OUR IRISH LETTER.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume VII, Issue 357, 20 February 1880, Page 5

OUR IRISH LETTER.

(PROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) Dublin, January 1, 1880. The brief chronicle of the land agitation in my last despatch broke off at the conclusion of the novel demonstration round the hoyel of the tenant, Anthony Dempsy, who was threatened with eviction on the estate of Sir Kobert Lynch Blosse, at the little village of Balla, in the county of Mayo. But the results of that meeting were not over when it was found that the eviction had been abandoned or postponed (it was not then known which), and the great crowd had moved in orderly procession from the ground. It has been said that Mr. Parnell and his lieutenants in the agitation addressed the meeting. A most stirring address was made by a Mr. Thomas Brennan, a young man in the employment of a commercial firm, the Dublin Milling Company. Having fervidly harrangued the crowd on the special objects of the gathering, he turned suddenly to the large posse of police that had been assembled on the ground, and passionately appealed to their brotherhood and sympathy with the down-trodden people they were commanded to coerce. He narrated a fearful incident that had occurred in the course of the civil disturbances of former times, when a constable firing upon the crowd found that his bullet had pierced the breast of the mother that bore him. Mr. Parnell, while applauding the eloquence and fervour of Mr. Brennan'a address, had warned him at the time that it was likely to draw upon him the vengeance of the Government. The warning proved a prophecy. A few days afterwards Mr. Brennan was arrested, brought before the magistrates at Castlebar, in the county of Mayo, on a charge of sedition, and formally committed for trial at the ensuing Winter Assizes, at Carrick on Shannon. At Carrick true bills were found by the grand jury against the prisoners Daly, Davett, Killeen, and Brennan, and then the jurisdiction of the sitting judge wag ousted by a writ of certlori from the Queen's Bench, transferring the trial of the cases to Dublin. So the matter rests at present. All the prisoners were admitted to bail. Not even excepting Mr. Killeen, who at last consented to leave his dungeon, despite the remonstrances of his eccentric advocate, John Rea, who publicly proclaimed that if he could only have persuaded his wrong-headed client to have remained just three days longer in prison, he would have extorted four or five thousand pounds compensation from the pockets of the ministers. But Mr. Killeen's health had suffered much, from the confinement, and it is just possible he had not implicit confidence in the golden visions of Mr. Rea. All the excitement about the arrests seems to have suddenly died away, and* it is generally thought that Government have realised their mistake, and that we have heard the last of the prosecutions. One incident, however, connected with the prosecutions created considerable excitement and much animated controversy. The shorthand notes of the public speeches of the prisoners on which the prosecutions were based were taken by the members of the regular reporting staff of a Protestant and Conservative Dublin newspaper, the Dublin Express. A strong opinion was entertained by an influential section of Dublin Press men, and proclaimed from a public platform by Mr. Gray, M.P., who boasted he belonged to the profession of the Press, that this class of work was degrading the status of their profession, and this belief was strengthened by the fact that the reporters who had been inveigled into the work, were associated in the progress of the prosecution, and necessarily in the minds of the public with amateur note-taking detectives of the Government, who had spared no lie or subterfuge to obtain admission to the meetings. When the prosecutions had been brought virtually to a close by the liberation of the prosecuted, Mr. Parnell, who had held himself in readiness for arrest, prepared for a long intended visit to America. On the 21st of December, he left Queenstown, by the Synthia, a splendid steamer, of the Cunard line. His departure was made the occasion of an enthusiastic demonstration, in which a large number of prominent agitators, including several members of Parliament, took part. The doctrine of resistance and separation was preached on the occasion by Mr. Doran, but he was taken to task somewhat sharply by Mr. O'Sullivan, M.P. for Limerick, one of the most advanced of the Irish party in the House of Commons, who laid down the undeniable proposition that Ireland cannot figh England, and that it would be madness to try. The object of Mr. Parnell's visit to America is two-fold : to enlist the American sympathy with the Irish land question, and to obtain if possible some substantial assistance from our brethren across the Atlantic for the starving peasantry here. It is expected that about the Ist of Jan. Mr. Parnell will arrive in America, where a committee has been organised for his reception. Before passing from the subject I maymention that the unfortunate man Dempsey was eventually evicted* On the 11th of December a body of fifty policemen suddenly assembled from different direction round his cabin, and he and his family were thrust out on the roadside, their roof tree pulled down about their ears, and the walls of their miserable home levelled with the ground. The tenants on the estate were, it was stated, forbidden to afford them the slightest assistance, and for the whole length of a

