PR E "A C E .

Ireland f or the I ri sh.THE Ameri can people o f all shades o f opinion on foreignpolitics have had ample time to estimate the merits of Mr.Charles Stewart Parnell’s theory on the means o f adjustingthe relations between landlord and tenant

,and permanently

settling the Irish land problem on the basis o f a tenant pro

pri etary. It is the purport o f these pages to undece ive thehonest and impartial reader

,by dispelling certain mists of

prej udice which a hasty perusal of superficial newspaperarticles may have led him to entertain . Answerers lieunder many disadvantages . The false statements of the oth erside have had ample time to fly through the country

,while the

refutation comes limp ing slowly after,and arrives

,too often

,

when men’s op inions are already fixed . Besides , it is theweakness o f too many to mistake the utterances o f a certainse ction of the press for their own sincere convictions

,and

even for the sentiments o f mankind. Nevertheless,truth is

great and shall prevail. The cause advocated by Mr . Parnelli s the cause of the weak against the strong . It is the defenseo f the oppressed and long misgoverned peasantry o f Ireland

,

against a system and a class “ whose honor rooted in dishonorstands .” Among the tenantry of Ireland there is a perfectunanimity of op inion in favor o f Mr. Parnell’s plan. Now allmen are united in holding that when the colle ctive body of thepeople agree it i s the sense o f the nation, and there fore shouldno t be persis tently Opposed in the '

nati onal legislature .

It will be well for England to take a lesson in time fromthis Parnell agitation ; for her true interest lie s in doing so .

Negle ct to learn wisdom from the active friends o f the Americancolonies

,the Parnells o f their day, was the seed which ripened

4

in to a mighty republic . Besides the loss o f the best portion o fher colonial empire

,that wilful neglect

,cos t England the

loss of many millions of annual revenue,and increased the

nation'

s indebtedness to the amount of someMuch as the American people have done by their un

exampled munificence to alleviate actual distress in Ireland,

there is yet a better and more lasting service which thatcountry asks at their hands

,and which can be given without

either inconvenience or expense . It is that,in thinking

'

andspeaking of the Irish question

,Americans divest themselves

o f prejudice,and not allow pre conceived ideas to warp their

better j udgment. Ireland solicits the impartial verdict o f

America on that English system o f land tenure which a f f lictsthe Irish people with periodical misery

,and compel s them to go

forth,as tearful mendicants

,to the nations . This judgment i s

what Ireland especially asks,and what will bear abundant

fruit long after the existing distress shall have ceased to preyupon the Vitals o f the cottier farmers . Let the practlcalAmerican mind bend itself o n this problem Whereas Irelandproduces enough food to maintain a population five timeslarger than it possesses

,i s not England the criminal cause o f

Irish distress ?” The English Government upholds a landsystem by which the produce of the land passes from the poorcottier who tills it into the pockets of alien landlords

,who

know little and care less for Ireland . Is tha t honest ? Theanswer of every true American will be

,Let the people have

their own land , and let them live by its produce .

” That is theverdict which Ireland asks from America.

In no civil ized country i s public opinion more talked aboutand les s acted upon than in England .

“ In fourteen years,

”

says Grattan,

“ the Irish Parliament,with all its imperfe ctions

,

had done more for Ireland than the English Parliament hadaccomplished in a century for England.

”Hence the absolute

necessity o f a vigorous,sustained expression of public op inion

,

in order to e f f e ct a radical change in the land system o f

Ire land . That is the object o f Mr . Parnell’s visit to America ;

and it would be difii cult to exaggerate the lasting benefitsto the Irish farmers which are sure to result from it.Much has already been achieved . Seldomhas Parliament,

in its opening session,devoted so much consideration to Irish

5

af f airs as it fel t itsel f constrained to do in 1880 . All thathasbeen done must in fairness be regarded as the result of Mr.Parnell’s patriotic exertions . He has been the means ofcausing nations to deplore and denounce the direful e ff ectswhose cause he aims at eradicating root and branch . Miseryand famine all true hearts bleed to think of ; landlordism ,

when ce they flow,he boldly struggles to destroy . Should

America fail to sustain him,justice will re ce ive another

proof that her path is rugged,and her friends are few ; but

whatever storms he may encounter,whatever shoals and

quicksands he may have to guard against,the day i s not dis

tant when he and his friends will cry,Tendimus in Latium .

To Parnell it is due that the scenes of ’

48have not alreadybeen re - enacted

,and that some future poet shall not have t\

chant the jeremiads of this day in language like to that of thsweetest and pures t of living bards

Sudden fell"am ine

,the terro r never absen t long .

Upon our land . It shrank th e daily do le ;The o atmeal trickled from a tighter grasp ;Hunger grew wild through pan ic ; infant cr iesM addened at times the gentle into w rong ;And l i ke a lamb that openeth n ot i ts mouthThe sacrific ial people , fillet—bound

,

S to od up to d ie . 9“

The nettles and th e weed s by the wavsi deM en ate ; from sharpen ing features and sunk eyesHunger glared forth

,a wo lf more lean each hour ;

C h ildren seemed pigm ies shriveled to sudden age ;And the de serted babe. too weak to wail

,

But shook if hands,pitying or curious, rai sed

The ra g,r acro s shim thrown . I n England alms"rom many a private heart were largely sent,As o f t - t imes they have been .

"I‘was vain . The land

Wept wh i l e her sons sank back into her gravesL ike drowners ’m id still seas .”

Let us hope that Aubrey de Vere may hang up his lyre onpresent sorrows

,to resume the exultant epic o f heroic courage

and fortitude,crowned by the glorious victory of peasant pro

pri etary.

In connection with Mr. Parnell the words o f O’

C onnell’

s

biographer are no t wholly inapplicable : “ The world neversaw so powerful a confederacy as the British peerage fron

6

which it would seem to follow that the tribune who confrontedand d i scomfited them must be the most extraordinary manthat ever lived .

” I believe these words will not be falsifiedby Mr. Parnell ; but I invite his attention to this noble sentiment o f the Liberator

,which in hours o f gloom may stand

him in stead I care no t how much I am calumn i ated whenthe vials o f defamation are poured out upon me on account o fmy exertions in behalf of my coun try.

VIRGI LIUS .

I .

M r . Parn e ll’s Vi s i t t o Am e r i ca .

Palmam qui meru it f erat .

There is no gainsaying the fact that the vis it of CharlesStewart Parnell to the United State s will mark a most memorable epoch in Anglo—American history. But there isanother country in whose chequered annals it will

,through

all future ages,constitute an event of singular

,if not unpre

ceden ted importance . It is needless to say I refer to Ireland .

The history of that interesting and beautiful island is strangelymixed up with poverty and su f f ering. Civilized when all otherknown nations were steeped in barbarism

,it is at this day the

object of the compassionate sympathy of the entire world .

But it comes before the nations this time in a manner unliketo that it has at any other period assumed

,and this fact i s

owing to the energy,boldness

,and independence of Charles

Stewart Parnell . He is n o common advocate,and he pleads

the cause of his misruled,unhappy country

,amid no ordinary

circumstances,and in quite an original manner. H i s education ,

his force of character,and his high social position compe l

respe ct. H i s aim and motives are pre sumably unselfish anddisinterested . Unless we disregard all ordinary canons o f

criticism,and set aside the common standards by which

thoughtful men are guided in forming an estimate of humancharacter , we are compelled to admit that Mr. Parnell hasmuch to lose and nothing to gain by his mission to America .

Irishmen,both at home and in the United States , are pro

verb i ally suspicious of men who go out of their way to

v indicate Ireland ’s cause nor is this to be wondered at .Perhaps no nation has been better dece ived and more cruellybetrayed . But the promptings of narrow suspicion vanish

8

before the lofty personal character of Charles Stewart Parnell .He is , however , a man. He i s neither stronger than Samson

,

nor wiser than Solomon , nor holier than David. He inheritsall the weaknesses of his countrymen nor is there anyimaginable anchorage to which we can fancy him so immovably fastened as to be inaccess ible to the perniciousinfluences of Engl i sh bribery. Disregard ing these and similarreflections

,however , and leaving the future to take care of i t

self,we desire to v iew Mr . Parnell as we find him

,as he is ,

not as he may one day possibly be . We speak of him inconnection with hi s mission to the United State s

,a self

imposed mission,and one which the h istory of Irish patriots

proves to be the reverse of attractive .

It is painfully true that Ireland has little reason to boasto f those who have touched the shores o f America to speak inbehalf o f the Emerald Isle . It is undeniable that they shedpale lustre on themselves and their country , and , in mostinstances

,have scattered seeds of lasting bitterness among that

numerous class of Americans whose knowledge o f Ireland isderived from a view of the emigrants at Castle Garden

,or a

mid - summer church picnic,or a Patrick’s day procession ,

wad

ing through the mud and slush of some American city. In thisconnection Mr . Parnell i s quite a phenomenal v isitor . He isnot a Catholic

,and by this fact is at le ast partially estranged

from the lowest substratum of the Catholi c Irish 111America .

He i s not an orator , and here again he is fundamentally d i s

t i n g u i shed from nine - tenths of those who have at all timesespoused the interests

,and imagined themselves the cham

pions of Ireland . He is not a prating mountebank , a re ckless ,j olly

,hair-brained free liver

,of irregular life and irrespons ible

speech . He is,on the contrary

,a perfect gentleman . He i s a

man of university education,of ample fortune

,and singular

earnestness of purpose . H i s indomitable sternness ofcharacterhas m arked his career in America as one altoge therexceptional . It gives him a pmverf ul- claim to a fair and im

partial hearing from fr iend and foe—from Irish and antiIrish —from all who love truth andhon estv ,

n o matter whatmay be their creed

,their politics

,or their nationality.

As to the Irish who have made their homes in the UnitedStates

,no unbiassed thinker can doubt but that they have

9

gone over in overwhelming majorities to Mr. Parnell’s s ide .

Thev have assembled in vast numbers to hear him . Invitations have poured in uponhim. In all the cities and townshe has v isited ro valhonors were showered in lavish abundanceupon h im . He went about

,not as an adventurer

,but as an

invited guest. Large sums of money were contributed towardthe two - fold cause he advocates . The (rrg umen lum ad crwne

710 772, a powerful test of publi c approval , has been tried with

complete success . Thus far as to the cc - operation of theIrish element of American society. But American sympathyhas not been wanting. The lead ing public men of our citiestook part in the Parnell meetings

,spoke words of no doubtful

sound in behalf o f the movement,and demonstrated their

sincerity by handsome contributions .A member of the British Parliament

,he was listened to with

respe ct in the legislative halls of America. He spoke inAlbany , the capital of the Empire State of the Union . He

was received with quiet but significant dignity by Card inalM cC lo skey and President Hay es. The churches of everydenomination participated in the movement. Catholi c priestsand Prote stant ministers mingled together harmoniously onthe Parnell platform

,and spoke at the Parnel l meetings .

It may unhesitatingly be afl i rmed that these clergymen represented the mind and heart of hundreds of Catholic prieststhroughout the United States

,for in most of the cities the

resolutions of sympathy,encouragement

,and thanks were

moved by Roman Catholic clergymen . The s ignificance ofthis disinterested cc - operation will be apparent when it i sremembered that Mr . Parnell is not a Catholic himself. Itwas a spontaneous tribute of homage to a cause intrins icallyj ust and praiseworthy . Protestant ministers were notindiff erent. They entered heartily into the movement , andSpoke words of we ighty import. As a spe ciman

, the readerw ill re cognize the telling speech of Mr. Henry Ward Beecher,who

,at the Parnell meeting held at Brooklyn , spoke sub stan

t i allv as follows

I am in favor of the most serious,prolonged , and earnest

agitation of public sentiment in America for the emancipationo f the Irish peasantry from their present condition . (Tremendous cheering.)There is no other subje ct that is more

10

important to the g reat mass o f mankind than the ..questi on o fland There are a great many ways

,gentlemen

,by which

oppression can make itself fe lt . It may take possess ion ofthe Government

,and b y arms despoil the citizens—take their

rights from them,imprison them

,slay them . That is tyranny

the most common and obvious . It may be that there shallarise in the midst of the State such power in wealth

,such

combinations of capital and monopolies,that the great

thoroughfare shall be choked up by the few,and prevent the

passage of the million many,and so oppression may take

place in the community. That may be more mild in its as

peets , but it i s neverthe less oppre ssion . And there is anotheroppression quite possible b y which the rights , happ iness , andthe life of the people may be sucked out

,and that is the pos

session o f land . The t ime is coming when the world is tohave a new agitation on the subje ct of land. He that po ssesses the land possesse s the people . You cannot put theland of any nation into the hands of a few men and not makethem the despots over the many . (Loud applause .)Theholding of the land in fee simple by the men that work on itis the principle

,and shall yet be the un iversal world doctrine .

(Renewed applause .)It is quite in vain t hat four millions ofAfricans have been emancipated if they are forbidden to buyland . Now the question comes up if we Amer icans have theright to protest against despotism anywhere except at home ?I say that I have the right to protest against despotismwherever it exists under the broad heavens . (Cheering )Ihold more than this —that there is rising up in modern timesan infl uence which we call public sentiment

,a moral influence

which is g rowing more and more powerful , and which is yet tooverawe Parliaments and Courts

,and to determ ine largely the

changes that are necessary for the uprising of the great common classes of the common people . We should be false to ourtraditions

,false to the example s of the fathers and their wor

thy sons,if we did not in some way denounce everything that

is Wrong,and le t every civil ized nation of the globe feel the

light of our intelligence and the indignat ion of our conscience .

But I need not refer to the liberty of the past of America ,and turn to Great Britain herself to find my precedent. WhenFerdinand II . oppressedhi s citizens , when his prisons wereglutted with political prisoners

,did not Gladstone

,to his

eternal honor,rise up in Parliament and publish the public

sentiment ; didhe not direct the energies of the Governmentitself against the nobles ’ government in behalf o f the oppressed and did he not bring a pressure to bear , partlycivil

,partly moral

,that changed the policy of Lower Italy ?

I should like to know whether Great Britain employed any

11

civi l,m i li ta1y ,

o r 1110 1al influence 111Tu1ke (Loud laughter.)I should l ike to know whether to—day 1n India or in Afghanistan Great B1i tai n i s exp1essi n g an opinion as to the i nsti tutions of those coun t11es (Applause . I hold that i t be longsto our free national character—w e that are descended fromthe Irish

,the Engl ish

,the Welsh

,and the Scotch—whether

we have not been born , bred , and brought up in the doctrinethat anything that conce111s the human 1ace concerns us.

(Applause . I hold then that we have the 1i ght to throwacm ss the wate1and into Gi eat Britain such exp1essi o ns ofsympathy f o1he1opp1essed labore1s , and the want of consc1en ce and justice shown to them as shall sti1 up this greatpeople . I have not a woul to say against them de1o g ati vely.

I admit thei1powe1; but I hold that the land system of GreatB1i tai11has to be 1e1o luti o n i z ed

,o r Great B1itai11will be

revolutionized . When we were helping four mill ions o f menin bondage

,w ithout rig hts and reco g n i t i o n ,

was Great Britainsilent? (Laughter)D id she not set our s ins before our eyes?(Laughter. And when the thunders of war awoke us to theatrocity of our sin

,then did not Great Britain turn back on

us and fight what she had tried to raise up ? (Renewedlaughter .)Yet I can sav ,

in regard to England,with the

poetW ith al l thy fau lts, I love th ee stil l .

I am told,however

,that it i s not simply land tenure that is

the matter withIreland . I am told that it i s religion

(laughte1)I am told that i t is laziness , I am told that it isthi eve1y,

I am told that it is the Irish people s depravity.

Now,I would not certainly withhold the tribute of an ordin

ary amount o f dep1av i ty to 0 111 Irish brethren . I supposethey ha1e enough to go a1ound . But I call you1attention toone fact

,that f1om the day when Cromwell landed in Ireland

,

according to Froude,the Irish have been fractious and rebel

lious,and never under any Government had a settled and

easy state of things,which I suppose is corre ct and I hope

that for ano the1eight hundred years to come they never will—unless they are f i ee . (Applause)I admit that they are at1oublesome people to gove1n (laughte1), that they are ap i oud people , i n ten sel1loving the i1own land and their ownways

,and that they are the w

o

o rst people to oppress underthe face of the heavens . But b1ing the I1i shout to this conti nen t on which they are bound by

o

no unjust laws,but have

the benefit of free institutions,free land

,and free commerce ,

and what then is the character of the Irish people ? Whenthey first came among us the less educated gave us sometrouble . Their ideas o f voting are obscure . (Laughter)I

12

know no t what percentage of them perish in the making,

but trace them on the whole—trace the g reen Ir ishman whocomes with his shillelah fre sh from the soil—he has to vote agood many times in order to learn how. (Laughter)But i fhe survives whiskey and gets a little property

,and lives ten

y ears in this land , he votes just as well as you do . They tellme that the trouble in Ireland is the nature of the Irishmanhimself. I say bring h im to our land and giveehim a chanceand time

,and we will p1ove that he needs nothing but good

institutions and good laws to make him as good a citizen asthe sun shines on . The educated Irish that bcome to us are abounty and a blessing , and a light and a warmth and I holdthat the ir mercurial blood

,mixed with the colder b lood o f

New England and Germany,is yet to give a race of people

that will combine,I hope

,the v irtues of the diff erent nations

without their vi ces and then faults . That may be the millenn i um . Then let us hope we al e near the millennium .

Without exp1ess i n g any opln i o n in favor of o1g an i z ed opposition and insurrection

,I call your attention to one fact 111hi sto1y , that every amelioration of the condition of Ireland

has followed the outbreak of violence in Ireland . I do notcounsel organized insurrection or war ; but I do honor theeff ort to make the Government so uncomfortab le that i t atlast consents to make the people comfortable . (Loud ap

plause .)It is said that emigration is the only cure for Irishgrievances . I say that so far as we are concerned let themcome here . We want them . And so far as they are concerned a Government which does not know how to managei ts people

,except b y taking them out of the nation , is a

Government that ought not to stand . I wish Mr . Parnellmay be successful 1n h is mission . Newspape1s 110 1any comb i nati on s have powe1to c1ush any cause that has 1eal worth ,

and that is upheld by men o f p luck and substance . (Loudapplause .)But the crowning event of Mr. Parnell ’s v isit

,and the

strongest evidence that he cari i ed American sympathy withhim

,is found in the fact that

,by an m erwhelm i n g vote of

the House of Rep1esen tati ves, he was invited to add i ess thatassembly on the subje ct of his v is it to Ame1i ca. This is afact of national importance bo th to Ireland and America . Itis of similar occurrences that h istory is composed ; that thel ife and hope o f oppressed nationality is rescued from exti n c

tion. Some forty years ago the bones of Robert Bruce werediscovered in the ruins of Dunfermline Abbey. The eventcreated a storm of Scottish enthusiasm

,which stirred the

13

land of Scott and Campbell from the dep ths of the Clyde tothe mountains of the Dee ; and people no t unnaturally concluded that the semi- extinc t patriotism of that ancient Celtickingdom had borrowed a new lease of li fe . In another sectiono f the Celtic family a mournful wail o f sorrow continue sto sweep the land

,and the spur of adversity revives the

sinking spirits of a f f licted but invincible Ireland . In thespirit of true patriotism Mr . Parnell makes himself the advocate and ambassador o f the Irish farmers , and with rareconsistency and unswerving firmness labors to make impartialAmericans realize the perfect feasibility of a p lan

,at once

practical and just,for the lasting amelioration o f the tenant

farmers of Ireland . With the eagle glance of lofty state smanship

,he rev iews the whole domain of periodical distress

and chronic disa f f e ction among the Irish peasantry,and fixes

the true cause of both in the helpless condition to which thepeople are normally reduced bv an unjust system of landtenure

,and by the vexatious exactions , the selfishness and

tyranny of alien and unsympathizing landlords . He entersupon the ennobling task of breaking down the brazen wallso f this frowning fortress of Ir ish landlordism

,and asks for

the cheering sympathy of all upright minds in this broad lando f freedom . It has been given in unstinted measure . Thesupply will continue to meet the demand . America is thenatural tribunal whereat to try the cause of a despotic governmen t against a misgoverned people . As long as thisbloodless contest shall last , so long shall the hands of Parnell be lifted in suppliant appeal to Columbia

,and

,through

the press and public opinion of Columbia to all the nationso f the earth

,and so long shall the people s advocate receive

the encouraging reply,

“ Onward"nor halt while one stone ofthe unseemly structure remains upon another.” Generationso f Americans yet unborn shall read of this Parnell discussionwith feelings akin to those which the student of to - dayexperiences in reading Edmund Burke on the claims o f theAmerican colonies to independence . Before this century i smuch older

,the chains of the Irish cottiers shall be broken ;

nor is there any need o f the fire that touched Isaiah ’s lips topredict the glowing enthusiasm with which

,forty v ears

hence,the historian o f America will describe that even ln g in

14

our legislative chamber at Washington,when the cheers of a

delighted nation greeted a modest Irish gentleman whofiercely denounced the unjust land system of England . I’VhenMr. Parnell shall stand upon the ramparts of the doomedcitadel

,giving the banner of victory to the breeze

,one can

fancy the departing splri t of landlord ism addressing him inthe words of the expiring Clorinda to Tancred : “ Friend"thou hast conquered" I forgive thee ; do thou al so pardonme .

