Dublin Notes.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIX, Issue 17, 23 January 1891, Page 21

Dublin Notes.

(From the National Papers.)

In hia latest speech the magnanimous Mr. Golfour seeks to dtfile the grave of ahigh-souled patriot to whom he is no more to be comSared than a snarling, cowardly cur to a lion. He waxes wroth with Ir. Gladstone for his noble tribute to the memory of John Blake Dillon, " the worthy father of a worthy son " To Mr. Golfour John Blake Dillon is a dead '• rebel and traitor," and he calls on all true Coercionists to spit upon his grave. But in this controversy Mr. Golfour must count, not merely with Mr. Gladstone, but with Mr. Johnßrigh 1 , for whom it is the present fashion for Coercionists to affect a reverent admiration :— " I formed a very high opinion of his character. There was that in his eye and the tone of his voice which marked him altogether for an honourable and just man. I believe that amongst all her worthy ana noble sons Ireland has no more worthy or nobler son than John Blake Dillon." This was John Bright's tribute, spoken in the Botundo of Dublin to the memory of the man whose honourable grave this base and contemptible coward now seeks to defile. In one respect, however, Mr. Golfour gives the lie to bis hypocritical associates, whose practice it is to praise dead patriots at the expense of the living. Mr. Golfour confesses the Irish cause in one and indivisible. Irish patriots of all ages— Wolfe Tone and Robert Emmet and Lord Edward, Davis and Blake Dillon and O'Connell— were all, in his view, infamous criminals on a level with the pick-pocket and the burglar. We confess we prefer this frank brutality to the hypocrisy which make 6an affected admiration for the dead an excuse for reviling the living, who are struggling in the same cause. The municipal elections which took place throughout the country week ending November 29, resulted largely in favour of the National party ; but the chief interest in the contests centered on those in Dub. in. Here some very Stirling struggles took place, and after very close fights in a couple of cases the Nationalists scored again. Six seats were to be contested, and, aided by some flaws in the register, by which a considerable number of Nationalist votes were lost, the Tories made desperate efforts to capture some of these. They cannot be congratulated on their success, for though they won a seat in the Bouth City Ward, where Mr. Walker ousted Mr. Carroll, they lost one in the Mansion House Ward, where Mr. Tallon triumphed over Mr. Maple. A most strenuous effort was made to oust a Protestant Nationalist, Mr. James Shanks, from the representation of the Royal Exchange Ward ; but though the Tory party put forth the most desperate exertions, Mr. Shanks was returned by a considerably augmented majority. The Dublin Corporation are to be congratulated on this result, as Mr. Shanks has proved himself to be a representative well worth h-iving, both from his high character and his admirab'e business qualities. An attempt was also made to oust Mr. P. Cummins from the representation of the Rotundo Ward, but it resulted in a ridiculous failure. In the groes result tbe Nationalist strength in the Dublin Corporation remains precisely as it was before the elections came off. Two great meetings were held on Monday, 24th November, for protecting purchasers who had been allowed the proud privilege of buying at double the value from a marquis and a duke, respectively, and still strange to say, were not happy. At a great gathering of the tenants of the Duke of Leinster, held in Kildare, the devices were mad" patent by which they had been forced into purchase at an exorbitant price. They now find it impossible to pay the instalments, and, failing payment, they are threatened with eviction without mercy or respite. The forfeiture is inexorable and cruel. Their entire interest will be confiscated for one trifling and inevitable default. They make a piteous plea for relief to the Commissioners who have already publicly declared their inability to help them. The State, into whose power tbey have now come, is inexorable as a mowinp-machine. It can only go straight on and cut them down. Of the 365 tenants who have been rootei ia the soil by Lord Ashbourne's patent process, five have been already uprooted by the Government that planted them. If there be no extension of time or reduction of iQsta'ments there must be a clean sweep on the estate, as full acd prompt payment, the tenants declare, is impossible. A charming bight it will be— and eminently tending to the preservation of law and order— this benevolent Government exterminating the tenantry wholesale en its own account. But its troubles will not rightly begin until it tries to dispose of the evicted farms, which Mr. Townsend Trench, Lord Lansdowne'a ex-agent, speaking with all the authority of experience, once accurately described as " a menagerie of |white elephants." Under Mr. Balfour's Act the funds for the medical relief and education of the poor and for the support of the insane would all be confiscated to supply the deficiency. Mr. Balfour again donned the robes of rhetoric which he had temporarily cast aside during his Irish scamper and appeared in all his ancient war-paint on the Liverpool platform, week ending November 22. He delivered one of his belligerent speeches, stuffed full of sneers and jet rs, and a more than usual admixture of those peculiar perversions of history which make this stateman's public deliverance so interesting, if not valuable, for future otudents So full of gems was the entire address that we would fain give it in all iis pristine amplitude and beauty were we not restricted by considerations of journalistic space. But an idea of tha character of the oration may be gleaned from a couple of passages in it. In the on?, Mr. Balfour went again intothe subject of the Mitchelstown " legend," as a reply to Mr. Gladstone's recent versions of the story, and, referring to the famous telegram of Plunkett's, " Don't hesitate to shoo'," accepted full responsibility for the message, and defended it on the ground of bumauity.as we take it ; for h^ claimed for the order that its issue was the means of averting bl >odshed. The audacity of this claim need hardly be pointer! out. No one knows better than Mr. Balfour that the instruction, • D' n't hesitate to shoot." was a secret crder from Tlunkctt to the bi.l.ordnjatce, and the publicity giveu to it

in there columns was never contemplated by its author ; yet now that author takes credit for the beneficent effects of tbe unforeseen publication. This is not the first time (he artless Balf our has resorted to the same paltry trick. The othar choice example of Mr. Balfonr's regard for truth is his Bcornf ul denial o' the fact that a man was sen t to gaol for merely taking off his hat to Mr. Wm. O'Brien. Mr. Balfour cannot laugh recorded facts, however, out of existence. The story is in print officially. Tbe man who was arrested and convicted for this <% offence " was Mr. William Moore Stack, and the perron who ordered his arrest who one known as Cecil Roche. Messrs. T. M. Healy and Dick son, M.P.s, as arbitrators in the Drapers' estate dispute, have performed a feat which many might think well-nigh an impossibility, They have made an award which is described as pleasing to both parties in the controversy. The decision was delivered on Saturday, November 22, in the Courthouse in Magherafelt. The arbitration wa* a somewhat singular one in as mnch as though there were two opposite arbitrators, there was no umpire, as at tbe outset the two chosen for the office agreed to agree and not to differ. It is not often that matters of monetary dispute are arranged in such ao amicable way as this ; but those who seek an explanation of the abnormality will find it perhaps in the fact that the principals in tbe dispute really wanted a friendly settlement And not to perpetuate ill-leeling or create mischief, like the rich interloper in the Ponsonby estate. The Drapers' Company have proved themselves a bright exception to the great body of the London Companies who lord it over the Ulster estates. They acted most generously from the moment the hint was thrown out in Court that arbitration might be resorted to in place of litigation. They closed on the suggestion right off, appointing Mr. Dickson to act for them, while Mr. Healy was nominated as the spokesman for the tenants. A very large amount of arrears had accumulated on the estate — as much through the Company's own ill-management as through the tenants' fault — and these, by the terms of the award, are now wiped out to the extent of about £17,000. The old judicial rental of the property was £4,900 ; the award now fixes it at £3,600. Those tenants who were evicted are to be reinstated and allowed a half year's rent as a solatium for their sufferings. The purchase terms will be arranged on the basis of the revised judicial rents ; and it is creditable to tbe Drapers' Company that they do not seek to make tbe tenants pay a shilling by way of law-costs. The deciaion will immediately come before the Land Commission for formal ratification. Why is it that the principal is not adopted elsewhere 1 What is there to prevent any ordinarily humane Government telling such persons as Olphert, SmithBarry, Clanricarde and Co., that they must exhaust all reasonable means of settling' with their tenants before putting the expense of their unholy exterminating raids upon tbe taxpayers. There is nothing — nothing save the want of that which should be an indispensible qualification for the high function of Government — a solicitude for tbe welfare and preservation of the people whose lives and fortunes are given into its control. The epilogue to Mr. Balfour's dread farce in Donegal came to an end week ending November 22. We mean the frighful