The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1879-10-25

AhN NbAAuVh INV progressing huuuk
tho tenant farmers Of Ireland seeks to nc
Complish lis ends by the methods adopted
by 0'oonnell in lslS-''the great repeal
year. as that unequaled agitator used to
call ii. The monster popular gatherings
now being held at various country cen.
tiers throughout Ireland are behind only
those which assembled on tho heaths
more than thirty years ago to listen 10 tho
matchless rhetorical appeals Of 0'ConnelI.
Justin Mccarthy relates that at the meet.
ing held on the hill Of Tara, in 1913,
0'Connell stood beside the stone said to
have been used for the coronation Of the
ancient uOnarchs OF ireland, quarter OF
amiIliOn Of people must have been pres.
eRt. The present series Of meetings will
not approximate such dimensions; and
there arc no o'Connells among the ugita.
tors made prominent by home rule poll.
tics. but it Is noticeable from the reports
that these meetings are growing steadily
larger aud more demOnstratiye; and DO.
fore the agitation dies out something Of a
crisis in the industrial history Of Ireland
may be evolved from 1t.
The grievance Of the Irish tenant farm.
ers lisa real as well as an ancient one.
There have been agrarian disturbances
there from timO immcmorial; but, per.
hups, there never was time when the
rents cxactCd by the Irish laudboIders
told 50 heavily upon their tcnantry as at
present. The only possible exception 10
thisstatemCnt Is the famine Of lSi7. That
crisis, however, was short and sharp; and
tho present has been gathering through q
series OF bad harvest years and through
the great changes in the commercial con.
ditions Of Irish farming, brought about
by the growing competition Of American
agriculture. The London TinRs, which
poOh.poOhs the complaints Of tho tenau
try, informs us, as one OF the evidence,
that tho statCmeutsO Of the speakers at thesG
mass meetings arc grossly exaggerated
that "therOis room to spare In all til,
wOrk.hOusCs." So long as tho poor law.
are not ovCrstrained, and the peace Of til,
country not too violently disturbed
those who make the laws for Ireland viii
continue to insist that the people are u
well OF as they have any business to ex
pect.
But this.CrisiS can nOt.be pooh.pOoh et
out OF existence. There Is abundant eyi
dence that when November comes, u larg,
proportion, perhaps majority, Of III,
Irish tenantry, cannot pay the full rent.
then duC. The landlords, without Cxcop
ton, refuse to make reductions which arc
acceptable to the tOnantry. Three hun,
dTed tenants in Tipperary have deliberate,
ly resolved to refuse to pay their rent, An
agent Of Lord Normandy offered his ten,
ants graduated reduction Of rents, the
poorest class being offered thirty per cen.
tuIn, the next class twenty, and holders
paying fifty pounds sterling a year five
per cCntum rebate by way Of comprOnise.
The compromise was rejected, with tho
plain intimatlon that nothing short Of the
scale Of reduction proposed in GrifIith's
yAluatiOn-repreSenling about half the
present renting value Of Irish land-would
be accepted by tho tenants. The purpose
Of the great mass meetings now being hold
everywhere Is 10 organize q moral pres
sure for the coercion Of the landholders.
The latter, under the laws OF Ireland, have
the right Of eviction, except In limited
number Of cases covered BY Glatlstone's
Irish land act. II they choose to exercise
this right when the rents fall 10 be paid
the beginning Of winter will witness 4
goOdly share Of the population Of the
island turned from their houses and
homes,
1t Is not reduction OF rents alone, how.
ever, that these great meetings seek to &C,
sompltAh, 1t has always been strong
continent In Ireland that the ownership
Of the land should DO with those who cui.
tivato Il, There has never been q time
when this has not been cardinal feature
In all tho Irish demonstrations; and The
most violent cutlery to-day Is raised
against the allen and nonresident pro.
prietoEs who control 90 large portion OF
Tho soil Of tho Emerald Isle. The same
feeling was at the bottom Of the antl.Eent
troubles In New York State; aud no one
who remembers those DAYS and the In.
fOnNiiv ri ihA fnntSnC tko S,,i,.tIo,. .I..'sI