THE IRISH AT HOME.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14441, 6 February 1909, Page 4

THE IRISH AT HOME.

MA.SONS FOB DISCONTENT. IMPRESSION'S OF A VISITOR, liy Rev, PitKDKKirK Stttbrs. (Specially Written for the Otago Daily Times.) DUIiMiV December 11,1908. I have met I he. Irishman in ninny lamls —in N'ew Zealand, Australia, South' Africa, andtlie islands of the South Pacific; hut although twin hut a few hundred miles from Dublin, I have never before had the privilege of seeing liiin in his own country. Essentially lie is, of course, the same here as elsewhere, and yet there is a difference, and the advantage lies on the side of " elsewhere." In. the colonies lie is humorous, good-natured, industrious, fairly prosperous, and contented ; in Hie " Ould (.'ounthree" he is as humorous as over, Imt lie is certainly not umtpiiU'd, Arcs not prosper a-s in other lands, is not as imhistriolio, and is filled with a bitterness towards England ami things Knylisli that mars his own happiness, makes. Ihe task of government very ckiflicuil. and leads to much violent! and* disorder. A! the present time violence and defiance of the law .are of almost daily occurrence. J do not take my information front the Ungli&'h newspapers, which are accused of wilful exaggerations, hut from the Irish papers themselves, which almost every day contains accounts of cattle-driving, shootings, and conflicts with the police, Ido not propose to burden your columns with detailed report*. 'Phe.4 may be seen by anyone sudiciently inl«e«ted' in the English and Irish newspapers, and no doubt, some of the more serious conflicts hnve> appeared in your own cablegrams. And the worst of it is, the lawbreaker in Ireland can nearly always depend upon the sympathy of the ]>eople, esiieciallv when the assault is made upon the person, family, or property of a landlord. This makes the pioductiiiu of evidence very diflicnlt, and conviction by a jury almust. impossible. Jurors are. intimifoted, judges and magistrates threatened, atid car-<lriv'cis and storekeepers, who in any way assist the course of justice, boycotted. 'Out of 37Z recent agrarian outrages (exclusive of cattle-driving) only five persons could bp amenable, and for 349 cases of ma-lioious injury, only 20 yersons could be brought to account. As for cattle-driving rases, it is almost comic to find that out of 351 prosecutions 350 failed to secure convictions, and in 1M eases of boycotting, t-heic was no pixKcciition at all. " There" is one feature in the present series of outrages that, is cheering, however, ,ukl tliat°is the decline of cattle-maiming, though no doubt a certain amount of mute suffering is involved in tattle-driving. The shooting of a landlord in past days frequently 3iad some justification, or, at least, alleviating circumstances, but the cutting of cows' udders and tails, ami the houghing of horses have always appeared to me to be without excuse. These poor animals at all events weie never guilty of own.vni' land or oppressing a tenant, and 1 wimestlv hopo that the Irish leaders will see the frightful cruelty and injustice of such oulrageH and prevent' their occurrence in the futurp,

, A VARIETY OF GRIEVANCES, Hut leaving oil one side the agrarian dilliculty, -with which I hope to deal in a future article, no one can visit Ireland without, becoming aware of widespread (liscontent. 'Ihe Protestants are diisgusted with the huglish (Joverument because of what they regard as weak conations to the Roman Catholics; the landlords, btv canre no adequate protection is given to property; the Nationalists hate (lie Uovernmcnt simply because it, is predominantly Knglish, and clamour for Home I!n!e, and the avowed object of the Irish party is to make the government of Ireland by England impossible. Let there lie no mistakes about this. Tito agrarian dilliculty may, and I think will,' be eventually solved, bill, this will not. settle' tho Irish question. At least 3,000.000 of the 1,250.000 in Ireland are determined to have Home Rule, mid the great majority of the Irish members are plediredi to this. The attitude of lite Irish pnity towards Kngland during the lioer war and tlieir open;rejoicing over British reverses are well known., and but exptessed the feeling of their fellow Rowan Catholic fellow-cimntiymeo. Tire " ine.vt.'nguishablo hati!" for Kngland. of which Mr Sexton once spoke, still exists. When Mr Jlealy declared in the House of Commons that he was in favour of anything against the Kngiish (iovennnent lie did not speak for himself alone; ho hut voiced (tic general sentiment of the Irish |>e'ople, or at- least of the Roman Catholic portion.

