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Yes, Robert, I love you, and have loved you from the first."

A few weeks afterwards Robert and Helen sat together on one of the lovely coasts of the Clyde.

'Robert," she said, idly turning a stone with her parasol, "there is one thing upon which I would like to speak to you."

"And what is that, dear?"

"About my money."

"Aye," he said, and his brow darkened.

"I know, my dear, that the thought of it is hateful to you."

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It hangs over us both like a dark cloud." "And yet it need not distress us!"

"No?"

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The world itself will be mad to think so." "Then, my darling, I also will give the fruits of my invention, my great secret, to the same good cause. I have come to think that I have been wrong in holding it back from the world. These matters are in the hands of Providence. He gave me the skill to discover the idea which will upset the present processes of labour, it is for Him to direct its use.'

"Yes," she replied, "we must leave all to God."

THE END.

Two things may be affirmed with absolute certainty. First, that Irish rents are, in an immense majority of cases, too high. Secondly, that these results are, almost without an exception, levied on the tenants' improvements. In point of fact, the rents of these small holdings have hardly ever been paid from the surplus produce of the soil. They have been paid mainly from three sources:First, harvest labour in England and Scotland; secondly, remittances from relatives in service, or employed as labourers elsewhere in Great Britain; thirdly, remittances from relations who had emigrated to America and Australia.-"The Plan of Campaign," by S. Laing.

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"REMITTANCE MEN are fellows who hang about the billiard-rooms and city boarding houses, waiting for further supplies of money out of the earnings of the old father at home or the income of the widowed mother. Such men have had a lot of money spent on them at home, and have been brought up to be "gentlemen." They live on the earnings of a loving father at home, until their idleness and deception and dissipation have tired him out, and are bringing the reputation of the home into jeopardy. They have split up the union of the father and the mother, inasmuch as the mother generally takes the part of such a son for long after the father has found him out. The son, having sucked his father dry, schemes to live on a father-in-law, and gets hold of some girl who has money, and who is taken by fine manners and by such education as has come out of the earnings and effort of the father. A few years later the father-in-law finds him out, or the wife's money has been spent, and then somebody is again appealed to. The father finds another hundred pounds by pledging his credit, or by drawing on savings intended to provide for the old age of the mother and himself, and this money is given to send the fellow out to a "new country" where he will have "a fresh start." But such a fellow takes with him his insobriety, and his wastefulness, and his conceit, and his idleness. He spends the money, and then writes home for more. The father refuses point blank, but a snivelling letter to the poor foolish mother often leads her to sell her trinkets, or to defraud the home of money which again is wasted by the profligate. Meanwhile he has used his father's good name and his letters of introduction to borrow money right and left and to get into debt until he gets "his next remittance." These are the "remittance men."-Dr. James Edmunds on "Emigration to Canada."

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With these objects I wholly agree, but so far from seeking these objects, the cardinal and first principle of the Society appears to be to guarantee to existing landowners for three generations the present enormous revenues which they derive from land.

The only parties who would gain by this system would be the landlords, as they would have additional security for the payment of the monstrous rents which they now receive, and which, in the ordinary course of events, could not be maintained.

When a breach of trust is discovered, the proper course is to stop it, and if possible, obtain restitution.

The robbery of our land by legislators for the benefit of themselves and their families is a breach of trust of the worst possible kind, and those who benefit therefrom, either through inheritance or purchase, are the least entitled to the sympathy of any people on the face of the earth.

When shall we recognise the simple truth that compensation is due not to those who have benefited by wrong, but to those who have suffered therefrom?—Yours truly,

A SPADE.

"THEY HAVE RIGHTS WHO DARE MAINTAIN THEM."

VOL. IV.-No. 105.

AUGUST, 1887.

The Government Surrender. WITH charming frankness Lord Salisbury admits that the Government decided to sacrifice Conservative principles and judicial rents in order to remain in office. He surrenders not to conviction but to compulsion. He would continue to extract unjust and impossible rents if public opinion and the Unionists permitted, but both have failed him. Davitt, at Bodyke, has so roused public indignation that some sacrifice of rent must be made in order to retain power until arrangements can be made for land purchase, which is now the only hope of landlordism. To Michael Davitt belongs the credit of compelling this surrender on the part of the Government. This fact shows, what history has often proved, that men must help themselves in order to enable others to help them. So long as a people submit to proved injustice, so long will it be practised against them. Dillon and Davitt have again taught this lesson, and it will be the fault of Irish and English tenants if they do not act upon it accordingly. It is as true now as in former times, as true in Wales, in Scotland, in England, as in Ireland"Who would be free, themselves must strike the blow."

