The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1862-09-25
No las
Aprarian-crimes -.

The recurrence in parts of Ireland of
acts Of sanruinsEy violence. arising out
Of que7rels about land, contrary 10 the
hope sanguincly encouraged by some
that the day of these calamitous events
had passed away, naturally saddens and
disturbs The pubhc mind The ordinary
eNpedients of repression seems 20 be- Of
no avail AT the very moment the scat.
fold is prepared in a neighborinr county
town FOR the perpetrator Of a too motor
ious agrarian crime, the arm Of inexorable
vengeance is raised IN another. and the
life Of a collector Of rents, seated with
his friends, within few yards of po-
lice station, in the midst of q populoua
town, is taken in broad day. The fear.
lesSnoss Of the act, and tho deliheration
with which 10 was committed, strikes the
most unthinking with a certain sense of
awe. The hOpelessness of resistance and
the unaccountablo absence Of all atterppl
20 resist are calculated TO impress even
more powerfully the imagination. The
law asserts that the owner Of the soil
may oyict his tenant, and put another in
his stead, whenever he chooses TO do 90.
Civil and criminal tribunals removed
from all sympathy with the present class.
SIT daily 10 pronounce its decrees. and
1900 military police we'll acquainted
with the country, and armed TO the
teeth, arc maintained for their enforce
ment. But, laaG iege9 sine apa7Jus the
law fails, Notwithstanding all the costly
and crushing weight of its armament
70 do what it undertakes, because there
is power in The prevalent feeling and
opinion of the community antagonistic
in its spirit, and which 10 can neither
battle nor pursue. There is war unpity
ing and blood between the written code
which processes 20 regulate the letting
and occupancy Of the land and the un.
written custom which the mass Of the
population revere and obey Each has
its occasional victims The rich mans
wife mourns her early widowhood, and
the peasant children are forbiudden the
miserable privilege of kneeling beside
their fathers grave But example teaches
not; and the ghastliest spectacle has no
power 20 warn. No man admits on either
side Of the dreadful controversy that
be is influenced by the death Of friend
or neighbor. Itis on the one side to be a
war Of population againt property--on
the other side of property against pop
latiOn, UndiscerniDg resentment aud
evaporation often wing the bolt Of death
TO the heart that has least cherished hard
or oppressed thoughts; and we cannot be
certain, on the otbPr hand, that the ad-
ministration Of the law is always uner-
ring. But the general result remains
A few individuals among the propertied
class are struck down by ASSESSING who
I generally pay with their lives the forfeit
Of their crime; but the terror Of the
counter law thus created literally does
its work, and every peasant knows IT,
Every proprietor who wishes 10 be
thought well Of by his fellows, loudly
and scornnlly declares that be 10 not
afraid 20 ride home alone st night, 20 act
as q magistrate, or to do az he will with
his own; but, unhappily, no one believes
him. Rightly or wrongly, the intense
conviction in the mind Of his pcasantrv
is that their condition as OCcupiers of the
soil, generally speaking, without any le.
gal security, is silently but certainly IN.
fuenCCd by tho terrorism Of agrarian vic
lence. And this fearful fact, ignored ir
Parliament, and Btupidly derided by sr
ignorant press, Is, in truth, the core o.
the whole evil. ltis this which explains
the mute sympathy and passing aid on
which the murderer knows that he can
rely Nothing elso can account for IT,
and but for il all else would be unac-
cOuntablC.
The hideOus details Of conspiracy
having its ramiGcations far and near, an
in great part but dreams of paragraph.
mongers or inventions Of the detectiy,
police. Secret organizations there may
be here and there, from time 10 time, bu
permanent plot Of comprehensive dimen.
siOns, regulated by uniform rules. anC
governed by a nicelygraduatcd hiorar.
chy Of remorseles7 judges, We believe {,
be no better than a miserable myth. Tho
thing is far worse inasmuch az it is foduC
in the untaught instincts OF people who
have never been taught TO know the Law
as a protector and a friend and whosl
physical courage, activity, and skill sup
ply spontaneously the terrible means o
wild revenge when some acts Of legal in.
dividual oXtortion or lcgalized cruelty
cause their patience 10 overflow.