The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-11-11
The Great Irish Question.

WHICH 10 uoM iooHiltlS UP III TIC pUDnC nlnQ
and attracting the earnest attention of both
legislators and people. In order to Il right
understanding of the evil, us it exists, and
Of the remedies which are proposed, we
condcnsc from the Tribune Il statement Of
| the most salient points.
At present, The Irish tenants are wholly
| nj tho mercy OF their landlords. They may
he turned ont any time, and if they resist
the crowbars arc used, the huts are leveled
| and the miserable peasantry cast homeless
| upon the charity of their ncighbors. To
such an extent was the process carried out,
TINT in 1874 Mr.. Bcrnal Osborne said in the
| House Of Commons that between the years
| 1889 and lSi3 the number Of individual oc-
cupicrs served with processes was 10, 9S2, n
number which represented 35l, 91O individu-
als-ilve persons being allowed TO each fam
ily-rcndcred housclcss and homeless As
the result of q debate i'm the House of Com
mons, IN act Of Parliament was passed pro-
viding that no process should hc executed
Oh any Christmas day or Good Friday-a
very humane act Between the years. 1871
and 1861 during which the clearance of
Ireland, rs he found from official records
became reduced from s, LII, 600 to s, 700, 600
In other words, while in Scotland, with its
$500, 900 OF people, there was an increase
of 1,250,000, Ireland suffered Il decrease of
2,474,00G. During the debate in 1866 it was
stated by MIR. Gregory, NJ. p. for Galway,
that 95 per cent. of the present holders of
will
| was, had no legal document whatever to Sc
cure their tenancy. In one case within four
days 36 houses were levellcd; and a sum of
E70O was aftcrward raised to send the oc-
cupiers 10 Australia ''Those poor people.
''when released from the poorhouse to which
'thcy had been taken, went TO the once
'happy valley where they had lived, and
'knccling over the tOmbs where their fathers
''and the children Of many OF them were
"Durled, took grass clods away, and going
'to their broken-down houses, took spn-
''ters from the door-posts, that they might
''carry away with them memorials of the
''village they loved and of the land Of their
''birth."
The Irishman is nearly always tenant at
will. He has no lease or contract, and.
though lie may greatly increase the value OF
Ills holding by improvements may be turned
out, i'll many districts ut any moment, with
out penny. In Ulster the system is some
what better. The principle of the Ulster
Tenant Right is that any man who has the
agricultural holding OF farm may sell his
right to another, the incoming tenant pay
ing to the outgoing one sum in considera-
ton of what labor he has put into the land
and leaves in it. Even here, the landlord
is an enormous gamer; for the cost OF i'm
provemcnts rests upon the tenants alone;
nor is he restricted by the fact of improve
ments from increasing his rent. Yet this
partial protection system is so much better
than no protection mt all that Ulster is the
most prosperous province in the island.
Munster has $500, 900 acres and Ulster only
l'ooo,o but the amount of property in
Ulster is e. 900 and i'll Munster only
$500, 00O. The number OF persons on the
square mile in Munster is only 160, in Ulster
1t is 22t. The number of separate farm
holdings in Munster was l26, ISL; IN Ulster
it was 22l,9I6. The number OF farms at d
rent OF from Ell to .G8 was, i'll Munster,
22,7Oo; in Ulster, $1,000; farms from es to
el0, in Munster, 9270; in Ulster, 81. 1875;
farms from Gl0 TO ELS, in Munster, lG, ,OOo;
in Ulster, $4,000. The total holdings and
small-class farms varying i'm rent from CA
10 920, wds 0,400 in Munster, and (making
allowance for IL difference OF one-tenth,) in
Ulster, l4G,GGj. There were in Ulster
nearly three times the number OF small hold
ings rs in Munster, and yet by common con-
sent the Ulster population was happy, pros
porous and wealthy; while in Munster, where
there were more large farms, the people
were miserable, discontented and disaffect
cd or farms paying rent OF over ESQ,
there were 10000 In Munster and 5000 I'm
Ulster. What would be the result upon the.
production Of food? That was q question
In which English and Irish were alike inter
ested The cereal crops in Munster amount
cd in value to e2,2l3, 900 year. Crops OF
the same kind in Ulster were worth g3,Ol6.-
GOO year, or (allowing for difference i'm
arca,) nearly e3, 25O,0OO. The whole crops
in Ulster-ccrcal, hay and clovcr-amount-
ell in value together in 1867 to cIn,0 ,000, 900
against e7,00D,00) in Munster We're the
whole OF Ireland subject to the improved
small-farm system OF Ulster, 1000 600
worth OF produce would he added to its
present e30,000,0OO worth. "Why, with
''more fertile land, and moro favorable
"climate, WIS Munster ~ such q disa1yan
"tago? The explanation was that Ulster
chad tenant right Of occupancy"
The people who have reclaimed bog and
mountain and marsh nre without leases
without any claim whatever upon the land.
When IL tenant hns made his farm nav n
rent aud living, he often ceases to improve
it for fear that his landlord will regard his
industry as sign that lie can pay more