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Show ! Irish Land Bill. 1 Lord Bercsford, a Landlord, Thinks it Will Bring 1 Peace. 'L ; I j iir j rharics Bcresford, the famous I p"'ti!l )'i:,1'rH'' n:ls lx'en interviewed ' bv a representative of the New York ' om on i'!' subject of tnc Irish land L"i J Beresford is one of the best c-Vcimns f the Irish gentry and always al-ways calls Ireland "ray country." fix" admiral stated his case in this 1 -Thn bill is a courageous, statesnian-Mc-attempt to solve the Irish question. 1 11 t!i- first real measure which treats I j!(.;aiid as a whole, which deals out ,,uali!.v t" both classes and at the ,-xpi-iise of neither; that is, the landlord i not sacrificed for the tenant nor the I t, riant !""! tli'5 landlord. For this rea-f rea-f tlie measure must appeal to every i jriviiui.Mi who desires to see peace, I miitv and a settled, constant prosperity I Wish'-d in his country. V -I am enthusiastic about the nieas-. nieas-. 1rfi lviive it must solve all the t:milW a:nl difficulties which have be-f.-t Ireland, because it is fair and satis-: satis-: factory to all parties concerned. It is 1- fair to the landlords, who have been in a position of great loss owing to the j interference of the slate, which did away with the right of contract between be-tween man and man. It is fair to the tenant, and it doesn't put the taxpayer to any great expense. "Of the many acts that are on the? pta'utr bonk dealing with the relations trf-twof-n landlord and tenant, all have iweii mf'rc or loss failures because they h. iv only encouraged litigation. They have hen of profit to but one class in Ireland the lawyers. They have put landlords and tenants apart instead of bringing -them together; have' made their interests diametrically opposite, instead of making them synonymous. "Acriculture is the main industry of Ireland, and previous land legislation for Ireland has done little but throw a h'avy load of litigation on the agricultural agri-cultural industry. After the union Knsland ruined all the other Irish industries in-dustries by hostile tariffs, with the res' re-s' sa't "iKn f w hcii" ag'iTcuITtfre Tailed there vas.notriing for an Irishman but emi-fvption. emi-fvption. There were no home indus-; indus-; tries to which he could turn to find a living. "This is why the land question has r.inays been so vital to Irishmen, and v.hy the failure of the settlement has len sue!) a rankling sore for genera-i genera-i ti.ms. The people of the United States i knnw this better, perhaps, than they do in England, for they have bad for y-ars among them men and the children chil-dren of nun driven from their homes n this account. The land act of 180 gave 'compensation for disturbance,' but it could not efface the feeling of i. bitterness that centuries of unjust land ; tnu-e had engendered. The hatred of Knelaiid to be found today among i: many Irish-Americans is proof of how that feeling has survived. ; "Net- do 1 wonder," continued Lord Charles, -for. though I was born a 1'iiidli.rd and loyalist. I have often said ; that had 1 been born a tenant before ; '"''it is not unlikely I would have been I a rebel. S! 'Before the 'To act the Irish tenant 'as murli in the same category as a inaaian or a Turk in his respective '"untry. where any improvement .in property results in increased taxation. I "If the Irish tenant improved his . j !'!"!'!;. which was done frequently. I j tl landlord could raise the rent or put I ,!!" farm in the market and get a new I :tam ..t a higher rental, which higher I Mitat was obtainable solely through f itnprovnient made by the tenant. I This. ; .-..arse. was manifestly unfair '! 'he tenant. Yet one couldn't blame indi.-rd. lie was within his legal f -Piits in obtaining the highest possible f !"turn ..a his property. You must re- r'!'n;b-r the.,- is no sentiment in busi- ji "' d-n't say that the Irish landlords j ' d : - did raise the rents or put their j '::ai.:s out. but they always had the J ioi'r.,. j.,,. tne potentialities f v";v' in tii. ii hands. In my own experi- I''"- I r number an instance happen-' '"C e-,;,,: y,a!S a?0. had lost some :" ' i:i:d 'Aired my agent in Ireland I '"' ; if he liad any money for me. ,!-s !'i;y was that he could get some ' bv M::sir2 ihc rents on my properties, f 1 i b:,.k. Don't do anything until I ' F'" tii enditions for myself.' i to Ireland and found that j; r,y ii.:s wet,. fiir below the Griffith I Ji,!'na; ':'. one farm of forty acres, ; ' i'-ust!,,5i..n, was paying me half a f ( v'n ;., ;i, and for this same land ; ;,S' -: bad been offered by parties I n'r !:.!u the tenant IS shillings an j: j'"'- '"he tenant himself offered me 12 t- Rs if 1 would let him continue !' lw"u lint I found that the in- ri'ay l valuation of this land was due I '''!' to tii" jmprcivc ments which the i 'niint ha.i made in his thirty years of 'lll'ar.. it would have been mani- I f's'; I l-N'l'AlU Til HAVIO RAISED THE r tlirr. conditions, and so I didn't. - a'i was only typical of that of "' my brother landlords. 