River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1880-11-25

tions. The very dislike which Ameri-
cans, rs rule, have to the Irish popu
lation of our great cities, drives them To
closer communion with one another;
and it must be admitted that the cir
cumstances under which many Of
them have left their country are likely
to rankle in their minds for years At
any rate they do rankle; and coldly as
Mr.. Parnell was treated by the mass Of
Americans when they found that he
wanted to draw them into a crusade on
behalf of Ireland against England, he
had little reason to complain OF his re-
ception by the Irish in any portion Of
the states. Now it easy enough to talk
of the silly, misguided peasant3 egged
on by unscrupulous agitators to believe
themselves hah-starved. miserabiy, and
oppressed, when in fact they are fat,
well-liking, and the fFeest of the free.
That may all be gospel truth, though
the facts somehow tend to show that
silly misguided peasants have al least
capacity enough to know whether their
bellies are full or empty, whether their
landlords are tyrannous and unjust or
lust and sympathetic. But-and that
is the matter for us just nowhere are
some millions on both sides of the At
lantic who do not believe it. They do
not believe that the wholesale dcporta-
tons of 1917 and onward were conduct
ed in the true spirit of christian charity
nor for the matter of that, that the
marquis of Lansdowne's estates have
been managed in the humanitarian
fashion which that able supporter OF
freedom of contract represents in his
letter to the American newspaper
They hold that they, as well as their
friends and relations now in Ireland
have been shamefully used by the
landlords and by the English govern
ment, which supported those landlords
in the maintenance of system Of land
tenure that no single human being who
has not interests of his own to serve by
doing so, can be found to advocate for
a moment. Thus thinking, they mean
some day to fight--partly for revenge,
that, to do them justice, they love only
| too well.
Now what we want to ask is this: Is
it worth while to shut our eyes to this
bitterness of feeling, and to laugh at the
idea of Ireland being heavy handicap
to us in the event of a serious foreign
war? We have tried the game of coer-
| cion in the interests of a small minor
ity over and over again. What has it
benefited us, the English people? What
indeed! Night we not now try little
steady Justice on both sides? We arc
looking ON Mt something like reyolu-
ton now, and civil war in private hands
is also recommended by one w, in
large type, in Yesterdays Times, While
civil war, or even revolution, is an ugly
business, forcible domination is not
likely to be adopted by the present
cabinet. There remains but to try
plain, fair dealing, undeterred by
! threats either of an Ainer1can-lrisn IN
vasion-not much in favor with either
American party, possible though 1t
may be a critical timer OF an irish
landlord ku-klux TO take the law into
their own hands. We have certainly
no reason to fear an Irish rising, even
assisted from America, in the long run,
but the business of statesmen is and
should have been, to remove all ground
for it.