”

Together with much warm sympathy and encouragement,

Mr . Parnell has received from the know - nothing section ofAmericans not a little hostility . That is but natural . Abad cause

,l ike a bad man

,i s p itied people conclude to leave

them severely alone . But a good cause,like a good man

,is

persecu ted,v ilified

,and persistently misrepresented . Those

who thoughtfully endeavor to cast the horoscope of Ireland’sfuture will discover in this partial apathy towards Parnell ’sland theories the best omen . o f their ultimate success . Forthe opposition to his scheme proves rather for than againsti ts justness and reasonableness

,inasmuch as all the great

political,social

,and scienti f i c changes of modern times have

b een made in the face of violent opposition . Wellington wasopposed to the emancipation of the slaves

,and so was Peel ,

1nd so were the Southern planters , but emancipation is afact .Winser

,the German

,who made the first experiments in

lighting a street in London with gas,was looked upon as a

lunatic . Sir Humphrey Davy , the first chemist o f his day,called it an impossibility

,and Sir Walter Scott , writing

f rOm London , says There is a m adman propos ing to lightthe London streets with smoke .

”

The proje ct o f ocean steamers was met with a tempest ofridicule . Lord Brougham

,in the House o f Lords , declared

his readiness to swallow whole the first steamer that crossedthe Atlantic .More violent still was the opposition against which Morsewas compell ed to struggle . H i s application for aid to Congress

,in 1837 , was re ceived with jeers and hisse s . He was

refused letters patent in England , but he died decoratedwith all the honors Europe had to bestow.

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

16

clergy wrote , members of Parliament spoke , off i cial investi

g ati on s were instituted , the cabinet held extraordinary session .

This combin ed action followed apace,but the first zephyrs

o f all this national storm were the prophetic words of Parnell,

spoken at the meetings o f the Land League,when

,with rare tact

and shrewdness , he instructed the poor , rude cottiers in theprimary right to live , and the sovereign importance o f selfpreservation . If

,which Heaven vouchsafe

,the universal

sympathy subsequently aroused shall be the lever to raiseup prostrate Ireland , the fulcrum without which that leverhad been inoperative is Charle s Stewart Parnell .To intensify the force of his appeal to the British govern

men t,Mr . Parnell crossed the ocean to obtain from America

what,in her own hour of trial

,America had sought and

obtained from Ireland —sympathv ,and the powerful aid o f

public opinion . Parnell asks from Americans that whichAmericans asked from Ire land

,and France

,and Canada . I

found the people o f Ireland,says Franklin

,disposed to be

friends o f America,in which I endeavored to confirm them

,

with the expectation that our growing weight might in timebe thrown into their scale

,and justice be obtained f or them

likewise .

” Appeals from afar have more telling power withthose who are apt to trust too much to their fancied securityat home . If the whole neighborhood congregate riotouslyaround a man

’s house,sneering at its internal filthi n ess

,he

will promptly se ize the broom,and set about sweeping it. If

distant strangers carry piles of food across the seas,and toss

it in throughhi s windows to feed his starving children , hehimself hav ing stores of hoarded wealth

,and feasting luxur

i ously,he will soon learn that he has duties toward those

children,which

,unless he discharge

,his own house will be

made too hot for him . That is the idea which lies at thebottom o f Mr . Parnell

’s v isit to America ; and seldomhas anyidea been put forth with more astonishing success . Americahas already done more for the Irish poor than England .

There has been more alacrity ,more tender sympathy

,more

generous rivalry here than in England . The heart o f theUnited States has quivered

,while that o f England has hardly

been moved , The result i s, an amount o f money has beensent from America such as no one nationhas ever been known

to contribute before . Now,I claim that this re sul t is due in

the main to the timely alarm given by Parnell,and to his pres

ence and untiring exertions 111the State s . Let it not be said“ he has man v adversaries , and they do not believe i nhim .

”

Be it so ; he has goaded them 011to action , v ied w ith them ,

and stimulated them to e f f orts wh ich,but for their hatred of

him,they never would have 111ade . If you refuse

,at m y

request,to aid m1' starving mother , but w ill in sist , through

sheer d islike of me and my ways,in heaping upon her favors

I should not have dreamed of soli citing,so much the better

for the needy old lady . She w il l thank her bov none the less ,but rather love him all the more . Neither shall I esteemmyself any the less for that I can so easily lash vou into suchproductive activity . I t matters little what seas produced thepearls

,what mines the gold

,so the j ewels are plen teouslv

poured into my mother’s casket . It wi ll ever remain indis

putably true that the firs t cause of America’s unpre cedented

mun ificen ce to Ireland is Mr . Parn el l ; and those who thinklightly ofhi s politics will not deny that when we behold amajestic river rushing v i o len tlv down to the sea our pleasureis but enhanced when we remember the tiny rivulet whencethe noble stream takes its rise . The torrent of charity wh ichAmerica has poured into Ireland puts England to the blushmakes her feel ashamed that the foreign rebels of her formercolonie s should have to feed and clothe the bravest and besto f her subje cts . To put England in this dilemma

,th is most

humiliating position before the world,is the second object

of Mr. Parnell’s visit. It has been accomplished with signa lsuccess .

But there is yet a third .

The public opinion which Mr. Parnell asks from Americais a healthy and intelligent opinion

,which

,rooted in the. con

v i cti on s of the nation,shall express i tself with v igorous

e arnestness and genuine American manliness,and thus con

tribute to shame the government of. England into granting anew system o f land tenure—the one true pana sea for the illsthat periodically af fl ict the tenant farmers of Ireland . Theresult of such a judgment

,borne through lands and seas by

the press , will se t all men thinking , and will s tir that commonbond of intelligent sympathy which belts the globe

,and

2

18

the distinctive characteristic o f this century. It is n o t toomuch for an Irish patriot to ask o f free Americans

,who

, o f allnat ions , s corn those unjust class distinctions wh ich enable adespotic minority to keep its heel 011the ne ck o f an oppressedmajority .

The rank is but the guinea. stamp,

The man’s the gawd f or a’ that.”

19

Pa rn e ll a n d the L a n d Q u e s t i o n .

Il l fares the land to hastening il l s a prey ,

W here weal th accumulates and men decay.

The unjust system o f land tenure in Ireland is the fruitfulsource of the extreme poverty o f her people , and of the

famine which periodically spreads such withering desolationamong them . It i s not

,by any means

,the only source , nor

would its abolition involve the discontinuance of severalother real grievances of which the Irish people are

,and have

long been, the victims . But it is the first and principalsource , because it is by the fruits o f the land the people live ,agriculture being almost their exclusive occupation . Now

,

the fruits o f the small farmers or cottiers ’ industry are barelysu f f i cient , in the best seasons , to meet two imperative demands—the landlord’s rent and the necessaries of life . 111most parts of Ireland the small farmers can barely obtain asubsistence for themselve s and their families

,after having

paid the rent. They do n o t own the land , for two - thirds o fIreland is owned by about nineteen hundred landlords

,most

o f them English,and the other third

,in great measure

,will

come into their possession 0 11the expiration o r“ falling in

o f leases. The small Irish farmer,therefore

,exists f or no

other purpose than to enrich his landlord,whom

,in most i1i

stances , hehas never seen , and who spends the rent earned bythe ill - clad and ill - fed cottier in England

,France

,Italy

,Asia ,

o r America . This is not a temporary or novel state o f things ,either as to the tenant or the landlord . For centuries thetenant was legally incapacitated from holding possession , infee simple , of a single acre of land as his own property , andat the present dayhi s position is practically the same . Mr.

20

Gladstone’

s land b ill remains inoperative,and the Bright

clauses are confined to the paper o n which they are written.

At no t ime for centuries have the landlords been other thanlargely Engli sh ,

who drained Ire land “of all they could poss ibly squeeze out of i t , and spent it any where but in Ireland .

Some thir ty -fiv e y e ars ag o Mr . O’

C onnell said,It was

calculated by an able man that nine m il l ion pounds a ve arpass out of th is country the railway commissioners reducedit to six m illions . Take the reduced amount

,and I ask

,

did ever a country su f f er such an odious drain o f s ix

million pounds of absentee monev ? s i x m ill ion poundsraised every year in th is country

,not to fructify it

,not

to employ the people of the country,not to take care of

the sick and poor , and destitute , but six m illions are transplanted to foreign lands —sent there

,but giving no returns

leavin g p o ver ty to those who enriched . Take six millionsfor the last ten y ears . Look now at sixty m i llions drawnfrom this unhap py country . Take it for the next six v ears.

Can you,in conscience

,encourage this

There is a cant that agitation prevents the influx of capital .What i s the meaning of that ? IVe do not want Engl ishcapital . Leave us our o wn s ix millions , and we shall havecap ital in abundance . IVe do not want that left—hand b en evolence which would drain the country w ith one hand

,and let

in niggardly with the other . There i s another item whichexhausts the resources of this country

,and that to the amount

of nearly two millions annually . There is againthe woods and forests . That depar tment re ce ives ay ear out of Ireland in quit rents . How was that expended forthe las t ten years ? Between the Thames Tunnel and to ornament Trafalgar square .

” Continuing this calculation of Mr .O

’

C onn ell’

s,and not including the sixyears subsequent to the

date—1844—on which he spoke,Ireland has been drained

since then by absentee landlords of amountingin our money to twelve hundred and eleven millions one hundred and ten thousand dollars Is it to bewondered at that '

succeed i n g generations witness a state ofever - increasing misery among the small farmers of Ireland ?

But,

” you say,why don’t they work ?” They have no work .

Land i s the only work , or field for work,that o f f ers to the

Irish cottier . Ireland has no 111a11u f acture s , no developedm ineral weal th . Shehas exhaustless mineral wealth un touched

,

and a water power capable of working the mach inery of thewhole world . But there they lie

,desolate as the sands of

Sy ria. Since the Un ion,Ir ish industrie s have been crushed

out of existence . Before the Un ion there were in the city ofDublin alone operatives ; there are not at thepresent time . H i s little lot of land is the only hope of subs istence for the Irish peasant . Therefore

,to se cure him i n

the free hold of th is,rel ievinghim from exorb itant rents

,and

encouraging him to improve his holding for the benefit of hisfamily is the true way to befriend h im . That is what Mr.Parnell i s working for , and to that it must come . The smal lfarmer has

,and can have

,no capital . Therefore h is life i s

b lasted at h is birth,for what is life without hope of improve

ment or advancement ? I f he attempts to improve the soil,he

simply twists a rope to hang himself. H i s improvementscause the rent to be raised

,or

,what i s more tantalizing still

,

excite the cupidity of a neighbor,who

,because of those very

improvements,off ers to pay a higher rent , and c auses him and

his f am i lv to be cast out upon the highway . But how,

” yousubj o in

,can a ne ighbor be so inhuman ?” Because the land

lord spurs him on to it,and bribes him to outbid his nearby

countryman,thus fostering mutual hate and strife

,which

speedily breed revenge,and too often end in murder . That i s

the true h istory of “ the wild just ice of revenge,

” so un i n telli

g i b le to Americans , y et so natural when clearly understood . Itbegins and ends in the land

,

” and is begotten of the brutalinfamy of the landlords . Thus it w i ll appear that the spe culato r, who hangs about a New York theatre

,rais ing the

price of tickets,and encouraging citizens to remain away

,and

be sure to be late,thus deranging everything

,and disturb

ing everybody,for greed of filthy pelf

,is really a h igh -minded

gentleman when compared to the unscrupulous Irish landlord yet this wretched class rule w ith a rod of irono ver the finest peasantry on earth . It would appear

,i n

deed , that the interes ts o f the landlord were held to be bestconsulted for b y the utter degradation of the tenantry . Bus iness men all over the world secure the confidence and a f f e ctionof their employ ees b y gentleness , and a thoughtful consider

22

ateness f or their welfare . But the Irish landlord makes theslavish cottier believe that he ought to be thankful for beingallowed to exist . Hence Professor Fawcett writes

,in the spirit

o f a true Englishman,that “ i t has been justly remarked that

the Irish cottiers were the only people in the world whosecondition was so deplorab le that they gained nothing by beingindustrious .” Nor is it the people only that are demoralize dand degraded by landlord ascendency. The land itself ismade worthless . No scheme

,continues Fawcett

,could pos

si bly be devised which would act more e ff e ctually to impo veri shthe people and throw the land into the most wretchedstate of cultivation The study of this writer

’s “ Manual o fPolitical Economy would win many earnest converts inEngland and America over to the cause of the Irish farmers .

The traveler is amused at the primitive simp li city o f the Irishpeasant in thinking he holds high carnival (Ameri ce, ishaving a splendid time ”)over a cup of tea and some baker

’

sbread , which festive occasion commonly concludes with thesqueezing o f the tea—pot.” The quaint usage is derived fromthe landlord ’s traditional policy of distraining

,pinching

,rack

ing,and squeezing ” the poor illiterate tenant and his l i ttle

holding to the utmost capacity of their resources . Amongthe peasantry the more common phrase is skinning the land ,which religious people associate with the famous judgmentof St . Ko lumk i lle :

“ the tail goes with the hide .

” But thetrue etymology will be found in the evidence taken beforeLord Devon’s Irish Poor Law Commission

,where it is

de clared,upon the highest agricultural authority , that the

nominal amount of cottier rents exceeds the whole p roduce

which the land yields,

even i n. the most f avorable season .

When substance and skin are extracted,what remains for the

cottier is to be tossed out upon the highway , and allowed tosee his mud cabin leveled with the earth . This horrid crueltymust not continue to be tolerated in this age of steam andelectricity

,and England begins to awaken to this . The Lon

don Quarlcrly Rev iew (a Tory organ)admits that ejection ,under the best terms

,has lived its full term . We admit that

to eje ct an uno f f ending and paying tenant from a homestead orfarm which he had held for years

,and whereon probably hi s

parents had lived before him,and to which

,therefore , he had

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

94

w e attempt to hold I i eland by force , i t will be at the expenseof all the ch n ac

(

'te1we possess as lo1ers and mai n ta i n el s off i ce. p o ve111111e11t , 11

1 1e s11ecte1s of am 1i ghts except our own ;i t w i ll 11lost dan g e1o uslv ag

o1 1 '1a1ate all our chances o f m isun

de l stand i n g s with an y of the g1eat powers of the world ,culminat ing in wa1; we shall be in a state of open revoltagainst the un iversal consc ience of 111111ope and Christendom ,

and more and mo i e ag ainst 11111 own . And we shall in theend be shamed

,"111

,i f

?3

not shamed,co e1ced into 1eleasi n g

L eland f 1om the connection ,0 1we shall avert the necessity

onl y by conceding with the worst grace , and when it 11111notp1e1en t some g enerations of ill blood , that which , if done atp i esen t , may still be 111time pe1mane11tlv to 1eco nci le the two1111111t11es.

”

But during th is present famine England , pretending tosustain the tenantry ,

upholds the landlords , by off ering themloans on easy terms to give remunerative employment to the irten antry . For what ? Immediately to relieve distre ss

,but

ultimately ? to enhance the value of the holdings , and thense t the tenants at each other ’s throats

,to outbid on e another

,

and so enrich the landlords more and more . By this on e

sin g le fac t Irish landlordism and the English Governmentstand condemned before the world . When famine comes

,

Government and the landlords are zealous for the reclamation of waste lands and wholesome im o ro vemen ts. It is meretricker y . 111187 5 there 11e1e 4 ,

955,000 acre s of bog and waste

land in Ireland . Th is had i n ci eased in 187 9 toacres" The true remedy for this ever - re curr ing apathy o f

Government an d the landlords is to make the tillers of theso il the owners of the soil

,or in one word—Parnellism . Let

the “reader compare the land sys tem of Ire land with that ofthe Channel Islands

,which

,while part o f the Briti sh

Empire , have legislatures of the ir own ,without the co n

se nt o f which no act of the British Parliament has anyforce

,be ing in the ir n ature

,too

,co11st1tuted independent

S tate s . The area of these islands,taken together

,does not

exc eed acres,the s ize of an ordinary Ir ish barony

le ss than o nc - th ird the e states of two noblemen in Mayo .

But,un l ike the tenants of these noblemen

,who are liable to

eviction at the wi ll o f their taskmakers,under a system of

Draconian land laws,the people of the Channel Islands have

95

the ir own land laws and legislative power for centurie s , and thevprovide for the equal distribution of land 111110 11g children ,

which,wh ile preventing the growthof large prope rtie s in land ,

have secured the d ivision of the islands into small f arms , wh ichare owned b y the men who till them . And in the world there i sno community where. there is greater wealth ,

nor more w i delvdistributed in proportion to the population . Here , then , i s asy stem of propr ietorship whichhas converted these islandsinto a sm iling garden . They possess a population ofprobably the densest in the world . If Ireland had a l ikepopulation in proportion to its area

,in would be considerably

over Guernsey alone,with only acres

under cultivat ion,supports in comfort a population of

whileIreland , w i th a cultivated area of acres,has a

poverty - stricken population of unde r five and a half m illions .

Were Ireland as densely populated as Guernsey , says M . S .

Craw ford,it would support a population of The

cultivated lands of Jersey are acres,and there are

owners of land occupy ing farms , which would giveabout eight acres to each farm . In one parish of acresthere are 404 registered owners of land . I n this island alone

,

states Mr . Shaw Lefevre,M . P .

,acres of land are

planted w ith early potatoes,and the pro duce is estimated to

be worthDoes th i s system tend to reduce the value of land ? Quite

the reverse . Land continually r ises in value in Guernsey . Noland is sold there under £ 100 an acre , and near the town ,

land in lots will fetch several hundred pounds per acre .

Yet in presence of such facts at their own door,British

state smen oppose Mr . Parnell’s system of peasant proprietary ,as an unheard - o f novelty . It obtains in Germany

,France

,

Austria , Belgium ,Australia

,and the 1United States . E verv

where its adoption has been attended with peace,order

,con

ten tmen t, and prosperity . Yet the Irish landlords and theEngl ish Go vernme11t have thehard ihaod to maintain that i tsadoption in Ireland would involve national dis integration .

They re iterate unto weariness that small co tti erho ldi n g s area hindrance to the prosperity of Ireland

,wh ile the bes t

writers on political e conomy ag ree in teach ing the contrar y .

There is nothing new 111 this profound sy stem of Saxon

26

reasoning. England to be anythi ng must be insular . BeforeDr . B aine s induced her to adopt the Gregorian Calendar

,she

pre ferre d to be at war with the heavens rather than at peacewith the P ope . In her land system she chooses to be atwar with the whole world rather than at peace with Ireland .

