Irish News.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIV, Issue 46, 11 March 1887, Page 19

Irish News.

(From United Ireland?) AKTBIM.— At a meeting of the Ulster Loyalist Anti-Repeal Union held recently at Belfast, resolutions were passed requesting the Government to put forth their utmost power to protect all classes of Faer Majesty's subjects, and expressing astonishment and dissatisfaction at the apparent weakness displayed by the present Irish Executive in dealing with a "difiantand shameless conspiracy." At Ardnacrusha, County Clare, there waß,on Sunday, January 9, a very large gathering of Limerick and Clare tenants, with the special object of sympathising with a tenant named Michael Lane, who has been dealt with very harshly by his landlord. Colonel MAdam, as wellastogiveexpressiontofcheirsentimentsoa the present phase of the political and agrarian struggle. Messrs. Abraham, Finucaue, and Cox, M.P's. attended, and many representative men accompanied the various oontingents which made lor the rendezvous. »lr. Cox, M. P. expounded the principles on which the Plan of Campaign saould be utilised, and Messrs. Abraham and Finucane eloquently pointed out the scandal and immorality of the proceeding which Colonel MAdam had adopted towards his tenant, Michael Lane, in refusing all offers of a reasonable settlement and selling him out. Though Mr. Laae's case is only a typical one, there are features in connection with the system of extortion and confiscation shown in it which lift it above the general run. The farm was in bis own and his father's possession for fifty years ; the origmal rent was £38 10s ; when Colonel MAdam came in as owner he raised this at first to £50, and this again and again until a few years ago he had brought it ud to £102 ; but this the Land Court i educed to £80. Upwards of £400 had been spent by the tenant on the improvement of the farm, and this now, umler sanction of that angelic law with whose majesty and inviolability Chief Baron Palles is sj impressed, is lost to Michael Lane and its value transferred to Colonel M'Adam. Dublin. — Tbe statue which it is intended to erect over the grave of Dr. Cahill, in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin, is fast approaching completion, and will soon be in a condition to be removed Irom the studio of Mr. Cahill, the sculptor. The statue is a most striking one, and portrays the great orator in the aci of addressing a congregation, attired in surplus and stole, which the sculptor has skilfully availed of to display some delicate repousse work. The material enployed is Irish limestone, which is much better adapted to the humid climate than the more commonly used Carrara marble ; besides, the limestone allows of a very high degree of finish, and altogether presents an appearance quite in keeping with the bol J, striking character of the S 'Tnn e# Ifc *PP ears taat tDe committee require a balance of more than :fcloo before the statue can be unveiled, and tbey are very desirous that the ceremony should take place on the next St. Patrick's Day. * l was a r are sight to behold the virtual governors of Ireland, the Chief and Under Secretary, and the Attorney -General and Captain Flunkett, in the Police Court in Dublin. It is not often that a Government commit such a blunder as to leave it m the power of private or public individuals to summon its chief executive instruments and submit them to examination in matters of policy, but there seems to be no limit to the faiuity of the present tenants of Downing street. An intense degree of curiosity was manifested by the public at this stage or the proceedings in convection with the State prosecutions, and the little Court was packed in its every available inch long before the proceedings commenced on Friday and Saturday, Jauuary 7 and 8. treneral Sir Kedvers Buller, Under Secretary, was the first uf the important quartette to be placed under fire, and for a military man he exhibited an amount of caution in his answers and a timidity in his utterances which was astonishing, His replies to the heckling counsel were throughout so low as to be almost inaudable. He admitted having had interviews with landlords aod agents and making representations to them on the rent question. The Chief Secretary, when his turn came, admitted that they had " put pressure within the law " U h°u a ° dl ? rd8 > but declined to state the nature of the pressure, and sheltered himself in this and other important questions under the plea or omcial privilege. With regard to Mr. John Adye Curran's transference to Kerry as County Court Judge, the Chief Secretary declined a J !f whose Stance it was done. The Attorney- General fenced and dodged with the question whether he had not written that famous opinion of his which we quoted at an