Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-01-15
fRELAND,s WOES.


fRELAND's WOES.
Father O'Connor Vividly Portrays the
Terrible Situation.
A very large and mostrespectable audi
ence of ladies and gentlemen assembled at
Pfeifer's hall to listen to lee
ture by Father O'Connor. 1t seems that
among the thousands of misfortunes that
for years and years have been showered
upon the afflicted people of Ireland suits
of eviction were commenced against u
large number of people then, under what
is known as the Bright law, which were
decided against the tenants. 1t was de-
termined to prosecute the suits in the
higher courts till the court of last resort
was reached which is parliament. Of
course this costs great deal of money,
for which Father O'Connor be-
came responsible He therefore
came over here to Amer
lea to do something towards
raising it. The speaker was introduced
by Mr.. Ahern, editor of the Chronicle,
who said:
When the committee of arrangements
asked me to introduce to you Father
O'Connor, / asked that committee who
would, in the first place, introduce me;
but we are not strangers in our desire to
hear the story of Ireland's wrongs and
sufferings; we are not strangers IN our
love and veneration for the priest, he
who through life watches over us and
sanctities our lives with the final seal.
Upon these points Irish hearts beat as
one, and that whether the Irishmen and
Irish women are in Minnesota or New
Zealand or on the banks of the Shannon.
Permit me then, upon an occasion Of this
kind, without any introduction, to call
you friends and without further delay to
present to you the Rev. Father O'Connor
THE LECTURE.
Upon being thus introduced, the speak
proceeded to give an exceedingly inter-
esting history of some of the iniquities
practiced by the English landlords upon
the poor, helpless Irish tenants. Father
O'Connor is good, solid looking man of
about As or so, with free, easy, plain
way of speaking, one chief characteristic
of which is decided air of sincerity and
truthfulness, combined with solid elo-
quence, which rests more in the matter
presented to his hearers than in any tricks
of oratory He related fearful story of
the outrages perpetrated upon the poor
tenants. He told of q family that occu-
pied farm, or what is called holding,
which was originally vast moor. This
continued in the family for many genera
TONS, and from time to time was improv-
ed, till a large part, nearly all of
the moor was reclaimed, and
changed into valuable farming lands
through the industry and continuous la
Dor of these humble Irish tenants. After
all these years of patient toll and depriva-
ton, when the barren waste was turned
into rich and productive farm, the land
lord visited it, and without any recogni-
ton Of the great benefit to him, in conse-
quence of the labor of the tenant and his
ancestors, at once increased the rent enor-
mously, till it was fourteen times the val
uation put upon it by the. government.
The tenant could not pay it. When the
mans wife saw the ruin brought upon
her family she received such shock that
in week or two she was in her grave.
When these things occur can it be Won
dered at that there is such universal dis
content. The speaker then proceeded to
show that while Ireland had half the area
of England the population of the latter
had largely increased, while that of
Ireland was continually decreasing. Bel
gium has one third the area OF Ireland,
a large portion of which is barren, yet
her population is increasing, and is
thrifty, happy and prosperous, compared
to that of Ireland Why is this? 1t is
because there is some freedom, and JUS
tice, and law in Belgium, and the people
are not ground down by foreign power.
In Ireland, on the contrary, the heel of a
foreign power is upon the necks of the
people. Tho worst part Of the fearful
tale told by Father O'Connor is that
which he related in regard to the out
rageous conduct of the English nobility,
who own the land He related cases
where evictions were procured because
the wives of the tenants would not SUBJ
nit to the indecent solicitations of these
land owners. He had been in court and
heard wives tell the disgraceful story of
propositions that .were7 made to them.
These matters were sworn to,
for he heard the testimony,
and it was recorded in the
books of the House of Commons, but the
English noblemen who committed these
outrages still wear the robes Of office and
are honored. He then argued that the
effect of the land league had been good,
and that that organization had done
much to arrest the arm of the extermina-
tor. Many farms, he said, were not
titled in Ireland, for the reason that the
landlord could not find men who could
60 On to the evicted lands and till them.
He closed by explaining why he was here,
which was to get money enough in Amer-
lea to defray the expenses of the test case
referred to. He appealed with conf
dence to the American people. He had
no doubt that if the land question was
settled favorably, the Irish people would
be happy. Ireland looks to America for
assistance with confidence. The lecture
was listened to with the closest attention,
and produced good effect.
The Fire Ordinance Ex-Post FactO.
The police court was crowded with on
Aookers yesterday morning to witness the
upshot of the case of the City against j.
Hanggi, F. M. Cady and G. Medicke, ar
roctaJ for V,;o1ot;nr tho fro ordinance TT