The Irish standard., 1896-12-05
ARE IRE UNJUST TO IRBLAND RI |. | !
Sensible Eng,istmen4 4dn,,lt -, Them
!. selves to, 81 sadly
. Wrong. ...5 ].
The Country Pays Too rluch in
Taxes in Proportion to
England. s:...
--------------
Other. Wrongs Related by British
Member of Parlai-
ment.

'T..W. Russell, NJ. p, delivered an inter
esting address on; "The Root Difficulties of
Irish Government in Dublin, few days
ago. = He made some remarkable admis-
sions, says the Boston Republic.
In the front rank Of the root difficulties
of Irish government, he said. he would
place the poverty Of Ireland. Ireland was
for all practical purposes an agricultural
country, and they all knew what agricul-
ture meant today. The had Ireland, un-
doubtedly q backward and poor country,
in close union with rich and prosperous
country. The poor county paid in taxation
just what the ric1 country paid, not or
course, in amount, but on the same prin-
cipae. In addition they had an extravagant
expenditure on the government OF the
country, and finally they had a fiscal policy
which benefited the rich country and griev-
ously handicapped the main industry of
Ireland; because free trade, which might
be. a great success in mixed agricultural
and industrial country like England, might
not work out the same result in purely
agricultural country, and so it had come
about in Ireland. There must be way out
of the difficulty, and it ought to be the
business OF statesmen to find the way.
The second root difficulty in the govern
W
Up to 1870 the Irish tenant possessed no
legal property in the soil. BY the consti
tutfonal labors of men like Sharman Craw
ford, DR.. Mcknight, Richard Smith, Hugh
Law and Isaac Butt {applause), aye-and
shame be it said that it should have re-
quired it-by the unconstitutional work of
the land league, this horrid system has
been all but brought to the ground. He
remembered at the close of the session OF
1878, just after the Irish Sunday closing
bill had been passed, he stood in the lobby
Of the house of commons conversing with
the late Mr.. Parnell. Mr. Parnell had
voted all through in favor Of the bill, and
he (Mr. RusselD thanked him. Now"
Mr.. Palnell said, 'we are done with liquor
for some time, we must see about land.
ssAha!' he (Mr. RUSSELL replied, "that will
be. eNenaa tougher Job it win require an
upset the Irish land SYSTEM
i".Then,'' Mr.. Parnells replied, !aaearth quake
be it. tApplause) And the earthquake
came; but who could estimate the ruin and
suffering and decentralization that ensued?
And where they now? They had reached
daylight so far as the statute book was
concerned only to be faced by fresh and
very serious difficulties. Agriculture as
paying industry appeared in danger of dis
appearing. The farmers of Great Britain
were hardly able to hold their own, and If
this was the case, what was to become Of
the small farmers of Ireland? The land
lords ought to know that parliament could
neither raise nor lower prices, and that a
parliament responsible to the people could
not and ought not maintain the Injustice
of the old system. The situation was one
OF extraordinary difficulty, and would tax
the energies and craftsmanship of the
minds that could be brought to bear on it,
The third difficulty that presented itself
was even harder to deal with-the differ
ence in race and religion. of the people liv-
ing in Ireland. In the minds of many
worthy people this was the root of the diff
Guilty, in the government Of the country.
The mere fact that the great mass of the
Irish people were Celts and Roman Cath
olics accounted for everything that was
wrong. He could not admit this, but, on
the other hand it was impossible for any
one studying the facts Of Irish life to
ignore it. 1t was quite possible that the
free breath of Professionalism might work
wonders ii allowed to operate all over. the
land. But the statesman could not contem
plate the disappearance from the earth OF
the Irish Celt, rnuch less could he calculate
upon the extinction OF that wonderful ecc.e-
siastical organization which Macaulay fine
ly said was great before the Frank had
reached the Rhine and before the Saxon
had set foot in Britain" The real difficulty
lay in this-that the government of3Ireland
in the past was for a few and not for the
many. He (Mr. Ru5selI was for union.
But for this policy to be successful two par
ties must co-operate.. What he ventured
for convenience to call the English in Ire
land must recognize thatthe country was
not entirely theirs---that they were a minor
ity though most important one, possess
ing rights to be shared by all. Every yes
tige Of privilege or inequality ought to go.
and not with a grudge If he had the
power he should leave home rule nothing
to rely upon in argument save the claim
on national grounds. aa. SI,. q
ABslNTHE r1ADE HERE.