c b:i&oin$, iv . / 
 
 r 
 
 R. 
 
 S- 11 
 

 
 
 vil 1 iillgfr tglil fe^Sy^jj^i, 
 
 OTH H:« ! : M ® » ■ M £& *$p m3 m 
 
 ■®^2 *M teW 1 ## H 
 
 Mmm i |1S ; ©P [ ^t^ ^paMajp dp! ^tet B 
 
 : \m"iri! .^i rwy.'h-yn rr/ i.T* nr :('.■»■«• r», rr. . s .'n"rr.'.^Ti nr'.k■>c^ ng££§3n rr'.fSn ir*/ -»"i rr/ 
 
 «i rags i Mg : Mp mm : sqh i w i ggl| 
 
 ^//\'' a ^//i>/4 k. /h> ^ k\> A^ a k- 'ItfsA A ^ ksVmN^i 
 
 iffiP»l^ 
 
 pSpi^ 
 
 fc^d b^'Sl &PA$L 
 
 ^Mm&mSmit, zmm 
 
 •, ;v--© pfc—©—>.—#--P- • v \- ♦ 
 
 SifS&iSPlIBP 
 
 s 4 tf#i£wfcS* 
 
 5 r N v 7 J 
 
 
 K A \£PA 
 
 rs\0 ?s\0 ^V s w^V n \^?r 
 
 
 5kC' '■ >-*C <f“3>«C^SfsSs^ 
 
 ^ ' x d ^ : d^ '^d h$ 
 
 t * x _• * _•- ■:•*• •• _• •—\ © Nr - ©- © a'- 4 ) ■. $ 
 
 rr . Ti rr. .ti rr »Tl rr ,n rr n rr n rr. ti rr .ti rr n rr .n rr 
 
 
 
 ^ Kg* ^ ^ Rag? J&0 ©IS 
 
 »** >W$C ' >,?vC •• ^ <■ >>£.y:LS£sC • >A<y >• •/ 2> »<£■-- 
 
 & 
 
 •i '--« <- 
 
 fe' 
 
 
 wTJ*c*v> 
 

 S WMCffiMl 
 
 HlBii 
 
 k—SJ'-A ^V <-A vix-A-> 
 
 
 *i|MpSMf 
 
 ffiipp WBgy 
 
 
 Mwmm 
 
 filMS 
 
 ili»i 
 
 i aj il^I^li 
 
 Jpgsijp 
 
 hp&hss 
 
 MmMMzMMFS 
 
 n^MVlHfe 
 
 ^>lS£w^ \ M&cr>> - /v>v•*^^<«SS5KW5iS8S®^ 
 
 a s®ia 
 
 
 wiImm 
 
 
 lyBpfflB^Tj 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 £ >' 
 
 ' ■ 
 
 
 ^_ 
 
 
 . * 
 
 
 . 
 
 < 
 
 • . 
 
 . 
 
 i 
 
 
 / 
 
 
 » 
 
 . 1 • 
 
 
 
 
 
 iff i 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 * 
 
 
 »■ 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
Home Rule; 
 
 OR THE 
 
 IRISH LAND QUESTION 
 
 FACTS AND ARGUMENTS 
 
 . BY 
 
 CHARLES HIGGINS, 
 
 M. A., F. R. S. L. 
 
 For I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth, 
 
 Action nor utterance, nor the power of speech 
 To stir men’s blood! 1 only speak right on; 
 
 I tell you that, which you yourselves do kuow. 
 
 Julius Caesar, Act 1 3, Scene 3. 
 
 BOSTON COLLEGE LIBRARY 
 CHESTNUT HILL, MASS. 
 
 rand, McNally & co., publishers, 
 
 CHICAGO AND NEW YORK. 
 
Copyright by Charles Higgins, 1886. 
 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 
 
hx> 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 1 PAGE 
 
 HOME RULE . i to xxv 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ABSENTEEISM (its effects and remedies).., 9 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ATTITUDE OF THE PRESS (its influence 
 
 for good and evil) .19 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 EVICTION (its horrors and tendencies) ... 2b 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PEASANT PROPRIETARY (its beneficial 
 results).46 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 PEASANT PROPRIETARY (its necessity for 
 Ireland).56 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE CLERGY (opinions on the Land 
 
 Question) .74 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE LAND LEAGUE (facts and arguments 
 
 thereon).82 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 COERCION AND THE UNWRITTEN 
 LAW . 94 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 OBSTRUCTION AND RESTRICTION ...112 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 OUTRAGES (graphic description of) ...128 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 AN APPEAL TO THE ENGLISH 
 
 PEOPLE .152 
 
 APPENDIX.163 
 
TO MY AMERICAN READERS. 
 
 Owing to the enormous success which has 
 attended the publication of this book in 
 England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, I 
 have been induced to place this work before 
 the American public, believing that the vast 
 majority of the great Republic take a deep 
 interest in the present agitation, which has 
 for its object the freedom of a nation which 
 is near and dear to the American people. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 «! " )¥. ‘ !* 
 
 Feeling that the larger portion of the American 
 public is in direct sympathy with the suffering 
 people of Ireland, and indeed of any nation, the 
 victim of unjust and tyrannical laws, and that they 
 also sympathize with the small but devoted band 
 of agitators (and I use the words advisedly), which, 
 against wonderful odds, has made such a deter¬ 
 mined stand, as opposed to FRAUD, FORCE, 
 and FOLLY, I have endeavoured, in the following 
 pages, to lay before AMERICAN LOVERS OF 
 FAIR PLAY, my own humble views, supported 
 by reliable statistics, and by quotations and opin¬ 
 ions of the notable leaders of the people, on the 
 all-absorbing and vital question of Land Tenure 
 in Ireland, my object being to help, as far as pos¬ 
 sible, in placing before the working and middle 
 classes, facts and figures which shall speak for 
 themselves, with comments thereon, the sjnrit o 
 which, I shall venture to hope and believe, will find 
 a responsive echo in the breast of every American 
 not blinded by prejudice or self interest. 
 
VI 
 
 It has been my endeavour to give as much neces¬ 
 sary information as possible, within the smallest 
 possible space, in order to bring the book within 
 the reach of all classes. I have, therefore, refrained 
 lrom being discursive on many of the points, which 
 otherwise I should have handled more fully. I 
 have felt, however, that together with the late 
 debates upon the subject, and the inevitable battle 
 of St. Stephen’s, which is to come, and of which 
 this same land question will be the casus belli , that 
 it would be not only presumptuous, but useless to 
 prophesy or anticipate, and I, therefore, think that 
 I shall have better done my duty to the right, by 
 laying before the intelligence of the country, facts 
 which cannot be gainsaid, and arguments in favor 
 of FIXITY OF TENURE, FREE SALE, AND 
 FAIR RENTS, which will, I feel certain, meet 
 the views of the vast majority of my readers, and 
 I trust convert the minority. 
 
 In the compilation of this little work, I have 
 endeavoured to mass together an array of statistics 
 and opinions, which have appeared to me the 
 most necessary for the object I have in view, i. e., 
 the instruction of those, who, while they are inter¬ 
 ested in the matter of Irish Land Legislation, are 
 apt to regard the matter less seriously than they 
 would do, had they read in consecutive and con¬ 
 cise form the opinions of distinguished men, with 
 the statistics bearing on those opinions. In 
 consequence of the short time which has been 
 given me to do this, I must apologize for any little 
 irregularity that may have occurred in the placing 
 of the facts and arguments, but I venture to hope 
 that they are arranged in such a form as to be 
 understandable to the least gifted of my readers, 
 
Yll 
 
 I must also claim their indulgence for the brevity 
 and paucity of my own particular views, as 
 expressed in this hook; but, as I have previously 
 remarked in this introduction, my object is not 
 the airing of my own crotchets and views, but a 
 desire to instruct, by facts and figures, which are 
 more potent than any rhetoric, which I might be 
 capable of exhibiting. I shall, therefore, re 7 v 
 upon the reader’s indulgence, trusting, that after 
 the perusal of this, my humble effort, he will 
 have found wherewithal for reflection and sym¬ 
 pathy. 
 
 I may add, that I am a thorough Englishman, 
 and as loyal as any of the subjects of Her Gracious 
 Majesty to the British Constitution. I do not 
 write from any party standpoint; my only desire 
 is to incite in the minds of my American readers, 
 a desire to investigate the grievances of the Irish 
 people, but more particularly the vexed problem 
 of the Tenure of Land. I am sanguine that the 
 Americans have only to be convinced of the exist¬ 
 ing evils of the system, as now established in 
 Ireland, and they will practically and morally 
 assist the Irish in obtaining the reforms so 
 urgently needed. Without the aid and sympathy 
 of the American people, the Irish are powerless to 
 obtain redress; with the support of the American 
 masses they are all powerful, and must eventually 
 succeed in obtaining JUSTICE. 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
HOME RULE. 
 
 "Thrice is he armed that hath his quarrel just.” 
 
 Henry VI. Act 3. 
 
 1 confess it seems somewhat paradoxical foi 
 an Englishman to advocate justice for Ireland, 
 but have we not Parnell, a Protestant, success¬ 
 fully struggling for freedom for a Catholic nation? 
 Then, again, have we not the veteran English 
 statesman, Gladstone, pulling in the same boat, 
 who, a few years ago, was sending the Irish lead¬ 
 ers to a felon’s cell? So I think, under the cir¬ 
 cumstances, I, an Englishman, may be excused. 
 
 The question of Home Rule for Ireland is now 
 not only engaging the direct attention of the 
 United Kingdom, but indirectly that of the whole 
 civilized world. But a few short years ago, it 
 reouired some amount of moral courage to stand 
 up in the midst of a British audience and advo¬ 
 cate Home Rule for Ireland. It is not the case 
 now. One of the greatest orators and statesmen 
 of the nineteenth century, the Right Honorable 
 William Ewart Gladstone, M. P., is now, in his 
 extreme old age, struggling for that reform which 
 will give to the Irish nation that glorious privil¬ 
 ege, that divine right, the right of self-govern¬ 
 ment. 
 
 In a brief period what a change has taken 
 place in the political horizon of the universe in 
 
11 . 
 
 respect to this great question. And this change 
 may be mainly attributed to the excellent gen¬ 
 eralship of that great Irish leader, Charles Stew¬ 
 art Parnell, who, in my opinion, is destined by 
 a divine providence to be the political saviour of 
 Ireland. 
 
 This question was taken up by him, a few 
 years ago, in its infantile condition, but he lias> 
 as its foster father, nurtured it with a care and 
 affection which has drawn forth the admiration 
 of millions scattered in all parts of the earth. 
 To-day it assumes that colossal proportion which 
 will resist any adverse influence that may be 
 directed against it, for the purpose of crushing 
 the aspirations of the Irish people. 
 
 Be it slid to the credit of the people of the 
 United States they have done their duty nobly in 
 respect to this matter. To the suffering people 
 of Ireland they have not been backward in ren¬ 
 dering, in a constitutional manner, moral, intel¬ 
 lectual and financial support. They have, by 
 their generosity, not only averted one or two 
 famines which threatened this unfortunate coun¬ 
 try, but have also furnished the leaders of the 
 Irish people with those means which a starving 
 peasantry, through iniquitous laws, could not 
 themselves supply, to carry on the present and 
 probably final struggle for liberty. 
 
 I am sure the vast majority of the American 
 people will receive with delight a satisfactory ter¬ 
 mination to the present agitation, and I am 
 equally convinced that no reform will be con¬ 
 sidered by them satisfactory that does not con¬ 
 cede to Ireland the full right of self-government, 
 free from any vexatious, degrading or unneeessa- 
 
111 . 
 
 rily restrictive provisions. The American people 
 have shown, by the late convention held at Chi¬ 
 cago, that they have increased confidence in the 
 great leader carrying on this glorious struggle, 
 the close of which, on the lines agreeable to the 
 parliamentary leaders of the Irish people will, in 
 the end, prove as beneficial to England as to 
 Ireland. It would be no exaggeration of lan¬ 
 guage to say, the present and more particularly 
 the past treatment of Ireland by England has 
 been base, bloody and cruel; it has wrought, nor. 
 only indescribable misery upon the Irish people, 
 but has proved disastrous to England herself; it 
 has brought discredit upon the Empire; it has 
 stopped necessary legislation for the English peo¬ 
 ple; it has prevented that progress which other¬ 
 wise would naturally have taken place. The 
 English people are now beginning to realize that 
 fact, and are now assisting the Irish people in 
 obtaining that measure of reform which has so 
 long been unjustly withheld from them. 
 
 In this work I have endeavored to show, by a 
 reference to the present and past history of Ire¬ 
 land, how necessary it is to the Irish people they 
 should have the right to make their own laws. 
 It may be objected by some critics that if you 
 want to discuss Irish questions you are immedi¬ 
 ately dragged back into the dismal history of the 
 past; but I contend that, to understand the pres¬ 
 ent condition of Ireland, it is absolutely necessary 
 to do so. To diagnose any disease it is necessary 
 for the skillful physician to have some knowledge 
 of what has happened in the past; whether the 
 present condition of his patient has been brought 
 about by hereditary disease or by some predis- 
 
IV. 
 
 posing cause, or whether or not it has been con¬ 
 tributed to by the past life of the patient; with¬ 
 out such knowledge as that it is almost hopeless 
 to proceed to prescribe a remedy, and any method 
 proposed in ignorance of such facts must he 
 merely empirical experiment, and partake largely 
 of the form of quackery. I purpose showing 
 what has been the connection between England 
 and Ireland in the past. Many consider that Ire¬ 
 land, in the remote past, was simply in a state 
 something like what many imagine at present to 
 be the state of the red Indians in America. Well, 
 the records of Ireland fortunately go back even to 
 a greater age than those of England, and they 
 sliow T most incontestably tli t at a very early age 
 Ireland had a very high civilization. That civil¬ 
 ization w^as lost by the barbaric invasion of the 
 Danes, and w r e come down to the period when 
 Strongbow, at first at the invitation of an Irish 
 chief, invaded Ireland. From that moment to 
 this there has been a connection existing between 
 the tw T o Kingdoms. The English then got a 
 footing, and of course they have never relin¬ 
 quished it since. In the early ages there was 
 what I may term a questionable kind of alliance, 
 but when we come down to the period of Queen 
 Elizabeth we find that the stormy times of Irish 
 history commence. We have on record the 
 doings of her lieutenants, Mountjoy and Curlew. 
 We know, according to the testimony even of Mr. 
 James Anthony Froude, the great historian, but 
 still greater enemy of Ireland, that they left 
 almost the whole of Munster in a complete state 
 of devastation. 
 
 Their orders were of such a character that they 
 
V. 
 
 could, at their own discretion, arrest any of the 
 aboriginal natives who had settled in Ireland, and 
 question them on matters of religion. They 
 superseded all the municipal courts; they estab¬ 
 lished martial law; then confiscations were exten¬ 
 sive throughout the entire country. Then, pass¬ 
 ing rapidly through history, we come to the period 
 of King William. I would impress upon my 
 readers w T ho are puzzled as to the present discon¬ 
 tent in Ireland, that it is most important to 
 remember these episodes in the past history of the 
 country. The Irish, at that early period, were 
 goaded into rebellion by repeated acts of oppres¬ 
 sion, and by the misery of their condition. The 
 Irish people have got the reputation of being 
 indigenously rebellious; that was a stigma that 
 w r as fastened upon them ages ago, and I am sorry 
 to say that it seems to have gone on attaching 
 from father to son, in every succeeding age and 
 generation, until a great many well-minded 
 English and American people at the present day 
 almost believe that that really is their character¬ 
 istic. 
 
 I think I shall be able to show, that although 
 many circumstances have been cited to prove the 
 justice of the stigma, it really is not sustained by 
 history. The Irish have ever proved themselves 
 a law-abiding people, when those laws were just. 
 True, they have been goaded into rebellion at times 
 to resist slavery and oppression. I contend it is 
 the right of man to resist unjust and oppressive 
 laws. England has exercised this right over and 
 over again. Why should Ireland be denied the 
 same right? I will now come down to the Crom¬ 
 wellian period, and quote again from the biased 
 
1 
 
 VI. 
 
 historian, Fronde, who has distinguished himself 
 for his prejudice against the Irish people, there¬ 
 fore those who are no friends of Ireland can with 
 better confidence receive his account. I have in 
 many instances throughout my work, in order to 
 show the real state of that country in the past and 
 present, quoted from the enemies of Ireland rather 
 than from her friends. Well, it is recorded by 
 this historian that Cromwell sacked Drogheda, 
 and the massacre of its inhabitants, as well as its 
 garrisons, continued during a period of five days, 
 and after five days slaughter, only thirty people 
 being left alone in the town, those were shipped 
 off to Barbadoes. Every other walled town in 
 Ireland that resisted Cromwell met with the same 
 fate. The result in the end was that he confis¬ 
 cated two-thirds of Ireland. It is said of that 
 time that the state of devastation was so complete, 
 that hardly was the lowing of a beast or the 
 bleating of a sheep heard throughout the entire 
 southwest of Ireland. The aboriginal Irish were 
 commanded by a certain date to take all the cattle 
 that were left to them, and at the sound of the 
 drum to leave and pitch themselves beyond the 
 Shannon—as the troopers put it, they were to go 
 either to Hell or to Coventry. That, in brief, was 
 the Cromwellian period. Now I pass rapidly on 
 to the Bestoration in England, and to the period 
 wdien James was deposed and succeeded by 
 William. James, be it remembered, was deposed 
 only by the Commons of England and not by the 
 Lords. When the question was discussed by the 
 English House of Lords as to whether James had 
 broken his compact with the people, it was decided 
 by a majority of eleven that he had not. Now it 
 
 I. a f\r 
 
 
 # 
 
fcb 
 
 Vll. 
 
 is well understood that in English Constitutional 
 law the House of Commons is not the sole insti¬ 
 tution in that realm. It lias not the power, by 
 itself alone, to decide the fate of the nation. I 
 am not going to discuss the advantages or dis¬ 
 advantages which may afterward have accrued to 
 liberty by the placing on the throne of William 
 III., hut I simply contend that in point of legality 
 the Irish were strictly legal in supporting James. 
 James fled from England, and went to his Irish 
 subjects. 
 
 The Irish stood by James, but he was defeated 
 at the Battle of the Boyne, and afterward at 
 Aughriam, and he took his flight to France. 
 William was triumphant throughout the country. 
 Now there is one thing I wish particularly to 
 impress upon my readers. The Irish lost their 
 liberties, but they were struck down in no disas¬ 
 trous battle; they honorably capitulated at the 
 siege of Limerick. General Sarsfield was there 
 with a great army. He stood the siege for some¬ 
 thing like nine days, and then he capitulated to 
 the general of William III. He was allowed all 
 the honors of war,—to go out carrying his arms, 
 and to the beating of his drums, and with his 
 colors flying. The Irish garrison was allowed a 
 free passage to France; the Catholics of Ireland 
 and the natives were guaranteed, by what was 
 called the Treaty of Limerick, the exercise of their 
 religion, there was to be no impediment to their 
 carrying on the learned professions or their trades, 
 and they were to be on a footing almost equal 
 with that of their fellow-countrymen of a different 
 faith. That treaty had scarcely been three m onths 
 in force, the Irish had scarcely landed in France, 
 
vm. 
 
 when, their power being broken, the provisions of 
 the treaty were also broken by the English. 
 Now, mark the difference between the conduct of 
 the English and the conduct of the Irish. The 
 very day that Sarsfield capitulated at Limerick, 
 just after the treaty had been arranged, he learned 
 that the French fleet was at the mouth of the 
 Shannon, with a well-equipped army, ready to 
 come to his aid. He was urged and requested to 
 break the treaty there and then, but—he had 
 given the w T ord of an Irish general, and he refused 
 to act dishonorably. He marched out with his 
 troops and left the country. When all the power 
 of resistance was gone, then came the horrible, * 
 base, bloody and cruel period of one hundred 
 years under the penal laws. Those law T s out¬ 
 raged humanity, and will be an eternal blot upon 
 the escutcheon of England. Englishmen and a 
 few Americans talk of the discontent in Ireland 
 to-day, but they forget that for a period of one 
 hundred years, throughout various reigns, that, with 
 unrelenting cruelty, every law that could debase a 
 people and deprive them of liberty w T as passed for 
 Ireland by the British Legislature. 
 
 The Catholics were in every sense deprived of 
 the right to exercise their ow T n religion. In the 
 reign of the so-called good Queen Elizabeth a law 
 was passed whereby any clergyman -who married 
 a Catholic was to be hanged. In the reign of 
 William III., the Irish -were forbidden the use of 
 arms or the -wearing of side-arms,—a practice 
 common to the gentlemen of that day—they were 
 forbidden any of the learned professions; they 
 could not be solicitors, or lawyers, or doctors. 
 In the reign of Anne, no Catholic was allowed to 
 
IX. 
 
 teacli any other Catholic, and a Catholic parent 
 was not allowed to send away his children to 
 France, or any other country, for the purpose of 
 education. 
 
 If the eldest son of any Catholic gentleman 
 were to adopt the established religion of the 
 country, he could, by that act alone, cut off his 
 father from the estates, and become his successor. 
 No Catholic in the country was allowed to have a 
 horse of greater value than five pounds. And all 
 this and more injustice continued throughout the 
 long period I have just mentioned, until at last, 
 as has been stated by the English historian him¬ 
 self, “the Irish were brought to a state of degra¬ 
 dation almost equal to that of the animal world.” 
 I have considered it necessary for the development 
 of my argument to bring forward these points. 
 It has been said that a development of trade 
 would be good for Ireland,—that trade would 
 regenerate the country. Well, that is perfectly 
 true, but let me upon this subject quote an author¬ 
 ity which will have the highest respect of every 
 impartial reader. I will take Lord Dufferin; he 
 is :.o enthusiastic Land-leaguer or rabid Home 
 Ruler; he is a man who recently enjoyed the 
 confidence of the State, and who was employed on 
 the most delicate negotiations, requiring skill and 
 ability of the highest quality; he is not a man w T ho 
 is likely to speak wildly, nor one likely to speak of 
 what he does not know; well, what does he say? 
 “In the reign of Queen Elizabeth the Irish cattle 
 undersold the English cattle in the English 
 markets.” By an Act of Elizabeth, Irish cattle 
 were declared to be a nuisance, and their importa¬ 
 tion was forbidden. Finding they could not export 
 
their cattle to England, they then salted the meat 
 and sent it over in the shape of cured provisions. 
 A tariff was put upon it which absolutely forbade 
 its importation. They then tried the manufacture 
 of leather, and skins to dress leather. Leather 
 was forbidden to be imported into the country. 
 The whole of the candle-makers and soap-makers 
 were especially jealous of their branches of indus¬ 
 try, as they saw that the Irish had the advan¬ 
 tage over them in consequence of the great plen¬ 
 tifulness of Irish help. The Irish themselves, 
 finding that the cattle trade was completely cut off 
 from them, tried sheep. They exported wool to 
 England; but it was not allowed to be admitted, 
 except to one port, Barnstable, almost the farthest 
 point that could be found. The English wool- 
 growers began to take alarm, and ultimately Irish 
 wool was declared contraband. The Irish then, 
 having the benefit of cheap food and cheap labor, 
 imported silk, and tried to manufacture that. 
 That also was put a stop to. There was only one 
 branch of manufacture that was left in the country, 
 and the people of Manchester petitioned against 
 it to the number of 117,000 signatures, —that was 
 the linen trade of the North of Ireland. That 
 remained in the country, and what is the conse¬ 
 quence? That the North of Ireland at the present 
 day is as prosperous as any other part of the 
 Empire. Their manufacture is known all over 
 the world, and celebrated for its quality. It turns 
 over a trade equal in value to the entire rental of 
 Ireland; the consequence is that in this portion of 
 Ireland there is comparative contentment. Now, 
 I will briefly refer to the Navigation laws. Up to 
 the independence of the Irish Parliament, in the 
 
XI. 
 
 year 1782, Irish shipping was not allowed to visit 
 any port in Europe. The Irish were not allowed 
 to trade with the Levant, or with any port beyond 
 the Cape. When England was at war with any 
 power, and any ship was destroyed off Ireland, a 
 tax whs put upon the Catholics of Ireland. I 
 have run over these points to prepare my readers 
 for what is to come. I have had great difficulty 
 in bringing this matter properly before my Eng¬ 
 lish readers, as in that country there seems such a 
 superabundant mass of prejudice that almost made 
 my task hopeless. I don’t forget the fierceness 
 of competition at the present time, the necessity 
 of a man straining every nerve, not only to obtain 
 luxuries, but even to earn an ordinary livelihood* 
 in these days of telephone and telegraphy, a man 
 rises hastily in the morning, and swallows his 
 breakfast, and rushes off to work, with a mere 
 glance at a newspaper. When the day’s work is 
 over, he rushes to a concert, or some other amuse¬ 
 ment ; and I admit that it is hard to expect him 
 to read much beyond his daily paper. And what 
 do the majority of the English newspapers give? 
 The black side of the picture. You have nearly 
 every morning in flaming characters: “Assassina¬ 
 tion in Ireland;” “Another Outrage in Ireland;’’ 
 “Intended Attack;” “Rumored Fenian Plot;” “An¬ 
 other Dynamite Outrage;” “Maiming of Cattle;” 
 “More Irish-Americans Landing at Queenstown;’ 
 and so on, column after column, day after day, 
 week after week,—is it any wonder that this gets so 
 indelibly branded and burned into the English 
 mind that at last the word Ireland synchronizes 
 with crime—when you hear one word, the other 
 is suggested, and immediately expected. You 
 
have nothing in the majority of the English news¬ 
 papers about the social state of the country, its 
 virtues, its social hopes and trials, its troubles and 
 aspirations, its numberless cruel and inhuman 
 evictions, the terrible evils arising from absentee¬ 
 ism, its local affairs, or anything of the sort,— 
 column after column you have simply a record of 
 its crimes and outrages, and I regret to write 
 that some of the pulpits of England have out¬ 
 raged Christianity by assisting the press in the 
 furtherance of implanting prejudice and hatred 
 in the minds of the English masses, against their 
 unfortunate Irish neighbors. 
 
 We all know that the press is a powerful factor 
 in the education of the people, and so long as the 
 English press caters to the prejudices of the Eng¬ 
 lish masses, so long will the advent of justice he 
 delayed to Ireland. The ordinary English reader 
 obtains a very false impression of Ireland, owing 
 to the garbled reports, exaggerated accounts, 
 manufactured outrages, and the suppression of all 
 facts favorable to the Irish people. That unfor¬ 
 tunately is the case in which Ireland stands, in 
 respect to the English press in general, at the 
 present day. Any one who has traveled through 
 England must have been amazed at the dense 
 ignorance displayed by most Englishmen in regard 
 to the real state of Irish affairs, and it is to be 
 deplored that a good number of the intelligent 
 and educated are no exception to the rule. 
 
 Most people seem to have a notion that Ireland 
 had a Parliament in the very remote past,—so far 
 back that it is hardly worth while referring to it. 
 They would, no doubt, be surprised to hear that 
 in the year 1782, Ireland had an Independent 
 
Xlll. 
 
 Parliament composed of a House of Lords and a 
 House of Commons, exactly on the model of Eng¬ 
 land, and responsible to nobody but the King of 
 England for the conduct of affairs in Ireland. 
 
 It is a strange thing that it almost gives an 
 argument to the party of force in Ireland and 
 America, an argument I do not like them to have 
 —that nothing can be got from England except 
 by force. Even in the transaction of the inde¬ 
 pendence of the Irish Parliament, that was brought 
 about by force. The American colonies had 
 revolted from England. They felt that England 
 was trying to interfere with the civil rights and 
 liberties of the colonies, and the American peo¬ 
 ple, sprung from the loins of the English race 
 themselves, would not have tyranny put upon 
 them, and they revolted. The writings of Tom 
 Paine, Rosseau, Voltaire, Adam Smith and others 
 had begun to teach the American people what was 
 civil liberty, and they would not stand the tyranny 
 of England any longer. They revolted and we 
 all know with what success. Lord Cornwallis 
 and the English army surrendered to the AmerL 
 cans at Yorktown. The Americans were helped 
 by the French. The strange historical spectacle 
 was presented to the eyes of mankind of tyrannical 
 and despotic France fighting on the side of free 
 America,, and so-called free and constitutional 
 England fighting against the civil rights and lib¬ 
 erties of the Americans. Now, the Americans 
 had shed English blood, and their reward was 
 liberty and freedom. 
 
 Ireland shed its blood on the side of England^ 
 and its reward has been political bondage. At 
 that time England was hard beset by her ene- 
 
XIV. 
 
 mies. She had an army in Ireland, and that 
 country was left unprotected. The North of Ire¬ 
 land and the manufacturing towns, afraid of a 
 French invasion, petitioned the Government for a 
 force to protect them, hut the Government admit¬ 
 ted that it could not spare the men. The Irish 
 then raised a volunteer force, which eventually 
 numbered something like 100,000, officered, 
 armed, and governed, by the noble and the wealthy 
 men of the country, and furnished with arms out 
 of the castle of Dublin. Then, being an armed 
 mob, they began to be infected with the idea of 
 civil liberty that was being worked out in Amer¬ 
 ica. They began to see that it was time that the 
 Parliament of Ireland should have that indepen¬ 
 dence which is necessary to the prosperity of ev¬ 
 ery free people, and they demanded that. Now, 
 that was the hour of England’s weakness. If the 
 Irish people had wanted to throw off then once 
 and forever what might be termed the sovereignty 
 of the British crown, they could have done it eas¬ 
 ily. But they did not demand that; and that I 
 say thoroughly proves they did not want dismem¬ 
 berment of the Empire. They still wished to 
 be united to England through the link of the 
 crown, but they wanted independence in their 
 Parliament. For eighteen years after that they 
 were free, and it is a remarkable thing that never 
 should be forgotten, that the first act they passed 
 was to establish religious equality, which the Eng¬ 
 lish people of to-day are so terribly afraid will be 
 the opposite if the Irish are reinstated in their 
 Parliament. Well, what was the result of the 
 Irish Parliament? Why, in the following twenty 
 years the population nearly doubled itself; every- 
 
XV. 
 
 thing went on prosperously, and there seemed 
 every prospect of the establishment of a nation of 
 which no Irishman need have been ashamed. It 
 is now a matter of history that Mr. Pitt’s intention 
 from the very day that he granted, in the hour of 
 England’s weakness, an independent Irish Par¬ 
 liament, was to set about to find some way in 
 which that concession might be cancelled. They 
 bribed the members of the Irish Commons with 
 one and a half millions of English money to sell it. 
 This fact is on record; we have absolutely the 
 names of those noblemen and commons who sold 
 their votes to the Government for various pensions 
 and emoluments. Sir Jonah Barrington, a man 
 who calls himself thoroughly orthodox in politics 
 and religion,a judge of the Admiralty Court at Dub¬ 
 lin, a Protestant and Boyalist, writing in reference 
 to the repeal of the Irish Parliament, said: “If at 
 any period of my life my patriotism nearly upset 
 myjjroyalty, it was when I saw the shameless public 
 scandal of the sale of the Irish Parliament.” When 
 the motion for the Union was first brought into 
 the House, there were 161 voted against it, and 
 only 32 in favor of it; and, strange to say, those 
 32 who voted for it were the co unty judges. 
 Those were the only votes the Government at first 
 got in the Irish House of Commons; but they per¬ 
 severed, and, by buying up places and patronage, 
 dismissing those in office who voted against the 
 Union, and replacing them by instruments of their 
 own, finally carried their point, with troops sur¬ 
 rounding the House, with troops parading the 
 streets, with their colors flying, and their cannon 
 commanding the various bridges, lest any popular 
 manifestation should prevent the voting—amidst 
 
XY1. 
 
 A7 > 
 
 that scene the Parliament of Ireland fell, and in 
 the words of the unrivaled prince of poets, William 
 Shakespeare, “What a fall was there, my country¬ 
 men ! ” The speaker of the Irish House of Com¬ 
 mons could hardly read and put the resolution 
 to the House, through the faltering of his voice, 
 and it was prophesied then by those who were 
 against the Union, that it would not bring about 
 the peace that was anticipated. The advocates of 
 the Union said it would bring about peace and 
 tranquillity, and that English capital would flow 
 into Ireland. They threw out vague hints and 
 half promises to the Cath olic Bishops, that once 
 Ireland was united to England, in the Imperial 
 Legislature, they would be able to give them that 
 degree of religious liberty that a local Parliament 
 would not give them. Now, what was the very 
 first act that was passed by the Imperial Parlia¬ 
 ment after the Union was completed? It was a 
 Coercion Act. And eighty-two years afterward 
 the last act that was passed a few years ago, was 
 admitted by that inveterate enemy of Ireland, 
 Mr. Forster, commonly known by the soubri¬ 
 quet of “Buckshot Forster,” to be one of the most 
 stringent Coercion Acts ever passed for Ireland. 
 
 During the past eighty-two years, how many 
 Coercion Acts do my readers suppose have been 
 passed by the British Legislature to stifle the legit¬ 
 imate aspirations of the Irish people? Why, 
 fifty-nine cruel and inhuman Coercion Acts have 
 been passed! Here is the tranquillity that was 
 prophesied by the advocates of the Union. 
 
 People say that Ireland would prosper were 
 she only tranquil. Of course she would, but 
 what tranquillity is necessary? The tranquillity 
 
XVII. 
 
 of content, not the tranquillity brought about 1 
 
 force, fraud or folly. Force never succeeded 
 
 tranquillizing any country. It never did, and 
 
 never will or can. And I am certain the Amer¬ 
 ican people w 7 ill agree with me it never will in 
 the case of Ireland. Now I will leave it to any 
 impartial reader whether England has not had a 
 sufficient trial in the management of Irish affairs, 
 and whether their task of governing Ireland, 
 according to English ideas,, has not signally 
 failed. Ever since the repeal of the Union, Ire¬ 
 land has been going from bad to worse. Its peo¬ 
 ple have been flying from its shores. It shows a 
 decaying population; it shows none of the signs 
 or marks of prosperity and opulence. It is not that 
 the country is not a fertile country—none more so. 
 It has good harbors and rivers, and soil and clime 
 —everything that should make it happy and pros¬ 
 perous. It stands midway between the great 
 peoples of the West and Europe; it might well 
 be the great commercial emporium for Europe, 
 and yet it languishes. I do not doubt that a 
 great number of Englishmen wish well to Ire¬ 
 land. They do not fail for want of good-will, but 
 they fail for want of knowledge; they lose sight 
 of the inherent instinct which is in the breasts 
 of all men—and this is a most important factor— 
 the instinct of nationality. They seem to think 
 
 that a great and a brave and an intelligent peo¬ 
 ple, may be dragged at the wheel of an Imperial 
 chariot forever, in total disregard of all their 
 national aspirations and feelings. That is the 
 gr at mistake that Englishmen make. I need not 
 quo'e poet after poet as to the universality of this 
 feeling. Kings, Parliaments, ministers, these 
 
 i 
 
xvm. 
 
 are but human institutions; but the love of lib¬ 
 erty is a divine inspiration, and it cannot be can¬ 
 celled out of the human breast without violating 
 the decrees and ordinances of the Deity himself. 
 Any nation that tries to do that, must meet with 
 an ignominious failure, and that has been the 
 case with England. 
 
 I find those people w T ho are unfriendly to Ire¬ 
 land, particularly those in England, are very apt 
 in asking the stereotyped question: “What do 
 you mean by Home Rule?” I think the Hon. 
 Clias. Stewart Parnell, M. P., has satisfactorily 
 answered this question, and in a manner that has 
 obtained not only the approval of the people in 
 Ireland, but the vast majority of the people of 
 the greatest Republic in the world; and the 
 answer is endorsed by the greatest living states¬ 
 man of the day, the Right Hon. William Ewart 
 Gladstone. 
 
 We have now in Ireland an armed force equal 
 to two-thirds of that by which the English gov¬ 
 ern India. This is a question, one would think, 
 that ought to touch Englishmen closely. Look at 
 recent items of news in the American press. We 
 find that the military nations of Europe do not 
 know how to make both ends meet; their minis¬ 
 ters of finance are at their wits’ ends to know how 
 to balance revenue with expenditure. Whereas, 
 we learn in America, they are absolutely in the 
 opposite difficulty—they do not know what to do 
 with the income, it so much exceeds their expen¬ 
 diture. Immediately after the close of the Amer¬ 
 ican war, the national debt of England was 
 about $4,000,000,000. America has cleared off her 
 national debt since that time by nearly $400,- 
 
XIX. 
 
 000,000; the English have cleared off $150,000,- 
 000. What is one of the causes of American 
 prosperity? They have comparatively no stand¬ 
 ing army. England could well do without the 
 50,000 armed men in Ireland, if that country 
 were governed in accordance with the wishes of 
 its people. The taxpayer of England would be 
 the gainer by just that amount of money it takes 
 to keep 50,000 armed men in Ireland. 
 