Rejo icing to see all nations teem with grape and corn, she

holds tha t Ireland ought to be able to ge t along quite wellwith this tle s and briars . France

,which has proprietors

owning each an average of 750 acres,has proprietors

owning each an average of 75 acre s , and an averageof 7 712 acres . In Belgium the land is still more minutely sub

divided . According to Sir Henry Barron,the average extent

of separate plots is acre . England has flooded othernations with Bible s . Can English state smen remember aclass in the good Book who have ey es and see no t” 9

But,you obj e ct

,

“ it is not the land system which ruinsIreland ; i t i s the vicious , violent , and lazy character of the Irishpeople

,whose horrible crimes tend to keep English capital

out o f the country.

” Let us see . As prevention is betterthan curing

,and as good government stud ies e conomy

,the

easiest way to send capital into Ireland is to leave in thatkingdom the eight millions sterling which are annually takenout o f it. As to the Irish people

,the whole world finds them

to be dire ctly the reverse of what they are described by England . In three o f the four provinces of Ireland the judge s oncircuit last year congratulated the grand juries on the absenceo f serious crime

,and expressed a request that the English

press and people would make a note of it . With the gauntspectre of famine staring the people

,is there any other nation

on the globe o f which this can be said ? The battle—fields ofEngland

,France

,Austria

,Spain

,and America found Irish sol

diers the reverse of lazy . The press of London and New York ,and every city where the English tongue is Spoken discoverlittle laziness in Irish brains . The yoke of English oppres

sion removed from them,those ill - used men become lawyers

,

judges,legislators

,authors

,inventors

,architects

,builders ,

masons,miners

,and models in every department of skilled

labor . Two hundred and thirty - two American Congressmen ,in contributing to the Irish Reli e f Fund , declare that theydo this in no political spirit , and with a view solely to the

27

aid of a people who are in actual distress in the ir nativecountry

,and whose energy

,industry

,pluck , and brains have

contributed so much to the advan cement of our own . O fwhat other elements but these i s true manhood formed ? Ifthere be four qualities which especially challenge admirationin human character

,they are energy

,industry

,pluck

,and

brains .” What a Skeleton English literature would be ifstripped of the contributions of Irish genius But it i s wasteo f time to further refute a slander which is best refuted by thearmy and navy of England itself. I subjoin an English testimony to Irish character in Ireland

,given by one who knew

that coun trv better than any other Englishman of ancient ormodern times It will be our leading obje ct in this publication to induce the English to see and judge for themselves

,

and not to incur the reproach of being better acquainted withthe Continent than they are with a country in which they cannot fail to be deep ly interested

,and which holds out to them

every temptation the traveler can need—a people rich inoriginal character

,scenery abundant in the wild and beautiful

,

and cordial and happy welcome f or the stranger,and a degree

of safety and se curity in his journeyings such as he can meetin no other portion of the globe . In all our tours

,we not

only never encountered the slightest stay or insult,but never

heard of a traveler who had been subjected to either,and

although su fficiently heedless in the business of locking upboxes at inns

,in no instance did we ever sustain a loss by

our carelessness .

” Ireland,its Scenery

,Character

,etc.

,

Mr . and M rs. S . C. Hall,preface .)The value o f this testimony

will be appreciated when it is remembered that the authorsof this beautiful work have traveled through the entirecountry

,and have sojourned in

,as they have exquisitely illus

trated , every city , town , and hamlet of Ireland .

The real cause of Irish famines and Irish misery is the landsystem

,and the one eff ective remedy is what posterity shall

speak of as Parnellism .

” The course of the Gulf s treammay be unaccountably vexatious

,but Ireland is n o t the only

country to which it works mischief. It may be muddy orclear in itself

,but as a philosophical solution o f the misrule

of Ireland it is a transparent sham . Neither will it do to flyat the heavens

,and weep over the moisture of the atmosphere

,

28

which specious pretext,bes i des flinging blasphemy at a bene

ficen t God,i s alleged to throw a wet blanket of obl ivion over

the infamous government that has made m illions of the Irishweep b itter tears . Let the land system be changed

,and the

men who scaled the he ights of the Alma amid the peltingof bulle ts

,and captured Inkerman under a storm of artil lery

,

will know how to prosper amid the generous showers thatfatten the r ich valleys of the ir Emerald Isle .

Pa rn e ll an d A g i ta t i o n .

There is a cant that agitat ion prevents the in fl ux o f capital . W'hat i s the meaning

o f that

England has a special horror of agitators . The reason isevident . No measure o f relief has ever been obtained forIreland except by prolonged and persistent agitation

,and the

past is a prophecy of the future . I’Vhen the people formedsecret societies

,the corrupt press , speaking for the Govern

ment,cried

,Cowards I If you have grievances , discuss them

constitutionally,and in the light of day

,that they may be

redressed .

” When thev held public meetings to do so , thepress denounced them as unsettling the country

,hindering

,

commerce,and the influx of capital . In Mr . Parnell ’s case we

generally find an odious adje ctive,which points him out as

one to be avoided . He i s styled a dang erous agitator . Towhom or to what is he dangerous ? Honest and loyal citizenshave no fear of the law or the police , nor the law and policeof them . There is mutual peace and love . The guilty subjc et fears both

,and lives in constant apprehension o f arrest

and imprisonment . The unjust and tyrannous governmentdreads exposure

,for its ways are crooked

,and it loves dark

ness . Therefore it hates the Agitator . If it were what itshould be

,it would appre ciate and even remunerate the out

spoken citizen who drew attention to the beautiful symmetryof the laws

,and the just impartiality of their administration .

But agitation can no more be dispensed with than the lightof the sun ,

or the air we breathe . The course o f the blood,

our mental and moral culture,the earth which produces our

daily bread,all require agitation as an essential condition of

healthy existence . To good government it i s still . moreindispensable . The very nature o f power proves a, p r ior i the

30

necessity o f agitation . There i s no instance where powerand authority have been known to move

,except when com

pelled to do so ,either by wealth

,or influence

,or brute force .

Hence it has been observed by O’

C onnell that whenauthority and power are interested it requires a more cogentargument than justice to obtain relie f

,and it is only obtained

by the power o f public demonstration and the accumulatedweight of publi c Opinion . A contemporary o f the Liberators

,

the illustrious Dr. Doyle,the most just and discreet of con

servati ves, spoke the converse o f this in regard to power inthe sp iritual order . “ Authority i s a gem which should belaid in its casket and carefully preserved

,and should only be

exposed under the greatest ne cessity.

” Who or what i s tourge

,to prove

,to call attention to the necessity when it really

exists No t caprice , nor private opinion , nor personal resentment

,for these breed persecution and despotism . There is

no remedy but honest,public

,persistent agitation . There

fore the agitator,shielded by n o other cuirass o r buckler but

“ that innocent boldness which becomes an honest man ,”

i s the true friend o f socie ty. He i s the mediator betweenthe oppressor and the oppressed

,or

,more corre ctly

,between

irresponsible power and a whimsical,partisan

,or i n compe

tent administration . Suppose a statuteJmak i n g agitation a

punishable off ense,and you suppose a

“ law enacted to takeaway the force o f all laws whatsoever. But such a law is

no t likely to encumber the statute book o f any nation , for thelegislators themselves are quite alive to the force and n eces

si ty o f agitation when it can be made to subserve their owninterests . When England became jealous of the woolentradeof the south of Ireland , the Lords and Commons waite dupon William III.

,and requested the influence and support

o f the C rown in stamping it out H i s Majesty pledged himself to do all that in him lay to carry out their wishes .That was secret

,dark

,star- chamber agitation w ith a ven

g ean ce . If the men of Ireland r esisted with a storm of honest ,public

,fierce denunciation

,and persistent agitation , their

woolen trade,which commanded the respe ct o f all Europe ,

would not now be a thing of the past . Agitation is the onlylegitimate means o f redress for the weak and oppressed .

The people must make power feel that powerhas its limits , tha t

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

32

v im, with which we gave out the household anthem of thepeople

He igh f or n o bl e Dan

Heigh f or the Agitato rHeigh f or everv man

That jo ins the L iberator

This moral tempest swept the land,l ifting up the hopes

of the people,inv iting the impartial to serious thought

,

remov ing un just judge s,l ike Norbury

,from the bench

,and

fin allv compelling George IV to grant Emancipation . It isthis spirit which animated the founders of the AmericanRepublic . They went about to the nations

,soliciting

,not

money,but cheering sympathy

,to aid them in se curing for

themselves a country teeming with treasure . It is an axiomw i th American historians that but for the aid of fore ignassistance Americans never could have won independence .

The heart of Ireland and France,espe cially

,went out to the

misruled colonists,who used every means in their power to

sustain the agitation for freedom . Irish orators and soldiers,

French engineers and commanders—all contributed to thecommon end . Even the taunts of cynicism and the insolentthreats of British statesmen goaded them on to increasedexertion . Fancy the feelings of the sturdy men of thosedays

,when Chatham maintained that thev should not be

allowed to pass for their marketn from one province intoanother"and if they dared to demur to this

,said he ,

“ Iwould not permit them to manufacture a lock of wool , o r formL horseshoe , or a hob - nail .” What a piercing spur to agitation

,and how it must have fanned the patriotism of Frankl in ,

tossed in his cabin,as the rolling ship bore him to Europe

to “ agitate for IndependenceAll that Ireland has obtained

,all that any oppressed

country on the globe,has at any time been able to wring from

despotism is due,and exclus ive ly due

,

'

to agitation .

“ Thus the aristocracy,by the hands of their hirelings ,

showered on the obje cts of their hatred the rage and exaspe

ration which the renewal o f O’

C onn ell’

s agitation filled themwith . They knew that if the Catholics at the voice of O ’

C on

nell awoke,and discussed poli tical questions in public assem

blies,a knowledge o f the horr ible enormities by which their

33

lordships obtained their prodigious e states must flash upontheir torpid intellects , and endanger their lordships

’ enj oyment of those trophies o f massacre . They must learn thatValentine Brown

,f or instance , the ancestor o f Lord Kenmare ,

had obtained those immense possessions which his represen

tati ve at this moment enjoys , by writing a memorial to theEarl o f Yo tness, developing a plan for the total exterminationo f all the Catholi c inhabitants o f Ireland . That memorial

,

which should have been written in blood,may be found

among the Yo tness papers in the Lambeth Library . So horrible and heinous was the proj e ct which it reveals , that evenHains shudders at it

,and scouts it as ferocious

,and what

was i n his estimation worse—impracticable . So,likewise

,

thought Sir George Carow,f or though amazingly active ln the

bloodless massacre of confiscation,he shrank back in horror

from the cold blooded policy of radical extermination . It isn o t at all impossible

,however

,that had the Catholic population

been as limited in number as the Maroons whom Dundasannihilated in the present century

,Valentine Browne would

not have written in vain . It is very probable that when,at

some future time,populationhas been thinned by eviction so

as to make massacre safe , massacre will be attempted . Inthat reign

,however—notwithstanding Lord Mountjoy’s devas

tati on s o f Ulster,which he was clearing with the sword

,and

Lord C arew’

s devastations o f the South—the scheme of Valentine Browne was not adopted in all its amplitude . All

,how

ever, obtained vast s copes o f land—amongst the rest Valen tineBrown

,whose representative in the present day

,Lord Ken

mare,possesses in Kerry alone acres . The memory o f

their ancestral crimes harrowed the guilty conscience o f thearistocracy , and made them in the year 1815 tremble andture pale at the slightest rumor of agitation. (Life andTimes o f O ’Connell

,O ’Kee fe

,Vol. 2

,page

Now it is this same inextinguishable spirit of n ations whichanimates Mr . Parnell. He means to do f or the farming classe sall he can do

,and no man can do more . He believes in him

self andhi s cause,the first condition to succe ss , the strongest

claim to the respect and forbearance even of his bitterestenemies . It is n o common task he has set himself to settle ,and he knows it . But he also knows that justice , truth , fairplay and honest public Opinion are with him . Should it costhim his life to achievehi s purpose

,The soil f or the tillers ,

”

in what nobler light can he appear to posterity than as amartyr to such a cause ? “ Dulce et decorum est pro patriamori.

34

Let him brace his nerves , and gird up his loins , and keep ac lose eye on the enemy

,for in their indiscretions and perpe tual

blunderings lies the se cret o f his strength . Free land is ad ream o f the future

,says one “ it can never come w i thout a

complete revolution in the publi c opinion,not of Ireland alone

,

but o f the United Kingdom,which controls the British

Parliament . Even if it be not a perfectly visionary scheme,i t

can never be realized until after years of violent politicalagitation.

”(N Y. Herald

,Jan . Precisely

,but if i t be so

,

i f it is likely to take years of agitation,

” two things followfirst, agitation is an excellent thing , and by itself and timecan work a comp le te revolution in the publi c op inion

,not of

Ireland alone , but o f the United Kingdom ,which (si c)controls

the British Parl iament ;” se condly

,inasmuch as years will

b e necessary , the sooner the business is set in hot and violentmotion the better

,for the way to b e g m is to begin. But

,

this is no time for the dis cussion o f distant and hypotheticalreforms . What i s needed now is not land reform

,but food .

”

(N. Y. Herald, i bi dem.)You are confused

,somewhat . Food is needed f or the nonce

land reform forever ; food as the o f t- recurring e f f e ct, landreform as the perennial cause . If you are sincere in remedying the e f f ect

,your zeal involves a desire for the final over

throw o f the underlying cause .

“ At this,

” says Parnell,

“ I propose to keep on hammering

,and shall be happy to agitate

with you as to the eff e ct—the existing distress .” By the way,when Parnell first spoke o f approaching distre ss

,nobody paid

any attention to him .

“ Until I landed in America,nothing was

known o f the imminence or threatened extent of the faminewhich has now assumed such horrible proportions as to attractthe attention and compassion o f all civ ilized nations .” (Parnell

’

sspeechatWashington .)Yes ; but the land can wait ; thisis not the time .

” Agitators never wait. This is just thetime

,the very best time

,and that is why it has been

selected . No t that f thi s question o f land reform can allow o f

abatement until the tillers o f the soil shall be the owners ofthe soi l

,no matter how e f f ects or circumstances may be

modified,but that there is no time so singularly appropriate

f or demonstrating the utter rottenness o f a cause as when thenations are united in dep loring and removing the disastrous

35

results of that cause . You appeal to a nation’s purse to feedthe subjects o f the richest irati on on the globe ; I appealto their brains

,to tell them what they have a perfect right to

know,viz .

,what necessitates th is appeal

,and what they can

do,without expense

,to aid in hindering a repetition o f such

appeals . Mr. Bright puts it in this way : It is only in timesof extremity in Irish a f f airs that English country gentlemen andcountymembers will consent to such changes as the Irish peoplerequire and justly claim . (Bright

’s Spee ch,Jan . 23,

Englishmen are best reached through their own stomachs,

but the next best argument is when the world has to fi ll thoseo f their subje cts who are hungry for no other reason thanbecause they are too quiet and submissive to the English

,

who rob them o f the fruits o f their industry. This is theoutrage which no alms can heal

,and which civilized nations

should resolve to agitate , and agitate , and agitate , until it beswep t from the earth .

Parn e ll an d R e v o lu t i o n .

C’est l’Imag i nat i on qui dom ine le monde .

Revolution is a big word . It is to the alarmist and thedreamy idealis t an ever- present spe ctre , haunting them intheir daily “ p lans , and tormenting them in their restlessslumbers . It is the right arm of the political mountebank

,

his text and motto,just as the “ loud laugh that shows the

empty mind” is the d istinguishing characteristic o f the socialbore .

“ Big words contain much of all sorts o f littleness,

especially vapor,with which they are uniformly pre g nant.

What is revolution ? Some regard it as the only weapon o fthe traitor

,and some as the panacea o f the b eneficent social

re former,and other some as the pet remedy o f the erratic

optimist,whose method o f righting all the wrongs o f life is

force and violence . It is not easy to dis cover which o f theseclasse s Swift had in his mind when he said that a dog lovesto turn round often yet after certain revolutions he lies downto rest ; but heads under the dominion of the moon are forperpetual changes and perpetual revolutions . There arethose who hold that

,for each revolution of the tragic and

lawless type,history records ten of the bloodless and peace

ful des cription . No enlightened citizen but abhors thedoctrine that justice can only be obtained by bloodshed anda complete convulsion of society. The higher and saferdo ctrine is , Truth is great and shall prevail and the moreinvulnerable armor and more e f f e ctive scimitar for thepatriotic leader is “ Time and I .

” The word revolution is .

used here in the popular sense,as involving anarchy and all

manne1of social catastrophes .Now , i t has been repeatedly asserted that the Parnell

theory means revolution . Nothing can be m 01e puc1i le,

37

nothing more unjust than to talk of revolu tion , in theordinary acceptation o f the term , in connection with thismovement. Is the redress of an injury , or the righting of awrong

,given by any of our dictionarie s as the meaning or

the synonym o f revolution ? Is it just and fair to call achange or readjustment of the existing state of a system bysuch a name ? Is it not cruelly unjust to give such amisnomer to a chan g e f or the better

,an alteration of the laws

and relations between two classes of our fellow men , bywhich they shall both be enabled to get along better , withincreased good feeling and mutual re spe ct ? If Mr . Parnellproposed to put Great Britain up at auction , and knock itd own to the highest bidder , there would be some sense inthe meaningless cry of Revolution. The s illy cant wouldhave some semblance of p lausibility if he had counseledviolence

, or encouraged unconstitutional methods o f pro ce

dure,or abused his deserved popularity by goading on the

Irish peasantry to deeds of bloodshed . But nothing o f thesor t can be truthfully maintained. Neither in Ireland norAmerica has he done one act o r spoken one word subversiveo f order

,contrary to truth

,or derogatory to the dignity o f

the Crown o f England . Convinced of the near approach ofthe famine now raging

,he cautioned the cottier farmers that

self- preservation is their first duty. That is the teaching o f

n ature,and reason

,and Revelation. In time o f famine all

things are common. No person o f sound mind will gainsaythis elementary principle . If the men of Ireland

,during

former famines,had been less

’

dilatory,and more outspoken

ln c1rculati n g and popularizing this fundamental theory , ande ncouraging the people to act up to it

,and if their e f f orts

had not been partially neutralized by the o ld style of commun i cat i on—the absence of steam and electricity—i t i s imp ossible to doubt but that hundreds o f thousands o f l iveswould have been saved . This saving o f human life Mr .Parnell has already succeeded in accomplishing. Is thatrevolutionBut ,

”you say, Parnell instructed the cottiers not to pay

the rent to the landlords .” He did no such thing. He toldthe people in the English tongue (some o f them seldom wereaddres sed in English before)that famine is a wolf, and the

38

landlord a responsible Christian man that wo lves are not tobe reasoned with

,but landlords are that wolves will spring

upon and devour those who resist them while landlords,as

Christian gentlemen,can be requested to call again

,when

times are better . ‘If,

’ said Parnell,the wolf and the land

lord are at your door together,be generous to the wolf

,else

you die,and request the landlord to call again. If the land

lord come alone,receive him courteously and give him all he

wants,if you have it. If you have nothing to give him ,

because the bad seasons have ruined you,and because the

excessive rent in all past years swallowed up all,and left you

nothing to put in the savings bank,tell him so . That settles

i t Nemo dat quod non habet . ’ But then he will sendthe crow - bar peop le to put us out

,and we shall die in the

ditch .

” Not much , not this time ;he has no right to do i tNature

,reason

,and Revelation are all opposed to him .

” “ Buthow if he come in defiance o f them all. Resist him to thebest o f your ability ; you are justified in defending yourhearths and lives

,and if you are butchered f o r no t doing

impossibilities,the civilized world will get square with the

government which san ctions the murder of innocent subjects .

