New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-09-18
LAND LEAGUE AND LAND BILL

REASONABLE POLICY OF THE LEAGUE-THE
PEoPLE FAvOKING TIRE LAND BIII~-TuE COW
ERNMENT WAITING AND WATCHING.
teRoM TUE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBUNE.l
London Aug 31.-Thc Land League managers
have now had week or TO make up their minds
what TO do about the Land Act. Mr. Sexton has
spoken Mr.. Parnell has spoken, Mr. Dillon has
spoken and the soft voice of MI. Healy has been
heard There has been time. also, for these men
and for other men to form notion of what the
Irish people think about it and what they mean to
do The information which came to the Leaguers
q, this point has had much TO do. OF course, with
the settlement of the League policy. The real man
ayers of the League, it is true few in number.
On any ordinary question they could decide OF their
own motion. and take for granted that their fol-
lowers who are mostly very ignorant men, would
acoaiesce Bat it is root and branch business.
this of the Land League versus the Land Act and
the decision has virtually been taken out of the
hands of Mr.. Parnell and bIs associates. Moreover,
there is split in the League itself. Mr.. Dillon
takes one view, Mr.. Parnell takes another. But
in the midst Of all these complexities the esSen-
tlal and decisive results stand out clearly enough
MIR Dillon, whose speeches have the merit of
franknes, has avowed the conclusion to which he
and his colleagues have respecting the attitude
of tho Irish tenants to the Land Act The tenants
have as yet but imperfect notion of the scope
OF that measure and of the benefits it will confer on
them. But they know enough of it To he ready to
accept the boon it offers. There is abundant evil
dcnce that they mean to avail themselves of the
Act aud make the most of it. They did not wait
for the arrival of Mr. Paruell to make up their
minds. They do not seem to have cared so much
he did about that opportunity for conference which
led him and his noisy minority to abandon ohstTuc-
tion in the House and hurry over to Ireland
Between a tenant farmer and a professional agi-
tator the difference is considerable To the tenant
land reform is the cad 10 the dgitatOr, it is only
means. When the tenant found, as he did, that
the English Government had passed law to secure
him compensation for improvements and the right
OF selling his interest in the land. with court to
insure his having his farm ut fair rent and to
protect him against arbitrary eviction. he perceived
that these advantage were too solid TO be thrown
away. lie had got tho Government had gwen
hm--that grip on the land which he wanted. He
does not show the least disposition to relinquish
this bird in the hand for that other OF bill
liant plunlagu in the bush which Mr.. Paruell nov
Oters him. II is mentioned significant fact.
and l suppose it IS significant, that after the Land
bill became law. the attendance at the weekly
meeting of the League i'll Cork (Nr. Parnelrs
borough, which used to be never less than 300 fell
Oh to tfty and OF this fifty few were farmers.
That is a single case. rhe League headquarters
must have evidence of such cases, and OF facts
pointing to the same conclusion, by hundreds. Mr.
Dillon says ia SO many words he has made up his
mind that if IL were desirable for the League to
attempt 70 proven the people try ng the Act, it
would be found impossible That Is the testimony
OF man who couusellcd the rejection of the Act
from the beginning, on the express ground ihaJ its
benefits the Irish people were so great that the
Land League could not stand up against it, and
that the revolutionary policy which in his view,
the League ought to adopt would hcnceforth be-
come Impossible. And the event answers in his
Wow, to his prediction
Mr.. ParnelPs estimate of The attitude of the peo-
pie and their eageFnrss TO prodt by the Act does
not dihcr from Mr.. billions. But with respect to
the policy to be pursued by the League in these
circumstances Mr. Parnel aud Mr. Dillon are
totally at variance. Mr.. Dillon believes that the
League has lost OF will speedily lose its hold on
the people, and that it is useless to continue ata-
ton. lie therefore retres to private life. His de
cison is honorable to him, and draws Il broad line
between him and the men whom have Just now
called professional agitators 1t is possible to
respect Mr. Dillon though it is hard to understand
how an Englishtnan can speak of his unsuilied
patriotism" and "devOted love for his country"
TO Mr. Dillon his country means Ireland and Ire
iand only, exactly as to "a Southern rebel in 1861
his country meant the South aud the South only.
Bat don't think we were much in the habit of APP
plsuding the patriotism of Mr.. Jefferson Davis or
Colonel Robert Lee. We should have thought
there Tucked beneath the word readiness TO see
the South secede. The PaH Mall gazette has not yet
run up the flag of Irish independence but it some
times phrases which betoken a conviction of
its feasibility, and argues lines which run
straight toward n break up of the Empire
In opposition, then to Mr.. Dillon's advice, the
League ~ TO abandon all efforts to oppose the
acceptance OF the Land Act by the tenants. That
acceptance puts end to the excuse for its ex-
istvuce, but il has not tho decency TO die. 1t
main aims It's organization. and keeps its treasury
open to the contributions which still pour in from
America. Hitherto it has proitoj by that money
under false pretences. HencefOrth it becomes
ostcnslbly what Mr.. Parnoil secretly meant to DO
from the BEGINNING: purely revolutionary
organization Mr.. Parnen was never anything
but a rebel heart. He is not yet a rebel in act
3ut he has begun to use language which comes
perllously near tho border line of reasonable
speech. lie proposes now to turn the Land League
into machine for accomplishing two objects the
total expulsion Of the landlords and the separation
OF Ireland from the United Kingdom. Unlike Mr..
Dillon, who agrees with him in his objects. he be-
Aeves the Land League be made efficient
agent toward the accomplishment of these two
schemes of wholesale robbery and moro or less
yelled rebellion lie has torn Oft the mask he has
worn so long. Moderation has serS ed its purpose
Violence is hencefOrth TO take its place Under the
impulse of this new exgency, Mr.. Parnell has gone
INTO Ulster. To the surprise OF his friends he has
accepted the challenge OF tie Ulster Liberal press
and appeared in person "a scene where it was
lntimated that his personal presence night involve
some risk. He has made speech after speech, each
more bitter, violent and defiant than the other.
They ore reported briefly in the London papers
but the London press seems quite unaware of the
change III the situation and the complete revou.