This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/16/2023
MORLEY, John (1838–1923). Autograph letter signed (“John Morley”), 20 July 1896, regarding the “Irish Land Bill”.
2 pp., small 4to (254 x 203 mm), on a single bifolium, signed on integral leaf, old center folds, old mounting traces on verso. In 1881, a Land Law Act was passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom in an attempt to solve the problem of tenant–landlord relations in Ireland. The Act reduced the landlord to not much more than a receiver of rents and the financial assistance was too small to attract tenants as they could not afford it, and only a few hundred holdings were bought under the Act. The Act was amended by the 1896 Land Act, increasing the amount available for purchase, and removed the clauses which made the Act unattractive. Morley was Chief Secretary for Ireland in 1886 and again in 1892–1895. In this letter, Morley critiques the new Chief Secretary Gerald Balfour and his handling of the Land Law Act of 1887, an Act that was amended by the 1896 Land Act in which Balfour was a part of.