The Radical Programme. UPON what terms are British Radicals going to give assistance to the Liberal party? This is the question of the day. The Liberal leaders are anxious to limit all discussion to the Irish question, but nothing is more dangerous to the liberties of a people than electing representatives on a shibboleth. It is easy for any parrot to pronounce a single word, and men utterly unfitted for the post will be sent to Parliament if nothing is to be asked of them but their views on Ireland. Even from a party point of view the one-idea policy is most dangerous. Under it the next House of Commons may be filled with so-called Liberals who will resist every

PRICE TWOPENCE.

practical measure in the direction of justice for the British people. The upholders of class interests have always shown judicious promptitude in yielding a point which they cannot defend, in order to strengthen their hold upon privileges which enable them to rob industry. Radicals should strenuously resist the imposition in any constituency of a candidate who will speak only on the question of Ireland. We must have men who know that the people are robbed, who are determined that this robbery shall cease, and who can give reasons not only for their faith but for their practice. Let the Radical electors in each constituency unite for the purpose of demanding from candidates such a programme as will enable Radical M.P.'s, whether British or Irish, to work together for these reforms, upon which depends the prosperity of the people and the real union of the empire.

What One Woman Can Do.

MISS AGNES WESTON writes: "Satisfactory, very, is it not, to hear that after ten years' work at Devonport, and five years' at Portsmouth, that instead of decrease I have to report increase in the work on every hand. We have taken over the counters at our five Sailors' Rests, from our seamen and the public, the sum of £12,500 in the year, showing an increase over last year's receipts of about £1,400. Our sleepers at the five Sailors' Rests have been 64,798 during the year." Miss Weston is not one of our shillinga-minute officials; she is not even rewarded by having a vote in recognition of the splendid service she renders. Miss Weston publishes once a month the Naval Brigade News at one penny, and actually makes it pay. She sent out last year 30,168 parcels of literature to our sailors in all parts of the world. If some of our idle dames or damsels would do likewise, the world might be the better for their services.

Strikes or Legislation. SOME six thousand of Messrs. Harland and Wolff's shipbuilders went out on strike recently to protest against the system of fortnightly payments, and to demand payment by the week. Mr. Bradlaugh has a Truck Bill passing through the House of Commons, the object of which is to forbid employers compelling their workmen either to accept in kind or to purchase their necessaries at the employer's stores. Mr. Sexton seized the opportunity to move a new clause to this Bill compelling employers in Ireland to pay their workmen weekly. After a prolonged discussion, conducted with consummate adroitness by Mr. Sexton, this new clause was added to the Bill by a majority of nearly two to one. Thus at a single stroke, what these six thousand Belfast working-men have been striving for so long in vain has been accomplished for them by the Nationalist member for West Belfast. We should promptly have more of this kind of legislation if there were a few more Sextons in the House of Commons to bury our oppressors. Some people want to exclude Irish Democrats from Westminster. We desire to send there more English Democrats to work with the Irish members.

Leasehold Enfranchisement.

IN a pamphlet written by Lord Bramwell, issued by the Liberty and Property Defence League, his lordship criticises the Leaseholds (Facilities of Purchase of Fee Simple) Billthe measure originally introduced by Mr. Broadhurst, and describes it as a "remarkable performance." He says: "It gives power to take a man's property, not for any public purpose, but for the benefit of the taker, without paying a fair compensation to the owner." Lord Bramwell has made a slight mistake. It is the existing law which gives power to take a man's property without paying a fair compensation to the owner.

The Cat out of the Bag.

MR. GOSCHEN has revealed the intentions of the Government respecting Irish land. He says: "I have told you, and it is notorious, that it is the plan of the Government to facilitate the purchase of their farms on the part of the tenants, and that we are now endeavouring to bridge over the interval." The Government are trying to hold on until they can carry a scheme of

land purchase to enable landlords to leave Ireland with their booty represented in British Consols, which they can sell and invest in land elsewhere; in districts where the people have not become enlightened by tribulation as in Ireland, and where they are still willing to bear the burden of landlordism. In vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird.

