Dublin Notes.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XV, Issue 22, 23 September 1887, Page 21

Dublin Notes.

(From the National papers.) Nbtbb was a complete change of policy effected, even by a Tory Prime Minister, under circumstances more humiliating than that which Lord Salisbury has been obliged to carry out iv reference to the Land Bill. The judicial rents that but a fortnight ago were so sacred in Lord Salisbury's eyes that even to meditate the least interference with them would be an act of the utmost profanity, are now, with his lordship's consent, not only to be revised but to be reduced from fifteen to twenty per cent. When his lordship's volte-face was made known nothing could exceed the anger that prevailed in certain Tory circles, where consistent regard for self-interest is not regulated by considerations of prudence and policy. The concession, though not at all equivalent to the requirements of the agricultural depression, is still sufficient to swallow up the small margin of rent left to many Irish landlords by their former prodigality for the support of which their rents had to be mortgaged to the extent of the last penny that could be raised on them. A reduction of twenty per cent, would mean absolute poverty for many Irish landlords, and although such a proposal, if made by the Irish party, would certainly be denounced as flagrant robbery, yet, coming from Lord SalisDury, it must be admitted by the most wretched of those landlords whom it will affect, that it is a result that must have been inevitableIt is certainly a glorious consummation to arrive at on the very day the Coercion Act was receiving the Royal assent to have Lord Salisbury admitting urbi et orbi that the Plan of Campaign, against which the Coercion Act was aimed, was a just and necessary organisation ; to have Mr. Goschen declare that the judicial rents, which three days before he was swearing were as sacrosanct as hia own Egyptian bonds, were unjust and should be reduced, and to have the whole Tory and Liberal-Unionist party meet in solemn conclave and deliberately put it upon record that in lending the forces of the Crown to clear the properties of the Brooks, the O'Callaghans, the Lansdownes and the Clanricards they were aiding and abetting a gang of robbers to take vengeance on victims they had fleeced. Whatever be the upshot of the situation, this is one of those great conspicuous facts which carry conviction with them into minds the most powerful reasoning fails to penetrate. The sensation in political circles over the surrender of the Government on the Land Bill is immense. They have saved themselves from defeat, but at the cost of the Irish landlords. It is the old story with that stupid and doomed class. They have not sense to take sides with their own countrymen : (hey continue clinging on to the tail of a British party, and that party sacrifices them remorselessly whenever the connection becomes inconvenient. It is calculated that the new revision of judicial rents to which the Government consented wi'l take about half a million sterling out of the pockets of the Irish landlords. This means downright destruction to them. Now that judicial rent 9 are to be revised, and leaseholders and holders of town parks admitted to the benefit of the Act of 1881, it is also over with Irish landlordism. That accursed system has got its death-blow and will speedily vanish from the face of the earth. This is a result of the glorious work of the Land League and the National League. It is the splendid triumph of their principles — the bright reward of their labours so far as regards the agrarian portion of their programme. Of course it id understood and it is inevitable that the present surrender must be speedily followed by a purchase scheme which will make the occupiers of the soil the owners of it. So much for the land question ; and now for the national question. With Irish landlordism gone, the Castle system must speedily tumble down. One of the most obvious consequences of the Tory volte face is that we have now an official and statutable confession of the entire wißdom and all too scrupulous moderation of the Plan of Compaign. The judicial rents, even Mr. Goschen now confesses, will have to come down "15 to 20 per cent." But the Lansdowne tenants agreed according to the Denning treaty to accept evea Mr. Goschen's minimum abatement — 15 per cent.— notwithstanding which they were pitched out of their homes with bayonets. Who will now for one instant maintain that any civilised Government can keep these men out of their farms ? It seems that the charge on which Mr. Smith was so anxious to i condemn Dr. Tanner unheard was substantially false. We can well believe it. Anything more contemptible than Mr. Walter Long's action in the matter, on his own showing, can scarcely be conceived. He and his honourable friends (they are all honourable men) proceeded to bate Dr. Tanner on his accidental exclusion from the division lobby — a subject on which he was known to be sore — and having got somewhat the worse of the encounter, they forthwith take down his words and came whining to the House of Commons for redress. The incident has a still uglier aspect. In the light of subsequent events, it seems certain that Dr. Tanner was addressed with the express object of provoking an indignant rejoinder which might be used against him. Since Mr. Fogge placed himself temptingly within reach of the indignant right arm of Mr. Pickwick and called up his clerks to witness the assault, in real life or fiction there has been nothing more contemptible. Mr. Long said he did not bring forward the matter from personal motives. We can well believe it. It was the exigencies of party that compelled him to sink the sentiments of a gentleman. There is no keener nose for a piece of blackguaidism than Mr. Kernighan, of the Daily Express. In Tuesday's issue he gloats over what he calls a " very smart bit of electioneering." The charge against Dr. Tanner was paraded through Buxton in the interests of the coercion candidate an hour at least before it was laid before the House of Commons. The motive for the concoction of the charge is now plain enough. We trust this instructive incident will not be overlooked when the matter next comes for discussion before the House. Putting it at its worst, the instructive parable of the mote and the beam might be safely recommended to the consideration of the