 Now, I will give my readers some definition of 
 Home Rule, and which, I believe, is generally 
 accepted by the Irish leaders. There was a great 
 conference met in Dublin in respect to this ques¬ 
 tion, and it was composed of men of all parties— 
 Orangemen, Catholics, Protestants, Presbyterians, 
 and dissenters generally. Irishmen of education, 
 some of them professional men, some from 
 Trinity College, some of property, colonels in the 
 army, ex-colonels, all uniting once and for all in 
 laying down what the national demand should be. 
 The resolution this conference passed was as fol¬ 
 lows:—“This Association is formed for the pur¬ 
 pose of obtaining for Ireland the right of self- 
 government, by means of a’ National Parliament. 
 It is hereby declared, as the essential principle of 
 the Association, that the objects, and the only 
 objects contemplated by its organization, are to 
 obtain for our country the right and privilege of 
 managing our own affairs, by a Parliament assem¬ 
 bled in Ireland, composed of Her Majesty, the 
 Sovereign and her successors, and the Lords and 
 Commons of Ireland; to secure for that Parlia¬ 
 ment, under a federal arrangement, the right of 
 legislating for, and regulating all matters relating 
 to the internal affairs of Ireland, and the control 
 
XX. 
 
 over Irish resources and revenues, subject to the 
 obligation of contributing our just proportion to 
 the Imperial expenditure, but leaving to the 
 Imperial Parliament the power of dealing with 
 all questions affecting Imperial matters and Gov¬ 
 ernment Legislation regarding the Colonies and 
 the other dependencies of the Crown, the relation 
 of the United Empire with foreign States, and all 
 matters appertaining to the defense and the sta¬ 
 bility of the Empire at large.” 
 
 That, I think, includes and comprises the whole 
 of the demand of the Irish people when they ask 
 for Home Rule. Is there anything very wonder¬ 
 ful about it? Is there anything very extravagant 
 or outrageous? I think, myself, it is a very simple 
 matter; I fail to see any intricate complication in> 
 or likely to arise from it. The same thing exists 
 at the present time in the United States of Amer¬ 
 ica. Every single State in America has Home 
 Rule. You have the same in Austro-Hungary. 
 Hungary, for many years, pleaded in vain, as 
 Ireland has pleaded, for Home Rule; and how did 
 she ultimately get it? It is the same old story of 
 human nature. It was not until Austria was 
 brought to her knees at the fatal battle of Sadowa, 
 that she held out the hand of friendship to 
 Hungary. I hope it will never be the destiny of 
 England to have a Sadowa, when, in her hour of 
 humiliation and affliction, she will be obliged to 
 do what she might do now in justice and exped¬ 
 iency. Then, again, you have the same thing in 
 Norway and Sweden. Under the same crown, 
 they have two distinct and independent parlia¬ 
 ments. Then take the English colonies: you 
 have Home Rule in Canada, you have Home Rule 
 
in tlie Cape of Good Hope, you have Home Buie 
 
 in New Zealand, you have Home Rule in the 
 
 Australian colonies. Why should it be denied to 
 
 Ireland? Certainlv I think the time is fast 
 
 «/ 
 
 approaching when England will be induced to 
 grant to Ireland what she already gives to her 
 colonies. 
 
 Then if the matter is considered as a question 
 of political expediency, every one knows that the 
 English House of Commons, as at present consti¬ 
 tuted, is utterly unable to get through the work it 
 has to do. The House of Commons, for the last 
 few years, has practically broken down. It may 
 be said that that is due, to a great extent, to the 
 conduct of the Irish representatives, but I contend 
 that even if the Irish contingent were absent from 
 the House, it would have more than it could get 
 through. Some alteration must come, and come 
 quickly, too. The voice of Ireland has spoken out 
 loudly on this question, and in a manner that it 
 will brook no shelving of the question. The 
 gifted orator and the veteran statesman, Glad¬ 
 stone, is enlisted in the ranks of the gallant few, 
 with Charles Stewart Parnell at their head. When 
 Ireland had her own House of Commons she had 
 800 members, but by the Union that number was 
 reduced to 105 to contend against 558 other 
 gentlemen who knew very little of Ireland, and 
 certainly had not much sympathy with her. 
 Why, in recent times, when the Irish members 
 have been a little persistent in bringing forward 
 measures for the benefit of Ireland, they have 
 often excited the apparent disgust of the House, 
 
 so that on one occasion they were declared a nui- <_ 
 
 sance. Only the other day an Irish membe- 
 
xxii. 
 
 ■wanted to speak, but the Speaker would not allow 
 him, so the gentleman put on his hat, and on 
 leaving the house called out, “This is no place for 
 an Irishman.” 
 
 Englishmen are fond of saying—“Why don’t 
 you go about your reform in a constitutional 
 manner?” Well, have we not tried that way? 
 Mr. Butt, the leader of the Irish party in the 
 House, was an LL. D. of Trinity College, he was 
 a barrister, a Protestant, a gentleman, a man of 
 education—everything that should qualify him to 
 win the good opinion of the English House of 
 Commons. Well, this gentleman brought in one 
 hundred bills before the House, relating to Irish 
 affairs, and not a single one was passed. In each 
 one of those cases there was a majority of Irish 
 members in favor of the bills. The Municipal 
 Franchise Bill, the taking over of the railways, 
 and various other things relating to Ireland, every 
 single one of them was thrown out. The Irish 
 members naturally began to be disgusted with 
 such a state of things, and the more active among 
 them began that system of obstruction which 
 caused so much irritability and ill-feeling in 
 England. 
 
 A great deal has been said in England as to the 
 advantages derived by Ireland from the Act of 
 Union—Catholic emancipation, the partial settle¬ 
 ment of the land question, the disestablishment of 
 the Irish church, and other matters. I do not 
 deny these advantages. I do not know that even 
 if Ireland had her separate Parliament, there 
 would not have been some agitation going on; 
 but it would have been an agitation in Ireland, 
 not in England, and consequently would have 
 
XXU1. 
 
 been settled very much sooner. One of the evil 
 and fatal effects of this foreign legislation is that 
 no single measure of great importance is passed 
 for Ireland, until the country is almost brought 
 to the very verge of civil war. Ireland is almost 
 compelled to make herself a nuisance not only to 
 England, but nearly the whole world, before she 
 can be heard. Englishmen should consider this 
 matter calmly and deliberately; they should place 
 themselves for a moment in the position of the 
 Irish. They should remember that while young 
 English boys are taught that freedom is the 
 greatest virtue, and are made to feel proud at their 
 great victories—Cressy, Agincourt, Poictiers, 
 Waterloo, their conquests in India, their cam¬ 
 paigns in the Peninsula, their great maritime 
 battles of the Nile and Trafalgar; while all these 
 things constitute their proud recollections, the 
 recollection of Ireland is—the butchery of Drog¬ 
 heda, the breach of the Treaty of Limerick, the 
 corrupt taking of her Parliament. Still, under 
 these circumstances, the Irish have patience, they 
 are indeed a patient and a suffering race. Per¬ 
 haps their religion may have something to do with 
 it. Still, if England will make restitution, if she 
 will do what is right and just, there is hope yet. 
 There is now a new power assuming gigantic pro¬ 
 portions—the great power of democracy. It was 
 not the people who governed in those dark days 
 back, but now the people of Ireland have recently 
 got the franchise, let them use it wisely and inde¬ 
 pendently. It is for Englishmen to do what is 
 right and just, and to make restitution; let those 
 who have been the oppressors, do all they can for 
 the oppressed, and they will be forgiven; and with 
 
■xxiv. 
 
 such a bond of union between these two peoples, 
 these two sister nations, with but one interest, 
 and embraced in one empire, and warmly attached 
 to one another, they might defy the world in their 
 invincibility. 
 
 The day may come w T ith England, and it may 
 be recorded when her colonies were gone, and all 
 her conquests had passed away, and wdien even 
 that nation trembled, Ireland girded up her loins, 
 and fought for the very Empire that had given 
 her oppression. I would like to see a perfect union 
 in every shape and form. The English people 
 now are not responsible for what has been done 
 in the past, but responsibility rests upon them 
 now. The future is for them to make. They are 
 now living at a critical period ‘of their history. 
 The English are powerful; they are strong; they 
 need not be jealous of the weak; they therefore 
 have the greater reason for doing what is right; 
 they know the history of the past, their own re¬ 
 vered statesman, Gladstone, of whom they are so 
 proud, has told them, “They know the state of 
 Ireland to-day.” Let us hope they will try no 
 longer those miserable palliatives; but give a rad¬ 
 ical cure to a radical disease. Put the union 
 between these two nations upon a proper footing, 
 and I guarantee that they will win the love and 
 affection of the entire Irish race, not only through¬ 
 out Ireland and throughout America, but through¬ 
 out the whole world; agitation will cease; the hat 
 will not have to go round the world imploring as¬ 
 sistance for a starving people; peace and prosper¬ 
 ity will come, and contentment must follow in 
 their w r ake. This, in the words of the immortal 
 
XXV. 
 
 prince of poets, ‘‘is a consummation devoutly to 
 be wished.” 
 
 Mr. Ruskin, the world-renowned artist and 
 author, writing to the Pall Mall Gazette , recently, 
 said in reference to the Irish question: “TheEng¬ 
 lish people take no notice of certain peculiarities 
 of the Irish race, which I imagine they know as 
 well as I do, and yet they ignore them. Would 
 it not be well for the English to take some account 
 of the ineradicable virtues of the Irish in the Eng¬ 
 lish schemes for their management? First, they 
 are an artistic people and design beautiful things 
 and execute them with indefatigable industry; sec¬ 
 ondly, they are a witty people, and can by no 
 means be governed by witless ones; thirdly, they 
 are an affectionate people, and can by no means be 
 governed on scientific principles by a heartless 
 people.” 
 
 To conclude, I say fearlessly of Ireland, no 
 nation can produce better men, physically, men¬ 
 tally and morally; they possess qualities capable 
 under favorable circumstances of making them a 
 great people. Let England treat them justly and 
 they will serve her faithfully. Let England out¬ 
 rage her sense of justice, crush the noble aspira¬ 
 tions of her people, grind them down, cruelly ill- 
 use them and England w T ill find in her hour of 
 trial, the Irish her most dangerous and implacable 
 foe. Now let her choose which she will have, the 
 Irish, not only in Ireland and England, but 
 throughout the whole world, her friend or her 
 foe in the coming and immediate future. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
9 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 O England 1 model to thy inward greatness, 
 
 Like little body with a mighty heart, 
 
 What might’st thou do, 
 
 Were all thy children kind and natural! 
 
 Henry V., Act 2 , Scene 1. 
 
 It cannot be doubted that the Irish Land 
 Question is the great one of the hour. It is 
 attracting the attention not only of the people of 
 the United Kingdom, but also of the Continent, 
 and this state of affairs is the result of the action, 
 recently commenced by a small body of Ireland’s 
 patriotic sons, who have exhibited to the world, in 
 such a manner as to cause conviction, the great 
 evils that have arisen, from the working of the all- 
 powerful and unjust Land Laws. They have cited 
 innumerable cases of extreme misery, that have 
 happened to thousands, through these iniquitous 
 laws having been taken advantage of by an un¬ 
 fortunately too numerous class of men, commonly 
 known as “absentees.” I would here draw attention 
 to the fact, that a large number of these absentees 
 are hereditary legislators, holding seats in that 
 Upper House, which, during the last session of 
 Parliament by its retrogressive policy, contributed 
 to the just indignation of the Irish leaders and 
 their followers, thus opening fresh wounds, and 
 causing old ones to bleed anew. These landowners 
 seem totally indifferent to the suffering inflicted 
 upon their wretched tenantry, as in most instances 
 they are hundreds of miles away from the scene of 
 affliction. 
 
10 
 
 The small band of patriots (the leaders of the 
 La nd League), lias brought into existence a great 
 and powerful organization, whose chief aim is to 
 obtain for Ireland the repeal or amendment of 
 those laws, which have been the means of creating 
 such wide-spread discontent among the Irish people, 
 and also of reducing the population of nine millions 
 half a century ago to w T hat it is at present, viz, 
 five millions, for it must be clear to all thinking 
 people, that if a man is unable to earn a livelihood 
 in the land of his birth, he must perforce resort to 
 emigration, and seek under new laws and institu¬ 
 tions, for that liberty and justice, which is denied 
 him in his own country. 
 
 The following is a government return of 1870, 
 of the most prominent Irish absentee landlords at 
 that time, and the number of acres owned by each 
 landlord, with their respective annual value. 
 
 The number of absentee landlords is put down 
 as 2,973. 
 
 Owners. 
 
 Acres 
 
 Annual 
 
 
 owned. 
 
 value. 
 
 Salters Company, London 
 
 19,000 
 
 ...£17,000 
 
 Drapers. 
 
 27,000 
 
 ... 15,000 
 
 Mercers. 
 
 21,000 
 
 ... 11,000 
 
 Skinners . 
 
 24,000 
 
 ... 9,000 
 
 Fishmongers. 
 
 20,000 
 
 ... 9,000 
 
 Ironmongers. 
 
 12,000 
 
 ... 8,000 
 
 Grocers. 
 
 10,000 
 
 ... G,000 
 
 Honourable Irish Society 
 
 
 
 (Committee of London 
 
 
 
 Corporation). 
 
 6,000 
 
 ... 11,000 
 
 Sir Richard Wallace . 
 
 01,000 
 
 ... 74,000 
 
 Earl Fitzwilliam . 
 
 91,000 
 
 ... 47,000 
 
 2_[jnv JW 
 
Owners. 
 
 Acres Annual 
 
 OWNED. VALUE. 
 
 Duke of Devonshire .. 
 
 .... 60.000 ... 34,000 
 
 Marquis of Lansdowne 
 
 ...120,000 ... 31,000 
 
 Marquis of Ely . 
 
 .... 48,000 ... 23,000 
 
 Lord Dillon . 
 
 .... 89,000 ... 21,000 
 
 Marquis of Clanricarde 
 
 ... 52,000 ... 20,000 
 
 Lord Leconfield . 
 
 .... 43,000 ... 20,000 
 
 Marquis of Bath. 
 
 .... 22,000 ... 70,000 
 
 Earl of Dartry. 
 
 .... 26,000 ... 18,000 
 
 Earl of Darnley . 
 
 .... 21,000 ... 18,000 
 
 Earl of Devon. 
 
 .... 33,000 ... 14,000 
 
 Earl of Egmont . 
 
 .... 16,000 ... 13,000 
 
 Lord Doneraile. 
 
 . .. 14,000 ... 13,000 
 
 Kilmerley estate (Eng' 
 
 lish 
 
 trustees) . 
 
 .... 37,000 ... 13,000 
 
 Lord Digby . 
 
 .... 30,000 ... 13,000 
 
 Lord Hill Trevor. 
 
 .... 15,000 ... 13,000 
 
 Sir Charles Domville .. 
 
 .... 6,000 ... 10,000 
 
 Earl of Arran . 
 
 ..... 36,000 ... 10,000 
 
 Earl of Normanton. 
 
 . 10,000 ... 9,000 
 
 Lord De Clifford . 
 
 . 13,000 ... 5,000 
 
 EaH of Orkney . 
 
 . 10,000 ... 5,000 
 
 Earl of Norburg . 
 
 . 12,000 ... 4,000 SS 
 
 Lord Ormathwaite . 
 
 . 11,000 ... 4,000 f 413, 
 
 Mr. Smith Barry. 
 
 . 27,000 ... 32,000 
 
 Earl of Dunraven . 
 
 . 15,000 ... 11,000 
 
 Earl of Pembroke . 
 
 . 2,000 ... 37,COO 
 
 Of the above Earl Fitzwilliam and the Duke of 
 
 Devonshire usually spend one month in each year 
 in Ireland. Lord Pembroke’s property is chiefly 
 built over by residences in the neighbourhood of 
 
 Dublin. He has no residence there, and rarely _ 
 
 visits Ireland,- <T TTO 
 
 / 94' +$% VO Yrv 
 
 3 Tprt/fiTfd 4 /4* JL 'JpjfHrvf 
 
 . If. • .Saw* 
 
12 
 
 I think it only right to mention here, that the 
 number of absentee landlords has annually in¬ 
 creased since the above official return was issued, 
 and the number at the present time, and the total 
 annual rental, considerably exceeds the above 
 figures. 
 
 Below shews the landed interest of some of the 
 present Cabinet Ministers, and I think one might 
 reasonably infer, that there is no likelihood 
 of the landlord interest suffering much at their 
 hands. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone owns nearly 7,000 acres in Flint 
 and Lancashire ; the Duke of Argyll owns 175,000 
 acres, with a rental of £50,000 ; Lord Hartington’s 
 father has 200,000 acres and £180,000 a year; 
 Lord Spencer, 27,000 acres and 46,000 a year; 
 Lord Kimberley, 11,000 acres and £25,000 a year; 
 Lord Northbrook, 10,000 acres and £12,000 a 
 year; Mr. Dodson, 8,000 acres worth £3,500 a 
 year; Lord Huntley, 90,000 acres and £27,000. 
 
 ABSENTEEISM is an evil that has occupied 
 the legislature, so far back as the reign of Richard 
 the Second. In the reign of Henry the Eighth, an 
 Act was passed, inflicting no less a penalty than 
 forfeiture on several landowners, and confiscating 
 to the Crown the Irish estates of the Duke of 
 Norfolk, the Earl of Shrewsbury, and others. 
 
 I am indebted for this information, and for much 
 of the following matter, to the excellent Essay 
 upon Irish Absenteeism, by Mr. L. Jephson, and 
 which appeared in the May number, 1880, of the 
 “ Nineteenth Century.” 
 
 Absenteeism also caused the failure in the reign 
 
13 
 
 of Queen Elizabeth of her scheme, for the settle¬ 
 ment of Munster, a measure which would have 
 proved beneficial to the regeneration of Ireland. 
 
 Sir William Temple, writing from Dublin at the 
 end of the Seventeenth Century, said:— 
 
 “ The country loses the expense of many of the 
 richest persons or families at home, and mighty 
 sums of money must needs go over from hence to 
 England, which the gre at stock of ric h native^ 
 commodities here c an make the only amends for, 
 these circumstances, so prejudicial to the increase 
 of trade and riches in a country, seem natural, at 
 least have ever been incident to the Government 
 here.” 
 
 Dean Swift, some years later, in a sermon on 
 the causes of the wretched condition of Ireland, 
 said: — 
 
 “The second cause of our miserable state is the 
 folly, the vanity, and ingratitude of those vast 
 numbers, who think themselves too good, to live 
 in the country which gives them bread, and rather 
 choose to pass their days, and consume their 
 wealth, and draw out the very vitals of their 
 mother kingdom, among those who heartily de¬ 
 spise them.” 
 
 The learned Dean, if he were living at the 
 present time, would have perhaps more reason 
 than ever for the reiteration of the above scathing 
 denunciation of the absentee landlords; but we 
 are still in this year of grace, 1881, with the same 
 evils existing, but the more galling fact is, that 
 these very absentees and their class are the real 
 
14 
 
 OBSTRUCTIVES, to any useful legislation on the 
 subject. 
 
 In 1783, Mr. Molyneux proposed in the Irish 
 ,, Parliament “that a tax of four shillings in the 
 pound, should be deducted from all sums remitted 
 to persons having estates in Ireland, and not 
 residing therein six months in the year. He 
 justified his proposal on the ground that the noble¬ 
 men and gentlemen, who possessed large estates in 
 Ireland, but, who spent their incomes in another 
 country, did not contribute to the support of the 
 State, in proportion to the property they possessed. 
 The Attorney-General moved an amendment to 
 the same, and the proposal was rejected by 184 
 to 22.” 
 
 Although, as a rule, I object to class taxation, 
 the evils, social, political, and economic, which 
 are caused by absentees, seem to me to warrant 
 the adoption of any means, which may to an extent 
 remedy the evils, or punish the OFFENDERS. 
 
 Is it to be wondered at that the Irish should be 
 easily influenced by agitators, who promise them 
 relief from their present state of SERFDOM, or 
 that they should be brought in to such a state 
 of mind as to attempt to redress, in whatever 
 manner they may be directed, the grievances under 
 which they are living ? 
 
 The Government of Ireland at once issued a 
 declaration as under :— 
 
 “ Property has its duties as well a3 its rights ; 
 to the NEGLECT of those duties in time past, is 
 mainly to be ascribed that diseased state of society 
 in which such crimes (murder, &c.) take their 
 
15 
 
 rise , and it is not in the enactment or enforcement 
 of statutes of EXTRAORDINARY SEVERITY, 
 but in the better and more faithful performance of 
 those DUTIES, and the more ENLIGHTENED 
 and HUMANE EXERCISE of THOSE RIGHTS, 
 that a PERMANENT REMEDY FOR SUCH 
 DISORDERS IS SOUGHT.” 
 
 Mr. Jephson, in his able essay, says :— 
 
 “ No one who reads carefully and impartially 
 the History of Ireland during the present century 
 can fail to trace the UNFORTUNATE EFFECTS 
 of ABSENTEEISM throughout that period. It 
 is, in fact, impossible to ignore them. The absen¬ 
 teeism of the Protestant Clergy from their 
 parishes, consequent on their holding : a plurality 
 of livings, and the imperfect performance of their 
 duties, did not lead more effectually to the reli¬ 
 gious demoralisation of the people under their 
 charge, and the falling away of many from the 
 Church, than the absence of landowners, did to the 
 political demoralization of the people. In exten¬ 
 sive districts in Ireland there was no one to check 
 the evil tendencies of the people, no one to pre¬ 
 vent them rushing impetuously after political 
 “ will-o’-the-wisps,’ no one to try and win them to 
 the side of order and peace.” 
 
 Mr. Jephson concludes his able little essay with 
 a strong appeal to the better feelings of the absen¬ 
 tees, he writes:— 
 
 “ Those who have claims upon them in England, 
 let them, at least for a time, give greater attention 
 to their properties in Ireland, where their presence 
 and example are so urgently required, and would 
 
1G 
 
 be productive of such beneficial results. Whilst 
 those who, without any such justification, neglect 
 the duties of landowners, let them be entreated, 
 even impelled, to consider the heavy responsibility 
 resting upon them; let it be shown them that 
 their action, or inaction, involves not only the 
 welfare of their tenantry, but in no inconsiderable 
 degree the peace and prosperity of the country; 
 let them see that the evil their neglect entails, 
 affects not only the present time, but also genera¬ 
 tions to come; and if they are then still unwilling 
 to undertake the performance of the duties which 
 their position as landowners entails on them, let 
 them at least seek some other investment for their 
 property, than that which is fraught with so many 
 economical and social disadvantages to Ireland, 
 and with such lamentable political results to the 
 Kingdom at large.” 
 
 I must confess I am not hopeful that this 
 sound advice will be accepted. The obstinate 
 spirit which has been evinced by this class in every 
 age, and in the last session of Parliament, does not 
 encourage one to look forward to a graceful accept¬ 
 ance of wise counsels. It is the ENGLISH 
 PEOPLE who must AGITATE this phase of the 
 question. The feudal system still exists in some 
 of our laws. It is the ENGLISH PEOPLE who 
 must cause it to be rooted out; and to do this, we 
 must first see that JUSTICE is DONE TO THAT 
 PART OF THE UNITED KINGDOM, which 
 suffers most from the TYRANNICAL SYSTEM 
 OF WHICH WE HERE COMPLAIN. I have 
 great hope, that as soon as the present apathy. 
 
17 
 
 in regard to the Irish grievances is dispelled, 
 and when it is discovered that the lethargy 
 has in a great measure been induced by vile 
 misrepresentations and gross exaggeration, effu¬ 
 sions of enemies of the Irish people, whose object 
 has been to deceive the English, in order to 
 satisfy some malevolent passion or self-interest, that 
 then will arise the righteous wrath of the English 
 masses; then will they show to the civilized world 
 that, though slow to in coming to the rescue of 
 their suffering sister isle, they have been chiefly 
 through the above deception, and that they will 
 earnestly atone for that neglect by rendering prompt 
 and effectual aid for her amelioration. I boldly 
 assert, I care not what political party may be in 
 office, attention and compliance must be made to 
 the earnest agitation of the English masses. 
 
 When vile enactments receive their mortal 
 wound; when good, humane and Christian laws 
 supplant them; then, and not until then, will there 
 reign in that benighted part of Her Majesty’s 
 Dominion called Ireland, PEACE, HAPPINESS, 
 CONTENTMENT, AND LOYALTY TO THE 
 BBITISH CONSTITUTION. 
 
 If these changed conditions are inaugurated, and 
 the Irish people know that they have been aided 
 by English agitation, then will become obliterated 
 in the memory of the Irish people, the great wrongs 
 done to them in the past by the British Govern¬ 
 ments. 
 
 The Irish, as a rule, are unwilling and slow to re¬ 
 sent an injury; but, I declare, and I speak from long 
 experience, and thorough knowledge of their charge- 
 
18 
 
 teristics, there is not a race of people on God’s 
 earth, more grateful to their benefactors than the 
 inhabitants of Hibernia. If the English people 
 will do them justice, I am certain the Irish will 
 rival them in their loyalty to the British Constitu¬ 
 tion, and pay, if needs be, with their hearts’ blood, 
 their gratitude to their co-workers in the fight 
 for liberty and justice. Upon whom, I ask, would 
 Irish prosperity first favourably reflect, and in the 
 greatest degree ? I expect the reader will answer 
 (and with truth too), the English people ! 
 
 What a great opportunity we, the English, have 
 at the present time, of holding out to the Irish 
 people the hand of fellowship and love. Let them 
 apply this remedy but ONCE, in a sincere and 
 practical manner, and from my experience of the 
 Irish, I believe, from the bottom of my heart, the 
 necessity of governing the Irish by Coercion or 
 brute force would become a thing of the past. 
 
 Would not this be a glorious achievement ? 
 And each one who assists in bringing this desirable 
 state of affairs to a successful issue, would prove 
 himseif a TRUE PATRIOT. Aye! as great, as 
 true, as earnest, as though he died on the battle 
 field fighting in defence of his country. 
 
19 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 No; ’tis slander, 
 
 Whose edge is sharper than the sword; 
 
 Whose tongue outvenoms all the worms of Nil® ; 
 
 Whose breath rides on the posting winds, 
 
 And doth belie all corners of the world. 
 
 Cymbeline , Act 3, Scene 4. 
 
 On reference to statistics, I find the deplorable 
 fact that in Ireland between the years 1841 and 
 1861, the crowbar was used in effecting the demo¬ 
 lition of 270,000 dwellings, which means the 
 eviction, or throwing homeless on the world, 
 1,308,000 souls. 
 
 It needs no great effort of the imagination to 
 make one believe, in the heartbreaking scenes, and 
 the thousands of premature deaths, that must 
 naturally have been connected with these deplor¬ 
 able tyrannies ; and if a repetition of this inhu¬ 
 manity, on so gigantic a scale, can possibly he 
 prevented, by altering the laws which have mainly 
 conduced to these outrages, a great and lasting 
 good, will have been done to the country, and those 
 who participated, in bringing about this change, 
 will merit the gratitude of the civilized world, and 
 posterity will ever revere their memory. 
 
 The eminent historian, Mr. Froude, who has 
 acquired notoriety for his prejudice towards the 
 Irish, gives utterance to the following extra¬ 
 ordinary language, “England has kept Ireland poor 
 and miserable, to prevent the people becoming 
 troublesome.” 
 
50 
 
 I hope, and, moreover, sincerely believe, that 
 the England of to-day, has only to be convinced 
 of the wrongs, under which the Irish people suffer, 
 to lend its voice on behalf of the suffering sister 
 isle, and in such a manner, as will be effectual in 
 inscribing on the statute book of St. Stephen’s, a 
 code of laws, that w T ill assist in promoting the 
 prosperity and happiness, of what is now a 
 wretched, starving, and discontented country. 
 
 It is pleasing to witness the unmistakenble 
 evidence, that the sympathy of a very great portion 
 of the people of England, is in favour of the Irish 
 on this great question, as it necessarily must be, 
 because, I would remind my readers, that imme¬ 
 diately on the solution of the Irish question, the 
 state of the English Land Laws must inevitably 
 claim the attention of the people, and its represen¬ 
 tatives in Parliament; but, at the same time, there 
 is one fact to be deplored, which is, that a great 
 portion of the Press of this country is prejudiced 
 to a great extent against Ireland, and studiously 
 and shamelessly malign, those who advocate any 
 cause that has for its object, the improvement of 
 Ireland’s present condition. This portion of the 
 Press to which I allude, is constantly misrepre¬ 
 senting facts, and exaggerating a few excesses, 
 committed by those, wdio are in no way connected 
 with the people agitating for the redress of their 
 grievances. It is worthy of note that when there 
 are no outrages, the audacity and ingenuity dis¬ 
 played in their manufacture by this maligning 
 portion of the Press, is something beyond concep¬ 
 tion ; to wit, in the Times of January 14th, 1881, 
 
21 
 
 there appeared the following :—“ A report from 
 the island of Arran states, that, on Friday last, the 
 day after a land meeting had been held on that 
 island, 21 head of cattle, worth about £820, were 
 missing, and it is believed that they w 7 ere driven to 
 a cliff 200 feet high, and pitched into the sea. 
 This has been done to many herds since the com¬ 
 mencement of the agitation.” 
 
 Now, what really did take place, and it has 
 been corroborated by the authorities of Arran, 
 appeared on the same date in another London 
 paper, the Morning Post, under the heading of 
 * “ Severe Snowstorms.” It was as follows :— 
 
 “ Our Galway correspondent telegraphs, that 
 according to intelligence received from the Island 
 of Arran, 20 head of cattle, belonging to a Mr. 
 O’Flaherty, J.P., were driven over a precipice into 
 the sea by the force of the storm—a cow and a 
 horse were also driven into the water.” 
 
 The following letter shows the fertility of the 
 imagination of one in connection with the Press 
 Association, and to what base use it is directed, 
 namely, outrage manufacturing :— 
 
 “ MORE ‘ GROSS ’ OUTRAGES. 
 
 “ TO THE EDITOR OF THE ‘ WEEKLY FREEMAN,’ 
 
 “ Kilmore, Ballendine, Co. Mayo, Feb. 28. 
 
 “ Dear Sir, —A short paragraph appeared in a 
 late issue of your valuable journal, which had 
 escaped my notice until my attention was called to 
 it yesterday, which is as follows :—‘ The Press 
 Association says—At Irishtown, Claremorris, on 
 Tne^d^v niorht, a man while returning home, waa 
 
22 
 
 fired at, but not wounded. No arrests have been 
 made.’ As there is no other Irishtown near 
 Claremorris, except the one situated in my parish, 
 which is now celebrated as the first place for 
 holding a Land Meeting in favour of the tenants of 
 Ireland, I suppose the correspondent of the Press 
 Association must refer to it. This statement is a 
 gross calumny, having no foundation except in the 
 frenzied imagination of the writer. He does not 
 state who the person was that was fired at, and the 
 only truthful assertion he makes is, that the person 
 was not wounded, and no arrests made, for the 
 simple reason that no such outrage occurred. I ♦ 
 would respectfully suggest, that great caution 
 should be used, in giving publicity to false charges 
 of this kind, which so materially affect the 
 character of a peaceable locality. This is similar 
 to some of the manufactured outrages, which have 
 been quoted by the Government, to enable them to 
 pass their Coercion Bill. As parish priest, I can 
 with truth declare, there is no parish in Ireland 
 freer from all kinds of violence, or more peaceable 
 than this. Your insertion of this contradiction will 
 much oblige.—Yours faithfully, 
 
 “ Geoffery J. (Canon) Bourke, P.P.” 
 
 I could continue quoting cases of misrepre¬ 
 sentation and exaggeration, and those the product 
 of a fruitful but wicked imagination, so that of this 
 matter alone, there would be sufficient to fill an 
 ordinary volume, but perhaps the illustrations given, 
 will suffice to convince the reader, that this is a mode 
 adopted, by a disreputable portion of the press, to 
 
23 
 
 bias the minds of the English people, with regard 
 to the Irish and their conduct. 
 
 Just another case to illustrate the honesty (!) 
 of the press, is taken from Fun of February 
 2nd, 1881, and to add force to the language of the 
 dialogue, there is attached anything but a flattering 
 portraiture of the two speakers. It is as follows: 
 
 AN ELYSIUM. 
 
 Tom :—“Ain’t seen you lately, Bill.” 
 
 Bill :—“No; I bin a-doin’ time. Had two months” 
 
 Tom :—“Wot fur ?” 
 
 Bill: —“Trespassin’ on a gent’s ground, carryin 
 a gun, and shootin’ rabbits without a licence.” 
 
 Tom: —“Ah! why don’t yer do wot I’m going to, 
 Immigrate to Ireland, hire yerself to that theel 
 Land League, an’ steal gints’ ground ’stead o 
 trespassin’ hon it. You won’t want no licence fur 
 to carry a gun; you can shoot men ’stead o’ rabbits 
 theer, an’ be well paid for it into the bargain, an’ 
 never a chanst of a fortnit, let alone two months.” 
 
 An unwary reader might infer from the above 
 illustration that there are as many men shot in 
 Ireland, as there are rabbits shot in England; yet 
 the fact is it takes twelve months to kill as many 
 men in Ireland, as there are often murdered in 
 London in a week. 
 
 On getting into a railway carriage the other day, 
 there were four occupants; one of whom was 
 engaged in entertaining the rest, by giving a pathetic 
 description of the terrible and numerous outrages, 
 that were being “daily committed in Ireland,” and 
 concluded his emotional little narrative by saying; 
 
24 
 
 that if “ they go on at this rate, there wont be any 
 landlords left.” At this point I interposed, by 
 asking the one who had been harrowing the feelings 
 of his hearers with his description of the “out¬ 
 rages”:— 
 
 How many landlords, or those acting under them 
 were shot last year ? 
 
 He answered I can’t tell exactly; but I should 
 think a great number! 
 
 On my further pressing him for an estimate, he 
 replied:— 
 
 From what he had heard and read he considered 
 a few hundreds! 
 
 Imagine his astonishment and those with him, 
 who had believed his little narrative* of fiction, 
 when I assured him that according to government 
 returns, there were not more than half a dozen shot 
 during the last twelve months. 
 
 The following is the way in which the Daily 
 Telegraph endeavours to enlighten the British 
 public, as to the aims and intentions of those, who 
 are endeavouring to find a remedy, for the present 
 unsatisfactory Land Laws. The before-mentioned 
 paper says, “to abolish landlordism by shooting 
 individual landlords; these are the end and means 
 of the Land League.” 
 
 Well, this league has been in existence now, 
 nearly two years, and its members are increasing 
 in all parts of the civilized world. To arrive at 
 the grand total of its members, including those 
 who are not in a technical sense its members, but 
 unreservedly agree with its aims and objects, we 
 should have to deal with millions; yet, in Ireland, 
 
25 
 
 in a period of 12 months, out of a population of 
 5,300,000, there were only three landlords shot. 
 From this fact it is quite evident, that the Land 
 League does not encourage the crime of shooting 
 landlords, however great might be the temptation 
 under some circumstances, or more than these 
 would have paid with their lives, the penalty oi 
 their inhumanity to their tenants. 
 
 But we find from the daily records of the speeches 
 of members of the Land League, in different parts 
 of Ireland, that outrages of every description, but 
 more especially those that have the appearance ol 
 being agrarian, are strongly deprecated, and they 
 even go so far, as to declare, that those who commit 
 these outrages, or violate any constitutional law, 
 are enemies to Ireland and the Land League, and 
 frustrate its endeavours to obtain redress, for the 
 wrongs arising from the present despotic land 
 system. 
 
26 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 
 Alas, poor country! 
 
 Almost afraid to know thyself. 
 
 It cannot be called our mother, 
 
 But our grave; 
 
 When nothing, is once seen to smile; 
 
 Where sighs, and groans, and shrieks that rent the air; 
 
 Where violent sorrow seems a modern ecstasy. 
 
 Macbeth , Act 4, Scene 3. 
 
 I find in all parts of Ireland where meetings have 
 been held on the Land Question, the speakers in 
 general, but more particularly the chairmen, have 
 counselled the people to use temperate language, 
 and to do nothing that would break the statute 
 laws, and in those cases where excesses have been 
 committed, that conduct has met with the strongest 
 condemnation from all parties, connected with the 
 masses who are agitating on this question. I find 
 the following speech, to be a fair specimen of the 
 above-mentioned caution, given at one of the many 
 meetings held on this question, in different parts 
 of Ireland. 
 
 At a great Land Meeting held at Clontuskert, on 
 Tuesday, February 1st, 1881, the chairman, the 
 Rev. J. Kirwan, C.A., spoke as follows;— 
 
 “Before I commence to address you, I shall put 
 to you one question, and I am sure, from the 
 intelligence and enlightenment of the people of Clon¬ 
 tuskert and the surrounding parishes, assembled 
 here, that I shall receive a correct answer. Listen 
 now—I ask are you for injustice or are you foi 
 justice and fair play? The answer was given 
 without a single dissentient. Fair play” 
 
27 
 
 The reverend chaiman continued: “ Then that 
 is an emphatic contradiction of the false and 
 calumnious reports published in some of the English 
 papers regarding you and me, and the Irish people. 
 We are reported as seeking injustice, as advocating 
 foul play: aye; and they go so far as to charge us 
 with abetting assassination! We are here assembled 
 not to denounce, nor to attack any individual, but 
 we are here to express our disapproval, of a system 
 that has, as you are aware, consigned thousands of 
 our countrymen to an untimely end, or to death 
 beneath the waves, as they were bound for a foreign 
 clime. You are here to claim justice for the tenant 
 farmers of Ireland, and for the labouring classes, 
 and we are also here, let me add, to claim justice 
 for the landlords. We ask no more and ought not 
 to be satisfied with less than justice for all. We 
 are here to contradict the false reports, as to our 
 just demands, and to gain over the English people 
 to our side, by the reasonableness and fairness of 
 of them. Mr. Gladstone, or any other prime minister, 
 cannot do full justice to the tenant cause of Ireland, 
 unless he has the support of the English people, 
 and they only require to be enlightened, as to 
 just and moderate demands, in order to secure their 
 support.” 
 
