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 ^, y 
 
 IRELAND UNDER THE 
 LAND ACT.
 
 LONDON : PRINTED BY 
 
 SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQDARI 
 
 AND PARLIAMENT STREET
 
 IRELAND UNDER THE 
 LAND ACT: 
 
 LETTERS CONTRIBUTED TO THE 'STANDARD' NEIVSPAPER , 
 
 WITH AN APPENDIX OF LEADING CASES UNDER THE ACT, 
 GIVING THE EVIDENCE IN FULL, JUDICIAL DICTA. &c. 
 
 BY 
 
 E. CANT-WALL, 
 
 BARKISTER-AT-LAW 
 
 CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY. 
 
 1882. 
 
 'All ri^kli yeserved.
 
 
 TO 
 
 THE EDITOR OF 'THE STANDARD' 
 
 THIS VOLUME IS 
 
 RESPECTFULLY DEDICATEH.
 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 Towards the end of September last, I was entrusted by the 
 Editor of the Standard with a special mission to Ireland, 
 for the purpose of watching and reporting impartially upon 
 the working of the latest Land Act. How I should go about 
 to fulfil this general instruction was left to my absolute 
 discretion. At first it seemed possible that my duties would 
 mainly be to attend the sittings of the various Sub Com- 
 missions, and to observe the effect of their decisions upon 
 the public mind. The apparently hostile attitude of the 
 Land League towards the Commission, however, seriously 
 altered and complicated the problem to be considered. 
 Whether the leaders of the League, in the course they 
 pursued, really aimed, as they stated, at extracting, for their 
 clients, the greatest possible amount of benefit from the 
 new legislation ; or whether, as the Government ultimately 
 assumed, they were striving to defeat a measure which 
 might have some influence in the direction of reconciling 
 the people to the British connection, I shall not pretend to 
 determine. But I made it my business forthwith to request 
 from the popular leaders a statement of their views and 
 intentions in the matter. This was at once accorded me ; 
 and I was further permitted, not only to attend the de- 
 monstrations and conventions of the Leaguers, but even to 
 accompany an expedition in .search of the mysterious ' teat-
 
 viii PREFACE. 
 
 cases.' To Mr. Parnell, M.P., Mr. T. P. O'Connor, M.P., 
 Mr. Healy, M.P., and their associates, my acknowledgments 
 are due for the ready courtesy and kindness upon every 
 occasion extended towards me. The gentlemen named were, 
 I believe, of opinion that my letters showed an anxious desire 
 to be fair. I cannot, of course, hope that I have pleased 
 everybody, in a country where, as seen sometimes even upon 
 the Judicial Bench, men usually entertain very strong con- 
 victions of the entire justice of one side cr the other in the 
 old quarrel. Indeed, I have at different times been made 
 aware that I have seriously offended the Leaguers, the land- 
 lords, and the Government itself If, therefore, I have been 
 unfair all round, it is clear that the balance of political 
 credit has been upon the whole left undisturbed by such 
 impartial malice. I owe sincere thanks to the Chief Com- 
 missioners, and to various members of their staff, and par- 
 ticularly to their Under-Secretary, Mr. Micks, for information 
 cousfcantly and cheerfully afforded me. I am under equal 
 obligations to several of the Assistant Commissioners ; and 
 to many unofficial gentlemen, including Mr. E. Dwyer Gray, 
 M.P., Mr. O'Donnell, M.P., and Mr. Gyles, Secretary of the 
 Irish Land Committee. 
 
 I have added to my work a selection of the leading cases 
 under the Act, exemplifying its main results upon the 
 relations between landlord and tenant in Ireland. They 
 have been selected, and carefully edited, chiefly from the 
 admirable reports contained in the Dublin ' Daily Express.' 
 In the letters, which the authorities of the ' Standard ' have 
 generously permitted me to republish, the utmost pains 
 have been taken to ensure accuracy ; the more so, as no 
 other coiTespondent of a London newspaper happened to 
 be in Ireland with a similar mission. Government officials, 
 high dignitaries of the Roman Catholic Church, the most
 
 PREFACE. X 
 
 powerful among the leaders of the League, distinguished 
 Irish statesmen, great landed proprietors, agents, merchants, 
 shopkeepers, and last, but not least, Irish tenants themselves 
 — have all in turn contributed something to the following 
 pages. 
 
 The picture offered to the reader is, it must be confessed, 
 a painful one. Up to the present time I cannot detect the 
 faintest glimmer of hope in the prospect. I was, as will be 
 seen from what I have written, early impressed with that 
 horror of the inhuman system of night outrages which is 
 perfectly natural to a man fresh from our own happy shores ; 
 but which, I fear, many Irishmen, accustomed to the spectacle 
 of such outrages upon every outbreak of popular discontent, 
 regard as somewhat overstrained and afFected. I still believe 
 that but small advance will be made in the re-establishment 
 of necessary social conditions until those outrages have 
 ceased. It is with deep regret that I feel called upon to 
 notice the (to me) inexplicable neglect of those who have 
 influence with the people to denounce the commission of 
 these crimes. Mr. Gray, M.P., has lately done his utmost in 
 this direction, through the columns of the ' Freeman's 
 Journal ; ' and one eminent Leaguer has gone so far as to pro- 
 test against the maiming and wounding of brutes. But tlin 
 mass of the people are cowed by the knowledge that such 
 deeds as the murder of O'Leary, and the shooting of old 
 Keefe, have practically gone unreproved by the leaders of the 
 agitation ; and that the sympathies of those leaders are 
 notoriously withdrawn from men who obey the law. The 
 Roman Catholic Bishops, moreover, with a few noble 
 exceptions, have scarcely acted up to a merely mundane 
 conception of their duty in such circumstances. Either they 
 have no influence over the people, or they have too 
 long abstained from using it to save from mutilation 
 
 a
 
 X rUEt'ACK. 
 
 wretches, whose sole crime was to observe the injunction 
 'Owe no man anything.' Where are the historic terrors 
 of the Church ? Are-they fables ? Or are they put away in 
 the Vatican, like birch-rods, as useless to coerce the grown, 
 set and hardened intelligence of these latter days ? It naay 
 be that Ireland will one day resume her long lost place 
 among the great and prosperous sisterhood of nations. But, 
 as yet, she chooses rather to dwell chained among the tombs 
 of vanished wrongs. 
 
 E. Cant-Wall. 
 
 The Tbmplb, 
 
 6th February, 1882.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. Organising the Commission 1 
 
 II. The Policy of the League 8 
 
 III. The Policy of the Landlords . . . .17 
 
 IV. Feeling in the South 2?> 
 
 V. The 'Test Cases' HO 
 
 VI. Mr. Parnell in Prison 3!> 
 
 VII. The Arrears 43 
 
 VIII. The Opening of the Commission . . . . 52 
 
 IX. The First Cases 59 
 
 X. The Evicted Tenants 6i 
 
 XL Archdeacon Crawford's Cases . . . .71 
 
 XII. Archdeacon Crawford's Cases 7ft 
 
 XIII. Archdeacon Crawford's Cases .... 84 
 
 XIV. The Cork Butter Trade 91 
 
 XV. The Courts and the Country 99 
 
 XVI. Surprising Decisions 105 
 
 XVII. 'English-managed Estates' Ill 
 
 XVIII. A Commissioners' Inspection 117 
 
 XIX. Mr. Evelyn Ashley's Tenants 126 
 
 XX. The Castletown Evictions 135 
 
 XXI. DuESEY Island 142 
 
 XXII. Outrages 152 
 
 XXIII. The State of the Country ..... 160 
 
 XXIV. The Constabulary 165 
 
 XXV. Christmas Eve 170 
 
 XXVI. The Dangerous Area 179 
 
 XXVII. Life in County Limerick 185 
 
 XXVIII. The Dunseath Cases 194
 
 COXTEXTS. 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 A. The Latest Views of Mr. Parnell . . . 
 
 B. Proclamations ..... 
 
 C. Extracts from the Two Land Acts 
 
 J). J.UDioiAL Dicta • . 
 
 15. The M'Atavey Case . . . . . 
 
 F. The Crawford Cases ■ 
 
 (i. The Tennent Cases . . . 
 
 H. The Enright Case. . - . 
 
 L Blake v. Lord Clarina . . 
 
 .J. Taylor v. Arran ... . . .' • 
 
 • K. Creighton v. Nelson. . . . 
 
 L. Flahive ». Hussey . " 
 
 M.. Cleary r. Gascoigne . . . . . 
 
 N, Carmody v. Talbot Crosbie 
 
 O. The DiTnseath Cases 
 
 P. The Treatment op Labourers . . . . 
 
 Q. Decisions by the Chief Commissioners 
 
 11. Judge Fitzgerald's Charge . . . . 
 
 S. Accounts of a ' Paying ' Farm 
 
 T. The Alleged Secret Instructions to the 
 Commissioners ,,..... 
 
 U. The Solicitor-General for Ireland 
 
 V. Compensation to Landlords . . . . 
 
 W. The Land League Ticket .... 
 
 X. Mr. Evelyn Ashley's Defence . . . . 
 
 Y. The Dunseath Case 
 
 Z. Hasty Criticism 
 
 r.\i;B 
 199 
 201 
 202 
 20« 
 207 
 215 
 22a 
 232 
 235 
 236 
 238 
 244 
 245 
 246 
 248 
 249 
 250 
 251 
 256 
 
 La: 
 
 257 
 259 
 260 
 263 
 264 
 209 
 279
 
 IRELAND 
 UNDER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ORGANISING THE COMMISSION. 
 
 Dublin: Saturday, September 2i, 1881. 
 In a few days the Commissiouers will enter upon the admi- 
 nistration of the new Land Act throughout Ireland. The 
 Bill received the Royal Assent on August 22 last. Without 
 delay the Commissioners established their headquarters at 24, 
 Upper Merrion Street, Dublin — a fine old mansion, formerly 
 used by the Church Temporalities Commission, and full of 
 large, well-lighted rooms. Here, during the past month, a 
 large staff of writers has been employed in preparing for the 
 actual business of the Commission. It was necessary, in the 
 first place, to communicate with those officers of the different 
 Civil Bill Courts, who, upon their districts being visited, are, 
 under the Act, to attend the Commissioners and Assistant 
 Commissioners in the local Court-houses. An extensive 
 correspondence has proceeded with enquirers eager to cora- 
 ■mence proceedings of one kind and another, or desirous of 
 information about the meaning of particular clauses of the 
 Act. The technical language, the interminable provisions, 
 lost in a maze of exceptions, the length and large scope of the 
 measure, fairly bewildered the honest farmers who attempted 
 to master it. It was therefore decided to draw up a full, 
 clear, and accurate explanatory statement, to be printed and 
 
 n
 
 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 circulated at a nominal price. This document has been 
 found of great service in spreading and popularising a know- 
 ledge of the new law. But the most serious labour of the 
 Commissioners has undoubtedly been the devising of a 
 complete set of Rules, over one hundred in number, making 
 provision for the various proceedings which may be taken 
 before them. These Rules, which have been submitted to 
 the County-court Judges for suggestions and amendments, 
 will probably be issued as finally revised and approved on, 
 or shortly after, Monday next. They are framed in direct, 
 simple terms, so that a shrewd tenant, too poor to employ 
 legal assistance, may, at least with the help of his priest or a 
 friendly schoolmaster, appreciate and claim all the benefits 
 intended for him.^ 
 
 There will be no pleadings, to protract j^roceedings 
 unduly, or render them vexatious. Forms have been prepared 
 to be used — (1) by a tenant desiroiis of selling his tenancy in 
 a holding ; (2) by a landlord, or tenant, or both together, 
 intending to apply for the fixing of a ' fair rent.' In these 
 forms the following particulars must be accurately stated : — 
 Name and residence (if known) of the landlord ; name and 
 residence of landlord's agent, if any ; name and residence of 
 tenant ; post-office from which tenant receives his letters ; 
 county. Poor-law union, and electoral division in which the 
 holding is situate, together with the area in statute measure, 
 rent, and gross Poor-law valuation of the holding. Directions 
 are appended showing how the forms are to be filled up, and 
 these are so minute that there can be no difficulty in preparing 
 notices in the proper manner. As soon as a notice has been 
 sent in, by either landlord or tenant, a copy, together with the 
 
 ' The Catholic Bishops and clergy of Ireland ■would appear to have 
 missed, owing doubtless in some degree to the action of the Land League, 
 the opportunity of rendering a rare service to their countrymen. The pro- 
 ceedings before a Sub-Commission are as informal as in an English County 
 Court ; and if the priests had undertaken the filling-up of notices, and to 
 advise their parishioners about the conduct of their cases, the Commis- 
 sioners would have made all necessary allowances. Thus a large sum spent 
 in law costs might have been saved.
 
 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. S 
 
 application founded upon it, will be sent to the Registrar of 
 the Commission, and when a number of such notices and 
 applications have been filed in Dublin, suflBcient to warrant 
 the despatch of a Sub-Commission to the neighbourhood, 
 that course will be taken. Each of the four Sub-Commissions 
 will be presided over by one of the legal gentlemen already 
 appointed — namely, Mr. Robert Reeves, Q.C., Mr. Kane, Mr. 
 J. G. MacCarthy, and Mr. Greer. "With the one who out of 
 these four happens to be selected for a particular Sub-Com- 
 mission, will be associated two other lay Assistant Commis- 
 sioners. These have not yet been named by the Lord 
 Lieutenant ; but it is understood that there will be at least 
 eight chosen, and that they will be selected solely on account 
 of their practical knowledge of farming operations and of the 
 value of land. These lay Assistant Commissioners will, in all 
 probability, be employed only in the province or district with 
 which they are best acquainted. 
 
 The Sub-Commission, thus constituted, will proceed to 
 some large town in the neighbourhood of the properties 
 owned and occupied by a group of litigants. It will sit at 
 the place which can be most conveniently reached by all the 
 parties, regard being had, of course, to railways and other 
 means of locomotion. It is, for instance, proposed to send 
 Sub-Commissions to Omagh, Galway, and Belfast. There 
 will, of course, be one for Dublin, and even Kilkenny may be 
 similarly honoured. To each, of the dozen or more towns 
 thus constituted local centres of jurisdiction, will be referred 
 the business from the surrounding district, perhaps even of 
 several counties. In one further particular the Commissioners 
 will themselves personally illustrate the spirit of the new 
 legislation, by bringing justice to every man's door. Incon- 
 venient as it may be, they intend, as a rule, to go down and 
 hear appeals from Sub-Commissions on the spot. They will 
 thus put needy suitors on an equality with rich ones, by 
 rendering unnecessary expensive journeys to the capital. 
 Many persons expect that the tenants will prefer to resort to 
 the Sub-Commissions rather than to the Civil Bill Courts ; 
 and in that case the number of Assistant Commissionex's must 
 
 b2
 
 4 IRELAXD UNDER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 be largely augmented.' If the Rules really are published 
 next Monday or Tuesday, it is certain that from some parts 
 of the country, where the Land League influence is not very 
 powerful, there will pour in an immediate stream of ' applica- 
 tions,' and no delay whatever will be made by the Sub-Com- 
 missions in getting to work. It is improbable that appeals 
 will be taken for at least three months afterwards.^ 
 
 The question of greatest interest here is to what extent or 
 upon what system will the Commission reduce rents. Few 
 persons seem to expect that rents will be, except in rare cases, 
 raised, in view of the presumed disinclination of landlords to 
 encounter the inevitable outcry attaching to such a proceed- 
 ing. It is, in Dublin at least, admitted that three better 
 chief appointments could hardly have been made. Serjeant 
 O'Hagan is a popular favourite, and his elevation is moreover 
 a, delicate compliment to the Catholic Bishops, who unani- 
 mousl}^, and almost regretfully, recall the uprightness, 
 geniality, and learning of their late standing counsel. Mr. 
 Vernon's name is known over many counties as a synonym 
 for just dealing and impartiality ; and a Court to arbitrate 
 vipon the question of rents has long been advocated both by him 
 and by Mr. Litton. Mr. Vernon, for an agent, holds singu- 
 larly liberal views. His excellent relations with the tenantry 
 under his control are well known ; and have probably 
 qualified him in the eyes of the Premier (who is understood, 
 to be solely responsible for the selection of Mr. Vernon) to 
 represent the landlord interest with discretion upon the 
 Commission. He has a frank, cordial, at times almost 
 playfal, mauner, yet is keen to seize upon a point, and dignified 
 
 ' This expectation has been only too thoroughly justified. Amongst 
 other causes contributing to the comparative nullification of the Act of 
 i870, must be reckoned the stinting, unsympathetic administration of its 
 provisions by the County Court Judges. The suspicion and odium into 
 which those Judges consequently fell have in turn imperilled, at the out- 
 set, the success of the bolder measure of 1881, by throwing all the work 
 upon the Sub-Commissions. 
 
 ^ The Commission first sat to hear appeals ac Belfast on January 16, 
 3 882.
 
 IRELAND UNDUE THE LAND ACT. 5 
 
 in the discharge of his duties. He is growing grey ; but his 
 eyes are still bright and clear, and twinkle merrily when, as 
 now and then happens, he finds occasion to illustrate his 
 subject with an Horatian maxim. Mr. Litton is a polished 
 lawyer, of not unkindly disposition, but frigid and reserved 
 in temperament. His appointment was not so welcome to 
 the landlords as Mr. Vernon's, but it is believed that his 
 legal training will act as some check ujjon him. His vievis 
 upon the subject of 'fair rent' may, perhaps, be best 
 gathered from the definition of it in his ' Fixity of Tenure 
 Bill.' It runs as follows : — ' The rent to be deemed the fair 
 rent shall be that which a solvent and responsible tenant 
 could at the time of the enquiry afibrd to pay, fairly and 
 without collusion, for the premises, after deducting from such 
 rent, first, the addition to the letting value of the premises 
 referable to any unexhausted and suitable improvements made 
 by the tenant or his predecessors in title, and after deducting, 
 secondly, any increase of letting value referable to the ex- 
 penditure of labour or capital of the tenant, whether the same 
 be capable of being specified in detail or not ; and the Judge 
 shall further take into consideration any valuation in the 
 average price of agricultural produce or stock which shall 
 have taken place since the holding was last in the possession 
 of the landlord or his predecessors in title, if evidence of the 
 same be ofiered.' 
 
 It is admittedly impossible to define in common terms, 
 universally applicable, what is a fair rent. But it is obvious 
 that Mr. Litton, himself a landlord, who has drawn up such 
 a clause as that now cited, entertains very advanced views as 
 to the tenant's interest in the matter. Mr. Parnell's sus- 
 picious, not to say hostile, attitude towards the Commission 
 may not, therefore, be justified by events. It is not supposed 
 that every heated utterance at the recent National Convention 
 of the Land League is to be recorded as the settled, unalter- 
 able conviction of the speaker and of the League. Indeed, it 
 is very doubtful whether the fourth and fifth resolutions 
 passed at the Convention, restraining the tenants from 
 resorting to the Commission until the decisions in certain tes^
 
 6 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 cases, to be selected by the 'Executive,' are known, will have 
 more than a partial and temporary effect. At all events, 
 several bodies of tenant-fai-mers in Ulster have bound them- 
 selves together, under a new name, for the express purpose of 
 working the Act. Curiously enough, a pamphlet just 
 published by Mr. Healy, who may be considered the ' Law 
 Adviser ' of the League, explains the Act in the clearest way, 
 points out its advantages, and even gives the tenants elaborate 
 advice about the prosecution of their claims, which, to the 
 poorer class of them, will be of the greatest encouragement 
 and service. Mr. Healy's pamphlet is almost a suggestion to 
 the tenantry to give the Act a fair trial. It is consequently 
 possible that Mr. Parnell may yet be moved to relent. But 
 it must be admitted that there is no sign, so far, of any 
 concession, on his part, to the growing feeling in favour of 
 the Act. It might without unfairness be suggested that 
 Mr. Parnell has, like Mr. Healy, unwittingly counselled his 
 followers to accept the Act. At the Convention he advised 
 tenant-farmers, first, to avoid statutory terms. He again 
 recommended them, in the interest of the labourers, to take 
 advantage of the 31st Section of the Act, and to borrow 
 money from the Government for the erection of labourers' 
 cottages. It may be remarked, in this connection, that the 
 Commission will in all likelihood only make advances under 
 that Section upon the borrower's accepting a statutory 
 tenancy. The Section, however, authorises a loan upon the 
 tenancy, ' or other security, or when the landlord joins the 
 occupier in giving security.' Mr. Parnell perhaps supposes 
 that the Treasury may consider the latent right of the 
 occupier to obtain the statutory tenancy, or to sell, a sufficient 
 security. At first sight he would certainly appear to have 
 sj)oken without due consideration. 
 
 The Land Commission may also expect to be utilised as a 
 selling agency. This department of its business is under the 
 special charge of the late Acting Secretary, Mr. Murrough 
 O'Brien, who enjoys the reputation of being a highly ex- 
 perienced valuer, and has one of those names which inspire 
 confidence in Ireland. He is necessarily well acquainted
 
 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 3 
 
 with the condition and capabilities of Irish land, from having 
 discharged for many years the duties of Inspector of Estates 
 to the Church Temporalities Commission, Numerous in- 
 stances have been mentioned in which landlords wish to 
 sell their estates through the Land Commission ; but no one 
 so far seems able to point out a case where the tenant has 
 positively declared his intention to buy. This curious fact 
 may be accounted for by the recent injunctions of the Land 
 League, or it may be due to the unsettled state of parts of the 
 country. Hents are still being collected by horse and foot. 
 ' Boycotting ' is going on every day to a greater and greater 
 extent, and such circumstances are not favourable to the 
 investment of capital in the soil. The first decisions of the 
 Sub- Commissions are naturally awaited with the deepest 
 anxiety. The Land League have selected their test cases for 
 the pui'pose of exactly estimating the benefits conferred by 
 the Act. From what has been already said, however, it is 
 manifest that the Commission may not, after all, take these 
 selected cases first. They are not bound to fall into the trap.
 
 lliELAXD rXDER THE LAXD ACT. 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 THE POLICY OF THE LEAGUE. 
 
 Dublin : Tuesday, September 27. 
 It was feared that there might be some farther delay in 
 issuing the Rules of the Land Court. This delay has not 
 occurred, but if it had, it would have been in no degree due 
 to the staff of the Commission. The forms of notice, apjjlica- 
 tion, and conveyance have been cut down and simplified into 
 one sentence each ; the Commissioners and Assistant Commis- 
 sioners have mapped out their districts ; and all over the 
 country we hear of cases being ready for the Courts, and crf 
 evicted tenants clamouring impatiently for redress. Mean- 
 while certain itinerant orators of the Land League are making 
 the most of every hour that is given them to discredit and 
 discount the advantages of the new Code. Conventions, pro- 
 cessions on a grand scale in the large towns, are supplemented 
 by incessant local meetings in the provinces ; and the lesson 
 sought to be enforced on all these occasions is ' distrust of the 
 Commission.' In view of the impending crisis the Govern- 
 ment have resolved to delay matters no longer, and to allow 
 the publication of the Rules. But the publication is provi- 
 sional only, and the text is issued subject to the sanction of 
 the Treasury. Much disloyal nonsense is uttered on the one 
 side, provoking from the other even wilder nonsense about 
 the necessity for dragooning the country into quietness. Mr. 
 Forster walks restlessly to and fro in the Castle ; while Mr, 
 Parnell is drawn in state through the capital of Ireland, like a 
 conqueror returning to his palace.^ Impartial men seem to be 
 
 ' Mr. Parnell's triumphant progress through Dublin had been made on 
 Sunday, September 2.5.
 
 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 9 
 
 of opinion that the Act is the only remedy for the distemper of 
 the body politic ; and that it cannot be administered too soon. 
 One small diflSculty is said to bar the way. The 50th Section 
 requires the sanction of the inevitable ' Treasury ' as to the 
 amount of fees to be charged to suitors ; and it is said that 
 the deputation of solicitors which waited on the Commis- 
 sioners on Saturday, although they had some trouble, were 
 finally successful in persuading that body to deal with the 
 ominous subject of ' fees ' to the satisfaction of the profession. 
 But many good fees must be lost and sacrificed for every day 
 that elapses before the Commissions begin to sit ; and it is to be 
 hoped that one or other of ' my Lords ' may have the wisdom 
 to telegraph from London an immediate authorisation of the 
 scale, after reading it, and before going through the custo- 
 mary etiquette of long discussions, conducted tlirougli the 
 medium of Channel steamers. There is very little fear of the 
 scale of fees being too high ; for the obvious reason that 
 nothing could give to the Land Leaguers a more plausible 
 and even justifiable theme for denunciation. ^ 
 
 The Commissioners are in a position of great dignity, 
 power, and resjionsibility ; their hands can shape for good or 
 for evil the future destinies of their country ; and it is therefore 
 pleasant to find that the utmost confidence is felt by both 
 parties carrying on the rent controversy in their fairness and 
 impartiality. I have heard this feeling expressed, with the 
 utmost candour, even by eminent Land Leaguers, especially 
 about Mr. Vernon, whom they regard as the ' strong man ' on 
 the Commission. But mere impartiality will not be sufiBcient 
 at the present crisis. The Commission, powerful as it is, has 
 to reckon with a far more powerful body— the most united, 
 the most skilfully governed, and perhaps the most representa- 
 
 ' The delay of eight weeks -which ehipsed before the Act was put into 
 operation had deplorable results. The tenants -would have gone readily 
 enough into Court at first, and a -week ought to have been sufficient to pre- 
 pare and issue a few necessary rules. Time was, however, given to the 
 League to mature and even fully to execute their plans. "While the Lords 
 of the Treasury were haggling about fees, the fate of a nation was trembling 
 in the balance.
 
 10 IRELAND UXDER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 tive organisation that Ireland Las ever seen. No direct 
 intimidation in the shape of demonstrations near the Sub- 
 Commission Courts, or otherwise, will he resorted to, or 
 indeed would recommend itself for a moment to the leaders of 
 the League, or, again, would be permitted by the Government. 
 But now, by men of all classes, landlords, leaders of the League, 
 journalists, lawyers, and men of business, there is but one 
 opinion expressed, which is this, that unless rents are reduced, 
 on the average, by a very considerable amount, say 25 per cent., 
 the Commission will be playing into the hands of Mr. Parnell 
 dui'ing the coming winter.' If, on the other hand, the Com- 
 mission, using the large discretion vested in them by 'the 
 Act as arbitrators rather than as judges, and throwing con- 
 ciliation into the wavering scale, should resolutely cut down 
 rents everywhere, except, of course, where they are merely 
 interest on capital expended by the landlord, then it is as 
 confidently asserted that the Land League will soon become 
 paralysed and disintegrated. 
 
 The recent addition to the title of the League is a clear 
 sign that all this has been foreseen by the astute Executive of 
 that Association. The National Convention, the torchlight 
 procession, and the reiterated warnings against rushing into 
 Court have not been resorted to without some sufQcient end 
 in view ; and that is plainly the offering of terms to the Com- 
 mission. The plan of action which has been finally decided 
 uj^on appears to be the only one possible to the League in its 
 present circumstances. A moment's reflection will show that 
 the shrewd but jooverty- stricken Irish farmers were not likely, 
 in any case, to plunge as one man into the dangerous gulf of 
 litigation. Each would pause, look ahead, and try to dis- 
 cover, first, the fate of a bolder neighbour. The League have 
 accordingly appealed to this cautious spirit with the offer of 
 test cases, to be fought at the expense of the League, by 
 which the farmer can tell, without one penny of expense to 
 
 ' The writer Avas severely reproved, in tlio cohimns of certain news- 
 papers, for venturing to name so large a reduction. It was undoubtedly 
 a bold statement, but it has been justilied in the event ; the average rate of 
 reduction of rents at the end of the year being 25 per cent, all but afraction.
 
 IRELAXD UNDER THE LAND ACT. 11 
 
 himself, wliat Tvonld be the result of an application in his own 
 case. It is obvious that if these cases be fairly selected, if 
 they be average representative cases, there can be no objection 
 whatever to the adoption of a course so convenient both to 
 the litigants and to the Courts. If, on the contrary, the 
 selected cases were those where common justice required that 
 a good landlord should not be robbed of all return for the 
 capital he had spent in real improvements serviceable to the 
 tenant, the League would succeed in seriously aggravating 
 the present state of things. We have plenty of evidence, 
 however, that independent tenants will bring their cases 
 before the Court, regardless of what the League may enjoin 
 upon the subject ; so that there is little fear entertained that 
 the Act will not, in a very short time, have a fair trial. 
 Several such cases have been mentioned which are to be 
 brought before the Court at its first sitting ; and it is not im- 
 probable that one of the first rentals to be pared down will be 
 that of property belonging to a City Company in county 
 Londonderry. 
 
 The programme of the League, which has been imparted 
 to me on the best possible authority, is plain enough. It 
 must be remembered, in order to understand it, that the 
 League, like other political associations, has a moderate and an 
 advanced party. The former is the more numerous and re- 
 spectable ; the latter, contrary to the general rule, has the money, 
 and is mostly domiciled on the other side of the Atlantic. The 
 American subvention is essential to the work of improving 
 the position of the Irish farmers and labourers ; but the ardent 
 Republican subscribers expect a little more for their dollars, 
 and they must be humoured. This is the meaning of the 
 Stars and Stripes being adopted as a conspicuous decoration 
 at the Convention, and perhaps, also, of Mr. Sexton's con- 
 fusing statement on Sunday night that ' the City of Dublin 
 had broken loose from the Lion and the Unicorn.' Such 
 rousing utterances are cabled weekly in liomoeopathic doses to 
 America, where they serve to ensure the steady return of 
 subscriptions. The moderate party, to which every Land 
 Leaguer of any real influence openly or secretly belongs, are
 
 12 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 believed to be, In their hearts, as hopeful of good results 
 coming from the Act as Mr. Grladstone himself. Everybody 
 knows that the leaders of the party in Parliament were 
 equally surprised and delighted with the Bill at its first produc- 
 tion ; and the reasons of their present apparent hostility to it 
 have been sufficiently indicated. They propose, then, to select 
 all through the country a number of test cases of unfair 
 renting, and to bring them immediately before the Sub-Com- 
 missions. These cases, it is stated, will be fair ' average ' 
 cases ; not rack-rented cases, where any Court would be sure 
 to reduce rents, but, as defined in one of the resolutions, the 
 cases of ' tenants whose rents hitherto have not been con- 
 sidered cruel or exorbitant,' rents 'neither very high nor very 
 low.' The tenants whose cases are selected will be repre- 
 sented at the cost of the League by the most able counsel 
 that can be procured, and the recommendations upon the 
 subject of preparing the tenants' evidence, contained in the 
 pamphlet recently published by J\Ir. Healy, will be carefully 
 attended to. That pamphlet, by the way, is maintained by 
 the League authorities to be merely the embodiment of Mr. 
 Healy's own views about the Act ; against which view may 
 be set his close and confidential relations with Mr. Parnell, 
 and the fact that he is now upon an official mission in the 
 South of Ireland for the selection of test cases. The League 
 consider the tenants as being divided into two classes ; first, 
 those who are able to prove in each instance that the improve- 
 ments to be set off against rent have been made by the tenant 
 or his predecessors in title ; secondly, those who are unable to 
 offer such proof It is said that the number in the first class 
 is but small. At all events, the League cases are to be 
 selected mainly, in the first instance, from the second class. 
 
 And here arises an important question. It is well known 
 that the great body of the smaller cultivators keep no record of 
 farming operations ; while every penny spent by the landlord 
 in improvements is entered in his agent's books at the time, 
 and the books are preserved with care. The consequence of 
 this state of things was that in litigation under the Act of 
 1870, a tenant claiming compensation for improvements gene-
 
 IRELAND rXDER THE LAXB ACT. 13 
 
 rally brought loose, inexact, and imperfect evidence before 
 the Court, and was at a great disadvantage as compared with 
 the landlord, whose evidence was ready, precise, and complete. 
 Under the Act of 1870, however, by Section 5, all improve- 
 ments on the holding made Avithin twenty years before the 
 passing of the Act were to be presumed to have been made 
 by the tenant. The new Act contains no such provision. It 
 is matter of regret that it was not thought of at the time ; 
 but it was not possible, it is said, to think of everything. Mr. 
 Parnell regards this as a very important flaw in the Act, 
 restricting its benefits to a very small class of tenants ; and 
 thinks that the presumption of law will be, in the absence of 
 legal evidence, that the improvements were made in eveiy 
 instance by the landlords. The matter is not, however, so 
 very clear. The principle embodied, in the special case of 
 fixtures, by the maxim Quicrpikl solo plantatur, solo cedit, is 
 difficult of application to land, where the issue is a secondary 
 or collateral one — namely, the fixing of a fair rent between 
 two persons admitted to be part owners of the same plot. 
 The Commissioners, who have the widest discretion, and who 
 are to consider ' all the circumstances of the case, holding, 
 and district,' may rule that in a district where tenants usually 
 make the improvements, the presumption must be that the 
 particalar tenant before them also made those in question. 
 Again the presumption will work both ways. If the Commis- 
 sioners rule that the claimant, or plaintifi", whether landlord 
 or tenant, must produce proof of improvements made by him, 
 in order to have them considered in fixing the fair rent, then 
 the very large number of landlords who, according to Mr. 
 Parnell, will bring their tenants into Court, will be restrained 
 by the rule equally with claimants Avho arc tenants. It is 
 just possible to contend that the point is settled by the recent 
 Act. The last words of Section 57 are ' The Landlord and 
 Tenant (Ireland) Act, 1870, except in so far as the same is 
 expressly altered or varied by this Act, or is inconsistent there- 
 Avith, and this Act, shall be construed together as one Act.' 
 There would appear to be nothing inconsistent with the new 
 legislation, so favourable to tenants, in the provision referred
 
 U IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 to in tlie Act of 1870 ; and it may be that the Commissioners 
 will take that view, and so remove one ground for the renewal 
 of a dangerous agitation. 
 
 These, then, are the two principal points to be established 
 by the test cases ; first, the rate of reduction of rents ; 
 secondly, the principles upon which evidence will be required 
 and admitted. The League profess that they have no desire 
 to select cases merely in order to found grievances upon 
 them ; that their desire is fairly to test the Act. Their atti- 
 tude has, however, on behalf of the tenants, so far been 
 effectually hostile, and the task of winning the immediate 
 confidence of the tenantry has been thus rendered, to the 
 Commission, one of sheer impossibility. It has been supposed 
 that the Commissioners, in the exercise of their discretion, 
 might postpone the Land League test cases to others con- 
 sidered more representative and urgent. But it is probable 
 that no favour will be shown. Cases will be entered, heard, 
 and decided strictly in order of date ; and, as the Land 
 Leaguers are using great diligence, they will probably in 
 many districts head the list with their selected cases. These 
 will be taken all over the country, in numbers suflBcient to 
 give every tenant the knowledge of at least one case similar 
 to his own, and in his own neighbourhood. If the Courts 
 lower rents considerably and generally, the League will re- 
 commend tenants to effect arrangements with their landlords 
 npon the basis of those decisions. But, in any event, no 
 serious disturbances, such as have been feared in some 
 quarters, are expected to occur during the winter ; though 
 there may be a renewal of agitation for a stronger Bill. As a 
 rule, it is expected that the tenants will prefer the Sub-Com- 
 mission to the Civil Bill Courts, the Judges of which have 
 not in all instances the reputation of being popular in their 
 districts. 
 
 One significant step has just been taken by the League, 
 ■which may have very important results. Two tenants are to 
 be appointed in each district, to assess the fair rent of 
 the farms in it, in accordance with ' Healy's Clause,' and 
 having strict regard to the necessity of ' a more improved
 
 IE ELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 15 
 
 mode of living, better food, better clotbing, and better houses.' 
 The amount is to be registered by the local branch of the 
 Land League, and no greater rent is to be paid. If this plan 
 be universally adopted at once, it must pave the way for 
 general dissatisfaction and disappointment with the decisions 
 of the Commission, which has no authority whatever to take 
 the aspirations of the tenantry after greater comfort, natural 
 as they are, into consideration, in settling what is due to the 
 landlord. It is, in fact, a most ingenious device for giving 
 every tenant in Ireland the certainty of a special private 
 grievance, apart from general grievances, in which he may 
 sympathise to any extent, against the Land Commission and 
 its Courts. He will come to regard the League-registered 
 rent as the ' fair ' one, and to compare it constantly with the 
 inevitably higher sum fixed by the Sub-Commissions. After 
 this, therefore, it may be assumed that even though the most 
 intelligent Leaguers foresee, with other men, the ultimate 
 success of this beneficent measure, they will leave no stone 
 unturned in the endeavour to find means of thwarting, hin- 
 dering, and baffling those who have to administer it. Another 
 instance of this is the refusal of tenants to allow the hunting 
 rights expressly reserved to the landlords by the Act ; a policy 
 which has been endorsed by the most influential leaders of 
 the League. The efiect can only to be exacerbate the sore 
 relations between landlords and tenants, and to send huntino- 
 men to spend their money elsewhere than in the country 
 which is most in need of it. 
 
 The attitude of the Government during all this turmoil of 
 agitation and intrigue is purely passive. The impression I 
 find prevailing is that a fatal mistake was made in not re- 
 leasing all the suspects upon the passing of the Land Act. 
 Now it would be too late to liberate them gracefully. The 
 immediate release of all the prisoners, although it would be 
 put down to weakness and alarm, and a desire to conciliate 
 the League, would not, however, affect the present state of 
 affairs in any appreciable degree. On the other hand, Mr. 
 Fotster seems to be perfectly aware that the wisest course is 
 to keep the peace, and to leave the Land League to be indi-
 
 15 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 rectly suppressed by tlie Land Commission. Any interference 
 on his part at this stage would be eagerly -welcomed by tlio 
 League as a means of discrediting the Courts ; and the more 
 severe his measures, the better would it be for Mr. Parnell. 
 He has, therefore, rightly or wrongly, decided to leave a clear 
 field to the formidable organisation, which he would fain hope 
 has been mortally stricken, and must soon cease from troubling 
 him. Notwithstanding the hostile criticisms to which he is 
 subjected, he has one important qualification for his ungrateful 
 office — he knows his own mind in the present crisis. He has 
 a settled policy, and will insist on giving effect to it.
 
 IRELAND I'NDER THE LAND ACT 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THKrOLICY OF THE LJNDLOIWS. 
 
 Dublin : Saturday, OctoLer 1, 
 
 Until the beginning of the present crisis the nnfortnnatc 
 owners of land in Ireland have stood up stoutly for their- 
 rights, or for the constantly diminishing residue of them. 
 But it is strange that, at a moment like this, when the- 
 numerous forces of the League are working as one man, and 
 making one supreme effort for their destruction, the doomed' 
 class should display but a nominal union and an uncertain 
 purpose. Half a dozen of them, good men of business anc^ 
 devoted to their order, are, in fact, just now attempting to do* 
 the work that should be undertaken by hundreds. But thi.'p 
 little band can accomplish little ; and by the time that the- 
 bulk of their class are aroused to the performance of their- 
 duty, the new Courts will have decided the test cases ; irre- 
 vocable precedents will have been finally set, and the fate- 
 of landlordism in Ireland virtually determined. 
 
 There are in existence several associations for tlie pro- 
 tection of the landlords' interests, the most important being- 
 the Property Defence Association, the Irish Land Committee, 
 and the Emergency Committee. Of these, the first has been- 
 the most active, and its operations have been best understood 
 and appreciated. It has undertaken, since its formation in 
 December last, a variety of dangerous and troublesome busi- - 
 ness, including the service of writs, purchasing of holdingR- 
 and stock at eviction sales, buying the goods of ' Boycotted ' 
 persons, supplying such persons with sturdy, fearless labourers- 
 when the old labourers have fled, affording legal and other - 
 assistance to the victims of the League, saving their crops, ancL 
 
 c
 
 18 IRELAXD UXBER THE LAXD ACT. 
 
 supplying tlieni with the necessaries of life afc mai'ket prices. 
 These duties have been performed by a brave and capable 
 body of officials ; assisted by labourers (all, by the way, with- 
 out exception, Protestants and Ulster men), who, taking their 
 lives in their hands, have deserved and received high pay. 
 The Association begins by consideinng applications for aid in 
 conncil. If a case — purchasing at a sale, for instance — is 
 taken up, secret arrangements are made with the police and 
 soldiers ; agents go down to the spot, are met at the railway 
 station by their armed protectors, and return after the busi- 
 ness is over, usually accompanied by a fierce and excited mob 
 of local Boycotters. The expeditions are successful. Yet 
 every possible obstacle is thrown in their way, as may well be 
 expected, when a small body of armed strangers insult and 
 challenge, by their proceedings, a whole countryside. The 
 wonder is that so few lives have been lost, and so few bones 
 broken, in these excursions. Surprise is the essence of the 
 ' Defence Association ' policy. On one occasion an emergency 
 man arrived at his station before the little army that was 
 marchino- to meet him, and had to walk a considerable dis- 
 tance alone, through a furious mob, before he found the 
 soldiers. Immediately afterwards the mob (juarrelled among 
 themselves upon the question of who were to blame for his 
 escape, and many heads were then and there broken over the 
 discussion. 
 
 Such work has, of course, greatly increased at the present 
 time, and heavy expenditure has been incurred. About a 
 month ago some hundred and fifty noblemen and gentlemen 
 who are members of the Association resolved to contribute 
 cue-half per cent, upon their valuations towards the expenses ; 
 but it is notorious, and a subject of taunt by the compara- 
 tively wealthy League, that the Association is now, finan- 
 cially speaking, in very low water. Whether English landlords 
 contribute I know not, but perhaps they do not perceive their 
 own interests to be immediately involved. This condition of 
 impocuniosity becomes important just now, when the new Act 
 is coming into operation. It is known that the League have 
 already prepared some three hundred and fifty test cases,
 
 IRELAXD UNDER THE LAND ACT. 19 
 
 selected in about equal proportions from every Irish county, 
 with the view, doubtless, of occupying the cause lists for at 
 least the opening month. Now, although both the Property 
 Defence Association and the Land Committee profess to take 
 up, in the sense of watching these test cases where it is 
 advisable, and even to initiate their own, it is remarkable 
 that no clear and systematic course lias been as yet decided 
 upon by either body. The Land Committee may be still 
 resting, breathless, upon its Parliamentary and literary laurels. 
 If, as is expected, th.e Register of the Commission be opened 
 on Monday, it is easy to foresee what chance of entering test 
 cases for speedy hearing remains to the landlords. Perhaps 
 the explanation of this apparent backwardness is that few 
 landlords will venture to take their tenants into Court, and 
 that may be, for the present, good policy ; but it would only 
 apply to the initiation, and not to the defence, of applications 
 under the Act. The coolest and most experienced landlords 
 with whom one meets are of opinion that the most pru- 
 dent attitude of their class at this juncture is one of full 
 and ready compliance with the letter and spirit of tlie new 
 legislation. If this be so, the wisest example has been set by 
 the Carlow landlords, who have recently, under the persuasion 
 of Mr. Bruen, M.P., declared their intention to abide loyally 
 by the Act ; and the least wise by Lord Meath, who writes, in 
 somewhat pettish terms, flatly declining to assist his tenantry 
 as heretofore. That letter has been of considerable service to 
 the Leaguers, whilst if the Carlow declaration be re-echoed in 
 the other counties the ' policy of exaspei-ation ' would be to 
 some extent checked. 
 
 Many of the great landlords, however, appear to be com- 
 paratively indiflTerent. Such as have been good landlords 
 think that the reduction of rents will be but small, and they 
 would willingly lose more for the sake of peace and order. 
 They will, it is expected, instruct their agents everywhere to 
 make statutory agreements as to rent upon the basis of any 
 cases first decided by the Court, But the smaller landlords, 
 numbers of whom expect to be half ruined, ai'o despondent, 
 and apprehensive of the worst. The prevalent impression
 
 20 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 expressed by tliem is that Mr. Pai'nell will succeecl in making 
 the Courts unpopular and odious, and so in defeating the Act. 
 Then anarchy is to come ; a rising in the winter ; the sooner 
 the better, that the League may be extinguished with it ; and 
 so forth. One gentleman of advanced age told me, with 
 trembling voice, how he had offered his tenants large reduc- 
 tions in vain. ' And now,' he said, ' I go about among them, 
 and they still touch their hats to me as before, but they dare 
 not pay me. And I won't force them, for I don't wish to be 
 driven away from the old place.' Another landlord confessed 
 in so many words, that he had advised a threatened tenant 
 to take out his League ticket. ' I was safe at night in my 
 castle,' he observed, ' but the poor man had only his thin 
 Avooden door to protect him.' There is not to be found in 
 Dublin a person who does not admit at least the possibility 
 of an outbreak in the event of general dissatisfaction with 
 the first decisions of the Courts ; and many, as already 
 stated, fully expect it. It is improbable, however, for several 
 reasons. 
 
 The Land Leaguers will not, perhaps, have it all their 
 own way before the Sub-Commissions, and may even find 
 their daring scheme for blocking and choking the Courts 
 frustrated, at the last moment, by a courageous exercise of 
 discretion on the part of the Commissioners. This is, of 
 course, pure speculation, but many persons think it may 
 happen. Suppose, for instance, that a particular Sub-Com- 
 miission finds on its list ten League cases, where only small 
 reductions are possible ; and at the bottom of the list a couple 
 of rack-rented and evicted tenants. Public opinion among 
 the shrewd Irish farmers would almost to a certainty 
 acquiesce in the last two cases being taken first, and the 
 efficiency of the Court's action would then be at once manifest. 
 The only chance for the League is to take up every case 
 everywhere, which is impossible. They will, nevertheless, 
 attempt it. The other day they commenced negotiations 
 with some rack-rented tenants who had been evicted, with 
 a view, no doubt, to keep them back. But another and 
 stronger reason for disi-egarding these fears of an outbreak
 
 IRELAND UXDER THE LAXD ACT. 21 
 
 is to be found, in the character and policy of tbe leader of 
 the League. Personally, nothing has been more painful to 
 Mr. Paruell than the loss of life, or the infliction of bodily 
 suffering, in the course of this long agitation. And it is clear 
 that the smallest disturbance which could be magnified into 
 an insurrection would be seized upon as a reason for repres- 
 sive measures, severe enough to prevent all agitation of any 
 kind and. for any object whatever, including, therefore, the 
 intended agitation for that cherished project of every Irish 
 leader — Ireland politically independent, and ruled by a Par- 
 liament in Dublin. 
 
 The landlords' fears for their rents in the ensuing litigation 
 would also seem to be of an exaggerated character. Doubt- 
 less, it must be borne in mind that the Commissioners will 
 sit as Arbitrators, and not as Judges. A Judge, having 
 ascertained the state of the facts, is bound to apply a positive 
 principle of law, unalterably pre-assigned to that state of facts. 
 An Arbitrator, on the contrary, may act upon any principle 
 he pleases, varying it according to the requirements of abstract 
 justice, or, as the Act says, ' considering all the circumstances 
 of the case, holding, and district.' Very often, therefore, a 
 gentleman who is a landlord may find his income suddenly 
 reduced, without, so far as he can tell, having deserved it 
 by faults committed in that character. It may even be 
 deemed right that the Commissioners should take the peace 
 of the ' district ' into consideration. But no sensible landlord 
 can fear that where he has put his money into the land the 
 returns will be handed over to his Land-Leaguing tenant ; 
 and no reasonable tenant can expect that if his family have 
 paid with ease the same rent for half a centuiy he will have it 
 reduced by half or a third. 
 
 The follovv'ing view, therefore, which is that of many ex- 
 perienced persons of the landlord class, may be considered 
 well founded. For some period, perhaps extending to months, 
 the tenantry may be kept from resorting generally to the 
 Courts, and the Commission itself rendered temporarily un- 
 popular. But gradually the prominent, solid advantages of 
 the Act will be perceived and grasped here and there over the
 
 22 IRELAND VKBER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 country ; agreements will bo largely entered into in order to 
 secure like advantages ; and the net result of the agitation 
 to the Land Leaguers will be the discovery, during the work- 
 ing of the Act, of a few ' shocking examples ' of landlordism, 
 fit for the illustration of American lectures.
 
 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 FEELING IN THE SOUTH. 
 
 CoEK. : Monday, OctoLer 10. 
 
 Mk. Parnell has reason to be fairly satisfied with the results 
 of his recent visits to Cork and Dungarvan. He is playing a 
 game of skill, for large stakes, and against heavy odds ; and 
 it would be foolish to ignore what is the fact — that he is 
 playing it with dexterity, coolness, and courage. The autho- 
 rity and the very existence of the League depend just now 
 upon the conduct of its chiefs. They are irf Ireland generally 
 pdmitted to have suggested, if not dictated, to a powerful 
 Ministry a great measure of redress and reform. But the 
 very completeness of their success is an embarrassment and a 
 hindrance to their farther schemes ; and an enterprising 
 brotherhood of young Irishmen is beginning to fear that it 
 has, after all, been outwitted by a crafty old Saxon. The one 
 sore grievance of their countrymen has been suddenly done 
 away with, before it had been properly utilised for what they 
 regard as their country's further good. The honest farmers 
 who have followed wearily for so many years in the wilderness 
 the guidance of their chosen prophets can hardly understand 
 why, now that they have been brought into actual sight of the 
 promised land, and are gathering eagerly to take the brief 
 plunge into litigation, from which they hope to emerge with 
 the prize of tcr.ant-right in their grasp, they should be sternly 
 warned and driven back by the leaders of the League. Omi- 
 nous murmurs of diseontent have been heard, and it was 
 therefore necessary at all hazards to preserve, for future con- 
 flict, the discipline of the host Avhich Michael Davitt orga- 
 nised, and Mr. Parnell directs. It was for this reason that the
 
 SI IRELAXD UXDER THE LAXD ACT, 
 
 policy of presentinor ' test cases ' was decided upon ; whereby, 
 under the coloui' of an obvioas conveuience to the Courts, and 
 a, saving of expense to the suitors, the power of the former 
 and the anxiety of the latter might be appropriated to the 
 prestige and service of the League. Some number of inde- 
 pendent applications, however, were found to have been for- 
 mulated by farmers in various parts of the country, and it was 
 feared that this selfish example might be largely followed. 
 It was, moreover, whispered that, given a sufficient number 
 of independent cases, the Commissioners might, in the in- 
 terests of fair play, begin at the unconventional end of the 
 icause list, and so win for themselves popularity in despite 
 ^f the League. It was clear that something must be done, 
 both to restrain the straggling ranks of the League, and to 
 .impress the Commissioners with a due sense of the undi- 
 •miuished power of that organisation ; and, from this point of 
 view, nothing could be more eflfective than, demonstrations in 
 great centres of population well affected to the League. For 
 the bulk of the citizens of such towns as Dublin and Cork, 
 •being oppressed by indigent circumstances, and finding little 
 diversion in the dull mental atmosphere of their obscure 
 slums, may safely be trusted at all times to attend in full 
 .-numbers, and with noisy manifestations of approval and 
 delight, the progress of ten or twenty bands of music, 
 .escorting banners of gay device. They will readily make a 
 procession an excuse for an extra holiday. But the simple 
 .farmers, summoned in from the country to hear an address, 
 ■or to attend a Convention in the town chosen, will, without 
 fi'ellecting how the mob has been called together, as certainly be 
 ■awed and convinced by the spectacle of so many admiring and 
 applauding thousands — and the awe-stricken state of mind is 
 .known in Ireland to be conducive to obedience and tractabi- 
 lity. There can be no question, however, about the sincerity 
 .find fervour of the national feeling which sways the vast crowd 
 when assembled. It has been too much the habit to ignore, 
 or pass lightly over, in our public prints, any manifesta- 
 tions of popular feeling- in favour of Irish ideas. Nothing can 
 he more unfortunate and dangerous for two peoples, one of
 
 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 25 
 
 whicli holds the other in subjection, than that the real feel- 
 ings and aspirations of the governed folk should be concealed 
 from their ralers. Such demonstrations as those at Dublin 
 and Cork were really historical events of the first importance. 
 Her Majesty the Queen never had from her faithful subjects, 
 in London itself, a reception distinguished by greater unani- 
 niifcy, reverence, and affection than were lavished on the 
 great Irishman the other day. One could wish that Select 
 Committees of both Houses had been snugly ensconced at the 
 two bow windows of the Conservative Club at Cork. 
 
 At the Sunday meeting, for instance, it was impossible to 
 avoid being deeply impressed by the enthusiasm that roared 
 like a torrent through the streets of Cork. The English 
 newspapers, confined to comparatively short telegraphic 
 accounts of the day's proceedings, altogether failed to con- 
 vey the significance of the scene. Five city Associations, 
 twenty-five trades, and twenty-nine contingents from as many 
 country villages, each with a silken banner handsomely 
 worked, and nearly all with bands of music, marched past 
 !Mr. Parnell's carriage. TJiis procession of trades occupied 
 nearly an hour ; during which time Mr. Paruell remained 
 near the bridge, bowing to his passing admirers. The Cor- 
 poration, with the exception of the Mayor, were present in 
 state to receive him ; three hundred yeomen, wearing green 
 rosettes, rode after him ; and from one end of the town to the 
 other stood dense masses of spectators, brandishing green 
 branches a,nd wildly cheering. Every window was filled with 
 Sadies, many of them more than justifying the reputation of 
 the Cork women for beauty, and all waving their handker- 
 chiefs with as much zeal as that displaj^ed by the mob below 
 them. On the steps of one chapel, and in front of it, stood at 
 least five hundred persons, and the total number of those 
 present could not have been less than fifty or sixty thousand. 
 The meeting in the Park was less numerously attended, for 
 by the time it was held it was growing dark, and most of the 
 country people had to catch the early trains, or to start on 
 their long car-drives home. 
 
 The guests at the banquet amounted to about a hundred
 
 26 lUELAXT) rXDER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 and sixty, and tlie long corridors of tlie Victoria Hotel were 
 lined on both sides Avitb ladies and gentlemen as Mr. Parnell 
 ^vas conducted to his rooms. The crowd was very dense 
 throughout the evening, but it was from first to last well 
 behaved, good humoured, and orderly, and no policeman or 
 soldier came out on duty during the entire day. The most 
 striking feature in the proceedings was, however, the complete 
 organisation and marshalling of so many different elements in 
 the procession. Much of the warmth of welcome evinced by 
 the populace was no doubt due to the presence of Father 
 Sheehy, who had been providently invited to accompany Mr. 
 Parnell. The Father, a man of slight figure, with a pinched 
 face, ruddy of complexion, and with dark, piercing eyes, 
 more than divided the honours with his leader; and his 
 speech, full of fiery, passionate eloquence, received the loudest 
 applause of all from the mob. His angry denunciations of 
 English rule, however, like those of Mr. Redpath, were con- 
 sidered unwise and even deplorable by the great body of the 
 middle-class Leaguers ; and as for Mr. Redpath, whether he 
 snuffled out sickly sentimentalism or vented bar-room bluster, 
 the greater part of his audience remained coldly critical. 
 
 The reception at Dungarvan was of course on a smaller 
 scale ; but it was in its way as remarkable as that at Cork. 
 The town contains about seven thousand inhabitants, but has 
 little trade. One after another of its industries has died out ; 
 yet it remains a kind of market and store place for the sur- 
 rounding agricultural districts of the county of Waterford. 
 A Convention of delegates from the fifteen branches of the 
 Land League in the county was summoned for the afternoon. 
 In the morning Mr. Parnell arrived by train, and was con- 
 ducted round the entire circuit of the streets, with cheering 
 and rejoicing, as at Cork. About a hundred of what they 
 call the League ' cavalry ' rode in the procession, which finally 
 halted in the market-place and gathered itself about a huge 
 platform. About three thousand persons, consisting largely 
 of agricultural labourers, stood there to hear the addresses. 
 The sun shone brightly over the restless throng, falling con- 
 spicuously on the scarlet hoods of the rustic matrons who
 
 IRELAXD UXDER THE LAND ACT. 27 
 
 Lad assembled to see wliat was going on, and revealing strips 
 of green ribbon on the hats and throats and breasts of their 
 husbands, sons, and brothers. It was remarkable that 
 here, as at Cork and in the country districts, the peasantry 
 carried no sticks. The Englishman's notion that no Irish- 
 man stirs abroad without his shillelagh would seem to be, 
 in this part of Ireland at least, without foundation. The 
 speeches made to the crowd were principally addressed to 
 the all-absorbing labourers' question, and the hit of the 
 occasion was made by Mr. Healy, in advising the tenants to 
 pay their labourers increased wages, not out of their own 
 pockets, but out of the landlords' rents. Loud cheers followed 
 this modest suggestion, sent up not only by the farm workers 
 present, but by their employers. This question of the labourers 
 will give the Land League much trouble. On the one hand, 
 the labourers are every day becoming more and more pressing 
 in their demands, and if, as I hear is true, the Board of Works 
 has decided not to lend money to occupiers, under Section 31, 
 for building labourers' cottages, unless they are leaseholders, 
 the matter may become immediately serious. The explanation 
 of this report, however, probably is that the Board have 
 required the tenants applying first to provide themselves with 
 statutory terms. Now it is notorious that the Irish tenant- 
 farmers are a close-fisted race, and that they have been accus- 
 tomed too often to treat their labourers without considera- 
 tion, and hardly with humanity. The League will therefore 
 have much difiiculty in persuading their tenant followers to 
 give up land for the labourer, receiving from him no more 
 than the rent paid by themselves for it. The labourers who, 
 including those possessed of small holdings, probably amount 
 to about five hundred thousand, have already begun to com- 
 bine ; and a Labourers' League will probably be shortly 
 established. 
 
 After the open-air meeting came the Convention of dele- 
 gates. Hei-e various cases were stated which the local 
 branches wished chosen as test cases. In one instance, the 
 representative of a branch was soundly rated by ]\Ir. Parncll 
 before the meeting for having demanded the costs incurred by
 
 28 IRELAXD VXDER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 a tenant member wlio had paid his rent at the last moment, 
 to escape eviction. The President said that the tenant ' might 
 as well have yielded first as last,' and refused the application 
 with some show of indignation. Here, as in many parts of the 
 two counties of Cork and Waterford, was remarked the great 
 desire that each tenant had to get his own case made a test 
 case, and thus to enjoy the glory and excitement of a law- 
 suit without risk of expense. Instant obedience, however, is 
 shown by members of the League to the orders of their 
 superiors on this or any other point which has to be settled. 
 In the evening there was a banquet at the Town Hall ; when, 
 as no labourers were present, and many shopkeepers were, 
 Mr. Parnell confined himself chiefly to stating the great 
 things which the League was to do for Irish trade. Needless 
 to say, this part of his address was warmly applauded, as 
 was also a reference to Michael Davitt. It was noticeable 
 here, as all over the country, that whereas any mention of 
 the ' suspects ' generally was little attended to, the name of 
 Michael Davitt was fervently applauded. No one of the 
 provincial Leaguers and tenants to be met with in the South 
 ever refers to the incarceration of the ' suspects ' as a 
 grievance ; and the reason, perhaps, is that it is known that 
 the prisoners, most of them taken from a humble rank in 
 life, are well nourished and looked after. But there can be 
 no doubt about the keen and general interest felt by the 
 Munster men in Davitt's fate.' 
 
 The decorations at Dungarvan were numerous and elegant. 
 Flags I'an over the ships, drooped from the Avindows, and 
 were suspended across every street ; evergreens covered the 
 walls. At night every house, except five, was illuminated, 
 the average number of candles to each house being about 
 fifty, costing a penny a-piece. With respect to the five, a 
 priest at the dinner expressed his surprise that the occupiers 
 of them had not been Boycotted ; but this sentiment w^as 
 received with sounds of disapproval from many of the guests. 
 
