Evening star., 1903-07-07
The Irish Land Bill.
1ue IIISu dduU Dill
To the Editor Of The Evening Star:

To the Editor Of The Evening Star:
1 have been for many years a daily read
er Of The Star, and 1 am pleased to say
that 1 have usually found it fair to all
classes and willing to correct mistakes
when made. 1t is therefore with a feel
ing of confidence that this communication
will be given proper consideration, and the
errors intended to be pointed out corrected.
that 1 take the liberty of calling your at
tention to very grave Misrepresentation
made by your London correspondent in the
article entitled Pulse of Old London"
relative to the proposed Irish land bill"
dated June "a and published in The Star
of July 4. suppose we Celts can afford
to smile at the painful attempt at
imitation of the brogue indulged in by
Mr.. Moore, when we consider how far off
he is On questions of fact which should be
within his knowledge or within easy ac-
cess, if he choose to acquire the true facts
in the case. Hence. l will pass over the
brogue, and come down to his statements
relative to the land bill He says that
..the government offered them such nice
cake in the shape of an Irish land bill.
costing British folk at least f112 COZ 600.
which they did not like to pay. but still
were willing to pay-for the customary
household reason of peace and Quietness.
How Mr. Moore could have read Mr.. Wind
hams speech on the bin in the house of
commons is consistent only with an inten-
ton to deliberately misrepresent. Charity,
however induces me to take the other
view of the ease, and call 1t ignorance.
The fact is that the British folk is not
going to pay single farthing on account
of this bill. but every penny OF 1t is to
be wrung out of the Irish peasants. The
G112OOOOOO which is to be paid by the
governemnt to-. the landlords Is to be
made up by a reduction of the expense
of the Irish government perpetually, where
by the imperial treasury will be eventually
by far the gamer, while ireland will lose the
amount of the. reduction forever, which
otherwise would be spent In the country.
The balance of the purchase money Is to
be paid for by the peasant purchasers with
interest I would be glad to know. there
fore. wherein the bill costs British folk
at least f112eooooo Furthermore. 1t
must not be lost sight Of that Ireland has
been for years. ..overtaxed. according to the
report of a royal, commission 9l5,O0OCOO
per annum, and Is still being so overtaxed.
Again the TAAfd these peasants are now
about to be gfventpermissiOn to purchase.
at an enormous price oyer It's real valu-
alton, Is their own. Wrested from them
with fire and sword. because they We're
weak and thasenemy powerful. But l do
not wish to go jpt9 q dissertation on Ire
lands wrongs Just now, but merely to call
your attention to the fact that there is not
an Irishman s6f any intelligence who does
not know this statement, above referred
to, to be absolutely without any founda-
ton in fact, and trust that for the sake
of the hundreds Of subcribers to your pa
per among the Irish of this city you will
take the first hoppoftunity to correct your
mistake hive Hequently seen just such
statements in English and American papers
as the one complafned of by me, and UNI
less it Is done from London with view
to prejudicingf the minds of the American
people against the Irish cause / fail to
understand itih There are many good pa
triOtic Irishmen who do not believe that
the bill viii ever result in good to Ireland.
but most of them are willing to give it
trial, provided It, meets with the approval
of the representatives of the Irish people,
inside and outside of parliament They
owe nothing to England The balance is
largely on the other side OF the ledger.
ROSSA F.. DOWNING.