Dublin Notes.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVII, Issue 32, 29 November 1889, Page 21

Dublin Notes.

(From the National Papers.) The power of Coercion receive! a curious illustration the other day in Tipperary. The proceedings were for the protection from public opinion of Mr. James O'Neill, Mr. John Doherty, and the other tenants who had surrendered to the champion evictor, Smith-Barry. But these gentlemen publicly protestei against being so protected. They refused, at the nsk of being sent to prison, to take an oath as witnesses for the prosecution, and Mr. John Doherty from the wit-ness-box confessed — " I have made a mistake and lam sorry for it." This does not look like perfect confidence in the brave Mr. Balfour.' There were some evictions the other day at Soariff, on the estate of Captain Simpson, which illustrate the present perfection of the Irish land laws, The whole Coercion bodyguard — Colonel Turner, Captain Walshe, and a miscellaneous assortment of police and military — attended to give eclat to the proceedings. A few figures regarding the rents are instructive : — The fiisfc house visited" was Jeremiah Minogue's, whose rent was £42 3s 9d, reduced by the court to £21 ss. An appeal was lodged against this reduction, and is not yet disposed of. The valuation is £18 ss. The next house visited was James Farrell's— rent, £17 13s 9d; reduced by the court to £11 ; valuation, £9, And so with the rest. The detected and impoverished rack-renter has dexterously availed himself of the interval kindly allowed him by the block in the Land Courts to get rid of the reduction and tenant together. The tenants' offer, to pay at a reduction of twenty/ where the courts give a hundred per cent., was scornfully refused. The Coercionists assure us that such a thing as an unjust eviction is now absolutely impossible in Ireland. We fear that Terry Minogue — evicted for non-payment of arrears of rent, which the Land Court pronounced more than double the fair rent 6t the holding may not quite appreciate the force of the Coercionist consolation, or the dazzling perfection of the Land Law. Recently the Irish Times published a statement from a correspondent in Mayo to the effect that thd derelict lands of Luggacurren were being taken. Colonel Digby, brother of Lord Digby, it was stated, had taken the lands of Guileen, formerly held by Mr. Dunne, and a Scotdh farmer (name not given) had become tenant of the' house of Mr. Kilbride, M.P., and three hundred acres of land attached. Tenants had also been found, it was alleged, for other portions of land from which Mr. Dunne was evicted, as also for the house and farm of Mr. Patrick Byrne. The nationalist (Carlow) treats the story as a myth— a weak invention of Mr. Towd send Trench ; and demands, if it be not a fable, that the name of the Scotch farmer be given to the public, and the names of the other farmers. To this gage of battle no response has as yet been given ; and, as it was delivered a week ago, we may conclude that " Judgment goes by default," as the lawyers say. We had almost forgotten our old friend Bully Boyd, who was to grind the League and the Plan of Campaign to powder in the Bankruptcy Court a couple of years ago. Brave Tom Moroney conquered and cuffed him soundly on his own duughill, and he has giv^n up crowing ever since. He no longer attaches Campaigners, priests, reporters, Members of Parliament, and Boards of Guardians wholesale for contempt of court, but rather attends humbly to his ordinary every-day- business as well as his rather limited stock of legal knowledge will permit. We are reminded of this extinct volcano, or, perhaps, it would be wore correct to say, this burnt-out Catherine wheel, by the news that his last victim, .ilr. Sheehan, who was imprisoned for refusing to take p irt in the eviction of his own family at the command of the coart, has been unconditionnlly released after a ten months' sojourn m Cork Gaol, and has been welcomed back to free air by hia Watioaalist n»iehb3urs vvith an enthusiasm worthy of his courage. Tne evictoru' champion. Mr. Black-Smith-Barry, and his abettors, don't know Tipperary even yet. Prepaiationa are in progress, we read, lor the eviction of the gallant six tenants — may their Dames be remembered with honour — who s'ood firm to their pledge and defied the exterminator. Messrs. B). O'Hrinn Dalton, E. Hogan, J. Bouikc, junr., L. Hayes, M. Mdher, ami J. Merrigan have been seivdd with writs of ejectment to coineon for trial at the next Tipperary Quarter Sessions. Alter trial comes judgment, aud then Mr. Smith-Barry's troubles begin in real earnest. Is it possible that even yet ho cannot see behind these six fearless men is grouped the strength of jthe great county of Tipperary— stupendous, _immoveable as its own grand mountains? He has got to evict the whole county of Tipperary betore be settles down into the quiet enjoyment of the houses and property of these six naea, which the sub-sheriff will presently be commissioned by the court to band him over in the name of the law. Experience has i-hown tbat evicting in Tipperary is neir.her a safe nor a profitable employmeat. There never was a monument started in Ireland which more nobly merited eager and heartfelt support than the memorial to the lion-hearted martyr, John Mandeville. He died in the service of his country and people as surely and a* bravely as any patriot tbat was ever struck down in tbe front ranks of the battle for fatherland. The soldier's courage seems common and poor beside tbe indomitable courage of the sorely -tried prisoner. Those mean tortures and petty degradations from day to day wore away that giant strength, and broke down tint herculean constitution, were indeed hard to bear. He bore them all with that cheery, kindly, uncomplaining courage which "consfuts to death but c>i quers agony." iJy his death he struck a fa.tal blow, the idll efioct of which is not even yet fully realised, at the foul system that killed him. It would b« to doubt Irish gratitude and Irish admiration for noble deeds to doubt that bis memorial will be a rapid and magnificent success. He gave his life for his people. With all that helps to make lile dear, youth, health, spirits, abundant means, a happy home, and a loving wife, he walked with steadfast stepa along the rough road of hei'oio self-

