The evening Argus. [volume] (Rock Island, Ill.) 1861-1871, 1870-01-18
gailp ARGUS.
Tuesday Evening, January Is, 1870.
ENGLAND AND THE IRISH QUESTION.

ENGLAND AND THE IRISH QUESTION. |
For hundrsd years England has made
the bayonet the chief element of her states |
msnship, in dealing with Ireland and all |
she has to show for it is discontinued |
people In a state of almost semi -servitude, |
and vast accumulation of public and pri-
vate wrongs. Had England pursued a diff |
ferent policy in her vexed Irish diplomacy,
different results would now show them.
selves. We cannot believe that q people,
from whose prolific loins have sprung such
warriors as O'Neil and Welling,on-suchl
orators as Burke and Grattau-such poets
as Goldsmith and Tom Moore are, only
capable OF becoming what the great MAORI
'y Of the people of Ireland are to-day, under
the heel of English tyranny. If the air of
Of the Emerald Isle were a. free a. her
people find in other lands, with such rare
spirit, energy and versatility as they possess
and everywhere display, it would be land
having people with whose fortunes Eng
land might well be glad to link her own
The results attained should teach Mr.
Gladstone and Parliament that Cancellation
is q very necessary force in craftsmanship.
But they appear to have made no progress
in conception of what is just, or what is
practicable in the adj ustment of the trouble
some Irish question. In all their experience
of q century they show no confidence IN the
Irish people and adhere to the old method
of violence of their predecessors. States
msnship knows no cowardice, but here is
Mr.. Glsdstone's government actually afraid
to release . mere handful of political pris.
oners, aud is therefore jeopsrdizing the sue
cess of q problem, which, to solve, would
immortalize his name among q generous
people, namely, the land question"
Mr.. Bright and other liberal British
statesmen have repeatedly affirmed, that
there can be no permanent adjustment Of
English and Irish relations until the land
question is reached and justly settled. All
current disturbances have sprung from this
dispute about the soil. The land that was
snstched from former proprietors is now
f'srmed out on servile conditions TO their
wretched descendants The memories that
20 with such fundamental wrong have sunk
deep into the heart of the people. The
Church question, the Emancipation ques
ton, the Rate question, each and all recog
nize the psrentsge of the Land question;
sud until this is settled. there can be no
peace for ireland. What shape shall the
adjustment take. then? Unless number
Of measures. each having al individual
excellence, are ready to be proposed IN
Parliament, it will prove that public men
have been giving their attention to any mat
tiers but those which are Of profoundest
interest and most imminent. It is time the
Irish question was met with some simple but
comprehensive plan that experience itself
ought &c have been able to yield as its pro-
duct. We indeed think it possible TO detect
q more distinct conviction III the English
public mind, looming out of the fog of this
pEotrscted state Of things. Public men are
becoming convinced that the mere compen-
sstou of tenants for their i'm provements will
not fully answer the need of the time. Some
farther legislation il plainly demanded, that
shall pregert the landlord from secting
tenant at his pleasure, and shall also give
time TO the latter, in his lease, to develop
the full resources of the soil, and get back
pay Cor his labor and expenditure. So far,
it is plan to protect the tenant, while doing
no worse by the owner than to restrain him
Of arbitrary power.
There is another and very liberal plan
Of securing TO oil three-y ear tenants &
three years longer, on the existing basis Of
rentals. 1t would be equivalent to an
outright transfer of the land. The present
owners would not be likely to relish this, bu.
It is grave, public matter that is to be set
right, and concessions and sacrifices are to
be submitted to for the sake of that peace
which aims at security from further disturb
snce. Bat this is the field of labor in
dealing with Ireland. II Mr.. Gladstone
thinks it wise, while studying means OF
pscidcstion in one direction to menace
violence in another, we shall have to admit
that this scheme will prove a failure, because
he has chosen 10 carry with him the load of
the mistakes made so many times BY his
predecessors. We should expect to see hi m
deal gracefully and effectively with the
Fenien prisoner case, if we were already
convinced Of his ability and temper to take
the general question out of its present
condition to a happy issue.