Current Topics. AT HOME & ABROAD.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume VI, Issue 300, 31 January 1879, Page 1

Current Topics. AT HOME & ABROAD.

!t|lSy=Tsg» E preserve our equilibrium, and have become neither a Greenite nor a Brightite. In a word, the celebrated \«^A|KJ» controversy between the advocates of Freethought and " reformed " Christianity is concluded, and Tfcj^OTm^ matters stand almost where they stood before. The j^ ■SflMTv affair, it strikes us, was very amateur, and the only result which we can discern as following from it is ■ that the Ministerial party have taken a lower standing than that previously occupied by them, and in the person of their chaplain have betrayed " science "in a great degree. Mr. Bright has by this time, we have no doubt, realised the truth thai he commenced his calling rather late in life to master it perfectly, and must content himself with the composition of lectures and their delivery, shunning for the future the debating platform, where, candidly, he is by no means a luminary. The discussion seems to have been rather mixed and somewhat scattered, but we have no intention of pursuing it critically, or, indeed, otherwise, to any extent. We shall content ourselves with a remark or two that occurred to us during the course of the argument. In the first place we are at a loss to understand what Mr. Green could possibly mean by asserting that Christianity " had been proof for eighteen centuries against the best powers of its numerous and determined opponents." Does this gentleman, as a Protestant minister, although not reverend, not know that for at least eight centuries the whole so-called Christian world was sunk in " abominable idolatry ?*' Surely for those eight centuries, and we fancy research would add greatly to their number, Christianity was btamped down under the very feet of Satan, the prince of its opponents. Then when these centuries had run their course, certain men, as any philosopher relying on his natural lights might do, took up the Bible, and, upon their interpretation of it, built Christianity anew. From that time on it has never been proof against " determined opponents," but has everywhere required the support of the temporal power : failing which, it has notably gone to the wall. The history of modern Europe abundantly proves this. Mr. Bright rnagniloquently overlooked his adversary's weakness here, but it was at the beginning of the controversy, when Mr. Bright was about to enter like a lion upon the fight, and probably fancied himself strong enough to yield a point or two : when at the conclusion he was about to retire like a motherless lamb, matters might have gone differently had the occasion offered. Again, aprojwx of religions founded byEastern sages, and teaching a high morality, we are unable to see how they in any degree militate against Christianity, we rather think on the contrary they confirm its truth. Since all nature proceeds from God, it is but reasonable to suppose that in it may be read, by men of genius to penetrate its meaning, the highest truths ; nevertheless, a distinct revelation, such as that contained in the Gospel, may have been necessary, whether thousands of years afterwards or not makes no difference. That it was so is evident from the fact that the Gospel alone had power to influence the lives of men ; whatever may have been taught by Eastern sages, Eastern nations have practised nothing or tending to true progress. The truths lead in nature by V^ien wise enough to read them came, as the Gospel came, from God. " God did not leave Himself without a witness," but the men who read them had no power to plant them in the hearts of others, and cause them to bear fruit there. Christ, unless He had been God would have been alike powerless to accomplish this. He did accomplish it, His Gospel revolutionised the world, and thus these fruitless systems te&tify to His divinity — and the more powerfully in proportion to their excellence. In conclusion, our impression of the discussion in question is, that Mr. Bright failed because he is, as we always have been aware, extremely superficial, and as we now learn, a miserable debater. We cannot at the same time time discover anything very powerful in the arguments of Mr. Green.

