The Portland daily press., 1870-03-08
PR ESS.
Tuesday Morning, March 8, 1870.
The Irish Land Question,


The Irish Land Question.
Americans have something more than
general interest in the pacfcation of Ireland.
since this country is chosen as base of oner.
atoms by those who would resort to forcible
means OF redress Tor Ireland's wrongs, and,
since SO many Of our Irish population are en-.
gagged IN one way and another, in forging
tnunderbolts for "perfdious Albion" just
now the Irish land question is as prominently
before the people of Great Britain as the dis
establishment of the Irish church was last
year. Mr.. Gladstone has recently brought
forward his proposition for removing the
causes of complaint among the occupiers of
: Irish lands, and If he can push it through the
House in spite of Tory and conservative Wing
opposition, as he did the disestablishmeAt
bill, his Premiership will be sufficiently Illus
trious if he does nothing more. HIS great
rival, Disraeli, to whom it seems fashlonabie
to ascribe mysterious and almost supernatural
bowers. will then seem relatively Insignificant,
since ali the latter was able to do was to
place bis party in false position merely for
the sake of maintaining power,-making a
Tory government responsible for a liberal
reform by the passage of the bill establishing
homestead suffrage,-and being defeated
shortly afterwards because he could not VEN
ture to drag his party any further in the di.
rection Of reform.
Inc general outlines of the Irish land ques-
tion are few and simple, though the details
Doth OF existing wrongs and of the proposed
remedies are as complex and difficult to un-
derstand as perhaps any subject with which
modern statesmen have to grapple. The
general outlines are these: Nearly one fourth
OF the million and half of Irish people are
engaged directly or indirectly in agriculture.
OF these, about six hundred thousand are
tenants of the soil. Of the tenants, only
about per cent. hold by leases. Thirty per
cent hold by what is known as the Ulster
tenant right. Both the classes just men.
toned are excepted from those who have
wrongs OF any magnitude to be redressed. Ii
Il the remaining IS per cent of the tenants
whose miseries, actual or potential, are unen-
durable. Their landlords, many of whom re-
side in another country, refuse to give them
leases. They are merely tenants at will.
Notice to quit, promptly followed by forcible
eviction, is the frequent consequence OF the
insecurity of this tenure. If the tenant
makes any Improvements on the land, con-
venient presumption of law ascribes them to
the landlord, and the tenant loses them
entirely in case of eviction. The landlords
In general make no efforts to improve their
estates. Whatever is done is due to the
enterprise Of the tenants. When the latter
have reclaimed waste or bog land and given
Na value it had not before by their toll, then
Gomez the landlord with his demand for more
rent. If the rent is not paid new tenant
willing to pay for the improvements made by
his predecessor, takes his place. -.-.
Insecurity of tenure is the cardinal wrong
complained Of by the occup'er of Irish lands.
This and the denial by the landlords or by
the agents Of absentees of rights founded on
immem orial custom, claimed by tenants, are
the occasion Of most Of the oft reported agra
rian outrages and murders, and afford not
little Of the stimulus on which Fenianism
lives. 1t is the object of Mr.. Gladstone's bill
to conf1rm by law to the tenants of Ulster
the Ulster tenant right" under which occu-
piers are tree from the various forms of injus-
t!cs to which We have referred; to tenants out
Of Ulster the PIemier's bill offers similar
security. he also provides for aiding tenants
in purchasing land.
This is but very meagre outline of the
bill but it is sufficient to indicate its general
scope. It will be seen that though it en-
braces large concession to Ireland, it by no
means answers the requirements of those who
claim nothing short OF the ownership of the
land BY its tenants as proper measure OF
pacihcation. 1t merely modi6es the tenure
BY which lands are held. 1t is a reform and
not revolution. However, Mr.. Bright ap-
proves 1t, and so do the Irish members of Par
lament. But our dispatches have shown
from time to time that the people of Ireland
do not feel satisfied, and it is doubtful if Fe-
nianism, which will hear of nothing short of
Independence, will he much affected by it.