THE

IRISH

AGITATOR

In parliamentandonthePlatform:
A COMPLETE

HISTORY OF IRISH POLITICS
FOR T H E YEAR 1879;

WITH A SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS
AND

CONTAINING

DOCUMENTS OF POLITICAL IMPORTANCE
PUBLISHED DURING THE YEAR.

PHILIP

H. B A G E N A L ,

B.A.,

OXON.

BARRISTER-AT-LAW.

DUBLIN:
HODGES, FOSTER,

AND

FIGGIS,

PUBLISHERS TO THE UNIVERSITY.

l880.

320.9415
B14i
cop. 1

CONTENTS.
PART I.

Before Parliament Met,

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PART I I .

In Parliament,

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PART I I I . After Parliament,

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1
24

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CONCLUSIONS,

72
104

APPENDIX : —

A. Letter from the Fenian Devoy to The
Freeman,
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B. Bishop Nulty's Letter,
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C. Letter of Mr. Kavanagh, M.P., on the
Agricultural Depression,
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D. Lord Monck's Letter,
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.
.
E. Knight of Kerry's Letter to his Tenants, .
F. Mr. R. Bagwell's Tetter to The Times, .
G. Colonel King-Harman's Letter to The Times,
H . Lord Lifford's Letter to The Times,
.
I. Letter of Lord Robert Montagu to his
Antrim Tenantry,
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J. Report of Local Government Board Inspectors,
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K. Letter from Lord Dunalley to The Daily
Express,
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L. Letter of Special Correspondent of The
Daily News on the Indebtedness of Irish
Farmers,
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.
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M. Letter from " A Munster M a n " to The
Daily Express, upon Usury in Ireland .
N. The Charter of the National Land League,
O. Mr. Parnell's Appeal to the Irish Race, .
P. Letter of Sir George Bowyer Repudiating
Mr. Parneirs Land Policy, . .
.

115
132
141
145
148
151
153
156
159
162
165

169
172
174
179
183

THE IRISH

AGITATOR.

I.—BEFORE PARLIAMENT MET.
The situation at the latter end of 1878.—Mr. Butt's Letter to Dr.
Ward deprecating Obstruction, 1879.—The Fenian Devoy's
Letter to the Freeman.—Mr. O'Donnell's opinion of it.—Mr.
Mitchell Henry's Letters on the Home Rule Division.—His
Definition of Home Rule.—The Nation's Opinion of Mr. Butt.
—Mr. O'Shaughnessy on the Land Question.—Mr. Richard
Power's Letter on the Situation.—Mr. Parnell in England.—
First Meeting in Donegal asking for a reduction of Rents.—
Mr. Mitchell Henry at Clifden on Small Farmers.—Mr. Robertson's Reply on behalf of the Graziers.—Mr. Gray at Thurles.—
Mr. A. M. Sullivan's Address to the London Home Rule Club
on the Irish Vote in England. —The English Press on the Irish
University Question.—Elections to the Home Rule League
Council.—Dr. M'Hale's Letter.—Dr. Nulty's Letter.—Annual
Meeting of Home Rule League.—Impeachment of Mr. Butt.—
The National Land Conference—Remonstrance against the
Graziers' Claims by Mr. Harris, Representative of Small Farmers.—Meeting in City Hall, Dublin, of Irish Parliamentary
Party.—Cork Election.—In Belfast the Ulster Home Government Association holds Annual Conference.—Speech of Mr.
Parnell, stating his Policy.

THE last months of 1878 saw what was then known as
the Home Rule Party in sore confusion. For a long
time, Mr. Butt had been in controversy with Mr. Parnell
upon the subject of Obstruction, and had thereby incurred violent attacks by letter from Mr. O'Connor Power
and Mr. O'Donnell. Mr. Butt retorted upon the Irre£

2

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

[Jan-

concilables and Obstructionists in a most unmistakable
manner, and from these collisions at the end of 1878
arose the divisions in the ranks of the Home Rulers,
which have been so conspicuous a feature in the Irish
political history of 1879.
It is only due to the memory of Mr. Butt, whose good
qualities will shine brighter as his defects are forgotten,
to remind the Irish public what was his attitude in Irish
politics at this period. It will be remembered that Parliament assembled late in 1878 to consider matters connected with foreign policy of an imperial character. Mr.
Butt's letter to Dr. Ward, member for Galway, on the
eve of the debate upon the Queen's Speech, deprecated
any amendment to the address relating to Irish questions
being moved. Parliament, he said, was convened for the
purpose of deliberating on matters of vital importance
to the United Kingdom, and he considered the Irish
Parliamentary party would act in a very ill-advised and
unwise manner if they interrupted or embarrassed those
deliberations by the discussion of# questions which could
be brought forward with far better chance of success at
a future stage of the proceedings of the session. Such
a course, Mr. Butt argued, would fairly expose Home
Rulers to the suspicion of pressing Irish claims, not for
the purpose of obtaining a recognition of them from Parliament, but either with the object of serving the interests
of parties, or creating confusion in the councils of a
nation at a time when to do so was to help the cause
of its enemies. This outspoken le ;ter of Mr. Butt was
received with a storm of vituperation and derision from
the extreme Left party of Home Rulers. The Nation
declared, with its usual execrable taste, that " the mantle
of O'Connell is in pawn to the Jews. The Home Rule

Jan.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

3

party has been Bazained. He has gone over to the
enemy," &c, &c. But Mr. Butt was firm in his resistance
to Obstruction, and in his three letters to the electors of
Limerick defined very faithfully the views he held as to
the proper and constitutional method of agitating popular
measures for Ireland.
We thus find, as the new year commenced, an open
revolt in the ranks of Home Rulers. The party of exasperation and obstruction had been denounced by their
ancient leader, Mr. Butt, and the differences between the
Home Rule Irreconcilables and the Home Rule Constitutionalists became more accentuated than ever they had
been during the recess.
Such was the state of affairs which drew forth in the
month of January letters on the Irish situation from every
section of the Home Rulers. The Freeman's Journal was
selected as the receptacle for most of these individual
manifestoes, from which it is proposed to make sundry
extracts bearing upon the then state of the Irish Home
Rule party, and upon the events which have subsequently
taken place.
Read by the light of recent events, the letter from Mr.
Devoy to the Freeman [given in full in Appendix A],
written from New York and published in that journal,
must be placed first in importance, as it is first in
date. That letter recalls the reader back to the Fenian
rising of 1865, in which Devoy took part. On his
apprehension, in 1867, he pleaded guilty to a charge
of treason-felony, and was sentenced to fifteen years'
penal servitude. Before giving shortly the heads of
this letter, it is convenient to mention that Mr. Davitt,
so recently put upon his trial for sedition, had lectured in
Boston in December, 1878, on the same subject as Devoy,

4

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

[J 311.

expressed the same principles, and was the constant
companion of the writer of this letter. Mr. Devoy's letter
is chiefly important for its public disclosure of a new
Fenian policy with regard to Ireland—a policy which has
been carried out during the past year with vigour and
success. Hitherto the Fenian policy had been one of
isolation. Such men as O'Donovan Rossa and James
Stephens were the head of the physical force party, and
with their Dublin organ, the Irishman, had always, and
still urged that the sword was the only weapon wherewith
to win back Ireland for the Irish. Mr. Devoy, however,
proposed a new departure, and doubtless with Mr.
Davitt's help, laid down the new Fenian policy in very
plain language. That policy was intended to be carried
out within the limits of existing law. The essence of it
was, that " a class of men with strong opinions and habits
of organization [in other words Fenians'], should enter
political life in Ireland." The object aimed at was the
" recovery of Ireland's national independence, and the
severance of all political connection with England/' and
to gain this, the whole energies, the best intellect, the
financial resources and the physical strength of the nation
were to be enlisted. Mr. Devoy allowed that most of
the individuals responsible for the new departure were
not only ineligible to Parliament by being ex-convicts or
ticket-of-leave men, but also incapable on conscientious
grounds (being members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood) of taking the Parliamentary oath. But this
mattered little. Devoy and Co. believed that there were
good men enough in the country not bound by pledges,
who could be trusted to act honestly in Parliament, and
who, if backed by the country, would not hesitate to
adopt a bold policy. That such has proved to be the

Jan.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

5

case is sufficiently evident. But the most important point
in the new Fenian policy was the declaration of an organized, steady, and persistent effort to get possession of
the local bodies throughout Ireland. The municipal
bodies, the Boards of Guardians, the farmers and tenants'
clubs, all these were to be honeycombed with Fenianism ;
and, with the majority of them in their possession, the
leaders of the movement flattered themselves they would
be in a position, even without Parliamentary representation, to do things which in January, 1879, they could only
dream of. " With the municipal bodies," said Mr. Deyoy,
" a n d men of spirit and determination as Parliamentary
representatives, backed by the country and by millions
of the Irish race scattered over the world, there would be
no necessity to go to London either to beg or to obstruct,
and Irish Nationalists would have no more ' Tallaghts'
or ' cabbage gardens' flung in their faces/' Home Rule
and Mr. Butt's Federal plan are dismissed as absurd.
Simple Repeal would restore the Irish House of Lords,
an intolerable notion. The only plan worthy of support
was to form a common platform which would bind all who
advocate "Self-government," withholding any definition
of that term, until the country itself should speak in a
manner as to command the allegiance of all. So much
for Mr. Devoy's Scheme for the cohesion of Irish parties.
On the Land Question his utterances are noteworthy, read
by the light of the subsequent land agitation, and it is as
well to give them in full for purposes of reference afterwards :—
" No party or combination of parties in Ireland can ever hope to
win the support of the majority of the people except it honestly proposes a radical reform of the land system. No matter what may be
said in favour of individual landlords, the whole system was founded
on robbery and fraud, and has been perpetuated by cruelty, injustice,

6

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

[Jan«

extortion, and hatred of the people. The men who got small farms
in the time of confiscation, settled down in the country, and their
descendants, no matter what their political party, are now * bone of
our bone'—have become Irish—and perform a useful function in
the land. No one thinks of disturbing them. If the landlords had
become Irish, and treated the people with humanity, the original
robbery might be forgiven—though a radical change in the tenure of
land must come of itself some day—but when, as a class, they have
simply done England's work of rooting out the Irish people ; when
the history of landlordism is simply a dark story of heartless cruelty,
of artificial famines, of evictions, of rags and squalid misery, there
is no reason why we should forget that the system was forced upon
us by England, and that the majority of the present landlords are
the inheritors of the robber horde sent over by Elizabeth and James
the First, by Cromwell and William of Orange, to garrison the
country for England. It is the interest of Ireland that the land
should be owned by those who till the soil, and this could be reached
without even inflicting hardship on those who deserve no leniency
at the hands of the Irish people. A solution of the Land Question
has been reached, to a large extent, in France, in Prussia, and in
Belgium, by enabling the occupiers to purchase their holdings. Let
the Irish landlords be given a last chance of settling the Irish Land
Question amicably in this manner, or wait for a solution in which
they shall have no part.
" Let a beginning be made with the absentees, the English lords
and the London companies who hold stolen land in Ireland, and
there will be enough of work for some years to come. Let evictions
be stopped at all hazards, and the rooting-out process come to an
end. But I shall be told the English Parliament will never do any
of these things. Then, I say, these things must only wait till an
Irish Parliament can do them better; but in the meantime good
work will have been done, sound principles inculcated, and the
country aroused and organised.
" T o those who are alarmed at language like this in regard to the
Land Question, I would say : ' Look at France, at Prussia, and at
Belgium, and you will find that the secret of their prosperity lies in
the number of tillers of the soil who own their holdings. Listen to
the mutterings of the coming storm in England, and ask yourselves
what is going to become of the land monopoly after a few more
years of commercial and manufacturing depression—a depression
sure to continue, because the causes of it are on the increase.' The
English are a very practical and a very selfish people, and will not
let any fine sentiment stand in the way when they think it is their
interest to redistribute the land. What, may I ask, would become
of the Irish landlords—especially the rack-renting, evicting ones—
in case of a social convulsion in England ? It is a question which
they themselves must decide within the next few years. With them

Jan.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

7

or without them the question will be settled before long, and many
who now think the foregoing assertions extravagant will consider
them very moderate indeed by-and-by.

This then was Mr. Devoy's plan for reviving Fenian
influence in Ireland, and we find it welcomed by a considerable section of the Home Rule party. The Nation
said—" It appears to us that the course for the men
who think with Mr. Davitt and Mr. Devoy to take is, to
turn in whatever strength they can bring to the present
constitutional movement, without requiring from those
engaged in it any change of front."
Mr. F. H. O'Donnell, in a letter to the Freeman, characterized Mr. Devoy's letter as " literally full of broad
and statesmanlike ideas," and gave it his full support,
notwithstanding that Mr. Devoy in a subsequent letter
took care to explain that by the " new departure " he did
not propose to give up his principles about fighting, or
anything else.
But if Mr. O'Donnell and the Home Rulers represented by the Nation agreed to run in harness with the
Fenians, there was another section represented by Mr.
Mitchell Henry, who flatly refused to do any such thing.
Mr. Mitchell Henry drew up his ideas of Home Rule in
three letters. The first two were addressed to the Freeman. He deliberately stated his belief that unless Mr.
Butt was able to lead them during the ensuing session,
there was no hope for the Home Rule party as an influential body. " An army without a general is but a rabble ;
and I for one distinctly refuse to range myself under the
banner of any coterie or clique whatever." As to the
new Fenian scheme, Mr. Henry was very plain in his
language. " We are invited," he says, " to join those
who openly desire to separate Ireland entirely from Eng-

8

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

[J^n.

land, to destroy the monarchy, and to substitute either a
republic or some other form of government in its place.
We are to abandon the specific settlement arrived at in
the National Conference of 1873, and henceforth each
man is to disguise his real sentiments, and to content
himself with the vague term, ' Self-government for Ireland/ without any explanation or limitation of what that
self-government is to be. Such an immoral, criminal,
and foolish proposal, it is probable was never before addressed to sane men." Mr. Henry next pointed out that
Mr. Devoy ; s invitation was manifestly a reply to some
previous communication either on this side of the water,
or carried over to America by an authorised agent, and
then proceeded to give his own scheme for Home Rule.
This, however, he gave with such distinctness and
force, in a letter which appeared in the Manchester Examiner^ that it is highly desirable to rescue from oblivion
and place before the public one of the few brief expositions of the meaning of Home Rule that has as yet appeared.
' ' Roughly speaking," says Mr. Henry, " I may say that the proposal is to apply the American State Constitution to Ireland. In
that country each State has its own local Parliament, and the Federal
Government has the Parliament in Washington. As regards our
own country, the present Parliament would undergo no change, but
it would not attend to Irish local affairs, such as education, railworks, waterworks, fisheries, and such like ; these would be attended
to by Irish members responsible to the Queen and the Irish Parliament, and of course the Irish members would have nothing to say
to the local affairs of England or Scotland. The United Parliament
at Westminster would raise in Ireland, on its own authority, the
taxes necessary for Imperial affairs, sudh as the Army and Navy,
the Crown, Colonies, and foreign affairs; and it would, of course,
have as many soldiers in Ireland as it liked, and as many ships
round the coast. I need hardly say there would be no interference
with customs, duties, which stipulations would be specially provided
in the Act to give effect to the Home Rule proposal, and there
would also be provisions for religious equality, and other important
matters."

Jan.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

9

Such were Mr. Henry's views on Home Rule, and such
were the views of Mr. Butt, and that party of Irish politicians who hoped by moderation to impress their convictions upon the British Parliament. But such views
were scouted by the Nation, Mr. Butt made a speech
at a banquet given in January to General Grant, in which
he followed up the note struck in his letter to Dr. Ward.
The Nation commented upon it thus—" It defines his
[Mr. Butt's] attitude towards the power which holds Ireland in chains, and that attitude, we have no hesitation
in saying, is one which no true Irish Nationalist could
for a moment deliberately assume."
While the vital differences between the two sections
of the Home Rule party on what was then "the chief
object of agitation were thus being made public, Mr.
O'Shaughnessy at Limerick was introducing the Land
Question. We have given the Fenian opinion upon this
great bone of contention. Let us now see what were the
views of the moderate party. Mr. O'Shaughnessy would
place the rest of Ireland on the same footing as Ulster.
The three incidents to Ulster tenancies he contended
were, Fixity of Tenure, in other words, the right of the
tenant to remain in possession as long as he paid his rent,
without fear of eviction ; the second was Free Sale, that
is to say, the right of sale to an unobjectionable successor ; the third incident touched upon the question of
raising the rent.
" The right of the landlord to raise the rent," says Mr. O'Shaughnessy, " under certain circumstances is not denied ; but he should
be prevented from raising it to such a height that it ceases to be
profitable for an honest and skilful tenant to keep his holding. It
is also necessary to prevent a landlord from using the increase of
rent as a means of eviction."

These words are remarkable as a fair statement of the

IO

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

[Jan.

views of the moderate Home Rule party on the Land
Question, and deserve to be placed on record.
If there was any further evidence wished for to prove
the division of the Home Rule party at the very commencement of the year 1879, it may be found in a letter
to the Freeman, dated 13th January, from Mr. Richard
Power, member for Waterford city. Above all things,
he says, as a Home Ruler, he deplores the fact that the
vital question of Home Rule had been for so long left in
the background. " T h e r e are two flags," he says, "flying in the Home Rule camp, two policies before the
country, the once united party is divided into two factions.^
In the midst of all this din of party discord died
Mr. McCarthy Downing, member for County Cork. In
1858, when the Phoenix conspirators were arrested, Mr.
Downing acted as their solicitor, and was elected member for Cork county at the general election of i860, and
sat for that constituency until his death.
Early in January Mr. Parnell commenced a political
tour in England in his capacity of President of the Home
Rule Confederation of Great Britain, and projected
visits, all of which did not come off, to Sunderland, Hull,
Leeds, and Warrington. For this month, too, the first
meeting of tenant-farmers, for the purpose of calling for
reduced rents, was held in the town of Donegal. Mr.
Mitchell Henry also addressed a meeting of his constituents at Clifden, and made some remarks on the Land
Question worthy of notice. He drew the distinction between the claims of the small tenant-farmers and the
claims of such farmers as composed the Dublin National
Land Conference—men who held "great big grazing
farms," which they were anxious to include in any pro-

Jan.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

II

jected Land Bill, and who addressed long letters to the
papers upon the Land system. With these Mr. Henry
had no sympathy. The men he wished to help were the
tenant-farmers of from five to fifteen acres, and thousands
living on less than five, who never write public letters, or
make speeches at public meetings. Then Mr. Henry
quoted a letter from a small farmer, the truth of which
may be safely left to the public after the experience of
the past year :—
" The letters and speeches appearing from day to day are from
the very class of farmers that the people should cry out against becoming the possessors of the soil. If those who are interested in
the Land Question would come to examine the different grass-farms
in the country and the rent laid on them, and also the rent and
quality of the land in possession of the small farmers, they would
soon come to the conclusion that there is no legislation required to
make the grass-farmers more comfortable than they are at present.
There is more milk and honey on one acre of the land they hold
than on any three acres held by the poor tenant who has to cultivate
with the spade."

All this Mr. Henry endorsed. What he wanted
was to fix the small tenants in the soil—a task more
easy, he affirmed, than to fix large tenants, who can
get leases for thirty-one years from their landlords. As
an instance of this, Mr. Henry mentioned the name of
Mr. Robertson, of Narraghmore, a Scotch farmer in Kildare, and a well-known inditer of letters to the Freeman.
The result of this was to draw forth a reply from Mr.
Robertson, which furnishes a valuable proof of the hydraheaded ness of the Irish Land Question. On the part of
the National Land Conference party, Mr. Robertson
declined to sanction any limited scheme of tenant-right,
or the application of the incidents of the Ulster Custom
to a certain class of tenants only. Such an idea he believed impracticable; and moreover Irish agriculture being

12

THE IRISH AGtTATOR.

[Jan*

the sole national industry, required security. in all its
branches and departments. Here then was another view
of the Land Question.
Mr. Gray, member for Tipperary, towards the end of
January met his constituents at Thurles, and under the
wing of the clergy made a tenant-right address.
While the Home Rulers in Ireland were thus agreeing
to disagree, Mr. Parnell and his fellow-obstructives
were still stumping the English towns containing Irish
voters. Mr. A. M. Sullivan delivered in London the
inaugural address of a new association, called the
London Home Rule Club. From that address we learn
that the Irish in England and Scotland number two
millions, and that the Irish vote can more or less decisively affect the result of elections in fifty-four British
constituencies. " T h e Irish vote," said Mr. Sullivan,
" would be first heard in Great Britain as a solid and
concentrated power at the election." With these important statistics before them, it is not surprising to find Mr.
O'Donnell speaking at Warrington, and Mr. O'Connor
Power at Leeds, while in Hull the candidate of the Radicals expressed himself in favour of the Irish demand for
Home Rule.
During the whole of January the University Question
had been confessedly " i n the air." The Times had
written upon a reported intention of the Government to
try their hand upon this rock which had proved fatal to
the Liberal Party. The Standard followed suit; both
papers arguing against the feasibility of the measure. But
suddenly, only a few weeks after, both journals recommended an attempt at legislation in this direction. The
Daily Telegraph declared itself also in favour of a settlement of the Catholic case, and the Spectator advocated

Jan.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

13

direct endowment at once to the Catholic University.
But this sudden interest in the Irish University Question
was not destined to be rewarded by a Government measure at once. The opinions and principles, however,
laid down by English writers were valuable, and excited
great attention in Ireland.
On the last Saturday of January the Irish Home Rule
League Council was newly elected. The Council is supposed to exercise a nominal authority over the Home
Rule policy as a whole, but individual members of the
League have long since proved that they do not recognise its authority. The battle which was once more
fought in these elections for the Council was Right versus
Left—a trial, in fact, of strength between the parties who
acknowledged Mr. Butt and Mr. Parnel! as their leaders.
Major O'Gcrman was among those coopted to assist the
Council, but he refused to act, in a letter, couched in
the following characteristic terms, to the Secretary of the
League :—
" SIR,—I understand that I am ' coopted * a member of the
Home Rule League Council. I should have been satisfied, nay gratified, to have been elected by the Irishmen who elected the fifty
* angels,' but as I decidedly object to be elected by the ' angels'
themselves, I request that you will immediately remove my name
from the list of the ' coopted.'—Yours truly,
" PURCELL O'GORMAN."

Mr. Mitchell Henry came out at the head of the poll,
Mr. Butt being next, but these leaders of the Right section were amply balanced by such members of the " party
of exasperation," as Messrs. Parnell, Biggar, and O'Connor
Power. Dr. Ward, until then Secretary of the "Irish
Parliamentary Party," received his dismissal, as did
Major O'Gorman, Dr. O'Leary, Mr. King-Harman, and

14

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

[J^n.

other members of parliament who followed Mr. Butt.
Neither Mr. A. M. Sullivan nor Mr. O'Donnell sought
re-election; the latter in a letter to the Times on the subject saying that the idealist character of the Home Rule
League policy was more impracticable than ever.
It is now time to take cognizance of the ecclesiastical
utterances upon the subject of Home Rule. The Most
Rev. Dr. MacHale, Catholic Archbishop of Tuam, had
very early in January written a letter to the Freeman,
deprecating the acknowledged discord of the Home Rule
party. " It is high time," he says, " that a term be put
to the disheartening divisions that prevail in the ranks of
the Irish popular representatives in the British House of
Parliament. The evils of discord, existing for some time
past, have been aggravated by recent manifestations as
senseless as the worst enemies of Ireland could desire.
The nation heartily laments the existence of such dissensions, and will suffer no longer the continuance of a
disorder that paralyses the best energies of all for the
common benefit of their native land. Let the existence
of Home Rule be vigorously insisted upon." The archbishop concluded by recommending unity, and above all
that consideration to Mr. Butt's views, to which they were
entitled. Just one month afterward, the Most Rev. Dr.
Nulty, Catholic Bishop of Meath, addressed a letter to
the Archbishop of the West, which had all the length
and weight of a political pastoral. It will be found in
full in the Appendix. It was in effect an outspoken opinion of the probable result of the "Policy of Activity."
Dr. Nulty calls upon the Obstructives at once to lay
down their arms.
The bishop declares that the result of the " policy
of division," as he calls it, will be to make all future

Jan.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

15

beneficial legislation impossible. As long as the country
believed in the efficacy and practicability of constitutional
agitation, the national sentiment put forth its strength
with good results. But when the country shall no longer
believe in the success of these peaceful movements, this
national instinct, says the bishop, will show itself in its
most terrible and dangerous form. True as the needle
to the pole, it will struggle still for the attainment of its
purposes, no longer by peaceable and legal effort, but
through secret and unlawful combination. Dr. Nulty
then proceeded to make a remarkable forecast of the
probable effects of the new policy :—" Under the influence of an irrepressible feeling, the time will come when
the youth and masses of the Irish people will, in the
bitterness of their disappointment and despair, throw
themselves into the arms of the wildest and most revolutionary form of Fenianism." Dr. Nulty's great objection
to Mr. Parnell's policy was that it led to disunion, and
the abuse and misapplication of obstruction. A policy
of blind, indiscriminate, and undiscerning opposition to
all legislation, Dr. Nulty stigmatised as not only undignified but irrational. No deliberative assembly in the
world, the right reverend gentleman declared, with any
regard for its own character or dignity, would for a moment tolerate it. The only genuine policy of parliamentary obstruction Dr. Nulty described as essentially
thoughtful, discriminating, and judicious. In conclusion,
Mr. Butt was put forward as still the only possible leader
for the Home Rule party, and commended as such to
the Home Rule public.
With these utterances from thoughtful and able members of the Catholic Church ringing in their ears, the
members of the Home Rule League assembled on Feb-

J6

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

[Feb.

ruary 5th in Dublin, for the annual general meeting. The
financial state of the League may be gathered from a
statement of Mr. T. H. Webb, that ^ 3 2 was due to the
Treasurer. The Chairman, Mr. W. Shaw, M.P., then
invited discussion, by saying frankly " that if they had a
difference, to discuss it there, and have it out, and not
leave it seething and sweltering from year to year." Mr.
Butt's formal impeachment then commenced. The first
resolution asked the meeting to express its approval of
certain declarations made by Mr. Butt at the National
Conference of 1873, when the Home Rule League was
founded. The exact words which Mr. Butt used were
as follows :—
That " the more every Irish member keeps aloof from all private communications with English ministers or English parties the
better." That " there is enmity between the Irish Government and
the Irish nation," and that " the representatives of the people must
accept this position." That " they should hold no private parley with
the power which is at war with the Irish people, and with which,
therefore, the Irish members should be at war."

Mr. John Dillon, son of the late Mr. John Blake
Dillon, barrister, who appeared in arms at Ballingarry
with Smith O'Brien in 1848, and for whose arrest the
Government offered ^ 3 0 0 reward, opened the impeachment of Mr. Butt. The character and size of the
meeting he described in frank terms. " Formerly/ he
said, " their benches were crowded by the Irish members.
Where are they now ? Like the rats they were leaving
the sinking ship. The power of the League in the country
was at an end. He believed it was working against Irish
Nationality. Mr. Butt had turned his back on the policy
he taught them. Mr. Butt was constantly in the Castle
negotiating with the Lord Lieutenant, and he believed Mr.
Butt would put a stopper on the Irish party next session."

Feb.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

17

In reply Mr. Butt was dignified and argumentative
though his tone proclaimed that he was cut to the heart.
H e declared that to quote his own words was a mere
quibble, with a view to fastening an inconsistency o
him. On only one point had his actions been scrutinized
and compared with his words ; there was not a single
point raised except that on which he had distinctly said
that he laid down no inflexible rule. " If the party," he
continued, " opposed to him were ready for rebellion, he
could understand the policy of exasperation. The first
thing they should do was to remove all suspicion of there
being any revolutionary element in their programme.
But if it comes to this," concluded Mr. Butt, " that men
will not disclaim that our movement here is but to be a
cover to separation, then I say every honest man must
leave this movement. This was the reason why the
League meeting was not attended, because men had lost
confidence that they were not in the hands of revolutionists." Weighty and deliberate words these falling
from a politician of Mr. Butt's experience and intimate
acquaintance with the inner life of Irish politics and politicians. Mr. Parnell was the^next accuser, and he spoke
plainly likewise. " We charge Mr. Butt with inactivity,"
was the theme of his impeachment, and he neither respected nor spared the achievements and the infirmities of
the old Home Rule chieftain. From a historical point of
view, the most valuable statement which fell from Mr.
Parnell was the explanation of a portion of his future
Parliamentary policy, and it is here given in full:—
" I wish to explain in a few words what I wish the Irish party
to do, and Mr. Butt to do. The late Mr. Ronayne it was who
said to me, and said to a good many others, that the Irish party
would never be a power in the House of Commons until they* took
an interest in English and Imperial questions. He used to say,
c

18

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

[Feb.

' Depend upon it, as long as you keep bringing forward the Land
Bill or the Franchise Question, or other Irish questions, they wont
care anything about you. They will perhaps listen, or perhaps they
will not, but in any case they will come in with a big number of
members to vote you down when the division bell rings, and they
will be perfectly ready to surrender a few Wednesdays for these
discussions. They will be nothing the worse of it, and you will be
nothing the better; but depend on it, it is for some of you young
men of the party who have time, and health, and strength to go
into these questions, to take up these bills and discuss them in detail,
and to show that if you are not allowed to govern yourselves at
home, you can at least help them in governing England.'"

The final result of the meeting was, that in deference
to Mr. Butt, who declared the resolution to be a vote of
censure upon himself, an amendment was substituted of
a more general character, enjoining more energetic action
in Parliament, and increased activity and attendance.
One of the most remarkable facts noticeable about this
meeting of the Home Rule League before the session is,
that throughout the proceedings the Land Question was
not alluded to. Some resolutions of Mr. Dillon, condemnatory of the Land system, were mentioned, but not
put to the meeting.
But if no mention of the Land Question was made at
the Home Rule League l\[eeting, on 4th February, that
subject was specially discussed on the next day at the
Rotundo by the members of the National Land Conference. As the first meeting of the year devoted to this
question, it requires notice. The following members of
Parliament were present:—Messrs. Henry, Errington,
Callan, O'Clery, Kirk, Martin, Q.C.; Parnell, O'Donnell,
Biggar, Brooks, Ennis, Richard Power, Smyth, Meldon,
Q.C.; O'Sullivan, O'Leary, Fay, and Sir Joseph M'Kenna.
The resolutions passed were as follows :—
" I. That the experience of every year continues to confirm the
truth of the opinion, so often expressed at representative conferences

Feb.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

19

of the tenant-farmers of Ireland, that further protection for t h e
occupier of the soil in the security of his home and the enjoyment
of the fruits of his industry, is absolutely necessary for the peace and
prosperity of the country, and for the full development of the great
sources of wealth which Ireland possesses in the fertility and great
agricultural capabilities of her soil.
' ; 2. T h a t we are still of opinion that these great objects can best
be obtained by the Bill prepared by Mr. Butt, a Bill which virtually
extends to all Ireland the benefits secured to the Northern farmers
by the Ulster custom of tenant-right; and we desire emphatically to
record our conviction that the provisions of that Bill ought on any
future introduction be applied to all classes of Irish farms, so as to
restore the Bill to the shape in which it was originally framed.
" 3. T h a t the great depression which has now fallen on the agricultural interest of Ireland makes it absolutely necessary that the
attention of Parliament and the country should be at once directed
to the importance, both to the landlords and tenants, and to all
classes of Ireland, of giving to the tenant that security of tenure
which would enable him, by industry and care, to acquire a property
in his farm which would place him in a position to meet such vicissitudes.
• " Andwe consider it is the duty of the Irish Parliamentary
party
to use such pressure as may be necessary to induce the Government to
grant this claim.
" 4 . T h a t it is becoming every day more apparent that a just settlement of the Land Question is a matter of the deepest importance,
not only to the tenant-farmers, but also for every section of the
community, and we therefore call upon every class in town and
country to give their influence and aid to the emancipation of the
occupier of the soil from the grievances of class domination, and the
evils arising from undue privileges attaching to ownership in land.
" 5. T h a t no legislation on the Land Question can be accepted as
satisfactory or final which does not sufficiently provide house sites
and suitable lots of land for bona fide agricultural labourers' houses.
" 6. T h a t Mr. Butt be requested, as leader of the Irish Parliamentary party, to make arrangements to have the Land Question
brought before the House of Commons during the next session of
Parliament in every available form, and that we earnestly call upon
the electors of Ireland to press on their representatives the imperative duty of supporting those efforts.
" 7. T h a t the Conference earnestly urges on every constituency in
Ireland to prepare for the next general election, and on that occasion to m a k e the most determined stand for tenant-right, and under
the protection of the Ballot to return no candidate to Parliament
who refuses to pledge himself to the foregoing resolutions with the
view of carrying them into law, and that the several Tenant Right
Associations organize their respective counties for this purpose.

20

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

[Feb.

" 8. T h a t this meeting is of opinion that it is desirable that the
application of the Bright Clauses of the Land Act should be further
extended by simplifying conveyances, and by more liberal advances
being made by the Government to enable tenants to purchase their
holdings under the said Act, and that our thanks are due to Mr,
Shaw Lefevre for his enlightened efforts in that direction."

In Mr. Butt's Land Bill the interests and aspirations of
the large graziers had been sacrificed to those of the small
farmers, and the most important point to be noticed in
these resolutions is the emphatic stress laid in Resolution 2 upon the necessity of those interests being consulted in any future introduction of that Bill. In connection with this it may be remarked, that a number of
influential graziers attended and addressed the meeting.
Mr. Parnell suggested an amendment to Resolution 3,
which was carried, and incorporated into it. The reader
will perceive the amendment above, the words being in
italics. In speaking to that amendment, Mr. Parnell
said that he believed that a united party of forty or fifty
determined Irishmen could bring such pressure to bear
on the present Government as would induce them to
make very considerable concessions on the Land Question.
H e did not wish on that occasion to point out how that
pressure ought to be brought to bear. He did not want
to fetter the Irish party. Let them meet and consider how
that pressure should be brought to bear. If they failed
to find this out, it would then be time for him to ask the
tenant-farmers of Ireland how it was to be done.
But while the interests of a comparatively wealthy
class, the graziers, were being looked after in a public
Conference, under the auspices of Members of Parliament, the Freeman's Journal gave insertion to a manifesto
from the small farmers of Ireland, which must not be overlooked in dealing with the Land Question. Mr. Harris,

Feb.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

21

Hon. Sec. to the Ballinasloe Tenants'Defence Associati.on,
was the scribe, and his opinions were frankly and ably
stated. H e said the proceedings of the Land Conference
caused a general feeling of uneasiness among the small
farmers and tenants in his part of the country. Fears
were entertained that the Tenant right movement had
got into the hands of men who preferred their own interests to the interests of the country. " There were
two classes of men,'' he said, " present at the Conference, graziers and Members of Parliament It is easy
to understand the motives of the graziers ; and as for the
M.P.'s, I fear none of them, with the exception of Mr.
Henry, had given sufficient thought to the subject, particularly to the vast importance of retaining the £50
valuation clause." Mr. Harris insisted that the principle
of Mr. Butt's Land Bill should be the same as that of
the Land Act, 1870—that it should be a poor man's protective Bill, not a Bill to secure graziers and their beasts
upon the land from which they may have assisted to uproot an industrious peasantry. An enormous amount of
the land of Ireland, Mr. Harris pointed out, was in the
hands of graziers, and therefore the landlords should oppose the graziers' claims far more strenuously than those
of the small farmers. The landlords had nothing to fear
from the graziers, as far as public odium or opinion, for
" the graziers themselves are as unpopular as the worst
class of landlords."
A few days after the National Land Conference, the
Irish Parliamentary Party held a private meeting in
Dublin, at the City Hall. Only fifteen members attended, Mr. Butt was in the chair, and his opponents
were only conspicuous by their absence. The following
are the names of those^present:—Messrs. Butt, Nolan,

22

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

[Feb.

Gray, Martin, Q.C, Errington, Delahunty, Fay, Callan,
O'Leary, Browne, Brooks, Meldon, Ffrench, O'Clery,
and Sir J. M'Kenna. The principal business concluded
was the appointment of " whips," the election of a Committee, and a vote of condolence to the family of the late
Mr. Downing.
Meanwhile the Cork election was progressing. The
candidates at first were two Home Rulers, Colonel Colthurst, and Mr. Denis Florence M'Carthy. The latter
gentleman, however, retired, and another candidate came
forward in the Conservative interest, Sir George Colthurst, who, however, was defeated by a large majority,
8,157 votes to 2,027.
In Belfast the Ulster Home Government Association
held its Annual Conference on 10th February. The
following resolution was carried :—
66
T h a t all Governments founded on force are illegitimate. T h e
Government of England in Ireland has been founded on force, maintained by force, and, therefore, it is the duty of all generous minds
to resist lawless power, and to replace it by a Government of opinion
in conformity with the will of the people;. and it is the conviction
of this meeting that an Irish Parliament is the only authority the
people can look up to, seeing it alone can beget public spirit and a
sound public opinion."

In supporting this resolution, Mr. Parnell made a
speech, remarkable for an enunciation of policy. H e
first alluded to the force of public opinion in England,
and stated that there was really no public opinion in
Ireland to appeal to. H e declared it to be the duty of
the Irish statesman who lays claim to the title, to find
out some means of impressing upon the British Government the necessity of dealing with Irish questions. Mr.
Parnell then described the true Parliamentary policy.
When Irish measures were voted down by large majori-

Feb.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

23

ties, members should show their exasperation by means
of such discussion as arose on the English Prisons Bill.
" It is perfectly simple," said Mr. Parnell. " Give me any single
Irish question, and it is a mere matter of detail to arrange and carry
out the policy for the purpose of impressing the Government with
the necessity of dealing with that Irish question."

With this meeting ends the register of Irish politics
before the assembly of Parliament on 13th February,
The characteristics of those politics up to this period
seem to be a general tendency to political letter-writing,
and the more decided accentuation ot tne discord and division amongst the Home Rulers, Mr. Butt and Mr. Parnell
representing the Right and Lett of the Party.

2.4

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

[Feb.

II.—IN PARLIAMENT.
Opening of Parliament 13th February.—Chancellor of Exchequer's
Statement.—Major O'Gorman.— The Irish Borough Franchise.
—Introduction of new rules for the business of the House.—
The Times in trouble. —Illness of Mr. Butt.—The County
Franchise.—Lord C. Hamilton on Ireland.—Mr. Biggar at
Bermondsey.—Mr. O'Shaughnessy on Irish Administration.—
Sir S. Ibbetson on Irish Board of Works.—Major O'Gorman
and the Waterford Dry Dock.—Mr. O'Donnell on Mixed
Education.—Army Estimates.—S. Patrick's Night.—Sir P.
O' Brien and the Irish Guards.—Mr. Biggar and Lord Elcho :
great uproar.—Mr. Parnell at Glasgow : statement of policy.—
Mr. Samuelson's Resolution on the Agricultural Holdings' Act.
—Mr. O'Donnell thereon.—First Land policy of Mr. O'Donnell
17th March.—Mr. Blennerhassett on the Land Act.—The Convention Act.—Major O'Reilly made Assistant Commissioner of
Irish Education.—Sir Charles Dilke's Resolution on Zulu
War: Action of Home Rulers.—Lord Robert Montague retires
publicly from Home Rule Party.—Mr Justin M'Carthy elected
for Longford.—Sir Brien O'Loghlen unseated for Clare.—The
Nation's View of the Home Rule Situation.—Easter Recess. —
Land Demonstration at Kilnaleck, County Cavan, 14th April.
—Enunciations of Messrs. Fay, Biggar; Mr. Parnell's policy at
that time.—Letter from Mr. O'Donnell.—Parliament re-assembled 17th April.—Central Tenants'Defence Association Meeting
in Dublin.—First Resolution for reduction of Rents.—Rev. Mr.
Toomey on this occasion the first advocate of Mr. Parnell's subsequent advice to Tenants.—Mr. Parnell's Speech.—Mr. O'Donnell
on Mixed Education again.—Obstruction on the Estimates.—
First Great Public Demonstration on Land Question at Irishtown
20th April.—Speeches of Daly, Brennan, O'Sullivan, Ferguson,
and Power.—Mr. Lefevre's Motion on an Irish Peasant Proprietary.—Registration of Voters' Act (Ireland).—Mr. Macartney's Ulster Tenant Right Bill.—Death of Mr. Butt.—Mr.
O'Clery's Irish Volunteer Bill.—Irish Viceregal Estimates
challenged.—Mr. Butt's Land Bill rejected by 172.—The
O'Conor Don's University Bill.—Clare Election.—Election of
Mr. Shaw as Chairman of Home Rule Party.—Adjournment
for Whitsuntide Recess.—Ultimatum of Messrs. O'Donnell and
O'Connor Power in calling attention to Irish Distress: significant Speeches.—The Nation's View of Obstruction.—Limerick
Election.—Proposed repeal of Convention Act.—The Anti-

Feb.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

25

Rent Meeting at Westport on 8th June.—Advice of Mr.
Parnell to Tenants to keep " a firm grip " on the L a n d first
given.—First appearance of Michael Davitt, ex-Political Prisoner, on the public platform in Ireland.—Archbishop of
T u a m ' s Condemnation of the Demonstration.—Reassembling
of Parliament.—New Policy of Obstruction.—Outcry on
the part of the Press and the Public : Extracts from
the Press.—Anti-Rent Meeting at Milltown on J u n e 15th,
still more violent Speeches from Daly, Davitt, and Brennan.-^
Final Repeal of the Convention Act.—Mr. Callan on the Milltown Meeting.—Extraordinary Scene between Mr. Lowther
and Mr. O'Connor Power in the House : General Uproar.—
Numerous Meetings in J u n e of Farmers' Clubs.—Continued
Obstruction on the Army Bill.—Government University Bill
introduced and read a second time in the Lords.—More Scenes
in the H o u s e . — " T h e Young Gentleman in the Gallery."—The
Speaker Arraigned.—More Anti-Rent Meetings.—Obstruction
continued on the Army Bill and Estimates.—Election of Mr.
Finigan for Ennis.—Discussion on the University Bill: second
Reading carried.—Irish Estimates discussed.—Demonstration
at S h r u l e : Davitfs Speech.—Mr. Parnell and the Freeman.—
Convention of H o m e Rule Confederation.—University Bill
passed.—Prorogation of Parliament.

