West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1882-05-26
THE REHISsI6N or .IRREiRS ~
IRELAND.

Ihe Arrears bill introduced laSI
week in the House Of Commons by
Gladstone, says the New York Sun
Ia the most important concession &c
Ireland since the repeal of Catholic
disability. For the FIR, time in the
history OF that country, a British
Minister thrusts bis hand in the ma
tionsl exchequer, not with the Oh
Ject of delraying the cost Of coerciue g
Irish men, nor TOR the purpose Of
rendering loans which the needy
borrower might fad it hard to repay,
but in order to make a free gilt to
men whose sutferlngs Were unavoid- =
able and pndeserved. This measure
will be far greater benefit to Ire.
land than the Lsnd act OF 1881;
indeed. 1t reproduces, IN a vastly
improved form, the very feature
which was essential to the helpful
working of that law, bat which was
ruthlessy stricken ous by the land
lord interest IN the House oil Lords.
a remission OF arrears has always
been proc aimed by those who w.
derstoo tue Irisn dItficu ty the fun
damental, Indispensable remedy,
without winch all curative legIsla-
ton would necess ri y r,vs sbor iye,
The pretended ooject OF tue Land
acts OF 1870 and 1881 was to avert
ev.ctioLs; but how could this be
c0mpa-sed while the s.n ,!ler tenants,
for whose benefit the legislation was
devised, remained IN arrears, and
therefore were subject 70 ejectment
at any moment? The failure to
curb the power OF iiul!oris 10 evict
for arrears OF rent was particularly
blameworthY in 1881, because the
two preceding years had been mark
el by great scarcity, approaching Ia
some districts to a positive famine.
Ia the best Of times small farmers
in the west ana north vest of Ire
land founi it hard euough to scrspe
,ogether the rent exActe from them,
but wheu the potato crop fell fro.a
over $50 100000 to $l5OO0,0OO (ss
It did between 1876 aud 1870, the
decline me ant absolute inability to
pay the landlord anything. aud in
cass the latter insisted on his harsh
remedy Of eviction, it meant moth
ing les, thal death 10 sh3 svicted
tenant.
People in this country will never
unaers!and he lyish la J question,
or appreciate tao vital noment Of
dealing primarily viii arrear1, un-
til they keep steadily in view the
awful fact that in 1916 (the first
year OF tie preceding ia,nine) not
less than 100000 persons were driv.
en- out by irish land lords to die in
ditch, because under the sconrge
OF dearth they fell behiad in the
payment Of their due4. II the Pc
tato famine Of 1879 and 1880 did
not have such tragical results, the
Land League, and not the British
Government, must be credited with
the dim'nutou OF misery. The
poor haryests o. the years preceding
the passage Of he Land oil he'd
rem Tered, as we have said, the pay
meut Of rents by the smaller and
poorer farmers quite impossible, aud
the main argument employ ed in "a
vOr Of tue measure Ia the House of
Commons vas that it would cave the
vict ims OF the act OF God rom death.
The rescue was to be effected uv +
clause making the provisions of the
bill retroactive, the practical ou'-
come Of which would be that when
the Land Courts pronounced rents
extortionate Gas they have done in
almost everv csse), it would turn
out that the landlord was entitled
to but a frsctiou OF the arrears be
claimed.
But this clause was ezpungod by
the House Of Lords; and although
Mr.. Parnel warned them that II was
the very core and essence Of the bill,
the Ministry were unwilling to con
front tue rlsk OF new general cleo
tion, and decided to content them
selves with mutiIsted measure.
The result amply justified Mr.. Par.
neIIs prediction. The number oI
evlctions, which in 1879 were but
348, rose in 1880 TO lO457. and
in 1881 TO upward Of 10000. In
the present year, but for the re medv
now applied by Mr. Gladstone, ther,
would have been far more deplora.
ble ezbipit Of land ord rspaciousnes.
I