Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1882-07-12
Many POST lErELLIaEHOER
rme REmlssION OF ARREARS II
IRELAND.

uller 0t6QStOUes - ZIG ho's
concession to Ireland since the repeal OF
Catholic disability. For the first time
in the history Of that country, q Brit
ish Minister thrusts his hand In the
national excheqrer. not with the object
Of defrayin9 the cost of coercing islsh-
men, nor for the purpose OF rendering
loans which the needy borrower might
find il hard 70 repay, but in order 70
make 4 free Gift 80 men whose suffer
inQs were unavoidable and undeserved.
This measure will be far greater bene-
At to Ireland than the Land act Of 1881;
indeed, it reproduces, in vastly i'm
proved form, the very feature which
was essential to the helpful working OF
that law. bat which was ruihiessly
stricken out by the landlord interest IN
the House Of Lords.
A remission OF arrears has always
bean proclaimed by those who under
stood the Irish difficulty as the funda-
mental, indispensable remedy, without
which all curative legislation would
necessarily prove abortiye. The pre-
tended objec. Of the Land acts OF 1870
and 1881 was to avert evictions; but how
could this be comprised while the small
Ter tenants, for whose benefit the legis-
lation was devised, remained in arrears,
and therefore were subject to ejectment
At any moment? The failure to curb tie
power Of landlords TO evict for arrears
of rem. was particularly blamewor'hy
in 1881. because the two preceding
wears had been marked by great scsrci-
ty, approaching in some districts 10 =
poSitjye famine. In the best OF times
ANAL farmers in the west aud north
vest Of Ireland, found it hard enough
70 scraps together the rent exacsed from
them. bat when the potato crop fell
from over SEQ, 100000 to si5,oo0,0D (as
It did between 1876 and 1879, the de-
cline meant absolute inability to pay
tho landlord anything, and in case the
latter insisted on his harsh rcDiedy of
eviotion, it meant nothing leas than
death to the evictsd tenant.
People in this country will never nh
derstand the Irish land question, or ep'
preciate the vital moment of dealing
primarily with arrears. until they keep
steadily In view the awful fact that in
1884,; 1.-THE first year Of the preceding
fa,nine) not less than 100000 persons
were driven out by Irish Landlords to
die in = ditch. because under the scourse
Of death they fell behindhand ia the
payment of their daes. II the potato
famine of 1879 and 1880 did not hnye
such tragical results, tho land leagre,
and not the British Government, must
be credited with tho diminution OF
misery. The poor haryests of the y"are
preceding the passage of the Land bill
Md rendered, AZ VIC have said. ths pay
mont Of rents by the smaller and poor
Or farmers quite impossible, and the
main argument employed in favor of
the measure in tho House Of Commons
was that ii would save the victims ct
the act Of God from death. The rescue
was TO be effected by n clause making
Che provisions Of tho bill retroactive,
the practical outcome Of which would
be that whom the Land courts PRO-
nounced tho rents extortionate tas they
have done IN almost every case), IT
would tuin out thet the landlord was
entitled to but q fraction Of the arrears
he claimed.
Bnt this clause was expunged by the
House Of Lords; and although Dir. Par
nsll warned Thorn that it was ths very
core and essence fthe bill, the Ministry
were unwilling to confront the risS Of a
new general election, and decided to
content themselves with mutilated
measure. The result amply justified
Mr.. Parnsll's prediction. The number
OF evictions, which in 1879 were but
l8le, rose in 1850 to 10.456. and in 1881
10 upwards Of $1,000. In tho present
year, but Tor the remedy now applied
BY Mr.. Gladstone, there would have
been far more deplorabls exhibit of
landlord rnpaciousnsss and barbarity.
Az Mr.. Parnell pointed ont to Herald
correspondent. 1000 persons were evict-
ID during tho first quarter of this year,
and u the ratio heretofore observed be.
tween the first and second quarters had
bssn maintained, the current three
months vould have Witnessed more
thAn $1,000 siectments, and the whole
twslvsmonth would have probably
sesn oo,0oO persons tarnsd out of doors
- parish By the roadside.
Happily the bill now introduced not
enly) puts , stop - further svictions,
bat also o6srs sucoor and redress to
those who have been elected from their
holdings during the last ak months.
We must bear in mind that very many
tenants are in arrears, not merely for
three years. but for five and eight years.
and In some cases for fifteen years. 1t
mattsrs not, however, under Mr.. Glad
stones bill. IL a farmer owes land
lord rent for twenty years; the latter is
In no caae to receive moro than two
. -