OUR IRISH LETTER.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIV, Issue 46, 11 March 1887, Page 9

OUR IRISH LETTER.

(From oar own Cbrrespondemt.) Dublin, January 13, 1887. Twe evictions in Kerry take place nnder circumstances of intense cruelty. First of all, the rigours of the season, then the Htter poverty of the people, and, above all, the practice which is being carried out in Glenbeigb, of burning down the cabins when the tenants are driven out of them. Judgq Curran, General Buller, and others interfered for a time between these tenants and the exterminators, but since restraining the landlords is no longer the Government policy, the victims are left to their fate. The bailiffs and emergency men come provided with paraffin oil, and matches, and tearing off ■ome sods or screws from the roof, set fire to the house from the in•ide. Simultaneously others attack the gables with crowbars, displacing foundation stones until the roof -tree collapses a flaming mass of ruins. A like fate falls upon the cow sheds or other out buildings attached to these doomed homes. A ragged, maddened, crowd, alternating between despair and defiance give vent to their feelings in wails and imprecations, sometimes in stone-throwing, which diverts the work of destruction for a little while, but does not prevent it. Most of these holdings are valued at about five pounds, and rented at ten ; a hundred decrees for possession are still in the hands of the Chton sheriff for execution. On the other hand' hardly a day passes without bringing some cheering sign of how the struggle ffoes with the Plan of Compaign and the united might of the landlords and the Government. The efforts to suppress the Plan were really magical ! The hour the Castle declared war against it, the people took it to their hearts in a way that amazed its very founders The same way with all the suppressed meetings— the M.P.'s. priests, and people accomplish their purposes with infinitely more effect while the fighting forces of Britain are scouring the hills and glens upon wild goose chases in the snow. Lord Dillon's surrender to his truly noble namesake, John Dillon, is the event of the week. This estate is large, supplying bis lordship with an income of over twenty-five thousand pounds annually, and these rents, be it remembered, were always paid even in the " black forty-seven," and the " sad seventynine." A learned professor with no political leanings, who once made a map of the soil, told me were he a land-commissioner, he would reduce the rents by seventy-five per cent. It was not from the soil, but from toil in England and elsewhere the tenants wrung Lord Dillon's rents. •He refused to grant them the modest reduction of twenty-five per cent., until, under John Billon's guidance, the Plan was put in practise, with the result of bringing the landlords to reason. He consents to an irreducible minimum of twenty per cent all round, re instatement of all evicted tenants, and the payment of the whole of the costs. The so-called " traversers " are retarned for trial after having had the pleasure of cross-examining the Chief Secretary, Sir Redvers Buller, and a few other governors of Ireland in the Green street Police Court. The series of blundeis by which the Executive left it in the power of the " traversers " to summoa them excited much amusement in Dublin, but the evidence was provocative of nothing but contempt. The air of Dublin Castle has proved too strong for General Buller, the generous impulses he displayed in Kerry are already poisoned, Chief amongst the meetings of the week was the Protestant Home Rulers— one of the largest and most influential yet held by that brave and patriotic association. The Protestant Home Rulers are not so verj long in existence, but certainly, so far as intellect and purity of principles go, they make one proud of being their compatriots. It is a cheering thing to remember tkat out of the very hot-bed of Toryigm, Trinity College, the b«st of these men have sprung— youn? men, too. who have taken Davis for their model both in public and private life. Many of them, however, have noble and inspiriting family traditions of their own to look back upon, for example, the grandsons of Mr. William Bmith O Bnen, who were id the fore front of the Association. At the meet- . ing on Wednesday, Mr. T. A. Dickson, ex-Member for Tyrone, made an eloquent speech in announcing his conversion to Homa Rule while Professor .Galbraith, Arthur Webb, and others followed who were equally impressive in demanding our National rights. The Protestant Home Rulers are about starting a new National weekly paper to be called North and South. The title, which is taken from Sir C G Duffy's book, " The League of North and South," is indicative of its aims It la to be mainly propagandist, to use every worthy effort to unite Urange and green in tbe one sacred cause of our unhappy country The editor. Mr. C, H. Oldham.ai though quite ycung,is already a notable hgure in intellectual efforts here ; he was one of those who turned the Dublin University ltevic?»—he is a gold medalist of Trinity College —from its respectable old Conservatism, iuto a National magazine. When the College dons awoke to the faot, there was consternation in their midst they withdrew the seal of the College from its cover, and reclaimed their subscriptions when th»y saw an article by Michael Davitt in the place of honour. By way of antidote, evidently, the I.L.P.U. have determined on issuing a paper also, I have not yet heard ClonTl'notorfety ' "* "^ *' * * Ml ' PhiH P Ba^ nell of An amusing feature of the Round Room of the Mansion, wherein the banquet for Messrs. Labouchere and Conybeare was held the other mght, v the echo. This, in its way, is as marvellous as that of JiUlarney. There was a large mirror opposite where the editor of Irvth sat, so that not only every word of his witty and sympathetic «Pf«? *« M doubled, but his gestures likewise. The ladies, who almost I filled the gallery, were in a better position to perceive this than any of the seven hundred guests. Apropos of ladies, I may mention the approaching marriage of the eldest daughter of the late A. M. Bullivan, to Maurice Healy M.P. And also the preparations which are on foot to welcome Mr and Mrs Michael Davitt on their return to Ireland. A public banquet and an address are already spoken of. The tragic death of Lord Idde*leigh is on everybody's tongte. Not a detail of ghastly and awful interest was wanting ; his betrayal

by the party he served ; his son's indignaut letter on the subject two days before ; his last journey to the Tory Chief, who, it is whispered aloud, literally broke his heart ; his death under LoH Salisbury's ill-omened roof. Sudden deaths are fearful things. And along with the news of Lord Iddesleigh'a decease, one must recall involuntarily that of the nun in Belfast a few years ago, who died of the same disease as the late peer. He was Sir Stafford Northcote then, and in the service of the party which insulted and betrayed him since, came to Belfast on the same mission as Lord Randolph Churchill — to stir up the Orangemen. They became sufficiently stirred to besiege a convent, in which one of the Sisters dropped dead with fright. The Lord Lieutenant Castlereagh has replied to the memorial of his tenantry, asking for a reduction, that he will not lower the rents, but will seil at a reasonable price. What is his idea of that remains to be seen. The Londonderry tenants of the London Company of Skinners have offered seven years rent as purchase money of their farms. These tenants are mainly Presbyterians.