The Sugar Bounties.

To a deputation on the Sugar Bounties, Lord Salisbury observed that if a man hits you you may act to him as he is acting to you. This observation does not quite meet the case. Other countries are killing us with kindness. They are sending sugar to this country at less than it costs them, and as a result we are doing a roaring trade in supplying sweetmeats to all the world. If we act to them as they act to us, we might send them cloth and calico at less than cost price, and then they would be able at our expense to supply clothes to all the world. Upon the whole we think that we had better not in this respect act to other nations as they act towards us.

Cass Light.

SEVERAL things have been revealed by the Cass light thrown on the doings of our public men. One of the most significant is the fact that highly-paid and high-class offenders can commit outrage with impunity. Endacott, the policeman, made a mistake; Newton, the magistrate, displayed the grossest brutality; Matthews, the cabinet minister, repeatedly defied common humanity and common sense. Endacott, the least sinner of the three, is promptly suspended. The magistrate and cabinet minister, who were placed in less trying circumstances, and manifested greater unfitness for their duties, go on without interference. Not only are our working classes overtasked and underpaid, but all the punishment is reserved for them. The House of Commons censured Mr. Matthews, but he is allowed to swallow the rebuke and hold his office. Mr. Newton, whose brutality astonishes the whole world, and whose morality gives up Regent-street to prostitutes; who is, in fact, a terror to respectable people and a support to those who do ill, continues to enjoy place, pay, and power. When the working classes realise their powers and act upon them, the conditions which now prevail will be reversed.

Legal Injustice.

THE law courts and the newspapers are much occupied by cases in which endeavours are made to obtain relief for losses sustained by the action of solicitors or barristers. One client unsuccessfully sues a lawyer who advised him to advance £6,000 on a patent which turned out to be invalid for want of novelty. Another protests against the action of a barrister who agreed to a verdict against him for £350 without his consent. These appeals have failed because the law has been made for the benefit of lawyers, and is administered by them in the interests of their own order. We are a lawyer-ridden people.

Contentment without Justice.

MR. WALTER LONG, M.P., speaking at West Lavington, congratulated his audience on the satisfactory condition of the country. "Fifty years ago," he said, "the working classes were in a condition which might be aptly described as deplorable. But to-day they occupied a very different position, and one which reflected the greatest honour and credit upon them." This very satisfactory condition is represented in the locality in which he was speaking by wages of 10s. per week, or only two-thirds of the amount which it costs for food alone to keep a family in the workhouse. As compared with fifty years ago, the working-man on the average now produces five times as much as he produced then. That his condition is better than it was fifty years ago, when landlords and farmers were fattening under protection and left their labourers to die of starvation, we do not deny, but the improvement is in no degree adequate to the increased productiveness of labour. The diminution in pauperism, upon which Mr. Long congratulated his audience, arises in a great degree from the more severe administration of the poor law, which, taken in connection with the diminution of common land, has greatly increased the privations of the people and largely counterbalanced the improvement in other respects. Can anyone say that the condition of the working classes is in any degree what it ought to be, or deny that in this, the most wealthy country in the world, a greater proportion of the people have died of famine and starvation than in any other country during the last fifty years. These things ought not to be, but they will continue so long as the leaders of the people

preach peace where there is no peace, and advocate contentment where there is a lack of justice.

Universal Suffrage.

THE approaching revision of the lists of voters brings prominently forward the imperative necessity for a speedy reform in the qualification to entitle persons over twenty-one years of age eligible to vote for Members of Parliament. At present, either through the caprice of the revising barristers or the differences of opinion in interpreting the last Reform Bill, many thousands are put on or kept off the register. This state of affairs should not be in a country which is designated the home of liberty; but to a great extent freedom is absent and it is quite clear that no reform of voting qualification will remove all injustice until we get universal suffrage.

Wanted-Informers.

