The Portland daily press., 1881-02-03
The Land League View
OF the Present and Future of Ireland.
dublin Cor. New York Herald.l

dublin Cor. New York Herald1
The 'writing ON the wall' is indeed, so Wis
ible that we wonder why the Irish landlords
do not at once grasp the situation, and instead
OF resisting the pressure meet it more than
half way, and so disarm the agitation altogeth-
er. This they could do. The tenants de-
mands can be easily satisfied at the present
time-abolition of entail, fxity of tenure and
peasant proprietary. These are not exorbi-
tant demands and Irish landlords would not be
the sufferers if granted. Refuse the m oderate
demands of to-day and impossibilities may be
demanded tomorrow, and with justice and the
sympathy of the world. Back of the agitation
for land reform the Land League has doubtless
scheme for achieving the national indepen-
dence of Ireland, though this will be demand
.or agitation when the land reform is accom-
plshed.
AT present, however, it is to be hoped that
the Land League will confine its demands to
reforms alone-reforms of land and of the
law. In gaining these Mr.. Parnell will have
quite enough to do, and the achievement of
national existence can be put off till 1882, the
centenary anniversary of the declaration of in
dependence by the volunteer delegates at Dun
cannon. But if England refuses to listen to
Ireland's demands at all and still persists in
attempting to "coerce'' then it will be the du.
ty OF the world to interfere, as England has so
frequently interfered elsewhere journey
through this beautiful country from end to
end and ask yourself afterward, what has
England yet done for the people of Ireland to
improve their condition or to make them hap
py? Has she once listened to the most moder-
ate requests of Irishmen? Has she not per-
slstently refused to attend to Irish matters in
Parliament? Has she done anything in the
way of laws that has done the country any
particular good? Catholic Emancipation was
only Ireland's due, and should have been CIV
en- to her many years before it was.
Ihe dlsesta6llshment OF the Irish Church
has had no influence in promoting the politi-
cal material welfare of the Irish people. The
land bills that have been previously given to
her have remained for all practical purposes
inutile. She has conferred only three things
on Ireland that seem to be permanent-police
barracks, warehouses and loan banks In ey-
cry village the great features are these three
institutions The constabulary, marching
around peaceable valleys with rifle and bayo.
net are met with everywhere. A couple of
them stand on the platform OF every railroad
depot to remind you that you are in a country
more police-ridden than Russia, or Naples in
the days of King Bomba. You feel at every
step that you are In coerced country and
among people whose spirit is kept under by
the power OF physical force-a people whose
every yearning is looked upon as matter for
police restriction and compulsory suppression.
Up in the North, in Durgannon, l saw a cou-
pie OF constabes dog the footsteps of two Land
League members of Parliament, and heard
them forbid a well-known sympathizer in that
place to harbor them in his own private parlor.
AT every ep you ask yourself can it be posi-
bic that this police arrangement is an institu-
tion belonging to free England, that prates
..I.. l. 4
the slave and the oppressed of every nationai-
ty? Yes, all but the Irish placed by Provi-
dence nearest to her and under her guidance
and protection Not long ago, only two or
thr~e months, riot occurred in the town of
Dungannon. A corner loafer, and Orangeman,
insulred Catholic who was passing by,
whereupon the friends of the latter attacked
the former and his friends The constabuary
wore quickly on the ground, and loading their
carbines discharged them. Impartially? By
no means. They shot among the Catholics,
wounding several. Some arrests were made
OF both parties. Last week the trial took
place and six or seven Catholics were sem
fenced to tennis of Imprisonment varying from
twelve to eighteen months, while every Prot
estant was found not guilty. In narrating
these facts l am compelled to say that l am
not a Catholic, and that justice seems to be
one of the lost arts of magisterial wisdom. The
conduct OF the magistrates who deliver these
sentences is, as you see, quite on par with
that of Police Magistrate Harvey and Chief
Justice May. And the other institutions con-
ferred by the English government upon Ire
land? The finest structures you meet in Ire
land are the warehouses. They have been
erected in nearly every village in the land in
defiance of the notorious fact that the Irish
poor refuse to enter them. Would it not be
just as easy and inexpensive for an enlight-
ened government to afford outdoor relief to
the poor? Perhaps so; but in atfording this
there could not be possibility of making the
Door feel their wretchedneSS and DEGRADATION.
As it is these houses are nearly always empty.
Their only occupants are tramps and de-
bauched women, who find there a constant re-
fuge. The loan banks complete the trinity of
England's gifts-institutions that take the
place of the Hebrew money lenders in Rouma-
MIA and on the Danube. And now what does
England propose to give Ireland more? Simp-
ly the bayonetl