CARDINAL MANNING ON THE LAND LEAGUE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IX, Issue 440, 16 September 1881, Page 11

CARDINAL MANNING ON THE LAND LEAGUE.

On July 9tb, his Eminence tbe Cardinal Archbishop received the members of the Irish labourers' deputation, at Archbishop's Bouse, Westminster. The deputation was comprised of tbe same gentlemen as waited upon Mr. Foreter at the Irish Office on the previous day : Father Kennedy, Kilmeed, Limerick ; Messrs, Johnson, Upton, Hessin, Enright, and Mr Peter O'Leary, of London. . The deputation were introduced by Mr. T. Campbell, tbe secretary of the League of the Cross, and, in turn, repeated to his Eminence the statements made to Mr Forster. His Eminence pot various questions to each member of the deputation, and appeared to be deeply impressed with tbe facts thus brought out. The deputation was said to represent the counties of Limerick, Cork, Monster, Waterford, and Kilkenny. His Eminence, in replying, said : My good friends from Ireland, lam very happy to see you. There are three members of my flock present, whs will, I think, give you the assurauce that my heart has always been with the Irish labourer (hear, hear). About ten years ago, my friend, Mr. Kelly, came to me and told me that whenever there was * strike among the artisans who were associated, tbe labourers were the immediate sufferers, as they were thrown out of employment ; so that it was proposed to form amongst them a Labourers' Union. I most heartily approved of that, shared in the proposal, and gave it encouragement in every possible way. I do, to this day, believe that every class has a perfect right and freedom to associate them* Belves for that which is their common interest. 1 have always felt that what are called "trades unions" are most legitimate associations to protect the common interests of the men (bear, hear). I have also felt, and not only felt, but written and published, that the Land League, operating within the limits of law, human and divine, is a lawful association ; and I have always, and in every way — U many of those who hear me know — regarded the Land League as a perfectly legitimate association, and one which, so long as it does not transgress against the laws of Qod and man, will never have from my lips one word of discouragement. I limit my words most carefully, because if any one transgresses the limits of the laws of God and man my duty in, at any cost, to speak the truth, ;and my sympathy is distinctly limited within these lines, and those who hear me will carry to Ireland the assurance that what I have said is my feeling, judgment and action. I pray God it may prevail, as I think it is prevailing, and I believe that the action ot your good and faithful bishops and priests in Ire* land, and especially the way in which the Archbishop of Cashel has lately spoken as a true pastor and true bishop, will prevail to guide the association of the Land League in a safe path (cheers). Now, having said that, I will say that as soon as I beard that a deputation of the labourers of Ireland was in London, and that they had the will to see me, I answered with great pleasure. I believe that the state of the labourers in Ireland must be treated. It has been — as Mr. Forster said yesterday — a most sorrowful state, and is a shame, not to Ireland so much as to England (hear, hear). That the state of the labourer in England, as well as in Ireland, has been the subject of my most earnest sympathy, those who know me in London well know, and will remember that I have given evidence of it ; but I have felt that the state of the labourer in Ireland could not be treated in the present Land Bill. I know there was some disappointment that something was not done for the labourer. My answer is this — I am not a politician, and have no relations with tbe Government whatever, and I speak simply as an independent pastor of the Church— that the present bill is already so unwieldy, so large, so manifold, that it would be impossible to introduce so large a subject as the labourers, without doing it in so insufficient, so shallow, and so unsatisfactory a way that it would be most imprudent to attempt it (hear, hear). I believe that this treatment of landlord aud tenant is a subject large enough to occupy a whole session of Parliament, as we see it has, and that, therefore, it is far better for you that the subject of the labouier shall be entirely reserved for the future. I most heartily agree with what Mr. O'Leary has said, and I think that you ought to petition that there should be a royal commission issued for the purpose of taking evidence of the state of tbe labourers. The landlords and tenants have had their turn ; they have had a commission and a half, because the Richmond Commission occupied itself largely with Ireland, and the Bessborougb Commission occupied itself entirely with Ireland ; so now 1 think if you petition that there should be a commission to occupy itself entirely with the labourers, that would be a wise course (bear, hear). I do not like to go into details ; I am always unwilling to go into detaOs on such subjects, but I may point out ceitain things