Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-05-14
Three Engllsh Problems.

statesman eyer has had TO solve. lie left
Lord Beaconsheld six years ago y balance
in the treasury Of thirty million dollars;
Lord Beaconsfeld leaves him with deficit
forty millions. He left the country at
peace abroad; Lord BeacOnsfed leaves
him with one foreign war in South Africa
and another in Afghanistan; the people Of
both regions temporarily subdued but dis
contented, and ripe for outbreak at the
first opportunity. He left the chronic
Turkish problem unsolved, II is true; but
Lord Beaconsfeld leaves 1t TO him compli-
Gated with the possession Of an island that
Great Britain knows not what to do with,
and with the enmity Of other Christian
people Of European Turkey whose friend
ship she might easily have secured.
But these are small difficulties compared
with those which are presented by prob
lens at home ;by forms Of injustice which
demand reform and with any less conserv-
ative and cautious people would threaten
revolution. There are three OF these prob
lens, either one Of which might well ap-
pail less courageous man than Mr.. Glad
stone: Home Rule, Land Tenure, and
Church and State.
Home Rule has suffered from disrepute
brought upon 1t by tho loud .mouthed dem
is simply local self-government. Great
Britain is an Empire consisting, apart
from its colonies, Of four Slates-England
Scotland, Wales and Ireland. The origi-
nal races and languages were different;
their dialects, their local interests, and
their religious beliefs and customs still
differ. At present the whole affairs OF this
people are administered by one Parliament
sitting ut London. Whether the taxes
paid 0y the people Of Ireland for the relief
of the poor may be partly appropriated to
procuring seed for The coming season,
whether outdoor relief may be granted to
| the famine stricken, and on what condi-
| tions, whether liquor may be sold and at
what hours in the cities Jf Cork and Dub
! lin, whether n street railroad may be es-
| tahlished in Belfast or Glasgow, whether
gas works may be provided fOr Bristol or
| YarmOuth-these and an unlimited num-
| Der of local questions, which only the peO-
pie Of the locality are competent to solve,
| have all to be settled by national pnrlia-
ment. Every bill for Ireland, Scotland,
England, Wales, every legislative act ris-
| ing to the dignity Of u law, every regula-
ton that is more than merely municipal or
provincial comes before the Parliament.
1t is as il our United States Congress had
in addition to their present duties, to leg
islate for half dozen States and a score or
more of cities only TO make the parallel
complete the States should be peopled by
men Of different races, customs and relig-
ious faiths. The English Parliament is
wholly incompetent to ,uch a task; CON
fessedly incompetent. The Scottish mem
bers long since formed a little parliament
Of their own. A Scotch caucus meets and
| g. lad 20
the House of Commons, and the House
generally adopts It's conclusions without
the delay OF debate curiously rounda.
bout way of securing Home Rule for Scot
land with Scotch Legislature meeting in
London.
Another anomaly, as it seems to Ameri'
cans, adds to the complications OF the En-
glsh system. England has colonies which
are integral parts of her empire. These
colonies possess their own parlaments, but
they have no representation in the En-
glish Parliament. As respects local sell
government Canada is as independent as
New York StateI but as respects great ma
tional questions she has no voice except
that which is afforded by her press. The
Canadian fishery question is settled in
London; and Canada has no representa-
| liNb III lllG L4uklloh AlllhhlChh ~ bNiA wy
government to account either for a failure
to settle it or for settlement adverse Ia
her interests. Thus the English Empire
consists OF two kinds Of States, one OF
which has no local self-government, the
other Of which has no representation in the
the national body Imagine the Atlantic
States without legislatures and governed
directly by Congress- as in the District OF
Columbia; imagine the Pacific States pos
sessing legislatures, but with no represent.
atives or senators in Congress, and the
reader will have conception Of the ano'
maly which Home Rule proposes to RENE.
dy by the establishment of local legislative
bodies for England, Scotland, Wales and
Ireland, and the admission of members in.
to Parliament frolq the Canadas and Aus,
. tralia. The instant demand is for locaI
self government for Ireland; but this Is In.
slant only because the Irish have suffered
most obviously and seriously from the de.
nial of their right to do it,
The Land Tenure problem is even more
difficult Of solution. William the Con.
querer introduced into England the rule oi
prmogeniture; that is, that the oldest sor
shall inherit the estates and take the place
OF the father. For eight centuries this
rule has been operative in England, till il
now has all the force of a national habit
The results Of this perniciOus habit are tC
be seen in every rank Of society. Primo
geniture creates caste which lacks only
religious sanction to make it as inexOrablC
as that Of India. Primogeniture concen
trates the land in the hands of a few; IF
teen hundred men own nearly half of al
the land of Great Britain; twenty-five mer
own upwards Of a million acres each Con
trast this with our own Northern States
where the average size Of farms ranges
from ninety to hundred and sixty acres
except in two or three of the far Western
States, where few great ranches increasl
the average. Primogenture introduces 4
tenant system which keeps the laborer al
ways poor; for no farmer can be truly ant
permanently prosperous who has to pay
, rent for his farm. The effect Of primogen
iture on the higher classes is quite as in
furious. The younger sons must be pro
vided for. Men without competence bul
I a place in the army or navy and neve
) fight battle or go to sea; men withou
: piety buy livings in the church and rarel!
preach sermon or read a prayer. Ye
more unfortunate are the eldest sons, for
D hidden by the ineXorable social law th
Joy Of labor, born 10 great expectation
often only to be disappointed, tempted b,
money-lenders TO mortgage their forum
before they haYe entered on it, and so com
pelled throughout their later life to bea
B the double burden Of a seeming wealth ant
: a real poverty. It is in ireland that thi
z system is seen at its worst; whose land
: holders are Anglo.Saxon oonquerors. who's
4 laborers are Celts conquered; whose mag
r nifcent resources are drained by absente
; landlords and spent abroad; whose labor
d "a n ~ hnnnntn Of urill linhln 10 hn ninntn