THE GREAT AGRARIAN MURDER.

Patea Mail, Volume X, Issue 1313, 25 February 1885, Page 4

THE GREAT AGRARIAN MURDER.

Nicholas "Flint, Lord Grabmore’s agent, was, like his master, a well-hated man; bat while the peer was most h»ted by the tenantry than feared, the agent was more feared than hated. It was not tenderness on the part of his lordship which, before Nicholas Flint became his agent, prevented him from making a merciless use’’of his power to evict, and Che tenants —Irish pheasants' are, as a rule, shrewd judges of character knew this. They never for a moment. imagined that Lord Grabmpre’s mildness towards them lud been dictated by consideration for them. They knew that he was essentially a cruel and selfish man, but that, like many cruel and selfish men, he was a coward, and hesitated to adopt severe measures to to increase his somewhat scanty income only because he was afraid their adoption would put his life in jeopardy. And they were right. Once he came under the influence of Flint’s stronger nature, his whole conduct was changed. He 'employed, without hesitation the most inhnhnrtn nidaris to increase the value of his property ; indeed, after a time their empfpyppeht seemed to give him positive pleasure.

adifferent. stamp from his lordship. He woe a man of the most resolute determination and most reckless courage. Whenever hej had made up his mind that anything should be done, no matter what misery it might produce, or what cry of shame it raised over the country, or, what .hatred and danger it brought.upon himself, done it wag. He was actuated by no : feeling of hostilty tbwardsJ'the people who trembled before him. On the contrary, he was animated by the most conscientious conviction that in acting as he did he was doing his duty, not merely towards his employer, but towards society, and not merely towards society, but towards the tenants themselves. He had,'ns he often said* to be cruel to be kind. In fact, he was an fcrdent believer in, the victim of, the Irish agent’s creed. It taught him that there could be no prosperity on any estate of small holdings, and to bring prosperity he evicted cottiers and united their plots. It taught him that nothing improved farming like salting well the land with rent; and to improve farming he screwed the rents up to the highest farthing. Arid undoubtedly, under this treatment, Lord Grnbmoro’s estate greatly improved in appearance. But that improvement was bought with much suffering, and the desolntion of many humble homes. Whatever might be the ultimate result of this system of estate management, it conld scarcely be expected that the existing generation of , tenants, who suffered all its privations and experienced none of its benefits, would regard the originator with kindness; and they did not. He was looked upon by them with absolute detestation and abject terror. They considered bis conduct so-atrocious as to be incredible in any ordinary human being. Many believed he must have sold himself to Satan, and not a few had a suspicion that he was the Old Gentleman himself. The whole country regarded him as the incarnation of evil, bringing with him all manner of trouble and misfortune wherever he went. Yet in his very character be found a certain protection from their ill-will. He went abroad and mixed freely with the people, unarmed and unattended; and though at the sight of his pale, delicate face, and thin, drooping moustache, the children shrieked and the women crossed themselves, nobody interfered with him. He even wandered about the, country at night alone; yet the tenants sought only to keep out of his way. It was too dangerous a task to tackle such -a fierce and dauntless enemy. : Yet his few friends regarded his recklessness with misgivings, and felt that it must some day. end in calamity. They again and again remonstrated with him, but without effect. The. authorities offered him a police guard, but he rejected the offer with contempt. 1 Flint ( wos a widower, but not childless. If, as his enemies alleged, bis wife had died of a broken heart, no one could affitm that there was much likelihopd .of a. si miliar fate befalling the two sons. /These, were now ■ young men of three-and-twenty and one-and-twenty respectively, and as unlike their father as sons conld well be. They were of a bright and frolicsome disposition, always enjoying themselves and glad to see others doing the same, but foolhardy and thoughtless in the extreme. Their exuberant animal spirits and thoughtlessness were continually getting them into scrapes; but never on one occasion was their father heard to address to them a single harsh word. His affection for them, indeed, seemed to 'be the oho soft spot in his heart. Whori -these lads arrived from Dublin, where they were both studying for the bar to spend their Christmas vacation .with their father, the country had been for a longtime convulsed by agrarian troubles. Hitherto, however, though there had been a few minor outrages on Lord Grabmore’s estate, it had been free from murder. His lordship, aware of his unpopularity, had sought safety in England; but Flint, although, if possible, still more unpopular, in ho way altered his ways on account of the state of the country. He still, in spite of every remonstrance, persisted in his habit of going abroad at all hours, unarmed and alone. He rejected all offers of police protection, and seemed to rely tor safety solely on the terror of his name ; and apparently with good reason. His very recklessness led the superstitious tenantry to believe that be did not fear attack, because, by a compact with the devil, he was assured for a certain time against death. But his few friends could not be blind to the risk to which he was exposing himself, and so slrongly was his danger telt by some of them that they might have been said to have awaited daily the news of his assasination. {To be Continued.)