THE STATE OF IRELAND.

Evening Star, Issue 5589, 5 February 1881, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE STATE OF IRELAND.

BARON DOWSB'B CHARGE. Mr Baron Dowse, in opening the winter ase zaa for the province of Connaughr, at Galway, after referring to the cases which were to come before the grind jury, Baid—- •' The list of cases to be tried is not a very long or a very serious oie, having regard to the fact that I am Bitting here as a judge to discharge the gaol for the whole of the prorino3 of Couniught; but, urjf rtutately, that is no index at all to the state of crime in tae province. Anyone reading these lists who thought that they represented the crime in the province of Connaught would be utterly mistaken. I have documents before me cf a very different description—namely, the libta which have been furnished by the county inspector, showing the i ffjnces committed since the judge fitting here discharged the gaol at the las!; (umnur as&iz:3 ; and it will be my painful duty t > state te you what these lists prove. I will firat refer to the County Leitrim, and you will recollect that we are dealing here, not with the record of crime of the series of months extending from the summer to Ihs tpring assize—a period of tight months—but with what are practically the four months i f crime since the gaols were last ciischorged at the summer assizes by my learned brethren who sat in the different c unties of this province. They ha<2 lists laid before them by the came county inspector as to tre state o c tho crime in the counties. The lists now before me set forth the number of crimes that are alleged to have been committed, and that in many, if not the majority, of instances have been committed in these counties Binoe the month of July last. Leitrim used to be in former dayß rather a peaceable county. I am informed by the proper authorities —I have heard from gentlemen who are rn a position to give me inf jrmation—that it is only of late that it has be<n infected by the diseaEe that seems to have its permanent location in the Couuty Mayo. I rud that in the County Leitrim since the last summer asßi'zas there were committed seventy-Ave indictable offences, twenty-five of which are for sending threatening letters. Now, when I aay 'indictable offences,' I wish to be clearly understood that I do not refer to summary cases erf assault, nor to larcenies or cases of intoxication. These are not the off specially reported. I am alluding to such cases as have been sent by a bench of magistrates either to the Quarter Sessions Courts or to the assizes—offences that are termed in the language of the law ' Judicable offences.' Of these seventy-five offences c mmittul since last assizes four are on the list before you, five have been sent to the spring assizes : and that makes nine altogether out of seventy-five that are prima facie amenable to the law. Tnere are two cases of administering poison, one of endangering life upon a railway line, four of assault; kflictbjg actual bodily harm, one; burglary, four; robbery, one; of c ittlefltealing, arßon, and other wilful burning?, Bix ; killing and maining cattle, two; inflicting other injuries, four. The list mentions five unlawJul assemblies, one assembly armed and disguised, five cases of administering unlawful oaths, seven of attempting to compel people to quit their properties and farms, two of assaults on dwellißg-heuaes, two of attacking and holding forcible possession, three of intimidation, and twentyfive of BendiDg thn letters or notices. Many of these letters I have read. They a'l threaten the murder of the recipient for exercising the ordinary rights of every citizen, as, for instance, for taking pos 03sion of farms for ejectment for the non-pay-ment of rent, o: even for aikiDg for reii There are two strange cases in tha 0. unty Leitrim that I wish to bring before you. la one a letter wai sent to a highly-respectable Roman Catholic clergyman, a gentleman of position, threatening to injure people 'vho paid him his lawful dues as priest, because he paid bis rent. Another was sent to a doctor or posted in the neighborhood of his residence, threatening for the same reason «ny one who consulted him professionally or ordered phytic from him. I take these two

typical cases In the County Leitrim; I merely state the facts, and let the public form their own opinion. There is another remarkable circumstance couuected with the County Leitrim. I find in the list before me that in these seventy-five casep, sixty-one peoole wereitjuredand hc.ve declined to give information or assist tho polioe in discovering the perpetrators of .he crime. I now come to the County Sligo, whioh was until recently a very quiet district. I attribute that to the fact that, having an important town with a good deal of trade going on, it was brought under civilising influences, which, perhaps, prevented it from drifting away from all the safeguards that keep society together. What do I now find ? Fifty indictable offences have committed in Sl'g)s'nc3 thelavt a*fVs. L inking cue common assaults, which