T H E Chancellor of the Exchequer, in stating the Ministerial programme for the session on the opening of Parliament, February 13th, announced the intention of the
Government to bring in a Bill dealing with the Grand
Jury system in Ireland. In replying to the complaints
of Irish members at the meagreness of the Government
measures for Ireland, the Chancellor went a little further.
H e pointed to a strengthening of the Board of Works
and a consolidation of its Acts and functions, as well as
an application of portion of the Church Surplus to satisfying the claims of the Irish National Schoolmasters.
All msntion of the Ir'sh University and Land Questions
was omitted. The result was that Major Nolan, declaring
that Ireland was " baffled and humbugged," moved an
amendment to the Address to the effect that such omission was calculated to produce great discontent in Ireland.

26

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

[Feb.

Mr. O'Connor Power seconded the amendment, which
was defeated by 47.
For the motion, 72 ; for the amendment, 25.
On this occasion Major O'Gorman, who was received
with cheers, said—
" Sir, I am extremely glad at everything that has occurred in
this House to-night (cheers). I am delighted beyond anything I
can say that the Government has treated this great question with
regard to Ireland in the manner they have, for nothing can rejoice
more my heart than to see that the English Government—as they
have always done for centuries—still continue to trample on us in as
unjust a manner as possible; and nothing can rejoice me more, also,
than to feel—as I believe every Irishman should feel—that we feel
for it the utmost hatred and contempt" (cheers).

On the 14th February, Mr. Meldon brought forward
the question of the Irish Borough Franchise. H e appealed to the Government to extend household suffrage
to Ireland, and thereby assimilate the franchise in the
United Kingdom. No man in Ireland was entitled to a
vote unless he was rated at ^ 4 , and Mr. Meldon alleged
that in consequence of the low valuation, that rating was
equivalent to £6 in England. He was for giving political power to the great mass of the people. Mr. Meldon
was supported by the Liberal party. Lord Randolph
Churchhill made a public recantation of his former opinions, and argued that the proposed measures would bring
within the franchise classes who were disloyal in feeling,
and likely to form into secret societies. The motion was
lost by 69. For, 187 ; against, 256.
On February 17th, the Government brought forward
the new rules relating to the business, or, as the Nation
frankly expressed it, for muzzling the Obstructives; but
after three nights' debate in the week no progress had
been made, and the House was adjourned, without even

Feb.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

27

one of the Chancellor's resolutions having been adopted.
Mr. Parnell, supported by the English Liberals, did much
to prolong and defeat the motion. The subject, however,
was renewed, and, after a lengthy discussion, in which
the Obstructionists again took a leading part, the first
resolution was passed with some modifications. The Times
made some comments in a leading article upon the debate, which induced Mr. Mitchell Henry to bring forward
the matter as a breach of privilege. The words complained of were, " The Home Rulers watched the debates
of Parliament with a malign intent, and at a given
moment, as soon as the opposition of the independent
appeared to have exhausted itself, the Obstructionists
emerged from their ambush for the purpose of putting
into operation their policy of exasperation/'" Mr. Henry
moved that the words were libellous reflections on members of the House. The Chancellor of the Exchequer
admitted that the Times had passed the bounds of legitimate criticism, but urged that the motion for bringing
the printer and publisher of the Times before the House
should be withdrawn. Mr. Henry, in reply, said his
object was gained, and the matter dropped. Mr. Shaw,
in the course of his speech, said that the only paper he
feared was the. Skibbereen Eagle, which had terrified a
greater man, Lord Palmerston.
At the end of February and the beginning of March
Irish affairs in the House were somewhat slack and uninteresting. In fact, the speakers were chiefly Mr. Parnell
and his small band of followers. Mr. Butt had not appeared upon the Parliamentary scene owing to illness,
which had brought him at the end of February into
actual danger, and kept him for weeks in a most precarious condition.

28

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

[March.

In the beginning of March Mr. Trevelyan brought
forward his motion on the County Franchise, viz., to
establish household franchise throughout the United
Kingdom. In the course of the debate Ireland was
made a prominent subject of discussion. Lord Claude
Hamilton in the course of his speech made use of strong
language. He asked :—
" W h a t happened after the last Reform Bill in Ireland in 1867 ?
T h e Government of the right hon. gentleman the member for
Greenwich passed two great Acts, which I shall still continue to
call confiscation and spoliation, for the express purpose of pacifying
the people of Ireland, and making them contented. If it had not
been for the hopes held out that the people would really be pacified
and m a d e content, the House would never have agreed to those
Acts. Well, what is the position of Ireland at the present moment ?
Is it pacified or contented ? I say it is at the present moment in as
great a state of ' veiled rebellion ' as it was when Mr. Disraeli used
that celebrated phrase in this H o u s e . And what is the class in Ireland in whom this deep feeling of disaffection is most rooted ? W h y ,
sir, the Roman Catholic peasantry. If you search Europe through
1 do not believe you will find any class so ignorant, so bigoted, bu
devoid of all knowledge of the principles of government as the Irish
R o m a n Catholic peasantry (oh, oh.*; and yet the hon. gentleman
proposes to hand over the representation of Ireland to that class.
I s the noble lord so ignoiant of human nature (cries of ' oh, oh !)—
well of Irish nature (oh ! oh ! and cheers)—as to suppose that the
whole feeling and sentiment of the people can be changed in four
short years ? Is he not aware—as he used to be daily made aware
through his Under Secretary, and the many sources of information
open to the Chief Secretary—that murders are still committed in
Ireland without detection, and base outrages perpetrated ; that trial
by jury is very often little better than a farce ; and that the minds of
the people of Ireland are daily poisoned by a pernicious and seditious press?
(Conservative cheers.) W h a t did M r . Chichester
Fortescue say with regard to the press of Ireland in the speech to
which I have referred ? W h e n I say the press of Ireland—of course I
allude to the National, not the general press—he said it was well
known how it teaches and preaches in every form, with an amount
of boldness and audacity, from week to week and month to month,
hatred of the Government and institutions of the United Kingdom.
H e said it was well known that this weekly literature poisoned the
minds of the people in Ireland who read it, against all law, and
against the Constitution of their country—that it was known how it

March.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

29

made it impossible for those who read that literature and none other
to know the truth with respect to public affairs, and the conduct of
the Government of the country. But I say that the pernicious conduct of that press continues at the present d a y . "

Sir W. Barttelot also spoke to the effect that if the
resolution were carried, it would simply increase the
power of the class which the member for Meath represented.
Early in March Mr. Biggar came before the public
in Bermondsey, and addressed a meeting of Irishmen
on the " Future of the Irish Race." His speech is so
full of the American democratic spirit, and contains so
pointed an allusion to Fenianism, that it is considered
advisable to give the Times' report (4th March) in
extenso:—
" M r . Biggar, M . P . , addressed a meeting of Irishmen in Bermondsey, on Sunday evening, on ' T h e Future of the Irish R a c e . '
By ' the Irish r a c e ' Mr. Biggar said he meant to include all Irishmen of the Roman Catholic faith wherever they were to be found.
Protestants he did not consider Irishmen at all. They were merely
W e s t Britons, who had, by accident, been born in Ireland, and from
his own experience he could say they were the bitterest enemies of
Ireland. H e rejoiced that Irishmen had clung to their faith. It was
that which had preserved their nationality, and had prevented their
being absorbed and lost sight of in the great English and Scotch
towns where they had settfed. By Mr. Gladstone's Land Act the
tenant-farmer of Ireland had been considerably benefited. H e could
obtain compensation for his improvements, and thereby escape the
workhouse in his old age. But how was that Act obtained ? By
fear. Mr. Gladstone himself admitted that it was the Fenian rising
which impelled him to it. N o w he (Mr. Biggar) would not say
whether he himself was or was not a Fenian, but if anyone called
him a Fenian he would answer that he did not count that any disgrace. Physical force was the one thing for whirl) the English
governing classes carea. They cared nothing lor justice, they cared
nothing for reason, they cared nothing for the rights of the people,
either Irish or English. They were moved only by their fears. H e
did not mean their fears for their personal safety. They knew they
had the police and the military to protect them, and they did not
fear personal violence. But it was possible—he would not say probable—that some fine day the democracy would break loose, that

30

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

[March.

the London warehouses and the Lancashire factories would be reduced to ashes, and the shipping in the Thames and the Mersey set
on fire ; and that was an outlook which the English governing
classes did not like. At present the English democracy was entirely
unrepresented in the House of Commons. That was owing to the
fact that the management of Parliamentary elections was still in the
same corrupt hands as before the passing of the last Reform Act.
But he thought it would not consent to remain unrepresented much
longer, and it was the duty and the interest of the Irish party—itself
essentially democratic—to ally itself with the English democracy.
He urged all his countrymen to unite in some organisation—he did
not care which—and make as much display of physical force as possible. They might be few in numbers, but when they remembered
the great results which flowed from the determined action of the
handful of men at Manchester and Clerkenwell, they could not
doubt of their ultimate success. Mr. Biggar was frequently applauded throughout his speech, and at its conclusion received a vote
of thanks."
Mr. O'Shaughnessy, on March 6th, brought forward
a motion upon the administration of Irish affairs in the
following terms :—
" The system of limiting the number of Ministers entrusted with
the direction of Irish departments, and sitting in this House, to one,
is productive of abuse and neglect in the government and adminstration of Ireland, and requires to be altered."
The speaker pointed out how, in his opinion, the Parliamentary government of Ireland was only nominal, it
being in effect a bureaucracy. The various duties connected with the Home department, the Local Government Board, the Poor Laws, and the Laws of Health,
were in England represented in Parliament. In Ireland
not only did all these duties fall on the shoulders of one
man, Mr. James Lowther, the Chief Secretary, but many
other burdens. H e was responsible for the large and
complicated system of Irish Education; and he assumed
the proportions of a Minister of War, when he came to
answer for that military organisation which went under
the name of the Constabulary. Mr. Meldon, Mr. Parndl,

March.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

3*

Mr. O'Connor Power, and Mr. Sullivan, all made long
speeches on the subject, which was met in a somewhat
playful and bantering tone by Mr. Lowther. Mr. Sullivan
said he never complained of the Chief Secretary's goodhumour, personal amiability, or courtesy, but of the inactivity, lethargy, and fatal torpor which, in obedience to
some word of command, had recently come over the
policy of the Government of Ireland.
Some supplementary estimates belonging to last year
were then brought forward, and led to a long and obstructive discussion. Mr. Parnell moved the rejection of
the vote for the expenses of the Irish Chief Secretary's
offices in Dublin and London, as he thought, for what
benefit the country derived from the Chief Secretary, they
might as well be without his office at all.
An official utterance in the course of this discussion,
with regard to the Board of Works (Ireland), is worthy
of record as a partial answer to Mr. O'Shaughnessy's motion. In reply to Mr. Henry, Sir Selwyn Ibbetson said
the Government proposed—
" To add to the strength of that Board, in order to bring it up to
the number of Commissioners which was originally intended, and
also to pass an Act in this session, if possible, to consolidate the
whole of the Irish Acts dealing with the operation of the Board of
Works. They proposed to amend, according to some recommendations of the committee, certain of the functions of the Board, and
they intended to nominate a member of the Government, a member
also of the Treasury, as an ex-qfficio member of the Board of Works,
so that the Board might be represented as a distinct Board in the
House of Commons (hear, hear). He will sit as a member of the
Board, and will therefore be aware of the action of the Board, and at
the same time will be a representative of the Treasury. That was
the scheme it was the intention of the Government to propose, with
a view of carrying out some of the recommendations of the committee. It might take some little time before it was possible to put
it in form before the House, but he trusted a real amendment of the
Board of Works1 would take place."

32

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

[March.

During this debate Major O'Gorman made a short
speech upon a dry dock for Waterford, which reveals
some unexplained dilatory conduct in that city. The
gallant member said he—
" Wished to bear his testimony to the great kindness and politeness of the financial Secretary of the Treasury (Sir I I . S. Ibbetson).
H e went to his office one day, and asked the hon. baronet for
^ 4 0 , 0 0 0 to create a dry dock for Waterford. Within three days the
hon. baronet gave him the ,£40,000 (laughter). His friends in
Waterford, however, though the money was granted on the 1st July
last, had not yet drawn a shilling of it. T h a t was not the hon.
baronet's fault, nor his (the Major's). H e was ashamed to say that
not a shilling had yet been spent on the dry docks of Waterford
(laughter). T h e hon. baronet might almost appeal to him to restore
the money, and might say, ' W h a t are you about ? W h y don't you
go on with your dry d o c k ? ' (laughter). H e could not give any
answer to that question. All he could say was that they had a
splendid Dock Board, that they met in a very handsome room,
and that their secretary had just walked away with ^ 8 5 0 ^much
laughter)."

As a good example of the policy of Obstruction, and
as a leading case as to how it was carried on by the
Home Rule members in Parliament last session, was the
debate raised upon the subject of Mixed Education by
Mr. O'Donnell, on 13th March, the result of which was
the Government were unable to pass money votes that
night. Upon the motion for going into Committee of
Supply, Mr. O'Donnell said he had a motion on the
paper which he was precluded by the rules of the House
from pressing to a division. The subject in effect was
the question of Denominational Education for Ireland,
though disguised under a general resolution. The House
under the influence of Mr. O'Donnell's exceedingly
lengthy speech gradually grew thin. But Mr. Parnell
was determined to have an audience, and knowing the
Government's anxiety for " supply," interrupted his col-

Mar.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

33

league, and called attention to the fact that there were
not forty members present. The Government whips,
hoping Mr. O'Donnell would soon run dry, exerted themselves to keep a house, and the member for Dungarvan
proceeded with his historical, critical, and argumentative
harangue. But again the House wearied and disappeared, when the same manoeuvre was resorted to by Mr.
Biggar, and a fresh House of listeners was again procured. Major Nolan, Messrs. Sullivan, Parnell, O'Connor
Power, Biggar, and others, all contributed to the debate,
which was, taken as a whole, an exhaustive statement of
the case for Denominational Education.
On St. Patrick's Day, under the new rule for carrying
on business, preventing preliminary discussion when
supply is the first order, the House of Commons went
into Committee of Supply on the Army Estimates immediately after the questions on the paper had been put
and answered. The result was some more achievements
in obstruction by the Irish members. Sir Patrick O'Brien,
deprecating the idea that he was either an Obstructive or
an extreme Nationalist—orv the contrary, he was an Imperialist—moved that the vote be reduced by ; £ 10,000.
His object was to call attention to the fact that there
were in the army 34*000 Irishmen and only 15,000
Scotchmen. But while the Scotch had some eighteen or
twenty regiments, the Irish had only seven or eight. H e
should like to see some Regiments of Irish Guards
formed. Mr. O'Donnell said he was opposed to such an
idea as long as, under a British Government, the duty of
Irish Guards would be to coerce the Irish people. This
and other subjects of minor importance were discussed
at great length, until the Chancellor of the Exchequer
rose and complained of the very great waste of time and
D

34

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

[Mar.

the repetition of arguments. This drew forth a challenge
from Mr. Parnell, and a collision seemed imminent. In
fact, later on, Mr. Biggar and Lord Elcho had hot words,
the former calling Lord Elcho a " Brummagem soldier."
After some uproar, the matter dropped, and progress was
reported between one and two, a.m. During the debate
Mr. Biggar mentioned his opinion that if there was a
war between England and Russia, the great majority of
Irish people would be glad to see Russia victorious.
Thus ended the national festival in the House of Commons.
On the following night at Glasgow Mr. Parnell made
a speech, for which an unsuccessful attempt was made to
bring him to task by Mr. Beckett-Denison, M.P. A S it
relates to the policy of the Obstructives, and explains the
motives of the debate on the Army Estimates, an extract
is here given :—
" W i t h regard to the position of Irishmen in England, they were
in the centre of the enemy's camp. They could make themselves
felt in schoolboard elections and Parliamentary elections. T h e r e
would soon be a general election, when they would have the opportunity of doing inestimable service to their country at home. H e
hoped they would be prepared to take advantage of that opportunity,
and act as one man for the good of Ireland. By holding themselves
aloof from both the Liberal and Conservative party, by not announcing their intention of voting for one side or another until they had
brought both parties to their doors as suppliants for support, they
would show their power. Depend upon it the way to get on with
an Englishman or a Scotchman was to show him that they had great
power. That was the principle upon which some of them were proceeding in the House of Commons ; and they had used that power,
too, though their numbers might be few. H e ventured to think that
they gave an example that would not be lost upon Ireland when she
got the opportunity of helping herself. They were last night in a
great hurry to get money for their army, having a great number of
little wars on hand to pay for, and they thought it very unreasonable
that some reasonable Irishmen were not in a very great hurry to give
them money. There was even some talk of giving the Irishmen a
regiment of Royal Irish Guards, and of sending that regiment—

Mar.J

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

35

where did the meeting suppose ? Over to D u b l i n ? N o , but sending that regiment out to Zululand to fight Cetewayo. Perhaps it
might not be such a bad experiment after all to let them try if they
would equip and send out a regiment of Irish Guards to Zululand.
Perhaps that regiment might be found on the wrong side. Well,
they did not get the money, at least not as much as they thought
themselves entitled to, though they had a big party, and though that
party seemed full of fighting. Yet they had some lively recollections of certain nights and days which they passed last session and
the session before. So Mr. O'Donnell announced at a quarter to
two this morning he was not going to give them any more money
just at present ; and when Mr. Biggar announced that the majority
of the Irish people, at home and abroad, had disapproved of these
wars, and that the majority of the Irish people were disaffected,
which was true—when these intimations were made, the House of
Commons gave up the task of getting any more money."

The result of the obstruction on St. Patrick's Night
was remarkable.
On the Thursday following, the
Chancellor of the Exchequer appealed to those members who had given notice of amendments to the
motion of going into Committee of Supply to allow
the Supplementary Estimates to be taken first. Unless
they were passed that night, the Government might
have to violate the Appropriation Act, the consequences of which would be that a bill of indemnity
would be necessary.
Whereupon at once all members, including even Mr. Biggar, withdrew their motions.
Shortly after, Messrs. O'Connor Power and O'Donnell
arrived from their oratorical excursions to Liverpool, and
Mr. Parnell from Glasgow, eager for the fray, and expecting to be in time for the business just transacted.
In revenge for their loss, they organised forthwith an extemporary discussion upon the Parliamentary Elections
and Corrupt Practices Bill, on the second reading of
which they swelled the minority to the magnificent number
of six.
Still determined to monopolise the attention of the

36

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

[Mar.

reporters' gallery, the determined band of Irish speakers
availed themselves of Mr. Samuelson's action in calling
attention to the working of the Agricultural Holdings
Act, to fight a pet Irish grievance upon an English subject. Mr. O'Donnell, who had lately lectured on the
Land Question before the Radical Association of Southwark, spoke at length, and recommended as a Liberal
party cry, " Land Reform and Free Agriculture." H e
moved an amendment to the effect that—
" There could be no adequate remedy for the agricultural depression at present existing which did not, especially at this period
of foreign competition, protect the application of skill and capital to
the soil, by the establishment of compensation for unexhausted improvements, of an equitable appeal against exorbitant rents, and of
substantial security of tenure for the agricultural classes both in
Great Britain and Ireland."

How great a contrast this motion is to resolutions
adopted on the Irish Land Question at the latter end of
the year will presently be appreciated.
That Mr. O'Donnell and his associates had as yet no
actual policy for a land agitation in Ireland, may be
gathered from his letter to the Freetnan, written on 17 th
March. In that he foreshadows a gigantic alliance between the Radical Associations in London and the
various Tenant Defence Associations and Farmers' Clubs
throughout Ireland. A public Conference on the subject in London is proposed about the month of May.
A further and General Conference is then projected
during the recess in one of the great northern English
cities, and the final plans of a great land campaign arranged and decided for carrying the land-reform agitation
into the heart of the English counties and the stronghold
of landlord power. This was Mr. O'Donnell's scheme

Mar.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

37

in March, and England, it appears, narrowly escaped the
stojrm. which subsequently broke with such extraordinary
violence upon the shores of Ireland.
But while on the subject of the Land Question, some
notice must be taken of a paper by Mr. Blennerhasset, M.P.,
upon the subject, read at a meeting of the London Home
Rule Club about this time, and dealing especially with
the defects of the Land Act of 1870 and the subject
of " economic rent." The member for Kerry laid down
that two conditions were essential to the commercial
treatment of land on competition rents—first, farmers
should be capitalists, and second, there should be a
variety of other occupations into which farmers, if landlords demanded excessive rents, could turn their capital.
The Act of 1870 Mr. Blennerhasset considered a failure,
because it had not faced the problem of the regulation
of rent. The conditions which made freedom of contract
the means of determining the amount of rent did not
exist in Ireland. H e was convinced that a system which
would throw upon the State the responsibility of deciding
in a case of a dispute of what was a fair rent, would be
of the greatest possible assistance and benefit to the
landlords of Ireland.
As a Parliamentarian Sir Joseph M'Kenna had always
gained the ear of the House of Commons. On the Irish
Wednesday (March 26th), in the absence of Mr. P. J.
Smyth, in whose custody the measure has been for some
years, Sir Joseph carried the second reading of the Bill
to effect the repeal of the Irish Convention Act. After
some Government opposition and discussion, the Chief
Secretary and Attorney-General agreed to the second
reading of a fresh Bill to repeal the Act of 1793? and
enact only what was requisite to prevent an assembly for

38

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

[Mar.

usurping or purporting to discharge the functions of
Parliament.
Towards the close of March Major O'Reilly, Home
Rule member for Longford, accepted office under Government as Assistant Commissioner under the Irish Intermediate Education Act. Major O'Reilly had been
long identified with all questions of education.
The principal events of the month ended by Sir Charles
Dilke's motion for a vote of censure on Sir Bartle Frere
and the Government, for the inception of the Zulu war.
Thirty-two Home Rule members voted in condemnation
of the South African policy of the Government, twentyone were absent from division, and Sir G. Bowyer, Colonel
King-Harman, Mr. Owen Lewis, and Mr. G. Morris
voted for the Government. But the Home Rule phalanx had already lost one more of its number. Lord
Robert Montagu on 28th March wrote a letter, addressed
to the Secretaries, withdrawing from the Home Rule
party, and it contained the following sentence : — " T o be
a member of your party is a degradation from which I
have for a year and a-half desired publicly to free myself, as I do now."
April commenced in Ireland with the unopposed return of Mr. Justin McCarthy for County Longford, and
the. report of the Clare Representation Committee, which
decided that Sir Bryan O'Loghlen had vacated his seat
by becoming Attorney-General for Victoria. The Attorney-General for Ireland passed his Vaccination Amendment Act through the second reading•>but beyond a few
questions asked and answered, the Irish party, up to the
Easter recess, remained in a state of quiescence. As a
retrospect of the session it may be as well to quote the
words of the Nation's London correspondent, which gives,

April.]

T H E IRISH AGITATOR.

39

presumably, a fair and impartial view of the Home Rule
situation at this crisis : —
" But what has been done in these two months for Ireland, and
how goes the good cause? Scarcely needs to one question, the
answer " Nothing ?' nor to the other, that aught of advance which
can be noted has not been made within the walls of Parliament.
Once there came a dream on Ireland that she would choose a band
of men to charm the old-time foe, and force her ears with strength
of passion-music. But the minstrels, as it fell out, were unskilfully
sorted, and preferred jigging and fiddling of their own fashion, and
this, too, so untunemlly, that at last nobody heeded much whether
they stopped or whether they played. T h e inspiring performance
of Mr. Shaw on the violoncello, or Sir Joseph on the big drum, assisted by Mr. Call an with the bones, could not attract for ever.
Soon we knew every note in their compass, down even to the soothing legend of the score—andante moderato!
Wherefore, J o e
Biggar, thou wert welcomed in the rout, with thy Belfast traditions
of that stirring orchestral direction, ' Play up Boyne Water softly,
just to see if we could stand it.' T h e grinding of the H o m e Rule
organ may wax or wane, but when shall we cease to welcome the
vigorous shrilling of that Northern note ? T h e session is over to
Easter, and how does it profit us ? There is no advance, and the
H o m e Rule party will not a m e n d . "

But if the Easter recess brought rest to the English
members from the obstructive and oratorical performances
of Irish members, it brought no such rest to the Irish
public ; for when the Irish agitator is not speaking he is
writing, and in Ireland much was done with tongue and
pen.
But meanwhile Mr. Butt was sick unto death, and a general feeling began to creep over those who knew him well,
which gradually spread to the public generally, that this
was to be his last illness. Notwithstanding, agitation of
some sort had to be kept up at all hazards, and consequently there was a grand demonstration at Kilnaleck,
County Cavan, whereat Messrs. Fay, Biggar, and Parnell
spoke. The speeches are useful as affording proof that
as far back as April 14th the idea which subsequently

40

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

[April.

pervaded the Land Agitation out of Parliament had not
occurred to the Irish members. Mr. Fay gave his panacea
for the Land Question—that each tenant should get a
twenty-one years' lease, renewable for ever at every period
of twenty-one years, at re-valued rent, provided he could
show at the time of each successive renewal that he had
paid his rent with reasonable punctuality, and that he
kept his farm in the highest state of cultivation that the
circumstances of each case would permit. Mr. Parnell
spoke these remarkable words, which may be usefully
compared with his utterances at Castlerea on December
7th :—
" They should devote their energies, not to obtain a final settlement of the Land Question—because the final settlement of that
question under present circumstances was impossible—but he
thought this much was possible, that they might obtain a measure
from the present Government wThich would go a long way towards
preventing eviction and unjust raising of rents (cheers). W h a t he
believed ought to be the final settlement of the Land Question was
the settlement which obtained in France and Belgium, where the
m a n who cultivates the soil is the owner of the s o i l ; and he looked
forward to the time, sooner or later, when by purchasing the interests
of the landlords it might be possible for every tenant to be the owner
of the farm which he at present occupies as tenant-at-will, or otherwise (cheers). H e thought this was a matter that might not come
perhaps for many years, but still things were marching very fast in
that direction. W h e n this became a burning question in England,
they would be near a settlement of it in Ireland."

On the same day Mr, O'Donnell sat in his chambers
in the Temple, and indited a lengthy epistle to the
Freeman}s Journal. Following the failing of every patriot
of not allowing anyone to abuse his country except himself, Mr. O'Donnell thus upbraids Ireland :—
" Imagine a people claiming to extort their recognition as a
nation from a great and dominant Imperialism, and with their H o m e
Rule Confederation somewhere in the city, their Parliamentary
Party in dingy chambers in a Westminster back street, and their

April.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

41

Land reform agitation nowhere ! Of course Ireland is the root, the
centre, the parent, as well as the object of all our exertions. It is
our home, our country, our nation. In it are our resources of national life and resolution, our recruiting ground, our force, our
leadership. But it is against an English influence that we contend;
it is by British friends against British foes that the whole theory of
any effective constitutional agitation counsels us to fortify ourselves.
Let the forces be raised in Ireland ; but is not England a battlefield
no wise general can overlook ? Let the directing head be in Dublin;
but there must be a strong and skilful hand in England. Let the
plans of campaign be settled in Irish assemblies in the Irish capital;
but a large part of the operations must be carried out amid the accidents and opportunities of English political life."
We have it, therefore, on the highest authority, that
the Obstructive Land-reform agitation was " nowhere "
on the 14th April.
Parliament re-assembled on 17th April, and on the
same day was held in Dublin the special meeting of the
Central Tenants' Defence Association. The main objects
were to consider the condition of the Irish tenant, and
to devise a plan of co-operation with the English tenantfarmers, so as to enforce the consideration of the Land
Question simultaneously in both countries. The meeting
consisted principally of leading political graziers, well
known in the agitating world, only two members of Parliament attending, viz., Messrs. Martin, Q.C., and Parnell.
The resolutions, moved by Mr. Kettle, of epistolary fame,
called upon the landlords to perform their duties, and
provide for the people. The next sentences contain the
germ of the recent agitations :—
" The landlords are now face to face with the necessity of reducing
their rents or of pauperising and starving the people. We deem it
well worthy of the consideration of the landlords to see if a policy
of concession and preservation might not now be the best even for
their own interests. We believe a reduction of rents, amounting in
the majority of cases to 25 per cent., is absolutely necessary to
preserve the credit of the occupiers, and to enable them to carry on
the business of the country even with (largely) reduced expenses

42

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

[April,

and the most, rigid personal industry and economy, and that a plan
of united action should be adopted by the tenants to collectively
urge this matter upon the attention of the landlords, many of whom
are absentees, and know nothing practically about the state of t h e
country."

But it was reserved for a Catholic clergyman to put
forward publicly, for the first time, into words the policy
which Mr. Parnell has for so long advocated. During
the discussion—
" Rev. Father Tormey said that fixity of tenure at fair rents had
been the cry that had been raised for nearly thirty years, and he
thought it would not be suitable to the exigencies of the present
time if they merely fell back upon that old cry. T h e country was
on the brink of ruin, and there must be a loud cry, not addressed to
Parliament so much as to society in this country (applause). T h e y
knew how slow the business of legislation was (hear, hear). T h e y
knew w7hat a cripple England sent with any message of redress to
them, and what a winged mercury carried them acts of coercion or
oppression (applause). T h e tenantry of Ireland were now on the
very brink of bankruptcy, and now was the time for them to say,
' W e will pay no more rent until they are reduced to such a standard
as will enable us to live ' " (applause).

But at this period these doctrines were thought too
strong even by the Central Tenants' Defence Association,
and the resolution was amended by the Rev. P. White, of
Miltown Malbay, and carried in the following terms :—
" 1st. T h a t this meeting affirms the prevalence over the greater
part of Ireland of pressing and constantly-increasing distress among
the farmers. 2nd. W e call upon the farmers to demand an immediate reduction of unfair rents. 3rd. N o final settlement of the
L a n d Question can be satisfactory which does not include fixity of
tenure at fair rents."

During the discussion Mr. Parnell had remained silent,
and in his speech at the end of the meeting he merely
spoke against the law of distress as unnecessary, and
made a few remarks about the difference between the
Irish and English Land Questions. One sentence, how-

April.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

43

ever, was significant. " T h e English farmer," he said,
" was able to live in a better position than the Irish, and
he takes for his share in the profits of the farm a very
much larger proportion than the Irish. Therefore the
Land Question in England would be solved in a different
way from the means they must adopt in Ireland." Perhaps the Rev. Mr. Tormey's theory had already taken
root in Mr. ParnelPs mind.
,
Directly, upon the re-assembling of Parliament, Mr.
O'Donnell repeated a manoeuvre we have already described in the debate on Mixed Education, and detained
the House with a long discussion on the character of the
Queen's College Professoriate. During the recess the
Obstructives had evidently devoted their leisure hours to
the study of Estimates; hardly an item was allowed to
pass without debate, and the letter of Parliamentary law
was used in order to defeat the spirit of it.
And now we come to what may be called the first
great public demonstration on the Land Question of the
)^ear ; and the leading movers and speakers engaged in it,
give a fair insight into the true origin of the anti-rent
agitation. On Sunday, 20th April, a tenants' defence
meeting was held in Irishtown, near Claremorris, County
Mayo, and attracted an enormous assembly. Mr. James
Daly, of Castlebar, proprietor of the Connaught Telegraph,
the gentleman who was arrested last November for a
speech delivered at Gurteen, was in the chair, supported
by Mr. O'Connor Power, M.P., Messrs.fLouden, Harris,
Brennan, and O'Sullivan. The origin and object of the
demonstration, Mr. Daly explained, was to demand a reduction of rent. At the last January sessions, Mr. Daly
said, a deputation of frieze- coated farmers in the district
waited on him, and complained most bitterly of the treat-

44

T H E

IRISH AGITATOR.

[April.

ment they were subjected to by some landed proprietors.
H e asked them to organise a tenant defence meeting,
and that was the origin of their coming together. Mr.
Thomas Brennan [the last gentleman arrested by the
Government for a speech at Balla] proposed the first resolution, which was in the following terms :—
" Whereas the social condition of the Irish people having been
reduced, through their subjection to England and its coercive legislation, to a state below that of any civilised country in the world ;
and
" Whereas the mouthpiece of English public opinion, when
speaking of constitutional misgovernment in late years, having declared that ' government should be for the good of the governed,
and that whatever rules wilfully and persistently postpone the good
of their subjects, either in the interests of foreign states, or to assist
theories of religion or politics, such rules have thereby forfeited all
claim to allegiance;' be it therefore
" Resolved—That we, Irishmen, assembled to-day in our thousands, do hereby endorse the foregoing declarations, as embodying
the position and wrongs of our misgoverned and impoverished
country, and as likewise affording us a justification for recording our
unceasing determination to resort to every lawful means, compatible
with an outraged civilised people, whereby our inalienable rights—
political and social—can be regained from their enemies."

In the course of his remarks Mr. Brennan said he
believed it was the masses of the people more than Parliamentary representatives who would do the most for
Irish liberty. " I will go further," he continued, " and
say I believe it is not on the floor of the House of Commons, but on Irish soil that the real struggle for independ e n c e must be fought. But, as Irish Nationalists, we
should be glad to see the enemies of liberty obstructed
and harassed, no matter where, or by whom, whether it
be in Westminster or Zululand, whether the attacking
party be commanded by a Parnell or a Cetewayo." A
voice here called for three cheers^ for Cetewayo. Mr.
O'Sullivan, following the lead of his comrade, said that

April.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

45

they must not send into Parliament men like The O'Conor
Don (groans) and the Hon. Charles French (groans),
" or any other wretched, miserable aristocrat, but men
sprung from the people."
Mr. Ferguson, of Glasgow, proposed a resolution on
the Land Question, which is also given in full, to the
effect:—
" That as the land of Ireland, like that of every other country,
was intended by a just and all-providing God for the use and sustenance of those of His people to whom He gave inclination and
energies to cultivate and improve it, any system which sanctions its
monopoly by a privileged and non-operative class, or assigns its
ownership and control to a landlord caste, to be used as an instrument of usurious or political self-seeking, demands from every aggrieved Irishman an undying hostility, being flagrantly opposed to
the first principle of their humanity—self-preservation."

Mr. Ferguson supplemented this resolution by a long
speech, but it is unnecessary to give any further extracts.
The speaking was concluded by Mr. O'Connor Power,
M.P., who declared that every cross road, every market
place, and every chapel yard in Mayo should be dedicated to the formation and the manifestation of a sound
and honest public opinion—a proposition which may be
usefully compared with the advice of the Fenian, John
Devoy, on the same subject. (Appendix A.)
After this excursion to the West of Ireland platform,
we must return to Parliament, where unanimity of a.
different kind had been displayed on the subject of the
Registration of Irish Voters. Mr. Meldon, Q.C., moved,
on April 23rd, the second reading of the Bill which provided for the assimilation of the English and Irish law,
and for the prevention of frivolous and groundless objections to claims of the franchise. It passed the second
stage, but was subsequently dropped.

46

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

[April.

On the same day the Ulster Tenant-Right Bill came
on for second reading, moved by Mr. Macartney, and
supported by the late Mr. Wilson. These gentlemen
proposed to transfer from the tenant to the landlord the
burden of proof as to the prevalence or non-prevalence
of tenant-right custom; to restrict, if not to abolish, the
estate office rules by which the custom may be impaired;
and to enact that the possession of a lease does not
abolish the tenant-right which would attach to a farm,
had no lease existed. These propositions were decisively
rejected on a division.
On May 2nd an important debate took place in the
House upon a " peasant proprietary for Ireland." Mr.
Shaw Lefevre brought forward his motion for the amendment of the Bright Clauses of the Land Act, which was
as follows :—
" T o call attention to the evidence and report of the Committee
on the Purchase Clauses of the Irish Land A c t ; and to move that,
in view of the importance of a considerable addition to the number
of owners of land in Ireland among the class of persons cultivating
its soil, it is expedient that legislation should be adopted, without
further delay, for increasing the facilities proposed with this object
by the Irish Land Act, 1870, and for securing to the tenants of land
offered for sale the opportunity of purchase, consistently with interests of the owners thereof."

After a long debate, with a general unanimity of opinion as to the value of the Bright Clauses, the resolution
was agreed to.
While the question of a peasant proprietary was before
Parliament, while candidates were busy addressing the
electors of Clare, and while the very types of agitation
and obstruction which he hated so bitterly were reaching
their height, Isaac Butt was gradually passing away.
Whether or not the stormy meeting of the Home Rule

May.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

47

League, where he was so cruelly impeached and so wantonly insulted, following on six months of anxiety and
annoyance, was the last blow which broke the great man's
heart will never now be known. It was certainly his last
appearance as a political leader in Ireland. Body and
spirit both failed him from that time forth, and on May
5th one of the brightest ornaments of the Irish Bar, one
whose name will live long after his voice is silent, departed for ever from the scenes of his professional and
political careers.
It was only two days after Mr. Butt's death that Mr.
O'Clery's Bill for the establishment of a Volunteer Corps
in Ireland was successfully carried to a second reading.
Mr. Plunket opposed the measure strenuously. He complained that the members who urged the expediency of
accepting the measure on the ground of the loyalty of the
Irish, were those who, outside the House, had delivered
speeches in favour of the Zulus, and had uttered sentiments which fell very little short of treason. He wished to
know in which of these cases members desired to be
taken at their word. It would be a good thing if members, in consideration of the passing of the Bill, were to
give up the luxury of talking treason.
The Irish Executive was treated with scant ceremony
on the 12th May, when some of the Irish Estimates were
brought forward. The salaries of two gentlemen-at-large
were challenged, and the number of aides-de-camp on the
Viceregal staff, Major O'Beirne complained, was larger
than that of the Viceroy of India. An unexpected champion turned up in Mr. Henry, who said the functions
of the Irish Viceroy were partly to keep up the social
dignity of the capital, and to influence the female mind.
One of the most important private bills of the session,

48

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

[May,

from an Irish point of view, was Mr. Butt's Land Bill,
which sought to extend to the whole of Ireland the
Tenant-right of Ulster. The second reading was moved
by Mr. Shaw on 14th May, and rejected by a majority of
172.