 ' JMr. O'Donnell, M.P., afterwards delivered an oration of remarkable 
 eloquence, in which ho passionately recalled the fabled glories of the as yet 
 iinconqucred Irish race, while Mr. Parnell sat coldly smiling.
 
 IB ELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 29 
 
 The police, however, who at Dangarvan are on excellent 
 terms with the people, kept near the unsympathetic and un- 
 illuminated windows nntil the crowd dispersed. This did not 
 happen until after much practice by the local band, before a 
 large audience, following the musicians through the streets. 
 The Land League owe very much to the influence of their 
 musicians. Whenever a new branch is to be formed, the first 
 thing done is to provide it with a large drum ; and a powerful 
 member is forthwith insti-ucted in the use of it. Other in- 
 struments are added at intervals as the funds will allow ; and 
 thus, by means of brass and vellum, a great quantity of 
 patriotic frenzy finds harmless vent and expression.
 
 30 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE 'TEST cases: 
 
 Coek: Tuesday, October 11. 
 So mucli attention is being paid to the course adopted by 
 the Land League of selecting test cases to go before the 
 Commission, and so uneasy has the public mind become upon 
 the subject, that the facts relating to a few of these cases 
 cannot be altogether without interest for English readers. 
 One evening last week, Mr. Healy, the Law Adviser of the 
 League, set out from Cork for the purpose of investigating 
 the statements put forward by the branches of the League on 
 the north-eastern Ijoundary of the county, and I accompanied 
 him. The third member of tlie party was a young French- 
 man, travelling in Ireland for his own impi'ovement, and 
 meditating the instruction of his countrymen in the pages of 
 a well-known Review. The district we had to visit was the 
 notorious Galtee estate, near Mitch^elstown ; and to reach it 
 wo took tickets on the first evening for Fermoy, the railway 
 town nearest to our destination, intending to strike north- 
 wards by car on the following morning. As Ave waited at 
 Mallow, on the way, we little thought that at the distance of 
 a few miles an armed band were roaming about, holdinc: 
 pistols to women's breasts, threatening all who should venture 
 to pay rent, and in the end wantonly murdering, in the 
 darkness, without provocation, or offence of any kind, an 
 honest young fellow, the son of one of its own leaders. This 
 atrocity, which has excited the utmost disgust and indignation 
 in Cork, could not be accounted for by the hostility of .the 
 people to the opponents of the League. The victim, and 
 most of his assailants, had been present rejoicing, side by
 
 IRELAXD UNDER THE LAND A CI. S] 
 
 side, at Mr. Parnell's triumphant entry into Cork on the 
 previous day; and the deep impression produced by the 
 demonstration of Sunday has been ah^eady, to a considerable 
 extent, neutralised by this senseless crime. Unconscious of 
 all tbis, we were carried on to Fermoy, a pretty little town of 
 ten thousand inhabitants, and the headquarters of two or 
 three regiments. In a very short time the news of Mr. 
 Healy's arrival had spread. Although most of the towns- 
 people had gone to bed, a large contingent brought tar-barrels 
 before the hotel, and a fierce bonfire soon blazed, ten or twelve 
 feet high ; round about which, to the great delight of the 
 young Frenchman, the crowd danced, raising shrill whoops 
 and hurrahs. Mr. Healy discreetly slipped away to business, 
 thus avoiding a speech from the window, and after an hour or 
 two the crowd quietly dispersed. 
 
 Next morning, soon after nine, "we ascended a car, and 
 drove away along the ]\Iitchelstown road. It was the finest 
 day of an Indian summer, and the bright morning rays 
 brought out the full beauty of a succession of charming land- 
 scapes, changing with each turn in the road, but all over- 
 topped b}^ the purple masses of the distant Gal tee JMountains. 
 At ]\ritchelstown we were joined by the local secretary of the 
 Land League, and by Mr. Casey, the famous ' Galtee Boy,' 
 whose prosecution in 1877 for libel, at the suit of ]Mr. Bridge, 
 the agent of Mr. Buckley, owner of the Galtee estate, will be 
 remembered. Mr. Bridge's life had been twice attempted, 
 and Mr. Casey boldly attributed these crimes to the agent's 
 alleged harshness towards the tenants. Mr. Casey, who was 
 defended witli great eloquence by the late Mr. Butt, was 
 acquitted on two counts of the information, and on the 
 remaining charges the jury, unable to agree, were discharged. 
 The first visit we paid was to a tenant, said to be the most 
 prosperous on this estate, npon which the eye of the irre- 
 pressible Casey, in spite of all the little diiEculties he has 
 experienced at the hands of the law, still rests vigilantly. I 
 will call the tenant A. B., as it would not be fair to men- 
 tion the names of those who gave me information. Ho 
 was described as a man of excellent character. He had
 
 32 IRELAXD VXDER THE LAXD ACT. 
 
 succeeded in getting for wife a Limerick "woman, with a 
 * fortune,' which fortiine was bestowed forthwith npon one of 
 his brothers, to start him also in a farm. Another brother 
 had gone to America, and sent home regularly something 
 towards the rent. A third brother lived with A. B. as a labourer, 
 and our French comjDanion was greatly shocked and concerned 
 •when he was informed that this third brother was condemned, 
 by local custom and opinion, to perpetual celibacy ; there 
 being no 'fortune' left wherewith to start him in life also.' 
 A. B. and his brother were framed on a great scale, like most 
 of the Tipperary men. They both stood well over six feet 
 high, and had handsome faces and clear blue eyes. But, in 
 common with all the small tenants in this neighbourhood, at 
 the base of the Galtees and on their barren slopes, they were 
 gaunt and fleshless ; their cheeks were pale and their aspect 
 sullen. The wife was a buxom, cheerful, healthy- looking 
 woman, with four children running after her everywhere. It 
 was the potato harvest, and two men, hired to help, were 
 seated with the family at the kitchen table, on which was 
 piled a huge heap of smoking ' champions,' with two pitchers 
 of butter-milk. A. B.'s great-grandfather had reclaimed his 
 thirty-seven acres, with the help of his sons, from the heath, 
 and substantial buildings had been erected at different times by 
 his descendants. The Government valuation for the farm thus 
 laid out was 19?., but the old rent of Vol. continued to be paid 
 until a former agent raised it to 20?. After some time another 
 agent required 31?., but upon A. B.'s earnest remonstrance 
 consented to take 27?., the present rent, on condition that the 
 tenant accepted a long lease. Thus A. B. would be paying 
 about 42 per cent, over the valuation for improvements made 
 by himself and his ' predecessors in title.' The land was 
 devoted partly to growing potatoes, and partly to pasture. 
 After hearing thus far, Mr. Healy decided not to take this as 
 a test case, as the rent was more than 20 per cent, above the 
 
 ' Mr. Casey has lately sent me a letter in which he states that this 
 ' third brother,' impressed by the contemplation of the fate foretold for 
 him, has vowed shortly to be ■\vcd ; and, further, to advertise his wedding 
 in the Standard.
 
 IRELAXD rXDER THE LAXD ACT. 31? 
 
 valuation ; but he took pains to explain to the anxious farmer 
 that, whether the case Avas made a test one or not, the renfe 
 was certain to be lowered. 
 
 I may here explain that the League profess not to object 
 to cases of high rack-renting being taken into Court. But 
 they contend that there is no need for them to take up and 
 bring forward such cases, while large numbers of tenants, 
 paying but little over Griffith's valuation, can, in their 
 opinion, extract hardly enough to pay the rent, living, more- 
 over, in such a way that the Court, considering their pitiful 
 case, ought to lower the rents much below that valuation. 
 They divide the different cases of hardship into five classes ; 
 and it is proposed to bring before the Commission cases from 
 each class, rigidly excluding those, like that of A. B., which I 
 have now described, where the rent is very much over the 
 valuation. The divisions into which the ' test cases ' fall 
 are : — 
 
 1. Cases where the rent is not more than 20 per cent, over 
 the valuation, but is yet thought to be too hard upon the 
 tenant. 
 
 2. Cases of pure reclamation by tenants, without special 
 reference to the amount of rent, but where a claim is made 
 in order to establish principles of decision in such cases. 
 
 3. Cases where what are considered unjust leases have 
 been forced upon tenants from year to year since 1870, pro- 
 ceeding under Section 21 of the Act of 1881. 
 
 4. Cases where tenants have been evicted, for non-payment 
 of rent, since Feb. 22, 1881. 
 
 5. Cases of evicted tenants whose holdings were sold and 
 conveyed before the passing of the Act. 
 
 In order to obtain a cas3 coming under one of these 
 classes we climbed up to the dwellings of some tenants higher 
 up the mountain-side. Tlie huts thei'C are perhaps the most 
 repulsive shelters for humanity that have survived the bar- 
 barous age in Europe. The floors are simply damp earth, 
 and through holes in the battered thatch crawl starving cats 
 in the vain quest for food. The people subsist on potatoes 
 und Indian meal, with sometimes a little buttermilk ; meat 
 
 D
 
 3-i IliELAKD UNDER TUB LAND ACT 
 
 they eat once a year, as a Christmas dainty. C. D. (again 
 for obvious reasons the actual name is withheld), one of these 
 tenants, hold five acres, at a rental of three pounds. He 
 had a face even paler than that of A. B., and his eyes, deep- 
 sunken in swarthy orbits, glared fearfully upon us. It is 
 remarkable, and it suggests curious reflections, that the 
 women and childx'en are not white and emaciated, like the 
 men. At C. D.'s door, for example, lounged two of his ten 
 children, handsome, blushing girls, with bare feet, each the 
 picture of. health and modesty. The explanation probably is, 
 that the poor starchy food which is sufficient to nourish the 
 comparatively inactive bodies of the women and children, 
 cannot make up for the muscular waste in the systems of 
 hard-working male labourers. C. D. and his father had won 
 their little patch from the furzy heath that ran by the side of 
 it, on which huge stones still lay thickly strewn. They had 
 enclosed, and dug, and carried up baskets of earth upon their 
 backs to make soil upon the barren rocks, until at last the 
 little shanty was erected, the simple furniture procured, and 
 the family established. The son felt keenly that he should be 
 required to pay a tax in the shape of raised rent upon the 
 results of their united energy and enterprise ; and be com- 
 pelled to maintain a very bad road which was cut beside his 
 plot. But his rent also was much more than 20 per cent, 
 above the valuation, and it was not therefore necessary that 
 his should be made a test case. 
 
 We now sped along the road to Ballyboreen, and after 
 half an hour's drive pulled up at the door of the Rev. Dr. 
 Delany, the parish priest. This gentleman has u.nder his care, 
 in his immense parish, the majority of the poor tenants on the 
 Galtee estate ; and he told us that he did not know of a tenant 
 in the neighbourhood who was both a tenant from year to 
 year and did not pay more than 20 per cent, over the valua- 
 tion — so again our mission in selecting a ' test case ' was 
 baulked. While waiting at the Doctor's to enjoy some light 
 refreshment the local band assembled, and executed an occa- 
 sional irregular strain of welcome to Mr. Healy, half drowned 
 by the cheering of the mob. These ready musical honours
 
 IRELAXB UNDER THE LAND ACT. 35 
 
 are proffered in Ireland to distlnguislied visitors, where Eng- 
 lishmen would ' think a solemn address and reply the correct 
 ceremony. We drove, attended by the musicians, to the house 
 of a widow woman hard by, who farmed about fifty acres, part 
 under lease, part as tenant from year to year, and who was 
 said to be struggling hard with a rent very much over Griffith's 
 estimate. But the widow was unable to afford any exact in- 
 formation. She could not tell what proportion of the valuation 
 applied to the leased land, and what to the remainder. All she 
 knew was that her husband and his father had gradually im- 
 proved the land from barrenness into comparative fertility"; 
 and she could hardly understand what Mr. Healy meant by 
 asking about the required proofs. Were there any old persons 
 employed by her or living in the neighbourhood who could tes- 
 tify to the tenant having made the improvements, and erected 
 the buildings which were visible around us ? She did not 
 remember any. 'No,' said a bystander, gravely, 'the people 
 here all die early.' In answer to another question, it appeared 
 that the small shopkeepers, who sold nails, and hinges, and 
 other apparatus used in building outhouses, pigsties, &c., did 
 not keep books. The widow had no written record of these 
 alleged improvements having been made, and it was obvious 
 that if the Sub- Commission should require her strictly to pro^e 
 them, she would lose the case. We had therefore to turn 
 away again. After some further search, it being clear that no 
 cases of the desired description could be here obtained, it was 
 finally decided by the emissary of the League to take two 
 of alleged rack-renting, and prepare them for entry. I would 
 call particular attention to this fact, because, in confirmation 
 of what has been previously stated, it shows that the League 
 cannot, if they would, prevent cases of rack-renting from 
 coming before the Commission, or hinder the administrators 
 of the Act from establishing the remedial and beneficial cha- 
 racter of the new legislation. Mr. Healy might have been 
 desirous to keep those two cases out of Court, or not ; but 
 my point is that he could not help himself. Round about 
 him stood the anxious friends of these unfortunate tenants, 
 and the intelligent officers of the local branches of the League. 
 
 d2
 
 i'O TRELAXD UXDEJl THE LA. YD ACT. 
 
 If cases were not taken, the tenants would continue to suffer ; 
 and they knew they need not continue to suffer, for every man 
 in the district had bought a copy of the circular sent out by 
 the Commission, explaining the benefits conferred by the Act 
 on the husbandmen of Ireland. Mr. Healy, therefore, yielded 
 to the inevitable ; and here, accordingly, as in other parts 
 of Ireland, the Act will, after all, have the fair trial claimed 
 for it. 
 
 I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that the leaders of 
 the League will find that they have carried this doctrine of 
 testing the Act too far. Time after time I have seen a sharp 
 farmer's face cloud over doubtfully when he has been told 
 that he should abstain from going into Court until test cases, 
 not affecting in any way the principle upon which his own 
 must be decided, have been heard. Such a man says in his 
 heart, ' How can it be better for any other tenant that I 
 should go on paying a high rent when I need not do so ? ' 
 The League, it is true, advise him, further, to keep the rent 
 in his pocket until the test cases are decided. Now, it is 
 certainly improbable that the farmer can lose much in any 
 event. Whether ho pay down or wait until he be forced to 
 pay, there is no fear that the Land Act will be repealed. But 
 the final determination of the test cases would take two or 
 tliree months or more. And is it not possible that if, in the 
 meantime, rents be withheld, and such ruffians as the mur- 
 derers of Leary infest the country, the cry for coercion, which 
 even now swells louder day by day, ruay force the Govern- 
 inent to suppress the League — ;n other words, to declare all 
 meetings and combinations for carrying out the programme 
 of the League illegal, and to prevent them ? ' If Mr. Parnell 
 and his coadjutors should succeed in bringing about such 
 relations between landlords and tenants as would compel the 
 Executive to stamp out the League, it needs but little obser- 
 vation of the agricultural classes to discover that, after a little 
 eulkiness, every rack-rented farmer in Ireland would accept 
 relief as provided by the Land Act. It may therefore be 
 
 ' 3Ir. rarnell was arrested two days after this was written.
 
 IRELAXD UXDER THE LAND ACT. H7 
 
 taken for granted that the power of the Leagne is already 
 proved to be inadequate to the task of defeating the Act. 
 
 The following are the particulars of a test case selectecJ 
 by Mr. Healy in mj presence ; and I give it as an example' 
 of a long series of improvements made by the tenant and his- 
 ' predecessors in title,' and where the rent is not more tharv 
 20 per cent, over Griffith's valuation : — 
 
 £ .?. f/. 
 
 80 perches of fences built, at 4s. per perch . . . . 16 ()■ 
 
 260 perches of fences levelled, at 2^-. per perch . . . 26 O 
 
 13 acres drained and reclaimed, at 12/. per acre . . . loG U 
 
 10 acres of waste reclaimed and fenced, at bl. per acre . . ."JO 
 
 50 perches of river filled in, at 105. per perch . . . 25 
 
 50 perches of new river-bed opened, at 26-. per perch . . 5 (C 
 
 60 loads of sand every year for 50 years, at 2s. per load . 300 
 
 Dwelling-house improved 40 (> 
 
 Outhouses l)uilt 80 
 
 Work on labourers' houses 12 0. 
 
 *710 
 Allowed by Landlord . . . . 46 
 
 i'664 
 
 The farm in question is situate in the County of Cork, but I 
 have promised to give no further particulars whereby the spot 
 may be identified. After some conversation with the claimant, 
 however, I came to the conclusion that he was a shrewd 
 and cautious man. His statement was that his grandfather 
 had taken a lease of the farm, which consisted of 58| acres, at 
 a rent of 30Z.- 16s. lOtZ. An unofficial valuation made it 
 worth 22/., but Griffith's valuation was 2G/. hs. A great 
 proportion of the holding was stubborn waste, flooded in 
 parts ; but it was provided with a dwelling-bouse of an 
 inferior description. As soon as the lease was signed recla- 
 mation was undertaken, and at the present time the farm 
 pays fairly well. The improvements effected were mainly 
 building, draining, fencing, the application of sand, the 
 diverting of a small river, &c. The tenant, it will bo seen,, 
 asserts that these improvements, extending over fifty years, 
 have cost no less a sum than GG4Z. after allowing for sums. 
 
 411928
 
 38 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND A CI. 
 
 amounting to 4GL, contributed during that period by liis land- 
 lord. The value of the improvements, however, has 
 obviously been greatly exaggerated. The statement will 
 doubtless be cut down and remodelled when it gets into the 
 hands of the solicitor appointed by the League. I may 
 observe, with respect to the fourth class of test cases 
 determined upon by the League — namely, of persons evicted 
 for non-payment of rent since February 22 last, and whose 
 period of redemption had not therefore expired when the Act 
 came into operation on August 22 last — that the Commis- 
 sion have resolved to give full eifect to Section 60 of the Act, 
 making an application to them at their first sitting equivalent 
 to an application made on the day when the Act came into 
 force. The Commission itself intends to have one long sitting 
 of a week in Dublin, nominally continuous, and before any of 
 the Sub-Commissions sit, in order that no tenant of the class 
 alluded to may suffer.
 
 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 39 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ME. PAENELL ly PRISON. 
 
 Dublin: .Saturday, October 15. 
 On Thursday morning, the 13th, at Morrison's Hotel, in 
 Dawson Street, Mr. Parnell was arrested, taken away and 
 safely lodged in Kilmainham Prison, before the citizens of 
 Dublin were fairly awake. There was no disturbance in the 
 streets, for no one knew why the four-wheel cabs waited so 
 long before the hotel ; and it was not until some constables 
 added themselves to the procession that suspicion began to be 
 excited. The captive himself strictly enjoined secresy upon 
 the servants of the hotel, as if he had known of the bodies of 
 troops held ready to march, and of the cannon in the Castle- 
 yard. 
 
 I had an interview with Mr. Pai'nell in Kilmainham Gaol 
 yesterday, but was prevented from sending by wire an account 
 of my visit owing to the interruption of the telegraphic service 
 by the storm. I drove early to the famous prison, which is a 
 large castellated pile of grey stone, standing well out of the 
 city, some two miles to the west. Once out of the streets, there 
 were not to be met a dozen persons, exclusive of bare-legged 
 little boys, during the drive. I had to wait in the guard-room 
 for a few minutes until some visitors already admitted had 
 been dismissed, and these presently appeared in the persons 
 of Mr. Arthur O'Connor, M.P., and Mr. O'Kelly, M.P., 
 the face of the latter wearing an expression of unwonted 
 concern. In all probability their quick-witted chief had 
 warned them that they would be immediately arrested, 
 Mr. O'Kelly was, in fact, brought back to Kilmainham, a few 
 Lours later, as a prisoner ; but Mr. O'Connor escaped, by
 
 40 IIIELAXJJ VXBEli TJIK LAX I) ACT. 
 
 Belfast, to England. Some delay ensued, there being it seems 
 a rule limiting the number of visitors to two daily, but at Mr. 
 Parnell's request an exception Avas made in my favour, and it 
 is possible therefore to record some views and opinions of the 
 imprisoned leader of the League at this crisis which may be 
 worthy of attention. A good-humoured warder, bearing his 
 keys of office, and an anxious-looking official looking like a 
 secretary or under- secretary of the Governor, were present 
 during the interview, but behaved with, the fullest respect and 
 consideration towards the prisoner. Mr. Parnell was deadly 
 pale. He was, as usual, carefully dressed, and wore a small 
 round smoking-cap. He appeared to be cheerful, and through- 
 out the interview abstained from any expression of hostility 
 or resentment against the Government, or any member of it. 
 What struck me most in his manner was an appearance of 
 quiet satisfaction, sometimes passing into a triumphant smile, 
 ■which was unmistakably natural and real. 
 
 The room into which he was removed yesterday is that 
 lately occupied by Father Sheehy, and is the warmest and 
 largest at the Governor's disposal. The ladies of the Land 
 League and others have filled it with books and briffht- 
 coloured furniture, so that there is nothing to suggest the 
 gloomy cell and clanking chains in which the American illus- 
 trated journals were pleased to represent the fragile form of 
 the imprisoned priest. A bright fire was burning in the 
 old-fashioned fireplace, and before this we sat. Mr. Parnell 
 said that he had expected, ever since reading the Premier's 
 speech at Leeds, to be arrested, and that he had received 
 certain intelligence of the determination of the Cabinet on 
 Wednesday evening last. He had not attempted to evade cap- 
 ture, as he was aware that it would have been almost impossible. 
 I mentioned to him the excitement of the old retainers at 
 Morrison's Hotel, who knew his people well, and some of 
 whom had carried him into the hotel when a boy in their 
 arms. 'Yes,' he replied, smiling, 'somebody proposed that I 
 should get out of the back Avindow, but I declined, as I knew 
 the approaches were watched.' He said that Superintendent 
 Mallon had behaved with all possible politeness. Although
 
 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 41 
 
 troubled with a slight cold, he had in no way suffered from 
 his imprisonment so far, but he anticipated that any long, 
 continued imprisonment must have a very prejudicial effect 
 upon one of his lively constitution and active habits. He 
 thought it probable that he -would be kept prisoner for some 
 considerable period. The arrest, oi', as he preferred to desci'ibe 
 it, the retui-n to the policy of coercion, was, he thought, due 
 to the misinformation of the Government, who were under the 
 impression that the League would prevent tenants with really 
 good cases from going before the Court. On the contrary, he 
 said, the League had taken up great numbers of cases of every 
 description all over the country, and his only object had been 
 to prevent the farmers from indulging in needless litigation 
 when, by watching the decision of similar test cases, they 
 would be able to judge of the views of the Court about their 
 own cases, and make agreements accordingly. He affirmed 
 that he had Bot committed the offences named in the warrants, 
 and denied the legality of those documents. 
 
 ' I defy them,' exclaimed Mr. Parnell, ' to show one speech 
 of mine made within the Dublin district, the disti^ict named in 
 the warrants, in which I have given such advice to tenants.' 
 I believe that Mr. Gladstone, by returning to this coercion 
 policy, has seriously injured the prospects of his Act. The 
 tenants will not after this go into Court so freely as before. 
 And if they go, there are, after all, great defects in the Act. 
 We have selected cases of rack-rented tenants — for instance, 
 we have taken one case from the Galtee estate — but we are 
 very apprehensive about the way in which the Commissions 
 will administer the Act, under, Healy's Clause, in the cases of 
 tenants whose reclamations have been effected during the last 
 thirty years or so. Again, I do not believe that more than 
 about ten thousand of the Irish leaseholders will receive any 
 benefit, and in short, perhaps, one-half of the tenant-farmers 
 of Ireland have nothing to expect from the Act. I don't know 
 for certain who will be the leader of the party now, but I 
 should think it will be John Dillon. It is possible that they 
 
 ' Mr. Parnell -was shortly afterwards served -with a second warrant 
 charging him -with being reasonably suspected of treasonable practices.
 
 42 111 EL AND VXDER THE LAXD ACT. 
 
 may arrest liim, however, as they have arrested Mr. Quinn, 
 the Assistant Secretary of the League, this morning, and 
 intend, I am told, to arrest Sexton and others. Dillon is more 
 advanced than I am, and I have not hitherto held his views in 
 full, but if the Government should suppress the League, as is 
 rumoured, I should in that case feel it my duty to advise the 
 farmers to pay no rent whatever. I told you a week before I 
 was arrested that even if the Government seized me there 
 would be no fear of disturbances, and I am still of that opinion. 
 One effect of the course taken by the Government will be that 
 every Irish voter in England will vote against them for the 
 future. If I am released in time to attend the next Session of 
 Parliament I shall support, and even, if possible, extend and 
 improve, the Bill lately determined upon by the Farmers' 
 Alliance for England. But, in the meantime, I shall practise 
 in gaol carpentering, or some occupation of that kind. I 
 was always rather inclined to mechanical operations for relaxa- 
 tion. Thanks to the Ladies' Land League, I am, as you see, 
 well supplied with books ; but I have not as yet come to the 
 determination to write any work.' 
 
 Here the warder announced that it was time to leave. 
 At the same moment a janitor entered with a snow-white 
 tablecloth for dinner, and I took leave of Mr. Parnell.' 
 
 ' It was uot iintil after the publication of this letter that orders -were 
 given to refuse newspaper correspondents permission to see Mr. Parnell. 
 I should mention that before speaking to Mr. Parnell upon political sub- 
 jects, I distinctly asked if there was any rule against conversing upon them, 
 and the prison officials made no reply.
 
 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 41? 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 THE ARREARS. 
 
 Dublin : Tuesday, October 18. 
 
 Night after night, of late, the Dublin mob has rioted in the 
 principal streets, assaulting the police, throwing stones, shout- 
 ing, 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 them- 
 selves 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.
 
 44 JltELANI) L'XDEll THE LAXT) ACT. 
 
 The Commission had in several instances, to which I have 
 alluded in formei* 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 applica- 
 tion, under Section GO of the Act, at the fix'st sitting of the 
 Court, had been fixed to begin on Thursday next. ISTumbers 
 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. Pai-nell, 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 unprece- 
 dented 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 statesman- 
 ship, 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 per- 
 fection 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 dis- 
 coverable objections to the Act had been urged, and the last
 
 IRELAXn rXDEli THE LAXD ACT. 43 
 
 ' 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 
 ehortly have become de trop, his popularity is revived, his im- 
 portance 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 ari'ests with very many persons, from 
 landlords of the highest rank downwards, and heard all the 
 reasons suggested for the unexpected onslaught of the Govern- 
 ment upon the League. The general belief seems to be that 
 Encrlish public opinion had at last roused the Ministry. 
 Another prevalent opinion is that IMr. Gladstone really feared 
 that tenants would be in large numbers forcibly deterred from 
 o-oing 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 follow- 
 ing : — 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 I'educed 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 pi'oclaimed 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 culti-
 
 4G IRELAXB TINDER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 vators enough to secure improved dwellings, clotlies, 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 un- 
 manageable element in the agitation, cowed the smaller land- 
 lords, 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 deter- 
 mined — 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 
 w411 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 j^ay 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.^ Its issue is undoubtedly the most serious and 
 
 ' It is -widely reported in Dublin that Dr. Kenny, ;i popular and 
 amiable physician, -who has, whenever necessary, freely exposed his life in
 
 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 47 
 
 lamentable proceeding of tlae Land League since its estab- 
 lishment ; 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 remem- 
 bered that many of them are suffering from actual want, and 
 are being ruthlessly pressed by mortgagees and other credi- 
 tors. 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 Michael- 
 mas 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 Septem- 
 ber, and these sums, with fourteen millions sacrificed as abate- 
 ments, and one million for other arrears, show that the Irish 
 landlords 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. 
 Anothei', but very small class, who bought land as an invest- 
 ment, and mercilessly racked the tenants, deserve no con- 
 sideration. But there is a large number of owners of land, 
 not rack-renters, whose condition is truly pitiable. Numerous 
 
 the 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 
 ■n-ay. and that Dr. Kenny's political position -was the sole reason for his 
 arrest.
 
 is UlELAXn VXDEI! THE LAND ACT. 
 
 cases Lave been brought to our notice during tbe last few days 
 where Landlords, a few years since in affluent circumstances, 
 are now almost beggared. Sometimes the sufferer is an 
 eblerly lady, with a life estate ; sometimes a mortgagor, com- 
 pelled to go on paying- interest on tbe debt, or a leasebolder, 
 forced to pay Lis superior landloi'd tLe rent agreed upon 
 to the last penny. One Lears of a gentleman in a western 
 county, with a nominal rental of 2,000Z., subsisting on the 
 produce of his poultry-yard ; of another receiving 40Z. out of 
 IjOOOL due. A lady living in Dublin, with a jointure of a fair 
 amount, is obliged to the kindness of a relative for bare ne- 
 cessaries; and two ladies, also residing here, entitled to some 
 400Z. 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 estab- 
 lishment 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 for 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 corre- 
 sponding 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. Thei"e will be plenty 
 to select from, for the Land League has taken one case each 
 from nearly every one of its eighteen hundi-ed 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 sup-
 
 JUELAXD UXBER THE LAM) ACT. 4^ 
 
 pressed. 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 Avill 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 Courts 
 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 ol 
 joint consent in the application is a fatal flaw in the Act. 
 The Land Commissioners have been surprised at the smal? 
 number of applications made to them under this Section. Is 
 it equally certain that in most cases landlords will not now 
 consent to make the sacrifices required oftliem 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 diSiculty ; 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 un- 
 fair 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 exist- 
 ing Act, repayable as increased rent, or better still, as a small 
 redeemable tax. But this proposal, of course, would not bo- 
 practicable until the meeting of Parliament. 
 
 A second plan would be the formation of a large subscrip- 
 
 E
 
 50 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 tion fand, to wliicb. tlie Eaglisli and the riclier Irish landlords 
 should liberally contribute, for making the loans just men- 
 tioned 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 Laud 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 pro- 
 duced on the same day by the agent of one of the kindest and 
 most generous landloi-ds in Ireland. It speaks for itself : — , 
 
 'October 14, 1881. 
 
 ' Dear Sir, — A meeting of j\Ir. tenants was held on 
 
 the 12th inst., to consider the rent question. All of them 
 either attended or sent representatives. The following reso- 
 lutions were passed, with but one dissentient, and I was re- 
 quested 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 proceed- 
 ings, upon the part of the landlord against any one of us, 
 we pledge ourselves \o 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
 
 IliELAXI) U.MJEn THE LAXD ACT. 51 
 
 cent., and will pay no I'ent until tliis 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.'"
 
 52 lUELAND VXDER THE LAXD ACT. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 THE OPEXING OF HIE COMMISSI OX. 
 
 Dublin : Thursday, October 20. 
 
 The crisis is upon ns. On Tuesday last the Central Executive 
 of the League despatched copies of the ' Xo-Rent ' Manifesto 
 to all the branches ; and to-day the Government have rejoined 
 with a proclamation, suppressing the League. For the tenants' 
 own sake one may be allowed to hope that the Manifesto may 
 have small influence with them ; for it might strike even the 
 present generous majority in the House of Commons that there 
 was no raison cVctre for Fair Rent Courts in a country whose 
 inhabitants denied the obligation to pay rent altogether. To- 
 day, however, the Land Commission for the first time opened 
 the doors of their Court to suitors, and already the telegraph 
 wires are flashing its directions and requirements to all parts 
 of Ireland. Provincial solicitors are industriously preparing 
 affidavits for clients and instructions for counsel ; local asso- 
 ciations of landlords are reporting to the Land Committee on 
 cases suitable for defence ; and the whole country is lend- 
 ing itself to the business of litigation. All the newspapers 
 contain leading articles on the work of the Commission, 
 differing of course widely in their tone, treatment, and lessons. 
 'One common opinion is, however, discoverable in these 
 criticisms — namely, that cases of genuine grievance, such as 
 rack-renting and confiscation of improvements, are absolutely 
 sure of redress. This is an obvious result of the new legisla- 
 tion ; and so speculation runs rather upon the question of the 
 probable action of the Court in dealing Avith what constitute, 
 perhaps, two-thirds in number of Irish tenancies — that is to 
 say, cases of moderate renting. This question, which has been
 
 IRELAND VXD Ell THE LAND ACT. ' 53 
 
 sufficient to occupy the whole energies of the leaders, officers, 
 and members of the League for the last two months, is one 
 to which the Commission will have to devote its closest and 
 most wary attention, conscious that one or two slips in deal- 
 ing with it may discredit all the really valuable and efl'ective 
 reforms which it may achieve. To this question, as if by 
 instinct, Mr. Justice O'Hagan accordingly addressed the most 
 telling and significant sentence in his inaugura^l address 
 to-day ; and during the whole of the sitting it was arising 
 again and again, and pressing itself importunately upon the 
 Court. 
 
 As regards the formalities and incidents connected with 
 the opening of this unique tribunal, much that is interesting 
 might be written. As soon as the porters and messengers had 
 hastened to their posts at the Commission Offices, in 24, Upper 
 Merrion Street, visitors with eager expectant faces began to 
 arrive, and on presenting a card, or otherwise establishing a 
 right to be present, were admitted to the Court. The house 
 in which the Commissioners and their numerous staff are 
 lodged is the old town mansion of the Earls of Mornington, 
 and in it some hundred and twelve years ago, a child — after- 
 wards the Duke of Wellington — was born ; curiously enough, 
 on the same day upon which, in a Mediterranean island on the 
 coast of France, Napoleon Bonaparte first, with clenched 
 hands, appeared. It is a building of great size, and its rooms 
 are lofty, gi\andly proportioned, and well lighted. The 
 Commissioners have each a full-sized room on the first floor, 
 and the Secretary, Mr. Dennis Godley, C.B., is established 
 on the other side of the landing. Upstairs Mr. Murrough 
 O'Brien has characteristically provided himself with some 
 very wide tables, on which ordnance maps for a whole pro- 
 vince may be spread, and he has secured — what he values 
 most of all — -windows occupying great part of the sides of the 
 chamber. An apartment of mysterious shape, approached by 
 a winding passage, and which apparently has been the kitchen 
 of the old mansion, is occupied by Mr. William Smith, the 
 Registrar, whose laborious duties are shared by three as- 
 sistants. All these rooms look comfortable, but the only
 
 54 IltELAND VNDEU THE LAXD ACT. 
 
 really pretty office in the entire building is tliat sheltering 
 Mr. Fottrell, the solicitor of the Commission. Its mural 
 decorations include a set of etchings, from which it may 
 be gathered that the learned gentleman is a lover of the 
 sea ; and the colours of the carpets, furniture, paper, and 
 mouldings melt into a sombre harmony, which must be 
 soothing in the highest degree to the irritable and over- 
 worked legal bi'ain. The solicitor's office opens directly 
 into the Court-room of the Commissioners, once the dining- 
 room of the Morningtons, into which no doubt little Arthur 
 Wellesley was sometimes led at dessert time, and provided 
 with a chair at a corner of the table. How would the 
 inflexible old veteran have frowned had he ever been told in 
 his lifetime that, in response to a successful popular agitation, 
 three gentlemen, neither judges nor officers, would take their 
 seats in that room in order to transfer without compensation 
 an indefinite amount of the property of landlords to their 
 tenants ! The walls of the Court are covered with pale green 
 jDaper, the ceiling handsomely moulded, and a large marble 
 mantelpiece tops the fireplace. The dimensions of the room 
 are aboiat thirty-five feet by twenty. At the uj^per end, 
 between two doors, one opening into the spacious hall and 
 the other into Mr. Eottrell's sanctum, is raised a dais with a 
 plain canopy of crimson on which stand three chairs for the 
 Commissioners, Benches are fixed down the room for the 
 advocates and the audience, and along one side runs a seat 
 for the press. 
 
 At ten minutes to twelve the Court was filling rapidly. 
 The spectators were many of them barristers or solicitors, 
 with a priest or two, and some prominent merchants. About 
 this time a group of ladies, in brilliant toilettes, entering from 
 thesolicitor's room, converted for the nonce into a bower for 
 their use, entered the Court and occupied a kind of box near 
 the dais. Among them were Mrs. Forster, Lady O'Hagan, 
 Mrs. O'Hagan, Mrs. Litton, the Misses Arnold-Forster and 
 AV^aters, every lady in the circle being a connection of some 
 high official. Mr. Herbert Gladstone, M.P., wearing a cravat 
 of a brilliant crimson line, sat by the Registrar ; the
 
 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 55 
 
 composure of bis manner contrasting strongly with the 
 evident agitation of that officer. As the clocks chimed 
 the hour of noon, Mr. Commissioner Litton appeared, 
 attired in the every-day working robes of a Q.C., and wearing 
 a small wig, which had evidently seen service at the bar. Then 
 came Mr. Justice O'Hagan, in similar robes, but with a brand- 
 new Serjeant's wig. Mr. Commissioner Vernon followed, in 
 a cut-away coat and hunting tie, as if to mark the essentially 
 non-judicial character of the tribunal. There was a short 
 interval of rustling and settling. Then every whisper was 
 hushed, and a deep sense of the solemnity of what will be a 
 historical scene seemed to pervade the place. At last, in obedi- 
 ence to a motion of Mr. Justice O'Hagan, the Registrar, Mr. 
 "William Smith, an amiable gentleman of much learning, but 
 gifted with a full measure of the national excitability, started 
 to his feet and said huri^iedly, ' I declare the Court of the 
 Land League to be now open.' A general titter, swelling 
 instantly to a chorus of hearty laughter, greeted this in- 
 discreet announcement, in which laughter the presiding Com- 
 missioner, Mr. Vernon, and even the learned Registrar him- 
 self, after hastily amending his statement, joined without 
 restraint. 
 
 Then Mr. Justice O'Hagan opened a manuscript, and pro- 
 ceeded to read, in a voice of earnestness and power, an address 
 in every way worthy of the occasion. After claiming for the 
 procedure of the Court that it was ' of extreme simplicity, as 
 free as possible from all the snares and pitfalls of technicalities,' 
 and, further, that it was effective, the learned judge stated 
 that certain mistakes made in the stamping of the notices 
 would not be allowed to invalidate those documents. Inci- 
 dentally remarking that it would not be possible to have a 
 trial of any case for at least ten days, he proceeded to explain 
 the 60th Section, which had really rendered necessary this 
 sitting of the Court. And here he made an important an- 
 nouncement, whereby a pet grievance of the League leaders, 
 perhaps more warmly urged than any other, will be done 
 away with. The GOth Section, said his lordship, rendered any 
 application made on the first occasion on which the Court
 
 m lltlJL.iXD UXDER THE LAXB ulCT. 
 
 aiiould sit equivalent to an application made on August 22 last, 
 tihe day when the Act passed. And the effect would be, he 
 said, that the judicial rent afterwards to be fixed would apply 
 Kot only to the gales which might accrue after the date of the 
 ■order, but also to those which accrued since August 22 last.^ 
 He further laid it down that applications made during the 
 present sitting, which would be a continuous sitting extending 
 lip to Saturday, the 29th inst., in cases of ejectment under 
 Section 13, Sub-section 2, would, with the aid of Section 60, 
 t'utitle the tenant to have his time for redemption or sale ex- 
 tended. He thought, however, that the power of extending 
 the time for redemption under Section 13 in cases of eviction 
 for non-payment of rent arose only when the tenant desired to 
 sell. The next point laid down was that an application made 
 to the Court, during the nine days' sitting, would be made in 
 the words of Section GO ' on the first occasion which it sits,' 
 and thus save the rights of the applicant, as if made on the 
 day of the passing of the Act. 
 
 The President next referred to the rare practice of private 
 arbitration between landlord and tenant, and said that ' the 
 rent fixed by them had been calculated so as to enable the 
 tenant to live and thrive,' and he claimed that the Assistant 
 Commissioners would really act as arbiters in this sense be- 
 tween landlord and tenant. This is worthy of attention. It 
 is the first declaration on the part of the Commission that they 
 consider their office purely that of arbitrators, and more im- 
 portant still, the use of the words ' live and thrive ' seems to 
 point to the conclusion that the Commissioners are taking the 
 view advanced by Mr. Parnell at Maryborough, and since 
 adopted by Archbishop Croke — that the fair rent must be 
 such as to allow increased comfort, better dwellings, and 
 better food to the tenants. There is not, so far as can be 
 discovered, anything in the Act entitling the Commissioners 
 to entertain such consideration for the tenant ; but if they can 
 see their way to ameliorate the lot of the wretched squatters 
 on poor reclaimed bog and mountain land, without injustice, 
 
 ' .Tudge O'llagan lias since di>clared that he did not mean to convey 
 this opinion, and that the words c^uoted were inadvertently employed.
 
 IRELAXD UXniJR THE LAXD ACT. 57 
 
 so much the better for the peace of the country and for the 
 reputation of the Court. 
 
 The sensational part of the address, if I may use such an 
 epithet in describing a solemn judicial deliverance, followed 
 closely upon this passage. In louder, firmer tones the Presi- 
 dent claimed for the Commissioners and their coadjutors the 
 ' common human quality of courage to execute what we dis- 
 cern to be right.' This observation was received with loud 
 cheering. The impression, however, left on the mind by the 
 address, as a whole, was that the Court were considering the 
 rack-rented tenants' side of the question solely, and that they 
 declined to commit themselves further than by the words I 
 have quoted describing the duties of an ximpire as to the de- 
 sirability of decreeing that general reduction of rents which 
 is insisted on by the Land League. 
 
 The cases, 108 in number, were then called. They were 
 in nearly every instance applications for permission to record 
 applications to fix fair rents under the two Sections referred 
 to ; and the first noticeable characteristic of each case was the 
 extremely loose and careless manner in which the instructions 
 to the advocates had been prepared. Most of them were from 
 Ulster, where the Act is growing in popularity every day. Mr. 
 Parnell was safe in prison some two miles away while the 
 Court sat. But the result of the teaching which had sent him 
 into Kilmainham appeared when Mr. M'Gough, the solicitor 
 to the Land League, rose, as the second case on the list was 
 called, and displayed a huge pile of documents, each larger than 
 a newspaper page, containing particulars of the test cases 
 recently selected by the League. Time to procure fuller par- 
 ticulars was accorded him, and the application was then to be 
 registered, as in the other cases. From that moment to the 
 rising of the Court the proceedings wei'e mostly in the form of 
 a colloquy between the Registrar, Mr. M'Gough, and the pre- 
 siding Judge. No landlord appeared as applicant during the 
 day ; but Mr. M'Gough brought into Court, amongst others, 
 the Marquesses of Bath and Waterford, the Bishop of Derry, 
 Colonel Forster, Captain Irvine, of Donegal, and Mr. Evelyn 
 Shirley, of Monaghan. To-morrow he has cases against Lords
 
 S8 IRELAND TINLER TUB LAND ACT, 
 
 Leitrim, Bantrj, and Arran, and for some days to come lie 
 "will almost monopolise the Court. There were, however, cases 
 of independent application to the Court, including a test case 
 on behalf of thirty-three tenants of Mr. Fetherstonhaugh, and 
 another for three hundred tenants of Mr. Parnell, of Armagh 
 — not the President of the Land League. At a quarter to 
 two, the list having been exhausted, the Court rose.
 
 IRELAND UXDER THE LAXD ACT. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 THE FIRST CASES. 
 
 Dublin : Friday Evening, October 21. 
 
 The Land Commission continued to-day their first sitting, 
 ■whicli, undei" an order issued yesterday, is to extend to and 
 include Saturday, the 29th instant. It must be remembered 
 that the Court are not now exercising any of the arbitrating 
 jurisdiction conferred upon them by the Act. ISTo landlord's 
 rents, for instance, are to be cut down at this sitting, the sole 
 object at present being to see that every tenant in the country 
 who intends to try his fortune before the Commissioners, but 
 whose case requires him to apply under Section GO on the 
 first occasion on which they sit, has the fullest notice of that 
 occasion, and all necessary time to take advantage of it. He 
 has to appear before the three Commissioners in their new 
 Court in Dublin, either personally or by counsel or solicitor. 
 He must state and, if required, prove the facts upon which he 
 relies. Then the application will be recorded in the books of 
 the Commission as having been duly made under Section 60, 
 and any rights which may depend upon his applying under 
 that Section will be secured to him. In other words, up to 
 and including Saturday week the Commissioners will merely 
 sit to register these applications. 
 
 There are three classes of persons whose rights depend 
 upon a resort to the procedure under Section GO. First, 
 tenants who have been evicted since February 22 last for non- 
 payment of rent. Under the common law a tenant evicted 
 upon this ground is allowed six months within which he may 
 redeem his lost holding. In the class mentioned, therefore, 
 the tenant would have been entitled if the Court had been
 
 60 TIllJLAXD UNDER THE LAXD ACT. 
 
 sitting on August 22 last, the date of the passing of the Act, 
 to redeem now ; and it is intended that such a man shall not 
 suffer the loss of his right in consequence of the want of a 
 Court to which he might then have applied. The second 
 class of tenants includes such as have been evicted for some 
 cause, non-payment of rent or otherwise, since August 22, 
 when the Act came into operation. The third class of appli- 
 cants embraces all who wish to have a judicial rent fixed, so 
 that it may regulate not only future gales, but any gale 
 vphich may have accrued since August 22 last. It may natu- 
 rally occur to one's mind that many of the poor tenants on the 
 far-off Western coast, remote as they frequently are from 
 railwaj's and newspapers, may after all I'cmain ignorant of the 
 long session now benevolently held for their safety .and help, 
 and there will doubtless be such cases. Such a misfortune, 
 however, as the loss of right of sale or redemption by the 
 omission to apply will certainly not be chargeable to the 
 Commissioners. They have already gone to the utmost verge 
 of legal conscience in holding that eight separate sittings of 
 the Court on as many days constitute but one occasion — a 
 decision which, but for the good intentions of those who have 
 given it, might be described as a judicial bull of the purest 
 breed. They have, moreover, caused their continuous sit- 
 ting, and the object of it, to be advertised in all the Irish 
 newspapers, which are now read by twenty j)ersons for one 
 who read them ten years ago in Ireland. 
 
 Yesterday there were over a hundred cases brought up 
 coming under one or other of the three classes enumerated. 
 Once or twice the facts were sufliciently established to allow 
 registration in accordance with the 60th Section, but in nearly 
 all the ignorance and heedlessness of the suitors were respon- 
 sible for the postponement of their application in order to 
 obtain necessary pai'ticulars. No important principle was 
 laid down yesterday, however, for the guidance of tenants and 
 the comfort of good citizens in these troublous times. The 
 most conspicuous figure in the day's proceedings was again 
 the solicitor of the late Land League, Mr. M'Gough, who 
 brought into Court a great number of the printed forms on.
 
 lit EL Ay D T'SDEn THE LA XI) ACT. 61 
 
 ■wliich tlie officials of the branches had entered tlie particulars 
 of their test cases. In one long line, running through many 
 columns, were inscribed the tenant's name and that of his 
 landlord, their respective addresses, the situation, extent and 
 nature of the holding, with the name of the townland or elec- 
 toral division, the amount of Griffith's valuation — by which 
 particular it may be gathered that the form was drawn up 
 some time since — the rent paid, or rather payable, and so 
 forth. Of course it was impossible to discover from the mere 
 title of the application, as stated in Court, what were the par- 
 ticulars of the cases. But every one was a case of eviction. 
 Mr. M'Gough named amongst others some tenants of Mr. 
 M'Geough, county Armagh, as applicants for the fixing of a 
 fair rent. This landlord is a country gentleman residing at 
 Silverbridge, Castleblayney, whose estate is seven thousand 
 two hundred and thirteen acres, valued at 4,070?. I think I 
 may say that the following are the particulars of these cases : 
 — James Small, Forkhill, nine Irish acres, 67. Is. lid. rent; 
 57. 155. Poor-law valuation ; 127. os. 10t7. arrears due to date 
 of eviction. James Martin, of Cashel, eleven acres two roods 
 Irish, 127. 15.5. rent; 127. 15s. Poor-law valuation ; 327. 7s. Qd. 
 arrears due to date of eviction. Peter Qnin, of Colbrig, three 
 acres two roods Irish, 37. IGs. 3c7. rent ; 87. 18s. Poor-law valu- 
 ation ; 77. 125. Gt7. arrears due to date of eviction. Patrick 
 KafFerty, ^lullabawn, nine acres three roods Irish, 97. 10s. 
 rent ; 97. Poor-law valuation ; 197, arrears due to date of 
 eviction. Thomas O'Hara, of Legahan, twenty-seven acres 
 statute, 157. 17s. rent ; 207. Poor-law valuation ; 387. I85. ar- 
 rears to date of eviction. James Kelly, of Ferlagh, fourteen 
 acres one rood statute, 127. 17s. i-ent ; 127. 10s. Poor-law 
 valuation ; 257. 14s. arrears to date of eviction. 
 
 It will be seen that these cases are not selected from 
 the class of rack-rented cases. It is said, however, that Mr. 
 M'Gough has a number of rack-rented cases to bring before 
 the Court, and I am, indeed, aware from actual observation 
 that at least in the south some rack-rented tenants were 
 taken as applicants ; but it is just possible that Mv. M'Gouo-h 
 may not again appear before the Commissioners, and that
 
 62 UlELAXD UNDFAl THE LAND ACT. 
 
 their cause list in consequence may be thinned. The tearing 
 up of the outward visible League, root and branch, has de- 
 prived him at an hour's notice of some thousands of clients. 
 The cases were not sent up to him by the evicted tenants 
 themselves, but by the secretai-ies of the local Leagues, 
 who had entered the particulars on the forms supplied from 
 Sackville Street. Now many of these secretaries are either 
 captured or apprehensive of imprisonment. The local 
 branches dare not meet, and the country officials cannot tell 
 whether the despatch of a letter of instruction to Mr. M'Gough 
 may not subject them to immediate arrest under the Lord 
 Lieutenant's proclamation. It is therefore possible that what 
 between the untoward championship of the League and the 
 interference of the Government these iinlucky evicted tenants 
 may come to grief. It is hard to expect that Mr. M'Gough 
 should suddenly assume the dangerous responsibility of prose- 
 cuting countless claims against rich landlords at his own risk. 
 Perhaps the Commissioners, who have hitherto most anxiously 
 consulted the interests of their poor suitors, will come to the 
 rescue with some rule, entitling the tenants to obtain the 
 security of the Act by a mere notice posted at the nearest 
 town, or at any time by their giving evidence that they had 
 been taken by surprise by the proclamation, and that their 
 cases had actually been supplied to Mr. ]\I'Gough. 
 
 To-day the Commissioners suggested in a case that came 
 before them an opinion of great importance. "William Keogh, 
 of Wicklow, complained that he had been forced to sign since 
 1870 a stringent lease exacting far too high a rent, and wished 
 to have it broken on that ground under Section 21. I was 
 greatly impressed by hearing Mr. Justice O'Hagan tell the 
 applicant that a very serious question arose as to whether, 
 under the Act, there was any power given to break such a 
 lease by reason merely of the requirement of any rent, how- 
 ever large. Some other wrong must be proved, such as a 
 clause in the contract specifically depriving the lessee of the 
 benefit of the Act of 1870. He, however, did not positively 
 decide the point, so it would be irregular and presumptuous 
 to discuss the question at present. It might be difficult,
 
 IRELAND VXBER THE LAXD ACT. C3 
 
 perhaps, to find one of these disgraceful leases imposed upon 
 farmers, which did not contain a proviso, stipulating that 
 the tenant should not be entitled to the benefits of the Act 
 of 1870. And thus the reservation of rent and the clause 
 of deprivation may, like footpads in the darkness, destroy one 
 another.
 
 ei lEELAM) UKDEB THE LAXI) ACT. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 THE EVICTED TE-VAXTS. 
 
 Dublin : AVednesday, October 26. 
 A VERY small audience, consisting- almost to a man of law- 
 yers and journalists, assembled this morning in the Court 
 of the Land Commission. To the hands of Mr. Justice 
 O'Hagan and his colleagues are committed the par- 
 tition of property to an incalculable amount, and the 
 peace of a nation. Yet those who attend the sittings 
 of these powerful personages are as inconsiderable in point 
 of numbers, behave with as much freedom at interesting 
 moments, and yawn with the same ahanJon after the first 
 half-hour or so, as if they sat in the dullest of London County 
 Courts. Although it cannot be said that any decision 
 seriously affecting landed property has yet been pronounced, it 
 is already sufficiently appai^ent that every section and sentence 
 of the Act will be vigorously contested by the advocates of the 
 landlords. The L^ish barristers are not a whit behind their 
 English brethren in technical learning and dialectical aptitude. 
 The most complicated mass of facts and figures is unravelled 
 by them with ease and smoothness, the Judges never inter- 
 rupting, and the diction of the Bar is certainly purer than 
 that of Westminster Hall. But the Irish ' counsellor,' as a 
 rule, lacks repose of manner. He does not, as in England, 
 usually confine himself to one branch of practice out of the 
 many — criminal, common law, equity, parliamentary, eccle- 
 siastical, and divorce — which, in a rising scale of emolument, 
 invite his services. Mr. Whiteside and Mr. Butt could, like 
 skilful actors, change the style as circumstances required,
 
 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 65 
 
 speaking by turns in the dignified House of Lords manner, 
 the winning Nisi Prius manner, and the furious State Trial 
 manner. The last would seem to be considered by the 
 pleaders to be most likely to tell before the Commission. 
 The audience listens with grave appreciation. The average 
 Irishman has much respect for legal ability, provided it be not 
 directed against himself. I heard the other day of a solicitor 
 in the County Cork, who in the course of his professional 
 duties pointed out a flaw in a writ to his client — a neigh- 
 bouring tenant served with it. The consequence was that a 
 large number of actions against the tenantry were set aside, 
 and the solicitor became a local hero. He afterwards, in the 
 course of his professional duties, took out writs settled by 
 himself against certain of those who had formerly benefited by 
 his cunning. He was immediately denounced as a traitor, 
 burned in effigy, and at last his life was attempted. 
 
 The first leading case has now been decided by their Lord- 
 ships. An application was made to transfer a case of ' Knipe 
 V. Armstrong ' from the County Court of Armagh to the 
 Commission Court. Knipe, the applicant, as administrator of 
 Alexander Mulligan, deceased, claimed 270Z. compensation for 
 disturbance, or, in the alternative, for improvements. This 
 claim was made under the Act of 1870, and was filed in the 
 Armagh County Court in April last. To understand the 
 application to transfer it, it must be borne in mind that the 
 County Court Judges as a body are considered by the tenants 
 to have interpreted the i^ct of 1870 in a manner illiberal, so 
 to speak, towards their interests. Many of the tenants expect 
 that the Land Court, impressed by the spectacle of the 
 League, still threatening and terrible, even at its last gasp, 
 will be inclined to give decisions more favourable to the cul- 
 tivators of the soil. Hence an application like the present 
 was looked for as a matter of certainty so soon as the Com- 
 missioners should sit. Mr. Knipe, however, had no reason to 
 offer for desiring to change his forum, and Judge O'Hagan 
 was inflexible. He acknowledged the compliment paid to 
 the Court, but held that the 37th Section of the Act of 1881,
 
 CR IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 enabling the Commission to transfer into their own Conrts 
 proceedings commenced in the Civil Bill Court, only applied 
 to proceedings properly initiated before the Commission, 
 such as applications to fix a fair rent, and not to proceedings 
 in ejectment, as in the present case. The Commission, he 
 held, had no jurisdiction in ejectment, and the two Acts were 
 not to be read as one, except where the sections and provision;? 
 of the first were expressly incorporated in the second. Mr. 
 Litton, in a masterly judgment, sustained this view, and the 
 landlord's advocate therefore triumphed. 
 
 Some days ago I called attention to the position of the 
 evicted tenants. Large numbers of farmers in the West and 
 South, who had suffered eviction since February 22 last for 
 non-payment of rent, or who had been evicted on other 
 grounds since August 22 last, the date of the passing of the 
 Act, were induced to place their cases in the hands of the 
 solicitor to the Land League, Mr. M'Gough. Those who had 
 been evicted for non-payment of rent since February 22 
 would, of course, have had the right to apply under the Act 
 on August 22 to the Commission, if then sitting, for relief. 
 The Court by its present continuous sitting is carrying out 
 fully the letter and spirit of the 60th Section, which makes 
 an application on the first occasion on which it sits as 
 efficacious as an application would have been if it could have 
 been made on August 22. But on the very first day of the 
 continuous sitting the Land League was dissolved by procla- 
 mation. This proclamation warned all persons to ' disconnect 
 themselves' from the League, and declared the intention of the 
 Government to ' save the process of the law from hindrance 
 or obstruction.' Now, on the 20th inst., when without a 
 moment's interregnum the Land League was pulled down 
 and the Land Court set up to reign in its stead, some hun- 
 dreds of evicted tenants and a large number of tenants who 
 were dissatisfied with their leases had left their interests in 
 the hands of the legal department of the defunct organisation. 
 This fact was well known to everybody, and if the League 
 had confined its care to the cases of eviction coming before 
 the Court there would have been less reason to complain of
 
 IRELAND rXDEE THE LAND ACT. f? 
 
 i^. For weeks together the agents of tlie League went about 
 the country collecting elaborate particulars of the intended 
 ' test cases,' and despatching those particulars when complete 
 to the ' Central Executive.' The account given of a progress 
 of Mr. Healy's for this purpose may, perhaps, be remem- 
 bered. But this method of choosing the cases was ultimately 
 changed for another. In order to save time, representatives 
 of the League were stationed at central places, and to them 
 resorted the secretaries of the neighbouring branches of the 
 League, each man bringing in the proposed 'test cases' 
 selected from his branch, and in some instances, but not in 
 all, the tenants who.se rights were to be brought forward also 
 attended. All this was openly done. It was reported in the 
 newspapers, and, so far as any action on the part of the 
 Government was concerned, the tenants were left at liberty 
 to believe that the Association and its proceedings about ' test 
 cases' were perfectly lawful. The condition of the tenants 
 who stood out of their holdings on February 22, and even of 
 some who were evicted later, is now rendered very perilous. 
 It could not be expected that Mr. M'Gough should take up 
 on his own responsibility, and after being, like everybody else, 
 warned by proclamation to ' disconnect ' himself from the 
 League, the very business which had drawn down the 
 wrath of the Government upon that body, without even 
 the incentive of perhaps getting his costs. No solicitor in 
 his senses would, single-handed, take np on speculation an 
 overwhelming mass of doubtful cases, and fight them against 
 the combined wealth and power of the baited landlords of 
 Ireland. 
 
 Moreover, the Court required strict proof of service of the 
 originating notices, and in the scattered state of the I^eague 
 officials, most of them fearful as to arrest, it would have been 
 very difficult to communicate directly with the tenants, and 
 obtain the required proof in time. Many of these men, living 
 on lonely hill-sides, and in unfrequented wilds, rarely visit the 
 post-town to fetch their letters. Many are without money, 
 and few can read and write. Up to to-day nothing had been 
 
 f2
 
 nA IHELAXD UXDEE THE LAND ACT. 
 
 done to wai'n them that henceforth there was no one to look 
 after their cases for them, and that they must by Saturday 
 next, three clear days only, serve the originating notices, pre- 
 pare the necessary proofs, and move in Dublin to have their 
 applications registered. The Government were quickly aware 
 of the hardship they had unwittingly caused, but it was not 
 in their power to apply a remedy. On the other hand, the 
 Commissioners were in no way responsible for the event 
 which had thus virtually rendered their long sitting useless to 
 the most helpless and ignorant of the class intended to be 
 accommodated by it. They saw, besides, the extreme diffi- 
 culty and inconvenience of delaying the sitting of the Sub- 
 Commissions at the present crisis. Some of those tribunals 
 will probably sit on the 31st, and it could hardly be held with 
 propriety that an application made to the Commission in 
 Dablin after Sub-Commissions had actually sat in the 
 country was made on the ' first occasion ' of the Court 
 sitting. The Commissioners were at the same time anxious 
 that no unfortunate suitor with a good case should hereafter 
 find the doors of the Court, from no fault of his own, closed 
 against him. Accordingly, there appeared yesterday morning 
 in the columns of a popular journal a mysterious notice in 
 leaded type in these words : — ' Notice to tenants evicted since 
 February 22, 1881. Bring your case before the Court of 
 the Land Commission before October 29. If you omit this 
 all your rights are lost. The priests are requested to make 
 the evicted tenant aware of this fact.' Mr. M'Gough, on his 
 part, has sent to-day a copy of the following notice to every 
 one of the hundreds of persons whose names are entered on 
 the Land League forms, addressing the envelopes according 
 to the description found on those forms : — 
 
 33, Upper Ormond Quay, Dublin, October 22, 1881. 
 
