p. 43

CHAPTER VII.

THE ARREARS.

Night after night, of late, the Dublin mob has rioted in the principal streets, assaulting the police, throwing stones, shouting, and otherwise misbehaving themselves, until long after midnight. By way of showing their displeasure at the arrest of the League leaders they have smashed thousands of pounds worth of glass in and about Sackville Street. The police themselves were very violent and careless in the repression of these disturbances. Many of the rioters, however, were mere youths, and the crowds generally struck me, when I mingled with them, as rather merry than angry.

So bold and significant a step as the arrest of the chiefs of the Land League movement would hardly have been resolved upon at the present moment but for some overwhelming necessity, clearly apparent to the Government. The time chosen seemed, at first sight, strangely inopportune. The Land Commission had published a notice, in simple and inviting terms, pointing out the advantages of the Act. This notice, which has been obtained by nearly every one of the tenant‐farmers, was virtually a refutation of the attacks made by the Land League orators upon the Act, and it had done much to expose and defeat the League policy, in so far as it was hostile to the new Courts. Sub‐Commissions had been appointed, and assigned their districts; and the Rules and forms—which had been settled, thanks to the vigilance of Mr. Fottrell, the Land Court Solicitor, so as to be understood easily, and with difficulty abused—had been widely circulated. p. 44 The Commission had in several instances, to which I have alluded in former letters, shown an anxious desire to consult the convenience, and even to court the confidence, of its intending suitors; and the continuous sitting of a week or more, devised for the purpose of giving the most distant and belated litigant an opportunity of making urgent application, under Section 60 of the Act, at the first sitting of the Court, had been fixed to begin on Thursday next. Numbers of notices from all parts of the country had been sent in, and the flow of business doubled daily in volume. Then, just a week before the sitting, Mr. Parnell, the leader of the class for whose benefit the Court was constituted, was suddenly hurried into confinement, along with the more prominent of his lieutenants, the reason alleged for his arrest being the attitude he had taken up with respect to the Commission. In other words, the Government found it necessary to protect at its very inception the action of the Court. I am quite aware that large numbers of Irishmen, including, by the way, a few of those who have swelled Mr. Parnell’s recent triumphal processions, are deeply thankful for these arrests. But with far greater approach to unanimity is the opinion expressed by the friends of the landlords, that the Government should have displayed at least an earnest of all this vigour in good time.

If the new law, say they—that remarkable and unprecedented device for conciliating a discontented, subject race—was really in serious danger from the operations of the League, how criminal was the neglect that suffered those operations so long to go on unimpeded! Where was the statesmanship, or foresight, or common sense in looking frowningly on while Mr. Parnell busily organised the creation of Michael Davitt, week by week, and month by month, to such perfection that, with him or without him, in public or in secret, it is now able to work out his purpose as mechanically as if it were a wound‐up clock? The Convention had been held, its resolutions, by countless speeches, and on all possible occasions, had been enforced on the popular mind; all discoverable objections to the Act had been urged, and the last p. 45 ‘test case’ had been selected. Then, and not till then when the work of the Land League chiefs was done, when the country, in spite of them, nauseated with so much excitement, was turning towards the Court, and Mr. Parnell himself would shortly have become de trop, his popularity is revived, his importance confessed, and his power for the future absolutely ensured by his imprisonment. Now, these complaints, which are very generally made here, are not a little unreasonable. I have discussed the arrests with very many persons, from landlords of the highest rank downwards, and heard all the reasons suggested for the unexpected onslaught of the Government upon the League. The general belief seems to be that English public opinion had at last roused the Ministry. Another prevalent opinion is that Mr. Gladstone really feared that tenants would be in large numbers forcibly deterred from going into the Courts. The notion that the Premier was actuated by feelings of chagrin entertained personally towards Mr. Parnell, arising out of a supposed defeat in argument, or that the Government were desirous of bringing about some disturbance, as an excuse for giving the populace a severe lesson, is entertained by hardly any person worth consideration.

