Omaha daily bee., 1885-09-26
OTHER LANDS THAN OURS.

which the csmpaign Is to 10 fought out,
and unified the watrlng factions of his
own party. AS nearly every libersl pol
itioian on the stump has been telling O
different story there was danger of com
plete anarchy among tho liberals, Glad
stones position on the leading quea-
lions has treasured the tlmld who fear
Chamberlain's radlcalism, and at the
same time satisfied the radicals that the
ex-premies does not mean to take q
step backward.
His admissions that the disentabllsh
ment Of the church Is In the air, and
that the house of lords mustbs reformed,
are mainly important as sho wing the
rapid advances which radicalism haa
made within the last five years, for it is
not probable thst either of these
questions will be taken up dur
ing the coming parliament. II
will most likely take thu whole of Its
existence to find out what the ne voters
think about these and other great changes,
and until then both ministers and private
members will be chnry of touching them
with q firm hand. The proposal that
there should, In reforming the house of
lords, be some recognition of "the prin.
ciple of birth" is probably o sort OF for
mallty put In for the benefit of the mon.
archy. which Is based on this principle,
and which can hardly exist In Its present
form after the principle has lost all hold
on the minds of EuglIshmen. That 1t
still has great strength In the Eoglish
counties there Is no denying. Among
the farmers the fact that o man Is his
fathers son still constitutes q powerful
and sometimes overwhelming claim to
public office, but that It will long survive
the pressure of the democratic tide flow.
ing out from the great towns, 1t is useless
to expect.
To the simpliicatlon of the transfer of
land, and to a compulsory registration of
,it.es, such as exists here, the liberal
party has long been pledged. The same
thing may be said of the abolition of en-
tall, ever in its present modified form,
and of primogeniture, which In the alb.
sence of the power of entail would have
little importance. The low rate of taxa
ton on land is a real grievance which will
probably now disappear. What Mr..
G adstone refers to in the phrase ''tsxs.
tlon after the death of the holder" which
mry possibly bs our correspondence rem.
dering of his meaning, Is the exemption
rs tla land frN~p Sh, .rnnoaV1Y, dab,
There is in England a heavy direct tax,
running from 10 per cent nown, according
tothe relationship ola legatee to a teststor,
on all p%ersonal property transmitted by
will or inheritance. From this land is
totally exempt. So that cases occur
every day In which the recipient of q
$1O0, 900 legacy in consols or cash Is
compelled to pay $40, 900 Into the treas-
ury, while his next door neighbor, com.
ing In the same way into possession of q
landed estate worth say 5000, 600, does
not pay one cent. This inequality ia
sure o to be promptly redrersed.
The address, which undoubtedly fur.
nishes ''the keynote of the campaign" to
all the liberal constituencies, is probably
more valuable as q means of healing dis
sension and restoring order in the ranks,
than ss a political programme. 1t will
put an end at one to the notion that
there is anything to be feared from the
"Whig wing"
The political campaign In England
turns almost wholly on the Iriah ques-
ton. Afghanistan, the Soudan, Egypt and
nesrly all other subjects of political con-
%troversy are o~vershadow wed by the one
Issue of the unity of the Bcitlsh empire.
The liberals have got the decided start of
their opponents In their vigorous opposi-
ton to the Parnell programme, and the
indications are abundant that they will
maintain the advantage to the end of the
campaign. While Psrnell bossts that he
will have not less than eighty home rul-
ers In the next house the liberals make
use Of their boast to consolidate the op-
position to him In England and Scotland.
The tories are at the same time hsndi-
capped and distressed In the contest by
their position of half-neutrality toward
the Irish party. By the frankneas with
which Parnell has defined his programme
he has succeeded In developing the feet
that there is an overwhelming sentiment
of hostility in England to any measure
for relaxing the bonds of political
union with Ireland. Mr.. Par
nell appears to be wiEer than most of the
other Irish leaders of the present or past
generations. The claim that the Irlsh
destitutlon Is due to misgovernmsnt by
England has nowhere mora solid founda.
ton to rest upon than In respect to the
of British legislation Upon Irlsh
manufacturers. 1t IL easy to show that
the English policy has been one of free
trade for Great Britain, but.of protection
Ireland, and that protection has
bsen 80 effective that 1t has In fact des-
treged many branches of Irish industry.
consequence Of the destruction of
the Irish people have been |
compelled to devote au excessive proper.
ion OF their labor and enterprise to agri-
have become Unduly dependent
lpon che success of cropG and the condi-
OF foreign markets for agricultural
products, and thus their industrial and
'conomkc condition has been steadily rem
Tered more unwholssome for q long
Ia short, free trade Tor Great
britain has meant ruin for Ireland.
The poliee of London have made an
Their of their customary blunders la
tesking up q quietlV-conducte6 meeting
I socialists IN the East End. There
as no excuse for their action; the peo-
% were assembled qustly, without arms
any kind, TO dlscuta social problems