"WHOEVER will give such information, 'not wholly false,' as will lead to the defamation of the character of Mrs. Bowman or Miss Cass shall be rewarded by a day's pay and travelling expenses." This is the substance of the announcement made by Mr. Horace Smith, the Recorder of Lincoln, who sits with Sir Charles Warren on the inquiry into the circumstances attending the arrest of Miss Cass. It is surprising how any man with a rag of reputation can make such an announcement. Here are two ladies dragged before the public by what appears to be the blundering or plundering of a police inspector. Not the shadow of evidence has been adduced against them. A searching inquiry extending over several days has failed to discover a shade on their history. But the inquisition is to be pursued, with the help of a universal advertisement informing anyone that if he wants an excursion to London free of cost and a day's pay he may come before this wonderful court and say something against these ladies. It is clear that we are now come to such a pass that the police, instead of preserving our liberties, deprive us of them. It is not ruffians whom we have to fear, but policemen.

"Complete Simplicity."

MR. J. E. PARSONS writes to the Standard to say that he and his colleagues won North Hants because they "primed the women with

arguments of complete simplicity." Simple as, it seems, the women were, they were not quite so simple as Mr. Parsons for telling. These "arguments of complete simplicity," he informs

us,

"showed how separation would ruin Irish manufactures in the North, and force indigent Irish families to resort in thousands to this country for a living, and how unoffending people of our own faith would be subjected to the cruelties of Irish priestly persecution." Oh! innocent Mr. Parsons, how could you gammon the poor women of North Hants in this fashion? Before the next election these women may learn how grossly they have been deceived; they may learn that instead of fleeing from countries where Home Rule prevails, people from all parts of the world are attracted thereto. They may learn that under Home Rule, government taxes are less by half than with

us.

They may learn what a crammer is Mr. J. E. Parsons, and, then we should not like to go through North Hants with this gay deceiver when the next contest takes place. Now we know how North Hants was won, we confidently expect to win next time.

Wanted-A Battle Ship.

PRACTICAL men are generally of opinion that amongst the costly toys collected at Spithead for the recent review, there is not a reliable battle ship. Most of the vessels would be more dangerous to ourselves than to our enemies. This is not wholly the fault of our naval constructors, because war ships can be tested only in battle; we cannot create a war for the purpose, and without a trial no reliance can be placed upon the utility of inventions. Therefore, what a folly it is to spend millions upon untried experiments. The Daily Chronicle declares that more than half the vessels seen on Saturday are not worth the price of old iron.

Emigration.

OUR hereditary legislators are very fond of advocating emigration, and the latest craze is the suggestion by Lord Sandhurst that the Government should advance money for pensioners to emigrate to New Zealand; and, if necessary, to commute their pensions, so as to find the funds by which they could leave their country for some of our colonies. Lord Napier and the Earl of Onslow are also in favour of the project. No doubt emigration is in some

instances beneficial, if the right people emigrate, and we would advise these noble lords to set the example, for surely the country would be no losers; or a better plan, perhaps, would be for them to promote with energy a grand scheme for placing the people on the uncultivated or partially uncultivated land in England ; then they need not be so anxious to send out the bone and sinew of the country. Many members of the House of Lords who recommend emigration as a panacea for the large army of unemployed, should carefully consider the lines by Goldsmith :

"

Ill fares the land to hastening ills a prey,
Where wealth accumulates, and men decay;
Princes and lords may flourish or may fade,
A breath can make them as a breath hath made.
But a bold peasantry, its country's pride,
When once destroyed can never be supplied."

FEW have been robbed by highwaymen, many by lawyers, and all by landlords.

Two inconsistent arguments are used in support of land robbery: it is contended that the present owners have held it so long that they have a prescriptive right, and at the same time we are asked if we would take land away from recent purchasers. The question is simply whether the private ownership of land is unjust, if it be, neither the long or the short ownership is an argument for its continuance.

It is satisfactory to see that Mr. Gladstone takes every opportunity of stating that he will not employ Imperial funds for the purchase of Irish land. Irishmen will take care that Irish funds are not employed for this purpose.

THE Duke of Argyle declares that by lowering rents the fund for improvements is diminished. A good deal of the rent which the Duke has received has been spent, not on improvements but in the Divorce Court.

THE Middlesex magistrates have quashed the conviction of Mr. Williams in reference to the Socialist meeting, but the other six defendants who were sentenced at the same time with Mr. Williams are still in prison, and the Home Secretary is not aware that the decision of the magistrates affects the six defendants who are in prison; but, after a protest by Mr. Bradlaugh, he has consented to give the matter further consideration,

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