Tories who are, or who effect to be, so wrath at the strong language attributed to Dr. Tanner. Does it lie in their mouths to complain of strong language ? The charge made by them against the Nationalists, with the connivance of the Speaker, across the floor of the House of Commons, exceeds ten thousand times in ribald cfiEensivensss the passionate outburst in the lobby of which Dr. Tanner is accused. Can any amount of vague expletives amount to a deliberate charge of murder or connivance with murder ? There is no use burking the matter ; there is no fair play for Irish members in the House of Commons. Their enemies may steal horses, but they dare not peep over the fences. It is common rumour that only the other day Sir Robert Fowler was, in the lobby of the House of Commons, guilty of language to another member beside whi:h the words attributed to Dr. Tanner might pass for compliments, and when the matter was brought to the notice of the Speaker he pooh-poohed it as undeserving of attention. But why confine ourselves to the lobby of the House of Commons ? We have over and over again directed attention to an incident of unprecedented rowdyism in the House itsel , of which Colonel King-Harman was the hero, a week or so before he was received into the bosom of the Government. In a cendition of ferocious intoxication he approached the Irish benches and challenged a member of the Irish party to box. The incident occured within the eye-shot and hearing of a dozen members of the House and out of it. It was commented on in the news papers, and the Tories forthwith proved their horror at the rowdyism by the promotion of the rowdy. Punch's observation on the promotion will be fresh in the public recollection :—": — " We suppose Colonel King- Har man will not condescend to box with anyone under a Cabinet Minister now." Great jubilation is pretended by the Tory Press over the fact that Hornsey and Brixton elections have resulted in the return of Tory candidates ; while thanks for a smaller mercy is given in regard to Basingstoke. There is not much real ground for rejoicing. The Liberals never expected to carry either of these seats ; but what they did hope to do was to reduce the Tory majority, and in this they succeeded beyond their most sanguine calculations. In Basingstoke, at the last contest, which was in 1885, Mr. Sc later- Booth, the Tory candidate, beat his opponent, Mr. Eve, by 1,579 votes, while last Tuesday Mr. Jeffreys, the Conservative, only got in by a majority of 732. Not much ground for comfort in these figures. At Hornsey, which is a division of London peculiarly favourable to the Tory chances, as the constituency is mainly composed of city clerks and warehousemen, the Tory candidate, Mr. Stephens, beat his opponent, Mr. Bottomley, by nearly two thousand votes. This victory caused the Tories to shriek with delight ; but it is a fact, for which they don't endeavour to account, that the total vote cast for their man there is short by 150 of that given for their man at the election in 1885. The total vote on both sides is about 1,000 short of that cast upon that occasion — a fact for which no explanation is forthcoming. In Brixton Lord Carmarthen only succeeded in beating his Liberal antagonist, Mr. Hill, by 788 votes, which is a falling-off of 783 from the majority of last year ; so that even in constituencies which have come to be regarded as impregnable strongholds of Toryism the cause of Home Rule is making vast progress. The Corporation of Cork has by a practically unanimous vote agreed to confer the freedom of the city upon the Hon. P. A. Collins, and the Corporation of Dublin contemplate conferring on that distinguished American the freedom of the Irish metropolis. Mr. Collins, who is a member of the American Congress, has been and is one of the most prominent and most steadfast friends which the Irish cause has had in the Siateß. A3 President of the American Land League, he rendered inestimable services to the movement both in the States and here, and to his personal exertions was due much of the success which followed Mr. Parnell's memorable visit across the Atlantic. Whilst the Tories and their discredited allies are endeavouring by the most infamous expedients to delay the approach of the wrath to come, and becoming more disheartened every day, the true Libera 1 party in England are nerving them for the fray, and growing daily more confident of the triumph of the just cause which they have espoused. A notable indication of tne spirit in which the latter intend to carry on the fight which is to end in a real settlement of the Irish question was afforded by the inaugural meeting of the Home Counties Division of the National Liberal Federation held in London on Monday, July 18. The attendance of delegates from the South of England, where the Tories fared better than in any other part of the country at the general election, was enormous, and the utmost desire to further the objects of the association in that quarter was manifested. Sir. W. Har court, M.P., who was the principal speaker, carried the war into the enemy's territory with a vengeance, and evoked the heartiest enthusiasm by his declarations as to the unflinching and unflagging manner in which the Liberalism of England would carry on the contest against all opposing forces. Amongst other things he declared that he " never remembered a time when a beaten party in a minority were in such admirable spirits, and when a victorious party with their composite majority were so dismayed, so dumbfounded, and so discomfited, as the gentlemen they opposed." Referring to the Irish representatives, he said it would be impossible to withhold from them a tribute of admiration for the work they had done in recent electoral contests. " They had been calumniated, but they had gone to Lincolnshire, to Paddington, and to Coventry. They had shown the people of England who they were and what they were, and they had been welcomed in the cottage of the peasant and the home of the artisan." The speaker further declared, amidst loud cheering, that nothing had more discredited the Government than the base and baseless attempt to vilify t!ic Irish members. Mr. Gladstone, was the guest of the Scottiah members of Parliament at the National Liberal Club on Saturday night, July 16. Ibo occasion was availed of by the Liberal chiet to acknowledge the debt he owes to Scotland. It could only, however, be a bare acknowledgment, because Scotland — like the other parts of the Empire — muu, by reason of the paralysis of Parliament, remain content for a while longer with no beneficial share in the deliberations of the Legislature. " I know of nothing," said Mr. Gladstone, " in thi present action ana

