The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1879-11-21
The English Rental Problem.

The situation in Irelandis grave and the
news from there will be scanned
with eager interest on this side of the
Atlantic. The trouble is not new; it is
simply the elimination of what was lnevi-
table. The farmers in Ireland have, for
years been scarcely able TO get even liv-
ing from the products of their farms
because Of the enormous rent exacted by
the landowners. The same is true of Eng
lish farmers. To add to this, the crops
have been short. the yield this year in all
kinds of cereals being bslow, that of
1880 which was considered unusually light
even for the farmers of that section. This
question of rent has been agitated tre-
quently, but thus far the landowners have
refused to make any concessions, but have
continued to exact the fall amount
Like Shylock OF old. they have
Insisted on the pound Of flesh. The
difference in this case being that Shyl0ck' q
bond forbid shedding one drop OF blood
while the landlords have no such nice point
to intervene between them and
the people they Cypress. During the last
six months anti rent meetings have
been held in EDgland aud Ireland, and the
question been so tully agitated that the
people have become embroidered to declare
openly that they would not pay the unjust
exactions of the landlords, aud further
would resist any attempt at eviction.
These meetings have been addressed by
some of tue most influential members of
parliament, and such proportions has the
movement assumed that the English gov
eminent has interfered to crush the OPP
pressed renters, at once, by smothering the
leaders. Thus it was on Thursday wker.
Unexpectedly to all, Michael.Davitt, James
Bryce Kellan, were arrested iD Dublin,
and James DAILY, editor of the Cannaught
Telegraph, in Castelar,, for making anti
rent speeches at Guerton, on Nov. 2, in
which they advocated resistance to evic
ton. These arrests have created intense
excitement in ireland and bioodshed may
yet be the result. The sympathies of the
mass of the people will be with the renters
who have simply made an effort to assert
their rights as renters. and who have been
most unjustly oppressed. Il mattered not
whether the wives and little ones of the |
renters were clothed or fed, the land own
ers insisted upon their rent to the full |
amount. There was no redress allowed
aud all attempts to effect a compromise |
were contemptuously rejected and the
renters given TO understand that they
would be compelled to pay the usual rent
or go. Nerved to desperation, With abso-
lutte poverty staring them in the face,
crops light and prospects dull and gloomy,
the people rose in their wrath, and in pub
lie gave expression to their opposition to
the tyrannical landlords Law. For this
offeuce, if it be an offence. the whole pow
sr of the English government is brought to
bear to crush the poor down trodden serfs
1f ireland, that the landlords may
be sustained, and shat the Irish
people. whom England detests, may
be oppressed. The heel of monarchical
has been held upon Ireland by I
England with unyielding severity, until i
now, it is not simply question of oppo-
sltion to England-it is more-it is the !
very life of the people that is at stake. q
In EUROPE where oppression is legitimate i
ana part OF the form of monarchical rule.
Ingiands tyranny may be endorsed, but
~ rse America, where all are equal and