The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1859-10-12
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The Feusaa SysfcM.
rns no, our readers b. startea ~ 'ns ~
ton ~ ,his article. We mean nor " wias7
,rs,,.sa an reudai tenures. BRtTToS, nAAs.
raw t,IaxyrrLx, FLKTA, I-IrTLxToS, ana o"'e1 I
i,.rsn sttraRr have aothsae 10 ieAI sso'h
~ We shall never disturb the venesaoieaa |
tia. lies thick and qnlet upon their iearned
.,rns. The generation Of spiders that from
iamemoriai descent continues 70 weave the
min rrey nal, around the studded clasps that |
enclose their ponderoas wisdom, may safely
transmit their inheritance TO those who are to
come after them. fer ages yet unborn, 20 far a.
we care. We only design to call atteation to
IN act OF tyranny which has just been perpe-
trated under tho name and by The authority Of
the laws which regulate this very ancient and
very much over-praiscd systcm. In these latter
days.
Lord DrnDY, late Premier Of GREET Britain
and in daily hopc Of being 50 once again, is the
owner Of large estates near doom, in the west
ern part OF Ireland. Not very long ago
dreadful murder was perpetrated, in open day,
upon one OF these estates. and, rs ~ common
enough in ireland, II was found Impossible 10 /
ascertain who was the murderer. IL seems to
be pretty certain thai msny persons on the
essate knew who he was, yet rewards, threats,
and the stric,cst search, failed TO discover
single clue by which he might be traced. En-
ragged a, the want of success In the pursuit.
Lord DERBy determined to dispossess every
one OF his tenants and turn them all adrift, TO
the number Of several hundred persons, there
by eonfouEding the innocent with the guilty
aud producing an amount of distress and
crime. whichit is impossibis TO think Of with
cut horror. For on. murderer whom he may
possibly discover by such process, he rams
the risk of making haif-a-dozen, who would
Otherwise never have been so, and whom
there will be no possibility of detecting
This resolution of Lord DERBY affords
striking commentary upon his fitness TO rule a
nation which anneys the whole world by ITS
eternal boast. Of its high state OF civilization
The theory of the English law Is, that every
maa is to be presumed innocent until he shall
have been proved guilty. The practice ofthis
enlightened statesman differs materially from
this. He thinks 1t better 10 hold whole COM
muni;y guilty until they can prove their in
nocence What is to become Of the unhappy
victims Of the great mans wrath, it is impos
sibIe TO foresee Misery, starvation, piilage,
arson, murder, are the natural consequences
of sach an inhuman exercise Of power, and If
they do not ensue, We may safely conclude
that In Ireland, taere is more respect for the
law. than there 10 or ever was in any country
upon the face OF the earth. Every man has n
right to live, and il he cannot obtain enough
10 keep body aud soul together in any other
way, he has perfect right to seize it by force
OF arms. and to STAY any man who stands be-
tween him and tho preservation of his life.
As might have been expected, Lord DERBY's
l. ..xtt
correspondent OF ''SAuNDERs' Neps Letter"
published in Dublin, thinks that his Lordship
Is not only to be excused, but to be highly ap-
planded for what be has done. Affairs of this
kind, lie tells us, are very common in ireland,
and il is almost impossible. on any OCCASION,
TO identify, or, if identified, to arrest the per-
petrator. To snch an extent is it considered q
point Of honor not to betray culprit that
women and children have frequently been
known to harbor the murderers of their
husbands and fathers. We received this state
ment with no suspicion of its genuineness, for
we had heard Of this state of things before, but
with some little curiosity to see whether such
an admirer of feudal tyranny had ever sus-
pected that there was something at the bottom
10 explain 1t all; and 10. here is the key to the
whole mystery. "No one possessed of COM
sided for any time in Ireland.is ignorant of the
fact that the law is regarded by the great body
OF tina peasantry as an enemy against which
they feel it an Imperative duty to contend."-
There 1t is The peasants know that the laws
are made by power they detest-they feel that
they are adapted to Representation of system
they abhor--they believe them designed to assist
a class of men whom they regard as their enc
mics, in expressing them--they conclude that
the laws are their eneInies-they rebel against
them and band together either to resist them
openly or to defeat the objects which they seek
to attain. Can anything be more natural !
DO not all the disorders that have agitated Ire
land for the last seven hundred years, flow as
naturally from the system then established as
the thunder follows the ligh tningl And what
good can possibly be expected from looping the
branches, while the tree is diseased TO the very
extremity ofits rootsl How are the evils Of the
system 10 be eradieated, without tearing nm
the system itself! Why apply the steel TO so
much OF the cancer as appears upon the sur
4 face, when il has already struck its flbres
through the vital parts
1t IN very common to talk about the Irish
rebellion! The Irish rebellion! That is. in
deed, very comprehensive term. The whole
history of ireland, is the history of a rebel
lion-of rebellion against a race who con.
quered them seven hundred years ago and
still hold them ia subjection-who never have.
and never can, amalgamate with them-whose
characteristics of mind, habit, and thought,
are wholly and irreconeiieably difieren. from
theirs-who established for them system of
laws to which they did not give their assent
at tho time. and to which they have been on
posed from that day to this. Their story is a
story OF long continued oppression ALWAYS
submitted to with impatience, and ferceiy
avenged when opportunity offered What,
even, IL the laws be good; the Irishman
Knows that they are not his laws, and he feels
not the respect for them that they NAV in
trinSically merit. Against the laws of real
property, moreover, springing directly out OF
the Feudal system, his whole life is protest
and struggle. Let him BE- learned or I'M
lettered, he knows that this system was es-
tabiisheo by force aud by a foreign conquer
or, and that no lapse of time has been
sufficient 10 soften its obnoxious Jeatures.-
lie fnds that one of Its results 10 TO place
every acre OF land in the whole island In the
possession Of great moneyed land -ho1ders, and
that 1t subjects him and his to be turned
sdrifs from his little holding. which 1t is pos
sihle his forVfailsers hare lived on since the
days OF the o DoxEELs, a . 1nomenps warn
ing, by the insoient agent OF an ayaricions
asalord, without cause. and almost without
notice. III il this which keeps ireland Al
ways In rebellion. ard until this cause be re-
moved rebellion mnst always be its normal
candition. I4may be answered, that to change
ths nature az irish fenures were to make
radical change In the British Consultations
Perhaps %, but unless the change be made the
Irish people will never be reconciled to the
overpment under which they live. Such
shanges. Il may bepropsr to observe, Aars been
made, and will be made again. The revolution