 I feel that I cannot too strongly, deprecate ine 
 conduct of a portion of the press, concerning this 
 question, and entirely endorse the sentiments of 
 the reverend gentlemen, whose speech is quoted. 
 Referring to the last sentence of his remarks, I cai 
 only say, that I am convinced, the English people 
 are with him, and are ready by their votes to sustain 
 
28 
 
 the assertion. I wish the English people, could 
 fully realize, the innumerable benefits and ad¬ 
 vantages, that would accrue to this country by the 
 increased prosperity of Ireland. If they did, I am 
 sure they would not use their giant strength, to 
 obstruct and defeat the united efforts of the Irish 
 people, to ameliorate their wretched condition. 
 
 The following words, written by John Bright, 
 on January 27th, 1868, are as true to day: as at 
 that time. 
 
 “ The English people are in complete ignorance 
 of Irish wrongs, and know little or nothing of the 
 REAL condition of Ireland. This is a sad picture 
 but it is not coloured too darkly.” 
 
 Of the UNREAL condition of the Irish people, 
 unfortunately the English people know a great deal, 
 and are daily adding to their store of knowledge in 
 that respect, for the press abounds with manu¬ 
 factured calumnies on the Irish people, to supply 
 the insatiable appetites of those who are (I know 
 not why) the enemies of Ireland, and if they had 
 the power, would always treat Ireland as a subju¬ 
 gated country. 
 
 Would that the English people, could by personal 
 investigation, appreciate the wrongs of Ireland. 
 This English nation is slow to anger and very 
 patient under a galling yoke, and I would here 
 draw attention to a philosophical argument as to the 
 prejudice against the Irish, because forsooth they 
 are not capable of treating matters of this kind, in 
 the same phlegmatic spirit as the people of this 
 country. They are of an entirely different tempera¬ 
 ment, excitable and impulsive, and by a truly paternal 
 
29 
 
 government should be treated accordingly; and 
 although English to the backbone, I venture to 
 assert that by courteous and kind treatment, you 
 will make more of the Irishman, than by a system 
 of coercive tyranny. 
 
 The Land Question has occupied the Legislature, 
 long before and since the time of O’Connell, altera¬ 
 tions and amendments have been repeatedly made, 
 but still‘the root of the evil exists, to perpetrate 
 its outrages on humanity, and I am inclined to 
 tbink, that the only effective cure, the one that will 
 strike death to the very root, and all its fibres, will 
 be the passing of a bill, that will have for its chief 
 object, the making of the farmers of Ireland the 
 occupying proprietors of the soil. We find in 
 France, Prussia, Belgium, Germany, Holland, 
 Switzerland, and several other countries, where 
 a small landed proprietary has been established, 
 it has always succeeded in removing all those 
 evils under which Ireland is now suffering, and 
 against which it is now agitating, and establishing 
 an era of peace and plenty, instead of one of 
 disaffection and starvation. This could be done, 
 by the Government buying a good portion of the 
 land at a fair valuation from the present owners, 
 especially in those counties, where there is the 
 greatest misery and discontent, and then letting 
 the same to the people, in small allotments and 
 at a fair rental, at the same time assuring the 
 tenant that there is no power to advance the rent, 
 and that whatever improvements he makes in the 
 land, he will derive the whole benefit of the same. 
 
 Further, I vould suggest that the tenant, by the 
 
30 
 
 payment of a small or large sum, in addition to his 
 annual fixed rental, should be enabled to reduce 
 his rent accordingly, or perhaps the government 
 could fix an annual rent, that would not b 
 oppressively high, which would repay both principal 
 and interest, so that after the expiration of twenty 
 or thirty years, the tenant would become the 
 absolute owner of the soil. Of course provision 
 could be made, against any individual or company 
 buying up the interest of several tenants, in order 
 to merge them into one enormous estate, thereby 
 being enabled to commit the same evils against 
 tvliich the Irish people are now contending; also 
 that the farms allotted be of sufficient size to 
 maintain a family in comfortable circumstances, 
 and that the intended proprietor should possess 
 sufficient capital, to ensure the proper working of 
 the same. 
 
 I think the Government could carry out this 
 plan without occasioning any loss to the country, 
 and even if there were any deficiency, it would 
 only be temporary, and the country would 
 eventually recoup itself by the increased content, 
 loyalty, and prosperity, that would ensue from 
 these measures, and the necessity for the periodical 
 infliction on the Irish people of Coercion Acts and 
 Arms Acts, would probably be destroyed. How 
 happy and free the Irish people would feel, when 
 they knew that the great standing army in Ireland, 
 together with the 12 or 14 thousand comprising the 
 Royal Irish Constabulary, existed only for the 
 defence of their country from a foreign foe, and 
 the ordinary duties of the police, in the preservation 
 
81 
 
 of order, and not for the purpose of enforcing 
 the suspension of those liberties which is the 
 birthright of all civilised people, and depriving 
 them of participating in those blessings derivable 
 from the eternal laws of justice and equity. 
 
 Imagine 600,000 tenants, or even one-half of 
 that number, becoming owners of the ground they 
 cultivated—what a different Ireland we should have 
 under those circumstances to the one we have at 
 present! I have no doubt but that the production 
 from the land would be nearly double what it is at 
 present, because then there would be no penalty in 
 the shape of increased rent for tenant improve¬ 
 ments, which exists at present, but every tenant 
 would obtain in full, the proceeds of his increased 
 energy, thrift, and industry. I have come in 
 contact with innumerable cases, where tenants have 
 made improvements entirely at their own expense 
 frequently by the aid of borrowed capital, but the 
 increased rent, that has been demanded in conse¬ 
 quence, has left the tenant in a worse condition 
 than before the improvement was made. Under 
 the present system, there is no inducement for the 
 tenant to get the most out of the land, as it may 
 result in his being asked, an increased, perhaps, 
 impossible rent, or forfeiture and eviction, of all the 
 labour and capital, the tenant has bestowed in 
 the reclamation of waste or bog land. 
 
 It is a melancholy fact that there are in Ireland 
 9,000 square miles or 5,760,000 acres of waste land 
 that are entirely unproductive, and consequently 
 do not assist in the employment of labour or 
 
82 
 
 England pays £100,000,000 every year for farm 
 produce to other countries. Is it not clear, that 
 something ought to be done, to utilize a great 
 portion of this immense desert of waste land in 
 Ireland, thereby bringing into existence an 
 increasing interest for labour, and a tendency to 
 diminish materially, the unnatural demand for 
 that land which is at present under cultivation? 
 This excessive demand, is undoubtedly the means 
 of inducing the landlord to ask, with success to 
 himself and ruin to his tenant, an exorbitant, 
 and in too many instances, an impossible rent. 
 
 I have come in contact with several farmers, who 
 have taken farms at such a rental that they have 
 after working the land found it utterly impossible 
 „ to earn a sufficiency for the ordinary necessaries of 
 life. When they are asked why they take farms on 
 conditions so unfavourable, they will inform you 
 that there is no other chance offered them to obtain 
 a livelihood, and the alternative frequently is emi¬ 
 gration, so of the two evils they prefer to pay the 
 high rents that are demanded, with the vain hope 
 that an unusually favourable harvest will enable 
 them to pay these excessive charges. 
 
 So long as the harvests are abundant, most of the 
 farmers can manage to struggle on, because they 
 are satisfied, if the produce of their land will leave 
 them sufficient, to provide them with the means of 
 obtaining a bare existence, after paying the land¬ 
 lord’s demands. But we all know, that the harvests 
 sometimes fail to produce half as much, as in an 
 ordinary year. It is in such times as these, that 
 t(he farmers in Ireland are reduced to a state of 
 
83 
 
 want, which places them at the mercy of their land¬ 
 lords, and we find, iii too many instances, that the 
 latter abuse the power which the law at present 
 enables them to exercise. When the tenant is 
 unable to meet the rent charge, through no fault of 
 his, but by the visitation of Providence, and the 
 landlord becomes acquainted with the fact that the 
 tenant has, by his own capital and labour, consider¬ 
 ably improve! the land, so that there is a prospect 
 of the same high rent, or even more being obtained 
 from another tenant; in such cases as this the 
 landlord takes and brings to his aid the advantage 
 of the infamous law of eviction. 
 
 The evicted tenant has often the mortification of 
 learning, that all his energy and capital have been 
 expended in improving land, and that such im¬ 
 provement has resulted in bringing about his own 
 eviction, so that the landlord could get the benefit 
 of the evicted tenant’s hard and successful labours 
 by asking a higher rent from the new or incoming 
 tenant. 
 
 When the Irish farmer finds that this is the re¬ 
 ward meted out to his neighbour, for his thrift and 
 industry, no wonder at him neglecting to improve 
 or get the most out of his land, for fearing he may 
 meet the same fate. For this the Irish are called 
 indolent. “ But,” says the great John Stua.rt Mill, 
 “ what race would not be indolent and insouciant 
 when things are so arranged that they derive no 
 advantage from forethought or from exertion ?” 
 
 In county Longford I witnessed with pain, some 
 very sad cases of distress amongst the tenantry of 
 Colonel King-Harman; and had it not been for th$ 
 
84 
 
 generosity of the public last winter, I am con¬ 
 vinced, from what I both saw and heard, that 
 hundreds must have died from starvation. 
 
 I append a list of Colonel King-Harman’s 
 tenantry, showing the old rent, present rent, and 
 the poor-law valuation ; and shall leave my readers 
 to make their own deductions therefrom :— 
 
 AUGHAGAH. 
 
 
 Old Eent. 
 
 Present Eent. 
 
 Poor-Law 
 
 Valuation. 
 
 
 £ 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 £ 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 £ 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 Joseph Duffy. 
 
 .11 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 36 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 26 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 Mrs. Ellen Buffv. 11 
 
 7 
 
 4 
 
 36 
 
 13 
 
 6 
 
 25 
 
 15 
 
 0 
 
 Pat Kiernan .. 
 
 ite 
 
 to 
 
 
 35 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 23 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 Frank Duffy ... 
 
 O 
 
 16 
 
 6 
 
 10 
 
 9 
 
 15 
 
 0 
 
 Pat Dufiy . 
 
 © 
 
 to 51 
 
 O 
 
 14 
 
 12 
 
 0 
 
 12 
 
 5 
 
 0 
 
 Bernard Duffy.. 
 
 
 ** 
 
 ►— • 
 
 3 
 
 C+- 
 
 20 
 
 5 
 
 0 
 
 12 
 
 5 
 
 0 
 
 Bernard Duffy.., 
 
 
 
 
 17 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 9 
 
 15 
 
 0 
 
 
 
 SMARE. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Pat Smyth. 
 
 . 4 
 
 5 
 
 0 
 
 15 
 
 9 
 
 4 
 
 10 
 
 4 
 
 0 
 
 Bernard Smyth.. 
 
 . 0 
 
 16 
 
 0 
 
 8 
 
 18 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 0 
 
 Dan Kiernan. 
 
 . 6 
 
 7 
 
 6 
 
 17 
 
 14 
 
 9 
 
 12 
 
 5 
 
 0 
 
 Widow Kiernan.. 
 
 . 4 
 
 7 
 
 0 
 
 16 
 
 14 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 John Kiernan .. 
 
 . 2 
 
 12 
 
 6 
 
 8 
 
 10 
 
 6 
 
 4 
 
 15 
 
 0 
 
 Mick Kiernan .. 
 
 . 1 
 
 15 
 
 0 
 
 5 
 
 3 
 
 8 
 
 3 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 Philip Kiernan .. 
 
 . 4 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 0 
 
 Widow Reilly .. 
 
 . 5 
 
 11 
 
 4 
 
 11 
 
 12 
 
 5 
 
 8 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 Mick Doyle . 
 
 . 7 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 14 
 
 15 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 Pat Doyle . 
 
 . 8 
 
 16 
 
 3 
 
 11 
 
 18 
 
 10 
 
 8 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 Mick Connor . 
 
 . 8 
 
 6 
 
 0 
 
 25 
 
 15 
 
 0 
 
 17 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 Francis Reilly .. 
 
 . 5 
 
 17 
 
 7 
 
 10 
 
 18 
 
 2 
 
 9 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 John Connell .. 
 
 . 4 
 
 16 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 19 
 
 8 
 
 5 
 
 15 
 
 0 
 
 Mick Reilly . 
 
 . 1 
 
 7 
 
 0 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 0 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 0 
 
 Andrew M‘Keon. 
 
 vial * 
 
 • 6 
 
 12 
 
 0 
 
 18 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 11 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 

 
 85 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Old Rent. 
 
 Present Rent. 
 
 Poor-Law 
 
 Valuation. 
 
 
 £ 
 
 S . 
 
 d. 
 
 £ 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 £ 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 Pat Kiernan ... 
 
 ...18 
 
 1 
 
 11 
 
 17 
 
 3 
 
 0 
 
 13 
 
 8 
 
 0 
 
 John Maguire 
 
 ... 9 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 18 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 13 
 
 5 
 
 0 
 
 Pat M‘Keon ... 
 
 ... 5 
 
 18 
 
 4 
 
 10 
 
 19 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 5 
 
 0 
 
 
 Raised 
 
 in 
 
 1870. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 CROTT. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Mick Sheridan 
 
 ...12 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 26 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 17 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 Thomas Reilly 
 
 ... 2 
 
 11 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 8 
 
 0 
 
 3 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 Dan Kiernan... 
 
 ...10 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 26 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 16 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 Mick Reilly ... 
 
 ... 8 
 
 16 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 7 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 Francis Reilly 
 
 ...10 
 
 7 
 
 2 
 
 23 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 13 
 
 15 
 
 0 
 
 I have refrained from giving a descriptive 
 account of the distressing scenes, that personally 
 came under my notice in the above and adjoining 
 counties, the public having already been made 
 acquainted, with the detailed circumstances ol 
 some of these sorrowful pictures, through the 
 various newspapers and periodicals ; and the chief 
 features in connection with these unfortunate cases 
 are so similar to each other, that one case may be 
 taken as typical of the rest. 
 
 I have now to place before my readers, the most 
 graphic description of an EVICTION, which I am 
 sure cannot fail to rouse a feeling of indignation, 
 and regret, that under the present Government, 
 and in the present generation, such atrocities, should 
 be allowed to be perpetrated, in the name of the 
 law. To intersperse comments with the following 
 harrowing story would be a vandalism, as it would 
 destroy the effect, and mar the picture, so ably and 
 truthfully executed. 
 
The Rev. Joseph Flood, P.P., in a letter dated 
 Feb. 10th, 1880, addressed to the Freeman’s Jour¬ 
 nal, briefly but expressively describes the scenes 
 that are frequently taking place iu different parts of 
 Ireland. He commences thus:— 
 
 “In the midst of cries of distress around me, in 
 the Cavan portion of my parish—while protestants 
 and catholics here, as elsewhere, are struggling to 
 keep together the soul and body of the victims of 
 this year’s visitation—I was hurried of to the 
 Meath portion, no less distressed, to witness a 
 scene—the first in my life—a heartless eviction of 
 six whole families, thirty souls in all. When has 
 this taken place ? And why ? Must be asked and 
 must be answered ! Am I to be silent and yet to 
 witness such a scene in my parish this day ? S ly 
 not! And I claim respectfully, a space in the 
 public journal, the Freeman. 
 
 At twelve o’clock to-day, in the midst of a 
 drizzling rain, when every man’s lips are busy dis¬ 
 cussing, how relief can he carried to this home and 
 that, an imposing spectacle presented itself, through 
 a quiet part of the parish of Kings County. 
 
 A carriage contained Mr. Hussey, Junr., son of 
 the agent of the estate of Lord Gormanstown. 
 Behind and before the carriage, came about a dozen 
 of outside cars, with a resident magistrate, an 
 inspector of police, about forty of Her Majesty’s 
 force, the Sheriff, and some dozen of as rapacious 
 looking drivers and grippers, as ever I laid my 
 eyes upon. 
 
 There is dead silence at the halt before the 
 first doomed door. The silence was broken by 
 
87 
 
 myself addressing tlie agent, craving to let the 
 poor people in again, after the vindication of the 
 law, when, to my disgust, but not to my dismay, 
 one of the crowd is observed by me taking notes. 
 
 The Sheriff formally asks:—‘Have you the 
 rent ? ’ The trembling answer is—‘ My God! How 
 could I have the whole rent, and such a rent, on 
 such a soil, and in such a year as this ?’ OUT, 
 OUT—is the word; and right heartily the grippers 
 go to work. On the dung-pit is flung the scanty 
 furniture, bed, and bedding; a search is made for 
 pig or goat, and forthwith they share the fate oi 
 the evicted master; the door is nailed, and the im¬ 
 posing army marches on to the next holding, till 
 every house has been visited and every soul sent 
 forth. 
 
 At this moment there is a downpour of rain 
 on that miserable furniture—on that poor bed and 
 bedding—and an old man, whose generations have 
 passed their simple lives in that house, is sitting 
 on a stone outside, with his head buried in his 
 hands, thinking of the eighty-three years gone by. 
 And are those tenants to blame? No; it is on the 
 records of this parish that they were about the 
 most simple-minded, hard-working, honest, and 
 virtuous. Their only guilt is this, — that an 
 AGREEMENT with my Lord Gormanstown, some 
 five years ago, disfranchising them of any claim 
 under the Land Act of 1870, and involving an in¬ 
 tolerable rise of rent, together with the common 
 misfortunes of the country, these few years past, 
 and this in particular,—has left them entirely 
 unable to pay the entire rent of this year. Yes— 
 
38 
 
 r 
 
 entire rent. The half,—yea! nine-tenths,—of the 
 rent would not be accepted. Priests joined the 
 poor tenantry in petitioning again and again. No 
 answer was given, but ‘Have you the whole rent?’ 
 ‘Have you law expenses? If not, out you go.’ 
 
 Deliberately I say it, this work may invite 
 Russian Nihilism in Ireland; and deliberately I 
 ask the Government, whom are they to blame for 
 this visitation? They may smile at the distant 
 visitor being threatened upon us; but there is a 
 rapidity of thought abroad, to which men were not 
 accustomed twelve months ago.” 
 
 Evictions, I can easily understand, are in many 
 cases the breaking up of the family, and scattering 
 the members in different directions. I can easily 
 imagine, in depths of their poverty, the great evils 
 and temptations to which they may be subjected. 
 The following distressing case was mentioned by 
 Mr. T. D. Sullivan, M.P., at a meeting lately held 
 at Mullingar:— 
 
 “A priest had told him of one poor man dying 
 in the Mullingar workhouse, who had once a happy 
 home, and a virtuous family; he was thrown on 
 the road side, not for arrears of rent, but because 
 the landlord chose to clear the farms. The misery 
 and the shame, which by this action he had to 
 suffer, was hard enough to bear, and the recollec¬ 
 tion of the happy days he spent at home he could 
 have forgotten, but amongst the members of his 
 family he had a daughter, whom he left in that 
 wretched abode. His daughter became a wretch, 
 ana she was lost. The poor father could have 
 forgotten everything but that, and in his dying 
 
hours he could not forget the author of his wrongs-* 2 - 
 the landlord who had toned him and his children 
 out of their land.” 
 
 Is the present landlord tyranny in Ireland, which 
 requires for its existence, the support of the tyrant’s 
 favourite weapon, brute force, and which produces 
 the constant shedding of blood, to he for ever per¬ 
 petrated? If so, then however dearly the Irish 
 may love the land of their birth, the land of their 
 forefathers, I venture to say it would he better for 
 them, if they had the means, to leave their country, 
 and seek those blessings in a foreign land which is 
 denied them in their own. 
 
 A writer in the Dublin Review for January, 1881, 
 fully endorses the opinions of the many writers on 
 the wretched condition of the Irish peasantry, and 
 show r s that this sad state of things is produced, by 
 the unfortunate relations, existing between landlord 
 and tenant. Referring to the fact, of the landlord 
 being furnished by law, with a despotic power, which 
 enables him to enslave his tenant, the writer shows 
 how generally it is taken advantage of, and how 
 effectually it is exercised by these vampires. He 
 declares that the tenantry are even afraid to furnish 
 their miserable dwellings with decency, or to allow 
 their wives aud children to be properly clad, lest it 
 might give rise to the suspicion, that more than a 
 bare existence is being obtained from the land, and 
 an increase of rent, consequently demanded and 
 enforced. I cannot do better than give the writer’s 
 own account, which is as follows :— 
 
 “It is no exaggeration to say that, from the 
 landlord’s point of view, the sole right of the tenant 
 
40 
 
 Was to live—and even this was an amiable conces¬ 
 sion—to live in the poorest fashion; ill fed, 
 roughly clad, and with no break in the monotony 
 of his miserable life. The entire product of the 
 soil—after furnishing the occupier with the very 
 minimum of subsistence—was regarded as the 
 legitimate revenue of the landlord. From this 
 source have sprung the proverbial apathy and sus¬ 
 piciousness of the Irish tenants. What use in 
 improving, if an increased rent is the penalty of 
 exertion and outlay ? And where is the premium 
 on thrift, if hard-earned savings are to be appro¬ 
 priated, by the rapacious greed of a landlord ? Not 
 alone were permanent improvements in the farm, 
 made the occasion of a rise in the rent, but even if 
 the cottage assumed an air of neatness and clean¬ 
 liness—if the farmer’s wife was seen with a new 
 cloak, or his toilet gave evidence of increased pros¬ 
 perity—the lynx-eyed bailiff would take a mental 
 note, that this was a man who would bear the 
 screw. 
 
 Can we wonder, then, at slovenly farming, dirty 
 hovels, half-naked children, and reckless habits, 
 when we find that for generations everything has 
 been done to check industry and foster suspicion ? 
 A far-seeing, intelligent landlord would no doubt 
 he delighted that his tenant should have a sub¬ 
 stantial balance at the bank; but in Ireland, if 
 such a discovery had been made, it would have 
 given rise to an outburst of indignation on the part 
 of the landlord as unaffected as if the lodgment 
 had been made with notes stolen from himself. 
 Thence, the stocking and the thatch became the 
 
41 
 
 hiding-place of tlie tenants’ hoard; and instead of 
 fructifying one-hundred-fold in tlie soil, it very 
 often became the prey of fire and pillage. From 
 this mode of treatment the Irish (as wild animals 
 learn the fear of man) acquired a deep-seated sus¬ 
 piciousness, which must now he regarded as 
 having taken a permanent place in the national 
 character. 
 
 At the time of the famine, the people of Erris 
 would not accept as a gift, the seed which was 
 offered to them, for the purpose of sowing their 
 land, fearing lest it was a ruse on the part of the 
 landlords, to acquire a right to the crops. At the 
 same terrible epoch, it was with the greatest diffi¬ 
 culty, that the starving population of Mayo were 
 induced to eat the Indian meal—Peel’s brimstone, 
 as they called it—being persuaded, that it was given 
 to them, with the sinister design of turning them 
 black. These instances speak for themselves, and 
 illustrate the condition of mind, to which these poor 
 creatures were reduced, by harsh treatment and 
 habitual exaction. Everyone acquainted with the 
 Irish peasantry, can recall many similar examples 
 of distrust; all, we assert, to be explained by the 
 insecurity of the tenant’s position, and the neces¬ 
 sity which he was under of habitual concealment.” 
 
 The following is another extract from the same 
 Review , wherein the writer faithfully pourtrays 
 the misery endured by the Irish peasantry, and 
 which he characterizes as an infliction beyond the 
 limit of human endurance :— 
 
 “ Let any parent make the case his own. When 
 we are assembled at the domestic hearth, with our 
 
 D 
 
family about us, let us bring hom6 to our bosdiii 
 the bare apprehension that, for exercising an un¬ 
 doubted privilege, not only recognised, but actually 
 enjoined by the Constitution, it were in the power 
 of some brutal tyrant, some abortive, stunted 
 upstart of yesterday, of whom gold, amassed by 
 peculation and public plunder, is the sole nobility, 
 to put out our fire, and drive us away far from 
 that pleasant home ; let us suppose him, by the 
 word of his power, destroying our only means of 
 providing, for that bright and joyous circle, and 
 turning our children and ourselves adrift, to lead a 
 VAGRANT, HOPELESS, SCRAMBLING LIFE, 
 DISOWNED, REJECTED, PERSECUTED, 
 AND MALIGNED ; could we bear it ? Where is 
 the father’s heart that could endure it ? What 
 reverence for the LAW, what sacredness of private 
 property, what abstract right of men to do as they 
 
 -m. 
 
 pleased with their own, would be of ^force to 
 restrain our hearts from dark imaginings, and our 
 hands from giving then, effect ? WE FRANKLY 
 AVOW THAT WE WOULD NOT SUBMIT TO 
 SUCH TREATMENT, but would take the law into 
 OUR OWN HANDS, and, if possible, REDRESS 
 OURSELVES. Our children have a RIGHT 
 DIVINE to claim from us that PROTECTION 
 which may be denied to them elsewhere ; and we 
 cannot recognise any human obligation which 
 should or could constrain us to respect such an 
 appeal. NO MAN OWES A MORAL OBLIGA¬ 
 TION to an EXTERMINATING DECREE. 
 No man pretending or deserving to be free, would 
 pay it an outward homage, one moment longer 
 
43 
 
 than SUPERIOR FORCE COMPELLED HIM 
 TO BOW HIS NECK under its intolerable yoke. 
 These are our deliberate sentiments—the decisions 
 of a mind tutored, perhaps, by some small share of 
 philosophy, and, at all events, not provoked to a 
 passionate or hasty judgment by the sense of per¬ 
 sonal wrong.” 
 
 Do not these accounts create surprise in the 
 mind of the reader, that there are so few outrages 
 committed by these unfortunate tenants on the 
 perpetrators of these tyrannies. 
 
 The following letter taken from the Freeman s 
 Journal , and dated November 10th, 1880, is well 
 worthy of being recorded here. The writer is 
 Major John Talbot D’Arcy, a Justice of the Peace, 
 a Protestant, and an Irishman. 
 
 He commences thus :— 
 
 “ I beg to tell the Express that the class of Irish¬ 
 men to which I belong, is the class who seek to 
 stay the EVICTOR’S hand, to prevent the sad 
 and HEART-RENDING SCENES of EXTER¬ 
 MINATION and DEPOPULATION. 
 
 Witnessing the ruthless expulsion, not of tens, 
 but of hundreds of families, turned out of house 
 and home, no house or farm to get, and no trade or 
 profession to turn to, whereby to earn a livelihood 
 for their families, no prospect but the POOR- 
 HOUSE, it was witnessing those scenes, that led 
 me to raise my voice against EVICTION. I sat 
 on the bedside of an exterminator half an hour 
 after his back was ploughed up by the slugs of the 
 assassin. There was no Land League then. 
 
 I said to him—‘ The law ought not to leave 
 
44 
 
 you the power, of endangering your own life ’ He 
 said the land was his own ; could he not dig it 
 into the sea if he liked ? That is the doctrine of 
 of the class, I won’t say of Irishmen, but of men 
 holding land in Ireland, represented by the 
 Express. 
 
 I never belonged to them. 
 
 I belong to a class who grieve to see their 
 countrymen in a state of CHRONIC STARVA¬ 
 TION, who grieve to see the hat going round the 
 world to save them from STARVATION, how 
 grieve to see a peasantry living on the most fertile 
 lands, their existence depending, on the absence 
 of an extra summer shower or autumn flood, 
 without one accumulated meal to fall back on.” 
 
 The Major, in giving an account of his sad 
 experience as a Guardian of the Poor for the 
 Athlone Union, of which he was Vice-Chairman, 
 continues:— 
 
 “In one day in February last I allocated 
 charitable funds to feed 8,420 people. If allying 
 myself to the party, who endeavour to have the laws, 
 that we believe have brought the peasantry to that 
 miserable condition, changed, the STATUTE 
 LAWS OF EVICTION done away with, thereby 
 fixing the tenant while paying a FAIR RENT in 
 the land, makes me unworthy of the class the 
 Express represents, I am quite content, but I must 
 repudiate the charge of being a deserter, from the 
 ranks in which I never served, and never shall, 
 while they maintain the right to exterminate and 
 depopulate the country.” * 
 
 His patriotism causes him to be charged with 
 
45 
 
 being unworthy to profess himself a Christian, to 
 which he replies :— 
 
 “As to the last charge of being unworthy of the 
 creed I profess. That creed is protestant Chris¬ 
 tianity. 
 
 That creed teaches me to do good, even on the 
 sabbath, and I believe, to raise my voice on the 
 sabbath, against the extermination of the Almighty's 
 people is as much, if not more, in conformity with 
 his wishes, as to pull my ox or my ass out of the 
 ditch on his holy days. Now, repudiating the 
 charge of communism, and apologizing for tres¬ 
 passing on your columns, and I will only say I 
 think my taking the chair was of use to our cause, 
 and notwithstanding the severe castigation of the 
 Express I shall be prepared to fill the same posi¬ 
 tion if required, so long as it is legal to do so.” 
 
 The preceding is one more of the many noble 
 specimens of true heroism that has been exhibited 
 by many of the Irish magistracy, for unless blinded 
 by the pompous dignity of officialism, a magistrate 
 in Ireland cannot fail to sympathize, with the 
 unjust and cruel evictions, which are constantly 
 under his notice. 
 
• t * 
 
 46 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Ha! banishment ? be merciful, say—death; 
 
 For Exile hath more terror in his look, 
 
 Much more than death: do not say — banishment. 
 
 Romeo and Juliet , Act 3, Scene 3. 
 
 Mr. J. G. Kolil, a German, who, in the time of 
 O’Connell, travelled in Ireland with the object of 
 acquiring from personal investigation a thorough 
 knowledge of the country, its people, customs and 
 laws, and who was generally considered to be friendly 
 towards England, wrote then, what might he 
 written at the present time with the same degree 
 of force and truth. He commenced by writing—• 
 “IRELAND’S LAND SYSTEM WAS AT THE 
 ROOT OF ALL HER SUFFERINGS.” 
 
 It was true in those days, and it is to be deplored 
 equally so at the present time. There can be little 
 doubt but that the prevailing misery can, in a 
 large measure, be attributed to the existing land 
 system, that mammoth evil with its legions of 
 satellites. 
 
 Mr. Kohl continues:—“ In most of the civilised 
 countries of Europe—in France by a revolution, in 
 almost all the States of Germany by wise reforms, 
 the nobility have been deprived of their old feudal 
 rights over the oppressed and subjugated peasantry; 
 and these, from serfs and slaves, have been turned 
 into small free proprietors of the soil. Nay, even 
 in Russia, within the last ten years, many intro¬ 
 ductory measures have been taken, towards making 
 the peasants more independent of their lords, and 
 gradually to give them, the ownership of the land 
 
47 
 
 which they till. In England and Ireland only, 
 people have not ventured even to think on the 
 question, whether it would not be very wise to grant 
 the poor serfish Irish farmers the freehold of their 
 soil; or if this could not be effected without a 
 revolution, at least to follow the example of Russia, 
 Saxony, &c., and by reforms and measures intro¬ 
 ductory to changing the tenants at will into 
 hereditary possessors, to regulate and reduce 
 the rents of these tenants by law, and then to 
 permit, and finally to insist on, the tenant’s right to 
 purchase his land; and by these means to form a 
 class of free peasants and small independent land- 
 owners. No one has for a moment thought of 
 inquiring, as has been done in France and Germany, 
 nay even in the Baltic provinces of Russia, whether 
 the peasant has not an older and better right to 
 the soil, than the noble landowner who grew over 
 his head gradually by force and oppression, and 
 took away from him by degrees, the land of liis 
 fathers. 
 
 There is in England so holy an awe of inter¬ 
 fering with the rights of property as recognised 
 by the State, that no one is capable of taking so 
 comprehensive and elevated a view of the subject, 
 as would enable him to perceive, that, under certain 
 circumstances, it would be the highest wisdom for 
 the State herself to violate these rights.” 
 
 Mr. Kohl then goes on to speak of the titles by 
 which the landed nobility of Europe hold their pro¬ 
 perty and serfs, and remarks that where estates have 
 been obtained by conquest, the State might justly 
 take them away from the original conquerors, or 
 
 ^ fnZjUvbj 
 
 jo yiv ., 
 
 —■'-'Uvvi— 4 lh* Vuu*, iKO'P'vlTWv; < 
 
-> 
 
 their descendants, could they be found, and restore 
 them to the poor peasants from whom they had 
 been wrested.” 
 
 “Prussia,” he says, “ and other countries not 
 only did this, but since they could not dis¬ 
 tinguish the just possessors from the unjust, they 
 treated both alike, and compelled them, willing 
 or unwilling, with or without title, to resign their 
 pernicious and foolish privileges^ and to accept 
 a certain moderate indemnity. What Prussia and 
 other countries have done towards a nobility with 
 much better titles, people in Ireland do not dare 
 
 even to think of doing with respect to a nobility with 
 the worst of all possible titles. 
 
 Landowners growing, as it were, out of the 
 people themselves, and possessing their estates from 
 time immemorial, may be said not to exist in 
 
 landlords have, with few exceptions, been com¬ 
 pletely destroyed. The most honourable and best 
 title an Irish family can show is force and con¬ 
 quest.” 
 
 This assertion Mr. Kohl justifies by the state¬ 
 ment that many Irish landlords obtained theii 
 claims to their property “ by procuring confisca¬ 
 tions in their favour, surreptitiously, by treachery, 
 and fraud.” He adds:— 
 
 “ One can easily imagine by what villanies estates 
 were acquired in a land where, for a long time, 
 there existed a law by which a younger brother, on 
 turning Protestant, could deprive his elder brother, 
 or a son his father, of his estates. And to these 
 viUianies and frauds of their ancestors, most of the 
 
 -> 
 
49 
 
 land-owning families of Ireland can be proved to 
 owe tlieir estates. When lands are held by such 
 titles as these, might not any reasonable Govern¬ 
 ment justly interpose, and, if it could not be ac¬ 
 complished without a revolution, yet at least by 
 gradual reform convert the poor tenants-at-will 
 into peasant owners, so that the suffering millions 
 may not for ever live in misery for the advantage 
 of a few oligarchs T *’ 
 
 It would be well if the force of reasoning such 
 as this influenced the minds of the statesmen who 
 are now about to legislate on the Irish question, 
 and induce them to frame a measure that would 
 confer a blessing on the present and future genera¬ 
 tions. 
 
 It is true that since the above was written the 
 Land Act of 1870 has been passed, and that a 
 portion of the grievances have been removed or 
 ameliorated, but the hard fact still remains, that 
 under the existing laws, the noble landowner is 
 the tyrant of the peasant—and I would add a 
 tyrant of the most cowardly form—as in absent¬ 
 ing himself, and employing an agent to concoct 
 and carry out his harsh and unjust treatment of 
 the tenantry, he not only proves himself utterly 
 oblivious to their interest and welfare, but shows 
 a want of moral courage which ought not, and 
 is not supposed to be, a failing of true-hearted 
 Englishmen. But the old saying, “ Conscience 
 makes cowards of us all,” is here verified. 
 
 I have before had occasion to favourably com¬ 
 pare the land laws of France with those of our 
 own country, and as a traveller, I would here 
 
50 
 
 tell the agricultural labourer, the mechanic, and 
 the small tradesmen, that it is positively refresh¬ 
 ing to witness the contentment, the cheerful gaiety, 
 and the happy independence which characterize 
 the different classes of our French neighbours. 
 
 And to what is this due ? Why, simply that 
 the peasant is practically the owner of the soil, 
 and that he possesses all the advantages for which 
 the Land League is now contending. By his in¬ 
 dependent position, aided by his thrift, which is 
 encouraged by his independence, he is enabled by 
 the wise outlay of his capital to be the prime mover 
 in the success of his co-labourers of the artizan 
 and shopkeeping classes. 
 
 And these just laws make the true patriot, as was 
 evidenced in the crisis through which France 
 passed, when compelled to pay the war indemnity 
 to Germany. The proprietors of the small hold¬ 
 ings and the artizans had all their savings ready 
 to sacrifice for their beloved country. In fact, as 
 Mr. Arthur Arnold has truly said, “ The national 
 wealth, health, and happiness are involved in 
 this matter ; ” And again he puts to his audience 
 this pertinent question:—“Suppose that free 
 land increased, as I believe it w'ould, our 
 agricultural population by three to five millions, 
 would not every mill, every factory in the king¬ 
 dom—would not the skilful labour of every working 
 man receive thereby a higher value ? You would 
 have all those new customers for your productions, 
 who would purchase them with the increased 
 wealth which they obtained from a generous soil.” 
 
 These remarks referred at the moment to the 
 English Land Question, but apply equally to the 
 case of the Sister Isle. 
 
As previously stated in this work, peasant 
 proprietary lias succeeded in France, Prussia, 
 Germany, Holland, Switzerland, Saxony, and 
 elsewhere, therefore, I cannot conceive why it 
 should not prosper in Ireland, a country which has 
 been described by those who are considered 
 authorities, one of the most fertile countries on the 
 earth. 
 
