions for the Government, on the Land Act, Public Houses, Home Rule, and Education, is typical of his work:
Lord Derby, in his recent speech on public affairs at Liverpool, when alluding to the Land Act, is reported to have said that - ''The lands have been practically handed over to the peasantry.'' Now in reference to this rather loose remark of his lordship (for such, coming from the lips of a philosophic statesman, it appears to be), I emphatically but respectfully assert, that it is not in his lordship's power to make good by sound argument the truth of this statement.
I firmly maintain before Europe, or indeed the whole world, that the true theory of the land is this: -
(a) The Almighty God is the great head landlord.
(b) The State is the agent of the Almighty, holding the land in trust for the good of the entire community.
(c) The landlord (so called) is the agent of the state, and it is his duty either to cultivate the land in his possession himself, for the good of the public (including his own good), or let it out to others as his agents for this purpose.
(d) The tenant is the agent of the landlord, and the like duty appertains to him as to his 'lord.'
(e) The entire population of any country is entitled to ''the fruits of the earth'' on fair conditions.
It therefore follows that if the landlord and tenant cannot agree between themselves, on terms which shall secure to the country good husbandry, it is the bounden duty of the state, as the superior landlord and the conserver of the public ''good,'' to interfere, by appointing ''state officers'' with ample powers to do substantial justice between both parties, with the view of securing the proper cultivation of the soil.
This, then, is the principle which the government have (partially) acted on, and it cannot be said to be ''practically handing over the lands to the peasantry,'' but, on the contrary, simply doing justice to the peasantry, the landlords, and the public; and I boldly assert that it is the true one, and that not only for Ireland, but also for England, France, Spain, Germany, and every civilized country on the face of the globe. And I further affirm (speaking most respectfully), that it is not in the power of the eminent statesman alluded to, or any mortal man, to contradict it.
- The Wicklow Newsletter, Saturday, February 10, 1872.
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