early stage of the Campaign, out he would not deny that he had written it or admit that he had ills answers left not the smallest doubts, however, of its genuineness. Captain Plunkett's examination disclosed the fact that a aiyisional magistrate's mind may be a perfect blank about recent omcial transactions of his own ; but he could not wriggle out of the iact, tor all his forgetfulness and clever logical subterfuge, that he naa called on Messrs. Guinness Mahon and Co., in Dublin, with regard to tne case of Mr. Davoren.of Locklong, and suggested a settlement, ana intimated protection would not be given to a caretaker in case ms suggestion^ were refused. This Captain Plunkett did not consider «,- h-- rence -" His examination so aoounded in nice distinctions of wub Kind that it must hold a place in future text-books as a model of tne style evasive. The case has been returned for trial— a foregoing conclusion, as Mr. O'Donel took care to show from the outset. A meeting of the Protestant Home Rulers, held in Dublin on jwonaay night, January 10, affords ground for deep gratification as a caeering symptom of the times. The gathering was the largest and most influential of any yet held in connection with the Association, and the speeches throughout had the true ring of earnestness and wku y> Amon g 8t the speakers were Mr. T. W. Rolleston, Mr. Alfred Webb, Professor Galbraith, and Mr. T. A. Dickson, J,P., who formally announced his conversion to the full Home Rule programme. kord Talbot de Malabide has not only a long pedigree to boast of but a good long purse. This he owes to the labour and sweat of ms tenants, yet he will Bbow them no consideration whatever. Doubtless a man of his ancient lineage thinks that the proper function in creation of people who are tenants is to labeur and sweat for him and

people like him, and that they ought to feel exceedingly honeured >y being allowed to possess that glorious privilege in peace. His loiAship has been asked to make some redaction in his rents, but he declines point-blank to do it. He has a legal right to collect his radkrents. The Court awards it, and the law allows it. But he has m legal claim to immunity from' criticism over his dealings with kite serfs around gay Malahide. We have some statistics of the respective rents and valuations on the Malahide property, and a brief statement of them may prove instructive. The total valuation of the tenant^ whose cases are supplied amounts to £1,200 ; and the rent whi»k this blue-blooded nobleman of Norman descent extracts from theat amounts to very close upon double that figure — namely, £2,185 aad some odd shillings ; hence, blue-blood is shown to be by no meaw incompatible with an attribute supposed to belong to persons of the Petticoat-lane Jew tribe, an itching palm. But it is not the gross amouat of extortionate rent which challenges our admiration alone in tikw case. There are certain individual cases in which the extortion appears monstrous when the rent is contrasted with the official valuation ; and this is true of soma of the smaller tenants rather than the larger ones. For instance, Simon Cregan is charged at the rate of £6 10b« year for a holding valued only at £2 10s. Again, Peter McCorm^k pays £21 2s a year for a take rated by Griffith at £9 10. Patruk Wood pays £4 4s yearly for 30 perches of ground whose statute valuation is only 15s. Amongst the middling class of farmers there are also some cases of cruel rack-renting, such as that of Jok» Reynolds, who pays £49 7s yearly for a farm rated at only £21. As a specimen of how the bigger tenants are salted, we may cite the case of Thomas Dunne, whose rental is £430 14s 2d., while his valuation ie only £224 153., and no twopence. We could cite other cases of almost equal hardship, but those given will enable the public to judge of tke means by which an Irish nobleman fills las purse at a time when we hear so much about the shocking demoralisation of the Irieh peasantry. A dinner was given by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Mr. T. B. Sullivan, M.P., on Tuesday evening, January 11, in the fine Roumd Room of the Mansion House. It was what may be called a representative dinner, for while the classes usually invited to the MansiM House were present in full force, the Lord Mayor had very thoughtfully invited the mayors of the various provincial towns, as well ac representatives of many trades' bodies in Dnbhn, to take part in die proceedings. Unusual interest attached to it, too, from the presence of two English M.P 's., the witty Mr. Henry Labouchere, and another very able and eloquent Radical. Mr. Conybeare. In their speech** these gentlemen discussed the Plan of Campaign as freely as tbey dM their dmner.notwithstanding the awful interdict of Judge O'Brien aad General