Next evening The O'Conor Don obtained his opportunity of bringing forward the new Irish University Bill.
After a lengthy discussion, the debate was adjourned, the
Chancellor of the Exchequer promising an opportunity
for its thorough discussion.
In Clare meanwhile a triangular battle was going on
between Whig, Tory, and Home Ruler, in which The
O'Gorman Mahon headed the poll by 130; Captain
Vandeleur (C.) being far ahead of Mr. Peter O'Brien
(L.)
The O'Conor Don, referring to the adjournment of the
debate upon his University Bill on 22nd May, asked the
Chancellor of the Exchequer to provide a day for the
resumption of the discussion. This the Chancellor refused to do, and accordingly Mr. Shaw, to express his
surprise and regret at the action of Government, moved
the adjournment of the House. Mr. A. M. Sullivan followed in a speech, which was loudly cheered from the
Home Rule Benches, and in which he alleged that the
Government had entered into semi-official negotiations
with the Catholic authorities in December, and that
when he had heard the circumstance he warned The
O'Conor Don that they had done so only to delude the
Irish people. At a meeting of the Home Rule party the
same night Mr. Shaw was appointed Chairman for the
session, in place of Mr. Butt.
On the motion for adjournment, May 27th, of the
House for the Whitsuntide recess, Mr. O'Donnell took

May.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

49

the opportunity of calling attention to the " deplorable
and unendurable condition of the landed interest in Ireland. If that was to continue much longer, he said,
Parliament would have to solve a greater problem than
that which startled them a few years ago, when the whisper
of liberty reached Ireland from the other side of the
Atlantic." In this manner Mr. O'Donnell kept himself
en rapport with his ex-Fenian associates out of Parliament,
and gave the first threatening note of what was to come
in the autumn recess. He was ably seconded by Mr.
O'Connor Power. That gentleman said :—
" The patience of the Irish people was entirely exhausted, and if
Parliament did not come forward within a reasonable time with
some measure of legislation calculated to relieve the depression of
the present state of agriculture in Ireland scenes would arise in Ireland that would be far more dangerous to the rights of property and
to the order and tranquillity which should prevail in that country
than any that Ireland had been afflicted with in her long struggle
with the ignorance, if not the incompetence, of the English Parliament. If these warnings were unheeded, and Parliament should
plead for further delay, the consequences must be fixed on their own
shoulders.'' (hear, hear.)

If the American proverb that a man is a fool who prophesies unless he knows be true in the case of Mr. O'Donnell and Mr. O'C. Power, the result of these gentlemen's
prognostications as to the future state of Ireland would
lead to obvious conclusions. These last utterances of
Messrs. O'Donnell and Power may be called for convenience their ultimatum, and as such will be referred to.
As an example of the style of National Press letterpress
in Dublin at this time, and its view of obstruction, the
following extract from the Nation will suffice :—
" In the House the Irish popular members, or rather such of them
as attend to their Parliamentary duties, have been more than usually
active since the debate on Wednesday week on the University Bill.
£

50

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

[Jutie.

The conduct of the Government on thatoccasion, and its refusal the
following day to give a day for the resumption of the debate, seem
to have opened their eyes to the fact that the time has come for
putting pressure on Ministers, if they mean to obtain any concessions
at all this session. Accordingly, they have been making things
generally inconvenient to the Government. Mr. Shaw, Mr. A. M.
Sullivan, Mr. O'Donnell, Mr. O'Connor Power, and others, unexpectedly interposed on Thursday week with unusually outspoken
denunciations of the treatment to which The O'Conor Don's Bill
had been subjected by Sir Stafford Northcote, and thereby spoiled
to a great extent the stated business of the House for that evening.
Mr. Kirk, Mr. Sullivan, and Mr. Parnell followed the next day with
a discussion of the Dowth case. On Monday, besides attending to
the Zulu question, as noticed above, Mr. Parnell, Mr. Mitchell
Henry, and others tackled the estimates with considerable success,
defeating amongst other things the project of passing the Scotch
denominational education votes without ample discussion. Finally,
on Tuesday the agricultural depression in Ireland was the subject of
a lengthened discussion, in which Mr. O'Donnell, Mr. A. M. Sullivan, Mr. M. Henry, Mr. Justin MacCarthy, and Mr. Parnell participated. In all those encounters with the enemy the Home Rulers
did not gain all they aimed at, but they did succeed in obstructing,
delaying, and deranging the business of the House, and that in itself is no unimportant achievement. Let us hope that it will be
frequently repeated when Parliament, which has adjourned for the
Whitsuntide recess, shall have reassembled."

Mr. Butt's constituency, known as the City of the
Violated Treaty, in the election of a new member proved
true to its Home Rule opinions, and the Limerick electors seated Mr. D. Gabbett by 860 votes, against 658
recorded for Mr. Spaight (C.)
During the Whitsuntide recess the O'Conor Don's
University Bill became the subject of considerable agitation. In Birmingham the Nonconformists, and in
Belfast the Queen's University graduates, denounced the
measure, while to counterbalance these secularist demonstrations a declaration in favour of the Bill was promulgated, and largely signed by the Irish Catholic laity.
Meanwhile the Convention Act was disappearing from
the Statute Book; it passed without discussion through

June.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

5*

the House of Commons, and not long after it reached a
second reading in the Lords, after a short speech from
Lord O'Hagan.
The ultimatum of Messrs. O'Donnell and O'Connor
Power on the 27 th May, which we have given in full, was
speedily followed by one of those scenes alluded to by Mr.
Power, which were to form the new Irish problem for
English statesmen.
The Question of Rents was first publicly raised by demonstration at Westport on Sunday, 8th June, and it was
on this occasion that Mr. Parnell seems finally to have
adopted the policy recommended at the commencement
of the year by the Fenian Devoy (see Appendix), and
threatened in the ultimatum of Messrs. O'Connor Power
and O'Donnell.
Here Mr. Parnell first advised the tenants to keep a
firm grip of their lands. Here we first read of banners
bearing the mottoes, " The Land for the People/' " Down
with the Land Robbers/' " Ireland for the Irish," etc.
The local personnel are the same as on the former occasion at Irishtown, when Mr. James Daly, of the Connaught Telegraph, took the chair. But there is one
other present, hitherto silent, though always at work,
who from henceforward was to take a prominent place in
the Land Agitation throughout the West of Ireland—the
ex-political prisoner, Michael Davitt. But on this occasion
Davitt's speech was somewhat indefinite, but darkly significant and threatening. He said English members
showed sympathy with Ireland and paid attention to
Irish questions simply because Mr. Parnell had succeeded
in blocking the machinery of the English House of Commons. " They were there/' he continued, u to denounce
the landlord system, which was like a millstone around

52

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

[June,

the neck of Ireland. The landlords were only filling
the place of a territorial garrison. The people should
depend upon themselves, not their representatives, to
settle the Land Question. If they resolved that they
would organise and combine to defend each other in
their interests, then they would find the Land Question
settled within a shorter time than was used in useless
legislation." Mr. Parnell declared that " if the landlords
could be purchased out, as in Prussia, it would be a final
settlement of the question." " But in the meanwhile/'
he continued, " it is necessary to ensure that as long as
the tenant pays a fair rent, he shall be left to enjoy the
fruits of his industry. A fair rent is a rent the tenant
can reasonably pay according to the times, but in bad
times a tenant cannot be expected to pay as much as he
did in good times three or four years ago. Now what
must we do in order to induce the landlords to see the
position ? You must show the landlords that you intend
to hold a firm grip of your homesteads and lands. You
must not allow yourself to be dispossessed." Such was
the first enunciation by Mr. Parnell of the policy recommended by the Rev. Mr. Tormey at the Central Tenants'
Defence Association in Dublin, on 17th April.
What was thought of this meeting by a very high ecclesiastical authority may be gathered by the letter on
the subject, here reproduced, from the Catholic Archbishop of Tuam:—
" To the Editor of the Freeman,
"Westport, June 5.
" D E A R SIR,—In a telegraphic message exhibited towards the
end of last week in a public room of this town, an Irish member of
Parliament has unwittingly expressed his readiness to attend a meeting, convened in a mysterious and disorderly manner, which is to

June.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

53

be held, it seems, in Westport on Sunday next. Of the sympathy
of the Catholic clergy for the rack-rented tenantry of Ireland and of
their willingness to co-operate earnestly in redressing their grievances abundant evidence exists in historic Mayo as elsewhere. But
night-patrolling, acts and words of menace with arms in hand, the
profanation of what is most sacred in religion—all the result of lawless and occult association—eminently merit the solemn condemnation of the ministers of religion, as directly tending to impiety and
disorder in Church and in society. Against such combinations in
this diocese, organised by a few designing men, who, instead of the
well-being of the community, seek only to promote their personal
interests, the faithful clergy will not fail to raise their warning
voices, and to point out to the people that unhallowed combinations
lead invariably to disaster and to the firmer riveting of the chains by
which we are unhappily bound as a subordinate people to a dominant race.
" I remain, dear sir, faithfully yours,
" •{« JOHN, Archbishop of Tuam."

While, however, Mr. Parnell and Michael Davitt were
busy plucking the first fruits of a communistic agitation in
Mayo, the Obstructive members in London had organised a second campaign against the business of the
House, and inaugurated a new and scientific policy of
obstruction. To co-operate in this, the member for
Meath travelled night and day to the House of Commons, arriving on June 9th. The system was the same
as that adopted on previous occasions, but suspended for
some time during the University Bill Question. Finding
now that the hope of their gains was gone, the Three
commenced once more to criticise minutely the business
brought before the House, and the result was that very
little business was transacted. The same thing happened
on the following night, and the English Press were loud
and bitter in their denunciations of the Irish members.
The Standard remarked i6 the special feature of the present policy is to profess anxiety to adhere to the rules of

$4

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

[June.

the House, while actually interposing obstacles in the
way of business being proceeded with." The Telegraph
also noted the new phase of obstruction:—" They do
not openly obstruct the business of the House; they
only insist that the work before Parliament shall be executed with minute exactitude and elaborate care."
Again the Telegraph puts the dilemma of obstruction
most forcibly:—
" The difficulty in meeting this obstacle to anything like fairly
rapid legislation is, that these Irish gentlemen can plead with truth
the rights of members of the House to devote any time they choose
to every vote in the estimates, and every clause of every bill. Some
of them are clever orators, and nearly all are fluent speakers. With
the library of the House at their command, and armed with Blue
Books, they can soon acquire sufficient information to make relevant remarks on any topic. But a few ' relevant remarks' on every
question arising out of the votes and the new bills laid on the table,
means, if adopted generally, a session lasting the whole year. In
theory the House of Commons has a right to examine details, but
in practice it never goes through estimates or new measures item by
item ; and if it did, the business of the country could never be carried on. The practically unrestained liberty of our members of
Parliament is based on the understanding that they will reasonably
* forbear their own advantage.' There is no rule restricting the
length of speeches ; a member may speak for ten hours if he likes,
and even if the House refuses to hear him, he may still continue to
occupy the floor when once he has begun. There is nothing to prevent the proposal of a hundred amendments to every clause of every
bill. A question may be asked, and a commentary made, and a
division taken, on every item, however small, of the estimates.
" Old and commendable English system of political warfare has
been changed; and in imitation of newer and less happy Parliaments a third party has been formed in the House. The English
gentlemen who serve under Lord Hartington still obey the honourable traditions, and, a little Radical restiveness excepted, fulfil the
ideals of the olden time. The Home Rulers, however, have not
only invented an independent Opposition, but are unfortunately beyond the pale of our public opinion. Were a body of British representatives to behave in the same way we might appeal—and probably not in vain—to the patriotic feelings of their constituencies ;
but most of the Irish electors take comparatively little interest in
the proceedings of the legislature, and consequently their members * have as free a charter as the wind.' They are sent to West-

June.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

55

minster to do as they please ; but what is sport to them is death to
legislation."

As a contrast to this we give the views of the organ
and advocate of obstruction, viz., the Nation, No comment is necessary:—
" The representatives of a distinct nationality which England is
vainly trying to suppress, have been dragged into the English Parliament, and they do not feel bound to conform to * the English
system of political warfare;' they decline to fuse themselves into
either of ' the great English parties,' they prefer to stand aloof from
both ; they have no interest in the orderly and rapid transaction of
English business; ' the dignity of the House' is no concern of
theirs ; they desire to recover for their own country its native Parliament, which England foully destroyed ; they seek to bring into
prominence the fact that the British Parliament has loaded itself
with more work than it can satisfactorily perform, and they want to
prove to that assembly that its own comfort and convenience would
be promoted by making ' a division of labour.' Moreover, those
men ask for their country the redress of long-standing grievances,
and their requests are spurned; they strive to obtain some small instalments of justice long denied, and their endeavours are brutally
overborne and defeated. Then why should they give willing aid to
the working of the British Parliamentary machine? Why should
they assent to the hurried and imperfect performance of a great
mass of the business which the British Parliament undertakes to do?
Why should they favour the schemes, lighten the labours, and
gratify the feelings of British Ministers ? They are under no obligation to to do anything of the sort. Their country is delighted to
see them doing the very contrary. For many a long and weary year
has the English House of Commons been thwarting the will, crushing the hopes, spurning the demands, and impeding the progress of
the Irish nation ; and that being so, it can hardly be wondered at
if there is joy in Ireland over the allegation that a number of Irishmen have found out a way of thwarting, impeding, perplexing, and
oppressing the English House of Commons."

That Obstruction in the month of June had obtained
absolute scientific perfection, is manifest by a statement
of the Chancellor of the Exchequer:—
" W e have," said Sir Stafford Northcote a few days since,
"brought in, on the part of the Government, no fewer than 28
Bills, all of which are now before the House. Of these a great
number —14—have not passed the second reading, and upon seven
of those the Speaker has not been moved out of the chair, and five

56

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

[June.

are in committee, and have to be considered on report. Of the five
in committee the Valuation Bill has 112 clauses, and at the present
time is on Clause 6, while the Army Bill, which contains 180
clauses, has only reached Clause 44. So much for the Bills. Then
with regard to Supply, we have had only two votes out of 26 on
the Army Estimates, and we have also only got two votes out of
80 for the Navy Estimates, and 71 out of 142 on the Civil Service
Estimates."

We must desert Parliament for a brief period, and
once more seek the National platform in the West. On
June 13, a meeting of the Home Rule League in Dublin
publicly approved of the choice of Mr. Shaw as the
leader of the Home Rule Party in Parliament
But how little influence the imprimatur of the League
had upon the promoters of the new phase of the Land
agitation will be seen. Indeed, the attention of the public
was fixed with a sensation of unpleasant surprise upon
the promoters of the anti-rent movement. It was a new
and startling thing to see large numbers of one class of
the people pledging themselves to make common cause
against another class. The meetings at Irishtown and
Westport were dangerous precedents, and the speeches
delivered full of ominous import; but another demonstration at Milltown, County Gal way, took place on June
J 5th, at which language of a still worse character was
made use of, and a feeling of public alarm and surprise
became palpably visible. Had steps been taken at this
juncture, perhaps the plot of arousing the country might
have been scotched. It is, however, easy after the event
to point to the exact time for action. The leaders at the
Milltown meeting were Messrs. Daly, Davitt, Brennan,
and O'Sullivan. Mr. Arthur Morris, in opening the proceedings, remarked that if they could get an Act passed
to the effect that the landlords should live upon Indian
meal until they granted a reduction of rent, they would

June.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

57

not be long before such a reduction would be granted.
The first resolution was proposed by Mr. Brennan, the
gentleman lately arrested, and was in favour of selfgovernment. "The speech of the day/' he said, "the
most eloquent and significant speech, was not anything
that would be said from that platform, but it was the
tramp of the mighty multitude of earnest and determined
men whom they saw marching there that day. They
were determined to keep a grip of their homesteads, and
the people of Galway and Mayo might well be congratulated on being the first to accept the true gospel of the
Land Question. They declared that the land belongs to
the man who cultivates it, and not to the vampire landlord, who spends it in the gay capitals of Europe. They
met that day not to talk of twenty-one years' leases; they
wTere there in open insurrection against landlords. Let
them continue to be as faithful as the 300 Spartans who
fell at Thermopylae, as the three brave Romans who kept
the bridge, faithful as the three brave Irishmen who,
with the words ' God save Ireland' on their lips, met a
glorious doom at Manchester." Mr. O'Sullivan spoke next,
and was interrupted by such expressions as " three
cheers for the French Revolution," "three cheers for
the Irish Republic/' " three cheers for the Zulus and
King Cetewayo." Mr. O'Sullivan remarked they did
well to cheer for the Zulus, and went on to express a
desire for a national army to guard the national independence. The resolution on the Land Question was
moved by Mr. Davitt. He said he was not the advocate
of strong language ; he told them not to be satisfied with
cheers or resolutions, but to resolve on putting into action
those resolutions whenever they found a fitting opportunity. He repudiated the Home Rule League, and denied
that Mr. Shaw or Mr. Henry ever identified themselves

5&

THE IRISH AGITATOR..

[June.

with the National cause, or represented the aspirations of
the Irish people. Mr. Davitt concluded in the following
words:—
" He would advise the tenant-farmers to feed themselves and
their children, to live comfortably and decently, to keerj their cabins
neat, and send their children to school, and if there was sufficient
left, to pay the landlords the rents they demand. Let the landlords
turn them out of their homes if they would at the point of the
bayonet, and a spirit would spring up in Ireland that would be the
destruction of landlords for ever (cheers), They dared them. He
urged them to organise. What had organisation done for Ireland ?
and they said the organisation to which he had the honour to
belong—the Fenian organisation (loud and prolonged cheers)—
they said that that organisation disestablished the Irish Church. So
said Mr. Gladstone. * Well, an organisation of the tenant-farmers
would disestablish the landlords in half the time (cheers). In conclusion, Mr. Davitt counselled them to agitate, and said he did not
look to the House of Commons for a settlement of this question, but
to the perseverance of the Irish people on Irish soil."

Two days after this convention of land agitators was
held in the West of Ireland, on June r7th the Irish Convention Act was repealed. It was looked upon as a
useless legal instrument, and accordingly dismissed from
the schedule of Government weapons. The Nation remarked upon the subject, that it would prove to be an
Act of Emancipation to political life in Ireland. Hitherto
it had been a "dead weight and stumbling-block to
agitation." Now its repeal will remove " some cumbrous
and disabling fetters which hung around the limbs of the
Irish people, and will afford facilities for organized expression of Irish opinion to an extent unknown since
1793." A strange contrast these words to Lord O'Hagan's
* Mr. Gladstone, replying to Mr. Ferguson, of Glasgow, n t h
December, 1879, and refusing to take the Home Rule pledge, said :
—'' You are mistaken in supposing that the outrages in Manchester
and Clerkenwell dominated or affected my action with regard to
Ireland. They drew the attention of the public, on which there are
so many demands, to Irish questions, and thereby enabled me, in
point of time, to act in a manner for which I had previously declared
my desire."

June.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

59

remarks on the same subject in the House of Lords :—
" Parliament no longer fears assumption of its powers or
usurpation of its functions, and against any possible
assault upon the common law, the law of the land gives
ample security. The Bill has outlived the circumstances
which gave it birth, and any justification for maintaining
it which they afforded." /The events which have occurred
since midsummer have certainly had the effect which
Lord O'Hagan predicted; the law of the land has had to
intervene to prevent the assaults upon the law, the dangers
of which had, according to Lord O'Hagan, entirely disappeared.
During the whole of June, and, in fact, to be particular,
after the threatening ultimatum of Messrs. O'Donnell and
Power on the 27th, the various Associations throughout
the country broke forth into a chorus of resolutions. At
Waterford and Nenagh, at Mallow, and at Clare; at
Knock, County Mayo, where there was a remarkable
outburst of indignation against the Catholic Archdeacon
Kavanagh for his expressions against the new departure
in the Land agitation; at Thurles, Bailieborough, and
Kilkenny; at Castlebar, Ballinasloe, and Claremorris,
the various Farmers' Clubs met and passed a series of
resolutions, all more or less in the same strain.
A curious incident occurred in Parliament after the
Milltown demonstration, which was labelled indignantly
by the Nation as Mr. Callan's stroke at the tenant-right
agitation, and is a pleasing proof of the unanimity of the
Home Rule Party at this particular juncture.
On June 23rd the member for Dundalk asked Mr.
Lowther whether the persons who were most prominent
at the recent meeting at Milltown had themselves any
connexion with the district in which the meeting was
held or with the land. Mr. Lowther's reply was that they

60

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

fJune*

had not. The answer shed some significant light upon
the origin of the meeting in question.
June ended with two remarkable events—an extraordinary scene in the House of Commons and the introduction by Government of an Irish University Bill in the
House of Lords. The first was the upshot of a question
asked of Mr. Lowther by Mr. O'Connor Power apropos of
the Milltown meeting and Mr. Callan's query. The
member for Mayo wished to know whether the Irish Secretary had any authority for his belief, stated to Mr.
Callan, that the persons who took part in the Milltown
meeting were not tenant-farmers, and were not connected
with the neighbourhood, Mr. Lowther not only confirmed
his previous reply, but went further, and said, " The first
resolution was moved by a clerk in a commercial firm
in Dublin, and seconded by a person described as a discharged schoolmaster. Another resolution was proposed
by a convict at large on a ticket-of-leave, and seconded
by the representative of a local newspaper." The answer
was given at a quarter to five, and attended with loud
laughter from the ministerial side of the House. But
this answer kept the House in a state of confusion until
seven o'clock. Mr. Power at once sprung to his feet,
defiantly moved the adjournment of the House, and proceeded to make a violent tirade against English rule.
Irritated by the rhetorical force of Mr. Power's adjectives,
the House took to loud conversation, then a hubbub
arose, so that the Speaker's voice could scarcely be heard,
groaning, coughing, and laughing were in turn resorted
to, but in vain. The result was that in their anger
several Ministerial supporters, in attempting to interrupt,
became out of order. The Chancellor of the Exchequer
himself could obtain no hearing until the Speaker had

July.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

61

thrice asserted his authority, and then it was discovered
the Chancellor was himself out of order. Meanwhile
Mr. Power went on. Once, on a point of order, the
Speaker said, " Though not strictly out of order, I have
pointed out the great inconvenience, if not irregularity,
of the proceedings now taking place." But rules and
regulations, etiquette and good taste, were alike lost on
the member of Mayo, and, from his unruly conduct,
arose one of the most violent scenes ever witnessed in
the House of Commons. Messrs. Parneli, O'Donnell,
Sullivan, and Henry, assisted by Mr. John Bright, all
took part in the discussion, which ended in proving that
the Obstructives, in knowledge of sharp Parliamentary
practice, had outwitted their opponents.
The rest of the business of the last part of June consisted chiefly of endless discussions on the Army Bill, to
the clauses of which, in pursuance of their policy, the
Obstructives moved innumerable amendments, delaying
the measure in a most unprecedented manner.
The state of the Irish Parliamentary Party, alias Home
Rulers, at the end of June, could not have been very
flourishing, when we find Mr. Henry giving notice, at a
finance meeting, that no defaulter should be at liberty to
attend any meetings in future, or vote on any question,
and that no gentleman in arrear of his subscription should
any longer be considered a member of the party. It was
doubtless k comfort to the defaulters pointed at, that,
powerless in the little imperium in imperio of King
Street, they had still left to them the privilege of voting
in the House of Commons.
Early in July meetings throughout Ireland continued
to be held, at which reductions of rents were demanded
as a right. At Skehanagh in Galway, at Ballyhaunis in

62

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

[Juty*

Mayo, at Ballinlough in Roscommon, at Thurles, at
Clifden, Claremorris, and Ballyvaughan, the same species
of resolutions were brought forward and passed, while the
clergy of Ossory confined themselves to calling for aid
from the Government, In Parliament, for the first week
in July, the House of Lords had been busy with the
second reading of the University Bill The Irish peers
who opposed it were Lord Leitrim, Lord Inchiquin,
Lord Donoughmore, and Lord Powerscourt, the latter
of whom expressed his opinion that a Catholic endowment was the proper solution of the problem.
The House of Commons was once more for a whole
week subjected to a series of violent scenes upon
the Army Bill, for which the Obstructives were almost
entirely responsible. The great " cat "-contention was
the leading feature of the numerous discussions upon the
measure—the result of which was that Colonel Stanley
announced that the Government had made up its mind
to confine flogging in the army in future to cases punishable by death.
On ioth July another storm burst over the House of
Commons. The business in course of progress was a
Committee on the Army Discipline Bill, when suddenly
a cry of privilege was raised, and the Speaker was sent
for hurriedly. What followed is admirably described by
a correspondent of the Irish Times, and as the matter is
one of historic interest, the account published by that
journal is here given :—
" The Sergeant-at-Arms placed the mace upon the table, and the
Speaker took his seat. Mr. A. M. Sullivan, in a calm and respectful
speech, called attention to the fact that a stranger was then seated
and had been seated in one of the side galleries of the private members taking notes, these notes bearing on the action and proceedings
of members belonging to a specific section of that House—the Irish,

July.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

63

members, to wit. So far the House was interested, but in no way
excited. Up rose Mr. Callan, and, after his manner, narrated his
part in the affair. Suddenly the Speaker sprung a mine under the
benches below the gangway, when he took upon his own shoulders
the whole responsibility for the presence in the galleries of him
whom Mr. Callan called this ' obnoxious person.' The Ministerialists thereupon rent the air with cheer after cheer. But the Irish
members, recovering from their first surprise, occasioned by the
grim audacity of the Speaker, clearly betrayed an indisposition to
accept the explanation of Mr. Speaker. Mr. Sullivan spoke from
the front Opposition bench, below the gangway, where he was
joined by Mr. Parnell, who looked pale and reckless. After a little
confusion and a great deal of noise, Mr. O'Connor Power rose, and,
in his peculiarly sarcastic manner, coolly asked the Speaker to name
the motives with which he had these notes taken. Mr. Speaker
said they were taken for his own information. But Mr. O'Connor
Power was not satisfied. He openly disputed the right of the
Speaker to distribute strangers in the places of hon. members.
Ministerialists interposed with loud and angry cries of ' Order.'
But the more the House cried 'Order,' the more Mr. O'Connor
Power persisted in disputing the authority of the chair. Again the
Speaker rose, but not this time with his customary slow and
measured demeanour. He almost jumped. Anyhow it will go
down to history that Mr. Brand jumped up, and speaking with something akin to acerbity, rebuked Mr. O'Connor Power, declined to
make any answer to that gentleman's question, and, sweeping round
with dignity, deliberately left the chair and walked from the House,
followed by the cries of the member for Mayo, who literally
shrieked, * Mr. Speaker, I protest, sir; I say I protest.' A dead
silence fell upon the House, in the midst of which the voice of Mr.
Raikes was heard directing the Committee (we were in Committee
now) to ' clause 167, page 1,000,' &c. The sound had a most ludicrous effect, and Mr. O'Connor Power responded to it by moving to report progress, that the conduct of the Speaker might be impugned.
The row now became almost serious. Lord Hartington endeavoured
> to make peace, but Mr.. Parnell took up the issue, and made a
furious onslaught upon the whole proceeding, censuring the conduct
of the Speaker, and twitting the Marquis of Hartington upon again
throwing in his voice with the Treasury Bench. The discussion now
took a new turn, and Mr. Parnell protested against the Committee
sitting when a question ' impugning the conduct of the Speaker'
was before the House. He asked that the Speaker should be called
in, so that his conduct might be discussed. Ultimately it was reresolved to defer that duty until to-morrow. Meanwhile, what was
to be done with the obnoxious person, the innocent cause of all this
commotion ? All this time a young gentleman had been seated in
the gallery, to the left of the Speaker's chair. Would an order be

64

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

[July.

given for his withdrawal ? That was the question now before the
House, and to this Mr. Parnell, Mr. Callan, and Mr. O'Connor
Power directed their attention. Whether by order or accident is
not certain, but the young gentleman disappeared suddenly. The
motion to report progress was therefore withdrawn, and we proceeded to discuss ' Clause 167, page 1000.' While hon. members
rushed out to dine, suddenly there was a commotion along the front
Opposition bench below the gangway, for Mr. Callan, on turning
round to take up his hat, had seen the offending stranger deliberately taking notes in another part of the gallery. Mr. Gray thereupon made a motion to report progress, and Mr. Sullivan said that
every time he saw that young gentleman in the gallery he should
'espy strangers,'and have the House cleared. Happily an 'understanding ' was come to. Mr. Gray's motion was negatived, and
the Committee continued. The episode is quite without example
in modern Parliamentary experience, the shouting, yelling, and
angry gesticulations reducing the sedate House of Commons to a
veritable pandemonium."

After this scene in the House, and much further obstruction on the Army Bill, the Freeman's Journal, the
proprietor of which was and is Mr. E. D. Gray, M.P.,
seems to have become frightened at the attitude of the
" active " section of the Home Rule Party. We find in
its columns of 14th July a leading article urging the
exasperators to abandon their tactics, lest they might be
suspended or expelled from Parliament. The answer
was telegraphic, and in these terms to the Editor :—
" House of Commons, Monday.
" We deeply regret your article on Army Bill, obviously founded
on erroneous information, calculated to endorse current misrepresentations and to encourage inactivity. Lord Harrington's confession
to-day of necessity of withdrawing local legislation from an overweighted Parliament, proves what might be achieved by united and
energetic action.
" C . S. PARNELL,

" J . G. BlGGAR,
" F. H. O'DONNELL."

It was war to the knife, and there was evidently no
hope of gaining any influence over the " three " either
through friend or foe.

July.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

65

Once more to the platform. A meeting, very different
indeed in character to those in the West of Ireland, was
held at Borrisoleigh on July 13th. The Tipperary agitation for a reduction of rates was put solely on the
agricultural depression, and the resolutions and appeals
made by the clergy on the occasion were comparatively
moderate and logical. On the same day, however, at
Claremorris a demonstration of the anti-landlord and
anti-rent description was carried out under the auspices
of Messrs. Davitt, Louden, and Dillon. All these gentlemen made inflammatory speeches. Mr. Louden, however, had a difference with the Chairman, Rev. Canon
Ulick J. Bourke, P.P., which has some significance. In
the course of his remarks, Mr. Louden said that they
were not without allies, for they had the English democracy at their back. At this point the Chairman interfered, and said—
" As Chairman I am bound to listen to all that has been said;
but there are two propositions which have been uttered by Mr.
Louden to which, as Chairman, I must necessarily object. One was
that we unite with the democracy of England. I hope we never
shall. We are a religious people. We never have united with the
English people, particularly with the democracy, and I hope we
never shall (loud applause). The other proposition he made was,
that he hoped no landlord would be sent to the English Parliament
(cries of ' Never')."
Mr. Daly —" Never. Nothing
"
The Chairman—" Well, then, if that proposition is true, Mr.
Parnell ought not to be sent to Parliament (loud cheers for Parnell).
I am only exemplifying the fact, that if you take the proposition
generally, you should not send Mr. Parnell or Mr. Biggar, who is
a Whig also."
Mr. Daly—" He is no Whig."
The Chairman—" There must be exceptions made, and it is only
on that sense that the proposition should not be general I make
that remark " (cheers).
A Voice—" No landlord in Mayo."
Mr. Louden—"My friends, a rather unusual course had been
taken (cries of ' Spoken,' cheers, and noise) by our respected ChairF

66

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

[Juty-

m a n in making an exception to two remarks which I made to you.
One of these remarks had reference to the aid—the moral aid—
which you are now receiving, and which the people of Ireland are
receiving, from the Radical party in England (cheers). W h e n I
made that remark to you, I had in view those banished brothers of
yours, the ' Exiles of E r i n ' (applause), who in a foreign land are
trying to assert the glory and the grandeur of their race ; I had in
view those patriotic bodies, the H o m e Rule Associations through
all the great centres, and the H o m e Rule Confederation of Scotland,
presided over by Mr. J o h n Ferguson (cheers), who came to the
Milltown meeting when the people had not the courage they have
to-day."

Mr. Davitt made a remarkably frank speech, in which
the following sentences occurred:—
" They were assembled, he said, to advocate every plank of the
platform laid down at the Irishtown, Westport, and Milltown
meetings. T h e y had been told that inflammatory language had
been used at previous meetings; but he asked the Government to
point to any outrages that had resulted from it. They had been
called ' Communists ' and ' F e n i a n s ' because they asked the right
to live in Ireland ; but they might retaliate, and ask what right
landlords have to the soil, and they would find it very difficult to
get convincing proofs from Lord Sligo, Lord Lucan, Sir Roger
Palmer, or Lord Oranmore (groans). T h e y had been up to this too
moderate. They had simply asked for a reduction of rents which
it was utterly impossible for them to pay. J o h n Stuart Mill said
rent was the surplus of the profits that came from the tenant's industry and outlay in tilling the soil. W h e r e was this surplus of
profits in Ireland to-day ? I n face of the depreciation of produce
and large importations from America, he did not say they were
justified in paying no rent at all, but he did not say that a time
might not come when they would have to make a protest as a
nation against paying salary to a caste in Ireland that were fulfilling
the duties of a landlord garrison (applause). T h e old cry of ' Fixity
of tenure at fair r e n t s ' would do no longer. They must tell the
English Legislature that the concession they gave would be taken as
instalments only of their just demands (hear, hear), and they must
not be satisfied with their representatives unless they supported the
full demand, that the soil of Ireland should be returned to the
people of Ireland (applause)."

In the same week another Tipperary meeting was held,
and again the contrast between the utterances of the two

July.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR-

67

provinces, Leinster and Connaught, was most remarkable. The meeting was under the auspices of the clergy,
who appealed to the landlords on behalf of the sober,
industrious tenant, and not on behalf of the idle and
drunken.
On 18th July, after sitting almost continuously until
a quarter to four in the morning, the House of Commons
finished the business of the Army Bill. Up to the very
last moment the Obstructionists continued their tactics,
but at last the measure found its way into the quiet
haven of a third reading.
The following Monday the Irish Estimates came in
for their turn of obstruction. The first vote proposed
was that for the Irish Constabulary, and eight hours
elapsed before it was passed. During the debate Major
O'Gorman made an amusing speech, in which he laughed
at those English Governors of Ireland who could not *
pronounce the Irish name of Geoghegan.
The interest in the University Bill ceased on its passage
through a second reading in the House, on 24th July, but
succeeding it, the Ennis election on the 26th produced
a feeling of political excitenient throughout the country
almost unequalled. It was in fact a contest between
Mr. Parnell, whose nominee was Mr. Finegan, of London, and the Catholic clergy, who gave their support to
Mr. William O'Brien, Q.C. The Ennis victory was a
matter of great importance to Mr. Parnell and his party,
and the result was hailed with great ''national" enthusiasm.
Mr. O'Brien, however, had the misfortune to be fighting not only a Nationalist after Mr. ParnelPs own
heart, but he had also two great additional drawbacks—
one, that there was a Conservative candidate also in the

68

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

[Juty*

field, and the other that he, a Whig, and a Crown Prosecutor to boot, had only been converted to the doctrines
of Home Rule a short time before he commenced his
canvass of the electors of Ennis. The result was a
defeat by six votes, and picturesque lampoons in the
National papers.
A noticeable incident in the rejoicings over the Ennis
election was the exhibition in Castlebar of an effigy of
Mr. E. D. Gray, M.P., which was paraded through the
town, hung, and then burnt, along with a copy of the
Freeman's Journal, of which paper Mr. Gray is the sole
proprietor.
At Shrule, in County Mayo, the last important platform meeting of the month was held on July 27th.
Resolutions were passed in favour of reduction of rents
and a peasant proprietary. The fact that the anti-rent
agitation was only one means to an end, was now first
distinctly stated by Mr. Davitt, in a speech remarkable
for its plain sentiments. " The good," he said, " already
effected by these meetings is not to be measured by the
reduction of rents. The successful expose of the inhuman land system, by which Ireland is cursed, and her
people impoverished, is both encouraging and hopeful,
and must be persevered in, until the public opinion of
the civilised world shall seize landlordism by the throat,
and compel it to disgorge the plundered heritage of a
suffering people. Your fight is against a system which
which will be held to by the landlords like grim death.
Organise, unite, sap its foundations by intelligent and persevering operations." In these words, it may be remarked, only once more repeated, is the advice given by
the Fenian Devoy in the letter already alluded to. (See
Appendix A.)

Aug.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

69

The month of August commenced with a curious episode. The correspondent of the Freeman's Journalpublished a report that at a meeting of the Home Rule
Parliamentary Party, Mr. Parnell, he declared, irritated by
their refusal to adopt the course he wished to adopt, called
them " a set of cowardly Papist rats." Mr. E. D. Gray
said he heard the words, while Mr. Parnell and five of
the Obstructionists present flatly denied their ever having
been used. The matter still remains a mystery.
On the 2nd August a rent-reduction meeting was held
in the town of Dungarvan. One of the resolutions ran
as follows :—
" That we pledge ourselves to take no farm from which a
tenant has been capriciously evicted, after having offered to pay a
fair rent"

But it is remarkable that the Western ring of defiance
against the landlords was quite wanting in this Southern
meeting ; and indeed it is a matter of fact that such language has been throughout the year almost entirely confined to the province of Connaught
The immediate result of the repeal of the Convention
Act upon the Home Rule League was, that in this month
Mr. T. D. Sullivan (editor of the Nation) gave notice of
the following resolution :—
" That in view of the repeal of the Convention Act, which has
recently taken place, we recommend to the consideration of the
members of the League and the friends of the Home Rule cause
throughout the country, the question whether it would not be desirable to give to the League the authority and influence which would
be obtained by converting it into a regularly elected Convention of
the Irish nation, with powers to consider and advise upon all political questions affecting the welfare of Ireland."

Further action in the matter was taken later, of which
more anon.

70

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

[Allg#

The Parliamentary Session was now fast approaching
its close, and accordingly it was time to demonstrate the
strength of the Home Rule Party in England. The annual
convention of the Home Rule Confederation of Great
Britain was held at the Crystal Palace on the 9th, Mr.
Parnell, as President for the third year, occupying the
chair. As an electoral organization, this confederation
is well worthy of attention. Some years ago it was commenced on a regular system, England and Scotland
being divided into six districts. A central committee to
each has been added, with a special view to electoral
work. Some idea of the ramifications of the confederation may be given by the following list of towns and
places having Irish circles sending delegates to the convention : — Liverpool, Jarrow-on-Tyne, Birmingham,
Leeds, Airdrie, Manchester, Devonport, Finsbury, Marylebone, Lambeth, Greenwich, Chelsea, Hull, gradford,
Bristol, Durham, Crewe, Warrington, Paisley, Glasgow,
Shrewsbury, Sheffield, Eccles, Bolton, Newcastle, and
Preston. In these towns lies the strength of the Irish
vote in England, and in them will centre Irish interest
during the next general election.
About this time Mr. O'Clery's Irish Volunteer Bill
was thrown out in the House of Lords, and the National
School Teachers Bill passed its third reading. This
measure must be placed to the credit of Mr. Charles
Meldon, Q.C, to whose exertions principally its passing
is due. By it salaries are increased, and pensions are
granted to the teachers out of the Church Surplus. The
Parliamentary and Corrupt Practices Bill also passed the
third reading; and under its provisions two judges, instead of one, now sit to hear election .petitions. On

Aug.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

71

Friday, 15th August, Parliament was relieved from its
laborious duties. The Irish Agitator must now be sought
for on the platform only, where he proceeded at once
to take the same prominent part in politics as he did in
the House of Commons, during probably the most violent and fatiguing session of the present Parliament.

72

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

[Aug.

III.—AFTER PARLIAMENT.
August—First Balla Meeting.—Davitt's Opinion of Home Rule.—
Formation at Castlebar of National Land League by Davitt.—
Meeting of Home Rule League in Dublin—Mr. Parnell at
Limerick.—Mr. O'Connor Power at Ballyhaunis and elsewhere
in the West.—Mr. Biggar at Draperstown.—Proposed Convention discussed at the Rotundo, September nth.—Protest of
Messrs. Mitchel Henry and Shaw.—Mr. Parnell's Speeches at
Tipperary and Carlow.—Davitt at Headford.—The Attack on
Mr. Sydney Smyth.—Mr. Parnell at Cork.—Messrs. Biggar and
Dillon at Maryborough—Colonel King-Harman's Letter to the
Agitators, read at Dromore Meeting.—A Land Manifesto.—Mr.
Parnell at Navan.—Davitt's violent Speech at Annaghdown.—
Mr. Parnell at Belfast and Newry.—Meetings at Newport and
Ballinamore.—Major O'Beirne's Views.—Actual formation of
the National Land League.—Meeting at Enniscorthy.—Collision at Aughamore between the Agitators and the Catholic
Clergy.—Disapproval of Bishop M'Evilly, expressed by letter.
November Meetings at Athenry, Gal way, and Gurteen.—-At
Gal way Mr. Parnell points to Davitt as the author of the new
Land Agitation.—Full Report of Speeches of Davitt, Daly, and
Killen at Gurteen.—Meetings at Corofin and Kilmaine.—Value
of Property diminishing in Landed Estates Court—Addresses
to Government by Irish Members and Catholic Hierarchy.—
The Agitators in England.—Davitt's Plan for the National
Convention.—Meetings at Lackagh, Kiltanin, Islandeady, and
Kiltimagh.—Arrest of Davitt, Daly, and Killen.—Brennan's
Speech at Balla.—The Agitators in England. —Arrest of Brennan.—Demonstrations at Castlebar and French Hill.—Meetings
at Drumsna, Carrick-on-Shannon, Ballina, Mount Party, and
Camlough.—The Connaught and Munster Winter Assizes.—
Merging of the Central Tenants' Defence Association in the
National Land League.—Mr. Lea elected for Donegal.—Mr.
Parnell's Departure for America.