The real explanation of the change in the Irish policy of the Cabinet—for it is a change—would seem to be the following:—So long as the League upheld Griffith’s valuation—in other words, from 25 to 30 per cent. off existing rentals—to be a measure of fair rents, there appeared to be no great danger in allowing it full play and development. It was, and still is, believed that in great areas in the south, west, and north‐west, rents would be reduced by the Land Commission, on an average, by 25 per cent. For a time the Ministry believed that the Land Commission would eventually destroy the League. But Mr. Parnell and his supporters, face to face with the prospect of seeing their organisation gradually dissolved, raised a new cry, and proclaimed new grievances. Their followers were enjoined to pay only ‘just’ rents—that is, according to the definition finally elaborated, the original yearly value of the soil before it was disturbed by human agency, less such an amount as would leave the p. 46 cultivators enough to secure improved dwellings, clothes, and food. In the meantime, ‘Boycotting’ was developed into a system of National Police, whereby half a dozen individuals, sitting at a table in Sackville Street, could direct the smallest actions of the agricultural population, and even control the trade and markets of small towns. Murders in a few cases, and numberless outrages, committed by the ruffianly and unmanageable element in the agitation, cowed the smaller landlords, or drove them away. Still the Government, though goaded on all sides, hesitated. But September 29 came, when a large proportion of the half‐year’s rent was due. And it was at once apparent that the tenants in most cases had received directions to hold the money, and ‘starve out the landlords.’ At the same time, it was established that the League had worked—but, as I have had occasion formerly to show, without success—to keep the tenants with cases of real hardship from going into Court. It was therefore determined—partly as a warning to the tenants to pay up, partly as a means of clearing the avenue to justice—to arrest the leaders of the League. How far that step was politic time will show. Some landlords are disposed to regard the action of Mr. Gladstone as a parting blow at their order. ‘He has irritated the people,’ say they, ‘just as our rent became due, and we shall not now receive one‐tenth of it.’

The peace of the country is involved in dealing with this question of arrears; and it is plain that upon the action of the smaller landlords with regard to it will depend the safety of the lives and property of numbers throughout the winter. There can be no mistake about the attitude of the League. The Manifesto published to‐day, at what may perhaps be the last public meeting of the executive of that body, commands the members to pay no rent while their leaders remain in prison. This Manifesto has, strange to say, been actually signed by Michael Davitt and Mr. Parnell, and was probably prepared long since in anticipation of the present condition of affairs.1 Its issue is undoubtedly the most serious and p. 47 lamentable proceeding of the Land League since its establishment; and, taken in conjunction with the attitude of the Government and of the landlords, may be regarded as dooming many thousands of persons to severe suffering, and ensuring the wholesale destruction of property in a country already poor enough.

Now, from careful investigations, just concluded, I think that it may be considered as certain that the landlords will, in a large number of cases, immediately attempt to enforce their legal rights. Besides the encouragement afforded to them by the arrest of the chief Leaguers, it must be remembered that many of them are suffering from actual want, and are being ruthlessly pressed by mortgagees and other creditors. Ever since the bad harvest of 1877, abatements of rent have been largely allowed to tenants; whilst, owing to the agitation, the money payable in the spring of the present year in respect of the half‐year’s rent due at the preceding Michaelmas was to a great extent kept back. Taking the agricultural rental of Ireland at about fourteen million pounds, the half‐year’s rent expected last spring would have been seven millions, but of this not more than half was probably paid. To the remaining three million five hundred thousand pounds still unpaid must now be added seven millions due in September, and these sums, with fourteen millions sacrificed as abatements, and one million for other arrears, show that the Irish landlord have within the last four years virtually lost a sum of twenty‐five million five hundred thousand pounds. To the rich among them, and to such as have property other than Irish land, the loss may have been merely inconvenient. Another, but very small class, who bought land as an investment, and mercilessly racked the tenants, deserve no consideration. But there is a large number of owners of land, not rack‐renters, whose condition is truly pitiable. Numerous p. 48 cases have been brought to our notice during the last few days where landlords, a few years since in affluent circumstances, are now almost beggared. Sometimes the sufferer is an elderly lady, with a life estate; sometimes a mortgagor, compelled to go on paying interest on the debt, or a leaseholder, forced to pay his superior landlord the rent agreed upon to the last penny. One hears of a gentleman in a western county, with a nominal rental of 2,000l., subsisting on the produce of his poultry‐yard; of another receiving 40l. out of 1,000l. due. A lady living in Dublin, with a jointure of a fair amount, is obliged to the kindness of a relative for bare necessaries; and two ladies, also residing here, entitled to some 400l. a year between them, are existing practically on the charity of their friends. Another numerous class of landlords have pulled through with difficulty, hoping that at the establishment of the Commission the tenants would pay up at least a half‐year’s rent. Their disappointment at the refusal of the tenants to pay anything is intense, and they mean resolutely to put the law in motion. It is now Vacation, but on November 2 next, when the Courts sit, application will be made or a great number of writs for arrears of rent, and the various stages of litigation up to the final eviction traversed with the aid of soldiers and police. The larger landlords are at last beginning to subscribe freely towards expenses; and the Property Defence Association is rapidly forming branches, affiliated to itself, in various counties, such as Cork, Wexford, Wicklow, Sligo, Queen’s County, and Monaghan. At the same time, the Irish Land Committee is establishing corresponding local associations in different parts of the country charged to report on test cases fit to be defended and appealed upon, in the interests of the landlords. There will be plenty to select from, for the Land League has taken one case each from nearly every one of its eighteen hundred branches, although but few have been actually prepared and entered in the Registry of the Commission.

