The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-12-27
AN OLD CATECHLSM.

AN OLD CATECHLSM.
THERE is an odd document to be found in col
lections of old political pamphlets which is
curiously suggestive when read in the light
of to-days history 1t is catechism issued
by the United Irishmen after the death of
their last champion, Tone, and their final de-
secretly taught in the families of the pea
santry, in the hope of keeping up fame
which threatened to become extinct The
real secret of discomfort is thus touched
Q. How would you alter the property in
land, and preserve the country from anarchy?
A. By dividing the ancient estates among
the descendants of those Irish families who
were pillaged by English invaders. The re-
nainder to be sold by public cant (auction),
and the money applied to paying off the debts
of the former confederacy, and to rewarding
the citizens who fought for their country.
The last number of the SATURDAY Reoiew
contains synopsis of the present bearing of
the Irish land question which is peculiarly
interesting when collated with this Catechism
The complaint now comes in reality, not SO
much from the Milesian Irish whose claim to
the ancient estates dates back to the days of
Brian Boroihme, but from those very Eng
lish invaders whom they decried-the small
farmers who for ten, thirty, sometimes
ninety-nine years were granted leases of pro-
perty on payment of peppercorn rent the
very class who in the insurrection of ',9S
sided with the Government, chasing them
selves with the gentry, and holding aloof
from the rebels who fought for the land then
as from a race of Pariahs.
Whatever may be the right or wrong in this
Irish land question, it has certainly been
suit in Chancery, Jarndyce versus Jarndyce,
out of which both the original claimants and
the point at issue have long since disappeared.
No wonder the English reviewer shakes his
head in despair over the unending labyrinth,
and talks of vast and theoretical grievances
impossible to understand, or Mr.. Tighe Ham
ilton exhorts Parliament to remember that it
cannot possibly comprehend anything about
Ireland, and warns it back as from a slough
of despond.
In the seventy years which have passed
since this yellow catechism was written, Ire
land has almost emptied herself of those who
issued it. They are Fenians perhaps, to-day,
in New York or Montreal, but not in Cork
Their place is filed, more than they are
willing to acknowledge, by imported small
farmers from Scotland and the lower English
shires, and it is they who now really moot the
old vexed question of rentals, making use of
the few remaining members of the old race
to give the effect of permanency and long
standing to their claim. The manner in which
the subject embodies itself now before Par
lament proves this. 1t is no vague injustice
of race to race which it is called upon to ad-
just, nor even the question of present pro-
prietorship, or the right of any man to buy
and hold land-the thorns which so long
vexed the souls of the Milesians, and melted
every revolt. 1t is a simple matter of bust
ness claims between landlord and tenant
Shall the landlord have the right to eject
tenant without payment for improvements
put upon the land? and shall the tenant be
allowed to demand a renewal of the lease, in
stead of money in payment of such claim ? A
business question, likely to settle itself in
Just business fashion.
But that the ''ancient estates" will ever re-
turn to the OHaras and ONeills, there ia
but little prospect, in spite of the wild and
not unrighteous demand for justice in this
old pamphlet. The harp is not only silent in
Taras halls, but in most cases it is gone out
of the halls altogether.
The most curious point to be noticed in
this cateohism is that every demand from
these malcontents for justice in their lives
has been answered, simply and naturally, by
the mere fact of emigration. Here they can
openly profess their creed, which there it
was death to whisper, of the supreme
majesty of the people, the equality of man,
and the lawfulness of resistance to oppres-
sion' Here they have what there they hoped
for-''emancipation, equality of rights, fair
division of land, abolition of State religious