have >6iu 200 and upwards, I fhd that only thrre o* thsae oases are for trial here. What ii the list of the G-uoty Sig-»? There wa* one mirder, and that is the o*sj I have already mentioned, and which, I thick it right to say, has nothing to do with the disturbed state of the county, acd ia not of an agrarian character. It does rot in any wav show that the cruaty hi* been tff-cted by the disease. The olher offences in the list are firing at a p rson, one; stabbiog, two; assaults, six ; burglary and robbery, three ; oattle stealing, three ; arson, three ; maiming cattle and other malicious hj juries to cattle-, four; and twenty-six of sendi»g threatening letters ; making «»p in all a total of fifty. The threatening letters are exactly <f the »aue description as those I have already n furred to. So much for the C junty Sligo, which is certainly a good deal worse than it used to be, though not in as bad A oondi.i m as some cf the adjacent oounties. I now oome to tl • County Roscommoa, where th re have been committed bieo3 the last assiz s forty indictable oft\nctß. Three of these are f or trial here, and twenty-three people have declined to give ii>f orrxa'ion as to the offenders. The list is as follows : Attempted murder, cne; firing, one; assaults, four; arson, two; malicious ii>jary io property and maiming cattle, seven ; unlawful asß*mblies, three; attempting to compel persons to leave their houses and farms, two ; threatening letters, fourteen ; a total of forty-six, which is far beyond tfee average of former years. Next I come to a county which, as presented to me on this sheet, ditp'aya an appalling stale of crime—the County Mayo, although when I come to your own county you will not think it much more free from crime. There have been o< mmitfeed the County Mayo sinoe the return was laid bef jra the ju i#e four months ago 236 indictable < fiances, leaving out of consideration 883 summary offences. Of those indictablo offences there are twelve for trial at the present assizss out of the 236 committed. I think I shall be justified in calling your attention, as grand jurors, to the fact—l shall not attempt to draw anything from it—that 215 people have declined to give any information. That naay arise then either from a desire to shield the guilty or from terror. I state the faots, and I draw no conclusion from them my*elf. There are fifteen cases of letters threatening to murler ; two caies of firieg at the person ; assaults, twelve cr thirteen ; oattle-stealiug, four ; arson and other wilful burnings, twentynine ; killing anal maiming oattle, twentyfour. I have paised over In the counties I have been reviewing iheae acts of killing and maiming oattle without remark ; but this I must say—that amoredastardlyandoowardiy offence was never committed by human hands than to maim inaewnt beasts unable to defend themselves, and plaeed in a position where they do injury to no parson. This is done solely to work vengeance on the unfortunate ewners of the animals, and I do not know what more atrocious or savage act could be committed Heathens who have never heard the joyful tidings of Chris iaoity would not hare perpetrated such atrocities. Of this dreadful, savage effjnee there are twenty-four croee in the County Mayo—l mean twenty-four that have been reported to the peJioe; of other wilful injury to property, thirty cases; nine of riot, two of unlawful assemblies, two White Boy offences, five attempts to compel people to quit their farms, ten assaults on dwellißg-houses ; printing, writing, posting, and sending threatening letters, seventy-three; and three attempts to take forcible possession ; making altogether the dreadful total of 226 offecoee committed in that eoanty—l mean indiotable efisnoes—siiioe last lamnur assiz. s, and in whioh 215 pen one who were injuied would not asttat to briog the guilty persons to justice. I pass by the County Mayo and come to the County Galway. At first I thought that Galway was better than Mayo ; but I left out of sight the fact that there are three lists for Ga'way—one for the West Riding, one for the East, and one for the town—*nd that added together they include 291 indictable off aces cimm fed siooe the last a*si»», which cvertopa Mayo by sixty eases. I think it right to show you that in the West Riding we have 208 ofivnoes, ii w'aich 127 ptrjons who were injured refused to give any information to enable a prosecution to be instituted. In the Etst Riding we have sixty-one offences, in which forty-three persons decline to come' forward wi .hj information. Of the whole of these there are only nine cases for trial at the present as*iz:r. Coming to the town of G»lway, which, as you know, contains a large oountry population, there have been twenty-two offenoes, and three are for trial, while eight persons declined to prosecute. Ia the whole County Galway we have twelve cases for trial at the present assizes, and 291 indictable offencep, leaving out the summary offences whioh I have already referred to, and 278 people have declined to prosecute. In the West Riding of the county