 It is really pleasing to read the glowing descrip¬ 
 tive accounts of various writers on the success 
 attending peasant freeholdership on the Continent; 
 the one I append, illustrating the peasant’s condi¬ 
 tion in Switzerland, portrayed by M. D. Sismondi, 
 in “ Studies in Political Economy,” I consider both 
 interesting, and typical of the success generally 
 arising, through the establishment of small landed 
 proprietaries in other countries :— 
 
 “It is especially Switzerland,” says the above 
 writer, “ which should be traversed and studied to 
 judge of the happiness of peasant proprietors. II 
 is from Switzerland we learn that agriculture, prac¬ 
 tised by the very persons who enjoy the fruits, 
 suffices to procure great comfort for a very nume¬ 
 rous population ; a great independence of character 
 arising from independence of position ; a great 
 commerce of consumption, the result of the easy 
 circumstances of all the inhabitants, even in a 
 country whose climate is rude, whose soil is but 
 moderately fertile, and whose late frosts and incon¬ 
 stancy of seasons, often blight the hopes of the 
 cultivator. It is impossible to see without admira¬ 
 tion, those timber houses of the poorest peasant, 
 so vast, so well closed in, so covered with carvings; 
 
in tlie interior, spacious corridors separate the 
 different chambers of the numerous family; each 
 chamber has but one bed, which is abundantly 
 furnished with curtains, bedclothes, and the 
 whitest linen ; carefully kept furniture surrounds 
 it; the wardrobes are filled with linen ; the dairy 
 is vast, well aired, and of exquisite cleanness ; 
 under the same roof is a great provision of corn, 
 salt meat, cheese, and wood ; in the cowhouses are 
 the finest and most carefully tended cattle in 
 Europe ; the garden is planted with flowers ; both 
 men and women are cleanly and warmly clad, the 
 women preserve with pride their ancient costume ; 
 all carry in their faces the impress of health and 
 strength. Let other nations boast of their 
 opulence; Switzerland may always point with 
 pride to her peasants.” 
 
 The same eminent writer then expresses his 
 opinions on peasant proprietorship in general:— 
 
 “ Whenever we find peasant proprietors, we also 
 find the COMFORT, SECURITY, CONFIDENCE 
 IN THE FUTURE, AND INDEPENDENCE, 
 which assure at once HAPPINESS and VIRTUE. 
 
 The peasant who, with his children, does all 
 the work of his little inheritance; who pays no 
 rent to any one above him; who eats his own corn, 
 drinks his own wine, is clothed in his own hemp 
 and wool, cares little for the prices of the market, 
 and is never ruined by revulsions of trade. 
 
 Instead of fearing for the future, he sees in it 
 the colours of hope, for he employs every moment, 
 not required by the labours of the year, in some¬ 
 thing profitable to his children and to future 
 
58 
 
 generations. A few minutes’ work suffices to plant 
 the seed, which, in a hundred years, will be a 
 large tree; to dig the channel, which will conduct 
 to him a spring of fresh water; to improve by 
 cares often repeated, but stolen from odd times, 
 all the species of animals and vegetables which 
 surround him. His little patrimony is a true 
 savings’ bank, always ready to receive all his little 
 gains, and utilize all his moments of leisure. The 
 ever-acting power of nature returns them a hundred 
 fold. The peasant has a lively sense of the happi¬ 
 ness, attached to the condition of a proprietor. 
 
 The peasant proprietor is, of all cultivators, 
 the one who gets most from the soil, for he is the 
 one who thinks more of the future, and who has 
 been most instructed by experience. 
 
 He is also the one ■who employs the human 
 
 powers to most advantage, because, dividing hia 
 
 occupation among all the members of his family, 
 
 he reserves some for every day in the year, so that 
 
 ♦ 
 
 nobody is ever out of work. 
 
 Of all cultivators he is the happiest; and at the 
 same time the land nowhere occupies and feeds 
 amply, without becoming exhausted, so many in¬ 
 habitants, as where they are proprietors. Finally, 
 of all cultivators, the PEASANT PBOPBIETOB 
 is the one who gives most ENCOUBAGEMENT 
 to COMMEBCE and MANUFACTUBES, because 
 he is the richest.” 
 
 It is unnecessary, I think, to comment upon the 
 happy condition of the Swiss peasantry, in order 
 to contrast it with the opposite or wretched condi¬ 
 tion of the Irish peasantry. If the passing of an 
 
Act of Parliament can be the means of conferring 
 such blessings upon the Irish people as our Conti¬ 
 nental neighbours enjoy, I sincerely hope and trust 
 that my countrymen, the English people, will not 
 be wanting in their endeavour to induce the legis¬ 
 lators of the British House of Commons to frame 
 a measure, that will have for its object, the 
 establishment of TENANT PROPKIETARY IN 
 IRELAND. 
 
 THE PEASANTRY OF SAXONY, Mr. Joseph 
 Kay, M.A., Barrister at Law, in his w r ork, “ The 
 Condition and Education of the people in England 
 and Europe, says:— 
 
 “It is a notorious fact that in Saxony, during 
 the last 30 years, and since the peasants became 
 the proprietors of the land, there has been a rapid 
 and continual improvement in the condition of the 
 houses, in the manner of living, in the dress of the 
 peasants, and particularly in the culture of the land. 
 I can safely challenge contradiction when I affirm, 
 that there is no farming in all Europe superior to 
 to the laboriously careful cultivation, of the valleys 
 of that part of Saxony. The peasants endeavour to 
 outstrip one another in the quantity and quality of 
 the produce, in the preparation of the ground, and 
 and in the general cultivation of their respective 
 portions.” 
 
 "What a desirable state of things is here so vividly 
 portrayed. Notice the existence amongst the 
 peasantry, of a noble rivalry, in endeavouring 
 to excel in the successful results accruing to their 
 labour on their respective portions of the land; such 
 
8S 
 
 Would be the case in Ireland if the same conditions 
 existed in respect to the ownership of the soil. 
 
 To the Saxon peasant the fruits of his increased 
 energy, thrift, and industry, produce for him happi¬ 
 ness, and provision for his old age, but unfortunately 
 for the Irish peasant, the same attributes, too often 
 result, in causing his expatriation, and, in some ini 
 stances worse than that,—the felons cell—for the 
 reason, that outraged humanity could wait no longer 
 on judgment, and in a moment of frenzy, sought 
 revenge, for what the Irish peasant thought a wrong 
 but the English Law failed to recognise as suciA. 
 
56 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 0 ! it is excellent to have a giant’s strength, 
 
 But it is tyrannous to use it like a giant: 
 
 But man, proud man! plays such fantastic tricks, 
 Before hign neaven, as make the angels weep. 
 
 Measure for Measure , Act 2 , Scene 2. 
 
 Malcolm Me Coll, in the Contemporary Review 
 for January, 1881, admits that “English misrule 
 has borne bitter fruit in Ireland, and the tenants 
 are for the most part the innocent victims of that 
 misrule,” and he contends that whatever self- 
 sacrifice may be necessary to re-adjust on an 
 equitable basis the relations of landlord and tenant 
 in Ireland ought to be incurred. 
 
 Yet this gentleman like most English writers, 
 while admitting the existence of infernal laws, that 
 are the cause of indescribable miseries to a 
 nation, must in some way or other say something 
 that will in a great measure neutralize these sad 
 admissions; and the course generally adopted, is 
 either by calumniating the Irish people themselves, 
 or those who make themselves conspicuous by agit¬ 
 ating for the people’s amelioration. 
 
 I know no one who has so distinguished himself in 
 this crisis as Charles Stewart Parnell, the chief of 
 the Land League agitation, and one of its founders: 
 as Richard Cobden was to the Corn Law League, so 
 I consider Charles Stewart Parnell, is to the Land 
 League. 
 
 He and his supporters have succeeded in obtain¬ 
 ing a promise from the English Government, that 
 
6 ? 
 
 the Land Laws shall be remedied, and T am certain 
 that the promise must be kept. They have fought 
 gallantly and well. If they have been guilty in the 
 House of Commons, of what is termed by the 
 English press OBSTRUCTION, it was a noble 
 endeavour on their part, (and for which they will 
 obtain the good wishes of millions of the Irish 
 people, wherever they may be located,) to prevent a 
 cruel majority of English Legislators, with shame¬ 
 less haste, inflict upon an already deeply afflicted 
 country, the multitudinous miseries incidental 
 to the enactment of COERCIVE MEASURES.” 
 
 The above writer in the same Review , neutralizes 
 as I before remarked, what little good might have 
 attended his advocacy of the Irish people, by 
 making the following groundless charge— 
 
 “ The chief culprit is undoubtedly Mr. Parnell. 
 A word from him, would have put a stop to 
 barbarous outrages on man and beast, and that 
 word he has not uttered, even in rebuke of the 
 felonious suggestions, of some of his “ hearers.” 
 
 How the writer could be so prejudiced as to 
 make such a statement I cannot conceive. I do 
 not think he could point to one of Mr. Parnell’s 
 innumerable speeches, where he has not condemned, 
 in the plainest and strongest language, the com¬ 
 mittal of outrage of every description, and charac-' 
 terized those who commit them, as enemies to the 
 party who are now contending for the removal, by 
 constitutional means, of what they consider is one 
 of the chief grievances in Ireland. 
 
 The writer also, I may say, slurs over the 
 admission of atrocities bv the evictions, but seems 
 
 E 
 
68 
 
 to sound a paean of triumph, when he endeavour 
 to prejudice the public mind, by his reference to the 
 outrages committed by the poor wretches, who, 
 goaded to desperation by tyranny, and animated 
 by a revenge (which to say the least has been 
 provoked), commit a deed, which, while it cannot 
 be justified, according to the laws of God and 
 humanity, can certainly be greatly palliated by the 
 motives to which it is attributable. 
 
 Notwithstanding the great number of speeches 
 that have been delivered by Mr. Parnell, he has 
 only been once justly accused, of advising the 
 people to do something that was a violation of the 
 law, and it was in the course of a speech delivered 
 at Clara, in King’s County, at the end of February, 
 1881. 
 
 He unwittingly advised the tenant farmers when 
 they were on the eve of being evicted, to call in 
 their neighbours and plough up the ground. But 
 afterwards, learning that this would be a violation 
 of an old act of parliament, he immediately took 
 means to recall his words, and to cancel the advice 
 given to the people on that occasion. 
 
 I do not think I can do better than give the 
 letter in full, as it will clearly show that he, for 
 one, could not sanction any action that would 
 violate any law however absolute or iniquitous it 
 might be:— 
 
 “In my speech at Clara on Sunday, I recom¬ 
 mended tenants who were about to be evicted, to 
 call on their neighbours a fow day- before the 
 eviction, and plough up the ground. Since then, 
 my attention has been directed, to the fact of which 
 
59 
 
 I was in ignorance, that a tenant ploughing his 
 land under such circumstance, might be held to be 
 guilty of a crime, (which under one oi the many 
 cruel, barbarous, and exceptional acts, passed by 
 landlord legislatures in days gone by, for the main¬ 
 tenance of landlord iniquity,) would render him 
 subject to penal servitude for seven years. 
 
 While I am perfectly willing to accept the 
 consequences of my own acts in this movement, I 
 have always carefully abstained, from recommend¬ 
 ing others to break the law. Feeling that the 
 counsel given by me at your meeting might lead to 
 such results, I feel it my duty at this the earliest 
 opportunity, in the most public manner, to with¬ 
 draw the advice given as to ploughing the land, as 
 I cannot justify any action against the criminal 
 law, however iniquitous that law may be.—Yours 
 truly, 
 
 Chakles S. Parnell.” 
 
 Lord Sherbrooke in arguing against peasant 
 proprietaries, contends that, “ land so divided 
 would fill the country with a wretched population.” 
 I beg to remind his Lordship that this unfortunate 
 result has not been the case in other countries, 
 but the very opposite has occurred. I fail to see, 
 and Lord Sherbrooke fails to show, why Ireland 
 should be considered an exceptional case. Is it 
 not more feasible, that the changed circumstances 
 would be, as described by the Eev. David Humph¬ 
 reys, C.C., of Tipperary— 
 
 “ When the Irish tenant farmers are made 
 proprietors, they will have the means of educa¬ 
 ting their children. An educated Irishman will 
 
GO 
 
 not settle down to live on a few acres of land, 
 whilst he sees wealth, and perhaps eminence open 
 to him, in many other walks of life. And here 
 I wish to say a few words on, the suicidal policy 
 which England has followed, in her legislation in 
 the matter of education towards Ireland. There is, 
 and has ever been, plenty of talent of the highest 
 order in Ireland. Most of this talent has been 
 lost through the means of cultivating it. England 
 has deprived herself of the services of many an 
 able man by her foolish policy towards Ireland. 
 The history of the world has shown what educated 
 Irishmen can do. They have risen to the highest 
 positions in foreign countries, and they have held 
 their own in all the services of the empire. In 
 ability, in eloquence, in debating power, the Irish 
 members are second to no members in the House 
 of Commons. Ireland has given to England some 
 of her greatest military captains in the past, and 
 to what country belong her most distinguished 
 military officers of the present day ? Irish heart, 
 Irish arms, directed by Irish heads, have, in large 
 measure, contributed to place England in her 
 present proud position before the world.” 
 
 The English people are told, by those who are 
 opposed to all laws which are likely to lessen the 
 discontent in Ireland, that the principal cause of 
 the poverty and distress in that country, is the 
 laziness of the inhabitants. I have found that in 
 America, Australia, and in England itself, that the 
 Irish wherever you may find them are at any rate 
 hard workers. In the United States especially 
 their talent and industry, have caused them to be 
 
61 
 
 a power in the land, and the prominent positions 
 in the Cities and at Washington are filled to a 
 great extent, by the Irish or their descendants. 
 And why does the Irishman work when he is away 
 from home ? Because he feels that he is not 
 oppressed, but will have a fair day’s wage for a fair 
 day’s work, and that by being thrifty, and acquiring 
 enough wherewith to erect a homestead, he will not 
 be cruelly evicted or subjected to the miseries which 
 accompany unjust land laws ; in fact he will be the 
 proprietor of his own soil, and he will work with a 
 will to make the land productive and profitable. 
 It is a gross calumny to charge them as a race with 
 laziness, as the travelled Englishman must know 
 full well. 
 
 The chief and, I might say, only aim of the 
 Land League, is to establish Tenant Proprietary, 
 and judging from the language of Mr. Gladstone, 
 in a speech at West Calder, on the 27th of 
 November, 1879, I would consider him a disciple 
 of the Land League, for he quite approves the 
 principal object for which they are contending. 
 He says:— 
 
 “ There are some persons, for whom I have a 
 great respect, who think that the difficulties of our 
 agriculture may be got over, by a fundamental 
 change in the landholding system of our country. 
 I mean those who think, that if you can cut 
 up the land of the country into a multitude of 
 small properties, that of itself will solve the diffi¬ 
 culty. TO A PROPOSAL OF THAT KIND, I, 
 FOR ONE, AM NOT GOING TO OBJECT 
 THAT IT WOULD BE INCONSISTENT WITH 
 
62 
 
 THE PRIVILEGES OF LANDED PROPRIE¬ 
 TORS, IF IT IS GOING TO BE FOR THE 
 WELFARE OF THE COMMUNITY AT 
 LARGE. The Legislature are perfectly entitled 
 to buy up the landed proprietors, for the purpose 
 of dividing the country into small lots. In prin¬ 
 ciple, no objection can be taken to it. Those per¬ 
 sons who possess large portions of the earth’s 
 space, are not altogether in the same position as 
 the possessors of mere personality. Personality 
 does not impose limitations on the action and 
 industry of man, and the well-being of the com¬ 
 munity, as possession of land does; and, there¬ 
 fore, I freely own that compulsory expropriation is 
 a thing which is admissible, and even sound in 
 principle.” 
 
 Nothing can be more liberal or plain than the 
 above statement. We have yet to see how far the 
 coming Land Measure will be consistent, with the 
 views expressed at West Calder. 
 
 In answer to those who consider Ireland over¬ 
 peopled, and also advocate emigration or expatria¬ 
 tion, I give the opinion of Sir Robert Kane, who, 
 speaking in reference to the soil, said “that 
 Ireland, under proper management, should com¬ 
 fortably support 20 million people;” M. de 
 Beaumont considered it capable of maintaining 
 25 millions, while Arthur Young even goes so high 
 as 100 millions. However, I think there can be 
 no doubt, that the cause of the present distress, is 
 not in any way due to over-population. 
 
 The following comparisons of population to the 
 square mile speak for themselves:— 
 
63 
 
 Belgium . 
 
 . 469 
 
 England and Wales. 
 
 . 389 
 
 Italy ... ... ... ... ... 
 
 . 238 
 
 Germany . 
 
 . 201 
 
 Holland . 
 
 . 185 
 
 France . 
 
 . 180 
 
 Switzerland. 
 
 . 175 
 
 Austria . 
 
 . 175 
 
 Ireland . 
 
 . 169 
 
 In times past, when Ireland has suffered as much 
 and more as last year, the House of Commons and 
 the House of Lords have, on many occasions, 
 appointed a committee to receive evidence, and 
 endeavour to ascertain the cause of distress, with 
 the avowed object of preventing a recurrence of 
 these sad famines. 
 
 The evidence most invariably pointed to the fact 
 that the arbitrary land laws were chief causes. I 
 subjoin some of the evidence given before a select 
 Committee of the House of Lords, which I have 
 taken from the very excellent work of T. M. Healy, 
 M.P., entitled “Why there is an Irish Land 
 Question?” Sir Frankland Lewis said, “nothing 
 is more striking in Ireland than, that a number of 
 burdens which English landlords are willing to 
 take upon themselves, the Irish landlords do not 
 find it necessary to take upon themselves. In the 
 maintenance of a farm in England, all the expensive 
 part of the capital employed on a farm is provided 
 by the landlord; the houses, the gates, the fences, 
 and the drains, are all provided by the landlords. 
 Everybody knews that in Ireland such is not the 
 practice; at the same time, that the landlord 
 
G4 
 
 obtains as rent in Ireland, a much larger proportion 
 of the value of the produce of the land than he 
 obtains in England; and in parts of Ireland it 
 appears to me that the landlord sometimes obtains 
 for rent, more than is produced by the land.” 
 There is nothing stated in Sir Frankland Lewis’s 
 evidence that cannot be verified at the present time. 
 
 Mr. Nimmo, the eminent engineer, also gave 
 evidence before the same Committee. He stated : 
 
 “ I conceive the peasantry of Ireland to be, in 
 general, in the lowest possible state of existence. 
 Their cabins are in the most miserable condition, 
 and their food—potatoes, with water, without even 
 salt. I have frequently met persons who begged 
 of me, on their knees, to give them some promise 
 of employment, that from the credit of that they 
 might get the means of support.” 
 
 ‘ ‘ To what cause do you attribute this state of 
 things?” Mr. Nimmo was further asked. 
 
 He replied :—“ It is unquestionable that the 
 great cause of the miserable condition of the people 
 and of the prevailing disturbances, is the manage¬ 
 ment of land. There is no means of employment, 
 and no certainty that the peasant has, of existence 
 for another year, but by getting possession of a 
 portion of land, on which he can plant potatoes. 
 The landlord has, in the eyes of the peasant, the 
 right to take from him in a summary way, every¬ 
 thing he has, if he is unable to execute those 
 covenants into which he has been obliged to 
 enter from the dread of starvation. 
 
 There are some who will tell you, that contracts 
 entered into under such circumstances, ought 
 
u5 
 
 to be scrupulously observed by them, and in 
 jase of non-observance on their part, they merit 
 the most terrible consequences, that can be inflicted 
 by an unmerciful despot.” 
 
 Mr. Nimmo was asked if he attributed the 
 distressed state of Ireland, to the power which 
 resided in the landlord, and to its abuse, to which 
 he replied :—“ I conceive that there is no check to 
 that power. It appears to me that, under the 
 cover of law, the landlord may convert that power 
 to any purpose he pleases. The consequence is, 
 that, when he wishes, he can extract from the 
 peasant every shilling beyond bare existence, 
 which can be produced by him from the land. 
 The lower order of peasantry can thus never 
 acquire anything like property ; and the landlord, 
 at the least reverse of price, then has it in his 
 power to seize, and does seize, his cow, bed, 
 potatoes in ground, and everything he has, and 
 dispose of the property at any price.” 
 
 Can anyone imagine a people to be in a more 
 abject state of slavery than is above described ? 
 Does it not clearly establish the potency of law, 
 good or bad, and that, though laws can be made 
 that can ennoble a people, yet laws can and have 
 been made that will effectually subjugate and 
 degrade a nation, I venture to declare that the 
 Land Laws have not been wanting in this latter 
 respect. 
 
 It is not often harm befalls those wretches who 
 are hired to wield the crow-bar, and those other 
 appliances that have been invented for the more 
 expeditiously felling of human habitations, but 
 
66 
 
 whenever anything does unfortunately occur to 
 them, I have been frequently struck with amaze¬ 
 ment at the great sympathy that is excited in this 
 country on them behalf. I would be very sorry to 
 attempt to justify any outrage on these human 
 monsters, or those who employ them; but at the 
 same time in deploring these crimes, it is only 
 fair, that we take into consideration those causes 
 that might directly or indirectly lead to their com¬ 
 mission. I think, in the following evidence, Lord 
 John Russell is not far wrong in describing the 
 causes of violence and crime in Ireland. His lord- 
 ship said, in reference to the Devon Commission :— 
 
 “However ignorant many of us may be of the 
 state of Ireland, we have here (in the Devon Com¬ 
 mission) the best evidence that can be procured— 
 the evidence of persons best acquainted with that 
 country—of magistrates of many years’ standing, 
 of those who have been employed by the Crown; 
 and all tell you that the possession of land, is that 
 which makes the difference between existing and 
 starving amongst the peasantry, and that, there¬ 
 fore, ejections out of their holdings, are the cause 
 of violence and crime in Ireland. In fact, it is no 
 other than the cause, which the great master of 
 human nature describes, when he makes a tempter 
 suggest it as a reason to violate the law:—‘Famine 
 is in thy cheeks, need and oppression stareth in 
 thine eyes, upon thy back hangs ragged misery. 
 The world is not thy friend, nor the world’s law; 
 the world affords no law to make thee rich. Then 
 be not poor, but break it.’ ” 
 

 Mr. Gladstone made use of the above extract in 
 justification of his Land Bill, 1870. 
 
 Dr. Drew, a popular Presbyterian minister, 
 wrote to Mr. Isaac Butt a graphic description of 
 the peasant. 
 
 There is something solemnly convincing in the 
 letter referred to from a Protestant minister. It 
 depicts the effect of hardship and tyranny upon 
 the minds of the peasantry. 
 
 Suffering and injustice have so cowed them, 
 that the inherent frankness of the Irish character 
 seems to be utterly lost, and despair has made 
 them an abject, cringing, and deceitful population; 
 their only chance of receiving a favour, or a small 
 modicum of relaxation in their treatment, being 
 that doled out by the Jack-in-Office Agent, as a 
 reward for their sycophancy. Dr. Drew writes:— 
 
 “ I wish my lot had never been cast in rural 
 places. As a clergyman, I hear what neither land¬ 
 lord nor agent ever hear. I see the depression of 
 the people; their sighs and groans are before me; 
 they are brought so low, as often to praise and 
 glorify those, who, in their sacred hearts, are the 
 object of their abhorrence ; all this came out 
 gradually before me. Nor did I feel, as I ought to 
 feel in their behalf, until, in my own person and 
 purse, I became the victim of a system of tyranny, 
 which cries from earth to heaven for relief. Were 
 I to relate my own story, it would startle many.” 
 
 Mr. Bunn, an Englishman, il_ Jis “ Miseries and 
 Beauties of Ireland,” says, “ The wrongs which the 
 Irish tenants have endured, would have JUSTI¬ 
 FIED a course of conduct incomparably more 
 
 lr 
 
 CtCt// - *** 
 
 dflus 
 
 /A* 
 
 / 
 
 A-t — 
 
6h 
 
 violent tiian any which Ireland, in her wildest 
 moments, or her fiercest paroxysms of excitement, 
 has displayed.” 
 
 Ireland is not a country inhabited by savages 
 and barbarians, as some of the enemies of Ireland 
 endeavour to make the English believe; but their 
 character is truly described by Lord Dufferin, when 
 he said, speaking of Ireland, “It is inhabited by 
 A RACE VALIANT, TENDER, GENEEOUS, 
 GIFTED BEYOND MEASURE WITH THE 
 POWER OF PHYSICAL ENDURANCE, AND 
 GRACED WITH THE LOVELIEST INTEL¬ 
 LIGENCE.” 
 
 Are the Irish tenantry indolent ? Lord Pal¬ 
 merston says, “The tenantry of Ireland, when they 
 receive encouragement, and have reason to believe 
 that their exertions will meet with a due reward, 
 are as much inclined to industrious exertion, as the 
 tenantry of ANY PART OF THE WORLD.” 
 
 Has Ireland received justice from England? Is 
 not England responsible for the present discontent 
 in Ireland ? Is not its present and past discontent 
 and wretchedness the result of vile enactments ? 
 Remove the cause, and then there will be no neces¬ 
 sity for Coercion Bills, to prevent the people from 
 giving expression to their sentiments, on their 
 deplorable and slavish condition. Read what 
 Professor Blackie, of Edinburgh says in respect 
 to English Government of Ireland :— 
 
 “ Among the many acts of baseness branding 
 the English character, in their blundering pretence 
 of governing Ireland, not the least was the prac¬ 
 tice of confiscating the land, which, by real law 
 
69 
 
 belonged to the people, and giving it to honest 
 
 resident cultivators, which might have been a 
 polite sort of theft, but to cliques of greedy and 
 grasping oligarchs, who did nothing for the country 
 they had appropriated but suck its blood in the 
 name of land rent, and squander its wealth under 
 the name of fashion and pleasure in London.” 
 
 Lord Kimberley, in the House of Lords, 1864, 
 said—“ It was impossible for England to perform 
 its duties to Ireland so long as no attempt was 
 made to deal with the important question of the 
 tenure of land. He implored the Irish landed 
 proprietors not to pass it by. The landed pro¬ 
 prietors were supported by the force of the United 
 Kingdom in maintaining themselves in a position 
 which, he was convinced, IF IRELAND STOOD 
 ALONE, they could not possibly contain, AND 
 THIS COUNTRY WAS STRICTLY RESPON¬ 
 SIBLE FOR SEEING THAT ITS MILITARY 
 FORCE WAS NOT APPLIED IN PERPETUITY 
 TO SAVE THE LANDOWNERS FROM MEA¬ 
 SURES WHICH THEY HAVE NEGLECTED 
 TO PROVIDE, and which might otherwise be 
 forced on them.” 
 
 The great evil existing in Ireland is this, that the 
 Irish people, the Irish nation in fact, is dispossessed 
 of the soil which is their birthright; and it is the 
 duty of our representatives, without regard to either 
 creed or locality which they represent, to demand 
 from any government which may be in power, a 
 sweeping measure of reform, which shall .entirely 
 and for ever settle this matter, on the broad lines 
 of TRUTH, RIGHT, and JUSTICE. 
 
Speaking of the evils of entailed estates, Mr. 
 John Bright once addressed the House of Commons 
 as follows:— 
 
 The G-overnment should pass a law by which the 
 system of entailing estates should for the future be 
 prevented. (Laughter). I can assure those gentle¬ 
 men who laugh at this, that at some distant day 
 this must be done, and not in Ireland only, but in 
 England also. It is an absurd and monstrous 
 system, for it binds as it were the living under the 
 power of the dead. The principle on which the law 
 should proceed is this; that the owner of property 
 should be permitted to leave it to whomsoever he 
 will, provided the individual is living when the will 
 is made, but he should not be suffered, after he is 
 dead and buried, and forgotten, to speak and still 
 to direct tlio channel, through which the estate 
 is to pass. If the laws of entail and primogeniture 
 are sound and just, why not apply them to personal 
 property as well as to freehold? Imagine them in 
 the middle classes of the community, and it will be 
 seen at once that the unnatural system, if universal, 
 would produce confusion, and confusion would 
 necessitate its total abolition.” 
 
 When Mr. John Bright gave expression to the 
 above language he was not in office, and there¬ 
 fore suffered no restraint in the freedom of his 
 speech. 
 
 I feel, however, convinced that Mr. Bright is at 
 heart, consistent to the line of thought contained in 
 the foregoing extracts from his speeches. Ham¬ 
 pered as he may be in striking at once, he will 
 continue to agitate in any government to which he 
 
71 
 
 may belong, and will eventually succeed in carrying 
 his points. 
 
 The area of Ireland contains about 20,000,000 
 acres. Of this— 
 
 About 450 persons claim to own 2,300,000 acres. 
 
 >> 
 
 130 
 
 „ „ 1,300,000 
 
 >> 
 
 
 90 
 
 „ „ 1,800,000 
 
 
 
 14 
 
 „ „ 700,000 
 
 
 »* 
 
 3 
 
 „ „ 300,000 
 
 >> 
 
 And 
 
 1 
 
 person is proprietor of 170,000 
 
 >> 
 
 About 
 
 230 
 
 persons own one-tliird of the 
 
 island, 
 
 and 740 persons are owners of above 9,600,000 
 acres, or nearly one-half of the entire country. 
 
 I find also by statistics, that nine-tenths of the 
 land of Ireland is held by tenants at will, and that 
 most of the improvements are made by, and at 
 the tenant’s expense and labour. What secu¬ 
 rity have these people against eviction? Why 
 experience has proved beyond doubt they have 
 practically none. Even the payment of an exces¬ 
 sively high or rack-rent is not even a security. 
 Lord Clarendon, in a speech at West Herts Agri¬ 
 cultural Society, on the 26th September, 1869, 
 said, “If he were to take a farm at will, upon 
 which the landed proprietor never did, and never 
 intended to do anything, and were to build upon 
 the farm a house and homestead, and effectually 
 drain the land, and then be turned out on a six 
 months’ notice by his landlord, would any language 
 be strong enough, not forgetting the language 
 made*use of at the public meetings, and in the 
 press recently in this country, to condemn such 
 A FELONIOUS ACT as that.” 
 

 The following is another apt illustration from the 
 same enlightened source, Mr. John Bright:— 
 
 “It is in the ETERNAL DECREES OF PRO¬ 
 VIDENCE, that so long as the population of a 
 country is prevented, from the possibility of pos¬ 
 sessing any portion of their native soil, by legal 
 enactments and legal chicanery, then outrages 
 should be committed, were they but as beacons 
 and warnings to call the Legislature to a sense of 
 the duties it owes to the country which it governs 1 ” 
 
 On another occasion Mr. Bright said:— 
 
 “Look at the condition of the Irish tenantry. 
 
 If Ireland was removed two thousandmiles out to sea 
 —(I suppose he means America)—and our present 
 land laws maintained, all your landlords would be 
 exterminated.” 
 
 Lord Dufferin, in reference to agricultural 
 tenants, says, “ What is a yearly tenancy ? Why, 
 it is an impossible tenure; a tenure which, if its 
 terms were to he literally interpreted (and it is too 
 often the case in Ireland), no Christian man would 
 offer, and none but a madman accept.” Unfortu¬ 
 nately, there are too many who call themselves 
 Christians, and like to be considered such, who are 
 only too ready to take advantage of any Act of 
 Parliament, that might assist them in the committal 
 of an inhuman act, if it will conduce to their pecu¬ 
 niary benefit. True, the poor peasants are made 
 to accept such outrageous conditions, and, at the 
 time of acceptance, are fully conscious of the unfair- * 
 ness of the same, and are still equally aware that 
 they are dealing with men who have no more feel¬ 
 ings of humanity, or sense of justice, than had. 
 
73 
 
 Shylock. But what can the unfortunate slaves 
 do ? They cannot object—they must comply; it 
 is the only source open to them. So they try and 
 eke out a slavish pittance; if they fail to obtain 
 that, then they are left to choose between starva¬ 
 tion and expatriation. Since England has, for her 
 own benefit, by several Acts of Parliament 
 destroyed most of the manufacturing industries of 
 Ireland—since that fact is well known and admitted 
 on all sides—there is no use of entering fully into 
 that question. It is evident, however, that the 
 agricultural question affects, not only the peasantry, 
 but all other branches of industry; and that if a 
 large class suffer, their other connections must do 
 so also, although perhaps less acutely for the time 
 being. 
 
74 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Therein, ye Gods, you make the weak most strong: 
 
 Therein, ye Gods, you tyrants do defeat. 
 
 Julius Ccesar , Act 1, Scene 3. 
 
 Even the clergy find that they would be guilty 
 of a dereliction of duty, if they did not express their 
 opinion on the present land laws. At a meeting of 
 the Irish Bishops at Maynooth, at which fourteen 
 prelates were present; the Archbishop of Dublin 
 presiding,it was unanimously agreed :— 
 
 “ That as we are charged by Almighty God, not 
 not only with the guardianship of the faith ana 
 morals of our flocks, but also with the care of the 
 poor and oppressed members of our fold, we feel 
 constrained by a solemn sense of our obligations 
 to declare once more that the present state of the 
 land code of Ireland is intrinsically dangerous to 
 the peace and happiness of our people, and that 
 mutual confidence between the various orders of 
 society can never be finally established until our 
 land code shall undergo a searching and thorough 
 reform ; that being thus convinced of the necessity 
 of such reform, we earnestly deprecate all faltering 
 legislation on this vital question, and we hereby 
 record our conviction that such legislation, no 
 matter how well intentioned, so far from allaying 
 universal discontent, will intensify the existing evils 
 and will only add to the already angry agitation; 
 that our confidence in the good sense and generous 
 feelings of our flocks being unshaken, we are 
 persuaded that the immediate introduction into 
 
75 
 
 Parliament of a Land Bill framed on principles of 
 justice to all existing rights, would be certain to 
 call back peace and a sense of security to all classes, 
 and that we cannot refrain from giving expression 
 to the fears entertained by many, that should order 
 seem to reign by the power of coercion, a branch 
 of the legislature, which is regarded as unfavour¬ 
 able to popular rights, may either totally reject or 
 substantially nullify, any measure of practical utility 
 submitted to its consideration, the result of which 
 we cannot contemplate without serious alarm.” 
 
 Nothing could be more consistent with the duties 
 of the spiritual leaders of an excitable people, than 
 the above straightforward declaration. The Irish 
 have ever shown themselves amenable to the in¬ 
 structions of the heads of their faith, and through¬ 
 out this agitation the clergy have behaved with 
 loyalty and prudence; without sacrificing their 
 convictions as to the necessity of new and juster 
 laws for their people, they have ever counselled 
 submission to the authority of the law, until that 
 law shall, through fair agitation, be made to suit the 
 requirements of the country. 
 
 Subjoined is a portion of a letter dated January 
 25tli, 1881, and addressed to the Pope, in answer 
 to a communication from His Holiness to the 
 Bishops. The letter is signed by Edward M‘Cabe, 
 Archbishop of Dublin, in the name of all the Arch¬ 
 bishops and Bishops present at a meeting held at 
 Maynootli. 
 
 The Bishops discussed the lamentable results 
 from the unjust land laws, and “ the iniquitous 
 and destructive legislation which for centuries has 
 
i v' 
 
 been rendmg iVeland, has brought the flocks placed 
 under our care to the greatest want and misery. 
 Famine periodically sweeps over our fairest dis¬ 
 tricts, which naturally teem with abundance 
 and are fertile in the highest degree; and fre¬ 
 quently our country has been driven to stretch out 
 her hand for alms and sue, like a mendicant, for 
 help from the other nations of Christendom. 
 These repeated misfortunes must not be impiously 
 attributed to the Father of Mercies, for He has 
 given us a land fertile to a proverb. They must 
 not be attributed to the sloth or indolence of our 
 people, for the Irish in exile are everywhere 
 models of unwearied labour and devoted industry. 
 But they must be attributed to the unjust laws 
 which at home have paralysed the strong man’s 
 arm, and, through an absolute sense of insecurity, 
 have made him apathetic and hopeless.” 
 
 The Bishops, while endorsing the action of those 
 who are advocating the reform of the land laws, do 
 not fail to denounce and at the same time express 
 regret for the crimes that have been committed 
 during the agitation. 
 
 “At present the Irish nation, rising from its 
 lethargy in strength and power, demands the 
 repeal of the cruel laws which oppress her, and we 
 earnestly pray that God may bless this just 
 struggle, and bring it to a happy issue and the 
 desired result. WE MUST NOT, HOWEVER, 
 CONCEAL THE FACT THAT, ALTIIOUH 
 THE CAUSE IS MOST JUST IN ITSELF, 
 OCCURRENCES AND UTTERANCES WHICH 
 WE ALL DEPLORE HAVE FROM TIME 
 
 5 I ^ * ** 4 ' ■ ' - - • - W4 
 
77 
 
 TO TIME CAST A SHADOW OVER IT.” 
 
 Their Lordships do not fail to point out the 
 great temptation to commit wrong the people have 
 had to contend with:—“But, whilst we rightly 
 denounce these crimes, and regard their perpe¬ 
 trators as the most dangerous enemies of their 
 country, we cannot forget the ages of oppression 
 and misery which have driven our people to despair 
 of justice and equity. 
 
 Whilst, therefore, we give our heartfelt approval 
 to the end proposed to be obtained by the present 
 agitation, for a change in the land laws, we feel 
 that certain means have bcei employed towards 
 the attainment of this end, which we cannot sanc¬ 
 tion. Hence even in June last, assembled in 
 council, we advised and warned our flocks against 
 the dangers which threatened their cause, and we 
 strove to confine the agitation within the limits of 
 equity and moderation. 
 
 We will not be wanting in our endeavours that 
 the Irish nation, in her present anxious position, 
 may not pass the boundaries of equity and justice.” 
 
 In speaking of the calumny and misstatements 
 of part of the English press, their Lordships con¬ 
 clude by saying:— 
 
 WE CANNOT IGNORE THE FACT THAT 
 IN CERTAIN JOURNALS WHICH ARE PUB¬ 
 LISHED IN ENGLAND MANY STATEMENTS 
 ARE MADE WHICH ARE BASED ONLY 
 ON LIES AND CALUMNIES, AND ARE 
 MOST UNJUST TO OUR CLERGY AND 
 COUNTRY.” 
 
