New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-11-27
MIR. GLADSTONE AND IRELAND
STATEMENTS AT GUILDHALL-LAND CoONA
DECISIONS.

lsON
-. t..,i.r 81 a;sornointment follows upon |
the Ciuildhall speeches Lord BeaconsleIa hau a."
cnstoned the British public TO display OF poii'ioH
eo,,orts ON sncb occasions Mr.. Gladstone Is more
eber ireland occupied the first place III his hiuu
ond -, his snoech bur he had little to say Oh 'h'U
subject that was novel year ago. III ' wv |
hall he had announced that la" was " co. - |
taincd and order enforced in Ireland. MI "''''
who Is capable of drawing distinctions Hnp9i
Ole 70 minds of coarser mould may pi'0"1y
LIE that the pledge of that Gay
noor redeemed in letter and in spirit The
;,noverisbed landlords and Bcycotted tenants WHO
troy,h long months endured the tyranny OF ram
,ont Land League, may be excused for holding
different opinion With the arrest OF MI IaFheh
better day dawned; for the tenants certainty an"
perhaps for the landlords. Mr. Gladstone Is anie 10
saw that in drawing a comparison between inc I.e-
land of a year ago and the Ireland OF to-day no
discerns signs Of improvement. No DOUBT 'horo 10
an i,nnrovement. should be disposed to trace the
beginning of il not so far back as last LORD h"So,
Nav. The 18th of October. 1881, which gave III,
Parnel inside view Oh hliidllil-N' 4"
date to start FROM ~, 10
If vould carry us over ground already trodden 100
often 70 follow Mr.. Gladstone in his historian IT,
capitulation The summary is more compac' tn'h
isusual with him. but it offers no new point lAc
,rous in such matters may like to bring closer TO-
pCther two sentences WHICH NCi' iNi4N'N
other rs spoken In November 1880 said Mr.. UIau-
stopeye were entering intoa great crisis,-a strug-
ole between law and lawessness Since them th;'
struggle has come TO crisis. which Is only
another way OF saying that the Crisis mas
come TO crisis. How long this crisis oil crls'S
is to last we are not told. Nhat We w
hear is that nothing can prevent the people VI
Ireland from making full trial OF the Lana ACT
Tbrorgb the earnest and vigilant attention of the
of fll
for Ireland with whose courage and unilnching de-
yotion YOU are so sell acquainted the law will be ad
oinis+ered and enforced with rmness and decis on
This compliment TO Mr.. Forster is deserved, Mt.
Gladstone has never been slow to acknowledge the
merits of his Irish Secrctary's Irish services. lie
could not do ful! justice TO him without admitting
that Mr.. Forster if he had had his own way, would
never have allowed the League TO consolidate us
COVER as ii did
But what people hoped to hear from Mr. Gladstone
was some expression of opinion on the actual work
ing of the Land Act. What does he thlAk OF the
Castleblavnev and of the Crawfurd and Tenant
decisonsf Or, TO go a step further back what ~
his view of Mr. Justice OlIagan'S doctrine that a
fair rent is rent which will enable tenant TO live
ondthriye? Mr. Gladstone certainly exercised
rrudent discretion in holding his tongue on these
points Nothing he could have said would have
pleased every body. To have said anything would
have looked like using pressure on the Commission
ers and Sub-CommissiOners. The Commission
ers are, in theory, judicial officers, ana
judicial decisions are not subject 10
review at the Guildhall 1.-THE Commissioners nave
put OF their robes, and announced themselves as
arbtrators with strong bias in favor OF one OF the
parties whose property they deal with that doesnot
make comment easier.
That the Castleblayney and Crawfurd decisions,
though only the decisions of a sub-commlsslon'
point to the abolition of Tack-rcnting in Ireland
is pretty generally conceded. Whether the land
lords will still be able TO vindcate their CLAIM to
improvements which are admittedly their property
under their contracts with the tenants is
not so clear. They cannot prevent sub-cOm-
missions from cutting down rents 70 or 80 per
cent because the sums be paid rent are clearly
matters of judicial discretion They can and will
appcal to the Central Commission, and perhaps be-
yond that to settle whether the burden OF proof as
10 improvements is TO lie the landlord or on the
tenant They will get decision in some shape as
to their right have the value of these improve
ments which are legally their property, taken INTO
account in estimating fair rent. They VIII make
struggle before they allow the Belfast decision as
to costs to pass into precedent. The landlord
was there saddled with costs and the circumstances
are such that frightful hardship may be inflicted
If the example is generally followed.
The tenant to begin with. may bring his landlord
into court at an expense to himself of two shings,
but II costs the landlord as many pounds to meet
him there If the case is tried, the tenant in his
turn must make further outlay, equal 70 the land
lords II a hundred or several hundred tenants APP
ply to the Court against single landlord and costs
are to be given to each tenant, the fine inflicted
upon the landlord in addition to the reduction Of
his rent may well be a very serious matter If the
Belfast decision is to hold good no effort of the
landlord to come to terms with his tenants out Of
court will avail him.
Landlords say. moreover that the Give and
thrive doctrine will in many work the gross
est Injustice 1t makes the rent depend not on the
capacity of the land return good crops, but on the
capacity of the tenant to cultivate the land; or,
worse than this, upon the number of mouths the
tenant has to feed out Of the harvest. These
are not speculative. They actual eases; and a
judicial decision has already been given on one of
the former Professor Baldwin, one of the Sub-Com-
missioners for Ulster, and admittedly very able
man has expressly declared " that the value of
holding in the hands of the existing
tenant whether lame, infrm, idle, or drunken is
all the Court has to consider in fixing fair rent.
With the potential fertility of the soil in the hands
of a competent agricuturist" the Court has nothing
10 do quote from letter what to be Pro-
fessor Baldwins words. The way In which this
astonishing determination is arrived at throws no
little light on the spirit in which the Land Com
missioners working The Court finds tenant in
possession invalid, ignorant of farming thriftess
idle but entitled by law to proprietary interest in
his farm The Commissioner knows that the man
cannot be driven out of this holding, be-
cause public opinion, the strongest of all forces,
prevents a more capable neighbor from taking his
place." He remembers that he is an arbitrator re-
members what his chief has said about the spirit of
the Act and fixes a rent which is not and does not
pretend 10 be- the r al value of the land, but such