ON the very day that Parliament rose, the Land Question in Ireland was lifted into particular prominence in
the West at a small village, afterwards more famous,
named Balla. A significant remark was made by the

Aug.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

73

Chairman, Mr. Walsh, who said that, in his opinion, the
organised system of landlordism had surpassed the old
seignorial system of France, whose fruits were plucked in
the whirlwind of revolution. Again Mr. Davitt was a
chief speaker. " Death to eviction and the land for the
people who till i t " was the motto of the agitation. H e
maintained that the Irish people never cared a jot for
Home Rule, and it was lost labour to try and convince
England that Ireland wished for a more intimate connection with the empire.
On the next day, August 16th, a Convention of Tenantfarmers took place in Castlebar, at Mr. Daly's own hotel,
when Mr. Davitt formed the association known as the
National Land League. The document embodying the
rules and objects of the proposed association is given
in the Appendix, and contains the whole secret of the
Western agitation. It purported, in so many words, to
be a Vigilance Committee, and laid down, in plain terms,
the programme of agitation and terrorism, for the expropriation of landlords' property, which has been so successfully achieved for the last five months. It may be
here stated that this new association subsequently swallowed up the more moderate club known as the Central
Tenants' Defence Association, and at a meeting of which,
in Dublin, Father Tormey first enunciated Mr. ParnelPs
policy.
A meeting of the Home Rule League was held on
21st August at the Rotundo, Dublin, where Mr. Parnell
received an enthusiastic reception. The resolutions,
however, were very general, the last, setting on foot a
special fund for the purpose of consolidating the Home
Rule Party, being exceedingly significant of the state of
the League, politically and financially. The feeling of

74

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

[Aug.

the meeting was evidently all in favour of the " Exasperators," and against Mr. Shaw and the moderate
party ; and if the demonstration proved conclusively how
hopelessly the Home Rule Party was divided, it also
showed that at the future elections the followers of Parnell would be the choice of the people.
While Mr. Davitt and his Tenant-vigilance Committee
were at work in Connaught, Mr. Parnell was busy preparing his utterances for the South, where he was to
commence his campaign against the landlords. A great
land-meeting was held in Limerick on Sunday, 31st
August. Mr. W. H . O'Sullivan, one of the members for
the County, attended and spoke. But it is with Mr.
Parnell's speech the public is most concerned; and after
alluding to landlords as the drones of the hive, he proceeded to talk about reduction of rent, and said ;—
" It was the duty of the Irish tenant-farmers to combine and ask
for a reduction of rent (hear, hear), and if they got no reduction
where a reduction was necessary, then he said that it was the duty
of the tenant to pay no rent until he got it (loud applause) ; and if
they combined in that way, if they stood together, and if, being refused a reasonable and just reduction, they kept a firm grip of their
homesteads, no power on earth could prevail against the hundreds
of thousands of tenant-farmers of this country" (cheers).

He continued by declaring that the land of the countryshould be owned by the people of the country, and he
concluded by calling upon the State and the landlords to
make a good bargain, while they could, for the market
was falling.
The last resolution is a very fair commentary upon
Mr. ParnelPs remarks, viz, :—
" That the farmers of this county pledge themselves not to take
any farm from which a tenant has been evicted for refusing to pay
a rent which, in the opinion of honest and impartial valuators, is a
rack-rent, and which would make it impossible for the person paying it to maintain his farm with decency and comfort."

Sept.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

75

On the following day the Home Rule excursionists
took a trip down the Shannon in the steam-ship Vandeleur. At Kilrush an address to Mr. Parnell was presented, the terms of which were as follows : —
" Whereas the United Kingdom is on the eve of a great political
struggle, to be contested by Whigs and Tories, and believing that
the future welfare of Ireland is at stake, and also believing that the
only remedy is to support Mr. Parnell's policy, so sickening to John
Bull, we are resolved at the next general election to give our united
support to Erin's noblest son and England's bitterest enemy, Charles
Stuart Parnell."

At about three o'clock the company on board sat down
to dinner, Mr. John Ellard, Town Clerk of Limerick, in
the chair. Amongst those present were—Messrs. Parnell, M.P., O'Sullivan, M.P., O'Shaughnessy, M.P., D. F.
Gabbett, M.P, ; two Justices of the Peace, Messrs. M'Donnell and Spillane; fifteen Catholic clergymen ; and
several Limerick town-councillors. The following shows
what the chairman is reported to have said, and how he
was interrupted :—
" The chairman said it was their first duty to propose * The
Queen (hisses), Lords, and Commons of Ireland.' He trusted that
the day was not far distant when this toast could be proposed with
the Lords and Commons of Ireland sitting in the old house in College Green (cheers), acting with her Majesty (hisses) for the welfare
of Ireland."

On the same Sunday as the meeting at Limerick, Mr.
O'Connor Power, M.P., fulfilled his part of the agitator's
business at Ballyhaunis, in the West. Whatever was left
out in Mr. Parnell's speech was filled in by Mr. Power.
H e dealt with the details of the sweeping reforms he proposed, and which he has subsequently embodied in an
article in the Nineteenth Century. The programme drawn
out by Mr. Davitt at Castlebar he cordially endorsed (see

76

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

[Sept.

Appendix). In dealing with absentees the member for
Mayo would not be contented with a tax. All property
held by absentee proprietors should be subject to a compulsory sale. The sale of waste lands should also be
forced on by Government, and four millions of acres could
be planted with a hundred thousand peasant proprietors.
The time had gone by for fixity of tenure, Mr. Power
declared. If carried in time it would have benefited the
masses of the people; but the proposal to settle the Land
Question by compulsory sale of property, so as to distribute it among the occupiers, was the proposal that in
England found the most general acceptance. The resolutions carried were that the tiller of the soil should be
the owner, and that the landlord system should be
abolished.
After this meeting Mr. Power made a tour of all the
principal towns in Mayo, arriving at last in Castlebar on
Sunday, September 7th, where he delivered a characteristic address. Before he had the honour of occupying a
seat in Parliament, Mr. Power said he had had the far
greater honour of occupying a wooden stool in a prison
cell because of his services to Ireland. H e defied the
Government to prosecute him, and stated his intention
to carry on the campaign they had just left off in Parliament into almost every city and village in Ireland. Mr.
Power concluded by saying he was in favour of the
establishing of a Parliamentary tribunal for ascertaining
the value of the various properties in Ireland. H e was
in favour of offering to the landlords just compensation,
and then to let them depart in peace. H e would have the
landlords disestablished just as the Irish Church was disestablished. H e would say to them that their system
had been found inconsistent with the welfare of the Irish

Sept.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

77

people, and that it was the first duty of the Government
to save the lives of the people, who did not deserve
instant destruction.
To Mr. Biggar had been entrusted the task of propagating these doctrines in Ulster; and accordingly at
Draperstown, County of Londonderry, on the 5 th September, the member for Cavan gave vent to some very
striking observations upon the subject of the disestablishment of landlords, of which the following is a specimen :—
" The landlords were in this awkward position—that they had
refused to accept every reform that had yet been introduced on
behalf of the tenants. Mr. Butt's Land Bill proposed fixity of
tenure, which only meant that the occupier should not be dispossessed as long as he paid a fixed rent, the rent being subject to
revision every twenty-one years. The landlords refused to accept
the principle of that measure, and now the occupiers of the soil
went in for something else. If the landlords refused the reasonable
and fair concession now asked for they might have to suffer a great
deal, because ultimately a bloody revolution might take place in
these kingdoms, and the land might be taken from the landlords
entirely, as it was in France " (cheers).

The time was now ripe for the subject of the proposed
National Convention to be discussed. Accordingly the
Home Rule League met on n t h September in the
Rotundo in Dublin, and, under the wing of Mr. Parnell
and the Extreme Left Home Rulers, decided to take
advantage at once of the repeal of the Convention Act.
Forty self-constituted members of the League accordingly
determined to convoke a representative Convention in
Dublin, to imitate and foreshadow an Irish Parliament.
It was to consist of 300 elected delegates, and every
Irishman residing in Ireland who contributed a shilling
was to be entitled to nominate ten persons for election,
and to vote for 300 persons of the total number nominated. The only Home Rulers who publicly protested

78

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

[Sept.

and refused to have anything to say to the movement
were Mr. Mitchell Henry and Mr. Shaw.
At Clifden and Killanin, County Galway; at Carrigallen, County Leitrim; and at Mallow, at Cahir, and
Ballinderreen, County Tipperary, Land meetings were
held about this time, but none of the leading agitators
presided, and, in consequence, the language used was
comparatively moderate.
The next important platform meeting was at Tipperary,
where Messrs. O'Clery, P. J. Smyth, and Parnell were
present, and spoke. That the cry of reduction of rents
was a mere blind for the propagation of the anti-landlord
agitation is proved more and more conclusively by what
Mr. Parnell said on this occasion. H e commenced by
assuming premises totally unwarranted by facts, to prove
a false conclusion. He said that it was not the lowness
of prices, or the bad harvest prospects, which had hit the
farmer so hard, and had made his livelihood precarious,
but it was because the system of landlords was a bad
and worthless one. How to get rid of them, therefore,
was the problem, and this was his advice :—
" It is no use looking to Parliament if you go on paying rents
which the land is not capable of yielding (cheers). If any of you
who may have saved some capital during good times go on paying
those rents, why you cannot expect, and you will not get, the landlords to lower them, and you will not get your farms—you will
remain the serfs and helots that you are (cries of 'Never,' and
' Shoot them'). Therefore, it is for you to stand together, to be
determined, to insist upon a reasonable reduction where a reasonable
reduction is necessary, and where you don't get a reasonable reduction, then I say that it is your duty to pay no rent at all (prolonged
cheering). Now, this may seem very extreme talk, but I tell you
that it is common sense, because if you have only got half or threefourths of the rent to pay your landlord, and he refuses you a
reduction, what is the use of your paying him that half or threefourths ?"

The systematic stumping of the Land agitators con-

Sept.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

79

tinued to be kept up with increased vigour during the
whole of September. On Sunday, 28th, no less than four
meetings were held in four different counties, viz., Clare,
Carlow, Mayo, and Gal way. The first was held under
the auspices of the Clare Farmers' Club, near Ennis, with
Rev. Mr. White, of Central Tenants' Defence Association
fame, as Chairman. The speakers were all either Catholic
clergymen or Poor Law Guardians, and their speeches
were merely requests for reductions of rent. At Tullow,
County Carlow, Mr. Parnell simply repeated the advice
he gave at Limerick, without, however, stating in terms
that the true object of the agitation was the abolition
of landlords. His reason was obvious. The Carlow
audience knew by experience the value of a resident
landlord class. At Castlebar, County Mayo, Mr.
O'Connor Power held forth with the full western tone of
menace. His words were—" I state boldly that the
landlords of Ireland, as a class, have been the robbers
of the people of Ireland." Mr. Davitt filled in the
picture at Headford, County Galway, by declaring that
if a sacrifice was to be made by the Government, it
must be that of a monstrous Land system, and not a
periodic holocaust of its impoverished victims. The
Government would be compelled to see the necessity of
establishing the tiller as the proprietor of the soil, and
granting to the people what they would no longer be
denied. Such compulsion was as feasible in the direction
of an industrial ownership as in the tinkering tentative of
fixity of tenure. Security without ownership would now
never be accepted by Ireland as a satisfactory settlement
of the Land Question.
The end of September was marked by a desperate
attempt in Mayo to murder two land agents. On the

80

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

[Oct.

last day of the month Mr. George Sydney Smith, the
agent of Lord Sligo, went with his son to collect rents,
and on their return they were attacked at a place near
Newport by four men with blackened faces, who all fired,
but failed to injure any of the party upon the car. Mr.
Smith, jun., however, returned the fire, and killed one of
the murderous gang.
The plan of addressing meetings in different counties
and provinces on the same day, was adhered to in October by the agitators with great success. On Sunday, 5th,
the propagandists of the new land-doctrines were at
work arousing the people of Cork, Queen's County, and
comprising Mayo and Sligo in their deeds of daring. Mr.
Parnell, at Cork, advised the tenants to offer a passive
resistance, and refuse to pay unjust rents. H e told them
that while they were in possession of the land was the
time to take the necessary precautions to remain there.
In a veiled manner, in fact, owing to the southern
audience he was addressing, Mr. Parnell gave the occupiers to understand that the Mayo plan was the only one
worth adopting.
At Maryborough, Messrs. Biggar, M.P., and John
Dillon were the principal operators upon the people.
The latter gentleman was hailed as the future member for the Queen's County, and his advice was frank
and to the point. H e said :—
" His advice was to abstain from outrages, because outrages were
not necessary. Let each parish form a tenant-right league, and
meet outside the chapel every Sunday after Mass, and let every
man tell his neighbours his story, and let them elect a leader in each
parish, and when a hardship was told, call a meeting and denounce
the landlord ; publish the case, and send it up to the Freeman in
Dublin, and they will publish it, and they would frighten the landlords in that way (applause). If that did not succeed, have a monster meeting; ask Mr. Parnell to come over to denounce the landlord,

Oct.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

81

and he will (cheers). The fight will begin after the November days.
What will the landlords do when they refused them the rents of
November ? Let those who have the money pay the rent, and those
that have too high rents ask the landlord to reduce them by 50 or
60 per cent., and if he refused, pay no rent, He will then serve the
tenant with notice, and they must have the meetings every Sunday,
and if the last resource were adopted, they must put a ban on his
land. If any man then takes up that land, let no man speak to him,
or have any business transactions with him."
Mr. O'Connor Power, at Ballinrobe, on the same day,
with Mr. Davitt's assistance, held a mass meeting, numbering 25,000. Bands, banners bearing such mottoes as
" Down with land robbers," " Ireland for the Irish," and
horsemen and footmen bearing mock pikes, were the
order of the day, and the usual anti-landlord resolutions
were adopted.
The Sligo demonstration, held at Dromore West, was
principally remarkable for a letter from Colonel KingHarman, M.P. for the county, and a Home Ruler, which
was read upon the platform. It is a valuable piece of
evidence as to the effects of the new departure in Irish
agitation:—
" During this week a number of meetings have been held in
various parts of Ireland, with the ostensible purpose of discussing
the distressed state of the agricultural population of Ireland, at
which speeches have been made and sentiments enunciated which I
consider to be calculated to mislead the people, to injure the cause
which they profess to advocate, and to embitter the relations between classes of persons whose interests should be bound up together.
The entire class of landlords has been held up to public odium, and
resolutions have been passed pledging the tenants to adopt courses
which, if carried out, must infallibly lead to the misery and ruin of
many. The result has come but too quickly. Threatening letters,
brutal outrages, and lastly an attempt at murder in an adjoining
county, which has terminated fatally for one unforunate man, have
followed in rapid succession. It is my deliberate opinion that the
cause of these terribly sad events can only be found in the speeches
of reckless agitators. I trust and believe that no such orations will
be made at Dromore West; but I cannot find it consistent with my
conscience or my duty to take part in any meeting where the possiG

82

T H E IRISH AGITATOR.

[Oct.

bility of such dire evil may arise, nor can I allow my name to be
quoted in the same column with men who only for their own
purposes would embark an already suffering people in a course
which must tend to bloodshed and ruin. I am, therefore, reluctantly
compelled to decline attending any meeting at present."

The following manifesto, which at this time was circulated in County Westmeath, is a fair example of the new
principles of contract and morality laid down by the new
company of land reformers:—
" T h e only cure for the universal depression of trade in 1879:—
L a n d must come down to its proper value, about 2s. 6d. or 5s. per
acre. T h e farmers of Great Britain and Ireland must have land
that will enable them to compete with the freeholder of America.
T h e people must have cheap food that the British employers may
get cheap labour, so that they may compete with the foreigners,
and keep our people industriously and profitably employed. Somebody must be disappointed—either the farmer who expects to pay
his way and a big rent, or the landlord who expects to have his old
way and the old rent too. T h e land belongs to the people ; the
Crown, as representative of the people, and guardian of their rights
and privileges, being head landlord. A n Act of Parliament may
authorise a public company to buy, and compel owners to sell, land
for public interests. An Act of Parliament may authorise the Crown
to buy, and compel the so-called landlords of the soil to sell, the
land at a fair price to the Crown, when, as at present, the necessities of the empire require that exorbitant rents and capricious
owners should be got rid of by purchase, and they will be easily
purchased soon. Let the interest of the purchase-money be the rent.
T h u s in a few years the Crown would have a large and well-paid
revenue, and a thousand prosperous, contented, and right loyal
tenants for the one mischief-making landlord of the present day.
Disendow and disestablish the landlords as the Church was disendowed and disestablished in Ireland. Away with land monopoly.
If you want tenant-right, if you want leave to live on the land of
your birth, send no landlords to P a r l i a m e n t ; as well send wolves
to guard sheep. Send men who will protect the industry, trade,
commerce, and agriculture of the empire. If you want to put a stop
to agrarian disputes, agrarian outrages, extra police, and vexatious
taxation, send no landlords to Parliament, and let your watchword
be, God save the Crown and People."

The absence of Mr. O'Donnell from the various meetings of the autumn, has probably been noticed. In a

Oct.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

83

letter to the Freeman the member for Dungarvan assures
the public that it is only owing to ill health that he is
prevented from taking an active part in the proceedings.
Again a Sunday (12th October) was the scene in
various places of land demonstrations. Mr. Parnell was
greeted in the Market-square of Navan, County Meath,
by 30,000 people. It is as well to give exactly what the
member of Meath's advice to his own constituents was.
H e said:—
" The only course for the tenant-farmers of Ireland is this—now
that they are in possession of their farms to see that they remain in
possession of them (cheers). Go to your landlord, and if he disagrees with your estimate of what a fair rent should be, ask him to
appoint one man, and say that you will appoint another, and they
will settle it between them. If he refuses this arrangement, offer
him what you consider you can fairly be called on to pay in these
times, and ask him for a clear receipt (cries of ' they wont give it').
If he refuses to give you a clear receipt, put the money in your
pockets, and hold it until he comes to his senses (cheers and
laughter). If the tenants on each property join together and do
this, the cause of the tenant-farmer in Ireland is won. No landlord
can prevail against you."

This was well backed up by Mr. O'Connor Power,
who added the necessary conclusion, " Abolish landlordism, and make the tiller of the soil the owner of the soil
he tills. That is the only effectual way of coping with
foreign competition. Introduce the American Land
System into England and Ireland."
Further meetings on this Sunday were held in Newport, Co. Tipperary, in Tubbercurry, Co. Sligo; and at
Annaghdown, Co. Galway, Mr. Davitt made an exceedingly violent speech, one of the series which subsequently
culminated in the charge of sedition. As it is important
to note the language of the "agitators growing more
threatening as the movement gained strength, no apology
is necessary for giving extracts.

&4

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

[Oct.

Alluding to the tenants Mr. Davitt said :—
" The only relief, the sole reliance, is therefore in themselves.
Realising this to its full extent, at last the democracy of Ireland has
resolved upon sustaining the supreme right of existence conferred
upon the people by their Creator. Apart from the present distress,
the growing mind of the Irish people cannot brook a land system
which retards instead of advancing their civilisation and social progress, and an onslaught upon such land laws is the national instinctive act of a resurgent nation (great cheers). On the Rent Question,
as on that of the Land, your greatest dependence must be in yourselves. Never mind the companies of Zulu-whipped soldiers that
are now being sent over here in answer to your cry for the means of
sustenance. Don't imagine you will be thrown out to die like dogs
as your kindred were in '48. Stand firmly and self-reliantly against
the brood of cormorant vampires that have sucked the life-blood out
of the country, that has banished our brothers and sisters, and that
has made our people a nation of paupers, and ere long we will have
no legalised plundering system in Ireland to sustain the most profligate horde of unmitigated land thieves that ever cursed a people and
robbed them of the profits of their industry. They may threaten
you with eviction if you refuse to pay rack-rents imposed upon your
holdings, but don't forget that an English Cabinet Minister once declared that eviction under certain aggravated circumstances was a
felony. You know it is a maxim of English law that a felony can
be resisted to the death. It is also well to take advice and examples
from England, as the English are a practical people, and I believe
there is a favourite one of theirs to be put into practice this winter
here in Ireland if the Government does not find employment for
the starving people. You have read of the people of London
marching on the House of Commons when they desired to bring that
assembly to their senses on some public grievance question. Well,
I am told to keep it secret that a move in this manner is to be made
in Ireland this winter. I hope the reporters wont take it down while
I am telling you that 250,000 men are to march to Dublin Castle,
and demand bread for themselves and children if no public works
are started by the Government this winter, to enable them to earn
it. I am sure that 100,000 of that number will march from Connaught. Depend upon it, then, that you are not to die by hunger
as our kindred did in '48. Do not despair, but be up and doing.
Organise yourselves into clubs and protection associations, labour
unceasingly for your own and your country's advancement, and you
will yet have the proud privilege of beholding the people of Ireland
the owners of its fruitful soil and rulers of its own fair and yet unconquered land" (cheers).

This speech of Mr. Davitt, threatening an organised

Oct.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

85

movement of the masses upon Dublin during the winter,
in case the Government would not accede to the agitators' demands, had considerable effect upon the Castle
authorities. From this time Government shorthand
writers attended at each demonstration to make notes of
every platform utterance. It was evident the climax was
arriving.
At both Belfast and Newry Mr. Parnell addressed
meetings and laid down his views forcibly and unmistakably. On the 16th, at Newry, he let fall some hints
as to the past and future of the movement. Mr. Parnell
said he believed that the Land System could be settled
by the determined obstruction of tenant-farmers outside
Parliament against the payment of rents, and by determined obstruction in Parliament against the business of
the House, until a satisfactory measure was carried on
the subject. But at present, he confessed the utter inability of the Obstructionists to get anything in Parliament,
because they were so hampered by want of men of determination and courage, that it was quite useless to attempt anything by Parliamentary action. They had,
therefore, to confine themselves to the platform agitation
in the country. With twenty active men in the House
of Commons they would be enabled to take up an attitude towards the Government worthy of the people of
Ireland. This was the great object to be attained at the
general election.
On Sunday, 19th, a demonstration took place at Newport, Co. Mayo, at which Mr. Davitt referred to the
Xi
reptile press " of Dublin in connection with the presence
of a reporter who was taking notes of his speech. The
speech was a violent tirade against landlords. H e said
the contest was between a toiling and industrious people

86

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

[Oct.

and the arbitrary demands of a lazy, good-for-nothing,
idle, sensual, and voluptuous class. They would never
cease agitating until the last vestige of feudalism was swept
from Ireland.
At Ballinamore, Co. Leitrim, the next day, a large
meeting was held, and Major O'Beirne, M.P., declared
himself for a radical change in the Land System.
The actual formation of the National Land League,
the charter of which we give in the Appendix, took place
in Dublin, 21st October. As before remarked, it partakes of the nature of a Vigilance Committee, the President being Mr. Parnell, and the Secretaries, Messrs.
Kettle, Davitt, and Brennan. The proposed objects
were the reduction of rents, with the ultimate object of
obtaining the " Land for the People." The appeal to the
Irish race (see Appendix) was also adopted, and it was
resolved " that Mr. Parnell be requested to proceed to
America for the purpose of obtaining assistance from our
exiled countrymen and other sympathisers, for the objects
for which this appeal is issued."
The month of October closed with a group of Sunday
demonstrations, in which Enniscorthy, County Wexford,
led the van. Government reporters were again at work
upon the platform, taking notes of the speeches. Mr.
Parnell was the leading orator, and once more he advocated reduction of rents first, for the ulterior purpose of
abolishing the system of landlord and tenant. At Aughamore Mr. Davitt said particularly that they were not there
to agitate for fixity of tenure at fair rents, which meant
fixity of landlordism, for that they were resolved should
never be fixed on Irish soil. A remarkable collision at
this meeting between a Catholic clergyman, Canon
M'Dermott and Messrs. Davitt, Daly, and Nally is sig-

NOV.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

87

nificant as to the attitude of the agitators towards the
clergy, which, though respectful, was yet quite independent.
The disapproval expressed by Archbishop MacHale of
the violent platform meetings in the West has been already noticed. Another letter, something in the same
tone, was written by Bishop MacEvilly on the proposed
Galway meeting at the end of November. It deprecated
the introduction of " outsiders" as speakers, and pointed
out that any violent, unconstitutional, defiant language,
far from doing good, would do positive mischief.
The first ten days of November were marked by great
Land meetings at Athenry, Galway, and Gurteen, the
last of which was to prove historical in a very short time.
At the Galway meeting, Mr. Parnell made a very plain
statement as to the object of the agitation. H e carefully
explained that the strike against paying rent, and the
refusal of tenants to take farms from which tenants were
evicted, were merely means to an end, and that end was
the compulsory sale of all landlord property in the land
of Ireland. The main object was, that by the due exercise of terrorism, combined with a wholesale repudiation
of contract, nobody would finally come forward to purchase the lands of which the tenants were occupiers.
Then the Surplus Church Fund was to be taken, the
landlords bought out at a ruinous loss, and the tenants
rooted in the soil of Ireland. All this, Mr. Parnell hoped,
would be helped on, by the distress and the winter. But
the most remarkable statement made by Mr. Parnell was
to the effect that Mr. Davitt, who had received an intimation from the Archbishop of Tuam that his presence
on the Galway platform was undesirable, was the author

88

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

of the new scheme of Land agitation.
says : —

[NOV.
The

report

" Mr. Parnell, who was again loudly cheered, moved a vote of
thanks to the Chairman. In the course of his remarks, he said he
wished to apologise for the absence of his friend, Mr. Michael
Davitt (cheers). Mr. Davitt would have been here to-day but that
it was intimated to him from a very high source that his presence
would not be agreeable. Now he (Mr. Parnell) regretted very
much that this message was sent to Mr. Davitt. He was a man who
was entitled to stand upon every tenant-right platform in Ireland
(cheers), because to him was due the initiation of this movement
for a reduction of rents and the ownership of the soil by the occupiers (cheers). So long ago as last February he began this movement in the west of Ireland, and he had kept it on foot ever since,
in many instances by his own exertions alone, and almost unaided.
They must not be exclusive in this movement. They must invite
the co-operation of every true and honest Irishman (hear, hear).
All their numbers would be little enough to carry it out—the priest
and the peasant, the bishop and the political prisoner, must work
together for the cause" (loud cheers).
But if Mr. Davitt was denied access to one platform
on this 2nd of November, he found ample opportunity
and a sympathetic audience at Gurteen, where he and
Mr. Daly, and Mr. J. B. Killen delivered themselves of
those addresses which were subsequently taken as the
foundation of charges of sedition by the Government.
As therefore important, they are here given ; —
DAVITT'S SPEECH.

" The papers stated that the Right Hon. James Lowther—
(groans)—was now the guest of their highly consistent and patriotic
Home Rule member, Colonel King-Harman (groans). The papers
also credited Mr. Lowther with an original discovery that the
tenant-farmers of Ireland had ^30,000,000 in Irish banks to their
credit, and that that money formed a good security to landlords to
obtain their rents during the winter. . . . But, if it is true, I
deny that you should draw upon that in this year of impending
famine and dire misfortune before us, in order to satisfy the greed
and avarice of the landlords. If you have it there, I say look first
to the necessities of your children, of your wives, and of your homes ;
look to the wants and necessities of the coming winter; and when

NOV.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

89

you have satisfied those wants and necessities, if you have a charitable disposition to meet the wants of the landlord, give him what
you can spare, and give him no more. I am one of those peculiarly
constituted Irishmen who believe that rent for land under any circumstances, in prosperous times or bad times, is nothing more nor
less than an unjust and immoral tax upon the industry of a people;
and I further believe that landlordism, as an institution, is an open
conspiracy against the well-being, prosperity, and happiness of a
people; and I say that anything that is immoral—whether it be a
rent or an open conspiracy of landlordism—has to be crushed by the
people who suffer in consequence of it. . . . Look at it from a
purely commercial point of view, and how does it operate against
the people of the country ? Say that the 600,000 farmers in Ireland
earn on an average £1 10s. each week. Some earn more perhaps,
but a considerable number earn a great deal less. However, we
will put down £ 1 10s. as the average weekly earnings of the farmers
of Ireland, and that'would produce an aggregate sum of about
^"45,000,000 a-year, ^45,000,000 a-year earned by 600,000 farmers in Ireland at the rate of £1 10s. a-week. Out of that sum
of forty-five millions how much do you think 3,000 individuals
called landlords exact for themselves every year ? Mind, 3,000—
about one-third the number of persons present at this meeting.
Well, the 3,000 Irish landlords pocket the neat sum of ^20,000,000,
or nearly half the entire earnings of the six hundred thousand Irish
farmers. But not only that. Not a single one of them ever puts a
foot to plough, or hand to spade, to earn a penny of that. The
farmers must labour from morning till eve to support themselves
and their children, when in steps Mr. Lazy Unproductive Landlord,
and demands almost half of the money so earned to sustain himself
in the licentious and voluptuous life he very often leads, not in Ireland, but away in London, Paris, and elsewhere. Not only does
this system rob you of half your earnings, but it robs Ireland, it
impoverishes Ireland, and goes away to another country to enrich
another people who never raised it. And are you going to tolerate
any tinkering of this system ? Are we here to listen to any proposal
of fixity of tenure at fair rents, with periodical valuations ? I say
no. That is fixity of landlordism, fixity of poverty and squalor, and
fixity of degradation, that have made Ireland a reproach before
civilization, a nation of beggars. I say that at last, in face of
another impending famine, too plainly visible, the time has come
when the manhood of Ireland will spring to its feet and say it will
tolerate this system no longer. . . . My friend, Mr. O'Connor,
told you that it is probable the Government might have Zululand
in its eye when its officials and its organs talk about an emigration
scheme. But I will tell you why I don't believe they mean that.
There is a great similarity between the Irish pike and the Zulu
assegais, and the English soldiers who went out to civilise the Zulus

9©

T H E IRISH AGITATOR.

[NOV.

at the point of the bayonet found that the savage African knew how
to handle the assegai almost as well as our ancestors knew how to
handle the pike in '98
I n the small village of Gurteen
there were 600 mechanics—that is, 600 men who wTorked as mechanics of manufacturing towns work in England and other manufacturing countries. I will suppose again that a stranger comes into
Gurteen, a man never heard of before, but who has some qualification from an Imperial point of view. I will suppose that his
great-grandfather assisted the butcher, Lord Clive, in blowing u p
Hindoos from the mouths of British cannon. I will suppose
this man has these qualifications from the noble and historic deeds
of his ancestry
H e comes to Gurteen and has a magnificent
establishment built for himself, and the Government gives him the
right to exact a sum of ^ 2 0 , 0 0 0 each year from the aggregate
earnings of the 600 mechanics. Now, do you think that that would
be fair ? D o you think that it would be a moral law or a moral
government that would impose this man as a tax upon the energy
and industry of Gurteen ? T h a t is exactly what the English Government is doing to Ireland at large, enabling 3,000 landlords to pocket
^ 2 0 , 0 0 0 , 0 0 0 of the earnings of the Irish people every y e a r ; and
until that system is abolished, and the term landlord wiped out, and
the land belongs to the people who cultivate the soil, both in reference to the government of the country and the tilling of the land,
we must resolve to-day never to cease labouring, persevering, and
working until we have done what every other civilized people have
done, and won our right to the ownership of our own soil. I n
conclusion, I would ask you not to be content with coming to these
meetings and applauding sentences in connection with landlordism
or the misgovernment of Ireland, but work and co-operate together
in clubs and in protection societies, until there is such an overpowering organization throughout the whole of Ireland that will
not only break down landlordism, but every other barrier that
stands between the people of Ireland and their just rights."
DALY'S

SPEECH.

" I t was said by Canon M ' D e r m o t , what will the people do if
they only ask for a peasant proprietary ? Will you submit to b e
evicted and put out on the roadside ? Meanwhile I say, don't allow
yourselves to be evicted, and in the five cases he referred to it is your
duty as tenant-farmers if they are evicted to go the following day—
I won't say that night, because it might be illegal—but when they are
evicted assemble there in your thousands. See they are not evicted, or
at all events reinstate them, and continue to do that every time they
are turned o u t ; but, above all, if they are evicted let no cowardly
fellow be found to take their lands. I t is very easy for people to
make very flattering speeches. I, however, am too fond of telling
the truth, and I tell you that it is with you to keep the people in the

NOV.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

91

soil. I tell you not to pay the landlords—pay nobody. I wont say
the shopkeeper. Do pay him, for you may require him again, and
the seedsman; but don't pay the landlord until you have some guarantee from him or the Government that you wont see your children starving. Preservation is the first law of nature, and if it's the
case I with you that the grain crop is worth very little more than
the tilling and seeding of the land, how can the landlord expect that
you are to pay the rack-rents that he hampers you with year after
year ? Will the landlord act as he should ? Will he reduce it to
the actual value you get out of the holding? It is easy to praise up
landlords, but I don't care how good they are, I say that until the
word *' landlordism " is written out of the Statute-book, as in France
and elsewhere, you will never be very contented or prosperous. I
wont detain you any longer, but, in conclusion, I give you this bit
of advice—hold your farms. Let them serve you with notice to
quit, with ejectments ; let them, if they like, proceed to the courts.
Defend yourselves, but don't allow them to evict you. Then, supposing anyone is evicted, let you assemble and put him in again
that very night; and if there is a coward enough found among you
to take another's land, then, I hope, he will be served as he deserves. "
KILLEN'S SPEECH.

" When I saw this large assemblage before me, I thought of an
old legend I heard in the North, that in a cavern there were a
thousand mailed warriors resting on their swords, who would, when
their engagement was broken, at the sound of the angel of liberty's
proclamation of Ireland's liberty and freedom, burst forth. When I
saw you in your age, in your middle age, in the glory of your manhood, ay, and in your womanhood too, I thought the hour had
arrived when Ireland's liberty was about to be consummated. In
the 700 years during which we have had the happiness to be under
the control of England there have been at least three confiscations
of the land of Ireland. Every single acre of the land has changed
hands three times during that period. It has not passed, however,
into the hands of another class of people, but from the hands of one
class of aristocracy into another class of aristocracy. Now, we want
a fourth confiscation, or rather a resumption to the people of what
originally belonged to them, the land of their forefathers. I need
not tell you not to pay all the rent that is asked from you. You
cannot do it. I know you cannot. But what I say is this : I am
sure the landlords in all cases will not act so generously with you as
in the generosity of your own souls you think they should. There
are some men who will bring the law into operation on you, bring
notices to quit and ejectments, and turn you out of your houses and
farms. But if there be any man who will go into that house or farm

92

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

[NOV.

—well, may the Lord take care of him. I leave it to yourselves.
Self-preservation is the first law of nature, and I leave it to you to
say whether we are to obtain our rights, as in other countries, by the
pen, the pencil, or the sword if you wish it. Oh ! the time has gone
by for any namby-pamby speaking. We must now approach the
matter with ungloved hand, speak to the men face to face, and tell
them what you want and what we mean. I say nothing here but
what I am prepared to stand by."

And now having brought the Irish agitator to the
climax of his agitation, it remains but briefly to glance
at the remaining incidents of the political year. Meeting
succeeded meeting during the month of November. The
whole of Ireland was ablaze with the fever of agitation.
The Irish National Land League issued such another address to Irish farmers as it had issued to the Irish race
in America (see Appendix). Once more the object of
the anti-rent agitation was distinctly stated :—ct The agitation," the Address laid down, " must be sustained, so
that the operation of natural causes may be assisted in
bringing land to a fair valuation, in order to enable its
cultivators to become the owners of their own farms,
upon terms within the means of every occupier."
The object of Mr. Parnell's journey to America is no
doubt merely to collect money for the sustentation of
this enormous Vigilance Committee, the Irish National
Land League, and this is proved by the recommendation
at its first meeting to send out Mr. Parnell as a deputation to America, and the following sentence :—
" For this and other purposes beneficial to the farming classes
organisation is required among them ; and to sustain this land movement and encourage such organisation, as well as to render assistance
where necessary to victims of landlord oppression, we have appealed
for money to our banished kindred, and for these purposes, and these
alone, we now appeal to you for whatever aid you can afford to
render."

NOV.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

93

All this time the West of Ireland was the scene of
violent platform harangues, Mr. Davitt at Corofin, Mr.
Daly and Mr. Louden at Kilmaine. The effect upon the
value of property was palpable. In the Landed Estates
Court properties were put and no sales effected.
For
some no bidders were forthcoming. Judge Flanagan,
commenting upon the cases, said there appeared to be
an undue depreciation of property, and under such circumstances he would allow the sales to be adjourned.
But besides the voice of the agitator, there was heard
in November the utterances of officials, members of Parliament, and ecclesiastics upon the state of the country.
The Local Government Board Inspectors' Report (see
Appendix) foreshadowed distress and destitution and
increased pauperism, but not more than the resources of
the Poor Law Unions could cope with. Seventy-one
Irish members of Parliament and the Catholic Hierarchy
demanded in their addresses State assistance in the shape
of relief works.
Meanwhile Mr. Parnell and his company, evidently
imagining a dissolution was contemplated, left their unparliamentary comrades to look after the Irish agitation,
and proceeded to England on a week's stumping tour.
Messrs. Parnell, Finigan, Mitchell Henry, and O'Connor
Power spoke at Manchester. Thence Mr. Parnell went
to Bolton, and afterwards with Mr. Finigan to Leeds,
while Messrs. O'Connor Power and A. M. Sullivan addressed their Irish friends in London. Newcastle-onTyne was also visited by Mr. A. M. Sullivan.
On the return of the agitators steps were immediately
taken to utilise the Repeal of the Convention Act by
organising a National Convention and settling a date for
its assembly. At a special meeting of the National Con-

94

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

[NOV.

vention Committee Mr. Davitt was the chief spokesman,
and explained the system he had formulated. The plan
was based upon O'ConnelFs plan for the reconstruction
of the Irish House of Commons. The National Convention should comprise 300 delegates, the place of
meeting to be Dublin, and the franchise to be manhood,
and not a shilling franchise. Mr. Davitt's private wish
was to have the first meeting of the Convention in
1882, not only to mark the centenary, but to allow time
to organise and prepare the country, but the resolution
adopted contained the words not later than April, 1882.
All Mr. Davitt's resolutions were carried, and the meeting
adjourned, not, however, destined to meet upon the day
fixed.
The Government were preparing their indictments, and
the hand was raised to strike. On Sunday 15 th, four
meetings were held in the West, at Lackagh and Kiltanin in Galway, and at Islandeady and Kiltimagh in
Mayo. At each place the attendance was very numerous and evinced a large amount of enthusiasm and organisation among the people. At Lackagh the scene
was most remarkable. In point of numbers, order, and
enthusiasm it was second to none that had yet been held
in connection with the Land movement. Contingents
came from Corofin, Annaghdown, Claregalway, and
Athenry, each displaying flags, banners, and imitation
swords, guns, and pikes. There were about 500 horsemen, dressed in green uniforms, bearing imitation
swords. The entrances to the platform were spanned
with arches bearing the inscriptions, " Welcome, Brennan," " Cead mile failte," " A Peasant Proprietary,"
" In Unity is Strength," &c. High over the meeting,
from a pole fixed on top of an old castle, floated in the

Nov.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

95

breeze a flag exhibiting the motto, " Down with the Land
Robbers!" There were other mottoes pendant from
flagstafFs in various parts of the field, such as " N o more
Land Thieves," " The Land for the People, " God save
Ireland," &c. A yonng lad from Mounhagh, riding a
donkey, carried a flag with a cartoon representing a
sturdy Irish tenant holding a landlord by the throat, and
asking him, " Is it you that wants the Rent ?" Under
the cartoon was the singular scroll in Irish, " Myself and
my wee donkey." The most violent speaker was Mr.
Brennan, who was subsequently arrested. At Killanin,
on the same day, Mr. Davitt surpassed himself in his
declaration of policy and his advice to the people, and at
Kiltirri^gh the ball was kept rolling by Messrs. Louden
and Da\y.
Whether it was this last quadrilateral rhetorical effort
on the part of the land agitators which decided Government to move is unknown. But on the following Wednesday, Nov. 19th, Dublin and Sligo were astonished by
the news that Messrs. Davitt, Daly, and Killen had been
arrested on charges of having made use of seditious language at Gurteen on the 2nd November. The three
prisoners were taken to Sligo Gaol, and, after a magisterial investigation, committed for trial, and allowed out
upon bail.
The excitement among the popular party was, of course,
intense. A Rotundo meeting was held, where extreme
language was used, and speeches were made by Mr.
Parnell in defence of the accused on several occasions, on
one of which he made use of the following words :—
"Fellow-countrymen, I beg you to remember there are to-night
countrymen of yours suffering in prison—(hisses)—because they attempted to show their fellow-countrymen the road to freedom

96

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

[NOV.