Saxe-Weimar. Mr. Conybeare, who has been going over tke country and noting what is going on, showed in his speech that ke was profoundly moved by the honors of landlord rule and profoundly struck by the difference between the administration of the law here and in his own country. Mr. Labouchere'e speech was witty, and quite in keeping with his well-known Home Rule views. Mr. D. B. Sullivan, 8.L., spoke ably in favour of '• The Legal Defenders of Irish Patriotism," and a number of other toasts which were given anal responded to showed that eloquence is as yet no waning gift in Ireland. There were fully seven hundred guests at the tables, and the gallery after dinner was filled with ladies. Many prominent Couservatives were amongst the guests, but none of them took any exception to tke sentiments of the various speakers. Fermanagh. — At the Kesh Petty Sessions, on December 8, a, summons at the suit of James Anderson against Charles McElrome for possession of a dwelling-house, came up for hearing. Mr. J. F. Wray, solicitor, represented the defendant. It appeared from tbe evidence that McElrone. who is a laborer, was tenant to the plaintnf of a house in Gortachan at a rate of Is a week under a written agreement until a month before last revision sessions for North Fermanagh, when plaintiff, who is a tenant of Captain Barton, made McElroae and his wife, under threat of eviction, sign an argument by whicii McElrone declared he gave up possession of a dwelling-house to tke plaintiff Anderson, and that his wife became tenant in his place. This was admittedly done by Anderson for the purpose of disfranchising McElrone, who is a Nationalist. The Revision Barrister, howevw, refused to disfranchise him inasmuch as the document was prepared in order to defeat the Franchise Acts. Accordingly Anderson served McElrone with a notice to quit, upon which he biought the prese»t summous for possession. Mr. Wray contended that according t* plaintiff's own showing McE Irene's wife and not himself was tenant, and as she had been served with neither summons nor notice to quit, the plaintiff should fail. The Court ruled accordingly, and dismissed the case. The case excited great interest, and the defeat of tke nefarious attempt to dishouse a Nationalist who had a vote was received with approval. Despite the proclamation of the Rosslea meeting, Mr John Diltom could not forbear from going down to Fermanagh to raise bis voice against the monstrous inhumanity of evicting poor people from then homes in one of the most fearful winters Ireland has experienced for many years. The iniquity of the Government endeavouring to hueh up the matter was another stimulus to his manly indignation. Tke hon. member went down to Clones by train. Seeing a large body <rf police drawn up watching the waggonette in waiting for him, ke quietly went back into the train which was just about to start for Belfast, and went on to Smithboro', a few miles beyond Rosslea. Here, accompanied by Rev. Father M'Kean, of Rosslea, he got on a car, and drove several miles across the country, until they met • large body of people making their way towards Rosslea. Mr. Dilloa addressed them at a place called Maughery Hill, making a tellwg point against Ulster landlordism as represented by the Lord Lieutenant, who, while getting his subordinates to put pressure on tke Southern landlords to reduce their rents, refuses to give a penny abatement himself. The meeting over, Mr. Dillon proceeded to another place called Watts' Bridge Mill, where many bodies of farmers coming into Rosslea joined their forces ; and here he delivered another most effective speech in denunciation of the cruelty about to be perpetrated by Mr. Madden. The meeting over, the people f ofmed

into a vast procession and moved on towards Rosslea. All these movements took place, it should be borne in mind, amidst physical conditions which might well recall the retreat of the French from Moscow. Far as the eye could reach the country lay covered in the mantle of snow, which was ankle-deep, while the air asserted its Siberian bitterness by the formation of stalactites from the cave of every cabin and geometrical puzzles of boar frost on every bush and window-pane. The police filled in the picture by acting the part of Cossacks. Without the slightest pretence or provocation they fell ufpon the people in the village of Ros9lea and batoned them most savagely, thought they knew that there was no intention of holding a meeting in the village. This is all that the Executive have taken, however, for tneT pains. Two or three other meetings were held outside Rosslea while Mr. Dillon was holding his, at which the Rev. Fathers M'Kenna, Quin, and Maguire, and Messrs. Donnelly, Kennelly, and other prominent gentlemen, spoke with eloquence and earnestness on