 ' Dear Sir,— I regret to inform you that in consequence of 
 the action of the Government in arresting Mr. Parnell and 
 the leading members, officials, and organisers of the Executive 
 of the Land League who were engaged in working up the de-
 
 IRELAND UXDim THE LAND ACT. 69 
 
 tails of yonr case, as well as the others with which I was 
 charged for presentation before the Land Commission Court, 
 it becomes absolutely impossible for me to proceed further 
 with your application. I therefore take this, the earliest 
 possible opportunity, of informing you that I feel compelled, as 
 well in your own interest as injustice to myself, to retire from 
 the conduct of your case, and that on Wednesday next I shall 
 feel it my duty to inform the Court of the Land Commission. 
 It will now be necessary for you, if desirous of continuing 
 proceedings before the Land Commission, to place your case 
 in the hands of some solicitor whom you can personally in- 
 struct. On receiving an intimation from the solicitor you 
 appoint, I will at once transfer to him any papers connected 
 with your business that may have reached this office, and will 
 be happy to afford him any information or assistance I can 
 give. — Yours truly, P. C. M'GoUGH.' 
 
 It is obvious that without some further extension of the 
 ' first occasion,' most of these persons, together with a number 
 of others whose cases were not entrusted to Mr. M'Gongb, 
 will apply too late, and serious scandal, if not danger, will 
 arise out of the first proceeding of the new Court. An ordi- 
 nary court of justice can aflTord to disregard such attacks as 
 are likely to be made upon the Commission if the unhappy 
 subjects of the ' test case ' experiment are ruined. But the 
 Commission, apart from its economic and legal function, has 
 to fulfil a political and social purpose — the contentment of the 
 agricultural interest in Ireland, and it, therefore, cannot 
 afford to despise public opinion. An evicted tenant, who has 
 lost hundreds of pounds by a legal technicality, will be at 
 once provided in every district, to enforce and illustrate by 
 his miKfortunes the warning lessons of the Land League. 
 Whatever benefits — and they must be immense — the Com- 
 mission may confer generally, the recollection of the misery 
 inflicted upon these evicted tenants will spoil all, and throw 
 the Parliamentary system into greater discredit. It is, there- 
 fore, to be hoped that the Commission will make a new rule,
 
 70 TRELAXn Z'XDEP THE LAND ACT. 
 
 under Section 50 of the Act, extending the duration of the 
 preocnt sitting.' 
 
 ' Being deeply impressed with the necessity of this extension of time, 
 I supported the suggestion here made by making respectful representations 
 to the Commission authorities upon the subject. It was by some persons 
 maintained to be ultra virex, but ultimately the time was further extended 
 up to the 12tli of November, and a number of helpless evicted tenants 
 thus enabled to take advantage of the Act. I must here acknowledge 
 tha courtesy with which, upon this, and every otiier occasion, I was treated 
 by the authorities referred to.
 
 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 ARCHDEACON CRAWFORD'S CASES. 
 
 Belfast : Monday Night, October 31. 
 
 To-DAT two Sab-Commissions sat for the hearing of cases — 
 one at Castleblayney, and the other at Belfast. The first, after 
 going through the cause list at Castleblayney, will visit other 
 towns, in various districts of the counties of Armagh, 
 Monaghan, Fermanagh, Tyrone, Londonderry, and Donegal. 
 Its members are Mr. Kane, Mr. Bay ley, and Mr. Garland. 
 Mr. Gieer, Mr. Baldwin, and Mr. Ross form the other Sub- 
 Commission, which sits first at Belfast and afterwards at 
 Newtownards, Downpatrick, Larne, Antrim, Lisburn, Bally- 
 mena, and Banbridge. Other Sub-Commissions will begin 
 work next Tuesday week ; one, consisting of Mr. Reeves, 
 Mr. O'Keefe, and Mr, Rice, will have jurisdiction over Clare, 
 Limerick, and Cork ; and another, including Mr. J. G. 
 M'Carthy, Mr. Houghton, and Mr. J. J. O'Shaughnessy, 
 will hear cases in Gal way. Mayo, Roscommon, Sligo, and 
 Leitrim. 
 
 The Assistant Commissioners will not, therefore, as has 
 been already pointed out, be sent into districts where they 
 might have to resist personal and social inflaences, adverse 
 to the maintenance of the judicial temper. They will not 
 accept hospitality from any person, however dignified, lest 
 the fairness of their decisions be questioned, or even sus- 
 pected. No one, however slightly acquainted with the feel- 
 ings and opinions of Irish farmers at the present moment, 
 will wonder at the sturdy determination of the Assistant 
 Commissioners to pay their own expenses wherever they go.
 
 72 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 The Act is now to all appearance, and contrary to the 
 expectation of many interested politicians, to have, at least 
 in some considerable portion of the island, the fair trial 
 demanded, and even enforced for it by its framers. But it 
 must be remembered that, as the strength of a fortress is that 
 of its weakest work, so the reputation of the Commission, in 
 other words its power for good, is altogether dependent upon 
 the disci'etion of the least wise and careful of its members 
 and subordinates. The Assistant Commissioners act in the 
 presence of popular criticism such as might well enervate the 
 strongest judges, and they bear individually a responsibility 
 such as has rarely been placed upon judicial authorities. Most 
 of them, without any experience of such duties as they have 
 now to discharge, enter upon business that will tax their utmost 
 energies and capabilities. They met in Dublin, and arrived 
 it is said at some agreement upon the general principles of their 
 decisions, so that it is not likely that a hasty pronouncement 
 upon some point of wide interest can bring the new Court 
 into disrepute. But, to make assurance doubly sure, it is now 
 intended that appeals from the Sub-Commissions shall be 
 entertained as soon as possible after the decree in the first 
 instance. 
 
 The delicate question of the breaking of leases made since 
 1870 will be altogether withdrawn from the cognisance of the 
 inferior tribunal, and will be determined by the full Court of 
 Commissioners. Thus the most remarkable power conferred 
 by the Act, namely, that of annulling numbers of agreements 
 made in the most solemn and binding fashion known to the 
 law, will be retained in the hands of those to whom Parlia- 
 ment first committed it. The Commissioners have, moreover, 
 taken the precaution to retain the power of dismissing an in- 
 competent or wrong-headed Assistant Commissioner, as will 
 be seen on examining the following copy, the delegation of 
 authority to Sub-Commission No. 2 : 
 
 '■ Sub- Commission No. 2, Land Law (Ireland) Act, 1881. — 
 The Land Commission hereby forms and appoints a Sub- 
 Commission in and for the counties of Antrim and Down. 
 The Sub-Commission shall consist of the following Assistant
 
 IRELAND UNDEB THE LAXD ACT. 73 
 
 Commissioners, namely, Edward Greer, Esq., Thomas Bald- 
 win, Esq., and James M. Ross, Esq. The Land Commission 
 delegates to the Sub-Commission power to hear, decide, and 
 make orders in the cases under the Land Law (Ireland) Act, 
 1881, mentioned in the schedule hereto appended, and such 
 other cases within the said counties as may from time to time 
 be sent to the Sub-Commission by the Land Commission for 
 decision ; and further delegates to the Sub-Commission all 
 powers, "except as to appeals," which the Land Commission 
 itself possesses for the purpose of hearing, deciding, and mak- 
 ing orders in all such cases as aforesaid. The powers hereby 
 delegated shall be in force for the period of two months from 
 the date hereof, but the Land Commission may, by order, 
 extend or abridge the said period or any extended period. 
 The expiration of the said period of two months, or such other 
 period aforesaid, shall not prejudice any pending case which 
 may be continued and dealt with by any subsequent Sub- 
 Commission, as if such period had not expired. The Land 
 Commission reserves power in case of sickness of any member 
 or members of a Sub-Commission, or for other sufficient 
 reason, to appoint any other person or persons who, under the 
 Act, is competent to be a member of a Sub- Commission, in 
 substitution for any present or future member or members 
 thereof, and no pending proceedings shall abate, or be in any 
 way affected by such substitution. — Dated this 27th October, 
 1881.— Seal. 
 
 ' Schedule. 
 ' Landlord, Tenant. County, No. of Case.' 
 
 Notwithstanding all these precautions it is sufficiently 
 obvious to every person brought into contact with the land- 
 lords that the Commission is not possessed of the full confi- 
 dence of that class. The use of the words ' Live and thrive ' 
 in the written address by Judge O'Hagan describing the ideal 
 condition of successful applicants, has caused much surprise 
 and alarm. The extension of the ' first occasion ' at which ten- 
 ants must apply to the Court for relief under Section 60 is felt
 
 74 IRELAXD UNDER THE LA\D ACT. 
 
 as a serious blow by the rent- receiving classes. I believe I was 
 the first to point out the absolute necessity of this extension, 
 on behalf of the evicted tenants, whose interests had been 
 jeopard is(d, by the sudden suppression of the organisation 
 which had undertaken their cases ; and it is probable that the 
 Commissioners will, if need be, extend the time still further 
 for the benefit of such tenants. But it is clear that the case 
 of tenants who, having in many instances the money in their 
 pockets, are applying in large numbers under that Section, 
 stands upon a very difierent footing. There are now over 
 8,000 apf)lications before the Commission to fix a fair rent, of 
 which upwards of 4,000 came in on Saturday, and it is no 
 exaggeration to say that the existing machinery of the Com- 
 mission is blocked for years to come. The Treasury have 
 telegraphtd full powers to engage temporary assistance, and 
 the staff are working night and day to keep abreast of the 
 business. Mr. Smith, the Registrar, climbs to his office over 
 piles of applications not yet read. In most cases these are to 
 have a fair rent fixed. The Commission seem to have in- 
 timated that the Court would receive applications under 
 Section 60, and record them so as to make the rent payable 
 on the first gale day after the passing of the Act, subject to 
 the reduction, if any, to be afterwards effected by the Court. 
 I have not heard any member of the Court hold this view in 
 any particular case, and it is certainly one altogether at 
 variance with the 2nd Sub- Section of Section 8, which runs 
 thus : 
 
 ' The rent fixed by the Court in this Act referred to as the 
 judicial rent shall be deemed to be the rent payable by the 
 tenant as from the period commencing at the rent day next 
 succeeding the decision of the Court.' 
 
 There is no fear of the Court overlooking this sub-section, 
 but the following passage from the speech of Judge O'Hagan, 
 at the opening of the Commission, no doubt gave some colour 
 to the unfortunate view of their rights under the section, 
 which so many of the farmers entertain : 
 
 ' The judicial rent will apply, not only to those gales 
 which may accrue after the date of the order, but to those
 
 IRELAXI) UXDEB THE LAND ACT. 75 
 
 which have accrned since August. 22, 1881, the date of the 
 passing of the Act.' 
 
 This language, it will be seen, is opposed to the plain con- 
 struction of the passage just quoted from Section 8 ; and one 
 cauiiot be surprised to find that it has since been withdrawn 
 by the learned judge. Another complaint of the landlords is 
 that the list of cases for trial is not published beforehand. It 
 is said that this is as great a grievance upon the tenants as 
 upon the landlords. On the other hand, there can be no 
 doubt that the landlords might lose millions a year by a deci- 
 sion suddenly given at some out-of-the-way place by a Sub- 
 Commission, which decision would be immediatelj^ quoted to 
 other Sub-Commissions, acted upon, and irrevocably estab- 
 lished. Hopes are entertained, however, that Sub-Commis.sion 
 No. 2 will put a list of their cases in the newspapers every 
 morning iu the usual way.^ 
 
 Sub-Commission No. 2 has not been idle to-day. Professor 
 Baldwin and Mr. Downing, the Registrar, came up from 
 Dublin this morning by the early mail, and reached the 
 Imperial Hotel at about half-past eleven. After a short con- 
 sultation Mr. Greer and Mr. Ross, with the Professor, drove 
 away to the County Civil Bill Court, and took their seats 
 shortly after twelve. The Court was about half fall of farmers, 
 all looking anxious, and a little scared. The front rows 
 were closely packed with solicitors and their clerks. On 
 the left hand of the Court sat two ladies, and a number of 
 reporters wei"e busily whittling their pencils at the other side 
 of the solicitors' table. The Court room was cold and gloomy, 
 and a little mist had been wafted in from the streets. A door 
 opened, and the audience rose as the three Assistant- Com- 
 missioners filed in. After a few words from the Registrar 
 declaring the mission of the Court, the first case was called. 
 
 Isabella Sims Campbell brought her landlord, the Rev. 
 Archibald Crawford, into Court, to have a fair rent fixed for 
 her farm. The Defendant, who has clerical duties to perform 
 in Australia, did not answer to his name, but Counsel appeared 
 
 ' This suggef?tion was, after some opposition, finally adopted upon all 
 the Sub-Commissions.
 
 7fi TRELAXn UNDER THE LAXD ACT. 
 
 for the agent, Mr. MacaulifTe, and admitted service of the 
 originating notice. Mr. M'Mordie, a local solicitor, repre- 
 sented the applicant, and stated that he was also the legal 
 adviser of two thousand other tenants about to apply to the 
 Court. This is not a surprising number for a north-country 
 Commission to have upon its lists. Last Saturday I saw 
 fourteen thick bundles of Ulster applications borne in to the 
 Central Offices of the Commission at a single delivery. The 
 bundles of applications lying on the tables sorted into pro- 
 vinces from the envelopes, in post bags on that day, were, 
 however, of very different thickness. The Leinster heap was 
 about three inches thick, including one sheet from County 
 Dublin. The Munster file was perhaps five inches thick, the 
 Connaught bundle seven. But Ulster applications were not 
 less than two feet three inches in thickness. 
 
 To return to the Belfast Court House. The dispute was 
 at first confined to a discussion as to whether the Sub-Com- 
 mission should adjudicate in the absence of the Defendant and 
 of his wife, who is possessed of a life estate in the lands, but 
 it ultimately became a simple question whether the tenant 
 was paying too much rent. Mrs. Isabella Campbell is the 
 widow of James Campbell, who, with his father, grandfather, 
 and more distant progenitors, had lived and died upon the 
 family holding of five acres three roods and thirty-five perches. 
 James had a lease, dated 1842, at 5L 15s. ; but in 1866, at the 
 end of the term, the rent was raised to 9Z. 4s. 4fZ. The valua- 
 tion is 6L It was admitted that the tenant and her family 
 had rebuilt the dwelling-house, but it was contended by 
 Mr. Overend, an ingenious and ready advocate, on behalf of 
 Mr. Craw<brcl, that the house had been rebuilt under a cove- 
 nant in the lease, and that at the end of the lease it had 
 become the property of the landlord. Mrs. Campbell, an old, 
 bright-eyed dame, was very clear and precise in her answers 
 to Mr. M'Mordie ; but she shone chiefly in cross-examination. 
 She was asked by the young advocate how many children 
 her husband had left her when he died ? ' Four,' said she, 
 sharply. * I have them yet, and I have no more.' She 
 thonglit twelve shillings per English acre would be a fair rent
 
 IRELAND rXDER THE LAND ACT. 77 
 
 for the land. ' But is not the house a good one ? ' inquired 
 ^Ir. Overend. ' We made it good,' rejoined Mrs. Campbell. 
 It appearing by her evidence that her husband had left no will, 
 and that no one had taken out letters of administration, it was 
 submitted that she was not tenant, and that one of her two 
 sons might, on the day after the decision of the Sub-Com- 
 mission, take out letters and defeat the proceedings. The 
 Court, however, held that she was the present tenant, and 
 three other tenants of Mr. Crawford, who is sued by nineteen 
 altogether, were called to corroborate her statement that 
 twelve shillings an acre would be a fair rent, The last wit- 
 ness, an honest, intelligent farmer, put the yearly value at 
 nineteen shillings, and explained his method of arriving at 
 that figure to Professor Baldwin. He had only valued the 
 land, assuming that the fences and the house were the 
 property of the tenant, and he thought the tenant-right worth 
 fifteen pounds an acre. The land, he said, might produce 
 corn, but with a light head ; it might grow light mangold 
 wurzel, but oats and potatoes would be the good crops. 
 
 After his evidence, which greatly displeased Mr. M'Mordie, 
 the Sub-Commission determined to visit the farm forthwith ; 
 but, first. Professor Baldwin took occasion to say, in an 
 emphatic manner, referring to a suggestion that the farm 
 might be worth more because it was near some bleaching 
 works, ' in determining the value of land, all these matters 
 are beside the question. All we want to know is the agri- 
 cultural value of the land.' 
 
 At about half- past two o'clock the Sub- Commission st.arted 
 to visit the applicant's farm, which is situate at Carnmoney, 
 in the townland of Ballycraigie, at a distance of about seven 
 miles from Belfast. It was announced in Court that the 
 Commissioners would only allow the litigants and their soli- 
 citors to be present, but by special permission I was also of 
 the party. ^ The way was long, the wind was cold ; but at 
 
 ' Upon some of the Sub-Commissions there is great objection made, I 
 understand, to the presence of newspaper correspondents. Any Assistant 
 Commissioner entertaining such an objection would seem to require a 
 little enlightenment upon the situation. Many powers are in these days
 
 78 IRELAXI) rXDKIl THE LAND ACT. 
 
 last we were on the land, and were speedily joined by the 
 litigants. The house was a long, low, dark dwelling, divided 
 into four compartments, two of which were appropriated to 
 human, and two to bovine occupants. The tall, shapely 
 daughter of the house fetched her brother, a crushed-looking, 
 feebly-built young man, to go over the fields with us. With 
 the exception of a patch of turnips, and another of potatoes, 
 the holding was entirely under pasture. In every field 
 Professor Baldwin had spadefuls of earth taken out and care- 
 fully examined. The farm, which is wretchedly cultivated, 
 lies on a slope. The upper part is dark-coloured loam on a 
 light, tilly subsoil, which must get rid of any quantity of 
 manure. But the lower part is on clay, and might, the Pro- 
 fessor thought, be made, to render large returns for tillage. 
 This part was, however, insufficiently drained. It was wet 
 and slippery, and a rank growth of rushes rose upon it. All 
 the Commissioners showed an intelligent appreciation of the 
 state of cultivation in different parts of the holding, and I 
 thought they seemed a little shocked at the obvious neglect 
 on the part of the occupants of what might be made very good 
 land indeed. It does not seem, however, that any judgment 
 will be possible for a day or two in this case, or any other of 
 the Belfast cases, as no professional valuers have yet been 
 procured, and it might be open to objection if their services 
 were not sought for in accordance with the suggestions of the 
 Act. In the Appendix will be found a report of this case. 
 
 entrusted byPariiament to comparatively obscure individuals, solely because 
 the vigilance of the Press is relied upon to prevent the abuse of such 
 powers. Does any Assistant Commissioner really suppose that Parliament 
 would consent to turn a number of untried judges loose upon the estates of 
 Irish proprietors, to range in secret; merely obliging the landlord, per- 
 haps, with a copy of his new rent-roll, as amended ?
 
 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 7» 
 
 CHAPTER XIL 
 ARCHDEACON CRAM'FORD\S CASES. 
 
 Belfast : Tuesday Night, November 1. 
 
 The Sub- Commission resumed its business at eleven o'clock 
 this morning in the County Court, Belfast. Again the whole 
 day was occupied with the cases of the tenants of the Vener- 
 able Archdeacon Crawford, upon his estate at Carnmoney, 
 a few miles from Belfast. The Commissioners yesterday 
 visited the farm of the first claimant on their list, Mrs. Isa- 
 bella Sims Campbell, and took the opportunity of inspecting 
 the neighbouring farms. To-day Mr. Overend, the Counsel 
 for the Archdeacon, produced the counterpart of a lease for 
 twenty-one years (substantially the same in the case of every 
 tenant), dated October 8, 18-i2. The lessors were the four 
 trustees of Mrs. Campbell's marriage settlement, H. Cos- 
 grove, Joseph H. Singer, John Mallin, and Alexander Cruce. 
 The learned Counsel next read a covenant by the lessee to 
 ' preserve, uphold, maintain, and keep in good order the said 
 premises, and every part thereof, and the improvements made 
 thereon, and at the end of the demise to leave and yield up 
 the same to the trustees.' At the expiration of these leases, 
 in 1863, the tenants all became tenants from year to year, and 
 on April 24, 1866, the agent, Mr. M'Auliffe, by the instruc- 
 tions of Mr. Andrew Crawford, the landlord's brother, had 
 the tenancies re-valued, and raised rents all round by notice. 
 This agent was called, and in the most candid manner 
 admitted the fact of the notice, and that the tenants would 
 have been evicted if they had refused to pay the increased 
 rent. He had not seen Mr. Crawford, the landlord, for 
 seven-and-twenty years, and the landlord, he said, had not
 
 80 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 spent a shilling on the property ; but he thonght that the 
 extension of buildings in Belfast towards the township of 
 Ballyeraigie, in which the holdings were situated, had raised 
 the value of the property, and that being so he could not see 
 why the tenants should not pay more. He further thought 
 that the existence of a manufactory in the neighbourhood, at 
 which the children of the tenants had obtained employment, 
 was another reason for raising the rents of farms so con- 
 veniently situated. 
 
 Mr. Overend now proceeded to raise some objections to 
 the proceedings, but he consented to some formal amend- 
 ments of the pleadings, in order to avoid anything like tech- 
 nical quibbling. He insisted, however, that Archdeacon 
 Crawford, the landlord, was not named in any of the leases 
 or notices, so that the originating notice should not have been 
 made out in Mr. Crawford's name in his capacity of husband 
 to the tenant for life, but in the names of the trustees, or, at 
 least, of the wife. This objection was at once overruled by 
 the Chairman (Mr. Grreer), whose demeanour on the Bench, 
 fall of dignity and self-possession, has produced a most 
 favourable effect upon the public mind in Belfast. 
 
 The next point taken by Mr. Overend was of a far more 
 serious character, and elicited an opinion from the Bench 
 which, if adopted by the first Sub-Commission also, must 
 have a wide and radical effect on the cutting down of rents 
 in Ulster. The landlord's advocate pointed out that the 
 improvements had been substantially — almost entirely — 
 effected during the continuance of the leases ; and he argued 
 that at the termination of the terms limited, the interest in 
 the improvements passed by law, and also under the covenant 
 which has been quoted, to the landlord, and were merely 
 relet by him to the former lessees, who became tenants from 
 year to year. It was, therefore, urged that in fixing fair rent 
 these should be treated as the absolute property of the land- 
 lord. Of course Mr. M'Mordie, for the tenant, Mrs. Camp- 
 bell, resisted this doctrine; but he ventured upon no argument 
 of a legal nature. He told the Commissioners that to hold 
 that improvements, actually proved, as these were, to hav«
 
 TRELAXD UyDER THE LAND ACT. 81 
 
 been made by the tenants, nevertheless belonged to the land- 
 lord, would be to accuse the Legislature of a want of common 
 sense. The audience in the Court, which was more numerous 
 than on the opening day, sat silent but eagerly attentive as 
 Mr. M'Mordie concluded, and it was evident that a sense of 
 tlie importance of the issues involved in the determination of 
 the question raised possessed every mind. A number of the 
 neighbouring landlords sat behind their advocate, and on 
 either side of the Court and far np the body of it were 
 gathered masses of anxious farmers. The Commissioners, as 
 if by arrangement, looked one at the other, rose, and filed forth. 
 Then for ten minutes there was quick, earnest conversation 
 all over the Court. Many spectators left their seats to confer 
 with friends. Voices grew loud in argument, and the only 
 light-hearted men in the place seemed to be the rival advo- 
 cates. 
 
 In about ten minutes the usher again cried ' Silence,' the 
 members of the Court returned, and Mr. Greer said quietly, 
 amidst a deep silence : — ' We have considered this point, and 
 we are of opinion that the tenant is entitled to the benefit of 
 the improvements made in this case ; unless Mr. Overend, on 
 the part of his client, can give us evidence that the improve- 
 ments were made by the landlord or his predecessor in title.' 
 The speaker's voice had hardly died away before the air 
 throbbed with a loud cry of applause from the listening 
 tenants, which was repeated, notwithstanding Mr. Greer's re- 
 monstrance, when Mr. M'Mordie declared that if the decision 
 were not upheld on the appeal threatened by his opponent, the 
 Land Act would be a delusion and a sham. Mr. Overend, 
 however, with the utmost sang f mid, admitted his lack of the 
 required evidence, and then suggested that, to obviate the 
 necessity of a re-hearing by the Sub-Commission, in case its de- 
 cision about the proof of improvements were overruled on 
 appeal, the Court should fix two alternative rents, one allow- 
 ing the improvements to the tenant, the other treating them 
 as the landlord's property. This was refused by the Court, 
 and the matter stood over for the hearing of the other cases 
 upon iho estate. These were almost precisely similar in 
 
 G
 
 82 TUELAXD rXDEIi Till': LAXD ACT. 
 
 cliaracfcer. In all it was proved that the tenants had made 
 the improvements — buildings, fences, drains, and so forth — 
 nuder a covenant to repair and yield up the improvements ; 
 that the landlord had never paid a farthing to improve the 
 holdings ; and that the rents had been raised in some cases 
 tliirty per cent, at the expiration of the leases. The rents 
 will not, however, be fixed until every case has been gone 
 through, but it is as certain as anything which has not 
 happened can be, that these rents will be reduced again to the 
 old figure, or even lower. 
 
 The effect of this decision, in all probability arrived at by 
 the application to the facts of certain general principles, 
 which it is well known Avere practically settled some time 
 since, at meetings in Dublin of the entire body of Commis- 
 sioners and the chief members of their staff, can hardly be esti- 
 mated at once. It will be observed that the Assistant Commis- 
 sioners to-day gave no reason for their decision. They cannot 
 rely upon Section 5 of the Act of 1870, which provides that 
 improvements made within a period of twenty years before the 
 passing of that Act should be presumed to have been made by 
 the tenant, for that section (which was, however, mentioned 
 to-day in argument) refers only to estates not subject to the 
 Ulster Custom, and to compensation for disturbance in the 
 holding. Here the estate was proved to be subject to the 
 Ulster Custom ; and the occasion was not a disturbance by a 
 landlord of the tenant's occupation, but an application by a 
 tenant to have a fair rent fixed. Again, it was proved that 
 these improvements were mostly made before 1850, the first 
 of the twenty years preceding the date of the Act referred to. 
 Oa t!ie other hand, the landlord's agent admitted that his 
 principal had not expended a shilling in improvements ; and 
 this fatal acknowledgment had no doubt weight with the 
 Court. Finally, disregarding the express words of the cove- 
 nant, the Court may have relied to some extent upon Section 
 7 of the Act of 1881, providing first that ' a tenant on quitting 
 the holding of which he is tenant shall not be deprived of his 
 right to receive compensation for improvements under the Act 
 of 1870, by reason only of the determination, by surrender or
 
 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 83 
 
 otherwise, of the tenancy subsisting at the time when such 
 improvements were made by such tenant or his predecessors 
 in title, and the acceptance by him or them of a new tenancy.' 
 The Sub- Commissioners may have thought that if such im- 
 provements belonged to the tenant upon the occasion of quit- 
 ting a holding, they equally belonged to him upon the occasion 
 of his seeking to have a fair rent fixed. Otherwise he v?ould 
 be taxed in rent upon his own property in proportion to the 
 amount acquired. They may also have attached importance 
 to the permission in the words of the third paragraph of the 
 same section to ' admit, reduce, or disallow altogether such 
 claim as to the Court may seem just.' But in the absence of 
 reasons for a judgment it is difficult to explain, attack, or even 
 defend it.
 
 84 IRELAXD UXDEIi THE LAND ACT. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 ARCHDEACON CRAWFORD'S CASES. 
 
 Belfast : Friday Night, November 4. 
 Yesterday was spent by the Assistant Commissioners in a 
 manner for judges somewhat unconventional. The President, 
 Mr. Greer, who was suffering from a cold, and moreover had 
 already examined the character of Archdeacon Crawford's 
 estate at Carnmoney, did not go out. But at half-past nine 
 in the morning. Commissioners Ross and Baldwin rattled 
 along the smooth broad road to the village, the Professor, as 
 usual, in the highest spirits, in spite of the drizzling rain, and 
 of the mist which hung over the loch to the right, veiling the 
 richly cultivated mountain slopes. On reaching Mrs. Camp- 
 bell's house, the Commissioners dismounted, and began forth- 
 with, on one of the muddiest, dreariest spots in Ireland, a 
 careful examination of the soil, the subsoil, the fences, or 
 rather clay walls, the drains, crops, weeds, farming imple- 
 ments, byres, piggeries, outhouses, and finally the homesteads. 
 By three o'clock all had been completed, but in the meantime 
 many moving accidents of flood and field had happened. The 
 ground was thoroughly sodden ; the ditches were wide, and 
 full to the brim, and mud walls were high ; but, nothing 
 daunted, the new judges, although differing in age and tem- 
 perament, showed equal daring and agility to the wondering 
 farmers who followed them. On one occasion Professor Bald- 
 win jumped into three feet of water, and in consequence of 
 the mishap was beheld, when he emerged from the nearest 
 farmhouse, in garments other than his own. He, however, 
 evinced everywhere a minute and accurate acquaintance with 
 agricultural matters, which, in combination with the learning
 
 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 85 
 
 and nrbanity of the President, and the quick practical intelli- 
 gence of Mr. Ross, must give special value to the decisions of 
 the second Sub-Commission. 
 
 The two gentlemen were not back at Belfast until four 
 o'clock, and it became impossible to visit Mr. Tennent's estate 
 at Dundonald, in County Down, as had been originally in- 
 tended, by daylight. The indefatigable Professor, however, 
 chartered one of the six hansoms of Belfast, and went out five 
 miles to tell the representatives of Mr. Tennent, and the 
 farmers who had assembled to meet the Court, that the visit 
 of inspection must be delayed until next morning. This act 
 of thorough courtesy would of itself have made the Professor 
 popular in the neighbourhood, but the people have now still 
 better reasons to bless his coming. I took the opportunity 
 yesterday of examining closely two of the farms on this 
 property of Mr. Tennent, being accompanied by the agent, 
 Mr. Fox, and by the occupiers. One may say, with respect 
 to the four holdings in question, that there was no uniform 
 quality of cultivation. Some fields were more effectually 
 drained, and some patches better kept than others. The 
 holding of Robert Cooper is on one of the Holywood slopes. 
 From the dirty broken loop road or lane running into the 
 highway, it ascends in a long strip over the hill, at a gradient 
 of perhaps one in five, a neat little farmhouse dividing it from 
 the loop road. It covers about nineteen and a half statute 
 acres, of which one is laid out as a market garden near the 
 house, for growing celery, carrots, cabbages, Brussels sprouts, 
 potatoes, and mangold wurzels. By the side of the farm 
 road were a plough and grubber of the latest construction. 
 A slender streamlet runs murmuring down the declivity 
 in a glen or ravine, clothed with thorn bushes and water 
 plants. By the side of it we walked to a large field of about 
 four acres. From this a crop of oats had been recently 
 taken. The soil was wet and poor, of a sandy loam character, 
 with red indurated subsoil. Surface water had collected in 
 some places, and no one could doubt that it was insufficiently 
 drained. The downfall was quite enough to carry off" any 
 quantity of water, and effective drainage is so easily done
 
 86 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 either with sods, stones, or, better still, large ashes, that there 
 can be no excuse for snch a state of things, especially as stones 
 are easily procurable in this neighbourhood. The surface of 
 the field, moreover, was foul with couch grass and other weeds. 
 There are several fields on the estate treated, or rather 
 neglected, in the way. On the other hand, there is land, as in 
 the case of Mr. Shepherd, another of the tenants, which has 
 been skilfully drained and worked ; and in the case of Cooper 
 it should be remembered that he is eighty-one years of age, 
 and has only a single ' hand ' to help him in labouring his 
 plots. The old man told the Court on Wednesday how he 
 had managed barely to subsist on the old rent of 18Z. ; but 
 that on the very first gale after it had suddenly been raised in 
 1875 to SOL, he had been compelled to sell his best cow to 
 meet the payment. Since then he had met recurring gales by 
 borrowing, or selling stock. Only the day before, he had re- 
 ceived a letter from his son in Australia ' with a ten-pound 
 note in it,' which he had already remitted to the agent. He 
 was obliged to work in the wet, he said, with broken boots ; 
 and the only flesh he could ever eat was a little American 
 bacon, now and then. The result of the investigation by the 
 Commissioners into his case has been that he will now have to 
 pay but two-thirds of his previous rent, and that he may per- 
 haps be able, for the future, to sit by his fireside on wet days, 
 and rest his old bones. 
 
 At a little before ten o'clock this morning the Sub- Com- 
 missioners took their seats upon the bench, and delivered a 
 judgment, or rather award, in the cases of Archdeacon Craw- 
 ford's tenants, at Carnmoney, which, as the deliberate act of 
 a strong Sub-Commis.sion, fully aware of the responsibility 
 cast upon it, is likely to create some excitement among the 
 landlords. That it was deliberate, and by no means intended 
 as a sop to agitation, was made abundantly clear by the de- 
 cision given later in the day, in the cases of the Dundonald 
 tenants. It will be seen that the average per-centage cut ofi^ 
 the old rents is about what I have from the first maintained 
 to be probable in these cases — namely, 25 per cent. The 
 first batch of cases, as already mentioned, were from th
 
 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 87 
 
 estate of the Ven. Archdeacon Crawford, at Carnmoney, about 
 seven miles to the north-west of Belfast. The real proprietor 
 is his wife, who is owner for life. In 1842 the trustees exe- 
 cuted leases of the farms for twenty-one years to the fifteen 
 holders at comparatively fair rents. The Archdeacon then 
 went to labour in Australia, leaving the control of his estates 
 entirely to Mr. MacaulifiTe, his agent. This gentleman bears 
 the character of an honourable and upright man ; he certainly 
 is very fearless and outspoken. He admitted in Court that 
 he had not seen the landlord for twenty-six years ; that the 
 landlord had not spent a shilling upon the property ; and that 
 if the tenants had declined to pay the increased rents ulti- 
 mately put upon the property they would have been evicted. 
 In 1866, after the determination of the leases, Mr. Macauliffe, 
 by the directions of Mr. Andrew Crawford, the Archdeacon's 
 brother, employed two valuers to go round and revalue the 
 estate. The result was a very large raising of rents, causing 
 great suffering and discontent among the tenants. Oue valuer 
 is still alive, but he was not called as a witness, and this 
 omLssion evidently weighed very seriously with the Court, 
 which is presided over by an experienced lawyer and advo- 
 cate. The evidence, however, of such valuers as were called 
 was singularly confused, and even contradictory. Much 
 commotion was caused by the pertinacious attempts of Pro- 
 fessor Baldwin to make each of these experts point out the 
 steps by which he had arrived at his conclusion ; and at last 
 Mr. M'Mordie, the tenant's solicitor, showed genuine signs of 
 alarm, and vehemently asserted that the task of explaining or 
 analysing a course of reasoning, could not fairly be imposed 
 upon Ulster valuers, and that it had never been put upon 
 them even by the much-abused County Court Judges. Thus 
 baffled, the Professor was driven to the plan of the complete 
 and searching valuation which he, from his special experience, 
 has been able to effect, but which may not be possible or 
 advisable in the case of every Sub-Commission. The great 
 point for the landlord, however, in the cases of Archdeacon 
 Crawford's tenants, was that the imi)rovements on the land 
 ■"T reverted to him upon the ex^' '■ -^ of the leases, he
 
 88 IRELAND UXDER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 had merely relet them, and was still in the eye of the law the 
 owner of them as well as of the land. Mr. Greer, in giving 
 judgment npon this point, prudently avoided giving any 
 reasons for the decision. Professor Baldwin, a layman, 
 has frankly avowed his reasons, and whether his plain avowal 
 will help or injure the tenants' cause on appeal remains 
 to be seen. The Professor, of course, rests his view of 
 the Act upon the famous 9th Sub- Section of the 8th 
 Clause, which enacts that 'no rent shall be allowed or 
 made payable in any proceedings under this Act in re- 
 spect of improvements made by the tenant or his prede- 
 cessors in title, and for which, in the opinion of the Court, the 
 tenant or his predecessors in title shall not have been paid or 
 otherwise compensated by the landlord or his predecessors in 
 title. ' If the Professor's reading be correct, then this clause 
 practically transfers a large amount of visible, tangible pro- 
 perty, capable of being specifically identified and traced from the 
 landlords to the tenants from year to year, in every case where 
 the improvements have been made by the tenants or their pre- 
 decessors in title during the currency of a lease which has 
 expired. There can be little difierence between saying that a 
 mill is not a man's property and saying that he shall never 
 receive any rent for it. The one diif erence is that the supreme 
 landlord of all may suffer. I was rather surprised that the 
 landlord's advocate in this case did not call attention to the 
 strange position of the Marquess of Donegal, from whom 
 Archdeacon Crawford's wife holds the estate at a fee-farm 
 rent. Ought not the Marquess, as a ' person having an 
 interest,' to have been served with notice of the proceedings, 
 under Rule 48 ? It is easy to imagine cases where the chief 
 security for the fee-farm rent may be the rent received in 
 respect of improvements by the immediate landlord.^ 
 
 The facts of the next case were very similar. Mr. Tennent, 
 the present landlord, was not responsible for the sudden and 
 unreasonable raising of the rents, which took place during his 
 
 ' The Commissioners have since issued a rule, requiring service of 
 notice upon the landlord, in such cases.
 
 IIIELAXD UNBER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 srt 
 
 father's lifetime.' The names of the tenants, their valuations, 
 and the different rents are as follows : — 
 
 Archdieacom, Crawford's Estate. 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 New .luditial 
 
 Teiiaut 
 
 ! Valuation 
 
 Old Rent 
 
 Present Rent 
 
 Rent, for 15 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 years 
 
 
 £ 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 £ 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 & 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 £ s. d. 
 
 A. S. Campbell 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 6 8 9 
 
 J. Joseph Bell . . 
 
 4.5 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 37 
 
 
 
 
 
 50 
 
 
 
 
 
 36 12 4 
 
 Robert Herron . . 
 
 23 
 
 
 
 
 
 24 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 38 
 
 9 
 
 6 
 
 26 13 11 
 
 Margaret M'AUister 
 
 15 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 22 
 
 17 
 
 8 
 
 16 11 2 
 
 J. M'Crum . . . 
 
 41 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 47 
 
 
 
 
 
 60 
 
 
 
 
 
 48 3 5 
 
 John Thompson 
 
 '20 
 
 
 
 
 
 22 
 
 
 
 
 
 32 
 
 15 
 
 4 
 
 24 16 5, 
 
 Thomas Lylo 
 
 ,5.3 
 
 .5 
 
 
 
 ,50 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 65 
 
 6 
 
 4 
 
 50 2 11 
 
 Greorge Kidd 
 
 11 
 
 1,5 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 17 
 
 17 
 
 
 
 12 5 6 
 
 Samuel Lyle . . . 
 
 42 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 47 
 
 
 
 
 
 67 
 
 3 
 
 8 
 
 52 16 11 
 
 Alexander Porter . 
 
 19 
 
 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 29 
 
 14 
 
 
 
 20 16 10 
 
 Joi^eph Williamson 
 
 44 
 
 
 
 
 
 38 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 71 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 48 3 
 
 Eobert Kennedy . 
 
 11 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 16 
 
 8 
 
 11 18 10 
 
 Eliza Campbell . . 
 
 87 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 75 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 122 
 
 18 
 
 10 
 
 89 17 6 
 
 William Williamson 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 4 2 6 
 
 John Lindsay . . 
 
 19 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 23 
 
 lo 
 
 
 
 32 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 23 4 6 
 
 £ 
 
 X. 
 
 d. 
 
 387 
 
 
 
 
 
 446 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 420 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 640 
 
 17 
 
 4 
 
 472 
 
 14 
 
 6 
 
 168 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 Acreage as shown in Griffith's Taluation, 431a. 3r. 3 
 
 Griffith's valuation, excluding buildings . 
 Poor-law valuation, including buildings . 
 Pent, prior to 1866 .... 
 
 Eent since 1866 
 
 Judicial rent . . . . .' . 
 
 Reduction ...... 
 
 In the revised rent the landlord pays half the county cess, equal to 
 Is. in the pound. 
 
 Mr. Tennent's Estate. 
 
 Tenant, Robert Cooper ; old rent, 181. ; present rent, 30/. ; 
 valuation, 271. ICs. ; judicial rent now fixed for fifteen years, 
 20Z. 13s. Id. The following shows the aggregate result on the 
 property : — Old rent, 891. 10s.; present rent, 116L ; valuation, 
 96/. 10s. ; judicial rent, 91Z. lis. 6d. ; reduction, 24Z. 8s. 6d. 
 
 Thefe decisions, it need not be pointed out, are practically 
 conclusive upon the chief question of all. Henceforth the 
 ' The facts of this case are reported in the Appendix.
 
 1)0 IMELAXJ) lyDhR THE LAND ACT. 
 
 race of rack-renters has ceased to exist. It was carious to 
 notice that in the first group of cases the Commissioners would 
 give the tenants no costs. Mr. M'Mordie, with much ability, 
 and even eloquence, remonstrated against this ruling, and in 
 the second batch they were allowed ; although it cannot be said 
 that any fact was proved upon which a distinction could be 
 drawn between the first and second batches. The great and 
 obvious objections to refusing costs to successful tenants, un- 
 less they have first tried to arrange matters at the agent's 
 office, is that it puts it into the power of an unscrupulous agent 
 to cheat the tenants out of part of the full measure of relief 
 ijitended for them by the Legislature. The greater the excess 
 of the rack-rent over a fair rent, the better chance has the 
 agent, by skilful bargaining, still to maintain the rent f-ome- 
 thing over the fair amount. On the other side, it is obviously 
 inhuman to cast the costs of perhaps five hundred successful 
 tenants upon one unfortunate landlord, costs which are im- 
 mediately recoverable at law ; especially when it may happen 
 that he may have received little or no rent for many years 
 past.
 
 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 91 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 THE CORK BUTTER TRADE. 
 
 Dublin : Monday, November 7. 
 
 The labourers and workers employed at the Cork Butter 
 Exchange struck work on Saturday, and this important 
 branch of industry was paralysed for the day. No prices 
 were issued for the ordinary salt butter market, so that the 
 whole trade is thrown into confusion. Over fifty men are 
 employed in the rough manual work of the concern ; classified 
 as salesmen, branders, boring men, and the like. Their wages 
 range from fifteen shillings to one pound six shillings per 
 week. Last year it was found necessary, in consequence of 
 the general dearth of business, and the short receipts of butter, 
 to reduce the wages of the staff' by 10 per cent, all round. 
 They worked at the reduced rate up to July in the present 
 year, when they agitated for a return to the old rate. This 
 was granted ; but they recently applied for what the men call 
 the ' Back money,' which would represent the accumulated 
 deductions of 10 per cent, during the time they were on the 
 reduced wages. The Committee of merchants refused this 
 application, and hence the strike. 
 
 This strike is of importance as bearing upon what consti- 
 tutes a real farmers' grievance in Ireland. For many genera- 
 tions the chief industry of the people of Munster has been the 
 making of butter. The climate in the South of Ireland is 
 temperate all the year round ; there is plenty of rain — too 
 much, perhaps, for those who have not pasturage — and the 
 soil, lying chiefly in gentle slopes, easily drained, is of the 
 consistence and quality requisite for the production of rich, 
 sweet milk. Until some twenty years ago Irish butter was in
 
 92 IRELAND UXDER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 great demand in the western countries of Europe, and was 
 sent by sea to distant colonies, in all parts of the world. 
 During the last twenty years dairy farming was highly de- 
 veloped in the Southern Irish counties; and the consumption 
 of butter in every civilised country has at the same time vastly 
 increased. Yet the great trade that once flowed oat from 
 Cork has of late been steadily diminishing in volume, and 
 French, Danish, Dutch, and American butter of an inferior 
 kind engrosses the great markets. It may be worth while, at 
 a time when so many Irish patriots are advocating the en- 
 couragement of native manufactures, and when every person 
 employed upon the land must receive so much aid and benefit 
 through the provisions of the new Land Act, to consider the 
 causes of the decline in the Irish butter trade, and the reme- 
 dies suggested for the evil — especially as what has to be 
 said on the subject will throw a side-light on some of the 
 causes of the strike which now paralyses the great Irish 
 Butter Exchange. 
 
 It appears that the great bulk of the butter produced in 
 the South has always been brought to Cork by the farmers, 
 to be there sold and exported. A sufficient reason for the 
 existence of this market was that Cork lay in the very centre 
 of the dairy farming district, and was close to the sea. At 
 the beginning of the century, and before the application of 
 steam power to commercial operations, the right to an exclu- 
 sive market for butter coming to Cork was given to the 
 Corporation ; but ultimately this riglit became vested in an 
 Association of merchants, who now by custom enjoy the privi- 
 lege of receiving and testing all the butter which is sent to 
 the city. The Association consists of about fifty brokers, to 
 whom the country farmers consign Avhat they make, each 
 farmer having but one broker. The butter is delivered at the 
 Cork Butter Market early in the morning, in quantities 
 varying from five hundred to two thousand firkins daily, the 
 busy season being in October. Inspectors are provided to 
 test the quality of each caskful ; and according to their deci- 
 sions the casks are branded with a mark, dated April in the 
 year of examination, and showing the quality of their con-
 
 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 93 
 
 tents — whether first, second, third, or fourth class — with an 
 extra classification for the ' mild-cured ' variety. The branding 
 being finished by about ten o'clock, the buyers or exporters 
 come into the market, and in a very short time the whole of 
 the stock is purchased by them from the brokers. It is then 
 removed to the exporters' warehouses to await shipment. 
 
 Now, this system at first sight seems simple, and fair to 
 all parties concerned. It is, however, worked under a set of 
 rales which are not only antiquated, unnecessarily stringent, 
 and oppressive to the exporters, but which tend efiectually to 
 keep down the profits of the farmers. The market is a close 
 one, and the object of the rules is to maintain the present 
 system, whereby, it is said, very large fortunes are made by 
 brokers and buyers, at the expense of the struggling agricul- 
 turists. One of these rules (they are all, by the way, made 
 and enforced by a Committee of the brokers) is, that no person 
 is allowed to enter the Cork Market, either to buy or to sell, 
 until he has signed a bond restraining him from shipping any 
 butter but what has been packed in the unwieldy old-fashioned 
 firkins. The firkins, moreover, must have received the ofiicial 
 brand already described. The penalty is a fine of ten shillings 
 for every firkin shipped which has not been so branded, with the 
 alternative of exclusion from the market. The exporters, there- 
 fore, have to purchase, without examination, goods which have 
 been marked by persons entirely ignorant of the requirements 
 of the different foreign markets, as to colour, salting, packing, 
 and so forth, and who reduce all imaginable varieties into two 
 or three classes. No matter, for example, that an exporter 
 may have a large order for highly-coloured butter for London — 
 where pale butter, produced on lime soils, is regarded with 
 coldness — he will thus be baflBed, in attempting to satisfy his 
 customer, by a most ingenious system of checks. 
 
 The brokers having all the butter in their own hands, it is 
 obviously to their advantage to clear the market daily, even of 
 the coarse, over-salted, sour, or watery specimens which may 
 be included in the show. They, therefore, fix a price for the 
 ' first ' quality, calculated on the average of the pi-ices paid for 
 that quality on the previous day. The exporter, perhaps
 
 94 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 knowing that the particular butter he wishes to buy has fallen 
 to a certain broker, offers him, let us suppose, an advance of 
 two shillings per firkin over the market price for ' firsts.' 
 Immediately a crowd of other brokers clusters round the 
 maker of this offer, and each cries ' I have some firkins of 
 " firsts," which you can have at the advance price.' And 
 then, unless the unhappy man will buy all the 'firsts' in the 
 market, good, bad, and indifferent, at the price which is only 
 appropriate to the finest kind, he is not allowed to buy the 
 few firkins he wants at the advanced price he has tendered. 
 The advantage to the brokers of this course of dealing is 
 apparent at a glance. It ensures to every one of them the sale 
 of inferior ' firsts ' equally with the more valuable varieties ; 
 and it is notorious that some brokers — said, however, to be 
 not very many in number — have always inferior ' firsts ' on 
 hand, and but for this rule would suffer well-merited losses. 
 The disadvantage to the farmer is equally apparent. Butter 
 which has been ' slashed ' — that is, over-salted to a consider- 
 able extent — will still pass the inspectors, and, as I have said, 
 the butters originally of inferior taste and quality will neces- 
 sarily be classed with the finest. A farmer, therefore, has no 
 reason for taking pains to make the very best. If he can 
 disguise the defects in his butter with a quantity of salt and 
 water, for which salt and water he receives a shilling a pound 
 or more, that is quite enough for him. The idea that he may 
 injure the reputation of Cork butter probably never enters his 
 head at all. 
 
 The brokers, of course, have nothing to complain of. To 
 make sure of their trade they combine with it the practice of 
 lending money to the farmers, to stock their holdings, pay 
 their rents, and for other purposes. The method adopted is 
 the following. If the farmer wants to borrow lOOZ. he signs 
 a document binding him to repay it, with interest sometimes 
 anaounting to 10 per cent., by consignments of butter. When 
 he has reduced his debt to 90L by sending in lOZ. worth of 
 butter, he is nevertheless obliged to go on paying interest on 
 the original lOOZ. until it is all paid off. One broker is said to 
 lend out bU,OOU/. a year in this manner. The profits of the
 
 IRELAND rXDER THE LAND ACT. J)5 
 
 brokers, indeed, are added to at every turn. They benefit by, 
 first, compound interest on their loans ; secondly, the rebate ; 
 thirdly, a profit on the firkins supplied ; fourthly, the market 
 fees, increased by the practice of scraping off each keg, with- 
 out payment to the farmer, three or four ounces of butter ; 
 fifthly, brokerage of Is. 8(7. per cwt. ; sixthly, the ' canting 
 currency ' system, by which an advantage in the broker's 
 mode of payment to the farmer is secured ; seventhly, the 
 broker may sometimes be able to sell an occasional barrel of 
 poor butter at higher than market prices ; eighthly, he may 
 now and then hold the butter over till next day, or even keep 
 it back for a month, and so realise better prices ; ninthly, he 
 may be also an exporter, and thus have an interest directly 
 opposed to the farmers. Now, I wish it to be understood that 
 a great many of the brokers, being men of honour and stand- 
 ing, are not chargeable with the tricks of the trade alluded to ; 
 but the practices complained of exist, and produce almost 
 as much mischief and discredit as if they were general. 
 
 The exporters, in some cases, in order to evade the regu- 
 lations,, have been driven to establish secret warehouses, in 
 the names of other persons, for the purchase and storing of 
 uubranded butter, their own premises being liable at any 
 moment to the visits of private detectives, or, as they are 
 called, inspectors, employed by the Market Committee. It is 
 not wonderful that this mode of evasion is resorted to, when 
 it is remembered that the trade is now practically restricted 
 to England, and that even there it is rapidly diminishing. In 
 many places the private brands of responsible Irish butter ex- 
 porters are preferred to the Cork brand ; and this suggests 
 one much-needed reform, namely, the abolition of the annual 
 branding, conducted as it is on obsolete principles. Upon this 
 subject it should be also observed that at present, under the 
 market brand system, there is a great encouragement to 
 speculative as distinguished from natural trade. If an ex- 
 porter has a thousand kegs of ' firsts ' in October which he 
 bought in the previous April he may sell all this butter, 
 deteriorated as it will be by keeping, at any moment when 
 high prices are obtainable ; and will have as good a chance of
 
 9(5 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 fiuding a customer as his neiglibonr who has just bought a 
 number of kegs of perfectly new butter, but likewise bearing 
 the April brand. It follows that the smaller English dealers, 
 disgusted with the semi-rancid grease which turns up now 
 and then bearing a Cork brand, will have nothing to do with 
 batter so marked ; and those dealers who inquire for it are 
 generally large wholesale houses, buying for purely speculative 
 purposes. Another result is the establishment of a number of 
 localmarkets, at such places as Kilmallock, Mitchelstown, Bruff, 
 Newcastle, Tralee, Rathkeale, Killorglin, Listowel, Shana- 
 golden, Kilfinnane, Limerick, Tipperary, and "Waterford. 
 There is doubtless room for the existence of some of these 
 markets — for instance, the one at Tralee ; but the general 
 effect is that the farmers are induced to send the pick of their 
 best butter to the local market, where they obtain from the 
 few buyers attending it a little more, perhaps, than the Cork 
 Market price, less the brokers' charges, but still a great deal 
 less than their butter is actually worth, and would bring, if 
 the great market in Cork were more skilfully organised, and 
 if enterprise were not strangled by old regalations utterly un- 
 suited to modern trade. 
 
 The following suggestions, with a view to remedy the 
 evils that have brought about the decay, and may accomplish 
 the ruin of what ought to be one of the most profitable and 
 flourishing of Irish industries, may perhaps be considered 
 worthy of attention. Now that the Land Act has conferred 
 an additional value on the dairy farmers' holdings, the Banks, 
 it seems, are willing to lend the farmers money for their busi- 
 ness on easy terras ; and so they need not any longer, whenever 
 they want a few pounds, go to their butter broker. They 
 would, it is true, find it harder to borrow money from the 
 Bank for useless extravagance, unconnected with farming 
 operations, than from the broker ; but that can hardly be put 
 forward as a grievance. The Cork Butter Market must be 
 thrown open, every farmer having access to it to sell, and 
 every exporter to buy, free from all the vexations, antiquated 
 rules which are now ia force. The farmers would probably 
 find it most convenient to pay a certain toll for each firkin 
 sold, and thus the market expenses would be met. The
 
 IRELAXD UXDER THE LAXD ACT. <J7 
 
 official brand slionld be abolished, and every exporter 
 allowed to affix liis own. The brokers, or middle men, would, 
 of course, in that character disappear ; but with their connec- 
 tion and capital they might easily join the ranks of buyers, 
 paying their old customers, however, very much larger prices. 
 The farmers who really produced the best butter woiild, 
 under this system, be rewarded wdth the highest prices, and a 
 healthy stimulus would be thus administered to the trade 
 throughout Ireland. Another result of the creation of an 
 open market would probably be the realisation of Canon 
 Bagot's dream of a complete factory for the preparation, on 
 scientific principles, of such fine Irish fresh butter, by 
 machinery, for the London market as ought, if properly 
 packed, to beat every other kind of butter out of the field. In 
 fact, Munster should jDursue the policy adopted with such 
 remarkable results of late by Holstein, from which the best of 
 the so-called ' Danish ' butter comes. Two-pound and four- 
 pound lumps, fresh from the churn, wrapped in spotless 
 muslin, lying cool and fragrant in pretty baskets and boxes, 
 could be delivered from Cork to the dealers in London every 
 morning within twenty-four hours of their being sent out, at 
 a cost for carriage of one halfpenny per pound. One firm in 
 London takes twenty tons a week of fresh butter from 
 Normandy ; and there is no reason, save the bad methods of 
 preparation and packing now in vogue in Cork, why the 
 farmers of !Munster should not supply that and many other 
 firms, at a lower cost, and yet earn a handsome profit on the 
 transaction. Then again the consumption of butterine is 
 extending and increasing in all the great towns in England 
 and Scotland ; and some buttermen who formerly would not 
 keep it, can now with difficulty dispose of anything else. 
 None of the foreign butters, however, or of the substitutes for 
 butter sold in the English towns, have any chance against the 
 pure, fresh product of the rich pasture lands of Munster. The 
 following extract from a letter written a few days ago by a 
 London firm, paying every month twenty-six thousand pounds 
 sterling to French farmers for their butter, is of obvious 
 interest in connection with this question : —
 
 98 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 ' We have received some small consignments of butter 
 from persons wliom you have kindly recommended. We 
 have seen enough of the butter to convince us that really 
 finest quality butter can be made in Ireland; but what is 
 wanted is a business or factory, established in the heart of the 
 country where fine butter is made, to take it up and put it 
 into proper form and shape, and forward regularly to the 
 London market, instead of coming in at unknown times, in 
 odd quantities of a firkin or two here and there. We want 
 to depend on regular supplies, in fifties to hundreds of casks 
 daily. We should then establish a regular connection and 
 trade for this butter.' 
 
 It is curious that this real Irish farmers' grievance has 
 never, so far as one can discover, been brought forward in the 
 Imperial Parliament, where so many patriotic spokesmen of 
 the Irish Agriculturists sit.
 
 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 99 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE COURTS AND THE COUNTRY. 
 
 Dublin, Thursday Night, November 10. 
 Hitherto the landlords have certainly not held their own 
 before the Courts of First Instance. It was generally be- 
 lieved by the tenants that the Assistant Commissioners would 
 do greater things for them than the County Court Judges — 
 those aggravatingly precise and pedantic expounders of 
 generous legislation — could be expected to do. The simple 
 faith of the tenants has been already justified. It was not to 
 be expected that gentlemen who were notoriously appointed 
 to their offices upon the assumption that the existing scale of 
 rents was too high, would stultify themselves by approving 
 it, and straightway affixing their brand-new seal to it. But 
 the landlords were not altogether prepared for the ' leaps 
 and bounds ' executed by successive Sub-Commissions over 
 venerable doctrines and maxims of the law. Sub-Commission 
 No. 1, at Castleblayney, reduced a rental by a considerable 
 amount, but refused costs, on the ground that the tenant had 
 not, like an honest man, attempted to obtain lower terms from 
 the agent before taking advantage of the Act. At Belfast, 
 also, a large reduction was ordained in the rental; the 
 ruling about costs was arbitrarily broken through, and two 
 very staggering decisions upon points of law were recorded 
 against the interests of landlordism. 
 
 The Limerick Commission was late in the field. It was 
 presided over by a Queen's Counsel of established reputation, 
 and the astonished landlords, plucking up a little courage, 
 applied a portion of their capital in commissioning anothei 
 
 ii 2
 
 100 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 Qaeen's Counsel of established reputation to go down and 
 keep liira in order. The result must have painfully dis- 
 appointed, but finally convinced them. Mr. Enright, the 
 tenant before the Limerick Commission, had the enjoyment of 
 some escellent meadow land, so near to Limerick that it 
 would popularly, although incorrectly, be described as a ' town 
 park.' During a decade he industriously cut hay twice a 
 year, never attempting to interfere with the original fertility 
 of the soil by the newfangled invention of manuring ; and 
 upon the passing of the Land Act he was the first man in 
 Court to claim a substantial abatement of the rent. In his 
 case the Commissioners doubled the reduction effected by the 
 Belfast Commission in the rents payable by the wretched 
 tenants of Archdeacon Crawford and Mr. Tennent ; and they 
 are thus, until new Sub- Commissions have an opportunity of 
 relieving the oppressed tenants, the heroes of the hour. 
 