(cheers). Remember the voice of Michael Davitt is speaking to you
from his prison (cheers). Hold up your hands with me and vow
you will not cease—(great cheering, during which the hands of
thousands of people were held up) —that you will not cease from this
struggle until the teachings of Michael Davitt, for which he has been
persecuted to-day, shall have been carried out and fulfilled to the
very last letter."

The day after, November 23rd, a remarkable scene
occurred at Balla, Co. Mayo, where a great demonstration
of a double character took place. It was originally intended as an indignation meeting, which was to meet
according to the rules of the Local Vigilance Committee,
and witness a threatened eviction. It was the first eviction in Mayo since the Land agitation commenced, and
at once placards appeared all over the county summoning
the people to assemble at the scene of the eviction. The
summons had hardly been made when the arrests took
place, and, in consequence, a second proclamation was
made to enforce a double protest. The speech of the
day was that of Mr. Brennan, some of whose utterances
have already been noticed. But on this occasion the
fury of his language was such, that it was made the foundation of another charge of sedition, for which he was
subsequently arrested. The speech is here given in extenso:—
M R . BRENNAN'S SPEECH AT BALLA.

" We are here to-day for a threefold purpose. We are here, in
the first place, to protest against the eviction and possible death of
nine of God's creatures. We are here to protest, in the name of our
country and of justice, against the unconstitutional arrest of our
leaders, who are now paying the penalty of their devotion to the
people's cause ; and we are here also to declare our determination to
go on with this movement until victory is secured, and until the last
trace of feudal landlordism is swept from the country. The English
Government have come to the rescue of that accursed institution,
but it cannot save it. The old crumbling edifice is going, and it

NOV.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

97

must fall. Prison-bars cannot hide the light of God's eternal truth,
and though you or I may have to follow Mr. Davitt or Mr. Daly,
our cause cannot be imprisoned. That cause is just, and it must
triumph. My friends, our lives are no longer our own. They now
belong to our country and to justice, and we must consecrate them
here to-day to the advancement of that cause for which our friends
are suffering. I for one am not here to-day to withdraw anything
I have ever said in this movement since I first stood upon that
platform in Irishtown. And whatever may be the words of Mr.
Davitt used at the Gurteen meeting I adopt them here to-day; and
if I knew them I would repeat them for you, believing in my soul
that they are the words of justice and of truth. It will not become
us here to make long-winded orations to-day. The time for mere
speech-making is gone by, and the hour of resolve and the act has
arrived. The speech to-day is the indignation which I see flashing
from your eyes and the determination which rests upon your brow.
Think of the possible scene which we might be called upon here today to witness. Think of the poor man who lies in yonder cabin,
the hot fever darting wildly through his brain—think of the poor
child who, every time it asks for a morsel of bread, sends a pang
worse than a bayonet thrust through its mother's bosom. Think of
this, and then think of the evictor, who has fled the country that
his ears may not catch the execration of the people. Think of him
as he enjoys all the luxuries of life, and pockets the money which
the sweat of that poor man has wrought from the land, for in this
enlightened nineteenth century God's first law to fallen man is contravened by human decree, and the majority of mankind must work
and toil to support the few in idleness. Think of the scenes of
'47—think of the blazing roof, think of the workhouse and the
emigrant ship—think of starvation, death, and cofhnless graves—
and then tell me to-day will you be true to the teaching of our friends
in prison ? Shall one generation witness two such scenes as '47 ?
God forbid. I call upon every one of you who can to-day to do
everything in your power to prevent it. Organise for the protection
of your own rights —combine that you may offer an unbroken front
to the common enemy. Surely it is your time when your best and
bravest are in prison—now, when liberty of speech is proscribed in
the land—now, when the spectres of famine and death are standing
by your thresholds. I appeal to one class of the community^—I
appeal to the men of the Royal Irish Constabulary, and I ask them
are they content to remain or to become the destroyers of their own
kith and kin? Look at a possible picture—look at your own
brother lying in yonder ditch dead and naked; the last garment was
sold to buy a measure of milk for the poor child in whose body the
teeth of the lean dog are now fastened. Are you human nature ?
Can you look upon such scenes, strong men as you are, without
feeling your knees tremble and a curse gurgling in your throats ?
H

98

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

[NOV.

N e e d I remind you that in '47, when you were called on to do work
similar to that with which you are now threatened, when one of
your force fired upon an unoffending crowd, to find five minutes
later that his bullet had lodged in the breast of the mother that bore
him ? You are Irishmen, and I doubt not that beneath many a
policeman's jacket a warm Irish heart beats. Are you content, then,
to be the destroyers of your own people, or will you rather join
hands with them and snatch victory from death, and save the lives
of the people? As for you, friends, your course is clear. K e e p
before your minds the great fact that the land of Ireland belongs to
the people of Ireland. Follow the teaching of the apostles of our
creed, who are now its martyrs and its confessors. W e tell you
here to-day what has been told you from every platform in your
county—to pay no rent until you get a reasonable reduction.
We
tell you to take no land from which another man has been evicted ;
and should such a mean wretch be found in Mayo to snatch such a
farm, go mark him w e l l ; cast him out of the society of men as an
unclean thing. Let no one be ready to buy or sell with him, and
watch how the modern Iscariot will prosper. T h e loss of each new
comrade throws new duties on us who are left behind.
Therefore
we must all throw off our coats and go to work earnestly in this
w o r k . J o h n Mitchel said from the dock in Green-street that there
were one, two, three hundred ready to follow him. A n d Davitt
must know in his prison cell to-day that there are, not hundreds,
but hundreds of thousands prepared to take up and carry out the
work which he b e g a n . "

Mr. Parnell, who had arrived from Dublin by special
train, followed Mr. Brennan, and pronounced that gentleman's speech magnificent, and said the commencement of
the great land agitation in spring was the handwriting on
the wall for the downfall of the most infamous system the
world had ever seen. At Swinford, on another occasion,
soon afterwards, Mr. Parnell declared that the Government had arrested Mr. Davitt because he had shown by
his power of organisation that he was a man of great
capacity, and likely to make the land movement a most
formidable one.
Still, with an eye to the coming elections, the Irish
agitators took the advantage of the Government arrests
to stump once more the English strongholds of Home

NOV.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

99

Rule, and arouse the Irish vote. At a Hyde Park demonstration Messrs. O'Connor Power and McCarthy
delivered vigorous speeches. Mr. Parnell, in Liverpool,
and Mr. Davitt himself in Newcastle-on-Tyne and Glasgow, continued to lay down their aims, objects, and
policy. Mr. Davitt, at Newcastle, declared that so long
as he had brains to plan, and hands to dare, or heart to
feel for Ireland, so long would he stand the uncompromising enemy of landlordism. Mr. James Daly, one of
the accused, also came upon the platform again, immediately on his release on bail, and spoke at Ballaghdeereen.
On December 5th Mr. Brennan was arrested for his
speech at Balla, which has already been given, and on
the following Sunday two great demonstrations were held
at Castlebar and French Hill. At the former a scene of
the most exciting and painful kind occurred. Impelled
by a feeling of revenge against the Government for
having employed shorthand reporters during the later
period of the agitation, it was determined not to afford
any facilities to these Government representatives at the
Castlebar platform. Application was made by the district constable to give the gentlemen the usual accommodation, but it was refused. Mr. Parnell himself
upheld the conduct of the committee of the meeting.
The result was that the reporters were placed in front of
the platform, with a constable on each side. If it had
not been for the action of one Mr. Nally, the reporters
would probably have done their duty, and no more
would have been heard of it. But Mr. Nally, standing
on the platform, pointed out the reporters to the mob,
and hounded them on to use violence in order to get
them away. The excitement was immense. A collision

IOO

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

[NOV.

between the people and the armed constabulary seemed
imminent; the crowd surged furiously, and the reporters,
it was quite evident, were in desperate peril of life and
limb. But with cool courage the policemen kept the
mob at bay, and the reporters had ultimately to be drawn
up to the platform by the very men who had at first
refused them admittance. Mr. ParnelPs speech went
almost further than any of his previous ones. H e boasted
that the tenants would, by the refusal to pay their rents,
save four millions of money, a dexterous incitement to
folloW his advice, which was supplemented by an order
to pay every one but the landlord. Referring to his
Fenian associates in the agitation, Mr. Parnell said :—
" There are men in this land movement who consider
that the free rights of Ireland must be won by the bloody
battle-field and by the sword ; but these men do not take
part in this movement for the purpose of carrying out
those ideas ; they take part in it to help peaceably to
win the solution of the Land Question."
The last important land meetings of the year succeeded each other as before on a Saturday and Sunday,
13th and 14th December. At Drumsna, in Leitrim,
Messrs. Davitt and Killen mounted the platform, and
spoke at great length. The former continued his outspoken advice, but on this occasion his language was
more than usually violent. 4< Band them," he said,
" 600,000 tenant farmers, and organize openly and above
board. Send men to Parliament to serve under Charles
Stewart Parnell, and then you may say landlordism is on
its last legs."
At Carrick-on-Shannon all the four prisoners addressed a crowded audience, and Mr. Brennan's language was almost as strong as his celebrated utterance

NOV.]

T H E IRISH AGITATOR.

IOI

at Balla. Other meetings were held at Ballina, Mount
Party, and Camlough, near Newry, all upon Sunday,
14th, but it is noteworthy that all the exertions of the
principal platform agitators were directed to the West of
Ireland. In the rest of the provinces the momentary
enthusiasm awakened by the presence of Mr. Parnell or
Mr. O'Connor Power, seems to have evaporated with the
Government arrests.
But as an overwhelming proof of the local character of
the land agitation, must be particularly observed the
difference between the crime of Connaught and of Munster, in both which districts Winter Assizes were held.
In Connaught, Judge Harrison had a tale of social disorder and agrarian crime to tell, which had no parallel
in any other part of Ireland, least of all, perhaps, in
Munster, where Baron Dowse was the going judge of
assize. The crime which Judge Harrison had to deal
with bore the imprint of the old Whiteboy offences. The
police reported a vast amount of undetected offences.
There were many cases of letters threatening to murder,
or threatening notices of intimidation to prevent the
payment of rent, indicating, as the judge remarked, a
very disorganised state of society. To crown all, were
the four cases of alleged seditious language. In Munster, however, Baron Dowse, after a more than usual
careful investigation of the statistics of crime as compared with the population, came to a conclusion exceedceedingly satisfactory, for it proved that the infection of
the Connaught fever of agitation had not spread with
any great virulence. There was no occasion to make the
Grand Jury take a gloomy view of the country. The
learned judge had heard remarks made that tended to
depreciate, and were levelled against, the entire people

102

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

[NOV.

of Ireland, simply from the acts of a few, or the acts of
many. H e was not going to say but that there were a
great number of foolish things spoken in Ireland, and a
good deal of crime committed in it, but what he wished
to say was that there were in Ireland hundreds of thousands of as loyal subjects*, of as orderly and well-behaved
people, as there were in any other part of her Majesty's
dominions.
The approaching prosecutions had evidently no effect
upon the energy of Mr. Davitt. Through his exertions
entirely the National Land League, of which frequent
mention has been made in these pages, was formed in
September, and now the time had come when it should
swallow up its more timid and less enterprising comradeassociation, the Central Tenants' Defence Association.
This had been formed in the early days long before the
Irishman had ever boasted that it had invented Mr.
Davitt. But now it was a useless piece of political furniture ; but rather than it should be entirely discarded,
Mr. Davitt decided to break it up, and out of it to form
a plank of the new platform of Land Agitation. No
sooner planned than executed. The war-cry of the old
Association had been fixity of tenure ; but now the world
had advanced beyond that idea, which indeed, with some
good points, had always before Mr. Davitt's eyes the
converse picture of fixity of landlordism, an unendurable
thought, and the strongest of all objections. The National Land League, therefore, or, as it may more
properly be called, the Western Vigilance Committee,
to prevent the payment of rents for the purpose of
depreciating the value of land and abolishing landlords,
decided to devour the Central Tenants' Defence Association. Fixity of tenure was put last upon the new

NOV.]

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

103

programme as a dernier ressort, or as a sop to the Cerberus
of respectability which still lingered around the old
Association. Thus Mr. Davitt at last succeeded in
getting the reins of the Land agitation completely into
his own hands. With the country aroused, himself a
martyr in prospective, the National Land League the
Court of Appeal in all land cases, whether reserved or
not, Mr. Parnell ready to start for America, and Mr.
O'Donnell at work in France, organising a foreign combination against the power of England—all these parts
of the great agitation-machine being ready for work, Mr.
Davitt doubtless felt ready for his trial, satisfied, at all
events, in the event of conviction, that he had laboured
long, energetically, and successfully for the good of his
country.
Almost the last important events of the political year
were the letters addressed to the Republiqice Francaise
and the Union on the Irish situation, by Mr. O'Donnell,
M.P., and the defeat of the Conservative candidate for
Donegal, Mr. M'Corkell, by the Whig, Mr. Lea, of
Kidderminster, with a large majority.
Mr. Parnell started for America on December 21st,
accompanied by Mr. John Dillon, a patriot of the most
advanced views, and son of John Blake Dillon, who was
" o u t " in 1848 with Mr. Smith O'Brien.

104

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

CONCLUSIONS.

I N the foregoing pages I have endeavoured to follow
the track of the Irish Parliamentary and Platform agitator as closely as possible. I have given the ipsissima
verba of the new leaders of public opinion in Ireland
whenever they disclosed the true feelings that prompted
their actions, and I have painted, as I believe, the history
of the Irish political year in its true and actual colours.
It may be said that the sketches I have given of the
three political periods of this year are biassed by a party
spirit, and therefore untrustworthy. My answer is, that
my opinions are undoubtedly biassed—biassed in favour
of law and order, of peace and contentment, of the
existence of an independent class of landholders, and,
finally, biassed in favour of that state of things which
makes Ireland's connection with England one of the
safeguards of her political future. The extracts I have
given of the agitators' utterances must prove to a hitherto
somewhat unsuspecting public what is the true origin,
meaning, and scope of the present Land movement in
Ireland. The leaders stand condemned out of their own
mouths, and all that is necessary to bring home the facts
is to lay before the world their own confessions, their
own views, and their own actions.
My first conclusion, therefore, is that the present Land
movement originated in a section of the Society known
as the Fenian Brotherhood, and that the prime leader of
the plot, whose brain planned and whose energy organised it, was the present Fenian and ex-political prisoner,
released on bail, Michael Davitt. Of the truth of this

CONCLUSIONS.

I05

there is no doubt. Mr. Parnell, in December, at Swinford (see Part III.), stated it as a fact, and beyond his
word it is not necessary to go. A careful perusal of the
Fenian Devoy's letter (Appendix A), doubtless the combined composition of himself and Mr. Davitt, who at the
time was in America, will give the whole key to the
new policy, not only of the Land agitation in Ireland, but
also to the new departure in Irish politics of the Fenian
Brotherhood itself.
The plan laid down in Devoy's letter (see Appendix A),
publicly announced in the Freeman's Journal^ was simply
to honeycomb the provinces with organised bodies of
men, the exact counterpart of the Fenian Brotherhood,
but with none of its secresy. Ireland, in fact, was to be
governed by a large number of small land centres, under
the command of a supreme vigilance committee, and the
object in view was to depreciate the value of property, to
drive the owners of that property out of the country by
"constitutional" agitation and exasperation, and finally,
to obtain possession of the soil of Ireland in whatever
way time and circumstances might point out. u The
land should be owned by those who till the soil," that
was the banner of the new agitation.
For some months, while the Home Rule party was
luxuriating in the pleasures of private quarrels and public
discussions, Davitt was busily engaged in taking up the
broken threads of the old Fenian conspiracy, and organising the new departure in Irish practical politics. Mayo
was the scene of his first labours. Here he was born.
Here he was certain of a circle of friends, all ready and
willing to engage in the quasi-open combination against
the owners of property. Had he not at his back another
ex-political prisoner, a Fenian gentleman of distinction,

io6

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

who boasted that he had had not only the honour of a
seat in Parliament, but also the far greater honour of a
a seat on a wooden stool in an English prison—Mr.
O'Connor Power, the member for Mayo ? This, then,
was the field for Davitt's efforts, and the result amply
justified his expectations^
The scheme was well devised and carried out. While
Davitt was organising in the provinces, the active Parliamentary party were engaged in obtaining their first
object, the final dismissal of Mr. Butt, who had long
since been a stumbling-block to their new policy of obstruction. This was obtained by the action of Mr. John
Dillon in the Home Rule League. The next thing was
to win over to the actual Fenian party (which at this
time consisted, as far as I can gather from facts, principally of Messrs. Davitt, Dillon, and O'Connor Power), the
advanced Obstructionists, Messrs. Parnell, O'Donnell,
Biggar, and A. M. Sullivan. That for a long time Mr.
Parnell was unwilling to accept the present crusade
against landlords as a solution of the Land Question is
evident by his speeches. His idea seems to have been
to conduct an agitation in England. As late as the 17 th
April he held back, but soon after that date he gave in
his adhesion to the Fenian policy. On the 20th April,
the first fruits of Davitt's organisation became evident in
the meeting at Irishtown, County Mayo, where the
speakers were, as might be expected, Messrs. Daly,
Brennan (of subsequent fame), and O'Connor Power,
M.P. From this date the anti-rent agitation commenced
to spread throughout the country, and, as I have endeavoured to show, soon displayed signs of how deeply laid
and how admirably organised the system was. The great
end in view, from the very commencement of the plot,

CONCLUSIONS.

I07

was to arouse the worst feelings of the agricultural population against the landlords. To blind the public, however, and especially the landlords, the ostensible reasons
at first thrown out for the anti-rent agitation were the
agricultural distress and the fears of a bad harvest, which
was dexterously and emphatically prophesied. But soon
the mask was thrown off; the true key-note of the new
Fenian conspiracy was boldly struck, and the motto at
every extreme Land meeting in the West was the " Land
for the people/' The cry was taken up throughout Ireland, and the consequences to the country have been
eminently disastrous. Mr. Parnell stoutly preached the
doctrine of repudiation of contract, and advocated the
disestablishment and disendowment of the landlord
classes, loudly and ably assisted by Michael Davitt. As
the movement grew stronger and stronger, ecclesiastical
influence was boldly and openly resisted on the public
platform, and the whole agitation culminated in the
foundation by Davitt of the enormous Vigilance Committee, known under the name of the National Land
League, and the resolutions of the National Convention
Committee, deciding to assemble in the course of a year
a National Convention of the Irish people.
This was the true scope of the anti-landlord agitation
in Ireland during the whole year. In Parliament the
Obstructionists attracted the eyes of the world upon
themselves for one purpose only, to gain power and
influence with the Irish people during the forthcoming
agitation and general election. Ably assisted outside the
walls of the House of Commons, the energy, the ability,
the determination of the Irish agitators has no parallel
almost in modern politics. In England, Scotland, and
Ireland they spoke and wrote with surprising vigour and

io8

T H E IRISH AGITATOR.

unceasing assiduity. Eagerly accepting help from anyone
and everyone, the moderate Home Ruler and the ambitious English Whig eager for a seat in Parliament; alike
fell a prey to their unscrupulous machinations. Messrs.
Davitt and Co. were going a longer journey than most
Irish politicians, but they would be glad of the company
of any public man, no matter how short the distance
might be for which they travelled together. There was a
small inner band of devotees who had determined to
push the plot against the owners of land in Ireland, no
matter who accompanied them. The people were at
their back in the West, and they hoped soon to have
sufficient propagandists to infect the whole country.
That the higher members of the Catholic clergy were
bitterly opposed to the new phase of Fenianism at the
very commencement of the year is evidenced by Archbishop MacHale's and Dr. Nulty's letters in January,
(see Appendix); and later on, the Archbishop of the West
exerted all his influence to disinfect his district from the
taint of Irish Nihilism.
That there is distress and destitution in Ireland at the
present time is universally admitted. The object I have
particularly in view is to prove that agricultural distress
is not at the bottom of the present agitation. The movement was a Fenian plot, and there can be no doubt that
the bad harvests of the past three years predisposed the
people of the West to the infection of wholesale agitation.
The true reasons of the distress throughout the country
during the past year Mr. Kavanagh, M.P. for County
Carlow, has given in a letter to the parish priest of
Borris (see Appendix), with a masterly description of the
internal economy of the Irish peasant's life. I give other
interesting documentary evidence in the Appendix as to

CONCLUSIONS.

IO9

the true reasons of the distress. There will also be found
stated a very fair and impartial policy as to the relations
of landlord and tenant in the letters of Lord Monck and
the Knight of Kerry to their tenantry. Lord Lifford's
letter and Messrs. King-Harman and Bagwell's letters to
the Times are likewise given, and are valuable contributions to the contemporary history of the period. Lord
Robert Montague's answer to his tenantry on the question
of a reduction of rent, and Sir George Bowyer's letter to
the Times repudiating Mr. Parnell's policy, will also be
found appended ; together with the Government Report
of the Local Government Board, and finally, the appeal
to the Irish race in America for Fenian assistance,
which is the mainspring of Mr. Parnell's journey across
the Atlantic.
But before concluding, it may be as well to consider
for a moment the probable effect of the events of the
year 1879 upon the general election, which cannot now
be far distant. In fact, we do not know at what moment
we may not be face to face with a very grave crisis.
Mr. Parnell has boasted frequently, that with twenty
followers like Mr. Biggar he would wrest any measure
from England. At the end of last session the English
Press was unanimous in declaring that the Irish members
were perfect masters of the situation. No one who has
read, even casually, the enthusiastic admiration of the
agricultural population throughout Ireland for Mr.
Parnell, can fail to see that his nominees, as at Ennis,
will contest and win many Irish seats now held by moderate Home Rulers. Under the Ballot Act the people
will vote as one man for the new apostles of a Land
reform, which promises in a short time fixity of tenure
and no rents. Not only the West but the South is

no

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

honeycombed with farmers and tenants' clubs, all eager
for land-loot, and the word will be given to support none
who do not join the cry of " the land for the people."
The result must be; that in the ordinary course of
events Mr. Parnell will find himself at the head of a
band of resolute men with one object in view, the
disestablishment and disendowment of the Irish landlords. Such, unless resisted in time, must be the logical
result of the present Land agitation, and it presents the
gravest Irish problem to English statesmen which has
ever arisen. From the earliest times our English legislators have gone on rendering more and more certain the
conclusions they dreaded and shunned. In 1597, Spencer
feared that " Ireland was reserved in her unquiet state,
that there should come some great scourge on England."
And in 1617, Sir Francis Bacon, Lord Keeper, addressing
Sir William Jones, then made Chief Justice of the King's
Bench in Ireland, said, " They must take care lest Ireland
civilised should prove worse to England than Ireland
savage !" Finally, Grattan believed that the Union would
have the effect of greatly lowering the character of the
Irish representatives, and he expressed his opinion in
emphatic words. "You have swept away our constitution," he once said to some English gentlemen, "you
have destroyed our Parliament, but we shall have our
revenge. We will send into the ranks of your Parliament,
and into the very heart of your Constitution, a hundred
of the greatest scoundrels in the kingdom." And now
the prophecies of Spenser, Bacon, and Grattan most certainly seem in a fair way of being fulfilled.
It is still, I believe, only the ingrained contempt of the
Irish by the English that renders them insensible to the
elements of a social communistic revolution preached

CONCLUSIONS.

Ill

before their face. I doubt if any such revolutionary and
subversive doctrines were ever preached openly to crowds
in any country, unless in the midst of revolution. And
strange to say, there is no organ in this country, at the
time I write,* to expose the absurdity of many of the
principles so publicly and positively laid down. Hence
they become axioms with the peasantry, though utterly
false—such as that landlords and tenants subsist only in
the United Kingdom, being abolished over all the rest
of Europe, whereas leases for seven, nine, and twelve
years are common in Belgium, France, and Prussia.
Again, that Stein and Hardenburg compounded with
feudal lords of Prussia for their rents, and gave the lands
in fee to the tenants. They were not money-rents, however, that were bought up, but merely feudal services.
Such, however, is the ignorance of the people and the
carelessness of the public on such important matters as
these, that the Irish agitators have had it all their own
way for twelve months. If anything I have reproduced
or written may tend to the better understanding of the
present crisis, and of the dangers and wants of my country,
I shall consider my labour well rewarded. I have been
prompted to give these pages to the public from a conviction that the true origin and scope of the present
Land agitation have been successfully veiled from view
by an able and unprincipled band of agitators; and for
the purpose of lifting that veil and discovering Fenianism
once more lurking in the darkness, I have tracked the
footsteps and collected the utterances of Irish agitators
in Parliament and on the Platform.
* Since the above was written, The Cause, a high-class weekly
journal for Irish Country Gentlemen, has been started in the direction
needed.

CONTENTS OF APPENDIX

A. Letter from the Fenian Devoy to The Freeman.
B. Bishop Nulty's Letter.
C. Letter of Mr. Kavanagh, M.P., on the Agricultural
Depression.
D. Lord Monck's Letter.
E. Knight of Kerry's Letter to his Tenants.
F . Mr. R. Bagwell's Letter to The Times.
G. Colonel King-Harman's Letter to The Times.
H . Lord Lifford's Letter to The Times.
I. Letter of Lord Robert Montagu to his Antrim Tenantry.
J . Report of Local Government Board Inspectors.
K . Letter from Lord Dunalley to The Daily Express.
L. Letter of Special Correspondent of The Daily News on
the Indebtedness of Irish Farmers.
M. Letter from " A Munster M a n / ' to The Daily Express,
upon Usury in Ireland.
N . The Charter of the National Land League.
O. Mr. Parnell's Appeal to the Irish Race.
P . Letter of Sir George Bowyer Repudiating Mr. Parnell's
Land Policy.

APPENDIX.
APPENDIX A.

Letter from Mr. John Devoy, of the Fenian Brotherhood,
to the Editor of the Freeman's Journal';—
New York, Dec. 11.
SIR,—The frequent mention made of my name in the Irish press
in connection with the so-called " new departure " proposed by a
portion of the Irish National party, and the very serious errors
which have been committed in interpreting the scope and meaning
of that proposition, must be my excuse for obtruding myself on the
attention of the Irish public. As the Freeman has published so
much in connection with this controversy, I hope you will enable
me to state the case from the standpoint of those responsible for the
original proposition.
The question whether the advanced Irish National party—the
party of separation—should continue the policy of isolation from the
public life of the country which was inaugurated some twenty years
ago by James Stephens and his associates, or return to older
methods—methods as old, at least, as the days of the United Irishmen—is agitating the minds of Irish Nationalists on both sides of
the Atlantic just now, and certainly no small incident has aroused
such wide discussion in Ireland for many a day as the publication of
the views of the exiled Nationalists resident in New York on the
subject. This shows conclusively the importance of the action proposed. All intelligent Irishmen feel that the entrance into the everyday political life of the country of a large class of men with strong
opinions and habits of organisation, but who have hitherto held aloof

n6

THE IRISH

AGITATOR.

from it or only acted on rare occasions when a principle was considered at stake, would be an event that would largely influence the
future of Ireland. T h e eagerness with which the subject has been
discussed by all parties would prove this if it were not otherwise
sufficiently evident, but, as might be expected, much difference of
opinion exists as to the direction that future would take. Almost
every newspaper in Ireland which has written on the subject, almost
every man who has expressed his opinion, has done so from a purely
partisan standpoint. There have, it is true, been notable exceptions,
and, on the whole, the reception of the proposals has been encouraging to the proposers.
As it is a question of public policy to be carried out if adopted,
within the limits of the existing law, it can bear the fullest discussion.
I n fact, the more it is criticised the better, provided the criticisms b e
based upon actual facts—the propositions made and the views expressed by the proposers—not on data supplied by the fancy of the
critics, or phantoms of sinister motives conjured up by diseased imaginations. Fair and free discussion of the public policy proposed
for the acceptance of the National party by men who certainly have
a right to their opinions and some claim to a voice in the decision—•
fair and free discussion of their motives in proposing it, I, as one of
those responsible, am prepared to meet in a frank and friendly way.
T o those who resort to misrepresentation and insinuations of unworthy motives, I will only say that my motives are sufficiently
known to my fellow-workers, and I do not propose to defend them.
T h e y will bear comparison wTith those of some who have been
rather hasty in resorting to personalities. T h e policy proposed must
stand or fall on its own merits. I would remind some of my " N a t i o n a l i s t " critics, however, that misrepresentation on the part of
m e n who live by scribbling cheap treason, and who never stir a
finger to do any real service to the cause for which they profess
such zeal, may, if persevered in, provoke a retaliation that would be
somewhat inconvenient to them, and not at all edifying. This is all
t h e notice I propose to take just now of the " consistent " patriots
who pen the twaddle about " F e n i a n s in P a r l i a m e n t " and the silly
impertinences about " American babble."
T h a t the discussion aroused on both sides of the Atlantic by the
proposal of a " new departure " has done good, I am prepared to
admit, but so many mistakes have been m a d e on your side of the
water, and such an amount of misrepresentation indulged in, that a

APPENDIX A.

"7

clearer explanation of the objects sought to be attained and the principles professed by the proposers is necessary to enable the Irish
people to form a correct judgment on the question. I am convinced
that on the judgment formed on this question by the Irish people,
and on the action that judgment will dictate, depends Ireland's political future for many years to come. Even at the risk of having
merely ambitious motives attributed to me, I am determined that
some recent utterances of mine on the subject of Parliamentary and
municipal representation and on the Land Question, which have been
rather freely commented upon, shall be fully understood, at least by
those who care to understand them, so that they may not be made
the excuse for preventing action approved of, in theory, by the majority of Irish Nationalists, but not carried into effect through fear
of affording help to a certain class of trading politicians. These
politicians, it is feared, might succeed in turning the National party
into a mere machine for their own advancement if the " new departure " were adopted, or if any other public policy were determined
upon. I am as much opposed to allowing the National party to be
used by worthless aspirants for Parliamentary honours as I am to
See it made an instrument for the circulation of the nauseating cant
about nationality served up by trading speculations calling themselves
" National " newspapers, or that its only public appearances should
be when called to applaud the bunkum of " orators " who keep their
tongues and their hands rather quiet when times of danger come*
There is intelligence enough in the National party to save it from
the Parliamentary shams, just as it has intelligence enough to stamp
as quacks and charlatans those who talk of fighting, and sedulously
avoid preparation for it. I am convinced that these fears of the
Parliamentarians, where they are honestly entertained, are groundless
now, while I fully admit there was ample excuse for them in the
past.
It is the abstention of the Nationalists as a body from the public
life of Ireland which gives trading politicians a chance of using a
large number of them locally for personal ends, and it is simply
ridiculous to say that, individually, the majority of the Nationalists
do not take part in elections of all kinds. But they do not enter
the political arena as an organisation, with a programme and policy
of their own. They scatter themselves according to their personal
tastes, and generally vote for the party which comes nearest to their
own in its professions, very often without regard to the personal

n8

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

merits of the candidates, or thinking of the consequences of endorsing them. The result is that the advanced National party exerts
less influence over the current of public events in Ireland, less influence in determining the opinion of the world as to Ireland's wants
and wishes, than its numbers would entitle it to if it took its proper
share in public life and was organised for public action.
This fact must be apparent to every thinking Nationalist, and
many of the best men in the party have expressed themselves very
strongly on the subject in recent years. It has been long felt by
many that the policy of abstention from public life is a policy of
effacement, a policy which multiplies the difficulties in the way of
Irish independence, and gives enormous advantages to the friends
of English rule. It is somewhat like the old story of the Irish warriors who thought it cowardly to wear armour, and were trodden
down by the mail-clad Norsemen as a consequence of their foolish
pride. A general whose ambition is to beat an army superior in
numbers to his own and infinitely better appointed may be a very
chivalrous fellow, but he never wins battles, and he goes down to
posterity as an arrant fool, if his name goes down at all.
It has long been a notorious fact, that men who represent but a
small minority of the population claim to represent Ireland, and that
circumstances would seem to justify them in doing so. Nationalists
who have lived all their lives in Ireland, and who knew exactly how
these things are done, but very little of what foreigners think of Ireland, can scarcely realise the immense moral effect produced by this
state of things in foreign countries—even in the United States—in
favour of English rule in Ireland. This effect tells principally where
the Nationalists would least wish that Ireland should be misunderstood, and when Ireland's actual condition is taken into account the
result is simply disastrous. England's difficulty is only Ireland's
opportunity, if Ireland knows how to use it. Self-reliance is a very
necessary quality in a people desirous of winning their freedom, but
a disarmed people can have little of it, and Ireland cannot afford
to disregard the opinion of Continental Powers whose interests clash
with those of England. Notwithstanding the innocent confession of
gross ignorance made by one of the clever people who want us to
stick to the time-honoured rat-hole policy, foreign Powers do judge
of us ' * by the number of our votes and the eloquence of our representatives"—that is, when they see no armed force whose power has
been tested in the field on which to base their calculations. It is

APPENDIX A,

119

not very likely that the " Lees" of the National movement can provide the latter, and as there is no other means of enlightenment, it
might be well for those self-sufficient individuals to learn a little of
the rudiments of politics before undertaking to give lessons to men
who have long ago passed that stage. People with narrow minds
cannot be expected to take a broad view of anything, and therefore
it is not surprising that another oracle, whose only feat in the National movement has been the accumulation of a mass of paper that
may take fire some day, and endeavouring to hoodwink Irish American Nationalists should pronounce the "new departure" a "rag
baby." Very appropriate title from a man of straw I This kind of
impertinence comes in all cases from men who are now doing
nothing, but who have in the past done a good deal of " agitating"
in public.
The object aimed at by the advanced National party—the recovery
of Ireland's national independence and the severance of all political
connection with England—is one that would require the utmost
efforts and the greatest sacrifices on the part of the whole Irish people. Unless the whole Irish people, or the great majority of them,
undertake the task and bend their whole energies to its accomplishment—unless the best intellect, the financial resources, and the
physical strength of the nation be enlisted in the effort—it can never
be realised. Even with all these things in our favour, the difficulties
in our way would be enormous, but if firmly united and ably led we
could overcome them, and the result achieved would be worth the
sacrifice. I am not one of those who despair of Ireland's freedom,
and am as much in favour of continuing the struggle to-day as some
of those who talk loudest against constitutional agitation. I am
convinced that the whole Irish people can be enlisted in an effort to
free their native land, and that they have within themselves the
power to overcome all obstacles in their way. I feel satisfied that
Ireland could maintain her existence as an independent nation, become a respectable Power in Europe, provide comfortably for a large
population within her borders, and rival England in commerce and
manufactures. I contend she can never attain the development to
which her geographical position, her natural resources, and the
moral and intellectual gifts of her people entitle her, without becoming complete mistress of her own destinies and severing the connection with England. But I am also convinced that one section
of the people alone can never win independence, and no political

220

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

party, no matter how devoted or determined, can ever win the support of the whole people if they never come before the public and
take no part in the every-day life of the country. I have often said
it before, and I repeat it now again, that a mere conspiracy will
never free Ireland. I am not arguing against conspiracy, but only
pointing out the necessity of Irish Nationalists taking whatever publication for the advancement of the National cause they may find
within their reach—such action as will place the aims and objects of
the National party in a more favourable light before the world, and
help to win the support of the whole Irish people.
I am met at the very outset by the assertion that this entrance
into the public political arena would simply result in bringing forward a number of dishonest and insincere politicians who would sell
the people. My only answer is that if this be true it is simply a
hopeless task to attempt to free Ireland, and that if Ireland got free
by chance these men will then be just as willing to sell themselves
or their country. If the country is so sunk in corruption that
honest men cannot be found to fill the public offices and representative positions, why continue a useless effort ? On another hand I
hear a lot of familiar stuff about the " stern work " required to make
revolutions. I am as ready for the stern work as some of the gentlemen who write so eloquently about it, but that stern work will never
be done if other work, of a more prosaic, perhaps, but none the less
necessary, kind be not done before the time comes for sternness.
The stern work will certainly never be done if we confine ourselves
to writing eloquent sentences about the " true path," and provide
ourselves with nothing sterner to work with than sharp pens.
The cause of independence is not served—no cause is served—by
a policy of inaction. If men who subscribe to the doctrine of independence are given nothing to do—if they are only required to
be ready for an emergency which is to come at some future day—
they will waste their time uselessly, for while they are waiting the
rest of the world is moving, and they will not have the people with
them when they want them. They must recognise that there is
work for to-day and to-morrow as well as for the distant future.
Those who propose the new departure merely want to provide
good wholesome work for the National party, which will have the
effect of bringing all sections of Nationalists into closer relation by
giving them a common ground to work upon, a platform really broad
enough for all to stand upon, demanding no sacrifice of principle,

APPENDIX A.

121

no abandonment of Ireland's rights. They have long felt the neces*
sity for some such action, and imagine they can see in the present
state of parties in Ireland the best opportunity for proposing it
which has yet presented itself. Most of the individuals responsible
for the proposition are ineligible to Parliament, and in the few instances where this is not so other equally insurmountable obstacles
occur, so that their own personal chances as Parliamentary candidates are entirely out of the question. Furthermore, I do not know
a single man of them who would take the necessary oath, or who
believes it right for a man who has taken the oath of the Irish Republican Brotherhood to take the Parliamentary oath. They are
personally opposed to such men going into Parliament, but think
the constituencies are the proper judges of the merits of the candiddates, and that the National movement has more important work to
do than standing sentinel at the door of the House of Commons to
keep out some half-dozen ambitious and not over-scrupulous men.
They think that there are good men enough in the country, who are
not bound by any such pledges, who could be trusted to act honestly
in Parliament and outside of it, and who, if backed by the country,
would not hesitate to adopt a bold policy. They were not frightened
at the prospect of concessions from England, and are a little tired of
the grievance-mongering resorted to by some for the propagation of
National principles. Ireland desires independence simply because
it is her right, and because she can best manage her own aifairs, not
on account of any of the many grievances she endures at the hands
of England. If these grievances were all removed to-morrow, the
spirit of independence and the ambition to play a larger part in the
world would be stronger than ever, and the unwilling concession of
rights which have been denied as long as was consistent with safety
will never be regarded by the Irish people as gifts to be thankful
for. The idea that the continuance of grievances is necessary to the
national propaganda is utterly at variance with all experience and is
not worthy of consideration. The grievance of foreign rule has ever
been the main one, and will always be intolerable.
Some of the arguments used in favour of the policy of isolation
are very plausible, some of them very absurd; but there is not one
sufficiently strong to justify a continuance of it under existing circumstances. When used by men who are, and have been for years,
simply doing nothing, they do not deserve to be treated with common respect, as in the case of earnest men who practise what they

122

T H E IRISH AGITATOR.

preach. The proof that these arguments do not convince the
people—not even the rank and file of the Nationalists—is to be
found in the incontrovertible fact, that the great majority of those
who believe in independence and who have the franchise vote at all
elections. Many of those who write and speak about constitutional
agitation have, on certain memorable occasions, taken a very active
part in Parliamentary elections in favour of certain candidates, and
few of them let slip the smallest opportunity of speaking in public.
I suppose we are expected to believe that the holding of public
meetings where public questions are discussed, and writing articles
and letters on political subjects in newspapers, are not within the
limits of " constitutional agitation." Of course, it is an easy matter
to settle an argument if you can get your opponent to accept your
definition of the meaning and scope of the terms used. I do not
propose to argue under any such conditions, however, and I do not
hesitate to assert that more " constitutional agitation " can be laid
at the door of some of the critics of the "new departure" for one
year than those who proposed it have to answer for during their
whole lives; while in the matter of work done for action of another
kind there is really little to boast of on either side.
Whether this interference in Parliamentary politics arose from the
strength of the popular pressure, from personal inconsistency, from
the inherent weakness of a position hastily taken up, or from the
necessity presented by certain circumstances of asserting the principle of nationality by means not thought proper for permanent use,
the result remains the same, that the most ardent followers of the
physical force school have occasionally used Parliamentary agitation
as a means of advancing the national cause or defending its advocates. This shows there is no permanent policy of abstention from
constitutional agitation. There is certainly no existing Irish journal,
and I am not aware of any man of weight in the advanced National
party, that has consistently, and under all circumstances, advocated
it. If the Irish People had been in existence at the time of the
Rossa, Kickham, or Mitchel contests in Tipperary, or even that of
John Martin in Longford, I cannot see how it could have preached
non-interference, and I am convinced that, had it done so, its advice
would have been disregarded by the people. But the policy of
abstention, whether consistently carried out or not, whether a good
or a bad policy, has not always been followed by the advanced
National party. All the fine talk we hear about the " traditional

APPENDIX A.