'luestion naturally arises, Why ! '-in landlord make the inirove- i, f!US? Th(' tl,l!!wir is that the tenant ' use,) to ct hinii jtp.)Wing: that im- i, pi'"' "H'"ls cannot be made without i i,,V( landlord some return for his 6v. ''Mn,,'it. which meant more rent I '. ,s ' iistomary in England. Un the olhci. hand cvc,ry act that has enabled the tenant to become th Purchaser of his holding has been invariably in-variably successful. Both landlord and tenant have been satisfied, their interests have been made identical. 80,-000 80,-000 tenants have purchased, and the state has not lost one penny. Mr. Wyndham's bill is a measure which both landlord and tenant should he prepared to accept loyally. It brings into line politicians of every shade of opinion, whose only connecting link is pride in, and love of, their country, and anxiety for its welfare. "This is where Mr. Wyndham's chivalrous chiv-alrous and statesmanlike measure stands out far ahead of any that has preceded it. It is a bold and wise effort to grapple with the root of the problem and to secure, as he himself phrased it, '.some lasting basis of agrarian peace.' The bulk of crime in Ireland is crime engendered by agrarian ag-rarian discontent. To put it in an Irish way, when Irishmen are at peace with the law they are the most law-abiding law-abiding people on the face of the earth. '.'In the past, however, all of enthusiasm, enthu-siasm, chivalrous sentiment and generous gener-ous impetuosity of my countrymen have been guided in the wrong direction. direc-tion. Both parties of the government have unwittingly set landlord against tenant and intensified instead of minimizing mini-mizing class animosity. It was only recently re-cently that it was an infraction of discipline dis-cipline for Irish soldiers to appear on parade wearing their country's emblem. em-blem. But now, on St. Patrick's day the Irish guards wear shamrocks and every Irishman in both army and navy can sport the bit of green that means so much to him. "That the bill will be FAVORABLY RECEIVED BY" THE BRITISH TAXPAYER is to bo expectetl, as he will fully realize real-ize that it puts into practice the truest economy. JnreXuui-for an infinitesimal I taxation, which, be it remembered. England. Ireland, Scotland and Wales all bear equally, he will be relieved from the burden of a dissatisfied Ire- '' land, a burden for which he has been paying for years both directly and indirectly. in-directly. "A discontented Ireland has in one way or another cost the empire far ! more millions than the present proposals pro-posals will ever cost it, and if the land I war is to go on under the old conditions condi-tions it will cost the empire, many a million more. To give twelve millions to make it worth the landlord's while to sell is a cheap bargain for the. taxpayer, tax-payer, when the result of it will be to reconcile the opposing classes of Ire- land and put an end to that social; strife which has been an absolute bar to all industrial progress. This is where not only Ireland but England will gain by the passing into law of this measure. It will means the possi- j bility in the near future of an industrial indus-trial development in Ireland that will make my country happy and contented and will provide a source for the profit- j able utilization of English and American Ameri-can capital. "Again, the passage of the bill means the end of the home rule agitation. Home rule as Butt formulated it and as Parnell adopted it, was a hothouse plant that was shriveling- to a natural death until the clear brains and quick wit of Davitt and Lawler grafted the very much alive land question on to the decaying stem of home rule. Settle Set-tle the land question and home rule will settle itself. "Last, but by no means least important, impor-tant, there is every ground for the hope tint the result of this measure will be of inestimable value, in that it will remove the only source of irritation that comes between the two great na-tio:U na-tio:U cf the English-speaking races. A miss of the finest citizens of the fnited States trt Irish by.,-birth and breeding, and they have a bitter feeling feel-ing against England, which naturally has its influence in the, relations between be-tween the United States and the t.nt-ish t.nt-ish empire. With a satisfied Ireland, which this measure will bring about this feeling will die. and with it will die the one thing that bars the closest friendship between the two great na- 11 "Close and firm friendship between the British empire and the j"1tea States means the triumph of industrial .. ogress, and it is not putting t too 'tro.-gly to say that -he pacification of Ireland is no small step in the path to lhe neaoe of the world. "Thi centurv can be made a trading and commercial century if the peace of Lie world can be assured. If in. n uiral alliance which should ex.s between be-tween the English-speaking nation ihrourh mutual interests and trade S Snmcrr. is properly cemented, that peace should be assured. |