devotion that led to an early grave. Such men are rare in the history of any land and worthy of all honour. Only the other day Judaa Chamberlain proclaimed from the housetops in Birmingham " tint Coercion is reduced to a minimum in Irelaud," that the victory o£ the brave Mr. Balfour is complete ; that he is now engaged in driving tha last nails, or, should we not rather say tacks, in the coffin of the League. A few days later his own paper, the Birmingham Post, declared that Coercion prosecutions' were never more numerous, aad mildly deprecated the fact that a priest, a barrister, and a Member of Parliament had been convicted on|what, ii was fain to confess, was the most " ridiculous and unreliable evidence " of the police notetakers. Last week the Brave Mr. Balfour himself gives Judaa the lie with still more startling emphasis by the proclamation of five new parishes in the County of Tipperary, and six new parishes in the County Waterford. Just think what a confession that is. These districts were all right when the Coercion Act was passed. So much is confessed in the fact that it was not then found necessary to proclaim them. It took nearly three years under the Coercion Act to ripen them for proclamation. That is +o 3ay, from the Brave Balfour's own point of view, it took nearly three years of " resolute aad successful administration of the law " to bring those districts into such a disturbed, excited, and criminal condition that the application of the most stringent Coercion Act became necessary. This is Buccess with a vengeance. We are justified in hoping for good results from the proceedings at the aunual Convention of the National League of Great Britain held in Manchester, week ending September 28. Mr. T. P. O'Connor, M.P,, the able president of the association, in reviewing the position and performances of the organisation, made a powerful appeal to Irishmen on the other side of the Channel to give it more help than they have hitherlo done. Though thirty-four thousand is a reßpectabie roll of membership, the president considers that it might be seven timea as much, considering the number of the Irish population of Great Britain. The reasons which he adduces for a deeper interest in the movement by Irishmen across the water are powerful and convincing. They can, if they oboose, help immensely in the regeneration of Ireland, political and industrial. It is at the polls, when the next General Election comes on, that the fate of the country for a good many years will be decided ; and every Irishman entitled to a vote may not only be able to cast his own for Home Rule, but to influence those of many Englishmen as well. To be apathetic, under such circumstances as these, would be worse than discreditable. We cannot think that such a reproach will be incurred by even the very poorest of our brethren across the water ; and we hope that the earnest appeal of Mr.O 'Connor and the other speakers at the Convention will be seriously, and immediately, taken to heart.