 The moral effect of these earlier decisions is partly to be 
 looked for in the action of other Sub-Commissions, but 
 chiefly in the attitude thereby produced towards the Land 
 Court in the minds of the tenantry who have not yet come in 
 to have a fair rent fixed. Such prizes as these at the first turn 
 of the judicial wheel will indubitably set the whole nation 
 gambling. The demoralisation of the rent-paying masses, 
 already effected by the teaching of the League— an evil 
 which I have myself heard high dignitaries of the Catholic 
 Church acknowledge and deplore— will lead every man of 
 them who has a spice of Irish adventurousness to try his 
 luck. Already there are over twenty-two thousand applica- 
 tions recorded, and by the 12th, the last day allowed as the 
 * first occasion ' of the Court sitting, a prodigious increase in 
 the number of these proceedings may be expected. 
 
 I have been shown a letter, from which it appears that a 
 large number of tenants wei'e about to rush into Court under 
 the impression that all possible benefits to them under the 
 Act would be for ever abandoned by delaying their resort to 
 the Commission after the 12th, It is a remarkable fact, for 
 which I can vouch, that since the arrest of the promoters of 
 the test-case system the number of applications fi-om certain
 
 IRELAND rXDER THE LAXD ACT. 10 
 
 conBties deeply steeped in Land-Leaguism — for example Clare 
 — has largely increased. The proportion of the total number 
 of cases, however, still remains very much what it was when 
 this subject was last adverted to. 
 
 At the same time, it is rather discouraging to hear that 
 Tipperary and Cork, which counties Mr. Egau would pro- 
 bably consider patriotic par excellence, are still hanging back. 
 The reason of this symptom -is not far to seek. In these 
 counties terrorism prevails to such an extent that violence on 
 the part of the terrorists is almost unnecessary. The follow- 
 ing intimation, which has just been served upon the tenants 
 of a southern estate, is copied from the actual document found 
 by one of them under his door. It is written in a feigned 
 hand, the nouns occasionally dignified with capitals, and the 
 whole unpunctuated : — ' Take Notice. — Any man of the 
 
 townsland of that will pay his rent without consulting 
 
 his neighbours will be visited by Captain Moonlight. — From 
 a Galtee boy.' The service of this docu.ment was perfectly 
 cfiectual, and a copy of it from each tenant was all the rent 
 that the agent received on his rounds last week. 
 
 I have just received the answers of a number of well-in- 
 formed agents in various counties to certain questions bearing 
 upon the state of the country. These gentlemen manage 
 properties in all the disaffected or disturbed districts in 
 Donegal, Mayo, Galway, Clare, Limerick, Cork, Tipperary 
 and "Waterford. The substance of the answers given may be 
 thus epitomised. A few landlords have, in consequence of 
 the action of the Government in arresting Mr. Parnell and 
 his colleagues, received rents which they believe they would 
 not have done but for those arrests, and they are correspond- 
 ingly grateful. A much larger number have received no 
 rent, neither do they expect to get any ; and they attribute 
 their misfortunes, first, to the long delay of the Government, 
 whereby the influence of Mr. Parnell grew into something 
 invincible ; and secondly, to the irritation produced by the 
 execution of the aiTCsts at the very moment when the tenants 
 had in their pockets the means of revenge, namely, the 
 proceeds of the harvest not yet paid over. It is admitted
 
 102 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 that Mr. Gladstone's intentions were good ; but the landlords 
 appear to regard him as the hermit in the fable looked upon 
 his faithful bear, which waited till a troublesome gnat settled 
 upon the nose of bis sleeping master, and then annihilated 
 the insect and the organ together with one tremendous but 
 ill-timed blow. Little effect is, however, as yet, attributed 
 to the ' No Rent ' manifesto in stopping the payment of the 
 sums due. 
 
 In some parts, it seems, secret meetings take place between 
 small numbers of Leaguers ; but it is obvious that these 
 may well be of a harmless character, brought about by the 
 instinct which moves men afflicted with a common mis- 
 fortune to sit together and bewail their sad case. But these 
 meetings are certainly significant in one or two instances 
 in which they have been accompanied by actual threatenings 
 to those farmers who were reasonably susj)ected of an inten- 
 tion to pay their debts. It would appear from all accounts 
 that the number of malcontents is very small, and that they 
 are not usually connected with the place at which they meet. 
 Indeed, it is questionable whether more than one or two of the 
 threateners and outrage-workers are at present deprived of 
 their much-abused liberty. But it is obvious that a single 
 outrage, like the murder of poor Leary near Mallow, must 
 send a shiver of apprehension over an entire county. It is 
 an argument with those who would maintain the ancient 
 institution of capital punisbment, that ten executions a year 
 keep twenty millions of Englishmen from doing what the 
 culprits did ; and in the same way two or three murders of 
 rent-paying farmers are quite sufficient to deter most of their 
 fellows from following their example. I may say that I know, 
 in some cases from their own lips, coupled with close observa- 
 tion of their characters, that to the leaders of the Land 
 League movement any outrage committed either upon man or 
 beast, for any cause whatever, is as abhorrent as it could be to 
 Mr. Bright himself. 
 
 The expectation expi-essed upon a former occasion, that 
 a number of landlords would, upon the sitting of the superior 
 Courts, commence proceedings for their arrears, has been
 
 IRELAND UNDER THE ZAND ACT. 103 
 
 unfortunately fulfilled. Large numbers of writs have been 
 issued already ; the Emergency Committee and the Property 
 Defence Association are making ready for sharp work, and 
 the natui'al results in ill-feeling, rioting, and violence may be 
 looked for. The landlords apparently have nothing to expect 
 in the way of compensation from. Parliament. The fact that 
 no statesman of importance has declared any intention of 
 pressing their claims to reimbursement, or a kind of ' general 
 average ' payment, in the legal sense, by society, for the peace 
 of the realm, which their losses are to ensure, is a sufficient 
 discouragement to them. And upon this comes the decision 
 of Professor Baldwin, that the value of a holding, in the hands 
 of the existing tenant, whether lame, infirm, idle, or drunken, 
 it will be just the same, is all the Court has to consider in 
 fixing a fair rent, and not the potential fertility of the soil 
 in the hands of a competent agriculturist. The reasoning of 
 the Professor, Avho is admittedly a shrewd and keen-witted 
 man, is tolerably appai-ent. He finds a man an invalid, 
 without knowledge of farming occupation, but entitled by law 
 to a proprietaiy interest in his farm, and he knows that the 
 man cannot be driven out of the holding, because public 
 opinion, the strongest of all forces, prevents a more capable 
 neighbour from taking his place. The Assistant Commissioner, 
 therefore, making the best of the situation, and remembering 
 that he is an arbitrator, not a judge, fixes a rent which, in 
 Mr. Justice O'Hagan's words, will allow the tenant to ' live 
 and thrive.' Nevertheless, the doctrine laid down may have 
 undesirable consequences. It is hard enough upon a landlord 
 that the misfortunes of his tenant, who by virtue of this 
 decision is assumed to be his partnei', should be visited solely 
 upon him, and not, as in ordinary cases, upon the community 
 at largo. He may think it unreasonable that he is called upon 
 to pay a tax augmenting with the vices, the ignorance, or 
 the procrcativeness of his tenant. I saw, the other day, in 
 the south of Ireland, a woman who had borne twenty-one 
 children to her husband. The poor man had a small holding, 
 and was, always, of course, in difficulties. Supposing that 
 her husband gets a fair rent fixed, proportioned to the number
 
 104 IRELAND UNDER THE ZAND ACT, 
 
 of mouths lie lias to feed upon Lis little patch, he will be 
 immediately asked to sell upon the twenty-one children 
 rental to a shai^p fellow without encumbrances, who may 
 thus expect to make a very good thing indeed out of the 
 transaction.
 
 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACl. 105 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 SUBPBLSIJS'G DECISIONS. 
 
 Dublin, Tuesday Night, November 1,5. 
 The fonr Sub-Commission Courts have now sa,t for about a 
 fortnight in various parts of the country, administering, each 
 according to its Hght, the complicated and intermingled prin- 
 ciples of the two great Gladstonian Codes of Land Law. The 
 utmost pains were very properly taken to ensure a measure of 
 uniformity in the justice to be administered by the new 
 Tribunals. Meetings were held, questions discussed ; but 
 sufficient allowance was not made for the principle of competi- 
 tion, or, shall we say, of generous rivalry in redressing the 
 wrongs of an ojopressed people, certain to actuate their 
 Worships — for so the Assistant Commissioners are properly 
 styled — at their first setting out. The most fluent, if not 
 always the most learned, member of the tribunal has in each 
 case specially jDut himself in the forefront of his colleagues, 
 and laid down doctrines which were so stated as to attract 
 and receive both the direct and plunging fire of adverse 
 criticism. In two instances the doctrines laid down have 
 already been withdrawn. Professor Baldwin undoubtedly 
 formulated the principle recently quoted by Lord George 
 Hamilton, from my letter of the 1st inst., that such an acci- 
 dent as the propinquity of a manufactory was beside the 
 question in determining the value of land to the tenant^in 
 other words, that such an unearned increment belonged 
 wholly to the tenant, no part of it to the landlord. The 
 Professor also laid it down in another case, that the value of 
 the holding to the occupying tenant was alone to be con- 
 sidered in fixing the fair rent. This inconsiderate dictum
 
 106 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 was, of course, immediately exposed and denounced in the 
 newspapers, and the Professor has been moved to lay down 
 for his future guidance the exact opposite of his former views. 
 He will now, he says, consider, in fixing the rent, the capacity 
 of the land in the hands of a tenant of average ability and skill. 
 Mr. M'Carthy, on the Western Sub-Commission, in the 
 attempt to urge an impetuous course through ' the law's 
 delays,' has already stumbled twice and been picked up, not 
 without suspicion of scolding, by the Chief Commissioners. 
 First, as a background to a pretty compliment to his col- 
 leagues, he pronounced a condemnation of the entire race of 
 paid valuers. Ignorant, venal, and untrustworthy as some 
 valuers are, there are plenty of men to be had of eminent 
 honour and profound acquaintance with the value of land ; and 
 I am convinced, that if this Act is to give lasting satis- 
 faction, such men must be generally employed by the Sub- 
 Commissions, under the power conferred upon them by Section 
 37. Judge O'Hagan has repudiated the slight offered to 
 valuers by Mr. M'Carthy; and, considering the alarm and 
 discontent created among landlords by the awards thus far 
 pronounced, it may be hoped that Mr. Murrough O'Brien, 
 whose duties in the Sale Department of the Commission are 
 at present confined to matters of mere routine, and whose 
 reputation as a valuer is second to none in Ireland, will be 
 entrusted with the formation of a corps of 'independent 
 valuers,' to accompany the Sub-Commissions and report upon 
 the lands in dispute. 
 
 Mr. Kane, Chairman of Sub-Commission No. 1, has given 
 a questionable judgment at Monaghan. The facts are these : — 
 In 1878 Peter M'llroy was ejected for non-payment of rent, 
 and the claimant, the son, pending the six mouths allowed 
 by law for redemption, was allowed to occupy the land. Eight 
 months after the termination of the tenancy the claimant was 
 admitted a yearly tenant, under a new agreement. Now, the 
 7th Section of the Act of 1881 provides that a tenant, on 
 quitting the holding of which he is a tenant, shall not be 
 deprived of his right to receive compensation for improve- 
 ments under the Landlord aud Tenaiit (Ireland) Act, 1870,
 
 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACI. 107 
 
 by reason only of the determination by surrender, or other- 
 wise, of the tenancy subsisting at the time when such improve- 
 ments were made by such tenant, or his predecessors in title, 
 and the acceptance by him, or them, of a new tenancy. 
 Where in ti-acing a title, for the jDurpose of obtaining- com- 
 pensation for improvements, it appears that an outgoing 
 tenant has surrendered his tenancy in order that some other 
 person may be accepted by the landlord as tenant in his place, 
 and such other person is so accepted as tenant, the outgoing 
 tenant shall not be precluded from being deemed the prede- 
 cesssor in title of the incoming tenant by reason only of such 
 surrender of tenancy. The claimant's case was that his 
 father had made improvements ; that the father was his pre- 
 decessor in title, and that he (the claimant) was consequently 
 entitled, under Healy's Clause, to have his rent reduced in 
 respect of such improvements. After confessing that he was 
 not familiar with the Ulster custom, Mr. Kane held that the 
 break in the title was not sufficient to destroy the right of the 
 tenant. Now, although the case was a hard one, and not even 
 the landlord can seriously grudge to the claimant the benefit 
 of his father's labours, I observe that in Mr. Kane's own 
 work upon the Act of 1870, the following case is noted : — 
 * Where the father of the claimant held the holding under a 
 lease which expired while the claimant was in possession, and 
 afterwards the landlord made a now express letting to the 
 claimant, that the father was not a predecessor in title of the 
 claimant.' The judgment in this case was upheld on appeal, 
 and is still law : and in any event it is obvious that the leai*ned 
 Assistant Commissioner's written and spoken opinions do not 
 agree. 
 
 But the most surprising judgment of all has been pro- 
 mulgated to-day by the Southern Sub- Commission, sitting at 
 Limerick. .James Blake sought to have a fair rent fixed for a 
 holding of tillage land, under Lord Clarina, situate in the 
 county Limerick. The acreage amounted to about thirty- 
 eight statute acres, the valuation was 44Z., and the rent 
 52/. U.S. The letting was first made so long ago as 1827, at 
 60Z. per annum. This was paid by the tenant's father down
 
 108 IBELAXB UKBER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 to 1837, wlien it was reduced to 50Z. In the following year 
 2Z. lis. was added to the rent, on account of tlie tithe-rent 
 apportionment ; and from that day to this, a period of forty-three 
 years, the last rent of 52L lis. has been regularly paid. Two 
 houses and offices bad been erected, and drains constructed by 
 the tenants ; but the landlord had contributed slates and timber, 
 equal to balf the expense of building, to the houses, and had 
 allowed for the drains. The evidence showed that the land 
 was worth even more than the sum which had thus been paid, 
 without question, for nearly half a century. The Sub-Com- 
 xnission, however, reduced it, without calling in question the 
 conduct of Lord Clarlna, to the level of the valuation, 
 namely 447. 
 
 The consequences of this alarming decision to the un- 
 fortunate landlord must be most serious ; but the principle 
 established is of infinitely greater importance. It was hinted 
 by the Ministry over and over again, when the Land Bill was 
 passing through Parliament, that only rack-i-enters were 
 aimed at by the measure. No one supposed that a rent 
 acquiesced in, and paid for generations, was to be arbitrarily 
 cut down by a sixth, and a landlord's income correspondingly 
 diminished by similar reductions in the rents of his remaining 
 farms. Only the other day a statesman of the highest reputa- 
 tion for sagacity — a quality conspicuously evinced in the 
 timely sale of his Irish estates as soon as he had them at his 
 disposal — calculated that over two-thirds of Ireland rents had 
 not been raised for many years, and therefore would not be 
 lowered. It is now evident that all such calculations must 
 be flung aside, and the landlords must face the unpleasant 
 fact that their fortunes, and in very many cases their liveli- 
 hoods, are at the mercy of the first roving Sub-Commission 
 that may approach their domains, each Commissioner, more- 
 over, burning to distinguish himself as a redresser of agrarian 
 wrongs, and armed with the utmost powers the law can 
 confer. 
 
 Another question suggested by this decision is the effect it 
 will have upon the tenants who have not yet come in. Seven 
 Sub-(^ommissions are now appointed, and more are expected
 
 IBELAXD rXDElt THE LAXD ACT. 109 
 
 to be formed ; but twenty will not suffice if these awards be 
 ■npheld on appeal. An appeal has already been lodged in 
 the case referred to, and it is now settled that the Commis- 
 sioners, who are most anxious that their representatives shall 
 not overstep the scope and province of the Act, will make 
 every arrangement in their power for speedily rehearing all 
 important cases. I may hei-e state in the most positive 
 manner that the suggestion, to the effect that the Commission 
 had packed the lists with the earlier cases, with a view to 
 securing opportunities for large reductions of rent at the 
 opening of their business, is entirely baseless. The manner 
 in which the charge was made has caused much pain ; and 
 the slightest inquiry into the necessary method of procedure, 
 would have shown that the supposed shuffling of applications 
 was impossible. Applications continue to pour into the Com- 
 mission offices, although in diminished volume. It is clear 
 that even the augmented staff of Assistaiit Commissioners is 
 quite inadequate to deal with the enormous number of cases 
 now entered, in every one of which the applicant will demand 
 a separate hearing and argument. There is one plan by which 
 much difficulty, expense, and time might be saved. The 
 Government might advise the Lord Lieutenant to appoint a 
 sufficient number of the County Court judges to be temporai'ily 
 Assistant Commissioners under the Act, and associate with 
 each of them, in order to recommend them to the confidence of 
 the people, two Assistant Commissioners — not mere assessors, 
 but possessed of equal power. One great advantage of such 
 a plan would be that each Sub-Commission, so constituted, 
 would have at its head an experienced judge, accustomed to 
 the working of the Act of 1870. He would certainly not 
 commit any of the errors attributable to some members of the 
 existing Sub-Commissions, and at the same time, if he took an 
 unduly technical or harsh view of a case, he would be over- 
 ruled by his two colleagues.' 
 
 It does not yet appear that much rent is coming in. From 
 inquiries made of certain gentlemen well qualified to judcre, I 
 
 ' This suggestion was, I believe, considered by the Law Officers of the 
 Government, and pronounced to be hardly in accordance with the Act.
 
 110 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 can say that outside Ulster, but a small proportion, certainly 
 not a tenth, of the autumn rents has been paid. On estate 
 after estate there is the same story. The tenants demand 
 large reductions ; the agent, beiug without authority, declines 
 to allow them, and the result is that no rent at all is received. 
 This is the account heard from Galway, Kilkenny, Cavan, 
 Monaghan, Carlow, West Meath, Wexford, Longford, King's 
 County, Kildare, Watcrford, and even Dublin. Affairs are 
 rather better of late in Sligo, Roscommon, Mayo, and parts of 
 Longford. The following, copied from a document, has just been 
 received by a Galway agent : — ' Sir, — We, the undersigned 
 
 tenants of , the townland of , expect you will exercise 
 
 your influence with our landlady in our behalf to obtain for 
 us a fair reduction of our rents ; otherwise we must have 
 recourse to the Land Commission Courts. — Nov. 12.' 
 
 A lamentable tale of outrages comes in daily from the 
 south and south-west, and the district about Mallow is again 
 infamously distinguished in this respect. There is only one 
 remedy for such deeds as are commonly done in that part of 
 the country. If any feature of Government, even one so 
 venerable and sacred as Trial by Jury, be set at naught and 
 perverted, to the danger of the State, it must be supplemented 
 "with something more effectual.
 
 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. Ill 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 ' ENGLISH-MANA GED ES TA TES: 
 
 Ballina, Friday Night, November 18. 
 Mr. J. G. McCarthy and his colleagues have hitherto ruled 
 uninterruptedly in favour of tenants. From one rent they have 
 struck off thirty per cent., from another fifty, from another 
 sixty. But a claim for reduction of rent vv^as made on Wed- 
 nesday, which it is certain no existing Sub-Commission 
 would have entertained, and which the most audacious Par- 
 liamentary patriot — unless, perhaps, it were Mr. Biggar, in an 
 obstructiv^e moment — will hardly include in his repertoire of 
 grievances. Mr. Beresford Taylor, returning from Australia, 
 in 1871, with a taste for farming, and a certain amount of 
 capital, took from the Earl of Arran a farm of about 112 
 acres, situate at Raheens, near Killala, in the county Mayo, 
 at a rent of 57Z. 10s., the valuation being 28L 10s. The 
 peculiarity in the case was that all the improvements on the 
 farm — that is, all those works and constructions not resulting 
 from ordinary and necessary farming operations, which confer 
 an additional, and at least to some extent, enduring value upon 
 the holding — had been effected and kept up by the landlord. 
 The interesting question of English-managed estates, which 
 was for so long and with so much heat debated in Parliament, 
 was thus, for, I believe, the first time, raised under the Act. 
 The provision relating to this point is contained in the 4th 
 clause of Section 8, and it requires, in effect, that the improve- 
 ments shall have been made and maintained by the landlord, 
 and never acquired by the tenant. If a case be made out by 
 the landlord sufficient to call the clause into operation, the 
 Court may disallow the tenant's application to fix a fair rent.
 
 113 IRELAND V.XDER THE LAXD ACT. 
 
 The clause is, by the way, open to the observation that it 
 leaves a rack-rented tenant upon whose holding one or two 
 petty improvements have been thrown together, and retained 
 by the landlord, without due protection. But in the present 
 case there could be no contention of this kind, and the Court 
 gave a unanimous judgment this morning in favour of Lord 
 Arran, in which judgment most lawyers and impartial persons 
 among the audience expressed their entire eoncui'rence. 
 
 The facts, shortly stated, were that Lord Arran, having 
 the farm in hand, expended between 1854 and 1864 about 
 903Z. in improvements. In 1870 a tenant named Hunter was 
 admitted, and during his possession of the property another 
 lOOZ. was paid by the owner for a new house. In 1871 
 Taylor took the land, and there was, as the Chairman said 
 to-day, ' no evidence that he was badly treated by the land- 
 lord.' Another bill, for the erection of farm buildings, 
 amounting to 172/., was also met by Lord Arran, in addition 
 to which there is one yet to come in for improvements ordered 
 in October last, which he is to pay. It was also proved that 
 the landlord had paid regularly 14Z. a year towards the Lough 
 Dallagh drainage system, benefitting this farm equally with 
 many others. The tenant had done a little draining, and had 
 paid 12Z. for gates. 
 
 Much interest continues to be felt in the decisions affecting 
 Miss Florence Knox's property at Fairfield. The average 
 reduction effected is about fifty per cent. Strange as it may 
 seem, the decisions in this instance have not given satisfaction 
 to the tenants concerned, and for several reasons, among 
 which may be mentioned, first of all, the fatal gift of making 
 pretty, soothing speeches, in which Mr. M'Carthy more than 
 any other Assistant Commissioner excels. Mr. M'Carthy 
 is a man of very imposing presence and the most suave 
 demeanour — a happy mixture, in fact, of Sir William Harcourfc 
 and Lord Coleridge. He wears a magnificent robe of costly 
 poplin, and his ample shoulders sustain a cape of fine black 
 velvet ; while the proportions of an unusually lofty brow are 
 veiled under the familiar untasselled college cap. The great 
 purpose aimed at in these trappiogs is perhaps a little obscure
 
 JllKLAXD rXDER THE LAND ACT. \\?, 
 
 to English eyes. But Mr. M'Carthy believes that by their 
 means he inspires in the minds of the unriily peasantry of 
 Mayo some amount of respect for the law. What Mr, 
 Forster cannot do with all his bayonets, Mr. M'Carthy can 
 effect with a gown of poplin, and a head-dress of mysterious 
 cut. With the same object the learned President, before 
 beginning his judgment in this case, directed his audience 
 not to applaud, even if the decision pleased them. The result 
 of this appeal was that his voice, at the close of the judgment, 
 was drowned in a burst of wild, shrill cheering. In the 
 course of his peroi'ation his Worship, however, pointed out, 
 perhaps by way of consoling the owner of the land, first, that 
 the newly-fixed judicial rents still exceeded Griffith's valuation, 
 and, secondly, that the reductions decreed were less than 
 those agreed to in two cases settled out of Court by the same 
 lady. These obsei-vations were duly digested by his auditory; 
 and to-day I hear expressed by the tenants the utmost dis- 
 satisfaction as to the awards. One man, Cafferky, I was 
 informed, had already lodged an appeal to the Chief Com- 
 mission, and the others contemplate taking that step. They 
 are warmly encouraged by their Ballina friends, especially by- 
 some of the pi-iests ; and as the case is likely to serve to some 
 extent as a guide or standard to other Sub-Commissions in 
 the West and Xorth-West ; as disappointment at such sweeping- 
 reductions is altogether puzzling ; and above all, as no record 
 of the Assistant Commissioners' opinion upon the state of the 
 holdings deduced from their visit to them last Tuesday was 
 set out in that judgment, I resolved to visit them, and judge 
 for myself. 
 
 About noon, in a drizzling rain, I mounted a car drawn by 
 a fleet and handsome mare, directed by trusty old Michael, a. 
 well-known local charioteer. Opposite me sat an English 
 gentleman who is making a rather hurried journey of in- 
 vestigation, to last, I understand, about three weeks. He will 
 first study fully, upon the spot, the causes of Irish disaffec- 
 tion and suffering ; secondly, obtain all necessary information 
 from the different classes of Irish society about the effects of 
 such remedies as have been applied already, and as many 
 
 I
 
 lU IRELAXD I'yDER THE LAXD ACT. 
 
 opinions as possible upon the clioice of new remedies ; and, 
 finally, study generally the essential features of Irish characters 
 and institutions ; allowing, I suppose, a week for each sub- 
 ject of inquiry. He was courteous and well-informed, and 
 had in my eyes the excellent recommendation of being a 
 laud agent in England for an estate of some thousand acres, 
 and of possessing a practical knowledge of farming. I was, 
 therefore, only too pleased to accede to his proposal to accom- 
 pany me over the holdings I desired to examine. 
 
 It was a day of dreadfal weather. The wind blew in 
 gusts all the way. The rain beat steadily down, and grew 
 into a storm towards evening ; but in spite of these drawbacks 
 we made a most thorough examination of everything. 
 
 The effect of the survey upon our minds was the convic- 
 tion that no more than justice had been done by the judgments 
 delivered by the Sub- Commission. The whole of the neigh- 
 bourhood is simply one vast bog, black and hopeless. The 
 country for miles round has been levelled by glacial action, 
 and the surface further lowered by some other natural agency, 
 perhaps volcanic. Through the bog, where it had been cleared 
 down, protruded in some places the ghastly stumps of antique 
 massive oaks, grouped in clusters, as they once stood and 
 waved their arms in stately life and leafy beauty. Here and 
 there over the bog were dotted the low whitewashed stone 
 huts of the miserable tenants whose fathers had squattec 
 some half-century before upon it, and reclaimed it, inch by 
 inch, from the stagnant waters. Round each cottage were 
 two or three little enclosures, carefully fenced in with high 
 mud Avails, and the necessary drains. The crops, of course, 
 were taken up, but it was clear that, except in one in- 
 stance, where a poor man had grown a little rye, the only 
 productions of the soil were oats, potatoes, and a short wiry 
 grass, upon the so-called meadow, which was eaten up 
 by weeds, rushes, and other vegetable joests, in incredible 
 quantities. 
 
 The first farm we inspected was Toohill's. The poor man, 
 in his unutterably ragged and loathsome attire, would cer- 
 tainly have drawn a crowd in Drury Lane. From the battered
 
 IRELAND UXDER THE LAXD ACT. 115 
 
 crown of liis liat to the lieel of his broken brogues, he was all 
 tatters, and strips, and dirt. His wretched-looking wife trudged 
 after us in the rain a little Avay, barefooted, bearing a curlj^- 
 headed boy on her back, swathed in the only shawl she 
 possessed ; but she soon went home, and awaited our return. 
 The first field reclaimed from the bog had been used for 
 potatoes. It had about six or seven inches of black wet soil 
 on a rocky subsoil, and might, with proper* manuring and 
 sufficient labour, have been made profitable. The oat-field 
 had about four inches of similar soil, but poorer, on a hard 
 sandy-clay subsoil, almost of a rocky character. The grazing 
 land was the poorest and worst I have seen in Ireland. It is 
 true that it was not properly drained. Thoi'ough draining is 
 almost unknown in this district, and any resort to it would 
 infallibly, in past times, have brought down the agent with a 
 demand for more rent. But the tenant had made some rude 
 attempts at surface draining, and every one of his shallow 
 trenches was quite full of water ; while it was evident that every 
 yard of the tillage land must have been broken with the spade, 
 for no plough could possibly have been worked upon it. Of 
 the pasture, at least five-sixths were covered with weeds, and 
 such grass as grew could hardly have amused a few geese. 
 The house was a kind of barn, wai-med with a peafc fire, the 
 smoke of which was partly diffused in the room, and partly 
 sent up an opening over the place of combustion. The furni- 
 ture was of about the Druidical period and standard of 
 comfort, though a few well-washed plates on a roughly-made 
 dresser looked strangely modern. By the fire was a baby's 
 cradle, and a little room adjoining held the boys by night. 
 All the other buildings and houses, except Cafferky's, were 
 merely reproductions of that which I have described. In all, 
 the land had been saved and reclaimed from the bog, with a 
 patience and persistence which would be admired in the sub- 
 marine workers that build up coral islands in mid-ocean. In 
 all cases, however, the rent had been raised to an unendurable 
 height — a poor reward for the industry displayed by the 
 tillers— and arrears were the unfailing consequence. Caflerkj^'s 
 holding was drained with far greater skill and success than 
 
 i2
 
 116 IRELAM) i\\J)Ki: TITK LAM) ACT. 
 
 liis neiglibonrs'. He had the advantage over tbem of a deep 
 fall, into which he might at once carry his drainage. He had 
 also remained nnmarried ; he had four strapping brothers and 
 sisters ; and he has another farm by whicli he chiefly subsists. 
 His father and he built the house and outbuildings, raised 
 the fences, and dug the drains, and still they have a miserably 
 small return for their labour. The father, bowed with age, 
 but garrulous, would insist, despite the remonstrances of my 
 companion and myself, on remaining uncovered whilst con- 
 versing with us. His son had no sooner noticed this than he 
 himself placed the hat on the old man's head. In that little 
 incident could be seen, I thought, the springing-up of the 
 first-fruits of sixty years' just legislation ; the germ of the 
 regeneration of a noble and unhappy race.
 
 IRELAND UXDER THE LAND ACT. 117 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 A COMMISSIONERS' lySPECTION. 
 
 Ballina, Wednesday, November 23. 
 As the cliurcli bell struck ten this morning Mr. Haughton and 
 Mr. O'Sbauglinessy, the inspecting members of the Western 
 Sub-Commission, stepped on to a car at the door of their 
 hotel, both heavily rugged and coated, after the manner 
 invariably adopted by men who have once taken a day's drive 
 in County Mayo. A black bag was stowed away under the 
 box seat, and their Worships were rapidly driven through the 
 narrow streets of the old town, and over the bridge that 
 crosses the Moy, into the Tobercurry road. Mr. Beattie, the 
 agent of the estate to be visited, followed on a second car, and 
 the writer, who was permitted to accompany the expedition, 
 brought up the rear. As usual, when really bad weather is 
 brewing hei-eabouts, the sun shone brilliantly. The country 
 people were, in various places, taking the opportunity of re- 
 constructing their haystacks — ruined by the terrible storm of 
 Monday night — piling up the wet hay into shape again in 
 reckless Hibernian fashion. The road ran for some distance 
 by the Bnnree, a winding trout stream which pours its waters, 
 clear as crystal throughout its course, into the turbid flood 
 of the Moy, a short distance below the town. The fields 
 stretched away in different shades of green and warm brown 
 to the sunny slopes of the distant Ox mountains, still veiled 
 at their summits by wreathing clouds. With so charming a 
 view, the way seemed short to our destination, which was the 
 part of Mr. Thompson's estate looking on the first undulations 
 cf the Ox range. The owner was brought into Court by
 
 118 UlELAXD VNDER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 nine of his tenants. It was proved that, during the last 
 twenty-five years, out of a small rental, he had spent nearly a 
 thousand pounds for the benefit of those tenants. Amongst 
 other items, there was a sum of about six hundred pounds 
 paid to them for making an estate road, chiefly useful to 
 themselves. He had also made some fences, and allowed part 
 of the expense of the houses and drains constructed by de- 
 serving tenants, out of their rciits ; which rents, moreover, 
 were not as a rule much above the valuation. The tenants' 
 case was that they had all reclaimed their holdings from the 
 bog ; that the difi'erent plots Avere stripped and rearranged in 
 the year 1856 ; that the rents were then generally raised ; that 
 they could not pay the existing rents, being miserably poor ; 
 and that, whatever the landlord might have ordered to be 
 allowed to them for improvements, few of them had received 
 more than trifling sums on that account. This may be con- 
 sidered a typical case in the West of Ireland — one in which 
 the ' live-and-let-live ' principle can hardly be applied without 
 injustice, or withheld without hardship and even danger. 
 
 It cannot be too strongly insisted upon that the success of 
 the new Act in the political part of its working depends 
 chiefly upon the reception accorded to it in the West. The 
 Knox cases, which have been last described, were all ex- 
 amples of rack-renting. Mr. Thompson is a rich benevolent 
 man, with thousands of pounds of income which he can spare 
 every year, and his tenants are paying small rents. Never- 
 theless, they are, as I can testify, unable to pay them, small 
 as they are, and yet to exist decently, as people in a civilised 
 country should ; and the old problem of Irish wretchedness 
 has therefore appeared in this case, with all its stern, rigorous 
 conditions nnrelaxed by past legislation, and nnsoftened by 
 time, for solution by the new Courts. 
 
 It will be remembered that Mayo, more than the other 
 counties in the West, has always been first to suck in the 
 poison of dangerous agitations. The people here, amiable 
 enough in times of prosperity, are the most excitable and the 
 least reasonable of any when times ai'e bad. If, therefore, the 
 Mayo peasants are dissatisfied with the Act, it will be easy
 
 IB EL Ay D rXLER THE LAXD ACT. 119 
 
 for Mr. Parnell and liis friends to find here the nucleus 
 of a new agitation. It was formerly the custom of our 
 English bargees, on purchasing a horse, in view of the ex- 
 ceeding thickness of the animal's skin, to beat iinchangingly 
 upon one spot until a tender place had been formed, which, 
 was thenceforth kept open for the administration of stimulus 
 to progress when required. And so upon the misery in Mayo 
 agitators have been accustomed from time immemorial to 
 play, in the attempt to drive their country in the paths of 
 sedition ; and nothing can be more inconvenient to certain 
 popular leaders, who must sooner or later be released from 
 confinement, than to find that the old grievances of Mayo 
 have disappeared, and that the cultivators of the soil have 
 begun to realise their new stake in the country. 
 
 We saw first William Ruane's farm, consisting of rather 
 over thirteen Irish acres, the valuation being 4?. lOs., 
 and the rent hi. 10a\ An oatfield of about an acre was 
 bounded by a stream on one side, and the tenant had labor- 
 iously erected a substantial bank of earth to protect his 
 crops from inundation. This was at once noted by the Com- 
 missioners. The soil was of a light, black, loamy character, 
 at least a foot deep, on a hard gravelly subsoil. The surface 
 was thickly strewn with stones, and this neglect was observ- 
 able on every tilled field in every holding inspected during 
 the day. At the same time, the fences were composed of 
 great stones picked by the tenants from their land, and these 
 fences, although uncemented, were wide and strong. The 
 whole of this part of the estate was once bog, resting on the 
 limestone, and has been, piece by piece, reclaimed by succes- 
 sive tenants. Another three-acre oatfield of Ruane's had a 
 shallower soil, on gravel. A potato field was then walked 
 over, the soil and subsoil being of the same description ; and 
 we came next to a piece of reclaimed pasture, two acres in 
 extent. The soil, in pai'ts still boggy, was about six inches 
 deep on a very hard subsoil of gravel, but the grasses were of 
 a coarse, non -nutritious character, peculiar to bog partially 
 drained and soiled. The remainder of the holding was a kind 
 of fnrzy heath and morass, on which, this industrious tenant
 
 liO IliELAXD rXDER THE LAXl) ACT. 
 
 had already comraenced the process of reclamation by cutting 
 a deep drain. 
 
 Our second visit was to Thomas Rape's farm, higher up 
 file mountain. It was nearly eight Irish acres in extent ; the 
 valuation was 3/. I0^\ 2r?., and the rent only 2/. IG.?. 6(7, 
 The tenant had reclaimed the greater part of his holding 
 during the past twenty years. The first step taken was to 
 drain a piece of land, then to pick out the stones and construct 
 fences with them. In the course of this work he had come 
 across numbers of great granite boulders, a quantity of which 
 still lay confusedly mixed together at one point. He could 
 not remove these by any means as they lay. He had, there- 
 fore, built turf fires upon each of them, and kept up the flame 
 until the boulders cracked into pieces, which could be dragged 
 away and piled in a heap upon some larger boulders too 
 massive to be thus dealt with. After this, vegetable earth 
 Avas added, with some seaweed ; and the tenant commenced 
 at once to sow potatoes. The soil of the first potato-field was 
 a deep, moory loam. The potatoes, as is generally the case in 
 reclaimed bog, were of a peculiarly white colour. I was here 
 witness to an informal lecture by their Worships, who 
 respectively represent, Mr. Haughton the scientific, and Mr. 
 O'Shaughnessy the practical schools in agriculture. The 
 potatoes were small. ' When did you reclaim this ? ' inquired 
 jMr. Haughton. ' It's three years gone, your honour,' replied 
 the tenant. ' What did you do the first year with it ? ' 'I 
 took praties out of it, sorr.' ' What the second year ? ' 
 * Praties again, sorr ; the land would not give anything else.' 
 The two Commissioners looked at one another, and expressed 
 disapproval of this course. ' Did you lime it ? ' ' No, sorr ; 
 but I put the seaweed on it.' ' Very good,' said Mr. 
 O'Shaughnessy, ' but you should have mixed guano with your 
 seaweed, and limed it too.' Then followed a short explana- 
 tion, given in the kindliest way, of the right method of treat- 
 ing such soil. At various times during the day I noticed the 
 attempts of the two Judges to impart a little useful practical 
 knowledge of this kind to the farmers ; and it was gratifying 
 to observe with what keen and respectful attention the people
 
 IRELAND L'XDER THE LAND ACT. 121 
 
 listened to their advice. The soil and subsoil in this case 
 were the same as on Ruane's farm. The oats, the tenant said, 
 were weak, and had a tendency to bleach, that is to shrivel 
 up and die after reaching a certain stage of development. It 
 is probable that this effect is produced by the presence of 
 noxious matters in the subsoil, which, when reached by the 
 roots, poison the plant. More thorough drainage, affecting 
 the subsoil itself, together with plenty of lime, easily pro- 
 curable in this neighboui-hood, in order to sweeten the acid 
 soil of the reclaimed bog, would j^erhaps remedy this evil. It 
 is a serious matter ; for an English farmer would have been 
 shocked to see the pitifully small stacks of oats cut from the 
 fields, and the thin, light-headed, empty specimens of ears 
 pulled from them for examination. It is, however, difficult 
 in many instances for a tenant dragging out a shivering 
 existence with his family upon a raft-like patch of firm ground, 
 in the midst of the wide, watery waste, to find sufficient outfall 
 for his drains, even if he were to make them. The draining 
 of these vast areas of bog upon systematic plans, adapted to 
 the conformation and varying level of the subjacent clay and 
 rock, should obviously be effected on a great scale, if at all, 
 either by Government, or by a combination of local proprie- 
 tors. This method of draining large areas together will, I 
 am convinced, be the first step in the regeneration of the 
 West. 
 
 We now drove to the farm of two brothers, Harry and 
 Anthony Melvin, holding in common. It was a farm of about 
 ten Irish acres in extent, exclusive of a portion which the 
 Commissioners went over (when I was with them) on Satur- 
 day. It was ill cultivated. One field was foul with the noxious 
 ' buckalan ' weed, and the pasturage was half covered with 
 water from a stream, which might easily have been banked 
 off, as Ruane had banked off the stream upon his lower field. 
 The valuation was 7/., and the rent 7Z. 8.s-. 6(?. The brothers 
 were very different in appearance and character. Anthony 
 was a mild-mannered, good-looking man of about thirty. He 
 was, like all these Western tenants, spare of form. I have 
 never seen, in the South or West, a farmer with a double
 
 122 UlELAXJ) VNBEll THE LAXB ACT. 
 
 cliin or a panncli. But still, despite his leanness, Anthony 
 Avas well built, and active. Every year, after sowing his 
 lields, he leaves the care of them to his wife and children, and 
 goes over to the county of Durham. From May until the end 
 of August he gets plenty of woi^k from the English farmers, 
 receiving 4/. 10s. a month wages, his food, and a bed. He 
 sends nearly all the money to his wife, or brings it back with 
 him for the rent. His brother Hai'ry was a violent, excitable 
 Celt, with angry eyes, red hair, and a high-pitched tenor 
 voice. We had hardly commenced the inspection of the farm 
 before he was quarrelling fiercely with the agent, whom he 
 denounced as a liar, Mr. Assistant-Commissioner O'Shaugh- 
 iiessy upon this brought him to reason by a sternly-uttered 
 reprimand, and afterwards he did but indulge in a growl of 
 dissent from all Mr. Beattie's observations. He would not 
 allow his brother to dig the soils for inspection, but snatched 
 the spade from his hand, talking all the time. When Anthony 
 once attempted to answer a question, he sharply interrupted 
 liim. ' Will ye whisht, now, while I try to make the gintle- 
 min sinsible ? ' This surly fellow had a child in every respect 
 the opposite to himself in manner and disposition. All over 
 the farm we were followed by little Mary, his eldest daughter, 
 a laughing, bare-footed romp of fourteen, with long tangled 
 yellow hair, and the largest of blue eyes. First upon meeting 
 us she laid down two milk cans in the middle of a field, and 
 stood gazing. Suddenly she disappeared, like Ariel, return- 
 ing in a moment with eight colleens and gossoons, all younger 
 than herself, and attended by a large dog. Children and dog 
 gathered about us in silent curiosity as the soil was turned 
 up and examined, and they accompanied us, despite all threats 
 and remonstrances, over every part of the farm until we had 
 completed the inspection. jMary led the whole tribe of them 
 from field to field, clambering over the stone fences with the 
 utmost ease, but taking care to keep her troop of ragged 
 cherubs at a safe distance from her father's strange visitors. 
 All these children were certainly healthy and happy enough. 
 Their fathers and mothers indeed looked all the sadder for 
 the contrast. It is like living in a past age to stand for a
 
 IRELAND L'XBER THE LAND ACT. 12S 
 
 few raintites in one of these poor men's cottages. There 
 is but one high- roofed, windowless room within ; and at 
 first it is difficult to discern surrounding objects in the dark- 
 ness. A bright fire of turf burns at one end, and round 
 it sit the old folks, warming ever and anon their chill, 
 trembling hands. Through the smoke gleams the crockery 
 on the never-absent press of dark wood, next to which 
 stands tiie humble bed, rudely canopied to keep out the 
 treacherous rain that leaks through the rotten thatch. The 
 daylight from the open door, half intercepted by a group 
 of peeping boys and girls, touches with the eifect that Rem- 
 brandt loved, a face here and there discovered in the gloom. 
 A young woman, sitting wrapped in a shawl, shows her baby to 
 the sti-angers with smiling pride ; and at this moment a 
 plaintive low calls attention to the presence of a cow and her 
 heifer at the other extremity of the house, or stable, or what- 
 ever it may be called. The whole scene brings strangely to 
 mind an old picture seen long years ago of a Jewish stable, in 
 the days of Rome's pre-eminence, of a beautiful face bending 
 over a newly-born Infant, and the meek eyes of cattle peering 
 out in the dark background. 
 
 After a short pause for lunch, the Commissioners resorting 
 to the mysterious black bag, we proceeded to the holdings of 
 Anthony Bulkiu, Thomas Durken, Patrick Judge, John 
 Judge, Pat Durken, and Luke Durken. These were all 
 similar in character. In all there was a little reclaimed land, 
 upon which the tenants had built houses, and raised oats and 
 potatoes of poor quality. The greater portion of the holdings 
 was bog, and I here found again the value of some English-made 
 shooting-boots and gaiters. I had to spend the afternoon in 
 leaping from sod to sod, sometimes slipping in up to the knees 
 amid a chorus of ' God bless ye ' from the bogtrotters behind 
 me; sometimes crossing a stream on stepping-stones, or taking 
 a wide black ditch at a standing-jump. Professor Baldwin 
 himself would have marvelled at the agility of Mr. Assistant- 
 Commissioner Ilaughton, who is accustomed to grouse shoot- 
 ing ; but I took the precaution of following Mr. O'Shaugh- 
 nessy's gigantic form, knowing that where he had stepped I
 
 124 IIIELAXD UNDER THE LAXD ACT. 
 
 was safe. In every instance the most searching questions 
 Avere put by the Assistant Commissioners, and the minutest 
 observations recorded. ]\Ir, Haughton's qu^estions always be- 
 gan with an inquiry as to the size of the enclosure, followed 
 by another as to the extent of it which the tenant had 
 reclaimed. The two Assistant Commissioners follow entirely 
 different sj^stems in estimating the value of the holdings ; yet, 
 as indicating how fairly and accurately their calculations are 
 made, I may say that, upon the last estate they valued, it 
 was found, upon comparing the two estimates, they were 
 within a few shillings of the same amount. Mr. il'Carthy, 
 for his part, exhibits the keenest anxiety to deal out impartial 
 justice in the hearing of the cases, and the consequence must 
 eventually be that this Sub-Commission will achieve real 
 success, and prove the best that could have been sent here. 
 Already two landlords, after obtaining a decision in one case 
 each upon their holdings, have settled with the remaining 
 tenants upon the same lines ; a course which might advan- 
 tageously be followed in other directions where satisfaction is 
 felt. 
 
 The great want of these Sub-Commissions, however, is 
 still, as I have before pointed out, a staff of official valuers, 
 appointed under Section 38 of the Land Act. The follow- 
 ing suggestion, which I have made to certain gentlemen in 
 authority, has been very favourably received, and may possibly 
 be adopted by the Commissioners.^ At present three-fourths 
 of the time of the Assistant Commissioners is occupied in 
 clambering over mud fences and wading through dismal bogs. 
 If, before they reach a Court town, they had sent official 
 valuers over the estate, they might select, say three holdings, 
 and go over them without naming them beforehand, as a 
 check upon the valuers, who would then, not knowing which 
 farms might be selected, be very careful in valuing every 
 one of them. If this suggestion be not adopted, there is only 
 one other plan, which, as detailed in a former letter, might 
 
 ' The suggestion was adopted by the Commissioners in the case of 
 appeals ; but for reasons which will hereafter appear, it cannot yet be 
 applied to cases coming before the Sub-Commissions.
 
 lUELAXl) I'XDEll Tin: LAND ACl. 125 
 
 he useful ill getting over the diflBcultj — that is the appoint- 
 ment oi' a snfficient number of County Court Judges to be 
 temporarily Assistant Commissioners, associating -with each 
 of them, on equal terms, two skilled agricultural authorities. 
 Unless something of the sort is done, the Courts -will cer- 
 tainly be by Christmas time at a dead lock. This very Sub- 
 Commission must leave behind it a number of cases undecided 
 for want of time.' 
 
 ' The rents in these cases of 3Ir. Thompson were largely reduced.
 
 126 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 MR. EVELYN ASHLEY'S TENANTS. 
 
 Sligo, Saturdaj', November 26. 
 The affairs of tliis country may be properly considered as 
 presenting just now a difficult but in no respect insoluble 
 problem to the statecraft of its rulers. To a large majority 
 of Englishmen the idea of open declared opposition to the law 
 of the land is novel and perplexing — almost incomprehensible. 
 The British burgess or farmer is satisfied in the main with the 
 code, written and customary, which regulates his business, 
 and he is, it would appear, sometimes inclined to think that 
 the state of things prevailing here calls for the most stringent 
 measure known to civil government — namely, Martial Law. 
 As a matter of fact, many persons of authority on this side of 
 the Channel are also at this very moment contemplating the 
 possibility of a resort to that odious necessity ; and there is no 
 doubt that some more effectual system of repression than the 
 honourable confinement of two or three hundred Land 
 Leaguers in Kilmainham is being matured by the Government, 
 Since I stated the other day, as the result of careful and ex- 
 tensive inquiries, that not more than one-tenth of the autumn 
 rents outside Ulster had been paid, the situation has changed 
 distinctly for the worse. Injuries to property and to cattle, 
 attacks upon the person, even murders, have increased in fre- 
 quency and atrocity, and but a yery trifling amount of rent 
 has come in. A few days ago I was told by the agent to a 
 number of great landlords that up to the pi'evious afternoon 
 he had not got in a shilling in respect of any one of the 
 propei'ties which he managed. He had, however, received
 
 IRELAyD VNBEli THE LAND ACT. 127 
 
 on tliat afternoon a little rent from some of tlie tenants upon 
 a single estate ; but, in consequence of tlie refusal of a perma- 
 nent reduction, the whole body of the tenants bad served him 
 ■with originating notices, piles of which he showed me. In 
 this case he was agent for trustees, who obviously could not, 
 with safety to themselves, consent to permanent reductions. 
 The general non-payment of rents is now undoubtedly the 
 most serious symptom of the land agitation, and it is clearly 
 the effect of the system of outrage which is terrorising the 
 country. The small amount of rent paid is not surprising 
 if we recollect that in large districts a man who pays his 
 landlord gains practically little more security in his holding 
 than his non-paying neighbour, and that his life is put in 
 hourly and imminent danger. What is wanted, therefore, is 
 some better means of suppressing and preventing outrages. 
 And here it is encouraging to observe that the areas operated 
 upon by the assassins are in reality few and small. Martial 
 law, as proclaimed in 1833 during the anti-tithe agitation, is 
 unnecessary. What is wanted is a short measure enabling 
 the Lord-Lieutenant to send an increased police force to any 
 district to be defined by him, with authority to search for 
 arms, and with instructions to patrol every road and lane all 
 night. The force should consist of picked men of the best 
 character. The utmost forbearance should be rigidly required 
 of them ; and the cost of their maintenance should be laid 
 upon landlords and tenants in the district. Compensation to 
 the relatives of a murdered or injured man should also be levied 
 upon the locality, and thus every person in it would have an 
 interest, which at present he has not, in preventing murderous 
 outrages. 
 
 The authorities are understood, however, to favour tlio 
 temporary suspension of the right to trial by jury in certain 
 districts, upon which it may be remarked that, reasonable and 
 appropriate as such a course would appear to be, it would not 
 ensure the attendance of the necessary witnesses. Obnoxious 
 as some of the Irish Judges are to the people, it is out of the 
 question that any of them would convict prisoners upon 
 less evidence then he had been accustomed to require at an
 
 128 JllELAXl) VXDini THE LAXl) ACT. 
 
 ordinary trial. Of course a Commission of Judges would not 
 Lave power to inflict capital punishment, even on the clearest 
 evidence, and for that reason, if the plan be adopted, it would 
 be as well to reserve the power of prosecuting before a jury. 
 With this safeguard, and as an additional means of repression, 
 the Commission might possibly be useful as an adjunct to 
 what is after all the real remedy — an increase in the police 
 force. 
 
 On the occasion of the opening of the Commission a 
 sentence of the President was interpreted to mean that the 
 reduced scale of payment to be fixed by the Assistant Com- 
 missioners would apply to the half-year current when the Act 
 was i^assed on August 22 last. For example, if a Sub-Com- 
 mission gave a decision on October 20, 1882, reducing Patrick 
 O'Donnell's rent from lOZ. to 8/. a year, only 4:1. and not hi. 
 would have been due to the landlord on September 29, 1881. 
 There has unquestionably been a great deal too much speechi- 
 fying during the short history of the Commission ; but Mr. 
 Justice O'Hagan could hardly be supposed by any lawyer to 
 have intended to lay down this doctrine. The words of the 
 2nd clause of Section 8 expressly provided that the re- 
 duced rent should not commence even to accrue from day to 
 day until after the decision of the Court. The misapprehen- 
 sion has been rectified; but there is still a mysterious section 
 of the Act to be considered. Section GO provides that an 
 order of the Court, made upon an application recorded on the 
 first occasion of the Court's sitting, shall be equivalent to an 
 order pronou^nced at the date of the passing of the Act — that 
 is August 22, 1881. Nearly thirty thousand applications 
 were so recorded, and each of the applicants believes that at 
 least the half-year's rent accruing due from September 29 or 
 November 1 — the first rent days happening after the passing 
 of the Act — will be reduced by the decision. In the case 
 put, Patrick would expect to pay only 4Z., or perhaps less, 
 on ]\Iarch 25, 1882, and until he knows the amount, he is 
 unwilling to part with his money. Of course the old rent 
 could still be enforced at law ; but this widespread expecta- 
 tion is likely to interfere very seriously with the payments of
 
 IRELAXD ILXDER THE LAXD ACT. 129 
 
 rents in tlie spring. I never meet an intelligent Iris n man on 
 either side who does not regard the want of some provision 
 dealing with arrears as a hopeless defect in the Act. The 
 small landlords are now taking out writs largely for arrears; 
 and it is worthy of remark that the great landlords are be- 
 ginning generally to follow the example set by their needy 
 brethren. Still another hindrance to the payment of rent is 
 occasionally noticeable in the attitude adopted by some land- 
 lords towards their tenants. A haughty and defiant de- 
 meanour in the Rent-Office is sometimes sufficient to turn the 
 scale at the present juncture. I think I can give an instance 
 of this. 
 
 The late Lord Palmerston owned an extensive estate at 
 Cliffbney, on the north-western coast of the county Sligo. 
 In l8t>5 it passed to his widow, and upon her death to her son, 
 Mr. Cowper-Temple, now Lord Mount-Temple. A few years 
 since Mr. Cowper-Temple gave it to the present owner, 
 his relative, the Hon. Evelyn Ashley, M.P. The estate, 
 which amounts to over twelve thousand acres, begins at the 
 village of Grange, and extends along the sea-coast for some 
 ten miles to Bunduff", on the borders of Leitrim. There are, 
 I believe, about 689 tenants upon it. The rental is 3,600?., 
 and the valuation about 8,700L Daring Lord Palmerston's 
 lifetime the landlord and tenant agreed very well together ; 
 2O,00uZ. was laid out upon a small harbour at Mullaghmore 
 Point ; relief works were undertaken in the famine years ; 
 the I'ent was never raised, and the adoption of improvement 
 schemes was rewarded. If the tenants had one complaint 
 against their landlord, it was that he did not respect their 
 notion of part-ownership in the soil. All round his new har- 
 bour and elsewhere he set back the tenants to lands further 
 from the sea, leaving them, however, an ancient way to shore, 
 for the seaweed which some of them sold as ' kelp ' for the 
 extraction of iodine, others used as manure, and some wretches 
 were even foi'ced to eat. Mr. and Mrs. Cowper-Temple, as 
 might have been expected, were indulgent and generous 
 towards their tenants, and their names are honoured there to 
 •this day. Mr. Ashley has also in many respects shown him- 
 
 K
 
 130 IBELAKD UNDER THE LAXD ACT. 
 
 self considerate towards the numerous families who were 
 transferred to him with their holdings. He has not evicted 
 the tenants ; he has given them time, and last year excused 
 half-a-year's rent. But in other respects his conduct has 
 hardly been conciliatory. He refused to concede what his 
 tenantry regard as their immemorial rights ; he maintains 
 officials who are justly obnoxious to them ; and he has refused 
 this year to allow any abatement of the rents. When the 
 agent the other evening attended at Mullaghmore to receive 
 the rents, which are paid yeai'ly, the tenants, by their spokes- 
 man, required the grant of the following conditions : — Firstly, 
 an abatement of one-third ; secondly, the transference of a 
 certain head gamekeeper to some other sphere of usefulness ; 
 and thirdly, according to one account, the release of the sus- 
 pects. Looking at Mr. Ashley's position in the Ministry, it is 
 clear that if this demand were seriously made, the tenants, 
 who are to a man Land Leaguers, have been receiving bad 
 advice. It is probable, however, that the concession of the 
 first and second demands would have satisfied them, and it is 
 by no means certain that this concession ought not to have 
 been made. 
 
 I left Sligo this morning in a violent storm of wind and 
 rain, behind a horse of excellent speed and temper, but piloted 
 by a morose, cross-grained driver, the very opposite of honest 
 old Michael of Ballina. Before we had passed through the 
 town, he had engaged in a recriminatory dialogue with a 
 market woman, ' off" her side,' which, for range and pungency 
 of epithet, recalled the famous encounter between Mephisto- 
 pheles and Bellona, in Dr. Kenealy's poem ; and with as 
 signal a victory for the lady. We pursued the Ballyshannon 
 road as far as the old church of Drumcliff", once the seat of a 
 bishopric, and where yet stand two exquisitely carved Irish 
 crosses, and the remains of one of the ancient round towers, 
 into which the owner must have entered by escalade. Here 
 we made all fast, as we had presently to tui'n the corner of the 
 King's Mount. King's Mount and Benbulbin were dimly 
 seen like a faded picture through the mist ; and a succession 
 of furious blasts, accompanied by hail and rain, bore along 
 each chain full upon us.
 
 J li ELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 131 
 
 At tlie village of Grange we came upon Mr. Ashley's 
 estate, and the road began to look rather English. Lord 
 Palmerston planted ornamental trees on both sides of it, and 
 placed here and there a slated cottage all neatly whitewashed. 
 I drove straight to the residence of the venerable and dignified 
 parish priest, the Very Rev, Canon Malachi Brennan. His 
 curate, the Rev. Mr. Cummins, was also present, and both 
 gentlemen greeted me cordially. Having explained the 
 object of my visit. Father Brennan, or, as he is commonly 
 called, Father Malachi, related to me the grievances of the 
 tenantry. The first cause of estrangement was the refusal to 
 allow the tenants the use of the old road to get their seaweed. 
 They were directed to use a new road which took them so 
 long to traverse, and was in other respects so inconvenient, 
 that one-half only of the seaweed brought in could be secured. 
 One of them was prosecuted for using the old road, fined 
 some small amount, and in default of payment committed to 
 prison. By advice, however, the question was taken before a 
 higher tribunal, and ultimately the use of the old road was re- 
 stored to the tenants. The second head of complaint referred 
 to the conduct of a gamekeeper, an Englishman, imported by 
 Mr. Ashley to guard his preserves. This man is stated to 
 have shot one person by the reckless use of firearms, to have 
 fired at or over another, and generally to have conducted him- 
 self in an overbearing, ofiensive manner towards the tenants. 
 Father Cummins told me that he one day, hearing a shot fired, 
 went into the road, and found a number of persons expostulat- 
 ing with the gamekeeper. It appeared from the discussion that 
 the man had met a boy carrying a gan in the road without a 
 licence, and that the boy, fearing him, dropped the gun and fled. 
 The gamekeeper immediately fired after him as he ran, fortu- 
 nately without cfiect. Father Cummins heard him admit the 
 fact, and state that ' he only wanted to frighten him.' This 
 man is rigidly Boycotted, and has a policeman with him 
 wherever he goes ; and it is probable that if anyone fired at 
 him with the excuse that ' he only wanted to frighten him,' 
 the matter would be treated very differently by the landlord. 
 The charges against the gamekeeper had been drawn up by 
 
 k2
 
 i:]2 inELAXD UXDER THE LAXD ACT. 
 
 Fathei' Malaclii and his two curates, at tlae request of the 
 tenants, and sent in to Mr. Asliley, withont effect. On the 
 contrary, he wrote in a cold tone of rebuke to the aged parish 
 priest, suggesting that the Father had been persuaded to sign 
 a memorial, and that it was the work of some new-comer. 
 Father ]\Ialachi, who has a real regard for Mr. Ashley, was 
 deeply moved while he was relating all this, and said that he 
 had immediately applied to the landlord, urging at length the 
 views of the tenantry, and assuring him that he had never put 
 his hand to anything which he did not approve of and under- 
 stand. Mr. Ashley returned a petulant and haughty reply, 
 putting an end to the correspondence. The letters were 
 fehown to me, but as they contain evidence of a hasty and un- 
 reasoning temper, I have done no more, in accordance with 
 Father Malachi's wishes, than indicate the general character 
 of them. Father Cummins was kind enough to drive with 
 me to some of the tenants' houses. Not far from Father 
 Malachi's we met a young man, wdio had actually been struck 
 M'ith shot fired by the gamekeeper referred to, fortunately 
 without injury. He told me the whole story ; from which it 
 appeared that the man had fired at a dog belonging to my in- 
 formant with such recklessness as to send a shot into the 
 latter's face. 
 
