New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-10-18
MP OCOyN0ES APPEAL.

on it or make fight about it.
-
MR.. OCONNOR'S APPEAL.
Fducoted Americans are not disposed to form
snap Judgment on any phase OF the IRISH
land question. Their sympathies have gore
ont to the unhappicst people on the face OF
the earth but their faith in Mr. Gladstone as
a statesman swayed by moral convictions Is
unimpaircd. They pity the tenant-farmers
and they abhor lawlcssness. They honor the
Premier and they detcst force bills and mill
tary Intervention. They know that the lnsh
people have been forced back upon the naked
soil through the harsh action of British law
vet they believe that Mr.. Gladstone has made
an almost supcrhuman effort to right their
wrong, and to retrieve their fortunes. They
are ready to listen with respect and sympa-
thetic interest to any appeal which may he
made in behalf of the misgoycrned island
but they are not easily prcjudccd against the
most lucid brain, the trucst heart and the
most sensitive conscience in English public
life; and these, they are fully persuaded. have
been devoted by Mr.. Gladstone TO the service
of Ireland. They are glad in the present
crisis to have the purposes Of the Land League
mfoldcd BY one of Mr.. PamcI's intimate as
sociates, and although they do not assume to
have mastered the land question in matters
of detail, they have followed the controversy
closely enough to be able to form q critical cs-
innate Of such a speech as Mr.. OConnor de
iycrcd in this city on Sunday night. That
estimate will I've unfavorably affected by ms
VULGAR dcnunciations OF the Premier rs
hcartlcss tyrant-paSsagcs which may fire the
Celtic blood and put money in the League
purse. but which do not appeal 90 the dchber-
ate Judgment of intelligent Americans.
Let us take mp his argument at a critical
point The mIcst of Mr. ParHcll-was there
rroyocati,n for it? M. O'Couuor would have
us believe there was none. llc says that when
he left home the island was in state OF
tranquil suspense Mr. Pamcl was selecting
eases for submission to the Land Court which
would bring out what was best and what was
worst in the Act, and Mr.. IInaly was collect
ing evidence in the southern counties with
painstaliug thorouglncss. Instead OF discreet
itiug the Land Court rs Nh. Gladstone had
charged, they were acting consttutonally
and keeping within the lines which the Gov
crnucui had drawn; and the tenant farmers
were anXioa~ly awaiting the results OF the pre-
lirniuary tests II Mr. O'Couuor Is 10 he be-
licycd, the prisons were filled, the cities glr-
rsoncd and the people dragged TO the vci.
brink Of revolution without cause and without
proyocation. Yet We happen to remember
that llr. Parncll telcgraphcd to America the
following explanation of the programme
of the recent Land League Convention
"Thc tenants were instructed not to use the
"rent-iiXiug clauses of the Land Act, but to keep
out of court and follow the old lines aud rely
"upou the old methods. The Executive was
empowered TO select test cases in order tina,
"tcnants in surrounding districts may under
a. stand the worthIcs,no.s of the Land Act
Here was a distinct ayowa Of the real object
of the test cases. IL was To demonstrate " the
woIthlcs,ucss" Of the Land act. Great mass
meetings were organized, Mr. Parucll jour
nrycd from county to county, and the machinery
OF the League was set ia motion for thc pur-
pose of mGmidaling all who were inclined 10
accept the Land Act a. q substantial measure
of Justice. II was n most systematic and de-
libcraic attempt to render the measure in
operative and to prejudice the whole popuia-
ton against it.
Mr. O'Conuor does not venture 10 disp1rloc
the Land Act itself The only instance of
rank Injustice cited by him-that Of the old
farmer who improved an estate in Count,
Mayo only 10 have the rent ri ed five times
would be impossible under the new system
The tenants right to hi, improvements and
also TO the privilege of pos, s,ion is now rs
secure as the landlords right 10 the land
and when once the rent is fixed by the Com
mission it cannot be raised for fifteen years.
NJ I'i'.,,n,r Il ,.g moi a -,,,l,. tI,',
Gr- the opposition of the League 10 the Act
on the ground that it cannot allow Che mice
TO go into "A court where the eats are iudgc,.n
Yet Sir Charles Gayan Day, an intense Ma
tionalist, who followed O'Conncll to prison
aud was the master spirit Of the Tenant
League Of 1852, has admitted that the Court
is admirably constituted and the Commission
chosen in the interest Of the tenant farmers.
1t is an Irish tribunal, and two OF the three
Judges can safely be depended upon TO place a
most liberal construction upon the Act. YET
the LEAGUE has discrcdtcd the decisions of this
Court in advance. The mice are warned
against the cats. The League ASSUMES the sole
responsibility OF deciding in test case
whether the rent is fair or unfair and brings
into dsrcpute the tribunal which was anrhor-
lied 10y Parliament TO intervene between land
lord and tenant, and to pacify the country
The authority Of the new Court is thus left
to hang upon the caprices Of an irresponsible
organization controlled by one man. Yet Mr.. |
O'Connor contends that the arrest of Mr..
Parnen was utterly without prOyocation!
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TO REPUBLICANS IN BROOKLYN
There is one danger 10 Republican success in
the local canvass about to omen in RrooLlvn