 Dr. Nulty, the Bishop of Meath, speaking at a 
 
78 
 
 banquet to the clergy and laity of the diocese, held 
 in St. Mary’s College, Mullingar, on Feb. 8th, 1881, 
 said:— 
 
 “He deprecated and condemned any excesses that 
 might accompany the agitation , every good man did 
 so, but they were not responsible , neither was the 
 agitation. He assured them that to him and the 
 Land League there was nothing they detested, 
 abhorred, and deprecated more than those disgraceful 
 outrages that had brought ruin and shame on the 
 country. Now, referring to what he had in an 
 humble way done, to raise his voice against the 
 oppression, against the men who caused misery, 
 pain, and sorrow to our poor people in this country, 
 he could only say that he had done so, and he 
 would do so again. 
 
 He never would stand by and look with com¬ 
 placency, or even patience, at the ruin and desola¬ 
 tion that landlords had brought upon this part 
 of the country. EVICTION CAN AND DOES 
 OFTEN TAKE PLACE, EVEN WHERE 
 THERE IS NO RENT OWING. 
 
 He had been summoned to the late State trials 
 as a witness, and was prepared to give testimony to 
 the facts that he had seen with his own eyes. He 
 had seen seven hundred people turned adrift on the 
 wide world in one day, or rather in two—for it took 
 two days. He had seen their houses levelled to the 
 ground and demolished, while not a single person 
 inside these houses owed one farthing’s rent but 
 one, and that one went round and encouraged the 
 others not to pay their rents. But they did pay 
 them, and he saw the crowbar brigade levelling the 
 
79 
 
 houses of honest men to the ground—houses that 
 sheltered seven hundred human beings. He saw 
 them come to one place where, there were in two 
 houses fever-stricken victims, and the crowbar 
 brigade refused to take them down. Death was 
 very busy there, and they were afraid of catching 
 the disease. 
 
 But the exterminators were determined to carry 
 out their work. They put a winnowing-sheet over 
 these poor sick girls, took the roof from the house, 
 and the exterminator told them to do it carefully, 
 ‘for,’ said he, ‘I hate the bother of coroner’s 
 inquests.’ The house was levelled, and next day 
 his lordship attended these girls and administered 
 the last rites of the Church to them whilst there 
 was no covering over their heads but the canopy 
 of heaven. He saw the police officers, strong 
 rough men, but who had hearts in their bosoms, 
 blubbering like children at the sights of horror 
 that met their eyes. The poor girls—it was in 
 September, with equinoxial gales blowing, satu¬ 
 rated with wet, and with streaks of soot upon their 
 famished faces—presented with the whole scene the 
 saddest and most awful spectacle of suffering 
 humanity he had ever witnessed. He was present 
 in court to give evidence of scenes like these, but 
 he would not be allowe d. He remembered one 
 instance where a man came forward and offered 
 eight years rent in advance if he would be allowed 
 to remain in his little home, but was refused.” 
 
 His Lordship, in referring to the few outrages 
 that had been committed, said— 
 
 “He would not grudge to see the perpetrators of 
 

 80 
 
 these outrages in jail; but these outrages had been 
 exaggerated beyond all reason and truth. That 
 outrages had been committed was beyond all doubt, 
 but those who committed them were not their 
 friends, but they were the friends of the landlords. 
 They repudiated them, and he had himself de¬ 
 nounced them a hundred times. The system of 
 land tenure in this country had been so completely 
 exposed that no one had a word to say in its favour, 
 and but for these outrages the landlords themselves 
 would not have a word to say.” 
 
 In speaking of the hostility entertained by the 
 magistracy to those who connected themselves with 
 the agitation he says— 
 
 “ The greatest crime that any man can commit 
 in the eye of the magistrates was to connect him¬ 
 self with the land agitation. The man, therefore, 
 who had founded a branch of the Land League, or 
 made himself in any way remarkable in that 
 agitation, was guilty of an unpardonable offence in 
 the eye of these magistrates.” 
 
 He drew their attention to the good effects of 
 the Land League, saying— 
 
 The Land League has put the Government 
 under the necessity of promising a Land Bill.” 
 
 His Lordship alludes . to a large number of 
 meetings that have been suppressed by the Govern¬ 
 ment without just cause, remarking—“ The object 
 of the Govergment clearly was the suppression of 
 this land agitation, to put down the expression of 
 public grievances, and stifle public opinion. If 
 that object should succeed, what would be tlm 
 Result ? They would not stifle the agitation of the 
 
81 
 
 Land League, but they would convert the open 
 agitation of the Land League into a SECRET 
 AGITATION. 
 
 They would, he was afraid, convert these local 
 branches into secret societies, and the whole 
 country would be covered with secret societies— 
 with Fenianism and Ribbonism—the country 
 would become ungovernable, and the landlords 
 themselves would have to run for their lives. 
 He referred to the Bessborough Land Commission, 
 as showing how public opinion had forced the justice 
 of the tenants’ cause, upon even these who might be 
 supposed to be adverse to their claims. The Land 
 League orators had by their exertions, created a 
 golden opportunity, by which Gladstone’s Govern¬ 
 ment could cover themselves with imperishable 
 glory. Instead of that they had inundated the 
 country with police and military ” 
 
 Speaking about the effects a just Land Bill 
 would have upon the people he said—“ If even 
 now, Gladstone would bring in a good Land Bill, 
 which he hoped he would, establishing the prin¬ 
 ciples of the three F’s, with peasant proprietary, as ^ 
 quickly as practicable, the 600,000 tenant farmers \ 
 in Ireland would become the most loyal and 
 efficient troops, Her Majesty could have in this 
 country ; happiness and prosperity would reign, 
 outrages would vanish, and there would be no 
 more peaceable country in the world. He hoped 
 that a Land Bill satisfactory to the people would 
 be passed, and if so this country would be one of 
 the most flourishing in the British Empire, and he 
 hoped its temporal prosperity would be in some 
 sense equal to its spiritual prosperity, for, as to 
 the morals of the Irish people, in that respect 
 there was no nation their superior.” 
 
 
82 
 
 CHAPTER YU. 
 
 And our oppression hath made up this league. 
 
 King John , Act 3 , Scene 1. 
 
 The following is an extract from a letter written 
 in February of this year by the Most Rev. Dr. 
 Nulty, Bishop of Meath, addressed to the clergy 
 and laity of his diocese, in defence of the Land 
 League agitation. 
 
 He writes:- 44 The present land movement exhibits 
 all the symptoms of a thoroughly effective remedy 
 for this chronic social malady. Voluntary and 
 peaceful combination by tenant-farmers to attain 
 their just rights, accompanied by a stern but dis¬ 
 criminating ostracism of traitors, is the principle 
 on which it is founded. 
 
 That principle is not novel or strange, for it 
 underlies all the numerous and influential corpor¬ 
 ations, which are known in these islands by the 
 name of trades unions. Voluntary combination is 
 the soul that animates these organisations ; it is 
 the source of their efficiency and strength. But 
 although the 'principle itself is not new, its appli¬ 
 cation by tenant-farmers against their landlord 
 masters is quite new ; and, notwithstanding the 
 astonishing simplicty of the 4 new use * now made 
 of it, to Mr. Parnell, belongs the credit of being 
 the first to discover it. I think it was the famous 
 J. J. Rousseau, that observed, that, 4 the highest 
 philosophy was to discover the great practical 
 truths that are lying at our feet all our lives long.”’ 
 
 There can be no doubt that the above remarks 
 directed towards Boycotting, are perfectly correct. 
 
and must so appear to every thinking and business 
 man. There can he no great good, without some 
 mixture of evil, and strong remedies are at all 
 times somewhat distasteful, but the principle here 
 involved is perfectly legal, and has proved itself an 
 efficient weapon for the good of the cause. 
 
 The Bishop continues:—“The practical develop¬ 
 ments of this principle, in the organisations thus 
 founded on it are substantially at least the same in 
 both. As trades-unionists combine for the purpose 
 of extorting from reluctant capitalists, a fair re¬ 
 muneration for their labour, so tenant-farmers 
 unite their scattered energies in a combined effort, 
 to protect themselves from being despoiled of their 
 honest earnings, by a class of men, who were never 
 known voluntarily, to have left them what would 
 enable them to live as civilised human beings. 
 
 Trades-unionists, through thepassive but power¬ 
 ful intervention of ‘ strikes,’ force their employer 
 to make a fair division of the enormous profits, he 
 often draws from the high prices of commodities 
 which their labour, as well as his capital, co-operate 
 to produce. In like manner, tenant-farmers, now 
 offer an united resistance to the usurpation of 
 landlords who plunder them substantially of the 
 whole of the agricultural products, which their 
 labour and capital extracted from the soil, and to 
 the production of which, the landlord’s capital 
 or industry never contributed anything.” 
 
 His Lordship unmistakeably displays a thorough 
 knowledge of the question, and the free, open, and 
 unbiassed manner in which he speaks, is worthy 
 of notioe. 
 
In describing the result, so far as effected by the 
 agitation, he says, “ There is a likelihood that rack- 
 rents, exterminations, and the grim and ghastly 
 exploits of the crowbar brigade are past and gone 
 for ever. And this is only the beginning of the 
 wonderful results of the land movement which 
 Mr. Parnell has originated.” 
 
 Speaking of the wide spread interest the land 
 movement has enkindled, he says, “It has already 
 attracted the attention and awakened the keenest 
 interest in America, as well as in Europe. I can 
 bear personal testimony to the fact, that its merits 
 or demerits are canvassed almost as carefully in the 
 French and Italian journals as in our own. 
 
 The hideous injustice of the present system of 
 land tenure, which this movement assails, has been 
 vehemently denounced by statesmen in every age, 
 as well as by Mr. Gladstone, and Mr. Bright, in our 
 own. 
 
 Good landlords themselves, felt ashamed of 
 the arbitrary power it placed in their hands, partic¬ 
 ularly when they saw it had been so frightfully 
 abused. It is, moreover, responsible for the forced 
 expatriation of the larger section of our race, and for 
 the degradation, and impoverishment of the smaller 
 that remained at home, not to talk of the thousands 
 upon thousands, whom, through hunger and starva¬ 
 tion, it sent to premature graves. 
 
 Though everyoue who thought at all admitted 
 its injustice, no one till now ever succeeded in 
 pointing out practical and effective means, for put¬ 
 ting an end to it. Mr. Gladstone’s Land Bill of 
 1870, instead of mitigating, has positively aggra- . 
 
85 
 
 Vated and infused fresh vitality and vigour, into 
 many of the most galling of its characteristic 
 injustices. But the present Land Movement, 
 exhibits all the symptoms of a thoroughly effective 
 remedy, for this chronic social malady. Voluntary 
 and peaceful combination by tenant farmers, to 
 attain their just rights, accompanied by a stern 
 but discriminating ostracism of traitors, is the 
 principle on which it is founded.” 
 
 The Bishop hits upon a happy and powerful 
 argument, when he compares the action of the Irish 
 Tenant Farmers with those of the Trade Unionists 
 in this country, clearly proving, that the present 
 agitation in Ireland, is carried on as honestly as is 
 possible under the circumstances. He says:— 
 
 “In one particular, however, the moderation 
 and sense of justice, shown by the tenant farmers, 
 stands in striking contrast with the rapacity of 
 trade unionists who, when they have the power, 
 never leave their employer more than the ordinary 
 profits of trade on his capital, and often allow him 
 no profits at all. Trades unionists have often dis¬ 
 graced themselves by extorting from their employers 
 not only all that was just, but all that was possible, 
 for them to take from him. 
 
 The action taken by the tenant farmers shows 
 that they have repudiated that principle. They 
 have not, therefore, fallen back on their own 
 personal interested views, for what they might 
 of the landlord’s property, or for the amount 
 of rent which was justly due to him for the 
 use of it. As far as I know, at least, they 
 regard as an equitable estimate of the value 
 
86 
 
 have universally accepted Sir Richard Griffith’s 
 valuation, as a standard of justice for determining 
 the amount of their indebtedness to their landlords. 
 
 If anyone should say that Griffith’s valuation was 
 defective, he cannot, at any rate, maintain that it is 
 one-sided, for it tells equally against both interests, 
 and, on the other hand, its ability, its impartiality, 
 and its justice in the main far exceed those of any 
 other valuation now accessible. Thus the tenant 
 farmers have shown the highest sense of justice, by 
 adopting the fairest and most impartial standard 
 of justice known to them; but they are not so 
 wedded to Griffith’s valuation, as not to be quite 
 prepared to relinquish it when a higher or a fairer 
 one is provided for them.” 
 
 Referring to the action of the landlords, as 
 opposed to that of the tenants, his Lordship is 
 equally successful, in the direction and strength of 
 his argument:— 
 
 “ But their moderation and respect for the 
 rights of others, will be seen in a still clearer light, 
 when contrasted with the course of action invariably 
 taken by the landlords themselves. Who ever 
 heard of landlords adopting Griffith’s, or any other 
 impartial valuation, as a standard of justice, when 
 fixing the rents they have exacted from their 
 tenantry for centuries ? The principle they have 
 been guided by, in determining the amount of their 
 rental, was not the value of their lands as estimated 
 by any independent tribunal, but as estimated 
 themselves, that is to say, the rents they exacted 
 were all that their selfishness, their avarice, their 
 extravagance and necessities demanded; and that, 
 
87 
 
 at least as a rule, amounted to the last shilling the 
 tenant was able to pay. They merely left him 
 the means to eke out a miserable existence, which 
 was the next worst thing to having no existence 
 at all.” 
 
 The Eight Eev. writer then proceeds to give 
 the following quotation from the book of Mr. Bence 
 Jones, which adds force to the Bishop’s previous 
 line of argument:— 
 
 “ The now notorious Mr. Bence Jones, in his 
 book published some time ago, forcibly and truth¬ 
 fully writes of his class, as well as of himself, when 
 he says, * Whenever there were no leases the rents 
 were considerably raised. I was under no engage¬ 
 ment, express or implied, with these tenants, and 
 therefore felt at liberty to make my own terms 
 with them I accordingly let them the land at the 
 highest rent, in my opinion, it was worth. This 
 was often a very considerable advance on the 
 former rent, but was still less than, in my judgment, 
 the land was intrinsically worth, and than I be¬ 
 lieved I could make of it by farming it myself. 
 It could not have been carried through, unless the 
 men had known I should take up the land myself, 
 if my offer was not accepted; but nevertheless 
 there was terrible grumbling in every case, and 
 vehement predictions of certain ruin under such a 
 rent.’ 
 
 Thus did Mr. Bence Jones act as judge and 
 jury in his own case; in a case in which his own 
 personal interests were deeply involved, and in 
 which he had the power of life and death over his 
 helpless tenantry. The alternative before them 
 
Was either to accept Mr. Bence Jones’s valuation 
 of his own lands, with the right of grumbling at 
 its injustice, and continuing to live on; or of 
 rejecting it, to be evicted, and then die in a ditch 
 or in a poorhouse.” 
 
 Referring to the foregoing quotation, the Bishop 
 writes:— 
 
 “ And yet the harsh and unjust conditions thus 
 dictated by an arbitrary and irresponsible landlord, 
 to fellow-creatures who were completely at his 
 mercy, are profanely dignified by the sacred names 
 of contracts. 
 
 A simple statement of the nature and mean¬ 
 ing of contracts, is sufficient to show, that they 
 can hardly be regarded, as not even plausible 
 counterfeits. A contract is a sacred engagement, 
 voluntarily and deliberately entered into by two 
 parties, who are free and independentof each other; 
 who are not awed or intimidated by coercion or 
 force, and who are beyond the reach of any moral 
 or physical cause, that could diminish or impede 
 their freedom. Liberty to contract or not to con¬ 
 tract, to accept or reject the terms of the contract, 
 exclusively on their own merits, and totally unin¬ 
 fluenced by any other cause or consideration what¬ 
 ever, enter into the very essence and nature of a 
 binding contract. 
 
 The arbitrary and oppressive terms extorted 
 at pleasure by landlords, from men who are 
 completely in their power, and who in fact have 
 no liberty at all, prove the landlord himself 
 to be an absolute despot, an/ the tenant to be 
 nothing better than a helpless, degraded slave 
 
89 
 
 
 The efforts therefore made, not only by writers in 
 the English and landlord press, hnt quite recently 
 by the judges in courts of law, as well as by states¬ 
 men in the House of Commons, to invest any 
 engagement entered into by such parties with the 
 sacred character of contracts, or to claim for them 
 the binding force of the holiest covenants known 
 amongst men, are not only dishonest, but posi¬ 
 tively profane. Hence, the passionate and indis¬ 
 criminate denunciation of non-payment of rent as 
 a violation of ‘ sacred contracts ’ is not only unrea¬ 
 sonable but unjust.” 
 
 I am clearly of his Lordship’s opinion, as 
 expressed in the following quotation from his 
 letter, in which he says :— 
 
 “ A wail of injured justice rang through the 
 columns of landlord organs some time ago, at what 
 they alleged to be the avowed determination of 
 tenant farmers, ‘ to pay for their lands what they 
 believed them to be worth, and no more.’ But the 
 tenant farmers never did, and never could, avow 
 or act on such a principle, and certainly they were 
 never encouraged by any public authority to do so. 
 But, had they done so, they would only do to the 
 landlords, the very same injustice the landlords had 
 done to themselves for centuries. 
 
 But the object at which they really aim is not to 
 reciprocate present injustice for past wrongs, but 
 to wrest their clear, indisputable, and important 
 rights in the present, as well as in the future, 
 from landlords who will not voluntarily surrender 
 them.” 
 
 The writer, after recounting as below, the 
 
 Qt 
 
90 
 
 success which has attended the agitation, remarks 
 upon the want of sympathy hitherto displayed by 
 the public—a want which I sincerely trust will he 
 gradually hut surely supplied :— 
 
 “ The successes which they have already 
 achieved are most startling and exceptional. The 
 Land League movement has, within the short 
 period of its active existence, extorted from land¬ 
 lords vast sums of money, which may be counted 
 not merely by thousands, but by millions of pounds 
 sterling. 
 
 The late Mr. Mill, the deepest thinker of his 
 day, and the ablest economist that ever lived, 
 demonstrated to evidence, a quarter of a century 
 ago, the rottenness and injustice of the Irish laws 
 of land tenure. He showed they stood condemned, 
 by every principle of justice and of reason; that 
 they robbed the people of a whole nation, not only 
 of their property, but of every motive and incentive 
 for industry, thrift, and exertion to better and 
 improve their condition. But Mill’s powerful and 
 eloquent exposure of this gigantic wrong has ever 
 since attracted but comparatively little attention. 
 
 Though its real character was thus clearly exposed 
 in treatises on Political Economy, in the outer 
 world it remained utterly unknown. It continued, 
 nevertheless, a living, active, and powerfully ener¬ 
 getic principle of evil, the secret but fruitful source 
 of enormous suffering to honest, industrious men, 
 whose properties it confiscated, whose liberties it 
 curtailed, and whose whole lives it embittered. To 
 counter-balance the odium and unpopularity it had 
 created, and to commend itself to the veneration, 
 
91 
 
 and religious feelings of the people, it appealed to 
 the ‘sacred rights of property,’ to the ‘sanctity and 
 inviolability of contracts,’ as if all these were 
 impiously violated, by anyone who would dare to 
 question it, or complain of the sufferings it caused 
 him. 
 
 Availing itself of the arbitrary power under 
 its control, it surrounded itself with an atmosphere 
 of terrorism, which made it dangerous to question 
 its character, or complain of its cruelties. A tenant , 
 who, smarting under some galling injustice, would 
 have the rashness to cry out that he was wronged, 
 soon found, that his presumption was chastised by 
 a rise in his rent, or perhaps by a process of eject¬ 
 ment which, of course, meant for him utter ruin. A 
 patriot who would venture to direct public attention, 
 to the harsh andarbitrary dealings of a landlord with 
 his tenants, ran the risk of being thrown into goal, 
 on an action for ‘ defamation of character. ’ His 
 dreary imprisonment would not be cheered by the 
 consciousness, that he had at least the sympathy 
 of public opinion. Public opinion was not merely 
 unsympathetic, but positively hostile to him.” 
 
 Continuing in the same strain of powerful 
 reasoning the writer shows the wonderful oppor¬ 
 tunity which presents itself to the present Govern¬ 
 ment, and which we trust it will not neglect, of 
 doing justice where it is so much needed :— 
 
 “ But now the courage, the eloquence, and the 
 tremendous efforts of the Land League orators, 
 supported by the cordial co-operation of priests 
 and laymen throughout the country, have at length 
 dragged this monstrous injustice, out of the ‘sacred.’ 
 
92 
 
 darkness in which it has enshrined itself. They 
 have compelled an impatient, a reluctant, and 
 even a hostile public, to gaze steadily at it for 
 months past, and they have let in on it a flood of 
 light, that revealed in it excesses of wickedness and 
 iniquity, that have astonished the world, and have 
 forced the landlords themselves to cry out, ‘ that a 
 change of some sort was necessary.’ 
 
 Felons and conspirators though they maybe, Mr. 
 Gladstone owes them, not the vexatious injustice of 
 a State prosecution under obsolete laws, which, after 
 all, they had not violated, but a deep debt of thankful¬ 
 ness, for the splendid sacrifices, by which, they have 
 succeeded in carrying the Land Question, into the 
 region of ‘ practical politics.’ They have created 
 a golden opportunity, in which he and his Govern¬ 
 ment, (if they are not entirely demented) may cover 
 themselves with imperishable glory, by passing a 
 Land Bill, that will content and pacify for ever, a 
 nation whose past history alternated between 
 successive periods of starvation, and chronic rebel¬ 
 lion. The Land League has further cleared the 
 ground, and swept away, every obstacle that 
 can possibly impede any Land Bill, that the Glad¬ 
 stone Government think it right to pass into law. 
 
 Any argument or rational objection that could be 
 offered to such a measure, has long since been 
 thoroughly disposed of, and public opinion has 
 been enlightened, and educated up to a point, at 
 which the Times newspaper itself, as well as the 
 Bessborough Committee, were forced to confess, 
 that there was practical unanimity on the three F’s 
 at any rate. 
 
93 
 
 4 
 
 But if it be alleged that the fate ok a great 
 measure like this is decided very often in Parlia¬ 
 ment, not by the weight of argument, but of 
 numbers, it may be answered, that the argument 
 from the weight of numbers, is of no consequence 
 either. The landlords may grumble and complain, 
 but they will hardly offer any serious opposition. 
 No law that Parliament can pass, will deprive them 
 of a single privilege, of which the unwritten la^ o^ 
 public opinion has not morally despoiled them of 
 already.” 
 
94 
 
 CHAPTER Yin. 
 
 Now breathless wrong 
 
 Shall sit and pant in your great chairs of ease. 
 
 And pursy insolence shall break his wind 
 
 With fear and horrid flight. 
 
 Timon of Athens , Act 5 , Scene 5. 
 
 Pursuing the same course of thought as in the 
 preceding chapter the Doctor proclaims the impo¬ 
 tence of the landlord interest, as opposed to the 
 will of the tenantry, and urges this significant fact, 
 upon the minds of Mr. John Bright and his 
 colleagues:— 
 
 “ The landlords themselves, now feel that a 
 strong public opinion, has recently sprung up in 
 Ireland. The opinions, convictions, and public 
 spirit of the tenant farmers and of the country 
 generally have, within a very short period, under¬ 
 gone a radical and comprehensive change. They 
 have been elevated and improved to a degree, that 
 could hardly have been expected. 
 
 The tenant farmers have discovered, that they 
 possess within themselves a tremendous power, of 
 which they had hitherto been quite unconscious, 
 but which they now thoroughly understand, and 
 which in a just cause, can never fail to be successful. 
 They conformed literally, to the instructions issued 
 by Mr. Bright in his Rochdale speech, for the 
 guidance of popular movements.—‘ They met 
 together in their thousands ; they looked each other 
 in the face. 
 
 “ The Land League orators, who comprehended 
 their grievances, discussed them fairly before thenv 
 
95 
 
 and they thought them out thoroughly themselves 
 afterwards.’ They have already formulated their 
 convictions, and proclaimed them to he—the estab¬ 
 lishment of a universal peasant proprietary, with 
 as little delay as possible, and, in the interim, fixity 
 of tenure, fair rents, and free sale. Let Mr. Bright, 
 then, and their other rulers—‘ take their voice as 
 significant of the will of the country, and give the 
 country that which it has demanded.’ ” 
 
 The unity of the tenantry, next occupies the 
 attention of the writer, and he fully demonstrates 
 the necessity of unity, and the fact, that it has been 
 successfully accomplished by the efforts of the 
 Land League, and it is obvious, that, as “unity is 
 strength,” so must this agitation prove in the end 
 successful. 
 
 “ Another most important result followed from 
 these public meetings. The tenant farmers, by 
 meeting each other oftener, by knowing each other 
 more intimately, by fearing each other less, and trust¬ 
 ing each other more, and by acting together for their 
 common good, gradually arrived at a strong and 
 and clear conviction, of the irresistible power of 
 their combined action, for the advancement of 
 their interests, as a class or as individuals, They 
 now feel, that their isolated efforts, were sheer weak¬ 
 ness, to be laughed at, but that their united action is 
 a power that cannot be trifled with. 
 
 They now employ that power, to secure the sanc¬ 
 tion and approval of public opinion, for two simple 
 but most important principles; first, that no man be 
 called on, to pay a higher rent for his land, than that 
 fixed by Griffith’s valuation, or by some other fair and 
 
96 
 
 impartial valuation, taken as a standard of justice; 
 second, that no man takes a farm from which a 
 tenant has been evicted, for the non-payment of a rent, 
 which, according to the above-mentioned standard, 
 should be regarded as unjust or exorbitant. 
 
 The organisation they have set on foot, for the at¬ 
 tainment of these objects, is not a combination for the 
 express, or implied design of positive aggression, but 
 purely for the purpose of self defence. They do 
 not want to interfere with the rights of others; 
 they wish merely to defend their own. 
 
 It is no injustice to refuse to pay for land, a rent 
 above its fair value ; and a landlord who has evicted 
 a tenant, who is willing and able to pay a fair rent for 
 his farm, can hardly complain, if others refuse to co¬ 
 operate and encourage him, to repeat the injustice. 
 
 The real question, then, is—can we discover in 
 this tenant combination, the elements of cohesion, 
 durability, and strength that will enable it to stand 
 the strain soon to be put on it, in the tremendous 
 struggle that certainly lies before it ? Will the 
 tenant-farmers keep loyally together, and thus be 
 able to wield the power of combined action, which 
 will make them masters of the situation, anteced¬ 
 ently to the action of the Legislature, which they 
 have every right to expect will aid them? It 
 appears to me, that the intrinsic character; and 
 constitution of this organization, viewed in 
 the present enlightened state of public opinion, 
 furnishes unanswerable proofs, that it cannot end 
 in failure. 
 
 I feel that no words of mine, can suggest more 
 serious thoughts, or help to make understood, the 
 
97 
 
 noble sentiments, contained in the following extract 
 from this wonderful letter. It clearly shows, that 
 the Catholic Clergy are grossly maligned, when 
 they are charged with fostering the seeds of re¬ 
 bellion and discontent, and also, that the injustice 
 of the laws, turns honest men into misanthropliic, 
 and determined political criminals. 
 
 “ A tendency to associate and to organise, par¬ 
 ticularly on the question of land, is one of the 
 peculiarities, and, I might add, one of the weak¬ 
 nesses of our national character. This tendency is 
 not a strong, clear conviction, created by the exer¬ 
 cise of reason, but rather a passion, or an instinct, 
 which is very often indeed enlightened and guided 
 by reason, but which sometimes, too, puts forth 
 its greatest strength, when not under the control 
 of reason at all. It is essentially restless and 
 active, and must give vent to its irrepressible en¬ 
 ergies, through some outlet or another. It will 
 readily expend its superabundant activity in public, 
 open, and legal organizations, set on foot for the 
 attainment of necessary and salutary reforms; 
 but, failing these, it will infallibly throw off its 
 surplus energies, in the first secret combination it 
 may happen to fall in with. 
 
 Ribbonism or Fenianism, are by no means the 
 worst of the secret confederacies, which it is pre¬ 
 pared heartily to join. It is only when it has 
 shaken off the control of reason and religion, ana 
 thrown itself enthusiastically into the arms of one 
 of these organisations, that we can fully realise, 
 tne absolute and despotic sway in which it holds its 
 victims, as it were spell-bound. 
 
98 
 
 * 
 
 During a long missionary career, especially whilst 
 acting chaplain to two jails for seventeen yeais, it 
 became my duty, many and many a time, to remon¬ 
 strate with men who where literally enslaved to this 
 principle of evil. I warned them that the secret 
 confederation in which they had enrolled themselves, 
 stood condemned by reason and by religion; that the 
 objects it had proposed to itself were impraticable. 
 or, if not, they were worthless, and very often 
 wicked; that by becoming members of this con¬ 
 federacy they ceased to be living members of God’s 
 Church; that the miscreants who had ‘ sworn them 
 in,’ were perjured traitors who were only waiting 
 for the opportunity, in which they could sell their 
 liberties and themselves at the highest price; that 
 in entering this combination, they placed their necks 
 in the halter; and that they would probably leave 
 it, for the convict ship or the gallows-tree; that, 
 therefore, the very instinct of self-preservation, 
 imperatively demanded of them at once to quit 
 their connection with it. 
 
 These warnings were at all times acknowledged 
 to be salutary, charitable, and well-intentioned; 
 but invariably they made no practical impression 
 whatever. The men to whom they had been 
 addressed, (quite unconsciously to themselves) had 
 lost the full use of their reason, and the free exer¬ 
 cise of then’ liberty. In the best faith, they 
 mistook that blind irrational instinct, for a patri¬ 
 otic feeling of the highest and noblest character, 
 and the strong and generous impulses of their 
 misguided patriotism, could not fail to excite one’s 
 admiration, as well as one’s pity. They frankly 
 
99 
 
 admitted the appalling gravity of the risks they ran, 
 the painful sacrifices of character, of personal com¬ 
 forts and liberty, they might be called on to make; 
 but then, when their country demanded these sacri¬ 
 fices, it would be treachery as well as cowardice 
 to shrink from making them ; it would be treason, 
 then, to break with the confederations they had 
 joined. 
 
 Having lost all hope of being ever able, by lawful 
 means, to redress their country’s wrongs, they felt 
 persuaded that, through these secret confederacies, 
 they would at least be able to avenge them terribly. 
 Deeds of violence, of intimidation, of lawlessness, 
 and even of blood, then became the ordinary and 
 natural incidents, of the desperate war they re¬ 
 solved to make—to rid their country of all forms of 
 oppression, particularly, of the hatred tyranny of 
 landlordism. 
 
 Their career of crime was sometimes long, and 
 sometimes short, but it always ended in convictions, 
 that doomed scores of these men to the convict ship, 
 or to terms of long imprisonment, and their fate 
 failed to prove a deterrent, or a warning, to the 
 unbroken stream of similarly misguided youths, who 
 followed closely in their footsteps.” 
 
 I am decidedly opposed to the policy of coercion, 
 and fully share the Prelate’s ideas subjoined : 
 
 “ Should the Government, then, be guilty of the 
 inexcusable folly of supressing the right of open 
 organisations and of public meetings ; should they 
 stifle freedom of speech and liberty to agitate for 
 the redress of public grievances, then it would 
 appear to me to bo so much the worse for the 
 
100 
 
 Government, and for the landlords too; the country 
 would then become simply ungovernable, and the 
 landlords, I am afraid, would he forced literally ‘ to 
 run for their lives.’ But should the Government 
 not interfere, with the right of freedom of speech, 
 and of public meetings, so wisely allowed by the 
 constitution, then we would have in that peculiarity 
 of our national character, in its ever active and 
 irrepressible energy, a strong guarantee, for a long 
 and prosperous career, for the present land move¬ 
 ment. That guarantee would be supplemented by 
 another element of strength in the strong feeling of 
 self-interest by which it would be supported.” 
 
 Remedial measures om the contrary are, in my 
 opinion, a matter not only of necessity, but of 
 policy; and still quoting from the same clever 
 writer, I can only reiterate my complete concurrence 
 in his views. 
 
 “A just and comprehensive Land Bill, would 
 relieve the tenant farmers of Ireland, from the pay¬ 
 ment of several millions of pounds sterling annually. 
 That immense sum, would be divided amongst them 
 individually, in shares, proportioned to the amount 
 of rack-rent they had been suffering from. It 
 would further benefit immensely, though indirectly, 
 all classes in the community, from the increase of 
 money, that would be brought into circulation 
 amongst them. 
 
 Here, then, we have another powerful re¬ 
 commendation to the tenant farmers of Ireland in 
 favour of a movement which has done so much 
 lor them already in the same direction. 
 
 Again, no one longs so passionately, lor the re- 
 
101 
 
 OoVery of his freedom, as the man who has long 
 endured the humiliation and degradation of slavery. 
 Now, the tenant farmers of Ireland, were no better 
 than slaves at any time. Their peace of mind, 
 their material comforts, the privilege of living in 
 the home in which they were born, their right to 
 earn their bread, on the farms which their fore¬ 
 fathers had enriched by their toil,—all depended 
 on the arbitrary will of an irresponsible landlord. 
 Give such a man then, only a chance of regaining 
 his independence; of acquiring the right of looking 
 his landlord straight in the face, and feeling that 
 he was free, and he will cheerfully run any risks, to 
 possess himself of the priceless gift of freedom.” 
 
 The main object of the Land League is next 
 introduced, and I am sure that the consummation 
 of that object, must be wished for by all lovers of 
 liberty. 
 
 “The emancipation of the tenant farmers from 
 their present servitude, is exactly the main object 
 of the Land League movement. I therefore infer, 
 that the Land League agitation, is not a sudden, 
 short-lived, and passing outburst of popular feeling, 
 but rather a strong, solid, and irresistible social 
 movement, founded on justice and truth, and sus¬ 
 tained by powerful," active, and energetic principles 
 of human action, which guarantee to it an existence, 
 that will survive all our land grievances, and which 
 will terminate, only by the extirpation of the last of 
 them.” 
 
 It appears to me that in these considerations 
 will be found the secret of the almost universal 
 popularity, which the land movement has gained 
 
102 
 
 and the extraordinary successes it has already 
 achieved. It may, I think, be fairly stated, that 
 its principles have received the hearty and em¬ 
 phatic approval, of virtually the whole nation, and, 
 consequently, that they are now an integral part, 
 of what has been called, the * unwritten law’ of the 
 country. 
 
 The authority quoted below is worthy of the 
 reader’s consideration :— 
 
 “Another proof of that fact, is found in the 
 Report of the Bessborougli Land Commission, just 
 published. The social position, the well known 
 character, and political leanings of the Bessborough 
 Commissioners, coupled with circumstances sur¬ 
 rounding their appointment, were not at all 
 calculated, to raise them above a well-grounded 
 suspicion, of partiality and one sidedness; and 
 therefore, the tenant farmers look forward, with 
 no small uneasiness and alarm, to the result of 
 what was admitted would be an able and an 
 exhaustive enquiry. 
 
 No one certainly expected they would award, a 
 larger amount of approval to the tenant’s claims, 
 than they were in strict justice entitled to. The 
 Commissioners appealed for information directly 
 to the whole nation ; and the distinct answer, 
 given by the nation to that inquiry, as authorita¬ 
 tively stated in their report, is tantamount, to an 
 emphatic sanction, of the principles and aims of 
 the Land League. 
 
 In recommending nxity of tenure, fair rents, and 
 free sale, accompanied by a warm encouragement, 
 for the establishment of a peasant proprietary, aa 
 
103 
 
 far as they deemed it practicable, they substantially 
 exhaust the Land League programme, whilst a 
 universal peasant proprietary, is looked forward 
 to by such distinguished and moderate statesmen, 
 as the O’Connor Don and Lord Dufferin, as the 
 only final settlement of the question. Thus, then, 
 do we learn on the highest and the most unpreju¬ 
 diced authority, that the Land League programme 
 has, by the sanction and approval of the national 
 will, now become an important part, of the ‘un¬ 
 written law ’ of the country.” 
 
 On the broad question of the unwritten law, I 
 must give the Bishop’s remarks in extenso :— 
 
 “ Civilised nations have in every age governed 
 themselves by ‘ unwritten ’ as well as by ‘ written ’ 
 laws, and no man ever doubted, that the moral 
 force imparted to the unwritten law by the national 
 will, was the next best thing to the binding force 
 imparted to the written law, by the positive sanc¬ 
 tion of the Legislature. The ‘ unwritten ’ supplied 
 the defects, and supplemented the deficiencies of 
 the ‘ written ’ law, and its various provisions, 
 according as they became more highly developed, 
 and more distinctly defined, kept gradually passing 
 into the written or statute law, especially under 
 the British Constitution. 
 
 The intrinsic justice of an ‘unwritten’ law, (like 
 the tenants’claims now), its wisdom, and its effect¬ 
 ive capability for the advancement of the public 
 good, formed the exclusive grounds, on which it 
 rested its claims, to the respect and obedience of 
 the community. The coercive authority by which 
 it was enforced, and made effective did not display 
 
104 
 
 itself in deeds of ‘lawful’ force like the written 
 law, and much less in deeds of ‘unlawful’ force 
 and violence, but in the emphatic condemnation and 
 censure, by which public opinion visited anyone 
 who had the rashness to run counter, to the 
 expressed wishes and desires of the whole commu¬ 
 nity. Nothing could weaken its binding force, or 
 bring it into odium and contempt so effectually, 
 as an attempt to support, or bolster it up by violence, 
 intimidation, or outrage. 
 
 The assertion, therefore, of the tenants’ 
 claims, cannot lean on crimes of lawlessness ; but, 
 it must regard the perpetrators of these wicked 
 deeds, as its deadliest enemies. Even public denun¬ 
 ciations of individuals, ‘ marking out ’ obnoxious 
 persons, as special objects of popular dislike and 
 hatred, are not only not necessary, but positively 
 most injurious, to its efficiency and success. 
 
