Reform of the Irish Land Law

On Saturday January 15th, 1881, The London Illustrated News published an article about the newly proposed Irish Land Law. The law would grant the Irish what are referred to as “the three F’s,” fixity of tenure, fair rents, and free sale of property. Essentially this bill would give the Irish people legal proprietorship of the land that they had resided on for extended periods of time. This was the initial goal that the Irish were seeking to achieve a decade earlier when the Landlord and Tenant act was passed. The Queen gave a speech regarding the legislation, stating that the purpose of the act was to further develop the principles of the Irish Land Act “in a manner comfortable to the special wants of Ireland, both as regards the relation of Landlord and Tenant, and with a view to giving permanent proprietary interest in the soil to a larger portion of the people.” 

While the Queen’s words instill a feeling of optimism regarding the future, that optimism is cut down quickly by the author’s comments. The author remarks that many British citizens are unhappy with the proposed bill, as they were unconcerned with the well being of the Irish citizens, but rather were curious as to what would happen to the land that they had previously owned for years. Again in an attempt to undermine the credibility of the Irish the author of the article portrays the Irish as violent and irresponsible, unworthy of having so much agency and responsibility. The author asserts that the Irish are unfit to possess this kind of responsibility because of the state of affairs in the country, citing that the Irish have yet to find suitable means to relieve the country from terrorism. Journalists from this publication often cite that terrorism or violence is the primary reason as to why they are concerned with the passing of these laws regarding Ireland and the Irish, however it is incredibly evident that the British people and reporters were only concerned with how the land in Ireland was going to be used rather than the wellbeing of the Irish people.