present policy of the Irish Nationalists which would make it dishonourable to any party to be allied with them for the purposes of that policy. ' There is no alliance, he adds, between the two Home Rule bodies except that which there exactly ought to be, and he expresses the firm conviction that it ought not to be further strengthened There ought to be freadom for the Gladstonian party and freedom for the Irish Party, and air. Gladstane goes the length of saying that he conceives it to be the duty of Mr. Parnell to make no overtures for a closer alliance. And the reason he gives is one from which Lord Hartington may, if he chooses, take a hint. Mr. Parnell, observes Mr. Gladstone, ought to be in readiness, if the interest of his country required him.to join hands with the Tories to-morrow— if they offered him an effective settlement of the Irish Question, he ought not to be hampered by any regard for the Liberals. In no place is the awful sin of boycotting regarded with more pioas detestation than in •' loyal " Ulster— when it is practised outside. Bat in no place has it ever been reduced to the fine art that it is save in that most exemplary and model-affording province. It has been practised there from time immemorial only that nobody ever thought of giving it a name The death of a famous Belfast merchant, Mr. John Shaw Brown, reminds us that he was one of those who grew ashamed of the infamous lengths to which the system was carried in Belfast, all through religious rancour, and he made a determined and successful effort to put a stop to it in his own factory, when he found out the cruel treatment to which poor Catholic girls from Sligo were being subjected there some years ago. Here is another instance of the thoroughness of the system in other parts of the province • This week, before the Derry Grand Jury, a Protestant farmer of the South division of the county sought £100 damages for malicious burning. His case was that after the election of 1885 certain parties said to him, " if we had known you voted for Healy we would burn the house over your head." In the winter of the same year he was refused admission to the Orange Hall, and in the same year flax was carried out of his premises to a field and burned. A^ain the same year he was asked " Did he want more flax burned ?" About the same time pistol-shots were fired over his head. In the present case the injury was more substantial, involving serious loss. The Grand Jury cave an award of £50. Touching the county of Kerry, the exemplary and erudite gospelhng land-agent, Mr. J. Townsend Trench, delivered himself of an alarming homily befure the GraDd Jury preliminary to the opening of the assizes. " The tenants," he declared, " had become so exceedingly expert in resisting and evading the payment of rent, that they had applied the education which they have received to resisting or evading the collection or payment of the county cess." The importance of " pulling up the arrears of the cess," he further observed, "is enhanced by the fact that the arrears stand a good chance of being increased by the tremendous amount of compensation granted and likely to be passed for malicious injuries at these assiees." All this shows what a nice mind Mr. J. Townsend Trench has, and how admirably nature has constituted him— fit either to be a preacher of salvation to sinners or a reforming Chancellor of the Exchequer like Lord Randolph Churchill. But somehow Mr. J. Townsend Trench's practice does not agree with his precept. Mr. J. D. Foley, of Killorglin, writes to tbe Cork Examiner to say that lately a party of man sallied out from Mr. French's office in Kenmare, under police escort, and, visiting the farms of some of Lord LansdowD's evicted tenants at Glencai, deliberately proceeded to demolish tbe cropi growing thereon. "They beat duwn the potato-stalks," he says, " pulled the oats, and behaved generally live demons— oi Warren Hastings' army in ludia, as depicted by Sheridan. Nor did they suspend their operations uutil the sergeant in charge— be it said to his credit — warmly remonstrated with them on their inhumanity and threatened to withdraw his men. Even the very Emergencymen residing on the spot refused to have anything to say to this, and declared they would rather resign than perform such work." After Mr. Trench's gloomy homily on the claims for malicious injuries and the arrears of comity cess, this action on the part of bis hirelings shows how neatly he can reconcile Christian precepts and Vandal practices. The eviction campaign on the estate of landlord Brooke at Coolgreany concluded on Monday, July 18, when, of the seventy tenants marked down for exteimination, sixty -six had been cast I rom their homes. The closing: days at this cruel raid were distinguished by acts of the highest heroism on the part of the besieged campaigners and of heartless brutality on the part of the Emergency agent, Hamilton, the memory of which will live in Wexford when felonious landlordism has ceased to blight the land. Amongst those may be noted the stout defence of their homesteads made by the Byrne family, brothers and sisters, on Saturday, when they held the Emergency hounds at bay until overpowered by the forces of the Crown, and the scene at the cottage of old Mrs. Darcy, who, when tempted with an oner of settlement, exclaimed, " Death before dishonour." The injustice of the Coolgreany raid is as flagrant ac i.s brutality. The tenauts offered to pay their rents, less 30 per cent., which would still leave them 5 per cent, over the valuation ; but the landlord would not accept this, and the Government helped him to refuse although aware ot the fact that the average reductions in the Land Courts tor the past two months had been 13. per cent under the valuation. But the end is not yet, and we think it may be safely affirmed that the Coolgreany and other evictors will find that when the crowbar has done its work they are only in the beginning of their troubles. The proceedings at Coolgreany were watched throughout their entire course by some of the more prominent Irish leaders. Messrs John Dillon, the Brothers Redmond, and.D. Crilly, observed them on behalf of the Parliamentary party; and Mr. Davitt went down to give the evicted tenants the help and encouragement of his presence. The occasion was availed of to clear up some differences of opinion between Mr. Davut and the League organisations on the subject of the amount and degree of resistance that ought to be offered by tenants under the provocation of eviction ; and the country is indebted to this incident for a most valuaole statement from Mr. Dillon on the work done by and the present situation of the Plan of of Campaign. That statement is an eminently gratifying one— one almost unbroken

