The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-08-08
What Unionists Have Felt Themselves
COMPELLED to Do for Ireland.

What Unionists Have Felt Themselves
Compelled to Do for Ireland.
The debt which Irishmen owe to Mr..
GLADSTONE can be but partially measured
by the direct services which he rendered,
although he gave them the Land act of
1870, the Land act Of 1881, and twice
strove to give them n separate Legislature
OF great, If not greater, Importance are the
political and financial concessions which tho
Unionists themselves have been shamed
into making, IL only to excuse their oppo-
sitlon to home rule. The extent and value
OF these concessions, which cannot justly
be called voluntary, since, unless Mr..
GLADSTONE had endeavored to go much
further, the Unionists would never have
gone so far, will be found set forth by the
Hon. 7. W. RUSSELL in the August number
OF the North American ReuietC. Mr.. RUS
SELL, it is we'll known, is a Nonconformist
member of Parliament for an Ulster con-
stituency, who, throughout the period OF
the home rule agitation, has been a Union
list, and who is now the Secretary OF the
Local Government Board.
The concessions made by the Unionists
during tho last twenty-five years are dis
tributed by Mr.. RUSSELL under the several
heads of the land, of local government, and
OF relief of the congested districts in the
west of Ireland. AS regards the land, the
Unionist Government has undoubtedly been
prevailed upon to improve the workings Of
the land acts by the act Of 1896, whereby
many decisions Of the Irish Court of APP
peals, which had crippled the beneficiary
effects Of the former measures, were re-
versed as being against public policy and
the intention Of Parliament. The result is
that q tenant's advocate nc longer feels,
when he enters the Land Court, that he is
treading on a series Of trap doors. 1t must
also be acknowledged that to Unionist Gov
ernments is due the series Of enactments
whereby the Irish peasant may be trans
formed into an owner Of the land he tills,
through the advancement OF the purchase
money OF his holding by the State. 1t was
also a Unionist Government which rendered
compulsory the sale to tenants OF bankrupt
estates in the hands of the Land Judges
Court, and although a Land Judge, Mr..
Justice Ross, undertook to check the oper-
alton OF this statute by claiming hat he
alone had the right to fix the price at which
an estate should be sold, the Court OF APP
peals has since decided against his conten-
ton There is no doubt, then, that the
Unionists have, in the matter Of agrarian
reform, added a good deal to the three Fs
which were embodied in the Land act of
1881; by the three Fs we mean, OF course,
first, absolute fixity Of tenure on payment
of a fair rent; secondly, n fair rent deter.
mined by a tribunal set up by Parliament;
and thirdly, the tenants freedom to sell his
interest in the tenancy to the highest bid.
der. These rights have been confirmed by
the Unionists, and facilities for the creation
of peasant pToprietors have been added.
In the matter Of local self-government
It is still easier for Mr.. RUSSELL to demon,
strate that Ireland has got more from the
Unionists than She has yet received
directly from the Liberals. We must in
sist upon the word directly, because nothing
is more evident than that, if Mr.
GLADSTONE had not insisted upon giving
Ireland absolute home rule in the form of ,
national Legislature, the Unionists would not
have felt the necessity Of granting qualified
homo rule in the form of county and dis
trlct councils. 1t istrue, nevertheless, that
although Lord JOHN RUSSELL promised
OCoNEELL sixty years ago to substitut,
county boards for grand iuries, the pledg,
was I'NVl htlb ny JIG lJlbtIdls, DuJ WA
left for tho Unionists to fulfil in the bill
introduced by Mr.. GERALD BALFoUR, til,
present Irish Secretary. This bill Is I'm
doubtcdly the largest political concession
made to Ireland since Catholic enamel
patton. Irish-Amcricans familiar with tn
state of things which has hitherto OK
listed will recognize the magnitude of tn
innovations made. The bill, in the frs
place, arranges for the transfer OF all tn
administrative functions Of the gran,
juries to county councils, which are to b
elected on n franchise identical with til
Parliamentary, except that peers and won
en- will be permitted to vote. 1t provide
for the payment from imperial funds O
half OF the county cess now paid who'll,
by the occuplcr. and half OF the poo
rate now paid by the owner. This pre-
vision will involve a contribution iron
the Imperial Exchequer of something lk
81, $50, 900 per annum. Thu bill furthe
provides for tho establishment of rural dis
trict councils, tho MEMBERS nf which will b
the sanitary authorities, aud will he clccte,
on the same franchise as the county com
cillors. 1t confines The Board of Guardian
strictly to the administration of the Poo
laws, and transfers everything foreign l.
that worl; to either the county on the rurf
district council. The bill finally ub0lisho
not only the property qualification for Tn
suffrage, but also plural voting, and substI
tutes vote by ballot for the present plan q
voting by papers. This bill has bee
denounced by landlords as IL reVOlu
tlonary measure, and Mr.. RUSSELL ha
no doubt that, II the hattie for plac
In the county and rural district couI
ellis were to be fought on party or re