The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1869-12-25
Ireland.

two have limited mysterously at serious dis
turbances, actual and anticipated, in Ireland,
accompanied with intimations that the British
government is about to adept "more stringent
measures" in reference to that unhappy coun-
try. More troops are to be sent, the writ of
hdoaas corpus is to be suspended and generally
the rebelous feeling in that country is to be
taken in hand, What that means, all the
world knows. Although the British press, du-
ring the rebellion in this country, could plead
eloquently for kindly treatment of the rebels
as the best means to disarm them England
knows nothing of such . policy In the treat
ment OF rebels against her government. From
the crueties of Cromwell to the blowing of
helpless Sepoys from the muzzles Of cannon,
the civilized world has beheld only with hor-
ror the brutality of the British government in
its treatment of discontinued subjects.
What is the real trouble in Ireland? For
years on years the miseries of that country
have been the theme of song and story, yet
few, when called upon, are able readily to de-
fine what those miseres are, or what they
spring from. Is it because the country is ma
turally fruitlcss and barren? Every Irishman
has said 4 thousand times, "There is no finer
country than Ireland y and it is true. The
soil is rich, the climate equable fuel abund-
ant, atmosphere pure and healthy, water soft,
clear and abundant, and the landscape every
where beautiful. A traveller saws There is
no other such verdlurc. The deep emerald just
where the waters bend over Niagara, is the
only hue in nature that vies with Irish green
sward. A first days sail along the coast of
! Cork, or drive over the valleys and hills of
Wexford, or trip by rail from Queenstown to
Dublin during daylight, lives as E joy forever
in the memory of the traveller The entire
country is landscape garden"
What, then, is the trouble? There is eyery
element of soil and climate within Ireland to
make it prosperous. No more industrious
peasantry lives; love of country is universal :;
religious convictions are sincere no state in
Europe boasts more virtuous female popua-
| ton. AS rule the Irish aborer is temperate.
industrious, honest and extravagantly fond of
home. "'rhey ought" 1--WE are quoting good
Presbyterian authority "to be the most pros
porous, contented and peaceful peasantry in
| the world. They are the most thriftess, dis
satisfied and quarrelsome."
Is the trouble church and state? The Irish
church has been disestablished. Is it Roman
Catholicism or Fenianism! None of these.
| Beyond all doubt, the source of all the misery
in Ireland is the tenure of land
Ireland is an agricultural country, contain
ing 20000,000 acres of arabic land. This land
is owned by 5000 people mostly residents OF
England. The agricultural population is di-
vided into landlords, (who live abroad mid
dlemcn, tenants. and laborers. The middle
men rent of the agents of the landlords The
only instruction to the agents is to raise the
greatest revenue. They rent to the middle
mcn-these to the tenants. No lease runs be-
yond the will of the agent, Ell middemen
No lease is binding for'tive or even one year
Few are anything but verbal agreements.
every motive" we quote from writer in
the Adrance, 'for improvement is taken away
New fences, thatched out-buildings, evergreen
court-yards, well ordered poultry keeps, potato
patches or pig-sties, raise the rent. The tenant
has no tenure. Improvement of his land is a
bid for eviction. To be thrifty ensures mis-.
fortune. His rest upon his superior's holding
is insecure and his trust in his own thrift is q
snare. He has 2 hundred reasons for idleness
to one for industry.
"The Irish laborcr does not need word He
is simply vagrant. His wages in harvest
time are a shilling n day-out of harvest ten
pence. He lives upon potatoes His dwell
ing is hovel and HIS clothing rags He can
not read, He never thinks. Beyond his scan,
supper and squalid lodging he has no future
-Four millions of living souls, created in God.
likeness, struggle from day to day through
the long years of fcto keep above the level OF
starvation, in order that the Earl of Derby
may improve his stead, and the Marquis o
Hartford sport his iour-in-hand along the avcn
ues of the Bots de Boulogne"
"Tbe curse of Ireland is not party, mol
priests, nor superstition, nor hatred or Eng
land, nor agrarian crimes nor Roman Catho
licism, nor English hierarchy, nor century-oC
grudges. 1t is simply the Tenure Of Lend
there is no security of property. Every mar
is Il tenant-at-wilI. The Duke of Argyle cvct