Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1880-01-17
AND THE SOUTH.
THIRD PAPER.


this is the unhappy condition of the
British Empire in the present day
as regards England and Ireland,
and it is pregnant with evil to both.
To England it is the one weak point
in the fabric of her power, the source
of constant irritation i'm her other
wise healthy political system; to
Ireland it is utter ruin. Her people
have been saturated with agitation
until ii is the only form of political
action of which they have any con-
cephon. This agitation paralyzes
her Industrial energies and distorts
her political vision so that she sees
only one criterion for political meas
ures; if they benefit England they
are hostile to Ireland; if they men,
ace England, Ireland clamors for
them; the demagogue with them is
the only patriot, opposition to the
Government the only virtue in him.
The deplOrable effects of this state
Of things in the British Empire,
with the danger of establishing a
= similar condition i'm this country,
has been the occasion with us of
writing these papers. In the pres
ent one we propose to look into the
present state of Ireland for the pur-
pose of understanding its evils and
their sources, with view to depre-
cate the agitation of sectional ami
mosities in this country which
threaten a similar result.
Our history OF previous events
was brought down in our last paper
to the abolition of the master griev-
ance of Ireland by the dis-establish-
ment of the Irish Church. This
measure was soon followed by an
other, entitled "the incumbered
estates bill" We cannot speak OF
this bill or its history at length, but
its provisions ought to be looked at.
1t was intended to cure state OF
things which retarded agricultural
progress in Ireland. Many large
estates in Ireland were virtually
bankrupt; unpreductive bog failed
to be converted into fertile, arabic
land because the proprietors had no
capital to drain it; they were deep
in debt, could not improve and
would not sell, so the bog remained
unproductive. The incumbered
estates bill compelled them to sell
the property so came into the hands
of men who could and did improve
them; the bog became arabic land,
the bOg-trOtters a comfortable peas
antry. Now "the encountered
estates bill' was unquestionably 8
beneficial measure; at the same
time, it was as a high-handed deal
ing with the rights of property, an
unprecedented thing in British his
tory. Such a measure could not
have been carried in England. We
call attention to this fact as one out
of many indications which show
that Irish grievances are more i'm
periOus now in their demands, anC
more promptly attended to thar
English ones. The British Parlia
ment is in fact so wearied out witt
Irish agitation and with the impos
sibility of satisfying its demands
that whatever is demanded by Ire
land gets the priority over all Other
interests, English, Scotch or cOlOni
al, and the Irish representatives
having extOrted all their reasonable
demands, continue to present un'
reasonable ones, and so keep up q
ceaseless agitation in their favor
All this might be more briefly eX'
pressed by saying that Ireland has
fallen into the hands of demagogues
with whom agitation has become 8
lucrative profession. The splendid
success of O'Connel was irresistible
with Irish politicians. While hi
was agitating for the various meas
ures which we have seen carried by
his overpowering influence, the
Irish people made up for him al
income which in our currency
amounted to $4,000 a year. Eve
since that, agitation has been linz
of business in which there have
been many aspirants, and the dem
agogue's trade has been more or les
a paying one. But then, for dema
gogues to thrive there must be
grievances. At first there were
several real grievances to furnish
their stock in trade, but when thu
Irish Church had been dis-estab
lished and the encountered estate;
bill had given an impetus to agri
cultural industry, with the result o
very much lettering the condition
of the Irish peasant, Ireland was II
danger of becoming contented
which was a state of things not a
all favorable to the demagOgue''
trade. Grievances were as essentia
to the trade of the Irish demagOgu'
rs Southern Outrages to that of th'
Northern Radical, and soon the
land question came up. The frs
demand was for a fixed tenure OF
the part Of tenants; but this wa
not long popular; those who already
occupied land liked it very well
but those who wanted to occupy il
were a much more numerous class
and they saw in fixity of tenure al
obstacle to their aspirations. Their
the grievance was that there were
too few who owned land; the cult
Vat0r ought also to be the owner
and the laws must be altered so a:
facilitate his becoming such. 1t sc
happened that in England the same
question was being agitated, and
had the Irish been content to join
with the English in urging it, alter
atiOns would undoubtedly have
been made in the laws of entail and
settlement which would have grad.
ually facilitated the subdivision Of
property. But this was too slow a
DrOppSS for the Irish tenant, what