We lately look exception to certain remarks of a gentleman in Auckland, who expressed an opinion that the hangman was an estimable member of society, and deservedly a general favourite. We now tind that we are placed in the unpleasant position of being obliged

to eat our own words. We have received proof positive that the gentleman to whom we allude took a right' view of the case, and stated no more than facts authorised him to state. An execution, in short, lately took place in South Wales, and on the conclusion, the hangman received an ovation. A dense crowd that had surrounded the prison while the sinister deed was being wrought inside, refused to disperse when the black flag announced its termination, but waited patiently vintil the official come forth. Then they accorded him a hearty reception, wringing his hand and declaring that they were proud of him. He, indeed, on his side seemed to appreciate thoroughly the folk he was among : he said he hoped he should come that way soon again, and at this they roared with laughten We are glad that we had already been told the hangman was a most estimable person, otherwise we should have been tempted to sneer at British civilisation so much boasted of. Now we know that we have all along been in the wrong, and acknowledge our stupidity. Vice Jack Ketch.

In a recent number of The Nineteenth Century, a gentleman signing himself E. W. Dale, gives us a portion of his " Impressions of America." He tells us he spent seven or eight weeks iv the country, and that he chiefly lives amongst English congregationalists. He is evidently a sworn foe of the Church, and on the whole we must take his " impressions "' for what they arc worth ; still, as we see some useful information, or perhaps rather hints, to be gained from them, we have no hesitation in furnishing our readers with an abstract of a certain part of his remarks. He tells us those figures which indicate the rapid growth of Catholicism will probably excite his readers' deepest interest. It is, he says, a common belief that " Roman Catholic Immigrants are lost to the Roman Catholic Church within a very few years after landing in America." Roman Catholic Bishops have shared this belief, and warnings have been uttered by them intended to check emigration from Ireland. In 1870, he says, the Archbishop of Cincinnati complained, " The Catholic Church is losing hundreds of German members, who prefer Protestant preaching in German to the Catholic preaching in English, and who also want to belong to more societies than the Church provides." His authority, however, for this, as well as other statements, is a Rev. S. W. Barnum, who has written a book called "Romanism, as it is," and we do not attach too much importance to histories of Catholic matters, written by reverend Protestants — experience has amply taught us their value. These apprehensions he nevertheless admits, appear to him inconsistent " with the figures which show the increase of the religious accommodation provided by the Roman Catholic Church during the last twenty years." He then proceeds to explain this fact, or rather explain it away, a proceeding in which our Protestant friends are very well exercised. A great deal of their creed indeed hangs upon their ability in explaining away, it frequently enables them to discover that black is white. His explanations are simple nonsense Catholic priests — whom to do him justice he likens to " good shepherds" — are by no means given to romancing. They do not provide churches of the f uture to lie empty until erring congregations have been reclaimed. The churches built by them are built with much labour and by means of many sacrifices on their own part and that of their congregations, and they are built to supply pressing need in the present. He adds — " The present number of Roman Catholics is probably about 5,000,000." This we have on the authority of a gentleman resident in America seven or eight weeks, and relying on Protestant and hostile authorities ; from other sources resident in America all their lives, and relying on Catholic authority, we learn that the number of Catholics there amounts probably to twice the figure given here. We prefer the latter testimony, and surely with some show of reason. We arc next treated to a few sentences that read immensely like " poppycock." Here they are — " But large numbers drift away to the West, and settle on the land ; these, too, arc the most vigourous, the most enterprising, and the most industrious o£ the immigrants ; they are the people whom the priests are most anxious to keep ; and yet to follow them all is impossible. They remain nominal Catholics for a few years, but their faith is generally dissipated. It is believed that very many of them become Protestants. In 1850, the American and Foreign Christian Union reported ' Severa Churches, composed mainly of converted Romanists, that have Lutheran, German Reformed, Presbyterian, Dutch Reformed, Baptists and Methodist ministers as their preachers and pastors, " If such be,