Is that revolution Yet that is a fair and amp le analysis o fParnellism . Mr . Parnell has counseled the people not to payrack rents while they and their children are starving (thatmost cottier rents are rack rents

,see Chapter II). Hehas

never counseled resistance of any sort to those landlords whohave made just reductions

,rendered imperative by the fall o f

prices and the inclemency o f successive seasons . "

He hasnerved the dej ected and depressed people to a just appre

ci ati on o f their rights,and of the material changes wrought

in their condition by foreign competition . These changes,

reducing the cottier’s income,reduce his ability to meet the

rent,and increase his prospe cts of eviction

,in the burning

famine fevers,to die on the wayside . Parnell

,himself a land

lord,rushes to the rescue

,and instills hope and courage into

the people . Is that revolution ? No ; but while hope conti nues to pour balsam into the hearts of prostrate men, societywill honor the chivalrous philanthropist who improves theoccasion to carry the olive branch into the scene o f strife ,and

,while counseling moderation to the Oppressed

,holds the

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

40

followed the police numbered about three hundred men,

women,and boys

,but before C reg awn was reached it had

increased until there could not have been less than threehundred women and about the same number of men andboys . It was at this place that the constabulary met with thefirst serious opposition . A small body of thirty -five or fortymen had been sent f o i ward in advance o f the main body

,but

they we i e kept at bay by about four hundred women whostood on the m ad leading to Kno ckri card and refused to letthem pass .The arrival o f the main body '

o f police was received withg i oan s and shouts o f defiance

,and cries o f Where is

Langley The pro cess server having been discovered i n themidst of the police

,all the women made an indiscriminate

charge with the view of se curing him and his precious burden . A scene o f the wildest confusion ensued . The subinspectors drew their swords

,and rushed into the midst o f

the women , most o f whom were barefooted and bareheaded.

A young woman named Mary Fahy received a terrible gashon the back of the hand . Another woman was wounded by abayonet thrust in the arm

,while several were knocked down

,

trampled upon,their faces blackened

,and their garments

torn . Most o f the constabulary behaved manfully under thecircumstances

,but a few exhibited a cruel savagery which

was shocking to behold,thrusting at the breasts of the

women with the butt ends o f their rifles . The charg e to capture Langley was repulsed

,and the resident mag i strate re

mo nstrated with the women .

‘We have a duty to perform,

’

he said,

‘and though it be disagreeable,yet we still must do

it. ’ The men ,in the meantime

,stood motionless , looking on

and inciting the women to resistance . A vo i ce from the crowdc i i ed

,

‘W e don’t want to do anything to the police at all .Another person said

,

‘Every policeman had a mother like us,and they ou g ht n o t to be doing the dirty work they are at today .

" A third man. exclaimed , Let them stand or fire and wewill do the same .

’ Mr . M cSheehy,the resident magistrate ,

then said,

‘Retire,now

,and let us do our duty . I should be

sorry to see a hair o f your heads hurt .’ A voice shouted ,

We are sta1v ing we want something to eat,and here 1s what

we are getting ’

-&gain the anger of the women , fierce beyond belief, was0 11the point of bursting upon the police m a se cond charge ,when the two sub - i n specto1s rushed past the f i on t rank w ithsahi es drawn

,one of them shouting

,

‘I ’ll drive i t to yourheai t,

’ turning the point,and actually touching with it the

l ips of the women addressed . The men could no longercontrol themselves

,and rushing past the women and con

110 :1; ing the constabulary , shouted , ‘Put up your swords we

41

have but one life to lose,and we are now on the point of it.

Better die now than hereafter of hunger . ’ The police,how

ever,continued their march

,the women every now and again

making a rush for Langley. At a village called Oula theydrew several carts across the road to impede the progress o fthe constabulary. At length Kn o ckri ckard was reached anda halt was made before the door of a house to be served . Itwas a thatched cabin withno windows . The women congregated round the door

,e ff ectually barring all progress . Mr.

M cSheehy appealed to them to allow Langley to do his dutyby posting the eje ctment on the door. Several voices No ,n ever ; we will die first ; they may kill us if they wish , butwe will never le t him do i t. ’ Several male voices then cried :‘ If they kill ye , others will be killed too .

’ Mr. M cSheehysaid :

‘I symp athi ze deep ly wi thyou ; if Ihad a p rop erty I

would n o t do sucha thi n g .

’

“ After some further altercation the magistrate orderedthe women to be removed. A scene then followed whichalmost baf fl es description . Many o f the constabulary draggedthe women by the hair

,threw them on the ground

,and one

young stripling actually struck with the butt end o f his rifle apoor old woman . Several more received cuts on their handsand heads

,and one girl n amed Bridget M cGo rn rece ived a

d eep wound 011 the cheek. A man named Carroll waswounded in the hand. At last the women were removed , thed ouble line o f police was formed

,and Langley posted the

notice o n the door. The police then left for their severalstations .”

It is matter o f fact that ow ing to Mr. Parnell’

s timelyencouragement to the Irish cottiers

,hundreds of evictions

have miscarried,and in consequence thousands o f famine

s tricken people are now under the shelter of their wretchedhovels

, who would otherwise be dying in the ditches . Isthat revolution ?But ,

” you say,this i s all the result of mere legal techn i

cali ti es it does not show any heartless inhumanity. Thati s precisely what it does show. It is the result of mal iceprepense , and a premeditated resolve o f the landlords toexterminate the cottier tenants . The Bishop o f Elphin

,writing

to the Mansion House Committee,uses these weighty words

It is a matter of unhappy notoriety that in Connemara andin other places that I could name

,advantage is being taken

of the destitution of the small landholders to evict them,

and get rid o f them,and a conviction prevails among the

42

peasantry in every part of the destitute districts that now,

as in1847 , the landlords are anxious to force them into thework -houses

,in order to level their cabins , and free them

selves from further liability f or their support.” (Oath. Rea,

N . Y .,Feb . 7 , When a gentleman of education

,a land

lord,and a Member o f Parliament labors to check such

tyranny,and asks all freemen to j oin him in shaming England

into remedial legislation,i s it fair to abuse and misrepresent

him ? Is it not the silliest nonsense to call such a one bythe name o f revolutionist ? If he had any such predile ctions

,

he has had ample sphere and scope for the ir ventilationsince he has put the ocean between himself and the lawo fficers of the British Government. But this consistentfriend o f the people is everywhere himself.In his addresses to the American peop le

,Mr. Parnell has

gone out o f his way to testify his abhorrence o f violence . Inthe enthusiasm of the moment a voice has been sometimesheard to cry “ Physical force

,

” “ Armed rebellion,

” etc .,but

Mr. Parnell was careful 011all such o ccasions to promptlysuppress the popular feeling.

“ We don’t want to send anarmed expedition to Ireland

,he said at Brooklyn (a voice ,

That’

s what we ’d like to do “ I know the wish is a naturalone ; but we ask you to help us to keep the people o f Irelandfrom starving to death . A11 armed expedition in Irelandmeans its destruction .

” Nothing could be more unlike violence . Indeed

,Mr . Parnellhas been singularly consistent in

his vigorous opposition to all ebullitions of su ch popularfrenzy. H i s sense of self- respect is too deep and too strongto allow him to cater to the vulgar appetite . It is the intelli g en ce of his audiences to which he prefers to address h imself ; it is the sound common sense of the entire communitywhich he wishes to carry with him . Hence the uncommonsimplicity—uncommon in speakers of h is position—whichmarks all his public spee ches . There is an entire absence o fe f f ort at fine speaking. There are none of the stereotyped .

tricks of oratory which so invariably abound in the haranguesof the popular tribune . On the contrary

,there is a plainness

of speech amounting almost to monotonous barrenness . But it isthis very sameness , and even seeming dullness of manner andmatter which give increased prominence to the pivotal idea .

43

that is sought to be impressed The land for the peopleThe soi l f or i ts tillers . By this sheer honesty o f purposethe unselfishness of the man adds renewed force and attracti veness to the mission he preaches. H i s arguments carryconviction by their intrinsic merits

,and bear down all oppo

sitiou arising from pre—existing dislike or prejudice . In thisway a complete revolution is wrought in public op inion. "o rParnell does

,indeed

,mean revolution, in the best and truest

sense of the word .

“ You cannot,

” says a certain Frenchwriter, make a revolution with rosewater ; upon whichO

’

C onn ell thus comments He would make it with blood ;I would make it with public opinion

,and I would put a little

Irish spirit in it.” Whereupon Mr. Parnell still furtherrefines , thus : “ I would fan this flame of honest sentimentinto a con fl ag rati on o f public indignation

,and would cause it

to blaz ej

f orththroughout the world,refle cting the lethargic

injustice of the English government,and

,by the scornful

shouts of enraged humanity,compelling it

,from sheer

shame , to abolish the abominable system of Irish landlord i sm . Such is the Parnell programme

,and its complete

success is simply a matter of time . It will bring about a real‘

and blessed revolution,adding a fresh link to the long chain

o f fundamental changes which have signalized this nineteenthcentury.

Perhaps the best presagement of its ultimate success is tobe found in the indiscriminate abuse which has been heapedupon the system and its author . The Parnell p lan has beendescribed as novel

,impracticable

,visionary

,preposterous

,

revolutionary. The same has been said o f the submarine cable,

the telephone,and all the wonderful activitie s born of steam

and electro -magnetism . When first spoken o f they were,l ike

Emancipation and all modern legal re forms , branded as thewild creations of diseased minds . With the system o f Mr .Parnell it has fared no worse than with the author himself.He has been called all manner o f coarse names . H i s motiveshave been misinterpreted and twisted into various shapesvanity

,restlessness

,love of notoriety

,base selfishness , and

the like . But such has ever been the lo t o f men who daredto obstruct the quiet

,lazy methods of the status quo.

Few seem to realize the distinction between the aimless ,

44

d emagogical resistance to power which grows with rankluxuriance in the rough soil of the masses

,and the calm

,

rational spirit of invest i gation into the causes o f allegedtyranny o r injustice . The former leads to fiery explosions ofpopular frenzy

,annihilating everything and bequeathing

to the survivors only sorrow and dry bones . The latterprunes redundancies

,redresses real evils

,wins the support o f

wisdom,contentment

,and increased prosperity

,while show

ing the shallow groundlessnes s of fri volous and exaggerated

g rievances . Statesmen and ci tizens are alike duped by thepompous importance of maintaining the institutions of thecountry.

” They do not perceive the spurious method of reasoning by which they proceed . Existin g institutions are no tworth maintaining because they exist. They must have otherc laims . This special system does not prove itself to be worthmaintaining

,because you or I think it ought to be maintained .

It is the chief function of those at the head o f af f airs toencourage and hasten the advent of new and better sys tems

,

and provide honorable burial for the old. The only alternativeis everlas ting stagnation

,or else perpetual S i syphusi sm ,

everstraining itself by rolling up

,and crumbling to dust in tumbling

d own . It is not ne cessarily true that this or that systemought to be maintained because i t i s anci en t and approved of ourfathers , and neither i s the converse propo si tlon true this systemought not to be maintained

,because it i s too ancient

,too long

unchanged,and only suited to the days of our fathers . Either

proposition may be fundamentally true o r false . Therefore,

the true medium lies in discovering the ben eficen t changesreally needed

,and introducing them w ith as much grace as

possible . It is nonsense theorizing about the past and thefuture . Posterity will have its own di fficulties

,and let it

se ttle them . Antiquity had its own and settled them. Letus , by settling ours , gratefully copy the latter , and transmit theheritage o f lofty example to the former . The shades o f ourancestors will not return to quarrel with us . Indeed

,we pay

them faint respect by concluding that their ways and meansmust needs be suited to this late day o f ours . Do we notrather grossly insul t them by implying that if they were livingin our time they would mulishly cling to systems founded inc ir cumstances wholly di f f erent ? These reflections may not be

45

useless in enabling the reader to estimate the folly of stylingMr . Parnell a revolutionist

,because he demands a change in

the land system , introduced into Ireland by England manycenturies ago

,and the direct re sult of which has been a suc

cession o f famines. Vain have been all attempts,

” saysAlison

,

“ to transp lant to nations o f Celtic or Moorishdescent the institutions which grew and flourished amongthose of Anglo - Saxon blood . The ruin of the West IndiaIslands proves their inapplicability to those of negro extraction ; the everlasting distraction o f Ireland to those of unmixed Celtic blood. A century o f bloodshed

,devastation

,and

wretchedness will be spent ere mankind generally learns thatthere is an essential and indelible distinction between thecharacter o f the di f f erent races o f men, and in Montes

qui eu’

s words “ that no nation ever attained to durable greatness but by institutions in harmony with its spirit.” Insteadof harmony, undying discord , hate , and injustice have characteri z ed the feudal land system in Ireland

,and he who labors

to make an end o f such a disastrous state of things loves notviolence

,but order and peace is no t a revolutionist, but the

best friend of the Sovereign and Constitution o f England. WhenMr . Parnell demands this change in the land laws he has butto ask the members of the House o f Commons to look into thehistory o f their own assembly

,and they will find abundance

o f pre cedents f o r similar changes . In the olden time members were called to the Commons at the caprice of the King ,a system which continued till the Restoration, when peop leawoke to the fact that the balance of power would be againlost , if the King could call the Commons as well as make thepeers . In the time o f E dward I. about one hundred and fiftymembers sat in the Lower House ; in that o f Henry VIII.about two hundred and twenty- four (Hallam iii . , Hereis a most capr101ous set o f changes

Henry VIII. restored 2 votes , and created 33.

Edward VI. 20 28.

Mary 4 17 .

Elizabeth 12 48.

James I . 16 11.Charles I . 18 6 .

4 6

Upon the Scotch and Irish Unions in 17 06 and 1801, a stillmore fundamental reform was e f f ected in the House o f Commons

,which has materially influenced the course and character

o f legislation down to our own day . The history of the Upper

House is a chequered alternation of changes , each looking tothe greater e fficiency of all the others . Parnell asks forwhat is just and regular from a Parliament whose most i rre g ular proceedings have been sanctioned and be come the law o f

the land . For instance , in the year 1399 , the Parliament dethroned Richard II .

,the legitimate monarch

,and conferred

the crown upon Henry IV., who had no kind o f title to the

crown . Again,the Parliament

,in the instance o f Edward

IV .,assumed the like power of disposing of the crown—t aking

it away from the house o f Lancaster and conferring it on thato f York. Again, the case o f Henry VII .

,is yet stronger .

The Parliament in 1485, after the battle o f Bosworth , gavehim a leg al title to the crown, although he had no other titlethan that most irregular law. But the strongest instance is

the case of King William III . The Convention Parliamentat the revolution

,without any king at all

,dethroned the

reigning and then leg itimate monarch , James II. They usedthe word abdi cate—but a word is nothing. The actual factis

,that they dethroned King James

,and enthroned King

William—who had no species o f claim to be King—who hadno kind of legal right to be King of England

,as he was

,not

only during his wife ’s lifetime,but for some time after her

decease . He had , we repeat , no other right save that excellent and most efficient one—an act o f Parliament. What ahost of legal and te chnical obj ections were and may be raisedagainst each and all the pre cedents which we have thus cited ,including the glorious Revo lution itself. Nobody talked o fre volution in all this perpetual shifting o f the nation

’ssupreme legislature ; but when an Irish patriot seeks by achange in the land system to prevent famine

,eviction , and

murder , then Whig and Tory , Caiphas- like , rend their garments

,and l ike Herod and Pilate are “ Made friends that

same day ; for before they were enemies to on e another ,” and

calling together the magistrate s and the peop le they say tothem ,

‘This man stirreth up commotion among the people ,’

and forthwith ‘the ancients and the scribes ’

(of the press)

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

48

Parn e ll an d E m i g ra t i o n .

Breathes th ere a man with soul so deadWho never to h imself hath said,Th is i s my own , my native land .

The friends of E nglish misrule in Ireland have at al ltimes strenuously maintained that the true remedy for thedepressed condition of that country is emigration. To supp ly E ngland with abundance o f excellent produce is , in theirjudgment

,the natural destiny of Ireland . This theory explains

the anomalous circumstance that England imports from Irelandenormous quantities o f provisions and stock at a time whenthe Irish cannot feed themselves

,and other nations rush to

their re scue with money and provisions . To England this i s“ loss and gain

,but to Ireland it is unmixed loss . Thus

,

in 1845 thousands o f Irishmen died of hunger , while of thegrain crop o f that year England received quarters.In the same year England rece ived from Ireland live stock tothe value o f In 1847 , with the famine at itsz enith

,about bushels o f grain and meal were ex

ported from Ireland,and in the following year these exports

rose to In each o f the four years from1846 to1850about horn cattle

,and sheep and lambs were

sh ipped from Ireland to Great Britain. (See Bowen , AmericanPolit . E con

,page 86 , third edition .)All writers on politi

cal e conomy abound i n figures o f th is description, goingto show that Irish emigration cannot be sustaln ed on theground of Ireland’s lack of food for i ts own peop le . Thesame argument applies to all famines in Ireland , includingthe distress which Mr. Parnell’s visit to Americahas happilyhindered from reaching i ts full leng th . If a country cannotsupport its peop le

, there remains a choi ce of two alternativeseither leave it

,or d ie . But if

,as has been shown, Ireland

can maintain in abundance and happ iness a population

49

larger by many millions than it has had even in its bestdays , the necessity of emigration and the true cause o f

famine must be traced to other causes than want of nativewealth . We look in vain for the cause of emigration innature and philosophy . It is not in accordance with justiceand humanity that men should spontaneously emigrateto a fo re ign country

,and leave their own native land to be

enjoyed by foreig ners . Yet this i s Ireland’s case . Those

who leave are Irish o f the Irish,born and nurtured

,as were

their ancestors,on Irish soil ; while those who remain in ,

possession are -most of them English o f the English,who

seldom or never set foot on Irish soil . This process is notnatural

,nor in harmony with e ither the instincts o f nature

o r the dictate s o f good sense . The love of country is rootedin human nature , and is co - extensive with the human race .

The scenes o f “

C hildho od’s happy home are the first bornand the last to die in man. Its guilele ss memories are a fragrant odor which gratefully perfume the laborious years o fl ife

,and even soothe the sorrows a nd i nfirm i ti es o f o ld age .

This natural heritage has a special value for the Irish cottier,

i nasmuch as it does by itself for him what a variety ofagencie s combine to achieve for those who mo ve in the higherwalks o f life . With wealth and edu cation come a keen relishf or the delights of foreign travel

,and

.

the fitf ul surprises ofadventure

,by which mos t people can contrive to feel at home

i n the whole world. International duties and relations,

whether o f commerce or kindred, p1oduce similar bracing

results . But with the humble Irish peasant these agreeableexperiences have no place . "or him there is but on e world

,o n e

sphere , one central point whereat all the memories of the past ,the associations o f the present , an d the asp irations o f thefuture converge and mingle together. However humble

,i t is

to him at once his birth - place and his ancestralhome . Thepure undivided af f ections of his nature intertwine themselve si nextricably about it

,and

-

to have to surrender it,to leave it

f orever,but above all to be ' violently driven from it

,and cast

homeless on the world produces poignant pangs of grief onlysecond to those of death itself. E viction , the weapon or expression o f landlord tyranny

,i s the real cause o f Irish

emigration.

50

If the hard fate of the cottier ended with the accumulatedmiserie s o f eviction

,their bitter traces

,i f not wholly e f f aced

from his re colle ction , might at least be partially obscured bythe sunshine o f better and happ ier homes. But the fever andsquallor of the emigrant ship succeeded the atrocitie s o f

eviction,and the final scene o f the tragedy exhibited the ex

hausted outcasts thrown on the inhospitable shores o f astrange country without money

,education

,friends

,o r i n fl u

ence . During the year1847 , nearly immigrants landedat Quebec

,a large proportion o f whom were totally destitute

,

and must have perished had they not been sent in to the i nteri or of Canada , and aided in providing themselves withhomes at the expense o f the taxpayers . The hospitals attimes contained as many as o f them

,most o f whom

succumbed to disease, le av ing thousands o f immigrant orphansin Montreal

,Quebec

,Toronto

,and other leading towns o f

Canada,to be supported at the public expense . Such is the

history of the Irish emigrant,fleeing from famine at home

to encounter death in a still more ghastly form on a foreignshore .

