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REDPATIVS ILLUSTRATED WEEKLY.
APOLOGY FOR BRITISH RULE
I.
Nee that a Soneress of the European Pow-
ere in about Jo meet to wotte Europe ;
be nin) aud wrongs of different na-
tious, ‘helt relations to one another, and their
internal institutions—so far as these affect, or
are likely to affect, general tranquility—are
about to be brought up for discussion and re-
vision, now that ernitirariows “reforms” are
to be suggested, and even enforced, iv the
dominions of minor sovereigns, as the King
of Naples, the Pope of Rome, the Sultan of
Turkey, &c.—and that England is presenting
hereelt before Eucope asa charms mpion, the
champion, of nationalities, self-government,
reform ; an er statesmen are enc
ging subject nations to insurrection and rev-
olution, and even sul
ime of sustaining
un with British forces after they shall have
taken British advice and. in
in war: now that public attention on the con-
tinea of Europe begins to fix itself upon the
of government 4 admivistored
laud herself, and t ther there may
not be some reforms * canined in that direction
ment, as we experience them in ‘that por-
tion of the United Kingdom” called Ire-
d.
4 nave observed that when an Irishman un-
dertakes to narrate truly any of the dealings
of the English Government towards his coun-
try, his statements, however alma t in tone and
unanswerable in fact, are sure to be denomi-
nated by the English Press complaints, or even
whines or howls. this impntation I
desire to guard myself as far as possible; and
hereby declare, to begin with, that I neither
compiain, nor sympathise with those (it my)
who do complain, agaiust any part the le;
islation or adminis! tration of En:
ment of Ireland, and suggest that ameliora-
tions should be made. _ It is true, also, I re-
gret to say, that certain Irish writers and
members of Parliament are so irrational as to
waste their time in making real complaints
and preferring claims, demands, petitions,
for changes -in the system by which Ireland
js governed, while, at the same time, they
prafese attachment to the British Crown and
Governm
I desire, however, to approach the abject
in a more ® hilosopbic spirit; and ho;
prove that the goverment ‘of the Bra
mpire is artovinistered in Ireland with
much lenity, kindness, and indulgence as is
compatible with the continued existence
of tba British Empire as a Power in the
world the value of that same British Em-
ire and the rire of its influence upon hu-
Pian aairs, there are two opinions. Some do
Waid that it ise grent an beneficent Power,
an example and a bulwark of li a great
Providential agency for bomanining and civil-
ismng mankind: , as Lord ugham says,
a beacon to guido ‘the oe “through their
darkness to & orighter future, Others, on the
contrary, pretend that it isa vast organised
ure; & machine for exploiting nations;
eeemixed and unredeemed mischief, whose
fruits are torture in India, opium in China,
famine in Ireland, pauperism * in England,
disturbance and disorder in Europe, and rob-
where. Between these two op-
mean to pro-
*
3
5
e
&
4
8
&
~
erned, Every logical mind w
the eet ition, that omelettes oannot co
tinue to be manufactured without a continual
can the British
mean vot have « British Empire
and i repudiate the conditions sine qua non,
" y British empire and here
There stands your apiras And. here
his leisure whether it be worth its price;
or fa it is is the duty of British statesmen to
take such mee ares s as shall ensure periodical
Seem 1 itt jtheie duty—when those fam-
ines 0 ease and cherish them, and
protract ‘belt operation to the utmost possi-
extent.
weird, it {atheir absolute duty to prevent a
Celtic peasantry from having any proprictary
interest in the land; and to that end they are
ound to resist all movements’ in favcr of
Tenant-right—the establishment of which
would be « Ceegardea frown thee point of view)
highly imi
is their sncred duty tobreak down
the influence of the Catholic clergy and destroy
the Catholic religion, which lins always been
a powerful and vital element of Irixh nation-
ality as dintingnished from the exprit de carps
of the British Empire. From whence it fol-
lowa, that—
Fifth, they hive a perfect right, and it is
their indinpenee puty, to poaintai by state
endowments Anglican Cbure!
