The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1873-12-07
rHE MORNING STAR MESSENGER SUNDAY

would they be to . government which sup;
ported the absentee lords against them, ana
collected the rent for them at the point of the
swordf This is literally the condition Of Ire
centuries, since the act Of confscation took
effect. Is it remarkable that majority Of the
people are wretchedly poor, disseminated, and
morei It is true that Parliament of late years
has repealed many cruel and savage enact
ments leveled at the Catholic portion Of the
sentimental or surface relief but from the
crushing burden of the rent-roll not ounce
has been lifted from their bent backs, nor is it
proposed to relieve them Of one penny.
something of the feeling of hostility that ex-
lists toward the landlords who grind them
down. and the government which supports the
surprised Mt first to observe the perfect quiet.
good order and peace that exist in all parts of
the island. Bat, looking a little closer, the
village and railroad station saw groups of
armed policemen-all large, powerful, athletic
fellows. This force numbers thirty thousand,
carefully picked and drilled men with head
throughout the island there is a telegraph
Office. These stations are stockades or forts,
supplied with plenty of arms and ammunition.
The railroad system connects most of them
with the capital, where large reserve body
of the police are quartered and kept for special
service, to be sent by express train, in compa-
MES or squads, to any part of the country, on
men are forever on the watch for the first
symptoms of disturbance or characterization
among the people, and ready to pounce on it.
quence have garrisons of "red.coats," lodged
in strongly built and armed forts, 80 located
as to command the town and harbor; and in
the harbor itself will always be found one or
more war vessels quietly riding at anchor. But
! these are not all the precautions for preserving
peace. The inhabitants have been universally
disarmed. No man is allowed to have o rifle
or other fre-arm in his possession except by
taking out Q license, and paying q large an
nual sum therefor The man and his gun
are then registered and watched.
By these means Irelond is kept quiet, and
the collection of the rent is regularly enforced;
DOC, 900 of rent that requires and causes the
presence of these strong forces and the dis
armiug of the people. If the farmers Of Ire
land owned the land they cultivate. and were
safely be discharged, the soldisry marched of
to some other country, and the gunboats and
ironclads be laid up in ordinary to rot or rust.
But it may be asked why is it that England,
whose farmers are also tenants and pay enoE--
nous rents, Is SO exceedingly prosperous and
intellectually rich 7 The reason is not difficult
to explain: In the first place, England is
blessed with immense deposits of coal and iron,
and these have made her q manufacturing and
commercial nation. Her prosperity and wealth
really date from the Invention and improve
ment . of the steam engine, about g; century
Britain exceeds that of the strength of all the
horses and men in the world. In the second
place, the rents paid by the British farmers
are expended in England, and employed as
surplus capital, invested in banking. manufac
turing, mining, building railroads, and in max
ing improvements on the estates; aud the
rents derived from the Irish farmers also
expended and invested in England, whose nest
is thus feathered at the expense of her sister
island. The one is fed plentifully, while the
other is plucked clean-not feather being
left on tho forlorn Irish bird to cover its ma
kedness. In the next place all the wealth de-
rived from the Indies, the colonies, and the
commerce of the world, is deposited in Eng
getting o smell of it. Lastly, the farms in
England are ten times as large, on the average,
as those of Ireland. There are only 100000
tenant-farmers in England, which contains
81 600 square miles; while Ireland, with only
$4,000 square miles, has zoo, 900 tenant-farmers.
The English farmers hire 100000 of poverty
stricken families to help them work their farms,
abled to live comfortably and make some profit
| by reason of the great prices they obtain for
all their products right at their very doors, and
enough wages to keep them in working condi-
ton. Poor and illiterate ground down and
! oppressed are the Irish peasantry, they are
not IS miserable or ignorant, as impecuni-
GUS, or as low down in the social scale as the
| 900 0G0 families who are the hireling depend
emit serfs of the English farmers.
The reason of England's wealth and Irelands
poverty is thus explained, and it is seen that
the same accursed system of land monopoly
which distresses and impoverishes 5000, 900
| of Irishmen also grinds down in stolid ignor-
anee and shameful penury 5000, 900 of free;
born Britons." The crushing weight of land
monopoly falls in both cases on the classes
who till the ground in the sweat of their brows,
aud who, therefore, are the rightful owners OF
| the soil.
While there is little or no material improve.
ment visible possible. there is an improve
ment in education taking place in Ireland
Some twenty years ago the government estab-
lished system of national schools which are
attended by 100000 youths. In Catholic dis
| tricts the teachers are Catholic, and in Pro-
testaut districts they Protestant; and,
! while there is much time spent is imparting
sectarian instruction to the children, yet the
rising generation far better educated than
any before them. Few persons now come OF
age without being able to read and write, at
least. There is a large increase of pupils in
attendance at academies and high schools.
Newspapers and books, which arc very cheap,
are far more generally read than formerly, aud
the people are beginning to think and reflect
more for themselves than in former times.
There is no doubt of steady improvem in
manners, morals and intelligence; and, as