indeed, the effect of going West and settling upon the land, we marvel much how it happens tHat dur American Catholic contemporaries so warmly recommend this step to their Catholic readers. It is a most suicidal policy on their part, unless they are otherwise informed than Mr. R. W. Dale, and have profited by their years of experience, so far as to prove, his few weeks of observation have resulted in persuading mm of a great deal that is groundless. Still Protestantism must not crow too loudly. « However many of its members may be lost to the Roman Catholic Church, every travellei in America is constantly reminded that Eoman Catholicism is a great and formidable power. Ine most magnificent building on the Fifth Avenue in New York— the most magnificent building, probably, in America— is the unfinished Roman Catholic Cathedral ; every one that drives from the centre of the city to the Park passes it. In Chicago, the Jesuits' Church is one of the show places of the city. Even in New Haven, within a few hundred yards of the college, associated with the names of Jonathan Edwards, Timothy Dwight, and Nathaniel Taylor, a .Roman Catholic Church rises among the glorious elma which were planted by the most Puritan of the Puritans ; its presence is almost enough to bring some of them out of their graves in the neighbouring cemetery. New England farms— so I was told— are being bought in considerable numbers by Irish Roman Catholics. In all ihc great cities the Roman Catholic vote is the source of perplexity, and alarm to the most honorable politicians. . . . It is also admitted ir ,?° mamsm has mad e converts. According to the Catholic n orld, Episcopalians and Unitarians have been especially accessible to Roman Catholic influence. Protestants, however, assert that the converts from Romanism to Protestantism have been as numerous as the converts from Protestantism to Romanism. For myself, I very much doubt whether converts have gone over from cither side in sumcient numbers to affect very seriously their relative strength." Uur traveller, then, does not implicitly receive the " poppycock " ot the American and Foreign Christian Union,' and here he is probably ln the right of it. Of the number of converts to the Catholic taitb we are not precisely informed, and therefore cannot judge of the correctness of the views put forward. Of converts to Protestantism we need not speak. We have never yet found that such a claim was genuine to any extent, and it is a claim made continually and everywhere. We do not. say that it is impossible that lar-e bodies of Catholics might lose their faith in this peculiar way-that of going over to Protestantism-but it seems now out of date. Protestantism was but the road that led to infidelity ; it seems sufficiently acknowledged even by Protestant writers of eminence. Take for example the following passage from Guizot, the only writer of the class we can at this moment lay our hands upon :-" In my opinion the Reformation was neither an accident, the result of some great chance, of personal interest, nor a mere aim at religious amelioration, iOJZ i aU V, tOpia ° f humanifc y a «d truth. It had a far more powerful cause than all this, and which dominates over all particular causes. It was a great movement of the liberty of the human mind Ld c w-;r c r ty for freeiy thiukine and *"*&*> ° n it§ °™ «*»*<* and with its own powers, of facts and ideas which hitherto Europe had received, or was held bound to receive from the hands of authority it was a grand attempt at the enfranchisment of the human mind ! ami, to call things by their proper names, an insurrection of the human mind against absolute power in the spiritual order. Such I believe to be the true, general and dominant character of the Reformaof « ♦ . CClr , lUsation in Ell ™pc ; Hazlitt's Trans :p. 220.1 It would norH T h 'T. bceu boldly a Passion of free thought had that poition of mankind affected by it been able all at once to shake off the influence of centuries. This has now been done to a great extent, so that we expect to-day when Catholics lose their faith they will become openly infidels rather than such under the veil of Protestantv^c f « wbll< ! we can say notWn S definite as to the number of confn,™ ? Cat A°lic Faith in America, we axe not without exact infozmationastothcvalueofmanyofthem; such men, for example, as Brownson and Bayley of themselves are worth a host, and in the long run the cause that is upheld by intellect, learning and devotion must prevail even that supported only by custom, respectability, or self-interest. Finally this writer sums up his co nclusions to the following effect. There are about 5,000,000 of nominal Roman Catholics ra the United States, of these a large proportion, from various causes, not »f OStto tbeir Church< The Catholic organization is S7« «*•*^ ° Ver ifc was before - ancl the loss in the fut^c will « ThS A b6en iU th ° past And last ' thou S h not least, amTf.o^? eriCa^ f tatesmen wh ° to maintain the institutions nH^ *°S! * C ° Untry wiU have to deal ver y firm] y ™^ tbe attempts of the priesthood to secure for the Roman Catholic Church special immunities and privileges. They will have to stand fast oy the common school system (the italics are our own) and to discover some means of preventing the bishops from violating the spirit of American law, which is hostile to the unlimited appropriation of property to ecclesiastical uses." We would point out to our readers especially the words we have printed in italics. Here is an open acknowledgment of what we have so often asserted ; that is, that .the secular system has been adopted and is being supported by nun of all shades of opinion for the express purpose of undermining

