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Show IMPRESSIONS OLD AND NEW (Continued.) It was at last forced upon the minds. of the British legislators that Ireland never could have peace until the source of all the unrest and misery and discontent that prevailed was done away with and this source was the landlord?. The thornv question in Ireland for centuries past was the land. Many schemes as I have already stated were put forwurd with more or less success, but the cancer can-cer of landlordism remained there still and it was only when the government used the "knife, as it were, and cut out the s'or that the first and greatest great-est benefit of the Irish agitation was achieved. Following the transfer of the estates to the tenants the land woke up to a new life. New industries sprang up, for the people now having a hold on their land cultivated a thrift and labor hitherto . dormant. The industrial schools act introduced into Ireland in 1869 by the generous and enlightened enlight-ened policy of Mr. Gladstone received a new impetus im-petus and splendid institutions were established in various centers throughout hhe land throwing into the shade those of a similar kind in England. While the fanners were established on a firm footing as to the ownership of their lands, the laboring man was not forgotten. A comfortable cottage with an acre of ground attached was built for him, and the wretched hovel, his former residence, disappeared. There was also a great improvement in the man agement of workhouses, for instead of being homes of misery, wretchedness and discontent, to which many of the poverty-stricken would sooner die than enter, they became under the management of the county councils and the tender care of the Sisters of Mercy habitable and comfortable. The Irish agricultural movement, to which began in 1S89 worked wonders. When this organization-was first started the English statesmen ridiculed the idea of' its being a success, simply because it was a failure in England. Events proved how wrong those statesmen were for in 1904 the trade turnover of that organization reached two million pounds. At the present time almost every town has its branch and exhibits and the stimulus given to thrift and industry by that organization cannot be duly appreciated. appre-ciated. Ireland's struggle, too, for university education, edu-cation, has been crowned with success. The government gov-ernment last year introduced a bill dealing with this subject, and though it is in many points not up to the nation's expectations, still all agree that Mr. Birrel has made an honest attempt to deal with a question so long agitated and of such essential importance to the welfare of Ireland, especially her young. The agitation inaugurated by O'Con-j O'Con-j nell, furthered by Butt and preached on every platform plat-form by Parnell and his able self-sacrificing followers, follow-ers, Dillon, Healy, O'Brien, John Redmond and the rest, has in this our day achieved great and won-' derful results. The dear old Isle of the West sleeps no more, but is advancing step by step to the sunshine sun-shine of the full day. Irishmen everywhere throughout through-out this great republic welcome that advance, and Americans, too, for have not their presidents, states men and themselves ever stretched out the iiand of sympathy and aid to a land whose sons and daughters daugh-ters the might of tyrant could never subdue. It seems now that the prophesy of St. Malachy is about to be verified. "Woe is me," said that saint in his dying moments. Alas for my ruined country! Alas for the holy church of God. How long, how long dost thou forget us? How long, my country, arc thou consumed with sorrow?" A little while after uttering those words the Saint went on: "Be of good heart, my son, the church of God in Ireland Ire-land shall never fail. With terrible discipline, long shall she be purified. But afterwards, far and wide shall her magnificence shine forth in cloudless glory and oh! Ireland, do thou lift up thy head. Thy day also shall come; a day of ages, a week of centuries, cen-turies, equalling the seven deadly sins of thy enemy, en-emy, shall be numbered unto thee. Then .shall thy succeeding great merits have obtained mercy for thy terrible foe, yet so as through scourges as great and enduring. Thy enemies who are in thee shall' be driven out and humbled and their name taken away. But inasmuch as thpu are depressed, in so much thou shalt be exalted and thy glory shall not pass away. There shall be place in abundance within with-in thy boundaries and beauty and strength in thy defenses. Now, O Lord, dost thou dismiss thy servant in peace. It is enough. The church of God in Ireland shall never fail, and tho' long shall it be desired, my country shall one day stand forth in its might and be fresh in its beauty like the rose." . Having said so much about the political aspect of my country, and politics the world over at best are dry and acrimonious, I will pass on to a more pleasing aspect of Ireland, namely, its social and scenic side. It brooks no denial that the Irish are the most hospitable and kindest hearted people on the face of God's earth today, and as to their Catholicity Cath-olicity and purity of morals even the most biased mind cannot find another people to compare with them in these two respects. For centuries all the venom of bigot, all the malignity of a corrupt press poured their vitrol upon us until many fair-minded men thought that Ireland was but a land of savages. sav-ages. "You can't go to Ireland, you know, my dear man, you will surely be shot." "By George, Lord II h haSTa beautiful country residence there and he tells me it's not safe to live in it. Lady Maud was just saying they roast people alive there and dan:e the war dance- round the pyre," this from an old lady with a pound of rouge to every freckle. Such whispers as these were heard in the high circles cir-cles of English society and uttered by. well known and fashionable people they soon got noised abroad until fair-minded men almost believed there was truth in such statements.-' The root of all this mischief, mis-chief, all these lying statements was the British v.- garrison in Ireland the landlords. and their hirelings. hire-lings. More English than the English themselves they had access to the best drawing rooms of England Eng-land and there with the cruelty of a Nero and the cunning of a Machiavelli, they drew up hideous lying pictures of the savagery and butchery of the Irish peonle. But honest, serious minded men like John Mnrley, Joseph Cowcn, William Labouchcre and Sir Redvers Btdler took none of those drawing room versions of Ireland, they saw her for themselves them-selves and their conclusion was that her people were the most generous, purest, simplest and most patient on the face of God's earth. And what these men saw many more began to sec too. y Coming Com-ing over strangers into a much gazetted savage land, they meet not the knife of a Mohawk or the poison of a Borgia, but they received everywhere they went the smile, the glad smile of welcome and the cheery words, "We are all pleased to see you. sir; come in and make yourself at home with us." Seeing all this, was it any wonder that the noble English mind would cry out against the country of his birth for her treatment, her barbarity to that isle beyond the channel? Seeing, I say, the chivalry, chiv-alry, the purity, the nobleness of Ireland's sons and daughters, the very soul of such a man would rise up in arms against the vile traducers of our race and give them back the lie. "Kind sir, I feel not the least alarm No son of Erin shall offer me harm," replied the unprotected maiden journeying through the land in the days of the good King Malachi to the stranger questioning the wisdom of her doing so. The maiden's answer holds for all time, for far safer than lines and lines of glittering steel is the true, kind, hospitable grip of an Irishman's hand. BY CABIN. (To be continued.) |