Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1882-01-09
ERIN.
IRELAND AND HER TRADUcERs.
Lecture by James Redpa.h on Stature:


Lecture by James Redpa.h on Saturday
Evening.
James Redpath, the distinguished poll
| tician, journalist, author, and tourist,
lectured to rather small audience in Full
ton opera house Saturday evening, his
subject being "Ireland and her Traducers.
In the columns of the INTELLIGENCER have
| heretofore been published a very full out
line of Mr.. Redpath's views on the Irish
question. 1t will not be necessary there
| fore to give here an extended notice of his
lecture, which consisted of \ we'll arrang-
ed historical and descriptive sketch of the
| "Green 1sle," from the time it was invad.
ei and conquered by the English TO the
| present time.
Mr.. Redpath proved himself to be All
excellent and entertaining talker, and
held the attention of his audience for
nearly two hours. His style, however, is of
a conversational character, and it was only
once in awhile, when under intense eX.
citcment, that he rose to the full stature
of the platform orator. He spoke with
something very like the Irish brogue, but
it is said he has not drop of Irish blood
in his veins, being of Scotch descent. He
| said to understand the condition Of Ire
| land to-day it is necessary to go back
| three hundred years in history. When the
| English. .Overran the north of Ireland and
! Subducd the natives-the " wild Irish, -
rs they were cal.ed-and contiScated
! their lands, it was desirable to keep the
original owners upon the lands to till
them, otherwise they would have been
valueless. To keep the original owners of
the soil rs tenants they We're granted what
| is known rs g the three +. ''-Fixity of
tenure Fair rent; Free sa!c--that is the
| tenant who improved his lcaschoid, had 4
right to sell the betterments These priv
| ileges made the inha bitants Of the north
of ireland comparatively contented and
prosperous. When the English finally
conquered the whole island, there was 10
necessity, On their part, to grant the same
privileges to the west and south, for the
inhabitants could not leave the lands,
having no other place to go to.
They were therefore subjected to the most
tyrannical government, and had no escape
from it. II they improved the lands upon
which they lived, the inexorable landlord,
who had stolen their land, at once raised
the rent, so that all the profits arising from
the labor and skill Of the tenant went into
the landlords pocket and the tenant was
left to struggle and starve. Tho English
in contrasting the prosperity Of the north
Of Ireland with tie poverty of the south
argue that these conditions arise from the
different religions that prevail in the
different parts-PrOtestantism in the
north: Catholicism in the south
and west. Mr. Redpath said re
lSion had nothing to do with it. 1t was
! the different systems Of government pre-
vailing in the two sections that made the
difference in their conditiOn-Enslish sup.
INF l:el,
in the other sections. MIR. Rcdpath re-
preston by English landlords. He also
denied that the misery of the peasantry
| was caused by extravagance and drunken.
ness. He proved from statistics that there
! was fur less drunkenness in Ireland than
in England or Scotland-addinS ,jocularly
that the Scotch had three good reasons FOX
getting drunk-First. they have the worst
climate in the world second, the gloomiest
| relig ion and third, the best whisky. He
said that Calvanism was dyspepsia formt-
lated into a creed
Mr.. Redpath endorsed the general pur-
pose Of the Land League, stating that
Ireland would never be prosperous until
she had Il separate legislature and until
| the present terrible system of landlordism
is abolished. The landlords must be
; driven out, and ought not to be remnncS-
| atcd. The English charge that the peas
| antry are numbering the landlords by
wholesale is not truo only two Of them
have been killed, and both these deserved
to be killed and would have been killed
under similar circumstances in any cOun-
try in the world. During the course of
his lecture Mr. Redpath said it would be
4 disgrace to Christianity to have liber-
tine like the Prince of Wales rule over
any Christian country.