the subject which was the cause of these mid-winter proceedings in Fermanagh . Galway. — One incident at the Woodford trials sprang into sndden importance and illumined the administration of the law in Ireland as a dark jungle is lit by a flash of sheet lightning. The multitudinous and complicated counts in the indictment against the Woodford prisoners were mainly concerned with a certain Mr. Woods. Everybody seemed to have assaulted Mr. Woods, who bore everything with Christian fortitude. Moses was a fool to him in the matter of meekness. In his opening statement Sergeant O'Brien, in that gingerly and piano assumption of an English accent which accords so strangely with his broad face and burly figure, crowned this saintly and heroic emergencyman with the martyr's crown. There was an awe-struck thrill in court when he stepped into the witness-box. Admiration deepened into compassion as he told the story of his woes. In pitiful tones he recorded how those brutal peasants assailed him with lime and water, which heightened his naturally delicate complexion, and how they threatened to roast" him like another St. Laurence on the coals. It almost seemed profanity to cross-examine this saintly personage. Yet the crossexamination was ventured on, and not without success. He was high up, he confessed, in the ranks of the emergencymen. The salary of the rank and file was about 18s a week ; his averaged from three to four pounds for the same period. He had deserted the position of mechanical engineer to become a sergeant in the Crowbar Brigade. He had drawn a revolver on the unarmed peasants in the house at the time of the eviction. After mauy contradictions and prevarications, he confessed to haying threatened to fire upon them if they did not allow him upstairs. '• If you had done so," said the Chief Baron, shortly, '■ you would have been guilty of murder, and in all probability have would have been hanged," " Had you a licence for the revolver?" queried cross-examining counsel. " 1 had," retorted Woods, without a moment's he-itation. His lordship asked for the licence, and discovered that it bore date three days after the eviction — in effect, that Woods had no licence to carry a revolver at the time he drew it on the unarmed peasants in their own house, and not. to put it too finely, that the saintly and heroic emergency man had deliberately peijured himself in the witness box. Matters looked worse still when two pol cemen proved that the peasants, whom he swore were endeavouring to put him on the fire, were in reality striving to wrench the murderous weapon from his grasp. " Woods was very much excited," they said simply, and the district inspector ordered th it th^ revolver should be taken from him. At Tuam on Thursday, January 13 an exhibition of the feeling of another great district of the country was given on the twin objects of Home Rule and rack-rent. The meeting was held in front of the Town hall, and although the weather was most severe, the fact had no appreciable effect upon the numbers or the spirits of the vast multitude who thronged into the town. Rev. Father O'Cunnell Adm., presided. Colonel Nolan, M.P., delivered a Bpeech showing what progress was being made in England by the propagation of the Home Rule idea ; and ihe hon. Member was followed by Sir Thomas G. Esmonde, M.P., whose address was a masterly return^ of the present situation, dwelling exultingly on the success of the Plan of Campaign in defeating lack-renters and beating down the anti-Irish Government. At this meeting a leiter warmly approving of the objects of the meeting was read from the Archbishop of Tuam, Most Rev. Dr. M'Evilly, in the course of which the distinguished writer declared that the men who had thrown themselves into the breach to arrest the progress of evils arising from the irresponsible power of landlordism were worthy of all praise. Kkbby.— lt is reported that in the case of the Crown against Dr. Brosnan and others for firing at the police at Castleisland, and in which the Grand Jury of 22 were equally divided, that the Crown, notwithstanding that they have another witness, have decided not to send the Bill up for rt -consideration. Limertck. — At a meeting of the Limerick Harbour Commissioners on December 7, Mr. James Spraitjht, J.P., presiding, it was resolved to approve of a scheme to connect the docks with tbe railway in the city by a shore line of railway, subject to the bung lepresmted on tbe directorate in proportion to Jiie amount of guarantee, and that borrowing powers be limited to £15,000, the conditions to appear in tbe Bill. An important private circular has recently been addressed to the constabulary by the authorities. It has reference to the duties of the police when accompanying sheriffs and bailiffs on eviction expeditions. They are strictly forbidden in future pointing out houses or farms to sheriffs, bailiffs, or emergency men, or in any way assisting them in the carrying out of evictions. The conscabulary are only to afford protection in case of evicting forces beißg assaulted, or of violeuce being attempted. Otherwise, a perfectly neutral and pas.-ive attitude bhuuld be observed. Longford. — There is a rumour afloat as to how Mr. Cnamberlain accumulated bis vast fortune before he quitted trade (for which the bent of his mind was eminently suited) for politics ('which he always endeavours to conduct on sharp commercial principles, or

