THE O'CONNOR MEMOIRS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20252, 11 May 1929, Page 8

THE O'CONNOR MEMOIRS.

REMINISCENCES OF "T.P." THE REIGN OF. COERCION^ WHOLESALE IRISH ARRESTS. UNPAID RENTS AND EVICTIONS. (Copyright.) No. XXIII.. The arrest of Parnell was followed by that of Mr. Dillon and Mr. O'Kelly. Warrants were also issued for the arrest of Mr. Healy, Mr. Arthur O'Connor, and Mr. Biggar. Mr. Healy was on his way to Ireland to give himself up, when he was met at Holyhead by an official of the league and advised to remain in England; Mr. Arthur O'Connor was also advised to escape arrest if ho could, and so was Mr. Biggar.

The realistic leader of the Irish movement was anxious that as many of hi 3 followers as possible should remain outside the gaols, so as to carry on the war against the enemy; and his followers, though reluctantly, accepted his mandate. Every person in any way connected with tho League was arrested. Finally, the Land League was suppressed. I, myself, of course, would in all probability have been among the arrested, but I had already departed on that mission to America to which I have referred. 1 sent a, cablegram offering to return, tut Parnell did not want to waste any men, and he thought I was much' more useful iu America raising funds for the cause than in the idleness of a prison cell. I learned of the arrests only when I arrived on the shores of America, to find, of course, the Irish-American population more rabid than ever, and more generous in support of the movement at home.

The time had now come when the Government resolved to apply the coercion regime even more stringently, when every restraint of prudence was cast asido, and Ireland was ruled with a rod of iron indeed. The pretences on which the Coercion Acts had been originally obtained from Parliament were completely forgotten. The Acts were obtained only for the purpose of putting down crime or the incitement to. crime. They were now employed, openly and avowedly, for the purpose of compelling the payment of rent. The warrants of arrest contained the confession of this entire change of purpose. Women Sent to Prison. The proceedings taken against women did perhaps more than anything else to expose the character of the regime now established, and to create the fiercest popular passion. A number of women had taken up the work of the organisation as it fell from the hands of the men whom Mr. Forster had sent to gaol. 'Against several of these women the Chief Secretary ordered legal proceedings. Young ladies, brought up delicately, were tried, and such of them as were convicted were condemned to sentences which cannot bo described as lenient. Mr. Clifford Lloyd arrested wholesale, trampled on the laws of the country, and carried out laws of his own suiting. Ha employed every weapon of coercion for the purpose of extracting the rent. Thus the Coercion Act became simply one of the additional agencies of the rent office. Huts were erected by the Ladies' Land League for the purpose of sheltering the evicted. Sir. Lloyd insisted that the huts were for the purpose of intimidation and not for shelter, and arrested and sent

to gaol every person who was engaged in this work of relief. Against women

he was at last allowed to have plenary powers. He sent two women to gaol for six months, and another for three; and other magistrates also sentenced women to six months' imprisonment. 'Among these women was a young sister of my own, Mary O'Connor. The men arrested under Coercion were allowed to have communication with each other for six hours out'of every day, but the women sentenced by Mr. Lloyd were in solitude throughout the entire day. Boys Whistling " Harvey Dufl."

The same "war was made on boys as on women. A boy named Lee was brought before the magistrate for whistling; another boy was accused by another constable for the same offence, and in addition was charged with abusive language—the abusive language was whistling " Harvey Duff," a song which spoke in satirical terms of the police. A policeman in Watcrford rushed into a shop where a woman was reading United Ireland, the Land League paper, threw her dowD, and searched her. In Cappamore, County Limerick, a sub-constable attacked a girl of twelve years of age because she was singing " Harvey Duff." Ho drew his bavonet and inflicted a wound.

The police made domiciliary visits by day and by night into the rooms alike of women and men. They broke into meetings; they stood outside doors and took the names of all persons entering into even the house of a priest to take steps for relieving the tenantry. Meantime, Dublin Castle exhausted the resources of civil power in augmenting the rigour of the regime. Troops were supplied in abundance; horse, foot, and _ artillery took part in the work of eviction; and sometimes the bluejacket and the warvessel were employed. Seventeen Thousand Evictions. The landlords, who were not slow to turn the situation to their advantage, •went to work with a will that recalled the spirit of the days which followed the Great Famine The evictions for the first quarter of 1881 were 1732 persons; for the second quarter they had increased to 5562 persons; for the third quarter they were 6496, and for the last quarter 385 i persons. During the entire year of 1881, 17,341 persons had thus been deprived of their rights as tenants. Nor did these evictions take place without scenes of unnecessary cruelty' or desperate encounter. In County Clare a man was killed by a body of police who were protecting a process-server, in April a policeman and two farmers were billed, in June a police charge killed a man, in October a roan was killed at a Land League meeting by a bayonet-thrust from a policeman, and later on in that month an event occurred which produced widespread indignation. A body of police were sent to collect poor-rates due by a number of miserable tenants. Disputes arose as to how the struggle between the police and the people began, but the police fired into the people; several were wounded, and two women—a young girl and a feeble old woman of sixty-five years of age—wore wounded and subsequently died. The coroner's jury brought in, in both cases, a verdict of " wilful murder " against the police. A Terrible Record. In the year 1880 the number of murders was eight; there was no homicide, and there were twenty-five cases of firing fit the person. In 1881 there were seventeen cases of murder; there were five homicides, and sixty-six eases of firing at the person; and in the first six months of 1882 there were fifteen murders and forty cases of firing at the person. These were terrible and eloquent indictments of the failure of Mr. Forster's policy. This was clear practically to everybody in England, and one of the curious developments of tho situation was a bold move on the part of some important Tories iu the House of Commons to question the whole policy. Meantime, undoubtedly inside the Cabinet that section which had always been doubtful of the wisdom of Forster's policy were active.

(To be continued daily.)