record of triumph. The Plan has been put into operation since it was started six months ago, on about 80 estates, and had been successful in getting the reductions demanded on about three-fourths of these. Only ten or fifteen landlords out of the whole lot hold out against it ; and of these, after the six months' fight, not one has got a shilling rent I What more convincing testimony of its power and efficaciousness could be adduced ? Three elections that have taken place this week, ending July 23, show that Home Rule still continues to gain in favour among Bnglish electors. Al Basingstoke, Brixton, and Hornsey the results of the contests give Mr. Gladstone a net gain of several hundred votes. In the two first-named constituencies the Tory net loss was more than 1,600, which was not at all compensated for by the increased vote they obtained at Hornsey. One thing is proved to demonstration by these occasional elections-that is, that Mr. Gladstone, standing alone at the head of the true Liberal party, is immeasurably stronger than when he had the doubtful support of the unfaithful Liberal Unionist seceders. The Ifitness of things is admirably illustrated in the appearance of the quarterly return of " agrarian outrages " at the same time as the passing of the Coercion Bill. Of the 229 " outrages," 83 are described as threatening letters. A new description for crime is " otherwise," whatever that may mean, and under this head the total reaches fifteen. There may be much virtue in an " if," but is there any outrage in an " otherwise "1 But the return is far more remarkable for its negative admissions than for its positive assertions. During the three months there was not in all Ireland a single case of conspiracy to murder, of robbery, of appearing armed, of riot and affray, of administering unlawful oaths, of having arms or being armed in a proclaimed district, nor a single case of rescuing prisoners or of perjury. But more curious still is it that, notwithstanding the large number of evictions, there was not a solitary case of taking and holding forcible possession. This is a further argument in favour of the Coercion Act, and will, no doubt, be regarded by Lord Salisbury as another blessing in disguise. What is the meaning of the sudden lull in the eviction campaigns 7 The Coolgreany one was cut short right ia the middle. The tents for the military were brought to the Mitchelstown estate ; but the military and the crowbarmen come nor. The Currass clearances, too, were threatened loudly, and have not y6t come off. What is up ? Is it, perchance, that the effect of the valour of the Byrnes and the writings of the Normans is having an alarming effect upon the English electorate, and that the terrors of the Tory Government have been touched, if not their conscience 1 Times have changed assuredly for the Irish evicted tenant when he is the terror of the Bnglish Tory electioneering agent Between eating his own Land Bill to keep the Liberal-Unionists on his hands and stopping evictions in terror of the Pall Mall Gazette, Lord Salisbury's lot is not a happy one. rtv We cannot be too igrateful for the earnestness with which the Irish cause is now being espoused in the heart of London by the leaders of the working-men, nor for the practical help which is being given, to the extent of their resources, by their working-men audiences. Open-air meetings are now being held weekly at Peckham on Sunday evenings ; and at these modest collections are usually taken up, at the close of the proceedings, on behalf of the evicted tenants. We feel more grateful far for these offerings of the sixpences and the pennies of working men than if they were the sovereigns of wealthier folk. At last meeting Mr. Davies, of the Dulwich Workingmen's Liberal and Radical Club, took the chair, and drew attention to the cruel euctions at Coolgreany. Mr. Bowley, vestryman, who next addressed the meeting, was of opinion that Home Rule for Ireland was nearly won, tha recent elections in this country showing that the minds of the people had changed. A letter was then read from the parish priest of Bodyke acknowledging the Peveral small sums of money that had been collected at these weekly meetings for the evicted tenants at Bodyke, the rev. gentleman expressing the greatest gratitude for these poor people. A collection was then made for the Evicted Tenants' Fund. These are the touches of nature which now make the two peoples kin. That the coercion Government is in a parlous state even now there can be no doubt, and though Lord Salisbury has lightened th« ship by yielding to the Liberal Disunionists on th« Land Bill, the fear of sudden wreck is an. ever-present one. The Tories are keenly alive to the risk they run by dependence on a gang who, though temporarily united with them in conspiracy against the liberties and welfare of Ireland, still profess Liberal principles, and must be guided in their action by the hope of retaining the support of Liberals in the country. Therefore, strenuous efforts are being made in the Tory press to induce the Disunionists to cease from being bad Liberals, and to become good Tories. The Morning Post thus endeavours to show them that in this transformation lies their only hope of political salvation — " The ordinary citizen desires a representative woo will not only now alone, but in the future, represent his own views on political matters. This he can never obtain so long as there is a chance that the Tories and Liberal Unionists may separate as suddenly as they have coalesced. The present dualism in the Unionist party is too distracting for ordinary comprehension. We must either put an end to it or to the entire Unionist alliance. There is yet time to sink nominal and curtail personal differences in the Unionist party, but it is a strictly limited time. The Unionist leaders must work while it is yet day, otherwise they might not have the chance." Rather cold comfort for Chamberlain and Co. KilJarney is a place wheje William Tell, if he were alive, might be tempted to declare, as he did of his native region, that it was " the land of liberty "; but the Royal Irish Coustabulary would quickly undeceive him on that point, as they did a young gentleman named Dicnens a few days ago. Mr. Dickena is one of a party of American tourists who came over to view the cou itry, and all had been out along with a guide going through the Gap of Dunloe. To try the effect of th.j echo in that wild spot, he fired one shot from a revolver. Immediately, as though it had been a summons from Aladdin'a lamp, two genii in the shape of policemen appeared and inquired who had the temerity to fire the shot. Mr. Dickens at onco

