The Lancaster gazette. (Lancaster, Ohio) 1846-1852, 1851-10-09
From The New York Tribuu
Moral Of Free Trade IN ireland


excellrd III lis peculiar line:
"Ihe truth is that the message. thou
art weighed in the balance nnd found
wanting" was never addressed more dis
'mcily Ia any people than il has been Ia
Ireland ~ The last six years. Every in
stituiim Of the country, everything on
which she relied aud trusted, everything
which she had Constructed for herself,
gave way with me simultaneous crash.
She trusted in the potato Epr the food "i
her people, aud the pntsln. as was I"ng
ioreseen to he only too probable, was
stricken with an incurable disease, The
cottier system. under which her lands
were held. wh"se leading principle was
To discourage the cultivation Df the sUil
by banding over 10 the landlord all that
could he spared from the bare subsist
4nce Of the tenant, brought forth its
fruits 10 lle decline aud decay nt agri
culture. The heavy debts aud mortgages,
tie legacirs If the exlravagBnce "f past
generations. efrctuslly prevented the
land proprietor from smeiOratng sys.
TEN which destroyed his pr"peIiy while
il ruined his trnaniry; and the necessary
establishment Of p"pr law. without et.
tectually relieving the distress of the
many, enormously increased the burdens
pf the few. PestiIence fhlowe,l famine.
and was succeeded in its turn by rage
.!or emigration in some, aud for rebellinn
! in others" ....
| Those WIN read this with any kno%l
edge Of the facts in the history aud con
dlion Of Ireland may vel he dumbfnund-
ed at the height, The almost iufniluJe, Of
irsiudescrlbably presnmptuous insolence.
The robber who biackguards his wound.
ed victim for being weak aud penniless.
the despoilernf widows and orphans who
1ianls them with the calamities he him
self has wrought. the hypncTite who
leads his neighbor into vice aud ruin.
aud then. looking u Husven. sc&nowl.
edges that God is just who punislies sin
and recnmpences the iniquity and folly
Of men, may here lake lesson in the last
perrectinns of their art. Here is a cool.
; uess, an apparen: unconscienti"usness
an air Of utter j. Docence which they may
well despair Of attaining. Let us see
what is the truth Of the case; we shall
put it plainly and succnctIy.
What institutions has Ireland con
strueted for herselfl None. She is a
conquered country. for century aud a
half under the rule of foreign nation.
deprived Of liberty and independence Of
aclion. and compelled TO submit 10 the
: institutions and exactions Imposed upon
t her by England.
Why did she trust in the potato fur the
food Of her peopIel Because she could
not have any thing else. The land had
been appropriated by English landlords
e who ground the face of the pnor, ant
spent their rents out Of the Island, Will,
!. England killed of the manufactures o
the county and prevented the introduc
J ton of others. and thus made progress il
wealth. intelligence. and public order i'm
possible, since the basis of all is varied
and independent industry; and instea,
1 of improvement, rendered deterioration
/ certain not only in the condition but th'
5 character of the people. Nothing is tru
f err than that the character nf people i
-, formed, that is to say developed into ex
celence, or perverted into evil aud i'm
potence. by the political institutions:
:, and especially blythe system of propert
aud labor, in which they live. Had d
al vcrsifed industry existed in Ireland, an
'e had her soil belonged to these who title
n. il, the people would never have been r,
he duced In depend tor food dpon polaio'
i. or any other single article.
10 What power fixed on Ireland sySte
he which discouraged agriculture by han
ing over all the produce of the soil TO Il
lie lurd, leaving only bate subsistence
N the tenant England.
of What caused The extIavagancr, Il
I'd debts, and the ruin of the ProprietorS
is we'll as of the tenar,sl The rule an
n, policy of England.
Nd What caused the Iamine aud pestilenc
mt and what is now causing emigration at
n rate which threatens 10 dep"puIate Il
p countryl The rule aud pulley Of En-
and.
he Ia short, it is English laudlnrdism al
the English manufacturing aud CONNIE
i, cial monopoly which have broug ht lr
II land where she is. and have made b
70 people what they are, imPnlent even
ID. rebellion, able ouIy to die of famine
n. fee beyond the ocean. The landlords
=. light been have borne, might finally ba
al been escaped from, but for the extincti
;. " and prevention IF native industry tht
-, the influence of compulsory tree tra
nm with England.
And now that this horrible work is
cnmplished, now that the Irish peoI
" have been peeled. and degraded, a
an brutaized, auc slain and driven out
he their country by millions, through
rt, system forced upon them by their C
Of auerofs, The. Times. the great organ
w those cunquerors aud Of their system.
ID grea, mnhlnpiece of that same vuun
ad free trade. ciolly assures them that q
he have been weighed in the balance
led foud wantiug Is not this the very s
~. lime of hypncritical insolencel Is it
his calculated to encourage us here 10
nu. merica 10 venture upon complete I
iws of the same systemic free trade! y
She we moi also hope that when a Y our fu
I'M aces are stopped. our mills cioseJ'
lgs, entire manufacturing industry rum
,wn aud our people dispersed through