which I see. First of all, it is quite obvious that a certain amount of land is necessary if a man is to live by it as a farmer, and it cannot be less than a certain quantity. Now, I will not attempt to fix what that quantity ought to be, and I will tell you why. In one part of Ireland the land is fertile, and in another it is not ; in one part it is mountain and in another plain ; so that what amount of land would be necessary to a tenant farmer I cannot say. But I say that the land ought, to be drained, and that there ought to be a minimum under which no man could attempt to be a tenant farmer, because if he does be will only be starving himself and hiß family, and probably throwing good money after bad, or injuring the land by not having capital enough to do justice to it, I will go further, and say that every labourer ought to have a house. Ido not call that which has been described by Mr. Enright as a house ; that is not tbe name for it. I know that there are such dwellings to be found even in England, but I do not call them houses, though I won't say what I call them ; there are certain names for them, but as they are not respectable I will cot use thtm. I believe this, that there ought to be hereafter, wben I trust this land commission is in full txercise of its powers, or when there should be local county government or administration on a very large scale, there ongbt to be a Sanitary Commission, or Sanitary Commissions ; and I would rather it came from the land commission with all speed, not waiting for another session, and new laws, but coming at once. I think this Sanitary Commission should: go all orer Ireland) and do what they do in

England— doom, sentence, and sweep away every house not fit for human habitation— and that there should be a law to compel ownfers, or those who possess an interest in the soil, to provide under certain coaditions — for I will call them houses— in which the labourers upon their land should be able to live with that decency which Mr. Enright spoke of in his evidence. Having drawn the line which should be drawn to prevent the imprudent beginning of agricultural work, which I think cannot be undertaken sucessfully unless a man has a certain substance, I think that there ought to be no labourer that does not possess, with a proper house, an allotment ol land-, attached to bis house if possible, in the form of a garden. If the condition of tbe parish where he lives does not make it possible that the garden should be attached to the houpe, then it ought to be as it is in a large part of England, where every -labourer has his own garden, whicih if not attached to his house, is somewhere near, and which enables him, together with the wages he receives, to maintain himself aud family in a proper state. The condition of an English labourer I had good ieason to know. I lived for seventeen years in the county of Sussex, and a great many years in the county of Kent, and I knew intimately well the conditiou of the cottagers of two considerable parishes ; I knew every man, woman and child in every house, and there was hardly a house that had not a little garden, and when* there was no garden attached to the house there was what was called allotment gardens, a certain number of acres divided, each cottiger having his portion, and by the fruit and vegetables of that land he would have enough to feed his family, aud his money wages enabled him to do tbe rest. It seetrs to me that these are three things which are absolutely necessary at this moment — allotment gardens, houses, and a higher rate of wages. Now, though I r.m not going into political economy, my belief is this, that there is not a single mouth in Ireland that might not be fed, nor a single hand in Ireland that might not be occupied, and although I heartly approve of emigration when it is the real overflow of population that has exceeded the means both of sustenance and labour at home, I do not wish to see one man leave Ireland until the soil of the country has been thoroughly and completely tilled and exhausted (cheers). I do not pretend to enter into the means of how things are to be done ; I can conceive 360 objections that people may make, because lam accustomed to that ; but I believe they will all vanish if you will only meet them with a little resolution. I feel perfectly sure that when once the land commission has begun with power to purchase, power of subdivision, power of f reesale, and power to lend money, no difficulties will be too great to be got over (cheers.) I can only judge of the end and the end I have always had in view in the question is this, to admit the largest number of the people- of Ireland to a share in the soil of Ireland (hear, hear.) I believs that that is the end we have in view ; I believe that the creation of peasant proprietors upon the largest possible scale the — creation of what in England we should call yeomen— would be a great benefit to Ireland. lam sorry to say that our yeomen have been gradually disappearing. The reason of that disappearance, I believe, is in great measure to be found in the enormous wealth that has sprung up from commerce. Industry and machinery have