Dublin Notes.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXI, Issue 12, 20 July 1894, Page 21

Dublin Notes.

( Weekly Freeman and Ulster Examiner, June 2 ) O'Donova* Rossa i 8 onc e morj blck ia Irdaa(i- It .g. g twent fht years since he last set foot on Irish soil, and nearly twenty. four since he was amne H ti e d by Mr Glaistone. His imprisonment extended to 117 a years-but such imprisonment in his case ! The Bue Book con tuning bis examination by .he Special Commission that inquired into the treatment of the Fen.an prisoners is of intensa interest to the student of the treatment of imprieoned revolutionists nJ^ frieDd9 ° f the P laintlff ia the Cork crd case are delighted With the verdict, wh.cb declares that their friend d-d not cheat at cards. Bat it would be far better if they could show that there was less card-playing going ouammg what tueju<ig 3 described as th. elite ot Cork soc.ety. The revelations as to the card-play,ng of the Cork nobility do not g.V9 people a very exalted opinion of the said ehte. The hearing has yin licaeJ Mr F,ke from the charge ; but it has done more, f jr it his shown what class of people these are who spend their time in county clubs and play cards, because they have time to lose and money to throw away. The international vital statistics, given by the English RegistrarGeneral, are always sad reading for Irishmen. Toe Irith Vut- -*t. in 1892 was lower than in any other country, except Frao C! • and in some > ways the figures do not even compare favorably with Fran-e for the birth-rate in Franca w a9 slightly higher in 1892 than in 189o' while the Irish birth-rate ha* been falling steadily. The rate per 1,000 was in England, 305 ; in Scotland, 30-7 ; in Irelani 22-4 • m Denmark 29* ; in Norway, 29 6; ia Austria, 362; in Hungary. 42 3, in SwiUarland, 28; m Germany, 35 7 ; m Holland, 32- in Belgium, 28 9 ; in France, 22 1 ; and m Italy, 363. Tee proportion of persons married ia Ireland i 9i 9 very much less than that in any oflber country m the world, owing, of c nzrse, to the emigration of persons of marriageable age. B The Unionist leaders and papars are sticking despera'ely to the unsreport of Mr Dillon's recent speeca ,ntn tb ß Ooan.y Lim -r ck in which be was represented to have male the unqualified sta em'.nt that if there wera a desolation now the Uaionists would come back kind. The whole context of his speech shows that what he was arguing was that ,f there was a rupture of the alliance with the liberals and if the Nationalists adopted the policy of the Redmondites, then the Unionists m.ght get a major.ty of a hundred That is a very different thing from the statement put in Mr Dillon's mouth and ntihsed co unscrupulously in face of a correction, by the Uuion.s! speakers and writers. No one can doubt th.t under the c,n ii- » ,ns of Home Rule in England would be so strong that it would very likely have the result anticipated by Mr Dillon. Time is bringing to light some iateresting facts about Pieottist agents. The latest of the tribe whos. character has been reveal in all the intnoac.es of its perfection i 9i 9 Mr Charlei Stewart S ephens Mr Stephens has been a magistral, in South Africa, a const, bl, there « , a retired captain of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, and an exigent of t 2T; A c r gto h ; 8 wite> he was in Wric * «* °™° ««• in receipt o £80 a month from the " Intelligence Department of the War Office. Recently he has been constantly drunk ; his wtfe has ytogootbeworktae,t least once; when not there sha has supported bun out of her earnings as aa actress, and as a regard for this fidelity he beats her with a whip and stn** her with his fist in th. face. A nice gentleman to ba getting nearly a tbousani a year ont of the taxes for the purpose of procuring "evidence" against the representatives « th. people, and altogether a oust repuUble addVtionto Mr Soames 1 Chamber of Horrors. The victory of the Dublia Metropolitan Polic. team in the toe-cf-war contests at Glasgow oo Saturday placas their pre-eminence finally beyond the reach of cavil or assaclt. There can be no longer anyauspicion of foul play having been resorted to at Jonas' road When the Glasgow men's headlong career of victory received its first eenous check, nor can th» uniform success of the victors ba ascribed 2L!T# mtt l lriCk v ° f the * ame - Sootch ™° need not be jihamed of going down before such a combination. It i. a enrious fact th. the formidable team supplied by the Liverp^l police *•! •bo contributed by Lord Salisbury's much decried "Celtic fringe" It contains only one member of the Imperial race as against three Scotchmen, three Irishmen, one Welshman, two Manxmen! I would •earn a. if either tbe Celt, in th. force produce a phenomenal pre* portion of mascle and skill for th 3 ir numbers, or the Saxon oZ

