The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1868-09-18

The Irish Land Laws.
The recent shooting of Mr. Scully-wh0 b
described as landlord of the most tyrannica
class-with the very significant verdict Of the
coroners jury in the case of the murders per-
petrated at the time and the potato riot as it il
called, in Cork, help to raise the question Of
Irish tenant rights to that prominence it once
held Eighteen years ago that question
was the popular one in Ireland, scarcely
less SO than the repeal movement had
been. The leaders of the agitation
were able men; but some others who
had been returned to Parliament pledged
to support the measure wanted their honesty,
and for the love of place broke the pledges
made to their constituents. Confidence was de-
stroyed, the people grew disheartened, and the
agitation ended in nothing. Since then Ireland
has struggled on through hardships, decreasing
in population, wretched and poor as ever; and
as to disaffection, the rapid spread of the
Fenian movement and the sympathy it
awakened proved sufficiently the unpopularity
of English rule in Ireland. But what drove
the peasantry to swell their ranks or offer
them sympathy was the iniquity of the land
system; nor can we understand how English
statesmen suffer an evil that threatens in the
end to Overturn their empire to go unchecked.
1t Is on evil peculiar to Ireland. In other
countries of Europe, even in Russia, the cul-
tivators of the soil have some legal tenure OF
their farms and improvements. In England
and Scotland the farms are held by long leases
of ninety-nine years, and compensation, If not
secured by law, is guaranteed by custom. In
France peasant proprietors hold and cultivate
the greatest part of the country, and the crops
raised there are far more abundant than were
raised under the old seignorial system previous
to the revolution. The case is similar in Bel
GUM and all over Germany. But the Irish
farmers are tenants at will Instead OF grant
ing leases, many landlords serve all their
tenants with legal notice to quit
every half year. Not that the landlord
always or IN most cases intends an
eiectment, but the rod is thus held
Immediately over the heads of tenants, who
live in terrOr-a state of mind which the land
lord finds serviceable in times of q general
election.
Can we be surprised that such system
is not found favorable for the develop
ment of modern improvements in agriculture
So far is this from being the case that Irish
agriculture compared to Scotch exhibits diff
ference of some centuries. But those who
blame the Irish farmer for neglect of improve
ments either forget his circumstances or ex-
pect him, with glorious self abnegation they
would not practise themselves, to act contrary.
to the plainest maxims of economy. We never,
find a prudent merchant investing his capital
in speculation where the hazards are very
great and the profits, if realized very trifing.
And why should we expect the Irish farmer to
expend bis capital-whether Of labor or
money, or both-in improvements which an
immediate rise in the rent, as experience has
often shown, would probably render Of no
profit to him, and which the law in every case
appropriates to the landlord free Of compensa-
ton? The Irish farmer is content to jog ON
as his fathers have done, with DamOcles'
sword hanging over his head in the shape OF
q legal notice to quit. The evictions which
sometimes result from this insecurity of tenure
are real and by no means, as some say,
sentimental grievance. The last official re-
turns we have of this kind are from 1860 to
1866. These show that during that period
81, l64 families were elected, which, allowing
FIVE to family, gives total of 1s5, $50 human
beings, or an average OF more than 10000
year. Imagination cannot picture the aggre-
gate of wrctchedness that these figures repre-
sent. But could we draw the veil aside and
sec the grief and sometimes maddening de-
spair we can only guess at, we should not won
der that there are 80 many agrarian outrages
in Ireland, but that considering the provocs-
ton, there are 80 few. We believe Irish Ten
ant right to be the radical cure for most Of the
miseries Of Ireland. and we are not without
hope that the new Parliament, when it has
disposed of the Church question, will finish the
work 1t has begun, and by an alteration of the
land laws begin new and brighter era in
Irish history