there have been thirty cases of sending letters threatening to murder, twenty-one cases of anon, twenty-two cases of injuring and maiming cattle. In the Eut Riding you had in the supplemental list twenty-nice offences to which I need not further refer, and in the East Riding list you have sixty-one offences, of which nine are threatening letters, nine injury to property, resistance to legal process, and assaults on process-servers, one attempted robbery, thirty-f jur assault?, and thirty-five letters threatening to murder. This Eist R ding of your county, as you know better than I do, is the lowland district extending to the Shannon, and along that direction and in that Biaie thirty-five letters threatening to murder have been sent since last assizes. These papers do not show all the crime that has been committed, nor do they exhibit the condition of the country to its full extent. You will reoolleot being startled on a morning in September last by the intelligence flashed over the oountry that Lord Mountmorris had been murdered when coming home in the cveniDg from the village cf Clonbur to his residence, Ebor Hall, on the northern shore ef Lough Corrib. To me it was most shocking intelligence, for in the early part of the year I h&d that unfortunate nobleman before me as defendant in a case in the Court of Exchequer, and certainly he seemed to be an exceedingly inoffensive gentleman. It was a terrible crime, and the perpetrator of it, who wiil probably never be brought before the bar of justice, must be left to his God and to the miserable torture of his own conscience, if he possesses any conscience—a fact whioh I am somewhat inclined to doubt when I look at the condition of several parts of this country. There is another thing that hai been brought under your attention as grand jurors, and that is an occurrence that took placa in County Mayo and excited the wonder and amazement of a great part of the United Kingdom and the sorrow of a considerable portion of Ireland —the transaction, I m<?an, in connection with Captain Boycott, That gentleman was ii gent for a small property, the interest of which did not produce more to him than Ll5O a-year. He was also a large farmer, and for some reason or other, into which I need not go, nor am I in a position to do so, he became what is called unpopular, and we all know wl a. that means. He was placed in what we used to know as ' Coventry;' no one was allowed to speak to him or have any dealings with him, so that he could not get his orops saved like other farmers. We then see a number of men o ming down from the North of Ireland to help him to save them, and we recognise the fact that it was deemed necessary to send an army positively to protect these men who were engaged 1b assisting him. He has since left the oountry for the protection of his life. I need say no more, but only mention these faefcs. V Ireland was onoe a country famed for its hospitality, if it was a country where virtue and honor were once loved, it U rapidly In

danger of losing that character if transactions like that of Captain Boycott's arc to be the rule and not the exception, I pass by all that I have laid before you without extenuating anything cr Betting down aught in malice. I may be asked what is the refcuh of all this, and til I can say is that this is neichfr the time nor the place fo. m. or for you to discuss tint topi j. The cau <3 of that condition of afluirs may lie far bick in the hiatrry of our c untry, or nnsy be alarmingly near at ha_d. Ii ia not for me to discusa either them or the remedies for this state of affairs, except as far aa they conoern the law, the wise and firm administration of which I hope we shall all assist during the present aatizea. This, however, I will take the liberty of saying, for I thi; k \: is the. time and the to 'o bj, that it this >t*te of affairs 11 aU-w<cl to o-;>t'no.i much l ngt" - im •)■ di*bo danger to la Knd will ba the o and u tirna'e disgrace to the K'npiro of wh ch she forms a part. No true finni of Ireland, no real lover of liberty as distinguished from lioense, can dare approve of the state of things I lay before you. I speak not alone in the interests of the victims of this reign of terror, as it is properly called, but also the interests of the poor people themte'vea, who are too often the mere tools of men more crafty and designing than themselves. I speak, moreover, in the interests of the whole country, whioh in every par*, fr»m north to south, from east to west, in the study of the professional man, in the wareroom of the trader, in the home of the country gentleman, and in the cottage of the fa'mer, feels the terrible influence of this dreadful disease, some of the most dangerous symptoms of which I have laid before you. I hope it is not out of character for me to say that I fervently pray to God that this cloud of disoontent and crime which is brooding over this provinee may be Bodily removed, and that peaoe and happiners, truth and justice, may be onca more established within its bo:dars." THE LORD CHIEF JUSTICE OK TUB SITUATION.

