JOURNAL OF THE IRISH LABOUR HISTORY SOCIETY

70 SAOTHAR13'respectable' and sober lifestyle. The moral agent was the mainspring of the whole system, supervisingpersonal behaviour, and 'continually urging and exhorting the tenantry' .16 The behaviour of all familymembers was expected to comply with the landlord's religious convictions. Any tenant charged withillegal' distillation was assured of im!llediate eviction, the singing of bawdy ballads was discouraged,and psalmody was taught in the schools in a direct attempt to replace them. Parents were advised tokeep their children from such vices as swearing, gambling and dancing, and all children were expectedto attend the estate schools. Since these were run along strictly evangelical lines, Roman Catholictenants were at somewhat of a disadvantage, and accusations of proselytism led to a heated controversyon the Farnham estatePIn this exercise of paternalistic benevolence can be seen the interaction of social, political, religiousand economic motives. The whole system seemed designed to erode traditional rural folk culture andreplace it with an alternative set of values. It indicates too how evangelical Protestantism and social andeconomic progress were inextricably linked in the minds of its promoters in the same way as IrishCatholic culture was associated with backwardness and inefficiency. The system professed to heightenthe individual responsibility of the tenants by cutting out middlemen and coercion. But the emphasis- indeed insistence - on high standards of personal and social morality meant that their lives were tightlymonitored and controlled, and choices strictly limited. ls The personalising of estate management, andthe obvious temporal advantages to be gained by conforming to the landlord's expectations, were adeliberate attempt to reinforce the bond between landlord and Protestant tenant, introducing a newelement of control at a time when other social, economic and political developments were weakeningthe traditional bonds. There' were also economic advantages. An overhaul of methods of estatemanagement was one aspect of the process of modernisation already under way on Irish farms in thelate 1820s.19 A consolidation of holdings, the closer relationships between landlord and tenant, and theimplementation of a more streamlined and efficient system of management was entirely reconcilablewith the new 'moral' order. This reform of estate administration was in may cases carried out withregard to purely materialistic considerations. But, as in other areas of Ulster life, evangelicalismsupplied a religious sanction for more prosaic concerns. Allegations of hypocrisy against evangelicallandlords WOUld, however be largely misplaced. The harmony of religious and secular motivationwhich they achieved, albeit conveniently, is not amenable to such simple or crude explanations.Whatever their critics might say these men professed to love their God more than their estates.The educational objectives of evangelical landlords were capable of much wider application,especially through Sunday schools which were the most successful of all the devices through whichevangelical leaders sought to promote respectable and morally-uplifting habits among the uneducated.Since the establishment of the Reverend Kennedy' s Sunday school in county Down during the 1770s,Anglicans, Methodists and all shades of Presbyterians had taken up the cause, supported by the highestecclesiastical, social and even commercial interests. 2o The Hibernian Sunday School Society foundedin 1809 as a co-ordinating body, listed 256 Sunday schools in connection with it in 1816;by 1846 thenumber was 1,975,21 Some idea of the influence of these schools can be gleaned from the fact that in1831 the proportion of Sunday school scholars to population in the province was 1: 14, in county Antrimit was 1:9.22 All Protestant evangelicals agreed that Sunday schools were 'a means of eventuallyrestoring political tranquillity to this long-distracted country'.23 They strove to promote class harmony,stressing the 'mutual kindness and affection between rich and poor', exemplified in the bond ofsympathy promoted between the instructed and their (unpaid) teachers.24 The emphasis of the societywas on instilling the social niceties - good manners, morals and appearance, and the Committee ofEducation in 1826 concluded that itwas 'oneofthe most powerful instruments for raising the character,and for advancing the general welfare of the people' .25However, while Sunday school managers had their own motives and expectations, they would nothave achieved their outstanding de'gree of success if they had not been providing the lower orders wiili- .something they needed and wanted in practical as well as spiritual terms. The utilitarian attributes ofthe Sunday school movement were particularly relevant to a society suffering the stresses of transition