Dublin Notes.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVII, Issue 35, 20 December 1889, Page 18

Dublin Notes.

f (From the National papers.) The Tharles Ponvenliui was held on October 28, and was in numerical strength, as well asm enthusiasm, a glorious success. The stalwart men of Tipperary have ioaugura ci the good work b avely and well. From all pans of the premier county did they muster proudly, determined to -io all in their p .wer to help forward the movement so auspiciously begun. Dr. O'Reilly, the respected treasurer of the National League of the Uuited Stats, was present on the occasion. Mr. Tnomas Sxon, who was voted to tbe ctuir, explained the programme of the new association. Its object, he said, waste, save the peasantry of Ir Und fiom ruta. The methods it would * mploy for the attachment of its ends were to be defensive and not offensive. Alluding to the magnificent ue-nonst ration of that dny the Lord Mayor observed that if such a convention were held in England it would dicUte the policy of administrations. Several other speeches having been delivered, it was unanimously resolved that the lenanU Defence Association be forthwith established in lipperary, and tnat a tax of thieep-nce in the pound sterling be contnbuted to the sinews of war. The proceedings were marked not only wih enthusiasm, but with a spirtr t of deliberation which augurs well for tbe thorough fitness (f the people for Home Rule The harmony of the meeting was not marred for a moment. It pre ented the aspect rather of a Par'iamentary assembly than a popul.tr reunion. (started as it has been under such brilliant and prom-siog auspices the new Associition may well be expected to do great things for the orpressedftrmers.f the country. The whole of Leland is sure to follow when Tipperary leads tbe van. The Gweedore trials at Maryborough terminated abruptly on October 29. On that morning ihe Attorney-General diracrei six of the prisoners to be put forward— it bein^ intimated at tbe same time that in the event < f the men cba'gel with m r<ier pleading guilty to the charge of manslaughter lei i-nti -nt sentences would be passed oo them. The pris >neis having pleaded puiliy, and a juiy having been sworn, Mr. Peter O'Brien entered a nolle proseqni in fmr case*, aad the men concerned were discharged. 1 he- charge against Father M Faddrn was withdiawn on the same occasion. It will be remembered that the rev. gentleman was oiumalty accused of murde.. That charge was subsequently changed into conspiracy to murder. The Ciown has now aband ned even this accusation— having accepted the clergj man's pea of guilty of obstructing the police— a fact, by -t he-bye, which father Ji'Fddden swore to some 6&\s ago when he admitted that he had evaded arrest by the constabulary. The course of conduct adopted by the Crown towards the rev. pastor cf Gweedore has txen for some time past wholly inconbistent. The authorities kept him in prison for several months on a most diaboiic*l charge. They afterwards recoiled from the accaaa i >n, substituted another le-s grave, and even recoiled from that too I And to cap tne climax he is now liberated for confessing what he never denied 1

Tne first practical step towards the establishmr nt of the Tenant's Defence Aspocia ion was taken in Dublin on October 5, wh-n a meeting of the Irish party was held in the Mansion House, under the presidency of the Lord Mayor. The chairm m having opened the proceedings, it was resMved t^ found the Irish Tenants' DLfence Association. Vinous members were n> mmated to the council of the new organisation, and four honorary t-ecretarjps and treasurers have been appomt-d. It was arm* unced that £500 hid hem received from Mr. Scbwann. M.P- for North Manchester, and £ICO fiom Mr. H. J Wilson, M.P. for Hoimfirtb Division of Yorkshire. It was finally arranged that at the Convention id Tburles the party should be represented by a certain number of its members. Aftewards the dates for conventions in Cork, Ljuid, Wexfjrd, Kilkenny, Hoecommon, nrjd Kerry were fixed. Prcf^ssor Stuart, M.P., presided on October 30 at a special general mceing of the Home Rule Cnbn held in the Memorial Ha'], London. Ihe chairman, in bis opening letnarks, explaiue i the object cf the meetin?, which was to heir a report from Mr. StansMd and other members of the recent deputation to Ireland. Mr. Btansf Id, M.P., obstrvei that wherever he and his fiiends went in Ireland they were met by redoubled assurances i i the speeches of the leading Nationalist members and by tbe leading N a- ionalist papers that no matter what inducements or bnb s were off red no'hing on e^rth wuuld tempt the Irish people fr, m the pursuit of their great obj ct of national self-g .vernment. Lidy Sandhurst and tbe Hon. Ashley Ponsonby spoke in terms of admiration of ihe Irish peasant. After an elcquent speech of Mr. T P. O'Connor denouncing the sentences passed by Judge Gibson on the unfortunate Gweedore peasants, the proceedings terminated with a vote of thanks t > the chiirman. Lord H irtingion was thi principal pp aker at a Umo nst demonstration at Wulverhampton on October 29. His speech was not a very hopeful one for tne prospects of the party of which he is one of the responsible chiefs. He declared that he saw no cau?e for d.pression in the rtoe it Unionist reverse? at the elections, because the contests had been fought on other than H me Rule issuts. This is, of curse the usual caut indulge i in by Unionist orators in order to keep their spirits up aud fin the bnpes of those they address. His loidsbip could not accept what Mr Gladstone was plenß-d to call ihe unmUtakable verdict of the country ; f r he, the speaker, was afraid that he and his other Liberal Unionist fnen Is were a stubborn and stiff-necked generation. They cou d not admit that tbe end was in view, and that the knell of their political doom had sounded His lordsup'a contention was that it pissed the power of any man to frame a scheme of Home Rule for Ireland which should include the retention of the Irish m- mbers in the Imperial Parliament, and which would not result in one of two cons-quenc s -either the nececsuv of breaking up the pnsent Parhamm aud Government, and creating a new one for the management of the internal affairs of England *nd Scotland, or the placing of England in the humiliating poaiUoo of

