The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1879-12-24
era.er and tended . r.dao.s rsat. il Eng

era.era and tended g reduce rent. Il Ess,
land. 49, 81. S;5
Z Forbidden 70 export cattle, tie psapls turned
to producing wool. AZ soon q the rising In
dustry became oompetitorv with tho English
manufacturer and producer the export OF both
raw and manufactured wool were prohibited.
Tho only industries fostered were linen and
hemp.
All the while raok.rents were enacted. stat
utes might blast the soil with sterility and
make famine tho immediate result OF their
enactment, but the rent must be produced. a.
The result was that the Irish began to export
themselves, and there is not oivilised state In
the world which has net boon, in Q marked de.
gree. under the influence Of Irish genius, ex.
patristed yet influential even in exile. ZAP
plause.)
The distress which has time and again affliot-
ed that country 10 almost incredible. IL 10 the
only Christian land into which for centuries
famine has entered. It has repeatedly been
such . scene - lured death from hell into the
waste, wia6anarohy of chaos whom he tossed
from the earth
''The savior of death from all things that then
live:
His nostril wide into the mvrky air
Ssgaclous of his quarry from 20 far"
Such have been the results of code which
have been mathematical by the great apostles
OF humanity the world over. It was denounced
by Burke in the most refined contriyanco
which the ingenuity of man has ever devised
for human degradation. It Was held up for
intending excavation by Swift in the narrowing
sition of Irish children. It was stigmatized by
Montesquieu As conceived by devils, written
in human gore and registered in hell"
It was made shameful by the
humor of Sidney Smith. One of its
last monuments were overthrown by Gladstone.
God speed him in his present work. Great
applause.) a
The System exists to-day in its last conse-
quence. One by one the penal, disability and
church establishment laws have been abrogat-
ed. The world must sympathize in the effort
to redress this last wrong and reveat the soil,
by peaceful means, in the men who till it.
Not as it was taken away-by battle and muir
der, but by laws which will give the proprie-
tor the fullest compensation. Nor is Ireland
alone in making this demand. The same evils
atiict the English farmer. He, too, can
not pay his rent and drive his
cattle to tho nearest market town in COMPETE
ton with American beef. He also demands re-
form, and the question ia pressing for solution
upon the best minds in England.
England is wealthy and great, and controls
the most efficient forces of civilization. Her
troops desceud like eagles from the mountains
upon barbarian Cabul, and they carry the ter
ror Of her name into the::desert heart of slave
land. She Is strong to weak nations. But
there has always been that in he- policy which
has finally made her weak against attack by
her home people. It is the old story of con-
solidated wealth and apparent grandeur trem-
bling over the struggle of the people under
meath. She could once call from her islands
q soldiery which no alien race has ever with
stood, but now she il compelled to marshal the
Sepoy into the ranks Of European wars. She
has reached that point in national life when a
change must come, even if it has to be COM
relied. (Applause.)
The right of any people to be fed by the
land on which they live is
THE VERY BASIS OF THE STATE.
1t is the ultimate constitution of all govern.
ment. It is condition of tenure, which,
when violated, avoids in the ultimate court OF
political revolution the broadcast patent which
any government can give. History delivers
from her tribunal hoary precedent af-
ter precedent that this is 80.
The civilized world now presents
but q single instance of q general denial OF
this primary social right. In Ireland the sol
rental which snatches the bread from the hand
which raises it to the mouth, evictions which
make thousands homeless; misery from which
there is no escape at present except to strange
lands beyond the broad sea, and dilated ovel
all /; want impending with all its woes. These
are the speotacles which have tortured tn
civilized world into coincidence with grea
and long suffering people. believe
that the present effort will end in success
through peaceful means. The world will regre
the temperance of those phantoms which
were evoked two hundred and fifty years az,
when lit was said that sword bathed in bloot
had been seen Suspended in the air and that
spirit form which had eppeased the grea
troubles OF Tyrone was again stalking abroad
land" prolonged applause.)