stepped forward and owned that he was the delinquent. The policemen then took him into custody and after a detention of three hoars on the Bpot he was sent cff under escort to Killarney. There he was detained for a couple of hours longer while the police were running about in search of magistrates. At length one ofthese, Mr. Leonard, J. P., was found, and it having been proved to his satisfaction that Mr. Dickens had his revolver for no illegal purpose, the stranger was treated to a dissertation on the disturbed state of the country and the propriety of using firearms with circumspection. This specimen of Irish hospitality has astonished and disgusted the free-born American. He was pulled about from place to place, he says, like a criminal ; and he has left Killarney with the impression that the locality and British institutions are not exactly in keeping. The fatlure of the malignant plot set on foot with a view to depriving Sir John Pope Hennessy of his position as Governor of the Mauritius because he dared to act justly towards the people over whom he was Bet to rule, has given the greatest satisfaction to everybody save those who promoted it. It will be remembered that some six months ago Sir J. P. Hennessy was suspended from the Governorship of that dependency at the instance of Sir Hercules Bobinson, who bad been sent out to inquire into certain charges preferred against the Governor by the anti-Mauritian offlsial clique in the island, at the head of whom was no less a person than Mr. Clifford Lloyd, who had some time before been appointed LieutenantGovernor. The scandalously partial way in which Sir H. Bobinson executed his task, both as to his method of conducting the inquiry and the animus displayed by him generally, raised a storm of indignation amoDget the Mauritians, who protested energetically against the decision arrived at, declaring that Sir. J. Pope Hennessy bad been made the victim of the machinations of interested individuals who took umbrage at the wise and generous reforms which he had made and tried to make in the administration of the colony. The leading Catholics of the island, as representing the vast majority of the population, also memorialed the Colonial Office on the subject, setting forth the one-sided nature of the inquiry, the exclusively Protestant character of the official staff, and the favourable impression created by Sir John's efforts to remedy this and other grievances. They, therefore, prayed for his retention as governor. Bir Henry Holland, Secretary for the Colonies, then took the consideration of the matter into his own hands, and having summoned Sir. J. P. Hennessy and Mr. Clifford Lloyd to London, commenced an independent inquiry, which has now resulted in the complete vindication of the popular Governor and the confusion of his enemies. As announced in the House of Commons on Thurday nigbt, Sir John goes hack to Mauritius in triumph, whilst ex-Pasha Lloyd will know his Lieutenant-Governorship no more, his appointment to that post having been cancelled. This is a denouement which neither that notorious mischief-maker nor the evidently congenial set with whom he counter- worked against his superior expected, but it is one which rejoices the numerous admirers of the sterling qualities displayed by Sir John Pope Hennessy during hip career in the public service. The first replies to the coercion proclamation, in the shape of public action, were delivered promptly. At Luggacurr-n and at Sheepbricge there were given indications of the determination of the people not to be driven from their course by any parchment abrogation of their constitutional rights. The meeting at Luggacurran was attended by delegates from many outlying districts in the Queen's County and Kildare — a proof that the sympathy of the people of the surrounding country with the struggling tenantry of Lord Lansdowne is not only nodiminished but more active than ever. The immediate purpose of the meeting was to lay the foundation of the huts proTided for the evicted tenants ; and the ceremony of turning the first sod where they are to be reared was performed by Mr. William O'Brien, M.P., amidst a scene of great enthusiasm. It was here that the first official indication that the new Coercion Act has now a tangible existence was given. As Mr. O'Brien was moving from the railway platform at Athy towards the place of meeting, he was accosted by Police-Inspector Black, and courteously informed that the Coercion Act was then in force in the Queen's County, the official adding the perfectly superfluous intimation that anyone using threats or intimidation could under it be prosecuted. This intervention produced not the slightest effect upon the proceedings, which went on just the same as though it had never taken place. They were witnessed by three English visitors — Mr. Wilfred S. Blunt, he who so manfully stood up a few years ago for the rights of the oppressed Egyptians ; Mr. Westall, a London literary man ; and Mr. Pollen. — The meeting at Sheepbridge, County Down, was also a large and representative one, and valuable in showing that even in the North, in the midst of an unsympathetic if not hostile population, there are numbers of men ready to uphold the National cause, in tne teeth of coercion, with an unflinching front. Yet another proof of the spirit of the country was given in the meeting of the Massereene tenantry, their friends, and sympathisers, at Dunleer. It would not take more than the proverbial " half an eye " to note that the tenantry have all the heart and hopefulness of men who know that they are fighting a certainly-winning battle. Though evictions are threatened on the estate, there is no falling-ofr in the courage of those who carry on the straggle ; and the immediate object of the meeting was to devise means to meet tho emergency whenever it arises. Mr. D. Crilly, M.P., who attended, delivered a powerful speech in support of the practical work to be done ; and steps have been taken to make it successful. A county collection has been resolved on, and Sunday, 31st July, is the date fixed for mnk ng it. There can be no doubt that it will be a successful movem'-ut, Lur every farmer and labourer in the County knows that the cause which the Massereene tenantry are upholding is the cause of every tenant and every rural worker in Louth. For the first time in the history of the Three Kingdoms a minority of the English peers, respectable in numbers, distinguished for ability and experience, have entered their solemn— we might almost say vehement — protest against coercion for Ireland. There was never a voice raised againßt coercion in the House of Lords before. On eight different grounds the following peers protest against

