The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1880.

Temuka Leader, Issue 326, 7 December 1880, Page 2

The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1880.

The state of Ireland at the present moment is disturbing the equanimity of our good old lady the Queen of England, That there are cans is for complaint by the Irish few will deny, hat like the Continental Nations they never cry out but when they are hungry. If by timely and judicious management the mass of the people were supplied with good wholesome food ..there would he very little noise with them about anything ; but when starvation stares a in the face, he is ready to fly at any one or anything. Such is the case at preseqt in Ireland. She has endured a long time of suffering, partly through bad and unremunerative harvests, but chiefly through want of employment by the working class When things are in such, a condition all old sores ripped up, and evils which under ordinary circumstances would not bethought of are magnified ten, twenty, ora bundled fold There is no denying, however, that the Irish peasantry have bepu ground dov. n to the very lowest by A sbt or rapacious a hsentee lapd owners*' whmdraw tlib yery fat and marrow out of the bones pf thie poor hardworking iuen who have been struggling on from year to year for the hare necessaries of lib* with out the slightest hope of ever rising above the level of the serf. Ireland, it is adpiilted, is the most fertile of the three kingdoms, the climate temperate and I humid, the soil good and well watered with numerous rivers. Why then should

her sons not he u* .hr. pw IUUC |, mo re prosperous than ih e iuhawitauu of sterile Scotland with t , s bleak, and unin yiting aspect. Both suffered and still suffer from jjie Union, although both, it ran not be (illIl i e( i ) Ueiiv.-d benefit from'it, < - )n, ‘ of the o'nuses, ami that witieli rises to /surface - at present very prominently, l a / c he shortness of tenure which the Irish . n ive of their little holdings. In Scotland, | bard and oft u oppressive as the land j owners are, they have ever willingly allowed the easing system to lie,acted upon almost universally. all d they did nof. pay for improvements at the end of the lease, whieb they generally did, they at least allowed their tenants to make a claim np.on their successors before giving up possession. This enables the Scotch tar iner to cope with a stern soil, which often took the most of a nineteen years’ lease, to recoup them for their outlay. This being tbe practice however Scottie, who is characteristical y a plodding .animal, made bold to tackle this comparatively barren waste, and often the father, tbe son, and the son’s son spent a lifetime of com,, arative independence, having little pp trouble dim, but 10 keep on good terrps with the hard. At market or at home, he would have his warmer of the real mountain dew, and he went to bed as happy ana as independent- as the laird himself ; even if too drunk to be able to go home or to bed he could face the morn ing sun a freeman aid as independent as ever- No fear of losing his situation ; no feai of losing lus farm, for the laird, by the 1 1 \y of hip.othic, protected him in home. Blame able as he may be for his indulging too liberally in his potations and night carousal-, be nevertheless had his time of happiness, pleasure, or enjoyment, accord ing as his tastes dictated. Now with Ire land the case is quite different. Yearly tenancy being the general, system adopted the occupier has no encouragement: to spend money in improving his land, even if he had the money (which is next to an impossibility under the circumstances.) Is it then to be wondered at that the Irish peasantry have a wish to terminate such a state of matters. If the Irish land owners would take timely warning and make terms with their tenants, they might prevent a catasirophy, but we fear they have not the manliness to do it Why should not they ? Are the Irish an inferior race If we look abroad over the whole civilised world we will find Irishmen hold ing the most honorable, the meat respon stole, and often the most lucrative but well earned situations under the Crown, as well as public ana private companies If we only cast our eyes over our own colony, can we say they are in industry, activity, or general ability, inferior to. either Scotch or English Is it not then galling to such a people to be ground down by tyrannical landlords Doubtless there are other causes that operate against the Irishman enjoying his parsimony Of these more anon