winters day i hey eat by the roadside until at last compassion was taken en Ibeir miserable condition, and a shelter afforded them at a considerable distance fiom the spot where had once been their home It was but another instance of the charity of the poor to the poor' for the succourers were almost as destitute and as wretched as those whem they co freely succoured It has been suggested that one penny should be subscribed for Demp?ey by each one attending the Jand meetings throughout the count] y, and could that suggestion be adopted be would speedily find himself from being one of the most miserable of Gcd's creatures, transfoimed into eomething very like a millionaire. But it is much to te fcaied that the vast majority of the pcor creatures by whom the land meetings are attended cannot offoid even that paltry subscription. In hon iblc earnest the famine that threatened has come upon the land. I rein all sides and daily come tidings of the appalling distress in the remoter districts of the country. Nuns from the cloisters have broken the long silence they held towards the world in an agonising cry for help. Ihey tell us that the little ones in their infant schools, like the buds after a long frost, fall down unconscious fioni cold and hunger, and they appeal piteously for aid in their labour of selfsacrificing charity. Only a few days ago Dean McManus, the devoted Catholic pastor of a remote district of Connemara, told a simple but an intensely pathetic incident to the public. Passing in the grey dawn of a winter's morning through the little town of Clifdcn, he found a poor woman seated on her bed in front of the closed door of one of the pawn offices weeping bitterly. She had carried it in, she said, from her poor home far out in the countiy. It was the last they left them, but they should part with it for food. She had come in the night that the neighbours might not see her, for she felt as much ashamed as if she had stolen it. She need not have been ashamed, added the priest, for the pawn shops through the town were rilled with similar miserable tributes to the inexorable famine. Need it be said to those who know the character of the Irish priesthood that the poor woman was liberally relieved out of the pastors own and scanty pittance. J When first the solemn warning of the approaching distress was proclaimed by the Freeman's Journal, the proprietor of the paper w?s generally denounced as an Alarmist. The fearful distress is no longer denied, indeed in the teeth of such evidence it could not be. On the 11th December a letter on the subject was addressed by Mr Mitchell Henry, M.P. for the County of Galway to the Duke of Marlborough, L ° rd ,Lieutenant of Ireland ' Mr - Henry is a beneficent millionaire, who has built for himself a fairy palace amid the purple hills and silver lakes of Connemara and has played the part of good genius anpoDgst the poor tenautiy of the extensive estates he purchased. His words are entitled to still greater weight from the fact that he is a member of the Royal Commission appointed by Government to enquire into the causes of the prevailing agricultural depression. His letter to the Lord Lieutenant is a plea for the establishment of local public works by the Government to give thj starving poor a chance of profitable employment. He drew a fearful picture of the condition to which the people were reduced. Paraphrase would weaken the force of the plain words of an eye-witness. I give you one paragraph of his letter in his own words :—: — I "Pale thin, and bloodless, silent and without a smile, their con- ! dition is absolutely without hope. Fl^ur and Indian meal they cannot get, for they have no credit, and yet the men who came here are the best among them. I am assured by the parish priest, and by others who have personal knowledge that there are numbers who have not left their mountain huts for weeks, because they have no clothes with which to cover themselves." To Mr. Henry's letter a curt acknowledgment of its receipt was all that was vouschafed by the secretary of the Duke of Marlborough, but immediately after a letter was published in the English Times by the Duchess of Marlborough containing a vivid picture of the widespread distress, and appealing earnestly to the people of England for immediate aid. On the 27th of November a meeting of the committee of ladies established by