The daily gazette., 1880-12-18
A Novel Rebellion.
From the Newark Advertiser.


1t Is stale joke to say "ths Dutch
have taken Holland" but it 10 q fresh
fact that the Irish have taken Ireland
Nothing more interesting IN the way OF
news has been presented for months
than that which now comes over The Ca
ble from that distracted country. There
have been few isolated cases OF vic.
lence, but no combined outbreak. All
the meetings thai have been held have
been within constitutional limits. There
has been a general understanding to pay
no rent, but that is a matter of law be-
tween landlord anu tenant with which
the Government can hardly Interfere
But the IIish have gone further than
this, and, IL illegally, yet so peaceably
that there Is no method of reaching
them. They have instituted courts, and
govern themselves after fashion OF
their own; and the movement is SO gen
eral that the English find themselves
turned out in the cold without q battle,
without even knowing where 10 strike.
There is the semblance of q government,
of very expensive character, but IL has
little or nothing to do. The police ar
rest disorderly characters, such as al.
ways make the feature Of police court,
but the greater criminals, those who
have set John Bull at defiance, are no.
where 10 be found, or, II found, cannot
be reached by law as 1t AZ present exists.
IL is no matter OF surprise that Parlia-
ment will 81 on meet, for a graver q es-
ton could hardly come before her Majes-
ty's ministers. A nation that has sur
rounded the world with her conquests il
bearded, and so far successfully, by a
man only thTty-four years old aud a
peasantry who know nothing of scienti-
nc war, who have no arms, and who
simply refuse tolobey.
1t is somewhat too late now to dis
cuss the rights and wrongs of the stu
alton. The business is neither to be
settled by argument nor by diplomacy.
England would be glad to satisfy Ire
land by reforming the land laws, but
she cannot do it under coercion and
without knowing after all whether
what she would do would be satisfac-
tory. Feeling that Ireland has great
wrongs to complain of, England is in
clined to both liberality and justice,
but she canEot be forced to her knees
and become suppliant to Parnell.--
That this will be granted, or even that
the land given to the tenants cannot
be entertained for a moment. Such a
course would lead 10 universal anarchy
and to the integration of the Brit
ish Empire. Land leagues have been
formed even in England, and once let
it be felt that the Government is too
weak to defend the proprietors and
the end can be foreseen. II may be
taken as a settled fact then, that Eng
land must put down the present move
| ment IN Ireland at whatever cost; she
will be driven thereto by the law of
self preservation. Parliament may try
peaceful and conciliatory measures,
but if they fail, if the Irish are still
unsubmissive and defiant, then it will
be found, as of old, that England can
be terrible in her wrath.
England learning wisdom by expert
ence will no doubt seriously modify the
land tenure but without destroying the
tights OF property. Her greatest fault
has been in not doing this sooner. She
should have given Ireland no serious
cause of complaint; she should have
seen to it that the small farmers held
their leases on the most liberal terms,
and that they could not be hastily evicted
aud deprived of their improvements
without compensation. There are some
districts in Ireland that are too misera-
bly, poor for any human being TO live
in. The Inhabitants should have been
in part removed to other locations or
assisted to emigrate, and nowhere should
families have been allowed TO starve Oh
small patches of ground, not large
enough hardly to support the pig. II
will be curious to watch the process
England will adopt in putting dowI
this bloodless revolution, but when 1t /,
put down she will be forced into revo
luton herself. Even Great Britain can
not forever exist on the traditions of tn,
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