"ar d iff eren t these from every fo rmer scene ,The cool ing brook , the grassy vested green,The breezy co vert o f the warbling g rove,That only shelter’

d thefts o f harmles s love .Good heavens what sorrows g loom’d that parting dayThat called them from the ir native walks away ;W hen the poor exiles , every p leasure past,Hung ro und the bowers, and fondly look’d their last .And took a long farewel l

,and w i sh’d 111vain

"or seats l ike these beyond the western mainAnd shudd’

ri n g sti ll to face the d istant deep ,Return

’d and wept,and stil l return ’

d to weep .

The good old sire the first prepar’d to g oT o new - found worlds , and wept f or o thers’woeBut f or h imself in conscio us virtue brave ,He only w ished f or world s beyond the grave .H i s lovely daughter, lovel ier in her tears ,The fond companion o f h i s h elpless years,S ilent went next

,neglectful o f her charms

And left a lo ver’s f or her father’s arms .With louder plaints th e mo ther spoke her woesAnd bless’d the co t where every p leasure ro seAnd ki ss’

d her thoughtless babes w ith many a tear,And clasp ’d them clo se

,in so rrow doubly dear

W h i l st her fond hu sband strove to lend reliefIn all the sil ent manl iness o f grief.

51

If a father,for valid reasons , is compelled to consent to

his son’s going abroad,and seeking a home in other lands

,

he will sweeten the rude severance o f tender tie s by unm i s

takable proofs of regret. But the history o f Irish emigration proves that the English Government and the Irish landlords

,in the ir e ff orts to promote it , pursued one common

obje ct—the extermination of the Irish race . As early as1580they had succeeded so well that

,Spencer informs us

,neither

the lowing o f a cow nor the vo ice of a herdsman could beheard from Dunquin in Kerry to Cashel in Munster .” Duringthe Cromwellian settlement a plan was devised to impor tIrishmen into the continent o f Europe

,to fight the battle s ,

and do all the other dirty works,o f the French and Spanish

princes . Agents from the King of Spain,the King of Por

tugal,and the Prince o f Cond"were contracting for those

brave fellows,who were treated like slave s in their native

land,and if they dared resist

,branded with the foul name o f

rebels. In May , 16 52, Don Ri ccardo White shippedmen for the King of Spain in September Colonel Mayo co llected more Lord M uskery took to Poland

,and

in 1654 Colonel Dwyer went to serve the Prince de Cond"withmen .

”(Miss Cusack

’s “ H is tory of Ireland,

” p .

Thus,the depopulation o f Ireland was the aim and purpose

,

from the outset,o f the Government and its Irish garrison

,the

landlords ; and this state o f things continues unchanged tothis day. Emigration was hateful to the emigrant

,who

,cast

upon the highways of his country,was reluctantly compelled

to accept it,and it was , and is , a

'

burden to other countrie swho were and are compelled to support the help less victims .America has been under the expense of feeding and clothingthe beggars of England

,in order that p lundering landlords

might have undisturbed leisure to lavish in riotous luxury,

the extensive fortunes by which the tenantry were renderedpaupers . If the Federal Government consulted its owninterests

,it would prohibit f pauper emigration, and as often

as su ch a law was violated,would reship the emigrants back

to the estate when ce they were ejected. Such‘a measure could

not fail to check the pauperizing of the Irish . peasantry bytheir merciles s l andlords . These are sensitive to the pressure o i publi c opinion , and many of them are far from being

52

dead to the dread responsibility of seeing human beings dieo n their e states . If the wretched pauper emigrants—useless to this country—were re turned to the doors of those whohad cast them out on the highways

,the re sult would be a

reaction o f wholesome sympathy for the oppressed . Thelandlords would see the wisdom of Parnellism

,

” and wouldsell their estates to the Government , to be given in fee simpleto the “ tillers o f the soil.” In this way America

,while

ridding herself of taxes she ought not to bear,would con

tribute to the abolition o f Irish landlordism,from which

shehas much to lo se and absolutely nothing to gain . Thecoercive measures f or the starving out o f the Irish peasantryprove the insinceri ty o f the p lea o f emigration . Whenever

,as i n

’

1826 , the landlords were beaten by the peop le at the hustings

,their organ

,the Evening Mail

,

”

sounded the war-whoop o f “ Extermination .

“ It was theProtestant lords of the soil that made those free - holds

,and

they can unmake them . Then came an onslaught o f persecuti on which had been so p lanned as to utterly wipe outthe cottier tenantry o f the country in seven years .”

Hearths were deserted,hovels unroofed, villages left without

a single inhabitant,and millions

,worn and attenuated by

want and disease,dropped dead in the ditches . Who de

vised the “ Coercion Bill ? “ A measure so mischievouscould only originate i n the fiendish malignity of the lords .“ In that rigorous measure

,the mali ce of the Algerine was

united with the oppression of the Insurre ction Act. Likethe one

,it suppressed all political associations ; like the

other,it made prisoners o f the peasantry—shut up all human

habitations as proclaimed from sunset to sunrise . It prohi b i ted political meetings o f every kind , assembled underwhatever pretext

,petitioning or anything else ; it set aside

the ordinary tribunals of justice,and established in their

place the Draconian cruelty o f marshal law. It violentlybroke open in the dead of night the peaceable dwelling o f theunsuspecting peasant

,and poured the armed myrmidons o f

insolent and licentious authority into the se cluded chamberso f domestic privacy

,condemning to transportation the i n

mates who happened to be abroad. In the long history ofBritish oppression—unmatched in atrocity in the annals o f

53

mankind—an act more sweeping, tyrannical , and mercilesshad never been framed . (

“ Life and Times o f O’

C onn ell,

”

O’

Kee f e, vo l. 2, p . But the men who framed this satanic

edict,at the suggestion o f the King’s “ brutal and bloody

spee ch,were Irish landlords

,some of them still living, all of

them ruling in their heirs, who s creened their infamy under

the specious pretext o f “ wholesome emigration .

” The bani shmen t o f the cottier farmers has ever been the delight ofthe Irish landlord . The growth o f the people

,which all

political writers and thinkers hold to be a true index ofnational prosperity

,was to them a grave and serious calamity .

The encouragement,

” says Lord Dunraven, “o f an excess

o f population is the greate st si n any man can commit, o r th egreatest mistake he can make .

” This abominable theory,

rej e cted by all received authoritie s on political e conomy,i s

the logical sequence of the impious assumption that Providence created landlords to keep down population.

”

There are two sorts of emigration needed for Ireland,and

the sooner they are initiated the better for that country,for

England,and for America. The first i s the exportation of the

landlords into respectable citizenship , where they may bespared the anguish of d i scomfiture superinduced by themselves . By a judicious emp loyment o f their wealth

,expe

ri en ce and attainments they might increase the prosperity o f

their unhappy country. In the cultivation of habits of industry and sobriety they would discover the delightful charm ofnovelty

,and would develop resources and originate enterprise s

which,besides rendering them benefactors to mankind

,would

secure them a more prominent niche in the temple of famethan is likely to be won by elegant leisure , aimless dissipation ,or the stup id routine of an hereditary manor house . Themetropolis o f Ireland a f f ords them , those o f them that areIrish

,ample fields of employment f or intelligence and cap ital .

That beautiful city has never re covered from the crushinge f f ects o f the Union. Its revival could be speedily e f f ected bythe intelligent co - operation of the Irish landlords ; and theexpenditure of their revenues

,while enriching the commercial

classe s and g iving a new impulse to manufactures , wouldcause themselves to be regarded as the saviors of the nationand the fathers of the peop le . Worlds of mis chie f would

54

vanish from the midst o f the agricultural classes with thedisappearance of the landlords . The seething gulf o f separation

,which now divides the tenant from his hated and almost

unknown master,would be permanently bridged over . Class

distinctions would cease to be o f f ens ive ; strife and hate andservile fear would be succeeded by contentment

,peace and

mutual re spect . The bailif f , the process - server, the landjobber , the racking agent would no longer stalk about as symbols o f evil to the depressed cottiers , but , on the contrary

,

would awaken to the degradation o f having to subsist byhounding down one class f or the aggrandizement of another .Live and let live , do as you would be done by , will be thegolden rule . Then may the E odus be sounded

,and the ban

i shed Irish people , scattered through the mountains and bythe seaboard, and hidden among the rocky recesse s o f Connemara

,be led back to the land o f their fathers. The sunny

valleys o f Munster and the ri ch plains o f Leinster will teemagain with a dense and happy population . Ireland will castaway all sorrow and enter upon a new existence

,and soon

send America and the world,not ghastly bands o f tearful

be g gars , but brilliant scholars , intelle ctual giants , andapostles of peace and truth . This is the se cond emigration

,

from the mountains to the valleys,from the wild morasses to

the fertile plains,and there is plenty of room and p lenty o f

need f o r i t within the circumference o f Ireland itself.It i s ingeniously alleged by the advocates of emigration ,

that the fortunes of those who remain are considerablyameliorated by the “ thinning ” process o f sending away thesuperfluous population. That i s quite true as to the landlords

,but as to the tenantry it is utter sophistry . The p lan

has had amp le time to bear fruit,but i t has borne sharper

thorns instead. If emigration could benefit Ireland , it oughtt o have done so before this ; but the condlti on of the Irishpeop le is worse at this day than it was when emigration began .

It i s also af firmed that the land is improved and its valueenhanced by emigration . The reverse is ‘ the common teaching of all political e conomists

,and they are sustained by the

evidence of facts . I subjoin two extracts from the I ri shTimes of Jan. 31, 1880 . The first goes to show that , aftermillions o f Irishmen have emigrated

,those who remain are

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

owing to the high rent. Finally the Recorder granted stayo f exe cution until one week after the next Land Sessions .

T,he.depreci ati on in the value of landed property in Ireland

has been most remarkably illustrated by an application madeto the Master of the Rolls . The applicant requested leave tosurrender a leasehold interest in a mansion

,demesne lands

,

and agricultural holding situated in the County Galway. InDecember

,187 7 , his lordship had directed that the interest

should be sold in the Landed Estates Court,and in pursuance o f

that order it had been put up for sale . There were,however

,

no bidders,and when advertisements were issued f or private

tenders a similar result ensued,in consequence

,according to

the a ffidavits filed in support o f the motions,o f the agitation

prevailing in the country . Meanwhile the head—rent wasfalling into arrear

,and no rents were coming in from the

tenants . Actions brought against the latter failed to enforcepayment o f their obligations , so that the interest in the leasehad become almost worthless . Though the tenants refusedto pay

,i t i s certain that their refusal was n o t due to inability ,

as two of them O f f ered to buy their holdings during the progress o f the sale in the Landed Estate s Court . The representative of the original leaseholder has completely lost an interest o f the value of When will it come home to theminds o f those who are responsible for this state o f things thatthe wealth o f a country consists in the wealth o f its individualinhabitants

,and that the nation is directly injured by the

impoverishment of any single member o f the community

If the Western States have undeniable attractions f or theIrish peop le

,it i s equally certain that what is wanted at home

is also needed here—an internal emigration. Thousands o f

Irishmen in the eastern cities are huddled together in overcrowded tenements

,Or in shantie s but one step removed from

the Irish hovel or mud cabin. They are located in wild,unfrequented suburban districts

,in sunken lots

,o r marshy

swamp s,or frowning rocks

,where goats and donkeys roam

about unmolested. It will be quite time enough to supp lementthis numerous class of Irish emigrants by fresh accessionswhen the depopulated lands o f Ireland shall have beensettled

,and its waste lands re claimed .

The following observations,of the Governor of Con

n ecti cut, will commend themselves to the impartial reader.Too much care ; canno t be taken to avoid exaggeration in o f f ering inducements to emigrants and settlers to go West, more

57

especially when there is question o f importing them from theland o f their birth and its endearing associations

That so many young men from New England do go to theWest f or homes

,seems to me the result of misinformation or

of wrong theorie s o f life . Why should any young man fromthese country towns of ours go to the far West to l ive ? Inalmost any o f these towns there are good schools. Here arechurches

,and the social advantages which these give post

o ffices and a frequent mail all the conveniences a f f orded byhaving physicians

,tradesmen and mechanics within easy

reach indeed,all the good and convenient things which

result from a long- established and a well- regulated socialorganization . Why leave all these ? What compensating advantages are there in the West

,especially to a man who

wishes to have the comforts o f a home,to rear and train up

children to an honorable and useful citizenship ? There canbe none Certainly none worthy of being named. Thereasons most o ften urged are the cheapness o f land and thelightness of taxation. In these particulars I am quite confident that no material advantages can be gained at the West.The price of improved farms—that i s, farms with buildings ,fruit trees

,fences

,water and the like—i s as small in many

parts of Connecticut as in the West. In respect to taxation ,many places in the West are more heavily burdened. Take

,

for instance,the parts where the towns and countie s have

been bonded to build railroads,&c. If any man and his wife

here starting life on a farm,will put forth the same degree o f

industry that would be required on a farm in any part o f theWest ; if they will live with the same economy, will undergothe same fatigue and su f f er the same self- denial

,will wear n o

better dress,will indulge in no more amusement ; in other

words , if they will live here as they would be compelled tol ive there , they can certainly build up a fortune here muchmore readily than there .

”

The landlords will find a desirable investment for cap italin the extensive territories o f the West

,together with the

classic distinction of being founders of cities ; while theircultured taste for sport will be satiated with the endlessvariety of adventure incidental to life on the prairies . But

the Irish cottiers,l ittle suited for gigantic enterprises by

centuries o f privation,will discover congenial bliss in develop

ing the agricultural resources of Kildare,and Meath , and

Limerick,and Tipperary. Un i que suum.

Parn e ll an d the I r i shL an d lo rd s .

P rinces and lord s may fl ourish or may fade ,A breath can make them as a breath has madeBut a bo ld peasantry, a country’s pride

,

W hen once destroyed can never be supplied .

If a house be o n fire i t '

beho oves all in the neighb orhoodto run with buckets to quench it, but the owner i s sure to beundone first .” That i s the sense o f alarm under which Irishlandlords come to crave f or mercy at the hands o f America .

It is an event without precedent in our history,but everything

has a beginning. Perhaps the most melancholy and depre ssing re cord o f e f f ete and worthless humanity i s the history ofthe British peerage . Pshaw said Dr. Doyle

,after hi s

examination in the Lords,

“ Such silly questions as they put.I think in all my life I never encountered such a parcel o f Oldfools .” One hundred years before the time of J. K. L .

,the

witty Dean o f S t. Patrick’s had found the peerage and aris

to cracy equally stup id and unprogressive,knocking their

heads needlessly against all measures cal culated to benefitthe people and uphold the true interests O f the Crown.

Ye paltry underl ings o f StateYe officers who love to prateYe rascals o f in ferior note

,

Who f or a dinner sell a voteYe pack o f pen s ionary p eers,Who se fingers itch f or wr i ter’

s earsYe b ishop s far removed from saints,Why all th i s rage—why these complaints :Why so sagacio us in you r gues sesWhy against print ers al l thi s n oi seTh i s summon ing o f blackguard boysYour eff s and tees

, your ars and essesTake my adv ice , to make you safe,I know a shorter way by halfThe po int i s plain—remo ve th e cau se .

59

If this advice had been taken,our age would not have wit

n essed the humiliating spectacle o f Irish landlords goingdown on their knees at the bar o f American public Opinion

,

striking their breasts and compunctiously exclaiming,

Through my fault,through my fault

,through my exceeding

great fault.” A drowning man will grasp at anything,and

British nobles,feeling the ground slipping from under the ir

feet,run back here to us “ v ile Yankee rebels

,who a few

years ago tossed their flag and their army into our bay,and

beg us to save them from Parnell . “ Save us,we perish .

Let us examine their es cutcheon.

The Irish landlords and aristocracy are responsible for thepresent distress and all the past misrule of their unhappycountry . They have traditionally . opposed the legitimateaspirations o f the peop le and persecuted those who encour

aged them,espoused their interests

,and fought f or the reco g

n i ti on of their rights . But that is not all. The landlordsd esired and energetically struggled f or the utter extermination o f the Irish cottiers

,positively in other days

,negatively

o r vicariously in our own time . Before the famine o f’

4 7 ,

f or instance,they opposed every anti cipatory measure sug

gested f or the relie f o f the peasantry , such as the div is ion o f

the ir e states into small freeholds , whose owners would thusbe encouraged to crop their land with a greater varie ty o f

produce,and so hinder the impoverishing of the soil . Long

b efore that famine came , it had been proved in a debate inthe House o f Commons that “ the want of small landed pro

pri etors,” “ the increase o f large estates ,

” and “ the loss sustai ned by the small tenants from inclosures and partitions o fcommon lands

,in which the wealthy proprietors get almost

all,while the poorer can hardly ever formally substantiate

their rights,

” were causes immediately leading to increasedpauperism . (See Hansard , p assim.)But instead o f regret

t ing,the landlords delighted i n this

,and delight in it still .

It is,says Bishop Gillooly

,a matter Of unhappy notoriety

that in Connemara,and in other places that I could

.

name ,advantage i s being taken o f the destitution o f the smallholders to evict them and get rid o f them ; and a convictionprevails amongst the peasantry in every part of the destituted istricts that now

,as in 1847 , the landlords are anxious to

6 0

force them into the workhouse in order to leve l t heir cabinsand free themselves from further liability for the ir support.

”

(Oath. Revi ew,N. Y .

, Feb . 7 , With this testimony ofan Irish Catholic Bishop we find a Scottish Protestant Prof essor in full harmony. Among the acts of baseness brandingthe English character in their blundering pretense o f governing Ireland, not the least was the practice o f confiscati n g theland which , by brehon law, belonged to the peop le , and givingit, n o t to honest resident cultivators (which might have been apolitic sort o f theft), but to cliques o f greedy and graspingoligarchs , who did nothing for the country which they hadappropriated but suck its blood in the name of rent , andsquander its re sources under the name o f p leasure

,and

fashion,and courtliness

,in London .

”(Prof. Blackie , C on temp .

Rev i ew.)This selfish clique have always been distinguishedfor their ostentatious support of the British Government

,but

in reality they were i ts worst enemies . Heedless of thoughtfulness and all the winning

.

arts of conciliation,they alienated

the husbandry O f their e state s both from themselves and thesovereign

,and are the responsible authors o f that proverbi

ally bitter hatred and thirst for revenge which the very nameo f England everywhere evokes in the breast o f the averageIrishman. So that England may truly say o f the Irish landlords

,Save me from my friends .” These beautiful words

are as applicable at this day as when written by Goldsmith

Ye friends to truth , ye statesmen who su rveyThe rich man’s joy increase, th e poo r’s d ecay ,

’Tis yours to judgehow w ide the l im it s standB etween a splendid and a happy land .

Proud swel l s th e tide w ith loads o f frighted ore ,

And shout ing fo llyhail s them from her shore ;Hoard s c’en beyond the m i ser’s w ish abound ,And rich men flo ck from all the world around .

Yet count our gains . Th i s weal th is but a nameThat leaves our u seful product s stil l the same .Not so the lo ss . This man o f w eal th and prideTakes up a space that many poor supp l ie’d :Space f or h i s lake , hi s park’s extended bounds ,Space f or h i s horses, equipages and hound s ;The robe that w rap s his limbs in silken slothHas robbed the neighbor ing field s o f half their growth :H i s seat where so litary sports are seen ,Ind ignant spu rns the co ttage from the green ;Around theworld each n eed lul product fl ies,"or all th e luxurie s th e world supplies.