want of principles, as the case may be). He starved out competition in the screw trade. His rivals were poor, and could not stand the strain, so he forced the pace until they dropped oat and were ruined. Then, as Shylock says, "he made what merchandise he pleased" in Birmingham. In some such way the Land Commissioners seem disposed to treat the Plan of Campaign — to ruin it not by opposition but by competition. In fourty-four cases tried the other day in Longford the average reduction was considerably over fifty per cent. From £22 3s lOd to ten guineas on the estate of John J. Galbraith, and from £21 13s lOd to ten guineas on the estate of J. H. Jessop, was about the normal reduction. But on the estate of Charles 8. Dudgeon £6 10s was reduced to £1 12s ; £2 12s was reduced to 18s ; and £2 was reduced to 15s. On the estate of H. B. Armstrong £5 10s was reduced to £1 5s ; and so through a host of others. A reduction of five hundred per cent., or a simple division of the rent by five. That is the heroic method of dealing with rackrents. The poor fifty per cent, which, we think, is the maximum demanded by any tenant ander the Plan does certainly seem a miserably modest demand beside this. What will the Queen's Bench say to it, we wonder ? If this kind of thing goes on the National leaders will, in self-defence, be compelled to invoke the protection of the Court of Conscience.

Mayo. — A capitulation of immense importance begins the chronicle of the week. Lord Dillon, who valiantly nailed his colours of "no surrender " to the mast two months ago, has drawn the nails and lowered his gallant flag. His complete surrender seems to have been the result of second thoughts, for it is only a few days since hundreds of ejectment processes were posted up all over his property. What caused the change in Lord Dillon's mind doesn't matter. The fact that he has seen the error of his ways and the reasonableness of his tenants' demands is due, there is no doubt, to the unfalteringattitude of the men who have hitherto made his princely revenue of twenty-five thousand a-year. The moral effect of his capitulation must be of more importance than the victory itself, great as it is. His estate is a vast one, embracing something between four and five thousand holdings, but the influence of the unconditional capitulation must be felt far beyond the county Mayo, where it chiefly lies. All the incidents accompanying the surrender were remarkable. Messrs. Crilly, M.P., and William O'Brien had gone down to Castlereagh en rtute for Carracastle ; and they were accompanied by Mr. Conybeare, M.P., for a Cornwall constituency, and Mr. Shipman an English barrister —gentlemen who have come over to investigate the Irish problem with their own eyes. At Ballaghaderin they were met at the presbytery by Mr. Henry Doran, sub-agent of Lord Dillon, who announced his mission to the people. He proposed a settlement by means of arbitration, but Mr. O'Brien objected to any settlement save on the basis of an irreducible minimum of 20 per cent, reduction all round, reinstatement of the tenants who had been evicted, and the payment of the whole of the costs by the landlord. To this tbe sub-agent agreed, and the articles were formally drawn up and signed. The arbitrators nominated by Mr. O'Brien were Rev. Father O'Hara and Mr. Conybeare, M.P., for the tenants, and Mr. Dorari for Lord Dillon. These important proceedings having terminated a move was mnde for Carracastle. Though the snow lay in baked and ennpasted heaps upon the roads an 1 the weather was little short of Arctic, there was a gallant muster of people at the trystiug-placa, and the shouts of triumph with which they filled the air on the reception of the glal news of the morning's work were music which one might travel a long distance to hear. Father O'Hara and Messrs. O'Brien and Crilly congratulated the Dillon estate men on their magnificnt success; and Mr. Conybeare, M. P., invited the attentions of the Attorney-General and the Queen's Bench by warmly endorsing the Plan of Campaign ; while his friend, Mr. Shipman, wound up the proceedings fittingly by declaring his firm conviction that Home Rule wis inevitable.

