The Land-War In Ireland (1870) | Page 2

the land question almost identical with those passed by
similar meetings at the present time. Then Mr. Sharman Crawford was
the only landlord who joined in the movement; now many of the largest
proprietors take their stand on the tenant-right platform. And after a
generation of sectarian division and religious dissension in Ulster,
stimulated by the landed gentry, for political purposes, the Catholic
priests and the Presbyterian clergy have again united to advocate the
demands of the people for the legal protection of their industry and
their property.
There is scarcely a county in Ireland which the author of this volume
has not traversed more than once, having always an eye to the condition
of the population, their mode of living, and the relations of the different
classes. During the past year, as special commissioner of the Irish
Times, he went through the greater part of Ulster, and portions of the
south, in order to ascertain the feelings of the farmers and the working
classes, on the great question which is about to engage the attention of
Parliament.
The result of his historical studies and personal enquiries is this:--All

the maladies of Ireland, which perplex statesmen and economists, have
arisen from injuries inflicted by England in the wars which she waged
to get possession of the Irish land. Ireland has been irreconcilable, not
because she was conquered by England, not even because she was
persecuted, but because she was robbed of her inheritance. If England
had done everything she has done against the Irish nation, omitting the
confiscations, the past would have been forgotten and condoned long
ago, and the two nations would have been one people. Even the
religious wars resolve themselves into efforts to retain the land, or to
recover the forfeited estates. And the banished chiefs never could have
rallied the nation to arms, as they so often did against overwhelming
odds, if the people had not been involved in the ruin of their lords. All
that is really important in the history of the country for the last three
centuries is, the fighting of the two nations for the possession of the soil.
The Reformation was in reality nothing but a special form of the land
war. The oath of supremacy was simply a lever for evicting the owners
of the land. The process was simple. The king demanded spiritual
allegiance; refusal was high treason; the punishment of high treason
was forfeiture of estates, with death or banishment to the recusants.
Any other law they might have obeyed, and retained their inheritance.
This law fixed its iron grapples in the conscience, and made obedience
impossible, without a degree of baseness that rendered life intolerable.
Hence Protestantism was detested, not so much as a religion, as an
instrument of spoliation.
The agrarian wars were kept up from generation to generation, Ireland
always making desperate efforts to get back her inheritance, but always
crushed to the earth, a victim of famine and the sword, by the power of
England.
The history of these wars, then, is the history of the case of the Irish
patient. Its main facts are embodied in the general history of the
country. But they have recently been brought out more distinctly by
authors who have devoted years to the examination of the original state
papers, in which the actors themselves described their exploits and
recorded their motives and feelings with startling frankness. When a
task of this kind has been performed by a capable and conscientious
historian, it would be a work of supererogation for another enquirer to
undergo the wearisome toil, even if he could. I have, therefore, for the

purpose of my argument, freely availed myself of the materials given to
the public by Mr. Froude, the Rev. C.P. Meehan, and Mr. Prendergast,
not, however, without asking their permission, which was in each case
most readily and kindly granted.
The ancient state of Ireland, and especially of Ulster, is so little known
in England, that I was glad to have the facts vouched for by so high an
authority as Mr. Froude, and a writer so full of the instinctive pride of
the dominant nation; the more so as I have often been obliged to dissent
from his views, and to appeal against his judgments. Beguiled by the
beauty of his descriptions, I am afraid I have drawn too largely on his
pages, in proving and illustrating my case; but I feel confident that no
one will read these extracts without more eagerly desiring to possess
the volumes of his great work from which they are taken.
I have similar acknowledgments to make to Father Meehan and Mr.
Prendergast, both of whom are preparing new editions of their most
valuable works. The royal charters, and other documents connected
with the Plantation of Ulster,