Daily Republican., 1881-12-20
THE LANb LEAGUE.

THE LAND LEAGUE.
THE LECTURE OF FFATHER sHEE
NY LAST EVENING.
rhe Purposes and InIenftons o
the Friends OF fIretaE,t-Their
Battle Cry. "Ebe Lana for
the People,
Last evening the lower part of .ht
Opera House was packed 50 hear the
Rev. Eugene Sheehy speak of Sir.
lands Wrongs" On the right of tn.
stage the American liag was suspended,
while On the other side the green flag
with its traditional Tyre tloated. AT
1,3j O'Clock tue members of City Coun-
| ell entered, and took seats upon the
stage, IA few minutes later the Land
League came IL and occupied the chairs
that had been reserved for thea.
At s O'Clock, II. G Turner, Esq,
called Ill" meeting to order, and stated
that very unexpectedly he had been
! called ukOn 20 prrSlnr, and that Harry
Shacpley, Esq, and Mr.. william Y.
| GrJasdaic wUdId AIT rs secretaries. Mr..
Turner spoha o! the Land League and
its objects, aud sal that if the friends
OF Ireland would per>evere they would
eventually get from the British gov
| ernment " nat they asked and what they
demanded. He Lopsd the day was not
far distant when an Irish parliament
would meet in Dub.in, protected by the
Irish flag, and free from the tyranny of
England. Mr.. Turner then introduced
| the orator of til" evening, Father Shee-
by, who was received with thundering
applause.
The speaker said that he was glad to
sec 50 many persons present, as 1t was
| an evidence Of the patriotism of the
Irish people and sho wed that although
they We're f.lr from the land that bore
them, still they had not forgotten, or
ceased 10 love her; and Americans
| should not be .jelluu, OF the love the
| Irish bear 10 their native land, for the
man who wuu!d not love the land of his
| birth, would not be true to the land of
his adoption. Ireland is d land with
her heart cut in tWo, one half in Amer
lea wee ping, and the other half in Ire
land blueunng.
| His work and mission to this country
is to rally all lvishnten without Respect
to class, politics or religion, TO work
for, and aid their native land. The
speaker SAID that he wa, not IL stranger
| = bal al -,ptt tnI # fan,
years ago, on IA lccturlng tour, in the
interest OF an Irish Catholic charity
at that time he had lectured III Will
miugton, and every other city of I'M
rUrtance from the Atlantic to the Haci-
dc, and he was convinced by what he
then saw thas Irish Independence hung
ON "a pivot, aud the comforting power
was III this country.
He compared she Irish nation to the
shamrock, one branch and leaf i'll
Aluerica, one in Australia, and the
parent stem and Leaf ut home in Ire
land. He said that he was met in pri-
vate, and also on the public streets by
men whoashel why lilo People ot hi,
native land could nol accept the lard
till OF MI. Gladstone, aud explained
/
crs at all, tlatit would not have any
fleet in releasing the tenants from the
Ityrany under whlch they were crushed.
l The Land Court as formrd by Mr.
i. Gladstone would Ouly Y serve to rlVet the
chains tighter upon the tenant farmers,
/ aud said that !. was defective and dis
appointing. The avowed purpose Of
this cOnrt was to hear the tenants
grievances, and il tie rent was too high
to reduce II.
The Land Courts ia Ireland are al
ways managed tor the f1w, and against
the many; for ihc peer, and against the
peasant TIE tenant TAI ncr has no
representative on that bench, ard it is
utterly impossible obtain justice 1rcn
; their hanus. There is 10 such tribunal
) III any other country outside of Ireland.
He gave several illustrations of the
working OF the Land Court and told OF
one farmer who had applied to it, and
obtained IA reduction of twenty five Per
cent. in his rent, but when the suit was
over he found that he would have to
work and toll for eight long years to be
able to pay the costs. Ireland was like
good COW waiting to be MIXED;
the landlord holds her b. the horns, ana
the tenant has hold Of the tail, while
the attorney gets the milk.
He SPOKE Of the visit Of Farncli and
Dillon to this country, two years ago:
when they came to solicit aid to keep
the Irish people from starving; and
said that they kceh ) felt their position
as mendicants, going around from city
to city, with their hats in their hands
, begging, and during their absence a
mum Der Of those who were al home feel.
ing the degradation to which they were
subjected, met together and pledged
themselves that Ireland should never
again stand before the world as suppli-
ant for alns.
The stern will Of the Irish people
says that )andlordisn must be abolish
J ed. The oppression under which she
was crushed had united ali classes, and
was leading TO the extiuguishment OF
sectional hatred, as number who had
formerly been OraDgemen were now
members of the Land League.
There are in Ireland ten Thousand
landlords and seven hundred thousand
tenants, paying rent OF one hundred
million dollars % year, and II the
present 10 rent policy is pursued for a
short time longer, the land lords will be
on their backs, ready 70 lake anything
the tenants may choose to give them.
1t is impossible said the speaker, for the
farm ers to pay TIE rent that is put upon
them, few years ago they could do 1t,
but now America sends wheat, oats and
beef to the London Market, and sell It
tor less than it can be produced in lre-
land. The American farmers Owls his
own ground al q in the west wher. The
greater part OF the supplies come from,
his land does not Letd fertilizers, and
he owns no King or landlord, except