Paddy at Home ("Chez Paddy")

by baron de E. Mandat-Grancey

The Germans threw themselves upon the Roman Empire because they had not enough to eat at home; it was hunger that drove the Normans to France. A hundred years ago the Scottish Highlanders literally died of starvation; they were conveyed in a body to Canada, where many of them have acquired large fortunes. It is unquestionable that they suffer much less in Ireland since they have only five million inhabitants instead of nine. However, they still suffer there, and it is because Ireland, in its present economic condition, cannot feed more than two or three million people, perhaps less.

But she could assuredly retain more if it were possible to create some industry. Unfortunately this seems very difficult. I am convinced that we are destined to see, in a very near future, a large number of industries removed: all those dealing with materials that are neither produced nor consumed in the country, that is to say, the only ones which are possible in Ireland, which does not produce any raw material, and where the consumption is always very small. I believe that many of these industries, if not all, will be forcibly transported to other localities than those where they are now working, and that in choosing these localities the owners will be guided in a great measure by climatic considerations. Workmen of all countries evidently aspire to an equality of enjoyment. On the other hand, the facility of transport, the amalgamation of working apparatus, resulting from the diffusion of capital, impose upon masters the levelling of salaries. Now with equal salaries, men suffer more in cold damp climates than in dry warm ones. I add that they work less. This fact is well known in the French navy, for a ship built or repaired in Brest costs infinitely more than if the same work had been executed in the dockyards at Toulon. In Ireland, a workman must always spend more for his food, his firing, and the maintenance of his family, than if he lived in France or America. The workman’s associations, which are now multiplying on all sides, will soon reveal this disadvantage to him; he will demand an increase of salary and ruin his master.

I have therefore little faith in the resurrection of Irish industries. But what is impossible for private enterprise may be done by Government. I even think it may be considered a Government duty. The Irish landowners are reproached for their absenteeism, that is, for the habit of spending their income outside the country. If there is a landowner guilty of absenteeism it is certainly the Government. For instance, the Irish coast is broken by a series of roads, each finer than the other. If England were to suppress one of her Channel arsenals and re-establish it in Ireland, the transfer would certainly cost her some money. But the money would be well spent, for it would enable some thousands of families to remain in the country, instead of being forced to expatriate themselves before long.

If the wish to obliterate the odious memories of the last century is not strong enough to induce England to engage in this task, there is another consideration which should make her reflect. Her power is wholly based on her colonial empire. Until now she has been able, without too much difficulty, to govern by force one hundred and fifty million Indians, and maintain the colonies of her own people in a state of political guardianship—Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. If she had not enough men to keep up the effective total of the sixty or eighty regiments that garrison India she would soon be driven from the country. The white population of the other colonies doubles itself every eight or ten years. When they have two or three times more inhabitants than the metropolis, is it probable that the legislative supremacy of the latter will be long maintained? It is therefore of vital importance to England to retain in Great Britain the largest population it can possibly support, and on this account the emigration of two or three million Irish would be a great misfortune for her.

In the first part of this study I related a few incidents of the crisis which now rages in Ireland. How will this crisis end? I believe in the most simple way in the world. The adoption of Mr. Gladstone’s Bill would only have made things worse. The tenants would perhaps have imagined that they derived some advantage from it at first; but, as I have said, it is not the leaseholders of the farms who are really miserable, but the under-tenants, who are shamefully rack-rented by the farmers. But no one can do anything for them, since in their eagerness to obtain the land they will accept any combination proposed to them, in order to evade the law, which forbids sub-letting. I therefore believe that Mr. Gladstone’s defeat was a good thing for Ireland.

The Government’s first duty is to re-establish material order, and this can only be done by suppressing the jury. The Times already speaks of it. There would certainly not be an uprising, or if there were, it would not be of any importance.

Rents would fall enormously, as they have already done all over Europe, and agriculture would disappear almost entirely, to give place to cattle-breeding.

Many signs prove that this will be the way a settlement will be arranged. It is first the enormous subsidies sent from America, and secondly the support given by the clergy, that have made this crisis so important and the League so powerful. Now the Americans begin to tire of it. After my return from Ireland I made a tour in the United States, and I can affirm that this sentiment is becoming visible. At a great Irish meeting held at Chicago whilst I was there, one of the orators ventured to say, that if the millions of dollars sent to Ireland were only used to pay for firing an occasional shot at a landlord from behind a hedge, the results were not in proportion to the sacrifices made, and the audience seemed to agree with his opinion. I have every reason to believe that lately the American subsidies have greatly diminished.

I fancy also that the clergy are only waiting for a good opportunity to withdraw from the League. The other day, Mr. Harrington, at Killarney, had already uttered some words which seem to indicate that politicians are beginning to fear something of the kind. The clergy entered the League in spite of themselves; the movement first showed itself with so much violence that had they left its exclusive direction in the hands of the politicians, they would have run the risk of compromising, at least for a time, all their popularity. But the Catholicism of many of the Irish-Americans, whose alliance they were forced to submit to, is so doubtful, that it is easy to foresee that the cause of religion will not gain anything from their triumph. I am quite convinced that the clergy will not long defer separating themselves from the League.

The movement itself may yet last for some time, but it will gradually become weaker. Everything depends on the rapidity with which emigration is conducted. Now, I believe it will be speedily carried out. Formerly, the Irish would not leave the country until they had absolutely no means of staying there. I always thought that they emigrated pretty willingly; but I was mistaken with regard to the past. Now, on the contrary, all the young men only think of expatriation. An Australian ex-official, who has retired about fifteen years, and is living in the county of Limerick, pointed out to me this change of feeling in the population. Every Irishman who leaves for Australia or the United States does more towards the solution of the crisis than Mr. Parnell’s finest speeches; for, in diminishing the number of competitors for the land, he lowers the price of farms, and the whole question is answered!