123

policy," the " only pure path," has simply no foundation in fact.
John Mitchel was the first man of any note to preach the doctrine
that " no good can come to Ireland from the English Parliament;"
but even he advocated interference in Parliamentary elections on
certain occasions, and died member for Tipperary. That he would
not take the oath no man who knew him has any doubt, but he
numbered among his friends many men who did take it, notably
George Henry Moore, John Martin, and Joseph Ronayne. John
Mitchel simply wanted to turn the people's attention to the final
means to be used to attain National independence, but he did not
advise or practise continuous abstention from Parliamentary agitation. Some of us who are now criticised, not to say abused, for
" departing from the true path," by men who are not following any
path at all, have had much better opportunities of learning to the
fullest extent what John Mitchel thought on this subject than those
who now undertake to speak for him, and we are even presumptuous
enough to have views of our own.
Even if there were a " traditional policy," a " beaten path," some
of us would take the liberty of going outside of one or the other if
by doing so we thought we could advance the National cause. For
myself, I must plead guilty to a strong disinclination to walk in the
narrow "paths," or "tracks," or "grooves," marked out for my
guidance by people whose ability for leadership, whose earnestness,
and whose judgment I have the best reason to doubt. I yield to
no man living in the lengths I am prepared to go to get rid of
foreign domination in Ireland, but I refuse to be guided by the
narrow dogmatism through the instrumentality of which a few
pigmies managed for a sad decade or so to retain a leadership for
which neither nature nor training ever fitted them. I want to see
the national will consulted through the only means at present
available, and when the country speaks I am not afraid of the
result, for I am convinced that Ireland desires independence to-day
as ardently as ever, and that nothing less will ever satisfy her. But
it is simply absurd to ask the Irish people to follow a dangerous
political course with their eyes blindfolded, and trusting implicitly
in guides of whom they know nothing. I am willing to trust the
people, and think the issue is safe in their hands. When the country
is convinced of the necessity for vigorous and decided action, I am
not one of those who think the responsibility will be shirked. It
was not the people who failed in recent National movements, but

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THE IRISH AGITATOR.

those who, without the capacity, the judgment, or the courage
necessary to lead the people in times of trial and danger, assumed
the responsibility and broke down when the ordeal came. The
Irish people have had more than enough of this kind of thing, and
want no more self-appointed leaders, or men labouring under a
hallucination that they were born with a mission to regenerate
them.
When the Irish Republican Brotherhood was started, the pre*
vailing feeling among the people was distrust of Parliamentary agitation, and of noisy agitators of all kinds. The collapse of the
Tenant-right movement, and the treachery of Keogh, Sadleir, and
their infamous confreres, had given a shock to the people from which
it took them years to recover. They were in a state of political
torpor. I may be told that Fenianism took them out of this lethargy
and infused a soul into Ireland. It did nothing of the sort. It
found the National spirit reviving; it was, in fact, one of the effects
of that revival, and it turned the re-awakening spirit into a certain
channel. Whether this was fortunate or not I will not discuss just
now; but I have too keen a recollection of the period, know a little
too much about the spirit of the young men of that time, to be led
away by the claptrap which passes current among a certain number
of enthusiastic young men for historical fact, having the simple
object of bolstering up the reputation of one of those heaven-sent
leaders with whom we are sometimes blessed. Among the Nationalists of that day the doctrines of John Mitchel prevailed. They
had drunk deeply during the years of inaction of the literature of
Young Ireland, and the boldest and most outspoken of that school
was a decided favourite. He continued to address them after his
escape from prison through the National papers in Ireland long after
the other Forty-eight leaders had laid down their pens and ceased
to work. The young men were ripe for the hand of the organiser,
and their future course depended on the impulse then given. Besides,
there were many reasons why at that period Parliamentary agitation
should be discouraged; but I may be permitted to express my conviction that the discouragement was carried very much too far, and
great mischief was done in consequence. The fact, however, is
undeniable, that the policy of complete abstention was a " Fenian *
policy only, and that it was never, previous to the starting of
Fenianism, the settled policy of the National party, though, naturally, the attention of men seeking separation was turned principally
to physical force methods.

APPENDIX A.

125

I t is equally true that the advanced National party in Ireland has
never had a clearly-defined policy, further than a declaration in
favour of independence, or, sometimes, an independent republic, to
be obtained by force of arms. T h e people have never been told
what kind of an Ireland we should have if the making of it depended on the Nationalists, or how the Nationalists proposed to
grapple with any of the burning social and political questions which
would demand solution if the country were free to-morrow. T h e
national sentiment of the people alone was appealed to, especially
in the Fenian movement, while their judgment as to the capacity of
the men proposed to regenerate them was left entirely out of t h e
question. Of course, the people had many opportunities of forming
an opinion on these points through public speeches and writings;
but in this respect the constitutional agitators, honest or dishonest,
had many advantages over the extreme Nationalists, inasmuch as
public profession of their principles or intentions brought the latter
into conflict with the law. T h e lack of political training and of
practical acquaintance with public business—such even as could be
acquired by membership of a town council—has always told heavily
against the Nationalists, while their absence from such bodies left
the whole country in the hands of the West Britons, who are only a
miserable minority. This enabled the minority not alone to speak
and act in the name of the country, but gave its members the means
of strengthening and consolidating their party and crushing out
their opponents. T h e more this is examined, the more ruinous this
policy of isolation will appear, and the more advantages to be
derived from an organised, steady, and persistent effort to get possession of those local bodies will be seen. W h i l e I admit that N a tionalists now vote at these elections, I deny that they act as a body,
or with any settled plan or purpose.
W i t h the majority of these bodies in our possession, even without
the Parliamentary representation, we should be in a position to do
many things we can only dream of now. W i t h the municipal bodies
and men of spirit and determination as Parliamentary representatives, backed by the country and by millions of the Irish race
scattered over the world, there would be no necessity to go to
London either to beg or to obstruct, and Irish Nationalists would
have no more Tallaghts or " cabbage-gardens" flung in their faces.
Can this be accomplished? I claim it can, but only by a combination between all sections of Irish Nationalists—between all

126

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

those who are dissatisfied with the existing order of things, and
desire self-government in any form. The Home Rulers cannot do
it, for no one among the people really believes in Mr. Butt's so-called
" Federal" scheme. The Nationalists cannot honestly support the
scheme, for it gives to the English Parliament the prerogative which
belongs to the Irish people of calling the proposed local Parliament
into existence and defining its powers—therefore having the right to
abolish it by a simple act. It is a concession of England's right to
rule Ireland. It is claimed that it would place Ireland in exactly
the same position towards the British Empire that the State of New
York holds towards the United States. This is such an astounding
blunder that it is almost incredible it can be seriously made. New
York is one of a number of independent States bound together in a
federation; it elects its own Governor and Legislature—which existed prior to the federation—and has an army of National Guards,
under command of the Governor, to defend its liberties. On the
contrary, Ireland under Mr. Butt's plan would bear exactly the same
relation to England as the City of New York does to New York
State. The municipality of New York is created and its powers
defined by the State Legislature, and the charter is tinkered up
afresh every time there is a change of parties in the Legislature.
The Nationalists can never consent to have Ireland placed in such a
position, and therefore the Home Rule movement, except it changes
its programme, can never command the support of the whole
country, without which it can never hope for success.
The Repealers can never again arouse the enthusiasm of the people, because, though having a strong historical point in their favour,
simple Repeal would restore the Irish House of Lords, which few
in Ireland would endure now. The Repealers furthermore are not
organised, and many of them, as well as many weak-kneed Nationalists, support the Home Rulers for want of something better. In
fact, the whole rank and file of the Home Rule party is composed
of men who would prefer a larger measure of self-government if it
could be obtained.
The Nationalists could only obtain control of the local bodies and
of the Parliamentary representation by the adoption of such a broad
and comprehensive public policy as would secure the support of that
large class of Irishmen who now hold aloof from all parties, but ar e
Nationalists in heart and feeling, and vote for the man or the party
that comes nearest to their ideas, and which would further detach

APPENDIX A.

127

from the Home Rule party all who are really in favour of a larger
demand than that of Mr. Butt, but who now give the Home Rulers
a conditional support.
The object, however, could be reached much more easily by an
honourable compromise. This compromise is only possible by
leaving the form of self-government undefined—putting off the
definition until a really representative body with the country at its
back, and elected with that mandate, could be assembled and speak
in the name of the nation. When the nation speaks all parties
must obey, and a united Irish nation can shape its own destiny.
There is no use defining the form of self-government for the mere
purpose of bringing forward a motion in Parliament once a year or
once every session, only to be thrown out by a hostile majority, and
complete independence cannot be demanded without coming into
conflict with the law. As the battle of Irish freedom must be fought
outside Parliament, and as Home Rulers, Repealers, and Nationalists all call the form of autonomy they desire " self-government"
—as, in addition to this, they agree substantially as to the present
needs of Ireland, there should be nothing to prevent them agreeing
on a common platform which would bind them together for the common good of the country, till the country itself should speak in such
a manner as to command the allegiance of all.
Such a common platform was suggested in the cable despatch
from New York, which has been called the " new departure." The
talk about the " folly " of publishing the substance of this telegram
is almost too silly to waste words upon. It is simply the height of
folly to imagine there was anything to be concealed in it. There
was nothing proposed which is not strictly within the law, and no
man in Ireland would have the slightest reason to fear the consequences of avowing his acceptance of the propositions. They would
not bind a member of Parliament to accept the revolutionary policy,
nor could he be held responsible for threats or speeches of the proposers in the United States. They simply bind all who accept them
to carry them out, and the carrying of them out breaks no British
law. It is not an " alliance " between Home Rulers and revolutionists which is proposed, but the adoption of a broad and comprehensive public policy which Nationalists and men of more
moderate views could alike support without sacrifice of principle.
No party or combination of parties in Ireland can ever hope to
win the support of the majority of the people except it honestly pro-

128

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

poses a radical reform of the Land System. No matter what may be
said in favour of individual landlords, the whole system was founded
on robbery and fraud, and has been perpetuated by cruelty, injus*
tice, extortion, and hatred of the people. The men who got small
farms in the time of confiscation settled down in the country, and
their descendants, no matter what their political party, are now
"bone of our bone"—have become Irish—and perform a useful
function in the land. No one thinks of disturbing them. If the
landlords.had become Irish, and treated the people with humanity,
the original robbery might be forgiven—though a radical change in
the tenure of land must come of itself some day—but when, as a
class, they have simply done England's work of rooting out the Irish
people ; when the history of landlordism is simply a dark story of
heartless cruelty, of artificial famines, of evictions, of rags and squalid
misery, there is no reason why we should forget that the system was
forced upon us by England, and that the majority of the present
landlords are the inheritors of the robber horde sent over by Elizabeth and James the First, by Cromwell and William of Orange, to
garrison the country for England. It is the interest of Ireland that
the land should be owned by those who till the soil, and this could
be reached without even inflicting hardship on those who deserve
•no leniency at the hands of the Irish people. A solution of the
Land Question has been reached, to a large extent, in France, in
Prussia, and in Belgium, by enabling the occupiers to purchase their
holdings. Let the Irish landlords be given a last chance of settling
the Irish Land Question amicably in this manner, or wait for a solu«
tion in which they shall have no part.
Let a beginning be made with the absentees, the English lords
and the London companies who hold stolen land in Ireland, and
there will be enough of work for some years to come. Let evictions
be stopped at all hazards, and the rooting-out process come to an
end. But I shall be told the English Parliament will never do any
of these things. Then, I say, these things must only wait till an
Irish Parliament can do them better; but in the meantime good
work will have been done, sound principles inculcated, and the
country aroused and organised.
To those who are alarmed at language like this in regard to the
Land Question, I would say : "Look at France, at Prussia, and at
Belgium, and you will find that the secret of their prosperity lies
in the number of tillers of the soil who own their holdings. Listen

APPENDIX A.

129

to the mutterings of the coming storm in England, and ask yourselves what is going to become of the land monopoly after a few
more years of commercial and manufacturing depression—a depression sure to continue, because the causes of it are on the increase."
The English are a very practical and a very selfish people, and will
not let any fine sentiment stand in the way when they think it is
their interest to redistribute the land. What, may I ask, would become of the Irish landlords—especially the rack-renting, evicting
ones—in case of a social convulsion in England ? It is a question
which they themselves must decide within the next few years.
With them or without them the question will be settled before
long, and many who now think the foregoing assertions extravagant will consider them very moderate, indeed, by-and-by.
The education question is only approached at present from a purely
religious standpoint. There is no reason why it should not be treated
also from a utilitarian point of view, not to speak of a National one.
The curse of Ireland for several centuries past, after foreign rule—
indeed, as a direct result of foreign rule—is sectarianism. It is the
interest of the Irish people that the rising generation of all creeds
should receive a sound, practical training that will fit them for the
battle of life, and enable them to compete with the young men of
countries hitherto more favoured in that respect. The natural resources of Ireland will never be developed by men trained as the
majority of the present generation have been. Why not insist on
the history of Ireland being taught in all our schools, and on the
nationalisation of the schools where the Protestants are trained ?
It cannot be expected that men trained up in anti-Irish ideas will
make good Irishmen, nor can it be expected that any large number
of Protestants will join any political party which devotes its principal
efforts to a purely Catholic object. It is fear of the Catholic majority more than love of England which makes anti-Irish Irishmen
of so many of our Protestant fellow-countrymen, and if they are
ever to be won over to the National side some sacrifice must be
made. He must be a dull Irishman indeed who will assert that
their aid is not worth having, and anything that is worth having is
worth paying for. The price in this case is the exclusion of all sectarian issues from the National platform. This would not produce
any miraculous transformation. We must wait for results, but they
are sure to come, for the simple reason that it is for the material interest of the Protestants as well as the Catholics that Ireland should
govern herself.
K

13°

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

If Ireland were free now one of the first things, after the Land
Question, which would demand solution, would be that of county
government, and the principle should be laid down in the National
programme. The whole people have an interest in the local as well
as the national administration, and should have the selection of a
county council or board, having much the same powers as the
council-general of a French department. The present abortion of
county government, called a grand jury, which enables the foreign
garrison to look after its own interests at the expense of the people, will not, of course, be abolished by the English Parliament,
though it may be tinkered, but its abolition should be demanded,
and the principle of the people's right to do their own business,
through their elected representatives, clearly enunciated.
While the right to the franchise of every man born on Irish soil
who has not forfeited his rights of citizenship by conviction of crime
against society should be affirmed, the very least that should be demanded at present is the equalisation of the Irish franchise with that
of England.
If a programme such as I have roughly sketched above were
adopted and vigorously carried out, its acceptance made the test for
election to all offices in the gift of the electors, and the people thoroughly organised for its support, the country would soon throb with
a vigorous and healthy life from end to end, and we should at last
begin to see the dawn of our day of liberation. It would give Ireland the materials out of which a National Government could be
formed, which would command the confidence of the Irish people
at home and abroad and the respect of foreign nations. From the
very outset it would seriously embarrass the diplomacy of England
abroad, and, if carried out with firmness, resolution, and judgment,
it would make Ireland count for something in the world even before
she won self-government.
It has been objected by some very well meaning people that the
publication and explanation of this programme is the avowal of designs that England will take good care to provide against \ but a
little reflection will convince any intelligent man that the first public
step taken as a result of its adoption would clearly indicate the ultimate object. It would be as clear as the noonday sun to English
statesmen ; but England has entered on a career in which she cannot stop, and she can no longer treat us as in the past. That vast
agglomeration of hostile races and conflicting interests scattered

APPENDIX A.

131

over the world called the British Empire has been held together up
to the present by favourable circumstances, which are disappearing
day by day. It is filled with inflammable material within and beset
with powerful and watchful enemies without It was constructed
for commercial purposes alone, is conducted on merely commercial
principles, and cannot stand a great strain. It cannot last, and the
Crash will come as sure as fate. It has passed the summit of its
glory and its infamy, and is now on the descent which leads inevitably to ruin. It is our turn now. Our watchwords should be :
Patience, Prudence, Courage, and Sleepless Vigilance. Great events
are coming upon us, and on the way we demean ourselves during
the next few years will depend whether we are to play a considerable
part in those events, and build up a nation, or sink in the ruins of
one of the broken empires of the world.
No one who looks at the present condition of the East, who considers the inevitable effects of the policy inaugurated by the present
Government of England and the settled policy of Russia—no one
who has any knowledge of the immense interests at stake—can seriously think that war on one of the largest scales ever witnessed
can much longer be averted. In such a war the blood and treasure
of Ireland would be poured out like water for the interests of a
Power which has robbed us of everything and rooted out and exterminated our people. Ireland would gain nothing by it. It is time
to ask shall Ireland have something to say about this expenditure of
her vital necessaries, and if it is inevitable can she find no better
way to apply them ? This is a question which Home Rulers as
well as Nationalists will be called upon to answer some of these
days, and now is the time to make up their minds.
It was considerations like these which dictated the proposition of
the " new departure," and this explanation is given so that the Nationalists of Ireland may not be misled by the misrepresentations
and the mistakes which have appeared in print in reference to it.
They have as yet come to no decision, and I hope when they do it
will be a wise one. They must, however, beware of those " friends"
of theirs who raise the cry of " dictation from America." No one
in America wants to dictate to them ; but these gentlemen must
pardon me if I respectfully decline the honour of being classed as
an " American."
Respectfully yours,
JOHN DEVOY.

132

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

APPENDIX B.

Letter on the Land Question, from the Catholic Bishop
of Meath to the Catholic Archbishop of Tuam, denouncing the " Policy of Obstruction " :—
M Y DEAR LORD,—Sufficient time has now elapsed to estimate
with reasonable exactness the effect produced on the Home Rule
controversy by your letter of the 4th January. It seems now generally admitted, that that letter has relieved the country from a
mountain-weight of anxiety and discouragement; and that it has,
moreover, inspired the nation with fresh courage, confidence, and
self-reliance. From the universal welcome with which it has been
hailed, it appears evident that it has laid at least the foundation of
the re-establishment of concord, unity, and combined harmonious
action in the ranks of the Irish Parliamentary party. On many a
perilous crisis in our country's history has your Grace's guiding and
encouraging voice been heard before. The nation now knows it
well, listens to it with respect and attention, and follows it with
confidence, because, in no instance, has it ever been misguided or
disappointed by it. On occasions, therefore, of discouragement and
danger, like the present—when even the best-intentioned can scarcely
see their way, and when a false step is fraught with ruin—the nation
has learned, by long experience, the wisdom of looking eagerly to
the great Archbishop of the West for light and guidance. There is
no other authority living in whose counsels it feels it can place such
reliance. Therefore, of all men, John Archbishop of Tuam—clarum
et venerabile nomen—fills the highest place in the esteem, and has
the strongest and the most lasting hold on the affections, of the Irish
race all the world through. Through no other man, then, could the
nation now express, with such dignity and authority, the shame and
sorrow with which it has, for some time past, witnessed the deplorable dissensions that seem rapidly destroying the cohesion and
integrity of the Home Rule Parliamentary party.
That party is the result of a supreme and a magnanimous selfsacrificing effort made by the patriotism of the nation at the last

APPENDIX B.

133

general election. It would be a stupid and senseless mistake, indeed, to imagine that, owing to the protection of the ballot, the
electors had no risks to run, and no sacrifices to make, in creating
that party. But the country remained calmly and patiently reconciled to its sufferings, because it felt that now at least it had returned
—not traitors or pledge-breakers—but honest, earnest men, determined to be loyal to the noble patriotic feeling that had called the
Irish Parliamentary party into existence—namely, the indestructible
nationality of our country. For a long time the nation felt proud of
this party. A compact Parliamentary party, skilfully organised and
disciplined—counting in its ranks men of the highest intellectual
gifts, and of splendid literary and business acquirements—guided by
a chief of transcendent talents, and of unrivalled legal knowledge
and Parliamentary experience—became a power in the House, which
should make itself felt and respected. Under the shadow of that power
the country felt that it could breathe freely; it was at once relieved
from its normal terror of the coercive and repressive legislation to
which it had been periodically liable. Fresh penal legislation in the
presence of that party now became morally impossible. In the House
of Commons the concord, the earnestness, the self-restraint and selfsacrifice of the members individually were beyond all praise, and
the party itself accomplished more than the country could have
expected from it. Accordingly, the debates on Irish questions were
the most eloquent, exhaustive, and best-reasoned discussions of the
session; and Irish genius and talent, if they failed to achieve positive
success, at least won the reluctant admiration of opponents. If the
party could not at once wrest our national rights from the tyrannical
majority opposed to it, it could, and did, compel it to hear the proofs
of our unquestionable claims, and to listen to the recital of our
wrongs, till our enemies grew ashamed and disgusted at the flagrant
injustices which they had refused to remedy. Then on the supreme
vital trials of strength which must recur from time to time between
the two great English parties in the Legislature, the Irish party
could deal out a death-blow to any Ministry that had made itself
obnoxious to it.
Isolated Conservatives, or impracticable recreants, with false
Whig traitors, showed themselves from a very early date in the
Home Rule ranks. But the country quickly detected, and will not
easily condone, their treachery, and, as may be presumed, they will
not dare to present themselves for re-election to the constituencies

»34

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

they betrayed. With the exception of an occasional adverse vote
on some popular measure like tenant-right, they could do no harm,
except through simple abstention. But the entire responsibility of
the schisma amarum in corpore—of the fatal rent in the Home Rule
ranks—rests on the most eloquent, the ablest, and the most patriotic
members of the party. These are men of the purest Irish type, in
whom will be found combined all the glories as well as the weaknesses of the Irish character. The matchless eloquence, the splendid
intellectual endowments, the undaunted courage that have, in every
age, elevated and ennobled the Celtic character, are found in them
side by side with the impulsiveness, the impatience, the quick and
ardent temperament that have ever made combination and union
the great difficulty with Irishmen. Hence, dissensions amongst its
chiefs have, in all ages, proved the ruin of the Irish nation. But
warnings of history will not now be disregarded; for our contention
is with honest men, who only require to read aright the lesson that
history teaches.
Gentlemen of the " Policy of Activity," your country, addressing
you authoritatively through the great Archbishop of the West,
challenges the wisdom of that policy, and it warns you of the tremendous account you shall have to render, if persistence in that
policy shall lead to the disintegration of the Home Rule party. I
4o not mean to say that others are not also to be blamed ; but you
have only to look to your own responsibility in the matter. A
peaceful constitutional struggle for the restoration of our national
rights, and for the redress of our national grievances, can be carried
on only through the efforts and influence of a united Parliamentary
party. Now, if the present organisation, which has cost the nation
so much, and of which it felt so proud, end in shameful failure, this
fact will be taken as conclusive evidence that a united Irish Parliamentary party is a moral impossibility. The nation has been so
often and so perfidiously betrayed that, after this tremendous disappointment, it will cease to hope any longer.
It would be a fatal error to assume that on the ruins of the Home
Rule organisation you would soon build up a new Parliamentary
party, which—because it should be animated with your spirit and
guided by your principles—would be immeasurably superior to the
laissez-faire organisation which it superseded. No doubt a few
isolated and enthusiastic admirers would follow you, but the nation
would not. It would have no faith in you, and would expect nothing

APPENDIX B.

135

from you. What guarantee could you give that the impulsive and
unrestrained passion that is now creating such deplorable dissension
in the Home Rule ranks would not reappear, and with increased
energy, in the organisation by which you propose to replace it ? It
is very hard indeed to conceive how the leading advocates of the
" Policy of Activity,'' with a following of thirty or forty other members of kindred character, could settle into the homogeneous component elements of a party of such indestructible unity and harmony,
that on no question, or issue, or policy, there could arise a difference
of opinion amongst them. Indeed, such a united " Party of Action "
raised on the ruins of the present organisation seems an impossibility. The dismemberment, therefore, of the Home Rule League
would put an end for ever to constitutional agitation in Ireland;
and the shattered fragments into which it would be broken would
soon find that, of themselves, they were impotent and helpless.
The first important question we then should weigh with all due
sense of responsibility is, what would become of the country in that
eventuality? I confess that I cannot see a vestige of hope that
would then remain for it.
The three great injustices which our country is at the present
moment chafing and fretting most impatiently under, are the
grand jury, the education, and the land grievances. Now, it has
already passed into a proverb t h a t ' ' England's difficulty is Ireland's
opportunity," and the lessons of history as well as our own personal
experience teach us that, whilst we may wrest our national rights
by force from the fears of English ministers, they never will be
voluntarily conceded by the generosity or the justice of British
statesmen. Will anyone, therefore, believe that out of the materials
of which these statesmen are made, there ever will arise a Government so magnanimous, so disinterested, and actuated with such a
sublime sense of justice, as to bring in bills which could hardly fail
to exasperate a large section of their landlord supporters, and arouse
the powerful and fierce hostility of their Radical and Nonconformist
Opponents, purely for the purpose of doing justice to a nation from
whose representatives it has nothing to hope or fear ? Why, only
a short time ago we listened to the loud and deafening cheers of
triumph which rang through the columns of the great English newspapers over what they called the total collapse of the Home Rule
party. Only a few days later the same great English organs were
not afraid to scout our most pressing and earnest demands in a tone

136

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

of insolent and defiant scorn that would arouse the indignation of
anyone having a vestige of Irish manhood remaining in him.
The result, therefore, of this policy of division will be to make all
future beneficial legislation impossible. I have already observed
that the nationality of our country is an indestructible element, an
essential ingredient in the character and constitution of the Irish
race. That patriotic instinct is not only immortal, but essentially
restless and active; and its irrepressible aspirations must get vent
through some outlet or another. As long as the country believed
in the efficacy and practicability of constitutional agitation, the national sentiment put forth its strength in calling into life magnificent
and imposing organisations like the Repeal Association and the
Home Rule League. But, when the country shall no longer believe
in the success of these peaceful movements, this national instinct,
which cannot cease to live and be active, will show itself in its most
terrible and dangerous form. True as the needle to the pole, it will
struggle still for the attainment of its purpose, no longer, indeed, by
peaceable and legal effort, but through secret and unlawful combination. Nor will it be deterred by the folly or wickedness of the
means by which it blindly hopes to reach the goal of its ambition.
Under the influence of this irrepressible feeling, the time will surely
come when the youth and the masses of the Irish people will, in the
bitterness of their disappointment and despair, throw themselves
into the arms of the wildest and most revolutionary form of Fenianism; and, should a chance of success offer itself, or indeed in
the absence of all reasonable chance, they will again venture, as on
many a memorable and melancholy period in our history, on the
reckless and desperate game of striving to achieve the nationality of
their country throagh the arbitrament of the sword.
My great objection, then, to the " party of action " is, that the
course they have pursued leads to disunion and to the deplorable
consequences following from disunion ; and your Grace now emphatically assures us that the country insists that these dissensions must
at once be put an end to. On the other hand, it appears to me
quite clear that it is not the " policy of obstruction " itself, but the
abuse and misapplication of that policy, that have led to these dissensions; and therefore that if the members of the Home Rule party
meet each other in a friendly, conciliatory spirit, and hear each
other patiently and respectfully throughout, they will find—and find
to the inexpressible delight of the country—that there is no essential

APPENDIX B.

137

or fundamental difference between them at all; for a policy of blind,
indiscriminate, and undiscerning opposition to all legislation, is not
only undignified, but irrational, and no member of the Home Rule
League would advocate it. No deliberative assembly in the world,
with any regard for its own character or dignity, would for a moment tolerate it. Even if it were practicable, it would require such
exceptional fearlessness and unflagging perseverance and pluck to
carry it out, that very few would be found willing to adopt it. And the
few who would make that reckless venture might indeed attract attention, create a sensation, and give a vast amount of vexatious
annoyance ; yet there is no deliberative assembly existing that would
not legally (or illegally) contrive, sooner or later, effectively to rid
itself of them. In the meantime, being weak, and, as men would
say, unreasonable, their utmost efforts would be fruitless and sterile;
for they could not appeal to the generosity, the justice, the interests,
or even the selfishness of the majority opposed to them. It is true
there is a chivalrous element in the Irish character that would
heartily admire and applaud the brilliant but desperate efforts of a
gallant few who would struggle bravely for a just cause against
fearful odds, unawed and undismayed by the scowls or the sneers of
the tyrannical majority confronting them ; but that admiration, no
matter how exciting or sensational, would not be the genuine popularity which one might reasonably desire, but the notoriety which
every prudent man should avoid. Fearlessness combined with prudence and discretion is true courage, and courage alone merits popularity; but fearlessness without discretion is rashness, and rashness
may make men notorious but not popular.
The true " policy of obstruction " must not be confounded with
its rash, its fruitless, and sometimes sensational abuses and misapplications, which no sane man would advocate. The only genuine
policy of " Parliamentary obstruction " is essentially thoughtful, discriminating, and judicious, and, from its very nature, can be resorted
to but rarely, and always in exceptional ciecumstances—never except
under the pressure of grave and serious necessity. In every session of
Parliament frequent occasions will arise, from time to time, in which
this policy can be safely, laudably, and successfully resorted t o ; but
nothing short of the collective wisdom and intelligence of the whole
Home Rule party, acting concilianter, can pronounce a satisfactory
and an authoritative judgment on the questions and the occasions
in which that policy can - be resorted to with dignity and success.

138

T H E IRISH AGITATOR.

Individual members, or any number of isolated individual members,
are not competent to pronounce an authoritative decision on this
most delicate and difficult question ; it would be folly and presumption in them, and they would be acting ultra vires in attempting to
do so.
The country now enjoys the advantage of an able, an eloquent,
and incorruptible press, which splendidly defends our political and
religious interests-. The nation feels proud of its press, and is deeply
grateful for the invaluable services it daily renders to it. Yet I think
that the most eloquent and most distinguished newspaper writers
are still more incompetent than ordinary members of Parliament to
pronounce a safe or satisfactory judgment on questions such as these.
Because, firstly, their opinion must be, from the nature of their vocation, essentially unsettled, unsteady, and not well-defined, veering
round, as they must, with the various changes of public opinion,
which they often guide, but which they are sometimes obliged to
follow; and therefore they are often found dogmatically propounding one nostrum to-day and another nostrum to-morrow, as the great
political issue, to promote which—if all is not to be lost—we must
recur at once to the policy of " Parliamentary obstruction." Secondly,
because the opinions and principles of the ablest and honestest of
some of these writers are, quite unconsciously, often so deeply tinged
with the " leaven" of Liberalism or Conservatism, that they sometimes recommend a course of action which, apparently at least,
seems better calculated to advance the interests of one or other of
the great English parties, than those of the Home Rule League.
It appears to me, therefore, that your Grace has proposed, with
profound political wisdom and with admirable brevity, the great principle which would not only restore harmony and concord to the
whole Home Rule ranks, but which will also strengthen and perpetuate its unity, and restore to it the confidence of the country. These
are your Grace's words—" Let unity of action among the members
be insured by summoning them in due time for seasonable deliberation in London, whenever great measures for the benefit of Ireland
or of the British dominions are about being introduced into Parliament, as well as during the progress of such measures through both
Houses. Let all the members, therefore, of the Home Rule party
meet frequently; let them always meet each other in a friendly and
conciliatory spirit; let them hear each other out patiently, respectfully, and dispassionately; and, after due deliberation and discussion,

APPENDIX B.

139

let them decide decretorially and authoritatively the great questions
and occasions on which they are to put forth their combined united
strength, leaving the members free to be guided on other questions
by their own discretion, and under a sense of their own responsibility. This principle of action will put an end for ever to the deplorable dissensions which have of late saddened, afflicted, and
disheartened the country."
The illustrious chief of whom your Grace has spoken with such
respect will be the first to listen with respectful obedience to the
voice of his country addressing him through you, and instructing
him on the sacrifices and the duties which she now expects from his
patriotism and his genius. Indeed, his transcendent talents, his
thrilling eloquence, his vast legal knowledge, his splendid literary
and business acquirements, have, for years past, been employed and
exhausted in the service of his country—in brilliant and successful
efforts to redress every form of injustice and wrong that afflict her.
His splendid literary productions on Primary, Intermediate, and
University Education, are now standard classic works in English
literature. They abound with passages of matchless eloquence and
beauty, and they present an array of powerful, logical arguments,
that make our claims to Christian Catholic education almost selfevident. Then, on the question—not of the enlightenment, but of
the very existence of our people—on the vital question, namely, of
tenant-right and the tenure of land, his speeches, letters, and
pamphlets are of unrivalled excellence, and are daily appealed to as
standard authorities by such distinguished political economists as
Cairns and MacDonald. Of his services on the grand jury laws,
municipal reform, the extension of the franchise, and the late Disestablished Church, we may briefly say omnia tetigit omniaque ornavit.
But the nation will never forget his brilliant, fearless, and successful
advocacy, during the Fenian State Trials, wThen,he stood by his
country's side, not, indeed, in her degradation and shame, but in
her weakness, her infirmity, and her sorrow; when, in the persons
of the brave, enthusiastic, but awfully misguided youths, wTho threw
themselves into the rebellious arms of Fenianism, she expected to
pay dearly for their rashness and imprudence. Only the other day
we saw him stand in the strength and dignity of his genius and
eloquence among the most learned and the most distinguished
legal luminaries of the land. Among the very elite of the bench
and bar of Ireland, he had perhaps no equal, certainly no superior,

140

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

and we were not astonished to find that chancellors, chiefs, and
judges were formerly his scholars and pupils. Had he looked to
the advancement of his own interests with half the zeal with which
he served his country, he might, perhaps, now fill an important
place among these highly esteemed and highly remunerated legal
dignitaries. The country, then, may be politely requested to examine its conscience, and inquire what reward has he received for
all his sacrifices and services. It listened patiently whilst he was
charged with a policy of excessive caution, of inaction, and delay.
If Mr. Butt could prudently have spoken out, he could probably
have justified that policy; and it might be found that the maxim
sometimes holds as well in politics as in war—cum cunctando
restituit.
But, in obedience to the voice of his country, that policy will be
no longer persisted in. When Mr. Butt was charged, without the
shadow of foundation or proof, with corruption and treason, the
country felt scandalised, afflicted, and horrified, and manifested,
through a thousand tongues, its abhorrence of the vile and baseless
charges ; and yet, considering Mr. Butt's magnanimity on the one
hand, and the acknowledged generosity of that highly gifted but
highly impulsive Irishman on the other, the country would not be
surprised to find that a firm and affectionate friendship had arisen
between both over the ruins of their former misunderstanding.
Gentlemen of the Home Rule Parliamentary party, your country
now calls on you, through the illustrious Archbishop of Tuam, to
forget and forgive all your past differences and misunderstandings.
She does not call on you for proofs or for pledges of your patriotism,
your honour, or your loyalty, but she does emphatically demand of
you the highest, the holiest, and the noblest offering that a patriot
can lay on her altar—namely, the absolute and unqualified sacrifice
of your feelings, of your jealousies, and of your misunderstandings.
Believe me, my dear Lord,
Ever yours faithfully and respectfully,
^

Mullingar, 3rd February, 1879.

THOMAS NULTY.

APPENDIX

C

APPENDIX

C.

141

Letter of Arthur M'Murrough Kavanagh, M.P., on the
true causes of distress, in reply to a Letter of the Parish
Priest of Bonis, Co. Carlow:—
Ballyraggett, Oct. 16th, 1879.
M Y D E A R S I R , — I received yours of the n t h inst. on my return
from Ross same day, with the manuscript enclosed, to which you
refer. Although I am sorry to say there are some of both your
premises and conclusions with which I cannot agree, I go heartily
with you in your distate for " newspaper publicity;" but while doing
so, I am bound to admit that there are questions upon which, one
occupying the public position in which the constituency of t h e
county of Carlow have done me the honour to place me, when asked
for an expression of opinion should not shrink from giving it, and
giving it with that publicity which its importance demands ; and as
I cannot, after a most careful perusal of both your manuscript and
your note accompanying it, regard them in any other light than a
sort of challenge—kindly meant, I am sure—to draw from me an expression of opinion upon the issues raised, I shall endeavour to reply
to them as frankly as I can. I n the first place, while admitting freely
that this is and has been, from various causes to which I shall refer
again, a peculiarly bad season, I am glad to say that my experience of
the harvest, so far as it has gone, does not bear out what appears to
m e to be your too gloomy prognostications. I do not think that all the
crops are " short in quantity and inferior in quality." On the contrary, I believe that the cereals are above the average in quantity, and
so far as threshing has yet gone, in quality also. You quote the
price of oats at 9s. per barrel. I see new oats quoted in the Dublin
market at from 10s. to 12s., and tawney oats considerably higher.
T h e potatoes are certainly as a crop far below the average—in some
places almost all gone, and in even the more favoured districts far
from good. T h e green crops are as a rule backward, but as farmers
know that the bulbs or roots often do not begin to swell till the
growth of the tops is checked, it is, I hope, too early to pass a

i42

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

sweeping condemnation on what they may be. I merely notice
these facts because you preface your remarks by a statement of
" what (you assume) all admit," and I am bound to guard myself
against being included in the list of those who do; but with this explanation I freely admit, as I have already said, that this is, from
various causes, a peculiarly hard season, and it may be no harm for
me to try to specify what these causes are. The fear of a bad
harvest has, I believe, acted upon many in a way that in better
times it would not; the depreciation in the value of different kinds
of stock, almost preventing the sale of them, has been a most serious
element in the matter; so has the heavy fall in the price of wool
and butter, commodities upon which many small farmers depend for
their profits. These are the most directly apparent causes; but
there are other causes which, although acting in a less direct manner, have been nearly as powerful in contributing to the present
pressure. It is a well-known fact that of late years the credit system has been extended through the country to what is, in my opinion, a most dangerous extent. Both money-lenders and shopkeepers
have of late years given to the farmers what I might almost call
reckless credit. Artificial manure (which, with every respect to the
manufacturers, has, I believe, nearly poisoned the country), seeds,
clothes, meal, everything that was wanted, was obtainable on credit.
Extravagance was taught, and a class of people, who were before
comparatively prudent and thrifty, the competition for custom
among the traders and money-lenders was so great that the question
of security was almost practically lost sight of. The Land Act of
1870 had a very remarkable effect in this way, as it gave the tenant
a tangible interest in his holding, which the trader could come down
on to secure his debt. I am not mentioning this as a hit at the
Land Act, for that very clause giving to the tenant the right to claim
disturbance, which was the "crux" of the Bill, I supported myself,
and to many tenants it has been an enormous advantage, in enabling
them to get credit, so long as it has been reasonably used. But
there is no human law that works unmixed good, and to the foolish
and reckless it has undoubtedly in that way proved a snare; but
however that may be, of this I am sure, that this unwholesome system of credit must ultimately have worked its own end. It might
have been pulled up by degrees without occasioning any very great
pressure or panic ; but the opposite has happened. The commercial
crisis in England reacted upon the traders in Ireland, and drove

APPENDIX C.

