The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1880-05-28
IRISH I.ANDLORDlSM.
The Source of Nationa, Misery.

IRISH 1.ANDLORDlSM.
|~ The Source of National Misery.
Especial Cor. of the N. Y. Herald.l
CORK, April Al am weary of look
ing at Irish misery. I am sick at
heart with listening to the groans of
the Irish. Why should 1 travel all
over the West? It is the same spec
tacle everyWhere--of want and woe,
of wretcheness and rags. Only the
scene differs. I have sent you already
so large volume of evidence unim-
peachabie, to prove that the reports of
the Irish distress have not been exag-
gerated, that cannot see how: any
additional testimony in America
would help the sufferers here. And
as the purpose of the Tribune in send
ing me to Ireland Yves not to create a
sensation or to minister to an un-
healthy curiosity, but to lend its po-
tent influence to alleviate the distress
by a truthful presentation of the situ-
alton. 1 think that L have accom-
plished my mission, and that I shall
now return.
Let me add few notes have made,
sitting by the peat fires of the West,
that L have not hitherto written out.
Efforts have been made in America,
with ungenerous ability, to prove that
the sufferings of the Irish peasantry
were brought on by their own improv-
idence, and that the landlords were in
no sense responsible for it. inclined
to that belief before left home. had
no sympathy for Mr.. Parnell or his
friends or his policy. I have been
forced to change my opinions by the
black facts that have stared me in the
face at every step. There can be no
improvement in the Irish peasantry
until the present system of land tenure
is abolished. The Irish landlord is an
absolute despot. There is no check on
his tyranny. AS have said, it is not
! in Ireland as in England and Scot
land, where tho landlord has fenced and
drained the land and built the houses
and stables and barns and cottages, or
where, if he has not drained the land,
he has given the tenant who does so a
guarantee of good faith by granting
long leases either in regular form or by
usage. Even in England the farmers
to-day could not pay their rent, nor
the husbandmen live on the wages
they receive, if it were not
for the outlet which the great.
manufacturing cities give them, both
for their produce and for the surplus
laborer can send some member of his
| "long family'' to the factories, and
with them help keep the rest of them
out Of the poor house. But there is no
such resource in Ireland. England tor
many generations crushed out every
effort to establish manufactures in Ire
land by the power of Legislation, and
her manufacturers to-day by combina-
tions among themselves. Besides, the
great English landed proprietor lives
on his estates and personally knows
his tenantry. There is traditional
bond of common interests between
them. But there is rarely any such
bond in Ireland. The great estates
religion by a long desputed contest
| the landlord and his tenants have Of
| ten never seen each others faces and
tradition sends down hatreds that alb
sentecism intcnsifics. We often hear
| of landlords being shot or their agents
shot but have inquired verywhere
! in vain for a single instance in which
any decent landlord has been injured
| or even threatened. Take Lord Lei
trim. lie was shot dead one day on
| his estate, and the incident was every
where published as an illustration of
the lawlessness of the Irish peasantry.
| nave ulct pIAtStS AlAu JoOEu0AlSlS WhO
personally knew the true facts Of this
manslaughter, and their testimony is
unanimous that Lord Leitrim was shot
to avenge n private wrong. English
journalists who privately stated and
| believed this theory from their own
Investigations were afraid to. publish
it, and the priests who told me the facts
were bound by other considerations to
! conceal them. At Westport Lord
Sligo's agent never walks out in the
streets without being guarded by two
constable with loaded carbines.
1t is pretended that he was ambuscaCetl
and fired at by some of Lord Sligo's
tenants, but the investigation before
a packed jury was suddenly brought to
IA close. Young Smith, the agents son
shot poacher, simple fellow, dead
at sight, and then made up the story
that he had been ambnscaded. In
An1erico he xyOnld hc Seryino a forC1 II,