Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1872-11-14
England and IreIand.-Catholic
Emancipation and the Condi-
tions of Land Tenure.


England and Ireland.-CatholiC
Emancipation and the Condi.
tions of Land Tenure.
4 Mr.. James Anthony Froude, the
English historian, delivered the fifth
land last of his series of lectures on sThs
Relations between England and Ire
Hand" at Association Hall, New York
He began by speaking of the continu
ous changes in the social and politica
llife of Ireland, each change no bettel
than what went before, and asked whar
gas amiss with Ireland. Ireland's rea
ienemy was the landlord. An English
tnan or a Scotchman would buy an
iestate, would establish large farms
Build barns, cattle-sheds, puthis capita
Unto the ground, drain the water, plant
land manure. Finding his property the
first year Uttered with paupers, hs
Ewould clear them away. But the pau
Epers were human beings, and they shot
landlords or bailiffs on sight.
Such Ireland remained after the union
EFour main points have to be considered
Hhere was, first, the character of the
Hrish people. Their trials were as much
from circumstances surrounding them
Ias from faults of their own. They had
been trained in q system which was
compounded of anarchy and injustice
The law had been their enemy, there
More they were laWless. They gained
tnothing from being industrious, there
More they were idle. Time only, with
d better education and a better admin
Iistratiou of law, could remedy the evil
THAT @as so deep-rooted.
Next, more effective police was
fwanted. The grand rudimentary ele
tments of civilization are Incompatible
with the private use of the gun and
fpistol. Again, thewhole condition OF
the Irish tenure law had to be revised,
land lastly, there was the religious diff
ificulty. Ireland was in the English
Idsminions, and yet she held to the Pope
fof Rome. The Pope had relieved them
tof their allegiance to England, and the
tIrish felt that their duty was to the
tPope, and not to the English sovereign.
Twas the English sovereign to stand by
Iand let the enemy walk over the king
ldom because it chose to clothe itself in
the mantle of religion? It would be
lmueh az if Prince Bismarck should be
called upon to let the Jesuits control
the State policy of Germany. With
1.-THE accession of the House of Hanover
| the Roman Church changed its tactics.
When the dangers of society were no
longer from religion, the first desire OF
the Enlish statesman was to remedy
the last traces of disability and teplace
the Catholics in all respects on an
equality with other subjects. But for
1.-The unity of Irishmen in the Rebellion
of 'sS, Catholic emancipation would
have formed one Of the chief conditions
tof the active union. ~ l.9sT9q >.
I This was the chief political question
that came tothe front. It was carried
| by Daniel O'Connell, and if Daniel o.
Connell had never been born circum-
stances would have compelled this act
of Justice. ga .ls ~ Ii-s E..hi
two measures were passed after the
reign of O'Counell, but they were the
work of Sir Robert Peel and the Eng
lish Liberals. BY the first ofstFe tive
the Eaglish peasantry of Ireland were
armed and the Well-known Irish police,
composed of the same elements as the
widest Fenian mob, controlled the
country. The entire nation was met
amorphosed, and in our whole domin-
ions there is not a force more trust
worthy nor more efficient. nJ
That was one thing; another more i'm
portant measure was that education,
unsectarian in character, was provided
in every corner of the country, OPEN
ing to the poorest its advantages, and
free alike to the Catholic and the Pro-
testant.
The sorest difficulty that remained
tenures. A third part of the Irish soil
was still owned by absentees, half of
the rest belonged to needy, thItftless
gentlemen, whose estates were mort
gagged up to the brim. In 1882 Ireland
had 5000, 900 inhabitants; in 1876 the
5000, 900 had become 5000, 900.
Thus it was when the famine came to
Ireland, through the failure of the po-
tato crop. A quarter Of a million of
people, at least, perished from natural
hunger, notwithstanding the help sent
to them from all countries.
The famine produced one or two i'm
portant results. The English Parlia-
ment passed laws to the end that the
Irish land should support Irishmen, ,and
that every district should be furnished
at least with food. The exodus was the
most important consequence. Between
four and five millions in all must have
migrated. aES ~
Meanwhile, in ireland itself there
was great social revolution. The
larger landlords had learned their les
son at last. Trained agents took the
place of the middlemen; rents were cut
down and wages raised to twice what
they were before, and hundreds and
thousands of dollars are now expended
in Improvements in the country. In
the great baronies the peasant is far
better off than the English agricultural
laberer. .faD 20 ~ A..ai
The rebellion of 1S4S collapsed, asdid
Fenianism, which followed later. / do
not blame the Irish people for wishing
to see their country free, but do blame
them for conducting themselve. like
schoolboys. The present system of ma
tional education in Ireland is equal to
that which exists in the British Empire.
The heart of many complaints of the
Irish people lies in. the land; land is
the life of the Irish. Agriculture is
their only industry; many OF the peas
antry have been robbed by rich land
holders, and it is this plumber which
has smitten the most beautiful land in
the world. The Irish Land Act, pass
ed three years ago, is the most healing
measure for Ireland.
lt.s s+.
In jolly company each one asked
question: If it was answered. he paid q