by it the Catholic Church. It i 3 a powerful engine whereby to destroy the faith-of Catholic children, and our enemies know ifc ; it is for this and not as they pretend, for the impartial education of the country that they insist so strongly upon it. Can we require anything more than this to nerve us to resist it to the utmost? As for the rest it repeats the policy of the times ; direct persecution has failed to conquer the Church ; indirect must now be enlisted in the cause and perhaps, with. better success; so they hope. Laws must Be framed against pretended encroachments of the Church/and under this disguise her rights may be impeded/and her interests ;destroyed. This is now the advice we find anti-Catholic writers on all sides putting forward. "In the middle ages" says this writer, « the struggle with the Papacy tasked the strength of thc'greatesfc kings ; it remains to be seen whether the strength of the greatest of republics will be equal to the conflict." It will not : the gates of hell are many times stronger and even they shall not prevail against the Church.

We hardly think it can be necessary for us to remind our readers that the expiration of the time allowed for registration is drawing near. Every Catholic, who is "entitled to a vote at the election of a member in the House of Representatives, but who neglects to take steps needful to ensure his name being placed upon the list, neglects a duty he owes to himself and his fellow Catholics generally throughout the colony. He throws away the only arm of defence he possesses against the perpetration of injustice towards himself and his brothers in religion, and betrays, so far as in him lies, the common cause to unprincipled men, petty tyrants, and bigots, who arc ever on the watch to injure its dearest interests. We trust, therefore, that there are none who will now let the opportunity of securing the franchise pass. The matter is pressing, and carelessness or indifference displayed in it would be nothing short of disgraceful.

Thbee Chinamen of Melbourne, named respectively L. Kong Meng, Cheok Hong Cheong, and Louis Ah Mouy, have edited a pamphlet whose object it is to advocate the Chinese cause. It is a fairly written document, allcit somewhat high-flown, veiy plausible, rather pathetic, and, considered apart from all questions of expediency or necessity, not without a tolerable show of reason. It, moreover, lauds the excellence of the Chinese people, speaks highly of them as a civilized and well educated nation, and quotes from Mencius and Confucius passages that might bring tears to the eyes of our Attorney-General, who, where the Chinese question is concerned, seems not void of lucid intervals. It would go hard with him to encourage legislation tending to exclude from the country fclk so morally un-Christian as these pretend to be. In a word the pamphlet pleads the Chinese cause, about as ' powerftffly as it can be pleaded, but, when all is said, the matter rests exactly where it stood before. Chinese immigration into these colonies must be kept within narrow limits or totally forbidden. M. de Varigny, from whom we lately quoted, supplies us with the reason ; it is State policy, and no argument can be so plausible as to set this aside. The Chinese may be everything that these three editors make them out to be, but this is nothing to the purpose. However excellent these people may be, we should be far from justified in permitting them so to flock in ■here as to ruin us and our children. Whatever aid we are bound to afford the needy, we are not bound to sacrifice to them the well-being of our own families. We are not called upon because they arc starving at home to bring them here to starve us and everyone belonging to or dependant onus. We fail to see the "reciprocity" that exists between the English trade with China, and permission given to this country to swamp the English colonies, and destroy their inhabitants. This is a " reciprocity " that inclines rather too much to one side. Finally, we are permitted to fight for our lives, and resistance to Chinese immigration is a fight on our part for life. The Chinese must not come here. That is our answer to this plausible pamphlet that has been forwarded to us.