The Government, for their part, will not parley with the League. The law is everywhere to be enforced strictly, and every attempt to resist its execution will be promptly p. 49 suppressed. If the tenants, many of whom have the arrears in their pockets, will not pay up, they will have to go out; and a trial of endurance will ensue between landlord and tenant. Any person openly inciting to the practice of ‘Boycotting’ or to the withholding of rent, will be imprisoned; and it is hoped that by this firm treatment, steadily pursued, the agrarian madness may be finally tamed. In the meantime, however, the life of an obnoxious agent or landlord will be exposed to the rage of those bloodthirsty and unscrupulous half‐caste ruffians, who, small in numbers, it is true, and against the will and conscience of their fellows, are yet sure of an asylum in every cottage even after the foulest murders.

It may be suggested that the landlord and tenant should obtain part of the arrears by way of loan from the Court, under the 59th Section. But it is stated on all hands that tenants will not agree to join in the application, and without their participation it cannot be made. This requirement of joint consent in the application is a fatal flaw in the Act. The Land Commissioners have been surprised at the small number of applications made to them under this Section. It it equally certain that in most cases landlords will not now consent to make the sacrifices required of them by the Section; that, in fact, as a gentleman said the other day, their ‘backs are up.’ In Ulster, as a rule, and on a few large estates. there will be no difficulty; but great numbers of the Land‐Leaguing tenants will resist to the last. The other day I heard a man swear that he would ‘go out in the ditch before he would pay,’ referring to what he considered an unfair rent. There appear to be only two ways in which the troubles thus apprehended in the winter may be avoided. One would be to pass a short Act, enabling the Commission during a period of six months to lend the landlord the amount at present authorised by Section 59, with or without the tenant’s consent. The amount might be, as under the existing Act, repayable as increased rent, or better still, as a small redeemable tax. But this proposal, of course, would not be practicable until the meeting of Parliament.

A second plan would be the formation of a large p. 50 subscription fund, to which the English and the richer Irish landlords should liberally contribute, for making the loans just mentioned to their poorer brethren. The great objection to both schemes is that they might possibly encourage the members of the League to continue withholding payment of rents. But this forbearance would be but temporary; in all probability increasing numbers of tenants, seeing neighbours permanently settled on their holdings, at reduced rents, by the Land Commission, would be induced to avail themselves of its assistance; the Act would be quietly, thoroughly, and fairly tried, and much suffering, perhaps bloodshed, averted. Some danger of troubles will, however, continue to exist while the tenants tamely submit, as they do in many cases, to the dictation of one or two Land Leaguers. A landlord of rank told me on Saturday last that after some of his tenants had paid the agent, three Land Leaguers, not tenants, entered the room, and persuaded the rest to decline to pay without a large abatement, which was of course refused. The following letter was produced on the same day by the agent of one of the kindest and most generous landlords in Ireland. It speaks for itself:—

‘October 14, 1881.

‘Dear Sir,—A meeting of Mr. ——— tenants was held on the 12th inst., to consider the rent question. All of them either attended or sent representatives. The following resolutions were passed, with but one dissentient, and I was requested to forward them to you, which I hereby do:—

• ‘“1. Resolved—That we will never again pay a rack‐rent.
• ‘“2. That in event of distraint, or other harsh proceedings, upon the part of the landlord against any one of us, we pledge ourselves to pay no rent at all until the landlord shall have settled to our satisfaction with the aggrieved person.
• ‘“3. That in case of arrest of any of our leaders or friends we shall pay no rent until they shall have been released.
• ‘“4. That we demand an abatement of rent of 25 per p. 51 cent., and will pay no rent until this shall have been agreed to.
• ‘“5. That in case of legal proceedings being instituted against any one of us, we undertake to pay any costs he shall be put to.”’

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1. It is widely reported in Dublin that Dr. Kenny, a popular and amiable physician, who has, whenever necessary, freely exposed his life in p. 47the service of the poor, was arrested upon suspicion of having obtained his patient, Mr. Parnell’s, signature to the Manifesto. There is reason to believe that Mr. Parnell’s signature was obtained in a much less romantic way, and that Dr. Kenny’s political position was the sole reason for his arrest.

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