Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-11-12
THE IRISH AGITATION.

The prosecutions of the Irieh land leaguers
have awakened the most intense excitement
throughout Great Britain, and Ireland ap
pears to be on the verge of revolution. 1t
would surprise no one if at any time armed
resistance to the government should break
out and devastation be carried to many
homes. The policy of the government has
been directed more towards pacifyiug
the landlords than towards pacifYing the
people. Yet reform in the system is
promised at an early day. At the Lord
Mayors banquet the other evening Mr..
Gladstone asserted that it would be the duty
of the ministers to carefully examine the
law in regard to the wants of Ireland, and
if they found occasion to believe its pro-
visions were insufficient for the happiness
of the people. they would not scrupls to
call upon parliament to deal with the SUBJ
ject in spirit of equity. Legitimate in
fluencss are at work, Mr.. Gladstone claimed,
in Ireland. The maintenance of public
order, he said, ought to be considered before
the improvement of law. Those who wish
to occupy evicted farms ale obstructed
by menace, intimidation, crime
and infringement of the rights of
free citizenship. Although the government
is anxious to promote practical improve
ments in the land law, yet he recognized as
a duty above all others the duty of enforcing
law for the purposes of order. The obligation
incumbent upon the government he regarded
is to protect every citizen in the enjoyment
of life and property; and it may be under GER
tain circumstances, that it may be compelled
to ask for certain increase of power. But
he did not anticipate such contingency.
Mr.. Gladstone's fair words will not, how
ever, allay the turbulence that exists in Ire
land. It's well, perhaps, to pirate about the
dignity of law and the necessity of it's en-
forcement previous to remedying the abuses
it inficts, but that is poor satisfaction to
those who are the victims of its expressions.
The proper course for the Engliah govern
ment would be to reform the laws first, and
then insist upon obedience to them. It is
not crime to resist unjust laws. At least
the American people did not consider it a
crime little over hundred years ago, and
evidently have not changed their mind
since that time. AS consequence Ameri-
cans have an active sympathy
for the people of Ireland in their present
distress. They may dispute the wisdom of
the course pursued by the land leaguers, and
question the expsdiency of some measures
adopted by the people outside of that organi-
zation, but they still retain q feeling that
prompts to active encouragement of the
Celts in their resistance to oppressive laws.
The Gladstone government can disarm the
rebellious spirit now rampant in Ireland by
reforming the laws-by giving to tenants
some rights that the landlords will be bound
to respect, and by permitting citizen to en-
joy the fruits of his honest labor. If, after
these laws have been amended rebellion still
shows its front, the government will be JUST
fed in the vigorous measures it is now pur-
suing towards those who are resisting the
laws, but until that time the rebels will have
the sympathy of the liberty loving people of
the whole world. It is about time that the
British government had learned it has had
experience enough---that the best way to
prevent rebellion is to remove all cause for
it. 1t is to be feared, however, that the Brit
ish government is fast drifting into the
Bourbon rut, and has almost reached the
stage of neither forgetting nor learning
anything.