143

them, if not to realise their assets, to ascertain what they were worth,
and to call in the debts owing to them. I believe that gigantic
swindle—the Glasgow Bank—if it had not a direct effect on the
commercial pressure here, added to it by the general panic which it
spread. Fortunately for us our Irish Banks stood firm, and came
out of the fiery trial unscathed and honest as the sun ; and in this
way the English crisis has had a very powerful, though indirect, effect
in aggravating our present pressure. It is, I think, clear as noonday that if a wide-spread system of credit is suddenly checked it
must produce financial pressure, and in the present instance it is not
only credit that is almost suspended, but these commercial creditors
are taking peremptory steps to recover sums owing to them —some
of them debts from six to eight years' standing. They are, no doubtj
frightened, and naturally frightened, by the crisis (which I hope has
passed its worst) in their own affairs—frightened by the tremendous
fall in the price of stock, wool, and butter, and frightened by the
gloomy prospects which at one time appeared likely to be realized
of the present harvest; and therefore, although I do not agree with
them that there is such cause for panic, I cannot blame them for
doing their best, according to their own lights, to secure themselves.
All these causes acting together, each more or less indirectly produced or connected with the other, have no doubt, produced a crisis
which has been driven to a climax by the supposed imminence of a
general election. The visitations of Providence have been seized
upon by political agitators as a golden opportunity for their own
purposes to sow the seeds of ill-feeling and to foment discontent.
It is, and has been, the object of these unprincipled and unscrupulous speculators to represent the present unfortunate condition of
affairs as a " terrible crisis ;" but the terror of it exists more in the
danger of their success in perverting the good sense and judgment
of the people than in there being any real foundation of truth for
their extravagant statements. That such is their object is rendered
more clear by their own words. I see that at one of these meetings
a speaker is reported to have returned thanks to heaven that the
elements were fighting for them. But how a wet and wintry harvest (for such was the state of the weather at that time) could be
fighting for an agricultural population, save in the speaker's view of
matters, by making their prospects more gloomy, bringing them to
poverty, and thereby giving fuel to the embers of discontent which
he and such as he were assiduously endeavouring to fan into a

144

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

flame, is not to me apparent. Already the seeds have borne fruit
in two disgraceful outrages ; but I am bound to say that, lamentable as
these are, it is highly creditable to the people upon whose excitable
feelings these incendiaries have been trying to work, that the result
has not been a larger harvest of crime and bloodshed. Therefore
when you ask me whether monster meetings in the case of landlords
are calculated to do good or not, I have no hesitation in replying
that meetings such as have been lately held, and it is to them you
refer, are simply a disgrace to those engaged in them, and certain to
produce results the most detrimental to the tenants' interests. You
say that no unprejudiced man is alarmed at what the " Inimicus
homo " may say at these meetings. Must I remind you that when
a principle or a sentiment is announced by a speaker at a meeting, and is not only allowed to pass unchallenged, but received with
cheers and acclamation, that that principle or that sentiment becomes the principle or sentiment of the meeting; and it is no distortion of prejudice on the part of any man, or on the part of the
Tory papers, or on the part of the English press, to say that at
these meetings, where the mention of her Majesty's name is hissed,
where cries of "Shoot the Landlords!" "Drive them out!" &c.?
are received with cheers and approbation, treason and murder
are the only apparent principles present in the minds of those attending them. I agree with you that the heart of the country is
sound, and that the majority, if not all, abhor murder and injustice.
If it were not so the result of these proceedings would be more
lamentably apparent.
If cases, the existence of which you imply, were pointed out—
cases of " poor tenants living under a heartless landlord or a grinding
agent," who refused to consider circumstances of a pressing nature,
and meetings were held to plead their cause in temperate but firm
language, as you say, there should be, no man could condemn them ;
but in the reports of all the proceedings that I have seen no such
case has been instanced ; and I cannot regard a line of argument as
fair which tries to extend to a reprehensible and wicked proceeding
the warrant or excuse claimed for a hypothetical legitimate one. On
the other hand, I believe that meetings and proceedings such as
these, discreditable and reprehensible as they are on their own
merits, are more likely to injure than to serve the tenants' interest.
All parties concerned must, or ought, as you say, to help to bear
the burden, and it is not only a landlord's duty, but a landlord's in-

APPENDIX D.

145

terest, to try, by kindness and consideration, to pull his tenants
through a crisis, but by taking the question out of the region of a
landlord's private dealings with his tenants which these public meetings, which, I regret to find, you appear to advocate, is certainly
doing, the free exercise of forbearance and generosity is prevented,
and the solution is limited to the test of legal rights, and I, for my
part, can conceive no cause more calculated to prevent the exercise
of generosity on the landlord's part than the system of intimidation
and menace which has been adopted."
In conclusion, I can only apologise to you for the almost immoderate length which this letter has reached, but the subject was
so important that I found it impossible, if I did more than simply
acknowledge the receipt of your communication, to compress into
shorter limits what I had to say.
I am, my dear sir, with every respect,
Yours faithfully,
A R T H U R KAVANAGH.

The Rev. P. Carey, P.P., Borris.

APPENDIX D.

Letter upon the relation of Landlord and Tenant, from
Lord Monck to the Parish Priest of Whitehall, Co.
Kilkenny.
Charleville, Bray, Nov. 18, 1879
M Y DEAR F A T H E R MULHALL,—My absence in England ha

prevented me from sooner sending an answer to the memorial dated
October 30, signed by yourself as chairman of a meeting, addressed
to me by my tenants in the townlands of Gerryduff, Kellymount,
Ballinvalley, Coolcuttia, and Cornleigh, and asking for an abatement of rent during the present year. My personal regard for
yourself induces me to send an answer to this memorial, but I do so
under protest against the practice of making the private dealings
between me and my tenants the subject of discussion at public meetings, or of documents emanating from them. I hold that the transit

146

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

actions between persons standing towards each other in the relation
of landlord and tenant are based on particular contracts between
man and man, varying in different cases as to their conditions and
terms ; and I think that any attempt at changing such arrangement
ought to be the subject of individual communication, and not of
collective remonstrance. I trust that my conduct during the thirty
years in which I have been the owner of this property, shows that I
am ready at all times to listen to an appeal from any tenant as to a
case of particular failure or misfortune, and that I am willing to
forego the exercise of very strict legal rights when the assertion of
them would be attended with hardship. I am prepared to act on
the same principle during this year, but I cannot admit that the
circumstances of the present time, taken in connection with the
manner in which my tenants have been hitherto treated, afford any
just ground for a general abatement of rent on my property.
The facts of the case are these. No general change of rent has
been made during the thirty years for which I have been owner of
the estate, nor, as far as I am aware, for twenty years preceding that
period. The result of this is that most, if not all, of the tenants
now hold at rents fixed fifty years since. The prices of all articles
of agricultural produce are now in the present year much higher
than they were when those rents were settled. So much for the rate
of rent which the tenants are called on to pay. Let us now turn to
the peculiar circumstances of the present year. It is within my own
knowledge as a practical farmer, and I receive the same account
from other sources of information, that the fine weather of the late
autumn has exercised an unexpectedly favourable influence on the
crops, and that this harvest, so far from being worse, is much better
in its results than the last two seasons. I do not admit that the
Poor-law valuation is any just criterion of the fair letting value of
land. It was not made with a view to any such purpose. It was
based on prices of agricultural produce far lower than those which
now prevail. It was avowedly, as I have always understood, in the
judgment of those who made it, 20 per cent, under the fair letting
value, as measured by the low prices which obtained when it was
made. It is, however, so often referred to that I venture to compare my rental with its figures. There are on my Kilkenny estates
182 tenants ; of these 126 hold at rents not exceeding the Poor-law
valuation. Three tenants hold at rents 5 per cent., twenty-eight at
rente 10 per cent., and twenty-five at rents 15 per cent, over the

APPENDIX D.

147

Poor-law valuation. It will thus be seen that, judged by this test,
not one tenant on the estate is required to pay within 10 per cent,
of what was considered a fair rent at the time—now nearly thirty
years ago—when this valuation was made, and that the occupiers
of my land have enjoyed all the advantages of the good times which
have occurred in the intervening period, without any increase of
their rents. If I had taken advantage, as I might easily have done,
of these good times, and the improvement in the prices of agricultural produce, to raise my rents, I should now be in a position to make a large apparent abatement to my tenants, without
really bringing the amount which they would have to., pay below my
present rental. I venture to add that, in my opinion, it is poor
encouragement to owners of land, who desire to exercise moderation
in the assertion of their rights, to find that after a long period o^
low rents to the landlord, and large profits to the tenants, they are,
on the first approach of depression, pressed for abatements equally
with those who, by exacting their rents with more rigour, are able
to make a parade of large per centage remissions, without reducing
the returns from their property to the level of the ordinary income
of the man who has treated those who hold his land with consideration and liberality. Under these circumstances I cannot bring
my mind to the conclusion that a sense of justice or humanity requires me to make any general abatement in the rents on my Kilkenny estate. While stating the conclusion at which 1 have arrived,
and my reasons for that conclusion, allow me at the same time to
express the gratification I felt on reading the report of the proceedings of your meeting, at the respect for the rights of others which
characterised those proceedings in marked and favourable contrast
to those of many other meetings which have been held through the
country; and to convey to you my acknowledgments for the good
will and kind feeling evinced towards myself personally
Believe me to be most truly yours,
MONCK.

148

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

APPENDIX

E.

Address of the Knight of Kerry to his Valencia
Tenantry :
M Y FRIENDS,—At a time when there is such a loud and unprincipled outcry, especially on the subject of abatement of rent, on the
part of men who profess to be your friends, but who are ready to
throw you over the very moment you have served the purpose of
their ambitious objects, and when, in consequence, you must be kept
in a state of doubt and of ill-founded expectation, I hold it to be my
duty to deal with you with the utmost frankness, and to be ready
at any moment to explain to any of you, either collectively or individually, in the clearest way in my power, the principle on which,
in reference to reduction of rents, 1 mean to rule my conduct. I
shall thus enable you at once to understand where you are, and
where you are not, to expect an abatement. And if it is my duty
thus to meet you, allow me to tell you that it is your duty to listen
attentively, and to weigh honestly what I have to say ; what otherwise would be the use of my being entitled to remind you that my
family have held their lands in this same Province of Munster and
County of Kerry, for more than 500 years continuously, without
its ever, so far as I am aware, having been laid to their charge, that
they had dealt hardly with those who were dependent on them ;
and with regard to myself, I am also justified in reminding you
that I have been personally known to you, and connected in the
closest relations with the inhabitants of this Parish, for nearly half
a century, and I challenge my bitterest enemy, if such there be, to
point out a single occasion on which I have not been as mindful of
the interest of the Tenant, as of that of the Landlord. Before, however, I can be in a position to explain my views to you distinctly, it
is essential that I should be as distinctly informed on the following
points, viz. :—
1st.—What is the precise amount of rent now paid by you and of
which you complain ? That is to say, the net amount after deducting from your payments any portion thereof which may consist o

APPENDIX E.

149

interest or per centage on outlay made by me on improvements,
either at your desire, or with your consent, and of which you are
now enjoying the benefit.
2nd.—At what precise period did this rent first come into operation?
Informed on these points, although there may be here and there
a few cases where special circumstances may necessitate exceptions,
sometimes in the landlord's favour, sometimes in that of the tenant,
still my rule will be all but universal and at the same time thoroughly
simple, viz. :—
Where the rent first came to be fixed at a period of high prices,
let us suppose for instance, where they were considerably in excess
of those of the last (say) three years, and where the rents were assessed fully in proportion to those high prices, I shall be prepared
to make you an abatement.
Where, on the contrary, the rent came first to be fixed at a period
when the prices were lower than those prevailing now, no just
ground can be alleged for seeking an abatement, and it must be
firmly refused. As to the precise amount of abatement, it is impossible to state that with precision, as it may vary with the circumstances of each separate case, and it will be sufficient to say, that it
shall be in proportion to the degree in which the prices, at the time
when the rent began, exceeded those of this day. I am well convinced
that you are intelligent enough to see that in adopting this course, I
am doing considerably more than bare justice to the tenant; for, while
it is true that the last three or four years have been extremely trying
to farmers, owing to bad seasons and to a fall in prices, still is it not
equally true that the twenty-five years immediately preceding there
had been almost unexampled prosperity—seasons generally propitious
—and prices rising gradually, but with scarcely a reverse to a quite
extraordinary scale? and if it is just that because of three or four lean
years I should share your losses, is it not equally just that I should have
shared in the gams of the twenty-five fat years which immediately
preceded them ? but on the contrary it is thoroughly known to every
individual in Valencia that, of the many thousands of pounds which
this exceptional rise in prices brought to my tenants, not one farthing
found its way to the pocket of the landlord ; and am I not further
entitled to remind you that had you, during these years of prosperity,
exercised the most ordinary prudence, and either laid up in the
savings bank, or still better, made a savings bank of your land,

IS©

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

you would have been in a far better position for encountering t h e
rainy day which has, in every sense of t h e word, recently beset us ?
You should also ask yourselves if you have not h a d it in your
power at any time to obtain a substantial abatement without a n y
appeal to your landlord, if you h a d chosen to devote a reasonable
time and effort to the destruction of weeds. I t is not too much t o
x say, that we frequently see one-third or more of the produce of a
field consisting exclusively of weeds, and you are bound to remember
t h a t in such case you are paying one-third of your rent, one-third
of your taxes, and one-third of your labour for weeds and nothing
else. A n d I firmly believe, that t h e gross weed expenses of V a lencia cannot fall short of 2"8oo per annum.
I n conclusion, I wish to lay before you a few figures, which a r e
valuable, not only as supporting what I have said, but also t o enable
you to retain these facts in your memory. W h e n in 1855 I first
entered into full possession of t h e estate, which had belonged t o
my father in this parish, I found it to consist of 4,230 acres, from
which, deducting 1,455 acres of mountain pasture of which I myself
retained the control, and about 250 acres of my own demense, there
remained 2,520, or thereabouts, let to tenants at an average rent of
8s. 1 i d . per acre. A t that time butter, your main staple, was rated
at from 6os. to 68s. per cwt. Passing thence over a period of twenty
years t o the year 1875, I find that the rent h a d barely risen n d .
per acre, whilst butter h a d advanced to 80s. and 90s. per cwt.
If these figures are not sufficient to establish t h e moderation of m y
dealings in regard to rent, it is quite idle to discuss t h e matter
further, and it only remains for m e to point out that, during these
long years, I have not been an absentee, spending my money in
foreign p a r t s ; but, on the contrary, I have lived continuously among
you, except for a brief period when health compelled m e to go to t h e
Continent, and during that time I have expended, in works of substantial improvement in this Island, not alone m y Valencia income,
but many thousand of pounds besides, drawn from other e s t a t e s ;
and I have at least, at the close of my life, the gratifying reflection
that, in comparing Valencia as it now is, and what it was when I
first knew it, I may safely boast that no equal portion of Irish land
has made so marked a progress in the same space of time.
I remain, m y good friends, your sincere well-wisher,
P. F I T Z GERALD, Knight of Kerry.

APPENDIX F,

151

APPENDIX F.

Letter on the State of Ireland, November 5th, 1879,
from R. Bagwell, Esq., of Clonmel, to The Times.
To the Editor of "The Times."
SIR,—In your article of yesterday you say that the country gentlemen have as yet been silent as to the state of Ireland at the present time. We Irish gentlemen do not find it easy to get a hearing,
being in a hopeless minority at boards of guardians, and not represented in civic corporations. As to public meetings, they are called
for the express purpose of denouncing us wholesale. Of course, I
have no right to speak for my neighbours; but, as an active member
of the class referred to, I would ask you to give publicity to one expression of opinion, in which, I think, many will concur. There is
as yet no pressure on any workhouse in Ireland. There is no more
than the average amount of actual distress in most parts of the
country. It is true that the farmers have not had a good time lately,
but there has been nothing to ruin them as a body. The harvest has
been good on the whole, and the fuel famine which was feared in
the turf-burning districts has been in a great measure averted by a
fine autumn. Even Mr. Shaw has publicly admitted that this year
is better than last; yet he allows the alarmists to use his name.
I do not believe that there will be anything like famine anywhere,
but it is possible that there may be great distress in some parts of
the West, where the people always live very wretchedly. Many
Englishmen know something of Connemara, which is poor enough ;
but few have seen Erris and Tyrawley, and they must be seen to be
understood. Should there be great pressure among these broad
wastes, the Government will, of course, be willing to give some
help. The experience of 1847 shows conclusively that the best thing
to do with starving people is to feed them, and not to attempt relief
works- The Government have ample means of knowing exactly
how matters stand, and, if they think it necessary, will doubtless
promote the formation of local committees. The parish priest, the
landlords or their agents, the stipendiary magistrates, and the dis-

i5*

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

pensary doctor, would form a nucleus almost everywhere, nor would
Protestant clergymen be backward. Sir C. Trevelyan has told the
public how little local help the officials received thirty-two years
ago. I am confident that we should not now deserve that heavy
reproach. It is often assumed that such relief as I have suggested
requires long preparation. Nothing of the kind. In 1847 communications were difficult, and a people hitherto fed upon potatoes had
no means of grinding corn or preparing meal Now meal forms the
staple food, and our railway system, though still imperfect, is a hundred times sufficient for carriage. In the wildest districts those who
can pay for meal have but to ask and to have. The difficulties born
of protection have entirely disappeared.
While opposed to relief works, I believe statesmen might seriously turn their attention to arterial drainage, which would enrich
the country. The deepening and straightening of rivers cannot be
done by private individuals. The case is analogous to that of town
sewerage, where the municipality makes the mains, and the private
citizens connect their houses. Money for drainage is lent by the
State in Ireland on liberal terms, and there is a power of forming associations by which minorities can be forced to bear their
share of the charge. Much has been done in this way, but it imposes much thankless labour on private persons; and there is the
further difficulty, that tenants are apt to object to their landlords
recouping themselves by increased rent. Any attempt to settle peasant proprietors on partly reclaimed land must end in disaster; the
unfortunate men would starve before they could make anything. If
there are to be peasant proprietors, and I should rejoice to see many
solvent ones, they must have tolerably good land. If there is distress, no doubt resident landlords will do what they can to give'
employment; but if they do not get their rents, they can do nothing.
I firmly believe that the great majority of Irish farmers are desirous
of paying their way like honest men. In some cases they have
boldly disregarded all attempts at terrorism; but I fear moral
courage is scarce enough. I could tell many anecdotes, at once
humorous and sad, to illustrate this : two will suffice. The other
day a tenant on a large property, where the tenants have been holding back, sent his rent by post, with a request that the fact of his
having paid should be kept secret. In another case, the tenant
came privately to the agent and paid. The agent put the receipt
in the man's hat-band, who, on discovering it, declared that he

APPENDIX G.

153

would not show himself thus in the street for any money. Comment is superfluous. I may remind any of your readers who are
frightened by the alarmist chorus of a case which came before Parlament a few years ago. It was said that there was frightful destitution in the remote district of Gweedore, in Donegal. A Select
Committee was granted against the wishes of the Government, and
the evidence showed that Gweedore was in a prosperous condition.
Your obedient servant,
R.

APPENDIX

BAGWELL.

G.

Letter from Colonel King-Harman, M.P. for Co. Sligo,
to The Times, on the State of Ireland :—
S I R , — I have read with great interest the letters of Lord LifTord
and Mr. Bagwell and your leading article thereon. As a resident
Irish landlord, and as one who has striven earnestly to arrive at a
true estimate of the present state of affairs in Ireland, I ask the favour of a space in your columns for a few remarks.
I wish most heartily that I could agree with the gentlemen whose
letters appear in The Times of to-day, or with that portion of the report of the Local Government Board which expresses a belief that
the present system of poor law relief will be adequate to meet the
distress which now hangs over a large portion of the Irish people.
I unhesitatingly say that not only dire distress but absolute famine
is impending in many parts of Ireland, and I am reluctantly, but
firmly, convinced that this can only be averted by Government assistance.
Lord LifTord and Mr. Bagwell are well known as excellent landlords and good men of business, and their evidence, as far as their
knowledge serves them, must carry great weight. They write, however, from parts of the country which are, I hear, exceptionally prosperous, and, except so far as Mr. Bagwell refers to the chronic state

*54

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

of poverty in Ennis and Tyrawley, cannot be taken as giving any
idea of the state of affairs in the West.
The statement frequently made that the potato crop is one-half
the average certainly does not apply to many parts of Ireland, and
such potatoes as have escaped the disease are generally small,
watery, and wanting in nutriment. The oat crop has generally been
good, and has been well saved, and hay is tolerably plentiful, except
in low-lying lands, where it has been destroyed or swept away by
the floods, but is of very inferior quality, owing to the wet season,
while the root crops are generally miserably poor.
The last few weeks of beautiful weather have done wonders in
many parts of the country towards saving the turf, and the fuel famine will not be so general as was to be feared a short time ago.
In many places, however, the turf, especially where the bogs are of
inferior quality, had already suffered so much from the continuous
wet that the recent fine weather came too late to save it.
All this is bad enough, especially when the stagnation of the
cattle trade and the low prices for all descriptions of farm produce—
with the exception during the last few weeks of butter—are taken
into account; but the most serious matter, and the one which will
bring famine to the doors of thousands, is the sudden collapse of the
credit system.
For several years past credit has almost been forced upon the
people; the Gombeen man, or village usurer, has woven his webs
in every neighbourhood, and shopkeepers vied with each other in
giving long credit for frequently inferior and adulterated articles,
but, worst of all, banks have set up their branches in every small
town, and have freely advanced money at interest seldom under and
often exceeding 10 per cent.
Suddenly, the whole of this ceases ; the usurer, the shopkeeper,
and the banker flood the country with processes ; not a shilling will
be advanced, not a mouthful of meal nor a bag of manure will be
supplied without ready money.
Well, the majority of the small farmers in the West have no ready
money ; the large farmers have been so hard hit during the last three
years that they cannot pay for labour, and the sequel, I fear, is too
simple. In the West, speaking generally, the potatoes will not last
till Christmas ; the people have not a shilling, and credit for a bag
of meal will not be procurable.
What can the people do ? They must work for wages or starve.

APPENDIX G.

155

W h o will give the work ? Some landlords will, but many c a n n o t ;
and many, frightened or disgusted wTith the present senseless agitation, will not. I will not now discuss the political side of the question, nor will I enter into the question as to whether the people
might not now be better off if prudence and economy had prevailed
in past years. I can only state a sad and terrible fact. Famine is
abroad in the West, and I see no means of averting a terrible catastrophe if the Government does not intervene.
I wish it to be. distinctly understood that I do not ask for wholesale relief, nor do I believe that the state of matters I have endeavoured to describe is the case all over Ireland, but I give it as my
sure belief, founded on the closest examination, that there are several
districts in the West of Ireland where famine is impending, where
the present system of Poor L a w Relief will be utterly unable to cope
with the disaster, and where, if it be attempted, an additional or
supplemental rate will only be the last straw which will swamp
many who at present may just weather the storm.
I do not, sir, wish to be an alarmist. On my own property there
will be poverty this winter, but I trust no crisis that landlord and
tenant, working together, will not be able to tide over ; but it will
cost us a sore struggle. W h a t I say, however, of other parts of m y
neighbourhood and the country further west is of my own personal
knowledge; and while I deprecate the conduct of those who would
exaggerate the state of affairs in more favoured portions of the
country, and while I denounce as heartless traitors those who would
set class against class and make political capital out of the sufferings
of our fellow-countrymen, I deem it my duty to let the people of
England know that starvation threatens—nay, is absolutely in the
midst of thousands of their fellow-citizens across the Channel. If
you will allow me, in a future letter, to make some suggestions as
to the best means of meeting the evil, I may be glad to avail myself of the privilege. At present I must apologise for the extreme
length of this communication, and trust that the urgency of the occasion will plead as my excuse.

156

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

APPENDIX

H.

Letter from Lord Lifford to The Times on the state of
Ireland, in November :—
SIR,—Were any English gentleman to go about addressing people
not to keep their money engagements, were thousands of Englishmen to shout and applaud them, were any English farmers to call
out that they would shoot their landlords rather than pay their
rents, the condition of honest, happy England would be very much
changed indeed; and this is what occurs in Ireland at present. Let
not your readers be alarmed. The gentlemen who spout are Saxons,
not Celts; the people who applaud are, generally speaking, not of
the respectable farming class, but of the lowest of the population,
and every man knows all the time that law must be enforced, and
that he must submit to it. In my own county, I am proud to say,
the Roman Catholic priests refused to have anything to say to Mr.
ParnelPs lawless proceeding, and denounced the delusions practised
on the people, and no doubt in time the priests elsewhere who may
have degraded their sacred calling will be dealt with by their
bishops. We care little here for Messrs. Parnell and Biggar, further
than that the confidence reposed in such by a large portion of our
credulous fellow-countrymen stamps us to a great extent as unfit for
free institutions, still more for Home Rule, which, somewhat modified, would otherwise have many more adherents. These gentlemen
are on the horns of the following dilemma: —If their advice be taken
by the people the result must be civil, or rather social war—a result
most disastrous to the people, but signifying little to its authors,
who will slip their heads out of the noose long before matters come
to extremity. On the other hand, if their advice be not taken, what
will they have effected except to have embittered the relation of
landlord and tenant, prevented the outlay of capital at a time when
it was most needed, and set one class of Irishmen against another,
as is too common in this unhappy country ? But in doing this, these
gentlemen and their followers arrogate to themselves exclusively the
name of Irishmen, dubbing as Saxon almost every man in Ireland
possessed of property and education; while the fact is, that almost

APPENDIX H>

»57

every Celtic family of known descent is as loyal to the connection
with England as the Fitzgeralds, Butlers, Binghams, &c, who
settled in Ireland above five hundred years ago. There are not
more loyal gentlemen or more attached to the English connection
than the O'Neills, O'Briens, O'Callaghans, Kavanaghs, The O'Donovan, Macgillycuddy of the Reeks, The O'Conor Don, and a host
of others, including genuine O'Donnells. I, of course, do not include
those who may have been originally Scotch MacDonalds, and who
have changed their name for the Irish designation. On the other
hand, it would be scarcely " Parliamentary " to mention names, but
let your readers make the names of those most prominently promoting Home Rule and anti-landowner agitation, and making a
little allowance for arbitrary assumption of the letter " O , " they
will see that, with only two or three exceptions, and those generally
the least offensive of their class, those men who so freely denounce
what they call Saxon rule and Saxon possession of property, are in
reality, for the most part, of Saxon, not Celtic descent. Now, what
they may say signifies but little in England, except as regards its
immediate and transitory effect; but to the people of Ireland they
may use an argument easily answered by reference to history as to
its truth, by a glance at the population as to its feasibility, but
potent with an ignorant and very credulous people—that the agricul
tural population, not the owners by law, have the right of possession
of the soil. You have allowed me more than once to lay before
your readers the historical fact, that under their ancient laws the
Irish chieftains, Irishmen other than the then ruling classes possessed no property at all. Sir John Davis, Irish Attorney-General
in the reign of James I., after giving a list of the innumerable exactions by which the Irish chieftains had the power of taking at will
the entire property of their tenants, if tenants they could be called,
who possessed nothing, goes on to say these " made the lord an
absolute tyrant, and the tenant a slave and villein, and in one
respect more miserable than bond slaves, for commonly the bond
slave is fed by his lord, but here the lord is fed by his bond slave."
So early as the reign of Edward III. a petition was presented to
the Crown from the Irish people, praying that they might be admitted to the benefits of English law ; but as Mr. Froude would say,
" Another opportunity was lost," and owing to the influence of the
English settlers, who found Irish tyranny more to their taste,
English law was denied to the Irish people. But now, under those

i58

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

Saxon laws, for which they prayed, an Irishman who is not asked
for rent for twenty years becomes owner of a freehold; but he denies
the right to his landlord, whose family may have possessed the property for five hundred years. Hence agitation, insecurity of property,
and even of life, absence of capital, over-population, want, and
disease. This is the root of Trish evil, and this is promoted by those
so-called Irishmen to the utmost of their power. And now, as to
that " fixity of tenure" which is to be the panacea for all, I for one
have always looked on what are called " the Bright Clauses " of the
Land Act as in one respect its most valuable part. If those clauses
can once be worked, plenty of landowners will be only too happy to
sell: but politically the objection to them is this—that notwithstanding that while according to common sense a man would naturally lay out more on his own land than he would on another
person's, yet Ireland being Ireland, it is an absolute, well-ascertained fact, that in proportion to the length of tenure of an Irishman
of the tenant class is bad cultivation and consequent poverty, often
coupled with subletting and exorbitant rents screwed out of miserable under-tenants. As a landowner, though inheriting but paupera
regna, I like the Bright Clauses as a measure which will certainly
strengthen the security of property, and so do good. As an Irishman who for nearly seventy years has " hoped against hope " that
Ireland might one day become as Scotland, once as poor and unsettled, now one of the fairest portions of the British Empire by
complete and entire unison with England—as an Irishman I believe
that purchases under the Bright Clauses will quoad those purchases
add to the poverty of Ireland.
I have trespassed on your space too far, but I cannot refer to
" fixity of tenure " without telling your readers a story which will
at least amuse them. An eminent lawyer was a candidate for the
representation of an Irish borough. His principal supporter was a
Roman Catholic priest. The candidate had a conscience. The
priest was a firm friend. Before attending a meeting of the constituency the candidate announced to his friend that he feared he
should lose his election, for he could not conscientiously pledge
himself to " fixity of tenure." " Oh," says the priest, "never mind
that; I will pull you through." They attended the meeting, and
the priest got up and said, " Boys, you know I am the friend of the
poor. I always have been so, and I always will be. As many of
you as hold land hold up your hands." About half-a-dozen held

APPENDIX I.

iS9

up their hands. " N o w , " said the priest, " as many of you as hold
no land, and want to hold some land, hold u p your hands." T h e
hands of almost all were held up. " N o w , " says the good priest,
" do you think that I or my friend will support fixity of tenure,
which would keep all these decent men out of their land, and leave
with a dozen people ?" T h e candidate endorsed the opinions of
his friend, and was followed to his lodgings by a cheering crowd.
I am, Sir, your faithful servant,
LlFFORD.
Mallow, November 12.

APPENDIX

I.

Letter of Lord Robert Montagu, addressed to his Antrim
Tenantry, on the subject of the Land Agitation :—
SIR,—On my return to London I received a memorial of the
tenants on my estate in the County Antrim, asking for a reduction
of rent, and, as you have signed it as chairman of the meeting at
which it was adopted, it is through you that I address my reply.
I t is a matter of public notoriety that the tenants for many years
previous to 1870 had held their farms at rents much under the value,
and lower than was paid for land of an inferior quality on the adjoining estates. Yet, as soon as the Land Act was passed in 1870,
my predecessor took advantage of its provisions to offer the tenants
new leases on his Antrim (but not on his unsettled) property, at
rents far below the Poor Law Valuation, and for the longest term
permitted by the A c t ; although by the settlement of the estate
he had bound himself not to let the land for less than the fair market value, nor for a longer term than twenty-one years. T h e tenants
did not scruple to exchange their old leases for the new ones.
W h e n I succeeded to the property I instructed my agent to offer
leases to my yearly tenants for the longest term allowed by the law,
and at the fair letting value of the land (which was to have been
ascertained on the basis of the Poor L a w Valuation. T o this proposal the tenants objected; and they requested that the valuation

i6o

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

should be made by a local valuator, to be selected by themseives.
I agreed to this, and Mr. Robert Macartney, who was unknown to
me or my agent, was appointed, and he made the valuation.
Although, on seeing the result of his labours, I considered his valuation very low, I executed, in 1877 and at various times since, leases
at the rents fixed by him. I do not think that these tenants have
now any claim on me for a reduction of rent.
I will give an example of the value of their holdings. I have before me an application from a tenant, holding nine acres of land on
a lease of thirty-five years, and at the yearly rent of £9 6s. 5d., the
Poor Law Valuation being £9, for leave to sell her interest to another of my tenants for ^250, about twenty-seven years' purchase !
Am I to suppose that if such a sum is given for a lease at the Poor
Law Valuation, every person who desires to become a tenant proprietor must give much more for the fee simple ?
As to the tenants (holding under leases given by my predecessor)
who have signed the memorial, a few examples, selected at random,
will show the unreasonableness of their application for abatement:—
Annual Rent.

Poor Law Valuation.

£ s d.
.
1.
2.

3.
4.

5
.
6
.
7.
8.

..
.
..
.
*•
•
..
.
..
.
..
.
..
.
••
•

£ s d
. .

28
28

0
2

0
0

36 15 0

32
52
36
44
45

5
0
0
0
°

7
0
0
8
0

40 15 0
63 0 0
49 0 0

28 0

0

42

0 0 «

52
62

0 0
0 0
46 0 0

I readily admit that the past few years have been unfavourable to
the farmer, and that you, like all others, have felt the depression.
I am glad, however, to know that my tenants have been prudent
and industrious, and that they have profited by the previous good
years.
I do not think there are any more poor people on my estate who
require employment on the drainage works which I am now carrying
out.
My agent tells me that my tenants (with one or two exceptions,
who are certain to pay) have just paid their last May rents without

APPENDIX

I.

161

a murmur. I would fain think that they have escaped the actual
effects of an enticing and mischievous agitation by reason of their
native good sense and spirit of independence ; while it is only through
a feeling of good fellowship with their neighbours that they make a
show of resistance to the claims of justice. They know full well
that a lease is entered into as a contract which is meant to bind both
parties during the whole of the specified term. During the prosperous years, if I had desired to break their leases, in order to obtain
an increased rental, they would rightly have cried out against the
injustice of such a demand. A bad year has now come, and they, I
feel sure, do not desire to apply to themselves a different rule of
morality, from that by which they would have judged me.
W i t h regard to the political face of the agitation, I forbear to say
anything more than t h i s : I t is not by generalities that the destinies
of Ireland have to be shaped. T h e pretext of the present agitation
is a desire to increase the number of landlords (for a peasant proprietor is a landlord written small). If it is thought that small
landlordism or peasant proprietorship is sure to procure happiness
to the holders of the land, let it be shown not only that the few hundred thousands who can become owners, will be really benefited by
being landlordlings ; but also that the many millions for whom there
will be no land left, and who will thus never have the chance of obtaining an acre, will also be thereby benefited.
I have the honour to remain,
Your obedient servant,
ROBERT

MONTAGU.

41 Queen's Gate, London,
December 12th, 1879.

M

162

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

APPENDIX J.

The following is the Official Report made to the Government by the Local Government Board as to the condition of the country :—
Local Government Board, Dublin,
28th October, 1879.
SIR,—The Local Government Board for Ireland have the honour
to forward to you herewith, for the information of His Grace the
Lord Lieutenant, copies of reports which they have recently received
from their Inspectors respecting the state of the potato crop, the
general harvest, the sufficiency of the supply of turf which may be
saved by the peasantry for their wants during the next Winter and
Spring, and the condition and prospects of the poor in their respective districts.
The Board also enclose an abstract of those reports, arranged in
provinces and counties.
In regard to the potato crop, it will be seen that there is not
much variation in the reports, and that it is described almost everywhere as deficient in quantity, inferior in quality, and affected by
blight, and that, upon the whole, there will not be more than half
an average crop.
The general harvest appears to be inferior, and the crops deficient
and below those of last year.
The oat crop, however, is everywhere reported to be good and
plentiful. This applies to all the four provinces, the exceptions in
which the general harvest appears to be fair being parts of Donegal
and Londonderry, in the province of Ulster ; parts of Cork and
Limerick, in the province of Munster; and parts of Wicklow, in
the province of Leinster.
The supply of turf appears to be everywhere greatly deficient,
and much suffering and sickness is anticipated from this cause. A
considerable quantity of turf is stated to have been cut this year,
but it could not be saved owing to the continuous rain; and although
much has been done in that respect during the past few weeks of
fine weather, it is to be feared that, in general, the supply is not
sufficient to last through the Winter and Spring.
In parts of each of the four provinces it is stated that coal can be

APPENDIX J.

163

easily obtained at reasonable prices, but this will not benefit the
poor in many districts in the western and midland counties where
turf is the only fuel used.
In regard to the prospects of the poorer classes during the coming
Winter and Spring, it will be seen that in Ulster considerable distress and destitution, as well as increased demands for relief, may
be expected, owing to the failure of the turf supply and to scarcity
of employment; that in Munster much suffering and want is anticipated, and unusual demands for relief are expected during the
Winter months, owing to the want of employment, which is attributed to the straitened circumstances of the farmers in consequence
of the banks and loan companies having refused to make further
advances of money, and to the low prices obtained for cattle and
butter.
In Leinster a large increase in the demands for relief is anticipated, the farmers not being in a position to pay labourers, and employment consequently being scarce. In Connaught also a serious
amount of distress and increased demand for relief is expected during
the coming Winter. On the coast this is partly owing to the decline
in the employment of kelp burning, and in other parts of the provinces it is due to the reduction in prices obtained for cattle and
pigs, and to the farmers being deeply in debt to money-lenders and
shopkeepers, and to the stoppage of their credit.
With the view of ascertaining the present rate of expenditure in
the several Unions in Ireland, the Board directed the Union clerks
to furnish the usual annual statement on this subject at as early a
date as possible. The returns have not all been received, but the
Board have obtained statements from the Unions in which the poorrates press more heavily than in others, and they annex a list of
Unions in which the expenditure in the year ended 29th September,
1878, amounted to or exceeded 2s. in the pound on the valuation,
and showing also what the expenditure in these Unions has been in
the year that has just passed. In more than half of these cases the
expenditure in the year ended 29th September last exceeds the expenditure for the previous year.
The list comprises forty-five Unions, and in eleven of these Unions
the expenditure in the year ended the 29th ult. amounted to 3s. in
the pound and upwards, viz. :—
Four Unions (Glenties, Cahirciveen, Dingle, and Castlecomer) in
which the expenditure was over 3s. in the pound, but under 3s. 6d.
Three Unions (Castletown, Millstreet, and Oughterard) in which

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

164

the expenditure has been 3s. 6d. in the pound and upwards, but
under 4s. (Newport Union, from which the return has not been
received, may probably be included in this class.)
Three Unions (Kenmare, Clifden, and Belmullet) in which the
expenditure has been over 4s. The expenditure was highest in Belmullet Union, where it amounted to 4s. 5^-d. in the pound, on
a valuation of ^10,952.
The increased expenditure above referred to was no doubt caused
by the additional numbers receiving relief—the numbers relieved in
the first week of October, 1878 and 1879, respectively, being as
follows :—
Weeks

In
Workhouse.

Ending.

5th October, 1878 ...
4th October, 1879 ...

Outdoor.

Total.

43,773
48,682

32.95 1

76,724

35,557

84,239

4,909

2,606

7,515

Excess of 1879 over
1878

Thus showing an excess of 7,515 persons, or nearly 10 per cent, on
the whole number relieved. The following statement gives the proportions in which the increase in the numbers receiving workhouse
relief has taken place in each province, the percentage of increase
being greatest in Ulster, and least in Leinster :—

Provinces.

Relieved in Workhouse
on

Increase.

4th Oct., '79 5th Oct., '7S Numbers.

Percentage.

Ulster

10,261

9,072

1,189

Munster

17,966

16,209

1,697

Leinster

14,975

I3,58i
4,848

1,391
632

10'2

5,48o
48,682

43,733

4,909

11*2

Connaught
Total ...

I3'i
io'4
13-0

APPENDIX

J.

I65

Although it may reasonably be anticipated from the causes abovementioned that there will be a considerable increase in pauperism
during the Winter season, there does not seem to be any reason to
apprehend that the resources of the Poor Law Unions will in general
be unequal to the demands on them; but in some of the Unions referred to, in which the expenditure has already reached sums such
as 4s. and 4s. 5d. in the pound, the strain on the Poor Rates will,
no doubt, become excessive if employment is not to be obtained by
the labouring classes, and if there should be a much greater demand
for relief. The want of employment and the deficient supply of
fuel are the two principal features in the accompanying reports
which the Board submit for his Grace's consideration, and both
subjects are of vital importance at the present time, as affecting the
prospects of the poor during the coming Winter, and the circumstances of many of the ratepayers in distressed districts.
By Order of the Board,
B. BANKS, Secretary.
To T. S. BURKE, ESQ., & C ,

Dublin Castle.

