New-York daily tribune., 1851-09-29
Moral Of Free Trade in Ircl and

agree with us that II has never been ey-
celled in It's peculiar line
"The truth Is that the message, thou AZ weighed
! IN the balance and found wanting" was never ad-
dressed more distinctly TO any people than has been
TO Ireland N the last SIX wears Every institution OF
/ the country. everything on which she relied and
| trustee everything which she had constructed for
! herself gave way with one simultaneous crash. She
trusted IN the potato for the iOod q her people. and
the potato, was long oreSeen 10 be only too prOba
| be was stricken with an lncuTabie disease. The
! cottier system. under which her lands we've heid.
whose leading principle 10 discourage the cult
vaon OF the sou by handing over TO the landlord all
that could be spared from the bare subsistence Of the
tenant, brought forth It's fruits IN the decline and
! decay OF agriculture The heavy debts and mort
CAGES the legaceS OF The extravaganza OF past gene
ratlOnS, efectualy prevented the landed proprietor
from ameilOrang system which destroyed MS Pro-
perty while ltrIned ms enaatry and the necessary
establishment OF poor laW, without enectuaily
relieving the distress Of the many, enormously IN
creased the burdens ofthe few. PestIlence followed
famine, and was succeeded IN ITS turn by rage for
emigration IN some. and for rebellion IN others
Those who read this with any knowledge
of the facts in the history and condition OF
Ireland. NAV well be dumbfounded at the
hight, the almost infnitude. of its indescrib-
ably presumptuous insolence The robber
who blackguards his wounded victim for
being weak and penniess, the despoiler of
widows and orphans who taants them with
the caamites he himself has wrought, the
hvpocrite who leads his neighbor into vice
and ruin, and then. looking to Heaven, ac-
knowledges that God is Just Who Furnishes
sin and recOmpenses the iniquity and folly
Of men, NAV here take lesson In the last
perfections of their art Here IS a GOODNESS,
an apparent unconsciousness an air of utter
innocence which they may wei despair of
attaining Let us see what Is the truth IN
the case we shall put it plainly and sue
cinctly.
What institutions has Ireland constructed
for herself None. She is Q, conquered
country, for century and half under the
rule of foreign nation, deprived OF liberty
and independence Of action. and compelled
to submit to the institutions and exactions
imposed upon her by England
Why did she trust in the potato for the
food of her people Because size could not
have ANYTHING else The land had been
appropriated by English landlords, who
ground the face of the poor, and spent their
reuts out of the island while England
killed oil the manufactures Of the country
and prevented the Introduction OF others,
and thus made progress In wealth, lntelli-
gence, and public order impossible, since
the b. SIS of all is varied and independent
industry and instead OF Improvement, rem
dered deterioration certain, nor only in the
condition but the character OF the people
Nothing is truer than that the character of
people is formed, that is 10 say, developed
into excellence, or perverted into evil and
impotence, by the political institutions, and
especially by the system OF property and
labor, in which they live. Had a diversified
industry existed in ireland, and had her sol
belonged to those who tilled it, the people
| would never have been reduced to depend
for food upon potatoes Or any other single
article.
What power fixed on Ireland i system
which discouraged agriculture by handing
over all the produce OF the soil to the land-
lord, leaving only bare subsistence to the
tenant! England.
What caused the extravaganza. the debts,
and the ruin of the propretors as we'd as Of
the tenants The rule and policy Of Eng
land
What caused the famine and pestilence,
and what Is now causing emigration at a
rate which threatens to depopulate the
country? The policy OF England.
In short, It is English Iandlordism and
the English manufacturing and commercial
monopoly which have brought Ireland
where she IS, and have made her people
what they are. lnpotent even in rebellion,
able onlv to die Of famine or flee beyond the
ocean. The landlordism might have been
borne. might finally have been escaped
from, but for the extinction and prevention
of native industry through the influence oi
compulsory free trade with England.
And now that this horrible work Is az
COM plished, now that the Irish people have
been peeled, and degraded, and brutalized
and slain and driven out Of their country by
millions through the system forced upon
them BY their conquerors, The Times. the
great organ of those conquerors aud OF
then system, the great mouthpiece OF that
same vauLted free trade, coOlly assure
then that they have been weighed 10 the D.