61

W h i le thu s th e land adorn’d , f or p l easu re, all

In barren splendo r feebly waits the fall .”

Thu s fares the land,by luxury betray’d

In nature’s simp l est charms at first array’d,

But verging to decl ine,its splendors rise

Its v istas st i i ke,its palaces surprise ;

Wh i l e,scourged by famine from the sm iling lan d ,

The mournfu l peasant leads hi s humbl e band ;And wh ile he sinks

,without one arm to save ,

The country blooms , a garden and a grave .”

If the Irish landlords had limited their guilty career toindiff erence for the welfare of their tenantry

,or disregard of

serious pursuits and occupations,or even excessive dissipa

t ion and licentiousness familiar to their entire neighborhood .

it could be alleged in their defense that all men have theirfaults

,and landlords

,like other people

,should be allowed to

mind their own business . But history arraigns them forcrimes of a far more nefarious character . They framed thepenal laws

,unequalled by the most sanguinary edicts o f Imper

ial Rome . They ranged themselves'

i n serried phalanx againstevery e f f ort at legislative redress , and voted and planned withmurderous intent the professional ruin , and even the stealthymassacre o f those who strove to break the chains of the enslaved cottiers . Who are answerable to God and man for thechronic discontent and disa f f ection o f the Irish people ?Who have kindled the flames o f rebellion

,and

,like Nero

,

laid the guilt at the door of those whom they caused to beswallowed up in the co nfl ag rati on Who have thrown thetorch of discord among the united peasantry

,and bribed

them to outbid,and thus unhouse on e another ?

’

Who havesold the Parliament of the nation

,and crushed out its indus

tries,and subjugated the people by such ingenious device s

o f cruelty that their perverted reason regarded law and orderas monsters , to be held in detestation ? The despotic landlords

,the indolent aristocracy

,the fawning squireens

,in

hope o f some government clerkship to liquidate their indebtedness.

The struggles for Parliamentary representation and Emanci pati on brought the illiberal narrowness o f the lords of thesoil into unenviable prominence . Worsted in numerous encounters , they repeated their abortive eff orts to embarrass , to

6 2

entrap , and overthrow O’

C onnell. In him they recognizedtheir own sun down . Their venal sale o f the rotten boroughsfor their idiotic pastimes their scandalous revel sand carousi n g s a f f orded scope for the full p lay o f hi s perennial humor

I s there a lord who knows a cheerful noonW itho ut a fiddler

,fiatterer

,or bufl

'

oon ?

W ho se table wi t,or modest merit share

Unelbowed by a gamester, pimp, or player ?”

Lord Charlemont had been somewhat popular,and a pub

lican at Dungannon , who se p lace was known as the sign ofThe Goat,

” resolved to change it f or a portrait o f the nobleman

,and the p lace became famous as The Lord Charle

mont.” But his conduct toward the volunteers outragedpublic op inion

,and the inn became the reverse of popular .

A speculator started a rival p lace and revived the old title ofThe Goat

,

” on which the people took revenge by givinghimtheir exclusive patronage . The original publican

,deter

mined to hold h is Own ,and unwilling to remove the portrait

,

which was excellent , painted in large letters , over the head ofLord Charlemont in full uniform

Th is is The Real Old Goat .

The family name of Lord E nniskillen is Cole . The first ofthem was the son of a pack- saddle maker in Sussex . He

enl isted as a common soldier, and by his rigorous crueltyto the native Irish was honored with a knighthood. He

also Obtained a large booty of land by which he possessedthree votes

, which he sold f or a consi derati on to LordC ornwallis to aid him in e f f ecting the Union. In thisconnection the name of Lord Castlereagh will ever remainat the head of the list. The real n ame is Gregor , and thefounder of the house was Rob Gregor

,a ragman

,who

imported se cond-hand clothing into the County Down. Ina drunken brawl at Dumbarton he knocked out a man’seye

,upon which he fled from Scotland to Ulster, wher e

he peddled dry- goods,carrying his pack upon his shoulde r s .

The limits at my disposal will not permit me to trac ethe course o f his career , which ended by his cutting h i sthroat in London. The Irish peasantry toast the ev e n t

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

6 4

day . The oldest peers o f Ireland are those called S tron g b o oniane—Fitzgerald

,De Brugh

,Butler . An Irish peer of Eliza

beth,James

,o r William is already gray (si c)with the honors

o f antiquity. In the peerages O f Ireland there occur only twoIrish names

, O’

Bri en and O ’

Ne i l. The Irish peers are notbound by historical associations to Ireland , as the peers ofEngland and Scotland are to their respe ctive countries . Theyare linked to Ireland only by their e’

states . An ti qi tam exqui

ri te matram i s the general mandate among them,and is gener"

ally obeyed. England is the country o f the Ir ish noblem an ;i t is the seat of his ambition and the scene o f hi s p leasure .

He ruled Ireland , when he had the power , with a rod of ironand a scourge of s corp ions. When she was to be bought hesold her without shame and without compunction . If theE nglish minister gave but the . word

,he would steep her in

blood.

”

"or a history of thi s '

modern Irish aristocracy the readeris referred to two unprejudiced authoritie s

,Dean Swift and

B i sl1Op Berkeley , both Protestants , men whom inclination andprinciple would lead to give a favorable view . The vigorou slanguage o f the first never exhibits its terrible power so e f f ec

tually as when rending the aristocracy, who never built amansion o n their propertie s , nor a church , nor s chool , n or

any public institution ; who saw thousands o f miserable serfs‘

die every day o f cold,and hunger

,and filth

,and famine who

squeezed their rents out of the very blood, and vitals , andclothes, and dwellings of the tenants , who had neither shoenor stocking to their feet

,nor a home as good as an English

hog- sty to re ceive them ; who cried ou t to the tenant withPh

'

aroah : Ye are idle , ye are idle , O I sraeli ti es, when hewanted them to make bricks without straw. E ven the gentle '

Berkeley describes the aristocracy of his time as Goths inignor ance

,spendthrifts

,drunkards

,and debauchees . (Dub

li n Revi ew. Article attributed to Newman .)In England and America the poorer classes of the Irish are

taunted with habits of intemperance . The truth is theseabuses descended to them from the ranks o f what is calledthe gentry—a ruined race

,composed partly o f English blood ,

partly o f men o f “ the pale .

” As the property o f the greate rpart o f the Irish gentry had been obtained by open and

6 5

undisguised robbery—disguised as confiscati on—they naturally adopted the wild

,wasteful

,and licentious extravagance

of robbers . They scarcely used a sentence without a blas

phemy,and went out to shoot each other with as little

remorse as they would feel in bringing down a woodcock.

The duelist who had taken down his man was a hero whosefame excited envy. If he exceeded that number , and murderedhi s half dozen , his name in the Irish temple of renownwas immortal . Is it suprising

,then

,if the manners of

’

theupper classes were adopted by degrees among the masse swhom they held in ville inage Need we go farther in orderto learn how it happened that whiskey drinking became so

general ? Life and Times o f O’

C onnell,O

’

Kee f e , vol. I .,page

But these imported accomplishments are regarded bythe average American as the distinguishing characteristi cs o fthe Irish . In addressing Lord Whitworth on the vices o f

his predecessor Scully,says

,

“ The English aristocracy sel

dom sought for talent as a qualification f or the viceregalthrone o f Ireland . They were long in the habit o f deputinga King Log to govern us . They either sent us a vi ceroy without brains

,o r one who was notorious f or the habitual vice of

putting an enemy into his mouth to steal away his intelle ct .Ignorance

,inebriety

,or both have been to o often the charac

teri sti cs of Ireland ’s chief governors . Northington,Town

send, Rutland , or Richmond were distinguished for nothing

so much as f or thirst. Ignorance about Ireland is the baneof her viceroys . Hence it i s clear that the existence oflandlordism is incompatible with the prosperity o f Ireland .

"or they are at the head, and ho ld the moving springs o f

the political and social life o f Ireland . Whatever i s corrup t,

bigoted,anti- Irishin them 1s adopted and exaggerated by

their fawning imitators—the landed gentry and small squiresand is through their poisonous channel filtered down throughthe innermost recesses o f Irish life . Thus the handful ofpeers are the destruction o f the country.

’

Whoever seeks,

like O’

C onnell, to educate the public mind , and , like Parnell ,to point out the popular ignorance in which the Irish ari sto cracy

,like that o f all countries

,had i ts origin , becomes the

object o f their combined virulence,hate

,slander

,and quench

le ss opposition . It i s no secret that their perse cution o f

6 6

O’

C onn ell did much to send the Liberator to an untimelygrave ; and the pre sent vi ctim whom they fain would wipeout i s Mr. Parnell . Their hatred does him honor ; it isindeed a privilege to be hated by such monsters . Take aninstance of how they rule over their Irish estate s . LordDigby owns some acres in Ireland

,about a fourth of

the Kings Co .

What is the condition of the persons employed onhi sproperty? They are buried in squalor and ignorance . Theirhungry and tattered indigence was so profound that only onewas ri ch enough to serve 0 11a p etty j ury.

” Thus,the side

o f a country,

” the population o f a principality,were destitute

o f the right guaranteed by the Consti tution—trial by jury.

In a territory comprising the quarter o f a county , amongstpeople

,there was only one j uryman to be found .

Throughout this vast tract of land the British Constitution wasa mockery The inhabitants were as destitute of its privilegesas the inhabitants of Barbary. This was a consequence Of i nse curity. Lord Digby would give no leases

,a circumstance

which n o t only p lunged his tenantry int o poverty, but de

pri ved them of the benefits which they should enjoy from thelaws they were subjected to . The wealth of a province wasOften spread on the sumptuous board of this absentee nobleman

,and his tenantry

,as a consequence

,were commonly in

want of food to satiate the cravings o f nature .

”I s

i t to be wondered at that those tyrants should pour a tempestof virulent inve ctive at Mr. Parnell

,because he strives to

break down this the most powerful confederacy that evercrushed out a peop le ’s liberty or outraged their rights ? Yetthere are Americans who depreciate Mr. Parnell , and callhim vile names

,and accept the picture drawn of him by

certain New York newspapers"The reader will be careful toobserve that I speak not against the principle s of aristocracygenerally

,but against the wholly anomalous aristocracy o f

Ireland . There i s no comparison whatever between ari sto c

racy,as known i n other countries

,and that o f Ireland . Indeed,

the princip le o f aristocracy is ben eficen t and most humane ,f or it is simply the recognition o f a class o f superior education and acquired wealth to guide the current of events , refl ect the light o f lofty examp le

,shape the destinie s and even

6 7

the legislation o f their country,and so virtually rule it

,by

the tacit consent , at least , and grateful approval o f the masses .To omit the ancient aristo cracies of the European Continent ,America

,and each large city o f America , has its aristocracy

of this excellent type,and is j ustly proud of them . Why ?

Because their es cutcheon is stainless . They have risen bythrift and industry. Their wealth is their own

,honorably

acquired . It is American wealth , made in America and di sbursed in America, benefiting our people , and teaching ouryouth to go and do likewise . To disturb or lift v iolent handsagainst such an aristocracy would be the essence o f revo lu

tion. Give Ireland such an aristocracy for fifty years,and there

will not be a country 0 11the globe so prosperous and wealthy .

To compare such. an institution,the Astors , the Roosevelts , the

Bankers,the Schermerhorn s

,Asp i nwalls, L en oxes, Go elets,

Belmonts,Phelps

,L o ri llards

,and hosts of such families

,to

th‘e alien aristocracy o f Ireland,is l ike comparing the

free -booter,the tramp , the pirate , and the assassin ,

to peaceful and industrious citizens . America has nothingto fear and much to hope from her aristocracy

,and her

aristocracy from America. Irelandhas everything to fearand absolutely nothing to hope from the foreign aristocracythat bleeds her life blood with ceaseless rapacity . And

,con

versely, the Irish aristo cracy has neither danger to fear n o r

favors to expect from the Irish peop le . Having thesoldiers of England to enforce

,and the hireling pre ss of

England to defend its Oppression,it can indulge its cruelles t

ins tincts without a thrill o f apprehension.

” Can Americansconscientiously approve such a system ? Let it no t be said thatthis is an ancient state o f things . It is not ; but the existingstate of things . What O ’

C on nell said some forty years agocan be

,and is

,here affirmed without fear o f contradiction

The system which afflicted Ireland for ' centuries continuesto the present hour . If the ari sto cray do not slaughter withthe sword

,as they formerly did

,they massacre by exterm i

nation . The tory landlords who drive the peasantry in thousands from their cabins

,put an end to human life by the slow

and wasting process of hunger and destitution.

” They do soat this day, and the one true remedy f or Ireland is Parnellism ,

”

i . e.,the abolition

,by constitutional methods

,o f Irish land

68

lordi sm . It is vain to reason about half measures,o r to look

to remedial measures from the men who,in granting them

,

would cripple themselves . A tendency to pander to ,

aristocracy was the bane of O ’

C onnell’

s political proje cts itwas the rock on which his fortune s were destined to bewrecked . In 1826 Dominick Ronayne threatened to carrythe war into the enemy’s camp , and tumble down the peerageon the heads of the peers . I will exhibithow the accountsstand with the oligarchs . In the House o f Lords there are36 5 peers

,with their familie s

,who

,in s inecures

,grants

,pen

sions , ambassadorships , governorships , the army, navy , church ,etc.

,share between them no les s than with 205

peers,Irish and Scotch

,including b ishops

,not sitting in

Parliament,who pocket the sum o f Here is a to tal o fWell

,how does the other branch stand , the

colle ctive wisdom,the other link o f the chain , the othe r

branch of the joint concern Why,they have

,with their

families,but To prevent O ’

C onn ell from unitingwith Ronayn e

,and

,by his unlimited influence and gigantic

powers,subverting their order

,and liberating the emp ire , the

aristocracy caved in,became sweet and gracious to O ’

C onnell,

and said all sorts of nice things about the Catholic association.

When their point was gained , they assumed the aggressiveanew

,and inflicted on the people the insulting , unjust measure

o f the church rate s bill . Let Parnell take a lesson from this .Let him labor on and he will p lace the Irish landlords where ,at a memorable ele ction

,the Beersf ords were placed inWater

fo rd , their own stronghold , by their own tenantry. TheMarquis of Waterford had canvassed for two years ,spending The fishermen o f Dungarven, afterele ction

,photographed him thus He was like a sea- calf on

the shore,with the tide out

,slashing and bedaubing all about

him,while he was himself stranded and wrecked forever.”

Parnellism,steadily followed up

,will create a new manhood ,

and a sustaining sense of citizenship in the people , so long“ d riven to the hustings as the beasts that perish to theshambles .” Moderation in counselling the landlords aboutabsenteeism will not do

,and

,two generations hence , will pro

v oke a smile on men’s faces just as we o f to - day smile at thejust p leadings of Judge Fletcher to an Irish grand jury :

09

“ Is there no method of allaying those discontents of thepeople and preventing them from flying in the face o f thelaws ? Yes

,gentlemen I should imagine that the permanent

absentees ought to see the policy,if no better motive can

influence them,o f appropriating liberally some part of those

Splendid revenues which they draw from this country,which

pay no tax,or poor rates

,and of which not a shilling is

expended in this country. I say that the permanent absentees ought to know that it is their interest to contributeeverything in their power "

and within the sphere o f theire xtensive influence

,towards the improvement o f a country

from whence they derive such ample revenue and sol idbenefits . Instead o f doing so

,how do many o f them act ?

They often depute their manager upon the grand jury o f

the ’

C o unty. This manager gets his jobs done without quest ion or interruption his roads

,and his bridges

,and his park

walks,all are conceded . "or my part

,I am wholly at a loss

to conceive how those permanent absentees can reconcile itto their feelings or their interests to remain silent spectatorso f such a state o f things

,or how they can forbear to raise

their voices in behalf of their unhappy country,and attempt

t o open the eyes o f our English neighbors,who

,generally

speaking , know about as much of the Irish as they do of theH indoos . Gentlemen

,I will tell you what these absentees

ought particularly to do . They ought to promote the establi shmen t of house s o f refuge

,houses o f industry

,and school

houses,and set the example on their e state s o f building

d ecent cottages , so that an Irish peasant may have at leastthe comfort of an English sow

,f or an English farmer would

refuse to eat the flesh o f aho g so lodged and fed as an Irishpeasant is .” Are the cottiers of to—day any better o f f after alapse of forty years ? “ Again

,I say that those occasional

absentees ought to come home,and n o t remain abroad rest

ing upon the local man ager,a specie s o f locum tenens upon

the grand jury. They should reside upon their own estates ,and come forward with every possible improvement for thecountry.

”Have they done so ? By no means . In the London

clubs such advice provokes jeers from the landlords , whoagree in concluding the judge to be a madman .

Let the reader judge for himself if absenteeism is not at

7 0

this day precisely what it was half a century ag o . The report o f a recent Royal Committee into absenteeism showsthat there are Irish absentee persons

,absolute owners

,

who are the absolute possessors of acres of land .

This land is worth variously , let us suppose , from half aguinea to three and five guineas per year . Some o f i t belongsto the Corporation of London

,and other such bodies . The

government figures,always below the truth

,describe the

amount drawn annually out of land alone by absentee landlords at which calculation includes only some twentyowners . According to Arthur Young’s revised list

,the total

sum drawn by Irish absentees is a year . TheMarquis o f Bath receives from Ireland

,which he has never

visited,

a year ; the Earl o f Pembroke drawsthe Marquis o f Landsdowne

,a year from Kerry alone

Lord Fitzwilliam,

from Wi cklow alone ; Sir RichardWallace

,a resident o f Paris

,a year from Connemara

,

and the Duke o f Devonshire from two Irish estates,

which he scarcely ever visits . What equivalent does Irelandre ceive ? Absolutely nothing. This is the great evil to whichthe true antidote i s Parnellism—abolish the landlords . Ontheir account decay i s v isible in the towns and cities ofIreland ; exhaustion impoverishes the land, while a fewmonths ago were seen the awful sights o f a woman walkingforty miles to a poor - house with her child starving inherarms

,and sixty able - bodied men seeking admission to the

same hated institution .

It is dif ficult to see how the frame -work of Britishsociety would be dissolved by the abolition o f the presentsystem o f Irish landlordism . S imilar changes have occurred

,

in the history o f nations,without material deterioration

o f national wealth or glory . In England alone there i sabundance of pre cedent

,both in remote and re cent times .

In the civil war of the barons,histori c houses changed

names and fortunes . In the wars between the houses ofYork and Lancaster

,the nobility and gentry seem to have had

nothing more at heart than their own utter destruction . Newfamilie s were brought into existence and old ones demolished.

To a polit i cal e conomist, or a violent advocate o f the status

quo, the prospe ct of such changes would have appeared ap

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

72

beastlyYankees , etc. , should now come across to cravesympathy and support at our hands ? This deadly thrust atlandlord tyranny

,dealt

,through the Herald

,by the landed

gentry themselves,re ceived vigorous support from the uncon

cealed partiality which the Herald had the bad taste todisplay with needless ostentation . Its columns were freelyopened to adverse criticism on Mr . Parnell

,to the rigorous

exclusion of favorable notices . About two columns were dailyfilled with extracts from every shade o f American journalisma f f e cting to refle ct the opinions of the press .” But in n o

single instance could space be found for any extract laudatoryof Mr . Parnell . Here again the sagacity o f the people wasquick to discern foul p lay. The Herald had overshot the mark.

Its power for mischief was exhausted,and its utterances were

henceforward accepted in a sense dire ctly the opposite ofwhat they were designed to convey. Such has ever been theresult when

,in dis cussing questions o f public utility , partial

ity , prejudice , and judicial blindness have been permitted totake the place o f candor

,truth

,and sober argument.