The Lord Chief Justice May, in delivering tbe nnauimeus decision of the Court OU Mr Parnell'a application for a postponement at the LBaguers' trial, refused the application as "idle and untenable," and as "wholly unprecedented," and said any oonsideratien for the eonvenience of the traversers ceuld not be for a moment entertained. He thought Mr Parnell and his associates hardly appreciated the position in which they stand, F r some time past, he said, Ireland has been in a state cf anarohy. Under a rule of secret terrorism, the law has been openly broken and defied, the rights of property have been disregarded, and human life has been insecure. Toe process of law cannot be executed. The Qaeen'ti writs cannot issue. For several months the c >u*try has been in a state of terror. It bai been tyrannised over by an unauthorised conspiracy, and the people are afraid to assert their rights. It is alhged by the indie ment that Mr Parnt-ll and his brother members of the Lmd Liapua are directly responsible; that they have done all in their power to bring it about, and that they have intended no other results than those which their enduot and language were studiously calculated to produce. Surely, when the present state ef Ireland ia taken into due account, the trial of s* grave an issue ought net to be delayed for a day. It may very well be, as the Lerd Chief Juetice was o»r«ful to say, that the five defendants are innocent of the crimes imputed to them —orimea far worse than any ordinary treason, and involving the dircot guilt of shedding innocent blood. But with either their innooenoe or guilt the Court was in no way ooncerned wken the only application before it was for the postponement of their trial. It could net listen to their protestations of innooence with aa information actually impending ever their heads; 101 oould it assume their guilt before ths conclusion of their trial. Bat it discharged a public duty in declaring thai under no etreamstaßees should a oaae of such gravity be for as hcur postponed. Justice must be prompt, or she fails in one of her first duties. Masy of the Liberal papers are shocked at the language of the Lord Chief Justiee, and even the Conservative organs think that he erred in referring with so much vehemence to the political aspeet of the oaso. The ' Standard ' fears that hia outspokenness will be misooastrued, and that it will be affirmed that he has prejudged the case. The ' St. James's Gaaette' says that *'at Westminster such utterances: from the Bench would be received with blank astonishment, rad even at Dublin they are regarded te impolitic in the extreme." The ' Globe' Bays : ''Really it is not to be wondered at if the Lord Chief Justice seems somewhat to have lost his temper at having his time and that of three other judges wasted in listening to sophistry so palpable and ko contemptible. It is, perhaps, a piiy that he should have permitted himself to spenk as he did cf one who has not yet been, and possibly never may be, technically fonnd guilty. But if the burst of manly indignation in which the decision was delivered may have been lacking in the conventionalities (J judicial discretion, no loyal Englishman or Irishman can question the wisdom of the decision or the truth of the words in which it was convened." BOYCOTTING. After le&viag his farm at Lough Mask under military escsrfc, Captain