the Duchess for the collection and distribution of the funds was held in the Castle. The names of the committee included many ladies of title and rank ; but, curiously enough, did not include the name of Mrs. Edmund Dwyer Gray, the Lady Mayoress of Dublin, whose husband had been chiefly instrumental in promoting the charitable movement for the distressed. The secretary, Dr. Grimsbaw, announced the gross amount already subscribed is £G,-iOO including a donation of £500 from the Queen and £2.:0 from the Prince of Wales, and £1,000 from a lady of rank in France. At a meeting of the committee held on the 30th December, it was announced that subscriptions exceeded £8000. Cardinal Manning sent £1000, collected by him to the Aichbishop of Tuam for distribution among the poor. But it is not from England only, or even mainly, that relief is coming. Our brethren in America have hastened to the rescue of our suffering poor with wonderful promptitude and princely magnificence. Thousands of pounds have already been received and expended by the most Rev. the Archbishop of Tuara and the Most Rev. the Archbishop of Cashel in the relief of the poor. Still, though much has been done much more remains to do. Private charity, however munificent, is powcrli ss ngainst the all pervading distress. In a recent visit that I myself paid to a small town in the West of Ireland, I was credibly informed that men who were once comfortable farmers were, with their wives and families, subsisting solely on turnips, and that even this miserable supply must be speedily exhausted. Borne poor creatures that I saw tottering along the road side or standing at the doors of their miserable hovels seemed living personations of famine— l fully realised the wicrd horror of Sackville's lines :—: — " His face was lean and some deal pined away, And eke his hands consumed to the bone ; But what his body was I cannot say, For on his carcass raiment had he none. Save clouts and patches pieced one by one." This is no isolated picture, the distress is as general as it is severe. And only a prompt and effectual government relief scheme can save the country from the utmost horrors of famine. But to turn from this intensely painful subject, it would appear

to be the particular idea of a special correspondent to furnish hid readers with a synopsis of the criminal offences of his district. Wo reaped our four months harvest of crime here at the Winter Assize just before Christmas, and the "yield " was most gratifying small' Perhaps I should explain that the Winter Assize i-» an institution of only a few years' existence among us. Ie was established nominally for the benefit of the prisoners who were liable to bj detained ei"hfc months in custody, without trial, between the Simmer and Sprino Assizes under the old regime. At the Winter Assize only criminal cases are heard, and instead of the Judge sitting as he does in the ordinary Assizes, successively in the principal town of each eonntv half-a-dozen counties are consolidated into one district, and the entire criminal business of that district is disposed of in a single town. It may be gravely doubted if the arrangement is, after all, an advantage to the prisoners. Instead of being sure of being tried in his owncounty, as in old times, he is now conveyed away fifty or sixty miles into a district in which he is an utter stnu ger. Often with no professional man to undertake his defence. ? nd no witnesses to speak as to his character, his conviction is assured before his trial. If the question were put to the vote of tie prisoners .'n Ireland, I verily believe the Winter Assize would never be repeated. As has been said, at the last Winter Assize, there was a most meagre return of crime, and the Judges were unanimous and most cordial in their congratulations on the condition of the country. Only two cases tried were of sufficient interest to merit even passing notice. The first was a murder case tried before Judge Harrison, Oam'ck-on-Shannon. The other case, is interesting cily on account of the rank of the prosecutor, and the exemplary mm re of the punishment. John O'Shea had been a tenant of Lord Ponnoy, of a small patch of ground at a yearly rent of £2. For two years ha pai 1 no rent, and eventually Lord Fennoy evicted him, forgiving him the rent however, and presenting him with a bonus of £20. O'Shea considerel himself aggrieved by the conviction. He dogge I Lord Fermoy's steps; for several days— suddenly rushed on him. from behind, as ho was ascending the steps of the County Club in Limerick, in the broad day light, and felled him to the earth with a blow or a heavy bludgeon. Lord Fermoy suffered no permanent injury from the assault, but Baron Douse, before whom the case was tried, at Limerick, visited what he termed the dastardly nnd audacious assault with the terrible penalty of five years penal servitude. Christmas has come and gone since I last wrote, and my despatch would hardly be complete without some passing allusion to the greatest festival of the year. 