The herald., 1898-09-20
HOPE FOR IRELAND
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The civilized world owes much to the
England of ancient as we'll as modern days.
1t is historically true that the foundat Ion
stones of civil and religious liberty were
placed In stu by English hands. ard that.
from time to time, there arose thereon g.
superstructure that at last commanded the
admiration and respect of all liberty loving
men. Ma that the material or the skill
of the workmanship originated with the
Briton or the Anglo-Saxon, but that the
one or the other was among thes first Of
European peoples to renew upon English
ground the complicated structure of civil
liberty. using the building material and
| improving upom the architectural designs
of the ancient republic Of Greece, of Rome
or wherever else liberty once had wor-
| shippers. OF our own supreme law and con-
stituton the basic principles, as everybody
knows, have their roots not only In Magma
Charta, but In the st.ll more ancient char
ters Of King Henry and King Edward. OF
course. we have so enlarged and improved
upon the principles Of those charters as 10
give a distinct and superior and unique
characterization to and virtually recrea g
the American in contradistinction to the
English governmental system.
With these facts In view it Is among the
marvels of history to find uhe English no;
only of yesterday. but of today, playing the
role of despotic ruler in one Of her terrific
rial dependencies. towit: the ''kineiom' of
Ireland. InI the whirl of larger events the
busy world, while ao times hearing much
has cared but little for the chronic strife
between Erin and her larger sister island
But when this great republic of our drives
| Spain out of the West Indies and out of her
posse ssions in the Oriental seas, solely by
reas on of Spanish abuse Of power there'n
an all but kindred strife, however ancient
of days between England and Ireland
must needs have interest for modern Amer
can public sentiment. We do not at all
propose going into the question beyond the
limits OF one or two points brought to light
by Hon. J. J. Clancy. NJ. p, In a temperate
and interesting paper in the September
North American Review.
Mr.. Clancy Is a statesman known to fame
throughout Great Britain, and he writes
| more as his tor!an than as q partisan. His
article was evidently evoked by the enact
ment Of recen, parliamentary laws whereby
the evils complained OF are virtually re-
moved. HIS object apparently Is o justify
the political agitation so long sustained in
Ireland. and correlatively out OF Difference
for that JeffersorS:an, decent respect for
the opinions of mankind" He thus en-
titles himself 70 hearing. however brief
In a nutshell, Mr. Clancy says that s,nre
he conquest of ireland by Henry II. when
the Irish tribal system was replaced by
English laws, until the passage Of the late
reformatory legislation, the great mass of
the Irish people have had little or no voice
in the administration of Irish affairs. The
new system will Tot go INTO effect for year
hences so that at this very day a small mi
rority, alien In. race and distinctly hostile
10 the natives. controls the government of
the country. To American ears this seems
all but incredible. 1t alone Is ample justiflca-
ton for the political aGitation in the
green Isle of which we have heard so much
The old system of governmental rule III
the island of sorrow has the distinction
of being a trus., or syndicate, managed il
the interest, as all trusts are managed, o.
its immediate members. One of the ten
tacles of this ancient octopus was the grand
jury system. This body. made up of mem
bers of the Irish ar!stocracy, all othe RS be-
ing excluded, was clothed with extraordi-
nary powers. Among these was the right
TO levy taxes. and this right, We are told.
it exercised TO the extent of assessin and
collecting taxes to the amount of s.. 5.000.0 900
annually.
The grand jury had the control of all pub
lie roads arH public building. and of con-
.racts relating thereto. and virtually ran
the public business generally. Its state
ments were accepted in England as the
mouthpiece of public sent ment in Ireland
and II Is obvious that such statements made
in the interest of the members Of this syn
dicate of this hoary-headed trust might
easily mislea GEn gl!sh public opinion and
con tribute 10 the formation and enforce
ment of ar Irish policy at the hands of the
English government sorely prejudic!al to
the Irish people. Control of the grand jury
became a fat prerogative in the en-
joyment of aristocratic families. Irish
men, especialH Catholic Irisihmen. were
vigorously debarred--in fact, were legally
inelig BILE for service on such jures.
The poor law boards and the control OF
cities and towns were also In the hands OF
the favored few the rich landlord class
who had a special faculty for taking care
of their own interests at The expense of the
pubic. Under the system of multiple votes
Mr. Clancy tells us a landlord might have
as many as th.rty-sx votes. while the
average tenant had but one vote. Unde"
such system, when 1t was rot
unlikely to find even the 'average
tenant" without vote, 1t is clear
mat the landlord class could
range matters to suit themselves. Mr.
Clancy gives an interesting bit of history
in reference to the municipal system in
Ireland down to, 1910. He continues:
Up to that date there was no really
representative system OF government
in any Irish town or city. The corpora
tion-n the few places which possessed
corporatlons-wer represented only by
a small minority, protesting the Prot
estant religion, although in almost
every one of those places the over
whelmng majority of the citizens were
Catholic. Ard right gaily did the men
in possession of power plunder and
squander the municipal revenues. In
Dublin, for instance, the city pos
sessed a splendid freehold estate,
which might now produce such a
revenue as would suffice to meet
at least half the city expenditure.
But that estate was given away, some
times in after-dinner orgies, to dis
tinguished personages, for barley corns
Gas renO a year, the private considera-
ton, Of course, to the corrupt corpora
tors, not appearing In the deeds. In this
families have hppp n