Boycott repaired to Dublin, where he was to have been entertained by the leaders of the relief expedition previous to his departure for Eogland ; but the persecutions of the emissaries ( f the Land League pursued his steps even in the Irah capital. Oa his presence lecoaiing known, he was followed, hustled, and hooted by a crowd csf roughs ; while the proprietor (f the hotel where he was staying received two letters threatening vengeance op >n him if he continued to entertain Captain Bjyoott a siugle day longer. The life (f the captain was also threatened if he did not immediately clear out of the island. He has accordingly come to England in hot haste; but will he be safe, even here ? Meanwhile, the evacuated farm ai Lough Mat k is now nothing more than a common, uopn which the cattle of the country-side wander at will. The gate* are broken down, and the walls are mostly levelled to the ground. The hay in the rick-yard is forage for stray oattle, or ia taken away by anyone who wishes. No one can be found to repair the gates or look after the farm, Captain Boycott's herd and son having been terrorised int* resigning. " Boy catting" having been found bo successful in this instance the system is being rapidly adopted throughout the country. A case has come to light in connection with Mr Parnell'B visit to Waterford. Two members of the corporation—Mr Kelly and Mr Sfcrangman—having voted against conferring the freedom on the Home Rule leader, it was decided to "Boycott" the obnoxious individuals. They were brewers, and so sentries were placed at the doors of the public-houses to prevent the public purchasing the beer tf the offending firms. Such is the terror inspired by the Land League avengerß that the plan succeeded. The publicans were compelled to oease buying their beer of Messrs Kelly and Strangmau, who sacrificed their consistency to save their trade, Mr Kelly having been present at the railway station to receive Mr Parnell.

The bakers of Kilrush and Kildytark have determined not to supply bread to persons who are not members of the local branches of the Land League. A draper who offered opposition to the Laague has been made to suffer by his customers being intimidated. At a certain bridge near Limerick, printed notioes are posted warning the public against crossing the bridge on pain of being thrown ovor the parapet, the object being to injure the tolls, which are collected by the Board of Works. Another development of the land strike in the West is the taking of a pledge on the part of the young unmarried men against marrying the daughters of "landgrabbers." A farmer named Thomas Da via, at Fennore, has been " Boyeotted " because he paid biß full rent. Two men whom he induced to work for h'm by the payment of double wages were severely beaten by a party of men, and warned that if they remained any loager in Davis's service they would be shet. The looal Laid League have eomwenoed to "Boycott" Mrß Lewis, of Ballingarry, for having served writs on her teraata, who tendered their rents aooordirg to Griffith's valuation, which she declined to receive. Mrs Hunt, teaeher of the Female National Sohool at DrumeDlloger, has been " Baysotted." Her husband is a process-server in the diatriot, and in ejusequeaee all the children have been withdrawn from the school, and the shopkeepers it loss to sell the family anything.