eviction campaign of the destroyer Olphert. That scourge of Donegal has now done his work pretty effectually. He has done his level best to make a desert in Falcarragh. The armies of Attila sweeping over Europe were not more destructive in their way than the proportionate ravages of this hoary old hypocrite ; and if the truth were known the barbiriana whom Attila led may have been more humane than tbe emissarieaof Olphert who flung out under the drenching rain and tha fierce Atlantic mid-winter blasts poor women weak from recent childbirth and poor old men, blind and tottering, into the grave from the weight of patriarchial years. This epilogue to Mr. Balfour's famous play will lone; be memorable in Ireland from the horror of its circumstances. It was carried out under natural conditions so awful that the officer in command of the well-fed and strong-framed Constabulary, Colonel Milling, thought it just to pay a special tribute to his men, when the " devil's work ' was over, on their endurance and good temper while going through tha fearful ordeal; What must that ordeal have been to the half-famished, half-naked, feeble peasants whom the old tyrant with a heart of lead flung out sub Jove in the appalling weather of la6t week ? When it tried the nerve and endurance of the men of the Royal Irish Constabulary, what can we say of the devoted ladies from England who came over to witness the horror, and saw it through from the opening to the close 1 Ireland ou?ht never to forget the services of those brave women — Mrs. and Mi9B Amos, Mips Borthwick, Miss Maud Gonne, and Miss Mary Gonne ; and if we had such an institution as a Legion of Honour they would certainly claim its highest decoration for their chivalrous services in Donegal. " Marry in haste and repent in leisure " is an old proverb which might be applied to other fields of enterprise besides matrimony. It seems to be especially applicable to the case of those misguided farmers who have purchased their holdings under the Ashbourne Act. They will have plenty of leisure to repent during the forty-nine years which must elapse before they get rid of the millstone which their own hands have hung around their necks. Their only hope of relief lies in a makeshift — tha extension of the period of repentance ; but this is denied them by the recent decision of the Land Commissioners, keeping them to the letter of their bond as regards the period for pajing the instalments of the purchase-money to the Treasury. Several meetings of these unhappy purchasers were held lately — the largest one at Kildare last Sunday. Those present were mostl/ men who had purchased their farms froii the Duke of Leinster. They had taken their holdings at what must now be regarded as the exorbitant figure of from 17 to 20 years' purchase, and now they find themselves, as a consequence of the disastrous period for agriculture through which the country is passing, utterly unable to meet the instalments taey have agreed to pay. If they would pay those instalments — many of them — hey must sell the implements and the stock necessary for the working of their farms ; and if they do not pay, out they go, and they lo>e their all. The tenants oa this estate may bi said to have purchased their holdings under compulsion. Eviction was staring them in tbe face, aud many of them were seriously in arrear,

The talk of free contract under such circumstances is simply to talk fudge. They now ask the Parliamentary party, the leaders of whom warned them pretty often against foolish bargains, to interfere bei tween the Government and themselves ; and no doubt th j appeal will be responded to should the opportunity be given. The case for the purchasers was put very forcibly by Dr. Counsel, but to understand it cleirly in its historical aspect the speech of Father Staples, who hae borne a considerable pirt ia it, should be read. Another meeting of discontented purchasers was held at Camckmacross, and a memorial setting forth the stress undtr which they had been compelled to bay their holdings from the Marquis of Bath, and praj ing the Land Commiesion for relief was adopted. It shows clearly that at the time of the sale the tenants had absolutely no alternative but to buy or go. If the Heptarchy, of which the Coercionists prate so constantly, were actually established in Ireland— nay, if the seven were multiplied by seventy-seven, there could not be a more absolute variety in the law and administration of the law ia different districts tnan is at present exhibited to a bewildered public. We do not allude so much now to the purely geographical offence — punishable with six months' imprisonment— ot attending in a proclaimed disrict a meeting of the National League, which is absolutely legal on the other side of an imaginary line. We have more specially in our minds the recant action of the Government in reference to the celebration of the anniversary of the death of the self-devoted