The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1894-01-17
What May Come.

The land of this country is rapidly
falling into the hands Of the few and
the present owners are becoming ten
ants. This is done under the opera
tion of cunning and corruption. In
Ireland the same result were accom-
plished by force of arms. The prog
ress of civilization may prevent the
enslaved people of this country from
being reduced to the former condi-
tion of the Irish peasantry; but it is
interesting to see the excuses to
which human cruelty and oppression
can proceed, when left unchecked;
and therefore we quote some of the
provisions Of the landlord laws of Ire
land as applied to the dispossessed
farmers. We quote from Judge Arthur
Cough, of Chippewa Falls, Wis. He
writes:
Our own remembrance goes back
just fifty years, and the following is a
synopsis of what we saw and learned
OF the usage tenants received at the
hands of their landlords in the prov
ince OF Connaught, then and after
wards. Every estate had a code of
laws for tenants, which it was sure
eviction on the part of the latter to
violate. This code contained gener-
ally about sixty enactments, few of
which are here given:
No tenant shall cut turf or peat for
fuel without the express leave of the
landlord.
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bits, foxes, or other wild animals or
No tenant shall divide his farm
with any of his sons, nor to allow any
married children to remain on his
holding without the landlords con-
sent.
No boy or girl shall marry on the
estate without giving six or twelve
mOnth's) notice to the landlord, and
receive his consent.
No father or mother shall give any
marriage portion to a boy or girl
marrying off the estate, nor in any
case without the consent of the land
lord.
No boy shall marry and bring a
wife on the estate without the con-
sent of the landlord, nor unless she
brings a dowry of at least twenty
pounds.
No tenant shall make any improve
mentS or build any houses, stables,
or barns without the consent of the
landlord, expressly given. Every ten
ant shall give the exact amount Of
grain and root crops, cattle horses,
pigs and poultry ETC., raised on the
holding during the year, and the
landlord shall have the right to send
his bailiff and verify the statement, if
thought necessary. If any tenant
has vote he shall give it to the par
ty favored by the landlord at any
election hereafter held, any person
violating any of these rules, shall be
evicted, and his property held for the
rent"
But this was not all. This code i'm
posed on the the tenants by the land
lords was nothing to the penal laws,
made by Parliament, for the oppres-
sion of the former owners of the soil,
who had been foreclosed upon, not
by an advertisement in the corner of
a weekly newspaper, but by the
sword and bayonet., Religious differ
ences intensified race prejudices.
Speaking of the times for $50 years
anterior to to the emancipation act
1928, Judge Cough says:
"And yet in those days such were
the laws in Ireland, that no Catholic
could keep even a knife and fork in
the house unless chained to has table,
neither could he hold real estate
either nv freehO1d m. Zpnso nor keen q
horse of greater value than five
pounds, or if he did the first protest
ant who met him, could take the
horse on payment of that amount; he
could not send his sons or daughters
dared not give them an education at
home, under penalty of transporta-
ton. II his son became a protestant
he could, however young, seize his
fathers property and turn the old
man forth to beg or starve. He could
only worship God in some mountain,
glen, or some high hill, where he could
see his bigoted prosecutors hunting
for his blood, in time to escape. Nc
= priest dare be seen in the land, MOI
say mass nor administer the sacra-
ments under pain of transportation
for the first offense, and be hanged,
drawn and CHARTERED, as was the no.
BILE DR.. Plunket, for the second"
Imagine such condition of things
, in this country! The robbery of the
: land accompanied by awful religious
intolerance.
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