The Irish standard., 1889-01-12

IRE is all the greater, since such num-
bers are healthy indication of the
rapid growth of our order. congratu
late the brothers on this fact, and I am
also happy to be able to congratulate
them when seeing them the possessors
of so many pretty young ladies whom l
see here this evening. Surely the
beauty of our Irish American ladies is
a characteristic relic of grand old
race. 1 am asked to address you here
this evening on very difficult subject
''IrelandS as I have seen her few
weeks ago"-The subject is difficult
from the fact that l cannot give YOU as
glowing an account of the old country
as should like to. Ireland is not that
land the poet describes as
+" = the lana OF the cedar and vine.
Where the flowers ever blossom, the beams ever
shine.
And the voice of the nightingale never is mute"
No, such is not ireland, though Ire
land is slngularly blessed in the posses
sion of most beautiful climate. Even
in the hardest weather, the grass 10 still
sparkling in Its emerald green, the
thrush and the linnet sing in the woods,
and the robin red-breast sings by the
roadside. But. alas the natural
beauties of the country are UNDECIDED,
and the voice of the robin red breast is
deadened in the memory that Americas
sister land should still be swayed by the
tyrannical hands Of an unjust govern
ment. Oh, travel through Ireland as [
have done and see the condition of
things there. See that land most
blessed by the natural conditions of
soil and climate, see it the most crushed
by the bitter enmitv of England. Eng
land that took away the woollen indus
tries under William the Ninth, down
to the present time under Queen Vic
toria, still continues to crush the life
and energy out Of any manufacturing
industry in Ireland. Crushed by a
foreign government, bled 70 the hearts
core by alien landlords, Ireland must
naturally be very poor. Her mining
industries are paralyzed for want OF
capital. Her -four mills are shut down,
being unable to compete with Ameri-
can importations. There is no rail-
road construction going on, NO public
works, nothing to give employment to
the unfortunate poor who are only too
willing to work. With the exception
Of the linen manufactory at Belfast,
there are hardly any manufactures
worth mentioning in ireland. Under
such circumstances the people are nat
urally forced 20 depend on the agricult-
ural resources Of the country. Those
are easily summed up. The greater
portion of the land, at least che best of
it. held by foreign landlords. There
are hundreds of lords and earls owning
hne estates in Ireland ON which they
keep a hne mansion and a staff Of serv-
ants. They themselves live in England
and Oh the continent on the money
wrupg FROM the unfortunate tenanlrY
ON their irish estates. They visit their
Irish estates cnce Or twice a. year and
ON those occasions they bring with
them from England tho very tea and
sugar they use in their households
rather than buy anything in Ireland
and encourage home trade there. The
second class of people who have slice
of the land in ireland are tins gentle
men farmers, or the 'lrlsh gentry" as
they are called. The Irish Gentry''
were once the pride OF the country.
They were rich and independent, own
ing fine focks of sheep and herds of
cattle. They were good Irishmen, good
neighbors and good to the poor. But
late years have been hard on this class
of people and the government has been
hard On them, too, SO that at the pres.
en5 time many of the''"Irish gentry"
are in very reduced circumstances.
The third class Of people who haye a
share of the land are the small farmers
They are the poorer class Of the people
and are largely in the majority. Their
land is naturally inferior to the others
and their holdings are very small. In
many cases their farms are altogether
unfit to make a living on. T0maks the
rent out of them is impossible. There
are thousands of people on these little
farms in the West of Ireland who have
to emigrate to England and Scotland
every year in order to earn enough
money to pay the rent, while they
leave their wives and families at
home to cultivate patch of potatoes on
their miserable holding in Ireland.
Now, to meet all this existing misery
in Ireland there are two propositions
that would be ventured by some. The
first Is: THAT the Irish people ought
to emigrate and leave the country to the
English;" the second is: ''that 1t must
be the fault Of the Irish people them
selves that they are in such a misera-
BILE condition in Ireland" Ladies and