THE Evening Star. PUBLISED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. TUESDAY, JANUARY 25, 1881.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3768, 25 January 1881, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. TUESDAY, JANUARY 25, 1881.

Tie state of Ireland, is at the present time engrossing the attention of the known world, and the action to be taken by the British Government in reference . to the matter is eagerly looked forward to. The position of the,country is very equivocal, and the grievances under which the Irish people labor claim the sympathy of all right-thinking men. The uneven division of land in Ireland is the source of all this grumbling and discontent. For example, two-thirds of the country are in the possession of 2,000 owners, while there are 500,000 hard working peasants who have to earn their bread from the soil, and who have only one means of livelihood—agriculture,—and are not favored like their brethren.in the sister isle, who have multitudinous tradesandoccupations to choose from.- In consequence, it ispatent to all that the unequal division of the country is a most serious draw-.o back to them, and also places them' in,the power of the landlords, who can eject their tenants, or raise the rent at will. A tenant renting say lOO^fcres, will Ihbe successful, and he is congratulating Bfeself on the fruit of bis yfeor when in demand from tW landlord for extra. Bfbr Pat may be time to^pay the increased of rent, but has served its exhausted, to satisfy has no plain ing m ,

people. If such a state of things existed in any other country it would be quickly remedied, but the English have no sympathy with the Irish, and the Government sanctions the imposition of unjust rents on the hard working and peaceful workers in the rural districts of Ireland. This is the side of the case presented to the people by the Irish reform Press, whose columns teem with execrations on the British Government and on everything English; who are so superbly wise as to aid and abet the Ledgers in their efforts to bring about a bloody strife, and who, by flamine and absurd articles, incense the Irish nature in the same manner as the French Communists were impelled into a sanguinary struggle by the singing of the soulstirring Marseillaise. Thai such papers countenance and encourage the barbaric notions of the Irish is not at all creditable to our boasted civilization of the nineteenth century. It is quite right they should freely express their opinion, but newspaper proprietors who inflame the populace to commit illegal acts and to resist the authority of the law, should themselves be treated as traitors to their Queen and country. There are no doubt many grievances that require remedying in order to restore Ireland to her pristine condition of prosperity and happiness, but her grievances have in as many cases as not been entirely brought about by the stupidity or stubbornness of the Irish tenant. The Irish are prone to idleness, and their culpable neglect of work has caused many of their own misfortunes, which they now endeavour to foist on the much maligned landlord. In future they will have to work, as they cannot expect the landlord to beg them to take his ground and to feed them gratis on turtle soup and venison. Many of the English workmen in various places suffer under the same category of grievance, but they have the good sense to see that the quieter they are the sooner they obtain redress. No doubt the British Government will do everything possible to promote a peaceful settlement of the Land Question in Ireland, but they will not do so any quicker because a few thousand raw Land Leaguers proceed to take the law into their own hands. By so doing the Leaguers only lessen the chances of a speedy settlement, and their numerous acts of outrage will be taken as evidence against them when the Government are considering the Irish Land Question.