‘Sixth, to naintern also by Stato eudlow.
ments a ‘‘ mixed” system of education, whos
Class-books shall be carefaly purified from all
allusions to land and her listory and from
s to the things called’ patriotism
ity,
Seve venth, it is their solemn duty to pack | ¢
” ‘Bighth, it is their duty to prevent the Irish
people from possessing arms or knowing how
to use such instraments; and acoordingly,
hen the “ United Kingdom” is in danger
foreign invasion, it i ir duty to prevent
the Irish from forming voluntece rifle com-
panies.
Ninth, it is their duty to stop, open, and
copy, in the Post-office, the letters of suspect-
ed persons.
Tenth, it is their solemn duty, and mustbe
thefr eapecial cate, to contradict flatly every-
ing that n Ir'shiman shall say about his
ee country, unless it be a falsehood ; in
which case they are to let it
Phese ton duties aro incumbent upon Brit-
ish tute rs; end we all mae that England
expecta every man todo his duty. If any gen-
tleman can point out eee they have ma-
terially failed to do it in every one of these
lepartments, then let us gamit they are blame-
able to that extent: but th e _burpose of my
present writing is to demonstrate that, taking
into account the limited scope of human fac-
ulties, it may be pronounced ii impor ible to la-
or more zealously and effectually in all there
ments than each successive
For whatever be
ad Tory, about
n-laws, tariffs, or foreign policy, they are
all at least unanimous upon this matter. Here
they are true British statesmen, and can-
not, dare not, be otherwise. — Serious,
and earnestly I wish that the Irish would
and abusing these men,
and desist altogether from entreating them to
act otherwise than the: It cannot be:
these men have an omelette to make, aud
must break the eggs—an eel-pie, aud must
skin the eels.
'o take the topics in due sequence, T begin
with the policy of British famines in Ireland.
The term ‘British Famines” may sound
harsh, and it is my wish above all things to
avoid harshness, expecially as I intend not to
lame but to compliment. _ Doub tless it would
be more courteous to thee periodical
famines “ Dispensation of Providence ;” but
it would not be true, Ever since the legisia-
ive “Union” of England aud Ireland, in
1800, there had been continual, annual, and
rennial. hunger and har ship te Ireland ;
but during all that same period Ireland, being
he most fertile country on eaeth, w ‘vine a dae
at grea Ri
English find keep up the British imple: and
it has been already laid down that whatsoever
was needful to this end, that it was the duty
of British legislators and ministers to accom-
plish.
In 18
a mmenced the last and greatest of
the periodical Famines. In 18470 govern-
ment statistical commissioner, Captain Lar-
m, made a careful census of the agricul.
ral produce of Ireland, for that year—it was
then the very middle of that torrible agony of
Famine slanghte the total value
gs
to
Suiteiont to feed. net nine millions , the ac-
tual population of the island, but cighteen
millions, of human beings! What became of
all that produce? The En;
vests, but money to buy them withal
6 Irish nation, then
millions, prodend by their own industry on
eir own land good food enough to feed
eighteon rnillionss one cannot well say that
"ravi hem a amine 5
those nine ullions dwindled in two or three
years to six an alf mito, partly by
mere hunger, and partly by flight beyond sea
0 escape it; al en we find all wees game
years the English people living well ai
ing fall upon that very food for went vot
which the Irish died ; a RUE pos
British Famine will be admitted | to be quite
correc t what then? Aix hypothest, it is
nd right to keep up the British Empire
and provide for the due payment ef, British
wages and activity of Fritish Dusinews—and
there is no use in wishing ior the end and con-
demning the means,
y
(Continued on page 158.)
