New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-08-22
IRISH LANDLORDISM.
LETTER FROM JAMES RrDPATH.


lFRoM THE SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBUNE
DUBLIN, Aug lon nv way to Kerry had to
stay three hours in the town of Mallow, III the
County Cork There is an old castle there that the
troops of Cromwell cannonaded and captured. II IS
the property of Sir Denham Norreys, Baronet. lbs
ancestor. was told, came over with tho Purltah
conQueror and was presented with ell the lands III
the neighborhood. As am neither writing a ms
tory nor q guide-book, shall scrupul0usly refrain
from describing scenery antiquities and cities, cX-
pting as they illustrate and then only
az they explain, why of the most industrious
and frugal races tie face of the carth-and GER
tanIy of the proudest peoples of our time-li'es
always on the precipice of paupersn and why
America should be called often. and so pit
eously for help to keep the Irish peasants from the
horrors of hunger and of death by starvation
Irshmen in America may not be saints-for saints
were never known, if l remember rightly, to vote
early and often and to take both their whskey and
democracy straight but no can pretend that
the Irish In America arc 'lazy" and 'Improyldcnt.
that they would sooner eat potatoes and sour MIX
thrice a day than good square Yankee meal
the same number of times, that they prefer to go
ragged bareheaded and barefo0ted rather than
wear decent attire Outside OF the great cities, too,
our Irish soon SHOW that they prefer good homes
TO mean novels or foul tenement-houses. why,
then, are they different in Ireland, and why are
they different in different parts OF ireiandf
For example why, in Mallow, gro the small cot
tages Oh the hill rs tidy the class of cot
tages owned and built by the Irish in America
Because no man in all the town of Maow owns the
land on which his house is built. CromwePs
CURSE is still on the land. The richer cti-
zens i'll the Irish cities have long leasesfor go or 80
or $50 years-but the poor can get leases III Maow
for twenty thirty years only and these leases are
never renewed. met in my walks about Maiiow
an Irsh-American. who had lived for many years ID
New-York and he showed mo whole streets OF cot
tages on the hill that had been built by hard-work-
ing men who paid ground rent for twenty or
twenty-one years. and then had their houses conis-
Gated on the expiration of the lease! If they con-
tinued to occupy them they were charged as high Il
rent AS If Sir Denham had built the cottages him
self If they did not consent to pay the new rents
a rent for the ground and rent for the house
they had built themseves-they were summarily
evicted without compensation Do you wonder
that Irish industry is suffering as ba blight as
Irish potatoes 7 What is true Of MallOw is truc OF
every city and town in Ireland-n0t one man in
thousand, / am told. owns the ground on which his
house or his store is built And about nine-tenths
of the land of Ireland was confscated and is still
held by the descendants OF the Ezabethan or Crom-
welllau or WillIanite soldiers VINO now so vlgor-
ously shout Confscationw whenever any-the
ialntest-attempt is made to secure any protection
to Irish industry.
No American viii ever understand Irish politics
until be understands that Irish Landlords are as dill
fcrcnt from American landlords as stockholders
were different from abolitionists. The distinction
is quite as broad.
went past the Lakes Of Killarney TO Tralee but
Immediately returned and took The jaunting to
Kenmare. AT Kenmaro l remained about week.
making excursions to Dugeen and GlcngariH From
Kenmale / travelled by steam TO Cahircaveen and
visited the Island of Vaentia, the Irish ter
minus of the Atlantic cable. From Cahir
caveen / crossed the bay to Dngle in an
open boat-it is ten-miles rowland from Dingle
(again the carl drove to Traleee. From Tralee by
rail came back to Dublin. Ii is of tins tour that
shall write Just ono word about Ireland as seen by
the traveller by rail and jaunting From Dublin to
Cork or from Dublin to Killarney the country is
everywhere beautiful The soil is rich and fertile
and 1t should support dense population in comfort
But it is mostly pasture After the famine OF 1S47
the peasants were turned off and the bullOcks were
turned IN.
THK IRISH SWITZERLAND.
Kerry is called the Switzerland of Ireland. 1t is
a wild and mountainous country, and of marvellous
and weird loneliness Like New-Hampshire, il is
great country to travel in-during summer-and to
emigrate from IN all seasons. The hilis-or noun
tans-are bleak and barren and rocky. Even in
New-England the lands would not sell for
the annual rent that is charged for
them here. I recommend tour through Kerry
to Americans who desire to see scenery as charming
as our own Adrondacks-a sort of mild Vermont
and TO see Irish peasantry at home. But they must
make excursions foot over tho hills at times,
away from the tourists line of travel and enter the
cabins of the peasantry unexpectedly if they desire
to know the truth, and the whole truth, about the
condition of the people.
Lord Lansdowne owns over 900 acres in
Ireland-in Dublin, 2.132; in Queens. $3.50; in
Meath, II .995; in Limerick. 1926 and in Kerry,
81. 1888 acres. l will write only of Lord Lars
downe's Kerry estates to-day.
The population of Kerry is 19G,565 From the
1st of May. 1861, to the 31st Of December. 1878,
114O42 persons emgra;ed f:om Kerry-chieAy to
the United States. This year there has been a
large emigration, and was everywhere told that
1t was limited only by the poverty of tho
people. Every young and young woman
who could raise the money, or whose friends In
America sent tickets, made haste to fly beyond the
reach of famine and the landlords" These fugi-
tives are the flower OF the youth, who have been
educated during the last fifteen years at the Ma
tional schOols-the class whom every wise gov
eminent relies FOR the future strength and wealth
of nations Yet the Irish landlords urge them to
emIgrate!
The average size of holdings" or farms in Kerry
is forty-four acres and in 1871 there were
over $1,000 tenants In this county who held
over one acre. But the average size of the farms Is
deceptive standard of comfort-tor if every tenant
had forty -four acres of good land, owning it or rent
ing it at living rates." there would never be such
calamity as a famine in Kerry. In Kerry 63S, 149
acres ara in Dasture: l5C.DSD
in tillage; $1,000 acres are in "planta-
lions" in woods and $4,000 acres are
towns. or waste. or bog. mountain. Under peas
ant proprietary or resident land0rdsm most of the
bog and waste lands would be reclaimed and sup
port dense population. AS ii is. Kerry raises