New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-11-25
WHIT CAN BE DONE IN IREL1NDi

ments they might have made IN their hOld
ings but vested them with novel species OF
property and provided means whereby they
could buy their farms with the help of the
State. 1t was the first step IN the direction
of peasant prOprietOrship. The Compensation
Act which was rejected by the House OF
Lords was designed to give tenants who
were willing but unable to pay their
rents additional security against eviction.
1t was at best only a temporary expe-
| dent, for it was framed to meet a
special emergency. To be of permanent value
remedial legislation must 90 much further
than this. 1t may provide for an impartial
valuation Of the land 1t may empower the
courts TO come between landlord and tenant,
and decide what IL a fair and reasonable
rent; it may simplify the transfer of landed
property, and protect every family of low es-
tate against the natural rights as well as the
| fitful caprces Of the land-owning class and,
| what is more important than anything else, it
may create new class of peasant pIOprietOrs
after every obstacle TO the redistribution of land
has been removed. The Bright clauses of 1870
| have not brought this new body of land propre-
tors into existence. Either those clauses must
be extended or a substitute for them must be
devised, TOR this question of peasant proprie-
| torship lies at the base of land reform.
| In every other country a practical solution
of the problem of daily subsistence has been
worked out by the working classes with bet
Ter results than in Ireland. Even when the
| farms are small and the economic conditions are
| harshest, the peasantry of the Continent get
| on better than the Irish tenants. They are not
satisfied with raising few potatoes and a
light crop of oats and hay and fattening a
pig. The Fleming will spend the winter in
draining and fertilzing farm that is often
as small as an Irish holding. The French
cottager will make wine and raise bcet-rOot
as well as harvest his grain, and will man
age his little property so well that when a
popular loan is put in the market his hoard is
worth counting. The Swiss peasant will
gather his scanty crop in summer and try
his hand at matchmaking during the winter.
The South German, when there is nothing
else to do, will carve wooden toys or dress
flax. The Irish tenant is usually improvident,
wasting the winter in idicness, so that
when harvest that is certain to
be meagre proves an utter failure,
he has nothing laid by. and must starve or
emigrate unless the English speaking world is
prompt with It's aims. Who will deny that a
class of thriving agricultural laborers, such as
are found in Belgium or France, would
change the face of unhappy ireand2
Can such n class be created 10y legislation
Mr.. Bright thought SO when he introduced
the amendments TO the Land Act ten years
ago, and probably he thinks so still but it is
an open question. Glance for moment at
the agrarian revolution that was eff
fccted IN Russia twenty years ago. The
attempt was made to transform millions
of serfs into class of communal proprIetors
invested with all the privileges of local self
government The land actually Occ upied by
them was transferred TO the cOmmunes, and
yearly dues in money aud labor we're paid to
the prODrctOr3 who had been stripped Of half
of their possessions and means were provided
for assisting the enlranchised serf to purchase
the lands coded to the cOmmunes. Here We're
all the legal facilities needed for creating
new class OF landed proprietOrs and giving
them training IN sci government. Yet so
evenly are the good and evil results COM
mingled that so accurate an observer
as Mr.. Wallace cannot decide whether
ON the whole the new system is working
well or i'll. In too many districts the local
the peasantry are incorporate, improyidcnt
and disconnected, complaining that their share
OF the communal land is too small and their
proportion OF the yearly dues too large. and
half inclined to regret that scridom has
ceased.
The forms of law are not always quickened
by creative spirit The faint OF national
vices like drunkenness and improvidence re-
mains after the evils of the land system have |
been removed. The Russian peasant finds his |
communal dues as OppresSly We as the old labor |
tax. In like manner the irish tenant is slls- |
piciouS that bis annual nstalmcnt under |
the Bright clauses is more than eQuy- |
alent to the rent. lie cannot appreciate the |
advantages OF reform measures which improve
his legal position without lettering his cir
cumstances. For all he can see, he would
still be paying dues for land which he thinks
is fairly his own. He does not understand his
privileges under such system as Mr.. Bright
devised, and consequently neglects them and
when new opportunities are offered him he W il
be apt TO disregard them. Verify, there is no
bog Ill the island more unstable and treacher-
GUS than this whole question OF Irish land re-
form.
GILMORE on HARBOR DEFENCE
The important question of harbOr defence
is discussed in mastery way IN our columns
ibis morning. 1t is not too much to say that
there is no engineer in the service of the
Government who is more competent to form
IN intelligent Judgment in this matter than
General Q. A. Gilmore. His letter needs no
explanation. 1t is clear, incisive and logical.
He batters down three popular assumptions:
irst, that harbor can be protected solely by
ines of channel torpedoes; secondly, that
lasty constructed earthwOrks can resist naval
iLIrIl,, I'M L | ,