Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-08-31

T
pcrieuce a. English landlords must nave
taught them 70 be only just?
The Archbishop am glad you nave
put it 10 me in that way. | should WISH
indeed that some enterprising journalist
would undertake the task OF collecting
inform alton on the point touched upon by
your question. II this were done hood
OF light would be thrown upon the pres
eut condition of the Irish land question.
The auri sacra flames will no doubt &C
count for a good deal OF what is inconsis-
tent in the action of these land owners to
whom you refer. Tney know, OF course,
that they cannot succeed in eXtorting I'M
possible rents in England, and he never
dreamed Of attempting any such eXtor-
ton. In Ireland the case is different. An
Irish tenant is practically at the mercy OF
his landlord, and so the landlord, II ne
be rapscIous landlord, as untor-
tunately very many Of them are, SEXES
his chance. An English farmer, il the
landlord were foolish enough to overrent
him, would have only 10 walk short dis
lance and take another farm. Eviction
then has no terrOrs tor him. But where
as the evicted tenant in Ireland tn turn!
lOu remember how A. Ri. sullivan in
New Ireland" paints the contrast be-
tween the two cases. With the English
farmer, as he says, the termination of his
lcuduNlN 10 III lldul cases lltic biDit III
convenient than an ordinary Michaeimas
fitting of town resident from one house
TO another. He has hired farm with all
the appurtenances furnished in good
order by the landlord, just as one
might rent a shooting lodge for
season. But to the Irish tenant
the farm from which he is eyicted is a
very different thing. To him and TO his
fOrefathers for generations it has been
fixed and cherished home. Every field
and every path has for him some associa-
ton which is part of bis existence. What
ever there is on it above the surface Of
the earth has been put there by the ten
ants hand, aud, in word, "a thts elu-
quent writer puts it, "rhis farm plot Ia
his whole dominion, his world, Lis ali; he
is verify a part of it. Like a sheer OAK
that has sprung from its soil, removal IN
bis case is tearing up by the roots,
while transportation is DEATH"
Mr.. Gill-Then the Irish tenant Is, in a
certain sense, fXturef
The ArchbishOp-In a certain sense,
yes, but it is very unfortunate sense.
He is fixture so long as II is possible for
him TO boar the strain of eXOrbitant rent;
hut when mis- rent. even without being
raised. becomes eXoTbitant. let u.s. say from
a succession Of Indictment seasons. TO such
au extent that 10 is impossible for him TO
paw iteany longer, then out ne must 20
without pity and without mercy. Aud
then tn say" appearances, II, indeed the
landlord THINKS 1t worth while to have
any care to save them, nothing more is
needed than TO raise the cry mat the rents
in IRELAND are not paid. and so tenants
have to be eVicted, because in Ireland the
question OF rent paying is a question of
politics or religion, question Of letting
Catholic money" 20 into protestant
pockets" or some equally exUravagant
fiction. A few words of alarming
sound like communism" and some ref
erences to red flags and bloody spectres
do the rest. The public opinion Of Eng
land Is thus stirred up against our people.
ard the unfortunate tenant who has all
but starved himself and his wretched wife
and children in the desperate struggle to
pay Inc rent, no matter what other debts
he NAV have had to leave unpaid, 10 held
up N publio scOrn as rogue and villain,
dead TO every sense OF justice and NOR
alitv.
Mr. Gill-But this sort of thing cannot
90 on forever. 1t must reach its end when
those eXOrDltant rents can no longer be
paid.
The Archbishop-No doubt OF IT, and in
my opinion, SO far rs many parts OF Ire
land are concerned, it has practically
reached its end now. You remember
what said to you at the beginning Of our
conversation? | remarked what fools
lrish landlords have proved themselves.
Twenty years purchase OF their net
rental offered to them-thaJ il, to any OF
them that might deem il 10 their advant-
age to accept the Ofer-bv Gladstone s
land bill; how many years purchase do
you think will be named as ''normalrate''
OF purchase in the next land purchase
bi that may be offered TO them by an
English statesman? Mr.. Chamberlain,
whose name was so loudly cheered at the
recent Orange meeting in Dublin, Will
have something to say on that point.
Meantime landlords have TO look for their
rents. For their own sakes | should
wish TO be able 10 feel confident that they
have even now learned something like
wisdom, and that they will now be salts.
fed with demanding what is fair and just
having some regard TO what is going on
In England. Unhappily, / can feel nc
such confidence, and 1t is on this account
that rega d the outlook as so gloomy.
NJ. Gill-Your Grace made an Observa.
ton about the importance OF collecting
and publishing Information ~ to the con-
trast between the dealings of landlords in
England and OF landlords IN Ireland.
Tho ArchOishop-Yes, and by SPEAK.
ing OF IL now you remind me OF one pOi nt
| you. 1t NAV perhaps have escaped Oul
attention. L. is the case of Lord Fitzwil
! lam. He is. as you may be aware, ar
! English landlord, and an Irish landlord
| too. What | wish now TO refer to Is his
/ dealings with his tenantry in the two
/ countries. You know, of course, that the
! tenants Of an ordinary irish estate who
would think at naming 40 or even 81
| per cent. as fair figure OF reduction La
year or now would inevitably be regard
! ed by champions of so-called claw anC
order' as criminals, and have their cpl
/ taph written in the hardest anC
most opprObrlous terms to be found
in the dictionary. But what was
the action OF Lord Fitzwilliam, who was
not only an Irish landlord but an Englist
landlord as well, and who thus had En-
gish "a well as Irish tenants to d a
with? Mr.. Parnell brought out the case
effectively in one of his speeches in the
| House OF Commons last session. Lore
! Fuzwilliam's Irish estates are in the
County of Wicklow, and there. to the con,
sternauOn OF local landlOrdsm, ne made
| reduction of no less than 30 per cent. in
rents. know there has been good deal
| OF confusion about the facts In this case
/ for there was naturally good deal of IN
! dignatiOn on the subject among The gen
try and landlords OF the mel, hboring dis.
trlcts. They had only Irish tenants &c
! deal with, and they did not see why "com
| munistic" principles, as they would
term them. should lie encouraged