The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-03-07
The IRISH LAND QUESTION:.

IN the House of Commons, this evening, Mr..
Gladstone's Irish Land bill, which was intro
duced on the 18th of February, will be passed
to the second reading, and the struggle over
a question of even greater Importance than
that affecting the Irish Church will be fully
inaugurated. The bill, according to the
synopsis sent by the cable at the time of its
presentation, provides for the security of the
tenure of tenants, for facilitating the purchase
and transfer of land, for granting loans to
tenants who desire to purchase or landlords
who wish to reclaim and improve waste land,
and for the recognition of the custom prevail
ingin Ulster. 1t also orequires the landlord to pay
for improvements which increase the value of
land, and bars all claims for rent against
tenants who are evicted for its non-payment.
The "custom of Ulster, which will figure so
prominently in the debate upon the bill, en-
braces the right of the tenant to undisturbed
occupancy so long as the rent is paid, and
the privilege of making improvements with
out being subject to an arbitrary increase in
the amount of rent because of such improve
ments.
1t will thus be seen that although the mea-
sure is quite comprehensive in its scope,
some of the sorest grievances to which the
Irish tenants are subjected are not touched
byit The larger number of the Irish land
lords, especially those owning land in the
sections of the country where the greatest dis
tress and discomfort prevail, reside perma-
nently outside of the island, leaving their
estates under the superintendent and con-
troll of agents who are disposed to be even
more exacting and morciless than the land
lords themselves. For this great evil of alb
senteeism the bill attempts to apply no
remedy; and for another, even more oppres-
sive in its operation, the exaetion of exces-
sive rents, no provision is made. The large
measure of justice which it proposes to mete
out, however, has satisfied the more rational
journals and statesmen of Ireland that the
Government is disposed to inaugurate in
good faith radical reform, and hence the
bill has been received, as a whole, with favor
by the organs of both the Liberal and Con
servative PARTIES while the Irish members of
Parliament, at private meeting held few
days ago, resolved to propose amendments to
the bill instead of opposing it IN toto. But
with the masses of the people and the so-called
national or Fenian organs, the proposed
measure finds no favor. Such papers as the
! Ll-ish3aan and the Nation denounce the bill
| in unmeasured terms, and strive to increase
its unpopularity with the masses. This is in
accordance with the traditional policy of the
national party, which aims, not at reform of
English rule in the island, but its entire sub
version, and accepts no programme, however
liberal and promising, short of independence.
The ridiculous Fenian fasco, which has been
the legitimate result of this policy, has shown
Ireland its utter folly, and demonstrated that
the only hope of the country lies in gradual
reform of the abuses to which the island has
been subjected for centuries. AS the frs