Morris tribune., 1883-02-21
SCouuio Sui8tp,e.
Semi-weekly.
Published Wednesdays and Saturdays.
&BODEEN
Publishers.

People who read the papers and
glance at the accounts of doings in
Ireland, think that matters have ar
rived at n crisis. They have faint
idea that things are worse than they
have ever been, and that soon there
must inevitably be change. 1t is
not wise to prophesy as DIR. Cumming
used to do with regard to religion, or
as the inveterate WIggius now does
in respect to the weather. But there
is au indication as to what yet shall
be by carefully perusing and review
ing what has been. 1t is wise to ask
respecting the days goone by, and
standing on the point of what is, judge
of what shall be. For history repeats
itself. The waves OF time throw up
the old events. "That which has been
shall surely be-" We may not proph-
esy, but we may conjecture; we may
not confidently affirm but we may
with degree of safety assume.
The history of Ireland has been for
some generations the history of dis.
order. Her best sons have been more
or less rebels. The songs of Moore car
ry with them the germ of revolution
as we'll as the merely poetic sentiment
| which endears them to the enthusias-
tic and the young. Take for instance
the sweet air "Oh breathe not his
name, let it sleep in the shade" How
many are unaware that this refers to
the love existing between Robert En-
NETT, the Irish rebel, who was behead-
ed for treason, and the daughter of
| Curran, the eminent barrister and
orator, who died in foreign land of a
| broken heart. When Tom Moore was
applauded in the fashionable drawing
rooms of London, as he sang his plaint-
| i've airs, the aristocratic beauties did
not recognise beneath the minor
| music the elements of sedition and
| the longings for delIverance from
| bond which was intolerable. 1t is a
| strange fact that all the standard
songs of conquered people are in the
minor key. 1t is true of the Welsh
mountain airs; it is true of the Irish
national lays. 1t is not true of Eng
lish national songs; of French strains;
of Americas popular pieces. Ireland
has not ''Partant pour al Syrie" lyric,
or Marseillese Hymn like France;
National Anthem like England;
"Fatherlandn strain like Germany;
though perhaps the true National
Hymn of a great country like America
has yet to be inspired. Agitations
have ever been going Oh in Ireland,
sometimes secretly, sometimes COM
ing to the suface. And even now
though the British government says
"Peace," there is no peace. The social
conditions of Ireland are in the worst
conceivable condition. The people are
poor with no hope to Tighten their
poverty. The iron has entered into
their soul. The energy that might be
used to lift them out of their degrada-
tion finds vent only in measures of re-
venge. The moral condition is just as
sad. killing is considered no murder.
Assassination is accepted as proof of
patriotism and is not looked upon as
a crime. The informer is the most
degraded of all beings; and to curse
the country whose favor he seeks is
the highest devotion. Verify the con-
dition of poor Erin is deplorable,
and to a certain extent England is to
blame for this. She has been cruel
step-mother to Ireland. She has been
unjust in her treatment of one of the
most sensitive and generous of peoples.
The great bulk of the land is owned
by landlords who never step on the
soil. The rents wrung from the half
starved, ill-housed peasantry are spent
in London, or in gay continental cities.
Her sons have not the franchise as
they would have it in other parts of
the Kingdom. The Irishman is placed
to disadvantage in every way as
compared with the Welshman, the
Scotchman, or the Englishman.
And yet this unhappy land was
never SO favorably circumstanced as
at present for obtaining redression of
her wrongs. 1t is true John Bright is
no longer in the Cabinet, but Mr.,
nIaIsfopo io oinoopo In, bis affortr for
Ireland's veal. The heart is taken
out of the government, but the head
still remains. There is no longer any
conscience In it since the Quaker
member left it, but there is the vigor-
GUS mind and powerful will of the most
popular Premier the liberal party has
ever had. Yet turbulent leaders, and
vile assassins, and the murderous
agents of secret societies have helped
to sink still deeper the victims of
English tyrany and of British wrong.
The perpetrators of the horrible MUIR
ders of Lord Frederick Cavendish and
Mr.. Bourke may be at length betrayed,
but the informers will be devoted to in
fanny and their memory cursed by
people who have become so demoral-
lied. The active agents in that trage-
dy may be executed, but other deeds
will follow as startling apd as sudden.
1t needs no intimation from the inside
circle Of secret organization to tell
US this. The future will reveal atroci-
ties as great as any which are known.
And the remedy. We have said
nothing about that. We are speaking
simply of the political disorder-the
deep seated, long standing, violent
| inveterate disease. It is easier to