 As we drove along, after hearing this, I noticed that the 
 holdings were of a wretchedly poor description, mostly boggy, 
 and the houses surrounded with mud and filth. One proof of 
 the poverty of the people is that during the entire day I did not 
 see a single pig. If a tenant has ten or twelve shillings to 
 spare when the early potatoes come in, he always buys a pig to 
 fatten on the diseased tubers ; and here they could not afford 
 to do that. I walked on to Terence M'Gargle's farm, which 
 consists of about seven Irish acres, mostly pasture of a rough 
 description. Hisrent is 3Z. 9s. He grows enough potatoes for 
 the winter, a scanty crop of oats, for which the land is alto- 
 gether unfitted, and he keeps two cows. He and his only child, 
 a son, with a little assistance from his wife, work the farm. 
 The soil of the potato field was fairly good. ' But come 
 farther, sir,' said he ; ' the soil is but two inches deep on the
 
 IRELASD UNDER THE LAXB ACT. I.IS 
 
 rest.' Aud when we tried the ground nearer to the sea, we 
 did indeed find but the scantiest turf thinly covering hard 
 rock. Looking into the house I could see no bacon hanging 
 from the rafters, only a great heap of potatoes in one corner, 
 beside which stood a cow and her heifer, while a few hens 
 fluttered about the room at their pleasure. The tenant's wife 
 and son were sitting before a fire of turf, and they rose to 
 greet us. 'Well, Terence,' I said, after other particulars had 
 been discussed, 'and how do you live?' ' Indeed, sir, bub 
 very poorly.' ' You get a little meat now and then, I suppose ?' 
 'Is it meat, sir? Sure it's not more than once a year, at 
 Christmas, we can taste it.' ' You get some American bacon 
 then ? ' ■' No, sir, the bacon's not for poor folks like us ; but 
 we have the praties, thank God, and the sup of milk.' ' Do 
 you ever eat one of these hens, Terence,' inquired Father 
 Cummins. The whole family laughed together. ' No, indeed, 
 your Riverence ; but we sell the eggs, and it helps to pay the 
 rent.' ' Have you any sons in America ? ' I inquired. ' I 
 have none but this boy, sir.' ' Now, what do you think 
 would be a fair rent for the farm, Terence ? ' He thought 
 for a time. 'I think I could pay the two pounds nine, sir.' 
 On a farm occupied by another tenant we found a large field 
 in a state of swamp, and I inquired of the tenant why it was 
 in such a condition, ' Sure, sir,' he said, ' I drained it with 
 six drains, into the pipe in the road forninst you ; but the 
 pipe burst, and they made a new one higher up the road ; and 
 the farrum is too low to run water out into it.' John Farrell 
 had two acres, on part of which he grew potatoes. He was a 
 thin, haggard, anxious-looking man, and his house, or hut, was 
 repulsive to enter or to walk about. He told the same story 
 as the rest, of poverty and bad soil, and struggling to pay the 
 rent. ' How many children have you, John ? ' ' Three at 
 home, sir, and a boy and a girl in Ameriky.' ' And do they 
 send you something for the rent ? ' ' Sure they did, sir, but 
 sorra a penny have they sent this year.' I inquired what 
 animal occupied a low shed built under the Ice of his cabin, 
 ' Sure it's me sisther, sir,' said he apologetically ; ' it's the best 
 I could make for her.' In this hut, more like a wheelbarrow
 
 134 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACl. 
 
 slied than anything else, the old man's maiden sister had 
 been housed for years. 
 
 After seeing quite enough of these hovels we drove to the 
 harbour at Murraghmore, where the houses are more preten- 
 tious. It is certainly well situated for fishing, and the moun- 
 tains towering out on both sides of the bay into the Atlantic, 
 with lines of breakers dashing endlessly at their feet into clouds 
 of spray, are as grand as any in the kingdom. But the enter- 
 prise has failed. The fishermen have bad seasons ; the streets 
 marked out for villas are yet unbuilt, and the castle that crowns 
 the hill, and was to be the highest pinnacle of a stately town, 
 still looks down on a waste where stand a few melancholy- 
 looking lodging-houses. All the tenants on this estate have 
 refused to pay their rents without a reduction of 65. Sd. in the 
 pound. It is rumoured that Mr. Ashley is about to exercise 
 ' firmness ' — in other words, to enforce the law. But he is 
 practically helpless. He cannot evict seven hundred men 
 with their families in the midst of winter, and nothing less 
 would be of any avail. Quidquld multis peccatur inultum est. 
 A poor-law collector in the neighbourhood declares that the 
 tenants are ' more fit to go into the poor-house than to pay 
 rent.' There is perhaps a little moral for other landlords in 
 all this. I have not the slightest doubt that Mr. M'Carthy's 
 Commission will lower the rents upon this estate from 20 to 
 30 per cent. If a member of the Ministry so well informed 
 as Mr. Ashley refuses any permanent abatement to his tenants, 
 is it not probable that he is aware of some scheme of compen- 
 sation for diminutions of rent which are effected by the Com- 
 mission, to which compensation a landlord making voluntary 
 permanent reductions would have no claim ?
 
 IRELAND UXDER TUB LAND ACT. 135 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THE CASTLETOWN EVICTIONS. 
 
 Castletown Berehaven, Co. Cork 
 Saturday Evening, December 3. 
 
 Tee accounts -which reach one of the varying influx of ' origi- 
 nating notices ' from different counties suggest a feature of 
 rhe present situation which is of somewhat evil omen for the 
 ruture. Wherever the League has waxed popular, a doubly- 
 discomforting result can now be traced. ISTot only do the 
 farmers in a county under the dominance of the League refuse 
 in a body to pay rent, but, except in the poorest tracts of the 
 West, they hang back from the Courts of the Land Com- 
 mission. A man might as well hope for rent from a sub- 
 merged island as from an estate in County Cork, and no one 
 m his senses would buy an acre of land, unless as a family 
 burying ground, in County Limerick. The owners of the 
 ■^oil fare miserably in Counties Clare, Cavan, King's, Louth, 
 Wicklow, Tipperary, and Kerry. In most of these counties 
 the proportion of cases entered for trial by the Commission 
 is lamentably small, and shows no sign of increase, although, 
 it may be remarked that none of them is so backward as 
 Dublin County. On the other hand, Tipperary, with about a 
 thousand, and Limerick, with eight hundred and fifty cases, 
 evince some glimmering reappearance of that quick sense of 
 self-interest in this matter which was thought to have finally 
 vanished from the minds of the Irish farmers. The tenants 
 in Kerry are also flocking to the Registry, while the appli- 
 cations from ]\Iayo and from Galway are coming in three 
 times as fast as those from Ulster, which has nearly exhausted 
 the list of possible litigants. The general rate at which
 
 130 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 ' orisfinatincf notices ' are received is about five hundred a. 
 day, but of course there is considerable fluctuation. It is 
 surprising that there are only seven or eight hundred appli- 
 cations to break leases, but this may be due to the prevailing 
 impression, that the Commission vpill only exercise their 
 jurisdiction on this head in extreme and flagrant cases of 
 tyranny or deception. It is probable that a certain number 
 of the poorer Western cultivators, encouraged by the reduc- 
 tions recently eS"ected in their midst, will resort to the pro- 
 cedure nnder the Act, and that the total number of applications 
 recorded may in some three or four months be a hundred 
 thousand. Adding to these the cases of about a hundred 
 thousand tenants claiming to be either actually, or by con- 
 struction of law, leaseholders, and two hundred and twenty- 
 three thousand known to be fairly rented, or to be held back 
 by Land League influence, the genuine agricultural tenants 
 of Ireland will ultimately be nearly all accounted for. It is 
 customary to argue such questions upon the assumption that 
 the tenants number more than six hundred thousand; but the 
 assumption is based upon an insuflicient examination of the 
 facts. It is true that the agricultural holdings of the king- 
 dom amount to six hundred thousand and more. But after 
 deducting from the calculation the large number of cases in 
 which a person occupies two or more holdings, we should 
 perhaps estimate about five hundred and twenty-three thou- 
 sand as the figure truly representing the number of the cul- 
 tivators. Of these at least one hundred thousand hold land for 
 pleasure, as town parks, or for the purpose of occupying super- 
 fluous time not I'equired for other more remunerative business. 
 We should then have a reduced number of 428,000 tenants, 
 dependent for their subsistepce upon the cultivation of land 
 in their occupation, that being the exact number of persons 
 calling themselves tenant-farmers in the Census returns for 
 1871. From the subsequent yearly returns it is clear tliat 
 the number of pure tenant-farmers must have been even less 
 at the time when the Census was last taken. 
 
 The campaign between the landlords, who are now begin- 
 ■ning to demand their arrears, ai\d the League, has opened
 
 IltELAXD UXDER THE LAXI) ACT. i:37 
 
 in the Soutli by the evictions upon the Castletown estates 
 belonging to the Earl of Bantry, and on those of Mr. Puxley. 
 The result, it will be perceived, is in this case a drawn battle. 
 Some significance was attached to the proceedings by the 
 fact that Mr. Herbert Gladstone accompanied the Sheriff. I 
 believe I am correct in stating that the Chief Secretary, who 
 is perfectly alive to the peculiar hardships of tenant life in 
 the West, desired that young Mr. Gladstone should see for 
 himself what Mr. Forster had painfully realised thirty years 
 before. Mr. Gladstone was particularly enjoined to visit the 
 wretched inhabitants of Dursey Island ; but this, as will be 
 hereafter shown, was impossible. 
 
 A body of about fifty police, under Sub-Inspector 
 Maxwell, and about a hundred and fifty foot soldiers, were 
 assembled at Castletopn on Tuesday last, and supported the 
 work of eviction on that and the three following days. On 
 Tuesday and Wednesday the Under Sheriff, accompanied by 
 the agent, Mr. Payne, and three bailiffs, and surrounded by his 
 armed escort, methodically evicted tenant after tenant of the 
 thirty-nine selected for the operation, as regularly seeing them 
 restored by Mr. Payne as caretakers, or occupiers at will, upon 
 a promise to pay the arrears. Mr. Ptxyne, however strange 
 it may sound, is not a man of ungentle disposition, and his 
 object in the whole affair was merely to give a lesson to the 
 numerous tenantry of Loi-d Bantry and Mr. Paxley upon 
 these mountain. sides, most of whom owed two or three years' 
 rent — in other words, it was his desire to get in a little 
 money. On Thursday this prospect was somewhat marred 
 by the advent of a fair Land Leagueress, distinguished by 
 spectacles, and a fluency of speech more than feminine. The 
 lady followed the march of the column, and, stealing into a 
 house about to be invaded, persuaded the occupiers to submit 
 to actual eviction, upon her promise that a house should be 
 built for them on a neighbour's farm, and that they should be 
 supported from the funds of the Ladies' Land League. Yes- 
 V terday, upon starting for the evictions, another Sister of this 
 \ somewhat obtrusive Cliarity appeared. The car of the two 
 ladies followed immediately after one upon which I happened
 
 138 IRELAND UXDER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 to be. The troops and police had already inarched to the 
 scene of action, but we overtook them at a few miles' distance 
 from Castletown. The advance of the ladies was looked for, 
 and the gallant major in command had made ample prepara- 
 tions for repelling it. It was raining smartly, and the bogs 
 on either side of the road were so soaked with water, that 
 nothing heavier than a fairy conld have tripped across them 
 safely, to say nothing of the frequent and slippery mud fences 
 that had to be scaled. The wily Commandant had therefore 
 halted his force at a particularly sloppy spot, where the road 
 branches in two directions. He had extended the police two 
 deep across the road, while the soldiers, grasping their rifles, 
 stood further back as a reserve. Our car was allowed to pass. 
 Then came sharp words of command, ' Left turn,' ' Quick 
 march,' ' Halt, front,' and a sectiorv^ promptly filled the 
 gap. A select body of constables was following the Sheriff 
 over the hills towards the threatened holdings upon Mr. Pux- 
 ley's estate, and I trudged after them, leaving the two ladies 
 face to face with a hopeless superiority of force. For an hour 
 it seems they sat expostulating with the Constabulary upon 
 the unpatriotic character of their service, and finally returned 
 at full trot to their hotel — I sincerely trust without catching 
 cold.i 
 
 The Constabulary climbed the hill in skirmishing order. 
 The first house the Sheriff reached was that of Margaret Walsh, 
 
 1 Mr. Forster has been severely blamed for the prosecution of the 
 spectacled patriotess, "who was held to bail, but preferred to go to prison. 
 The lady, however, appears to have exceeded the license tacitly alloAved to 
 the Ladies' Land League. The state of things in many parts of Ireland 
 is analogous to a condition of war, in which neiitrals are allowed to suc- 
 cour and relieve the non-combatant element of the population. So the 
 Ladies' Land League have been permitted to look after the families of sus- 
 pects, and of evicted tenants ; and even to administer to the wants of the 
 imprisoned Leaguers. But the lady in question, by inciting the tenant to 
 endure eviction, threw oif her neutral character, and became, so to speak, 
 a combatant. In the most dangerous times of the French Eevolution, such 
 sensible, placid Tricotenscs as restricted their Eepublican zeal to the pro- 
 duction, sustenance, and comforting of patriots Avere never interfered 
 ■with.
 
 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 139 
 
 of Crumlong, high up on the mountain. The widow received 
 us weeping. Four frightened young children stood by the 
 hearth, pale as the ashes upon it, and a grown-up son lay 
 dying of consumption in the after-room. A few words were 
 sufficient. The agent's nephew and the Sheriff conferred apart 
 with the poor woman, who made a promise to pay something 
 soon, and then she was directed to go outside with the children 
 for a moment. It was but a moment, while the Sheriff, fulfill- 
 ing the accustomed ceremony, extinguished the fire on the 
 hearth ; 3-et the little group stands before me as I write more 
 vividly than any that was ever arranged upon canvas. The 
 children, with their bare legs half buried in the filth of the 
 dungheap, held their peace ; but their eyes were brimming 
 with sympathy for their mother, as with her face working 
 strangely before the circle of armed men, she clasped her 
 youngest child more closely in her scanty shawl, to protect it 
 from the driving rain. Four other tenants, owing, like Widow 
 Walsh, about two and a half years' rent, were similai'ly 
 evicted, and then re-admitted as caretakers ; and in each case 
 there was something indescribably mournful in the spectacle 
 of the utter and hopeless poverty of those mountaineers. A 
 thousand feet above the ocean that laved the shores of the bay 
 below them, they had driven their hardy cattle out daily to 
 eat the sweet grasses from the crevices in the rocks ; and had 
 laboriously dug and planted their tiny plots with potatoes, 
 with but one result — a bare yield of food, hardly enough to 
 keep life in their lean bodies ; unless, indeed, as another result 
 I may be allowed to reckon the growth of that despondency, 
 due to the struggle with an unkindly soil, which is here grimly 
 described as ' The breaking heart.' Their families were very 
 large ; in some cases the husbands were in America, sending 
 home what they could spare from their earnings. 
 
 After completing the evictions on Mr. Puxley's holdings — 
 obtaining, however, nothing in the shape of hard cash — the 
 Sheriff' made his way back down the road, towards the houses 
 of some tenants of Lord Bantry. The bugler occasionally 
 played a lively march, which swelled and eddied away in 
 echoes from the mountain ranges all about us, and the troops,
 
 HO lUELAXB UXDElt THE LAXD ACT. 
 
 marcliing at ease, cteered their solitary musician. Scarcely 
 a human being could be seen in this dreary wilderness. The 
 Sheriff again left the road with some police, and stopped at the 
 house of one Widow j\I'Carthy. It was empty; the fui'niture 
 had been carried out, and the door borne away. The party 
 next reached the honse of John Cronin, a returned emigrant ; 
 who had spent all the money he had bi'ought back Avith him in 
 building a very good house, and some outhouses. He is a 
 passionate man, and on seeing the police, seized a hammer and 
 furiously smashed his furniture into pieces. He then tore the 
 door from its hinges. At this moment Mr. Payne, senior, who 
 had joined the Sheriff, accosted him, ' What are jou doing 
 that for, Cronin ? ' — 'To get in and out when I wish,' he re- 
 plied sternly. ' Xow, do be reasonable, and go in again as 
 caretaker like the others.' — ' I will not. I must leave the 
 farm, for I can't get a living on it.' 'Take the penny now, 
 and shelter your child.' — ' I will not.' The penny was put into 
 another man's hand to give him, but he still obstinately re- 
 fused to touch it, and so did his wife ; and the family were 
 accordingly left in the yard outside the house. The same 
 course was pursued with the Widow Conroy, who likewise 
 declined to be put in as caretaker, or to promise to pay the 
 rent. 
 
 This morning I called early at Mi^s. Conroy's house, and 
 her story in full is as follows : — ' I am the widow of Jerry 
 Conroy, who was killed at Mr. Puxley's Castle when at work, 
 and Mr. Puxley gave me ten shillings. I am forty-six years 
 of age, and shall have been widowed fourteen years next May. 
 The old rent was 5?. I85., and I had four milch cows. Then 
 the land was stripped, six years ago last September ; and the 
 rent raised all round. Some of my land was taken away, and 
 eight and a half acres left. I pay 8Z, 10»\ rent. I have three- 
 quarters of an acre in potcxtoes, no oats, and two cows ; but 
 one belongs to my mother-in-law. I had one firkin of butter 
 this year, but none last year, when we all had to take the re- 
 lief. I have one daughter, nineteen years old, in America, in 
 service. She has had the fever, and can send nothing. I 
 have three at home ; two children and one boy grown up ; he
 
 IliELAXD UXDER THE LAXD ACT. 141 
 
 ■works at tlie farm. I had a little pig this year, but I had to 
 sell it, and I owe a great deal of money in Castletown. My 
 mother lives -with me, and my mother-in-law next door. The 
 land is poor and wet. I think I could pay three pounds. I 
 owe three years' arrears.' 
 
 John Cronin is a powerfully built man of 40 with a 
 hard, set face. I noticed that his hat was worked round with, 
 the word ' League.' He had eight and three-quarters acres, 
 and the rent was five guineas. With two cows lie made but 
 one firkin of butter this year, and his potato crop was a poor 
 one. He had four boys, three of them being still young chil- 
 dren. His house is the best in the district for miles round, 
 being substantially built of stone, slated, whitewashed, and 
 fitted with good windows and doors. He had spent sixty 
 pounds upon it, and had drained his land with unceasing in- 
 dustry. He thought he could pay two pounds rent, but he 
 could not, or would not, pay the arrears. The man was walk- 
 ing moodily up and down before his house to-day, his wife 
 watching him anxiously. The broken bed and other furniture 
 were lying in a confused heap, the young children playing 
 about them, and the sun shone brightly down upon all. 
 
 Catherine ]M'Carthy, aged 24, was a comely widow, with 
 one child, six months old. Her husband had suffered from 
 erysipelas, and had died but three weeks before. Her rent 
 was IQl. 5s., and the valuation 8Z. 15s., her farm being of ten 
 or twelve acres in extent. Three years' rent was owing. She 
 thought that 6?. would be a fair rent. The agent had already 
 put in a neighbour as caretaker, and the new comer had al- 
 ready his cows on the farm. These three evicted tenants had 
 all seen the Land League ladies on the evening of Friday to 
 report their conduct, but stated that they did not yet know 
 what would be done for them. They had respectively lodged 
 with their families at the neighbours' houses. I was struck 
 with the fact that each of the three complained with bitterness 
 that the agent had refused to allow an abatement or ' settle- 
 ment.' This is, however, denied by Mr. Payne.
 
 142 IBELAJSD UNDER 2 HE LAND ACT, 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 DUIISEY ISLAND. 
 
 Castletowx Berehavex : Monday, December 5. 
 Yesterday, not without mucli difficulty, I effected a landing 
 on the jealously-guarded Dursey Island, and thoroughly ex- 
 plored it. This tiny part of Her Majesty's dominions, which 
 lies off the western coast of County Cork, has but rarely been 
 trodden by a stranger's foot, and, owing to the unfortunate 
 relations subsisting of late between the islanders and their 
 landlord, Lord Bautry, it has for some time back been main- 
 tained in a state of siege. It is impossible even in this town, 
 the nearest to Dursey, to obtain any exact information con- 
 cerning it ; and I have only discovered one townsman who 
 ever visited it. Lord Bantry has never been over it, 
 and it is twelve years since his agent was there. That is, 
 perhaps, due to the fact that after taking a short walk on a 
 sheltered plateau in the island, he went home and promptly 
 raised the I'ents of the inhabitants very considerably all round. 
 For some two years, however, I believe, the Dursey people 
 have paid neither rent nor taxes, and without a naval expedi- 
 tion it is difficult to see how any legal obligation can be enforced 
 against them. The process of the law cannot be personally 
 served there, for the simple reason that there are no boats to 
 be had, except those of the island fishermen, who decline to 
 lend them for any such purpose. There are, moreover, only 
 two landing-places on the coast of Dursey, both so dangerous 
 that any boat steered by an inexperienced and unskilled hand 
 would inevitably be dashed to pieces against the sharp edges 
 of the slate cliffs, and all the writs and notices whirled away 
 upon the angry waves of the Atlantic. It was in the early
 
 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 143 
 
 morning wlien I started for Dursey, with two gentlemen who 
 wished to accompany me. The weather had been frosty 
 during the earlier part of the night, but now the wind was 
 rising from the south-west ; the rain poured heavily down, and 
 we reached Garinish only to find a gale blowing, and the 
 waves roaring furiously. Of course all hope of rescuing the 
 lighthouse men that day had been given up ; but I found 
 the daring boatman Shea confident that he could still 
 carry me across the Sound to Dursey. It was about half- 
 past six o'clock in the morning, and as dark as midnight. 
 My two friends absolutely refused to make any attempt to 
 cross. They accordingly drove back again to Castletown. 
 
 The descent to the water was by winding steps cut in the 
 cliff, ending in a small cove, into which successive billows 
 rolled with a terrible noise, tossing the great boat, 25 feet in 
 length, high up in the air, as if they would fling her against the 
 rocks. It was very difficult to hear the directions shouted to 
 me. The four oai'smen, however, pulling hard, kept the boat 
 near the steps, and seizing the moment when she rose nearest 
 I sprang safely in, with no more mishap than a roll over. 
 Pulling well together, the men brought me over the 
 Sound, the bow of the boat sometimes rising high in the air, 
 and then settling down with horrid persistency into the yawn- 
 ing jaws of a huge wave. The landing place on Dursey Island 
 was even more dangerous than the starting place on the main- 
 land, being merely a shelving cliff. There, however, a number 
 of men caught a rope and dragged the boat up, so that we 
 could safely disembark. The rock was so slippeiy that I 
 should probably have shot back into the boiling torrent raging 
 round us if I had not been assisted up by two men. 
 
 At these fearful places the people of Dursey have to cross 
 and recross if they would visit the mainland. When they have 
 a cow to sell they fasten a rope to its horns, force it down a 
 shelving rock into deep water, and then drag it after the boat 
 to the other side, where the exhausted beast has to clamber up 
 another steep ascent. Pigs can only be carried across when 
 young. A porker is carried in a man's arms down to the boat, 
 flung in, and tossed out again on landing. Sometimes a cow
 
 144 HIE LAND UXBEIt THE LAND ACT. 
 
 is lost in making the passage, and I saw a horse with its off 
 hind-leg so seriously injured by this dangerous system of 
 ferrying as to be useless. Sometimes a band of Dursey folk 
 returning from Castletown find a gale blowing, and have to 
 wait for a week before they can cross. In the meanwhile 
 they of course subsist on charity. Again, a man having a pig 
 or cow to sell may be delayed in the island until the fair day 
 is past, and in that case his chance of selling it is gone. The last 
 person to visit Dursey, save myself, was a Mr. Joynt, who 
 came with a supply of food for the starving inhabitants ; and 
 he was so impressed, I am told, with the danger incurred in 
 crossing, even in fine weather, that he generously promised a 
 hundred pounds towards building a kind of quay, but nothing 
 in that direction has yet been done. The weather is here 
 as a rule tempestuous throughout the greater part of the year. 
 Last week, however, the most terrible storm known for thirty 
 years occurred. The Calf Rock Lighthouse, built on an islet 
 at the south-western angle of Dursey, was destroyed, and 
 several of the fishermen's boats were crushed. 
 
 A number of the poor people, attracted by the sight of a 
 stranger, followed me and my conductors up a road, hewn 
 and blasted out of the rock, to one of the three villages, known 
 as Ballynacallagh. The island runs from the north-east to 
 the south-west, and is about four miles in length, being in the 
 middle nearly a mile across. It is simply a long mountain 
 range, the rock being slate, with veins of quartz. This, I 
 believe, is the formation on the opposite coast, at the copper 
 mines of AUihies, and it is therefore possible that copper 
 might be also found in Dursey Island, and some remunerative 
 work provided for the people. I could not, however, find 
 that any experiment had ever been made with the ' corrie,' as 
 they called the quartz. The population once amounted to 
 three hundred, but at least one- third went to America in the 
 year of the great famine, and from these emigrants I find the 
 Dursey people derive their chief means of support. 
 
 At Ballynacallagh I called on Jerry Harrington, one of 
 the three richest men in the island. He came out clad 
 in a tattered flannel shirt, an old broken hat, frieze trousers,
 
 IRELAKD UNDER THE LAND ACT. 145 
 
 and a pair of boots which an English beggar would not pick 
 up, half of his right foot and half the toes being exposed as he 
 walked on in the heavy rain. There are eight or ten houses, 
 of the poorest Irish type, in the village ; and the ruins of a 
 little church, believed to have been built by the Spaniards 
 centuries ago, but containing no inscriptions. The number of 
 souls on the island is now two hundred and nine, and they 
 have neither priest, doctor, nor schoolmaster among them. 
 There is no magistrate, bailiff, or official of any kind. The 
 little community governs itself, and strives, with poor success, 
 to feed itself. No shop is kept, and a wheeled vehicle is un- 
 known. About twice a year the islanders usually contrive to 
 go over the stormy Sound to hear mass ; and mothers carry 
 across their infants for Baptism when they are a month old. 
 If a man is too sick to bear transportation he dies, and is laid 
 to rest in a little graveyard looking far out on the expanse of 
 ocean, whose sad ceaseless rhythm is his requiem. 
 
 There are twenty-three farms on the island, the cultivators 
 ekeing out their produce by fishing ; and there are twelve 
 households solely dependent on the ocean stores, the number 
 of boats being five. This has been a bad season, and all the 
 boats except one were knocked to pieces by the recent storm. 
 The farms are almost entirely devoted to grazing, a little space 
 in each being reserved for potatoes, or sometimes oats. Tlie 
 potato crop this year is a total failure. The fields are the 
 steep sides of the mountain, and run down to the clifis at a 
 dangerous gradient. A cow grazing at a distance from the 
 sea is apt to slip, roll over and over, and fall at last several 
 hundred feet into the gulf ; and so frequent is the loss from, 
 this cause — eight or nine this year — that the children of the 
 farmers find their chief employment in watching the cattle, 
 and driving them away from the steepest places. I descended 
 the sloping pasture until my friends warned me that it was 
 dangerous, in such a gale, to approach any nearer to the 
 clifi's. Below me, at a distance of five or six hundred feet, the 
 waves were rushing upon the reefs that stand up all round the 
 island. I could distinctly make out the carcase of a bullock 
 in the surf, appearing about the size of a small cork. 
 
 L
 
 146 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 ^licliael Shea lias a large farm, with grass sufficient to 
 support four cows. His old rent was fifteen guineas, but it 
 was raised to seventeen pounds odd after the memorable visit 
 of Mr. Payne, the agent, twelve years ago, on the valuation of 
 a person employed for the purpose of readjusting Lord Bantry's 
 rental. Michael was all the more annoyed at this, because he 
 had built and slated a good house, and drained and reclaimed 
 his holding — one of the few mai-shy localities. He is also the 
 owner of a fishing boat, and was for many years a ' tender 
 man ' at the Lighthouse which has just been destroyed. He 
 has ten children, and he feeds them on Indian meal and fish, 
 a most unsavoury but not absolutely non-nutritious diet, occa- 
 sionally supplemented with a little buttermilk. The fish 
 found are mackerel, ling, and scad. Michael Shea had caught 
 next to nothing this year. He has sent two firkins of butter 
 to the tradesman who sells him Indian meal, salt, and other 
 necessaries, but he is still forty pounds in his debt. [I heard 
 a great deal from the people of this tradesman in Castletown, 
 and I paid him a visit to-day. He confirmed all they had 
 said, and showed me his ledger, from which it was clear, as he 
 stated, that if he pressed his claims not a beast would remain 
 in Dnrsey for any other creditor. I noticed two things in 
 examining his books. Fii-st, that he had allowed over 3Z. 
 a firkin, which is a fair price ; secondly, that there were 
 apparently no payments in cash.] Michael Shea, of Dnrsey, 
 is, like very many of the farmers in the West, a timid reserved 
 man.^ But he waxed warm over the story of the wholesale 
 
 ' From a high point of the island I was able to look down upon the 
 ruined lighthouse, in which the keepers were still imprisoned, with the sea 
 ■washing right over it. Captain Boxer had promised that I should accompany 
 the expedition, intended to bring oiFthe men, on that wild Sunday morning ; 
 but the weather, as I hare said, was such that no boat could approach the 
 rock. A few days afterwards, while the sea was still very dangerous, it 
 seems that Michael Shea, stripping naked, went out in his boat with 
 Timothy Dudley, Daniel Healy, Bath Lynch, Jeremiah Brohel, and Jere- 
 miah Lowney as oarsmen, and, at the imminent risk of his life, rescued the 
 six starving wretches from the Calf Rock. If these brave men, as I fear, 
 have small chance of any other reward, they will have the lifelong grati 
 tudo of the iighthouseman's wife, whom I saw on shore at the station.
 
 IRELAND TINDER TUE LAND ACT. 117 
 
 raising of the rent, and declared, ' Sir, I stood out for four 
 years against it. I would be a dead man to-day if I depended 
 on the farm. I have made a living out of my four bones.' 
 The people have to fetch everything they want from Castle- 
 town, fifteen miles from the Sound, and one of their bitterest 
 complaints is that they have to pay poor rates, although the 
 Dursey folks pride themselves on never allowing one of the 
 islanders to go into the poor-house. They have to pay county 
 cess, for the making of county roads, while half their island 
 is impassable for the want of one. 
 
 On reaching Jerry Harrington's farm, I found that he had 
 a little land, from which he had taken a crop of oats, but the 
 greater portion was pasture of a poor quality, the turf being 
 about two inches deep over the hard rock. The soil of the 
 tillage varied from three to six inches on rock ; and I may say 
 at once, that after at least twenty times digging out the soil 
 in various parts of the island, these measurements of two 
 inches for pasture and three to sis for tillage represented the 
 average depth of the surface. Jerry and his brother Tim held 
 a farm in common. They paid together 44Z. \0s., the old rent 
 having been 35L The valuation is 31 L All through the island 
 the rent is considerably above the Poor-law valuation. The 
 grass was poor, thin, and choked in many places with heath 
 and furze. It is, however, impossible to judge of the value of 
 such land in the winter*, and the profits, if any, realised by 
 the tenants are, perhaps, the safest guide at that season. JSTow, 
 I can testify from actual observation that the people are living 
 as poorly as is consistent with keeping life in their meagre 
 bodies ; and, from the inspection of the mealseller's books, 
 that they have paid no money, and are heavily in debt for 
 food. The cattle are small Kerrys, thin and wiry ; the few 
 pigs, however, fed on household refuse, looked plump enough 
 Jerry Harrington, the ' richest ' man in the place, whose ' farm ' 
 
 Her face was swollen with six days' and nights' weeping. Evci-y night tho 
 poor woman kept candles burning at her bedroom window, in the hope 
 that her husband might catch their distant gleam, and know that lie was 
 not forgotten by one, I saw the light as I was being rowed over to Dursey 
 in tho darkness. 
 
 L 3
 
 148 III EL AX D UNBER THE LAXD ACT, 
 
 is four hundx-ed feet above the sea, tlioaght he could pay lOZ, 
 for his half of the holding, notwithstanding his burden of nine 
 young children. 
 
 Patrick Sullivan's farm had grass for three cows ; the 
 valuation was hi. 15s. ; the old rent 11. Vis. %d.^ and the pre- 
 sent rent 9L 5s. He had six young children, and said he 
 thought he might manage to pay 4tl. Humphrey Sullivan's 
 holding was of the same extent, and held at the same rent as 
 Patrick's, his nephew. The old man had a son and four 
 young grandchildren living with him. Florence Leary had 
 grass for one cow ; his valuation was 4Z. ; his rent 8/., and he 
 stated that he could not pay more than 3?. He, however, does 
 some fishing. Peter Leary has nine children ; he has the 
 grass of four cows, his valuation is 9Z. 15s., and his rent Vtl. 5s. 
 James Leary maintains a wife, two children, father, mother, 
 and four young brothers and sisters ; he has grass for two 
 cows, his valuation is fixed at 7Z., and his rent at 12?. Tim 
 Harrington has the best house in the island, built by himself ; 
 and for which, except the slates, which Mr. Payne gave him, 
 he provided all the materials. I went into his kitchen to-day 
 and rested myself, wearied as I was by scrambling and falling 
 along the steep and dangerous path leading from the middle 
 village, Kilmichael, to the western one, Kilcharinna, and by 
 climbing the frequent fences. Tim has an intelligent, active 
 old wife, two girls in service in America, and six children at 
 home, two of whom ai'e grown up. His eldest son, John, is 
 a helper in the Lighthouse, and is now imprisoned there, and 
 to his earnings the comfortable appearance of the household 
 may be attributed. For poor Tim is also hopelessly in debt 
 both to landlord and shopkeeper. His rent and valuation are 
 of about the same amount as his brother Jerry's, ah'eady men- 
 tioned. The only food hanging up in Tim's place was dried 
 conger, but he had a small stock of potatoes, the largest 
 measuring two and a half by three and a half inches. At my 
 request his wife made some Indian meal into a cake of bread, 
 such as they commonly eat. She took three or four handfuls 
 of the meal and poured boiling water upon it, and then kneaded 
 it with her hands, using all her strength, for about five
 
 IRELAND VNBER THE LAND ACT. 143 
 
 minutes. She shaped it into a flat circular plate of about an 
 inch thick. It was then baked on a round iron plate such as 
 the Scottish people call a 'girdle,' which was laid on the fire 
 of heath-root turf, used here for want of bog turf. In a quar- 
 ter of an hour I was offered a piece of this cake, smeared with 
 sour butter ; an Q^^i and a cup of hot tea. I ate the piece of 
 corn cake, and I brought away a piece with me ; but I am 
 bound to confess, with all respect for Mrs, Tim's skill, that I 
 have never known anything with the name of bread, not even 
 the vilest variety produced in South Germany, which re- 
 quired so much mental resolution and strength of jaw to 
 finish. It was hard outside ; pasty and bitter inside. With- 
 out the fish and buttermilk it must be utterly unsuitable, 
 especially with so short a period of cooking, for nourishing the 
 human frame. 
 
 One of the few pleasant incidents of my visit occurred here. 
 I was informed that a Miss Matilda Dudley, of Bally nacallagh, 
 taught the island boys and girls to read and write, I had in 
 forthwith Tim's two children — Pat, aged thirteen, and little 
 Mary, eleven. I opened a large old-fashioned reading-book, 
 and gave jMary a passage to read. To my astonishment, she 
 read it rapidly and correctly, going over such words as 
 ■' privilege ' and 'division ' without a pause, but of course with 
 a rich brogue. I tried her in another passage, with the same 
 result, Pat, who was terribly frightened, did nearly as well, 
 and could certainly have read a newspaper aloud without 
 much difficulty, I found them, especially Mary, thoroughly 
 well-grounded in the Multiplication Table, 
 
 On my way back half the population of the island accom- 
 panied me, the rain having ceased, and from one and all in 
 the crowd I gathered the same story, Nearly every man 
 owed from two to three years' rent, and all were evidently 
 apprehensive of the evictions said to be intended by Mr, 
 Payne. It seems that orders for substituted service of writs 
 have been obtained, and that numbers of them are now lying 
 at the Allihics Post-offices, for which reason the tenants of 
 holdings fear to venture there to ask for letters. Many 
 and anxious were the questions put to me on this and other
 
 150 in ELAND UNDER THE ZAND ACT. 
 
 subjects, and especially as to the probable action of the Land 
 Commission Court. The islanders have all entered that Court, 
 and they were much cast down when I told them that the 
 arrears could not be thus wiped out. ' If,' said one, ' he wants 
 the arrears, he may as well take the turf itself; there is no- 
 thing else for him.' I asked whether, if the landlord employed 
 them to make the badly- wanted road over the mountain to the 
 western village, they would work off the arrears in that way, 
 and the proposition was eagerly embraced. It is my firm 
 conviction that these poor people would be willing to pay the 
 arrears if they had the means ; but it is clear that they cannot 
 pay in money. 
 
 In Ballynacallagh a young woman stood waiting, rather 
 better dressed than the rest, her hair neatly brushed back 
 and bound with a riband, but of course, with bare feet, 
 boots belonging here rather to the class of implements of 
 labour than to dress. This was Miss Dudley, the school- 
 mistress, who may be said to represent civilisation in this 
 lonely island colony. I had a conversation with her, from 
 which I learned that she taught sixty out of the eighty chil- 
 dren on the island, and that they were generally as far 
 advanced as Tim Harrington's son and daughter. She had been 
 four years at a convent school, I was sorry to find that she 
 thought of giving up her office very soon, as 'the Board* 
 would not make any addition to her earnings. The ordinary 
 charge is a shilling a year for reading, writing, summing, and 
 geography, but she charges up to half-a-crown a quarter for 
 a few of the ' finishing ' studies. Formerly the Board — that is, 
 the Commissioners of National Education — paid 201. yearly to 
 an old schoolmaster, and allowed him a house ; and it would 
 be a great pity if the services of this excellent instructress 
 should be sacrificed for want of so small a sum. She said 
 that she badly wanted elementary reading and spelling books 
 for her pupils, as well as copybooks for practice.^ After 
 
 ' I belieA'e that parcels of books and other school necessaries, addressed 
 to her at Ballynacallagh, Dursey Island (the cost of carriage being, of 
 course, prepaid), -vvould reach her safely, and she would probably be
 
 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 151 
 
 a General handshaking with the men, women, and children 
 pressing about me, I embarked for the mainland. The 
 storm had abated ; the long green billows sparkled like huge 
 sea-serpents in the rays of the declining sun ; and when I was 
 fairly out on the open water, the people of Dursey bade 
 farewell again in two or three hearty cheers. 
 
 encouraged to stay in the island. Surely this is a case in which the Com- 
 missioners, with their large discretion, might see their way to making an 
 annual grant.
 
 152 IRELAXD UXDER THE LAXD ACT. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 OUTRAGES. 
 
 KILLAE^rEY : Saturday Evening, December 1 0, 
 About a fortniglit ago, after long and careful observation, I 
 recommended an increase of the police force, for patx'ol and 
 search duty in certain disturbed districts, as the best means 
 of preventing those dreadful outrages by which the ' ISTo 
 Rent ' Manifesto is enforced. Martial Law and Trial by 
 Commission, instead of Trial by Jury, could not, as I then 
 pointed out, in existing circumstances be effectively applied. 
 The Government have adopted the plan suggested in every 
 particular ; and, if it be vigorously carried out, the best 
 results may be looked for. At the same time it must be still 
 kept in view that if, after a fair trial of the patrol system, the 
 outrages are not reduced in number or in ferocity, a temporary 
 suspension of Trial by Jury may yet be rendered necessary in 
 a few districts, in the interest of the miserable tenants 
 exposed to such brutality. The importance of this question 
 cannot be overestimated. A very slight examination of the 
 facts will show that for want of a sufficient check to these 
 atrocities the situation in Ireland changes daily and rapidly 
 for the worse. A disposition to murder and maim obnoxious 
 individuals, if unable to defend themselves, has been a com- 
 mon and disgraceful feature of every Irish agitation (no 
 matter what political or religious faction promoted it), in the 
 wilder parts of the country, and therefore the promulgators 
 of the ' No Rent ' policy are the more blameworthy. The 
 rustic Irishman of the West has a limited intelligence, fitted 
 for the consideration of but one idea at a time, to the exclusion 
 of everything beyond and outside his narrow field of view. 
 He is anxious just now for nothing but the improvement of
 
 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 153 
 
 his material condition. I have often, in conversation with a 
 small Western tenant, been struck with the keen anxiety he 
 has shown to have his rent reduced ; and at the same time 
 his almost total indifference about Home Rule. The desire 
 for a native Parliament at Dublin is the cherished emotion of 
 an Eastern tenant, from his youth upwards ; but it is hardly 
 to be met with in the West, except among public-house loafers 
 in the small towns. Mr. Parnell in the Eastern counties 
 appeals to the hearts of his hearers ; in the Western, to their 
 stomachs. For a year past the tenant in the West has paid 
 no rent; and on the average he owes at least eighteen months' 
 arrears. It cannot be too frequently repeated that there is 
 very little chance of this money ever being recovered. In 
 some cases, no doubt, a dishonest farmer, not resident in a 
 district afflicted by outrages, who declines to pay his rent, has 
 the money, and much more ; and in such cases, after due 
 proof, something like the English method of imprisonment for 
 wilful refusal to obey an order to pay a debt might be 
 usefully introduced. But, as a rule, the Western tenant is a poor 
 man, reckless and improvident, and the little sum scraped to- 
 gether after the harvest has already found its way to the publi- 
 can's till, or the safe of the ' Gombeen man ' — that is, the village 
 usurer. The people w^ere led to believe, if not positively told, for 
 months together, that they need not pay more than they wished; 
 and this doctrine was generally accepted in the widest sense. 
 Now no such idea was ever sanctioned by the famous 
 agitators of the past. The nearest approach to it was when 
 the late Archbishop of Tuam took a holding in order to be 
 liable for Tithe, intending to refuse payment as a protest 
 against taxing Catholics for the support of what they 
 regarded as the worst of heresies. But from the teaching which 
 has now brought about such great evils the Romish Bishops 
 have held resolutely aloof Here and there, indeed, a Prelate is 
 to be found taking a conspicuous part in current politics, 
 who, like the famous Geordie Graham, when reproved by James 
 VI., in the course of his sermon, for maintaining error, ' will 
 neither speak sense nor come down.' But as a rule the Clergy 
 have been represented in the agitation mainly by the younger
 
 154 IRELAXD UNDER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 curates ; although it is unfortunately true that some priests 
 have, in order to retain their influence over the people, joined 
 in the movement. The Bishop of Elphin, however, pre- 
 vented the establishment of a Land League branch in 
 Sligo, and it does not always do a priest good to join the 
 Leao-ue. One who had resisted it stoutly told me the other 
 day that he had got in all his dues, while a neighbouring 
 Leaguer priest had been compelled by his flock to abate 
 considerably in his demands. What with the eloquent 
 instigation of patriots, the tacit countenance of their priest- 
 hood, and it would seem, the politic sufierance of the 
 Government, the deluded tenants were at last persuaded 
 that they had the power to withhold their rents ; and there is 
 no doubt whatever that for a time they had such a power, 
 the ordinary machinery of Government being wholly inappli- 
 cable to the difiiculty. In course of time the country would 
 have righted itself, for the people have in large numbers 
 neglected to pay the shopkeepers, just as they had refused to 
 satisfy the landlords' claims, and the value of contract 
 obligation would very soon have been brought home to them. 
 Another incentive to hold out against paying rent lies in the 
 tenant's consciousness that on making any regular settlement 
 he will have to pay the arrears, and unhappily he has spent 
 the money that would enable him to do so. It is unfortunate 
 that power was not given to the Commission to pay to the 
 landlord, on behalf of the tenant, with or without the latter 's 
 consent, say one-half the arrears ; repayable by a redeemable 
 land-tax of small amount, ultimately recoverable from the 
 tenant. The necessity of a measure conferring this power 
 being taken in an autumn Session has already been pointed 
 out. My belief that the necessity was and still is most 
 pressing is confirmed by the anxiety expressed upon the 
 subject by every tenant, and many of the landlords with 
 whom I converse. The landlords are now very many of 
 them in desperate circumstances, partly from the non-pay- 
 ment of rent, and partly from the large and by them 
 unexpected reductions effected or threatened by the Sub- 
 Commissions in their incomes. They have therefore begun
 
 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 155 
 
 evicting on a large scale, and the money for which the Lord 
 Mayor of London is now applying will go to pay bailiffs and 
 emergency men ; indeed, it will do much to ease the pockets 
 of the rich landlords, who up to this time have generally left 
 their poorer brethren to their own resources. On the other 
 side, the tenants, if they dare to pay rent in certain districts, 
 are threatened with the fearful vengeance of ' Captain Moon- 
 light.' Until this personage is hunted out of his accustomed 
 beats, there can, therefore, be little hope of a better state of 
 things. For this purpose not only must rewards of a large 
 amount be paid for information, but informers should be 
 offered a free passage to any place out of Ireland in which 
 they might feel it safe to settle ; as was done in the Fenian 
 times. 
 
 The areas of outrage to be operated upon are fortunately 
 neither many nor extensive. Bat as a means of economising, it 
 might be as well to mount as many of the new police reci'uits as 
 possible, in order that the largest space might be commanded 
 by a given force. Whenever a tenant pays his rent, or is for 
 any reason obnoxious to his neighbours, the fact should be 
 confidentially notified to the Sub-Inspector by the agent or 
 the priest, and a special guard maintained near his house 
 from sunset to dawn. Every road in a disturbed district 
 should be heavily patrolled all night, four men walking 
 together at every third of a mile, and every third party con- 
 sisting of half-a-dozen mounted men ready to gallop in any 
 direction. This would, no doubt, cost a great deal of money, 
 which, with full compensation to the victim of every outrage, 
 or in case of death to his family, should be exacted from every 
 person in the district, landlord or tenant, able to pay. No 
 one could complain, for the landlord would get his rent, the 
 innocent tenant protection, and the guilty but a small part of 
 his deserts.' Every gun and pistol in the possession of a 
 man who has not paid his rent should be taken from him. 
 
 ' I havf reason to believe that the Government are doubtful -whether 
 the example of injustice ■which would be .set, if they passed a statute 
 rendering the property of numerous innocent persons liable to make good 
 damages inflicted by the guilty few, would not increase the existing de- 
 moralisation of the peasantry.
 
 156 IRELAXD UXDER THE LAXD ACT. 
 
 Such precautions would probably be effectual in most cases, 
 and they would certainly save much bloodshed. Let it be 
 remembered that it is only in a few districts that they are 
 required — for no greater mistake can be made than to talk as 
 if the whole island were ungovernable. 
 
 By way of illustrating these remarks let me relate what 
 I have just witnessed within a few miles of these lovely hills 
 and lakes. A few days ago Mr. Hussey, Lord Kenmare's 
 agent, published an account of the shooting of three men who 
 had paid their rent to him. In the Kerry Sentinel, of 
 yesterday's date, I find the following observations: — 'Mr. 
 Hussey's letters are composed of a tissue of disjointed 
 
 falsehoods We do not wish to impute cowardice or 
 
 laziness to any of the priests or local patriots in this matter 
 concerned, but why did not some one say to Mr. Hussey long 
 ago ' — and then follows a reference to some unfortunate 
 eviction proceedings of Mr. Hussey, said to have resulted in 
 the death of a child. It is a habit with some Irish news- 
 papers to describe all reports of outrages as untrue, and I 
 therefore yesterday visited the place for myself. After 
 passing through the towai, and across the outlying hills, my 
 carman turned down the Raheen Road, eastwards. For 
 twenty miles on every hand was a vast extent of gently 
 undulating land, here and there reclaimed, but part still in its 
 original state of brown bog. The houses were few in number, 
 and at first, on Lord Kenmare's land, of a miserably poor 
 description. But on The O'Donoghue's estate the farmhouses 
 were generally large and well-appointed, and the fields iu 
 good condition. At the Raheen school-house, the school- 
 mistress directed us on our way, and gave me some interesting 
 information about her pupils, from which I gathered that 
 they are receiving a sound elementary education. Some 
 miles farther on it became necessary to inquire again, and 
 here a great change took place. The shadow of some 
 mysterious dread was visible on every face as soon as my 
 words of inquiry were uttered. One poor girl blushed 
 painfully as she denied that she knew where the first man 
 shot could be found; although she belonged to the same
 
 IRELAXD rXDER THE ZA.YD ACT. 157 
 
 village. We were within a few miles of Mill Street, and in 
 the notorious district extending from Castle Island on the 
 west to Mallow on the east, in which no man's life is safe for 
 an hour if he pays his rent. ' Captain Moonlight ' and his 
 ruffians here act in bands of sometimes thirty or forty 
 together, under the command of a leader, and are members of 
 a sworn confederacy. 
 
 I then passed through Maughantoorig. The people 
 rushed to the doors to view the unaccustomed sight of a 
 stranger on a side car. The country is so poor and un- 
 frequented that my driver, constantly employed for the last 
 twenty years in excursions about the neighbourhood of 
 Killarney, did not even know the main road. Daniel Cronin's 
 dwelling is in a lonely spot, half a mile from the village, faced 
 by the house of a neighbour. He is a man of about fifty, 
 tall, spare, with a ruddy complexion. I was informed at the 
 agent's ofiice that he holds under a lease dated March 10, 
 1873, for forty-one years, and a life, at a rent of 10/. ; the 
 valuation being 9^, 5s. He has always paid his rent 
 punctually, has steadily improved his holding, and refused 
 to have anything to do with the League. As is well known, 
 the tenantry with a very few exceptions on Lord Kenmare's 
 estate have refused to pay their rents; but Daniel Cronin 
 unfortunately paid. Such being the case, there is great 
 blame somewhere for not having the poor man properly 
 protected, I need not say that I had the utmost difficulty 
 in getting any information from him, his wife, or the family. 
 They were certain that the attacking party did not belong to 
 the neighbourhood, but came from a distance ; and not one 
 word of repining or accusation escaped their lips. Cronin 
 was lying in great pain in the back room of his comfortable 
 farmhouse. Another person present told me the sad story of 
 the outrage, while the victim occasionally clasped his hands 
 and murmured feebly, ' I forgive them, whoever they are.' 
 
 At about eight on Sunday evening, November 2, the 
 family were preparing for bed, with the exception of the son, 
 a fine young man, who was, as ill-luck would have it, away, 
 when a party of armed men, with blackened faces, rushed in.
 
 158 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 The leader immediately knocked the lamp off the table, and 
 then stood with his back to the fire, giving directions. First 
 Cronin was strictly questioned as to whether he had 
 paid his rent. His book was called for, and his denials 
 taken down. ' What's this woman doing here ? ' said the 
 leader, suddenly ; and the screaming wife and children were 
 forced into the bed- room. Immediately afterwards they heard 
 a loud report ; the door of the bed-room was released, and 
 they hurried back to find Daniel Cronin staggering and 
 fainting, with a great wound in his thigh. The charge of 
 shot had passed sideways through the muscular part of the 
 thigh, half-way between the hip and the knee, behind the 
 bone, fortunately without shattering it. The surgeon had 
 extracted a circular piece of corduroy two inches square, and 
 all the shot, from the opposite end of the wound. Daniel's 
 pulse was firm and regular, and he seems likely to recover ; 
 but he is still in deadly fear that the assassins may return. 
 His wife told me, with a choking utterance, that her husband 
 went regularly to mass, and had that fatal day attended it.* 
 With a few cheering words, uttered very much against the 
 grain, I left them. 
 
 After another half-hour's drive over the desolate bog I 
 reached John. Keefe's house at the further extremity of 
 Lisheen ; a village containing, I should say, as much filth, 
 raggedness, and misery as are distributed over a large English 
 town. The inhabitants seemed to be all either fi'ightened, or 
 gloomy and discontented. One morose-looking man stood 
 out with his hands in his pockets ; but kept his eyes fixed on 
 the ground until I had passed, refusing to meet my glance. 
 I found poor old Keefe very seriously ill. I felt his wrist, but 
 could not perceive any pulse. Laying my hand over his 
 heart I detected its faint, rapid beating, and could observe 
 that he was extremely weak and feverish. His unhappy wife, 
 
 ' It is remarkable how often outrages are committed on Sunday night. 
 The reason is, strange as it may appear, that the superstitious peasantry 
 will not, if they can avoid it, take the life of a man who is unprepared for 
 death. A man who has paid his rent trebles the risk he runs by going to 
 mass.
 
 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 159 
 
 over sixty years of age, had done her best for him, from first 
 to last, but he was getting weaker. The villains who had 
 shot Cronin reached here after the old couple were in bed, and 
 broke a pane of glass in order to wake them. Keefe opened 
 the door in his night- shirt. Two boys were kept in the back 
 room while the stern examination about the payment of rent 
 went on. The pass-book and the lease were inspected, and 
 the old man was cuflFed about until he leaned, almost stupefied, 
 against the table. Then, while his wife cried wildly to spare 
 his life, and offered to do or pay anything for mercy, a shot was 
 fired before her face. Her husband sank to the ground, which 
 was red with his blood, and the ruffians ran off with shouts 
 and laughter into the darkness. I was shown the hole in the 
 table into which the shots finally penetrated in one mass, and 
 two were extracted and handed over to me. The weapon 
 must almost have touched the man, and the charge tore away 
 the greater part of the calf of his leg. The gang then went 
 on to the eldest son's house, but the old dame told me, and 
 folded her hands with gratitude as she said it, ' He was away, 
 sir, by the mercy of God, and our blessed Lady the Virgin.' 
 The band, however, afterwards injured a third person, and then 
 dispersed. After all this was over the police, stationed at Rath- 
 more, four miles away, commenced their nightly patrol of three 
 hours. I have it on the best authority that the three roads by 
 which the scene of the outrages could be approached were all 
 watched by scouts, planted to give due warning of the approach, 
 of the police. To my surprise my carman drove me back 
 to Killarney by another route, and it was only after closely 
 pressing him that he acknowledged he did so for my safety. 
 At Killarney I went to the police station and found the men 
 who had shot Cronin and Keefe locked up there. But no 
 person woiild give evidence against them; although an 
 intimation had been received by the constables that if Keefe 
 died evidence would be forthcoming. They were all neigh- 
 bours of the victims. Eventually they must be discharged 
 for want of evidence.
 
 ICO IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 
 
 Killaeney: Saturday Evening, December 17. 
 The situation grows more and more serious as the winter 
 advances. In certain districts, thinly populated, but of con- 
 siderable extent, the ordinary administration of the Govern- 
 ment has temporarily ceased. Rents, county cess, and other 
 local rates are not paid ; and, as I was told to-day by a priest 
 holding office in a disaffected part of the country, even the 
 incomes of the clergy are beginning to suffer. Whether a 
 supplementary cry of ' No dues ' would not, however, assist 
 the restoration of order is a fair subject for speculation. The 
 large number of Irishmen who, though they can well afford to 
 do so, now refuse to pay rent, may persuade themselves that 
 by devoting money contracted to be paid to the owners of 
 their lands to the purchase of spurious whiskey, and to the 
 maintenance of one or two exiles at Paris, they are doing 
 more for Ireland than O'Connell and all the other departed 
 patriots. They may be, as they believe, escaping from the 
 bondage of centuries, but it cannot be denied that they are 
 crawling to freedom through an exceedingly dirty sewer. N"o 
 gi'eat Revolution has ever been accomplished hitherto upon 
 the basis of petty theft. 
 
 Be that as it may, the Government must face the certain 
 prospect of a large number of attempts being made to murder 
 and injure well-disposed persons during the next three months. 
 The measures already adopted, if carried out by capable 
 officials, ought to render altogether unnecessary the abolition 
 of Trial by Jury, and the institution of some more stringent 
 procedure. But if so, the additional police must be selected 
 from men of mature age and full discretion ; not likely in the
 
 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 161- 
 
 searches for arms to be guilty of any unnecessary intruaiou, 
 or outrage upon susceptible people — and Ireland is populated 
 by susceptible, not to say irritable, people. The Inspector- 
 General, therefore, should be allowed to accept the services of 
 that large class of reserve men over forty, the age limited in 
 the I'ecent circular, who have been settled in the midst of the 
 people ever since their retirement from active duty. The 
 recruits, moreover, must be quickly drafted into the disturbed 
 parishes, and in sufficient numbers. I refer to these particu- 
 lars because they are, at least in some district stations,. im- 
 perfectly recognised as essential. For instance, I was told by 
 a spruce young sub-inspector the other day, that he thought 
 it was useless to increase the police force, as ' the roads by 
 which they could operate would always be watched at night,' 
 The idea of patrolling those roads in sufficient force to impress 
 ' Captain Moonlight ' with the necessity of staying at home had 
 evidently not occurred to this gentleman, and when it was 
 .suggested it was by him superciliously pooh-poohed. Again, 
 it will be of small service to law-abiding citizens to organise, 
 with great pains, an additional force of police ready to take the 
 field when the winter and the winter outrages are past. Only 
 a day or two ago I was told how a retired policeman had 
 applied for leave to join the force in his district, and had been 
 sent off with the excuse that the county Inspector was away 
 for a few days, and that nothing could be done until his 
 return. 
 
 Much has been made of some verdicts recently found by 
 Juries at the Assizes, in order to argue that intimidation is 
 on the decline. But this reasoning is somewhat fallacious. 
 The case most relied upon is that of a band of ruffians, who 
 in England could hardly have been preserved, in the strongest 
 gaol, from being lynched. They were convicted of breaking 
 into a woman's house by night, firing into a bed full of 
 children, and wounding her little daughter. Apart from the 
 unmanly brutality of their conduct, peculiarly odious to the 
 average Irishman, there was this additional fact to account 
 for the verdict of ' Guilty ' — namely, that the ofPence was in 
 no sense whatever one against the Land League. And 
 
 M
 
 162 IRELAND U.SDEIi THE LAyB ACT. 
 
 against tlie verdict in this case raay be set the case reported 
 yesterday, where, after the clearest evidence of an agrarian 
 crime committed as part of the ' No Rent ' programme, the 
 Jury have refused to convict. No one can blame a Juror for 
 taking this course. It is no exaggeration to say that, in the 
 great part of four counties at least, the payment of rent, or 
 the return of an apparent assassin as ' Guilty,' subjects a 
 Juryman to the danger of immediate murder. At Cork the 
 Jurors have found a fair proportion of verdicts against the 
 prisoners. But at the Cork Assizes the Juries are regularly 
 packed by the Crown with Protestant shopkeepers, who are 
 smarting under the loss of trade resulting from the operations 
 of the League. Catholic after Catholic is ordered to ' stand 
 by.' I have read the evidence in these cases, and believe the 
 verdicts were right, and the punishments by no means too 
 severe ; but it is absurd and dangerous to rely upon verdicts 
 thus obtained, in a populous city, where no retaliation is 
 possible, as evidence of a change of feeling in the country. 
 