"Boycotting" has found ita way into Dublin, It has come with Mr Bence Jones's cattle, and la likely to be installed as one of the institutions of the city. Recently a telegram from Cork brought information that tha cattle which had been mobbed in Cork and refused shipment by the steam packet companies were on their way by train to Dublia, and that an effort would be made to "Boycott" them here. This anticipation has baen literally fulfilled. The stook, consisting of thirty head of horned cattle and fifty sheep, arrived by aa early train this morning at the King's bridge terminus, in oharge of a caretaker. At half-past eight o'cleok ihey were conveyed to the North Wall; and were driven from the Btation to the pens of the Dublin and Glasgow SSeampacket Company for shiprmnS by thtir boat this evening. The oaretakera areguarded by fi u.- p licemen, by which olever arrangement notioa was at once attracted to thtm. Inpiries were made and frankly answered, and the drovers, on learning whose cattle tbty were, stated that, if they had known it then, they would not have triven them for ooy money. The cattle were put in o the pens and supplied with fodder by Messrs A. and C. Taylor and ofß cials of the omspauy. la this respect they fared better than at Cork; but they had suffered, f ep3cially the horsed cattle, from the eff. cts of hanger and the fatigue of the j. uraey, and as they lay down in the mad to rest presented a pitiable appearanee. Two fre*h constables were lift in eharge of the oattle while the care-taker marched off with his etcort of four constables to get his breakfast. About ten a polios iuperiotend«nt separated the constables, in order to make the exhibition k*s remarkable. By this time, however, it was noised abroad fehat the cattle had b3en " Boycotted " cattle, and the men in the emp'oyment of the Steam Packet Company were warned not to ship them. In the course of the day some persons who were reported to have been by the Land League aßked permisfciou to enter the erelosure and tee the cattle, whioh bore the Government brand, having been parsed by the inspector afe Coik. The policemen at the entranoa nude no oVjeatioo, and they satisfied their curiosity. In the meantime the ownership of the cattle and the ciieamstaco s connected with their removal became known to all the people on the qnay, and oattle-dealers who had about 250 head for shipment declared that they would sand them if this obnoxious herd were en board. Mr Maine, the manager of the company, consulted the directors in the course of the day, and about three o'clock gave instructions that tha " Boycotted " cattle were not to be shipper 5 . The steamer accordingly Ufcthe North Wall without them. The brast of one of the speakers at the Land League meeting yesterday that they would " meet the cattle in Dablin " has thus been realised, and, thanks first to the blundering of the pilice in making a public parade (f the »ff*ir, instead cf protecting the cattle by constabulary in plain olothej, and next to the timidity and want v£ independent spirit on the part of the Steam Packed Company, the " Boy cotters " have obtained a victory of whioh they may be proud and the city ashamed. The following is a group of " Boycottieg" oases :—At the Water'ord butter marked a lady, whose brother had paid a rent higher than Griffith's valuation, brought a quantity of butter into the market, hut a note had preceded her, and the batter merchants declined to purchase. She iucaeeded, however, in foiling the Boyootters by dh posing •f her goods to a private oustomer. A grazier who resides near Ballinahown, King's County, has recently been subjected to considerable annoyanoe for taking land from which the tenants were evioted some years ago, He is a member of a branch of the Land League himself and has not as yet been expelled, but hia held, in addition to giving up a small farm he held, was refused admittance to the Ballycamber branch until he left his employment. Oa Wednesday the gates on the farm were broken and his cattle driven «ff, asd a shopkeeper with whim he traded refused, in consequence ef warnings, to supply him with any more goods. The police have torn down notices in the Loamore district which threatoned to " Boycott" any mm who paid a certain landlord his rent until a satisfactory arrangement was made between landlord and tenant. A farmer from near New Pallas was " Boycotted " in Tipperary. He had a load of hay fn market. A few minutes after he entered town it became known he had recently taken a farm from whieh a tenant had been evicted. The bellman was sent for and went through the town calling on the people not to purchase the hay, not to speak to the man, and not to sell him any eecessaries he might require. He was afterwards hooted through the town and oblged to leave with his load tf hay unsold. A blacksmith left Carrick-on-Shannon by the early train for America, under peculiar cirenmsianoer, He kept a shop fn the town of Leitiim, an 1 a few days ago, in protecting a land agent from a crovt d, he etruck one of the assailants, and his position has since been so uncomfortable that he has had to emigrate. A policeman in Drumkeeran received his orders for tranfer to another station fire days ago, but cannot move out of his present location for want of means cf transit, a rule obtaining in the Land League here that in no circumßtar.es is a cirowner to But ply a policeman with a vehicle. of the police from Kmlough, in consequence of the iu!e, had to travel fifty miles on foot to be present at the Keihcarrigan Petty Sessions, where an agrarian offenoe was teing tr'.ed.