The Irish standard., 1903-06-06
THEIR OCCUPATION GONE,
Speculation as to What Irish Landlords
VIII Do.

VIII Do.
Soon there will be no landlords in
lrrlanu; that is. il thc Low land bill
passes the British Parliament With
the amendments adopted and demand
ed ny the Irish national convention,
says the FrecnEn's journal. And
when the landlords are gone" there
will be good times in Ireland us the
old ballad put it-'Wcll have good
times in Ireland when the landlords
go'-for the singin" OF which Il Tip
pcrury street minstrel was sent to
Jail under the Coercion act in Land
League days. IL fact which Mr. Glad
stone mentioned With Indignation in
the House of Commons. But will the
landlords so: They needn't if they
don't want to. The new bill provides
| that any landlord, after sale of his
estate under the act, may buy back
his mansion or residence. with Il GER
tain number of acres of dcmesne land
adjoining, to enable him to live in
decent style in the old family home
stead. 1t will not be necessary.
therefore. for the landlords to go
that is. to quit Ireland, though land
Iordism be abolished. They can still
have their fine houses. many of them
fine castes-Hnd live i'll them ii they
so please. And no doubt II great
number of them will do so. \ great
number of the Misunderstanding the
ma jority-tlc Irishmcn. ut least by
birth, and they may conclude that
they can live in Ireland as comfort
ably and happily as anywhere else.
They will be Irsllmen then by resi-
drncc as we'll as by birth. The situh-
ton thus presented is not altogether
void of practical interest for Ireland.
The landlords. or at least Il large pro-
portion of them. will have very con-
siderable incomes. derived from the
Investment of the large sums they
they live in Ireland those incomes
will be mostly spent in Ireland and
necessarily thereby benefit Irish trade
or industries to an important extent
in one way or another. ManifeStly,
therefore. under the new order OF
Things, il will he more conducive to
lords TO stay than to 90. Another
question of Importance in this con-
nec,iOn which is being to some degree
considered and discussed is the ques-
ton what sort of landlords will the
rX-lHnIloriS be? Hitherto they have
been lInGlnnh'S garrison. and they
garrison and Enyland's liege men, or
will they turn true Irshmcn, loving
their native land us the great mass of
her children do? Many are Of opinion
that this will be one of the good re-
suits of the new land bill. On the
other hand. there are many who have
ing patriotic lrishlncn. 1t is not
easy. they say. for the leopard to
change his spots. How can the plum
lercr and oppressor tisaSSociate HIM
self from the evil traditions of centur-
les: Almost as soon expect the lion or
| the wolf to lie down in peace with the
lamb. And even at this very moment,
in the midst of counSclS of 'cOncilia-
ton" the landlords are exhibiting
themselves in their long known char
acter of utter scltishness, without q
thought of their country or it's inter-
ests. At a convention they had the
other day in Dublin to consider the
new bill their only thought was the
money coming to them and how they
might induce the government to pro-
vide that they should have more. a
spectacle which elected the following
indignant comments from Michael
| DaVitt in Il letter on the convention
ithe lAndlordsD: IF any sanguine
Nationalist still hopes to make Irish
men of the landlords by heaping mil
lions upon them to which they have
no earthly claim. let him CAREFUL!
read the speeches which We're deliver
ed at last fridays landlords conven-
ton. From the beginning to the end
Of tho proceedings there was one argyll
mcnt. one note. one sentiment one
cry-moncy! Al,lSion to ahOrers
there was none. The interests of agri.
culture were not even mentioned. The
word ''emigratiOn" cannot he found in
the whole report There was no ref
crcnce to congested districts. Any
hint at an Irish or National admins
tration of the new land system would
have been ruled out of order, just as
IN, effort to express Il mild opinion OF
the question of the evictcd tenants
was prohibited And these are to be
our proXimntc Homo Rulers! The
Earl of Wcstmeath in his speech gave
candid expression to the true Irish
landlord sentiment and patriotism
when he said: Their Chc landlords
great point was to ask the government
to give rs much as they could t.
give them more money for that was
the point. and all the rest was unim
pOrtant considerations. How thor
uughly characteristic of the class! III
talk of country or Cancellation. Of con