enabled those who possessed the money to buy up lands, and so the yeomen have been devoured and the small holdings have been thrown into large ones by riches prevailing over poverty. It seems to me that in Ireland there is not this amount of capital to buy up and devour the land. What is wanted is men living upon their own soil, and if -they cannot live upon it as farmers, let them at least have a garden on their homes, which no man can put him out of so long as he does his duty. There is a wonderful passage spoken by LordJChatham, in the last century. He said :—": — " In England the rain may come into a poor man's house, the wind may enter a poor man's house, but the king cannot." That is, so long as the poor man is protected by the law, he live*, in a house of his own. and that is happily the condition ef England, I believe; andit ought to be the condition of Ireland (cheers). In Englaml,we had forty shilling freeholders, and we cannot go lower than that, but, unfortunately, they have been swallowed up and extiugui<-hed by the Reform Bill. I want to see freeholders on small holdings in Ireland, so long as it will not involve them in enterprises where they cannot maintain themselves. That appears to me to be the aim we oughl to direct our attention to, and I believe that this bill of Mr. Gladstone's is by far the most complete, and, as I hope, will be the most efficient mode of attaining that end of any that have ever been proposed to the English Parliament, not only in our lifetime but in the lifetime of any man. No statesman ever proposed anything approaching- to it, and for the first time we have before Parlinment that which iscalk-d the three "F's," which I believe will be attained in the main, thjuph perhaps not perfectly or entirely. Every man that loves Ireland and desiies to do what he can to improve the position of landlord, tenant and labourer in Ireland, ought to do what he can to pass that bill into law. There may be things that want amending in it, but if 1 you want to repair a ship you take it into a dry dock and examine it ; ; you don't scuttle it. Now, I say to you, Don't scuttle the' ship. " It i will be a long time before you will be able to get another bill so.gooa, j so take what you have got. I am not astonished at reading in tbe papers ' sometimes certain wild woids. I wish I did n ~>t read th< mas a friend !of Ireland. Tell my friends in Ireland I wi-Ti I did not read them, I but Ido not wonder at them, for I have said a thousand times that- if I Lad been born in Ireland I have no doubt I would have* been worse ; tneiefore I do not wonder at them, but I deplore them, and we riSust avoid them (bear, bear). Your bithops tbe other day published eighteen resolutions on the land bill, and they were exceeding^ gtod. Out of the eighteen there were three whicb, as I read them over, I said I am not 6ure whether they will work, or can be pot, but you may tell your bishops when you see them that in the main I went heartily with thtm in those eighteen resolutions. Now I say to you, stand by your bishops ; keep together. You said truly, good Fathi r Kennedy, that the Church has ever been a mother of the poor, and it must a • ways be po to the end of time, because it is the Church of our iKSrd, who lived amongst the poor. It has been a joy to my heart to pee the way especially during the last six weeks or two months, that bishops and priests aud people have been standing together in this- matter. There has been a great vfani of- justice ; jubtice must be done*, ftnd^ we

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must work together to get it. I believe that the Land Bill in a great instalment in the way of that jnstice, and I say, in the name of God, let as keep together ; let us stand together shoulder to shouldrr as one naa, and I am sure there are happy days in store foT Ireland (cheers). I have often said to my Irish friends— and T have ft great many both in Ireland and England — that there never was a time in the hifrtory of Ireland when Ireland was so completely one people as now ; there was never a time in the history of Ireland when Ireland bad so much wealth in it as now. Since the three great confiscations of the land of Ireland there never wan a time when there were such cities and towns growing up, and I wish manufactures were introduced, and then the wages would rise, for there would be competition. There never was a time when the people of Ireland were so educated as now ; and there never was a time when there were so many newspapers in Ireland as now, so that never before was there such a public opinion there as now. There never was a time when Irish public opinion ha 4 such a hold in all the large towns of England, for Irish public opinion acts the newspapers of the two countries to work, and there never was a time when Irish public opinion had such a hold on English public opinion and on the English Parliament as now. I ask you, then, is it not a moment in which we should all stand together, and not be divided ? That is my message to Ireland. Father Kennedy and the other members of the deputation thanked his Eminence for the kindly reception and withdrew.