"em^t" ""^ altogetber b * ihe~aTd~^flh7celtlc Lord Justice Pitzgibbm was on Tuesday engaged in giving evidence before the Commit on the L,nd Acts. A great deal of hia (the Lord Justice s) evidence was highly technical, and in respects at least be made a defence for some of the decisions of the Court of Appeal But the strength of the defence lie* plainly in the weakne 88 o the Land Acts. Tie difficulty of dealing with "demasne land* is an illustration. A demesne either includes practically all enaati from year to year, or merely the grounds surrounding a land' ord a residence, just as the term is regarded from the aspect of feudalism or as a popular description. Lord Justice Fitigibbon declares fl JlfH COmP fi r< T 9 notioD ' iQ hiß that th. description should be confined to demesne lands in the popular sense, which had been et to tenanta but which the landlord intended to reserve the potentiality of getting back. The Lord Justice's notion was not accepted, and now demense lands may mean almost anything, and the decisions have brought about inextricable confusion. The word m»y have a very definite meaning in Kuglaad apart from agriculture in lrelanl it is senseless in any technical meaning, which illustrates once more the absurdity of a British Parliament legislating for Ireland. We shall ba glad to hear what Lord Jusfca Fit Bg ibbon has to aay about the doctrine in Adams v. D.nsaath, that the tenant's eniovZ Iftt \ZZZ V ZT ought t0 ba caaßidtred aa compeni h* ffc M << w J i' J7J 7 f aDI Wh ° ha 3 been 80 o!ten decla^d in th. Times to bjthe Nol of the Invincible conspiracy, has decided, apparently afcer consultation with th. Times, that the time has gone by for hid- »». »h i IB i ht| n^ a 8 " i9 ' UDder a baßhe1 ' aad he ha 9 accordingly, now that Le Caron „ dead, came forward with his reminiscences I This gentleman, whose claim to belief is that he is a professional murderer, tries to prove that the Irish Party were in the Invincible conspiracy, and the limes of course catches at him at once as a most reliable wane* "We never," said the Forger, « committed ourselvea to anything so decisive as that of Mr Tyn^n." And it goes on to relate from the book of that worthy how an anonymous M.P came over to Ireland prepared to sacrifice his life in order to "suppress » Mr Forster The Forger, however, forgets that it published fettws forged w the names of no less than three Members of Parliam * r approving of and encouraging murJer, and that these letters were rammed down i.s throat, and that the detestable man who sold them to the /Wshot himself afterwards to avoid the consequent of his crimes The attempt to revive a belief in P.ggotism at this moment ?!? h'.rfT ß^ * coafeßsed "oundrel is not likely to succeed Though this book of so-called '• Revelations" purports to have been wntten before t a« death of Mr Forater, it is full of references to the Sir^:^ Uct furai6be9 a very carioaß ~* - Mr Ponsonby owns property in Hampshire as well as near YoDgh.l. It would ba interesting to know the amount of the redu" uonhehas voluntarily consented to in hi. English property lUt was as great aa most other Hampshire landlords' it is enough to make bu Irish evicted tenants' mouths water. The Assistant Oommis^ner sent out by tb. Agricultural Commission to inquire in u22£ !7T > ! r " ea that Came DDder my ob «e"«tion 1 7,5 no t meet with a smgle exception to the rule that rents have been redeeM during the last twelve years. In some cases these reductions Tve been so great that tenants are practically keeping on the farm 8 It their own rentah. A large tenant farmer said to me-« I h™^ noon'th/r T a7 rCga , rd the I&nd M praCtiCßlly ° f DO valQe - "*tok •K-H™ - &8 T 7 C ° VeriDg the intereßt on the o^ on ho^se •ad bailding.,' and he added that by the time the landlord has met cl ce r P n?T, he ha9 ? Ot eC&tCe]j * njthing left for himMlf - are rents a d.min.shmg quantity, but some have not been paid t<* years, though the reduction may have gone almost a. far ., P p oeaib£ the rent had been reduced more than half within the last eisht v.