New-York tribune., 1882-08-13
An IPISU LAND LEAGUE.

The readers of Martin ChuZzlewit have
not forgotten the great meeting OF the Water
toast Association of United Sympathsers, at
which General Cyrus Choke read his cele-
brated address to certain Public Man III
Ireland, then engaged in what the WatertOast
Sympathisers called "a noble effort i'll the
cause Of Freedom or III other words, a con-
troyersy with the British Government. In
Freedoms name" said General Choke, send
herewith a contribution to the funds OF your
society. In Freedoms name, sir, advert
" with Indignation and disgust to that accursed
animal, with gore-stained whiskers, whose
srampant cruelty and fiery lust have ever been
"a scouIge, n torment to the world. | allude,
q sir. to the British liOn.' 1t was not that the
Watertoast Sympathisers sympathised in the
least with the Public Man in question, or cared
a penny for his quarrel indeed ten minutes
afterward they were bowling execrations be-
cause they discovered that he was an abolition
ist but they hated the British lion.
The w atertoast Association repeated itself
the other day in Philadelphia. where Land
League meeting adopted an enthusiastic greet
inc 10 Arab Pacha and voted to turn over
the funds of the society to that military ad-
yenturer, and to recommend other branches Of
the League to do likewise not because they
knew or cared anything about Egypt or quite
understood the difference between Arab and
Cetawayo but upon the general principle that
ANYBODY who gets into dispute with England
must be considered in the right, and that the
massacre of Englishmen and the destruc-
ton of Englishmen's property Is always
"a noble effort in the cause of Freedom" 1t
happens in this instance that the British are
Fl lighting to sustain the Legitimate and consti-
tutional government of Egypt by the Egyp-
tians-or what our Irish friends would call
Home Rule,-and Il at Arab is in rebellion fOl
the purpose Of setting up savage and pro-
scriptive military despOtism; that the British
are defending civilization, order, national de-
velopment and popular rights, i'll the Nile
valley. and the rebels are the repre-
sentatives of all that is most danger
GUS and most repressve and most tyran-
nical in MOslem fanaticism but what of that
The occasion seems TO the Philadelphia sym
nathisers none the less appropriate for ad-
"verling with Indignation and disgust to that
accursed animal with gorc-stained whiskers
and for sending to the Moslem a cOntribu-
ton of funds " in aid of the cause of Freedom.
and roaring folly as this, but indeed the case
has its serious side. The funds OF the Land
| League have been contributed for the most
part by poor and h hard-wolking people in thif
| country for purpose which we must respect
whatever we may think of the agency to which
! it is committed. The contributors meant tC
do something more than a1tront that accursed
| animal with gOrc-stained whiskers.' They
| believed that they were subscribing for tic
relief of their starving cCuntrymen, the estab-
| lishment of the distressed peasants On then
| farms. and the restoration Of peace and pros
peritv to the land they love. For this the day
| laborer and the servant drew their petty saw
| ings from the bank, and withheld their char
| tiles from churches, schools, orphan asylums
and Yrefuges They poured money into the
hats of the League agents, in the blind conf
dence that these irresponsible and often ig'
nOrant persons would spend it judci0usly fol
the professed object. If an exact accounting
| should ever be had (but none ever wild, the
! subscribers would be very much surprised al
| the disclosures. How many hundreds of thou
| sands of dollars, we wonder, have been thrown
away in manufacturing bogus Internal ma
| chimes warranted not to q o mischief frightening
ship-captains with childish pretexts of incen
dIarism, paying the boardbills of professional
demagogues, and sustaining newspapers 81
| coarse and stupid that the people for whom
| they are written will not buy them 7 And nov
the climax Of absurdity is reached II
the resolution to squander the wage
of longshoremen and Chambcrmad
upon an intestine disturbance
Africa which, whatever its issue, can have NJ
conceivable influence upon the fortunes OF Ire
land. 1t is by such childish operations as TIN
that the leaders of every Irish movemen
against the accursed animal have thrown ava.