The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1888-08-18

county. The farms are small and tb
farmers very poor. Theholdings wouls
probably average less chan 80 acres
We visited number of families, ant
were received most cordially as Ameri
cans. The whole region had the air O
impending canaict. Policemen were
patrolIing the country roads, and severa
companies Of soldiers were just arriving
to reinforce the large contingent o1
policemen. The farmers themselves
were heavily barricaded in anticipation
CT the expected attack. The houses are
low, with their stone walls and few
doors and windows. a. heavy plank
cover was fitted to each opening OH the
inside, and braced by a large tinber OF
log. The timbers were taken chiefly
from a wooden snip which mad been
wrecked on the contiguous coast, al
! though some that we saw were prehis
toric logs dug from the peat bogs
These poor people told us tales of great
wrong and hardship. Because they
have finally combined under the 'tPja,,
ox Campaign and are standing together
in their demand for more reasonable
scale Of rents, they are being driven
from their farms and their houses are
being battered to the ground
The evicJions DEGREES are obtained by
the landlord on the score OF a1rearages.
Some OF these tenants are four or FIVE
years in arrears. This does not mean
that they had ceased four OF five years
ago to pay rent; it simply means that
| in the course Of the last twelve OK fifteen
years there has been a sgradual falling
behind, The tarms falling to produce
enough to meet the nominal rent. The
landlord has had all that has been pre-
duced from Year to year: and the pay
ment OF So called arrears is as inlpossl-
BILE as its demand is Indignantly un,
| just. The terms that The farmers
themselves are offering under the Plan
of Campaign are decidedly more favor
able to the landlord than the agricult.
ural situation would seem to justify.
These Glare lands were anunproductive
wilderness until the tenant farmers q
generation or two ago redeemed and
improved them by hard labor. They
are now being dspopulated, and they
will relapse 10 the condition ofa wilder-
ness again It is hard to see what MI.
Vandeleur hopes to gain by the evic-
tiuns. No new tenants can be found
who will take the Lands. But perhaps
Mr. Vaudeleur is to be recompensed by
the Tory government and the Assocla"
tion of Irish landlords, who are willing
to spend q great deal to break down the
League and the "PlaD OF Campaign, ~
and who are making g. test case at Kill
rush.
The En- lish opponents Of Home Rule
insist that the Irish Nationalists are
secessionists and that their ulterior de.
sign is the complete separation OF Ire
lana and England. This objection is
urged simply to keep a!iye English fear
and prejudice; it has no foundation in
fact. The Irish people fully appreciate
the impossibllitY and the undesirahility
OF future apart from England They
want to be allowed tomanage their own
strictly domestic affairs; and that is all.
They desire, for example, to have sorne
control over the selection Of their own
local magistrates, which at present they
have not. They want, and ought to
have control of their own policemen.
They ought to be privileged 10 reform
their system of local taxation il the
interests of their own people. They
ought to be able 10 initiate and control
various public works aud enterprises.
They ought, iD abstract justice, to have
the full authority. in domestic legisla-
tive assembly, to deal with the land
question, no matter how radically.
But, marvellous instance Of offorbearance,
they do not want to deal with the land
question lest they might seem to do
injustice to the landlords. They prefer
that the British Parliament should
solve the land question concurrently
with the granting of Home Rule
Everybody now admits that peasant
proprietorship" is the ultimate remedy
for the Irish agrarian troubles; but how
this shall be brought about is not an
easy thing to agree upon. Ireland pre-
fers that the British Parliament should
act the part Of an authoritative arbiter
bet 1esn landlord and farmer and deter
mine the conditions and methods of the
transfer. The continual use of the
word ''disloyal" in England to cfarac-
terize the Home Rule movement is
! nothing more than silly. Home Rule
is, on the contrary, the sovereign
remedy for possible revolts and mani
festations of dlsloyalty. The Irish
people would be the most loyal in the
world if they had halt chance.
That much-yaunted but rather vague
and mpalpable affair, the British con-
stitution, is evidently soon to undergo
scme great changes. The granting Of