Absentee.

Absentee. a term applied, by way of reproach, to landlords who derive their rent from one country, and spend it in another. It has been especially used in discussions on the social condition of Ireland. As long as Ireland had its own parliament, a great portion of the large landed proprietors lived chiefly in the country during summer, and passed their winters in Dublin; thus spending a large portion of their incomes among their dependents, or at least among their countrymen. The Union changed the habits of the Irish nobility and gentry, who were attracted to London as the political metropolis, or were induced, by the disturbed condition of Ireland, to choose residences on the Continent. Such Irish landed proprietors were styled 'absentees;' and it was argued that their conduct was the great source of Irish poverty, as it drained the resources of the land, or, in other words, sent money out of Ireland. This, however, is not the only objection alleged against the system of absenteeism. One of its prominent results is to place the control of the Irish estates too much in the hands of agents and middlemen. As the landlord does not live among his tenantry, there cannot grow up between him and them that feeling of sympathy and community of interest, which should subsist between such important classes of the same country. The tendency of the system has been to weaken the sense of responsibility in owners of property, who are too distant to know the real needs and circumstances of the trust committed to them. It is now generally admitted that absenteeism is one of the leading causes that have brought about the present state of discord in Ireland. In conclusion, reference should be made to a new form of absenteeism that is already beginning to excite attention in America. A great deal of the land of the United States and of the colonies is held by proprietors living in England and on the continent of Europe. In this way, large sums are paid every year to owners who are so remote and know so little of their estates, that they cannot possibly fulfil the recognised duties of property. It will be seen that the objections brought against the absentee are both moral and economic.