Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-17
AFFAIRS IN IRELAND
NOTABLE ADDRESS BY LORD
LIEUTENANT AT BANQUET.
Practical Dissertation on Conditions in
the Emerald Isle-Drastic Measures
Needed for Peasantry.

Special Correspondence q The Evening Star.
DUBLIN. April Z. 1905.
The president of the Royal College of
PHYSICIANS in Ireland entertained a large
company at dinner in the principal hall of
the college last week. The guests included
the lord lieutenant and the lord chancellor.
The president, Dr. W. J. Smyiy, proposed
the toast of His EXcellency the Lord Lieu
tenant" He referred to the personal pop
ularity in Ireland of Lord and Lady Dud-
ley, and said that the people of Ireland
were deeply grateful TO his excellency for
having twice at least entertained royalty
among them. He was perfectly certain that
the king went up from Ireland with a
greater appreciation of his Irish subjects.
and he also was perfectly certain that they
in Ireland from knowing more of the king,
had become more devoted to him
The lord lieutenant in acknowledging the
toast, said that he did not propose to dwell
on the personal aspects of it. 1t would be
impossible for him at the present time to
speak of his position in Ireland without re-
ferring to matters which had been made
the subject of much discussion within the
last few weeks. No doubt the time would
come, either sooner or later, when he would
have an opportunity of speaking at length
on these matters. He assured them that
he looked forward to that time with no
trepdation whatsoever, but that time was
not yet.
He would pass. therefore. to the question
of the prosperity OF Ireland. So far as the
material prosperity of the country generally
was concerned. he believed tat they had
no great cause for uneasiness. During the
past year crops had been generally plenti-
full and the harvests good Unfortunately.
however. those parts of the west of Ire
land where the potato crops had largely
failed were far from being in satisfac-
tory condition.
Conditions Radically Wrong.
Although they might feel assured that in
the present instance. as in the past. relief
= in some form another would be found
for these districts. yet with every recur-
renee of experiences of this kind the truth
was brought home more forcibly to their
minds that the conditions of life in certain
areas of Ireland were radically wrong and
that unless some great change took place
the population OF these areas would be al
ways liable to hunger and want. They had
in many districts great number of people
living on farms of very small extent and
composed principally of very bad land.
In good years. aided by certain subsidiary
sources of income. like fishing and weaving
and the proceeds of migratory labor, it was
just possible for the western peaSont to
maintain himself and his family and to pay
the fixed charges on land. But the struggle
was always severe one, and the result
was that the standard of living was neces-
Sariy very low-lower, indeed, than with
any similar body of householders in west
ern Europe. When a bad year came these
people had no reserve to fall back upon
and were driven at once into a position of
helplessness and dependence.
1t was obvious that such state of things
could not be allowed to go on, and no
government worthy of the name could shirk
-,
relief was not sufficient; something more
drastic was required if the condition of
the western peasant was to be permanently
benefited. The suggestion that wholesale
emigration was the only cure need not be
considered seriously. Fishing and cottage
industries were valuable as auxiliaries. but
he did not believe@tha they could ever be
made the central means OF subsist ence for
any more than a mere handful of the
population.
Tend 20 Agricultural Life.
The great majority of the people in his
opinion, must always live upon the land and
by the land. their whole tendency and lean
ings were toward agricultural life The
land of these people was a fetish almost in
comprehensive to many, and they would
never. in his opinion, succeed in divorcing
a population animated by these feelings
from the object of their affection. Any
remedy, therefore, which was to be per-
manent and effective must have agriculture
as its base. and this involved inevitably a
redistribution of the existing holdings.
In other words, they must seek to cure the
chronic poverty of the west by charging
the holdings in the cOngested districts to an
extent which would return profit in good
years over and above the ordinary neces-
sites of existence They must obtain the
space necessary for that operation by mi
grating numbers of families from the exist
ing holdings in these districts to lands
ffsh nj mt tod H..
quite aware that this plan involved consid-
cradle difficulties not only of a Legislative
and administrative kind. but concerned also
the idiosyncracies OF the people themselves.
Tact patience and determination We're
great weapons with which TO overcome diff
1icultes in Ireland. and. If these qualities
were consistently supplied to II solution of
this most important problem, he no
reason why in few years those responsible
for the government of Ireland should not
be able to effect very marked improve
ment.. Success would depend largely on
the extent to which all parties concerned in
the question were prepared to cooperate.
Opposing the Gaelic.
Stree the Dublin general post Office re-
fusci TO accept a large number of parcels
add -essed in the Irish language the Gaelic
Jeasze has retaliated with a vigorous policy
of obstruction. On Wednesday evening this
week during the last hour before the de-
persons presented parcels addressed in
Irish.
The parcels were accepted as fast as they
could be handled by a special translator
but receipt had to be given in every
case there was great delay and confusion
The general public suffered severely and
parcels from the commercial houses in the
city were completely blocked.
Thursday night the post office refused to
accept the Gaelic parcels at the parcel
office and directed that they could only be
accepted II posted as letters. This did not
improve matters. as every one of the 200
or 900 persons went through the form of
rendering 4 parcel When these were de-
clned the propagandists hocked to the
stamp counter demanding penny stamps in
the Irish language. and some times tender
ing sovereigns In payment. Meanwhile the
ordinary business of both offices was seri-
ously retarded
The Gaelic League declares that the fight
VIII go on until the authorities come TO a
sense of their duty" In the interest of
public business some sort of a modus vi
Vendi is highly desirable Previous