 Of course this state of things has brought, and is bringing, 
 retribution. A few days ago I read a report in several news- 
 papers that the Earl of Kenmare was about finally to dis- 
 charge his labourers, and to leave the country. I saw Lord 
 Kenmare yesterday evening, and in the course of conversation 
 ascertained from him that this statement, though not strictly 
 correct, had suiEcient foundation to justify some reference to 
 it. It appears that his Lordship is in the habit of spending 
 weekly something like 400L in wages to labourers upon his 
 Kerry estate, a very small proportion of that expenditure 
 being connected with the preservation of the demesne. Over 
 100,000^ has from first to last been laid out upon this property 
 by the landlord. It is Lord Kenmare's invariable practice to 
 present slate and timber to any tenant desirous of erecting a 
 cottage for himself, and generally a kindly superintendence 
 would appear to be extended over the tenantry and their con- 
 cerns. Lord Kenmare adverted in a tone of courtly regret to 
 my somewhat depreciatory description of his village of Lisheen, 
 and gave an explanation of its condition, which, in all justice, 
 ought to be reproduced. The estate, which is of great size,
 
 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 163 
 
 was leased in former days to middlemen, who, looking npon 
 the tenants merely as rent-producing animals, allowed them 
 to fall mostly into the pitiable condition of life still observable 
 at Lisheen. From this state of misery it is Lord Kenmare's 
 laudable ambition to rescue +hem, and, so far as his income 
 will allow, he is devotio'^ If to the gradual but material 
 
 amelioration of their If as true, he said, that he had 
 
 been compelled to give \ bourers warning that he must 
 
 discharge them at thp month, and the reason was a 
 
 prudential one. Oui. o thousand tenants, only a 
 
 score or so have pai^ he consequence is that no 
 
 fund has been providea lo oayment of the labourers. 
 
 Lord Ken mare, however, sa. chat as soon as the present 
 terrible state of things had come to an end, it was his inten- 
 tion to return immediately, and resume his duties as one of 
 the few great landlords resident in Ireland. 
 
 At Tralee the other day, I was told by Michael, the old 
 waiter at the principal hotel in the town, that he had paid for 
 the outfit and passage to America of his son and his niece last 
 winter, with the most happy results. The son was a carpenter 
 in the employment of Lord Kenmare, earning 11. 8.?. a week. 
 He obtained work the day after landing in America, and his 
 earnings have since averaged 3/. \'2s. a- week. The niece, 
 who was a dressmaker, is now making about lOOZ. a-year, or 
 more than three times the income of a Western farmer in this 
 country. Stories of this sort, circulated from homestead to 
 homestead, not only stimulate emigration, but make people 
 discontented with their lot in Ireland. 
 
 The decisions of the Commissioners now sitting here have, 
 as a rule, given satisfaction to both sides. There are, how- 
 ever, some judgments open to question. In a case of ' Flahive 
 V. Hussey,' the landlord had bought the farm under the 
 Encumbered Estates Act. He had not raised tlie rent above 
 the amount paid in 1834, namely, hbl. The farm, which was 
 pasture, bad obviously increased in value, since the price of 
 dairy produce is higher by about two-thirds. Upon these facts 
 the Commissioners have reduced the rent to 45/. In one of 
 the conveyances by the Court 1 find the following passage in
 
 164 IRELAND ZrXDER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 the authorised particulars of sale: — 'The tenants are respect- 
 able and most comfortable ; the rents are exceedingly moderate, 
 and may be readily increased.' Now, I am informed, that 
 although not a shilling has been added to the rents, every 
 one of these respectable and comfortable tenants has dragged 
 the unlucky purchaser before the Commission. In a case of 
 ' Shanahan r. Dennv,' the tenant holds a hundred acres, prin- 
 cipally pasture. He has not, during fourteen years, drained a 
 single acre. He has borrowed nearly a thousand pounds from 
 his friends ; he has ten children, and is deeply involved. His 
 rent, which was reduced from 75L to o5Z. when he took the 
 farm, has been lowered by the Commissioners to 44Z. In both 
 these cases I made a private inspection of the holdings, and I 
 can testify- that Flahive's consists in the main of good sweet 
 pasture land, that much of Shanahan' s is equally good, and 
 nearly all would be extremely valuable if scored with a few 
 simple stone drains. Facts like these certainly invite comment.
 
 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 161 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 THE CONSTABULARY. 
 
 Dublin, Wednesday Night, December 21. 
 The men of the Royal Irish Constabulary, in respect of 
 discipline, loyalty, and, one may add, length of limb, will 
 compare favourably with any armed force in Her Majesty's 
 service. To their vigilance and devotion a great number of 
 persons, too honest and too shrewd to engage in vain rebellion, 
 are indebted for the safety of their property, and the pro- 
 longation of their lives from day to day. Their duties are 
 primardy those of police ; but they are ready at a moment's 
 notice to act as efficient infantry soldiers, and in some districts 
 just now they are practically what I think Mr. Bright once 
 styled them, ' an army of occupation in disguise.' The 
 character of the Constabulary for sobriety is well established. 
 Their dress is the dark green tunic with the spiked helmet of 
 the 60th Rifles. Their arms are a short snider rifle, a sword 
 bayonet, and, in some cases, a revolver. The force consists 
 of an inspector-general, with four assistants, thirty-fiyre 
 county inspectors, about two hundred sub-inspctors, two 
 hundred and thirty-two head constables, and nearly eleven 
 thousand constables, acting constables, and sub-constables. 
 The Government has very wisely ordered a large temporary 
 addition to be made to this body ; but recruits have not come 
 in very rapidly. There is a smouldering dissatisfaction felt 
 at the order that soldiers from the reserve may join and wear 
 the Constabulary uniform. The constables highly resent this; 
 and anyone who knows how superior their character and 
 education are to those of private soldiers can hardly be 
 surprised at their feeling hurt. They fear that the old uni-
 
 166 IRELAND UXDER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 form would be disgraced, and desire, that if the soldiers join, 
 they shall wear their military uniforms. The cost incurred 
 in maintaining the force, amounting to about a million pounds 
 per annum, is paid out of the Consolidated Fund, and a further 
 sum has of late years been levied for extra police. The Con- 
 stabulary are very unequally distributed over the country, 
 and it is noticeable that in four of the most disturbed counties 
 the proportion of police to population is -lower than in any 
 part of Ireland. Although the constables are drawn from 
 the ranks of the peasantry, they are, of course, extremely 
 unpopular in the disturbed districts. So much depends upon 
 their zeal and energy, that it is obviously a wise policy to keep 
 them contented, and some consideration of their grievances, 
 which they are now very seriously pressing on the attention 
 of Government, may not be out of place. It is under- 
 stood, indeed, that a commission of officers is now sitting, or 
 is about to sit, for the purpose of reporting upon the matter, 
 and great speculation is indulged in as to what they may have 
 to say on the subject 
 
 I had lately an opportunity of ascertaining the men's 
 views in an unexpected way. Sitting one evening in my 
 room at an hotel in Castletown, during the West Cork 
 evictions, I was somewhat surprised to hear that three con- 
 stables wished to see me. There was handed me a sealed 
 envelope, containing the following document ; — 
 
 ' Castletown, December 2, 1881. 
 
 ' Sir, — We, being elected as a deputation for the purpose 
 of bringing under your notice the position and claims of the 
 Royal Irish Constabulary, respectfully request you to grant 
 us a hearing. 
 
 ' The Special Commissioner of The Standard.' 
 
 Three stalwart fellows were forthwith ushered in, the smallest 
 of whom was nearly six feet in height. They had intended 
 to apply to Mr. Herbert Gladstone for an audience, but he 
 had suddenly left Castletown before they could communicate 
 with him. The grievances mentioned to me by these men
 
 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 1G7 
 
 appear to be typical, and they may be classified as follows : — 
 First, on the subject of pensions. It seems that up to 
 1866 a constable or sub-constable was entitled, under a 
 Statute passed early in her Majesty's reign, upon completing 
 thirty years' service, to retire on full pay. A new scale of 
 pensions was, hov/ever, laid out in April, 1866, applicable to 
 the cases of men joining after that time. By that scale a 
 man under the rank of sub-inspector, upon retiring after 
 thirty years' service, is only entitled to, or rather qualified 
 for, a pension equal to three-fifths of his pay, with a decreasing 
 scale for a shorter period of service. One condition require4 
 as a qualification for a pension is the payment of 1^^ per 
 cent, annually from the men's pay. It is very difl&cnlt lor 
 the retired men to exist upon these reduced amounts, many of 
 them being broken in health, burdened with the weight of 
 years, and the expense of large families. What they wish is to 
 revert to the old system, to give back two per cent, from 
 their annual pay, and be entitled, as their fortunate pre- 
 decessors were after thirty years' service, to full pay as 
 pension. ' We are no less loyal or worthy,' argued the 
 spokesman, ' than those who went before us ; and why are 
 we less deserving of the consideration of the Government 
 aud of the country we faithfully serve ? ' 
 
 The second grievance concerns allowances to married men. 
 The Government gives a bachelor constable his pay weekly, 
 provides him with uniform, arms, aud barrack-lodging; but 
 each man has to buy for himself food, boots, and linen. A 
 married man, not being accommodated in barracks, has to 
 pay from 12Z. to 14/. per annum for house-rent and fuel. 
 Though a soldier has cheap rations and canteens, free libraries, 
 recreation- rooms, and useful literature provided for him, the 
 Constabulary are not thus favoured. The married man, more- 
 over, cannot, like a soldier, command free education for his 
 children ; or remember, as he lies wounded, that his wife will 
 be pensioned if he dies, and his little ones carefully placed 
 in life. 
 
 Another complaint is, that the system of promotion is 
 unfair. When vacancies occur in the ollice of sub-inspector
 
 J 68 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 ihey are filled almost exclnsively from the sons of the inferior 
 squirearchy, a small number only being given to the sons of 
 old Constabulary officers, upon the nomination of the Inspector- 
 General. Only about a filth are chosen from the ranks of the 
 head constables. General dissatisfaction, I was informed, 
 also prevails with respect to the promotion of sub-constables 
 to the grade of acting constable and constable. It depends 
 entirely on the sub-inspector and county inspector whether a 
 particular man shall be admitted to the examinations, and it 
 i.s said that this plan results in favourites of the local gentiy 
 obtaining the good graces of the officers. 
 
 What I am informed the Constabulary desire is, that all 
 promotions to the rank of sub-inspector, or to any lesser 
 rank, should be made from the members of the next lower 
 rank, after a competitive examination restricted to men who 
 f-hall have served a certain number of years ; a few Tacancies 
 Ireing reserved, on easier examination, for deserving men of 
 long service. This plan is already adopted in the case of 
 promotions from the rank of constable to that of head con- 
 stable, and, so far, is stated to give great satisfaction. Another 
 point to Avhich the three men who visited me at Castletown 
 attached much importance, was an increase of lodging allow- 
 ance for service out of a man's district, from 2s. 6d. to 3s. a 
 day upon all occasions. One of the men — a bashful giant, 
 well over six feet high — seemed to think, further, that it was 
 <a great hardship to forbid a sub-constable to marry until he 
 had served seven years. I should observe, in justice to these 
 men, that they all expressed themselves with the utmost 
 jiropriety concerning their officers and the Government; but 
 they complained of the cold and hostile feeling exhibited by 
 the populace towards them, and assured me that the poorest 
 accommodation was offered them, and the heaviest prices 
 demanded from them, wherever thej' went. 
 
 The Irish landlords Avill, I understand, adopt the policy of 
 ' No Surrender ' at their approaching meetings. In sixty per 
 cent, of the decided cases they have entered appeals; and, if 
 this proportion of appeals to decisions is maintained, it is clear 
 that the Courts of the three Chief Commissioners will be
 
 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 effectually blocked, and the Land Act made waste-paper of. 
 As regards arrears, they will in every case, where there are 
 reasonable grouuds to believe that the tenant has the money, 
 be rigorously enforced; and the situation, therefore, can 
 liardly be expected to cbauge for the better. I see that Mr. 
 Herbert Gladstone, in his address at Manchester, makes light 
 of the difiiculties in the way of a peaceful settlement. It is 
 no doubt true, as he says, that the number of outrages is — at 
 least in certain of the Irish papers — exaggerated. But how 
 many cases of outrage are there which escape notice and 
 publication ? Last week I visited two poor men lying with 
 shattered limbs some fifteen miles from Killarney. To-day 1 
 learn by a private letter that a few hours after I left the 
 town a number of men broke into a farmer's house less than 
 a mile away, and fired a charge of small shot through his 
 legs, exactly as in the cases of the two victims at Lisheen. 
 The man's name is Pati-ick Donoghue, and his only crime 
 was that of purchasing a farm from a friendly and willing 
 vendor. Now this outrage has not vet been noticed in any 
 newspaper, and it had nut up to this morning been reported 
 to the police.' 
 
 ' The matter was shortly afterwards reported to the local police.
 
 170 IBELAND I'XDEB THE LAND ACT. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 CHRISTMAS EVE. 
 
 Dublin, Saturday Night, December 24. 
 
 Aftf.r nearly two months' hard work, both in and out of 
 Court, the three Commissioners and the thirty-six Assistant 
 Commissioners are about to enjoy a well-earned Christmas 
 vacation. They all need rest and relaxation ; and, moreover, 
 it is understood that certain of the lay members of the roving 
 tribunals, having clambered over countless stone fences, and 
 trotted through unspeakable bogs, must perforce replace their 
 damaged equipments. They might do worse than provide 
 themselves with serviceable skates for inspecting estates 
 which are subject to floods in winter. Thus they miglit 
 not only turn the severity of the season to account in 
 moving more rapidly over the frozen fields, but relieve the 
 inevitable tedium of court business by an exhilarating and 
 healthful sport. 
 
 The first day of the I*^ew Year is to be the last of their 
 short holiday. They have been exposed to ceaseless criticism 
 and reproach. Their past histories have been carefully sought 
 out and unfolded in the papers ; and the estimated amount 
 of their former income fully set forth. One paper has not 
 scrupled to call them ' mercenary hirelings,' and in public 
 speeches they are compared to the messengers of Ahab, and 
 otherwise abused. A gentleman said to me the other day, 
 ' If I had an estate which one of these Sub-Commissions was 
 approaching, I would take my stand on the verge of it, and 
 the first of them that set his foot upon it, by heaven, sir, I 
 would shoot him.' This kind of language is wide of the 
 mark. No doubt what has been going on for the past two
 
 IRELAXD UNDER THE LAND ACT. 171 
 
 rnonths is a kind of clumsy revaluation of Irish land, in the 
 course of whicli injustice may have been done in a few special 
 cases. Bat it is notorious that, before leaving Dublin for 
 their districts, each of the Assistant Commissioners had to pass 
 strict examinations, in which the Chief Secretary himself 
 took part ; and, further, that the necessary principles for de- 
 termining fair rents were agreed to at a general meeting of 
 the Chief and Assistant Commissioners, and other officials. 
 These principles are easily discoverable from their decisions, 
 and were something like the following : — First, to carry out 
 Healy's clause as liberally as possible ; secondly, where neither 
 landlord nor tenant liad improved the holding, but the land- 
 lord had, without apparent cause, raised the rent, to restore it 
 to the old figure; thirdly, where there were no improvements, 
 nor raising of rents, and no other distinct index of value, to 
 fall back upon Griffith's valuation. All such rules were to be 
 subject to modification upon the inspction of each particular 
 holding by the lay Commissioners.* In the poorer classes of 
 holdings in the West, it cannot bo denied that the ' live and 
 let live ' principle has also to some extent guided the Com- 
 missioners. Here there may be ground for complaint against 
 them. At the same time, seeing the misery of the Western 
 occupiers, and administering a statute based upon the idea of 
 fixity of tenure, the Assistant Commissioners would have 
 been more or less than men if they had refused to lower rents. 
 Gentlemen who complain that these tenants will stay and 
 ' vegetate on two or three acres of land ' should remember 
 that there is no escape from the process. I have been told by 
 more than one man in the West how gladly he would emigrate 
 if he had but the money. The Emigration Clause is merely 
 a symmetrical ornament to the structure of the Act, like one 
 
 ' I mpant to convey here, fii'st, that before an Assistant Commissioner 
 was appointed to a district, he was examined by the Chief Secretary and 
 others; secondly, that the Commissioners and Assistant Commissioners 
 afterwards, and independently, arrived at certain principles of decision,' 
 which might be deduced from their judgments. Remarks by the Earl of 
 Pembroke and Mr. Kavanagh, M.P., upon the passage in my letter, will be 
 found in the Appendix.
 
 172 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 of those gilt ' dammy ' pipes in a grand organ which arc 
 doomed to stand mute for ever in the hurricane of sound. 
 Under the Emigration Clause no tenant has a right to apply 
 singly. There must be a great exodus from thickly populated 
 districts, and the borrowers must be either a foreign state, 
 a colony, or at the least a public company. What is wanted is 
 a scheme — first, for supplying the intending emigrant with 
 tools, outfit, a passage ticket, and food during the voyage : 
 secondly, for lending to the foreign government direct a sum 
 sufficient to transport the settler and his family to the allotted 
 farm, to build him a house, and to provide him with seed and 
 food until the first harvest time arrives. The cost for each 
 family would be about the same as the annual cost of a single 
 soldier in Ireland. There is thus an easy method of recon- 
 ciling an obdurate Treasury to the inevitable expenditure. 
 If a soldier were withdrawn for every ftimily assisted out, the 
 balance of power would not be greatly disturbed. At all 
 events, since a man going from an overpopulated to an under- 
 populated country benefits the first more immediately than 
 the second, he should be treated on leaving it as a public 
 benefactor, and duly honoured and rewarded, instead of being 
 thrust out as an enemy, and marooned upon some inhospitable 
 shore. 
 
 The Chief Commissioners will sit for the first time to hear 
 appeals at Belfast on January 9 next, and Avill take cases 
 from the counties Down, Antrim, Armagh, and Monaghan. 
 It is a great mistake to suppose that they cannot meddle with 
 the fair I'ents fixed by the Assistant Commissioners. Each 
 appeal will be in the nature of a rehearing of the case ; and, 
 in the first few cases at least, two valuers of land of unim- 
 peachable ability and fairness — namely, Mr. Murrough 
 O'Brien and Mr. Grey — will inspect the lands, and report 
 upon their condition to the Commissioners. Here arises a 
 new danger to the Act. Sixty per cent, of the recorded 
 decisions are appealed from, and nearly seventy thousand 
 cases have been entered for trial. If the same proportion of 
 appeals to decisions be preserved, the three Commissioners 
 will have forty-two thousand appeals to hear, which, at the
 
 IRELAXD UNDER THE LAND ACT. \r^ 
 
 high rate of ten per week, would occupy them fourscore years 
 and more. Thus the overwhelming pressure of business in 
 the Courts of First Instance, which has vainly been met by 
 the multiplication of Commissions, will be concentrated finally 
 upon the one tribunal of appeal. 
 
 There is only one way in which to meet this difficulty — 
 the great mass of the litigants must be induced to settle out 
 of court upon the basis of the decisions in the Chief Commis- 
 sioners' Court sitting on appeal. At present there are no 
 signs of such an arrangement, the League having set landlord 
 and tenant fairly by the ears. There would be some hope 
 left if more of the great landlords, accepting the inevitable, 
 would make abatements, as the Duke of Leinster and the 
 Earl of Dunraven have done. The great landlords, however, 
 fear that, by yielding to the cry for abatements in the face of 
 the growing determination on the part of tenants to refuse 
 rents altogether, they would be fatally compromising the 
 interests of the large class of landlords whose available 
 incomes would, upon a general abatement, totally disappear. 
 The ill-advised and ill-conducted meeting at the Rotundo on 
 Thursday was principally composed of these lesser landlords, 
 and I would urge this plea on their behalf, that, however in- 
 discreet or violent some of their speeches might have beer, 
 they are in the position of desperate men, face to face with 
 destruction. I fear that their generally expressed hope, that 
 the Chief Commissioners upon appeal will, to some extent, 
 restore the old scale of rent, is fated to disappointment. A 
 small enhancement of the fixed judicial rents cannot help 
 them ; while a large one would unquestionably destroy any 
 remaining chance of bringing about an accommodation be- 
 tween landlordism and the country at large, and produce a 
 sharper crisis in Irish affairs than it is desirable to encounter. 
 Many of the gentlemen I saw on Thursday at the meetino- 
 were old and feeble, without any knowledge of business ; 
 utterly unable to compete for a livelihood in the world with 
 trained and younger men. Up to last autumn it was gene- 
 rally admitted that the rental of Ireland was comparatively 
 low, and upon that assumption, probably, it was that certain
 
 174 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 assurances were given to the landlords daring the passage of 
 the Bill, which disarmed much dangerous opposition, and left 
 no opening or occasion for the introduction of a Compensation 
 Clause. Relying upon those declarations, which were re- 
 garded on all hands as justified bj the facts, the landlords 
 spared the Bill. It now appears that those complacent assu- 
 rances have lured many of them to destruction, as they cannot 
 be put in stain quo ; and they argue that the honour of the 
 Ministry, and of Parliament itself, requires the prompt con- 
 sideration of the matter. Over and over again I have heard 
 unfortunate landlords express their unalterable faith that the 
 fairness and conscientiousness of Englishmen will make some 
 amends for the mistake into which they fell four months ago. 
 
 At the same time, reviewing broadly the work of the Laud 
 Courts, I am bound to say that the Act, such as it is, has 
 been fairly administered. I have seen more of its actual 
 working by the different Commissions than, perhaps, any 
 person in Ireland, and I unhesitatingly assert that more 
 painstaking, intelligent, and high-minded men than the great 
 bulk of the Assistant Commissioners could not be found. 
 
 One discovers a strange reluctance on the part of the 
 great titled landlords, especially the Whigs among them, to 
 take up the question of compensation. It may be that politi- 
 cal considerations stand in the way ; but if the sorely-needed 
 Landlords' Relief Fund is not to be provided by Parliament, 
 it would only be fair to pass an Act diminishing all annual 
 charges, including the interest on mortgages, proportionally 
 with the rent out of which they were expected to be paid, 
 and upon the amount of which they were calculated. A 
 downright contribution of say ten years' purchase upon the 
 reductions of rent, raised by Imperial taxation, as the price 
 of a contented Ireland, would be a juster, simpler plan, and 
 one entirely consistent with Parliamentary traditions. I may 
 here mention the encouraging fact that the purchasing powers 
 of the Commission are at last beginning to be put in motion. 
 Under Section 26 the Commission may lend to tenants de- 
 sirous of purchasing their holdings three-fourths of the price, 
 instead of the two-thirds authorised by the Act of 1870.
 
 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 175 
 
 Fifty applications have been received under this Section, and 
 the Commissioners have agreed to advance about seventecii 
 thousand pounds. A few days ago they bought an estate in 
 Coanty Down, belonging to a solicitor named O'Donnell, at 
 the request of the tenants. There are twenty-seven tenants 
 upon it, holding in all four hundred and thirty-two acres. 
 Each tenant finds one-fourth of the purchase- money ; the 
 Commissioners advance the remainder ; and the interest, pay- 
 able for thirty-five years only, by the tenants to the Commis- 
 sioners, vpith the interest at five per cent, upon the one-fourth 
 ■which it may be assumed was privately advanced, amount 
 together to just about the present rent. Another fact worthy 
 of special reference is the great increase of applications to fix 
 a fair rent from Mayo, averaging about one hundred and 
 thirty a day. 
 
 The great difficulty in the working of the Act is of course 
 this very large and unexpected number of applications. A 
 serious error, based upon an insufficient consideration of the 
 litigiousness inherent in the Irish character, was committed 
 in establishing the Land Court. It was no doubt hoped that 
 after a few test cases had been heard all the remaining cases 
 would be settled out of Court. But no Irishman would be 
 willing to pay more than he thought fair, merely because his 
 neighbour in a similar holding had been adjudged liable to 
 pay the same. If the Act is to be worked to any purpose 
 before the present generation has passed away altogether, its 
 progress must be at once accelerated. Either official valuators 
 must be appointed, with an official title and a liberal salar}', 
 to go round and value lands, and be ready to give evidence 
 upon the question of value when the Commissioners arrive ; 
 or the Commissions must be split up, one Lay Commissioner 
 sitting in Court with the President, while the second is valuing 
 a different holding from that before the Court, and next day, 
 the Second Lay Commissioner sitting in Court with the Presi- 
 dent, while the first inspects a third holding. This question 
 of valuators, so often discussed in these columns, has been at 
 last seriously considered by the Government in conjunction 
 with the Commissioners.
 
 176 IRELAND UXDER THE LAXD ACT. 
 
 The question of arrears, the importance of wliich I brono^lit 
 forward some months ago, requires an amendment of the 
 Act, and it still remains to be dealt with. It was hoped 
 that the bishops of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland 
 might have thought it incumbent upon them, after the issue 
 of the No Rent manifesto, to meet and denounce that docu- 
 ment, and the policy of it. One prelate did, in fact, perform 
 his duty individually in this respect, and it is well known that 
 the majority of the bishops disapprove of the latest doctrine 
 put forth by the Land League. But in view of the effect of 
 the French Revolution, not more distinctly agrarian than the 
 present one in Ireland, upon their Church, as seen in the 
 present condition of France, it is strange that some com- 
 bined protest and sentence has not been fulminated by 
 their Lordships collectively. The truth seems to be that the 
 bishops are seriously discouraged, not to say ' huffed,' by the 
 small regard paid to their recommendations forwarded to the 
 Cxovernment. They distinctly advised that sufficient pro- 
 vision should be made for paying the landlord his arrears, or 
 otherwise dealing with them without leaving the impoverished 
 tenantry AvhoUy liable for them. This has not been done, and 
 until an Act has been passed, as apparently it must sooner or 
 later be passed, disposing of this question in the spirit and 
 direction indicated by the bishops, they will not interfere be- 
 tween the Government and the people. The decisions of the 
 Commissioners, cutting down rents nearly 25 per cent., have 
 confirmed them in the conviction that it would be unrighteous 
 to exact arrears due upon the rent-scale thus judicially pro- 
 nounced excessive. Their action is further hampered by the 
 strong support given to the League by certain of their 
 number, and these by no mean.s the least influential and 
 eloquent. It is this division of opinion which prevents the 
 Pope from uttering any words of counsel at the present junc- 
 ture. The bishops cannot excommunicate those who commit 
 <mtrages, for the simple reason that any person belonging to 
 a secret unlawful society, and bound by an oath, is ipso facto 
 excommunicate according to the Common Law of the Church. 
 I'osides, since the outbreak of the agitation, the attendance at
 
 IRELAND UXDER THE LADX ACT. 177 
 
 chapel has notably decreased, and no "Whiteboj, or follower of 
 ' Captain Moonlight,' ever presents himself, knowing tliat 
 without a promise to disconnect himself from his society, 
 which would result in his assassination, he could not obtain 
 absolution. For the reasons above stated, the bishops are 
 averse to taking up the excellent idea of the Bishop of Elphin, 
 to found Tenants' Defence Associations in every parish, for the 
 purpose of fairly working the Land Act in a law-abiding 
 spirit, and protecting the interests of tenants. The Bishop's 
 plan was that the clergy should manage such associations 
 under the presidency of the bishops, and the Government 
 took the earliest opportunity of notifying their willingness to 
 allow, and even support such a scheme. Mr. Parnell and Mr. 
 Egan, however, denounced the contemplated Associations im- 
 mediately upon hearing of them with an amount of vehemence, 
 which showed they were afraid that the L£^ague might be 
 replaced by them. Partly from this opposition, partly from 
 the disinclination of other bishops to co-operate, the scheme 
 has, even in Dr. Gillooly's own diocese, fallen through. 
 
 The Commissioners fully realise the urgent necessity for a 
 large and immediate development of the means of dealing 
 with countless applications standing unheard in their books. 
 In the opinion both of the Government and the Commission 
 the plan of sending round valuers, with an official title and a 
 sufficient salary, who, after inspecting the holdings in dispute, 
 should make a confidential report to the Sub-Commissioners, 
 is by far the best. The mere multiplication of Sub-Commis- 
 sions, sitting but half their time as at present, besides entail- 
 ing vast expense, would make a comparatively small impression 
 upon the arrears. But an insuperable diOiculty lies in tli*- 
 way of the scheme for appointing official valuers. An amend- 
 ment sanctioning their appointment was actually proposed in 
 the House of Commons during the debates on the Bill, and 
 negatived. It is accordingly felt that although the circum- 
 stances have widely changed, and the House would now, in all 
 probability, agree to such an amendment without a ho)idjide 
 division, it would still be highly indecorous to do under the 
 general powers of the Act what the House distinctly forbade
 
 1T8 I BEL AND UNDER THE LAJVD ACT. 
 
 to be done. A middle coarse will, in all probability, betaten. 
 Under Section 45,. the Coromission may. with the consent of 
 the Treasury, employ such actuaries, surveyors,, and other 
 persons as they rnay think fit, for the purpose of enabling- the 
 Laud Commission to carry into effect any of the provisions of 
 this Act. Four or five surveyors of eminence^ and a further 
 number, if necessary, will, it is expected, be at once appointed 
 under this section. Their duties vyill consist in reporting 
 upon the nature and value of lands to the Assistant Commis- 
 sioners, especially where there is a division of opinion upon a 
 Sub-Commission. Mr. Grey, the agent of the late Lord 
 Derby, will, with Mr. Murrough O'Brien, valne holdings for 
 the Chief Commissioners sitting upon appeal. Mr. Grey 
 holds a distinct office altogether, that of Assessor to the Com- 
 mission, and his reports will, where necessary, be supplemented 
 by those of the official surveyors.
 
 IRELAyi) UXDER HIE LASI) ACT. 178 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 THE DANGEROUS AREA. 
 
 Dublin: Jlonday Evening, January 2, 1882. 
 
 The Government have at last recognised the long scouted 
 truth that in politics, as in surgery, force is after all the first 
 remedy for serious dislocations. There are some statesmen, 
 once perhaps in their youth to a greater or less extent ac- 
 quainted with the feelings and tendencies of the subject 
 masses, who, having been, since they became responsible 
 administrators, dependent for information upon dull subordi- 
 nates, will persist in legislating as if all minds were passionless 
 and logical — mere machines, the action of which could be 
 exactly calculated and controlled. The predominance of this 
 class has over and over again contributed to the historical 
 misfortunes of Ireland. Only four months ago it seems to 
 have been confidently expected that the rude and savage maTi 
 of ^[unster would bow an obedient breast before the rising 
 Sun of Justice, and, after a brief devotional interval, fall to 
 work digging, draining, and reaping, like a Midlothian lease- 
 holder, or a Mediaeval Dutchman. The Land Act has not yet 
 justified the trumpeting which heralded its birth, and the lar- 
 gesse which followed. Rents have been lowered in the most 
 startling manner — whether rightly or wrongly is not now the 
 question. Instead of purging ' landlordism ' of its noxious 
 elements, the Sub-Commissions have begun to devour it like 
 wolves, and seem in a fair way to make an end of it at one 
 meal. And the strange thing is that, aftcjr the sacrifice of 
 innumerable victims, no peace follows the Ministerial auguries. 
 
 N 2
 
 ISO IRELAND UNDEB THE LAXD ACT. 
 
 Sundry Ministers, being Irish landlords, have in fact deeply 
 but vainly scored themselves with the. legislative knife, while 
 that hunted prophet, Parnell, stands by and mocks them. 
 The Premier's reputation itself is further endangered by the 
 reckless flaying and slicing of landlordism : just as a great 
 surgical lecturer may fatally wound himself wnth the dissect- 
 ing scalpel. After throwing a quarter or more of the land- 
 lords' share of Irish estates to their tenants, the appetite of 
 the latter grows with what it feeds on. It is now more 
 clamorous than ever, and the political danger of the agrarian 
 movement, which was to be checked by the Land Act, has 
 distinctly increased. 
 
 Outrages of an aggravated character were soon dis- 
 covered to be so numerous that it became almost impossible to 
 direct the necessary investigations and to perform simul- 
 taneously the ordinary functions of Government. A Chief 
 Secretary for Ireland is at all times in a peculiarly trying 
 position. He really does the duties of an entire Cabinet. 
 Bat Mr. Forster has found the added role of a military com- 
 mandcr-in-chiet too much for his energies, and, to do him 
 justice, for his inclination. The country has accordingly been 
 mapped out into military, or, as they are called, ' Constabu- 
 lary,' districts, each under the rule of a disguised major- 
 general, bearing the innocent-looking civilian's title of ' Resi- 
 dent Magistrate.' To him is committed the command of the 
 military and civil forces within the limits of his small province. 
 He is to improve the system of patrolling, and to effect some 
 mysterious ' changes in present arrangements.' For any 
 Ruch 'changes' the new officers are to be accountable to the 
 Inspector- General of Constabulary, and to the Lord Lieu- 
 tenant, though it is not impossible that Parliament may also, 
 when it meets, claim to have some voice in the matter. 
 
 Now, that there was a necessity for more efficient patrol- 
 ling in their districts there can be no doubt. To speak 
 plainly, some of the resident magistrates and sub-inspectors 
 required to be stirred up in this respect. Not long since I 
 hoard a sub-inspector deprecate the proposed increase in the 
 force as useless. A few niphts afterwards a man was shot
 
 IBELAXD UXDER THE LAXD ACT. 181 
 
 within a mile of tLe station in which he was speaking. 
 Wherever a man has paid his rent, or otherwise opposed him- 
 self to the ' No Rent ' party, he requires protection. The 
 Government have accordingly selected five determined and 
 masterful magistrates to take charge of the scheduled dis- 
 tricts. They are mostly military men ; and one of them, Mr. 
 Clifford Lloyd, has already proved what a firm, if somewhat 
 heavy, hand can do In the repressing of outrages. I have been 
 at the pains of making certain calculations bearing on the 
 condition of the twelve scheduled counties, the results of which 
 may be considered worth attention. They comprise in all 
 about ten millions six thousand four hundred and thirty-five 
 acres — nearly half the surface of Ireland. They are inhabited 
 by two millions seventy-nine thousand and seventy-five per- 
 sons — that Is to say, nearly 40 per cent, of the Irish people. 
 Of these inhabitants more than 93 per cent, are Roman 
 Catholics ; the general proportion of Catholics to Protestants 
 in Ireland being only 76 per cent. Upon an average ne-^rly 38 
 per cent, of the people In this area can neither read nor write — 
 the average of illiterates In Ireland, Including Ulster, being 
 only 33 per cent. There are, taking these twelve counties alto- 
 gether, 24 constables to every ten thousand of the population, 
 the average in all Ireland being twenty-one. 55 per cent, of the 
 land scheduled is pasture, as against 49 per cent, throughout 
 Ireland. 24 per cent, is tillage, against nearly 28 per cent, and 
 18 per cent, of bog against 20 per cent, generally. The small 
 residue of the land is laid out as plantation. The number of 
 holdings valued at 4Z. and under, is the same as It Is all over the 
 country, namely 33 per cent. Other figures, resulting from com- 
 parison and calculation of statistics, have, however, to be ex- 
 amined with these. In regard to the sensible rule, by which in 
 future writs may be served throughout Leinster, Munster, and 
 Connaught, and minute parts of Ulster, by sending them through 
 the post, and pasting up copies on the police station nearest 
 to the residence of the defendant, I find that the ai'ea covered 
 is in extent about fifteen millions three hundred and thirty- 
 six thousand seven hundred and forty acres — about 74 pep 
 cent, on the acreage of Ireland. The population amounts
 
 182 IRELAXD UXDEU THE LAXD ACT. 
 
 to three million five hundred and seventy-nine thousand 
 one hundred and forty-nine, or 68 per cent, of the total popu- 
 lation of the country. The population of Catholics is 91 per 
 cent., and about 39 per cent, of the inhabitants of this region 
 cannot read or write. 52 per cent, of the land is pasturage, 
 24 per cent, tillage, and 20 per cent. bog. The proportion of 
 valuations at and under M. is 34 per cent. 
 
 The first point noticeable in these figures is the omission 
 of Mayo. Not only are outrages less severe and less frequent 
 than formerly in that county, but the decided rush of Mayo 
 tenants into the Land Commission Court leaves no room 
 for doubting that Mayo men are satisfied with the Act. 
 Another point worthy of attention is the unusual extent of 
 grazing land in the dangerous area. The homely saying that 
 ' Satan finds some mischief stiU for idle hands to do,' is well 
 exemplified over the vast tracts in the south and west of 
 Ireland, where the people, generation after generation, lead 
 the comparatively idle life of shepherds and herdsmen, and 
 can spare any amount of time for the daily labour of leaning 
 up against a post or whistling over the interminable heath. 
 The idlest regions in Ireland are the most dangerous ; and, 
 where the men have no sphere for honest and exacting labour, 
 they seem to busy themselves most eagerly about the impos- 
 sible programme of the Land League. A stranger entering 
 one of their villages would see in the heat of the day ten or 
 twelve strong fellows lounging about the Court House, near 
 or opposite the hotel where the mail car waits ; and if he 
 were to question them he would find that they neither have 
 ■work nor the hope of work. Since 1851 more than two and 
 a half millions of persons, equivalent to 45 per cent, of the 
 existing population, have emigrated. Yet it was proved a 
 short time since that there are more than nine hundred thou- 
 sand young persons, besides adults, in Ireland, able to work, 
 who are without employment. All useful industries, with an 
 exception to some extent in the case of the woollen trade, are 
 declining, or have perished. When the American and Cana- 
 dian meat and corn trades are fully developed, the value of
 
 TRELiXD UNDER THE LAXD ACT. 18:) 
 
 the Irish grazing lands must be lowered, more people will 
 be throwR out of work, aud fresh troubles must arise. The 
 great unemployed masses in Ireland are in fact a standing 
 danger to the State, and present a continual temptation to the 
 ambitions and designs of revolutionary agitators. All kinds 
 of immoral and inhuman ideas flourish in the listless minds of 
 these id'e folk, as all sorts of foul growths will sprout in a 
 stagnant pool. If industries, for which there is ample opening, 
 that woRld provide the people with continuous oceapatiou 
 can be encouraged and developed by patriotic capitalists, the 
 future of Ireland wonld be assured. Until then, however, the 
 true and statesmanlike treatment is evidently to imitate the 
 process by which patriarchal men originally prevented any 
 congestion of population, namely, by conferring upoa their 
 superfluous children a portion and a blessing, and then sending 
 them forth to settle where there was room for them. The 
 old disinclination to emigrate is rapidly diminishing, however 
 much the feeling against leaving the coantry may be magnified 
 by political leaders, anxious to keep possible voters in the 
 kingdom at any cost. Whea once emigration is made, as 
 it ought to be, safe, comfortable, and honourable, population 
 will rapidly adjust itself to the means of decent subsistence, 
 wages will rise, and dificontent disappear. 
 
 Outside of the Land Commissioners' offices I have not 
 heard a single Irishman express his belief that the Land Act 
 would pat an end to the troubles of the coantry. It cau 
 hardly be said that more rent is being paid. The commoii 
 demand that the suspects shall be released before payment is 
 made is quite sufficient t-s show that the people, having got 
 m the harvest, still cherish the foolish notion, diligentljr 
 preached from Paris, that they can hold it. The policy of 
 this teaching is first to ruin aad displace as many landlord.^ 
 as possible ; secondly, to exasperate the people against 
 English rule by the spectacle of evictions on a large scale. 
 No word is uttered by the League leaders still at large, ex- 
 pressive of the horror which every uncorrupted nature must 
 entertain towards the outrages committed in. certain League-
 
 184 IRELAXD UXDER THE LAXD ACT. 
 
 ridden parts of the country.' The landlords again appear to 
 bo only too ready to fall into the trap set for them. The 
 Property Defence Association, moved by the real distresses of 
 the small landlords, and by way of justifying the patronage 
 of ray Lord Mayor, are making ready for an evicting cam- 
 paign. The Government, by the appointment of Mr. Clifford 
 Lloyd and his colleagues, have approved of the Association 
 policy, at least ' in Ireland ; ' and Mr. Patrick Egan, so far as 
 one may judge of a man by his actions, must be rubbing 
 his hands gleefully at the prospect. I am obliged to point 
 out that the landlords, by enforcing arrears — that is, rents 
 previously due upon a scale now pronounced by every Sab- 
 Commission, without exception, to have been one-fourth 
 above a fair rent — will be putting themselves, in the eyes of 
 the people, in the wrong. If the old rent was fair, they 
 should not have passed the Land Act ; if it was unfair, and 
 the Land Act was properly passed, they ought not to exact 
 arrears based on the old rent. It is the Government which, 
 having by its assurances impaled the landlords on the horns 
 of this dilemma, are morally bound either to extricate them 
 or to give place to any who will do so. A rackrenter pure 
 and simple deserves no sympathy. But it was admitted by 
 the principal members of the Cabinet that such men are the 
 I'are exception amongst Irish landlords. It is an undertaking 
 worthy of the highest powers, of the undisputed sway of 
 genius, to preserve to the English Crown a dependency so 
 i^.ear and so essential to it as Ireland. But it ought not to be 
 preserved by denying justice upon a quibble, and by holding 
 to a bad bargain men who are now more helpless than the 
 poorest of their tenants. 
 
 ' Shortly after this was -written Mr. Davitt is reported to have expressed 
 his horror of outrages upon animals. The report does not state "whether 
 ibe outrages upon human beings had been made known to him.
 
 IRELAND rXDER THE LAND ACT. 185 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 LIFE IN COUXTY LIMERICK. 
 
 Limerick : Tuesday Night, January 10. 
 The leaders of the agitation have latterly maintained some 
 semblance of political activity by the institution of grand 
 poaching forays, dignified by the name of Land League Hunts, 
 into the preserves of obnoxious proprietors. Having regard 
 to the doctrine that ' Charity covereth a multitude of sins,' 
 the organisers of these expeditions hold that the stealing of 
 game to garnish the table of their imprisoned brethren is a 
 sin properly and primarily within the purview of this adage. 
 Some landowners have meekly submitted to such outrages, 
 but the number and significance of the unlawful gatherings 
 have rendered it impossible for the Government to look 
 passively on. 
 
 On the afternoon of New Year's day, while the congrega- 
 tion of Murroe, a village about twelve miles to the east of 
 Limerick, were at prayers, a man on horseback rode through 
 their little street, rapidly affixing to trees and walls a placard 
 in the following terms: — 'Notice. — Fail not to come. All 
 men are requested to attend at Barrington's, Glenstal, to hunt 
 and put down that tyi-ant, on Friday, January G.' On the 
 same day similar notices were put up in every neighbouring 
 village, and even over the borders of Tipperary. In the even- 
 ing threatening letters were delivered, warning the tenants 
 not to attend the Rent-Office next day, on pain of death, and 
 shots were fired close to the houses of three tenants. Sir 
 Croker Barrington is the owner of Glenstal Castle, and a fine 
 estate, in the north-east angle of County Limerick, and, as his
 
 isr, IRKLAXI) UXDJCn THE LAXD ACT. 
 
 tenants are prosperous, with large rich grazing farms, he has 
 seen fit to ask his rents of them as usual. One of them, 
 an unscrupulous, malevolent person, has been stirring up dis- 
 satisTaction amongst his fellows, and it is said that he posted 
 up the notices. 
 
 The hunt might have been possible a few weeks ago, but 
 unfortunately for the chances of sport, Major Clifford Lloyd, 
 the most vigorous of the new superior Resident Magistrates, 
 has just made Limerick his head-quarters, and the contem- 
 plated field of operations was directly under his nose. On 
 January 5 — that is, Thursday, the day before the hunt — the 
 Lord Lieutenant's proclamation was put np, forbidding the 
 meeting as unlawful, and warning all persons from taking part 
 in it. On Thursday night, fifty men of the Rifle Brigade 
 arrived from Cork. 
 
 On Friday Major Clifibrd Lloyd himself took a body of 
 one hundred men to prevent another hunt, also announced for 
 that day, which is the old Twelfth Day, and a general holiday 
 among Roman Catholics. I accompanied the Murroe expedi- 
 tion. We proceeded to the place of assembly before dawn had 
 broken, but two hours elapsed ere all the preparations were 
 complete. Then we set forth, in a long procession of cars, 
 through the sullen ranks of townspeople, the moon still show- 
 ing of a pale gold colour in the morning sky. I was on the 
 first car, with an old sergeant in charge of the Limerick con- 
 tingent of police ; and two sub-constables balanced us on the 
 other side of the vehicle. Then came two cars, each bearing 
 four sub-constables, and a string of cars carrying fifty men of 
 the 76th regiment, under Major Huskisson, with two other 
 officers and the regimental surgeon. All the men had their 
 rifles and side arras, and were provided with forty rounds of 
 ammunition, partly ball and partly buckshot. After a drive 
 of some twelve miles, we reached the Murroe police barracks, 
 and found the remainder of the force already assembled. 
 There were in all, excluding officers, 172 men drawn up, con- 
 pisting of the fifty soldiers already mentioned of the 70th, 
 fifty of the Rifle Brigade from Cork, thirty-two men of the 
 31st Regiment, twenty troopers of the Scots Greys under
 
 inFLAXI) UXDEB THE LAXD ACT. 187 
 
 Lieutenant Hawlev, and twenty .constables under Sub- 
 Inspector Truscott. 
 
 Glenstal Castle stands on some rising ground in the centre 
 of a large park, and on every side is overlooked at the distance 
 of one or two miles, by lofty green hills. The Limerick road, 
 after touching the Park on its southern border, at Murroe, 
 continues along the easterly border in a northerly direction, 
 and a branch of this road runs along the western side of the 
 Park to Newport, in Tipperary, some four miles away to the 
 north. There is a valuable preserve of pheasants and hares at 
 Cappanuke, two miles to the south-east of Glenstal, and here 
 a gamekeeper named Hayes has a little house. He is very 
 much disliked by local trespassers, from a habit he has ac- 
 quired of shooting strange dogs, and of summoning their 
 masters before the nearest magistrate. Shots were fired in 
 his yard not long since, and his wife goes in nightly fear of 
 another attack. His mother would not go to bed at all on 
 Thursday night. It was expected that the ' boys ' from the 
 notorious New Pallas, which lies some five miles to the south, 
 would break in at this point, and accordingly Captain Hat- 
 chell, R.M.,with thirty soldiers, under Captain Hill, and a few 
 policemen, marched to a sheltered spot near Hayes's house. The 
 magistrate and I, with a guide bearing a huge bludgeon, were 
 the only persons in civilian costume, and of course we received 
 very unfriendly glances as we proceeded through the village, in 
 front of the troops. A black and treacherous bog had to be 
 crossed, and the daintily accoutred soldiers were in a sad 
 plight before they reached Cappanuke. ' This is bloomin' bad 
 travellin',' grumbled one warrior, with a strong Holloway ac- 
 cent, as he scrambled out of a deep hole. ' It's a soft place to 
 fall in, anyhow,' rejoined a much-bemired comrade at his side ; 
 and the philosophy of the retort provoked some chuckling. 
 This detaclunent was fated to inaction. Captain Hatchell 
 placed sentinels on the rising ground all about the post, and, 
 with a telescope under his arm, made continual rounds nntil 
 dusk. At one time a small number of men were seen hunting 
 hares about a mile away on a neighbour's land, and during 
 the day the soldiers were carefully watched from the heights
 
 188 IHELAXD rXDER THE LA.\D ACT. 
 
 intervening between Cappanuke and Xew Pullas, but no col- 
 lision took place here. 
 
 A second detachment, under Captain Lloyd, J. P., was 
 posted at Puckawn, on the north-east corner of the Park ; a 
 third, under Mr. Powell, J. P., at Coolnahilda, the south-west 
 corner ; and a fourth under Major Rolleston, R.M., at the 
 Castle itself. Sixteen troopers of the Greys were drawn up 
 beliind a wooded hill, a little to the west of the Castle, but 
 still within the Park, and all was in readiness. It will be 
 observed that no force was shown at the north-western angle 
 of the Park. Through this angle it was believed that the 
 Tipperary 'boys' from ISTewporfc would advance, and walk 
 into a veritable trap. This skilful disposition of the forces 
 was due to a suggestion of Mr. Barrington, the eldest son of 
 the present baronet, at a little council of war held at the 
 baiTacks, and was unanimously approved. Mounted men 
 and sentinels were posted on every height, and at noon 
 exactly an advance of ' the enemy ' was signalled. Looking 
 northwards, one could make out a disorderly mob of perhaps 
 five hundred men streaming down upon the Park, waving 
 their sticks, shouting excitedly, and every now and then 
 starting a hare, which would double back, and then be 
 clubbed to death. Many of them were very young men. One 
 or two had guns, but they were not used. The invaders 
 headed tumultuously in the direction of Mr. Powell's party at 
 Coolnahilda, but the instant they saw the red coats they 
 broke away eastwards, towards the hill concealing the Scots 
 Greys. By some misunderstanding the troopers had been 
 withdrawn, but Mr. Barrington moved out at once, with half 
 the garrison of the Castle, straight upon the ' enemy.' The 
 Newport men then halted, and for the moment it looked like 
 fighting. The distance between them and the soldiers was 
 about two hundred yards. But before the steady tramp of 
 the military the ' boys ' bore backwards, turned, and began to 
 retreat in leisurely fashion along the Newport road. In the 
 meantime Mr. Powell's party, now joined by Major Rolleston, 
 had marched due north, and had got almost between the 
 strangers and their way home. Captain Lloyd ha\ing been
 
 IliELAXD UXDER THE LAXD ACT. 180 
 
 directed to aid in cutting off their retreat had also taken his 
 party at the double from the north-east angle of the Park, 
 round Puckawn Hill, in a westerly direction, driving before 
 him a smaller band of marauders. The consequence of these 
 combined movements vpas that at the bridge crossing the 
 River Annagh a number of the flying foe were hemmed in by 
 three bodies of troops coming from the south, south-east and 
 the east; and twenty-five of them, including one of Sir 
 Croker Barrington's tenants, were collared one after another. 
 The soldiers delivered their prisoners to the constables, who 
 came up breathless to the crestfallen sportsmen, took down 
 their names in order that they might be summoned, and then 
 released them. The remaining fugitives were chased over the 
 fields for miles by the troops, and forced across the river 
 Mulkear. One man presented a pistol at a watcher's head, 
 bat no person on either side, I am happy to say, was injured 
 during the day's operations. The twenty-five prisoners will 
 shortly be prosecuted for riot and -unlawful assembly before 
 the Petty Sessions Court at Murroe. 
 
 It was growing dusk before we started to return to 
 Limerick, and the wearisomeness of the journey was some- 
 what enlivened by the spirited racing of the carmen one 
 against the other. I sat with the magistrate upon the second 
 car, but, despite his wrathful remonstrances, our charioteer 
 resolutely preserved his pace. At last there was a sharp halt 
 in front, and a succession of collisions ensued in the darkness 
 behind us, like the bumping of railway trucks when the 
 engine meets them. Amid the laughter and shouting it was 
 difficult to understand the cause of the stoppage, but pre- 
 sently we saw the white gates of a railway gleaming across 
 the road. A train was due : but the foremost carman poured 
 forth a volume of entreaties and remonstrances, the gates 
 were opened, and at racing speed we were whirled over the 
 crossing, my infuriated co-passenger shouting to the gateman, 
 ' Shut the gates, sir ; there are twenty cars coming on be- 
 hind ! ' I was glad to see a gallant IVfajor attached to 
 the expedition come in to dinner afterwards whole and un- 
 ruffled, without so much as a spot of mud upon his uniform.
 
 190 lit EL AND UXDER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 On Friday I took an early train to Xew Pallas, bearing 
 the necessary authorisation from Major Clifford Lloyd. This 
 notorious village is situated in a fertile valley near the 
 Tipperary border, some thirty miles south-east of Limerick. 
 Tlie pasture here is famous throughout Ireland, and the 
 farmers amass considerable suras of money, which they be- 
 stow upon their children on marriage, living themselves 
 always in most frugal fashion. The population of the 
 district has always been celebrated for its ferocity ; and in 
 this respect the ' boys ' of Old Pallas, a village two miles to 
 the south of the first, were ever pre-eminent. About 
 thirty-five years ago, it is said, some Old Pallas men having 
 killed an enemy, unearthed the body on the day after the 
 funeral, and set it up on end against the churchyard wall, in 
 token of undying hatred. I told the Sub-Inspector of New 
 Pallas that I wished to see something of his notorious district. 
 He forthwith took me to an inquest then sitting. 
 
 Last Monday week an nnfortiinate stranger from a Anllage 
 a few miles away brought in three beasts, and sold them for 
 twenty-three pounds. He afterwards, to quote his dying 
 words, 'Fell in with some bad boys,' who, holding large stones 
 in their hands in the Old Pallas manner, proceeded to beat in 
 his skull in the public square. The police know very well 
 who committed this crime, and so does every person in the 
 village, and other deeds as foul are imputed to the criminals 
 in question. But witness after witness gave evidence in the 
 stuffy little room (adorned only with a portrait of Mr. Dillon, 
 M.P.), that he had seen this and that, but knew nothing 
 about the beating ; and a verdict was returned that the poor 
 victim, lying in his shroud three doors away, had been killed 
 ' by some person or persons unknown.' 
 
 In the company, by Major Lloyd's desire, of a constable, I 
 walked along the road leading northwards through Nicker. 
 This is another fighting village, built on the side of the moun- 
 tain, and overlooking the surrounding country for miles and 
 miles in every direction. A few years since a pew in the 
 village chapel was devised by will. The disappointed legatee 
 brought his partisans into chapel ; the devisee attended with
 
 I II EL A XD IXDER THE LAXD ACT. I'jl 
 
 his, and a furious conflict between the factions raged in the 
 aisles for the possession of the fatal bench. The large bell of 
 the building is not without its profane uses. On the 
 approach of a sheriff with his men it has often been loudly 
 tolled, so that the beasts of the defaulting tenant might be 
 promptly driven amongst his neighbours' herds, and thus be 
 uni'ecoguisable. I called at the house of a man named Fljnn, 
 who was formerly bailiff to a local landowner. After the last 
 eviction at which he assisted, he was with difficulty saved by 
 the police from the inhabitants of New Pallas, and has now 
 two constables in his house every night. He is hooted by his 
 neighbours. He dare not attend a fair to sell his butter or 
 stock, and if he were left unguarded, would in all probability 
 be put to death. After his last child was baptized he tendered 
 ' the accustomed dues ' to the priest of Nicker, Father Ryan. 
 ' No,' said that amiable divine, ' I will not touch the money 
 of a Judas ! ' I next visited the dwelling of Captain Lloyd, 
 in New Pallas itself, hard by the huge police barracks. From 
 this house the gallant Captain, who is a short, broad-shouldered, 
 black-bearded, merry-hearted man of some fifty years of age, 
 made last year excursions in the early morning hours, until 
 he had seized enough cattle in the valley to satisfy his cousin 
 ]\rarshall Lloyd's claims for rent. The house is a slated build- 
 ing, of very solid construction, divided into three rooms, with 
 lofts overhead. The third room was further cut into two 
 by a lath and mortar partition, and the half of this room 
 nearest the window at the back was for some time occupied by 
 Captain Lloyd as a bedroom. On last Michaelmas Day, how- 
 ever, it was unoccupied, but in the second part of the room 
 were two constables. The Captain, the emergency men, and 
 the constables, eleven in all, were alarmed in the night by a 
 deafening explosion. Some one had placed a keg containing 
 twenty-five pounds of blasting powder on a stone ledge outside 
 the window of the supposed sleeping room, and attached to it 
 a lighted fuse, thus hoping to make sure of the Captain. The 
 ])artition disappeared altogether, the nearest doors were 
 reduced to fragments, and the two slumbering constables 
 blown through the doorway into the second room. The walls
 
 192 IRELAND UXDER THE LAXD ACT. 
 
 are still blackened by ganpowder. All round the bouse is a 
 wide gap under the roof, which was actually lifted up, but 
 fell back by its" own weight, and the building is otherwise 
 shattered, split, and injured. Strange to say, no one seems 
 to have been hurt in the least — a not uncommon result in 
 cases of this kind. Sentries now guard the house on the out- 
 side nightly, and the Captain, expecting an attack from the 
 open land in the rear, has built a projecting angular field earth- 
 work, or Redan, as it is technically called, over which his men 
 can fire. He has established himself firmly, and will not be 
 frightened, beaten, or blown out of his stronghold. Not long 
 since he was attacked in the open street of New Pallas, and 
 fi.red, killing a mule. 
 
 My last visit was to a farm called Garranmore, a mile out 
 of the village, occupied by Emergency men. As I walked 
 down the road with the sub-constable I was loudly hooted ; 
 which my attendant coolly explained was the natural result of 
 my having been seen going about so much with the police 
 during the day. At one point in the road I was shown a large 
 tree in the angle of a wall, behind which tree the assassin was 
 concealed who shot M'Kenna, the caretaker at Garranmore, 
 some two months ago. The Garranmore hut contains seven 
 men armed, one of whom is on duty every night as sentinel. 
 In the farmhouse, a few yards off, are the Emergency men, 
 determined young fellows, one of whom is a carpenter, and 
 the other a shoeing smith. The hut is a bnllet-proof wooden 
 building, faced with concrete, and contains two rooms, both 
 loopholed all round for defensive purposes. It is plainly fur- 
 nished in deal, and is warmed by means of a stove. There 
 are eleven of these protection stations in the New Pallas 
 district alone, each garrisoned by fi'om two to four men; and 
 there is a military station also close to the village, at Mount 
 Catherine, containing fifty soldiers. This drain of constables 
 for protection duty has left almost tione for the important 
 business of patrolling ; and the Constabulary seem to be reso- 
 lutely opposed to the introduction of soldiers from the Reserve 
 as temporary constables, wearing the Constabulary uniform. 
 Major Clifford Lloyd has already solved the difficulty. Pro-
 
 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 193 
 
 tectioa duty will be performed by soldiers ; and the constables, 
 thus relieved, will be set about their proper work of patrolling. 
 As I proceeded in the evening to New Pallas Station, on 
 my return to Limerick, I met a detachment of the Scots 
 Guards marching in, for the first time, to occupy the different 
 protection posts. Captain Lloyd speedily made half-a-dozen 
 comfortable in his block hoase, and commanded pipes to be lit 
 all round. What with the Captain's warm welcome, the receipt 
 of extra pay, the novelty of the situation, and the conscious- 
 ness that they had been selected to garrison the most dangerous 
 place in all Ireland, the red-coats looked contented enough.
 
 134 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACl. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 THE DUNSEATH CASES. 
 
 London : January 19. 
 On January 18, 1882, after a delay of five months, a final 
 judgment of the Land Commission, fixing the ' fair rent ' for 
 a farm, was pronounced at Belfast, and incidentally two 
 questions of supreme importance to litigants under the Land 
 Act were determined. The matter before Mr. Justice 
 O'Hagan and his colleagues, sitting on appeal from the 
 Antrim Sab- Commission, was a typical Ulster case. The 
 tenant, David Adams, held upwards of forty-two acres of 
 Mrs. Jane Dunseath, the rent being 36Z. 10s., and the 
 Poor Law valuation, 24Z. 10s. Mr. Greer's Sub-Com- 
 mission, at Ballymena, lowered the rent to 30Z. 15s., 
 and costs were adjudged to the tenant. It appeared from 
 the evidence that the father of Adams had bought, in 1846, 
 from a previous tenant, one James M'Kee, the interest 
 in a lease of great part of the farm for thirty years, dated in 
 November 1845, at a rent of 26Z. lis. 6tZ., James M'Kee re- 
 ceiving for his interest the sum of 420Z. Another part of the 
 farm, consisting to some extent of bogland, was held at a 
 comparatively low rent. David Adams and his father, during 
 the term secured to them, made numerous improvements. 
 In 1876 Mr. Raphael, a 'valuator,' was sent to view the 
 holding, no longer held under lease ; and upon his estimate 
 the rent was raised to 36Z. 10s., including, however, 4Z. 10s. 
 a-year for the bogland. This witness confessed, candidly 
 enough, in cross-examination, that he had usually valued 
 lands ' for an increase of rent.' He had ' taken no improve- 
 ments into consideration,' but had added to the rent because 
 * stock was selling dearer.' He did not controvert the state-
 
 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 195 
 
 ment of the tenant's witnesses, that the tenant-right was 
 worth 12Z. an acre, without counting the goodwill ; or, 
 as one witness put it, that the tenant's improvements 
 had added 12Z. an acre to the value of the land. He 
 could say nothing against the view strenuously maintained 
 for David Adams, that a ' fair rent ' should, under the 9th 
 Clause of Section 8 of the Ac<f be reckoned without any 
 reference to the increased value thus conferred upon the 
 holding by the tenant's labour. Most damaging of all was 
 the discovery by Mr. Justice O'Hagan of what might be an 
 accidental coincidence. ' There is,' said his Lordship, ' a 
 most remarkable circumstance in connection with this in- 
 creased rent. T see that to the old rent there was added 
 exactly one-fifth to make up the new rent.' This calcu- 
 lation, which excludes the separate rent of 4Z. 10s. for the 
 bog-land, would amount to an arbitrary increase of 20 per 
 cent. 
 
