The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1881-01-22

f1lt(o0 10 WHOM tDe W0FO6 useu ~ ~ ~
Penuont IL reference 10 India may az ap-
proprtately be spilled: : Tue great spur 70
iudnstry, that OF security, was taken away.
t;uluyaiion was for the most part carr'eu y"
nv tenants at will, who, even u inc T,ck,
rents which they were forced 10 pay nnu
permtted them. did not dare ID make III.
movements, which would have peen put
the signal for an increase Of rent. Laoo,
was thus applied In the most ineinc'enl anu
wastefui manner, and labor was diss'pated
In nimess ideness that with any security
for It's fruits would have been applied
unr,mItt,nply. But even under these con-
ditions IL Is q matter Of fact that lrelanu u'u
more than support eight millions, for when
her population was at its highest lre'anu
was food.exporiing country Even uu.
ring the famine grain and meat ana Dotter
and cheese were carted for expectation
along road. lined with the starving ana
nast trenches into which the dead were
n,led For these exports OF food, or at least
for great portion OF them, there was no
return. So far as the people OF Ireland were
concerned. the food thus exported might a.
wei, have been burned up or thrown lnto
the sea or never produced. 1t went not as
an exchange. but as tribute to pay the
rent Of absentee .landlords-a levy wruDg
from producers by those who in nowlse
contributed TO production.
..Uad this food been left 10 those VINO
raised IL; had the cultlvators OF the SOIL
been pcrmtted TO retain and use The capital
their labor produced; had security stimu-
lated industry aud permitted the adoption
OF economical methods, there would nave
been enough to support In bounteous com"
fort the largest population Ireland ever mad,
and the potato blight might have come ana
gone without stinting single human beng
OF afull meal.
"It is difficult for one who has been look
ing over the literature OF Irish misery, as
while writing this chapter | have been
| doing, to speak I'm decOrous terms OF the
comDIacent attribution OF Irish want and
suffering to over.population, which are 10
| be found even in the works OF such high
minded men as Mill and Buckle. / know
OF nothing better calculated to make the
blood boil than the cold accounts OF the
grasping, grinding tyranny TO which the
Irish people have been subjected, and to
which, and not TO inability OF the land 10
support its population, Irish pauperism ana
Irish famine are to be attributed; ana were
il not for the enervating effect. which The
history OF the world proves TO be every
where the result If AFFECT poverty, 1t would
be difficult 20 resist something like feeling
OF contempt for q race who, stung by sucn
| wrongs. have only occasionally murdered
landlord.
"Whether oyer.populatiOn ever did cause
paupersm and starvation may be an open
question; but the paupersm ana starvation
of Ireland can be no more attributed 10 t0is
cause than can the slave trade be attributed
TO the Over.pOpulation OF Africa, or the de-
struction of Jerusalem TO the inability OF
subsistence to keep pace with reproductioh'
Had Ireland been by nature grove OF pa
panas and breadfrut; had her coasts been
lined by the guano-depo>its OF the Chlnchas'
and the sun Of lower ATTITUDES warmed INTO
more abundant life her moist SOIL, the soclal
conditions that have prevailed tnere Woulu
still have brought forth poverty and starVa'
tion. How could there fail 10 be pauperSm
and famine in a country where rack-rents
wrested from the cutiyator OF the SOIL all
the produce OF his labor except Just enough
to maintain life in good seasons; where
enure.at-will forbade improvements ana
removed incentive TO any but the most
wasteful and poverty-stricken culture !;
where the tenant dared not accumulate
capital, even II he could get il, for fear the
landlord would demand it IN rent; where.
in fact, he was an AFFECT slave who at
the nod OF human being like himself
might at any time be driven from his mise
rable mud cabin hOuseleSs, homeless,
starving wanderer, forbidden even TO pluck
the spontaneous fruits OF the earth or TO
trap wild hare to satisfy his hunger. No
matter how sparse the population no mat
ter what the natural resources. are not pau
perism and starvation necessary conse-
quences in land where the producers OF
wealth are compelled to work under condl'
lions which deprive them of hope, OF self
respect. OF energy, OF thrift; where alb
sentee landlords drain away without return
at least fourth Of the net produce OF the
soil, and when, besides them, starving IN
dustry must support resident landlords
| with their horses and hounds, agents. Job
beers. middlemen, aud bailiffs, an alien State
Church to insult religious preiudice>, and
an army of policemen and soldiers to
oyerawe and hunt down any opposition to
the Ubiquitous system? Is it not impiety
far worse than atheism to charge upon
natural laws misery so caused! 7"