The Irish standard., 1908-08-08
the GAME OF EMPIRE
English Rule In India and Ire.
land Compared.
A Peculiarly Interesting Rep.
etition of History.

its lack Of large lines, upon which to
built up a successful and systematic
argument, one that will reach the end
aimed at in more than a most beggar
~ number of cases, writes Prof. ]. c.
Monaghan in the Cincinnati Catholic
Telegraph.
How often have l had to gnash my
teeth in rage for lack of time to prove
to doubters that India and Ireland
were never to blame for the periodic
famines by which they were ravaged
In her game Of empire England has
held her India and Irish possessions
In most hopeless kind of subjectior
AS far off as 1796-a writer on Eng
lands infamy in India. painted pic
ture applicable. word for word to Ire
land. He said: when we reflect up.
on the great fertility Of Hindustan. 1t
is amazing to consider the frequency
of famine. 1t is evidently not owing
to any sterility of soil or climate; the
evil must be traced to some political
cause. and 1t requires but little pene-
tration to discover it in the avarice
and extortion Of the various govern.
ments." Is not that statement as APP
plicable to Ireland as 1t is to India? Is
it not as true now as it was then?
The great spur to industry, that Of
security. is taken away" Apply that
to Ireland. Are the conditions called
up by these lines in India and Ireland,
unlike those that have long prevailed
in Turkey? Hence says the writer
from whom took the foregoing, no
man raises more grain than is barely
sufficient for himself--why? For fear
OF being robbed" And the first ur-
favorable season produces a famine"
This is 1ndia's story, but it is a perfect
picture of Ireland. THE Mogul gov
eminent at no period offered full Sc
curity to the prince still less to his
vassals; and to the peasants the most
scanty protection Of all. 1t was COR
tinued tissue OF violence and insurrec-
ton, treachery and punishment un-
der which neither commerce nor the
arts could prosper, nor agriculture as
sumo the appearance of a system. It's
downfall gave rise to a state sill
more affective, since anarchy is worse
than misrule. Tho Mohammedan gov
eminent, wretched as 1t was, the Eu-
ropean nations have not the merit of
weight OF its own corruption, and had
already been succeeded by the multi
farious tyranny Of petty chiefs, WHOSE
right to govern consisted in their
treason to the State. and whose exac-
tions on the peasants were as bound
less as their avarlce." What is here
pictured as part Of England's policy
In India. was under way in Ireland at
the same time. 1t eliminated in 1860
in England buying bum and Doodle
Irish parliament to sell their country.
Luckily that parliament was by no
means politically really representa-
tive one. 1t was made up entirely of
one element Of the population, and that
the minority Of the nation. No Cath.
ole sat in the body. The rents to gov
ernment,'' am back in India, were
and where natives rule, still are levied
twice year by a merciless handitti,
under the semblance of an army, who
wantonly destroy Or carry off what
ever part of the produce may satisfy
their caprice or satiate their avidity,
after having hunted the Inflated peas
ants from their villages to the woods.
Any attempt of the peasants to de-
fend their persons or property within
tho mud walls Of their villages only
calls for the more signal vengeance
in these useful. but Inflated mortals."
I am still on India, bear in mind. not
in Ireland, though the picture is saw
agely like an Irish one. "They then
surround and attack with musketry
| and field pieces till resistance ceases,
when the survivors are sold, and their
the ground. Hence you will frequent
~ meet with the rayots gathering up
the scattered remnants of what haG
yesterday been their habitation. II
fear has permitted them to return:
but oftener the ruins are seen smok
ing. after a second visitation Of this
kind, without the appearance Of a hu-
man being to interrupt the awful ST.
lence of desolation."
This is from the pen Of one. Rev.
VIM. Tenant. and was given to the
world in 1895. Years afterwards Nj.
cauley. in his essays on Lord Give
has this: Enormous fortunes wera
rapidly accumulated at Calcutta
while millions of human beings were
reduced to the extremity Of wretched-
ness. They had been accustomed to
live under tyranny. but never unde,
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