The Cecil Whig., 1886-06-19

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the lrishmen who may compose tha
Parliament should take one step agains
perfect liberty of conscience, or agains
any Protestant form of worship, the,
would fall under condemnation ever
greater i'll its intensity than the friend
ship and sympathy which their own suf
fciings have SO widely called forth
Long continued applause But have
not the rem0test fear that any such re
suit will happen. The Catholics ant
the PresbyteriauS of Ireland will live ant
do just as the Presbyteriaus and Catho
lies of the United States live aud do
They will accord perfect liberty of con
science each to the eothcr-mutually gov.
erned by the greatest of Christian VIZ.
tues, which is charity.
Mr.. Cladstone's policy includes an
other measure. 1t proposes to do some
thing to relieve the Irish from the ntol.
cradle oppression of absentee land.
lordlsm. Let me here quote Lord Ma
caulay again. Speaking of ireland,
whose territory is less than the territory
OF the State OF Maine, less than thirty
three thousand square miles in extent,
Lord MacauIay in the same speech from
which | have already quoted says: "In
si ~ tlIihJ ~ superior 10
any area of equal size in Europe, and is
lar more important to the prosperity, the
strength, the dignity of the British En-
plte than all our distant dependencies
together; more important than the Can
adas, the West Indies, South Africa,
Australasia, Ceylon and the vast Do
minions of the Moguls." am snre that
II any Irish orator had originally made
that declaration in America he would
have been laughed at and ridculed for
Celtic exaggeration and imagination
This extraordinary statement from
Lord Macaulay led me to practical ex-
animation OF 1reland's resources. | went
at 1t in plain, tarmer-like way and ex-
amined the statistics relating to Ireland $
production. | gathered all my informa-
ton from British authority, but could
get no later accounts than for the year
IS>O and for the years preceding, and
give you the result of my examination,
frankly cOntessing that | was astounded
at the magnitude of the figures. In the
year 1880 Ireland produced four million
bushels of wheat. But wheat is no
longer the crop of Ireland. She produced
eight millions bushels of barley. But
barley is not one of the great crops of
Ireland. She produces seventy million
bushels of oats, very extraordinary
yield considering Ireland's small area.
The next item | think every one will rec
ognlZe as peculiarly adapted to Ireland.
Laughter OF potatoes she produced
o,G0O, 900 bushels, within $4,000, 900 of
the whole product of potatoes in the
nIteG States for the same year. In turn
lps and mangolds together she produced
lSo, 600, 600 bushels, vastly greater in
weight than the largest cotton crop of
the United States. She produced of flax
$4,000, 600 pounds, and of cabbage S50,-
OOO, 900 pounds. She produced of hay
j, SOO,O ,OOO tons. She had on her thousand
nils and IN her valleys over / 000, 600
head of cattle, and in the same pasturage
she had ), j0O, 900 head of sheep. She had
5GO,OO0 horses and 100000 asses and
mules. During the year 1880 she eX-
ported to England over 100000 cattle,
.G'!, 900 sheep, and nearly half a million
OF swine. Remember all these came
from territory not quite so large as the
State of Maine, ard from an area of cul-
tyatlon of less than twenty millions OF
acres.
But with this magnificent abundance
from this fertile land, rivalling tie rich
ness Of the ancient land of Goshen, there
are thousands of men in Ireland in want
OF food and appealing today to the char
ity OF the stranger--compelled to ask
aims through their blood and kindred in
America. Why should this condition oc-
cur IN land that overflowS with plenty
and exports millions of produce to other
countries? AS commanded by the great
LawSiver of Israel, ''Thou shalt not
muzzle the OK that treadeth out the
corn" And St. Paul in [quotng this
text in his first Epistle to Timothy de.
clared 1.-THE laborer to be worthy Of his
reward Applause And yet many
Of the men engaged i'll producing these
wonderful harvests of Ireland are to-day
lacking bread to satisfy their hunger.
Mr.. Gladstone believes, and we hope
more than half of Great Britain believes
with him, that the cause of this distress
III Ireland is to be traced in large part to
the ownership of the land. Seven hun
dred and twenty nine Englishmen own
half the land in Ireland. Three thousand
other men own the ma jority of the other
half of the agricultural land of Ireland.
Counting all the small holdings there
are but 49, ,2SS owners Of land in Ireland,
and this III population of more than
1000, 600 souls. Produce that condition
of affairs in Maine or in any New Eng
land State and the distress in few years
would be as great as the distress in Ire
land today. Mr.. Gladstone, speaking as
a statesman and a Christian, says that
this condition of affairs must cease, and
that the men who till the land in Ireland
must be permitted to purchase and to
hold it.
The story is not yet half told The
tenants and the peasantry of this little
island, not so large, mind you, as Maine
pay a rental of SO, 10000 per annum
upon the land. Resides this, Ireland pays
or did pay in 1880 an Imperial tax of
S35, 600, 600 annually, and local tax OF
$l5, 900, 900 more. Thus the enormous
sum of $l15, 900, 900 is annually wrought
out of the bone and flesh and spirit of
the Irish people, and no wonder that un
der this multiplied burden many lie
crushed and downtrodden.
believe the day has dawned for de-
liverence from these great expressions.
But from the experience of Ireland's
past it is not wise to be too sanguine of
speedy result. For one, there fore,
shall not be disappointed to see Mr.. Glad
stones measures defeated in this Parlia-
ment. The English mem berS can do iC.
But there is one thing which the English
members cannot do. They cannot per-
manently defy the public opinion of the
liberty loving people of the civilized
world. Applause. Lord harrington
made very significant admission when
i'll complaining tone he accused Mr..
Gladstone of having conceded so much
in his measure that the Irshmen would
never take less. [Applause.l Well, l
do not know the day, whether it be this
year or next year or the year after that,
or even years beyond, when final settle
ment shall be made, but have absolute
confidence that if Mr.. Gladstone's bills
are defeated the settlement will never be
made on as easy terms to England as the
distinguished Premier now proposes.
[Applause'l
They complain somewhat in England
of such meetings rs we are now holding.
[ L Llughter. They say we are transcend
ing the just and proper duties of
friendly nation. Even if that were so
the Englishmen who remember 1862
) 1 should maintain discreet silence
Yet | freely admit that misconduct of
Englishmen during our war would by no
means justify misconduct on our part
now. | do not refer to that as any pallia-
ton or as any ground for justification if
we were doing wrong. do not adopt
the h;ppant cry of tit for tat, OF the il
logical twit Of tn QH0Qae. Indeed there
has been nothing done in America that
is not strictly within the lines of justice
and strictly within the limits of inter
national obligation. NJr is anything
done i'll the United States with the inten
tioh of injuring or with the remotest de
sire to in lure Great britain