The Sun.
London, England, 1869-09-24 00:00:00

.LORD r, A RNA.RFON ON THE IRISH LAND
QUESTION.'
--4

The Earl of Carnarvon has been speaking at Aldbury on
the land question. The occasion was that of the annual
',fleeting of the:High Clere Agricultural Association. His
lordship, responding to the toast of his health, spoke of
the swift rate of progress the political and social worlds
;were now making—travelling by express train. He ex-
pressed his :fear of "new-fangled experiments" with
machinery, and wished to have "a steady driver."
Nor did he care to sit either in the fore or in
the last carriage of the train. '• He would sit
between the two extremes. The way in which the country
passed from one subject to another was remarkable.
"Two months ago," said his lordship, "we were dealing in
Parliament with the Irish Church. To-day, on my return
to England, I find the whole country and the press engaged
in the old controversy of Protection. To-morrow we are
told, not to say threatened, that wo are going to deal with
the land question. Last year a very eminent member of
the present Government (Mr. Bright) said that he had a
bill on the land question in Ireland in his pocket. A few
weeks after that wo had a bill brought forward which was
intended to settle certain unquestionable difficulties which
exist in Ireland with regard to land. It was admitted on
all sides that that bill contained some very excellent and
satisfactory principles for dealing with it, but it was
shelved because tho Government preferred to introduce a
bill themselves. They had a speech from a noble friend of
mine, who is now a Cabinet Minister (Lord Hartington),
in which he very eloquently adjured men of all political
opinions, and all parties, to lay aside their prejudices and
give the Government their help in carrying the
Irish Land Bill, whatever it may be. Of course,
if that bill should prove to be a, remedy for
the evils and - difficulties which unquestionably exist
in Ireland, if that bill should be founded on just
,and equitable principles, and is calculated to place the
relations of landlord and tenant on a satisfactory and
equitable footing, well may every moderate man give his
Support to that bill. If, on the other hand, I am to believe
that certain platform orators speak the opinions of
Government and their intentions ; if they are right in
some of the extraordinary nostrums they have propounded
On the subject—nostrums mixed up with eulogies of
tFenianism, and abuse and denunciations of this country, I
Am afraid there is not a very encouraging prospect for
moderate men like ourselves—and all I can do is to advise
her Majesty's Government to throw overas soon as possible
those so-called allies of theirs, who only bring discredit on
what they say is a right and moderate cause."
Having thus pleaded for moderation, Lord Carnarvon
yent on to denounce " heroic " remedies—heroism with
other folks' property. Discussing Mr. Bright's scheme, he
paid. " The scheme is recommended as purely voluntary
and optional, by which the land was to be purchased at an
Addition of 10 per cent. from all who liked to part with it.
That might be a very good bargain for the landowners who
want to put 10. per cent. into their pockets, and a very
good bargain also for the Irish peasant who is to have it
for nothing, or very little more than nothing, but it
would be a very extravagant bargain for the British
taxpayer, and one which I should hope the Chancellor
of the Exchequer will be slow to accede to." To
make the measure compulsory would be confiscation ; in
which the country is not likely to indulge. There is some
talk in high places of governing Ireland for the Irish.
,The words themselves are harmless enough :—" The danger
Of these words is that they raise vague illusions in the
mind of an excitable peasantry. The same people who
tell us we ought to govern Ireland for the Irish, tell us also
that the instincts of the people never change. They say
that the Irish peasant, being a Celt, desires land, and
that the only way of governing him is to give him land; if
We look back on Irish history and see the way in which
Ireland was governed formerly, we shall see the whole
country was parcelled out into certain districts, which
belonged to certain tribes, and that on the death of the
chieftain of each tribe the land was parcelled out afresh to
all the members of the tribe. If the instincts of the
people never change that is what is meant by the term
governing Ireland for the Irish.' No man in his senses
would wish to go back to such a state of barbarism." •