"HI.AMINti THU (iOVIiIiN.MKKT, It is not juslitiable, but it is liiitorfun:itoly tire tact, that the Irish peasants arc Toady t:j blame tho (Jovrinirient for all their troubles, Kveu a faihue of the potato crop or a season of bad trade will ill sonic ivav or oliltei* be attributed to tlii? lii'ilish coimectioit 'i'liev are moj't; interested in politic than in the development of their industries. ft is to Hid politician. not lo their own industry ami thrift, I liuv look for an improvement in their lot. There is too much talking awl 100 little doing. Ihe " Shin I'Vin '' oiiguuinition lately attempted a universal 'boycott of " foreign" gtHwlti, a# tlwm<rli would help tliem, iiiul 1 have hoard oven <xl nun ted Irishmen advowite a heavy duty <"i Dritish manufactures, oblivion* "of thi> fact that, ti'reat Britain is Ireland's best customer, and could, and oorlaiidy would, retaliate. i\o, Ireland's salvation is not to be found in a general boycott, but in just Jaws, itiillinrhingly administered; ill the increase of sobriety ;uul industry; in a _ consequent ltwwni'ug of political and, finally, in the ddlection <»f thy national energies from piilitks to the development of tin- intionu! rivitiirsw. M piwnt, Ireland, with millions of people, mostly poor, solids over i'tl.tWJjOCO-about £15 per annum per •family, upon liquors, ail amount, it may safely lie said, far be\oihl «li.lt she can- alford j and the amount of time ami energy and money at preMll '' s|x;nt —rightly or wrongly—in political agitation, if otherwise. einukmd, would lindolmbtodlv sullies to materially increase the national weath.

WHO IK TO KLAMK? In writing above, 1 have endeavoured 0 gt\« file reader a. fair and accurate linprm-'inn of Irish disioutenf, and of tho disorders that. Ilow from it. ISut, it, must. not. be thought t.liat- t-lio blamo wst« elttlivly with Ihe Irish pwjdo. lCnfdish must bear a larg?, and, in im opinion, the larger share of the les|)oiisibility. Seven couturie-s of " Wlotism" iind brutal oppression ciuiuol but ihnvo acted for ill on the character of the ])eople. For oenturics Ireland was harTittl by Knislwli troops, and eursed bv lii'teinal strife. The misery of the neoplo was almost ind&seribable. Here is a picture of what, they eanbiml in' the days of IClizabrih. It. is given by the |w'et. S|x»neer, who was an eve-witiie.ss of wlmt he rdates. His t<wt.iinony is the more reliable inasmuch as ln> "was himself a biWer enemy of the Celts. " Out of evwy cornej- of the woods and giyimes they cjwne creepin-g forth ui>oii tlieir Ikukls, for their leggea could not beare them ; tlioy looked liKe analwuies of death; thw sj«i.ke like gh<xns cj-ying out of therr graves; they did eat the dead carrions, happy where 1 hey (otild find tliem,'' ete. And this picture was paralleled in Ihe davs of Cromwell. " In tho years 1652 and' 1653 a man might travel 20 or 30 miles and not we a living mature. . . . Tliev (the Irish) woro sown lo pluck stinking carrion out. of a ditch, black and rotten; and were said to lutvp even laken corpses out. of Hie gi-ave to eat.' 1 Cfomwelliaii >Settlement, p. 119). C X.J C.ST PKNAL ENACTMENTS. This st<it<\ of things existed before i'rotestaii(.isiit was estaWisiied in Iroland, and therefore the Protectant. 01iiitvj!i cannot be blamed for it, but. it. must be cpnJessed Ihe Protestant Church did little to improve matters. After tlio estaUidiinent of l'rot«sta.iitiKin, the rights and fcoliitgs of the peoplo were outraged bv all sorts of penal enactments lu the time of O'hark'iS 11. tin Ordinance was pa.<«ed forlii'.Wing any Papist to buy or barter anyUting in the public maj'lieU 'llio Act of Uniuiriiiity required the Roman Catholics to to a. Protestant O'hua-h, and fines were imgwed fjsr, 4