 Public opinion does not require to be enlightened, 
 directed, or instructed by individuals, or by public 
 bodies, to enable it to detect and censure offenders 
 Public opinion is of itself far more enlightened and 
 intelligent, and immeasurably more just and dis¬ 
 criminating than its would-be instructors. It is, 
 moreover, ubiquitous, and everywhere active and 
 vigilant, and always on the alert, besides being so 
 searchingly inquisitive, that nothing can escape it. 
 If it cannot, therefore, fail to discover and censure 
 real offenders, so it can never punish anyone 
 unjustly, for a whole community can never con¬ 
 spire or chastise with the censure of public opinion 
 anyone who does not really deserve it. 
 
 I know of no state of existence more wretched 
 
105 
 
 Or more unenviable than that of a man, who has 
 merited and received the condemnation, of an 
 enlightened public opinion. Undoubtedly he is free 
 from all fear of violence against his person, his pro¬ 
 perty, or his family. But then he knows that every 
 man he meets dislikes him, and fears him, and 
 regards him as guilty, of grievous wrong to the public, 
 and to himself personally. Not a hard word is ever 
 heard publicly spoken of him, and everyone’s 
 demeanour to him is frigidly polite and civil; but 
 then, as no one is bound to maintain friendly or 
 familiar relations with him, he will soon find that 
 everybody will quickly ‘ cut him.’ He will then 
 soon be reduced to a state of social isolation more 
 intolerable than the convict’s cell in his county 
 jail. Many a convict, during his dreary imprison¬ 
 ment, will have a lighter and happier mind. 
 
 You may call the power that created this state of 
 existence, intimidation, if you will; but then, it is 
 not the intimidation of one section of the com¬ 
 munity by another ; it is the nation intimidating 
 itself, and compelling all its members to observe 
 the laws enacted for its good government. It is 
 not the begotten of violence, or of force, and it 
 cannot be even alleged, that the inflammatory 
 harangues of agitators or demagogues, has created 
 or encouraged it. 
 
 It is purely the result of public opinion itself, in 
 its highest state of enlightenment, I therefore con¬ 
 clude that the Land League agitation has raised 
 the tenant farmers’ claims to the dignity of an 
 ‘unwritten law,’ which is sustained by a moral 
 power, which, if not weakened by outrage or vio- 
 
 u 
 
106 
 
 lence, is simply irresistible, and cannot fail to 
 impart to it a binding force, which is the next best 
 thing to the sanction of the Legislature. 
 
 This unwritten law is now clamouring for leave 
 to pass into the written or statute law of the coun¬ 
 try, and the Legislature cannot much longer refuse 
 its sanction to its admission.” 
 
 I give in full, the following excellent peroration or 
 ending to Dr. Nulty’s splendid letter. While 
 approving the acts of the Land League, he dis¬ 
 approves, as a head of a religious body, of some of 
 the utterances of its members, but, I venture to 
 assert that the suppositions of the Bishop, that 
 “ they were thoughtless and unpremeditated,” is 
 correct. I certainly do not believe that on every 
 occasion the leaders of the Land League have been 
 discreet in their utterances, but at the same time 
 their WILD words have not been followed by the 
 results dreaded, a fact which in itself proves that 
 the movement is not at the mercy or under the 
 control of mere oratory, but that the results 
 obtained point to a deep, settled, and legitimate 
 mode of action :— 
 
 “ And now, in concluding this long letter, I may 
 be allowed to observe, that I cheerfully admit that 
 the labours, the sacrifices, and the splendid results 
 achieved by the highly cultivated eloquence of the 
 Land League orators, entitle them to the deep and 
 lasting gratitude of their countrymen. 
 
 It is entirely owing to their exertions, that the 
 tenants’ grievances, which had slept in quiet and 
 contemptuous oblivion, now occupy the undivided 
 attention, of every statesman in the empire; are 
 
107 
 
 now proclaimed from every lip and by every tongue, 
 and have so monopolised public attention that any 
 man who thinks at all cannot speak or write on any 
 other subject. Theirs are the gallant hands, and 
 brave hearts, that have patiently, laboriously, and 
 heroically, pushed the tenants’ claims up the steep 
 ascent, of chronic and deep-rooted prejudice and 
 ignorance, till they have reached a point, at which 
 Parliament itself will no longer trifle with them. 
 
 I, am certainly not the man, to endorse the base 
 and infamous slanders, that have been circulated 
 against their fair fame, by writers in the English or 
 landlord press, by advocates in courts of law, or by 
 passionate, prejudiced, or ignorant speakers in 
 either houses of the Legislature. The Land League 
 agitation and oratory have not fostered or en¬ 
 couraged the commission of crime ; they have, on 
 the contrary, denounced it, condemned it. dimi¬ 
 nished it, and would eventually have extirpated it. 
 
 Whilst, I, therefore, heartily approve of all, or 
 nearly all their acts, I heartily disapprove of some 
 of their sayings. Some of their utterances (they were 
 thoughtless and unpremeditated, no doubt) were 
 wild, rash, and extravagant, and insinuated lean¬ 
 ings to principles, which no just man could defend. 
 I do not pretend to be well versed, in the literature 
 of the Land League oratory, for I was in Rome 
 during the most excited and active period of the 
 agitation. But I believe it to be an ascertained 
 fact, that some of these thoughtless pronounce¬ 
 ments, have created a widespread feeling of un¬ 
 easiness and alarm, that their authors secretly 
 
108 
 
 cherished unfriendly feelings against the religion 
 of the people of this country. 
 
 I honestly believe that the men who spoke these 
 words would regard the feelings they created with 
 abhorrence and aversion ; but I believe, too, that 
 they ought to have kept themselves, above even 
 the suspicion of harbouring such feelings. Gentle¬ 
 men of the Land League, ought not to be surprised 
 if they find us, Catholics, excessively sensitive to 
 anything that has even an appearance of danger 
 to our religion. 
 
 The voice of the highest authority on earth has 
 been already heard on this subject. He never 
 speaks without necessity, and always speaks in 
 words of warning wisdom. He has not condemned 
 the legal and constitutional agitation, of the Land 
 League. He has, to my certain knowledge, said 
 the very contrary; but he confesses to have felt 
 considerable uneasiness, at some of the excesses 
 which have accompanied it. If I am not mistaken, 
 Mr. Parnell felt somewhat in the same way. 
 
 Taine’s ‘ History of the Origin of French Con¬ 
 temporaneous Society’ is about the most instructive 
 book I ever happened to fall in with. This 
 writer makes it quite clear, that a land agitation (in 
 its origin, its causes and objects, the exact counter¬ 
 part of our own) was the first act of that terrible 
 popular movement, which culminated in the fright¬ 
 ful French .Revolution of 1782 , and in which the 
 people gained their civil rights, but completely lost 
 their religion. France is irreligious from that day 
 to the present moment. 
 
 T will not pursue this subject further. I do not 
 
109 
 
 presume to lecture the gentlemen of the Land 
 League, but I think I have a right to offer them a 
 friendly warning, to be on their guard in the 
 future against rash and dangerous utterances, which 
 have created uneasiness and alarm in the minds 
 of men who love their country well, but love their 
 religion more.” 
 
 Judging from the following distressing scene, 
 which occurred at the Kanturk Union, in Ireland, 
 on Saturday, January 22nd, 1881, it is not coer¬ 
 cion that the Irish people want, but work, 
 or the establishment of laws that will conduce to 
 the finding of work for the people, not laws that 
 tend to neutralise the eternal decrees of God. 
 The report is as under:— 
 
 The People Frantically Imploring Work. 
 
 Longbefore the hour for the sitting of the board, 
 the reception hall, or what is known as the “ front 
 house,” was filled to excess with men, women, and 
 children, principally men, all seeking relief. It 
 was a piteous spectacle, to observe upwards of 
 eighty stalwart labourers, with famished counte¬ 
 nances waiting in the hall to see if any employ¬ 
 ment could be afforded them, in order to relieve 
 their starving families. The day being extremely 
 cold, there was but a very small attendance. The 
 clerk informed the meeting, that he had read over 
 the act with reference to out door relief, and he 
 found, that the guardians were not empowered to 
 give out door relief to able-bodied men, but they 
 could admit them into the house, and relieve their 
 families outside. Quirk, one of the paupers, said. 
 
110 
 
 “Well, I’m satisfied to go into the house, and you 
 can support my family outside. Do you think I’m 
 going to lie down and starve while you all have 
 your stomachs full ? I never had relief from any 
 charitable institution yet. I am not anxious to 
 come in here. I have a sickly wife and a starving 
 family outside. I am mad with hunger myself, 
 
 and by-I’ll commit myself if I don’t get some 
 
 relief, and I’ll hold the guardians responsible 
 for what I do.” Quirk then left the room. Some 
 time after, the woman acting as porter rushed into 
 the room, and said that the labourers in the hall 
 were coming up the stairs, with a view to forcing 
 their way into the boardroom. The business going 
 on was suspended, and a dead silence prevailed for 
 a while. Immediately afterwards footsteps were 
 heard ascending the stairs, and the door was well- 
 nigh taken from its hinges with the kicking and 
 pushing it received from outside. Several voices 
 were heard outside, calling the guardians to open the 
 door and give them relief. The door was opened, and 
 Mr. M’Cunliffe was about to leave the room, when 
 he was thrown back again and informed that he, 
 nor any other guardian in the room should 
 leave, until they did something for them. The 
 passage and stairs were thronged with sullen and 
 famished-looking men, and indeed, it would be a 
 venture to try and force one’s way through them. 
 A guardian suggested that they could get some tea 
 in the house. To which one answered,—“ What 
 good is tea to us when our children are starving? 
 As sure as God made little apples I am ready to die 
 for my children, and I’IJ’do something desperate 
 
Ill 
 
 I don’t get relief for them.” A scene of confusion 
 here ensued, which lasted for several minutes, In 
 the background there were some poor fellows who did 
 not let loose their tongues, but were weeping. After 
 some time they were got to understand, that there 
 was a repast of bread and tea laid for them in the 
 hall, after partaking of which they were at liberty 
 to go home to their families, who would receive 
 outdoor relief for a week. The besieged guardians 
 were on this understanding allowed to go un¬ 
 interrupted, and the relief seekers made the best of 
 their way to the dining hall, where they did fu] 
 justice to the meal placed before them. 
 

 112 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Rightly to be great, 
 
 Is, not to stir without great argument; 
 
 But greatly to find quarrel in a straw, 
 
 When honour’s at the stake. 
 
 Hamlet , Act 4 , Scene 4. 
 
 Having placed before my readers, in as clear a 
 form as possible, the practical evidences of the 
 necessity for a better Land Legislation in Ireland, 
 together with the arguments of patriots, of politi¬ 
 cians, of the clergy, and of all classes of the educated 
 and thinking communities, in support of such action. 
 I shall endeavour, before finishing this small 
 volume, to bring before the reader’s notice the line 
 of policy that has been pursued by the Govern¬ 
 ment in this matter up to the present moment; 
 and in discussing the pro’s and con’s of such policy, 
 I wish it to be distinctly understood by the reader 
 that my object is not one of political or religious 
 feeling, or presumptuous self-opinionatedness, but 
 a desire to deduce from figures and from facts, the 
 proper basis of action, which might reasonably be 
 supposed, as likely to be attended by the speediest 
 and most beneficial results. 
 
 Any writer on this theme, must be aware of the 
 difficulties that attend useful legislation with regard 
 to Ireland, or the hitherto apathetic spirit which 
 has prevailed amongst the English people, of the 
 national timidity shown by all classes to the hasty 
 consideration of the subject, a timidity that they 
 have excused in a great measure by reading and 
 believing in the excessive outrages, which have 
 
113 
 
 been so rnucli written of and exaggerated by the 
 English Press, and which have apparently, 
 although so clearly exaggerated, terrified to a 
 certain extent a ministry, which, on entering 
 office, seemed fully disposed to treat the matter in 
 a broad and liberal spirit, determined to bring in 
 a measure, which should be just to both landlord 
 and tenant ; and I firmly believe, by the utterance 
 of the leaders of the Land League, when studied 
 calmly and generously, that is, by sifting tlio 
 unwise portion of their speeches, delivered in the 
 heat of debate, UNDER RESTRICTIVE RULES, 
 from the pure matter of fact and argument, which 
 they have advanced, that they are and have been, 
 simply striving to awaken the sympathies of the 
 English and Irish masses, by the piomulgation of 
 a principle, having for its object, nothing subversive 
 of precedent, but a system which has been adopted, 
 as proved in our preceding pages, by America, and 
 by Continental countries, which have not, and do 
 not pretend to enjoy the freedom that we in 
 England and Ireland are supposed to possess. 
 
 A great deal of angry feeling has been aroused 
 in England by the policy of OBSTRUCTION ; but 
 let us calmly consider what this policy has effected, 
 and how it has been met. I would always have 
 you keep before you the fact that the Obstruction¬ 
 ists—or, in another and fairer sense, let us say the 
 PROGRESSISTS of the Land League party, num¬ 
 bering only about thirty—that they have to con¬ 
 tend (with the exception of a half-dozen English 
 Radicals, and an uncertain and occasional support 
 from some few of the Irish Liberal members) with 
 
114 
 
 the united phalanx of the Liberals and Conserva¬ 
 tives in the House of Commons; and that by a 
 policy of passive submission they would be per¬ 
 fectly unable to explain their views to the general 
 public, or to obtain a hearing on any of those 
 weighty subjects which vitally affect the welfare of 
 their constituents. Let us suppose that any one 
 of us be the possessor of a mansion, filled with 
 works of art, with costly furniture, and, in fact, 
 with everything tending to make home a paradise. 
 Let us suppose that the male portion of the family 
 consists of the father and six stalwart sons, and 
 that the house is attacked by a band of armed men, 
 with the intention of their effecting a forcible 
 entrance, living upon our possessions, and framing 
 a code of rules, by which we should be obliged by 
 our labour to support them in luxury—would it be 
 consistent with the natural instincts of brave men 
 that we should quietly SUBMIT ? NO ! we should 
 barricade the doors, provide ourselves with the 
 means of defence, and if we knew that we were 
 POWERLESS, and had to submit to SUPERIOR 
 FORCE, should at least endeavour, by persistent 
 efforts, to arouse the sympathies of our distant rela¬ 
 tives, and our apathetic neighbours, and so by their 
 assistance obtain the necessary legal protection; 
 and, that failing, we should then have to leave the 
 home of our ancestors, with the prospect of a 
 band of profligates living upon the results of our 
 own exertions. This is, I contend, exactly the case 
 with Ireland—her sons are, by the existing laws, 
 afraid to labour as they otherwise would, could 
 they be sure of reaping the results attending their 
 
115 
 
 labours. In order to obtain a crust of bread they 
 are forced to work for landlords, who, to a large 
 extent are absentees, and who appoint as agents 
 men not capable of understanding the temperament 
 of the people, or the requirements of the land; 
 whose only object is to drain every possible farthing 
 from the pockets of the tenantry, and to extract the 
 last drop of sweat from the brow of the struggling 
 labourer ! What wonder that these poor wretches 
 have refused to work more than they are actually 
 compelled to do, under such unjust treatment. 
 
 And knowing all this, understanding the Irish 
 people, being of the same blood and kindred, would 
 it be consistent with the character of brave Irish¬ 
 men, representing the oppressed districts, as do 
 the progressive few of the Land Leaguers, would 
 it be doing their duty to their suffering constituents, 
 if they did not avail themselves of every technicality 
 of the rules of the House, in order that they might 
 discuss, delay, and, if possible, frustrate any 
 measure which they might judge, (and they certainly 
 have a right to a judgment) would inflict fresh 
 miseries upon their compatriots, and consign to 
 the hands of irresponsible officials, a power which 
 only a state of siege could warrant ? It is, without 
 doubt, exceedingly aggravating, that measures 
 more nearly affecting our own immediate interests 
 should be delayed by the persistency thus exhibited; 
 but, I hope I have shown, that the cause 
 for wffiich the Land League is contending, is 
 fraught with consequences to a portion of this 
 kingdom, which should lead us to cast aside all 
 measures that can possibly lay over for a period, 
 
116 
 
 in order that this vexed question may be definitely 
 settled ; and that the outraged feelings of a generous 
 and chivalric kindred should, by their wrongs being 
 redressed, once more, as in times gone by, work 
 hand in hand with the leaders of the people in this 
 country, and by their known eloquence and ability, 
 help the people of England in the work of joint 
 legislation for the benefit of the united countries of 
 Great Britain and Ireland. 
 
 No one in the world has admired the strict im¬ 
 partiality and courteous bearing on many trying 
 occasions of the Rt. Hon. the Speaker of the House 
 of Commons than myself, and in this, I am sure I 
 can rely, on having the sympathy of the Obstruc¬ 
 tionists. Mr. Brand is charged with duties, which 
 require the possession of a nicely regulated and 
 well-balanced mind, and his treatment on every 
 occasion, when he has given his decisions, have 
 been endorsed by the members unanimously; and 
 I think that I shall not be wrong in saying, that 
 notwithstanding the seeming resistance to his 
 authority, that the Irish members, when unfortu¬ 
 nately they have thought fit to speak to order or 
 to submit only to superior force, have, at the same 
 time, appreciated the difficulty in which the head 
 of the assembly was placed, and have not blamed 
 him for the restriction of liberties which it was his 
 painful duty to see enforced. 
 
 The present Government is not the first that 
 has been perplexed by these persistent champions 
 of the Irish people ; but it is certainly the first 
 Government that has had the courage to face the 
 difficulty with anything like determination. They 
 
u? 
 
 have, by a tremendous majority of the Itouse, 
 composed principally of Conservatives and the 
 thick and thin supporters of the Government, 
 passed new rules of debate, which have, to a very 
 great extent, deprived the little army of its ammu¬ 
 nition. Whether these restrictions are not likely 
 to prove a thorn in the side of the promoters, is a 
 very moot question. Without feeling justified in 
 condemning altogether the action of the Govern¬ 
 ment, because, through a desire to be fair, I should 
 not like to so condemn them, without being better 
 acquainted with the grounds of their motives in 
 this proceeding, I still think they have trodden on 
 very dangerous ground, and that, although they are 
 restrictive rules, they are such by which they them¬ 
 selves may be restricted. It appears to me from this 
 fact, there will arise in the future an element of ob¬ 
 struction, which a more natural, and more powerful 
 foe, than the one for whom this policy was created, 
 will be able to illustrate the saying, “ Hoist with 
 his own petard.” The fact, however, remains, 
 that for a time the camp of the Land Leaguers 
 has been thrown into confusion; that the inevitable 
 lias come, and the Coercion Bill has passed. Let 
 us now turn our attention to Coercion, and look at 
 the causes and probable effects of this extreme 
 legislation. 
 
 The excuse for the introduction of the Coercion 
 Bill, is principally the alleged EXISTENCE and 
 perpetration of outrages upon man and beast, and 
 the successful application of the system now called 
 BOYCOTTING, which is simply the old form of 
 school-boy punishment, known as “ SENDING 
 TO COVENTRY.” 
 
118 
 
 In a former chapter of this book, I have referred 
 to (and supported my references by extracts), the 
 bitter and exaggerated tone of the English press, 
 On the subject of the alleged outrages in the pro¬ 
 claimed and disaffected portions of Ireland. I, 
 myself, must own to haying participated in the 
 feeling of indignation at one period, but diligent 
 study of the accounts of these outrages from all 
 available sources of information, have convinced 
 me that gross misrepresentation had been promul¬ 
 gated, and that the landlord interest, by its un¬ 
 doubted influence with the press, was engaged in 
 the manufacturing of great crimes from ordinary 
 felonies and little peccadilloes. Passing from this 
 subject, to some of the actual figures, on which Mr. 
 Forster grounds his claim to adopt such strong 
 Coercive measures, let us calmly analyse and 
 discuss them on their merits, and for the conve¬ 
 nience of my readers, I here annex a tabular 
 Analysis of Agrarian Outrages from January 1st 
 to October 30th, 1880, in the provinces of Munster 
 and Ulster respectively- 
 
110 
 
 Tabular analysis of agrarian outrages from 
 
 JANUARY 1st TO OCTOBER 30th, 1880.. 
 
 PROVINCE OF MUNSTER. 
 
 { 
 
 County. 
 
 Outrage, 
 
 Homicide 
 
 Murder ) 
 
 Manslaughter j 
 Firing at the person 
 Administering Poison 
 Aggravated Assault 
 Assault endangering life ... 
 Assaults on bailiffs and process 
 
 servers. 
 
 Cutting or maiming the person 
 Incendiary fires and arson 
 Burglary and robbery 
 Taking and holding forcible pos¬ 
 session 
 
 Killing, cutting, or maiming cattle 
 Levying contributions 
 Demand of money 
 Demand or robbery of arms 
 
 Appearing armed . 
 
 Riots and affrays ... 
 Administering unlawful oaths .. 
 
 By threatening let 
 ters and others.. 
 Otherwise 
 Attacking horses ... 
 
 Resistance to legal process 
 
 Injury to property. 
 
 Firing into dwellings .. 
 
 Assaults on police... 
 
 Intimidation 
 
 36 
 
 2 
 
 58 
 
 19 
 
 16 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 45 36 
 
 0 ) 
 
 w 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 18 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 54 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 111 
 
 1 
 
 L0 
 
 20 
 
 3 
 
 51 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 14 
 
 5 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 23 
 
 11 
 
 O 
 
 H 
 
 9 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 65 
 
 o3 
 
 00 . 
 
 «♦-< 0) 
 
 O be 
 oo P 
 
 rO P 
 P O 
 o 
 
 20 
 
 14 
 
 153 
 
 12 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 27 
 
 15 
 
 149 
 
 2 
 
 i'i 
 
 7 
 
 2 
 
 39 
 
 9 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 94 
 
 10 
 
 1 
 
 11 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 10 
 
 30 
 
 Total offences charged. 
 
 Deduct threatening letters. 
 
 Doubles (less threatening letters) 
 
 Non-Agrarian. 
 
 Trivial Injuries . 
 
 • • • • • 
 
 11 • • 
 
 • • • • • • 
 
 319 
 
 156 
 
 55 
 
 10 
 
 20 
 
 101 
 
120 
 
 Summary for Province of Munster, containing 
 1,861,000 INHABITANTS. 
 
 Agrarian 
 
 Offences. Trivial. 
 
 Murder . 
 
 • • • 
 
 1 
 
 • • • 
 
 Firing at the person . 
 
 • • • 
 
 3 
 
 • • • 
 
 Aggravated assaults . 
 
 • • • 
 
 5 
 
 2 
 
 Assaults on bailiffs. 
 
 • • • 
 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 Maiming the person . 
 
 • • • 
 
 1 
 
 • • • 
 
 Incendiary fires . 
 
 • • • 
 
 40 
 
 11 
 
 Taking forcible possession ... 
 
 • • • 
 
 13 
 
 4 
 
 Killing or maiming cattle 
 
 • • • 
 
 11 
 
 2 
 
 Kiot... ... ... ... ... ... 
 
 • • • 
 
 1 
 
 • . 
 
 Administering unlawful oaths 
 Intimidation otherwise than 
 
 • • • 
 
 by 
 
 2 
 
 • • • 
 
 letters . 
 
 • • • 
 
 2 
 
 • • • 
 
 Resistance to legal process ... 
 
 • • • 
 
 8 
 
 • • • 
 
 Injury to property. 
 
 • • • 
 
 18 
 
 10 
 
 Firing into dwellings . 
 
 • • • 
 
 13 
 
 • • • 
 
 A ssault on police . 
 
 • • • 
 
 1 
 
 • • • 
 
 Total . 
 
 • • • 
 
 131 
 
 30 
 
 Deduct Trivial Cases 
 
 • • • 
 
 30 
 
 
 Serious offences . 
 
 • • • 
 
 101 
 
 
121 
 
 tabulae analysts of agrarian outrages from 
 
 JANUARY 1st TO OCTOBER 30th, 1880. 
 PROVINCE OF ULSTER. 
 
 County. 
 
 Outrage. 
 
 a' fl 
 
 * i S3 
 
 C I S3 
 ! u 
 I 
 
 _i_ 
 
 Homicide 
 
 Process- 
 
 Murder 
 Manslaughter 
 Firing at the Person ... 
 
 Aggravated Assault ... 
 
 Assault Endangering Life 
 Assaults on Bailiffs and 
 servers 
 
 Cutting or Maiming the Person 
 Incendiary Fires and Arson... 
 Burglary and Robbery 
 Taking and Holding Forcible Pos¬ 
 session ... ... ... ... 
 
 Killing, Cutting, and Maiming Cattle 
 Levying Contributions 
 Demand of Money 
 Robbery of Arms 
 Appearing Armed 
 Riots and Affrays 
 Administering Unlawful Oaths 
 
 By Threatening Let¬ 
 ters and Notices... 
 Otherwise 
 Attacking Houses 
 Resistance to Legal Process 
 Injury to Property ... 
 
 Firing into Dwellings 
 Assaults on Police 
 
 Intimidation 
 
 8 
 
 4 
 
 s 
 
 2 ! 
 
 1 
 
 15 
 
 6 
 
 15 38 
 
 c6 
 
 CD 
 
 <V 
 
 P 
 
 O 
 
 ft 
 
 g 
 
 - 
 
 X 
 
 O to 
 
 X 02 
 
 3 0 
 
 O, 
 
 8! 4 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 12 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 33 
 
 9 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 87 
 
 a 
 
 £ 
 
 ’§ 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 15 
 
 Total Offences Charged. 
 
 Deduct Threatening Letters. 
 
 Doubles (less Threatening Letters) 
 
 Non-Agrarian. 
 
 Trivial Injuries . 
 
 1 1 
 1 
 
 411 
 
 87 
 
 33 
 
 10 
 
 4 
 
 11 
 
 Serious Offences 
 
 23 
 
 I 
 
m 
 
 Summary for Province of Ulster, Containing 
 1,700,000 Inhabitants. 
 
 
 Agrarian 
 
 Offence. 
 
 Trivial. 
 
 Manslaughter . 
 
 ... 1 
 
 • • • 
 
 Firing at the Person. 
 
 ... 1 
 
 • • • 
 
 Aggravated Assaults. 
 
 ... B 
 
 • • • 
 
 Assaults on Bailiffs . 
 
 ... 2 
 
 • • • 
 
 Incendiary Fires and Arson 
 
 ... 11 
 
 4 
 
 Burglary and Robbery . 
 
 Taking and Holding Forcible Pos¬ 
 
 ... 2 
 
 • • • 
 
 session . 
 
 ... 1 
 
 1 
 
 Killing, Cutting, or Maiming Cattle... 2 
 
 • • • 
 
 Administering Unlawful Oaths ... 
 
 ... 1 
 
 • • • 
 
 Intimidation otherwise than by Threaten- 
 
 • • • 
 
 Letters... ... ... ... ... 
 
 ... 7 
 
 1 
 
 Attacking Houses . 
 
 ... 2 
 
 1 
 
 Resistance to Legal Process 
 
 ... 1 
 
 • • • 
 
 Injury to Property . 
 
 ... 5 
 
 4 
 
 Firing into Dwellings. 
 
 ... 1 
 
 • • • 
 
 Total for Province. 
 
 ... 40 
 
 11 
 
 Deduct Trivial Cases 
 
 ... 11 
 
 
 Serious Offences . 
 
 ... 29 
 
 
 Serious Offences 
 
 29 
 
123 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 If you prick us, do we not bleed ? If you tickle us, do 
 we not laugh ? If you poison us, do we not die ? And if 
 you wrong us, shall we not revenge ? 
 
 Merchant of Venice, Act 3, Scene 1. 
 
 I would ask the reader to carefully consider the 
 figures in the analysis concluding the last chapter, 
 taken from Mr. Forster’s Blue Book. The popu¬ 
 lation of the province of Munster is 1,861,000, 
 and includes the counties of Kerry and Tipperary, 
 certainly the most disaffected portions of Ireland; 
 and yet, the summary shows, with fair deductions, 
 the astonishing fact that, during the period covered 
 by the analysis, there was only one murder, three 
 cases of firing at the person, three cases of aggra¬ 
 vated assault, two assaults endangering life, and 
 five serious assaults upon bailiffs. The remainder 
 of the offences are those which certainly cannot be 
 ascribed to Land League agitation, being mostly 
 Whiteboy offences, which have been perpetrated 
 more or less for a number of years. Now, I submit 
 that unless Mr. Forster has more material to work 
 upon which is not yet made public, that the neces¬ 
 sity for Coercion is not made out, at any rate there 
 can be no doubt that remedial measures might have 
 been first tried, without any more serious results 
 than those given in the analysis; and I believe 
 that a thoroughly GOOD LAND BILL would 
 have removed the necessity for further agitation 
 amongst the agricultural population, and that 
 although it might not have passed the House of 
 Lords, it would at any rate, have satisfied the Irish 
 
 \ 
 
124 
 
 people that the present Government, were earnest 
 and honest in their intentions, and were only pre¬ 
 vented from relieving them through circumstances 
 which, for the time, they could not successfully 
 combat. 
 
 Personally, I have still faith in the future redemp¬ 
 tion of the promises made by such hitherto consis¬ 
 tent statesmen as Mr. GLADSTONE and Mr. 
 JOHN BRIGHT ; but, to me the fact is perfectly 
 apparent that, having been FRIGHTENED into 
 the line of procedure adopted, they must for the 
 moment justify the coercive measures introduced. 
 Let us hope that their REMEDIAL MEASURE 
 will render the coercive one a dead letter, by 
 giving justice to the oppressed—thus removing the 
 INCENTIVES TO AGRARIAN CRIMES AND 
 DISORDER. * 
 
 Referring again to the Munster statistics, it must 
 be remembered, that they cover nine of the most 
 exciting months of the period of agitation. County 
 Clare has always been cited as a hotbed of crime. 
 The population is 146,873, and yet there is not a 
 SINGLE MURDER or MANSLAUGHTER, not 
 one case of maiming the person or of ham-stringing 
 cattle, nor yet a single robbery of arms, riot, or 
 resistance to legal process. Of the fifty-nine 
 offences, THIRTY-SIX ARE THREATENING 
 LETTERS, and twelve of these are REPETI¬ 
 TIONS OF THE SAME OFFENCE. These 
 repetitions of the same offences against the same 
 person are, as described and deducted in analysis 
 {doubles). With these deductions made, there 
 remain exactly eleven tangible outrages to bo 
 
125 
 
 accounted for in a DISTURBED COUNTY. Out 
 of these ELEVEN CHARGES, SEVEN ARE 
 CASES OF FIRING INTO DWELLINGS, and 
 I must say, that the police patrols (if they did 
 their duty) could very well cope with these night 
 raids, which are rarely attended with any 
 SERIOUS RESULTS. 
 
 Cork (East Riding) is the next county on the 
 list. The population is 265,000. This is in yet a 
 more favourable state than County Clare. There 
 is not a SINGLE AGRARIAN MURDER, 
 MANSLAUGHTER, ASSAULT ON BAILIFF, 
 ATTEMPT TO MAIM ANYBODY, ROBBERY 
 OF ARMS, FIRING INTO DWELLINGS, A 
 RIOT, OR AN ASSAULT ON POLICE. This 
 state of affairs is certainly not such as the English 
 press would endeavour to make us believe. Sixteen 
 of the offences in this county are THREATEN¬ 
 ING LETTERS. I have deducted these, as I 
 cannot conceive that it is possible for anyone to 
 regard these ANONYMOUS LETTERS as AGRA¬ 
 RIAN OUTRAGES. 
 
 The next county is the West Riding of Cork, 
 where one murder is recorded, and that was indeed 
 a terrible affiair, as the shot was evidently fired at 
 a Mr. Hutchins, and killed a poor boy named 
 Downey. The official account states that the 
 murder was committed by an UNKNOWN MAN. 
 If this be so, I do not see how it can be proved to 
 be AGRARIAN. But, there is one remarkable 
 fact in connection with this division of the County 
 Cork, Judge Fitzgerald declared that every farmer 
 and farmer’s son, was armed with a revolver, and 
 
126 
 
 yet there does not appear to be one offence alleged, 
 as to the using, or carrying of fire arms of any 
 description. The English people naturally read the 
 reported remarks of the Irish Judges, but they do 
 not all study the Blue Book. It is obvious, that the 
 above remark of the learned judge, was a haphazard 
 one, and could not possibly be founded upon any 
 substantial basis. Probably it was based upon the 
 representation of the Constabulary, who to excuse 
 their seeming non-success in preventing these SO 
 CALLED AGRARIAN OUTRAGES, represented 
 that they were not numerous enough, as every man 
 woman and child were armed. The worst cases, 
 in West Cork, are the four for the maiming of 
 cattle, an offence, which is certainly most de¬ 
 testable to every right minded person, but I 
 submit that a community numbering some 200,000 
 people, should not be declared in a state of siege, 
 because one or two barbarous wretches avenge a 
 grievance by maiming or killing a beast. 
 
 In Limerick, one of the strongholds of the 
 Land League, with a population of 190,000, the 
 authorities have been enabled to bring ONE 
 SOLITARY OFFENCE AGAINST THE PER¬ 
 SON, and in this case the criminal is reported 
 to have fled the country. Here we have twenty- 
 five threatening letters, which invariably threaten, 
 and that is the last of them. 
 
 There are fourteen offences against property, six 
 are cases of setting fire to unoccupied cabins and 
 hayricks, a number not above the average of other 
 years, seven of these outrages result from the pro¬ 
 ceedings of one gang of night walkers, upon a single 
 
127 
 
 night, one offence is in Tipperary, the taking and 
 holding by forcible possession. The reader will 
 doubtless view this kind of outrage as very serious, 
 but the facts of the case from the official report are 
 as follows :—“ Looby gave up the place QUIETLY, 
 but when the constabulary departed, and finding 
 the bailiffs outside, drew the staple of the door, and 
 re-entered into possession of the house.” This man 
 was convicted, and sentenced to six-months’ impri¬ 
 sonment. 
 
 Now, there is not the least doubt, that the average 
 English reader of newspaper articles would not have 
 the facts of this case properly put before him, but 
 would have it described as a MOST ATROCIOUS 
 AGRARIAN OUTRAGE, and yet this is one of 
 the cases, which helps to swell the grand indictment, 
 against the LIBERTIES of the IRISH PEOPLE. 
 
 The Land League has reigned supreme in 
 Tipperary, but still the Blue Book shows that crime 
 has not increased, but compared with former years 
 has decreased. 
 
 In the North Riding of Tipperary, I find that 
 the most serious offence is an assault upon a 
 process server. THE OFFENDER seems to have 
 STABBED the PROCESS to the GROUND, with 
 a PITCHFORK, and afterwards pursued the 
 PROCESS SERVER with a fork, the authorities 
 succeeded in obtaining a conviction, and the 
 offencer was sentenced to one month’s imprison¬ 
 ment. 
 
 Most of the other offences are ordinary cases, 
 which may be found on the pages of any criminal 
 calendar in the world, In County Waterford, 
 
128 
 
 where Mr. Parnell was received with such enthu¬ 
 siasm, there are only eleven offences charged during 
 nine months, and among a population of 121,719. 
 
 Commission of agrarian outrages in the Province 
 of Ulster I must pass over, but taking into con¬ 
 sideration the fact, that it is not looked upon as a 
 disaffected province, at any rate to the same degree 
 as Munster, I do not think there is much argument 
 to be adduced from the figures, in support of the 
 Coercion Policy. 
 
 • I shall now place before my readers the tabular 
 statement relative to offences committed in the 
 provinces of Leinster and Connaught. 
 
129 
 
 TABULAR ANALYSIS OF AGRARIAN OUTRAGES FROM 
 JANUARY 1st TO OCTOBER 30th 
 
 PROVINCE OF LEINSTER. 
 
 County. 
 
 Outrage. 
 
 Carlow. 
 
 Dublin. 
 
 Kildare. 
 
 Kilkenny. 
 
 King’s. 
 
 Longford. 
 
 Louth. 
 
 Meatli. 
 
 Queen’s. 
 
 Westmeath. 
 
 ^3 
 
 O 
 
 H 
 
 <D 
 
 £ 
 
 Wicklow. 
 
 Total. 
 
 i 
 
 Ubls.of sa. outrage, 
 
 Non-Agrarian. 
 
 Trivial. 
 
 Murder ) u • -j 
 
 Manslaughter j omiclc e 
 Firing at the person 
 
 
 
 
 ! 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 i 
 
 j 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 1 
 
 . . • 
 
 Administering poison 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Aggravated Assault 
 
 
 ... 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 ...j 1 
 
 i 
 
 ... 
 
 Assault endangering life ... 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Assaults on bailiffs and 
 process-servers 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Cutting or maiming the 
 ■person ... 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Incendiary fires and arson 
 Burglary and robbery 
 
 1 
 
 . • • 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 ... 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 ... 
 
 22 
 
 ... 5 
 
 i 
 
 3 
 
 Taking and holding forcible 
 possession 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 
 ... 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 ...j 
 
 I 
 
 ...... 
 
 
 Killing, cutting, or maim¬ 
 ing cattle 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 Levying contributions 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ! 
 
 Demand of money 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Demand or robbery of arms 
 Annearinpr Armed... 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Riots and affrays 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Administering unlawful 
 
 oaths ... 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 By threat- 
 
 Intimidation 
 
 and notices 
 
 J Otherwise 
 
 Attacking houses ... 
 
 5 
 
 . • • 
 
 7 
 
 9 
 
 15 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 14 
 
 7 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 14 
 
 3 
 
 18 
 
 ... 
 
