The Temuka Leader THURSDAY, AUGUST 23, 1883.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1138, 23 August 1883, Page 2

The Temuka Leader THURSDAY, AUGUST 23, 1883.

Me Gladstone is evidently at his wit’s ends in his endeavors to rule Ireland. Sometime ago he released Mr Parnell from gaol on the condition that the latter would assist him in putting down crime in Ireland. The very next day Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr Burke were assassinated, and the cry was raised that Mr Parnell sympathised with the crime. Subsequently Mr Gladstone sent Mr Ernngton to Rome with the view of bringing the thunders of the Vatican to boar upon putting down the Irish agitaton, and Mr Parnell was specially marked out as the obj. ct of attention. The object was to force the people to refuse to subscribe to 'The-Pwraclt'testimonial,'ln-tlia hope that the ingratitude which would thna have been shown to him would make that illustrious patriot abandon ihe cause for which he has worked with so much energy for the last few years. The intrigue failed, or rather it had the opposite effect to what was anticipated. It roused the people to fiesh life and vigor ; they determined that they would not submit to surrender their legitimate rights nt the dictation of any power whatsoever, and subscriptions to the Parnell fund poured in more freely than ever. We now find Mr Gladstone making an earnest appeal to Mr Parnell not to inflime the national hatred of England and Ireland We ff-el certain Mr Parnell has no desire to inflame th- nitional hatrel of the two countries, and that his greatest ambition is to reconcile both races'. In all the agitation with which Mr Parnell has been identified, nothing has been done that could have the effect of infl ming national hatred. Of course the ruffians who have tried to terrify England by threatening the demolition of its public institutions with dynamite must of necessity have aroused a bitter feeling, but Mr Parnell has no power to suppress such villainy. His policy is peaceable agitation, and no one feels the great injury the dynamite faction is doing to Ireland more than he does. It was the British Government, brought all the trouble about. About four or five years ago there was a famine in Ireland, and farmers were unable to pay their rent. A Bill was introduced into the House of Commons entitled “ The Tenants’ Compensation for Dsturbance Bill,” which had for i*s object that every tenant whe might be evicted from his holding should receive from his landlord compensation for any improvements he had made on his farm. Colonists will hardly believe that when this Bill reached the House of Lords it was at once thrown out. The Lords did not believe in allow-' ingibe poor people who spent all their money .in making improvements on their farms compensation for tinge improvements, when they were tin net put ihrough inability to pay a excessive rent. And as this had ever been the policy of England towards Ireland—thac is to support the landlord class and crush the tenants—the Irish people despaired of ever getting their grievances redressed, and the Land League was started. The object of the Land League was to do battle with landlords The people despaued of the Government helping them, and they resolved to offer passive resistance to the aggressiveness and japacity of the landlords. They intended by boycotting and united resistance to harrass the landlords until they brought them to submit to treat their tenantry with justice, and they ha I succeeded to a great extenr when the Government intervened. So completely nonplussed and harrassed were the landlords that a great many of them were agreeing to come to terms with the tenants. And yet these terms were nothing out of the way ; they were fixity of tenure at a fair rent. But the Government came to the aid of the landlords again, and placed Mr Parnell and almost all the prominent Land Leaguers in the country in gaol. They raked up a fusty old statute that hail been obsolete for the last 300 years with the view of convicting them', but there was no law in existence under which they could lie punished The}' then came to the conclusion of making a law, and passed the Coercion Act with rei respective provisions, so that those who could not be punished under the existing law

could be punished under a law that did not exist. It was during the passage of the (Jnerc;on Act that (he Irish obstructionists rose in the House of Commons ; Dut the Coercion Act was passed, and legitimate agitation was put an end to. Henceforward crime began to increase, till it culminated in the hideous assassination of Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr Burke l»y Carey’s Invinciidcs. Is it any wonder, therefore, if Mr Parnell and his followers frequently accuse the Government of being the principal cause of crime in the country. Had the Government allowed the landlords and tenants to settle the difficulty amoncst themselves, instead of assisting the rich against the poor, a compromise would have been arrived at long ago. But they would not; they thought they would crush the people as in 3 ears gone by, and now Mr Gladstone finds, after appealing to Rome, he has to come back again and appeal to Mr Parnell. If Mr Gladstone is serious in his det-ire to suppress any feeling of dislike between the two races, the way he can do it is to allow the Irish people to manage their own affairs.