Manchester Martyrs. It is only very lately that the suggestion of any illegality in this celebration, which has been held anoually for tha last twenty- three years past, dawned on the authorities at the Castle. At present the law on the subject seems erratic and cnaotic in the extreme. The chief celebration it appears is absolutely legal in Dublin, where the proceedings were conducted under the eyes of the police no interference was attempted, and where everything passed off (»8 is always the case when the police abstain from disturbance) in perfect harmony. In Athlone it is also within the none of legality But the celebration is illegal and proclaimed in Waterford, Belfast, Dungaonon, and Enniscortby, and anyone attempting to take part in it is liable to have his head broken by the police as a pleasant preliminary to imprisonment. Indeed, the inhabitants of Eaniscorthy, where the celebration has been held year after year without *ny attempt at interruption, foolishly presuming on the supposed uniformity of the law, again this year pursuing their ordinary custom, were speedily taught their mistake by the cogent reasoning of police batons. Here is a brief account of what occurred :: — '• About eight o'clock last evening two bands marched out to Templeshanaon, where they Baited and playe-i the " Dead March " and other airs. Songs were also sung. Afterwards when the banis and the crowd were proceeding down the street they were met at the bridge by a force of one hundred police, under District-Inspector Tottenham, who put up his hand as a command to cease playing. The bands however, contii.u»d to play |and the people were at once bludgeoned, many wemen being amon^bt the buflVrers. The police bustled about groups wtio were standing on the footpaths, mid some s'ones were thrown. S;veral men were the > bitomd without distinction. One man, on his way to a surgeou to have his broken head dressed, was again set upon by the police and ba'oned about the shoulders. Today a large number uf addi lonal police arrived." To fnlly appreciate this ruffianism it must ba remembered that precisely ibe same ceremony, band-playing and all, was being gone through in Dublin at the s rn^ time, under the eyes of the police, without tue bhgbtest attempt at interruption. Men's minds in Ireland are kept oustauly obcilla'ing between mdigna'ioi and contempt for the mingled bavagery ani absurdity of the Castle Government.

Of course ibe defendants in the bogua Tipperary prosecutions were right to reserve their defences, and give the police and their commauder-and-chief, Removable Cad, an unrestricted field for free perjury. The display on the occasion was very fine. It leaves all previous perf ormances, even of the constabulary, completely in the bhade. Five Removables, all in a row wa ched the display witn unaffected interest and sympathy. The notion of offering evidence for the defence before them was too palpably absurd. The accused did cot deem themselves justified in promoting fur her uerjury by cross-examiua ioo of the police, so to the grett disgust of Removable Gardiner they were let teil their own lies their own way without any pretence eveu of rega'ding tnem seriously. Whea the case was concluded, as M . Hyder Haggard would say , a " strange thing happened." The Removables decided to a ijourn to consider whether or not they would send the accused forward for trial. Now the evideuce, sucn as it was, was all one way. A battalion of police witnesses led by Removable Cad, swore bravely, steadily, and unanimously to the assault. They never displayed half as much discipline at their drill. There was no atteiupt to contradict them. If one word of their evidence could be believed, the accuse i must be sent forward as a matter of couisj. Tne oniy question that could arise for consideration was whether the evidence of the police was. on the face of it, such manifest and unmitigated peijury, that impartial and God-fear-ing Removaoleß could not act on it even ior the purpose of sending the accused forward for trial. We hardly think this explanation of their adjournment to consider will please the Removables. So we have puzzl d our brains fur he real solution, and think we have found it. It is the custom, as everyone knows, f ->r the Removables sitting in Coercion court.B toinvar>ably go thiough vac solemn farce of " retiring to consider their d cision " *ioi an hour or co befoie realms out the pre-ai ranged conviction and sentence. Tnis dcv.cc, tie poor ro^u s beern to fancy, will delude the public luto a belief as lottuir discretion and impartiality. They have not intelligence enough to discriminate between a casj in which a defence is offered an i where it is reserved. They, therefore, mechanically retired in lipperary, after their usual fashion, ostensibly to consider whether they could act on the uncontradicted evidence of the police. It is always the way with incompetent actors ; they overdo the part.