Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-05-26
Should GladstOne's Land Bill Be
Accepted by the Irish PeOple?

Editor Morning Ne,CS: This is the absorbing
question which now exercises the minds Of the
people of Ireland and in which the people of
America have an interest. The Ameri an peo-
pie are periodically called upon to feed the
people of Ireland in the famines of which the
irish landlords are the cause. They are, there
fore, entitled to a voice in the settlement Of
the Irish land question. ITO be, or not to be-
to accept, or not to sccept-"that is the
question: The timid and conservative, and
those who have lingering regard for landlord
aristocracy, say accept; half loaf is better
than no bread" This class am happy to say
are in the minority. The vast body Of the
people, who form the cohorts of the Land
League, led by Mr.. Parnell say a thousand
times no. They cheer for Davitt Dillon, Bren-
nan and Daily, and their compatriots in prison
cells, and inscribe upon their banner ''Now or
never; down with landlordism.'
This sham land bill, or, proper y1sspea king,
landlords bill, has nothing to recommend it o
the people, 1t is pre-eminently landlords bill,
conceived and matched by government of
landlords for landlords, as the following figures
relative to the members th It form the British
Government will show: Gladstone owns 700
acres, Dodson 10000, Lord Kimberly IL 900,
Lord Northbrook 10000, LORD openser q, 900,
Lord Huntly 10000 Lord Harrington 200, ,0Ov,
E 4rl of Kenmare 106, 600; total 49l coo acres,
How absurd to expect from this pack of land
thieves bill that in any way will conflict with
their own interests, or those Of the class to
which they belong. The bill is delusion and
a snare, cunningly devised to protect and pre-
serve the landlords. 1t contains three prisci-
pal clauses, viz
First A land court, composed of landlords,
or their defenders, to fix a fair rent-fair for
themselveS-which. when SO fixed, must be
paid by the tenant good season or bad season,
for term of fifteen years. or out he goes in
sUanter.
second clause. A land commission to ad-
vance to- tenants three-fourths of the pur-
chase money Of their holding to the landlords
that is, when the landlord chooses TO sell,
which he neel not do till the crack of doom, as
far as the bill is concerned, unless he gets such
q handsome price as " i'll induce him to SELL
which sum, with five per cent interest added
thereto will be saddied on the ten
Ave years, making his last state worse
than the first. II the tenant be unable to ad-
vance his one fourth he can derive no benefit
from this clause. Let US for moment figure
up his chances SO to do. Suppose his holding
to be twenty acres. at SIS yearly per acre for
rent, which makes one hundred dollars annual
rent. Twenty years rentass has been the usual
avel age price of the fee simple of lano, which
would give 5000. Five per cent. interest add
ed wou almo double the principal Thus
the poor tenant would have to advance at the
outset $3.50 or 81 ,000 for his one-fOqrtn. How
many tenants would be able to do itY
Third clause, Emigration wholesale to any
part of the British doininions to Manatobia or
He'll, as the London Times once said, to get rid
OF the Irish with a vengeance. And this while
there is plenty of the finest land in the world
lying idle, as the following facts will shew:
ireland has twenty million acres, twelve
million acres of which, the ffne,t land in Ire
lard, is laid down in grass to fatten bullocks
for the English market, three and a half mil
lion acres only under cultivation to sustain
i've million people, which Ireland now n
tains, four and half million acres, most of
it reciaimable, lying waste. Where is the ne
cessity for enforced emigration with land
enough lying idle to support ten million more
This Is Is the t5aracter Fl Of The land BIT la Iand
court TO fix fair rent. land commission to
aid tenants to buy their holdings, ana also to
help them to tget, to clear out Of the coun-
try. the land of their birth: said courts to be
manned and legislated by landlo. ds You
might as likely expect cats to legislate favor
ably for mice, or wolves to so 1egislate for
lambs, as for landlords TO legislate favorably
Mr.. Parnell sees this, and has decided to re-
1sct the bill and accept whatever consequences
It may inYolve-which may be i4nprisonment,
death, conhscation 6f property of himself and
followers Let us reflect for one moment upon
the propriety OF his course. To compromise
now would be to disband; after this grand agi-
tation has been brought to such pitch that it
has united the Irish race Orangemen Protest
ants and Catholics-at home and abroad as
never before it would be suicidal disastrous
and base, and would be saddling the landlords
upon 1reland'S back perhaps for a another
century. Mr. Parnen kaa ell 10 lase and noth.
Ing to win ia tais contest, except the reward
that ever crowns the pAtrint--the blessings and
admiration OF posterity He is pure and dis
interested patriot, Of cool judgment and spar
tan chivalry. He seems to be, as Father O'Brien
said in his lecture before the Land League, a
heaven appointedes esadars he an1 hls colleagues
haYa taken q position from which thew cannot
now recede, they have risked their all upon the
issue. They are worthy Of our sympathy and
support such as George Washington received
in battling with this same power In the crisis of
the American revolution. Shall we support
theml LAND LE4suER.