The real Irish difficulty (Lord Carnarvon went on to say)
is that caused by the absence of compensation to tenants
for improvement. That is an injustice; one which ought
to be remedied; one which can be easily remedied. "
believe the real principle by which that difficulty can be
;overcome is by a proper system of leases. In every other
part of the world leases are being adopted more and more.
In Ireland it has been said, and it is a remarkable fact, that
where leases have been given, there emigration has to a
great extent diminished. In England we have no difficulty
in dealing with any of those questions by means of leases. If
the system were fairly worked, and political agitation were
hot allowed to intervene, the difficulties under which Ire-
land suffers will absolutely disappear. The advantages of
Proceeding under a written contract aro obvious. In the
first place, it secures freedom of action for both parties.
:In a country disturbed by political and agrarian feeling,
you institute a more wholesome and safer agency. Stated
in black and white the terms by which both parties are
bound, neither one can avoid the obligation without feeling
he has been wanting in good faith." Lord Carnarvon
assured the meeting that he had always approved of small
holdings; that is a certain proportion of small holdings.
They are good because they afforded certain steps
in the social ladder by which tho labourer
can gradually raise himself into another condi-
tion, and ultimately into another sphere of life
from that in which he started. "It has been the glory of
England that in every single branch of public life those
steps on the great social ladder of improvement have never
een wanting. It is our glory that the highest place in law,
!the most exalted position in the Church, the highest posi-
`tion in the land may all be claimed and obtained, howoverlow
may be the sphere, and however humble may be the rank in
which the man commenced life. And I trust that it ever
may be so. Those traditions are the glory and strength of
Conservatism. But the subject is not one for legislation;
small holdings cannot be made by law. Attempt it, and
the whole legislative fabric will crumble. Universal small
holdings, too, are impossible. In Flanders, where they
largely prevail, the small farmers are in a worse position
than the English farm labourer. In many parts of Ger-
many the country is cut up into small divisions. The
consequence is that one-half of Germany is forced to emi-
grate. Certainly that is not a state to which we wish to
.reduce the farmers of England. Take, in the next place,
the country where the success of the system had been so
.remarkable—France. You have a very large portion of
France divided and subdivided into small holdings, soil,
'ad climate, legislation, and every conceivable- cir-
cumstance in its favour, "and what is the result ? The
result at this moment is one -universal cry of distress from
the whole agricultural interest of France—a cry so
loud, so' prolonged that the French Government have been
obliged to issue a commission, and the length of
the report of the commission, which consists of some
twenty-six on twenty-seven volumes, be any proof of the
extent of the evil, I think we may congratulate ourselves
that it is not our case. The commissioners tell you that
there is almost a total absence of capital and agricultural
science and skill ; there is no machinery, and that proper
drainage is not attempted. Lastly, we hear that the
great bulk of the small French farmers are almost
entirely in the hands of usurers. Labour, moreover, is
scarce, and the land is crippled by taxes imposed in cases
of transfers. If that be the state of the case abroad, it
affords us very little inducement to apply the system to
Ireland. The tendency of modern times is to make agri-
culture more and more a matter of capital and scientific
skill. Where science and capital are applied the condition
of the labourer is invariably improved—in wages, in
position, and' in all_ the circumstances of domestic life.
Remember whatever proposals are made in Parliament or
ottt of Parliament, we have a duty to discharge
to Ireland. We are responsible for the legislative panaceas
to be put forward. We have no sight hastily, or from a
false love of popularity, or any unworthy motive, to offer
to .Ireland as a boon that which is no boon at all. In the
next place, remember also you have a duty to owners of
all property, no matter what that property is. Twenty-
five years ago, when Ireland was in a state of great distress,
a considerable number of Englishmen went over to Ireland
and sought pieces of land, and invested their capital in the
same. What-are you going to do with these men ?Is
their property to be confiscated ? If you are going
to' do that, you will be guilty of the height of in-
justice. Lastly, remember that whatever principle
is applied in Ireland to land, the principle is also applicable
to every other form of property you please, whether
invested in the funds, in the stocks, in the railways, or in
the savings banks. Let us lay down not too hastily any
principle which we are not, in all deliberation, prepared to
apply to ourselves, and to every form cf property, whatever
it be, or wherever it be, within the bounds cf the English

empire,

WHERE IGNORANCE IS Buss, ACC.—A FACT.—
Party (who has brought back the " music stool in disgust),
" Look c'cre, Mister Auctioneer, this plaguey thing aint no
manner of use at all. I've twisted 'an round, and 01'
woman 'av twisted un' round, but sorra a bit of toon we
can get cut of 'un I "

• A MODERN FALSTAFF.—The robbeli who lately
attacked Baron Gazioli in Italy have been arrested and
sent to Rome. They turn out to have been only two men
and a boy, and as the Baron, a stout gentleman of CO,
was accompanied by his two grown-up sons, all three
Laving revolvers, their ready surrender of their property
Li not thought very heroic. Their alarming account of the
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