 Such evidence raised a question of vital import to Ulster 
 tenants. The improvements were, it will have been observed, 
 made during the existence of a lease. In many thousands of 
 tenancies in Ulster to hold that for improvements made in 
 such circumstances rent might still, notwithstanding the Act 
 of 1881, be charged by the landlord against the very person 
 whose industry and capital had created them, would be prac- 
 tically to repeal that Act. By law, when a lease expired by 
 efflux of time, the interest in improvements ordinarily re- 
 verted to the landlord, as in the common case of a house put 
 up under a building lease. The 4th Section of the Act of 
 1870, however, gave the Irish tenant the right to claim com- 
 pensation for improvements effected by himself or his pre- 
 decessors in title. So jealously was the application of this 
 provision watched and disputed, that the question was almost 
 immediately raised, whether a break in the title forfeited the 
 right of the tenant to recover for improvements made prior to 
 it. The matter in dispute must obviously be decided upon 
 considerations which affect the answer to the inquiry whether, 
 under the analogous Clause of Section 8 of the recent Act, 
 rent may be demanded for such improvements. The first 
 
 o2
 
 196 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 case, and the most famous one determined under the Act of 
 1870, was that of Darragh v. Murdoch. There the improve- 
 ments had been made by the claimant's father under a lease 
 which expired in 1866. The claimant entered into possession 
 in succession to his father, obtaining a new letting. A notice 
 to quit having been served, and a claim filed, it was contended 
 that the father was not the predecessor in title of the claimant. 
 Mr. Justice Fitzgerald, who tried the case, ruled that the 
 tenant was entitled to compensation for improvements made 
 by himself only. The technical reasoning which, necessarily 
 prevailed with the Judges in such cases never convinced the 
 wrathful farmers, who thus heard themselves argued out of 
 the benefits they had been led to believe the Act would confer 
 upon them. There can be little doubt that the first of Mr. 
 (jladstone's ventures in Irish land legislation was to a great 
 extent nullified by such ' nice sharp quillets of the law ' as 
 provoked Mr. Justice Fitzgerald's decision in the celebrated 
 case to which I have referred. The lawyers, who had 
 succeeded in neutralising or paralysing the first measure, 
 very confidently attacked the second, upon similar grounds, 
 before the Assistant Commissioners. Thus the point settled 
 at Belfast in the case ' Adams v. Dunseath,' was originally 
 started in the. hearing of the Crawford cases, before the Second 
 Sub-Commission, at its very first sitting. Upon that occasion 
 it was strongly and successfully urged by Mr. M"Mordie, the 
 able advocate of the tenantry in these disputes, that to hold 
 the landlord's view to be right would be to stultify the Legis- 
 lature itself. Mr. M'Mordie's contention has now, for 
 good or evil, received the deSnite ratification of the Chief 
 Commission. It is true that Mr. Vernon, the lay member of 
 the Appeal Tribunal, has dissented from the opinion of his 
 colleagues ; but upon a purely legal question his opinion will 
 not go for much. The owners of land, perhaps, indulge 
 yet a hope that, on a further appeal to the Supreme Court 
 in Dublin, they will obtain a modification of this decision ; 
 but a little study of the powerful reasoning contained in 
 Mr. Justice O'Hugfm's judgment should cause the hope to 
 waver. 
 
 /
 
 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. IO7 
 
 The Chief Commissioners have confirmed the Assistant 
 Commissioners' estimate of a fair rent in this particular case ; 
 and the fact is worthy of notice, first, because the reduction 
 effected by the inferior tribunal was of considerable amount ; 
 and, further, because the Chief Commission employed the 
 services of Mr. Murrough O'Brien and Mr. Grey, independent 
 valuators of the highest skill and reputation. The eyes of 
 the landlords must therefore be opened at last to the full 
 extent of the damage inflicted upon them by the new Land 
 Act. Mr. Justice O'Hagan, in delivering the decision of his 
 Court, said that he and his colleagues were now settling ' princi- 
 ples upon which the Courts must in future act.' If that be true, 
 the success of the Land Act, in Ulster at least, is in one sense 
 secured, but at a terrible cost. It is an open secret that a 
 weighty motive of the framers of the measure was the desire 
 to conciliate the one province of Ireland which was, and ever 
 had been, industrious, prosperous, and loyal. The meetings 
 of tenant farmers which have lately been held in the North 
 were notoriously held for the purpose of influencing the action 
 of the Assistant Commissioners ; and certain members of Par- 
 liament went so far as to arrange an intimidating demonstra- 
 tion, in Belfast itself, for the very week in which the Chief 
 Commission was expected to sit there. The Chief Commis- 
 sioners have, let us assume, quieted Ulster at the ex- 
 pense of the owners of property. It is not to be supposed 
 that the decision just given can do aught else then encourage 
 the remaining Sub- Commissions, roaming in the South and 
 West, to abide by and even to increase the rate of reduction 
 of rents already adopted by them. The state of things con- 
 templated by the principal speakers at the landlords' mass 
 meeting, lately held in the Exhibition Palace at Dublin, would 
 therefore appear to have been brought about. The real effect 
 of the Land Act upon the property of Irish landlords may now 
 be ascertained with mathematical accuracy. Whether the 
 landlords will at once formulate their long-defeired claim for 
 compensation from the imperial exchequer, or meekly submit 
 to be mulcted for the common good, remains to be seen. They 
 will now, perhaps, agree with those who warned them when
 
 198 IRELAND UNDER THE LAND ACT. 
 
 they determined to suppress all allusion to such a claim at 
 the great meeting already referred to, that in relying upon 
 the Chief Commissioners to reverse the findings of the inferior 
 Land Courts in Ulster, they were not only deceived, but self- 
 deceiving.
 
 199 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 On Monday, October 24, the statement set out below ap- 
 peared in the Freeman's Journal : — 
 
 The following is an outline of an interview which took place a 
 few days ago in Kilmainham between Mr. Parnell and the writer, 
 who has kindly furnished us with a summary of what took place on 
 the occasion — 
 
 What effect will your arrest have on the policy of the League ? 
 
 Taken by itself my arrest would not have necessitated any change' 
 in the policy laid down by the National Convention, as I had been 
 able to pei-fect the machinery for carrying out the resolutions 
 adopted by the representatives assembled in the Rotundo. But the 
 subsequent arrest of the leading members of the Executive and 
 the leading members of the League practically deprives me of the 
 power of carrying out these resolutions, as the details necessary to 
 be attended to would have reqnu'ed the greatest care and attention 
 of the different heads of departments of the Central Executive. 
 These gentlemen are now in prison, and it would be impossible to 
 supply at short notice successors to them sufficiently capable and 
 experienced for the difficult and complicated task of testing the 
 Land Act. The Executive has, therefore, felt itself compelled to 
 abandon that portion of the resolutions wliich directed them to 
 make this test, and, instead of the more moderate policy, to adopt 
 the oft-recommended and bolder one of a general strike against pay- 
 ing rent to Irish landlords. 
 
 Do you believe that the farmers will take your advice and re- 
 fuse to pay rent / 
 
 I think they will to a great extent. We must recollect that fully 
 one-half of the Irish farmers cannot hope to obtain any benefit from 
 this Act, even though it should fulfil the expectations of its most 
 sanguine admirers. There are, first of all, the class of leaseholders 
 who entered into their leases previous to 1870, over one hundred 
 thousand in number. Next we have the dairy farmers and other 
 tenants who have entered into consolidated holdings since the
 
 200 APPENDIX A. 
 
 famine of 1847, and who, having made no improvements to speak 
 of, would practically have but little interest in their holdings ; 
 thirdly, we have the tenants on the great estates belonging to 
 absentee proprietors whose rents are not higher than the standai'd 
 which will probably be adopted by the Court as that of a fair rent ; 
 lastly, there are the small tenants, sunk in arrears to their landlords 
 and debts to the shopkeepers. This class, I am disposed to think, 
 would obtain a considerable reduction from the Court, but they 
 would not reap the benefit, since they would be compelled to sell 
 their new interests in order to pay off these arrears and debts. On 
 the other hand, the training which the people have had during the 
 past two years in a modified form of a strike against rent has, I 
 hope, sufficiently prepared them for the greater exertion now re- 
 quired. If the farmers stand firm in this strike for one short year 
 they must inevitably bring both Government and landlords to their 
 knees. This fight is nothing more than a question of money and 
 courage, and as Gladstone evidently intended in any case to dragoon 
 the country, it was just as well that tlie country should get some 
 adequate results in return in the shape of free land. 
 
 Can you caU to mind any incitement to acts of intimidation con- 
 tained in your speeches 1 
 
 I was always very careful to avoid anything which coiild be con- 
 strued into an incitement, or which coiild be taken by any of my 
 audience as being an incitement, to any act of intimidation or 
 violence, and it is a somewhat remarkable fact that, as indicated by 
 the warrants, the.se offences of which Mr. Forster has reasonably 
 suspected me must have been committed in Dublin, and must have 
 been contained in one or two speeches delivered by me at the usual 
 weekly meetings of the Land League— speeches which were by far 
 the most moderate of any of mine since the commencement of the 
 land movement. The principle, however, on which the Govern- 
 ment is proceeding seems to be this. That any advice or recommen- 
 dation given by me, or any of the other leaders of the movement, to 
 the tenant-farmers or labourers is intimidation. In oth r words, 
 the way in which they are now putting the Coercion Act in force is 
 the most absolute abrogation of the right of freedom of speech, of dis- 
 cussion and consultation, which has ever obtained in any country. In 
 taking tliis course the Government have practically rendered it im- 
 possible for the farmers either to test or to safely use the Act I 
 had always been one of those who believed that it might be possible 
 to use the Act in such a way as to secure substantial benefits for the 
 agi'icultural classes of Ireland, and I opposed the more extreme 
 Land League party who desired to reject it entirely at the recent 
 Convention, but I was firmly convinced that the Act could only be 
 safely used in an organised and systematic fashion, and that if the 
 farmers were left without organisation, assistance, and advice, the 
 result would be, as in the case of the Act of 1870, disappointing.
 
 APPEXDIX B. 2J1 
 
 APPENDIX B. 
 
 On October 21, 1881, tlie following Proclamations 
 appeared together in the Freeman's Jounial : — 
 
 BY THE LORD LIEUTENANT OF IRELAND. 
 
 A Proclamation. 
 COWPER. 
 Whereas, an Association styling itself ' The Irish National Land 
 League ' has existed for some time past, assuming to interfere with 
 the Queen's subjects in the free exercise of their lawful rights, and 
 especially to control the relations of landlords and tenants in 
 Ireland : 
 
 And whereas the designs of the said Association have been 
 sought to be eflected by an organised system of intimidation ; at- 
 tempting to obstruct the service of process and execution of the 
 Queen's writs, and seeking to deter the Queen's subjects from ful-- 
 filling their contracts and following their lawful callings and occupa- 
 tions : 
 
 And whereas the said Association has now avowed its purpose 
 to be to prevent the payment of all rent, and to effect the subver- 
 sion of the law as administered in the Queen's name in Ireland : 
 
 Now, We hereby warn all persons that the said Association, 
 styling itself ' The Irish National Land League,' or by whatsoever 
 other name it may be called or known, is an unlawful and criminal 
 Association ; and that all meetings and assemblies to carry out or 
 promote its designs or purposes are alike unlawful and criminal, 
 ai'd will be prevented, and, if necessary, dispersed by force. 
 
 And We do hereby warn all subjects of Her Majesty the Queen, 
 who may have become connected with the said Association, to dis- 
 connect themselves therefrom, and abstain from giving further 
 countenance thereto. 
 
 And W^e do hereby make known that all the powers and resources 
 at our command will be employed to protect the Queen's subjects 
 in Ireland in the free exercise of thrir lawful rights and the peace- 
 ful i)iirsuit of their lawful callings and occupations ; to enforce the 
 fulfilment of all lawful obligations ; and to save the process of the 
 law and the execution of the Queen's writs from liindrance or ob- 
 struction. 
 
 And We hereby call on loyal and well-affected subjects of the 
 Crown U) aid us in upholding an<l maintaining the authority of the 
 law and the suja-emacy of the Queen in this Her realm of Ireland. 
 Dated at Dublin Castle, this 2nth day of 
 October IS'il. 
 
 By His Excellency's Command, 
 W. E. FORSTER.
 
 202 APPENDIX C. 
 
 LAND LEAGUE PROCLAMATION. 
 
 The action of the Government for the past week, cuhninating this 
 evening in a Proclamation which practically announces their determi- 
 nation to resort to armed force in order to prevent the tisli people 
 exercising their constitutional right of public meeting, makes it the 
 duty of the Central Land League to call upon the people, whilst re- 
 maining firm and unbroken in their attitude of passive resistance, 
 to abandon for the present all projected public meetings in connec- 
 tion with the League which could be taken advantage of by the 
 authorities to carry out their designs. 
 
 By Order of 
 
 THE EXECUTIVE. 
 39 Upper Sackville Street, , 
 
 October 20, 1881. 
 
 APPENDIX C. 
 
 Extract from Section 4 of the Act of 1870. 
 
 4. Any tenant of a holding who is not entitled to compensation 
 under sections one and two of this Act, or either of such sections, 
 or if entitled does not make any claim under the said sections, or 
 either of them, may on quitting his holding, and subject to the 
 provisions of section three of this Act, claim compensation to be 
 paid by the landlord under this section in respect of all improve- 
 ments on his holding made by him or his predecessors in title. 
 
 Provided that — 
 
 (1.) A tenant shall not be entitled to any compensation in re- 
 spect of any of the improvements following ; that is to say, — 
 
 (a.) In respect of any improvement made before the passing of 
 this Act, and twenty years before the claim of such compensa- 
 tion shall have been made, except permanent buildings and 
 reclamation of waste land. 
 
 Extract from Section 5 of the Act o/1870. 
 
 5. For tlie purposes of compensation under this Act in respect of 
 improvements on a holding which is not proved to be subject either 
 to the Ulster tenant-right custom or to such usage as aforesaid, 
 or where the tenant does not seek compensation in respect of such 
 custom or usage, all im2:)rovements on such holding shall, until 
 the contrary is proved, be deemed to have been made by the tenant 
 or his predecessors in title, except in the following cases where 
 compensation is claimed in respect of improvements made before 
 the passing of this Act :
 
 APPENDIX C. 203 
 
 Where the tenant making the claim was tenant under a le;i£e 
 of the holding in reference to which the claim is n)ade : 
 
 Where such improvements were made twenty years or upwards 
 before the passing of this Act. 
 
 Extract from. Section 7 of the Act of 1^81. 
 
 7. A tenant on quitting the holding of which he is tenant shall 
 not be deprived of his right to receive compensation for improve- 
 ments under the Landlord and Tenant (Ireland) Act, 1870, by reason 
 only of the determination by surrender or otherwise of the tenancy 
 subsisting at the time when such improvements were made by such 
 tenant or his predecessors in title, and the acceptance by him or 
 thena of a new tenancy. 
 
 Where, in tracing a title for the purpose of obtaining compensa- 
 tion for improvements, it appears that an outgoing tenant has surren- 
 dered his tenancy in order that some other person may be accepted 
 by the landlord as tenant in his place, and such other person is so 
 accepted as tenant, the outgoing tenant shall not be precluded from 
 being deemed the predecessor in title of the incoming tenant by 
 reason only of such surrender of tenancy by him. 
 
 The court, in adjudicating on a claim for compensation for im- 
 provements made before any such change of tenancy or of tenants, 
 shall take into consideration all the circumstances under which 
 such change took place, and shall admit, reduce, or disallow alto- 
 gether such claim as to the court may seem just. 
 
 Extracts from Section 8. 
 
 8. (1.) The tenant of any present tenancy to which this Act 
 applies, or such tenant and the landlord jointly, or the landlord, 
 after having demanded from such tenant an increase of rent which 
 the tenant has declined to accept, or after the parties Jiave otherwise 
 failed to come to an agreement, may from time to time during the 
 continuance of such tenancy apply to the court to fix the fair rent 
 to be paid by such tenant to the landlord for the holding, and 
 thereupon the court, after-hearing the parties, and having regard to 
 the interest of the landlord and tenant respectively, and considering 
 all the circumstances of the case, holding, and district, may deter- 
 mine what is such iair rent. 
 
 (2.) The rent fixed by the court (in this Act referred to as the 
 judicial rent) shall be deemed to be the rent payable by the tenant 
 as from the period commencing at the rent day next succeeding 
 the decision of the court. 
 
 »♦*«**» 
 
 (4.) Where an application is made to the court under this section 
 in respect of any tenancy, the court may, if it think fit, disallow 
 such application where the court is satisfied that on the holding 
 in which sncli tenancy subsists the permanent improvements in 
 respect of which, if made by the tenant or his predecessors in title,
 
 204 APPKXDTX C. 
 
 the tenant woiild have been entitled to compensation under the 
 provisions of the Landlord and Tenant (Ireland) Act, 1870, as 
 amended by this Act, have been made by the landlord or his pre- 
 decessors in title, and liave been substantially maintained by the 
 landlord and his predecessors in title, and not made or acquired by 
 the tenant or his jiredecessors in title. 
 
 (9.) No rent shall be allowed or made payable in any proceedings 
 under this Act in respect of improvements made by the tenant or 
 his predecessors in title, and for which, in the opinion of the co\irt, 
 the tenant or his predecessors in title shall not have been paid or 
 otherwise compensated by the landlord or his predecessors in title. 
 
 Extract from Section 13. 
 (2.) Where the sale of any tenancy is delayed by reason of any 
 application being made to the court or for any other reasonable 
 cause, the court may, on the application of the tenant, and on such 
 terms and conditions as the court may direct, enlarge the time 
 during which the tenant may exercise his power of sale, or in case 
 of ejectment for nonpayment of rent redeem the tenancy. 
 
 Extract from Section 21. 
 In any case in which the court shall be satisfied that since the 
 passing of the Landlord and Tenant (Ireland) Act, 1870, the accept- 
 ance by a tenant from year to j'ear of a lease of his holding con- 
 taining terms which, in the opinion of the com't, were at the time 
 of such acceptance unreasonable or unfair to the tenant, having 
 regard to the provisions of the said Act, was procured by the land- 
 lord by threat of eviction or undue influence, the court may, upon 
 the application of the tenant made within six months after tlie 
 passing of this Act, declare such lease to be void as and from the 
 date of the application or order, and upon such terms as to costs or 
 otherwise as to the court shall seem just ; and thereupon the tenant 
 sliall as and from such date be deemed to be the tenant of a present 
 ordinary tenancy from year to year at the rent mentioned in such 
 lease. 
 
 Extract from Section 24. 
 
 24. (1.) The Land Commission, out of moneys in their hands, 
 may, if satisfied with the security, advance sums to tenants for the 
 purpose of enabling them to purchase their lioldings, as follows, 
 that is to say, — 
 
 (a.) Where a sale of a holding is about to be made by a land- 
 lord to a tenant in consideration of the payment of a principal 
 sum, 
 
 the Land Commission may advance to the tenant for the 
 purposes of such purchase, any sum not exceeding three- 
 fourths of the said principal sum.
 
 APPEyDIX C. 205 
 
 Extract from Section B2. 
 
 32. The Land Commission may from time to time, with tlie 
 concurrence of the Treasury, and on being satisiied that a sufficient 
 number of people in any district desire to emigrate, enter into 
 agreements with any jierson or persons having authority to contract 
 I in belialf of any state or colony or public body or public company 
 with whose constitution and security the Land Commission may be 
 satisfied, for the advance by the Commission by way of loan, out of 
 the moneys in their hands, of such sums as the Commission may 
 think it desirable to expend in assisting emigration especially of 
 families and from the poorer and more thicklj' populated districts 
 of Ireland. 
 
 Extract from Section 59. 
 
 59. Where it appears to the court, on the job d application of the 
 landlord and tenant of any holding valued under the Acts relating 
 to the valuation of rateable property in Ireland at a sum not ex- 
 ceeding thirty pounds a year — 
 
 That the tenant has paid the whole (or such sum as the land- 
 lord may be willing to acce2)t as the equivalent of the whole) 
 of the rent payable in respect of the year of the tenancy 
 expiring on the gale day next before the passing of this Act, 
 and that antecedent arrears are due, the Land Commissitui 
 may make, in respect of such antecedent arrears, an advance 
 of a sum not exceeding one year's rent of the hf)lding 
 and not exceeding half the antecedent arrears, and there- 
 upon the court shall by order declare the holding to be charged 
 with the repayment of the advance to the Land Commission, 
 by a rentcliarge payable half-yearly during the fifteen years 
 fi'om the date specified in the order, and calculated at the 
 rate of eight pounds ten shillings a year for every hundred 
 pounds of the advance. 
 
 Extract from Section 60. 
 
 60. Any application which a tenant is authorised by this Act to 
 make to the court shall, if made to the court on the tirst occasion 
 on which it sits after the passing of this Act, have the same opera- 
 tion as if it had been made on the day on whicli this Act comes into 
 force ; and any order made upon such application shall be of the 
 same efiect as if it had been made on tlie day on which this Act 
 comes into force, unless the court otherwise directs ; and the 
 person l)y whom such application is made shall, if the court tliinks 
 just, be in the same position and have the same rights in res])ect 
 of his tenancy as he would have been in and would have had if tlie 
 application had been made on the day on which this Act comes into 
 force.
 
 206 APPENDIX B. 
 
 APPENDIX D. 
 
 After delivering judgment in a case heard at Downpatrick, 
 Mr. Commissioner Baldwin said : — 
 
 I have thus aided in administering the Act according not only 
 to its letter, but to the very spirit in which it was passed. If any 
 landlord expects that we shall do less he shall be disappointed, and 
 if any tenant expects more, he, too, shall be disappointed. It was 
 to be expected that decisions like ours, which affect men's incomes, 
 would be severely criticised. I have come in for my own share of 
 criticism. I expected it. I have no right to complain of it. I like 
 intelligent criticism. A howl was raised in consequence of an ex- 
 traordinary dictum attributed to me. I have allowed that howl to 
 spend itself. I now say in the presence of my colleagues, that the 
 ■principles on which we have proceeded in determining a fair rent were 
 laid down before we put our feet on a sod of land, and before we com- 
 menced our labours in the Court House, Belfast, and that they have not 
 been deviated from to a hair^s breadth. We have not stated those prin- 
 ciples anywhere, but as it is pretty generally known that I entertain 
 a high opinion of the capabilities of land, I felt it was necessary to 
 indicate my views on one point. A Dublin broker and others have 
 been good enough to interpret what I did say in terms which suit 
 their own proclivities or interests. I said in this court house be- 
 fore, and I now say in it again, that ive estimate the capabilities of 
 tlie land in the hands of tenants of fair average industry and f^kill. 
 Am I, as a member of this Court, to assist in assessing a fair rent 
 here by the highest tjrpe of farming known to me? Am I to be 
 influenced by my knowledge of the capabilities of land ? 
 
 On the opening day of Sub- Commission No. 3, at Ballina, 
 the Chairman, Mr. M'Carthy, made the following statement : — 
 
 A means of avoiding unnecessary delay would be the exclusion, 
 so far as was practicable, of the evidence of mere paid valuers, 
 however respectable. Of coiirse, they could not absolutely exclude 
 evidence which the suitors might consider important, but they must 
 candidly tell them beforehand that they did not care a straw for such 
 evidence. His colleagues were themselves agi'iculturists of large 
 and varied experience. They were both independent of landlord 
 and tenant. They were experts of the highest skill, and gentlemen 
 of most sterling honour. They would go out on the lands and judge 
 of them with their own eyes. Landlords and tenants would be 
 safer in their hands than endeavouring to impress them with the 
 opinion of valuers, however respectable, employed for the occasion, 
 but whose conflicting estimates they all knew to be almost useless 
 for practical purposes. Now, as to the points upon which they did 
 require evidence, after proof or admission of service of the origin?^
 
 APPEyDIX E. 207 
 
 notice. They would desire to have the tenant himself put on the 
 table, and evidence given of the truth of the statements made in 
 the notice as to the acreage, as to the rent, and as to the Poor-law 
 valuation. These preliminaries having been gone through, they 
 required evidence on the following points, and the more quickly 
 such evidence was elucidated, the more satisfactory and the more 
 conducive to the real interests of those concerned. In conclusion, 
 he wished to point out the matters upon which evidence would be 
 distinctly required — 1. The truth of the statements contained iit the 
 original notice. 2. Whether the house is valued separately from the 
 holding. 3. How long the present rent has been the rent of tJie 
 holding. 4. Whether the rent has been changed within the j)ast thirty- 
 five or forty years, and, if so, when and how often. 5. TJie improve- 
 ments made within a like period, if any, and who effected them ; what 
 did they cost, and what improvements were they. 6. The name of the 
 nearest market town. 7. Is there any employment or manufactvring 
 industry in the neighhourhood. 8. Is there any turbary, and, if so, 
 is it charged in, addition to the rent. 9. What is tlie average rent 
 the landlord has received during the last ten years. 10. The average 
 amount of poor rate and county cess, and how rrvuch road is included 
 within the holdin-g. 
 
 APPENDIX E. 
 
 The M'Atavet Case. 
 M^Atavey v. Bond. 
 
 The tenant, who applied to have a fair rent fixed, is Patrick 
 M'Atavey, Coolartra, Olontibret, and the landlord is Mr. Henry P. 
 Coote Bond, Burgh House, Hampstead, Middlesex. 
 
 Mr. James R. Ross, Solicitor, appeared for the tenant. 
 
 Mr. Smith (instructed by Mr. Wright) appeared for the landlord . 
 
 Mr. Vincent Smith was sworn and examined by Mr. Ross. He 
 was a land valuator and had surveyed farms in the County 
 Monaghan for many of the landlords. He visited the farm of 
 M'Atavey in Coolartra, and made the map (produced) of the pre- 
 mises. The extent of this holding in English measure is 10 acres 
 2 roods and 4 perches, without including any of the country roads. 
 He had examined it field by field. 
 
 The witness proceeded to say that he had dug the sub-soil. In 
 No. 1 field he found mud to any extent and at the depth of 18 
 inches he found water. The land had been ai)parcntly abog at one 
 period. In No. 2 field he found red sand sub-soil, and in Nos. 3 
 and 4 fields he found mineral sub-soil. The holding was in the 
 vicinity of the lead mines. 
 
 Now, what value do you, as a fair man, put upon the land ? I 
 value it at lOs. 2d. on the average per English acre. On a former 
 occasion he had valued the farm for Mr. Wright, the agent of the 
 property, but that was not a fair valuation.
 
 208 APPENDIX E. 
 
 Were yon told by the office to put a valuation upon it ? 
 Mr. Smith objected. Mr. Ross had no right to make such an 
 insinuation regarding tlie office. 
 
 Mr. Wright denied that any such instructions had ever beengiven. 
 Witness, on further examination, said a portion of the land was 
 subject to flooding. He valued the farm exactly as he found it last 
 Thursday. 
 
 Mr. Commissioner Garland — Do you value it at that considering 
 that tlie tenant-right is held by the present tenant ? 
 
 Witness — I value it at lO.s. 'id. under any circumstances. 
 Cross-examined by Mr. Smith— I did not take the question of 
 tenant-right into consideration. 
 
 Assuming that the landlord had it in his possession, and was 
 going to set it without a tine, would you say 10s. 2d. was the fair 
 value of the farm ? I would. 
 
 Huw much is 10«. Id. per English acre an Irish acre ? It is 
 16s. 5(i. 
 
 Did you put a value upon the farm in 1876 ? I did according to 
 the instructions I got. 
 
 Is that your handwriting (document handed in) ? It is. 
 ' Valuation of part of the lands of Coolartra, number on map, 
 Arthur M'Atavey, contains as follows in Irish plantation measure 
 
 ' Did you strike an average valuation for the entire of the 
 
 holding ? I did by orders I received. 
 
 Was that 28s. ^\d. per Irish acre ? I suppose so. 
 You put your name to the paper ? By orders. 
 By whose orders did you value it now at 10s. Id. ? 
 Mr. Ross — If the tenants had in the past got so much fair play 
 from the landlords as we are willing to give you to-day, there would 
 be no necessity for the Land Act. 
 
 Witness— The valuation of 10s. Id. was my own. 
 Were you joaid for it '\ I suppose I got my fees. 
 Was the valuation of 1876 then a fraud ? I acted according to 
 my instructions. 
 
 Who instructed you in 1876 % The office. 
 
 The office is a nonentity — give the name % I will give no names. 
 Come, sir, your character is at stake ; here you have condemned 
 yourself by stating that you put your hand to a paper that was 
 false. Who instructed you % I don't mind exactly. 
 
 Will you swear there was anyone ? There was ; I don't mind 
 whom. 
 
 You did not make it as a genuine valuation ? I did not. 
 Very well, you made it as a fraud ? It was a matter of form to 
 suit the purposes of the office. 
 
 Did you swear to that valuation in 1875 in this very court ? No, 
 I never swore to it. 
 
 Did you find the holding larger on Thursday last than it was in 
 1876 ? Did you survey this farm at all last Thursday ? Oh ! that's 
 all d d nonsense (laughter).
 
 APPEXDIX E. 209 
 
 Mr. Commissioner Kane — That language cannot be tolerated. 
 Witness — I beg your pardon ; it slipjjed out from nie. Wiien 
 he talks that way it's absurd (laughter). 
 
 Mr. Smith — Who was in charge of the office in '76 ? I don't 
 recollect. 
 
 Whose office was it at all ^ Mr. Joe Wright's office. 
 Do you know the object of the survey in '76 ? I never 
 inquired. 
 
 Do you know that the rent of this holding is IGs. *^d. per acre \ 
 No. 
 
 If you heard that the rent of the holding was 16s. ^d. and 
 your valuation is 16s. 6'/., would you think that the tenant was 
 entitled to come in here I The tenant might have improvements. 
 
 Did M'Atavey tell you that he had got any land within the last 
 eighteen months additional to what he had before ? He pointed me 
 out a garden he got, but he did not tell me when. I never saw 
 Griffith's valuation of the holding. 
 
 Did M'Atavey tell you he only got part of the field No. 1 within 
 the j)ast two years ? He did not. 
 
 Now, tell me is the bog you describe there as big as the bog ycu 
 are now standing in (laughter) ? — was there any bog on the land in 
 1876 ? I don't mind. 
 
 You have been heralded here as the most respectable valuator iij 
 
 the North of Ireland 
 
 Mr. Ross — I did not say so. 
 
 Mr. Smith — Well, there was a string of landlords on whose 
 estate you had made valuations. Were all your valuations of those 
 farms made in the same way as you valued this farm in 1876 '] No, 
 they were all genuine (laughter). 
 
 Just one other question — Do you imagine there is a soul in this 
 court-house who believes one word you have sworn i No answer. 
 
 Mr. Commissioner Kane — Did you make the valuation yourself, 
 t>r were you told the amount of valuation to make ? I drew out the 
 document myself. 
 
 Mr. Commissioner Bailey — You were told the amount to put 
 down ? Yes. 
 
 Patrick M'Atavey examined by Mr. Ross, said he wan the 
 claimant in this case. 
 
 And your father was Edward M'Atavey. 
 Witness — So 1 was informed (laughter). 
 Did you sign this agreement ? I signed it against my will. 
 Mr. Smith objected to this question, but the witness added — I 
 signed this agreement after notice had been served upon me and the 
 decree had been got. This first receipt for rent was dated the 24th 
 December, 1877, to the representatives of Edward M'Atavey, 
 71. 16s. 2d. There was an abatement of rent of 17s. i)d. allowed to 
 him on a subse({uent receipt. A portion of a garden, tlie rent of 
 which was included in the agreement, was, before he got it, rented 
 at 3s. Qd. When he took it it was raised to 5s. Witness had been
 
 210 APPENDIX E. 
 
 in America, and until lately had been in England, from where he 
 sent money to his wife for the purpose of paying the expenses of 
 the farm. Portion of the bog was reclaimed, and some portion 
 of it was not yet reclaimed. Some of it would give a very poor 
 crop. 
 
 What rent could you afford to pay for this farm, and live upon 
 it as a respectable citizen ? I should say about half the rent. 
 
 Could you give the half of it and live % Not as I could live 
 abroad in any other country — tliat is, and live upon nothing else. 
 There were two holes in the field which had to be filled up, and 
 there are rocks which I can't put soil upon, for I have not a horse 
 or cart. 
 
 Cross-examined by Mr. Smith — Why could you not live on the 
 farm without going away to America or England ? My wife was 
 there. She labours it, and I sent her money to labour it. The 
 agents there were the most tyrannical agents that ever were in that 
 part of the country. He, the witness, sent the particulars of this 
 case to Mr. Leek, the member for South Lancashire, and he wrote 
 to the Manchester papers about it. 
 
 Do you know what rent your grandfather, or father, paid for 
 it? No. 
 
 On what authority did your solicitor state that the rent of this 
 holding was raised within the last two or three years ? They told me 
 that the part that was added was never rented. They took another 
 piece from me, and they did not reduce the rent. 
 
 Were you not served with a notice at the time the writ of eject- 
 ment was served that the object was to lead to the recasting of the 
 fencing with your uncle ? No. I do not remember. I got letters 
 from time to time. I firmly believe that if I had not signed that 
 agreement I would have been turned out of the farm. 
 
 Witness, in reply to further questions, stated that last year he 
 had five pecks of flax in the crop. There was a crop of corn 
 in the field. It contained 1 acre rood 38 poles. He sowed 24 
 stone of corn at lOjd. per stone. 4L 3s. hhd. was the cost of the 
 crop, and including the expense of sale, &c., 4i. 13s. lOid., which 
 did not include the rent, or cess, or rates. He got 5Z. Is. 3d. for 
 the corn. 
 
 Peter Mulligan — 4L or 5L would be a fair rent for the farm. 
 
 Mr. Commissioner Kane — Will you be able to prove, Mr. Ross, 
 that the tenant-right exists in this case 1 
 
 Mr. Ross — Yes, in the whole of that district. 
 
 Patrick M'Nally deposed that he did not believe he could get a 
 living out of the farm and pay more than 5/. or GL 
 
 Henry Moran deposed, in answer to the Sub-Commissioner, that 
 he could not say what the price of the tenant-right in that district 
 was. 
 
 Mr. Smith said 10?. per acre was the price fixed by the oflice. 
 
 This concluded the tenant's case. 
 
 Mr. Joseph Wright, solicitor, examined by Mr. Smith, said
 
 APPENDIX E. 211 
 
 that he was agent of the estate since 1874, and at the time the 
 survey was made by Mr. Smith. There was not one single particle 
 of truth in the statement made by Mr. Smith about the valuation. 
 He believed that Mr. Smith was told to go out and make a fair 
 valuation, but witness believed he had not himself given him any 
 instructions one way or other. There had been a dispute about the 
 boundaries, and the valuator was sent to regulate it. A notice to 
 quit had been served and ejectment proceedings taken, but after- 
 wards an arrangement was made between the present tenant and 
 his uncle. Neither directly nor indirectly was there any coercion 
 used with reference to the signing of the agreement. Unless pro- 
 vision was made the whole of the county cess would have to be paid 
 by the landlord. 
 
 Mr. Ross — This is an agreement by the tenant to pay the whole 
 of it. 
 
 Mr. Wright added that he did not know anything about the 
 holding. 
 
 Mr. Ross — Don't you know that the signing of the agreement 
 was an infringement of the Ulster tenant-right ? I do not knoAV. 
 
 Don't you know that it prevents free sale ? I do not. 
 
 After the passing of the Act of 1870, were there a number of 
 these agreements proposed ? No, there were not. The landlord is 
 an absentee. 
 
 Mr. Foster Dunwoody deposed that he was in Mr. Wright's 
 office. The claimant's holding was capable of producing good crops. 
 \Mien he went into possession the farm was in good condition. It 
 was totally untrue that Smith was directed as to the value to be put 
 on farms. As a matter of fact, Smith himself said that the rent of 
 the farms was too low. Witness had at one time pressed the 
 claimant to take lOOL from the old man, his uncle, but he refused 
 to do so. 
 
 Michael Langhran deposed that he thought M'Atavey's land was 
 better than the land he held himself, and he would not take 1 OL an 
 acre for his farm. 
 
 This closed the evidence for the respondent. 
 
 Mr. Ross — I can give evidence with reference to the townland 
 of Coolartra, in which my client's holding is, and which belongs to 
 the same landlord generally. I will show that in 1861 the rent was 
 raised when the mining was in full operation. 
 
 Mr. Smith — This has no bearing upon the case of Patrick 
 M'Atavey. 
 
 Mr. Commissioner Kane — We cannot receive it, Mr. Ross. Tf 
 you can prove the raising of the rents on the whole of the townland, 
 that, of course, afl'ects the holding we are dealing with ; but you 
 cannot prove it by proving the raising of the rent on any particular 
 holding. 
 
 Mr. Ross — The entire townland of Coolartra belongs to Coote 
 Bond. If I am in a position to pr<jve, as I am, that every tenant 
 in the townland had his rent raised in or about the year 1860or '61, 
 
 p 2
 
 212 APPENDIX E. 
 
 when the mines were in full operation, surely it would be a strong 
 argument for me that tliis rent was raised also. 
 
 Mr. Commissioner Kane — If you can prove that the rent was 
 raised in every case it would, but you cannot use the case of any 
 particular holding for the purpose. 
 
 Mr. Ross — I have men here who were tenants so far back as 
 1846. 
 
 Mr. Commissioner Kane — The best thing would be for Mr. Ross 
 to bring forward his evidence, and then we can decide. 
 
 Patrick Harris was then examined, Mr. Smith entering an 
 objection to the evidence being received. Harris stated that he 
 was a tenant on tlie townland of Coolartra for the past forty or 
 tifty years. There was this general rise from 91. to 111. 
 
 Can you say that the rents of all the tenants were raised ? I can 
 say that we were all processed at a certain time. 
 
 Witness — It was afterwards raised from 111. to 13^. IQs. 7d. We 
 all got ejectment processes. We were not willing to pay this second 
 rise, and we got these processes for one year's rent. The old rent 
 would not be taken, and there came in an agent and he processed 
 every man, which cost us 13s. 4(/. We then were glad to pay it. 
 
 Cross-examined by Mr. Smith — Was there any alteration in 
 M'Atavey's rent? I know only about my own. 
 
 What is your present rent ] I'-il. 10s. S^d. 
 
 Mr. Smith (to witness) — Did you not get an additional piece of 
 ground that added on the rent ] Yes, I got a piece. 
 
 Mr. Smith — There has been no proof of raising M'Atavey's rent 
 except as an equivalent for a piece of ground, and the same applies 
 in this man's case. 
 
 John M'Quade examined by Mr. Ross, stated that he was a 
 tenant on the townland of Coolartra. His father was a tenant 
 before him. His rent had been raised. In 1861 his rent was 9/., 
 in 1864 it was 9/. 8s. 2d., and in 1881 it was 10/. 7s. M. 
 
 Mr. Smith said the evidence with regard to a general rise over 
 the estate was absurd. 
 
 Mr. Commissioner Kane said it was an important fact in an 
 Ulster tenant-right district to know the value of the tenant-right 
 not only in this district but in others. 
 
 Mr. Smith — This man was offered 101. an acre by his landhn-d, 
 and he refused. 
 
 Mr. Commissioner Garland — Was that Irish acres ? 
 
 Mr. Smith — Irish acres. 
 
 Witness (to Mr. Ross) — I have seven acres at 30s. an acre, 
 Irish. 
 
 What is the value of the tenant-riglit in your district ? 10/. an 
 acre ; that is the office rule. 
 
 Mr. Commissioner Garland — Suppose there were no office rule 
 restricting the price I It is not worth 10/. an acre. It is not worth 
 it, for it is rack-rent, and we must leave the place or pay the rent. 
 There are farms to be sold, but no one can buy them because they 
 could not hold their own.
 
 APPENDIX E. 213 
 
 What did farms sell at within the last three years % lOZ. and 
 under it. lOZ. is the general purchase. 
 
 Francis Boyd, examined by Mr. Ross — I live in the neighbour- 
 ing townland of Tartaragh 
 
 Mr. Smith — I object to this, but you can go on now as fast as 
 the Connnissioners allow you. 
 
 Mr. Ross — How close are you to M'Atavey's holding ? There 
 are two townlands between us. I bought and sold land myself at 
 20L an acre. I gave 20/. an acre myself, and the rent was IL an 
 acre. 
 
 Thomas Harrison, examined by Mr. Ross, said he lived in Cool 
 artra. He had bought land from Mr. Bond, who was a good land- 
 lord, none to compare with him. Wl. an acre was the then 
 price 
 
 Mr. Ross — You may go down. 
 
 Mr. Smith — Praising the landlord does not suit Mr. Ross. 
 About how much land have you % About 4^ acres. 
 
 What rent are you subject to ? 6/-. lis. 8cJ., but it is half too 
 much (laughter). 
 
 Mr. Foster Dunwoody (recalled) said there had been no increase 
 in the rental since 1872. The slight addition which had been made 
 to M'Atavey's holding had been taken off another tenant, arising 
 as it did from a change in the boundaries. He did not know any- 
 thing about the rents before 1872. 
 
 Mr. Ross — Will you swear there was not a nominal sum charged 
 in the office and a larger sum demanded outside in thegateway ? Well, 
 I have heard that something of the kind has taken place, but I know 
 nothing of it. There has been a depression in the sale of tenants' 
 interests, but just now there seems to be a revival. Last year was 
 not a favourable year for selling, but I don't think M'Atavey would 
 take lOZ. an acre for his holding. I tried to get him to take 100/. 
 for his interest in the farm when his uncle wanted it, but he said 
 he would not take less than 250?. for it. 
 
 Mr. Commissioner Kane, in giving the decision of the Court, 
 said that he had considered the whole facts of the case. The evi- 
 dence had not been satisfactory. No doubt there were difficulties 
 on both sides in consequence of the absence from the country of the 
 tenant till quite recently, and, on the other hand, in consequence 
 of the change in the agents of the estate in the year 1870, atul the 
 impossibility of finding any records which dealt with it, and showed 
 the condition and nature of the estate before that year. They had, 
 however, all visited the holding, and the facts of the case that were 
 pi'nved or admitted were as follow : — This farm originally belonged 
 ti) the tenant's father, who died. The rent was 7/. IC.s. 2ri. Pre- 
 vious to that we do not know of anything. In the year 1875 
 this young man came back from America and establislied his legal 
 right. A difference arose between the uncle and the young man. 
 The difficulties were ended by a notice to quit being served and an 
 ejectment decree being got, apparently against both parties, and in 
 there being some slight alteration in the area of the farm, and the
 
 214 APPENDIX E. 
 
 rent being raised to 8?. 16s. 2d., and professedly part of that was 
 due to the addition of a small garden which the present tenant pur- 
 chased from an old woman named Rooney, which was previously 
 rented at 3s. <6d. , and which was increased to 5s. There was also 
 three-quarters of an Irish acre of reclaimed bog. This might in 
 some measure at all events account for that increase, but probably 
 that would not entirely account for the increase of IGs. 6d. Under 
 these circumstances the case now came before them. They had 
 very carefully examined the holding to see what the fair rent of the 
 farm should be, and the conclusion they had come to, to the best of 
 their judgment, was that the fail' rent for this holding would be the 
 sum of 6/. 6s., a year, and they also said, of course, that the present 
 law should apply and the landlord should pay the luilf of the county 
 cess. Of course, if their decision was unsatisfactory, it was more 
 desirable that an appeal should be taken. It was probable, this 
 being the tirst case decided under the Act which had been passed. 
 That put upon their decision a very great responsibility. They 
 were not guided by previous i-ulings or decisions, and only decided 
 according to their own judgment, unassisted by any rules laid down 
 by judicial authorities. There was one question that he would wish to 
 refer to. It was with reference to the period at which this rent, so 
 fixed by them, should apply. It was peculiarly a question which 
 could only arise that day, or on another gale day. 
 
 To Mr. Ross — Was any application made to the Court under the 
 60th section at this present sitting of the Commission, and if so, had 
 such application been recorded ? 
 
 Mr. Ross — It had, with three or four others, been entered in 
 Dublin. The applications were recorded to have a fair rent fixed. 
 
 Mr. Commissioner Kane — That removed all difficulties. That 
 being so, under the GOth section of the Act our decision is the same 
 as if made before, and the period would run from to-day. 
 
 Mr. Ross said he had now to apply to the Court for costs. 
 
 Mr. Commissioner Kane — Was an application made to the land- 
 lord for a reduction in the rent before the service of the originating 
 notice ? 
 
 Mr. Ross — There was not. 
 
 Mr. Commissioner Kane — Under these circumstances we have come 
 to the conclusion that where no application had been made to the land- 
 lord beyond the service of the origiiiating notice, each party should pay 
 his own costs. It was, he thought, only due to the landlord that he 
 should be given a chance of reducing the rent out of court. 
 
 The result of the judgment is stated to be that the rent is re- 
 duced practically 11. 2s. below Griffith's valuation, the size of the 
 farm being two acres more, according to the valuation of Vincent 
 Smith, the tenant's own valuator, than is given in the Poor-law 
 valuation of the holding. It apjiears that at one time three roods 
 were added to one farm, and seven perches deducted. Some dis- 
 crepancy, however, has crept in, and, based on Smith's survey, the 
 rent is substantially 22s. below Griffith's valuation.
 
 APPENDIX F. 215 
 
 APPENDIX F. 
 
 The Crawford Cases. 
 
 The Sub-Commissioners — Mr. Edward Greer, who presided. 
 Professor Thomas Baldwin, and Mr. James M. Ross. 
 
 Isabella Sims Campbell, tenant ; Rev. Archibald Crawford, 
 landlord. 
 
 This was an application by a widow named Isabella Sims 
 Campbell to fix a fair rent. She holds oa. 3r. 35p. near the village 
 of Carnmoney, about seven miles from Belfast. She alleged that 
 at the expiration of the lease under which her husband held in 
 1866 the rent was increased from bl. 15s. to 9L 4s. 4f/. The poor- 
 law valuation is 6?. 
 
 Isabella Sims Campbell, an elderly woman, who gave her evi- 
 dence with much shrewdness, was examined. She stated that on 
 her husband's death, about twenty years ago, she was left in 
 possession of the farm. She had four children — two sons and two 
 daughters — all grown up, and they lived with her, and but for the 
 assistance she received from them she could not have lived on the 
 farm. It contained 5a. 3r. 35p. The rent before her husband's 
 death was bl. lbs. , and the present rent was 9L 4s. 4fZ. 
 
 Mr. M'Mordie, solicitor for the tenant — The rent was raised 
 in '66 ? Yes. In all my time there I never heard of the landlord 
 spending a penny on the farm. 
 
 "When you were noticed in '66 to pay the increased rent at the 
 expiration of your lease, why did you agree to pay it ? I was glad 
 to get the farm, because it was still a residence for me. I would 
 rather pay it than Hit — I liked to live in the old den (laughter). I 
 think Mr. M'Auliflfe's name was at the foot of the notice about 
 the new rent. 
 
 What would you consider a fair rent for the farm ? I think 10«. 
 or 12s. a ' wee acre ' would be sufficient. 
 
 Mr. Overend, counsel for the landlord — Isn't it very good 
 land ? It was very poor. When the boys began to grow up we 
 made it good. 
 
 Isn't the house good ? We made it good. I saw the whole of 
 the children rising at night unable to get a dry place to lie in. If 
 it was not for the industry of the boys I would not have potatoes 
 and milk. 
 
 In reply to Professor Baldwin, 
 
 Mr. Overend said the poor-law valuation was 61. 
 
 James M'Crum, a tenant on the same property, and also 
 having a claim against the landlord, stated that 12s. per statute 
 acre would be a fair rent for Mrs. Campbell's land. That would be 
 about 11. per Irish acre. The house did not belong to the landlord.
 
 216 APPENDIX F. 
 
 It would be worth 2s. per week more. If it had not been for Iier 
 children Mrs. Campbell could not have lived on the farm. 
 
 Samuel Lyle, another tenant on tlie property, also stated that 
 12.i. per acre would be a fair, full rent. He never knew of the 
 landlord spending a penny on the farm. 
 
 The witness also added that the fami was close to a bleaching 
 green. 
 
 Moses Lyle, another tenant, also said that the land was woi-th 
 abotit 12s. an acre. 
 
 Mr. Thomas A. Archibald, P.L.G., Belfast, said he had ex- 
 amined the land, and he considered it worth 19s. an acre, indepen- 
 dent of the dwelling. It was fair land, with a light subsoil. The 
 only crops that would grow on it with any chance of success were 
 oats and potatoes. 
 
 Mrs. Campbell, recalled, stated she paid all the county cess. 
 This concluded the tenant's case. 
 
 A copy of the lease granted to the tenants on the estate in '42, 
 and which was similar in all the cases, was handed in, and also a 
 copy of the notice to quit served in '66, preparatory to the 
 rising of the rent. 
 
 Mr. George M'Auliffe, J. P., stated that he had been agent for 
 tlie estate for about thirty years. He always understood he was 
 appointed by Mrs. Crawford's trustees. His appointment Avas 
 made after the execution of the leases of '42, and he received the 
 rents until the expiration of the leases in November, 'Co. Notices 
 to qiiit were served, he believed, on all the tenants, dated April 
 '66, and in response to the notice he had interviews with the ten- 
 ants in his oflice. He intimated to them that an increase of rent 
 was required, and that the notices to quit had been served with 
 that object. He had the lands valued at the time. The valuators 
 were Dr. Ritchie and the late Mr. Brassington, of the firm of 
 Brassington and Gale. The increased rents were in every case 
 arrived at by the valuators. He informed the tenants afterwards 
 in a personal interview of the increased rent, and they all agreed 
 to it. No further action was taken on the notices to quit, and 
 there was no other raising of the rent on the estate during wit- 
 ness's time. Mrs. Crawford was in England, and he received a 
 letter from her the da}^ before yesterday. Rev. Mr. Crawford was 
 Archdeacon of Castlemaine (in Australia). Witness remitted the 
 rents to Mrs. Crawford, but he did not know who the trustees 
 "were. He thought the rents on the estate were moderate. The 
 liouse on the holding in the present case belonged to the landlord. 
 The land was situate near a mill and bleach-ground, and since the 
 raising of the rent, in 1866, the portion of Belfast close to the 
 holding had very much extended, and the value of the land had 
 increased. 
 
 Cross-examined by Mr. M'Mordie — The ground upon wJiich he 
 claimed the improveme7its for the landlord was the covenant in the 
 lease. He vias not aware thai the landlord had spent anything on
 
 ArrEXDIX F. 217 
 
 the holdings. He did not believe tliat the tenant in this case biiilt 
 the residence, nor did he believe the improvements were made by 
 the tenant. He believed he raised the rents on the intimation of 
 Mr. Andrew Crawford, brotlier of the Rev. Archibald Crawford. 
 He saiv the latter about twenty-seven ur twen-ty-eight years ago. He 
 told the valuators to make a fair valuation of the holding indepen- 
 dent of the landlord or tenant. The tenants wofld have been ejected 
 •if they had not agreed to the increased rent. 
 
 Mr. M'JMordie submitted that the tenants' improvements were 
 not to be taken into coiisider;ition m fixing the rent. 
 
 Mr. Overend argued contra, and contended that the improve- 
 ments belonged to the landlord, and that the lease was conclusive 
 on the [loint, as it contained a covenant that the improvements 
 were to be maintained and yiekled up at the expiration of the lease. 
 Mr. M'Mordie observed that if the Court decided in favour of 
 such an assumption, they might bid good-bye to the Land Act of 
 1881. 
 
 The Sub-Commissioners retired for consultation, and on re- 
 turning, 
 
 The CJuiirman announced that they were of opinion that the 
 tenant was entitled to the benefit of the impruvemeids unless Mr. 
 Overend would give them some more definite evidence that the improce- 
 ments were made either by the landlord or by his predecessor in, title 
 (applause). 
 
 Mr. Overend said he was not in a position to offer any evidence 
 anterior to 1842, when the lease was made. As this decision would 
 relate to all the subsequent cases, the interest in the holdings 
 would be reduced by one-half, and as the present decision must result 
 in a re-hearing of the casebeforethe Comuiis-sioners, he would suggest 
 tliat the Court should make two valuations — one giving the tenant 
 the benefit of the improvements, and the other giving it to the 
 landlord — and reserve the question for the Commissioners. This 
 would avoid the necessity of a full re-hearing. 
 
 Mr. M'Mordie said he was prepared to meet the landlord in 
 any court. He was confident that the Ccjmmissioners would up- 
 hold the present decision, for if they upset it it would be equiva- 
 lent to telling the covmtry that the Land Act was a sham (applause). 
 The Court declined to reserve the question, and evidence having 
 been given that the quantity of land on the holding under roads 
 was Ir. 37p. , the Court reserved their decision. 
 
 The evidence of the valuators was then taken as to all the hold- 
 ings on this estate, as to which apjjlications had been made. 
 
 Thomas Houston dei)osed that he visited tlie holdings in com- 
 pany with Mr. Archibald, P.L.G., and valiieil them. They con- 
 sidered the fair rent ff)r Mrs. M'Aliwter's holding would be 14.s. 6(i. 
 per statute acre. They believed that to be the full competition 
 value of the combined interests of th^ landlord and the tenant. 
 They then deducted 15/. an acre, mIucIi they considered to be the 
 fair value of the tenant-right. Ho had stated on the previous day
 
 218 APPENDIX F. 
 
 that, putting 14s. 6(Z. and 15s. together, they brought the rent up 
 U) 29s. iid. He now wished to add that he did not think a wise 
 man would go into the farm at that. He would take 2s. 6d. off 
 each figure to get at the wise man's rent. In Bell's case they esti- 
 mated the fair rent at 16s., and the tenant-right at 15s., but that 
 he would reduce to 2Gs. to get at the fair rent. 
 
 Professor Baldwin — Surely you must eliminate the question of 
 skill in farming in your estimate, and take what may be called the 
 fair average tenant ? 
 
 Yes, that is what I did. 
 
 And you deduct from the tenant-right value 2s. C(/. from the 
 landlord, and 2s. 6t/. from the tenant ] Yes, because we say that 
 15L is the full competition value of the tenant-right. I believe 
 people will give too much for land. 
 
 In reply to Mr. Overend the witness stated that the tenant's 
 improvements formed the principal element in estimating the 
 tenant-right, but the general interest in the holding and its situa- 
 tion, are also elements to be considered. He would not regard the 
 natural quality of the soil without the tenant's improvements as 
 an element. He had not time to inquire minutely into the tenant- 
 right interest in each case. 
 
 In reply to Mr. M'Mordie, the witness stated that he believed 
 the tenant should have a share in the increase of value which 
 arose from natural and other causes over which neither the land- 
 lord nor the tenant had complete control. 
 
 Mr. Overend — And share the losses ] He has already to do 
 that. 
 
 Professor Baldwin said it was of the greatest importance that 
 there should be the fullest investigation into the mode by which 
 the valuators arrived at their conclusions. It would save time and 
 aftbrd more satisfaction to the public, he believed, if evidence of 
 a thoroughly reliable character were placed before the Court. 
 
 Mr. M'Mordie said it was absolutely impossible to obtain in 
 Ulster the sort of evidence ichich the Court seemed to require in these 
 cases. He was thoroughly familiar with the operation of the 
 Ulster tenant-right, and he would say that if the Court were to 
 e-xpect or hope to procure persons residing in the districts, familiar 
 with the dealings between landlord and tenant and the transfer 
 of land, who could give evidence of that close analytical character, 
 they might as well stop the procedure under the Act. All they 
 could do was to give the evidence of practical men acquainted 
 with the land and the circumstances of the parties who had no 
 interest themselves in the cases before the Court. If the Court 
 were not guided by the honest judgment of such witnesses as they 
 could get, he would say that they appeared to him to have been 
 very largely losing their time. 
 
 The Chairman — I am afraid we are losing our time now. 
 Mr. M'Mordie said tliis was a very serious matter, and there 
 should be a clear understanding about it.
 
 APPENDIX F. 219 
 
 Professor Baldwin said there was not a particle of science in 
 the evidence at all, and the object of his remarks was merely to 
 elicit reliable testimony from a practical witness. 
 
 Mr. M'Mordie said he had already drawn the attention of the 
 Commissioners to the reliability of the evidence. 
 
 Professor Baldwin disclaimed any intention of reflecting on the 
 evidence as given, which he regarded as most valuable. But lie 
 could not forget that the witness had stated that he lead not sufficient 
 time to go fully into the various cases. 
 
 Mr. M'Mordie observed that the Land Commission above was 
 itself responsible for the hurried procedure. He had not spared 
 himseK in preparing the cases. 
 
 Mr. Overend said where it was sought to transfer so much 
 property from the landlords to the tenants he must ask the Court 
 to insist upon evidence reasonable, correct, and fair. 
 
 Mr. M'Mordie said it was rather amusing to hear that from 
 Mr. Overend, seeing that he had not given one tittle of evidence 
 to assist the Court in this matter. 
 
 Mr. Houston was then examined relative to the value of the 
 other farms. His evidence was similar in character with that 
 given by him relative to M'Alister's holding. 
 
 Mr. Archibald, P.L.G., gave corroborative evidence. 
 
 Mr. John Jordan, of Dromore, stated that he had been for 
 many years valuator for Lord Trevor, in the County Down. He 
 had visited the holdings on the Archibald property, and he esti- 
 mated 14s. an acre as a fail" rent. The holdings varied from 10s. 
 to 18s. 6d. 
 
 Professor Baldwin expressed his dissatisfaction with regard to 
 his calculations as to the cost of labour, &c. 
 
 Mr. M'Mordie said it was not in their power to produce better 
 evidence. 
 
 Mr. Overend put in evidence the leases and the deed of settle- 
 ment of tlie property, dated August 29, 1878, which divided the 
 property in certain shares among the children of Mrs. Crawford, 
 subject to her own life estate. He submitted that the valuation 
 of Messrs. Ritcliie and Brassington was the fair value of the land, 
 and that the evidence tendered to the Commissioners was incom- 
 plete and unreliable. 
 
 Mr. M'Aulifi'e, the agent, was reoalled, and stated, in answer 
 to Professor Baldwin, that he had had experience as a farmer. 
 The standard by which he came to the conclusion that the rents 
 were fair was by comparing them with the other rents in the 
 locality. He had given his evidence as a land agent, and without 
 knowing anything as to how the tenant worked the land. 
 
 To Mr. M'Mordie — The buildings and improvements were 
 included in that valuation. 
 
