Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1882-04-13
The Irish Land Act.

tnUuS8uO Oh MS cOuStltutHtS ~ Su1uer-
LAND on the 9th of March. .Referring to
Ireland, that gentleman said:
1.-The Land bill became law in Au-
gust Four months experience of its
working has disposed of two well-known
faliacies-first, that there was no need of
Legislation; and, second, that the Irish
tenants are lazy and improvident The
Commissioners had decided l, 200 cases,
.arld The Average reduction had ap-
preached thirty per cent A thousand
.casesshaTe, been settled out of court, and
the average of reduction agreed on out
side has, ON the whole, been larger than
that deereed inside. > On one estate IN
Ulster the rent has been reduced more
than one-half. Probably the landlord is
one of the three thousand who metliu
Dublin in December shrieking for COM.
pensation from the British TAXPAYER.
He has for years been charging the rent
of, unrighteousness, and may esteem
himself fortunate that no demand Of
cempensatibn is made qpbn him. There
was need for a change. The English
find it easy to believe the Irish tenantry
are lazy and improvident. Under SINH
lar conditions we should have been so,
for John Bull likes pay Tor his work;
but in the majority of instances the
Commissioners have remarked upon the
industry and thrift of the applicants
I tTYelve million acres of ireland are
IN the grass. Grazing farms are outside
the act. One hundred and fifty thou
sand Irish tenants are leaseholders No
leaseholders. with few exceptions, come
under the act. Probably one hundred
thousand tenants owe arrears beyond
their means. of paying. Even while
they are. praying the court for fair
rent they are being evicted, horse and
foot assisting at the scene. Upon the
doors of the Land Court there is, as it
were. inscribed this message to 200, 900
tenants: 'Ye cannot enter here''
The honorable member then proceed
ed to describe the present state of Ire
land, not in the language of passion, but
with cold-blooded mathematical pre-,
<cisiOn.t ~ tSCAttN 5"f' ~ :
Fifty thousand of the flower of our
troops occupy strongholds. Twelve
thousand police, with swords and car
blnes, assist the soldiery. Cromwell's
Major Generals are resuscitated, and
five large districts in Ireland are hand
ed over to Military Police Governors,
who have at their beck the lives and
liberties of the population. For the first
time since Charles I. members of Par
lament are kept in prison for long
periods on secret infOrmations and with
, out trial. Five hundred other persons.
Mayors, Aldermen, Town Councillors,
priests, schoolmasters. merchants, wom-
en-, farmers, village tyrants, dissolute
rufhans-are in a similar plight. There
lis a widespread strike against rent
many cannot pay at all, some would,
some dare not. EvictiOns are numer-
Gus. When more or less Wild acts of
vengeance or passion occur, nobody
has eyes to see or ears to hear. Rufiians
take advantage of the time to wreak1
private vengeance or commit private
robbery. Spies abound, letters are
opened, newspapers are seized, illegal
meetings are prohibited, legal meetings
are interfercd with by unwise, lofficioIls
police. l am speaking of Ireland, not
of Poland-of an integral part of what
with unconscious irony we call the
United Kingdom. Is this the best we
Engiishmen can do with Irishmen?
ave seem ever to fail. Why is itP
Because there exists the blight which
follows doing and injustice-the
curse that arrests departure from the
principle we supported in Italy, in
Greece, in Bulgaria, in Servia, in Cana
das that people shall govern them
selves. 1t is not too late yet to return
to the right course. There are those
who take a brighter view of Irish affairs,
who discern in the present disorders
only the temporary success of the incli-
nations of a few agitators, buttressed by
the brutal crimes of a limited number of
village rriffians. None are so blind as
those who will not see. The picture
have drawn is dark, but true. The rela-
90 Tral,nd E,,o.JarJ ,,o not
merely d disgrace, they constitute Ma
tional danger. Where tomorrow, in
case of a European war, could we find
an army? Is it in Ireland? do not
doubt but that we should pull through.
The anxious spirit of our race would
sustain us, but thrice is he armed that
hath his quarrel just With Ireland con-
tented and loyal as Scotland we should
not only be safe but free from shame.
2 "As q remedy there are four alterna-
hves before us. The first is to let Ire
band go altogether. The second is to
continue the present system of repres-
ssion-the former would be huniliating;
the latter is intolerable. am not pre-
pared for either. The third is that we
should reverse the policy of the past,
govern Ireland by Irishmen, according
TO Irish ideas. legally accuse and con-
StlIuIlonalIy Try the SuDJectS OF release
them. 1 do not say that this policy will
conciliate Mr.. Parnell or Mr. Dillon. If
you had inflicted upon me the indignity
of Kilmainham I should be hard to con-
-ciliate. Had you treated me as they
have dealt with the one-armed, liberty
loving, outrage-hating, patriotic peasant
in Portland. my blood would, perchance,
have turned to gall. Every act of, JUS
tice makes some contented. The Land
act has done so, and viii do SO. Every
contented man is recruit to the cause
of order and loyalty, and ,as constant
dropping wears away stones, so steady
flow of this new and generous policy
would, verify believe, in two genera
tons win Ireland as Scotland has been
won.
''Can the Parliament of England as
at present constituted rise to this duty?
Il Tr,c I.I