Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1881-09-02
ERIN'S SUFFERING
GRAPHICALLY DEPICTED BY A REG
ISTER CORRESPONDENT. +
Scenes Which Reflect Upon the Civilization
Of the Nineteenth Centuy-A Tale
Full of Sorrow and Wos-StarY-
ing to Death Inch by Inch
BY THE LANDLORDS OPPRESSION.
"a, co,rasnondsncs Of the Register.


their surplus waters. The city owes
considerable OF its Importance to its
commerce with Spain, and its inter
course with that country may be seen
in every direction, not only in the ar
chitecture OF the houses and appear
ance of the streets, but in the natives;
one sees on every side dark eyes and
dark hair, and black eyes and yellow
hair are by no means rare occurrence.
Very few or
No Industries Flourish Here.
The people carry on q small fish trade,
and support we'll several distilleries and
breweries. This is the centre OF one OF
the poorest and most distressed coun-
tries in Ireland. AS travelled through
a portion of it on my way here from
| Limerick could easily see Why The peo-
ple had some six months ago risen
up in their might against
their oppressors and the system and
practice of landlordism in this country.
To a people who only asked for justice
and not forbearapce, coercion was the
remedy offered bv the British govern.
ment and put into force. 1t is possible
that at that time the life OF the land
lord was hard and perhaps precarlous in
this part of Ireland. Ifit was, the fault
was not with the poor Rapparce, the
bogtrotter, or the wild gossonery OF the
hedges and bitches and any II ore than OF
the small holder whose COW, ass and pig
| share
The Wretched Thatched Hovel
10 which landlordism has reduced the
peasantry. The deeds that offend the
ruling classes are close by and for the
| humble tenant class-the farmers who
farm bit OF land that would be consid.
| cred to circumscribed for an American
farmers stable yard. His rents are pald
for hovel thatched so deep with muck
| that in summer the very winds that blow
take pity on him and hide its
squalor with the blossoms whose seeds
| are blown from the wheat fields or the
gardens OF the great. Without floor,
| other than the worn clay, the interior
| of the cabin is even more repulsive than
the outside. Any civilized convenience,
such as the humber look upon as indis.
pensable in o'her countries, the hard
| life of the peasant never gives him an
opportunity to know. The birds sing
in the hedges; the yellow goose covers
the ditches; the
Fields are Sweet with Shamrock or Haw'
but his dismal hut, impenetrable to the
| sun, swimming in water in the rainR,
| stands only as retreat for the dark,
gloomy DAYS of winter, when the tHri
from the bog keeps the breath OF llfe in
his chilled body. An Irish family In
winter quarters is, in everything but the
picturesque, wigwam OF Indian squal'
or. unredeemed by the plenty that
lightens the hardships of the red mans
Information. II he has COW, or a
brood OF geese or chickens, these are
depended on to gain penny or two Tor
the meal to make his porridge. Meat
he never sees. Potatoes in seasons OF
plenty are the staple OF his wretched
existence. Nor is this dreadful squal-
idpess the lowest estate of Irish life un.
| der English rule. There is lower deep
the bog trotter or day laborer, who
scours the country for an odd job. lie
Sleeps on the Brown Turf of the Beg.
under the hedge, in the stables with the
! COWS. or wherever a breath OF warmth
NAV be found to mitigate the pinchieg
| cold OF a raw, wet season, such an Irish
writer can alone give an idea OF. His
| BODY is patched, not clothed or covered,
| with tatters over his shoulder, and rags
| over his loins, but he is generally shoe
less and hatless. He eats the leeks OF
| the field, the hawberries in the hedges,
and when rare fortune fsvors him be re-
stores the wasted tissues OF a
months hunger with a few pota-
toes and cup OF buttermllk.
These are luxuries which he may not
look for often, however. The mouths
are so many and the means 80 small.
Nor is this sketch overdrawn nor its ex.
istence accidental. In a majority OF the
counties OF Ireland from londonderry
to Cork, from Dublin to Galway, this is
the condition OF the tenantry and the
laborer. II the Irish millions who are
Suffering from English Misrule
and the inhumanity of their alien lords
were a we'll fed race, it would need mole
than the sleek machinery OF govern
mental repression TO keep their hands
from the throats of their tormentors,
and their steel from the hearts OF these
plupderers, The wonder is not that the
Irish in this part of the country are tur-
bulent, passionate and irrepressible;
since 1880 fifty coercion acts have been
passed by the English Parliament for
Ireland; since 1871, thirty.two land bills
in the shape OF ameliorative measures
for the Irish people have been rejected
by that imperial body.
This has been rather poor encourage
ment to a people OF long suffering, bat
il is to the everlasting honor Of the IRISH
National Land League that its members
faced calumny in England and imprls'
opment at home, by vigorously keeping
M their agitation, until their efforts at
length compelled the attention OF Eug-
land, and forced her foremost state smen
into the first real attempt to
Graphs With the Evils Of the Irish Land
System.
The result is the very moderate land
bill that has been before Parliament for
the past four months, and is at this mo-
ment being vigorously fought by the
hereditary lords Of the Upper House.
have taken the precaution OF seeing
with own eyes many Of the Irish peas.
ants in their miserable novels, which so
far as have observed, are a shocking
rep,oach to the civilization OF the Nine
teenth century. Yesterday | visited the
little village OF Barns, sea shore town,
about FIVE miles below this city. do
not believe that tongue or pen, howeV-
er eloquent, could truly
Depict the Awful Destitution
OF some OF the novels in that place,
Many of the cabins passed were with
out windows, and of all no outlet for the
smoke from the turf fire, except small
DOORWAY. They all had mud floors, and
most OF them mud walls and many were
insuficiently ths ched. The children
were often nearly naked. Bedding there
was none, except in few cases where q
layer OF straw was the sole provision.