National Republican., 1883-02-22
"The Most Dlstressrui Country"

"The Most DlstrcssfuI Country"
Because 1t seems likely TO be shown that a
lest Of assassins exists in ireland it does not
follow that every man is guilty who is
claimed as an associate by one of the wretched
chew. Indeed, the story Of Carey, the in
firmcr, true as IL must be taken to be as to
himself, must not be believed as TO others,
except upon corroborative testimony. He is
forty years of age. lie claims to have been
one Of four Immediately connected with the
assassination of Lord Cavendish and Secretary
Hurke. Those he swears to as his associates
wcrc respectively twenty, twenty-five, and
twcnty-three years of age. He himself gave
the signal for the work of murder TO begin,
lie swears that he had man along, whom
he names, to point out Secretary
Burke to him; but that this person know
nothing of the object for which he was to
identify the unfortunate gentleman. Tho
a'sassinations at Phoenix park were not proofs
Of English wisdom nor of Irish brutality.
They were not the acts of people nor of
party like the Land League, but only of some
OF the bascr sort. They furnished no argu-
uent in favor Of a continuance of the repres-
,iyc policy upon which England has so long
rlicd in her dealings with tho people over
whom she has usurped dominion.
The American Indians in New England
we're not treated with less consideration for
their right of prior occupation by our pilgrim
fathers than have been the people of Ireland
by tho stalwart Englisher since tho reign of
lienry II. For seven centuries the oxpcri-
mcnt has continued of accustoming the Irish
eel to being skinned, and still each eel
writhes under the process. The methods Of
resistance are of every variety, the most en-
lightcned being that of agitatng discussions
which shall better the laws by lettering the
public opinion Of which they are supposed
to be the record. This method is to the
it was to the deyotees of slavery in our cotton
states before the war. A system of serfdom
exists in the British kingdom based on the
laws of primogeniture and the entailmcnt OF
estates. The great masses of tho people are
tresspassers on the soil of their own country
being the tenants ut will OF the handful
Of men who own nearly all its lands
The civilization which nurses this system
finds itself in an irrepressible conflict
with some Of those whom it most opprcsses
In this country slave owners did their best ia
rcpress discussion; but when they thought
tloy had succeeded, Freedom made her gucr.
rilla war for life in Kansas, and Virginia, by
mirely exc ecuting her laws ON John Brown
aTlused spi rit Of defiance to slavery which
eIp led only with making abolitionism con.
ST tutional. The Land League of Ireland
wi an organization of the party opposed to
thl existing land system. If itconflncd itself
to toEpreading opinions and arguments it was
as lawful as the old anti.slavery society OF
Nfw England. If it advised tenants to with.
hold support of the wrongs they endured, and
TO yield only to force, refusing thereby to bt
part and parcel of what it deemed an in
iqpitous aud tyranniCal monopoly of land
they were rs much to be commended as wer
Sumner Giddings, aud all the early republican
who encouraged the escape of fugitive slave
in lS50-6O by dcnouncing the law for thoi
recapture. The fugitive was pursued an,
captured for a time, just as Irish tenant
have been ovicted from their farms becaus
thoy would not wear muzzlcs while treadin
ouj the corn. The anti-slavery men wer
under the ban, as the Land Leaguers now ar,
The mad act of John Brown, ending in mul
der and in his own execution, was charge
upon the entire republican party of the nortl
just rs tho Phoenix park murders are no.
falsely charged upon all who do not uphOl
nglands extremist demands in Ireland. tn
truth was that Brown represented no consider
able number Of people, although for his fanat
ical devotion to freedom, and his courage i
its behalf, few have been able to Withhold
their admiration, In ireland the few ras
spieits and their brutal instruments who hay
ap poaled from arbitrary power to the assa'
sini knife do not represent any considerabl
number. Society cannot exist upon an
terms of compromise with such men. Whc
ever is guilty must suffer. But the cause
land reform in Ireland is not answerab
for what they did, Whatever may be Il
result of the trials, neither tho tragedy
Phoenix park nor any ghastly sequel to
can touch the question as to whether
poop pie may be prevented from uttering con
plants against oppressive laws, or wheth
the American people may properly symp
thi2e with a race governed by aliens witho
this consent