A FRENCH WRITER ON THE IRISH QUESTION.

Colonist, Volume XXV, Issue 2925, 5 August 1881, Page 3

A FRENCH WRITER ON THE IRISH QUESTION.

Few writers are better qualified than Admiral Maxse to give an opinion on the Irish, question, and he has expressed it at some length. He traces the land grievances in Ireland to the confiscations which took place in the 16th and 17th centuries, and describes the, existing system as one which, besides promoting the monopoly of the land by a few perspias, gives unrestricted power to proprietors in regard to rent, eviction, and the general terms of letting, and no guarantees to the cultivators that the fruits of their labor will be secured to them. As regards " absenteeism," the admiral holds viewsquite as strong.as those of Mr TParnell. He points out that there are some 1500 landlords, possessing 3,200,000 acres, who live in England or abroad, and 4500 landlords, possessing 4,000,000 acres,; who live mostly in Dublin and are presumably Irish; and he compares the rents paid to these absentee landlords to a foreign tribute, which passes away from the country that renders it. But,when he comes to speak of remedial measures, Admiral Maxse has nothing but condemnation for the leaders of the Land League. They know, he says, perfectly well, that if Mr Gladstone's Administration resign, the only alternative .would fbe;a3;reactionary Conservative" Cabinet, whose watchword has always been Protestant combination in Ireland by' means of Tory landlords and a Tory church ; and yet they throw every impediment in the way of remedial legislation at the hands of the present Government. He frankly avows his conviction that agrarian reform is not so much the object oi' Mr Parnell's party as the separation of. Ireland (from TEngland ; and he expresses his belief that if good land laws and self-government are conceded to Ireland," the foundation will be laid for a friendly union between the two countries, r v, : ■