The Irish standard., 1896-12-19
r. * s I'D
H ! L. and ENGLISH /. { ! rule. |UL|[
.ss ". 33s 81! j;
Brinania'. Government Not Com
s ducive to the Welfare and =. /.
NJ. Happiness Of the People. 4. 4.
Il N 1900 =. N ~ ~ .-. = Il
::B'y her Methods She has Driven (.
Her Subjects to Direct
....s.. rllsery. I

India. and Ireland Have Every:
/: Reason to Regret Her. 4
Domination. !:
Z This year is going. to be one of unusual
suffering in many quarters of the globe,
writes Robert Ellis Thompson, in the
Irish { World. It is hardly too much to-
say that the United States is the only
country that seems likely to have a nor
mar harvest this year. From Europe.
from Asia, from Australia and from
South America we have news Of crop
failures, which not only reduce the
amount of wheat obtainable: in the great
markets Of western Europe but promise
to create demand for our wheat else
where. At this moment Mark Lane is.
carving on game of bluff with our.
wheat dealers as to the amount. Tin:
sight but with 8 losing hand. Before:
winter is over, we shall see higher prices
for, American wheat than for many a.
year. 1t is pity that our farmers are
so little likely to profit by this, as SO
many .$of them have been compelled to
dispose of their crop before the rise was
assured, and thus to give the dealers the.
advantage which should have fallen to-
the producers With a better banking
system, our farmers would not be obliged
to make such sacrifices.
>. The greatest interest which attends
such a general shortage of wheat is the,
Likelihood of extensive, suffering in, the
countries which depend upon it, or on.
crops which have suffered along with it..
Naturally, our interest centers on Ire:
land, which has suffered SO much from,
famine since she came under English
rule, and was stripped Of every industry:
except. agriculture. The news-mongers
in ireland on every such ae1G aacGasion min: l
iinizee to the utmost the extent Of ,' the
calamity. They always begin by, deny
ing that there has been any conside
failure of the crops, and then, when driv-
en- to retract this. they strive to show
that the people are not so i'll off, after
all. In this, as in other matters, they
take their cue from Dublin Castle and
the. landlords. The representatives OF
the English system of misgovernment
for Ireland do not care to have, their
failures published to the world. They
have an instructive feeling, In spite OF
their free trade theories, that a govern
.ment is responsible for the starvation of
its people, =. ~
Y a graver reason for the suppression OF
the; facts is found in the operation: of the
land laws. which were to make the Irish
people happy and prosp sperous, but which
furnish a new motive to the landowners
to get rid Of their tenants in such years
as this. Those laws do not provide for
any remission of the legally established
rent in years Of agricultural disaster.
The laws of the Continental countries,
being based on the Roman Civil Law, all
make such a provision. A failure OF the
1arVests is there treated as a public cal
amity, which o%one: class can pe expect
ed to bear the burden Of. It is no 70
private arrangement, as in England, but
q public law by which the tenant is, re- re-
slieYed from the weight of public calan-
ity. 55= ..I. 3s s
i In ireland, so far from the tenant be-
ing relieved, the calamity is made the
occasion for depriving him Of that partial
estate in the land with which the new
laws have vested him. So long, indeed,
as. he can pay the legally established rent
which the Land Court assessed, he is
safe from eviction; but only SO long.
Let him make single slip and he is
ruined. The landlord is offered an enor-
nous premium on evictions in year of
agricultural distress, and the weakness Al
81 human nature is such that he is only
too certain to take advantage OF the
chance We may, therefore, look for
Wholesa lie eyictions Of tenants who have
not Been able to pay the rent fixed for
them by the Land Courts, which cannot
I be alteretl for fifteen years after it was
first altered. 9...5 5i .= Ri
Thlels object Of Mr.. Gladstone was to
ernancipate the tenant from his ,enslave--
| n 81 ent# tos the land owner who possessed
III Ireland complete monopoly of the
,l, only means Of subsistence. It this had
heen done by creating other means Of
subsistence in Ireland by the develop
mentS of other industries than farming.
tie difdiculty which q failure of crops
/ produces would have had little effect
upon the people at large; country
witch il engaged in "a large variety +; !, OF
Esmplo oyments has less stoS suffer from the
/ ls sprost tion Of any sing Industry than
Has one 81, depend on that It industry
alone. lis this fact hich makes the
BY raerely rnlts1ral cp,ln5 Y 2
Etries a sso much incurred
hers. III almos that
[tl,s j mono
!1pll ean ]. q 81 81 ! -
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