St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1881-04-30
in Providence we trust"-everybody else casl
The Land MonOpOIists Of Ire.
land.

Recent publications, showing the
number of acres of land in each county
Of Ireland by wealthy land monopo-
lists, present an argument in support
of the land agitation that is unanswera-
bic. Ireland contains 1892 ,641 acres of
which 3,7O9,16 acres are owned 10y 121
persons, an average of 30,654 acres each,
the remainder, 16,G13,480, is divided
among 5,411 ,416 owners or an average of
about three acres each. Upwards of four
million acres owned by the 121 persons
comprises the most fertile and valuable
land of the Island, while large pro-
portion of that divided among the
small holders is SO poor as to be worth
scarcely anything. In county Donegal
Lord Conygham's estate comprises 1884,
800 acres; that of Lord LeItrim "a. 1853
acres, and that of H. Stewart 5O,31S
acres. These extensive estates are, as
a rule, owned by the titled aristocrats,
who have never felt amy interest in
Ireland, beyond the income they could
derive from their lands. County Mayo
is owned entirely by COS persons, the
estates ranging in size from 114,8S1
acres (tilat of Lord Sligo) down to
$1,000 acres. County Wicklow is in
possession of 507 owners, while 1,OO6
persons own county Limerick. Large
estates are held in about the same
proportions in all the other counties of
Ireland, a few of them owned by com
panies, but the large majority by titled
aristocrats, many Of whom would not
deign to reside in Ireland. In the light
of these figures the readiness with which
the people of Ireland have Joined any
movement promising relief from land
oppression Is easily understood.
We have had in this country an exam
rle of the benefits that flow from the
requirement of the ownership of land
by those who cultivate it. When the
rebellion ended, the plantations in the
Southern States were still held by the
comparatively few who had owned
them under the slave system, it only
required few years Of experience to
demonstrate the old system could not
be maintained with profit. From year
to year since about 1870, the division of
large plantations into small farms has
increased, and in ratio that these small
farms passed into the possession of those
who actually cultivated the land, both
white and black, so has the prosperity
of that section increased. The present
land system of Ireland was devised
for the benefit of the few, regardless Of
the good of the many, when the idea
prevailed that the possessor Of a title
and his defendants were s"""-s
for Wt"sg comfort aud luxury the
C0wnon peopIe ought to deem it IL
privilege to suffer, This absurd idea
exploded with the advance of civiliza~
ton, and the enlightened principle Of
faf a7uality of ruHu has invaded Great
Britain. Who Une vast majority of
of the people of Ireland are prevented
by law from enjoying the opportunity
of reaping the ben efits OF their own
labor, and debarred from the high priv
ilege Of acquiring any substantial in
terest in the land, the population will
remain restless, dissatisfied and ripe
for agitation. Let the government
once open the way to the ownership of
land by industry and economy, and these
virtues will rule.
Clipped from Copp's Land owner for
February, 1881, page 1852:
T cit might be of interest to get a
skeleton sketch how these large estates
were acquired in Ireland. In 1541
parliament assem- bled in Dublin, and de-
-clared Henry VIII was king of Ireland.
They had been four hundred years or
more fighting for that title, at length it
was conferred by the Irish parliament
upon the English monarch. Two years
later, in gratitude to the Irish parlia
ment, Henry called the Irish Chieftains
over to grand assembly at Greenwich,
on the 1st of July, 1913. He gave the
Irish Chieftains their English titles.
O'Neil OF Ulster got the title of Earl OF
Tyrone; O'Donnel Earl of Tyrconnell
McWilliam Burke Earl of Clanricarde,
aud Fitzpatrick Baron of Ossory, and
returned to Ireland with their new titles.
Henry not only gave them their, titles,
but gave them all the abbey lands. con
within their possession. He enriched |
them, and to their eternal shame they
accepted all gifts at his hands.
These lords of the pale did not enjoy
their new spoils, for on reaching home
they found their dominions revolted
against them and disposed of McWilliam
Burke. O'Neil was taken by his own
son, clapped in Jail and he died there.
O'Donnell's own son and the people rose
against and drove him out from their
midst, still the title to the abbey. con-
vent and church lands remained in the
crown oEthe aristocracy.
Queen Elizabeth came to the throne
In f558. She was reluctant to that island
and it's people in her terrible war against
heroic Hugh O'Neil, of Ulster. She
threw ont such hints as these: The
more slaughter there is, the better it
will be for her English subjects; more
land they will get, &c. When the
Geraldines were destroyed, slaa took
the vast estates of Earl of Desmond
to certain English planters she sent
over from Lancashire, Cheshire, Dor
setgllire and SomersetsIire. She died in
1909, after a reign of al years, leaving
ut her death Ireland vast slaughter
house, Munster was reduced to State
described by Spencer the poet, Con-
naught was a wilderness through re-
bellion of the Clanricards or Burke
family. Ulster, through the agency of
Lord Mountoy, was left the very picture
Of desolation; the glorious Hugh o.