Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1849-1856, 1850-01-03
, CONDITION OF IRELAND.

Mr.. Bright, member OF Parliament for
Manchester, England, has recently made a
'isii IN iceland, to ascertain from his own
,hserv.,ion The condition Of that unhappy
;ouusry. At public meeting held in
Manchester after his return, he delivered an
ddrsss 10 his constituents. from which no
nske the following extracts. Afer hay
lg drawn from public documents deserip-
on Of the people before the famine, he
rocesded to present
t IRELAND AS IT'S.
What is its condition now Every
ne OF these particulars Is aggravated TO
,riul extent, except one. SO large a pro-
ortion of reoplc may not be living in these
oves tina, arc unfit for human habitalion,
ra large proportion Of those who were
lus living arc not now on the face of this
.rth at all, and the novels they inhabited
ave been leveIled to the ground, or stand
ruins TO attest the poverty and suffering
the people, and in many cases it must
0 admitted the cruelty and injustice Of The
,roprietary classes. Now we have heard
{ the famine in Ireland but living here
70 have known nothing oft. The word
anime does not convey at all to The mind
What famine 10. Famine has stricken down
,undreds Of thousands of men, women and
:hildren, and pestilenee has come to glen
that which famine had left unrcaped.-
There are those who will attest that in
some districts Of ireland one-thir Of tho
population, and even more than one-ihird
hsvs fallen victims to famine, during the
last three or four years.
Enslishmen--the English people-forced
ipon the Legislature, and upon O'ConnSll,
md upon the opposing landocracy Of Ire
+ spd, a poor-lsw; hence some have been
eeued, who must otherwise have been
,mong the peIished.
Mr. Bright described the dreadful acts Of
,engssncc Of which wo are constantly hear.
ing, and the sympathy Of the population TO-
wards the perpetrators Of them
THE RLsULT.
The first thing that called my attention
10 tho condition Of Ireland. Was the reading
ofan account of one Of these outsages. |
thought Of il, and tho truth struck me a,
once tina, when the law negects its duty
when the Law i. felt to be, not defence to
the people, but scourge; when all conf
deles 10 legislation is gone; and dwhen COM
pesitivn !. 50 yse'os for he Gu!e land the Jeu-
dahsm Of Ireland grants for cuitiru,,on
when, in fact, for q bare potato millions
are scrambling T; il 10 then the people are
driven from tho law, and fall back upon
what is termed tho law Of nature, the law
NJ the strongest or vindic,ive. At this mo-
nent there 10 a state Of war in Ireland
p.at let US disguise il from ourselves, that
there is a war between landlord and tenant
->as war as fierce and relentless as il car
ried on in open day by force Of arms. In
. state ofthings like this, with industry de-
sfoyed, the rights Of pfopedy destroyed
for landlords in ireland of excellent charac-
ter and with the best Intentions, cannot
mako those dispositions of their property
necessary for the advantage Of the tenants
4 thsmselvss.'
THE TRUE CAUSE.
a Il dom't intend to 90 in detail into the
politics of this question further than to
come extent with regard to the economical
branch of it, There is in Ireland, that
worst of all morop ,lies, the monopoly Of
land And in addition to all the ordinary
evils Of monopolies, the Irish land monopo-
lists are bankrupt-reckless and powerless
Of any thing like good.
| will give you one or two facts illuaira-
tive of tho state Of land in Ireland a, the
present moRent. Such thing as Tho pur.
chase of what we call piece Of land is al
most unknown in Ireland You may hear
Of the I urchsse Of large es,ates--20, 80, or
40 thousand acres--but tho pi rchase vf a
field Of ., or 10, or 50 acrcs-tho purchase
Of small farm is never heard of. Where.
ever you stand, the property belongs 10
Lord A., or tho Marquis b., or Mr.. g.,
and reaches perhaps ar far as the eye can
reach-~3, s, 10, or 20 miles across tho
country. And these gentlemen for the
most part appear to know nothing Of the
duties which attach TO them as proprictors,
or Of their true interest IN The management
oi their estates The result is, that in Ire
and ih"r, is a virtual monopoly OF tho soil
lin the hands Of a very few large proplietors,
and by reason of the succession of lncum
-branccs and mortgages. and Judgment debts 4,
these large proprletors are IN state OF utter
helplessncss. proprietor may have ID
200 year in each of the several counties
bf lreldrd, but II We have judgments against
him. he cannot sell single acre in any ono
Oi thesI counties, the whole lncumbrance
against him attach to each parlc liar acre,
anl also to all lands he NAV aherward pos
sess, 50 long as tho judgments remain un
satisfied OF unpaid. These men, therefore,
are bound hand and foot the whole Island
Is under = network of restriction in regard
10 land, the gr at raw material OF the peo-
pies industry. And the consequence is,
that though the people of lrclaLd live on
the land. they have no lnterett ia tho land.
they are not the poss ssors of the soil Of
their country they are sojournors there and
pilgrims. And il would seem that neither
Che Irish landlords nor the imperial legis'a.
mte have cared I'LL lately single slras
wh1i becomes Of this vast aad suffering
people II is fot 10 be wondered at
confes do not won cr at these dlsturbsn.
cesi in Ireland believe the reason there
have been mpte disturbances ~ Tipperary
than IN Giln1y aud Mayo b., because Of
he'll moro slgd ind hardy character, aad