The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1851-03-27

Unn,ndful. tyouxi, . weeping Wife
And helpless olsrfng mourn" Gysys.
TO THE EDITOR THE HERALD.
SrR--Ask me not why a motto Of the united Irish
men was .'lialf rent and no tithc"-ask me not why
the military tread OF 'sthc hearts Of steel" and
'sTommy Downshires" woke the moonlight echoes
Of Armagh and Down, half century ago-Nlry
half that time since, the sievcllers' demolished the
stone built bounds in which, under landlords lock
and key, ay the starving cattle of tho defaultiny
8 the carders transferred tho opera
tionS an tow and wool tothe bare backs Of agents
and bailids-why the midday rife Of Tippsrary
elangcd the still air quick AMI startling death
knell of landlord or his minion-why the peasants
Of France inumined their old revolution with tho
blaze of burning chateaus-why the serfs Of
darker Europe occasionally rise IN fevered parox-
ysm, trampling to death the s-iords' who have
brutazed them-why the long delusions Of
Daniel O'Connell were broken in upon aud swept
ford, and the whitening impetuosity Of john Mitch
el-why the voice arose fourteen years ago
among the half desert mountains of our own State,
loudening and deepening till the portals Of our
trust, to its entering the capital Of the nation
why II has pcalcd in your own streets and work
shops from 1874 to the present time, gathering
strength and volume each succeeding year-why
it has struck into sparks Of civil among
golden sands Of California DO not shrk the ques-
tion sire answer it truly. Say it is eternal in
stinct in the human race, that will not see why
landlord should, Shakespeare has it ''coyer the
Sun win " ci'hnS'J va" P~s W. "AooAa - AAis
The fundamental right of every hungry, naked,
and unhoused man to go and ask his mother earth
Tin the only language she will understand, labor,)
10 cothe, and feed, and shelter him, is so rational
and philosophc that no sound thinker can for
moment doubt it. The wants Of nature press upon
us irresistbly and incessant and if provision had
not been made to supply those wants, man, perish
ing on globe of rock could raise his eye to heaven,
and tax even his Creator with injustice What,
hen should his feelings be towards either popes or
atroons, kings congresses who shut him out
from his Fathers heritage, rendering this fair world
to him a rock Of aridness and stcrility!
The first great right Of man to fall back upon
the SOIL to seek employment Mt the hands of nature,
whose wages is fixed and regulated by God himself,
has never, so far as am instructed, formed more
than a secondary article in the creed Of Mr.. Gree
ley, the communists, or the socialists. Time
after time, both here and in Europe, have they
ganzed communities, and as often have rents and
mortgages helped largely to break these communi-
ties down. Nevertheless, they do not appear to
have understood the importance ofhaying free land
to base their experiments upon. The movement
for land reform in this country-for redeeming
American earth to its legitimate use-was not com
menced by the socialists in this country. 1t
commenced by the homespun farmers of Albany
county, in 1888. Doubtless, good men these
have been inde and socialist; but infdcl or social
ist these men were not. Theirs was not the ardor
Of the French youth bursting upon surrounding
despots, to the souliftng voice Of the Marscilles
hymn of liberty. No; like the soldiers of Crom-
wells army, three fourhs of their inspiration and
their hope was drawn from the Bible. Of socialis-
tic ideas they knew little, and cared great deal
less. The family and the individual home were
sufficient for them if they could only be permitted
to enjoy those blessings in security end peace.
But this they were not permitted. Lord ridden
Europe had spawned upon our shores dirty ex-
ample of its aristocracy, in the shape Of PATRONS
The trade and occupation of these PATRONS was to
levy tribute Of ''good marketable wheat" from
every farmer; and, moreover, compel him to cut
l.. kha, ~,
to fork over to the PATRON "quarter sale" being
% per cent upon the price Of every farm, every
time it changed hands. The farmer also bound
to saddle himself, once in each year, with bundle
sgnatcd, within mile of the manor house, for the
use Of my lord PATRONS table. This PATRON also
reserved to himself all "mines and minerals"
"waifs and estrays," "kills creeks, and running
streams" s'timber and fre-wood;" and, in fine,
burdened the leases with such restrictions and pc
naltics as left them entirely worthless in point of
law.
You may well ask, "why did the farmers take
such leases" 1t was done in this way. During
the first years of occupancy, there rent
harged-none could be paid, as the settlers labor
was directed against the prim@val forest. This
took many "sturdy stroke" to overthrow its en-
pirc of thousand years. The log-rolling, too, in
order to get this ponderous wreck into burning piles
was rather more laborious than the similar labors
now so fashionable among the "national settlers"
at Washington.
ne forest Cleared, the CABIN ralscu, ana nall
dozen fields fenced in, then arrived the time for
taking up the leases. These were found to contain
all the reservations and restrictions above referred
to, in addition to the wheat rent originally agreed
upon. Many Of the settlers could not even speak
or understand the English language, and took the
leases just as they were offered to them, believing
the PATRONS and their lawyers to be "all honorable
men," To the shrewder men who demonstrated, it
was replied that these things were n mere formula
designed to fill up the lease, and make il of a rea
sonabe legal prolixity. If still unconyinced they
were told they might take the lease, or otherwise
they must leave the farm, and with it all the results
of their seven years labor This settled the dis
pute The farmer retired his labors, shorn
Of hope and Of security.
Now, If the sons and successors Of these men
should stand forward at the present day, and pro-
claim to the world that piratical Holland Com
pany, or u profgatc English king, never had never
could have, legitimate authority over American
land, which they had never either or set foot
on--if they denied that congresses in this country
had power to sanctify wrong Mt once absurd md
30 dangerous-if they affirmed that the Power who
created these lands intended them for the free uso
Of His free children-if 0ey maintained, with
Blackstone, that human laws, openly conflicting with
the laws Of God, and Of force or validi-
ty-if they averred, with the Congre ssonal com
mittee Of 1884, that "tenantry is favorable to mo-
narchy," that freeholders the natural supports
Of free government"-if they hurled passive def
at the landlords the Irish farmers did Mt the
Irish barons and their holy claims for tythe they
triumph.
But this Is not their position, and am sorry that
il is not. They merely ask that the courts shall
decide whether the parchmcnts Of drunken Charles
Of England, and of the company which made its
power out Of piracy in the West Indian seas
whether these have been genuinely executed to the
PATRONS, or are cheats and forgeries. lfthey
turn out to be forgeres then the farmers desire to
become tenants, or purchasers, of the State. IL
genuine, purchasers, not tenants. Of the PATRONS.
That is their position, as laid down In all their
official proceedings | think it is a very modest
But whatever may be their merits or their
crimes, MIR. Greeley has very little to do with eithsr
the one or the other-with their origin, absolutely
nothing.
No, at the time the farmers Of Albany county
were raising the free land banner. Mr. Greeley was
too busy among log cabins and coon skins either to
assist or notice them, for the first years of
heir political existence. When, after seven
years homage, they grew sufficiently powerful to de-
eide the elections OF the state, IL impossible to
overlook them any longer. That Mr.. Greeley,
since that time, has done considerable service To