'Ihere was little to distinguish this Christmas from the Christmases that have preceded it. The city dressed itself out in a festive costumo of light colours and green garlands. For weeks in the streets one encountered everywhere crowds of gaily dressed marauders laden with the spoils of the confectioner's and the toy shops. The system of '• Christmas cards" has grown to enormous dimensions amongst us lately, almost entirely superseding the time-honoured institution of the Valentine. One hundred Christmas cards is no extravagant allowance for a young lady with an extensive corresponding acquaintance to despatch on Christmas eve, or receive on Christmas morning. For a week before every shop sells Christmas cards, and many nothing else. All the old domestic festivities were kept up in the good old style, and the houses decorated in the time-honoured fashion, with green bows and white and scarlet berries. The public amusements are hardly so good as usual. Our two pantomimes, founded respectively on the stories of " Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves," and '-Little Bo Peep, and her fugitive sheep." entirely lack thai spirit oE rollicking humour which is the main essential of a genuine Cliristmas entertainment. Amongst our amusements may be mentioned a cat show, the first in Irelaud, in which 250 cats, 28 different varieties, competed. Some time before we bad a still more singular show — a dairy show, in which half-a-dozen pretty foreign maids manufactured butter, each patrlcc more, and an endless variety of scientific churns were exhibited. But it seems almost heartless to speak of gaiety or amusement while the " three kingdoms '" are ringing with the too feaiful details of the appalling railway accident that occurred in Scotland on the 28th of December. In these countries a short spell of hard frost was succeeded about Christmas with a brief interval of fair open weather, this in turn was succeeded by a storm of rare violence ; a storm that unroofed houses and threw down pedestrians in the street. On Sunday, December 2Sth, the hurricane raged with terrible violence in Scotland. The Frith of Tay in that couutiy is, or rather was, spanned by a bridge over two miles in length, which was the longest in the world. It was, at the time of its construction, pbont a year ago, regarded as a triumph of engineering skill, and was on account of its narrowness and lightness, compared by the Times newspaper, on the occasion of its opening, to a curved cable slung across the frith. The bridge was a hundred feet in I eight, a hundred feet down from the level of the centre of the bridge a stormy water fifty feet in depth ragpd beneath its piers. On the 28th inst., a train from Edinburgh entered on the bridge with a living freight of passengers. It had just leached the centre, when a noise was heard as of a thousand thunderbolts, and the air was filled with sparks struck from the crushing metal as engine and train fell through the horrible gulf into the wild water below. Not a soul escaped. Whether the bridge had been blown down before the train arrived, or whether it had been stiained by the storm and yielded under the weight it is of course impossible to say. The terrible disaster has thrown a gloom over the three Kingdoms. More recent accounts place the number of victims at less than a hundred, but the precise tmth will probably be never known, as but few bodies could be recovered. The ordinary work of the world goes on notwithstanding. Kven while I write Dublin is busy with procession and rejoicing, inaugurating the advent of its new Lord Mayor, Mr. Edmund Dwyer Gray, M.P., to the civic chair. It is expected that the hospitalities of the city will be this year despensed with unusual magnificence. The Lady Mayoress is possessed of great personal beauty, and singularly fascinating manners. The omission of her name from the Duchess of Marlborough's Belief Committee was in many quarters regarded as a declaration of tosial war between the Mansion House and the Castle, if it be so I am inclined to think the victory will remain with the Mansion House.

Before concluding this unduly protracted epistle, will you permi me to correct an error into which you have naturally fallen. The fine letter from Egypt which you transferred to your columns some months since was written not as surmised, by Mr. Gray, but by Mr. William O Brien, a member of the literary staff of the freeman, and perhaps the ablest pressman in Ireland. i.. I m , ay mention in conclusion that the "Liberal reaction" to which I have already alluded is still in full progress. Since I last wrote, the county of Donegal, which was held for fifty years by the Conservatives, was wrested from them by a sweeping Liberal majority, 2? a. acr stlll th e Liberals achieved another great triumph in bneftield, a triumph for which they were admittedly and entirely indebted to the Irish Home Rule vote in the town.