It is always interesting, and occasionally useful as well, for the people of a country to learn tbe light in which they arc regarded by foreigners of intelligence. We were, therefore, pleased to find iiw a late number of the Revue ties Deux Months, an article on Irela^P which had been inspired by Mr. A. M. Sullivan's work, " New lieland," and Mr. John Eutherford's " Secret History of the Fenian Conspiracy." The writer, M. H. Blcrzy, proceeds to the following effect. Ireland is a country which we aro accustomed to paint in sombre colours ; a rural population, over-flowing, poverty-stricken and ignorant ; absentee landlords, who take but little interest in the ordinary concerns of the country ; want, copious emigration, secret societies, and outbreaks; permanent antagonism between hostile races, the one victorious and abusing its power, the other incapable of raising itself to an improved condition ; two religions, of which the one possesses all the wealth, and the other all the influence ; such is the afflicting picture hitherto presented to the students of her history by Ireland. The English themselves have sometimes acknowledged that the case was deplorable, ancl declared themselves anxious to repair the wrongs done by their ancestors to tne lush j but, if their word were true, the Celtic iubabita of the

Miland were incorrigible conspirators, incapable of appreciating the benefits of a liberal Government. The character of a people reveals "self in the great men to whom it accords popularity ; who, for the space of fifty years have been the popular men in Ireland ? A fiery orator, O'Connell, who made it his boast that he could drive a coach and four through any Act of Parliament ; an enthusiast, Father Mathew, whose sermons against drunkenness produced but a momentary effect; a selfish conspirator, Stephens, who only succeeded in causing the country ten years of disturbance without any results, huch short-sighted agitators as this inspire rather pity than anger. It is with an iron hand conclude the accusers that a nation possessed of such false political instincts must be ruled. It seems, however, that these descriptions are no longer true. TBe author of New Ireland," although himself an Irishman does not overlook the innate faults of his fellow-countrymen. He impartially condemns the faults committed by them, but he claims that by degrees education and experience have taught them how better to conduct themselves. The Ireland of to-day is no more, either that of O'Connell, or that of 1848. Fenianism has been only a passing illusion ; the nation has long since renounced its dreams of .absolute independence, condemns religious dissensions, abhors secret societies, and only demands freedom like that of Australia or Canada, to legislate for itself in all matters that do not concern the rest of the empire. It in consequence desires an Irish Parliament assembled in Dublin rather than in London, and elected by all citizens without distinction of caste or belief. The volumes published by Mr. Sullivan are a picturesque pleading, by which he shows the progress made by ideas in half a century. The picture is, perhaps, somewhat overdrawn; but the sentiment which inspires the author is, in every instance, honest. Without allowing ourselves to be altogether carried away, it is impossible not to feel a lively sympathy with the cause under consideration. A commission, under the presidency of Colonel Burgoyne, was appointtd to report on the construction of a chain of railways in Ireland. Their report, published in 1838, contained a long chapter on the condition of the rural population. Here we read that the population was far in excess of the resources of the country ; that two-fifths of the men were without work, because agriculture only afforded occupation during a portion of the year, and there was nothing to supply its place. The peasantry divide amongst them, to an extreme degree, the estates of the landlords ; each one obtains so small a portion, that it is impossible to work it with the plough. The little money they earn is expended in taxes and rent ; the cultivator of the soil, and his family have barely the means of sustaining life. The potatoe is the sole sustenance of the people. Milk is considered a luxury. There is no bread, no meat ; water is the only drink, or, unfortunately, whiskey, if the peasant has wherewithal to pay his score at the public-house. The dwelling of the villager is a hut made of mud and straw, and roofed with thatch ; it is without window or chimney, and bare of furniture. The father of the family has always lived, as best he could, on the property where his fathers lived before him. If he has children they marry when they are scarcely grown-up, build a cabin beside that of their father, and receive a division of his plot of ground. From generation to generation the means of living become less, because the number o£ mouths to be fed increases, and the land cultivated remains tbe same in size. All are covered with rags. The Irish people are the worst fed, worst lodged, and worst clad iv Europe ; and, what is worse, they have nothing to fall back upon, they live from hand to mouth. To all this misery were added political and religious persecutions. O'Connell, in '29, obtained the admission of Catholics to public employments. Two years afterwards, the late Lord Derby, then Chief Secretary for Ireland, brought about the establishment of a new system of primary education. It is true there had already been numerous schools, but Catholics were forbidden to teach in them, and the children of Catholics would only receive there the lessons of Protestant masters, The Irish, who were devoted to their religion, would not have anything to do with schools intended to proselytise them, At the commencement of the century the Act of Union between Ireland and England had ruffled all patriots of every shade of opinion. The Protestant nobility were especially offended because they had lost all the influence hitherto possessed by them over the affairs of the country. Had a campaign been then entered upon for the purpose of obtaining the repeal of the Union, it would have gained the adhesion of all, but O'Connell judged it preferable to claim first emancipation of Catholics. He succeeded in this after a struggle of twenty years, but when he desired, after 1830, to revive the question of repeal the situation was changed. The Protestant landlords were disgusted at the notion of a national parliament, where their religious adversaries would form the majority. The Bishops, as well as the higher-class Catholics, were satisfied at the result obtained, and did not again desire to find themselves placed in hostility to the Government. O'Connell then adopted the expedient of maintaining a constant agitation, without infringing at any time the letter of the law. This is everywhere a dangerous policy, but it was especially so in Ireland. It failed, and O'Connell lost a part of the popularity which his former life had gained for him. When death overtook him, he was not only worn out, he had also had the