the Bill as needless, pernicious, and tyrannical :— Granville, Spencer, Ripon, Kimberley, Wolverton, Brave, Rosebery, Sandhurst, Herschell, Oxenbridge, Hamilton of Dalzell, Houghton, Northbourne, Hampden, Acton, Kensington, Leigh, Sjuthfield, Burton, Oamoys, Hobhouse, Monkswell, Sydney, Thring, Chesterfield, Greville, Aberdare. The names, it will be seen, comprise the intellectual elite of the House of Lords. The puerile parrot-cry of the Coercionisis is that the Bill is identical in principle with the law which coerces pickpockets, burglars, and murderers in England by restraining them from their crimes. Are the men whose signatures are appended likely to protest against the coercion of pickpockets, burglars, and murderers ? This is a conundrum which the English electors will not have much difficulty in solving. Even in the centres of English culture in which Professor Tyndal claims a monopoly for the Coercionists, Home Bule is making rapid progress, and a minority, by sheer force of reason and public events, is being converted into a majority. Oxford is regarded as a veritable stronghold of Coercionists. The Church of England clergymen and their sons swarm in the place, and are there, as elsewhere, the backbone of the Tory party. An instructive incident that has reached us from Oxford shows that the flowing tide has made itself felt even in that quiet scholastic haven. Some little time ago there was a question raised in the Debating Society of Trinity College, Oxford, on the policy of the Coercion Act. A motion approving of the policy was moved in a speech of much ability and still greater virulence by Mr. Flanagan, son of the recently-retired Judge Flanagan. The opposition was led by a young English gentleman with great force and eloquence. The discussion was of unexampled length and animation. The vote was not reached until after midnight, when by a narrow majority the motion was rejected. The proposers and supporters had counted on a majority of three to one in its favour. After a long tour around the world, so to speak, the Earl and Countess of Aberdeen have arrived in England. They came in the Cunard steamer, the Seryia, which touched at Queenstown on Sunday, July 24, but the distinguished travellers did not land on Irish soil. The inevitable " interviewer," however, turned up, and, in reply to his catechising, Lord Aberdeen gave his impressions of the Irish people abroad, with such a large section of whom, in Australia and America, he had come in contact. He testified to their great capacity for the fulfilment of the duties of public and private trust with which he found them honoured, and expressed his belief, from the great opportunities he had had of observing, that they did not ask for separation for Ireland in asking for Home Bule. In a letter to a friend, subsequently published, Lord Aberdeen shows bow powerfully be has been impressed by the earnestness and intensity with which Irishmen all over the world follow the phases of the struggle in the mother country ; and it is his intention to give public expression to his views and experiences very shortly. Lady Aberdeen continues to take the keenest interest in the question of Irish manufactures, and has shown that this is no mere Bentiment by sending considerable orders for woollen and poplin goods to Irish makers. The benevolent disposition of this amiable pair of noble people was constantly exhibited during the voyage home. The lady every day visited and gave presents to the children of the steerage passengers, and the Earl generously paid the fares for a few stowaways who had been discovered on board after the vessel started. What a pity that they have so few imitators amongst their own fortunate class 1 Not the least interesting feature in the week's news 13 the announcement of more police resignations consequent on the resort to coercion by the Government. Two more constables have resigned — Constable Underwood, of Clane, County Kildare ; and Constable Maguire, of Belfast. A copy of the letter which accompanied Constable Miguire's secession has been forwarded us. There is no beating about the bush in the document. The signatory states boldly that his conscience would not permit him to discharge " the infamous and revolting duty " which the Coercion Act will impose upon the Irish Constabulary. The resignations of the members of the police force would be a warning to any Government not altogether deaf to the voice of reason or drunk with the intoxication of unbridled brute power. But our rulers have entered on a course of mad folly which allows them no opportunity of retrieval. Bearlike they must fight the course, and accept whatever consequences are entailed. Mr. O'Brien was well within the truth when he said that the alternative presented to the Government in Ireland is to be hated or despised. Can anything more comical be conceived than the method of administration, of which we had a sample on Saturday 1 A Chief Secre'ary, whose main qualification i 9 absolute ignorance of the country, slips over for a day and carries the liberties of the people away in his travelling bag to London. In a few hours he minutely discusses and considers the condition of every district in Ireland, and exercises the " responsible discretion " with which he has been entrusted by Parliament. Even for those few hours it was impossible he could have given the matter his undivided attention, for all the time be had to keep a sharp look out over his shoulder for the indignant midwife and the writ of summons for libel. Is there any self-respecting Irishman no matter what his creed or politics, that is satisfied with this form of Government for his native country or desires it to be perpetual ? Sir George Trevelyan is putting plainly to the Liberals of Glasgow the great English issue that is involved in the Irish question of Home Bule. Shall the English Liberal party cease to exist, ? Shall it be swallowed up by the Tories, that Mr. Chamberlain may with some show of consistency take place in a Tory Administration 1 Tb ■ disclosures in Glasgow of the secret history of the Bound Table C-> - ference is the last straw which breaks the back of Mr. Chamberlain a reputation. Ib was a very invertebrate repu'ation at best, and by no means able to sustain the burden of disaster a ,A disgrace which baa recently fallen upon it. The unanimous and contemptuous condemnation of his much-vaunted bankruptcy clauses was in itself a staggerer to Mr. Chamberlain's arrogant pretensions as a legislator. The exposure of his treacherous duplicity in the conference of his own devising is a still more fatal blow to any pretension of good faith

or honourable dealing. It is characteristic of the man that he should himself challenge the exposure, as a cur dog always snarls most fiercely when he is most afraid. Sir George Frevelyan draws a vivid picture of the coaference. When the Tory Government seemed tottering to its fall, after Lord Randolph's resignation, fear overcame every other feeling in the breast of Mr. Chamberlain, and he suggested the conference for the reunion of t c party. What he began through fear he continued through treachery, and while he deluded his colleagues with smooth words within the conference chamber, by virulent and aggressive speech and action outside he strove to widen the breach. Finally, he had the cowning audacity, without a shadow of justification, to attribute to th« obstinacy of Mr. Gladstone the failure for which his own bitterness and perfidy were alone responsible. This is Sir George Trevelyan's account. A further indication of the vigorous manner in which the Liberal party in Ene'and has set about putting " its house in order " in view of the break-down of the coercionist combination, is afforded by the proceedings of the Liberal c inference held at Chelmsford (Essex) on Wednesday, July 27, at which resolutions were adopted