The Irish standard., 1903-10-17


October 1, writes from London to
the Chicago Record-Herald on the
inspiring effects of the new Irish
Sand law. las you know, the Irish
land question. which has been pend
ing for Il century and has afflicted the
British people in an acute form for
thirty years or more, has been prac-
tically disposed of by the enactment
of What is known as the land act OH
the 14th of August, 1908. by the
kings most excellent majesty, by and
with the advice and consent of the
lords, spiritual and temporal. and the
commons in this present parliament
assembled, and by the authorities of
the same to use the language of the
introduction of the act, plan has
been provided for removing the curse
of Ireland which, generally speaking,
is acceptable to both the landlords and
tenants, and if it is enforced in good
faith and by reasonable concession by
AIlC pul l1CS Ill 1llClSSC IL lS CApCSlCu
to redeem one of the fairest lands on
earth and restore happiness to Il long
distressed and suffering people. The
enactment of the new law alone has
revived the prosperity Of Ireland and
has inspired with hope and confidence
the great majority Of the people. The
Il: AL II,
the small minority. a certain per-
centage of pessimists will be found in
every community: some people will
pour water upon the embers of hope
and will make others as unhappy as
themselves. The danger in IRELAND
to-day, however, is from a different
class-from vultures who have long
fatted off the misery of the people
politicians who have used the wrongs
and sufferings of their fellow country
men as capital upon which they have
made good dividends and who are
opposed to any project that may
benefit that distracted island because
it will deprive them of their occupa
ZION. Strange to say, also, there are
fanatics who would rather see Ireland
perish in the arms of her friends thar
prosper by the aid of her enemies
the enemies in this case being always
the government of Great Britain
Everyone agrees that during the long
struggle that ended with the adoption
of the land act the Irish party in the
house of commons displayed dis.
cipline. parliamentary skill and states,
manship-llnder the leadership of
John e. Redmond. Parnelrs successor
that was remarkable, and has
changed the opinion of the thinking
masses of England as to the ability of
the Irish to govern themselves. This
same discipline is now being intro.
duced in Ireland, and the members
of the Nationalist party in parliament
are organizing and making a cam.
paign to hold the tenants together, to
consolidate all who are interested, i'll
order to secure uniform terms and
concerted action as the first step
toward home rule. My attention was
called the other day by one of the
Irish leaders to a circular issued by
John F. Finerty of Chicago on this
subject, which is very highly COM
mended here, in which he recommends
the acceptance of the present situa-
tion for the time being as long step
in advance. He urges that the ben
efits it promises be secured before an
other advance is attempted. The land
law is not to him final settlement,
for he hopes for a native legislature,
an independent parliament to make
laws for the Irish nation to be con-
,ceded next. This is the policy of the
leaders of the Irish party to-day, and
they hope to adopt programme that
will permit the people to secure all
the benefits of the present law and to
avoid complicating them by other agi-
tations. A meeting of the national di-
rectory of the United Irish League
was held in Dublin recently, with Mr.
Redmond in the chair, and eight reso-
iutions were unanimously adopted.