The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1881-02-05
Coercion in Ireland.


s"The Land League strikes terror.
We must, therefore, strike terror into
them" indicates temper that may
lead to the passage of what are called
''strong measures" 1t rs proposed
hy this Coercion bill to empower the
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland to issue
a warrent for the arrest of any one
suspected of reasonable designs. and
the persons so arrested may be de-
tanned as persons accused OF crime.
In other words. personal liberty is to
be entirely suspended in Ireland
should this bill pass. AS measure
of pacification, the English ministry
has begun at the wrong end. Reform
should come first, and force after
ward. History has taught the folly
OF reversing this order of procedure.
1t sounds well, perhaps, and may
call forth cheers in Parliament, to
say that order must be established
first and reform come afterward. But
such an experiment has been tried
! before, and has resulted in failure.
The Habeas Corpus act has been sus-
pended several times in Ireland, and
each time with entire failure Of the
/ purpose of the suspension. Coercion
has not succeeded. In $780, after the
Catholic emancipation, it was tried
and failed. IN 1888 the agitation
against tithes, which accords in sew
eral respects with the present agita-
tion against rent. called forth coer-
cion act, which placed in the hands
of the Lord Lieutenant the powers
! conferred by the present coercion
bill but it was failure as preyen-
tative to crime. "Agrarian 0utragos'
did not apprecably decrease. The
law did not "strlke terror. When
that coercion act was repeated, as one
of the measures of a reform, which
included the Tithes act and other re-
dress, the amount of crime decreased
to one half. Coercion acts were passed
in 1913 and in 1847, but the more
rigorous" the measure the greater
the numbers Of agrarian crimes. In
1865 the Habeas Corpus act was again
uspended-With the usual result.
Thus far experience has not shown
that crime is to be checked by violent
M assures. On the contrary, harsh
repression has only stirred more
deeply the embers of crime and
: famed them into fame.
But if coercion has failed to "strike
terror" and prevent agrarian crimes
and the assassigation of landlords,
still more poWeriess will it be to
check "Doycotting." Boycotting is
not crime. 1t consists simply in
letting a landlord severely alone; re-
fusing to work for him, to sell to him
or buy from him. 1t then becomes
impossible for the landlord 10 work
adYantageousiy his land OF To harvest
his crops. The punishment iS very
severe; the situation of the hoy
e0tted" person painful in the eN-
treme. But there is no violation OF
law in this, supposing tha letting
alone of The landlord to be effected
by voluntary agreement of his neigh
bors. A man certainly has the right
to refuse to work for another or to
buy and sell with him. If there be
any crime in it. it can be only in the
measures taken ny the Land League
to prevent persons not of the league
from assisting the isolated landlord.
Now, how will the suspension of the
habeas corpus. az proposed by For
ster's bill, strike terror into the Land
League, or suppress the Land Lea
que? The attempt to do 50 shows
the fatal misunderstanding of the
Irish temperament, which has been
at the bottom of all the blunders and
misrule o! British ministries in deal
ing with Ireland. The Forster Coer-
cion act may, and very probably will, ,,
preripitate a general strike against
rent, and this will increas tenfold the
difficulties of the problem. For it
will not burden the collection OF rent
with expenses that will eat it up, but
will give new and enthusiastic i'm
pulse to the land agitation. There
are great thinkers, including Herbert
Spencer ana John Stuart Mill, who
have rejected on politico-economicaf
and philosophical grounds the whole
theory of private ownership of land.
The fact that rents rise in value as
wealth increase, SO as to absorb the
profits Of labor, has given to the spec
ulations of these philosophers very
practical political impulse among the
Liberals of England and Scotland.
A general strike against rent would
thus be a very popular movement in
Ireland, and one that would have a
very troublesome sympathy and sup
port in England and Ccettland-
In Parliament, perhaps, but among
the agricultural and laboring classes,
who elect the parliaments.
Ireland has bettered herself by
every agitation. Catholic emancipa-
ton followed one, relief from tithes
another, and the disestablishmen of