having its own internal Government controlled by members from a country over whose Government England has no control. When the time comes for the introduction of the next Home Rule measure it ■will be found that L >rd Hartington's contention is both far-fetched »ud illogical. Mr. Gladstone will not be wheedle lou any consideration to diviilpe bio plans pr maturely on that problem. For the hard-pressed Cimpaign tenants through the country the news of the formition of the Tenants' D fence League is indeed tidings of ?reat j,y Tneir future ia now thoroughly assured. The resju.ces of ( hb Irish pc >pie at home and abroad are pledged to their •upporr. How spleodid is that security is best testified by the golden stream that is already poiring so copiously iato the coffirs of the new organisation. For the exterminators truly th^ prospsct is not a pleasant one. The tenanis cm now »fIEo r d to wai , thi rackrenters fur the most part cannot afford it. Tnose tba , like Mr. Olphert, trust to syndicate subscriptions are leaning on a rotton reed. The tenants wait in hope that reaches to certainty, the exterminators wait in fear that verges oa despair. Tima id fighting for the ten* its ; time ia fighting against their per«*dcutor<i. Tueir sole hope was that they could weary and worry thtir vie inn into submission before the geueral election. That hope the Tenants' Defence League has finally disposed of. Woe to the r.ck-renter whom th? general election may find still at war with his t nuns It will com; upon hin as terrible as the Ust trumipe: calling to juigmeat. Tae weapon* in whici he trusted— s»V4ge coercion and wholes ile extermination— will fall fr m his hanis, and ho will fin I himne-f at the mercy of his victims, to Whom he showed none in the day of bis power. Toe coercionists are as hungry for inf jrmation on Home Rule politics as poor Oliver Twist w*s for fooi, they are always clamouring "for more." Th;y are intensely disappointed that Mr. Gladstone does not develop a Home Rale Bill in every speech. Taey are almou in tears that Mr. Parneil and the L >rd Mayor have not been " more explicit" in their explanation of i he details of tbe cons ituuon, working, and obj cts of the Tenants' Defence La^ae. Djes it never Btiike them ttut tucn iofoimation as Mr. Gla tstone or Mr. Parnell has to bestow is meant fur t-eir fiijuds, md if their fripnds are satisfied th. ir eneuaieß h»ve no reason to complain ? In this regard th-yhave pot trood example from ihe Liberals and the Nationalists. — Did anyone ever know an ttngus i Liberal or Irish Nationalist to express tbe fam est curiosity regarding the vagueh -Tinted remedial legislation of the brave Mr. Ma four's va ashing Catholic university scheme, or the vivici -usLord H trDington's local Government Vestiijs, which are to rewird our 't-mal of Lush Na tonality, or the hundred and one Birmingham Post devices of honest J >c ChamberUin, by which everythn,' .8 io bd settled ? Indeed, tbe ingenious Joseph has on the contrary been bitterly disappointed by ihe apathy and utter absence of curosiiy wiih which bis charming variety has been received Still less have Liberals or Nationalises troubled th ir heads about the details of ihe multitude of rack-renters' organisations, which hive succeeded eauu ottiv;r. like bubbles in the soip-suls iii which tbeir di ty linen is wa9iied, froax the na >ribund Property Defence Orpaaisatiou and Land (Jorpiration to Smith-Barry 'as eviction-promoting, grabber-transplan mj; syndicate, which seems paraysed by one 8 Might blow fr< m a Tipperary b'ackthorn. It almjsl needed a short )idvcrtitiem:nt in tbe newspapers to announce to an uninterested pub.ic t >at ihe Forgeries' Cotnmisß. on bas reburued its -ittingn, and sill " like a wouuded snake, drags us Blow lengtb aloug." Mr. Punch ap ly summans id the scene in a cartoon of V,r>-e y.iwniu^ yi »^. a and an empty co irt. Th ' public reserve their ea^ern s< for Mr. Parnell's acti n ag nat tin '• Forger,'" when the secret his ory of iho forged leiteia w.n b> dis losei. The C eroionists th •oi6elves rud ly quenched the 'at fl ck^riug inteieit in ihe (Jomm.ssiun by discouu i g the report be oruhand. One feels half sorry toat Mr. Davitt'd able, eloquent, aud exraus'ive epeec^ 8h uld be watted on bucu an auiiencj. .-urely, i is '■ throwing pearls before swine " to plead s > nobly the r«gh eoueness an I ueceesry of the Irifch Jand movement before a tribunal which, at the conclusion of its wearisome inves'igatio'j, interrupts the speaker with a question as to the nuauiug of tbe phrase " crowbar brigade," ani laboriously makes a 1.0 eof his grave, saidonic reply — " mat the crowbar was an instrument associated with evictions in Ireland."