I. MR. 1. CONSTABULARY
TJHILE I was in Ireland some few in-
stances of police tyranvy cauie under
my observation, Let mo take frst Mitohels-
°Ta Sune last a large Lody of troops and
police was sent down to Mitchelstown, In
ordinary times thin is a little quiet country
place, with no stir or bustle at all goirg on;
but on market days the streets and the large
square are crowded with people who come in
from all warts .of the eountry round, #o that
the throng i is very great. Now, if I bad been
obliged to carry a body ot ‘ilar into a
town (betwen whom avd the people hostility
was known to exist) I would have taken care
to choose a time at w
were about as possible;
2, 6C0 armed men were brought into the place
the
crowded with poop.
to collect a debt
_ Treached Mitebeistowe town on the follow-
inj
‘A part of this invading army was on its re-
Our car stood on one side to let the
3
heaviness in the atmosphere. was not
breathing the air of a free lan
e soldiery marched past no men and
women gathered at the doors with pleasant
interest; no smiling servant-girls peeped
blushing and giggling through the windows 5
no chiro shouting with careless jo:
the hecls soldiers—these are Incas
oie hark the peng of aregiment thro’
nglish country tow ut here the he,
ple stood silent and sullen, cowed but scowl.
ing; the iron of slavery haw entered into their
soul -
longed for power to inspire the Eoglish peo-
ple with my ow
a
o
Be free and love us.’
wil the statesman rise amongst us who will
ve faith enough in liberty and love to
solve the 6 pro! oben of Ireland's discontent by
striking off her
Yet the soldiere (rere I went) did not in-
spire the hatred which is felt for the Police.
man in a cottage by the roadside saw @
folder bending down to gather up water to
drink in the hollow of his hand out of a road-
side well. she ran and f
wiped it clean and filled i
held. it to his lips he said, with tears glisten-
ing in her eyes, ‘Th: he service
in Tudin myself.” “Goa ‘Views you, mother,”
was the hearty response, and the man passed
on. Presently the police came marching by,
and a policeman alo. too ooped to drink from
the well, Before he could touch the rater,
ie woman ran an a pail of dirt in
‘ore at her aud went his an with
tint coal
uch little incidents apeak for themnelves
of ne relations between the people and the
police. I give another of them. Mr. John
Sersfield Casey, Coronor for the County Linn.
erick, had been to an inquest. Coming home
he called at @ house in the village of Bully-
landers, seven miles from Mitchelstown, to
see a dying friond, leaving his car standing in
an almoxt erupty street in charge of his driver.
nee or obstruction was created; a
policeman came up and asked, “Who owned
the car?” the driver replied, ‘Mr. Casey ;”
upon which the answer came back from the
policeman that ‘He didn’t care who owned
it,” and took the driver into custody forthwith
for no other offence than for waiting for Mr,
“ey at a door in a country village street.
er, was only annoyance—petty
operemion of the jack-in-office type. Would
there were nothing more than this to tell.
At three olock im the afterncon of the
day on ‘rent-collecting army
wn, the soldiers hav-
ing retired to: their camp outside the town, a
body of police cama down the street into the
g
3
B
B
rket.
OF wht followed T was not au eye-witness,
as I arrived in th n the following
morning; but I collected “the separate ac.
mts of more than twenty people, not
wos, to each other.
sifted their statements to
ability, and carefully compared them with
FS
any
people, undid their bandages, and looked at
their hurts, and the account I now give is the
result of the i inquivies,
When the police came down the street, the
square was full of people, surrounding the
stalls, on whioh eggs, butter, crockery, vege-
tables, gud other matters were exposed for
gle stone was thrown dit. was not
wa ended that there was more that one); the
police themselves asserted Cuat 3 came from
a house at the corner of the equare.