 10 
 
 1 
 
 100 
 
 16 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 2 
 
 ... 
 
 
 
 B 
 
 
 
 Resistance to legal process 
 Injury to property 
 
 Firing into dwellings 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 ... 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 ! 1 
 
 | 
 
 ... 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 | 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 10 
 
 7 
 
 
 13 
 
 14 
 
 17 
 
 13 
 
 3 
 
 29 
 
 5 
 
 25 23 
 
 11 
 
 160 
 
 5 
 
 Total for Province . 160 
 
 Deduct Threatening Letters 
 Doubles (less Threatening letters) 
 
 Non-Agrarian . 
 
 Trivial Injuries . 
 
 100 
 
 5 
 
 8 
 
 10 
 
 37 
 
180 
 
 Summary of the real Agrarian Outrages 
 
 ACCORDING TO THE RETURNS FOR THE PROVINCE 
 
 of Leinster, containing over one million 
 
 THREE THOUSAND PERSONS I—- 
 
 Murder . 
 
 Firing at the Person 
 Incendiary fires ... 
 Taking and holding 
 
 o o 
 
 sion . 
 
 Maiming cattle ... 
 
 • •• • • • •*• • • 
 
 forcible posses 
 
 Administering unlawful oaths ... 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 17 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 Intimidation otherwise than 
 
 letters . 
 
 Attacking houses. 
 
 Resistance to legal process. 
 
 Injury to property . 
 
 Firing into dwellings. 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 G 
 
 2 
 
 Trivial. 
 
 8 
 
 2 
 
 Total... ... ... ... ... ... 47 
 
 Deduct Trivial Cases . 10 
 
 10 
 
 • • • 
 
 Cases which could be called 
 
 Serious ... ... ... 37 
 
131 
 
 # 
 
 Tabular analysis of agrarian outrages from 
 
 JANUARY 1st TO OCTOBER 30th, 18S0. 
 
 PROVINCE OF CONNAUGHT. 
 
 County. 
 
 .Outrage 
 
 Galway (East 
 
 Hiding). 
 
 Galway (West 
 
 Riding). 
 
 Leitrim. 
 
 Mayo. 
 
 Roscommon. 
 
 Sligo. 
 
 Total for Pro¬ 
 
 vince. 
 
 Doubles or same 
 
 Offence. 
 
 Non- 
 
 Agrarian. 
 
 Trivial. 1 
 
 Murder 
 
 \ 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 Manslaughter 
 
 r ••• ••• ••• 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 • • • 
 
 Firing at the Person 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 Aggravated Assault 
 
 
 10 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 24 
 
 . 
 
 10 
 
 1 
 
 ■> 
 
 Assault endangering Life ... 
 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 Assatilts on Bailiff's and Process- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 • • • 
 
 Servers .. 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 4 
 
 9 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 Assaults on Police ... 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 Cutting or Maiming the Person ... 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ... 
 
 
 
 
 
 Incendiary Fires 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 • • • 
 
 15 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 33 
 
 4 
 
 
 1 
 
 Burglary and Robbery 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 • • • 
 
 17 
 
 9 
 
 • • • . • 
 
 2 
 
 Taking and holding forcible Posses- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ... 
 
 
 
 
 . • • 
 
 sion 
 
 
 
 
 ] 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 Killing, Cutting, or Maiming Cattle 
 
 1 
 
 17 
 
 
 9 
 
 • 
 
 ... 
 
 1 
 
 28 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 Attacking Houses ... 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 Demand and Robberv of Arms 
 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Riots and Affrays ... 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 Administering Unlawful Oaths 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 17 
 
 ft 
 
 
 
 
 By Threatening Let- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Intimidation 
 
 - ters and Notices... 
 
 20 
 
 54 
 
 19 
 
 68 
 
 9 
 
 22 
 
 192 
 
 26 
 
 
 
 
 Otherwise ... 
 
 3 
 
 13 
 
 11 
 
 9 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 41 
 
 15 
 
 
 3 
 
 Resistance to Legal Process 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 ] 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 Injury to Property ... 
 
 6 
 
 21 
 
 2 
 
 14 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 52 
 
 8 
 
 
 13 
 
 Firing into Dwellings 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 Levying Contributions 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Demand of Monev ... 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ■* 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 443 
 
 87 
 
 3 
 
 23 
 
 Total for Province . 413 
 
 Deduct threatening letters. 
 
 Doubles (less threatening letters) 
 
 Non-agrarian. 
 
 Trivial injuries .. 
 
 • • • • • • 
 
 192 
 
 61 
 
 3 
 
 23 
 
 Serious offences 
 
 164 
 
132 
 
 Summary of Agrarian Offences from Feb. 1st 
 to 1st Nov. in Province of Connaught, 
 CONTAINING 846,000 INHABITANTS. 
 
 
 Serious 
 
 Offences. 
 
 Trivial. 
 
 Murder . 
 
 ... 2 
 
 • • • 
 
 Manslaughter . 
 
 ... 1 
 
 • • • 
 
 Firing at the person . 
 
 ... 4 
 
 • • • 
 
 Aggravated assaults . 
 
 ... 10 
 
 2 
 
 Assaults endangering life 
 
 ... 4 
 
 • • • 
 
 Assaults on bailiffs and process- 
 
 
 servers . 
 
 ... 8 
 
 • • • 
 
 Incendiary fires . 
 
 ... 29 
 
 2 
 
 Burglary and robbery . 
 
 ... 8 
 
 2 
 
 Attacking houses . 
 
 ... 4 
 
 • • • 
 
 Taking and holding forcible posses- 
 
 
 • 
 
 sion ••• •»# ••• 
 
 3 
 
 • • • 
 
 Riots and affrays . 
 
 ... 2 
 
 • • • 
 
 Killing, cutting, or maiming cattle 23 
 
 2 
 
 Administering unlawful oaths 
 
 ... 9 
 
 • • • 
 
 Intimidation otherwise than 
 
 by 
 
 
 threatening letters . 
 
 ... 26 
 
 3 
 
 Resistance to legal process ... 
 
 ... 4 
 
 • • • 
 
 Injury to property . 
 
 ... 44 
 
 18 
 
 Firing into dwellings . 
 
 ... 4 
 
 ... 
 
 Total ... ... ... ... 
 
 ...186 
 
 24 
 
 Deduct Trivial Cases... 
 
 ... 24 
 
 -*r 
 
 Serious offences . 
 
 ...165 
 
 
 Of the 160 outrages in Leinster 100 consist 
 of threatening letters, which reduces the number at 
 once to 60 as shown in the tabular statement. 
 
133 
 
 There is one case of homicide—the atrocious 
 murder of Mr. Charles Boyd—an outrage that 
 every man must condemn and abhor. But, at the 
 same, time, there is no justification for the com¬ 
 pilers of the Blue Book, recording it as three out¬ 
 rages instead of one. It resulted in the death of 
 Mr. Charles Boyd, and in the wounding of Mr. 
 Thomas Boyd ; but as Mr. J. Evans Boyd was 
 upon the car at the time, the affair is thus set forth 
 in the Return for the County Kilkenny :— 
 
 “ Outrage No. 3.—Murder of Mr. Charles Boyd.” 
 
 “ Outrage No. 4.—Firing at the person of Mr. 
 Thomas Boyd.” 
 
 “ Outrage, No. 5.—Firing at the person of Mr. 
 J. Evans Boyd.” 
 
 I shall leave the reader to form his own conclu¬ 
 sions on this matter of manufacturing outrages. 
 
 There are in the return two other cases of 
 “ firing at the person,” in addition to those noticed 
 above. One of these cases occurred in Kildare, 
 and appears in the list as No. 8. The name of the 
 injured person was “ William Harding,” and the 
 name of the person made amenable, “ Rosanna 
 Harding.” William Harding, the younger son of 
 Mr. Harding, senr., was, by his father’s will, left 
 the farm, to the exclusion of his brother Thomas 
 Harding, who had come from America, expecting 
 to inherit. This caused a feud to exist between 
 the two branches of the family, and hence the 
 assault, by Rosanna Harding, wife of the elder 
 son, Thomas. She threw stones at him, then a 
 basin of water, and finally fired a shot at him from 
 a pistol. He was not injured.” 
 
134 
 
 The result at Naas Assizes, 20th July, 1880, 
 was an acquittal on the charge of firing at the 
 person, a disagreement on the indictment for 
 assault, and she was eventually bound over to 
 keep the peace for twelve months. 
 
 Is a family row to be returned as an agrarian 
 outrage ? The Harding case ought never to have 
 been allowed to figure in these returns ; it was 
 not an outrage committed by the tenant class as 
 against the landlord class, and, therefore, non¬ 
 agrarian. 
 
 The other case of firing at the person, which 
 occurred in the County Meath, was a serious one, 
 and legitimately figures in the returns, Mr. Dyas 
 being fired at when returning from Kells. 
 
 There is one case of aggravated assault, and I 
 fail to see in what sense that can be described as 
 agrarian. This case is No. 7 in the return, and 
 the details are as follows:—The name of the inj ured 
 person was Patrick Gaffney, and the name of the 
 person amenable, William Hallella. Patrick Gaffney 
 and William Hallella were drinking together in a 
 public house in Sleeverea, on the 19th August, 
 1880. Hallella left some time before Gaffney to 
 go home. When Gaffney wa3 returning home 
 Hallella jumped out from behind the ditch on the 
 side of the road and attacked Gaffney with stones, 
 inflicting some serious wounds on his head, &c. 
 A bad feeling exists between them about a farm of 
 land.” 
 
 The result of the proceedings was that Hallella 
 w T as tried at Kilkenny Quarter Sessions, 14th 
 October. 1880, and sentenced to four months’ im 
 
135 
 
 prisomnent with hard labour. Here, again, this 
 was not an offence committed by class against 
 class, but a simple matter of private feud. 
 
 There is not a single case in the Leinster 
 Analysis of assaults on bailiffs or process servers, 
 or of calling or warning the person. 
 
 There are twenty-two cases of incendiary fires 
 and arson; but here again, the number though 
 formidable, is more so in appearance than reality. 
 
 Take for instance Nos. 3 and G in the return. 
 
 No. 3 was plainly not agrarian. The details 
 are as follows:—The name of the injured 
 party was William Marley, and that of the person 
 accused, Timothy Rabbit. “About 9 o’clock, p.m. 
 Harley’s house was found to be on fire, which was 
 extinguished before much injury resulted. About 
 two years ago Timothy Rabbit married the widow of 
 Marley’s son. She expected to inherit her father- 
 in-law’s house, and plot of ground, but Marley sent 
 for his daughter to America, and she returned, and 
 was married about a week before this outrage.” 
 
 The Magistrates discharged Rabbit at’once ; and 
 here again I would ask the reader if the introduc- 
 ion of these cases into the returns does not show 
 that the accounts are vulgarly speaking, COOKED. 
 
 There is yet another case :— 
 
 “ A thatched house belonging to Ann Haughran, 
 was set on fire and burned to the ground in June, 
 1879. Matthew Haughran, and his sister Ann 
 Haughran, were evicted from the premises, and 
 the latter was readmitted as caretaker. They have 
 since been disputing about the farm, and threaten¬ 
 ing notices have been posted relative to it 
 
186 
 
 Another family quarrel; No. 7 and 10 are set 
 down as trivial, 7 was an unoccupied house which 
 had been partially thrown down, and No. 10 was 
 three cocks of hay. 
 
 No. 15 case is as follows:—An unoccupied house 
 was burned owing to some dispute about bog or 
 cutting turf. There is nothing in this case either 
 to show that is was in the nature of an outrage, on 
 the part of tenants against landlords. It would 
 appear to be a dispute among themselves, and 
 therefore not an agrarian outrage. 
 
 No. 3 was an unoccupied house. 
 
 No. 18 is reported as follows:—An outhouse barn, 
 car, and seven tons of hay were burned, Kearney 
 allowed a right of v T ay through his field, to some 
 of his tenants, but, not to others. On the face of 
 the return there was nothing to show that the 
 offence was due to the cause set down, but I give 
 the authorities the benefit of the doubt, 
 
 In County Wexford, there w 7 ere three incendiary 
 fires reported, viz. Nos. 4, 10,11. No. 4 is reported 
 as follows:—“ Two outhouses and a rick of straw, 
 were maliciously set fire to, in order to deter any 
 person from buying a large quantity of hay on 
 the farm.” Rather a Quixotic assumption of motive 
 I must submit. 
 
 No. 10 is reported as follows:—Three stacks of 
 corn and a rick of hay, were set fire to and totally 
 consumed. It is believed this outrage was com¬ 
 mitted by one of the injured persons neigbours, for 
 the purpose of compelling him to give up his farm. 
 I should again query the correctness of this assump¬ 
 tion of motive, No. 11 was the burning of an 
 
137 
 
 unoccupied cabin, from which a man hnd been 
 evicted. 
 
 Out of 22 cases of incendiary fires recorded, five 
 must certainly be classed as non-agrarian, and 
 three as trivial, and no single case is reported 
 whereby human life was endangered ; and in one 
 case only, were cattle injured by the fires. 
 
 There are two cases of taking and holding 
 forcible possession. No. 1 is in the County 
 Westmeath, and is thus described:—Injured person, 
 Dennis Newman.— 
 
 “ Mary Mc.Cormack took forcible possession 
 of one of her brother’s houses, and refused to leave. 
 This is the third time she lias committed this 
 offence. Discharged at the March Assizes, as the 
 Crown did not prosecute.” 
 
 Agrarian is evidently applicable by the compilers 
 of the Blue Book, to any case which they think 
 will plausibly admit its application. 
 
 No. 6. “ Where a man went back to his house at 
 night from which he had been evicted.” 
 
 As there is no evidence of force being used, and 
 the term forcible is apt to suggest riot, rapine, and 
 all kinds of horrible outrages, I give the details of 
 some of these cases to show the colourable animus 
 of those who make the returns . 
 
 Of administering unlawful oaths there is one, 
 No. 24, in the County Meath. This is another 
 case of multiplying offences out of the same outrage. 
 Cases No. 24 and 25 are thus described—“ Injured 
 person, James Carroll.—A party of men disguised 
 and armed, entered with violence the house of 
 James Carroll and ordered him to surrender a 
 
 x 
 
188 
 
 piece of land, and administered to him an oath to 
 that effect, fired shots in the house and outside 
 before leaving.” 
 
 I submit that this was not two outrages, but is 
 set down as case 24, administering unlawful oaths. 
 And case 25, intimidation by firing shots. In the 
 analysis I have taken one from the double return 
 off the number of cases of “intimidation otherwise 
 than by threatening letters.” 
 
 There is one more example of doubling. Cases 
 18 and 19, County Meath, are described as fol¬ 
 lows:—“Injured person, Patrick Sheridan; an 
 armed party entered Patrick Sheridan’s house by 
 
 force, and threatened to shoot him if he did not 
 
 * 
 
 give up a farm he had taken. Before leaving they 
 fired a shot under the ceiling of the Kitchen.” 
 THIS IS A SINGLE OUTRAGE, IT IS SET 
 DOWN AS TWO. 
 
 “Cases 20, 21, and 22, are thus described*— 
 * Injured persons, John Carolan and Matthew 
 Carolan. A party of men disguised and armed, 
 entered by force the house of John Carolan, placed 
 him on his knees, and made him promise to cease 
 working for Mr. Hussey, fired a shot before enter¬ 
 ing and leaving the house. They then proceeded 
 to the house of Matthew Carolan, placed him on 
 his knees, and made him give a similar promise.’ 
 This is returned as three outrages. It is only one, 
 or, at the utmost stretch, two. 
 
 “ I give the Government the benefit of the 
 doubt, and deduct one case out of the three.” 
 
 “ The only case of resistance to a legal process 
 
139 
 
 was one in the County Longford. It was 
 resistance on the part of the family only to an 
 eviction, and was very severely punished, two 
 persons absconding, and two being imprisoned, 
 thus showing there was no failure of the law.” 
 
 “ The remaining three cases were in the County 
 Westmeath, and were agrarian outrages.” 
 
 The cases of injury to property were six, one 
 in the County Carlow. 
 
 The very first in the return has already been 
 commented upon in Parliament, but the following 
 is the description ; it is worth repetition : 
 
 * Name of injured person, James Redmond.—A 
 portion of the front wall of an old unoccupied 
 cabin was maliciously thrown down, in consequence 
 of which the roof fell in.’ 
 
 This is a splendid justification for the suspen¬ 
 sion of the Habeas Corpus Act.” 
 
 “ The next case was in the County of Kildare. 
 
 It is No. 3 in the return, and the outrage con¬ 
 sists in the grates and cliimneypieces of a house 
 from which a tenant had been evicted being injured. 
 The injured person in this case was the Duke of 
 Leinster, and it must be set down as trivial.” 
 
 “ The third case occurred in the County 
 Longford, and according to the return a house was 
 partially thrown down.” 
 
 “ The fourth and fifth took place in the County 
 
140 
 
 Meath. One is No. 18 in the return. A quantity 
 of hay belonging to the Earl of Mayo was scattered. 
 No. 17 is of the same character. Both of these 
 cases are trivial.” 
 
 I would here beg to acknowledge that I am in¬ 
 debted for the bulk of this information on doubling 
 and trivialities to the Weekly Freeman and Irish 
 Agriculturist ,” and that the figures thereon are 
 taken from that ably edited journal. In some 
 cases I have borrowed their remarks bodily, in 
 others I have eliminated matter that I considered 
 
 was unnecessary for my purpose. In concluding 
 
 \ 
 
 his analysis of the tabular statement in the Blue 
 Book for the province ^f Leinster, the editor re¬ 
 marks as follows :— 
 
 “ Thus, for the province of Leinster, containing 
 one million three hundred thousand inhabitants, 
 we find that in ten months the utmost ingenuity 
 of the police was able to discover sixty outrages, 
 irrespective of threatening letters, and that of these, 
 five, on their own showing, are doubles, reducing 
 the number to 55. Of these eight are non-agrarian, 
 reducing the number to 47, of which 10 are ex¬ 
 tremely trivial, reducing the number which, with 
 even an approach to honesty, can be seriously 
 called agrarian outrages to 87. 
 
 If there were any means of analysing these they 
 would probably be reduced more, because many 
 cases would be found not to exist at all, and to 
 have been falsely reported. 
 
 Our space to-day does not permit us to deal 
 with the other provinces, where the result will be 
 
141 
 
 found to be even more startling, the cases being 
 doubled, trebled, quadrupled, and in one case 
 quintupled, for the purpose of multiplying outrages. 
 We cannot forbear giving the quintuple case out of 
 its proper place in order that our readers may 
 judge whether we are justified in characterising 
 the return as on the face of it ‘ a fraud.’ In the 
 province of Munster, comity of Kerry, the follow¬ 
 ing return is given :—Date of outrage, ‘ 28th June,’ 
 injured persons, John Horgan and Edmund Hor- 
 gan. The injured men were placed in charge of 
 a house and farm from which one of the accused 
 (Patrick M‘Namara) was evicted. They were 
 attacked by an armed party, about 1-15 a.m., 
 who fired shots into the dwelling-house, broke into 
 it, seriously assaulted them, ejected them from 
 the house, made them swear they would not go 
 into it again, and took away two guns which the 
 Horgans had for their protection; several of the 
 attacking party were disguised. 
 
 “ This was a single outrage, of, no doubt, a 
 grave character, but in the return it is set forth as 
 five distinct outrages, being thus classified:—• 
 Case No. 25, ‘firing into a dwelling-house;’ case 
 No. 26, aggravated assault: No. 27, ditto; No. 
 28, administering unlawful oaths; and case No. 29, 
 robbery of arms ; and in the tabulated abstract of 
 the return of crime for the county these five are 
 shown as distinct outrages, with the intention of 
 making people believe that they are independent 
 cases.” 
 
 I will now claim the reader’s attention to the 
 Government record of outrages committed in tho 
 
142 
 
 province of Connaught for the nine months, and 
 in his opening speech on the introduction of the 
 Coercion Bill, Mr. Forster reserved till the last 
 the arguments which which he deduced from the 
 returns exhibited in the Connaught tabular state¬ 
 ment, and with some reason, as they are doubtless 
 the most formidable of any of the records of the 
 different provinces. 
 
 Undoubtedly a certain proportion of the Con¬ 
 naught returns disclose an exceptional state of 
 agrarian turbulence, but it is a wonderful fact that 
 in the portions of the provinces where the Land 
 League influence is paramount the offences decrease. 
 Thus, in the East Riding of Galway, where there 
 have been continual land demonstrations, and 
 where every parish has its organized Land League 
 branch and committee, the number of alleged out¬ 
 rages (less threatening letters) is just fifteen for 
 nine months, whereas, in the West Riding of the 
 same county, where the Land League is almost 
 powerless to control the wild instincts of the people, 
 (including the rude inhabitants of Connemara and 
 and its district), the offences charged are 84, or 
 including threatening letters, 184. 
 
 I again give an extract in full from the analysis 
 of the Weekly Freeman and Irish Agriculturist. I 
 have the Blue Book before me and know the reason¬ 
 ing and figures to be correct. 
 
 “Four hundred and forty-three is the formidable 
 total at the bottom of the lists of outrages in the 
 province—probably the only figure that the gener¬ 
 ality of our English legislators will care to examine 
 Qf these 87 are merevariations in terms of outrages 
 
143 
 
 twice taken credit for; and if we deduct the 192 
 threatening letter cases (less the 26 doubles which 
 have been counted in the 77), we have the total 
 reduced to 190, as, upon their own showing. The 
 highest number of appreciable offences with which 
 Connaught for nine months is chargeable—the 
 rest being all fraud or rubbish. According to our 
 analysis, 26 of these are the petty crimes, which 
 give petty sessions courts their ordinary occupation, 
 and three more are in no way proven to be agrarian. 
 There remain 164 more or less grave infractions 
 of the law—being nearly one in every 5,120 inhabi¬ 
 tants for three-fourths of the year in the poorest, 
 most backward, the most tortured, and the most 
 desperate province in Ireland. We are ashamed 
 of many of the 164 charges, but we cannot pretend 
 to be in the least shocked at or ashamed of the 
 total of such charges—the more especially when 
 we come to dip into the details.” 
 
 I cannot do better than give the analysis of 
 above paper as fully as possible—that is, as regards 
 figures. Any remarks which I may consider are 
 not useful to the line of argument I have endea¬ 
 voured to follow, or that may be to my mind too 
 highly coloured, I shall take the liberty of omitting, 
 although I may say that there is very little in that 
 way to be done. 
 
 “ In the East Riding at Galway, swarming all 
 over with land League Branches, and seething with 
 agitation, we have already mentioned the reported 
 outrages are 15. They unhappily include one 
 charge of houghing cattle—the first we have come 
 across in these returns—for remember that in 
 
144 
 
 three provinces of Ireland, not a single instance of 
 that barbarity, which horrified English philanthro¬ 
 pists believe to be our daily occupation and amuse¬ 
 ment, is even alleged against four millions of 
 people.” 
 
 “ There is such a scarcity of murders that 
 (No. 22) recourse is had to a quarrel between 
 stepbrothers, one of whom, in a sudden paroxysm 
 of frenzy almost cut his brother’s head off with a 
 scythe, and is suffering twenty years’ penal servitude 
 for the manslaughter on the verdict of a Galway 
 jury. If this be classable as an agrarian murder, 
 we cannot imagine what description of murder, 
 robbery, rape, or arson committed by a man con¬ 
 nected with land would not come under the very 
 same description.” 
 
 “ Two outrages (Nos. 25 and 26) consist in a 
 mower being met on the road by ‘ a man who 
 pulled something like a revolver out of his breast 
 and said he would shoot him if he cut any more 
 hay for Mr. Lanyon.’ The ‘ something ’ in this 
 double-barrelled atrocity is so much more like a 
 whale than a revolver, that we wonder that even 
 the very dull Polonius who bethought himself of it 
 as a serviceable outrage could not perceive it. But 
 horror upon horrors had accumulated. Thomas 
 Madden had ‘ a pane of glass ’ broken in his bed¬ 
 room window (No. 20) and the top of a cock of hay 
 knocked down in his field—outrage number one— 
 the cock of hay having been set fire to, ‘ incendiary 
 fire and arson ’ is blazed over the empire as outrage 
 
145 
 
 number two. Ditto with Nos. 67, with Nos. 9 
 and 10, with Nos. 11 and 12, with Nos. 15 and 16, 
 with Nos. 27 and 28—every second of which is a 
 double, and a sham. Have we given a sufficient 
 taste to the quality of the 15 outrages (less 5 doubles) 
 which are laid to the charge of East Galway, 
 and of which the gravest is an assault upon two 
 bailiffs 1” 
 
 “ In the West Riding of Galway, where the 
 unhappy people have few opportunities of education, 
 of meeting together, or of open agitation of their 
 wrongs—where they are on the brink of famine, 
 and crushed to the earth with rack rents—they 
 have in some instances broken forth into rude 
 attempts at resistance, and into a few brutalities 
 which nothing can palliate, except the ignorance 
 and misery in which their masters have held them 
 down. Crimes of this sort are not one in fifty of 
 what they used to be in times, when w 7 rong was 
 driven in upon conspiracy and outrage, as the only 
 mode of redress. But mark the attempt to magnify 
 and blacken them.” 
 
 “ Of the 138 offences brought out at the bottom 
 of the list, 54 are threatening letters, and of the 
 remaining 84 four charges of injury to property 
 are mere repetitions of other offences; three charges 
 of robbery, five threatening letter cases, eight 
 charges of intimidation, one charge of firing into a 
 dwelling, four aggravated assaults, four charges of 
 administering illegal oaths, one charge of attacking 
 a house, two cases of maiming cattle, and two 
 
146 
 
 incendiary fires, are doubles — that is to say, 
 inventions, imaginations.” 
 
 “ The result, even taking the police reports to 
 be unimpeachable, the 55 real offences in West 
 Galway are swelled out into 138 sham ones.” 
 
 “ Here are a few specimens of how the thing is 
 done :—(No. 76) ‘ 19 June. Robbery.—Patrick 
 Nolan was knocked down, and fourteen ejectment 
 processes taken from him by a number of women, 
 girls, and boys. Motive, to prevent him serving 
 them.’ (No. 77) ‘ 19 June. Assaults on bailiffs 
 and process-servers. Nolan was assaulted and 
 knocked down by a number of women, girls, and 
 boys when going to serve ejectment processes for 
 nonpayment of rent.’ (No. 78). ‘ 19 June, ad¬ 
 
 ministering oaths. The above-named injured 
 person was on the same occasion made to swear that 
 he would not come there again to serve processes.’ ” 
 
 “ Here we have the one “ injured person ”—u 
 process-server assaulted by women—held up to the 
 empire as an officer of the law thrice grossly out¬ 
 raged.” 
 
 “Again, 54 and 55 are twin outrages, arising 
 from the same occurrence, where we are told a 
 midnight party ‘ carded and kicked Walter Burke, 
 in a brutal manner.’ ” 
 
 “Now compare the next triune bunch of out¬ 
 rages (Nos. 56, 57, and 58,) committed upon the 
 
14? 
 
 same date upon a man named John Rafferty, whom 
 they also ‘ carded and kicked in a brutal manner.’ 
 Though in other parts of this return there is a show 
 of frankness in showing the connection between a 
 few of the outrages, there is here nothing whatever 
 to inform the reader that these five outrages are two 
 aggravated assaults, committed by the same 
 offenders, though that inference may be drawn 
 with perfect certainty, not merely from the date, 
 but from the exactly like phraseology employed 
 evidently by the same constable in reporting the 
 sets of offences. The trio 18, 19, and 20, are 
 similar.” 
 
 “A still more exquisite thing — a gem of 
 official audacity rarely equalled and never excelled 
 —is the pair of ‘ aggravated assaults,’ 86 and 87. 
 In the first the injured persons are given as 
 Margaret Lydon, Pat Whalen, and Bridget 
 Whalen, and the person made amenable for the 
 assault is John Lydon, and the circumstances are 
 thus related :—‘ A dispute arose about the pos¬ 
 session of a small plot of ground. John Lydon, 
 assaulted the injured persons.’ The second outrage 
 is manufactured by the beautiful contrivance of 
 transferring John Lydon’s name to the column of 
 injured persons, and the three persons whom he 
 injured in No. 86 into the column of persons made 
 amenable, with this exquisite apology : — ‘Lydon 
 was assaulted at the time of (and at the moment of) 
 the above dispute about the land.’ That is to say, 
 Lydon outraged the injured persons, and the in¬ 
 jured persons outraged Lydon, and the impartial 
 
148 
 
 constable turns both into grist for Mr. Forster’s 
 mill.” 
 
 “We are really tempted to look again at the 
 title of this book, to make sure that it is an official 
 blue book, and not an opera bouffe—that, or a first 
 of lessons in lying. But fraud reaches its grand 
 climacteric with the astounding discovery that Nos. 
 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, and 31—the whole eight 
 of them—are simple variations of the one gang of 
 night-walkers upon the one night, 10th March. 
 The flagrant and impudent dishonesty of this re¬ 
 turn —where the administering of an oath to one 
 man, is actually put down as two cases of administer¬ 
 ing unlawful oaths, and where four separate out¬ 
 rages, are carved out of the circumstance that the 
 party fired shots in the air when paying those visits 
 that have already been put down under the head of 
 ‘ administering unlawful oaths’—is simply out¬ 
 rageous. ” 
 
 “Leitrim is another of the counties where the 
 Land League reigns supreme, and side by side with 
 it is perfect security for person and property. It is a 
 maudlin sentimentality, that could weep over the 
 fact that 23 agrarian offences have been reported 
 in a large county during nine months, and there 
 is still less reason to blush for the figure, when we 
 know that four of these offences are doubles, and 
 two more of them of trivial moment.” 
 
 “We pass to Mayo —tra la jyerduta (/ante —into 
 Ghenna where, according to popular belief in Eng¬ 
 land, every man in the community is daily engaged 
 in murder, or in being murdered. What do we 
 
149 
 
 find ? That deducting G8 threatening letters, the 
 utmost stretch of official ingenuity can but muster 
 82 offences among a population of 253,715, during 
 a period of excitement which has been likened to a 
 revolution. Even of the 68 threatening letters, 11 
 are repetitions under that form of outrage already 
 recorded. Of the 82 offences charged, 2 cases of 
 injury to property, 2 cases of robbery, 4 cases of 
 intimidation, 4 aggravated assaults, 8 charges of ad¬ 
 ministering unlawful oaths, 2 cases of maiming 
 cattle, and one charge of assaulting the police, are 
 what we have proved to be frauds, and three 
 others are trivial offences, leaving a nett total of 61 
 genuine agrarian crimes in the bloodiest theatre of 
 the land.” 
 
 “ Of the 61, one is a murder—the fearful murder 
 of poor Feerick. His murder and that of Lord 
 Mountmorres, in Galway, are the two bloodstains 
 upon Connaught. We abhor such deeds as honestly 
 as anybody, but as long as human nature, and not 
 merely Irish nature, remains what it is, the Irish 
 tenants are apt to look at the other side of the 
 account, and call to mind that within the same 
 period, and in the same area, several thousand 1 sen¬ 
 tences of death ’ (we thank Mr. Gladstone for 
 teaching us that word) have been pronounced and 
 carried out in due form of law, and very few 
 English tears have been wasted over the victims. 
 At all events, the fact stands that in Mayo, from 
 January to October, there was one life taken and 
 two attempted, and that three-fourths of the 
 remaining crimes are shabby Whiteboy offences 
 which the law has ample power to deal with.” 
 
150 
 
 “As for the composition of the Mayo returns, 
 the fact that upon page 115, out of 15 outrages 
 recorded, 20 are really five occurrences, will per¬ 
 haps sufficiently demonstrate that, if the total is 
 modest, it is not for lack of pains taken to magnify 
 it. For instance (Outrage 26). Devanny, process- 
 server, assaulted by women and boys. (Outrage 
 27) ‘ On same occasion 50 processes were taken 
 from Devanny.’ (Outrage 29). ‘A party of men 
 came to where Murphy was ploughing, and smashed 
 the plough.’ (Outrage 29). ‘ The same party, when 
 leaving, fired shots towards Murphy’s house ’ (with¬ 
 out informing the public whether Murphy’s house 
 was a yard or a mile away); and so on.” 
 
 “Nor will the table of variations from month to 
 month, help the coercionist theory that with the 
 increase of agitation comes increase of crime, for 
 we find that the offences in Mayo dropped from 15 
 in February (while the prospect of famine was 
 still pressing) to 7 in March, when the relief system 
 was in full operation; rose again to 19 in June, 
 when the relief was coming to an end, and famine 
 and fever doing their work, dropped to 14 in July, 
 when the new potatoes offered some relief, and 
 only rose to 22 and 28 in September and October, 
 while the wretched people were struggling to pro¬ 
 tect their harvest from the rapacity of the landlords 
 and gombeen men. So far from the Land League 
 agitation having increased in Mayo during these 
 months, it was far more active and equally wide¬ 
 spread in the beginning of the year.” 
 
151 
 
 “ In Roscommon, of 17 offences charged 3 are 
 doubles and 2 trivial; and in Sligo 6 out of 16 
 offences on the calendar are double. Needless 
 to say, we offer no apology for these figures. They 
 exhibit a state of things upon which Her Majesty’s 
 judges would be much better occupied in congra¬ 
 tulating the people, than in bemoaning the universal 
 arming of a population, among whom a firearm has 
 not been during nine months discharged in anger. 
 These counties also being covered with a network 
 of Land Leagues, we -have one more proof that it 
 is not exemption from agitation which preserves 
 the peace, as in Sligo and Roscommon, but that it 
 is a more frightful pitch of misery and oppression 
 which drives the poor peasants of the Mayo and 
 Galway wilds sometimes to break it.” 
 
 “ Just one farewell proof that the smallness of 
 the returns is not to be attributed to the hand of 
 the compiler having lost its cunning. No. 5 (Co. 
 Sligo) is a case of ‘ aggravated assault,’ where, 
 owing to a family dispute, some people broke into 
 Thomas Foley’s house, and assaulted him and his 
 familj A fair outrage enough ; but now comes 
 No. 6—‘ James Foley, ditto. A similar case in 
 every respect to No. 5, committed by the same party;’ 
 then No. 7 (with the most magnificent audacity)— 
 ‘ Frank Foley, ditto, ditto,’ and once more, No 
 8—‘ Thomas Foley, administering unlawful oaths.’ 
 This case occurred on the same occasion.” 
 
152 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 Continue this united league. 
 
 Richard III., Act 2, Scene 1. 
 
 I now append the concluding remarks and figures 
 upon the Government statements, and can only say 
 that they represent my feelings upon the subject, 
 and I trust, may do much (the figures at any rate) 
 to convince every reader that there has been much 
 misreprerentation by the Constabulary and other 
 officials, and that Mr. Forster has been made 
 sponsor for a measure based upon a very doubtful 
 foundation, and, to say the least, a measure which 
 will enslave millions of people (the majority of 
 whom cry aloud for the redress of grievances), 
 because, forsooth, the ignorant part of the popula¬ 
 tion have been guilty of certain outrages against 
 society, which the ordinary police, if properly 
 appointed and directed, could have easily controlled. 
 The concluding remarks referred to above, are 
 given in extenso. They are without doubt the 
 reflex of the opinion of the majority of the 
 intelligence of Ireland. 
 
 “ November and December last were, according 
 ^ Mr. Forster, par excellence the months of out¬ 
 rages in Ireland. The Land League, he argued, 
 was in full swing. Meetings were held here, 
 there, and everywhere. The consequence was 
 that murder and anarchy stalked and terrorised 
 over the land from end to end. We confess that 
 last night we opened them with more than the 
 ordinary curiosity awaiting a Blue-book, the par- 
 
153 
 
 ticularised return for tlie former of those months— 
 November—-just issued. We have gone over it 
 pretty carefully, and we can declare, without fear 
 of contradiction, that if the Chief Secretary's word 
 is to be taken, and that November was the worst 
 or one of the two worst months of the year 1880, 
 the worst month of the year in Ireland can com¬ 
 pare most favourably with the best month of the 
 year in any other country in the world. Although 
 it was the worst month of the year there was only 
 one murder in the whole country. That was the 
 murder of Henry Wheeler in the County Limerick. 
 It was a most melancholy one, to be sure, but it is 
 not at all certain that it was vliat is called ‘ agra¬ 
 rian.’ The Moores, the persons charged with the 
 crime, and one of whom, Wheeler’s own herd, was 
 at the time with the young man slain, were made 
 amenable, but were subsequently discharged for 
 want of evidence. In the race of crime this 
 Wheeler murder is first and the rest nowhere. 
 
 It has been pointed out often before, that half 
 the so-called outrages are threatening letters and 
 notices. The return before us would show that not 
 half alone, but three-fourths, of the tabulated crime 
 is of this bogus description. The entire return for 
 the county Carlow is made up of this padding 
 with one single exception—the case of a man named 
 Morris, whose farmhouse a certain Joseph Byrne 
 seems to have taken possession of, he being a 
 ormer tenant: and this person alleged that he was 
 forcibly reinstated by a party of armed men, dis¬ 
 guised. The fellow was arrested, but let out on 
 bail—to come u?> at the quarter sessions for trial. 
 
