Mr. Davitt, at Limehouse, on Thursday, charged the/English with governing
Ireland on principles which he considered were characterised chiefly by " educated ignorance." By this he meant principles derived, not from knowledge, but from superficial information, which the self-sufficiency of the English character enables Englishmen to regard as an adequate substitute for knowledge. Ireland, according to Mr. Davitt, suffers pretty much from the same evils from which England would suffer, if Mr. Davitt himself, " with other pernicious gentlemen," were sent over to rule us. The great vice of our government of Ireland is our support to the cause of landlordism. Mr. Davitt, however, did not explain how landlords are to be got rid of, whether in Ireland or elsewhere. Suppose the peasants of Ireland established in their holdings as proprietors to-morrow, they would become landlords next day. The letting:out of land is as much the privilege of the owner of the land, as the letting- out of a threshing-machine is the privilege of the owner of the threshing-machine. The truth is, that even educated ignor- ance is a better qualification for the use of political power than uneducated ignorance ; and that is the chief qualification of many of the extreme party in Ireland.
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