New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1848-09-16


other crisis Of her lifelong malady. Hundreds Of
thousands are always furnishing, so that the gen
ers ear has grown callous 10 their cnes oil agony
the means Of millions are needed 70 excite a''eh'
ton And these we are soon to hear l"ou-"
these millions are collectively more Industrious
and more temperate than at any former pe'iou
,bongb the agoreeate of labor this year bestowed
by them ON the production Of food IS al least !" e
., Eve oer cent. greater than that Of last year
s,d ,bouob the laborcrs have beside secured the
Length and breadth Of England and Scotland
,a,bs,ipg harvests whereof they may not eat
feeding and lodging meanwhile like brutes Of the
seld-yet Ireland is doomed 10 starve. The
Potato is blasted and the Harvest 1t IS said is
deficient But for what Not 70 feed the people
Of Ireland Ia spite OF the Potato Rot, there Is
ample food in ireland for every man and beast that
stands on Irish soil. The mischief IS that there is
not enough 10 subsst the People and satisfy the
exactions OF the Absentee Aristocracy-oi the
titled and useless descendants OF the families 10
whom the robber kings Of England conveyed the
earth which God had given 70 feed the People
OF Ireland Food is the Irish staple the Potato
blight has not left sufficient 10 satiate the Land
lords and what is called the Established Church
without taking the bread from the mouths OF
women and children and the leeches will have
their allotment any how, and first. So the people
must famish, and the world be told that vista.
ton Of God has deprived them Of food. 1t IS a
blssphemous lie, and every honest man should
help expose It.
It is even more false than would at first be sup
posed for If the soil OF Ireland bad not been con
fscated by British cOnqaerors we should have
heard and felt little Of the POtato-ltot. The dis
ease has never been confined to Ireland only the
social condition Of the Irish has rendered what Is
elsewhere but a partial misfortune in Ireland
general and fatal calamity. The ownership OF the
land by FOREIGN lords who have no interest in the
country but to get the most possible from II and
ave nothing back prevents Improvement fosters
ignorance improvidcnce and despair. The land
lord feels no sympathy for recognizes no duties
toward tenantry whom he rarely or never saw,
OF whom he never hears aught except complaints
OF their turbulence delinquency or dePrayity, and
about whom he only writes to his agents to see u
they cannot possibly screw up his 10000 year
10 f25OOO for living in London or Paris Is dread
fully expensive, while his sons irregularities have
involved him in serious embarassments The
Aristosracy are not even admonished by the great
mass OF their spiritual guides that they owe any
positive duties 70 those by whose toll their luxury
is upheld their agents have but care, one test
OF merit-to swell the rent as high as possible aud
collect it with memorable rigor The peasant
knows this and sees that improvement, thrift, IN
creased production on his part will surely subject
him to an increased rent at the very first opportu
nifty so he pods ON in stolid, squahd wretched
ness Already his rent Is so high and his patch OF
ground small that the food OF his family can he
wrung from IT only in the shape OF the Potato
which gives the largest bulk II not the greatest
amount of nutrimcnt TO the acre aud is Cu-
tivated almost or wholly by the uncombned la
Dor OF human hands. Sorry food as the Potato
alone is, human beings can live on it, while more
tons of this to the acre can be produced than OF
any thing else as nutritious. Thus the extent OF
the Potato culture in Ireland the reliance of the
Irish peasantry it for food are direct conse
quences OF her political and social condition The
Potato and the Rent poor living aud grinding ex
actions-act and react on each other. The peasant
who has but hall an acre must grow his food on IT,
working out IN England through harvest for money
pay the rent. II he has three or four acres, he
stays at home but his wheat and his pig 20 to the
landlord leaving but the potatoes for his family.
Let him have ten or twenty acres and the case is
not much altercd-the landlord and church take
the most and the best OF the produce, leaving him
the least and the worst. And often see II
stated with triumph by the apologsts Of aristocra.
cy that the best portion of lreland-lhat In which
the people are most thrifty and comiortable-is
that wherein the rents are highest Does not this
plainly tell the ,hriitless and miserable that any
attempt to better their condition will inevitably
subject them to heavier aud heavier exactions p
Manilestly poverty and potatoes the inevitable
destiny OF the Irish Millions SO long as their pres
eRt institutions and relations shall be maintained.
Let us not, then, misunderstood nor misimprove
the dispensation of Famine which is now about to
be repeated before our eyes Like the plaques OF
Egypt it comes to enforce the summons to the
oppressor, Let my people so, that they may
serve me 1t Is like the electric bolt which
scathes and skaters, but more widely and ulti
mately renovatcs and purifes. twill torture and
blast thousands but, ii rightly improved, it wall
emsncipate and bless millions.
When the Famine Of AZ followed the POTATO
Rot OF 10, it was surprises shock-a calamity.
No provision had been made for a contingency SO
utterly unexpected. The misery 1t created was
exceptional; the demand for rehet imminent and
imperative. The spectacle appealed TO every gen.
erous heart and the appeal was nobly responded
10. Great Britain poured out her millions ike wa
ter. America gave her hundreds OF thousands
without stint or scruple. We rejoice that this was
SO, aud that our voice cheercd, our mite swelled,
the tide OF American sympathy for Irish destitu
ton. But the disease has now become chronic
or rather the crises OF starvation are morally GER
tain TO return and return, until the poison Of Land
Robbery is expelled from the system To give
again for the rebel OF Irish misery is to fstten and
uphold the system which steadily drains Ireland OF
her hiebood. IL is hike helping here and there
negro to buy his wife or children out OF slavery
1t is giving encouragement and support to the en-.
slsvers. Meantime Poor-Law Tor Ireland has
been enacted establishing as TO that country,
though in the worst possible shape the great and
lust principle that Tar LAND oUGHr TO SUPPORT
THE PEoPLE-that this S the first charge upon It,