misfortune to keep up amongst his fellow-countrymen a state of irritation that approaching calamities were destined to aggravate. Soured by extreme misery, and excited by the haranges of their favourite orator the Irish people were at that time in a state of demoralisation. The condition of the secret societies at the period in question is an evident proof of this. The most formidable of these societies was named the Ribbon Confederacy, and the name is the ouly thing certainly known in connection with it; Was it political or simply agrarian ? Had it a single centre, or was it divided into as many sections as there were counties ! Were the conspirators bound by oath, and of what nature was the oath? Nothing is known of all this. The least doubtful point concerning it is, that its members were all Catholics, although the clergy, faithful to the traditions of the Church which condemns secret societies, always denounced it. Englishmen agree in holding the Ribbon Confederacy accountable for all the agrarian crimes committed in Ireland. The agents of great estates were continually threatened by it. One of them, Mr. Trench, narrates, in his memoirs published some ten years ago, that during a whole year following some evictions, he did not dare to go abroad without arms and an escort; The recent murder of Lord Leitrim leads us to suppose that the barbarous custom alluded to is not extinct, or that it is occasionally revived when prolonged ill-treatment exasperates the country people. In spite of public misery, political agitations, and the detestable regulations that directed the management of landed property, the population of Ireland increased with unexampled rapidity. It is estimated that in 1845 there were nine millions of souls< Nine millions of people living from hand to mouth, without any resources whatever. The potato, as we know, was the only food. A rumour arose that, the preceding year, this precious plant had failed in America; the harvest, however, was plentiful in Europe and no attention was paid to the report. The year '45 set in fairly ; towards the middle of autumn the disease showed itself, still there remained sufficient fruit for present consumption ; but a considerable portion of the store laid up for winter became rotten. Deprived of their accustomed supplies, the cultivators sold what they possessed, went into debt, in spite of all with the characteristic courage of the Celt prepared their fields, hoping that a good season to come would repair the losses of the past. But the harvest of '46 was a more complete failure than that of the year preceding. And this time it was famine ; a whole people found themselves stripped of the means of subsistence. What was to become of those nine millions of unhappy wretches, of whom one-half, perhaps, were reduced to absolute penury. Was it not the duty of the English Government to come to their aid at once when the mishap became known. This catastrophe took place just at the moment when from one end of Great Britain to the other the question of the corn-laws was being agitated. If the protectionists had admitted that there was danger of a famine in Ireland, they would have furnished their opponents with a powerful argument in favour of free-trade in corn, for nothing could have been more pressing than the necessity of opening the ports for importation from abroad. On the part of Government there was a fear of being misinformed, of giving useless aid or making a wasteful distribution. Although the Irish authorities had given a warning of the danger in October, '4."), the matter still seemed doubtful. At length when the misery could not be hidden, and Parliament had accorded a magnificent subsidy, besides its being too late for the remedy to be efficacious the ministry were undecided as to what steps it was desirable to take. On all sides the economic doctrines with which England had occupied herself for ten years presented an obstacle to proper application of the aid granted. We may well believe that the Catholic clergy did not spare themselves during these frightful trials. On the other hand, the Protestant ministers did not show themselves less devoted, and Quakers, commissioned by the Society of Friends, in England, went through the most distressed districts, carrying everywhere aid and words of comfort. As to the landlords their conduct was generally blameworthy ; those who habitually lived abroad were careful not to return, and otters fled from the prevailing epidemic. Ireland long sufEered from the effects of the sufferings endured in 1846 and 1847 ; not only because a great part of her population had succumbed, but because her national character had taken a sombre tinge. All amusements were forgotten, the traditional hospitality of the people yielded to an exaggerated distrust of strangers, and hatred of England was increased, because of the grudge borne her for having so long delayed in understanding the gravity of the situation. On the first tidings those who had emigrated to America hastened to send help to their fellow-countrymen ; these repaid them more gratitude for the few thousand pounds they sent, than they yielded to the English for the millions so tardily furnished by them. It is almost an historic axiom that a country is never more prosperous than after it has suffered some gieat calamity. If it was not so, iv Ireland following the famine of '47, it was because the wounds were kept open by some thing external, or because the evil was so inveterate as to require still more violent shocks, or, at leaßt a longer treatment to destroy its roots and repair the damage done by it. The evil in question was the antagonism of race between the Saxons of

