Mr. Parnell has issued an appeal to the Irish in
America for aid in his agitation against the tenure of land. It is exceedingly long and windy, but the substance of it is that the distress in Ireland is severe, that its cause is a barbarous tenure, and that the remedy is the compulsory sale of Irish estates to the tenants, at a price to be fixed by law. To carry out such a project, the 600,000 landless farmers of Ireland must unite to resist unjust rents, and Irishmen all over the world must subscribe. Mr. Parnell specially repudiates the confisca- tion of the landlords' rights, and only proposes their com- pulsory transfer on " fair " compensation. It is evident that if his proposal is sincere, it is within the province of political discussion, the expropriation of land at a fair price being as just for one national purpose as another ; but before he will obtain full hearing in England, he must define his notion of " fair compensation," and state where it is to come from. The Imperial Treasury will not advance it, there is no Irislr Treasury, and would not be, if Ireland were independent to- morrow, for the island could not 'pay its expenses ; and merely to change rent into interest on mortgage, would not be " fair " to the landlord, The 600,000 landless farmers might combine to reduce interest, Cash, or the certainty of getting it, is the only compensation, and it is only when this compensation ie 'visible that the scheme would bo seriously studied.
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