The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1882-03-09
NAsBY ON IRELAND.


through Ireland. and in Boston re-
Gently he addressed an immense
meeting upon the subject of the
Irish cause. His address was one of
the severest arraignments of land
lordism In that unhappy island we
have read. Among other things he
said:
What is landlordism 1t is con-
densed villainy. 1t is the very top
and summit of oppression, cruelty
aud horror. 1t was conceived in
lust and greed, born of fraud. and
perpetuated by force. 1t does
not recognize womanhood, man
hood or childhood. Its cold
hand is upon every cradle of
Ireland. Its victims are the millions
of people in Ireland who cannot get
away, and the instruments used to
hold them are bayonets and ball
cartridges. Irish landlordism is legal
brigandage-it is an organized hell.
1t reaches from the bottomless
depths of the hell where Il was
born to the summit OF British
greed and rapacity, and that has
never yet been measured. Wesley
said that African slavery was the
sum of all villainies. Irish land
lordism comprises all the villainies
that the devil ever invented,
with African slavery thrown in
merely as q flavor. Irish landlord
ism makes African slavery virtue
by comparison. When a negro
slave got too old to work he was
provided for while life lasted. The
Irish tenant, when he becomes old
and cannot work, is thrown out
upon the roadside, with his wife and
children, to rot. He has created
lands with his own hands which he
is not allowed to occupy. He has la
bored as no other man in the world
labors without being permitted to
enjoy the fruits of his labor. The
virtue of his wife and daughter are
in the keeping of the villain,
who, by virtue of bayonets,
controls his lands. In short, to
sum it all up, the Irishman is a serf,
a slave. Under this system, child
hood is robbed of it's care, youth OF
its Joys, manhood of its rewards and
old age of its solace. Under this in
fanny every smile ends in contor-
| lions of pain. Every laugh shades
off into a moan. The sight of an
English landlord owning Irish
estates gets up in an American a
sort of respect for Nero" The lee
turer introduced a brief history OF
how landlOrdism ests blished itself
IN Ireland, and why it was permit
ted TO exist, his object being, he
said, to let AMERICANS know that
there is an Irish question-that the
Irish have not only reason for their
action, but a thousand times the rea.
son that our fathers of '76 had, and
that their cause was one that must
enlist the sympathies of every man
who loves the right and hates the
wrong. In the four weeks "Nasby'
was in the south of Ireland he visit
ed one hundred and tifty-eight cab
ins. This is his picture of one oil
them: "The idea that human be-
ings, made in Gods image, having
the power to think, to reason and to
act, could live, even exist, IN such .
hovel, was incredible. Wadins
through mud and slush coming over
the shoe tops, bent my head anf
entered. The room, If so it could
be called by any stretch of imagina
ton, was so low that L could MOI
stand erect. The cold, bar'
earth that constituted the
floor was damp and slippery, as tn,
rain came trickling down through
the open thatch and formed little
pools ON the ground. Near q sug
gestion of fire were huddled wO
man and four children, the eldes
not more than eight years of age
AS l entered they all arose. / wa
Mortified to see that they were with
out stockings and shoes, and thu
clothing was so torn and ragged
that it afforded no warmth what
ever. The mother and her httl,
girls were blue with cold. Thei
features were pinched with hunger
Their whole appearance indicated
the want and suffering they haG
been enduring for years. Over il
one corner of O room was whH
they called bed. 1t consisted o
four posts driven into the ground
On stringers were laid q few rough
boards, and on these boards wer'
dried leaves and heather, covered
with a few old potato sacks. Their
is where this family of six persons
slept. There was no window in thu
house, the only light and ventilation
being furnished by the door ani
the cracks in the matched root
AS for meat, that is some
thing they never dream Of eat
ing. Only once a year do the!
dare to hope to taste 1t. Oi
Christmas day they manage, if the.
can, to boil the half of pigs face
and they mix their stirabo1t will
buttermilk to make gorgeou
feast. That is the only meat the,
ever have, and the pleasure Of thi
indulgence. is destroyed by the ter
riable remorse that follows extrava
gance. Two meals of potatoes
day-that is the diet they are borl
to live aud die upon. AS to thei
clothing, that is too horrible to- tall
about. In ride of five miles, from
the door of the hotel in Cork t.
Blarney castle, counted over tiv
hundred women barefOoted, who's
feet had never known a stock
ing or shoe.n Referring to tn
landlords and scions of royalty
Nasty" asked: " Have these pee
pie, from first to last, ever added on
penny to the wealth of the world
Is there any one thing they hay
ever done to push forward the prog
ress of the nations2 Not a thing
On thesoontrary, they have been th
dead weights, they have been tn
/ incubuses, they have been the block
in the way. They simply live an
eat, and drink and wear, and dispol
themselves in the gardens at SanC
bingham, and q hundred other ga
, dens they have castles and Sc
| wants, and carriages and speci'
trains, and all that sort OF thing, an
one hundred guinea pug togs; an
T to support all this, with the hord
j. of nobility hanging upon them an
I their retainers, the men of lrelan
are starving, and the women of Ir'
land are going shoeless, stocklngles
e and well-nigh naked"