England andtbeCdts of Ireland. The radical vice of Irish society exists in the mischievous arrangement of landed property. In all the countries of Europe submitted to Roman law, or which had adopted ht/A ,C, C - C °T ° f "^ th 6 tenant became the Proprietor of the lands hcldbyhim. It was net so in Ireland, and the cause i s variously assigned. It may be said that it arose from the fact of cultivation being always backward and the cultivator always poverty-stricken, or because between the Protestant proprietor, who represents the conqueror, and the tenant who is in some sort the serf attached to the soil, there lies an abyss that religion renders more deep. Not only does there exist no contract between them, but custom, moreover, confers no privilege on the cultivator. It matters not what improvements he may have made, all belongs to the landlord, who has the right at any time to evict him or to raise his rent. This condition of things appears all the harder m Ireland, because there is retained there the memory of a tar different state of affairs. The Celtic law, in a word, far from conferring upon a lord of the manor the possession of the soil, taught that it must remain undivided among the members of the tribe These ideas have been transmitted from father to son from time immemorial Whether the peasant is evicted for non-payment of rent, or ovvin- to the caprice of the landlord, ,vho desires to try new modes of agriculture with the aid of English or Scotch labourers, he considers himself despoiled. Perhaps this unfortunate condition of matters irould have been ameliorated with time in Ireland, had not the lord of the manor been an enemy or foreigner. He is an absentee living in England, and only concerns himself with his estate so far as to receive the income derived from it. He is represented by an agent who even were he accessible to pity, cannot act as he will. Thus the peasant lives in constant fear of his master, and refrains from furnishing his cottage or trimming his garden, even if he is prosperous Ercry outward sign of prosperity would indicate that he was making a fortune, and would prove him in a position to pay a higher rent. a