The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1881-10-24
The CondltIon OF IreIand.

dition Of things in Ireland, We must re-
member that It is the land system Of Great
Britain that is at the bottom Off A great
deal Of the land Of the United Kingdom is
an inheritance from generation to genera
ton, The laws do not encourage the
alienation OF land. They tend rather in u
contrary direction In this country it Is al
together different. Hence while in America
every body is encouraged to own land in
their own right, in Great Britain the masses
are almost debarred from its requirement.
This Is the root OF the evil in Ireland,
To appreciate the wrongs and hardships
Of the system Of land tenure in that coun-
try we must imagine ourselves a tenantry,
living on the lands Of foreign owners, said
owners deriving their support from the
rent which we are compelled to send to
send to them out of the country, They
naturally have little or no community Of
interest with US, their chief object being to
get as much rent as possible out OF their
land, and leave as little profit as possible
in the hands Of the tenant, In this way
the country Is deprived Of its natural re-
sources The money made does not come
back on the soil to Improve and enrich it
1t goes away to support alien owners and tc
enrich alien shopkeepcrs and tradespeople
The natural and constant tendency is Ia
squeeze out more rent, or in other words Il
sacrifice the interests OF tho tenant to those
Of tho landlord, This is the way thai
things have been going on in Ireland fol
generations past Hence her peasantry
have been brought to the extreme Of i'm
poyerishment They have literally been
serfs on the soil, the same us in Russia
The land has been largely owned
by landlords living in England, and the
pesantry have simply eked out miserable
existence as renters and laborers.
This Is not all. There was no induce
ment prior to tho passage Of the Land Act
to improve the land-to build better houses
or make the premises more comfortable
All such improvements tended to an en-
llancement Of the rent, and thus aggravated
the very evils that were already bad enough
There was thus actually premium Offered
to let everything run down, and become
as cherries and unenyiable us possible
How could matters help proceeding from
bad to worse? How could the land and
the people improveP Is 1t net won
der that the statesmen Of England did moi
long ago apply a remedy to this condition
Of aflais2 1t seems astonishing to us Ii
this country that they did not, AS lover
Of the peace and prosperity of their king
dom, saying nothing Of the instincts Of
common humanity, 1t seems unaccounta
Bile that they did not long ago seek out
and remedy these evils Of Ireland.
But we must remember the constitution
( Of society and the proprietary tradi
tions and laws that obtain throughout the
British Kingdom. The foundation Of the
social order there Is the land. The greal
ruling families have always held large
bodies ofland. The land Of the kingdom Il
really owned by n few thousand peoplc-by
the nobility and gentry. These fortunate
few have farmed out tho lands to middle
men, andthese middlemen have spcculated
out Of their opportunities to Cypress the
poor. To be u middlcman in Great Britain
Is To DO a great person. lie Is high VI
+ in the social scale. These persons otter
sub.let their leases, and every sub-letter Il
an additional turner Of the scrcwthat tends
! to crush the backs Of the people.
The great trouble, to begin with, is in
the land system Of the Kingdom. How tc
meet the troubles growing out Of this sys
tenn has been the problem ofliberal states
men like Mr.. Gladstone. After overCom.
ing perhaps their own native prejudiCet
and interests they were forced to deal will
those Of the nobility and gentry ii. and ou
Of Parliament. No statesman can live III
England who ignores their prejudices and
interests. The suffrage Is not universal
and Is still controlled Improperly Qualii'ca
ton. The large per Centage Of those who
exercise 1t are III one way or another in
fluenCed by the aristocratic sentiment thai
peryades the Kingdom. Mr.. Gladstone
with all his prestige, all his great ability
all his patronage, had great difficulty to gel
the present land act through Parliament
He lost a member Of his Cabinet and one
Of his chief supporters in doing SO, the
Duke Of Argyle. 1t was the labor Of
months and several compromises to get the
bill through In It's present shape. BY many
so-Called Liberals the act was considered
radical in Its character, and as such tend.
ing finally to endanger the whole system
Of land ownership in not only Ireland, but
In England and Scotland. This was the
expressed view Of the Duke Of Argyle, the
largest land holderin Scotland. Hence he
separated from Mr.. Gladstone on this
measure.
On the other hand, there Are those who
oppose this act because 1t does not wipe
oft entail and provide for the alienation Of
the land. II is needless to say that such a
bill could not have passed Parliament. Mr..
Gladstone was compelled to deal with an
existing order OF things He had to con.
tfiye something for Ireland that would be
remedial, and yet not obnoxious to his fol.
lowers. He did the best he could, and he
did a great deal, as all iair.minded people
in Europe and America admit. The act
has stood the test Of criticism, and the pre-.
yailing opinion Is that II is great measure
oiland reform. Wehave pointed out item
by item wherein II Is great reform, and 1t
Is not necessary to go over the points anew.