The letter o f the Earl of Dunraven was the last crowninge f f ort o f the Herald to damp the enthusiasm of the Parnelldarty. It filled five columns of the huge journal

,having

o ccupied a similar space in the E ven i n g Teleg ram,also the

property o f James Gordon Ben nett. Leaders were profuselyissued in which it was fulsomely eulogized, and all New Yorkhad soon become aware that the ponderous do cument wascabled word for word by James Gordon Bennett. It is needle ss to observe that the Herald

’

s columns were clo sed to anyreply. The majority o f the staf f emp loyed on that paperwere heart and soul with Mr . Parnell, several o f them be ingmembers o f the committees charged with making his re ception and mission a grati fying success . They considered theletter a brutum fulmen

,and laughed it to s corn. Let us see

whether they were not well advised .

The following is one o f many replies to Lord Dunraven,some o f which were re fused admittance to the Herald

To the E di tor of The S tar :The public having had amp le time to digest the other side

o f the question,the friends and admirers o f Mr. Parnell have

73

much reason to thank the press for giving to thehght thesignificantly long le tter of the Earl of Dunraven . It is as ingularly suicidal production . It is also a clear mirror

,

reflecting truthfully the shallowness of mind and disregardof truth which characterize the conduct of the Irish landlordtoward the tenant . As to Lord Dunraven

’

s claim to be cons i dered an Irishman , it may be observed that “ all are notIsraelites who are of Israel . It is r ight also to say to “ the

p ractical common sense and perspicu ity of the Americancharacter

,that o f all Irish esta tes

,from Cape Clear to the

Giant’s Causeway,the least Irish is that o f Adare . It is the

f ocus and headquarters o f the Palatines . They own the bestfarms o n the estate . They are and ever have been speciallypreferred and fostered by the Quinn family

,a fact whereof

,

o n another occasion,I may furnish your readers some inter

e sting evidence .

Next to the Palatine,the spe cial fondness o f the late Earl

o f Dunraven was for trees,and his heir is o f course faithful to

“ inherited instinct . Small holdings were systematicallyconsolidated into the estate and the cleared space forthwiththickly planted

,the poor holders having been sent to

America. The value o f woodland was a hobby with the landlord and he rode it with a vengeance . The present Earl willremember

,in this connection

,the ' encouragement giv en to

Mr . Madden to go to Adare from the C lan carty estate , so asto create nurseries and keep up an abundant supply o f youngher. It was the late Earl ’s ambition to make Adare thebest timbered estate in Ireland. To this overmastering passionall things had to yield precedence . I distinctly rememberthe drooping spirits with which

,some fifteen and e ighteen

years ago,I saw human beings in Adair making place for trees

,

and quoted the well- known words in which Goldsmith mournsthe land to hastening ills a prey

,where wealth accumulates

and men decay .

The families then expatriated are now toiling hard for ascant subsistence i n New York and other cities o f theseS tates . They have no home

,and Adare has abundance of

timber.It is untrue that “ fair rent is all the landlord

,and in par

t i cular Lord Dunraven,wants f o r a farm . Does his lordship

remember when Capt . Ball’s p lace became vacant? Will hed eny that powerful influence and all manner o f land- j obbingwere brought into play in giving it away ? Will he deny that ,n o t a “ fair rent

,

”but “ get all you can ” was the terms o f saleo n that occasion ?and it is quite truehere , “ Ex un o d i sce

omnes .There are men from Adare in our cities who well remember

the rack - rent career of Captain Ball,and the burning detesta

7 4

tion with which his name was re ceived by the Adare tenantrytwenty years ago . Does his lordship forget that in that indiscriminate display o f the agent’s fervid zeal the venerable parish priest (a gentleman whose family i s older than the Quinn

’

s—i . e.,Dunraven

’

s)was no t excluded, that his rent was raised ,and that

,as a last resort, it was deemed necessary to have

re course to the unseemly remedy o f altar denunciation so asto che ckmate the ruthless career o f both landlord and agent?But apart from the re cent mismanagement o f the Adare

estate,the best proof that Lord Dunraven defends a hopeless

cause,and is cruelly faithful to “ inherited instinct

,is fur

n i shed by the internal evidence o f his letter . It i s a tissue o ffalsehood

,clumsily tinged with stale wit

,and spic‘ed with gra

tui tous assertions o f quite a sensational type and if Irishlandlords will only be so good as to furnish p lenty o f this sortof article to the American press Mr. Parnell ’s triumphant success is indeed assured. Englishmen will speedily exclaimwith Swift

,

“ that no nation was ever so long or so scandalouslyabused by the f olly

,the temerity

,the corruption and the

ambition of its domestic enemies,or treated w i th so much rid

i cule,misrepresentation and injustice by its foreign friends .”

Lord Dunraven says that “ the Irish alone seem to lookupon it as a disgrace to leave their native land.

” Nothingcould be further from the truth . Men o f all nations leave

,and

have in all time left,their native land with reluctance and

heartfelt regret. There i s nothing whatever “ ins crutable” inthe fact. It is perfe ctly natural

,given the concession that

tenan ts in Ireland have the right to be natural . That i s whatthe landlords refuse to concede .

“ In Ire land,continues the

noble Lord,

“ tenants are apt to attach a sentimental value totheir holdings

,which makes them so unwilling to leave

until at las t they have to leave,crippled and encumbered with

numerous debts .” Here is an egregious piece of folly . Theattachment men have for their homes—no matter how humble—

.i s rooted in the depths of the soul . It is incomparably thenoblest o f the natural virtues . It is the, fertile source o f featsof thrilling heroism and deeds of awful sacrifice . Who willcompare the achievements wrought b y greed o f power

,o r lust

o f gold,or tireless energy

,or sleepless ambition and revenge

to the transcendent works which men and nations have in al lages dared and triumphantly accomplished p ro ari s et foci sAll jurists and statesmen unite in regarding it as a justifiablecause f or war . It i s the one spring of human action whichnever dries up . It has written in letters of gold the brightestpages o f Grecian and Roman history. Orators never tire o feulogizing nor poets o f warbling its praises .

B reath es there a man w ith soul so dead ,Who never to h imself hath said ,Th is i s my own

,my native land

7 5

Our Indian tribes in re ceding be fore progressive civilization show the greatest reluctance

,break all manner o f trea

ties , murder our armies and embalm with their life -bloodtheir vanishing holdings . In distant regions the "ulu andthe Afghan do likewi se

,thus chanting

,each in his own style

,

the sweet strain o f the ancients

Du lce et decorum est pro patria mo ri.

It will n o t do to seek to dismiss the universal eviden ce o f'

mankind as a p ie ce o f sentimentality .

I will now briefly photograph the true picture of an isolated sentimentalist. I fancy the scion of an illustrioushouse , to the manor born , heir to several magnificent estates ,in which

,both before and since his majority

,he has been

conspicuous by his absence . About to marry a wife,he finds

,

through his excessive love of Ireland,that the whole country

does no t contain a girl good enough or pretty enough f orhim . SO he skips across to the H ighlands and weds a Scottish lassie . He j ourneys through lands and seas

,and i s at

home in the whole world. H i s native hills and dells seelittle o f him

,though the Empress Of Austria finds there the

very best sport attainable . But he glides incessantly across .

the great ocean ; plows the trackless snows of Canada ; loves .

to climb the Rocky Mountains ; lie s prostrate for whole day son a hillside in the ranches of Wyoming

,chatting with his

red- skinned guides,or calling the moose

, or perched uponthe limb of a leafless desert tree

,perusing an insipid novel.

The Earl o f Dunraven “ knows how it is himself.”

H i s Lordship complains o f the want of manufacturing i ndustri es f or the Irish people . Next to the English Government

,the Irish landlords are responsible f or this . Their

education,their power

,and their wealth enable them to.

initiate e f f orts looking to the revival o f Irish manufactures .Their influence too

,rightly used

,would so shape publi c

opinion,and so concentrate the united action o f the whole

Irish people as to compel Government co—operation . But thelandlords of Ireland are either Englishmen who never seeIreland

,o r Irishmen who see and understand it least of all

countries on the globe . When they do reside in Ireland ,here is an instance

,among a thousand

,which shows how they

patronize native manufactures : A gentleman of Lord Dunraven’s county called to procure some horse brushes at thebrush factory o f Mr. Hugh Hastings , Limerick . Exhibitingan old brush to show what manner o f article he wanted , heobserved

,I commonly buy my brushes in England , but just

now am run short .” The trader,irritated

,snapped o f f the

thin veneering from the brush and displayed hidden underneath his private trade -mark . What was the fact ? Unableto find a market in Ireland for his goods , he had been

7 6

wont to ship them in large quantities to England,where

they were stamped with the Engl ish trade—mark and reshipped to Ireland as English work

,when they commanded good

sale as English goods . What have the Munster landlords,

particularly Lord Dunraven,done to foster the culture o f

flax , the use of Limerick lace , and the world- known Limerickglove

,or Irish poplin ?

But we must not suppose that Lord Dunrav en ’

s l iteraryskill is exhausted in dishing up rehashed platitudes for our

American persp i cuity .

”H i s Lordship has the astounding

temerity to coin vulgar maxims out o f the plain,sober

Spee ch of Mr . Parnell,putting into that gentleman’s mouth

words which he n ever employed . If it be not so,why has he

n o t cited the speech or pamphle t in which he found the Parnell maxims ? And is it not quite clear that it 1s Dunraven , and not Parnell , who a f f ects to p lay quack to Irishgullibili ty ? It is n o uncommon thing

,in the :polemics of

the land question,to find noblemen who stoop to falsify the

words o f an adversary for they well know that althoughthe devil be the father o f lie s , he has , like other great i nventors , lost much o fhi s reputation by the continual improvements that have been made upon him .

But there is luxury in putting a pet name o n one ’s intelle ctual parturitions

,and Dunraven forthwith sends his

maxims to the world as organized robbery. It is apretty phrase

,but it is likewise a perfect definition o f the

Adare Manor and estate . Lord Dunraven can see from thebeautiful castle in which he wrote his pronunciamento

,the

lonely abbey ruins that dot the landscape . Let him ask himself Who built them ? Who originally owned the Adaree state History answers “ The Irish people

,

” whosedescendants his ancestry impoverished and expatriated tomake homes f or the Palatine and all manner of aliens . H i sLordship can justly chuckle upon his inherited instinct.The quack pill of emigration will not furnish the

desired panacea . The Irish race,in common with all the race

o f Adam,will insist on living and laboring for their altars and

firesi des. The citadel o f landlordism must disapp ear .Parnell is but the vox populi

,

” and it is idle attempting tothrow mud upon him . It may soil the fingers that pick it up ,but it cannot besmear the pure and fearless popular tribunewho stands clothed with the moral power of two hemispheres .The hatred o f landlordism is rooted i nerad i cally in the Irishrace

,and the peop le when left to their own judgment , seldom

mistake their true interests . The system was founded inbloodshed

,cradled in injusti ce

,and nurtured with merciless

confiscation. Its knell i s sounded. It shall die by thetrenchant scimeter of truth , without one drop o f blood, on e

7 7

act of injustice , or o ne louder word than peace to i ts ashes .At the funeral there may indeed be some fisti cuffin g , ak in tothat historic row in Clare

,between the I n chi qu i nn s and the

Quinns , in which the latter skedaddled and settled down inLimerick . But in the event o f a muss the landlords w ill findcomfort in the remembrance that “ if a house be swept

,the

more occasion there i s for such a work the more dust it willra i se .

CHARLES J. SM ITH,M. D .

,N . Y.

If Lord Dunraven ’

s ancestors believed emigration neces

sary,why did they import a foreign population to overcrowd

their estates , and above all, why did they select for importatati on a class of peop le who were unable to benefit

,and must

infli ct injury on,the country ?

O f the Palatines , Swift says in his history o f the Four lastyears o f the Queen that The public was a loser by everyindividual among them . Again

Those who advised the bringing in o f the Palatines wereenemies to the Kingdom (Exami ner , NO . and again

,Some

persons,whom the voi ce o f the nation authorizes me to call

her enemies,taking advantage o f the general naturalization

act,had invited over a great number o f foreigners of all re

li g i ons, under the name of Palatines , who understood notrade or handicraft

,yet rather choose to beg than labor who

besides infesting our streets,bred contagious diseases , by

which we lost,in natives

,thrice the number of what we gained

in foreigners (Exami ner, No .

Yet this class were a f f e ctionately h arbored by Lord Dunraven’s ancestors

,who gave them some o f the best holdings

in Adare . In his lordship ’s deer park fifty familie s could earnan abundant living if he did n o t hold to the doctrine thatdeer are more desirable than men.

Lord Dunraven says that many o f them (the Irish)sup

pose that there is a Celtic Irish peop le in existence . Thereis no such thing. The inhabitants o f Ireland are a verymixed race

,composed principally of Celts

,Danes and English

men,both o f which is called the Anglo - Saxon and the Nor

man race .

” In the first place,that has nothing whatever to

do with the Parnell question . It is not a learned ethnolo g ical discussion as to races—how much o rhow little they predominate i n the actual agricultural population of Ireland.

78

But it is a question o f making those who are hi e et nun c

the til lers o f the soil its rightful owners,in fee simple .

In the se cond place , there is a patent piece of Sophistry inrepresenting the present population of Ire land as moreheterogeneous in its composition than that o f other countries .The Irish people to - day are more themselves than any otherpeople on the globe . They possess more o f their ancientlanguage and their general national characteristics than canbe found in most other peoples Let us see how theycompare with “ the sister country .

In the time o f Claudius , n o t to go farther back , Britain wasoverrun by Roman soldiers . It is no t supposing too much tosay that those successful warriors—n o t unlike the rest ofmen—did marry and beget children

,who thus became born

Britons . They stamped their own impre ss upon the country,

and were a factor of more or les s importance in the formation o f the population. When the Roman legions were re

called to defend their own country against the harassingincursions o f the Goths

,the Picts poured down incessantly

upon the British , who , to defend themselves , were forced tocall in the Saxons . These reduced the greatest part o f thecountry to their own power

,drove the Britons into the moun

tains,and in customs

,religion, and language v irtually Saxon

i z ed the entire land . Here we have four distinct elementarysource s o f population in England , anterior to Edward th eConfessor . Subsequently matters grew still worse . Edward

,

having lived long in France,made French the language o fhi s

Court . Then came William the Conqueror, who brought overVast numbers o f the French , locate d them in the Saxon M on

asteri es,“ gave them great quantitie s o f land

,caused their

language to be used in the courts o f law,and endeavored to

make it the common language of the kingdom . Under Henrythe Second the change progressed apace

,f or

,having inherited

much French territory,that monarch divided his time and

sympathie s alike between both countrie s . For centuries afterthere was a constant intercourse between France and England

,

and a perpetual mixing up of both peop les,by reason o f the

dominions E ngland possessed in France , and the conquestsby which she extended them . But it is not England alonewhose history dis covers the fallacy of Lord Dunraven

’

s

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

80

stock,and clearly thinks “ good enough f o r Americans “ They

assert that no landlord has an absolute title in the land,that

i s to say , that even if he bought his land under the Eucumbered Estate s Court, or from former proprietors , and theycommence an agitation f or the avowed Obje ct of creating a

number o f landlords who are to have an absolute interest inthe land , but they do n o t condescend to explain how thefuture landlords can obtain any better title than the presentproprietors possess .” Here there is contempt f or grammar,but an absolute murdering o f logic. The Parnell proprietarywill pay for the land to the last cent or shilling o f its value

,

and will justly own i t . Have the present owners done so?

Lord Dunraven does not dare say so,but cunningly shirks a

question which he must blush to confront. Is confiscatio npurchase ?” In p ity I st0 p here , and am quite sure his Lordship will drop i t with thanks.

“ Is it probable that the mere fact of ownership will haveany marked e f f e ct upon that first bless1n g o f precept to manWill future landlords become frugal to their famil ies . Herehe fails again to see the “

p eti ti op ri ncip i i”by which he begs the

question . In Mr. Parnell’s p lan there will be no landlords.

Is that p lain? Will Irish peasants cease to be blessed withnumerous children because they become proprietors?” TheIrish owners o f the Parnell type will not be cursed with thebands of illegitimate children which have abounded in theneighborhood o f every Irish landlord . Neither will the peasant proprie tor endorse the doctrine

,born of devils and

preached by landlords—that children must not be brought intothe world . The day has yet to dawn when Irish tenants willrequire to be taught moral re ctitude by the landlords . Allelse gone

,they held fast to that. Early marriage s have been

their rule,at once their only sour ce o f bliss , and the pr i ncip le

of the ir indestructibility. They created a family a f f e ction ofinextinguishable power

,and i ts results are the pride o f the

Irish people . In Scotland 10 per cent. o f the births are illeg i timate

,in England 6 per cent ,

and in Ireland 3per cent .From which

,if you subtract the contributions o f the landlords ,

the Irish percentage will be 0 . (See Faucett," Pauperism ,

”

p . Progeny after progeny came forth from the pure humble homes of the loving Irish cottiers

,and peop ling the States ,

81

the Canadas , and the Australias , reflected back their first lovein undiminished warmth and strength

,in the shape of some

to cheer the last days of the “ old folks at home .

”

(How far would that go toward “ bearing the landlords ?Lord Dunraven is chagrined because the Old people spentsome o f our American cash in clo thing their youth

,and mak

ing them honor the Sabbath by increased external decorum .

It is an old habit of the despotic landlords to “ survey” thetenantry

,emerging from church on Sundays

,or some publi c

gathering, and from their dress , etc. , to dis cover whetherthere was not ground f or raising the rent . Those who happento be unusually well dressed remain in church so as not toallow “ the ould rogue to survey” them . Yet this is the classof man to talk of movements like the present alienating theaf f e ctions of the tenantry from the landlord . You can counton your fingers the landlords who possess

,or did at any time

possess the af f ections o f their tenantry . When the infamousLord Leitrim fell

,the other day

,by the hand o f an assassin,

were o ff ered in vain f or information as to the authoror abettors o f the deed.

O ther landlords,besides Lord Dunraven

,fe ll into the trap

of writing to American papers but they belong to the gentry

,who have as many grades as there were step s in Jacob ’s

ladder ” Their insip id productions are utterly undeservingof notice

,nor would the rambling document o f Dunraven

which suicidally admits that experiment in the way of peasant proprietary might be tried

,and might succeed —be no

ticed at such length,but that his frequent visi ts to this

country have made his name somewhat known to Americans .It is an axiom among business men that idle and super

fl uous hands should n o t be retained under pay,more espe

ci ally if their permanent employment hithertohas been soremunerative as to leave them in a position of independence .

That is the situation in regard to the Irish landlords . Theirwork in Ireland is done

,and there is no further need of their

serv i ce s . Every novi ce in history knows what that workwas . It was to plant and foster among the Irish people achurch and language not o f the people and to maintain andnurture the growth of those unwelcome exotics by an ocean ofIrish blood . The plan for all this was the barbarous penal

82

code,as interpreted by the landlords. The established

church o f Ireland is a thing of the past. The nursery in whichthe unclean thing strove in vain to ripen into luxuriance isIrish landlordism . The former has been laid in its graveam i dza dignified silence , which doe s the Irish Catholic E p i scopate immortal honor. Mr . Parnellhas sounded the knello f the latter in the words of Virgil

"orsan et haec olim men im i sse juvabi t .

83

Pa rn e ll an d the Pre ss .

Every great newspaper W e imagines h imself a man o f great importance.

Mr. Parnell has reason to be grateful to a large se ction ofthe press o f this country. The Irish American newspapershave from the first Opened their arms to rece ive him . Theywere characteristically sagacious in estimating the importance o f his visit to America

,the results likely to

s pring from it,and the ultimate benefit sure to accrue to the

tenant farmers of Ireland. It is not to be wondered at thatsuch an identity o f thought should discover itself between the

“viceroy of the Irish at home and the organs o f the Irishabroad

,for time and d istance only intensify Irish patriotism .

C aelum non an imam mutant qui tran s mare vo lant .”