*™T but that the land is not worth the present rental. Manyco^cZ om.l were f urnuhed to me. Thus on a farm of 500 acres, ihtehSS let in 1851 at £500 a year, 420 acres are now let for *100 North ot Andover th.re is much land letting at 2e 6i an acre, upon wb.ch thf tube, amount to 6s an acre. In such cases the landiorS £J aot £ even a fair interest on the cost of the buildings, and yet with « IS down to nothing,' as it was expre^.d to maf lac teJlnts many oi them contioua losing money. A farmer of forty years' expS* stated that moat landlords being aware tbat they could not «S money by farming tbeir land themsel™, were therefore inc ° n S^ act generon..y toward, their tenants. What was rega rded \t >L desirable 40 year, ago, a long lease, wonld now b, lookSajL"

misfortune. A well-known farm which used to let for £1,300 is now tenanted at less than £500. A tenant who has been nnder one and the same landlord for more than 43 years says that reductions in his locality have been fairly general, amounting in some cases to onehalf and even more, and they are permanent. Land lying south-west of Andover that let 30 yearß ago for from 15s to 20s an acre in addition to tithe, is only letting at 09 cow free." The Freeman s Journal of Wednesday says — The Times returns at every opportunity to " Parnelhsm and Crime " as a dog returns to its vomit. It once pressed a former into its service in the hope of his being able to prove that the Irish leaders were the inciters of assassination ; now the help of a self-alleged murderec is accepted in the Bame holy hope. The latest ally is found in P. J. Tynan, who purports to be the mysterious "Nol "of the Invincible conspiracy. He has written a book, after the model of " La Caron's" reminiscences, which pretends to supplement the evidence of Carey regarding the Invincibles, and reveal all their ramifications and connections. Decent people would hesitate to touch a wretch of this kind to prop up a political party. But the limes was never squeamish. Tynan is not the first assassin that it turned to account. If Tynan's boasts ar» true, ho is both a murderer and a perjured informer, and is doubly discredited. Ho has according to his own allegations, organised murder, and he now endeavours to sell the secrets of his conspiracy Dy preparing a book extending " to something like half a million worde," including references " of a pronouncedly blasphemous character," which it is expected the English Piggotists may buy and find useful. If he is not a murderer and an informer, he is a liar and a slanderer. The object of the composition and of the Times' puff of it is here made manifest. Tynan is the latest hireling in the grand army of slanderers of whom Pig^tt wta once the most precious ornament. But slanderers need good mem 3ne9. The endeavour of Tynan to secure the best market price in the Figoltist list of quotations by dyeing "the bloody shirt " a blcodicr hue than ever, for uau at the polls, has given us the measure of his credibility. If thee was oae fact more clearly established thin another by the evidence in the Invincible trial?, it was that Lord Frelenck Oavendifh's presence on the scene of the murder was t ie mo3t unf 're eea of unhappy accidents. It wns proved that his murderers did cot even know who he was. He happens dto be driving frjoith^ Castld to thu Viceregal Lodge when he overtook Mr Built" on the way, and dismissal his car to walk with the Uuler-SecttsUrj.'hrough thj Pa k The murder of tbe latter was pUuned befoie the luvmcibles or anybody else knew who was to be Lord Spencer's ,'hitf Secretary. S3 that even the Invincibles were not as black as this wretch paints them. As for the association of Mr Pirnell with the d cJ — it is too ridiculous. The British public are invited by the ft tins aod '' No 1 " to believe that while negotiating " the Kilmamhatn Treaty " and the Arrears Bill on tbe one side, Mr Parnell was planoiug the murder of the executors of the Treaty at the same momeut. This " revelation " about Lord Frederick Cavendish is th-j " toj mach " which the hired slanderer always puts in his story, and which destroys the verisimilitude needed to impose on the public. We may le*ve "Mr Tynan" and the Times to foregather. The gr. uping is natural. But that the men who call themselves " Parnelutes" should be found in political alliance with the party of the Times will shock the deadened senses of even the most hardened condoner of the policy of wreck. Sixpence a gallon on wbitkey is now to be resisted by attempting once again to prove the dead chief a murderer 1