Northern tribune. [volume] (Cheboygan, Mich.) 1875-1885, 1880-12-04

Plain Facts About Ireland.
From the New York Tribune Nov. IS.
A correspondent, who finds the cable
dispatches Complex, if not confusing
and who is anxious to know s"just how
the Irish land question stands" asks the
Tribune to give him "a plain statement
of facts" He wishes to find out CD what
the leaders of the land movement ARE
hoping to accomplish; (2) what the Eng
lish Liberals have done in the past or
have promised to do in the future to i'm
prove the lot of the Irish peasantry; 90
who is in the right in the present con-
trOyersy, and, consequently, entitled to
the sympathies of fair-minded Ameri-
cans. The correspondents request is
needed, although he must allow us to
remind him that the open way to study
the history of our own times is not to
attempt an artificial "cramming" when
the Importance of public question has
been tardily recognized, but to read
good newspapers carefully every day,
and follow the whole course of the con-
ton. IL <-cDv
1. The present land agitation in Ire
land began to attract attention in 1878.
At the outset the avOwed object of the
leaders was to obtain reduction of
rents, but as the movement gained head
way their harangues became more viO-
lent, and the abolition of landlOrdism
was wrecklessly demanded. The National
Land League did not become formidable
until the autumn of 1879, when a winter
of dire priyatiOn was staring the peas
antry in the face. The Home Rules then
began to discuss the land question, and
in nearly every county landlOrdism was
denounced as az conspiracy against the
people. After the arrest of Dayitt, Killen
and DAILY the leaders were more mOder-
ate in their language. During the pres
ent year the discussion has taken
wide range, and some of the
speakers have been guilty of great ex
cesses; but the two vital principles of
the Land League, as defined by MIR. Par
nell, are ADVICE to tenants to pay no
more than a fair rent and to pledge not
to take a farm from which anyone has
been eyicted. Here and there dema-
gOgue excites an ignorant audience by
declaring that rent under any conditions
of tenure is an unjust tax, and that the
land belongs to those who till it; but the
method of establishing class of pro-
prietary peasants, and thereby of settling
the land question. Their plans of re-
form are vague. They counsel systematic
organization and constant agitation for
indefinite ends, Their Interior purposes
seem to be political rather than agrarian,
the question of rack rents and evictiOns
merging finally in that of Home Rule.
2. The Land Act of 1870 which was
passed during Mr.. Gladst0ne's first Ad- 4
ministratiOn, was designed to discOur-
age unjustifable evictiOns in Ireland by
authorizing full compensation for i'm
prOvements whenever a tenant should be
elected. 1t virtually created new class
of property. Mr.. .Brights amendments,
which were engrafted on the original
measure, provided that whenever land
lords were willing to sell, tenants should
be assisted by the State, the Board of
Works being empowered to make advan-
ces for twO-thirdS of the purchase money,
which should be repaid ill small yearly
instalimentS. The operation of the
Bright clauses has not been very sue
ceSsful, not more than thousand ten
ants having taken advantage of the law.
After his return to Office, Mr.. Gladstone
moved for a Commission to Investigate
the effects of the Land Act of 1870, and |
forced through the House of Commons a |
bill making temporary compensation for |
disturbance in cases of ejectment for |
nOn-payment of rent when the tenant |
might be willing but unable to pay it.
This measure, which was the natural
sequel to the land act of 1870, was thrown |
out by the House of Lords. The Liberals |
have made an earnest effort to reform |
the abuses of Irish landhOlding, but have
not succeeded in forming a prosperous
class of peasant prOprietOrs. ALI the
great landmarks of progress which have
been set up during the half century in
Great Britain are the work of the Eng
lish Liberals, and it is only just to pre-
sumo that they will eventually go on as
they have begun. The agrarian Outrages
and seditiOuS outbreaks in IrelOnd will
only serve as pretexts for deferring
remedial legislation Already there is
prospect of the introduction of a bill to
enable the courts to interfere in cases of
excessive rent, to award compensation
to evicted tenants and to simplify the
transfer of land. Such policy will
command the sypathies of warm-hearted
John Bright, and, sooner or later, the
earnest cooperation of the Premier, al
though the latter's practical sense,
which comes with his Scotch blood, may
require the immediate suppression of all
forms of lawlessness. f..-F
3. When there is so much that is right
and so much that is wrong on both sides,
the ethical merits of the question can
not be hastily determined. 1t is enough to
know that both the Irish tenants and
the English Liberals are entitled to the |
sympathies of all fair-minded Americans |
If English rule has been blight upon |
Ireland i'm the past. the Liberals, under
the leadership of Mr.. Gladstone and Mr..
Bright. have spared no pains to redress
her grievances and repair her fortunes.
If the leaders of the Irish movement are
pygmies; if the projects of the Land
League are vain and illusOry; if ignO-
rant m0bs listen to idle rant and are in
cited to brutal crimes, the degraded and
tenants have been crushed
by the laws of nature and the greed of
man until they excite the compassion OF
the world.
The Hon. A. C. Porter as a Fugitive
slave.