The independent press o f the New England States , andevery shade o f j ournalism throughout the West have beencharacterized by a sp irit o f hearty sympathy ; and while candid and judicious criticism was freely indulged, the inhumansystem o f the English landlaws

,and the cruel despotism o f

the Irish landlords were vigorously exposed,with incredible

gain to the Parnell aspect o f Irish af f airs . But , apart fromthese two schools

,there is another large network o f American

journals strongly imbued with English sympathy,edited by

Englishmen o r Anglo-Americans,and representing a shade of

public op inion either utterly ignorant o f or callously i n

di f f erent to Irish history,Irish politics , Irish misrule , in short

anything pro fessedly Irish . The whole of this se ction of theAmerican press is inconsistent in regard to the Irish question.

On the one hand,they cite the Monroe doctrine , and strongly

d eprecate all interference in foreign matters . On the other ,they furnish ample reports o f Parnell

’s proceedings ; sendtheir reporters in his suite , and publish elaborate leaders on

84

the probable e ff e cts o f his poli cy. The tone o f these leadersis a subje ct deserving close attention . In every in stance theyare one of three things : e ither highly eulogistic

,or simply

didactic, or p lainly indisposed to grapple with the question.

The first’

class put the mantle o f O’

C onnell on Parnell’sShoulders

,and p lace imp li cit trust inhi s ability and integrity.

The se cond class confine themselves to a naked statement ofboth sides of the question

,leaving it , for the rest , where they

found it. The third class fall back on the Monroe do ct i m e

cite instances in which the Irish have been deceived,and their

money misapp lied,adding some kind words o f approval as to

the immediate relief of distress,or some cynical joke about

the poor Irish peasantry. In all this there is a painfulabsence o f serious and weighty argument. But the inevitableimpression made upon an impartial public is that the Americanpre ss has damned the system o f Irish landlordism by thefaintest possible praise . The New York Herald

,unique in

everything,has been espe cially energetic in stultifying itself.

Before Mr. Parnell left Ireland,during his voyage

,and upon

his arrival in America,the Herald persistently assailed him i n

a series o f leading articles which were manifes tly insp ired on

the other side o f the Atlantic . Garbled reports o f Mr . Parnell’sspeeches were furnished

,and unfavorably criticised . Inter

views were obtained in every section of Irish society , evenwith the occupants of the mud cabins

,with a v iew to diminish

ing the Parnell influence . But in every instance thes emalicious designs were frustrated . No evidence has beenproduced to show that Mr . Parnell is not thoroug hly sincerethat the means and methods he emp loys are not constitutionaland that the masses of the Irish farmers are not loyal to him

,

and quite familiar with his teachings .But the distress which Parnell had early predicted be came

an appalling reality,turning the table s on the Herald

,and

forthwith the hovels in which it had,a week before

,insolently

and heartle ssly asserted that Hennessy’s brandy was to behad f or the asking

,became the object of i ts new—born sym

pathy . Having,in order to regain lo st ground

,obtrusively

forced itself upon Mr . Parnell,and striven to bully him into

acceptance of a position on i ts Distribution Committee , itstup idly objected tohi s proxy, a Dublin merchant o f spotless

R5

reputation . Since a man’s proxy is,minus material space

,

nothing else but a man’s self,the Herald is self- convicted of

dishonesty in attempting to entrust such a person with thedistribution of public funds . It is difficult to imagine a moreawkward position than that in which the other members o fthe Commit tee are placed by this clumsy tergiversation . I n

d eed the whole tenor of the Herald’

s policy toward Mr . Parnelldisplays an alarming disregard of the accuracy and impartiality which society justly expects should characterize respectable j ournalism . With virulent malignity

,the Irish agitator

has been persistently slandered,and the publi c Opinion o f

America grossly misrepresented . Tinged with An glican biasand derivinghi s inspiration from Downing street

,the propri

etor maintains an attitude exceedingly grotesque,and which

covers him with contemptuous ridicule . He is jeered at byf riend and foe alike

,and to no class

,perhaps

,does he appear

in more repuls ive aspect than to the staf f o f h is own whim isi cal sheet . For it i s matter o f general notoriety that , withfew exceptions

,the rank and file

,the energy

,enterprise

,and

brains o f the Herald are I rish . The staf f o f that paper wereeducated

,some at Maynooth

,some at Fordham

,and some in

the Catholic parish schools o f New York . They are in themain of the same flesh and blood with Parnell

,and o f the

s ame creed with the peasantry of Donegal and Kerry andConnemara. Yet through a despotism most appropriately i nspired o f British and Irish landlordism

,they are compelled to

act at variance alike with their instincts,feelings

,and con

v i cti on s and to advocate what they really abhor and know tobe false . With the Herald man it is one o f two things , e itherlie or starve . It is a matter o f bread and butter and greed ofgold .

“ How much will you give me and I will deliver myself up to you , and betray and vilify my race and the land ofmy fathers

It is a new version of an Old tale . Irishmen in other landsare to o apt to rise

On l iberty’ ruins to fame.

Their success is to o frequently in exact proportion to theirself- debasement, and their slavish truculence to the enemiesand maligners of their country .

The torch that w i l l light them to dignity’s way ,M ust be caught from the p ile when their country expires .

86

It must be with bitter tears that the Irish employed on theHerald water the daily bread won under such ignoble circumstan ces. James Gordon Bennett is the despotic masterto whose fickle caprice they must pay abje ct homage . Thatgentleman is the fawning sycophant as well as the conve

nient too l and mouthpiece O f the British aristocracy. It isan open secret that hi s highest ambition is to gain admissionto the be st class o f English society. But the one itinerantsham ,

the o ne social vampire , from which the true English:

g entleman shrinks with instinctive horror is the American

p arvenu. He is regarded with mingled ridicule and con

temp t,and this settled dis like o f such mushroom respecta

b i li ty is only intensified when mere braggadocio seeks , as inBennett’s case , to shelter itself under the cover o f greatwealth . Despite wealth

,and the influence of the Herald

,

and persistent e f f ort,and the sacrifice of truth and principle

,

James Gordon will continue to be regarded by the betterclasse s o f English society as the best cowhided newspaperman in existence . That is the euphonious and inheritedpatronymic in which he can rej oice

,and by which he shall be

distinguished duringhi s years in the flesh . It is labor losttrying to bolster up the doomed system o f Irish landlordism

,

by abusing and belittling Mr . Parnell. It is futile and sillyin the Herald to continue to o f f er advice to Irish peopl eeither here or in Ireland

,f or it is the landlords and not the

people who appealed to the Herald,and that journal should

remember that “ pro f f ered service stinks .” In this senseonly can the Herald be regarded as the friend and representative o f the Irish people , viz. : le t any person in search o f

truth read carefully all that the Herald says about Mr . Parnell ; let him believe directly the opposite and he will knowthe truth as it is in itself.What are the grounds on which the Herald attacks thisIrish patrio t with such savage violence ? Because he comesto America to expose the cruel land system ,

by which millionsOf his countrymen have been decimated and expatriated , in thehope that a repeti tion of those horrors may be averted duringthe present distre ss

,and the Irish members o f Parliament be

aided by the independent public op inion of this free countryin obtaining a constitutional abo lition of the Irish land laws .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

88

I leave it f 01 the present,re cognizing fully the d i fl i culti es

that surround it . I can,however with the utmost heartiness

say that the parish committees , as distinguished fi om the111110 11 committees

,are upon the whole discharging the work

of di sti i buti o n with great judgment and e fficiency . The 1eli e fi s d istributed altogether 1n kind—Indian meal i s purchasedat wholesale pr ice

,f 0 1 instance

,by the committee of this

parish , presided ove1by the Rev . B . M cAndrew ,parish priest .

Two members o f the committee are appointed to v is i t eve1yhouse m a district and make a return 111the first instance (i fthe number o f families whose food supply is absolutelyexhausted

,and o f the number o f mouths ln each household .

Upon the arrival o f the meal , enough to stave o f f hunger forabout two weeks is apportioned to each o f these families .Word is then dispatched to the head o f each family to comein and take homehi s supply. The people are thus saved theindignity of roaming about in mendicant and demoralizedcrowds . Accoun t i s kept o f the probable duration o f thes tock o f potatoes o f the remainder of the parishioners—thosewho are

,as I may put it

,distressed in the second degree

and according as the supply Of each falls out there i shi s proportion o f the relief awaiting him . The system works without turbulence

,and with the least possible o f f ence to the self

respe ct o f the people . I cannot but think that this plan hassubstantial advantages over the one whi chi s followed i n

other p laces, accordi n g to whi chthe head man or p ri ncip al

p erson of the v i llag e g ets a certai n number of reli ef ti ckets

for distribution in his village . The suspicion,if nothing else ,

o f favoring his own relations,andhi s exposure to extreme

local influences,detract greatly

,to my mind

,from the

efficiency o f the head-man system,while those whom he

leaves unsatisfied are sure to flock into the n earest townclamoring at the door of members o f the committee .

”

In the Herald of 22d Feb .

,i t is proved that the landlords to

whose distribution o f money Mr. Parnell objects are no t

only likely to tamper with money from afar,but also with

money from their own Government,given to themselves O11

easy terms,for the express purpose of alleviating distress :

Much doubt was expressed regarding the value o f theGovernment measure for relieving the d i stress by lendln gmoney f or 1mp1oven ts. These works have been given to contractors who cannot be obliged

,and therefore wi ll not emp loy

the untrai n ed and en f eebled p oor f or whose benefit the works are

mean t, but only the men who can do the best work for theirwages . The temp tation to bad landlords to wring profit from

89.

their tenants is shown by the following extraordinary noticefrom a Derry paper issued by a landlord who re ceived a grantfrom Government for improvements

Those tenants who wish to have improvements carriedout on their holdings

,either drainage

,fencing

,or roads

,are

informed that upon proper application money will be advanced,

but the tenant must agree to o ne sh illing f o r every one poundspent being added to his rent

,such increase to commence

November,

What does the Herald think about that f or landlord imparti ali ty ? and is that the sort o f committee the Herald wants ?

If not,then it should honor Mr. Parnell for guarding

kind and charitable Americans from falling into such snares,

and having their alms put into the landlords’ pockets,and spent

in the clubs o f London.

But if the Herald was indulging in o ne o f its Homeric naps

(ali g uando dormi tat)when it thus supported Mr. Parnell , itwill rejoice to find that Bi shop iM cC arthy of Kerry and itselfare unanimous , whether in sleeping or waking. Hi s Lordship

(the Herald loves a lord)says :I send you £ 10 f or the poor. The Government will not

believe there is much distress while the work - houses areempty . The last o fficial report shows that the number gettingrelief—indoor or outdoor—throughout Kerry is not morethan 7 00 above that in the diff erent unions at this time lastyear . The landlords

,at whose doors the mendicants cannot

appear,apply the same test. The Government hand over all

power to the landlords. Money can be had o n easy terms ,but only by landlords . O f what use is it to the poorlaborers of Tralee and Castlegre g ory that S ir Edward Dennycan borrow money for 1per cent . He is an absentee , over 80years o f age

,perhaps does not know o f any distress in Ireland ,

and yet the Government boast that they have taken all necessary means to meet the present crisis

,because they gave him

great facilities for draining bogs and making roads Anotherlandlord in this diocese

,with vast estates and immense wealth ,

i s inhi s dotage . Another is bound to his cred itors not toraise any loans

,and look upon the reclamation o f waste lands

as a hopeless proje ct,or welcome famine as necessitating em

i g rati on—hi s panacea for all the evils springing from over

population . say the Government do not do thei r solemn dutyby leaving all means o f relief in the hands o f the landlords .

The labor bill in Lord Kenmare ’s O ffice last week was £ 306o dd ; but on all sides around his e state not an additional

90

shilling has been earned this year so far . Yesterday I met a'

poor man within a mile o f this town,who showed me his breast

covered with ulcers . He was quite willing to work,but could

get no employment , as he was n o t l i v ing on the Kenmaree state . H i s three little children get breakfast every morning atthe convent s choo ls . I know the parish o f Brosna well . Thereare rapid rivers without a bridge for many miles o f theircourse . There are vast exten ts of unreclaimed

,undrai n ed lands

,

f or whi chthe tenan ts p ay a ren t four times the valuati on .

There i s no work, n o wag es, no emp loymen t,because the land

lords w1ll not move hand or foot. I see no remedy but tomeet in a body

,ashas been done with e f f e ct in C ahi rci veen

and elsewhere , and to call on the guardians for work or relief.This proceeding will show to the Government that

,however

good their intentions , more acti ve measures must be taken tosave the li ves of thep eop le.

”

But the Mansion House Committee has been grossly slan "

dered by Parnell and painted in horrid co lors . Can you denyit ?” Yes ; I emphatically deny it . He has not to uched on e

hair of their head nor impeached their honor and honestynor hinted anything derogatory to them as gentlemen . He

impeached their impartiality in regard to the cottier tenants ,and every word he said is absolutely true for many of themare themselve s landlords

,and most o f them belong to the

gentry,

” the vilest s courge o f Ireland . If the Herald did butknow whereof it speaks

,how di f f erently it would demean

itself. “ England,since I have known her by history

,

” saysthe H ildebrand of Ireland

,has been always governed by a

party,and that party always kep t the na tion hoodwinked .

”

That i s the key- note to a true understanding Of the MansionHouse peop le

,and the Marlborough people

,in relation to the

poor co ttier tenants . It is nonsense to talk of Mr. Parnell ,himself a gentleman

,casting any shadow o f imputation on the

personal character,o r honesty

,or politeness, or social excel

lence Of the members of e ither the Mansion House or theMarlborough Committee . He has never done it. But he hasheld

,and he would be a liar and traitor did he n o t hold , that

they are not with the poor cottier farmers do not believe infundamen tally improving the condition of these poor farmersd o not want to hear of them being made owners o f their holdings but do want to do the amiable

,the thing ,

” in appearing :

91

before the Irish people as the almoners of America and othernations, w i thout any exp ense to themselves

,and with materi al

benefit to those f rom whom they exp ect thei r ren t. Surely,noth

ing can be more honorable in Mr. Parnell—nothing morechivalrous , than to carefully and persistently explain thiscomplicated state o f Irish party feeling to impartial and uhbiased Americans

,who care nothing for such matters

,so they

feed the hungry,so their money be app lied di rectly to the suf

f erers, without the questionable manipulation Of interestedparties .Hence the practical and excellent Bishop Gillooly says

,

writing to the Mansion House Committee

I cannot close this letter,long as it is

,without off ering an

observation suggested by certain local committee arrangements lately announced in the public papers . The observation is—that the parochial o r other local committees

,through

which you will distribute your fund,although they may use

fully include poor- law guardians,ought to be distinct from

and independent o f the poor- law union organization ; and thatthe selection of families for relief should not be left to landlords

,agents

,or bailif f s

,no more than to poor- law relieving

,

o fficers .The chief obje ct o f your committee and of our parochialcommittees is

,as I understand it

,to save the destitute

laborers,cottiers

,and small farmers not only from death and

sickness by starvation,but also from the workhouse to '

enable them to keep their familie s together until the evil daysshall have passed over . Now

,it is a matter o f unhappy

notoriety that in Connemara and in other places that I couldname

,advantage is being taken o f the destitution o f the small

landholders to evict them and get rid o f them and a conviot ion prevails amongst the peasantry in every part o f thedestitute districts that now,

as in 1847 , the landlords areanxious to force them into the workhouse in order to leveltheir cabins and free themselves from further liability fortheir support. Such being the case , it seems to me that therel ie f through which we hope to be able to keep those poorpeople in their homes and holdings should no t be entrustedfor distribution to those who are even suspected o f a desireto deprive them of the ir homes. (Catholi c Revi ew,

February

That i s a beautiful exposition of Parnellism , w hich , in a .

nutshell,means Keep o f f landlords, and all sorts o f o fficial

92

and interested people if y ou really mean to be the min isters o fsweet chari tV ’ to the tenantry . Another vers ion is givenby the Herald

,from the gifted Archbishop Croke

,which con

tains a world of significance He has no special fancy f or

certain members of the committee,whose sympathies with the

people he is strongly disposed to question .

”

The sum o f knowledge with the ancients was to know thyself. If the Herald had studied in that school i t would nothave stultified itse lf, and disgraced American hosp itali ty , byabusing a stranger if indeed he can be called a stranger whovisits the millions o f his co -patriots who have fought thebattles and helped to build the fortunes o f this country .

93

APPE ND I X .

It is no t impossible that Mr. Parnell’s visit to our shore smay lead to the discovery of information on publi c af f airswhich Americans are not quite prepared f or. Hehas provedthe important fact that there is in New York at least one firmwhich dares not transact business except according to ordersfrom London.

The following letter speaks for itself

Messrs . DREX EL , MORGAN 0 0 .

GENTLEMEN—Your letter of February 5, informing me ofsome o f your reasons f or declining to act as treasurers of myIrish Relief Fund , has reached me here . As however you donot in this le tter, which you have published, give the ful lreasons assigned to us by you f or your singular action

,I feel

compelled to remind you of the further statements made byyou to Miss Parnell in explanation of your course

,and which

were written down by her in your presence while you weremaking them—viz. That in consequence o f the controversywhich has arisen between Mr. Parnell and the Dublin MansionHouse Relie f Committee , and that o f the Duchess of Marlborough , Messrs . Drexel , Morgan Co . have received lettersfrom persons in this country inquiring as to the dispositionof funds sent through them , requiring them to see that thesefunds should be solely applied to purposes of relief

,and n o t

to political objects,which letters Messrs. Drexel

,Morgan

C O . do not consider themselves at liberty to Show to Mr . Parnell or those acting for him , and also private communicationsfrom their correspondents in London , the nature o f whichthey refuse to make publ ic

,and that consequently they de

cline to act as treasurers or bankers f o r this fund .

’

“ I think myself entitled to comp lain that you have onlygiven partial information to the public , and I propose to publish this le tter in order to supp ly the deficiency. I must alsoask you for detailed information as to drafts re ceived by youon account of the relief fund since your resignation

,and also

as to the disposition you have made o f these drafts, as want

94

o f information on this point is causing me much i nconvenlence .

I am,gentlemen

,yours truly ,

“ CHARLES S . PARNELL .

The independence and trustworthiness of the daily press ofNew York on matters of public interest is a subje ct o f vitalimportance . Miss Parnell proves its impartiality to be amyth—a p ie ce

'

o f information which some o f us will receivewith surprise

To the E di tor of The S tarSIR—I inclose a s tatement from our relief o f fice

,which we

supplied the Weekly Un i on with , at its spe cial request. I n

cluding from Washington, we have called to our relie ffund in Ireland

,up to last Friday

,the sum of We

sent a general statement, through the Associated Press , to theNew York dailies

,but they have , with common consent , sup

pressed i t. Perhaps you could oblige us by finding room inyour columns for this .

“ This statement does not include a great many sums ofm oney sent dire ct from various parts o f America to the LandLeague Relief Fund in Dublin , and of which we have not yetbeen able to obtain an exact account. I am , sir, yours faithfully

,

F. PARNELL .

NEW YORK HOTEL ,February 23.

We have attempted this week to procure statements of theamounts being transmitted through the prin cipal channels forIrish relief . The daily papers (f or reasons o f their own)keepthe public in the dark respe cting some o f these committees .The Land League , or Parnell’s committee , for instance , arekept sedulously from all mention in the daily papers yetwithin the past week over was sent to Ire landthrough this channel—including Brooklyn

,about

through Treasurer O ’

Dono ghue , between andthrough Maverick Bank o f Boston, and through Eugene Kelly C o . handsome sums .

”

The exceptional course consistently followed by the S tarhas placed the Irish people under weighty obligations to thatjournal . Let all Irishmen in New York gratefully re ciprocatethis valued service by making the S tar their daily paper , andle them prove they mean business by increasing its circulation to an extent beyond that of any of the dailies .