APPENDIX K.

Letter from Lord Dunalley to The Express (Sept. 3), on
Absenteeism and Peasant Proprietors.
SIR,—It is unreasonable to hold the parties who are now agitating questions connected with the occupation of land, answerable
for all the violent and revolutionary sentiments that may be expressed by individuals. There is a great substratum of truth and
justice upon which the edifice of complaint and disaifection is being
rapidly accumulated; and the business of a statesman is to distinguish the real from the imaginary grievance, and that of the legis-

i66

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

lature to remove the former. It is no more to be expected that this
can be done by the mere force of argument, than the Turkish question or the Egyptian (both connected intimately with the question
of the occupation of land) can be thus arranged. Pressure is, unfortunately, as necessary now as it was in the times of shipmoney.
The power of imposing an arbitrary tax, which we landlords enjoy,
is, if abused, just as intolerable as the same power when exercised
by the Crown. It is rendered endurable in our case by the reflection that there is a superior power to which appeal may be made—
that of Parliament. But if Parliament refuses to apply a remedy,
where its interference is shown to be necessary, it has no right to
express astonishment and indignation when reminded (rudely,
perhaps) that " Qui non vult judicare cessa requare." It is not,
however, on the subject of high or low rents that I now address
you, but I write in the hope that attention may not be drawn away
by the discussions now going on from other matters connected with
land tenure, which are of as great or greater importance, and which
have not of late been much considered, though appeals have been
made with respect to them before and since the Union in vain.
The Irish Parliament considered the question of a tax on absentees.
The Parliament of the United Kingdom some thirty years ago
assented to the appointment of Lord Devon's commission on the
occupation of land. Great volumes of evidence wrere published; but
nothing, or very little, came of them. Mr. Gladstone's Acts were
the result, not so much of the beneficent intentions of Parliament,
as of a party combination to maintain a majority. But Mr. Gladstone's Acts left untouched the two following subjects, to which I
intend to confine my remarks.
1st—Absenteeism. It is difficult to define. Why, it is said,
should not a man hold property in different counties in England ?
If he may, why not in England and Scotland ? Why, then, not in
England, Scotland, and Ireland ? Why should he be considered an
absentee (in the sense here used) in the one case and not in the
other ? It is difficult to give a fully convincing answer. But even
in the case of an English proprietor, who never goes near his property, but spends all his income in extravagant living in Italy, &c.r
such a man is generally looked upon as a nuisance. He throws on
other people duties which he ought to discharge; he absorbs his
portion of the produce of the land, for which he makes no return in
any way; and it is well if the mischief is confined to that which he

APPENDIX K.

167

causes during his lifetime, and if his family are not brought up in a
similar condition of effeminacy (in the males) and nonentity (in the
females). But the tenants of such owners in England have many
resources in comparison with tenants of an Irish absentee. They
have plenty of good markets, valuable business connections, facilities for education, and a much greater share of the enjoyments and
even elegancies of life than falls to the lot of Irish country folks.
They have often powerful and friendly neighbours who are able and
willing to assist in the advancement of their children, and they are
not perpetually worried by clerical interference, or if they are, they
can choose their own advisers out of a great variety. These resources are all beyond the reach of the great body of tenants of Irish
absentees, who, it has been said, draw from this country an income
of about two millions, for which they make no return. Political
economists tell us that it does not signify where they spend their
money—that the general level is maintained, and that is enough.
So we are told that a vibration in the atmosphere or the impulse of
a wave is never destroyed—that it is merely diffused, and that the
general effect remains the same. So if a man squanders money at
Naples, that he ought to be spending in improvements, in genial
hospitality, or in popular amusements in Connaught, we are told it
is of no consequence. The money spent at Naples will react in
some beneficial way to the advantage of his Connaught tenants.
Poor, uneducated men, earning no wages, living on few and bad
potatoes in those unfavoured islands of Arran, may be excused if
they cannot see it.
The remedy that was proposed in the Irish Parliament was a tax
on absentees, but it would be much better if inducements could be
offered which would bring about their permanent residence for a
good part of the year in Ireland. The course which I would suggest is, that an address should be presented to the Queen, imploring
her Majesty to declare publicly that it was her wish that proprietors
of Irish estates should make increased exertions to meet the wishes
of their tenantry by residing among them. It cannot be doubted
that the only resistance that could be offered by any Government to
the presentation of such an address, must be founded on State reasons, and what can they be ? Is the connection of the countries
likely to be weakened by the residence in Ireland for some months
of every year of such men as the Duke of Abercorn or Earl Fitzwilliam ? But take the extreme case of a landlord who would, in

i68

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

consequence of such coercion, become disaffected to the English
Government, what would that signify in comparison with the acquisition of the good-will of his fifteen thousand or more tenants ? If
her Majesty pleased, after consulting her advisers, to comply with
the request which I venture to propose, it would then become the
duty of the Government to act in uniformity with her Majesty's
wishes, and to make it generally understood that no one who could
not, in their opinion, show that he had endeavoured to comply with
them, would be a n acceptable candidate for Government favour
either here or in England.
2 . Increase in the number of holders in perpetuity. T h e r e the
Irish peasantry stand at a great disadvantage. In England there
are thousands of manors, all of whose tenants enjoyed a perpetuity.
This was coupled with some burthens (heriots, &c.), which were
found oppressive, and the great bulk of manorial holdings has been
enfranchised in our own time, and made equivalent to freeholds. I t
wTas intended at the time of the confiscations and re-settlements in
Ireland that any proprietor of 3,000 acres should be entitled to erect
them into a manor, when, of course, these perpetuities would have
followed. But the permission, though general, was not generally
brought into operation, and there are very few manors. A great
number of leases for ever in some degree supplied the deficiency
during the last century, but nothing like to the extent required. A n
obstacle was offered by family settlements, which generally only
allow of leases for thirty-one years, or three lives. I rather think
that very few leases for lives are now given, on account of uncertainty of term, and that the usual lease is for thirty-one years.
But there is a great want of small perpetuities, and a want which
I think might very easily be supplied, without injury or violence to
anyone. T h e limitation of the length of leases in settlements was
intended for the good of the family; that that would be as well
secured (with the exception of some imaginary and very improbable
future rise in the letting value of land and property) if the landlord
in possession was empowered, with the assent, after a full inquiry
of a superior court, to sell a perpetuity to the tenant, and invest the
money in the funds to the same uses as those in the settlement.
This might be done with great advantage to both landlord and
tenant. T h e arrangement would be quite voluntary. Proper exceptions should be made as to demense lands, and any other that
may be thought necessary, and the consent of the next heir required

169

APPENDIX L.

in cases where the superior court thought it should be obtained. I
believe that a vast quantity of land might come under such an arrangement, and therefore offer it for consideration.
I have the honour to be, Sir,
Your obedient servant,
D U N ALLEY.

Dublin, Sept. 3rd, 1879.

APPENDIX

L.

Letter of the Special Correspondent of The Daily
on the Indebtedness of Irish Farmers :—

News,

T H E process by which the farmers of the West of Ireland—and
I have reason to believe that it is not confined to the West—have
got got so deeply into debt deserves more attention than has as yet
been given to it. That indebtedness exceeds anything that has probably been anticipated. Statements on this subject, which seemed
to be grossly exaggerated, have recently been made public. It was
said that to one merchant in Castlerea no less than ^25,000 was due,
of which about ^"20,000 was for Indian meal and flour; while another
merchant in the same town had given credit to an almost equal
amount. I made inquiries on the spot as to the truth of these representations. I confessed myself sceptical on the point. I said that
for aught I knew some of the shopkeepers and merchants in small
towns in the West of Ireland might be millionaires; but to me it
seemed strange that they should be able to give such extensive
credit. I was assured, and I have no reason to doubt the truth of
the statement, that the representations were substantially correct;
that one merchant had recently, for his own satisfaction, had his
books submitted to an actuary, the result of the investigation being
to show that the amount due to him for goods of all kinds was

170

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

^"26,000. The same story holds good—with a considerable variation, however, as to the amounts—in Castlebar, Westport, Ballina,
&c. The farmers have been living beyond their means—beyond the
means afforded even in prosperous years—and now that there has
been a succession of deficient harvests it is not to be wondered at
that a crisis has supervened. Much has been written and published
in some quarters about the great forbearance of these merchants.
Some of them may deserve all the praise that has been lavished on
them, but usury is a thing to which the West and the South of Ireland are by no means strangers ; and those who know a little of the
mode of dealing adopted by some of these local merchants are of
opinion that even if they were to accept as payment in full a composition of 25 per cent, of what is now due to them they would not
be heavy losers. It is well known that one man who some years
ago made himself prominent as a " patriotic Nationalist " in a district which I shall not for obvious reasons specify—but the facts and
name are at the disposal of any one who is curious on the subject—
has since obtained a notoriety of a different character, as one who,
in his dealings with farmers, and in his numerous bill transactions
with them, did not charge the lowest current rate of interest for the
loans which he made to his customers. As to the means by which
these local traders have been enabled to accommodate the farmers
to the extent I have mentioned, their capital has in some cases been
amassed by successful speculation in grain, whilst in others it exists
chiefly on paper. Bills are given to the English and Scotch merchants from whom they purchase their goods ; bills accepted by the
farmers are put into the local banks; and the farmers have, in addition, accommodation bills of their own, for the negotiation of which
every facility is afforded by the competition of the various banks.
It is impossible to pass through the small market-towns of Ireland
—North, South, East, or West— without seeing that they are " over*
banked." In Ballina, for example—and there is no reason to suppose that it is exceptional in this respect—there are four banking
establishments. It is absurd to suppose that there can be a sufficiency of genuine sound banking business to support these institutions.
As a local merchant observed to me, the practice of " robbing Peter
to pay Paul," or rather of borrowing from Peter to pay Paul, has
been extensively carried on. When a bill is due in one bank it is
met by getting one discounted in another, until the whole round of
the banks is made. It is easy to see that this is not conducive to a

APPENDIX L.

171

sound system of credit. Of course all this is but a repetition of the
old story—not peculiar to Irish farmers or to farmers of any country
—of people living beyond their means. Nor, perhaps, are Irish
farmers deserving of especial censure under the circumstances.
They are not the only class who have lived beyond their income,
and they have perhaps quite as much excuse for doing so as any
other. The great profits made in the breeding aud rearing of cattle
during the last ten years, and the anticipations, naturally enough indulged in that these profits would continue and would probably increase, furnish an excuse for the improvidence of Irish farmers, and
for their eagerness to get possession of land at any cost, which, at
all events, is intelligible. The difficulty is to find a way out of this
state of things. When a man in trade becomes insolvent he becomes
bankrupt, and in most cases he is able to resume business again.
But to a farmer, and especially to an Irish farmer, bankruptcy
means the loss of his farm, and that, as a rule, means ruin. To
avoid this he must make the best arrangement he can, and under
these circumstances it is not surprising that every creditor should
strive to secure a preference. The landlord thinks he has the first
claim, the trade creditor relies on his past forbearance as entitling
him to a preference over all others ; and without bankruptcy, which,
as I have said, means ruin, there is no means of compelling anyone
to accept less than the full amount of his claim. The result is that
a load of debt hangs round the unfortunate man, crushing all spirit
and all energy out of him. In Ballina the same cry met me that
had greeted my ears everywhere else—the farmers were " steeped
in debt." These were the words used by one who evidently knew
their circumstances well. Their condition in this respect he attributed in aconsiderable degree to the extensive use of artificial manure,
which, he said, was expensive, exhausted the land, and was of no
advantage in the production of more than one crop. It would, he
added, be much better for them if they would take more care of
and make better use of the ordinary farm-yard manure, which was
not collected or preserved as it might be.

172

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

APPENDIX

M.

Letter upon Usury in Ireland, from " A Munster Man,"
to the Editor of The Daily Express, and appearing in
that journal, Est October, 1879 :—
To the Editor of"

The Daily

Express"

S I R , — I n your editorial article of 27th inst. you undoubtedly hit
the right nail on the head, when you attributed the getting up of the
agitation to political agitators and shopkeepers. There is, however,
a very numerous class who, though they are nearly all shopkeepers,
are deserving of special notice. Those are the keepers of loan
offices. I t is astonishing the number of those loan offices which
exist in every town, no matter how small, and the enormous business
which they do. T h e great majority of them are most respectable
men, generally shopkeepers, most frequently grocers and provision
dealers, who conduct their business on regular commercial principles.
T h e y look on money as an article which they have in the market,
the price of which is regulated by the ratio of the supply to the demand, modified by the risk run in each transaction. Their principal
business is done with farmers, to whom they advance money on
joint notes at three months, signed by the principal and two solvent
securities. T h e most respectable of them discount those notes at a
minimum rate of one shilling per pound for ^the three months—that
is, 20 per cent, per annum. This is the minimum rate for first-class
leasehold security; what the maximum is it would be very hard to
tell. Those men know accurately what the interest of every one of
their customers in his farm is worth, and how he stands as to rent,
& c , and as long as they are safe they renew, and increase the
amount of, those notes to any extent. As soon as the debt reaches
the amount they have fixed in their own minds they begin to press
the debtor. If he can reduce the debt they make no further advances, but make a very nice thing of it by the discount on repeated
renewals. If he cannot they oblige him to give a bill of sale.
F r o m that out the keeper of the loan office is, in fact, a middleman

APPENDIX M.

173

between the occupying tenant and the landlord—the interest of the
debt being his profit-rent, and the original rent being the headrent paid to the landlord. I n many cases the original advance
was a comparatively small sum, got to m a k e up a sister's fortune
or something of the kind, and the interest not being pressed for,
is, with characteristic improvidence, added to the amount of the
note at every renewal, until the total reaches the value which
the lender has still in the interest in the farm. T h e r e are numerous
cases in which such a debt has been increased fourfold or more, in
ten years or less, the discount being added to the note every three
months.
N o one who is not well acquainted with the country can have any
idea of the immense number of farms which are held in this way by
the owners of loan-offices, and from which they draw a very considrable income. Large numbers of the farmers who are crying out
for a reduction of their rents are paying in this way additions to
to their rent amounting to 25, 30, or even in some cases 50
per cent, on the amount received by the landlord. This is one
of the reasons why there is a demand for an equal reduction on
all farms. T h e man who had his land cheap has been able to raise
more money on it than the man who had it dear, and the former in
fact pays as much (though not to his landlord) as the latter ; and
the landlord who is known to be indulgent, has his tenants, as a
rule, more deeply in debt than others. W h e n things are in this
state it is easy to tell why it is who is most interested in a reduction
of rents, and into whose pockets a reduction would go. N o w the
proprietors of those loan-offices are a power in the l a n d ; a very
large proportion of those who are more or less in their power have
votes, and they can use their power quietly and unostentatiously
with an effect which landlords or even priests could not hope to
equal. Thus it is very easy to see how the political agitators on
one side, and the loan-office men and the shopkeeping class generally, to whom the farmers are indebted, on the other, can play into
each other's hands, and how they can make " c a t ' s p a w s " of the
unfortunate farmers whom they have in their power. T h e exertions
which are made and the means which are used to prevent any farmer
who is so inclined from surrendering his farm, even when such a
course is manifestly for his own interest, is almost incredible; but
in most cases they actually dare not do i t ; they must continue to
work for their creditor, and be as much his serfs as if they could be

174

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

bought and sold with the land. In the great majority of cases the
occupying tenant will never be a penny the better of any reduction
of rents. Now one of the principal reasons which has caused such
a crisis as at present exists is that for some years back the Land
Acts and the chronic agitation kept up for further legislation in
favour of tenants had caused the mere possession of land for any
term, or at any rent, to possess an altogether fictitious value entirely beyond anything which could be justified by any profit which
could be made out of it by farming. Those who bought an interest in farms paid too much for them, and raised most of the
money at interest on the security of the land. Those who had
farms became extravagant and raised money, and now when a
depression in the times occurs a panic sets in, the value of the security on which all this money is advanced is depreciated, and the
landlords must be called on to make good the losses occasioned by
over speculation in the tenants' interest in the land. Those who
get up the land agitation are those who will benefit by it most, and
in very few cases indeed will they be the occupying tenants.
A MUNSTER MAN.

APPENDIX N.

The Charter of Mr. Davitt's National Land League :—
T H I S body shall be known as the National Land League of Mayo,
and shall consist of farmers and others, who will agree to labour
for the objects here set forth, and subscribe to the conditions of
membership, principles, and rules specified below.
OBJECTS.—The Objects for which this body isforganised are—1st.
To watch over the interests of the people it represents, and protect
the same, as far as may be in its power to do so, from an unjust or
capricious exercise of power or privilege on the part of landlords,
or any other class in the community.
2nd.—To resort to every means compatible with justice, morality,
and right reason which shall not clash defiantly with the constitution
upheld by the powers of the British empire in this country, for the

APPENDIX N .

175

abolition of the present Land laws of Ireland, and the substitution
in their place of such a system as shall be in accord with the social
rights and interests of our people, the traditions and moral sentiments of our race, and which the contentment and prosperity of our
country imperiously demand.
3rd.—Pending a final and satisfactory settlement of the Land
Question, the duty of this Body will be to expose the injustice,
wrong, or injury which may be inflicted upon any farmer in Mayo,
either by rack-renting, eviction, or other arbitrary exercise of power
which the existing laws enable the landlords to exercise over their
tenantry, by giving all such arbitrary acts the widest publicity, and
meeting their perpetration with all the opposition which the laws
for the preservation of the peace will permit of. In furtherance of
which the following plan will be adopted:—{a) Returns to be
Obtained, printed, and circulated of the number of landlords in this
county, the amount of acreage in possession of same, and the means
by which such lands were obtained; the farms held by each, with
the conditions under which they are held by their tenants, and
the excess of rent paid by same over the Government valuation.
{b) To publish by placard or otherwise notice of contemplated
evictions for non-payment of exorbitant rent, or other unjust
cause, and the convening of a public meeting, if deemed necessary
or expedient, as near the scene of such evictions as circumstances
will allow, and on the day fixed upon for the same, (c) The
publication of a list of evictions carried out, together with cases
of rack-renting, giving full particulars of same, name of landlord,
agents, &c., concerned, and the number of people evicted by such
acts, (dj The publication of the names of all persons who shall
rent or occupy land or farms from which others have been dispossessed for non-payment of exorbitant rents, or who shall offer a
higher rent for land or farms than that paid by the previous occupier, (e) The publicatton of reductions of rent and acts of justice
or kindness performed by landlords in the county.
4th. This Body to undertake the defence of such of its members,
or others of local clubs affiliated with it, who may be required to
resist by law actions of landlords or their agents who may purpose
doing them injury, wrong, or injustice in connection with their land
or farms.
5th. To render assistance when possible to such farmer members
as may be evicted, or otherwise wronged by landlords .or their
agents.

176

T H E IRISH AGITATOR.

6th. To undertake the organising of local clubs or defence associations in the baronies, towns, and parishes of this county, the
holding of public meetings and demonstrations on the Land Question,
and the printing of pamphlets on that and other subjects for the
information of the farming classes.
7th. Finally, to act as a vigilance committee in Mayo, noting the
conduct of its grand jury, poor-law guardians, town commissioners}
and Members of Parliament, and pronounce on the manner in which
their respective functions are performed, whenever the interests,
social or political, of the people represented by this club render it
expedient to do so.
CONDITIONS OF MEMBERSHIP.—First, to be a member of any

local club or defence association in the county, and to be selected
by such club or association to represent the same on the central or
county association. Second, a desire to co-operate in the carrying
out of the foregoing objects and subscribing to the principles here
enunciated, with a view of propagating the same and labouring for
their successful application in Ireland, will qualify non-representative farmers or others for membership in this Body, subject to the
subscription and rules laid down for same. Third, to pay any sum
not under 5s. a-year towards the carrying out of the foregoing
objects and the end for which this Body is created—namely, the
obtaining of the soil of Ireland for the people of Ireland who cultivate it.
DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES.—The land of Ireland belongs

to the people of Ireland, to be held and cultivated for the sustenance of those whom God decreed to be the inhabitants thereof.
Land being created to supply mankind with the necessaries of existence, those who cultivate it to that end have a higher claim to
its absolute possession than those who make it an article of barter
to be used or disposed of for purposes of profit or pleasure. The
end for which the land of a country is created requires an equitable
distribution of the same among the people who are to live upon
the fruits of their labour in its cultivation. Any restriction, therefore, upon such a distribution by a feudal land system embodying
the laws of primogeniture and entail, the amassing of large estates,
the claiming of proprietorship under penal obligations from occupiers, and preventing the same from developing the full resources
of the land, must necessarily be opposed to the Divine purpose for
which it was created, and to the social rights, security, and happi-

APPENDIX N.

177

ness of the people. "Before the conquest the Irish people knew
nothing of absolute property in land ; the land virtually belonging
to the entire sept, the chief was little more than the managing
member of the association. The feudal idea, which views all rights
as emanating from a head landlord, came in with the conquest, was
associated with foreign dominion, and has never to this day been
recognised by the moral sentiments of the people. Originally the
offspring, not of industry, but of spoliation, the right has not been
allowed to purify itself by protracted possession, but has passed
from the original spoliators to others by a series of fresh spoliations,
so as to be always connected with the latest and most odious oppression of foreign invaders. In the moral feelings of the Irish
people the right to hold the land goes, as it did in the beginning,
with the right to till i t " Those were the words of John Stuart
Mill) the English political economist. The landlord system which
an alien Government has imposed upon our country in the place of
that which recognised no intermediate ownership between the cultivator of the soil and the State, has reduced Ireland to a degree of
poverty and social misery, incompatible with the natural productiveness of this land, and the progressive prosperity of other civilised nations. The area of Ireland and the natural wealth of its
soil is capable of supporting from twelve to twenty millions of inhabitants if restrictive land laws did not operate against the full development of the country's resources, and the unfettered cultivation
of the land. Yet a population of eight millions, previous to the
year 1857, was reduced by death, starvation, and exile, consequent
upon an artificial famine and continued impoverishment, to little
over five millions at the present day. Decreased population, with
its concomitant absorption of small holdings into large estates, has
produced no beneficial change in the condition of the existing farming classes, who are compelled by the coercion of necessity, in the
absence of manufacturing industry, to an acceptance of a non-alternative bargain in the shape of an exorbitant rent in order to obtain
the use of the soil. The dread of eviction or rack-renting must necessarily operate against that expenditure of labour and enterprise
in the cultivation of the land and improvement of farm dwellings
and premises, which follow in every country where the fruit of the
people's industry is protected by the State. Hence the soil of
Ireland is worse and less cultivated, and the livings and habitations of its agricultural class more wretched, than in any country
N

i78

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

in the civilised world. Over six million acres of Irish land are
owned by less than three hundred individuals, twelve of whom are
in possession of 1,297,888 acres between them, while five millions
of the Irish people own not a solitary acre. For the protection
of the proprietorial rights of the few thousand landlords in the
country a standing army of semi-military police is maintained,
which the landless millions have to support, while the conduct of
the landocracy in the exercise of its legal privileges occasions almost
all the evils under which our people suffer. Thus the right of the
soil cultivators, their security from arbitrary disturbance, and incentives to local advancement, together with the general well-being,
peace, and prosperity of the people at large, are sacrificed for the
benefit of a class insignificant in numbers, and of least account in
all that goes towards the maintenance of a country, but which, by
the aid of existing land laws, extracts some twenty million pounds
annually from the soil of Ireland without conferring any single
benefit in return on the same, or the people by whose industry it
is produced. If the land in possession of, say, 744 landlords in
this country was divided into twenty-acre farms, it would support, in ease and comparative independence, over two and a-half
millions of our people. To substitute for such an unjust and
anomalous system as the present land code, one that would show
an equal protection and solicitude for the social-rights and wellbeing of the labouring millions, as that shown for those of the
wealthy, but non-operative few, is the principle upon which enlightened statesmanship aims at following in modern times, in order
to meet the growing necessities of that popular intelligence and
awakening civilisation which demand the sweeping away of those
feudal laws opposed to the social progress and ideas of the age ;
sacrificing the interests of the few to the welfare of the many by the
abolition of the feudal land codes, has laid the foundation of solid
governments, and secured the content of peoples in most European countries. The interests of the landlords of Ireland are
pecuniary, and can be compensated, but the interests of the people
of Ireland, dependent upon the produce of the soil, is their very
existence. In denouncing existing land laws, and demanding in
their place such a system as will recognise and establish the cultivator of the soil as its proprietor, we neither purpose nor demand
the confiscation of the interests which the landlords now hold in
the land, but simply ask that compensation be given them for the

APPENDIX O,

179

loss of the said rights when the State, for the peace, benefit, and
happiness of the people, shall decree the abolition of the present
system. We appeal to the farmers of Ireland to be up and
doing at once, and organise themselves forthwith in order that
their full strength may be put forth in behalf of themselves and their
country in efforts to obtain what has brought security and comparative plenty to the farming classes of continental countries. Without
an evidence of earnestness and practical determination being shown
now by the farmers of Ireland and their friends in a demand for a
small proprietary, which alone can fully settle the great Land Question of the country, the tribunal of public opinion will neither recognise the urgent necessity for such a change, nor lend its influence in
ameliorating the condition, or redressing the social and political
wrongs of which we complain. Let us remember, in the words of
one of Ireland's greatest sons, that the land is the fount whence we
all ultimately draw, and if the terms on which the land is cultivated
be unfair, if the agricultural system of the country be unsound, then
the entire structure is rotten and will inevitably come down. Let
us never forget that mere appeals to the public to encourage native
industry in other departments must be utterly futile as long as the
great and paramount native industry of the farmer is neglected. In
vain shall we try to rouse the national spirit if the very men who
make a nation sink into paupers before our faces. Paupers have no
country, no rights, no duties, and, in short, if we permit the small
farmers to be reduced to pauperism, if we see them compelled to
give up their lands and throw themselves on public relief, there is
an end of Ireland.

APPENDIX O.

Mr, Parnell's Appeal to the Irish Race for the Sustainment of the Irish National Land Movement:—
T H E land and rent agitation which has originated in [the West of
Ireland, and is rapidly spreading throughout the country, has now
assumed such national proportions that it becomes a question of
first importance to all who sympathise with its legitimate objects

i8o

THE IRISH AGITATOR.

how best to guide the popular movement to the attainment of those
ends. Temporary abatements of excessive rents are being and may
continue to be obtained through the various agencies of a sympathetic but unorganised advocacy, which the existing widespread and
alarming distress elicits from the press and bodies of the community ;
but without the creation of some constituted guide or directing influence the primary, if not the sole, cause of the existing poverty
of the agricultural classes will not be removed.
Independent of the effect which the products of the vast free lands
of America and other favoured countries must have in competition
with the produce created under rent-tied and paralysing conditions
in Ireland, almost all the evils under which her people suffer are referable to a land system glaringly antagonistic to the first principles
of justice and fair government, which place the good of the greatest
number above the privileged gratification of the few. Landlordism,
founded as an institution of systematic partiality, has proved itself
but too true to the spirit of its origin by reducing all who are dependent on, but unprotected by ownership of, the soil, to a degraded,
semi-mendicant existence, and in addition induces the loss of that
independent character which arises from an independence of position.
The duties which feudal laws and customs exacted in return from
those in whom they recognised certain arbitrary rights, have been
ignored by Irish landlordism in its relations to the soil and those dependent upon the fruits of its cultivation ; thus adding to the other
indictments against the system a non-fulfilment of essential obligations.
Any land system which does not tend to improve the value of
land and enable cultivation to meet the exigencies of those dependent
upon its produce stands self-condemned as barbarous, unjust, and
reprehensible.
The diminished population of our country, the millions of our race
who perished in or fled from a land in which God intended they
should not die by hunger; the continued struggle with poverty
which those have to maintain who yet cling to their native soil; and
the periodic climaxation of the impoverishing influences which landlordism exercises upon the social life of Ireland, demand at last, in
face of yet another impending national calamity, (the application
of a remedy which can no longer be denied the salvation of a people. In contrast to the social wretchedness to which a barbarous

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land system has reduced our country is the rapidly progressing prosperity of those people at whose demand or for whose benefit such a
system has been swept away, and the cultivator of the soil has replaced the landlord as its proprietor. The surplus produce of lands
thus freed and agricultural industry thus relieved from its rent-taxation,
is now placed, by easy transit over sea and land, in competition*
with what is produced under conditions of land tenure the most unfavourable, and incentives to toil the least encouraging, that ever
regulated the chief industry of any civilised country. When to this
is added the adverse influences of successive bad seasons, on the
point of culminating in what threatens to be the worst yet experienced
since famine years, the position of the Irish farmer and those depending upon the fruits of his enterprise and labour assumes an aspect of menacing ruin, which to consider as transient or accidental,
would be a criminal disregard of the vital existence of a people.
Impelled by the desperate circumstances of their situation, the
farming and other classes concerned have proclaimed their grievances
in public meetings and by the press, demanding the remedies which
alone can redress them. A consensus of opinion apart from immediate interestedness has declared that the remedy put forward by the
present agitation is founded on justice, reason, and expediency, and
that its application is absolutely essential to meet the evils complained of, and insure the prosperity and contentment of Ireland.
In formulating a demand for ownership of the soil by the occupiers
in substitution for that of the landlords, the people of Ireland neither
contemplate nor ask for the confiscation of those proprietorial rights
which existing laws must necessarily recognise and protect; but that
for the transfer of those rights to an industrial ownership a fair compensation may be given to those who shall be called upon to agree
to such transfer for the settlement of the agrarian strife of the country and the supreme good of its people.
To carry out a project as vast as that which we contemplate must
require means in proportion to the difficulties that must be encountered in the undertaking. Tenants' Defence Associations must be
organised in every county, and assistance be rendered to farmers
who may be called upon to defend themselves against an unjust
or capricious exercise of landlord power. The wealth of Ireland is
almost entirely in the hands of that class which we propose for the
good of the country to deprive of the absolute possession of the soil,
and it is but natural to expect that strong and influential opposition
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T H E IRISH AGITATOR.

will be offered by those who will be called upon to surrender the
privileges they have so long enjoyed—even in virtue of compensation
and expediency.
T o meet this opposition, and guide the National movement for
freeing the land of Ireland, assistance of two kinds must be forthcoming : the one, and most essential kind, is an organised development of earnestness and a resolute attitude on the part of the six
hundred thousand landless farmers of Ireland, as well as those
whose daily bread depends upon the prosperity of their fatherland,
in demanding their just rights as guaranteed in the settlement we
propose. T h e second aid required is money. Neither has ever been
wanting when the national spirit of our country and the patriotism
of her exiled sons have been appealed to in a patriotic cause,
and we are confident they will not be withheld now when the very
soil of Ireland is the object we desire to iree, and the land-slavery of
our people the thing we are resolved shall be abolished for ever.
N o n e of our race have had such bitter experience of the wrongs of
landlordism as those who have been compelled to seek abroad the
food denied them at home, and none should more readily and generously sympathise with those who are resolved to retain a firm grip
of their Irish homesteads than the exiled who were forced by iniquitous laws to leave them.
In the great Shelter Land of Peoples ten millions of the Irish
race have found a home. T h e system we aspire to abolish has
banished them from Ireland. Benefiting by laws which afford equal
protection and encouragement to all citizens of the great republic of
America, they can appreciate the efforts which aim at affording
equal incentives to progress to their crushed and persecuted kindred here.
N o t alone to our fellow-countrymen in America, but to all whom
evil laws have scattered the world over, as well as to all other nationalities who sympathise with a wronged and impoverished people,
who at last are resolved upon a remedy for the evils afflicting them,
do we call for an advocacy of our cause, and support in our efforts
to achieve its success.
I n constituting ourselves a committee for the purpose of carrying
out this work, we are animated with but one desire—to aid the
tenant-farmers and those depending upon the soil of Ireland, to lift
themselves from the misery and social degradation in which they are
plunged, into a position where the notice to quit and the rack-rent

APPENDIX P.

I83

will not operate against their industry, security, and contentment.
W e are influenced by no party spirit in making this appeal, nor d o
we in any way purpose to place this committee in antagonism with
existing bodies or organisations employed in other departments of
national labour. T o free the land of Ireland from the unwise and
unjust restrictions which militate against its proper cultivation, and
prevent the development of its full resources, should be a labour
above the customary influences of party or sectional strife, and be
guided alone by motives of disinterested effort for the benefit of our
common country, and the improvement, contentment, and prosperity
of the greatest number of our fellow-countrymen.
T h e grounds upon which we feel authorised to issue this appeal,
are the fact of our being either directly or indirectly connected with
the agitation which has sprung from the distress that has evoked a
national condemnation of the present land system. As this land
movement has won an endorsement from public opinion of an occupier proprietary settlement of the Land Question, those who have
advocated such a remedy prior to and in conjunction with the national demand now made for it, feel themselves justified in taking
such steps as may be best calculated to insure its application to the
existing land evils of our country.
I n pursuance of this intention we issue this Appeal to Irishmen
the world over, and to those who sympathise with the object in
view, to aid us in our efforts to obtain for our people the possession
of an unfettered soil, and for Ireland the benefits which must result
from an unrestricted development of its products and resources.

APPENDIX

P.

Letter of Sir George Bowyer repudiating Mr. Parnell's
Land Policy :—
S I R , — T h e time has come when it is my duty, as an old and experienced Irish member, to address a few words to my constituents
to the people of Ireland, and even to my own countrymen, on t h e
present grave state of affairs in Ireland. I am the more obliged to

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THE IRISH AGITATOR.

speak plain words of truth to the people of Ireland, because I owe
them a heavy debt of gratitude; for they, during many years, gave
me a Parliamentary refuge from the sectarian prejudices of my own
country, which practically excluded me from public life. I was
returned to this Parliament to support the policy of Mr. Butt. My
constituents now declare by a solemn resolution that I must follow
that of Mr. Parnell. I distinctly decline to do so. I decline because
I will not lend myself to delude and mislead the people.
When I was returned as a Home Ruler, I hoped that the movement might, with moderation, prudence, and wisdom, be made
beneficial to Ireland without prejudicing any British or Imperial
interests. With these views, I wrote an elaborate letter pointing
out the difficulties of the subject, and the principles of public law
which it involved. I recommended that a well-selected committee
of Members of Parliament and others should study the matter profoundly, and prepare a mature plan meeting all the difficulties. I
pointed out the principles of the American Constitution, as explained
in Kent and the " Federalist," and the decisions of the Supreme
Court. I conceived that in this way a statesmanlike scheme could
be exhibited, providing that Irish business should be done in Ireland—thus greatly relieving the Imperial Parliament—without
derogation or injury to that sovereign body, and without endangering the integrity of the Empire. These were my views. Whether
right or wrong is not material now. I told my constituents that
the first thing must be to determine the question, What is Home
Rule ? I said they would get nothing without the consent of the
English and Scotch members, and that neither the English nor the
Scotch members would consent to anything they did not thoroughly
understand. It was necessary to show to England and Scotland
that Home Rule was quod tibi non nocet et alteri prodest. I was
sure that anything clear, practicable, and feasible would be met in a
generous spirit by the Prime Minister and the House of Commons.
My letter was unfortunate. It raised such a storm of disapprobation that I was obliged to withdraw it. Having thus failed, I
could only watch the course of events. But such a signal failure of
a practical and reasonable proposal augured ill for the future. And
so the event turned out. In the House there were the most divergent views among those who called themselves Home Rulers, and
an utter inability to meet the objections raised in every part of that
assembly. Federalism was relied upon. It was inapplicable. What

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P.

185

one member of the party said another contradicted. I will not use
the word ignorant, but the debate on a grave and arduous problem
of public law was not learned. Crushing defeats were inevitable,
and they came. The Irish policy developed into obstruction. Mr.
Butt was insulted and rejected, though he had earned considerable
station and respect in the House. Inexperienced and inferior men
came to the front. I will not discuss obstruction; it has certainly
done one thing—it has made impossible any sort of Home Rule.
The Irish members might in the present Parliament, by a vigilant
and prudent reserve, have exercised great influence over the deliberations of the House and the policy of the Empire. A dignified,
patriotic, and statesmanlike course must have secured to them great
weight with the Government, the House of Commons, and the
country. Speaking in the name of Ireland, they undoubtedly would
have obtained not only a respectful hearing, but substantial justice.
A totally different policy was pursued. The prudent counsels of
Mr, Butt were rejected, and the Parliamentary conduct and tactics
of the most active and leading members of the Irish party became
an open war against the House of Commons, against England and
Scotland, and the interests of the Empire, Such is the present
position in which we find ourselves. The most unwise, the most
inexperienced, and the most ignorant members of the Irish representation are the leaders of the so-called party of action, and they
are deluding and misleading them into a course which must end in
rebellion and ruin. These words are strong, but they are sanctioned
by his Eminence Cardinal Cull en. That eminent and venerated
prelate said to me in the most solemn manner, that the leaders of
the Irish party were deceiving and deluding the people, and that
the course which they were taking led to treason and rebellion.
His Eminence added, " If they go on I will denounce them." If
his Eminence were now living he would, I believe, do what he said.
He refrained only because he hoped for a sounder state of public
opinion.
The agricultural distress in Ireland is most deeply to be deplored,
and must engage the anxious attention of the Government and Parliament. The reclamation of waste land, drainage, improved agriculture, and reproductive public works, are urgently desirable. But
political agitation, monster meetings, leagues, and conventions
throw grave difficulties in the way of any remedial measures. Ireland has many tens of thousands of acres either uncultivated or

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THE IRISH AGITATOR.

comparatively unproductive. If the country had been allowed to
have twenty, or even ten years of peace, free from agitation or
agrarian crimes, many millions would have been invested in the
cultivation of the soil. The seasons are in the hands of Providence,
but no doubt the condition of the people would be very different
from what it is now. Thousands would have lived happily at home
instead of emigrating, or they would have emigrated simply for their
own profit and advantage.
I have always been a supporter of tenant-right; but things have
now been pushed far beyond that. Mr. Parnell, who styles himself
the leader of the people of Ireland, proposed in a speech at Newry
that the position of landlords should be so disagreeable and disastrous as to make them glad to sell their land on any terms, and then
no one was to dare to buy except the tenants. Comment is superfluous. Mr. Parnell is in earnest, and he is going to the United
States to stir up enmity against England and obtain money in
furtherance of his designs. The tenant-farmers have been told
repeatedly, even in the presence of priests, that if their landlords
will not come to their terms they are to " stick to the homestead
and land," and pay no rent at all, and this advice has been adopted
widely. Those people are Catholics. I want to know how such a
doctrine can be reconciled to the Catholic religion. I say advisedly
that no one, priest or layman, can produce any theological authority,
from St. Thomas Aquinas to the penny Catechism, to gainsay the proposition that a tenant wTho refuses to pay so much rent as he is able
to pay, and deliberately " sticks to the homestead and the land "
which belongs to his landlord, is guilty of mortal sin within the
meaning of the Seventh Commandment, " Thou shalt not steal.'*
When such immoral and sinful doctrines are publicly preached in
the presence of members of Parliament, and even priests, we cannot
wonder at the cries of "Shoot him!'' and " A n ounce of lead!"
which, I regret to say, have often been uttered at public meetings.
In some instances they wTere met by voices saying " No, no ;" but
those cries were not rebuked by persons who ought to have rebuked
them. Another result of the lawless and violent utterances of mob
orators is, that tenants ready and willing to pay their rents are
threatened with death. This lamentable condition of things is not
to be met by coercion acts, which are fraught with cruelty and
injustice. They may repress, but they leave behind them a sense
of wrong, and a desire for vengeance. Tallyrand said that any fool

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could govern under a state of siege. The Prime Minister is a truly
great statesman, and will not resort to such clumsy machinery. No
discouragement will prevent him from considering deeply what
remedial measures can be adopted to relieve the sufferings of the
Irish population, and it will be manifest to all that demagogues,
agitators, and obstructionists are the real enemies of their country.
I have now, as an old Irish member, performed a painful and
unpopular duty. I will not obey civium ardor prava jubentium any
more than I would vultus instantus tyranni. I may be doomed to
exclusion from Parliament. If so, I will retire from public life
altogether and into perpetual obscurity; but I will not connive,
even by silence, at a policy leading to treason, and doctrines opposed to morals and religion, and subversive of government and
civil society.
GEORGE BOWYER,

M.P. for the County of Wexford.
Radley Park, Nov. 12.

PORTEOUS & GIBBS, Printers, Dublin.