affirming the necessity for at once perfecting the county organisation by the establishment of an association for the propagation of Liberal principles in every town and village, and for selecting candidates for each constituency, so as to be ready for the next election. Mr. Gladstone's Irish policy was also enthusiastically approved of ; and the meeting was further remarkable by the trenchant speech delivered by Sir W. Harcourt, who thoroughly exposed the policy of mingled hypocrisy and tyranny pursued by the Tory-Unionist combination. That that combination can long withstand the irristible forces which are workine out its Destruction nobody believes, The Daily Express, a Nationalist, a Home Ruler, a Parnellite, a Leaguer, a liege follower of the Plan of Campaign 1 The thing seems incredible. It is true notwithstanding. Our staid old contemporary went the whole hog in its first leader on Friday, July 22, with the reckleis friskiness of a two-year-old. 1. looks with touching confidence to Mr. Parnell and hi 9 followers for a settlement of the land question. Hear it on the burning topic of the plan of Campaign: — " The restoration of evicted tenants is a most thorny and intricate matter, and must lead to abundant heart-burnings. Of these evicted tenants some have been ringleaders of revolt whom the landowners would be sorry, indeed, to see returning in defiance and triumph. At the same time, there is force also in the words of Mr. Dillon, who asserted that there could not be peace or quietness in the country as long as evicted multitudes were hovering around their holdings and demandin2 as a right that the National League and the rest of the tenantry should stand by them. If we look facts fairly in the face we cannot but admit that the evicted teoanta form as hot a branch a 9 any of this burning land question, and that if anything like a general pacification is to be looked for there must be legislative relief also for evicted tenants." All this being fairly interpreted means that the landlords must put their pride in their pockets and consent to the triumph of the Plan. The following sentence in the same article is still more remarkable :—": — " We do not s*y that a general pacification and agreement all round are possible, but beyond question, >f such a result is attainable, it must be through the ways and means suggested by Mr. Parnell." This is the man wnotn only the other day Dr. Patton was denouncing as a murderer and the associate of murderers. Most cordially do we concur with our contempuniry that a general ) pacification is only possible through the ways and means " suggested " and carried into effect by Mr, Parnell — sitting as Prime Minister in an Irish Parliament. The scene in Gorey petty-sessions court on Friday, July 22, j when counsel for the first batch of the Coolgreany prisoners brought up for trial suggested that Lord Uourtown, who occupied the chair, should retire from the bench, and that magnate indignantly refused to do so, furnishes a fine example of the double-barrelled system of injustice against which the Irish peasantry have to contend, as a brief statement of the facts will show. To begin with, Lord Courtown is the head and front — the presiding genius — of the Emergency Association, known as the Property Defence ; and Captain Hamilton is its secretary, besides being agent over the Brooke estate at Coolgreany. In this latter capacity the Captain proceeded with a wholesale and barbarous eviction campaign, in which tbe crowbars were wielded by a band of Property Defence wreckers. In some instances the tenants, in resisting the unjust aggression, visited the faces of the marauders somewhat but not 100 roughly. The alleged off j nders are | straightway hauled before a bench of magistrates, only to find one of the principal paymasters of the aggiievei house-levellers in charge of the scales of justice. What an incitement to the observance of " law and order," as understood by the Courtowns and Hamiltons was contained in this spectac'e. Never was the absurdity and ihe barbarity of the eAisting agrarian system more completely exposed than in the trial of the Coolgreany peasants the other day at Gorey. One did not well know whether to laugh at the grotesqueness or curse the savagery of the law. To Mr. Wilfred Blunt, who witnessed the scene from first to last, it must have appeared a marvellous mingling of the c imedy and tragedy of human life — a mad harlequinade for which he could certainly find no parallel in England. Mrs. Field, the distinguished American journalist, will be able to give the readers of tbe New Orleans Picmyune a startling notion of the administration of English law in Ireland. To begin with, Mr. Bodkin, who represented the prisoners, made a suggestion to Lord Courtown, the presiding magistrate, which hisown good feeling ought to have rendered unnecessary. The cases were Property Defence Assiciation cases. Ttie attack on the peasants' houses had been made by the Property Oefence Association Crowbar Brigade, the assaults were complained of by tie Property Defence Association Crowbar Brigade, and Lord Courtown is prei-ident of the Property Defence Association — nay, he had actually subscribed for the carrying out of the evictions which had prooked 'he resistance. Who would have thought it 1 Mr. Jistice O'Brien has at last alighted on a place in Muoster where " unseen terror " and " invisible crime" affright not his abnormal visual organs. The city of Cork it is which constitutes this peacelul oasis in the (imaginary) desert of

" disorder arid criminality " through which the learned judge has been holding his weary way for some weeks past. It was enough to make observers of his method rub their eyes to read the following passage from Mr. O'Brien's address to the Cork city grand jury at the opening of the commisnion there on Friday, July 22:— "From the materials laid before me by the authorities," he said, " I find that this city p actic^.ily is absolutely and entirely free from crime. This is a great d*al to say in the case of a population ranging somewhere between sixty and eighty thousand persons, and could hardly be alleged with regard to any other city of equal population in the United Kingdom." How this flattering tale came to be told, considering that absence of suitable materiil has hitherto been no barrier whenever it was Judge O Brien's cue to pile on the agony about the state of the country, would be somewhat perplexing were it not for the remembrance that the Coercion-for-ever Bill has now become an Ac t. That great work having been accomplished largely through his instrumentality, Judge O'Brien was apparently of opinion that there was no valid reason why he should go on playing the role of the howling dervish any longer, and so he incontinently dropped it at Cork. To the credit of the grand jury, they were not slow to