The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1859-10-07
English DevasfatiOni in Irela n Il
since 1871.

since 1S11.
The speech of Lord Carlisle, the Irish
Lord Lieutenant, delivered at a recent
agricultural banquet in Dundak, eXempll-
fies-though no doubt unintentionaIly on
the part Of his Lordship- in as clear and
concise manner as words can possibly
convey it, the fearful devastation which,
under the name of law and 10 crafty the
wishes of the dominant faction, has been
committed on the unfortunate tenant far
mers of Ireland.
L. reading the history of bombaric irrup-
tons we are forcibly impressed with the
outrages committed on the husbandman;
his goods become the first spoil Of the in
vader, and happy does he account himself
in case his homestead escapes being rednc-
ed TO heap Of cinders, and himself, his
wife and children driven out as homeless
fugitives. In the course Of the irruption
under Observation-Disclosures which
seem more allied to the devastations com
mitted by the followers Of Attila or Zeng
his Khan, than any recorded on the page
of history-the poor husbandman was
made TO feel its effects most deploraby.
Receiving the sum total of atrocities on
the authority of the English enemy and
Lord Lieutenant paid annually twenty
thousand pounds sterling for governing the
Island, not for the welfare OF the iullabi
tants, but for the interests Of the English
Government and people, we are, on that
account, compelled to acceptit as an Eng
lish version-one not given by the plum
dered but by the punderer.
According to the very estimable indi-
,iduai and Lord Lieutenant, there existed
in the year of grace 1871, within the four
seas of Ireland, the rather large number of
10000 tenants or small farmers who were
the occupants or holders Of farms, of and
under five acres each. But behold the
change. In 1858 we find the number of
these small holders reduced to $4,000.
Thus In seventeen years, we have the
dwellings which gave shelter to 900
families, or, at the average of five to each
family, 1,135,000 human beings, dragged
down and leveled with the earth, while
their inmates have been driven out, out
casts and beggars, to carry the tale of
their own sufterings and Of British brutality
to the four corners of the globe. But the
work Of spoliation did not stop here. In
the year above alluded to QS4D there
were in the same Island of Ireland, $4,000
farms above thirty acres each; since then
the number has been increased very con-
siderably, and at the present moment they
number more than 100000.
This system of converting three, four,
and even FIVE or six farms into one, and
dividing their occupants to America and
Australia, or what as frequently happens,
into the grave, is called in the English Ian
guage, consolidation and may be more
thoroughly explained by calling it a sys
tenn which substitutes black cattle, sheep
and horses, for men, women and children.
The uninteTested will naturally consider
the new holdings, or consolidated farms"
are the abodes of men. No such thing.
No belief could be more preposterous than
this. The new holdings thus formed, and
from which men have been ejected, become
vas; pastures. ..over which countless uum-
bers of sheep aud fat bullock range without
control, but within whose limits the be
holders ears are never saluted with the
merry laugh or song Of matron, maid or
child, within that once hospitable and dense
ly populated district, thanks to British con-
nectiOn.
Before sitting down, his lordship took
occasion TO congratulate the country that
the value of live stock had nearly doubled
itself within the seventeen years above al
luded to, but forgot to tell his hearers that,
within the same period, the population OF
the country had declined two millions
How estinable ARE the benefits of connec-
ton with Britain. 4 cry of invasion has
been raised by those whom such an event
would deprive Of their i'll gotten treasures;
tie circumstance need create but little ap-
preLension in ireland There invasion has
done its worst already. The ports of Ire
land, as we'll as those OF England, are or.
tered to be put in state OF defense in or
der to resist the incursion of the fiery
Gaul, but those who know the Irish peo
pie best, knows also perfectly that should
French visitors appear within month OF
year, they would suffer no detrlment
from the peoples world-renowued charac-
Ter for hospitality. but on the contrary the
new corners would he received with open
arms, and cherished as delivorers, friends
and brothers.