The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1882-01-21
'ree Trader.
Ike irish Question a.,

triotic people 10 free themselves from the grip
of the iron hand which is expressing them
There Is sca.celya journal throughout Amcri'
ca that is not in sympathy with that down
trodden people. The Irish question has be
come a question of interest to all Of rs No
thinking and lnqulring mind can blame the
Irish for the stand they have taken. 1t is hu
man nature to sympathize with the uniorlun.
ate ana oppressed The American people
through the bitter experiences OF the past
know too well the nature and severity Of Brit
ish tyranny, the oyerbearing dictatorial way in
which Johnny Bull deals with his weaker sub
jects, to be deaf TO the groans that reach them
from the other shores of the Atlantic. 1t cost
the best blood of America and eight years OF
the most prof gate devastation that the bar
barism of war could produce to free herself
from British slavery and throw of the CALLING
yoke which Is now so severely irritating and
chating the neCks of the Irish people. We
cannot blame Ireland tor her stubborn resist
ance IN opposing the dcspouc laws OF preju.
diced parliament or IN dcnuunCing the meas
ures of blgOted ministry. She is rather TO
be commended for the determination She mani
tests and the inhcXible stand she has taken.
Her people have long and patiently suffered ;
they have been grossly outraged; they have
been brutaly treated; they have been the
slaves of British landlordlsm since the chains
of conquest were first riveted upon them by
Henry H. And the greater mass OF the land
ed property today Is held and controlled
by the descendants Of those plundering pirates
and conquering minlons who are living abroad
in ease and Incidence, thriving and fattnlng
on the honest toll of the poor tenant. know
something of tenants life in her Maicsty's
Dominion, being native of Wales, and what
is called thoroughbred Welchman, and judg
ing from circumstances with which | am Ia
miliar, know the lot OF a tenant is II harl one
anywhere in Europe where tenant and land
lord are on the best Of terms, and Inhabitants
Of the same locality, to say nothing about for
eigners who have no interest in the soil hut to
enslave the tilleIs of II.
The tenant IN Ireland can never hope for
anything BETTER he never can rise above ten.
ant; he never can purchase foot OF his native
soil he cannot even own the sacred spot Of
clay IN which the bones of his father mmlder
say, with due respect to everyone, dana such
government that will condemn people to
poverty and rags without any source of re-
dress because they were born tenants. If a
man Is born a tenant, hunger ana hardshlps
are his only inheritance. The 10" or custom
of primogeniture so long in pr'ctice and the
strong hold of the landed party has for centur
les perpetuated the cruelties If conquest and
oppression and kept the labrlng mass in alb
solute dependence, and by that system of privi-
ege the comparatively few have always con-
troled the concentrated misses of property to
such extent that the rich lave always attended
at the expense of the poor. And it is safe to
say that in no country of Europe have the
landed classes held such unlimited, despotlc
sway as in Ireland The tenantry have no
way of redress for grievances; the rent must
be paid, no matter how exorb;tant and how
oppressive.
1t was only at the sacrifice OF many thous-
ands of famished victims that the people sue
ceeded in getting the encountered estates bill
passed; ana now to avoid a similar calamity
they ask for reduction OF rent and laws to
protect themselves from the heartless avarice
of English landlords; and England answers
by sending back a very friendly message at
the point Of forty or fifty thousand bayonets.
1t is a STAN on modern civilization that one
of the most beautiful and fruitful Islands on
the face OF the globe should be so in the grip
of monster land monopoly that its people
should be deprived of every comfort that
makes home happy and people prosperous.
No country can prosper when its lablring pop
ulation is in a beggarly condition. The Irish
people are poor. The land that rightly be-
longs TO them the land that their ancestors
from she first dawn OF history have tolled
upon, is not theirs. They have been kept in
bondage too long; but | trust they they are
fast learning their rights, and will soon get 1.-THE
power to maintain them and, il not granted
peaceably, will assert them "a did our fathers
of the revolution, and let the consequences be
what they may. Death is better than bondage,
hunger and rags. The storm clouds of revo-
luton are already darkenlng the political no
rizon. Its distant thunders are plainly heard,
and England must submit to a regeneratng
process IN her dealings with ireland as Is not
now contemplated in the philosophy of her
popular political economy or her strength as
one of the great powers Will be reduced. Glass
distinction and landlordism, in q ftudal sense
must be swept away and then, and not TIL then,
will England have peace. She may for a time
protect her landlords with the point of the
bayonet but the reason of the bayonet can new
err crush the love of liberty IN the hearts of a
liberty loving people. II England dealt as
fairly with Ireland as she does with Scotland
she would have united kingdom; but while