, 1880-03-14

that, on occasion, they can be employed to
increase the force Of the natural freshets
rushing on their way through the river into
the lake, and carrying before them the de-
posits Of the sewers III the sluggish stream
| HEARTLESS EXACT10N5 OF THE IRISH
LANDOCRACY.
| james Redpath's letters from Ireland to the
| New York Tribune ara doing great good in New
| York and the Eastern States In giving correct
| information in regard to the actual condition or
the people Of ireland and the real cause Of their
| suffering, distress, and poverty. Redpath Is no
| Tory or fiunky, but fearless, observant radf-
cal, who can describe what he sees, and has an
eye to sec things in their true Light The people
| in New York have been grossly mfsled by the
correspondence and editorials Of the New York
| Herald, which have all been cast from Tory
landlord standpoint. The Herald has persisted
| in shutting it's eyes to the mercess robbery Of
the Irish farmers practtced by the feudal Saxon
landocrncy. It refuses TO see that so long as the
people Of that country are nearly all tenants ut
| will, and most Of them rackrented, it Is moral
and economical tmpossibility for them to be
otherwise than miserably poor in the midst Of
| plenty produced by their own industry. which
they dare not touch but must turn over to the
alien claimants OF their farms. Redpath points
out these phases of the Irish situation, which the
Herald carefully suppresscs.
In his letter dated Dublin, Fob. e1, he gives
some facts to which we would invite the atten-
| ton of some Of our Chicago Protestant clergy
men, who, in recent discourses, while discussing
/ the reason of 1reland's misery, laid all the re-
| sponsibility therefor at the doors OF "Popery,'
and kept their eyes carefully shut to the
| chief and underlying cause.-the horrible
land system Of that country that drains the
! lifes blood Of the tenantry, keeping them for
I ever in condition of semi-pauperism. and ron-
dertng it impossible for them to get ahead In the
world. The Protestant farmers who are tenants
at will paying ruck-rcnts are no better or than
| their Catholic neighbors. No matter what
! mans religion may be In Ireland, the alien
absentee landlord clutches all he earns with the
| utmost inpartiality. But to Hedpaths letter,
| based on actual observation and investigation
| of the facts:
| The reduction given by some OF the landlords
| In their rents WIS at once productive both OF
good and evil, because it was nn ind.loement to
the poor struggling small farnor, whose crops tor
the last three yeurs we're for the most pnrt
tau to sell the tf pdusSs sas ss
OF the reduction. but which he ought to have
| kept for his support, and thus save himself and
this has Just leen The cause Of the farnine in q.
It Is truly distressing to see able-bodied u1en
coming with their bugs on their arms. standing
for days watching for the meal granted by the
Mansion House Committee. Dr.. John Magce,
Of Stlndbhlly, draws picture OF human wretch
m nnap Impression @ % in Amerc.t-wch ] shared~that
the agitation agninst tho landed proprletor5
~ 1fSland j. an aSrrnfn Gs4 f. q ha1est
effort to rensore the causes Of famine. I
find that every priest Of intelligence
maa whom hsye met and wh9 69 has
tenure-shares in the indignation so deeply and
widely felt among the Peasan@1ry t. gi agniinst the
overwhelming and comes from every county, to
tributirg shilling to the Relief Fund, but, rs a
aa Sa c hS fS Ger Il aes o
ts ;fsSs =; 6aS III s;Ssa .csSasats Esg IT i
whence s this % famine inc and panic TINT
ar%s the ny ayorf ana se3p8
harvests, the real cause is rack-rcnts, landlord
absolutsm and landlord exactions, which drain
and @ present en- % Us psrlodscaly to tie world as at
present. mendlcants and begg'trs before M,
tions. Landlord absolutism and unrestralnctl
rack-rentB nare always been and are at present
the bane and the curse Of Ireland:
II have in my own parish five orssix landlords,
o o9 as n b
o'MooTes: 0'Ialors, and o'Kellys: whose sons
NA[9%
paying or trying to pay 4o. 80 and in some cases
120 per cent over the public valuation OF tho
land treated as slaves and starved as beggnrs.
II they dare gainsay the will Of the Lord, or
ey en- complain, they are victinltzcd on the spot;
ard this is q picture of Ireland, and this 1t Is
that makes us mendicants periodically before
the world. : "
"This land system pays over from the sweat
and toll Of our inhabitants El6, 900 600 $3.50 G0.-
ND) Of our money yearly to 5000 or 1000 land
lords, who do nothing but hunt a fox or hunt tho
terantry. The Govern nlent that upholds this
cruel system abstracts E7,0050 600 ts35, ,000.G .GO0)
more from the land in Imperial TAXATION, while
there is left fur the food clothing, and sustain
nlcnt Of 5|0o0,000 OF people not more than 2l0,-
0D0000, or about II tS10) per head !curly.
IF the harvest be good iandlordism lux
uriates and abstracts Al; if bad or scauty, it
sefzes on the food and cattle for the rack
rent This is the system which produces our
periodical famines; which sha1nes and degrades
us before Europe; which exhibits mcndi-
cant8 and beggars before the world exciting.
no doubt, the compassion Of all in our favor:
and will any one blame us, cost what It may. II
We are resolved to get rid OF system that has
too long enslared and impoverished our na-
ton?
meantime, all honor and thanks to the noble
and generous American citizens who have
thought Of us in our hour OF need; who try to
supply the want that rack-rents have causcd; !
to mitigate the cruelty OF our domestic de- |
spoilers; who have ever given home to our
cxlcs and Ito the hungry Of our race. We Irish !
may be proud race, but we are not ungrnte- |
full, and we never forget kindness done in the |
hour Of need"