ltoman Catholic could not own property. The I'lotesl'ant IC]ii>-cop:>l Church was tile Church of a .small, well-to-do minority, ths Church of ICO.OOO out of 6,C00,u56 people, ami yet the Roman Catholic majority were compelled fo support it. Tillies were c'/Ileekd a! the pt/int of the bayonet. Is it any Mond-er that lite Irish people came to h-'Ue the Protestant faith. ami the Prolest.ini nation that sought to impose it upon them Then mum the PstaKijlnnci)!, of an Irish Parliament, and I <lo not think it can t>e <loiii?d thai during the existence of that Parliament tlio condition of Ireland immemely improved. 'I'lt-jif was still the bttrikn oj an alien Church; there st-ii! existed unjust and oppressive laws; but there was a vast improvement. In the eighteenth century Ireland was intellectually alive; prodno.vl oratois. statesmen, writers, of her own. The great peers and Maiicoiier.! cast in their lot with the national life; liiid tlipic castles and mansions in the country, and their town houses (most of which si ill lemnin. hut ocrrupwd hv the poor) in Dublin. They were pos-eft-id by a sen--" of refponsiWily, and for the most part lived in the country from which they derived tlv-ir revenues.

EFFECTS OF TflF, UNION, Hut the union, which, whether justifiable or not on ]»>!iticel grounds, was certainly brought, about by wholesale bribery and corruption, eha.n'gwii all this. The centre of government was transferred to England. The Irish gentry passed most ol Iheir time in London, the landlords no longer resided on their estates, among their tenants, but entrusted the management to agents and middlemen whose interest it. became to screw* every possible penny out of the unfortunate tenant. Is it surprising that as a consequence of this neglect and oppression the most frightful poverty and d;.-conte.nt ensued.' Even to-day, in many parts of Ireland, t ho home of the peasant is represented by four walls of ruud, a roof of ttirl, a. hole in the roof to let the smoke out, and within, human bein»s, pigs, cows, poultry—all littered together. The Royal Commission of 1855 showed that, for 30 weeks of every year 2,385,000 people lived on the verge of starvation. Their habitations, us I have said, were wretched hovels; they were unprovided with the commonest necessaries of life ; their food frequently nothing but dry potatoes; they B.ept ti|xm the stray or sod, sometimes with a blanket, and sometimes with not even that to cover t'ne-m, They frequently had but one poor ineal a day. and their average earnings were 2s to - 2s 6d j»r week. In the entire world there wa.s probably no people subjected' to such physical privation as the Irish. Then in 1817 canw the great famine. Ireland unfortunately had come to rely for the subsistence of the masncs upon one single root —the potato. Already tlieie had been repeated partial failure of the crop, but ill .1847 the failure was litter. Relict' was voted by Parliament; funds wet'" raised ; hut all attempts at. relief ptoved entirely inadequate. Tens of thousands perished'; in. j n. women, and children were starved to death. Those that survived sought refuge in America, and between 1851 and 1300, nearly 4.000,000 emigrated. In a. single (leciule 1,500,000 crosscd the seas, and today the population is but half what-it was 60.years ago.

WR()N(tS THAT HKAL SLOWLY. And so I say it is no wonder that sullen) diiiwintcnt and bitterness prevail. True, most of Ireland £ injustices have been removed, and l-lse Church <if the minority has? been disestablished. As I shall show in, my next article. Ireland has now I her most, liberal land system in the world/ lint you cannot exj>eel lite results oP centuries of misery and luisgnvernmcnt loi vanish in a moment, And to make matters, woise, instead of steady, resolute, just., government, Ireland has l>ecn liKtde the shuttlecock of political parties, alternately fl.ittaied and llouted, as partv exigencies ■night, require. The object of'the English Government has too ufieu been to make Kino of their majority rather than to enforce Jaw uikl order, and punish outrage and oppression whether committed bv laniHord or tenant ; and support has been purchased by advancing to Irish "likes men who wore entirelv unfitted for them.

fio much for the causes of Irish discontent. these causes are being steadiiv removed ; most of litem have been removed already, but tk-y are morn than sufficient to account, for the present lamentable state of things, the land which lies at the root of so much of llie misrhief is too large a matter to be dealt with here, and wi.t require an to itself.