I infer that no individual, or class of individuals can hold a right of private property in the land of a country; that the people of that country, in their public, corporate capacity, are, and always must be, the real owners of the land of their country — holding an indisputable title to, it, in the fact that they received it as a free gift from its Creator, and as a necessary means for preserving and enjoying the life He has bestowed upon them.

— BISHOP OF MEATH, Letter to Clergy and Laity of Diocese, April 2, 1881.