utilise the opportunity thus afforded, They unanimously adopted a resolution condemning the passing of the Coercion Act in view of the state of things existing in the country, as exemplified in Judge O'Brien's charge, and actually expressed the opinion that" the Act was designed not for the purpose of suppressing crime but of creating it." What must have been his feelings. Lord Aberdeen has come back from Mb voyage to the Antipodes, if possible, a stauncher Home Ruler than when he left us. Two things seem to have struck his lordship with special force during his protracted tour through the colonies and America, ©ne, the prosperity and contentment which everywhere followed in the train of selfgovernment : the other, the width, depth, strength, and earnestness of the universal sympathy in the colonies and in America with Ireland's demand for Home Rule. His testimony on this point will be invaluable in puttinsr to shame tht foul slanders of our American and Australian sympathisers. Lord Aberdeen comes in time to lend a hand in the hard fight for the good cause. Pray God that he may soon share the victory. He was the first professed Home Rule Lord Lieutenant that Ireland has known. He is likely to be the second also under new and happier auspices. Except with a very small and extreme section, there is no hostility to England involved in the universal American sympathy with Jlome Rule. Quite the contrary. A large amount of that sympathy ia evoked by good feeling towards England. It is not so long ago since Mr. Parnell's policy was misunderstood even in America, and some of the leading American journals, especially the New York Herald, opposed it. Their conversion sprang from the conviction that both countries would be benefited by the change. American sympathy with Home Rule is or ought to be a conclusive answer to those who raise the parrot cry that Home Rule means separation. The Americans as a people have no patience with a separation policy ; witness the desperate pertinacity with which they fought to pre/ent its being carried into effect among themselves. Of all tbe people in the world they can realise best the utility to Ireland of an pqual aud honourable connection with England. Nor are they without personal motives. We believe that the passing of the Home Rule Bill would be the signal for the migration into this country of the very best class of Americans of Irish descent, men of capital, intelligence ani experience, anxious under favourable auspices to devote their capital, intelligence, and experience, to the advantement of their native land. As was to be expected, the policemen charged with the murder of Hanlon at Youghal have got off scot-free. An application on behalf of the next-of-kin was made in the Crown court at Cork on Saturday, July 23, to have the time of trial of the case of the Queen v. Somerville and Ward fixed — the Crown having deliberately abstained from taking any steps towards bringing it to an issue — whereupon counsel representing the Attorney -General entered into a nolle prosequi on the spot. The effect of this manoeuvre was, as intended, to knock the application, that the alleged murderer be placed on trial, on the head, and to discredit, so far as a base trick of the sort could do it, the verdict . f wilful murder returned by the coroner's jury, Well may Gib3on and Ci>. prate of sympathy with crime and attempts to defeat the end-* of jus-ice after this. But more will be heard of the matter. Trie Irish members will, it is stated utilise, the opportunity afforded by the action of tnq Oastle lawyers ia this matter for the purpose of throwing alditional light on the methods peculiar to that gang of artful dodger?. Q lestion lime iv the House of Commons on Tuesday, July 26th was very exciting by reason of the attacks made on Mr. Balfour with respect to tbe coerc on proclamations, <md ia reference to the tearing down of a Natioual League placard by the police at Windgap, County Kilkenny. He had not merely a bad quarter of an hour, but a very bad hour. lie bore himself with his customary superciliousness at first, but as damaging question after damaging question was fired at him he utterly lost nerve, grew pale, stammered, and committed himself to answers so absurd that they raised shrieks of laughter on the Opposition. All this ume his own party sat glum and silent, not finding any point at which tney might Bend in a cheer. It was a dreadful exhibition of ignorance and incompetence combined, and in all probdDility will be the cause of a notice to quit the Irish office for the exquisite Arthur. In politics there is not a more contemptible figure thin Mr. T. W. Russell, who misrepresents the farmers of South fyronu. Hs has just braius enough tj prevent his pleading stupidity as no excuse. The other dj*y he modestly compared himself to Burke — o Buike's disadvantage. To-day he claims to have done more for Ireland than the wnole r-a'ional P^rty put together. He knows — uo man better — that Lord Harrington's collar is on his neck, aod the chain from the collar is in his lords .ips hand. He has no ilesire to get loose, but be still makeeoelieve to go back on his own account. He c<'.uuot have forgotten taat less r'jan a year ago his pitro i, ani, as a con-tequence , himself weie the most virulent opposers of the measures which tb ey now advocate.

J As we anticipated, the five soldiers duly convicted in Roc ,mmoa Wlit a participation iq a very disgraceful and cowardly assault on aa unfortunate civilian at Athlone, aud s-nnenced to six mnulu* imprisonment, with hard labour, have beeD promptly r -leased by order of the Lord Lieutenant, before a week of their imprisonment has expired. Tbe assault in question of some forty soldiers on a ■ingle unoffending civilian was exceptionally brut il ; the evidence of identification of the accused by two active and intelligent constables was exceptionally clear, precise circumstantial, and dodzutio Thdefence was an alibi by the officers and comrades of°the accused lne jury, acting on a long-established custom, disregarded it. So far as we hayebeen able to ascertain the evidence fairly established the prisoners innocence. We have no quarrel, therefore, with the decision of the Executive to release them beyond this : it strikes a fatal blow at tbe infallibility of police evidence, which is the first axiom of the administration of the criminal law in Ireland. If the soldiers had been peasants convicted on the positive swearing of two policemen how would the alibi of their comrades be regarded in higb. quarters? The red coat or the frieze coat, it seems, makes all the difference in the world. The freely .swearing constables are, we understand, to be sent tiouth on Moonlight duty. Their accomplishments are wasted in Athlone. Should a Kerry jury refuse to convict on their evidence, what a storm Judge O'Brien will raise about their