ABSTRACT
In February 1845 a royal commission headed by the Earl of Devon, an Irish landowner, published its report on the condition of Ireland. Peel formed the Devon Commission in 1843 hoping to counter Repeal ‘agitation.’ O ’Connell had added land-reform issues, such as fixity of tenure, to his Repeal platform, and Peel wanted a public relations exercise that would weaken the Liberator’s hold on the land question. The Commission was charged with exam ining Irish land-holding practices. O ’Connell characterized the Commission as ‘a board o f foxes deliberating gravely over a flock of geese,’ but he cooperated with the body, giving testimony before it (Gray, 1999, 58). The Commission did take its work seriously, visiting ninety towns all over Ireland and interviewing over a thousand witnesses. Although carefully avoiding any hint o f radical reform, the report nevertheless angered many Irish landlords because o f the public scrutiny given to their practice of subdividing their holdings at ever-increasing rents. Nor were the proprietors happy with the publicity given the arbitrary nature o f Irish laws for ‘Cheap Ejectment’ — eviction.