 L 
 
154 
 
 All the ‘outrages’ (2) reported from the county 
 Dublin are threatening letters. The ‘ outrage' 
 reported from the county Kildare (1) is a threaten¬ 
 ing letter, and one of the most harmlessly idiotic 
 even of its kind. Sir E. D. Burrowes, Bart., is the 
 alleged recipient. All the ‘ outrages ’ reported 
 from county Kilkenny are threatening letters, 
 with one exception—the terrible ‘outrage’ of 
 breaking two panes of glass in Paddy Purcell’s top 
 story window. All the ‘ outrages ’ reported from 
 King’s County are threatening letters or notices. 
 There is only one ‘ outrage ’ from the county 
 Louth, and that is a threatening notice ‘ found 
 posted in a field.’ All the ‘outrages’ reported 
 from Queen’s County are threatening notices. The 
 two down to the account of Westmeath—that so- 
 called centre of ribbonism—are threatening letters. 
 The solitary ‘ outrage ’ reported from the county 
 Wicklow is a threatening letter. Out of the twelve 
 ‘ outrages ’ reported from the western and wild 
 county Clare, ten are threatening letters. All the 
 ‘outrages’ reported from the county Antrim, (3) 
 are threatening letters. The three ‘outrages’ from 
 the county Armagh are ditto. The fourteen ‘ out¬ 
 rages’ reported from distant and impoverished 
 Donegal contained amongst them only one other 
 than a threatening letter case, and that one was 
 rather a humorous demonstration against a bailiff 
 named Paddy M‘Alenny, who retreated on the 
 occasion with all the skill, if not all the grace, of 
 an Austrian archduke. The four ‘ outrages 
 reported from county Down are all threatening 
 letters or notices. The only * outrage ’ reported 
 
155 
 
 from Fermanagh is a threatening letter delivered 
 to a man in Dublin. Of the four ‘outrages’ 
 reported from Monaghan three are threatening 
 letters. The four ‘ outrages ’ reported from county 
 Tyrone are all threatening letters or notices. We 
 now come to Connaught—the cradle and the home 
 of the Land League. What do we find ? We find 
 that in the East Riding of Galway, the third largest 
 county in Ireland, not a single agrarian offence was 
 committed with the single exception of these bogus 
 threatening letters. We find that more than a 
 third of the reported ‘outrages’ from terrible 
 Mayo are threatening letters and notices. We find 
 that with one paltry exception the eight ‘ out¬ 
 rages ’ swelling the total from the county Roscom¬ 
 mon are threatening letters. We find that more 
 than a fourth of the so-called ‘ outrages ’ from 
 Sligo County are these same miserable threatening 
 letters. And so on. 
 
 Now, it may be said that we are conveniently 
 skipping the worst counties, or parts of counties— 
 Tipperary, Mayo, Cork, Kerry, and the West 
 Riding of Galway. We have no such intention, 
 though Government is reversing the decree of 
 God. The Almighty would spare the doomed city 
 if five just men could be found in it. Mr. Forster 
 will punish the whole country because there are 
 five apparently disturbed districts in it. But are 
 these districts disturbed, or are the ‘outrages’ 
 only on paper, like skeleton regiments ? Let us 
 examine them. We turn to Mayo—Davitt's place 
 of nativity. How are the outrages brought up to 
 their full strength there ? Well, we find Captairi 
 
156 
 
 Boycott a Lost in himself. He counts not less 
 than five. On the 1st of November he was mobbed 
 in Ballinrobe—that’s one. On the 14th November 
 a notice was thrown into his herd’s house, and two 
 shots were fired over it, warning him to give up 
 herding for the captain—that’s two. No—that’s 
 three, for it is made to count one for the captain, 
 and another for Harte, the herd. On the same 
 day the captain got a threatening letter, making 
 him the hero of four ‘outrages’ in a fortnight, 
 and not a hair turned on him. On the 24th he 
 got another threatening letter, and on the 25tli 
 yet another—these counting two more ‘outrages’ 
 in the return. Captain Boycott, we need not say, 
 is alive and kicking—a notable proof of the dangers 
 of threatening letterdom, and that threatened men 
 live long. But it is not in Captain Boycott’s case 
 alone that this multiplication of outrages is resorted 
 to, to swell an empty return. Patrick Dolan is 
 duplicated in Mayo; Henry Lyons is duplicated in 
 the same county, Michael Reilly is duplicated there 
 ilso. An assault alleged to have been made on 
 three persons of the name of Jordan, near Balla- 
 ghadereen, is spread out into three separate ‘out¬ 
 rages.’ The case of Arthur Percival, in the county 
 Leitrim, is duplicated and made count as two 
 ‘outrages.’ The same thing occurs with Patrick 
 Keenan, in the same county. In the return for 
 the West Riding of Galway Michael M’Guff is made 
 appear as two separate men. Michael Daly and 
 Michael M’Donagh are each duplicated in the same 
 alarmist fashion. We have no space to expose 
 those fallacious returns more fully. Is there any- 
 
157 
 
 one that will say, after reading what we have 
 written, and of which we challenge contradiction, 
 that a greater expose is needed? We make the 
 Government a present of all the ‘ outrages ’ that 
 remain for this bloody month of November. They 
 will have to fall back on the case ‘ cutting the ex¬ 
 treme tip off a calf’s ear ’ for ground to stand their 
 baby Coercion Bill on.” 
 
 I am now about to take leave of my readers, but 
 before doing so, I shall at the risk of being w T eari- 
 some, place before them as briefly as possible, the 
 results already brought about by the action of the 
 Coercion Bills. Some thirty people have, up to the 
 moment of writing, been arrested, and all of them 
 on suspicion. Nally, the drunken half-maudlin fool, 
 described by the leaders of the Land League, and 
 others who know him, as not responsible for his 
 actions, is the latest addition to the army of 
 martyrs; for even if guilty of the offences alleged 
 against them, that is what they will be considered 
 by most of the Irish people. 
 
 Nally was followed by a large and excited crowd 
 of peasantry, and the police were unable, for a 
 time, to check the enthusiasm of the mob. The 
 prisoner maintained throughout a defiant attitude, 
 uttering unmeaning and senseless threats, or what 
 he evidently intended as such. Is the policy of 
 arresting men of his calibre calculated to remove, 
 or to incite, the worst feelings of the Irish agri¬ 
 cultural population ? If arrests are to be made, 
 and the Government holds that the leaders of the 
 movement are those who incite to wrong-doing, 
 why should they pounce upon the lesser lights ? 
 
158 
 
 The events which have occurred during the com¬ 
 pilation of this work ; the forcing through the 
 House of the Arms Bill; the indefinite postpone¬ 
 ment of the remedial measure ; and the continued 
 suspension of constitutional rights by the urgency 
 rules; all these events have led me to the con¬ 
 clusion that I should be unmanly, were I not now 
 to declare that my confidence in the present 
 Government has been rudely shaken, and that 
 although I cannot agree entirely with Mr. Parnell 
 in his advice to the Irish electors of Coventry 
 there is some little justification for his apparent 
 vindictiveness to the WHIGS, 
 
 I join issue with him certainly, however, in 
 believing that the weakening of the present majority 
 will strengthen his hand, because I know that 
 among that majority are many who, if the Glad- 
 stonian promises are not soon fulfilled, will unite to 
 force the hands of the Government. 
 
 Mr. Parnell has, I am sure, the sense to under¬ 
 stand that obstruction (which, although I have 
 endeavoured to vindicate), is obnoxious to the 
 majority of even Kadical members of the Legisla¬ 
 ture, has been the prime cause of the defection 
 from his standard of many Englishmen, who would 
 have, and will hereafter, rally round him, and help 
 him to obtain for his country a JUST LAND 
 BILL. He cannot possibly help his party by 
 aiding those who principally represent the objec¬ 
 tionable landlord oligarchy which he is endeavour¬ 
 ing to defeat, and for this reason I am sorry that 
 he has written his manifesto to the Irish electors 
 pf Coventry, 
 
159 
 
 The news of the polling which has resulted in 
 the return of the Conservative candidate has 
 arrived at the moment of writing. The Liberal 
 and Radical Press are at a loss to account for the 
 result, but it is perfectly clear to my mind, that the 
 changing of the Irish vote, and the defection from 
 the English Liberal ranks by those who are deter¬ 
 mined to uphold the Lush leaders in their struggle 
 for justice, are together the cause of this unexpected 
 change, in the political representation of Coventry. 
 
 I am extremely grieved at the attitude of 
 the Government, and although I am unable to 
 believe that Mr. Gladstone will fail to redeem 
 this seeming inconsistency, I am certainly unable 
 to find at present any valid excuse for the delay 
 in the introduction of the Land Bill. As a 
 proof of the deep feeling upon this subject I append 
 copy of a letter to Mr. Gladstone, and signed “ An 
 Irish Catholic,” which has been in circulation 
 among Members of Parliament and others. 
 
 The writer sorrowfully and trenchantly reminds 
 the Premier of Ireland’s constancy in suffering, 
 and of his own political inconsistency:—“ Out of 
 the depths of her misery Ireland calls to you ; out 
 of the long accumulated agony of her hunger and 
 her thirst and fever, she asks you for food, for rest, 
 for shelter, and you offer her a rod. You, the 
 champion of the full-fed land-owners of Bulgaria. 
 You, the advocate of the peasant seated in plenty 
 amid the Tuscan hills. You, the upholder of 
 rentless Sclave and prosperous Servian, and olive- 
 fatted Ionian, have nothing to give this weary, 
 starving, maddened Celt, save scorn, insult, and 
 
160 
 
 the gaol. You could vapour of freedom on the 
 distant Danube, and play the tyrant on the nearer 
 Shannon. You could invoke the sacred name of 
 freedom in Corfu, only to be the champion of 
 coercion for Cork. You could play bear-leader 
 to the Bulgar, the Sclave, the Neapolitan, and 
 jangle his chain in the ears of Europe ; but the 
 quiet extinction of millions of your own people 
 was an everyday matter that was beneath the 
 sublime loftiness of your comprehension.” 
 
 One thing is certain, there have occurred in 
 Ireland conspiracies and petty rebellions, revolu¬ 
 tionary outbursts, and secret organizations, which 
 have created turbulence and disorder, and failed to 
 procure for the people any amelioration of their 
 unhappy condition, but rather have had a tendency 
 to excite hostility on the part of the English 
 Government, and a want of sympathy on the part 
 of the English people. The principles of the 
 Land League are entirely opposed to the revolu¬ 
 tionary or unconstitutional elements in connection 
 with the above anarchical disturbances. 
 
 This fact will, I believe, be admitted by all right 
 thinking people. The present movement is, in 
 one sense, a strike of 600,000 oppressed tenants 
 against a small tyrannical oligarchy of absentees, 
 The Land League movement is no secret organiza¬ 
 tion; what it says or does, is spoken or acted 
 upon openly. 
 
 It is also a fact, that it is popular with the vast 
 majority of the Irish people, educated and unedu¬ 
 cated, laity and clergy, all united in their appeal 
 for just and reasonable land laws. 
 
161 
 
 It is also a fact that it lias the support of an 
 immense number of the cultured and uncultured 
 people of this England of ours. This national 
 movementhas been cleverly and perfectly organised, 
 and I have no doubt that its mighty force will 
 succeed in obtaining JUSTICE for the Irish 
 peasantry. 
 
 It has already been effectual in forcing the 
 English people to know the wrongs of Ireland, and 
 to deprecate their retention. 
 
 We cannot close our eyes or our hearts to the 
 fact, tl at a terrible injustice is being done to that 
 brave and intelligent people, that has given to us 
 our most prescient and bravest soldiers, some of 
 our most distinguished statesmen, and that has 
 supplied us with brain power in all the departments 
 of our legislature aud of our civil and other 
 ■services. 
 
 This same Ireland is the country that gives 
 birth to sons of toil, who in strange lands, where 
 liberty reigns, and where the labourer is worthy of 
 his hire, contribute the principal portion of the 
 bone and sinew to the populations, and who eventu¬ 
 ally raise themselves to positions of independence, 
 and being blessed with full participation in the 
 governing of them adopted countries, are by the 
 blessing of free education enabled to depart this 
 life, with the knowledge that their children and 
 heirs, and the generations to come will not be, 
 as they have been, enslaved and depressed, but 
 that they will enjoy all the privileges of freedom 
 and justice. 
 
 I ask you, my readers, to lend your voice and 
 
162 
 
 your vote to the cause of Just Legislation for 
 Ireland. I ask you to prevent the enforced Exodus 
 from their Native Isle of this people, who have 
 been ever ready to fight, side by side, who as friends 
 and companions are genial, generous and hospitable, 
 and whose ruder sons even with the lack of 
 advantages they possess are faithful to those who 
 are kind to them, and possess a ready wit, and 
 strong and willing arm to work, when work is not 
 directed by oppression. 
 
 It is the ENGLISH PEOPLE that must now 
 join in the agitation, for the DELIVERANCE OF 
 IRELAND. It is to the ENGLISH PEOPLE, 
 aided by the leaders of Irish public opinion, that 
 the SUFFERING SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF 
 ERIN turn with SUPPLIANT TEARS OF GRIEF 
 AND PAIN. Let us STAND BY THEM, and 
 they will in THE FUTURE STAND BY US. 
 Let us PROGRESS TOGETHER the two national- 
 ites of one UNITED LAND, OUR HEARTS 
 BEATING IN LOVING UNISON. Thus shall 
 we prove that the PEOPLE is the POWER 
 tl at GOVERNS, and the POWER that can 
 GOVERN GENEROUSLY and with JUSTICE. 
 
 I now conclude with the belief, that my little 
 effort will be attended with some success, in the 
 attainment of the end for which it has been written, 
 and that on some future occasion I may be enabled 
 to write a companion work, to record the events 
 which shall have contributed to the redress of 
 Irish wrongs, and to the existence of a perfect 
 unity of heart and mind, between the two kindred 
 l?le?. 
 
168 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 From the Lenten Pastorals for the year 1881 of several 
 Irish Bishops, I have extracted those parts that have a 
 hearing on the subject of this ivork. 
 
 The Most Bev. Dr. Gillooly, Lord Bishop of Elphin, 
 writes:— 
 
 “In the very critical condition in which onr country is 
 placed, we feel it is our duty to give advice to our beloved 
 diocesans on certain duties which they ought presently to 
 fulfil, and also on certain dangers against which they should 
 carefully guard themselves. In the course of the past year, 
 at our conferences and visitation, we spoke, very reverend 
 and reverend fathers, to you and your flocks, in the plainest 
 terms, on the organized agitation which was being carried 
 on amongst you and around you by the Land League. 
 Whilst deeply sympathising with the tenant class in their 
 great losses and sufferings, and cordially approving the 
 efforts they were making to improve their relations with 
 their landlords, we could not in duty refrain from condemn¬ 
 ing several acts of injustice and intimidation which has 
 occurred—apparently in connection with the Land League 
 agitation. We then warned our beloved people against all 
 violent and illegal means of redress; and predicted, as it 
 was easy to do, that illegal and defiant proceedings such as 
 we condemned would certainly lead to coercive legislation, 
 and possibly deprive the present generation of tenants of 
 the remedial measures which had been promised to them. 
 We now see, to our deep regret, a beginning of the evils we 
 apprehended in the Coercion Bill which has been so eagerly 
 and unanimously adopted by Parliament; and looking to the 
 angry, vindictive spirit aroused amongst the upper classes in 
 England against the land agitation and its promoters, we see 
 great reason to fear that not only will all legislation favour- 
 «• able to the people be defeated, but that the landlord class 
 
 will be furnished with new means of oppression; that they 
 
104 
 
 will re-assert and enforce their claims with renewed severity: 
 
 ft/ 
 
 and that the people will be again victimised by fines, im¬ 
 prisonment, and evictions. 
 
 We have had ample evidence of the despotic temper of a 
 Liberal House of Commons; we have seen the House of 
 Lords maintain its traditional hostility to the tiller of the 
 soil; numerous and convincing proofs have also been sup¬ 
 plied to us of the rigour with which the orders of the 
 Government and the decrees of the law will be henceforth 
 executed. In view of such facts, and with such means of 
 forecasting the future, what honest man, if he be of sound 
 mind, can still believe in the success of violent and 
 illegal remedies? Who but an enemy can still advocate 
 or recommend them ? It is happily true, very reverend and 
 dear fathers, that during the past year our good and peace¬ 
 ful people kept themselves free, with very few exceptions, 
 from acts of violence and intimidation. 
 
 Now. although it may be taken as proved beyond question 
 and as generally admitted by the representatives of the 
 landlord class, that the method followed in Ireland for 
 fixing and raising rents has been most arbitrary and unfair; 
 that rents on many properties, especially those purchased 
 in the Landed Estates Court, are oppressively high ; that 
 general reduction of rents even of those formerly considered 
 moderate, has now for a variety of reasons, become neces¬ 
 sary ; and that furthermore the public good demands a new 
 system of land tenure which will not only allow but 
 encourage the tenant to improve his land, and which will 
 save him from eviction and starvation ; now, although we 
 fully admit all this, and although it is unquestionably both 
 the right and the duty of our people to insist on the remo¬ 
 val of the grievances under which they have so long suffer«d, 
 and to assert their right to live on and by the soil they 
 cultivate, in the meantime, let the people, by all means, 
 Tirge their just claims, le. agitate if they will, but let 
 their agitation be peaceful and constitutional, let it be 
 directed to promote, instead of impeding, the concessions 
 they look for.” 
 
165 
 
 The Most Rev. Dr. M‘Evilly, Coadjutor Archbishop of 
 Tuam:— 
 
 “ Would we not be wanting in the well regulated charity 
 we owe ourselves were we to omit, at this important crisis 
 in our country’s history, fervently praying to Him who 
 holds in His hands the hearts of men, that He would in¬ 
 spire our rulers to redress, with that spirit of fairness and 
 justice, born of true patriotism, which is sure in the end 
 to triumph over all obstacles, the crying wrongs of our 
 misgoverned country, and by a course of just legislation 
 dry up the sources of the discontent and dissatisfaction 
 which must universally prevail so long as the present state 
 of things continues ? While the great bulk of our people 
 are allowed to live in the land of their birth, in most cases 
 on mere sufferance; while they are kept in constant dread, 
 so far as the protection of law is concerned, of being the 
 victims, in many instances, of plunder and spoliation; 
 while, in a state of anxious uncertainty, they have cause to 
 dread, in many cases, being turned adrift at the whim of 
 irresponsible power, and of forfeiting the fruit of long toil 
 and outlay, which is in reality for thousands a question of 
 life or death, can they in any sense of the word be regarded 
 as free? While they see before their eyes the labourer de 
 frauded of his hire on a gigantic scale—what else can w« 
 term compelling men to pay in ever increasing rents fol 
 tne fruits of their hard industry?—can they be contented 
 or happy ? But, while we deplore these evils, and would 
 omit no just or constitutional means for their permanent 
 redress, we cannot shut our eyes to outrages which are 
 committed by men who should be shunned and abhorred 
 by all as the deadliest enemies of our country. No doubt, 
 the number of these outrages is, for sinister motives, 
 greatly exaggerated; but, be their number what it may, 
 such outrages are, for several reasons, the greatest obstacle 
 to the equitable settlement of the great question of the 
 hour, which intimately affects the dearest interests of all 
 classes of society, and at a future day, perhaps not far 
 distant, when, after the storm of passion shall have sub¬ 
 sided, reason assumes the ascendant, it may be seen that 
 
166 
 
 the perpetrators of such outrages are themselves either the 
 expectants or the recipients of the wages of iniquity.” 
 
 The most Bev. Dr. Donnelly, Lord Bishop of Clogher:— 
 
 “It is with feelings of more than ordinary anxiety we 
 address you at the present juncture. Our country presents 
 at this moment, to the empire and the world, a spectacle 
 of social upheaving calculated to inspire all of us with the 
 gravest disquietude. After being rescued by the charity of 
 the world—chiefly, no doubt, of our kith and kin—from 
 the jaws of a terrible famine, which would have been the 
 second within a generation, the Irish people have risen 
 from their lethargy, and joining together in lawful com¬ 
 bination have proclaimed that they shall no longer submit 
 to conditions of life which keep the bulk of them in a state 
 of chronic abasement and misery, to be turned into the 
 horrors of a national famine by the failure of a single 
 esculent. Is it not time such a state of things should end, 
 and that Irishmen, patterns of industry, thrift, loyalty, 
 and prosperity in every foreign land, should no longer be 
 kept in a perpetual struggle between life and death on this 
 island which God has given for their support ? We have 
 been calling on the legislature to rescue us from land laws 
 which condemn our people to starvation and degradation ; 
 and now, for the hundredth time, our appeal is responded 
 to by Coercion Acts and Arms Acts. And is this to go on 
 for ever ? Are we to be left still preaching patience to a 
 starving multitude, loyalty and submission to a people for 
 whom law is but organised oppression, confiscation, expa¬ 
 triation ? We have hopes that this may not be so, and 
 that counsels of humanity and prudence may at length 
 prevail; but the future is in the hands of God. Whilst we 
 ask the clergy to impress on their flocks the necessity of 
 prudence, moderation, and charity in the present agitation, 
 and the need of keeping strictly within the laws of God 
 and His Church and the civil law as well, we call on priests 
 and people to join with us, at this supreme moment, in 
 making an earnest appeal to Almighty God, that He may 
 move the hearts of your rulers and legislators to send at 
 length a message of relief to a long-suil'ering nation.” 
 
167 
 
 The Most Rev. Dr. F. J. M‘Cormack, Lord Bishop of 
 Achonry :— 
 
 “ We have passed into another year, and approach 
 another Lent, but the deep shadow of sorrow is still cast 
 over our troubled land. Distress still hovers over the 
 country, and it remains to be seen how the poor labourers 
 and small farmers may eke out an existence during the 
 ensuing spring and summer. The clouds of discontent 
 thicken apace, and the outlook seems more gloomy day by 
 day. The fortunes of our poor country are now in the 
 uncertain balance of a foreign legislature, to be cast at the 
 beck of British Ministers. Discontent and disloyalty may 
 be now perpetuated in this ill-used country; or, on the 
 other hand, one of the great wounds of Ireland may be now 
 healed up, and the feeling of unrest be quickly abated. 
 The pressing evil of the iniquitous land system of Ireland 
 has been brought to the front, and in its presence other 
 Irish grievances are hushed for the moment. In this 
 momentous crisis of our unhappy nation it behoves people 
 and clergy to unite in prayer to the Giver of all Good, 
 that He may inspire British legislators with wisdom and 
 justice at a moment when great national interests hang in 
 the balance. The land grievance of Ireland is admitted by 
 all just men ; and the wonder is that any people, with an 
 instinct of honest manliness, could have borne a cruel, 
 transparent, and systematic wrong so long and so patiently. 
 The earnest appeal for redress has at length gone forth, 
 a combined effort to resist injustice is now made in every 
 province in Ireland—in the black North as well as in the 
 sunny South. We may rest assured that an earnest, per¬ 
 severing appeal for justice cannot, and will not, be disre¬ 
 garded, when it emanates from Protestant as well as 
 Catholic—from a body of ‘united Irishmen’ determined 
 to gain their point because justice is on their side. But 
 with that thorough perseverance should be united an earn¬ 
 est endeavour to discountenance the employment of every 
 illegal means in working out this all-important social 
 reform. Let coercion do its worst; it can never prevail in 
 quenching the claims of justice or silencing the spirit of 
 
168 
 
 earnestness which is now abroad. The eyes of many 
 nations are now watching the result of the Irish land move¬ 
 ment, eagerly awaiting the next move of the British 
 Government on the land question, and how our poor 
 country will fare at their hands at this supreme moment. 
 The United States of America particularly regard the 
 struggle with deep and sympathetic interest. They see 
 with regret ‘ the substitution of the methods of tyrants for 
 the peaceful process of civil law’ to stifle the voice of Ire¬ 
 land and paralyse her action. And they suggest that ‘ if 
 the British Parliament is unable or unwilling to apply an 
 efficient remedy to the cancer that is eating away the life 
 of a nation, it is the duty of England to remit the cure of 
 the evil to the people of Ireland themselves.’ 
 
 We exhort both clergy and people to hold together, 
 united in sentiment and action in this trying crisis of our 
 country. The clergy of Ireland owe a deep debt of loyalty 
 to their faithful flocks, and as long as the people pursue 
 the paths of ‘ j ustice and equity ’ the clergy shall be ever 
 found by their side. If the British Government will only 
 make an honest effort to redress the glaring grievances 
 under which our poor people have suffered for ages in 
 unparalleled misery, they may count upon a nation’s 
 loyalty and the cordial goodwill of every true Irishman. 
 But coercion in and out of Parliament of the people and of 
 the people’s representatives takes the lead of redress—such 
 coercion as was never heard of before, exasperating in the 
 highest degree, in every shape and form that ingenuity 
 could devise. Perhaps, it may be suggested, this coercion 
 has a silver lining upon it; perhaps it is the precursor of 
 real radical reform. Yes, the merest ‘ perhaps,’ without 
 any guarantee. If we read English promises and English 
 pledges to Ireland by the light of the past, we can place 
 hut little faith in the assurances of British Ministers. In 
 any event, coercion or redress, we counsel our harassed 
 people to patience, and call upon them to avoid every snare 
 and baffle every effort to draw them into violation of the 
 laws; but we, at the same time, would earnestly encourage 
 them not to abate their legitimate aspiration for land 
 
160 
 
 reform, nor lower the flag of constitutional agitation, until 
 perseverance shall have crowned their just cause with vic¬ 
 tory. We demand but common justice; and in urging our 
 claims we have a common right to the ear of British rulers, 
 if they have only ears to hear, when there is a question of 
 Ireland, and if the Irish cause is not still what it was of 
 old—‘ a jest to the English Philistine.’ ” 
 
 The Most Rev. Dr. Duggan, Lord Bishop of Clonfert, 
 says:— 
 
 ‘‘It is earnestly hoped that Parliament will soon, by 
 wise, vigorous, and incisive legislation, put an end for ever 
 to this burning land agitation—an agitation that will not 
 cease to exercise the public mind in some form or another, 
 until finally settled on principles in conformity with the 
 eternal laws of equity and justice. The condition of the 
 labouring poor and artisan classes in this, as in other 
 towns, is this year deplorable. The same is to be said ol 
 the numbers of the small holders of land throughout this 
 diocese. The failure of the potato crop affects those classes 
 in a special manner. Eor large numbers of them we see 
 no alternative but starvation, or a judicious outlay in out¬ 
 door relief, combined with employment on works of 
 public utility. The rigid application of the workhouse 
 test to able-bodied members of families, involving the 
 eternal disruption of home ties, in seasons of exceptional 
 severity, would be simply inhuman. As the duties entrusted 
 by the legislature to those charged with the administration 
 of the poor-laws are being more and more extended year 
 after year, it should be borne in mind both by the rate¬ 
 paying electors and guardians that their responsibilities 
 are become proportionately increased—hence, among other 
 matters, the duty on both to endeavour to temper economy 
 with a judicious and humane regard to the condition of the 
 indigent. 
 
 It would be impossible to find words to adequately 
 express our thanks to the munificent benefactors from 
 all parts of the world who came to the relief of the famine- 
 
 M 
 
170 
 
 stricken poor of our locality during last year. We take 
 this opportunity of again expressing our heartfelt acknow¬ 
 ledgments. Let us hope the time is not far distant when 
 there will be an end of such mendicancy.” 
 
 Dr. Doran, Lord Bishop of Down and Connor, said :— 
 
 “ So far as he understood the present agitation he could see 
 nothing in its principles opposed to an equitable settlement 
 of the Land Question on the most constitutional lines. He 
 condemned the coercive legislation of the Government as 
 unstatesmanlike, irritating, and illogical. Coercion was 
 the weapon of the tyrant, not a weapon for the hungering 
 multitudes. It must produce hatred, not love, and terror 
 would not lead to willing obedience to the law. In con¬ 
 clusion he counselled his flock to continue to discuss their 
 grievances, and keep within the law, until redress was 
 constitutionally obtained.” 
 
 The Irish Times New Boss correspondent, writing on 
 Sunday, says:— 
 
 “ The Most Bev. Dr. Warren, Bishop of Ferns, com¬ 
 mended to his flock the advice of the Pope to guard against 
 being led into illegal and unjust acts in connection with 
 the present land movement. Though the Pope did not 
 disappro\e of the people seeking redress of their grievances 
 by constitutional means, he said, that in the present 
 agitation, as it was carried on, there were certain things 
 which he could not approve of. The Bishop reminded his 
 people that the slightest wilful violation of the laws of 
 truth, justice, equity, or of any other moral virtue, could 
 never be permitted by the Catholic Church, either for 
 escaping temporal evils or for obtaining the greatest tem¬ 
 poral advantages. Sooner or later Divine justice would 
 require satisfaction for the violation of any moral precepts. 
 In conclusion, he exhorted the people to have patience, 
 and by resignation to the holy will of God to make sure to 
 have Him on their side. If God was against them it 
 mattered little what success they might attain in temporal 
 
 If 
 
 concerns. 
 
171 
 
 MR. PARNELL’S LE TTER TO VICTOR HUGO. 
 
 “ The solidity of heart, the meek sympathy with human 
 suffering, the exertions in favour of oppressed nationalities, 
 which have distinguished you throughout life, encourage me 
 to invoke your powerful advocacy in defence of the suffering 
 Irish people. 
 
 The Irish question is not a sectarian question, in its 
 present aspect it is a purely social question. It is the cause 
 of five millions of working men, struggling for justice and 
 for the right to live lc^ their labour on their own land, 
 against a small and privileged class, foreign in their origin, 
 foreign in their associations, and supported in their injustice 
 and in their tyranny by the armed force of a foreign nation. 
 
 What have been the results of the domination of this 
 class ? They are written in the history of recurring famines, 
 decimating generation after generation. 
 
 No human words can paint the miseries and suffering 
 which have been witnessed even by the youngest among 
 us. Millions have been driven from their homes in despair. 
 Hundreds of thousands have perished miserably of hunger 
 in a land teeming with food. Half of our population exist 
 constantly on the verge of famine, while ten thousand 
 landlords, many of whom have never seen Ireland, live in 
 extravagance and luxury on the confiscated production of 
 die people’s labour. 
 
 It is against the system which has produced these evils 
 that we struggle. It is to put an end at once and for ever 
 to this detestable state of things that we appeal to the 
 conscience of all good men, without distinction of creed, 
 or party, or nationality, to aid us in shaming the Government 
 of England to do justice to our people. 
 
 To you, honoured sir, who have known how to arraign 
 the sympathy of mankind for Les Miserables , we feel that 
 we shall not appeal in vain when we ask that your voice 
 shall be raised on behalf of a brave but unfortunate nation. 
 
 C. S. Parnell. 
 
 Hotel Brighton, Feb. 24, 1881.” 
 
172 
 
 WHAT THE IKISH HAVE DONE FOR ENGLAND. 
 
 There is one amonst you (Lord Lyndhurst) of the most 
 distinguished talent and the most decided character. He 
 is not a member of this house, but he spoke with at least 
 more frankness than others of his party. He does not 
 profess to do justice to Ireland, he is above imposture. 
 This distinguished person tells us, when making an appeal 
 to the passions of the English people, he tells us—the 
 people of Ireland—that in every particular by which 
 strangers can be enumerated, we are aliens to this country. 
 The phrase is a remarkable one, and one which now belongs 
 to history. It is one which must necessarily be the subject 
 of fair and legitimate quarrel now, as it must be the subject 
 of observation hereafter. 1 am surprised that at the 
 moment the phrase was uttered, the Duke of Wellington did 
 not start up and say that those aliens had done their duty. 
 
 He ought not to have forgotten Vimeira, and Badajoz, 
 and Salamanca, and Toulouse, and Waterloo ; the last 
 glorious conflict which crowned all other victories. I will 
 appeal to the gallant and honourable soldier opposite (Sir 
 H. Hardinge): I know he bears in his breast a brave and 
 generous heart. Let him tell how on that day, when the 
 destinies of mankind were trembling in the balance, when 
 the batteries with fatal precision spread slaughter over the 
 field, and men fell in heaps—when the legions of France 
 rushed to the fight, and, inspired by the voice of their mighty 
 leader, rushed again and again to the onset—the gallant 
 soldier opposite will tell you whether, in the last hour of 
 thousands, the “aliens” flinched. And when at length 
 the moment for the decisive charge arrived—when the 
 banner so long clouded was at length unfurled, he will tell 
 you—when the mighty champion of the day cried out 
 “ Now boys, at them ! ” he will tell you, for he must remem¬ 
 ber, whether the Irishman, the catholic Irishman, was less 
 
 forward in the charge. No, he will tell you that, on that 
 day, the blood of England, Ireland, and Scotland was poured 
 forth together—they fought in the same field—they died the 
 same death—they were buried in the same pit—their dust 
 was commingled in the same earth—the same dew of heaven 
 fell upon the earth that covered them—the same grass grew 
 upon their graves. Is it to be endured after this, that we 
 should be called aliens and complete strangers to that 
 empire for whose salvation our best blood was shed ? 
 
 SflEIL. 
 
V/ 
 
 V. 
 
 4 0 > 
 
 
 
 'lv 
 
 
 / 
 
 //I 
 
 
 
 'e 
 
 
 \T' A j >"> v o ^ ' y 
 
 v/// ^ /t <i / ,a/ - , ) r, 
 
 \v v ^^ 
 
 J-£ kXkA^A 
 
 
 .yv. 
 
 . y // * ‘-' 4 ^"U. <T7 
 
 /■$ <tf£^4_ 
 
 7^ ■*" / '^ > 7<fl_ 1 ^_, 
 
 "Ay 
 
 i)»,(«, <wl' Tk'^kk^ '"«v 
 
 Wl (jl/lAAi^r!^ V £r-&-2 
 
 Ht< 
 
 l*tZf-L} ■ «&< 
 
 . _ _ 
 
 
 
 7 ^ 
 
 ^cUuvUy Ji L^ 
 
 ^^5 ^ ^^i5-Q^LL rZu 
 
 VO oi^wj to uA 1u%int'M Tj-cliuU « 
 
 ''Ol/ti' 
 
 ■ 
 
I * ^ 
 
 * 
 
 H 
 
 f ^ 
 
 Q^TlJ. ^; -/ A,* A 
 
 A & /*^f-<* - ^ 
 
 1 Jrt/' ' I'll' O* 
 
 A" 7%lJ^a*sir<M‘ 
 
 / • n t -/— 
 
 C _ 
 
 ** cJex*S 'J ^ 
 
 y**# >i n? y 
 
 ?/////?'*% ', j\ 
 
 , b+ °*u£ Uf>b 
 
 ^ i ’ \ Y ^ eei,t (( /-j 4 t ^^-/'^ y /'0 _£* 
 
 /) /%• — f P/.-t~et.+A O^ 
 
 *} i>W^ 
 
 1 ^ dL^tof ^fOft fo a /J, *) 
 
 i ',f < C"T^feV' 
 
 -, f ■£ 
 
 \AJ3>JT\_ (sCz/fs-. fif/ TY/7 r/^ft<) tftlttyHg&C f v 
 
 y ^ <//i 
 
 ^ As- 
 
 ^ Axferia 
 
 »•-? 
 
 " r 7 -«-4 : £ ' 7 ^ 1 du^hr t &&■ 
 
 c£ir / dr~ < *r™ 7 >*VS 
 
 S SSwefSal 
 
 w, ■<»*■; w *&zr 
 

 
 
 . , * > £ * 
 
 lilh.*. 
 
 v *♦>* 
 
 4 /• 
 
 |-F 
 
 i-17 
 
 &IA 
 
 f^nr^ 0-tA*C ^L— / I/’/ 
 
 7/ '. 4 - V * •■ 
 
 
 °^~y£z. fiJt 
 
 t*4 hwt/’ I 
 
 
 
 V 
 
 / v / v %t ^<i cCuysiti ~}%b VHJifli'h: 
 
 ^1 pv 
 
 ___ il _ /■: ■■#■11 
 
jff^Spp 
 
 l«ll| 
 
 r alHfPiPlP i 
 
 liwmim 
 
 jaw 
 
 w^yi^aCTai^^M^i^Si. 
 
 S teK^ S ! iff!ygip^iRgS 
 
 life* j %0 i Kjjgi. R«3 5 j/^ 
 
 BM 1 1M 
 
 aiM’Oili 
 
 m&M% 
 
 a? i®ii 
 itt HttiJi 91 
 
 ipflrag 
 
 g&iigH 
 
 H»P 
 
 F4P'FQ 
 
 
 R& Bp fepjJiP Jp^ 
 
 W.—O - \—• tv- w ; \^® fT / x »«'^fT/ ^^irr/ 
 
 0M0MIB 
 
 ina 
 
 
 mbm 
 
 bsmsmi* 
 
 zm ZMSmii 
 
 giwi®^iMSTjRp 
 
 l&5:.®j®31 
 
 L?^l J&Sd c3*@ I 
 
 ,;i:Vw’! ir>,-^ Br,.«».K\« piws Rv/^ r.wS rcw,^ 
 
 'j liH 
 
 Rv/^'RuS Ru^ ' l 
 
9031 01038064 0 
 
 jragH9Biira 
 
 SZd' £?r.\SX) • iC/T&i i ^Vv>,- "v 
 
 MM® 
 
 MS^§Mpw 
 
 imm 
 
 ««m«6 
 
 irai®|fii 
 
 felBlgiB&.qi^ 
 
 >@ mi &>£? em? 
 
 BOSTON COLLEGE LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS 
 CHESTNUT HILL, MASS. 
 
 w®ai»isp 
 
 wa- flawa ms 
 
 • ©_ ■■ -< 
 
 Books may be kept for two weeks and may be 
 renewed for the same period, unless reserved. 
 
 Two cents a day is charged for each book kept 
 overtime. 
 
 If you cannot find what you want, ask the 
 Librarian who will be glad to help you. 
 
 The borrower is responsible for books drawn 
 on his card and for all fines accruing on the same.