The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1880-02-07
ireland and Her FrdsaAs.


Now that the voice Of Jeha Bright has been
heard on the Irish question there can be no
doubt that the attention Of the English govern
ment will be directed in Q manner more earn
est than ever - the affairs of the sister island.
Mr.. Bright suggests that Parliament should
appoint commission u 60 to Dublin, Win
power to "sell the farms of landlords to tenants
who are willing to buy them, and to advance
threefourths Of the purchase money therefor,
the principal and interest to Ike repaid in thir-
ty.fve years" This measure Mr.. Bright thinks
will meet the wants and satisfy the desires OF
the Irish people. He urges compulsory. sale
only in exceptional cases. Mr.. Bright isa sen.
sible legislator, and his words always command
attention here Us well as beyond the Atlantic.
The fact that ne advises only three.fourths OF
the purchase money to be advanced shows that
he perfectly understands the necessities of the
case in Ireland. Respecting the trouble be-
tween the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and the
Lord Mayor of Dublin, of which full partlcu-
lars are given in our special cable despatch, II
appears that the latter gentleman has proved
himself a very knight IN manners. He rather
gets the better of the Lord Lieutenant in refus-
ing to absent himself from the levee, DESTROYS,
as he telicitOusly expresses himself, OF show
ing on all occasions the respect and homage
due from his high position to the dignity and
majesty of the ruler. One good thing has re-
suited, however-the banquet is given up, and
the money which was to have been spent on it
has been turned over to the committee for the
relief of the people suffering from the distress.
" Y. Herald
IRISH EMIGRATION.
Emigration, then, is not the only remedy,
but Is the remedy that Is always suggested by
those who are unwilling to admit The necessi-
ty of reform in English administration OF Irish
affairs Emigration, to be natural and inev-
table" must proceed from actual scarcity of
space; that is, the population must be greater
than the soil can properly sustain. Then the
excess naturally and inevitably flows away
as the full cup runs over. But when the space
is ample and the soil fairly fruitful, then the
causes of emigration must be looked for else
where; and, in this case, they are not hard to
find. The disagreement of Ireland is too
notorious to require proof. The Irish-whose
love eff country is stronger perhaps than that
of any other natiOn-have been driven into ex-
lie by q combination of incOmpetency and OPP
preston on the part Of England. The millions
IN our own land are not here because America
is dearer to them than Ireland; but because
they can live here and cannot live there And
they cannot live there because in English treat
ment of Ireland the welfare of the Irish is a
secondary consideration. That treatment Is
better than 1t once was, yet if at the next SEES
sion of parliament it were proved conclusively
| that twenty landlords must be compelled to sell
their estates IN small lots at a fair price, or
twenty thousand people would have to leave
their native sod forever, the landlords would
hold their property undivided and the people
would go. If parliament were convinced by
unimpeachablc facts and figures, that Irish
rents must be reduced One-half or that one-hali
of the Irish population must emigrate, we be-
lieve q majority would say by their votes
Save the rents and lose the population y
While American doors always have been and
will be open to emigration from that quarter
we insist that the responsibility of the emigra
ton should be placed where it belongs; and 1t
does not belong to Ireland or the Irish. We
insist moreover that system of government
which makes emigration compulsory Is dis
grace to the civilization Of the age; and that
those who defend it, no matter on what pre-
text, must share the disgrace. Such defence
may come appropriately enough from the En-.
glish press, but how American journalists can
undertake it is a mystery to US. Parnells plan
may be good bad or Indifferent but there can
be no mistake about the grievances it is in.
tended to redress. They are real; so real, SC
bitter and burning, that they appeal not only
to every friend of liberty, but to every friend
of humanity, the world over. Compared with
them the provocation our fathers had a hun.
dred years ago sinks into insignificance. Yet
if our fathers had been told to emigrate in or
der to escape the pressure of the British yoke
they would have thought it insult added to in,
jury. To fully understand and appreciate the
pith and meaning of the Irish question, we
have only to put ourselves in the place of the
Irish, and then inquire how we would feel and
what we would do. Parnell and his plan may
pass out Of sight and out of mind, accomplish
ing no substantial results; but the Irish CUES
ton can neither be ignored nor suppressed. 1t
will live to vex and threaten England, until
England Is willing to settle it on the basis of
equal and exact justice to all and exclusive
privileges to none."-St. Louis Republican.
An Editor In Luck.