The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1882-06-22

1 y
Iarly at present. If it cannot pay the five
per-cents,. how is the plan of peasant pro
prietary to be carried out? But, as | said
| am willing that any plan should be tried
provided the object sought, the extinguish-
ment of landlordism, be attained.
AS MUCH A COMMUNIST AS ArcASN4BAI. |
you have been called a communist,
/ Mr.. Davitt"
| II know j have, but it seems to me it
would be about as sensible to call me a
1 cannibal. AS / understand the theory of
communism, it means that every man
shall have an equal share of the land his
ownership to cease at his death. Now,
my plan is very different from this i
| contemplate the idea of title, that man
may sell or bequeath his land as though
! he owned it in fee simple, but always sub
\ ject to the tax of the government by virtue
of which he holds it, That tax should be
made on a just and equitable basis and the
whole thing should be regarded as a gov
| eminent loan As the government can
borrow money at three per cent, this
| should be the basis of tax,or land 1.-THE, as
/ prefer to call it. The 1.-THE should be
| sufficient to include the expenses of collec1
| ton. 1t would really be a government
1 loan upon the basis of the Irish land.
Fl l.
/ story that there is any difference between
Mr.. Parnell and myself upon this subject.
Mr.. Parnell's plan win probably be adopt.
ed and II it Is I shall not feel aggricped
But if not. and if my plan should be, the
one taken up, Mr.. Parnel will not make
split in the Land League any more than
would. Such a story is absurd. Mr.. Par
| ne1 and have only one object, the ex-
tinction of landlordism in ireland and
whatever the details may be by which that
object is brought about is matter of very
/ small concern to either of us. [ believe
\ that his plan will not work although, as /
have said, believe it will be adopted.
Very well. fit is adopted and works, /
shall be wrong. If it is adopted and am
right, some other plan must be tried.
Perhaps mine and perhaps that of some
one else. lam satisfied either way. No,
there is no split in the Land League and it
is not likely that there viii be-
What was the second object of your
visit?' g esa
''Io LET the people of America know
what work has been done by the Ladies'
Land League
What has been that work.
Sustaining evicted people, building
houses for them and defending them in the
courts of law 1 have with me a most
elaborate report prepared by Miss Parnen
of the work of the Ladies' League, in
which she says that 30, persons have
been evicted and more evictions are ex7
pected. | shall have it printed and dis
tributed to every branch Of the league in
this country, and furnish copies of course
to the press. That viii give far fuller
account of the condition of Ireland than
anything / could tell you, for you must
remember [ have been shut up in Port |
land prison for some time and was not al |
lowed to see any papers, so that when / |
came out | had to learn the history of the /
movement for fifteen months. / have
with me some twenty thousand cancelled |
checks which have been drawn by the |
Ladies Land League. They were given |
to me by Miss Parnell to dispose of for /
some charitable purpose, as she thought |
that many people would be glad to have |
them. They have upon them the sigma
lures of some of the leaders, and I have
no doubt will be priced not alone for
those signatures, but for the interest
which attaches to them in view of the pur
poses for which they were drawn.
WHERE HE PERFECTED HIS PLANS.
Where did you perfect this land scheme I
of yours?".
@In Portland prison, where 1 had no
meetings to look after and no speeches to
make. In fact, you may say that / am
sDrry / left it. They treated me very well
here. | had to wear the convict dress
md was not allowed to see newspapers,
but otherwise I had a pleasant time. /
developed quite q genius for gardening, /
believe, and / made, friends with about
one hundred and twenty sparrows who
used to eat about one-third of my bread
every day. When / got out2that is,
when l was released-the assassination
took place. and really / may say that for
, few days | had the LandLeague on my
shoulders. Letters, kilograms and ques
tons had to be answered, and that, too,
when I was ignorant of what had been /
going on during my Imprisonment.
never worked so hard in my life, and I
looked back to the quiet of the prison with
a positive longing
What is the opinion of the Land
League about the assassination
1T is believed by many in Ireland and
not few in England that it was done to
bolster up landlordism. No one could :
hope that deed of such atroeity-the3
of friendly Englishman- could
do any good to Ireland. The leaders of
the Land League have denounced it. and :
The members of the League are as one in
their condemnation of it. The Fenians
had nothing to do with it any way, and
all Irishmen throughout the world must
bewail the injury it did to the cause of
Ire and"
Are there not other. and / might say
n .Jesecret societies in Ireland?
Yes; For many years there has been
an association called the RibbonmenJ but
am convinced that they are 'guiltless in
this matter. / have heard that there are
men in this country who claim. that they
are responsible for it. If they knew the
oathing excited in the minds of the people
Of Ireland when they hear of such wild
for it is nothing else, | think
hat for shame they would be silent. They
10 not represent any section of the Irish
people; they do infinite harm to the cause
Of ireland by their talk. because the enc.
mics of Ireland repeat what they say and
upon the Land League. The
Land Leaguel Why it disowns them as
unworthy of the name they bear; as the
most dangerous enemies Ireland has
'sDo you mean O'Donovan Rossa and j
lis followers2" II
Il need not name any men, Every in
elligent man viii know who it is / am
speaking of. !"
GLADsToNE's ACT A FAILURE.