— Though Chief Baron Palles quashed the jury-panel a' Sligo, it is not quite clear what advantage to the cause of justice resulted from the constitution of a new oue. The packing by means of the process of exclusion was carried out by the Crowu when the trial of the Woodford prisoners came on with an audacity and recklessness without pirallel in all the black history of the jury-packing in Ireland. Eleven Protestants and one Catholic tried the first bitch of prisoners put foiward on Thursday week. Yet even from thia well and truly packed body did the Crown find it hard — almost impossible, indeed— to wring a verdict of guilty upon any count of the indictment. It was not until they had been lectured and catechised and browbeaten by the judge in an altogether unprecedented way that these men could be got to say that the prisoners were wrong in endeavouring to prevent the unjust eviction of their neighbour. The jury which tried the second batch of prisoners was composed of nine Protebtants and three Catholics, and that which was empanelled to try the third lot was composed exclusively of Protestants. So desperate was the hope of obtaining justice under similar conditions for the remaining piisoners, that their counsel on Wednesday threw up their briefs and retired from tbe defence. It is little wonder, under theße circumstances, that the Catholic jurors of Sligo took some steps to protest againbt this mockery of justice. A meeting was held in tbe Tovvn Hall on Thursday evening, under the presidency of the Mayor, for that purpose, and the system of trying prisoners by their political opponents, whicli is what the system of jury-packing literally means, was indignantly denounced and a formal resolution on the subject adopted. Tipperary — Magnificent Tipperary — in another sense than that present to L'ird Gough when he admired the style in which the men of the premier county went into the fighting business for Great Britain — was in evidence in SDlendul style in th>> first week of January. The Campaign this time was not in aid >f a plundering. Bast India Company, but against plundering Irish landlords. Fully fifteen thousand men inarched in, with bands pla\ ing and banners waving, to the town of Nenagh, where they expected to have some notes on how the fight was going on from Dr. Tanner, Mr. Gill, and Mr. O'Brien, M.P.'s. The town was gaily decorated for the occasion, and as each imposing body of stalwart fellows filed in, headed by it«

banner, the enthusiasm of the people rose high and became vociferous The appearance of the famous " Land League Cavalry " from the mountain — a strong body of hardy horsemen — excited particular fervour. The speeches of Father Flannery, P.P., who was in the chair, and of the three Members of the Parliamentary party named were argumentative, forcible, and witty ; but none of them showed a profound reverence for the proclamation of his Highness of SaxeWeimar or the tic volo ticjubeo of Judge O'Brien. At Lattin, four outside Tipperary town, there was a second immense meeting Ton the following day, at which rattling speeches were delivered by Messrs. John O'Connor and O'Hea, M.P.'s; Father Matthew Ryan, Mr. Murnane, P.L.G. ; Mr. Lundon, and other local leaders. At Grange Mockler, near Clonmel, there <vas another fine muster on Monday. The grip which the Plan has taken upon the hearts of the men of Tipperary as well as those of Limerick, where it was first started, was strikingly shown in the numbers and the spirit of these great meetings. Tyrone.— The Limerigg Coal-Mining Company, Glasgow, have purchased the royalties of the Coalisland mines from Mr. Robert King, and bave also made arrangements with the head owners of the royalties to pay an annual rental. They intend to commence coal mining on a very extensive scale at Coalisland at once. This start will be of considerable importance to the North of Ireland, as there is any amount of coal here. Wkifobd. — Matters are fast approaching to a deadlock in the New Ross Union. The paid guardians may make rules and issue orders, but nobody outside the house minds them. The people will not pay the rates. In this stubborn attitude they are quite justified by the course adopted by the Local Government Board and its nominees. It is a perfect scandal that these men are allowed under a pretext of law to act as they are acting. Tneir latest effort in the cause of tyrannical landlordism is a disgrace to them as men and fathers of families, if this be their condition. They have caused the wives and sisters of the Fethard evicted tenants to be scattered over the workhouse, herding them with paupers of every description, of good or evil fame, as the case may be. A similar slight has been'put upon the men. This is the British system all over— trying to degrade political offenders of stainless life by associating them with the foulest dregs of society. A most affecting sight was witnessed in the workhouse on Saturday January 8, wnen Mr. Harrington, the late master, was finally leaving the building. He went around the various wards to bid the officials and inmates good-b> c. He was chaired around the quadrangle by the paupeis, and many of these poor people sobbed piteously at his departure. A large number of the elected guardians accompanied Mr. Harrington on this melancholy tour, every incident in connection with which showed the high esteem in which he ib held by guardians, officials, and paupers alike.