SPREADING THE LIGHT.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 3, Issue 663, 10 January 1881, Page 2

SPREADING THE LIGHT.

The Times' Dublin" correspondent says —The special organ of the Land League is distributed-gratuitously, in-order to " spread the light." The.poliby it advb-. catesis plainly-communistic. It aims at the overthrow, of property of all kinds,, the redivision of :the land- into lots, upon which families are to live and feed upon the produce; the practice of selling cattle instead of using., themfor food being condemned as a violation of the law of Provi- ' dence. All payment of interest is repudiated, and the State is oalled upon to advance any money whioh the cultivators of the soil may require; free of interest—the increased! cultivation' being regarded as a source of wealth, whioh ought'tobe thought sufioient to'recoup the State for its temporary loss.' All large, accumulations of •.wealth.are to be broken up,, and only ..a. third are, to be allowed to the ower, thetest to be distributed for the.benflfitof those who have no means, In short, the principles advocated—if thsy. oan b.e.calledpr!npiples at all—are of the • most 'levelling revolutionary ' kiiid.. The - paper ; is f. chiefly occupied with the Irish land • question. Sensational telegrams, are'; Bent' by Mr Brenhan,:secretary of thevLand League, •giving accounts of passing 'events'here, colored.according to.the political hiieg of journal,:. The, terni'-!'"". never occurs in its. columns; tiia,; term " land thieves' 1 is invariably substituted. 'Murders' and outrages are extenuated and explained away,4f. noL.actualLy!. justified. The'late Lord Mountmorres is represented as a monster of cruelty in his dealings with his tenantry/and'the readers of the journal would be led to think that he had a number, of tenants whom he waß always evicting orrackrenling. His moral character, too, is assailed in the grossest manner. Murder is..described l as.;an:'.' execution." The prososs-serv'er wlio was assassjnated in the North recently is stated to havemefc his death at : 'the. hands' of-tSe-.-*'- exeoutioner." In orderto make "light".: more impressive,' the sanction 'of Vreligibri is invoked for • the-'. d.ootritieV. of rapine and. violence which- are preached, and a ..blasphemous tone"'pervades the editorial matter. It js such a .paper as this which is. permitted'to be circulated in Ireland at aHime'when the country is seething.in some places with lawless excitement, .While such ideas are instilled into.-th'e minds of the people, and a fierce hatred is aroused;;n.ot;bnly against landlords, but against all who do not join in the 'crusade.against them, it is not to be wondered at that such save acta''-are coni: nutted as that at Co'olnacashel,- within throe miles of. Ballinrobe, where a farmer was carded, and- his wifei'andi' daughter had their haircut off because; lie. paid his rent and withdrew from the Land League, The lawlessness spreads with the agitation into comparatively peaceable and orderly districts, and the farmers, who are honest arid welWisposed are unable to resist the march of rufftanism, bulhave.'to be enrolled or be exposed to violence;-