The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1882-05-12
A>to the Natter VI n Proper Undcrstand.

stand The true situation OIL allllr3ln Ireland.
There Is, he says, m irepressible conflict
in the matter Of religion In that country,
und the religion OF the majority OF the PEG.
pie operates to prevent condition Of peace
and prosperity in that country,and Of iden.
.liiication and unity with tho British king.
dom, such rs prevails between England,
Scotland and Wales. .|@
This Is view Of the Irish situation that
is not singular, strange rs It may seem.
There are people like our Tyler county
friend, who think that religious differences
in Ireland explain the. whole unhappy
situation OF affairs in that country. Well,
granting, for the sake OF the argument, that
the religion Of the majority isat variance
with the policy oithe English Government,
what isto be doncaboutft? The people will
not give up their religion, or, iiyou please.
their religious prejudices. They have held
and inherited them for centuries Right
or wrong their religion is part OF their
life. 1t may be their misfortune to hold
such views, but what Is TO be done about
1t? How are their views 10 be changed
or modified? Certainly not by return.
ing to the old policy. That has
been ctIectually tried. The fact that
all parties were on the owe, when the rs.
sassinations occurred, Of abandoning that
policy, and substituting for it much moro
liberal and Just policy, shows that British
statesmen recognized at last thai there we're
substantial grievances in Ireland. The ilct
TINT several years ago Mr.. Gladstone discs
tablished the English Church in Ireland,
proves that even then the intelligent people
OF the kingdom believed that it was wrong
for st.te religion, representing only Il
meagre number OF the people, to be inst
cncd on the majority for support from
tithes. The fact that the courts established
by the Land Acts have reduced the rents
from q to 100 per cent, and materially
changed the whole rack-rentins principle,
shows that the oppression OF the tenantry
was not u matter OF religion but OF ability
to live. It is too late in the day, after the
exposures in and out OF Parliament, to be.
little the wrongs heaped upon the tillers Of
the soil in Ireland. There is but one ac.
count by disinterested writers who are
lockers on at passing events in that coun-
try as to the iniquities OF the whole absen.
tee policy by which that island l,as been
governed. 7'51
But even were it true, as our correspon.
den. suggests, that differences in religion
make English government Of the country
the problem that it is. the world can not
expect and does not expect the people to
change their religion except through Il
change Of their convictions. It certainly
lisa singular excuse to set up that the Eng.
lis!' government is not equal to the task OF
taking ynll grounds for friction between
the Government and the material condi.
ton OF the people, simply because the re-
lision Of the majority in Ireland is not the
religion Of the ruling clement. And in the
light Of the almost radical change OF policy
that was on the eve OF being inausurated
when the assassinations occurred, it will
strike most people that much OF the talk in
the past about an irrcconciablc conflict oil
religious character has been made the ex.
cuse and cover for the msmanugemcnt and
expressions that now stand acknowledged
Mr.. Goodwin Smith, an Englishman,
some time ago suggested that it was almos,
to be regarded MS Il misfortune that England
ever got possession OF Ireland, SO unhappy
had been their association as integers Of
the kingdom. And the best minds o.
England do not believe to-day that the
government OF England has ever been ius,
to Ireland. The consequences Of long
course OF missoyernment are on the hands
OF England to-day. She did everything in
her power 10 break down diversified in.
dustry in the country, and reduced the
people to mere tillage OF the soil, and then
by the operations OF the rackrcnt system
took away all possible inducement on the
part OF tenants TO improve the agriculture
oil the country.
II our Tyler county friend will turn to
the new British Encyclopedia, Just coming
from the press, 18th volume, he will find a
record, written from British standpoint,
that may cnlightcn him rs to the true
cause OF discomfort in Ireland. 1t is there
recorded (page 957) that by English com.
mercial jealousy OF Irish trade the manu-.
featuring industry in the south and west of
the island was destroyed, and the people
driven into breeding sheep After being
driven into this industry, and after they
had succeeded in raising the best wool in
Europe, they were forbidden to export it,
or to work it up probably at home. Had
manufactures been given fair play in Ire.
land population might have preserved some
relation to capital" Thepeoplewere driven
to tilage. "rhe poor squattcd where they
could, receiving starvation wages, aud pay.
Ing cxhorbitant rents for their cabins, mart.
" with their own labor"
Unable TO rise, the wretched people
multiplied OH their potato pats with per-
icst recklcssness. During the famine
which began in the winter OF 1880 one
fifth OF the population is supposed to have
persisted yeti is hardly noticed in litera-
tuae, and seems not to have touched the
conscience Of that English public which
in IT'S subscribed elOO.0oO for the suffer.
ers by the London earthquake. Az might
be expected where men were allowed to
slnugse and forbidden 10 work, redress
was sought in illegal combinations and
secret societies. y. ll1i,I
There is Il good deal more OF tho sane