evidence I collected went clearly to show
that no other demonstration of violence was
made was no riot, no disorder, no
groaning; nothing but sullen silence when
stone was tlung down into the midst of
the police. There were five hundred men
armed to the teeth, in the midst of an un-
armed crowd of , Wonren, and children,
0 were offering no prevocation whataver
when this singl
POWn,
Sub- Juspe ctor Carter drew bis eword, a:
fave at ouce the order—* a iharassapar ne net~
thor woman nor child! ti
upon the warmed awd
provisions trampled in the mud (for the ay
was wet), and the crowds of straggling iy
ple were cut at and beaten, as they
fenceless on the groun
Amongst the may statements which I col-
lected was the following statement of Patrick
Dolan, watchmaker:
On the ath of June. came dawn from the Deanery
to x for work he wax doing there, Wile
may say that the aman rolled up bis shirt
sleeves, and showed me his arm. It was black
and bine from the houider down to the wrist,
0 be sprained. He could
> aa vith thi, 1 ‘ive the statement of Pat
olan, jun., a lad of seventeen years old
Was « it the door of Mr. Foyle, d
Lower C ‘The police were coming up ‘the
{wan three o'clock In the afternoon;
heard inspector Carter give the order to “Charge,
er We ii He and another man
iu away ap a lie beside. the
ewren pursed then: two of them
kien th thet batons, cd himdowa,
ie ce bs, ibbon was kirock-
left him there; he cfewied i elo op to
dressed,
n this case also I undid the bandages, and
looked at the gals and bruises, ‘hey ‘wore
ery severe; the skin wos broken, and the
sh bleeding Re ceveral plac:
re order to charge, “sptre sohiee woman nor
cule "wen heard by “Mis = ¥lyn ue af w
and any: oth :
* Glene the equi
polic at
tay
crowd,
Another case was that of widow Leab
mother of fifteen children, and grandmother
of ght childre
care xolie ta ives in
il nat fire ‘at tho tiie. All this was eutirel
il by either word or deed on the part of the
), Sut "snot ware, as che wae taken by surprise.
‘The worn’ nose was auch swelled by the
blow. She declared in auswer tomy repeated
qnestioning, ‘ae she was not saying or doin
anything whatever to provoke the blow, Said
she did not even sce the policeman, as she was
looking on tbe other side of the
Michael Donegan, laborer, about,
ty or sixty yours of age, a very thin, withered
sort of poor creature, tnt I cold myself
have lifted in my arms Ii ild (60 thin
and weak was he), gave me e the following
fintement :
He was coming along the road from the direction of
he evietion, but yt taken ang part Su 40s hed
not been there at all. Hie supped aud sto
or man, Wwus the occuper of the v0
gruden gates they wete wot malcing aay devon
any kind Of feeling, ouly taking aelly ‘to
er. ‘The otlier an was inside the garden
; Done a4 outside of i police came
fowin the rou, ovis from one vi ie tim to unother.
ar aut of
‘awny into is honwe. bi
and before |hy contd
te
sutinied to be
\ rion wealp wonnd, « deep
tuton the neck, and brulsing the arm i Who held
np todefond itnvelf, Ie bled prof are rcame
tate they left him.
was ote cred by either of
he atten:
Je, and
siondabonte wenty yards off, to thestate the nan was
ing weet on the gronind), but they only
at juke, und said” @ falling bram-
‘Tie Bian had been aitended by Dr. Mahony,
Me He a laborer out ver
au Ponda the bandages, and laid
three fingers of my hand in the deep cut ae
the head ; it went own tu the skull, and the
clotted blood tay on his white hair. ‘His neck
state, and the arm badly
braised. I imust say that no excnse could
exist for these procesdings, If such a man
bad done anything wrong, a single policeman
could have taken him into enstody
as I would lifta straw. Isaw a large ‘number
of other persons who had been wounded.
One woman ‘iat her face cut to “he bone
witha Bwor
avr alko ‘oy of about thirteen, who
when the charge was made in the market-place
fell in the confusion, in a crowd of fallen per-
sous, overturned stalls, and scattered mer-
chandise, aud this Ind fell over something, so
that his head and bod; ere sheltered by
others lying on him, and ae legs stuck up in
the the air exposed t
laid hold of him, took. his two
hand, and beat him with his baton with the
other. The fect andlegs of the boy were
bare. I Tinvolled the clothes, a looked at
his naked legs. ean compare them to no-
thing so much as toa rotten apple, when the
skin is al and the soft pulpy matter
runs down the si es in such a state were this
>
2
8
B
E
said a person to me, why do they not
get redress? In re this answer, J was
told univer wally tey cannot get it; the ate
tempt i 3 hopeless. In several cases of this
kind, app ication for a summons has been
made toa magistrate, but there is a genoral
refusal to allow any summons tobe taken out
against the police, Jussre CRaroEy,
oo.
ORE aman,
ee
‘—_
mee