 Mr. Commissioner Greer — In these fifteen cases in which the 
 Rev. Archibald Crawford is the landlord, we have had the tenant 
 coming forward in each case to support his application by liis own
 
 220 APPEXDTX F. 
 
 testimony, and in addition we have liad the evidence of two intelli- 
 gent farmers from a neighbouring estate, who both examined the 
 several holdings, and who have given to the Court the benefit of 
 their opinion and practical experience as successful farmers, and 
 they say that the rent which should be fixed as a fair rent in siicli 
 case would be from 126'. to 19.s. the statute acre, according to their 
 opinion of the holding. We have also had the evidence of an 
 experienced valuator, Mr. Jordan, who puts the rent at 14.s. an 
 acre. We regret that we have had no evidence from the other side, 
 save the testimony of the landlord ; and we fully recognise the 
 difficulties Mr. Overend has had to contend with in conducting his 
 case, owing to the absence abroad of the reverend gentleman whom 
 he represents. It would appear that the Rev. Archibald Crairfvrd 
 emigrated to Aiostralia some ticenty-nine tjears ago, leaving his agent, 
 Mr. George M^Auliffe, in charge of this property , and he has not since 
 returned. Previous to the departure of Mr. Crawford, and in the 
 year 1842, he executed to all the present tenants or their prede- 
 cessors leases of their holdings for a term of twenty-one years, and 
 in some few cases a life was added. The rents reserved by those 
 leases may be generally stated to have been equal to 20s. per statute 
 acre. They all expired in the year 1863, and in 1866 Mi". M'Aulifl^e, 
 acting upon the instructions of Mr. William Crawford, brother of 
 the landlord, proceeded to have a re-valuation of the estate. 
 Mr. M"Aulifi"e selected as valuators for the landlord the late 
 Charles Brassington and Dr. William Ritchie, of Belfast, and he 
 instructed them to visit the lands and estiniate the then letting 
 value of each holding. It does not appear that any valuator repre- 
 sented the teiMnts upon that occasion. Mr. M'AulifFe, having procured 
 the valuation, proceeded to act upon it by having, as he has in- 
 formed us, had notices to quit served upon the tenants — all of them 
 on the same day — and afterwards he had an interview with the 
 tenants, when he informed each of them that the landlord re(juired 
 their rents increased, and, and after some objection on the part of 
 the tenants, the rents of all were increased from 20.s-. per statute 
 acre to about 30s. per statute acre. Mr. Brassington is since dead, 
 so we could not have the benefit of his evidence to explain to us the 
 data upon which, in the year 18G6, he based his conclusions that 
 the rent was then too low, and should be increased. Dr. Ritchie, 
 however, is still alive, and residing in Belfast, and we should have 
 been glad to have heard from him the explanation which we could 
 not have from Mr. Brassington. Mr. M'Auliffe told us there was 
 some diflference between the valuation of the two gentlemen, but it 
 was trifling. If any report of the valuators was in existence we 
 slKMild like to have .seen it. However, the cases have been closed, 
 and we are now called upon to decide upon the data, such as it is, 
 that has been afibrded to us. To assist us in arriving at a decision 
 we have j)erRonally visited and inspected tlie several holdings. We 
 have examined the fences, drains, and all the surrounding circum- 
 stances connected with each, and we have, after much considerationj
 
 APPENDIX F. 
 
 221 
 
 dfttermined that the following judicial rents shall be the rents to be 
 paid in each case for the next fifteen years : — 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 New- 
 
 Tenant 
 
 Valuation 
 
 
 Old 
 
 Kent 
 
 
 r 
 
 resell 
 Kent 
 
 t 
 
 Judicial 
 Iient tor 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 15 years 
 
 
 £ 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 £ 
 
 S. 
 
 d. 
 
 £ 
 
 X. 
 
 d. 
 
 £ ». d. 
 
 Isabella S. Camphell 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 '.) 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 6. 8 9 
 
 Joseph Bell 
 
 43 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 37 
 
 
 
 
 
 50 
 
 
 
 
 
 36 12 4 
 
 Robert Herron . 
 
 23 
 
 
 
 
 
 24 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 38 
 
 9 
 
 6 
 
 26 13 11 
 
 Marjjaret M'Allister . 
 
 15 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 22 
 
 17 
 
 8 
 
 16 11 2 
 
 J. M'Crum 
 
 41 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 47 
 
 
 
 
 
 60 
 
 
 
 
 
 48 5 
 
 John Thompson 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 
 
 22 
 
 
 
 
 
 32 
 
 15 
 
 4 
 
 24 16 5 
 
 Thomas Lyle 
 
 58 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 50 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 h5 
 
 6 
 
 4 
 
 50 2 U 
 
 George Kidd 
 
 11 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 17 
 
 17 
 
 
 
 12 5 6 
 
 Samuel Lyle 
 
 42 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 47 
 
 
 
 
 
 67 
 
 3 
 
 8 
 
 52 16 11 
 
 Alex. Porter 
 
 19 
 
 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 29 
 
 14 
 
 
 
 20 16 10 
 
 Joseph Williamson . 
 
 44 
 
 
 
 
 
 38 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 71 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 48 3 
 
 Robert Kennedy 
 
 11 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 16 
 
 8 
 
 11 18 10 
 
 Eliza Campbell 
 
 87 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 75 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 122 
 
 18 
 
 10 
 
 89 17 6 
 
 Wm. Williamson 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 4 2 6 
 
 John Lindsay . 
 
 19 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 26 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 32 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 23 4 6 
 
 Professor Baldwin said — In concurring in the judgment which 
 lias been delivered, there are several reasons why I should 
 say a few words. This judgment will be read with the deepest 
 interest, and scanned with care. We have simply administered the 
 Act of Parliament to the best of our judgment. We have reduced 
 the rents, and ire have done so because it has been proved that the Im- 
 provements have been made by the tenants. The agent admitted that 
 not one shilling has been laid out on the land liy the landlord, wlio 
 has been an absentee for twenty-seven years. The agent did 
 contend that the improvements — buildings, roads, fences, drains, 
 and reclamations — made between 1842 and 1803 by the tenants, 
 became the property of the landlord under the lease executed in 
 1842. On this point we have given our judgment already. Im- 
 provements have been made since 1803. The status of tenants has 
 undergone a vast change since 1842. Mr. Overend frankly admitted 
 that the estate is subject to the Ulster custom of tenant-right. In 
 1800 a rise of rent was put on which seriously affected the tenant- 
 right. Another such increase would kill it. This Act tells us in 
 ivords wluch cannot be misunderstood tJtat we must 'not allow any r<' nt 
 in respect of improvements made by the tenant or his predecessors in 
 title unless he shall have been compensated or recouped for them. Tlie 
 Act seciires to the tenants the property they have created in the 
 soil, and deprives the landlord of the power of appropriating it. In 
 determining the rent we have not set up any standard of what the 
 farmUuj ought to be. We have taken the estate, tenants and all, as ice 
 find them. We have carefully considered the capabilities of the land In
 
 222 APPENDIX F. 
 
 the hands of the present tenants. To others the land may be more 
 valuable if those tenants were removed. With any speculation onthat 
 point we have nothing to do. There is not in tlie management of tliis 
 estate a single feature of what is called an English-managed estate. 
 It has not been managed in the liberal and fostering spirit so 
 common on Irish estates. Several of the tenants have efiected a 
 great many improvements, which gave them in equity, and now in 
 law, a considerable interest in their holdings. On the other hand, 
 many of the. far^ns are in a neglected, and a feiv in a shameful state. 
 This Act and our decision to-day tell them that every bit of perma- 
 nent improvement they effect in future shall be protected by the 
 law. It is hoped this will give a new direction to their thoughts 
 and industry, and thus speedily improve their own condition, in- 
 crease the prosperity of the district, and promote the well-being of 
 the State (applause). 
 
 The Sub-Commissioners ordered that the landlord should pay 
 half the county cess. 
 
 Mr. M'Mordie, solicitor, asked that all the tenants should get 
 their costs with the exception of Wm. Williamson. 
 
 The Chairman said they had determined not to give costs in the 
 present case. 
 
 Mr. M'Mordie hoped the Commissioners would not make up 
 their minds until they had heard him. 
 
 The Chairman said they had made up their minds on the point, 
 having considered it most carefully. 
 
 Mr. M'Mordie hoped they would reconsider it. He was not 
 asking for any restitution to be made to the tenants, but merely 
 that they should get the common rights of oi'dinary suitors who 
 were successful. 
 
 The Chairman said he thought it would be very hard to visit the 
 landlord with costs, as he probably would not hear of the present 
 proceedings for a couple of months. 
 
 Mr. M'Mordie hoped the Commissioners would give him an 
 opportunity of arguing this point before them at Downpatrick next 
 week. 
 
 The Chairman said they had decided the matter on their own 
 discretion, having given it full and careful consideration, and he 
 thought it was useless to press the point further. He intimated 
 that the tenants would get the benefit of the reduction from 
 November 1. 
 
 The total reduction of the rent-roll of the Crawford estate is 
 1681. 2s. lOd. per annum, which in the hfteen years for which the 
 rent has been fixed will amount to 1,522 2s. Gd., to say nothing of 
 compound interest.
 
 
 lo/rt rtirminlhf Coutity Dtncn.xdlha vleic to tttaUUli an tquil-ilk »i/»li-m UUettmltt landlordamithc Tniant, teilJi rtfcrenet la Rent, wvi ftilvi 
 oTTonginij tht Farrm pnportumallj/ U> llit Pinpalalion ihti/ art capaliiepf supporiing. 
 
 Ktf 3<. M. pn cvf. irtM/, idl.^ rut. FUm.H lliuprrncf. tUf.iLSt. frr Urn. SierA Turaipi, Iti. ptrUm. Orau Srri, ii$. ptr m*. Graiif, It lOt. pt aen. 
 
 : ptrmanent ImpromiMaU vf lie Lumd anJ BhU. 
 
 '■^V*.)<,/«■d^^ rnctt,kmfirD^t^ Utrl^. 
 
 :S 
 
 
 It",..! 
 
 'l^ 
 
 j»S...-™.u 
 
 KiS 
 
 
 
 yr , \ii, z 
 
 l# 
 
 
 
 I cj CaUuMtK^FrlH rf Oatt. J:f*rn 
 
 
 I I I 
 
 
 o
 
 APPENDIX G. 223 
 
 APPENDIX G. 
 
 The Tennent Cases. 
 
 Before Sub- Commission No. 2, sitting at Belfast. 
 
 Robert Cooper, tenant ; Robert Tennent, landlord. 
 
 This was an application to fix a fair rent. The tenant holds 
 19a. 2r. 5p. at Dundonald, County Down. The old rent was 281., 
 which was subsequently reduced to 181., and raised to 301. in 1875, 
 in consequence, as the tenant alleged, of his improvements. He 
 stated that the land was hilly, and he was unable to make a living 
 out of it. The only flesh meat he could afford to eat was a bit of 
 American bacon occasionally. When he became tenant the land 
 was in poverty and the houses dilapidated. 
 
 Hill Magee, tenant ; same landlord. 
 This was a similar application. The tenant holds 18a. Ir. 9p. 
 at Hollywood, County Down. He stated that he succeeded his 
 father in the farm five years ago, and that the rent was then raised 
 from 271. 10s. to 32?. His three sisters lived with him, and none 
 of them tasted butcher's meat from year's end to year's end. 
 
 William Larmour, tenant ; same landlord. 
 
 The tenant in this case made a similar application. He holds 
 18a. Ir. 9p. The old rent was 20/. , and the present rent 211. ; 
 Poor-law valuation, 25Z. 10s. He stated that all the improvements 
 were made by him and his predecessors in title. He was unable to 
 live on the land at the present rent. 
 
 On cross-examination by Mr. Overend, the witness admitted his 
 father got some compensation for the erection of the buildings. 
 
 Orr Shepherd, tenant ; same landlord. 
 
 The tenant in this case holds 15a. Ir. 39p., and the applica- 
 tion was similar to the previous ones. The rent is 27/., and the 
 Poor-law valuation 18/. 10s. Tlie applicant stated that he had been 
 ten years in possession, and that he was a spirit-fjrocer and pro- 
 vision dealer. He paid most of tlie rents and farm expenses out 
 of the shop, and but for it he could not live on the farm at all. His 
 wife was in possession when he married her. 
 
 To Professor Baldwin— I employ a man and a boy constantly 
 on the farm. 
 
 In reply to Mr. Overend, tlie xmtness stated that he had another 
 farm of four acres, on tchich the two lahunrers also worked. 
 
 John Barry, a retired farmer and land valuator and auctioneer, 
 stated that Cooper's and Larmour's land was very steep and inac- 
 cessible for labour. He considered 10s. an acre would be a fair 
 rent for both farms. 
 
 Cross-examined by Mr. Overend — I never take the tenant- 
 right into account at all, I find it so fluctuating. If the tenant-
 
 224 APPENDIX G. 
 
 right were taken into account I think the farms would not sell at 
 5?. an acre. 
 
 To Professor Baldwin — I took nothing into account but the 
 land. Tlie witness added that he estimated the fair rent of Hill 
 Magee's farm at 12.s. an acre, and Orr Sheppard's at I4s., the latter 
 being more easily laboured and more accessible. 
 
 On behalf of the landlord, 
 
 Mr. Henry Fox, agent of the property, stated that Mr. Tennent 
 came into possession on the death of his father, about two years 
 ago. He 2)roduced the rent book, which showed that some abate- 
 ments had been made and some compensation paid for improve- 
 ments. 
 
 Mr. Commissioner Greer said it was unnecessary for him to 
 recapitulate the evidence given in the four cases in which Mr. 
 Robert Tennent is the landlord. They had had the opportunity of 
 personal inspection, accompanied by the landlord and the tenants. 
 In the course of their visit they believed their attention was 
 directed by both parties to every circumstance connected with the 
 farms, of which it was desirable they should be informed. Taking 
 everything into consideration, they had determined to make the 
 following alterations in the present rents : — Robert Cooper, tenant ; 
 old rent, 18L ; present rent, 30L ; valuation, 27^. 10s. ; judicial 
 rent now fixed, 20L 13s. \d. Hill Magee, tenant ; old rent, 
 Til. 10s. ; present rent, 32L ; valuation, 26Z. ; judicial rent, 
 24L 4s. 2d. William Larmour, tenant ; old rent, 20L ; present 
 rent, 27^. ; valuation, 24/. 10s. ; judicial rent, 23i. 9s. Of/. Orr 
 Shepherd, tenant ; old rent, 24^. ; present rent, 27L ; valuation, 
 18/. 10s. ; judicial rent, 23/. 4s. M. 
 
 Mr. Commis.sioner Greer intimated that in these cases the tenants 
 should get their costs. 
 
 Mr. Overend, for the landlord, said he did not ask for a recon- 
 sideration of the decision, but, having regard to the importance of 
 the question as regarded costs, he thought it would ])e well if some 
 princijjle were laid down for their future guidance. In this par- 
 ticular instance he did not see why the landlords should be obliged 
 to pay the costs, inasmuch as there had been a large reduction of 
 rent. 
 
 Mr. Commissioner Greer — We have fully considered the matter, 
 and we have come to the conclusion that he ought to pay their costs 
 (applause). 
 
 The total reduction of Mr. Tennent's property is 24/. 8s. (5f/., 
 whicli in the fifteen years will amount to 366/. 7s. ^Sd. 
 
 I have lately received from Mr. Fox, the agent for the Tennent 
 and other estates in the North, some very interesting and useful 
 ' farm reports ' given in evidence before the Commissioners upon 
 appeal by Mr. Tennent, showing the capabilities of the farms in 
 (question ; also the reports of the assessors, Mr. Murrough O'BrienI 
 and Mr. Grey, and an explanatory letter, all of which I have here! 
 set out. It would seem, however, that Mr. Fox has valued the 
 Lcoodwill at too low a rate.
 
 APPENDIX G. 
 
 225 
 
 WILLIAM LARMOUR. 
 
 Gross value of produce as cropped in 1881 
 
 Gross cost of labour 
 
 Seed 
 
 Manure 
 
 Superintendence, 10s. per acre 
 5 per cent, on 200Z., or lOl. per 
 
 acre. Capital 10s. per acre 
 Repairs, 4«. per acre 
 Insurance and contingencies, 
 
 2.5. Gd. per acre . 
 
 Taxes 
 
 Present rent .... 
 
 £52 
 23 
 51 
 
 7 
 
 13 11 
 
 14 40 
 
 9 12 6 
 
 9 12 
 3 17 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 17 
 
 9 
 
 27 
 
 
 
 
 
 127 17 4 
 
 25 LO 1 
 
 29 17 9 
 
 £ 
 253 
 
 183 5 2 
 
 Net Profit 1881, average prices 
 
 5 per cent, on loOZ., goodwill 
 
 n per cent, on 201., permanent improvements 
 
 5 per cent, on llOl., total interest of tenant 
 
 in holding. 
 i\ per cent. Sinking Fund, to recoup 20Z. in 
 
 15 years ....... 
 
 25 per cent, business profit on 101. per acre 
 
 on 2001. invested as working capital 
 
 Rent, short charged 
 
 Present rent 
 
 Future fair rent 
 
 The tenant, if he and his family do the 
 
 manual labour of the farm will have for 
 
 maintenance, per Col. 14 . 
 Superintendence, per Col. 15 . 
 Interest on working caj)ital, per Col. 16 
 Interest on goodwill, as above 
 Interest on permanent improvements, as above 
 Business profits, 25 per cent, as above . 
 
 70 3 4 
 
 40 
 9 
 9 
 
 7 
 
 1 
 
 50 
 
 18 
 
 50 
 
 59 8 
 
 
 
 10 15 
 27 
 
 4 
 
 
 37 10 4 
 
 117 18 (J 
 
 The whole manual labour on this farm annually is represented by 
 1 man, 189 days, and 1 woman, 376 days. 
 
 lOZ. ])er statute acre is tlie sum taken as working capital. 
 
 Two years of net annual profits (70Z. '6s. 4rf. x2 = 140Z. &s. %d.) are 
 taken to be what the goodwill should sell for as a commercial trans- 
 action, and that sum added to 20Z., the amount expended on permanent 
 im])rovcments, gives lOOZ. 65. 8<Z. the whole tenant right or interest of 
 the tenant in the holding. 
 
 Q
 
 226 APPENDIX G. 
 
 ROBERT COOPER. 
 
 £ s. d. i, s. d. 
 Gross value of produce as cropped in 1881 . :i48 3 8 
 
 Gross cost of labour 
 Seed 
 Manure . 
 
 Ill 4 11 
 
 Superintendence, \0s. per acre 
 5 per cent, on 220?, or \0l. per 
 
 acre. Capital 10«. per acre 
 Repairs, is. per acre 
 Insurance and contingencies, 
 
 2s. &d. per acre . . . 2 14 3 
 
 £62 14 
 IS 
 30 10 
 
 2 
 5 
 4 
 
 10 17 
 
 3 
 
 10 17 
 4 6 
 
 3 
 11 
 
 Taxes 3 5 
 
 Present rent .... 30 
 
 28 15 8 
 
 33 5 2 
 
 Net Profit, 1881, average prices . 
 
 5 per cent, on 140?., goodwill 
 
 5 per cent, on 30?., permanent improvements 
 
 Being 5 per cent, on 170?., total interest of 
 
 tenant in holding. 
 4| per cent, sinking fund, to recoup 30Z. in 
 
 15 years 17 
 
 2.5 per cent, business profit on 10?. per acre, 
 
 or 220?. invested as working capital . 55 
 
 
 — 
 
 173 n 9 
 
 
 
 74 17 11 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 1 10 
 
 
 
 
 46 16 
 
 10 17 
 
 10 17 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 3 
 3 
 
 
 1 10 
 55 
 
 
 
 
 64 17 9 
 
 Rent, short charged 10 11 
 
 Present rent 30 
 
 Future fair rent 40 11 
 
 The tenant, if he and his family do the 
 
 manual labour of the farm, will have for 
 
 maintenance, per Col. 14 ... 
 
 Superintendence, per Col. 15 . . . 
 
 Interest on working capital, per Col. 16 
 Interest on goodwill, as above 
 Interest on permanent improvements, as 
 
 above ....... 
 
 Business profits, 25 per cent, as above . 
 
 131 1 2 
 
 The whole manual labour of this farm annually is represented by 1 
 man, 263 days, and 1 woman or boy 506 days. 
 
 10?. per statute acre is the sum taken as working capital. 
 
 Two years of net annual profits (74?. lis. l\d. x 2 = 149?. 15.?. IQd.) 
 are taken to be what the goodwill should sell for as a commercial 
 transaction, and that sum added to 30?., the amount expended on per- 
 manent improvements, gives 179?. 15s. lOrf. the whole tenant right or 
 interest of the tenant in the holding.
 
 APPENDIX G. 227 
 
 HILL MAGEE. 
 
 £ s. d. £ s. d. 
 Gross value of produce, as cropped in 1881 . 258 14 3 
 
 Gross cost of labour . . 50 1 5 
 
 Seed 19 10 
 
 Manure 48 1 10 
 
 117 13 3 
 
 Superintendence, 10s. per acre 8 17 1 
 
 5 percent on 177Z., or lOZ. per 
 
 acre. Capital, 10s. per acre 10 12 6 
 Repairs, 4s. per acre . . 3 10 10 
 
 Insurance and contingencies, 
 
 3s. per acre 
 
 Taxes .... 
 Present rent . 
 
 2 
 
 13 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 13 
 
 2 
 
 32 
 
 
 
 
 
 25 13 7 
 34 13 2 
 
 
 178 
 
 
 70 14 3 
 
 7 6 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 60 
 
 19 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 15 
 
 3 
 
 32 
 
 
 
 
 
 Net profit, 1881, average prices 
 5 per cent, on 146Z., goodwill 
 
 5 per cent, on lOOZ., permanent improvements 
 
 6 per cent, on 246Z., total interest of tenant 
 
 in holding. 
 4^ per cent. Sinking Fund to recoup lOOZ. in 
 
 15 years ....... 4 10 
 
 25 per cent, business profit on lOZ. per acre, 
 
 or ml. invested as working capital . 44 3 
 
 Rent, s^ort charged 
 Present rent . 
 
 Future fair rent 41 15 3 
 
 The tenant, if he and his family do the 
 
 manual labour of the farm, will have for 
 
 maintenance, per Col. 14 . 
 Superintendence, per Col. 15 ... 
 
 Interest on working capital, per Col. 10 
 Interest on goodwill, as above 
 Interest on permanent improvements, as above 
 Business profits, 25 per cent., as above . 
 
 113 6 2 
 
 The whole manual labour on this farm annually is represented by 
 1 man 189 days, and 1 woman 378 days. 
 
 lOZ. per statute acre is the sum taken as working capital. 
 
 Two years of net annual profits (70Z. Wx. 'id. x 2= 141/. 8s. C)d.) are 
 taken to be what the goodwill sliould sell for as a, commercial trans- 
 action, and that sum,<iddedto 100/., the amount expended on permanent 
 improvements, gives 24 U. 8s. ^d., the whole tenant right or interest of 
 the tenant in the holding. 
 
 (l2 
 
 37 7 
 
 7 
 
 8 17 
 
 I 
 
 10 12 
 
 6 
 
 7 6 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 44 3 
 

 
 228 
 
 APPENDIX G. 
 
 ORR SHEPHERD. 
 
 Gross value of produce, as cropped in 1881 
 
 Gross cost of labour 
 
 Seed 
 
 Manure 
 
 [Superintendence, 16s. (!rf. per acre 
 5 per cent, on 147^- 10s., or lOZ. 
 
 peracre. Capital, 10s. peracre 
 Repairs, at 4s. per acre . 
 Insurance and contingencies, 
 
 2 s. &d. per acre . 
 
 Taxes 
 
 Present rent ..... 
 
 £32 
 11 
 25 
 
 1 
 
 27 
 
 12 B 10 
 
 1 17 
 
 d. 
 
 69 3 2 
 
 24 
 
 7 10 
 
 28 17 
 
 £ 
 172 
 
 15 5 
 
 122 8 
 
 Net profit, 1881, average prices ... 50 7 5 
 
 5 per cent, on lOOZ. 14s. \Qd., goodwill . 5 
 
 5 per cent, on 501., permanent improvements 2 10 
 
 Being 5 per cent, on 150Z. 14s. \0d.. total in- 
 terest of tenant in holding. 
 4i^ percent. Siuldng Fund to recoup 501. in 15 
 
 years ....... 250 
 
 25 per cent, business profit on \0l. per acre, 
 
 or 147Z. 10s., invested as working capital 36 17 6 
 
 23 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 12 
 
 3 
 
 10 
 
 7 
 
 7 
 
 10 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 36 
 
 17 
 
 6 
 
 46 
 
 12 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 14 
 
 11 
 
 27 
 
 
 
 
 
 Rent, short charged 
 Present rent . 
 
 Future fair rent 30 14 11 
 
 Tlie tenant, if he and his family do the manual 
 labour of the farm, will have for main- 
 tenance, per Col. 14 
 
 Superintendence, per Col. 15 . . . 
 
 Interest on working capital, per Col. 16 
 
 Interest on goodwill, as above 
 
 Interest on permanent improvements, as 
 above ....... 
 
 Business profits, 25 per cent., as above . 
 
 87 1 7 
 
 The whole manual labour on this farm annually is represented by 
 1 man 136 dajs, and 1 woman 272 days. 
 
 10^. per statute acre is the sum taken as working capital. 
 Two years of net annual profits (50Z. 7s. 5d. x 2 = 100/. 14s. lOd.) are 
 taken to be what the goodwill should sell for as a commercial trans- 
 action, and that sum, added to 50/., the amount expended on permanent 
 improvements, gives 150/. 14s. 10<^„ the whole tenant-right or interest 
 of the tenant in the holding.
 
 APPENDIX G. 229 
 
 ' Belfast, January 13, 1882. 
 'Dear Sir, — As I think you may possibly be interested to know 
 the result of the appeals made on behalf of Mr. Tennent against 
 the judicial decisions of the Sub-Commissioners for County Down 
 in the Dundonald cases, I enclose for your use in whatever way 
 you think proper a statement (No. 1), sunnnarising the evidence 
 adduced at the re-hearing and proved before the Chief Comniis- 
 sionei-s yesterday. I also enclose four farm reports (No. 2), one 
 for each of the farms in question — which were prepared and proved 
 as to quantities, prices, and all other details, and submitted in 
 evidence at the re-hearing before the Chief Conmiissioners yester- 
 day, as a carefully considered effort or attempt to solve the very 
 difficult problem at present confronting the Land Commission, 
 that of determining upon a commercial basis what portion of the 
 produce of land is to be taken as rent, and also, for the first time 
 in the history of tenant-right, of evolving a plan upon which the 
 tenant's interest in his holding may be equitably calculated. The 
 principles upon which the report are based make its application 
 equally available for any district where tenant-right or Ulster- 
 custom is acknowledged. 
 
 ' Good-will, or the hitherto undefined property of the tenant in 
 the land, is represented by two years' purchase of the net 
 annual profits. This sum, plus the total amount shown to 
 have been expended by the tenant on permanent improve- 
 ments, is taken as the tenant-right. 
 ' Working capital is taken at lOL jjer statute acre. 
 ' Average prices of produce of past seven years in the nearest 
 
 and best market. 
 ' Local rates of wages of the district. And — 
 ' The actual crops in the land in 1881, being the bases of calcu- 
 lation in each report. 
 
 ' The synopsis attached to each farm report explains the result 
 the report aiojs at. These reports I am j^reparing in all cases 
 where notices have been sei-ved to have a fair rent fixed in the 
 hope that, even if not adopted now, they will be useful at the end 
 of the judicial term. 
 
 ' You took such an interest in these especial cases at the time I 
 had the pleasure of meeting you on the lands while waiting for the 
 Sub-Commissioners, tliat I presume you to be equally interested in 
 the final decision which I expect to be published about the time 
 this letter reaches you. 
 
 ' JBelieve me. Dear Sir, 
 
 ' Yours faithfully, 
 
 ' Henry Fox. 
 'E. Cant- Wall, Esq.'
 
 230 APPENDIX G. 
 
 Tennent's Estate, County Down, 
 
 Gentlemen, — As the four farms mentioned in Mr. M. O'Brien's 
 report of this day are the first that I have inspected for tlie purpose 
 of vahiation , you may find it useful if I mention my impressions in 
 arriving at a ' fair rent.' 
 
 T/iree of these, Nos, 11, 13, and 14, strike me as farms on which 
 tenant-farmers with an ordinary amount of skill and energy should 
 have the land at this time in a much higher condition. 
 
 One of them in fact, No. 11, Larmour, has the level field next 
 his house and the road used as a market garden, and being within 
 an easy way by road frmn Belfast, where tlie produce can he disposed 
 of every day in the year, and manure brought hack, the primary vahie 
 of the land should he considerable. I need not repeat Mr. O'Brien's 
 description of the land with which I agi'ee, but I would point out 
 to the Commissioners that, because the land rises from this garden 
 field to the northern extremity, the tenant tliinks it impossible to 
 nianure it, and that the land is worth only what it will produce by 
 a poor system of cultivation. I know numbers of smaller farmers 
 who show much greater skill in the cultivation, and who would 
 use artificial manures abundantly and grow good crops. 
 
 Am I then to value this land as in the hands of an ordinarily 
 capable farmer, or of one who makes his profit out of one field only ? 
 One of these farmers, No. 13, Hill Magee, assured me that he had not 
 more than the seed oats in many years as a crop, and that this uvts 
 oimwj to the badness of the land. Am I then to value this land 
 at nothing or at a minus quantity ? 
 
 If an ordinaiy small fanner would, by the application of 12s. an 
 acre for artificial manures, which could be carried up the hill, 
 increase his crop of oats by ten barrels to the acre, I should 
 consider the rent he could reasonably pay a fair rent. The 
 turnips, which can be sold in Belfast at 20s. a ton, are probably less 
 than one-fifth of an ordinary crop, chiefly I think from ignoi'ance in 
 the cultivation. The draining, which has been done by No. 9, Orr 
 Shepherd, is I consider qtvite useless ; the drains made formerly and 
 now exposed to our view are of no use at all, and those that are 
 being made across them will in a very few years be as useless. 
 Some of the fences are fairly kept, but I see nothing on these farms 
 which can give the tenants any claim to hold them at less than the 
 ordinary letting to a fanner of average skill, but, on the contrary, I 
 think they loould he even mx>re fairly let to an average fai-mer at a 
 higher rent than may be considered their present letting value to the 
 farmers who occupy them. 
 
 I therefore exclude competition rents as well as the ignorance 
 or apathy of the occupier, and value them at tohat I shmdd put on 
 them if I were letting them to one of the many fairly intelligent small 
 farmers whom I have knoivn during the last thirty years, and whom I 
 have seen and should wish to see prosperous and contented.
 
 APPENDIX G. 231 
 
 My valuations are as follows, presuming tliat the landlord 
 pays only half the poor's rate. 
 
 Result of Appeal 
 
 D€<isio7i of 
 
 ■C.iief Comiuissioners. 
 
 £ s. d. £ s. d. 
 
 No. 9 Orr Shepherd 24 10 . . . 23 4 9 
 
 ,, 11 Wm. Larmour 24 . . 23 9 6 
 
 ,, 13 Hill Magee... 24 10 . . . 24 4 2 
 
 „ 14 E. Cooper 25 . . . 24 
 
 98 94 J8 5 
 
 I am, Gentlemen, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 The Irish Land Commissioners. (Signed) C. G. Gbev. 
 
 December 31, 1881. 
 
 Tennent's Estate, County Down, 
 
 Gentlemen, — 
 Appeal No. 9 Orr Shepherd. Appeal No. 13 Hill Magee. 
 ,, J, 11 Wm. Larmour. ,, ,, 14 R. Cooper. 
 
 These four fai-ms adjoin each other ; they are situated five miles 
 east of Belfast or\ the northern side of the valley ruiming from 
 Belfast to Comber. 
 
 Dundonald station is within a mile's distance, and the approach 
 to the farms from this station is steep and bad for a short distance ; 
 the road bounding the farms is an old. county road, it being in bad 
 repair. 
 
 The soil is grai'elly loam, varying in depth. The farms are 
 genei-ally wet, and would require to be thoroughly drained before 
 they could be cultivated to the best advantage. 
 
 Beyond a few occasional drains, many of which appear to be 
 choked, no useful drainage lias been done. 
 
 There are no buildings on the farm of Orr Shepherd, No. 9 ; on 
 the other farms there are thatched dwelling-houses and offices of 
 an inferior description, but, as / do not think they add to tlie value of 
 the holfiings, I exclude them from consideration. 
 
 The farms of Larmour and Cooper, Nos. 11 and 14, adjoin each 
 other ; they are nearly half a mile in length, and rise sliiirj)ly nearly 
 yOO ft. from the lowest to the highest part. 
 
 The other two farms are somewhat better in quality and situation. 
 
 The question may arise whether these farms are naturally bad 
 or whether their present condition is due to the tenant's waste 
 and neglect. The chief cause appears to me UHfid of thorough 
 drainage, which would cost 5/. or (5/. an .icre, but uldch would vastly 
 improve tlie farms. The occasional drains lohich appear to have been 
 made from tinw. to time have only a partial and temporary effect. 
 
 The only apparent improvements on these farms is tlie tem- 
 )>nrary reclamation of iomt rough gi-ound b^' the clearing away of
 
 
 
 £ X. 
 
 d. 
 
 9 
 
 Orr Shepherd 
 
 22 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 Wm. Larmour 
 
 24 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 Hill Magee ... 
 
 24 10 
 
 
 
 14 
 
 R. Cooper 
 
 24 
 
 
 
 
 
 94 10 
 
 
 
 Decision 
 
 ot 
 
 Chief Commissioners. 
 
 £ 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 . 23 
 
 4 
 
 9 
 
 . 23 
 
 9 
 
 6 
 
 . 24 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 . 24 
 
 
 
 
 
 94 
 
 18 
 
 5 
 
 232 APPENDIX B. 
 
 furze and scrub, but this can scarcely be considered permanent or 
 profitable work, as constant outlay would be required to keep it 
 under cultivation. 
 
 It does nut seem to me that the tenants can claim to he credlied 
 with any improvements which have added to the letting value of these 
 holdings. In fact they have not done justice to the land, which, situated 
 (IS it is ivithin easy reach of Belfast, is cajmhle of great improvement. 
 
 My valuation of these farms is as follows :— 
 
 Res'ilt of Appeal 
 
 No. 
 
 I assimne that the landlord pays half the poor rate but no other 
 taxes. 
 
 (Signed) Murrough O'Brien. 
 
 December 31, 1881. 
 
 APPENDIX H. 
 
 The Enright Case. 
 
 Before Sub- Commission No. 4, at Limerick. 
 
 William L. Enright, tenant ; Timothy Byan and others, 
 landlords. 
 
 Mr. Ryan, solicitor for the tenant, said the tenant's farm was 
 lield under a lease, dated July 7, 1869, made by Cornelius Nash, 
 since deceased, to John Enright, also deceased. The lease was for 
 the life of Cornelius Nash, and at his death it expired. The present 
 tenant succeeded in possession John Enright, to whom the lease 
 was granted. The holding was described in the lease as containing 
 2a. 3r. 33p. Ir'ish plantation measurcj iuid3r. 19p., in all 3a. 3r. 12p., 
 the rent of which is 191. 2s. Qd. The lands are situate within about 
 three miles of Limerick, at a place called Ballyclough. 
 
 John Nolan, examined by Mj*. Ryan — I aan an extensive farmer 
 living near Limerick. I know the lands of Ballyclough. They are 
 in two divisions. The first is very light land, with six inches of 
 surface. On the second the skin is fair enough, with other parts 
 wild, and a muddy, retentive subsoil. A great portion of it is waste. 
 The honest letting value of both divisions would be about 21. per 
 acre, Irish. "We don't understand English acres here. 
 
 To Mr. Atkinson, Q.C. (for the landlord) — I have no claim 
 here against my landlord. The whole j)lace I only value at 6i.
 
 APPENDIX H. 233 
 
 thougli the tenant paid over 19L The present claimwit keeps a re- 
 spectable hotel at Castlecoiinell. I saw about three roods of the farm 
 tilled — the remainder never was, to my knowledge. I would not 
 put 21. an acre value on the place only that it is so near Mr. Banna- 
 tyne's Mill at Ballyclough. Butchers would pay 51. an acre, but 
 that is no criterion. Butchers and shippers have raised the price of 
 the land near the city, but that is done up. Mr. Bannat3^le might 
 jiay 101. an acre because he has his flour mill there. I know other 
 land near the city let at 21. per acre and even less. I make no al- 
 lowaw.e for the 2)lttce being 'within three miles of Limerick citij with 
 45,000 inhabitants. I know that proximity to a city has raised land 
 by 12s. an acre. 
 
 To Mr. Ryan — Mr. Alexander Bannatyne has a mansion on the 
 ground. He pays Al. per acre for it. 
 
 Mr. Timothy Ryan was examined to prove the expiration of the 
 life in the lease. 
 
 John Ryan examined — I reside in the neighboiu'hood of the fai'm 
 at Ballyclough. I would value this farm at from 35s. to 21. per 
 acre. 
 
 To Mr. Atkinson, Q.C. — I have a land claim myself. 
 Mr. Atkinson, Q.C. — You understand 'scratch me and I'll 
 scratch you ? ' 
 
 Witness — The land toas meadowed for tvxnty years. I admit 
 that VMS hard on it. 
 
 Mr. Atkinson, Q.C. — Yes, he scourged it till it was worthless and 
 now he wants it at a reduced rent. 
 
 Witness would make no allowance on account of the farm being 
 only thi-ee miles from Limerick. A fair rent is one that will let the 
 poor tenant live on it. 
 
 Mr. Atkinson, Q.C. — And Mr. Enright is the ' poor' tenant ! 
 Witness — Oh ! no. I don't know, if put up to auction, that the 
 land would bring 61. an acre. I would not say that. 
 
 Mr. William Enright — I am the tenant. I hold other lands at 
 Castleconnell. I am in possession since 1871. I have meadowed it 
 since, except for two years, when I grazed over it. I value the 
 land at 21 an acre. I kept it for convenience, but knew it was en- 
 tirely too de<ar. 
 
 To Mr. Atkinson, Q.C. — I never put any manure on the farm. 
 The vahiation is 2/. lOv. in one part ; on another 41. 10s. The hay 
 I got off would be worth 35s. or 21. per ton. 
 
 Mr. Atkinson, Q.C. — That only cost l(\l., and yet you paid 19/./ 
 Yes, I did not give it up. It was convenient, ancl I let the matter 
 run oil. I was aV)out to part with it this year to Mr. liannatyne, 
 and he would not take it. 
 
 Mr. Atkinson, Q.C. — Will you give it up now? I would 
 rather get a fair rent. 
 
 Mr. Atkinson — What is a fair rent / 21. a year — I mean 2/. an 
 acre. 
 
 This closed the evidence on behalf of the tenant's application, and
 
 234 APPENDIX 77. 
 
 the following evidence was then given on behalf of the land- 
 lord. 
 
 John Coughlan said — I am caretaker for the landlord. Twenty 
 years ago this farm was an orchard. When Mr. Enright got the 
 place, it was far better than now. He always meadowed it since, 
 and cut the after-grass. He never manured the place since he got 
 it. 
 
 Timothy Ryan said — I am one of the owners. I know the place 
 for twelve years. I have visited the farm this week along with Mr. 
 Barrington, C.E. Mr. Enright owes It year's rent up to November 
 1. He asked an abatement of rent last year of 10 per cent. He 
 treated the land as described — meadowing every year, and not till- 
 ing it. I have been ofl'ered the same rent paid by Mr. Enright. 
 
 To Mr. Ryan — Mr. Nolan, one of the witnesses, pays M. an acre 
 for land which is not so good as this. 
 
 William Barrington, C.E., said — I am employed under the Board 
 of Works, and am well acquainted with the value of land. I visited 
 tlie lands, and found the average surface to be 1 foot 7 inches deep. 
 The farm lies along the bank of the Mulcair river. Meadorring for 
 twenty years is most injurious to land. The fair letting value, I 
 think, would be about 21. 10s. per Irish acre ; but the lands around 
 pay much higJier. 
 
 Mr.Reeves,Q.C., said they thought that there was an average sur- 
 face of nine inches in depth, and that was a good average in favour 
 of the landlord. No question arose as to improvements. It was 
 stated that there were none made by either landlord or tenant. 
 The lands seemed to have been meadowed for a period of about twenty 
 years, and with the exception of two years in which manure was 
 put upon them, very little manure was used, but the grass was con- 
 sumed upon the lands. It would take considerable improvements 
 to put the lands in good condition. The landlord and tenant were 
 equally apathetic in the matter of non-imi>roving. It was not 
 stated that the landlord had remonstrated with the tenant for not 
 making improvements, and, on the other hand, it was not alleged 
 that the tenant had applied to the landlord to drain or otherwise 
 improve the lands. Mr. Atkinson had ably contended that the 
 tenant having brought the land into an inferior condition by bad hus- 
 bandry, should not now get his rent reduced. They did not intend 
 to give any advantage to the careless and negligent tenant ; neither 
 would they set a premium upon bad husbandry. The estimate they 
 had arrived at appeared to be a fair one, as to the rent the tenant 
 in tliis case should pay in future. Two of the witnesses for the 
 tenant said the lands were worth from about 30s. to 21. per acre, 
 whilst a witness produced on behalf of the landlord, said 21. 10s. per 
 acre would, in his opinion, be a fair rent. After the hearing of the 
 case, they (the Sub-Commissioners) made a careful examination of 
 the place, and taking into account its situation, its close proximity to 
 Mr. Bannatyne^s mill., and every other advantage connected with it, 
 they declared that a fair rent to be paid by the tenant to the land-
 
 APPENDIX I. 235 
 
 lord would be 9i. lis. 3d. per annum, which was at the rate of 
 2Z. lOcf. per Irish acre, said rent to commence to run from next gale 
 day. With regard to costs, no costs would be given. They thought 
 that before the tenant entitled himself to costs he should be in a 
 position to show that he had asked his landlord for a reduction 
 before coming into court, and there was no evidence in this case that 
 the tenant had done that. They did not say anything in theu" order 
 as to county cess or poor rate. Tlie tenant would get his declara- 
 tion of a fixed rent, and the liability at law would attach as it now 
 is. The whole spii'it of the Act was that the tenant had an existing 
 right, because otherwise he would have no locus, standi in court. In 
 every case in which the letting was before August 1, 1870, the 
 liability as to county cess would be as it was before. 
 
 Notice of appeal was given on behalf of the landlord. 
 
 On a subsequent day, Mr. Commissioner Reeves said he was 
 afraid their tirst decision was very much misunderstood. Where a 
 tenant by systematic bad husbandry had brought land into a bad 
 state, they would not give him the least benefit. They would treat 
 the lands as if they were in a good state from proper industry and 
 proper husbandry by the tenant. The reason they made such a 
 substantial reduction in the first case was because they took that 
 view, and dealt with the farm as if the lands had been properly 
 treated. Tlie land had not, Jioweoer, been properly drained, and that 
 icas a duty ivhlch devolved on, the landlord. 
 
 APPENDIX I. 
 Blake v. Lord Clarina. 
 
 James A. Blake, tenant; Major-General Lord Clarina, 
 landlord (heard at Limerick). 
 
 The tenant in this case was examined by Mr. Dundon (who ap- 
 peared f(}r him), and stated that his farm held under Lord Clarina 
 contained 38a. Or. 9p. , statute measure, or alxnit 23 Irish acres. 
 The rent is 52?. 15s. 2d., and the Government valuation is 39/. 5s. 
 He thought 1/. 5s. per acre would be a fair rent. After paying the 
 working expenses of the farm he found that last season the proceeds 
 from the farm were less by 1/. 6s. than the rent. 
 
 Mr. Atkinson, Q.C. (for the landlord) — Were you offered 1501. 
 for your interest in this place / I was, and would not accept of it. 
 Lord Clarina offered that sum to me in August last, when he was 
 about to take up possession througli the Sheriti". I paid GOO/, for 
 another farm. 
 
 How much of that did j'ou save / About half. 
 
 And you saved that although you were going 1/. 6s. each year to 
 the bad / When did you get possession / In 1863. I never asked 
 an abatement from Lord Clarina. Wlien I spoke to him lie told me
 
 236 APPENDIX J. 
 
 that his lands were all let too cheap. In some places the soil is only 
 two inches deep. I would not take 150L for the farm now. I have 
 here some of the strata that I picked up from under the surface. 
 (Witness produced a handkerchief full of stones which he handed 
 to the Sub-Commissioners.) Tl\e farm was not adapted for dairy 
 purposes. It would pay better as a tillage farm. Witness had 
 given lOOL for another farm. He got 450T. as a fortune with his 
 wife, hut had paid 3001. to his sister's. 
 
 A witness named Finnucane said he thought 1?. an acre would 
 be a fail" rent for this farm. The cost of production had in- 
 creased in some instances 300 per cent. 
 
 In reply to Mr. Atkinson, Q.C., witness said he had acted as 
 secretary in this district of the Land League. 
 
 John B. Houston, J. P., stated that the value of the produce of 
 the tenant's farm would be about 121. to ISl. per acre, and the cost 
 of production and harvesting would be about 3L per acre. The 
 land was worth 21. 2s. ^per acre. 
 
 John Hugh Massey also valued the rent at 21. 2s. per acre. 
 
 It was further proved that the same rent had been paid in this 
 case for forty-three years past. The Commissioners, however, re- 
 duced the rent to 4AI. 
 
 APPENDIX J. 
 
 Taylor v. Arran, 
 
 Matthew Beresford Taylor, Tenant ; the Earl of Arran, 
 Landlord (heard at Ballina). 
 
 Mr. O'Malley (instructed by Mr. Alfred Kelly) appeared for the 
 tenant ; Mr. Bird (instructed by Mr. M 'Andrew) appeared for the 
 Earl of Arran. 
 
 Mr. Bird informed the Court that this was an English-managed 
 estate, under the terms of the 4th sub-section of the 8th section 
 of the Act. 
 
 Matthew Taylor (tenant) was examined by Mr. O'Malley, and 
 deposed that his farm contained 111 acres and 27 perches statute 
 measure. The I'ent was 57^. lis., and the valuation 271. 10«. He 
 was in possession of the holding for the past eight years. When he 
 returned from Australia the place was all in ruin, with the excep- 
 tion of the house. He then proceeded to make improvements on 
 the farm. He made permanent French drains, put up iron gates 
 and stone pillars. Two acres were moor bog reclaimed, now worth 
 about 12s. an acre. He spent 145/-. out of his own pocket on labour. 
 Twenty-one acres were shaking bog, pure morass, and twenty-six 
 acres had been tilled for some time, but was in a reverting state. 
 He spent 101. on the house. 
 
 In reply to Mr. O'Shaughnessy, the witness stated that he
 
 APPENDIX J. 237 
 
 believed the farm was not worth more than the valuation. An extra 
 hi. might, perhaps, be added fur the house. 
 
 Mr. Wm. Camjjbell, who said he was a practical farmer, gave 
 evidence as to the condition of the farm. He (Campbell) believed 
 that 2'il. lbs. would be a fair rent, without buildings, or including 
 them, 35?. 15s. a year would be a fair rent. 
 
 Mr. John Crean, agent for Lord Arran, was examined. He 
 became agent in '70. Tliere was a drainage scheme carried out on 
 the estate, and there was a cut made by the landlord in connection 
 with the di'ainage, for which the landlord paid 14/. Is. 2d. every 
 haK-year to the Board of Works. In the year '54 Ryan, the 
 estate superintendent, commenced the work on it, and continued to 
 improve it till '65. When he left the agency there was then 903/. 
 expended, excluding the putting down of crops. The house was 
 burned in TO, when Mr. Hunter, the late tenant, was in pos- 
 session. It had been built at the landlord's expense. In August 
 '74, 75L 10s. was expended on the house. In December 1876, 
 they commenced improvements which cost 50Z. In 1879, 21. 10s. 
 was paid for repairs to the house, and 10/. for drainage. Witness 
 further deposed that he was never asked to do work by the tenant 
 that was not carried out. When the former tenant left the farm 
 was in good condition. The estate gave rape, turnij^s, oats, parsnips, 
 and cari-ots. It was not true that the tenant made reclamations. 
 The present tenant told witness tliat he took three crops of oats otf 
 the land. 
 
 On cross-examination by Mr. O'Malley, the agent said that three 
 or four landlords had joined in carrying out the drainage when in 
 tlie district. The last agent sold carrots off the land. He did not 
 know how many cattle were on the land. 
 
 Mr. O'Malley — Why did Hunter leave the farm ? Was it not 
 because he was a pauper ? He left it because he got a better farm 
 in the county Sligo. 
 
 How much money did Hunter lay out upon it ? I cannot tell. 
 
 Mr. James Ward, examined by Mr. Bird, stated that he knew 
 the place in 1864. He was then superintendent of the estate, and 
 always did anything in the way of improvements which lie was 
 asked to do by the tenant. On one occasion he allowed 10/. for 
 scouring a drain. The tenant erected gates and built fences. The 
 gates were worth 121. He never knew the tenant to make fences, 
 but admitted that, to his knowledge, the tenant reclaimed about an 
 acre of land. 
 
 The CJiairman, in giving judgment in this case, said the evidence 
 disclosed a peculiar state of facts, and raised, he believed, for the 
 first time under tlie Act a (question of farms managed under what 
 was called the English system. In 1854 tlie landlord, tlirough his 
 estate superintendent, who is described as an experienced agri- 
 culturist, got possession of tlie holding under circumstances not 
 given in evidence, and worked it till 1864, expending during tliat 
 period 903?. on improvements. The liolding was then let to a man
 
 238 APPENDIX K. 
 
 named Hunter. In 18G9 or 1870 the dwelling-house was burned, 
 and was rebuilt by the landlord at an expense of lOOL In 1871 
 Hunter ceased to be tenant, and the applicant, who had recently 
 returned from Australia, became the tenant. It was not necessary 
 to describe whether or not Hunter was the legal predecessor in title 
 under the 17th section of the Act, as they had no evidence that 
 Hunter made any improvements. Neither was there any evidence 
 to show that the applicant was in any way coerced to take the hold- 
 ing or have his rent increased, or that he was otherwise badly 
 treated by the landlord. He seemed to have taken it of his own 
 free will on his return from Australia, and he still so held. His 
 evidence went to show that he made some improvements, but this 
 evidence was denied except as to scouring drains, which would 
 appear to be the duty of the tenant, and erecting gates valued at 
 121. It is sworn that he would have been recouped tliis last sum if 
 he had api^lied for it. In 1875 the landlord expended 75L on a 
 bam and 50L on the sheds. Last October, some injuries having 
 been done by the storm, the tenant looked to the landlord to have 
 them repaired, and orders were given on behalf of the landlord to 
 have these repairs effected. The landlord contributed annually 14L 
 to a drainage by which the holding was said to be benefited. Under 
 these circumstances tlie learned counsel for the landlord asked the 
 Court to disallow the application on the ground specified in the 4th 
 sub-section of the 8th section of the Act — namely, that these im- 
 provements were made and substantially maintained by the land- 
 lord. Counsel for the tenant in an able argument, urged that a 
 special agreement in writing was necessary to bring the case under 
 this section, but was unable to bring any words of the Act or any 
 authority to sanction the contention. On the u-hole, therefore, the 
 Commissioners felt bound to rule that this application be disallowed on 
 the ground specified in the Mh sub-section of the 8th section of the 
 Act — namely, that the permanent improoements had been made by the 
 landlord, and had been substantially maintained by him. As to 
 costs, they thought the case a proper one to submit to the Court, 
 and would, therefore, order each party to pay his own costs. 
 
 APPENDIX K. 
 
 Cbeighton v. Nelson. 
 Before Sub- Commission No. 2, at Lisbnm, on Nov. 24 : — 
 Alexander Creujhton, Tenant; Horatio Nelson, Landlord. 
 
 This was also an application to have the rent fixed by the Court. 
 The tenant holds 25a. and 35p., at 27^. 4s. Poor Law valuation, 
 26L The Lands are situate at Leopoghes, near Dromore. Mr. 
 Nelson resided in Downpatrick. 
 
 Mr. M'lMordie appeared for the tenant, and Mr. Wellington 
 Young appeared for the landlord.
 
 APPENDIX K. 2:l'J 
 
 Alexander Creighton, the tenant, was examined, and said he 
 thought the Poor Law vahiation of liis lidding was 2(j/. , inckuling 
 10?. Vis. on buildings. He believed that the valuation was too 
 high. 
 
 Chairman — Yo%i need not trouble yourself about that. We don't 
 attach any importance to it. We never look to it. 
 
 The witness then said that he had been in joint occupation 
 with his father from 1849 to 18G0, when he gave his father 150/. 
 for his interest in it. His father had bought the place from a man 
 named Carroll for 40?. , and he had made a great deal of improve- 
 ments. There had been an old scutchniill on tlie farm, and his 
 father built a cornmlll on it. His landlord then was Mr. Edward 
 Turner, of Newry. Witness's father made the outlay without assist- 
 ance from the landlord. He believed his father spent about AOOl. on 
 it in the. year 1851. The mill was worked by water fi-om the Lagan, 
 which was the boundary between this and the Marquis of Down- 
 shire's estate. The millrace and the weir had been in a broken- 
 down state, and it took a good deal of labour to i>ut them right. 
 He could not exactly say what expenditure there was on the race 
 and weir. The dwelling-house had to be partly rebuilt, and they 
 drained and fenced and they quarried over 2,000 yards of stone, 
 and so made an acre of land, Irish, arable. About one-third of the 
 farm consisted of rock and river, and was waste. He had to repair 
 the banks of the river every year. 
 
 What was the rent of the farm before the mill was built ? There 
 was no change in the rent these t]d7'ty years. Mr. Nelson told him 
 that the waterfall was worth 121. a year. 
 
 To the Chairman — His rent had always been 271. 4s. since he 
 bought the place. The landlord did not increase it in respect of 
 the waterfall. Mr. Nelson said he valued the land then at 15?. 
 
 Does the landlord charge you 12?. a year for the water ? No, 
 but he said he had a right to it. 
 
 Mr. Commissioner Baldwin — We may be asked to increase the 
 rent in this case. 
 
 Mr. Young — Yes, I will ask you to increase it. 
 
 Mr. Baldwin (to the tenant) — Is it 1?. an Irish acre you pay i 
 11. an Irish acre. The landlord wanted me to let him sell the weir, 
 and said he would throw 12?. a year off — that he would let me have 
 the land at 15?. 
 
 Mr. Baldwin — Would not that destroy the mill altogether ? It 
 would unless I put iq) steam. 
 
 Does the Marquis of Downshire's property near or run up to 
 your mill 1 Yes ; on the opposite side of the river. 
 
 Has the Marquis of Downshire any control over the water that 
 runs by your mill ? Yes ; so he said. 
 
 Who ov\na tlie land on each side of the water that turns your 
 mill ? My landlord. Tlie entire race runs through Mr. Nelson's 
 land. 
 
 Which do you consider tlic more valuable — which would you
 
 240 APPENDIX K. 
 
 give up if you were called on to give up either ? I would give up 
 the mill if I were compensated. 
 
 What would you take for the mill with the water power ? I 
 never took that into consideration. 
 
 Would you take 211. for it i Yes, I would. 
 
 If I have a purchaser for you, how much less than 27Z. a year 
 will you take and give up your interest in the mill and the race as 
 they stand ? I am not disposed to let it. 
 
 If an agreement were prepared to let this mill at 211., would you 
 take it ? No ; I don't know that. 
 
 In reply to further questions. 
 
 You do not eat American bacon ? Some. 
 
 What cattle have you ? Two cows, a heifer, a mare and foal, 
 two sheep, two sows, and two other pigs. We feed a deal of pigs. 
 
 Are you a farmer ? I was reared up to it. 
 
 Are you not a millowner ? Yes. 
 
 Would you be surprised to hear that this assignment contains 
 only 5 acres 1 Yes. 
 
 Would you be surprised to hear that the rent was only 9L a 
 year ] 
 
 Chairman — And he gave 150L for it 1 
 
 Witness — Yes. 
 
 Chairman — You have 15 acres of arable land ? Ten. 
 
 And your landlord put upon that an estimate of Ibl. a year ? 
 Yes. 
 
 And 121. on the water 1 Yes. 
 
 And you would not take 2*11. a year for this mill ? Well, I 
 never took that into consideration. 
 
 Mr. Young said he would ask the Court to raise the rent in this 
 case. 
 
 The Chairman asked for the assignment, which was handed to 
 him. 
 
 In reply to Mr. Young, witness denied that in 1862 he stated in 
 court, in Downpatrick, that he estimated his loss, by a temporary 
 stoppage of the mill, at 11. a day. 
 
 Mr. Jardine was examined, and estimated the fair rent of the 
 farm at 111. 12s. 3d. 
 
 Mr. Young then opened the case for Mr. Nelson. He said that 
 none of the lands about which they were now inquiring were within 
 tifteen miles of where they were. He complained that the Land 
 Commissioners in Dublin had selected cases for the early sittings of 
 the Commissioners in the North with a view to induce the tenants 
 to come into the courts. 
 
 Mr. M'Mordie — A conspiracy on the part of the Commis- 
 sioners ? 
 
 Mr. Young said he did not know why those cases were sent 
 downi by the Land Commissioners to be tried here unless the Com- 
 missioners appointed by the present Government were to play 
 battledore and shuttlecock with the
 
 APPENDIX K. 241 
 
 The Chairman — We will not go into that now. 
 
 Mr. Young said there would be a day of retribution, and that 
 cases would come before them in which they would have to increase 
 the rents. If ever there was a case in which the rent should be in- 
 creased it was this. He then proceeded to speak of the operation 
 of the Land Act, and of the number of claims entered under it, and 
 said that not only English, but Irish cajjital would be driven out of 
 tlie countiy. 
 
 Mr. M'Mordie — This is an undelivered speech for Derry. 
 
 Mr. Young — I am not going to Derry. Mr. Young then stated 
 that this land was sold in the Incumbered Estates Court in 1852. 
 A man named Turner had to part with it at that period, and lie 
 believed that as a i-esult of the operation of the present Act a 
 number of landlords would have to part with their property. 
 
 Mr. M'Mordie — I hope so. 
 
 Mr. Young said that at the time of the sale in 1852 the rental 
 was 322Z. 145. 6(Z. The estates consisted of 333a. 4r. 5p. 
 
 Chairman — Do you know what your client paid for it ? 
 
 Mr. Young — I do not. The land was cheap at the time. 
 
 Mr. M'Mordie — Your client can tell you. He is beside you. 
 
 Mr. Young — So are you. Mr. Young then said that the pur- 
 chaser, Mr. M'Gaw, was the grandfather of IVIr. Nelson. He not 
 only did not increase, but reduced the rents, so that the rental, in- 
 stead of being 322L, was reduced to 276L As to the value of the 
 Creightons' farm, he said that Carroll, who formerly held it, had 
 made 2,000Z. out of this corn-miU. Mr. M'Gaw reduced the rent 
 because of some injury to the mill ; and though the reducticm was 
 only intended to be a temporary one, the tenant had had the 
 advantage of it for thirty years. The rent was reduced from 
 2Gs. 2>d. to 21s. Sd. an acre. 
 
 Mr. Commissioner Baldwin here observed, with resjject to the 
 valuation, that he knew himself the letting value of land in Ireland, 
 and he was in a position to say that, knoioincj the system on which the 
 poor law valuation was based, it was no test of the letting value of 
 land. 
 
 The Chairman, in the course of a discussion which followed, said 
 that whatever property, mill or otliervnse, ivas mentioned in the 
 Landed Instates Court conveyance was conveyed to the landlord. 
 
 Mr. M'Mordie — Do you say, sir, that the Landed Estates Court 
 conveyance overrid the tenant's improvements ? I do. In this 
 case the improvements were made by the predecessor in title to tlie , 
 present tenant, and he allowed Iiis rights to lajise. He might have 
 tiled an objection to the rental in the Landed Estates Court, and 
 have said, 'The mill is mine.' 
 
 Mr. M'Mordie — The tenant here says he spent 4001. on im- 
 provements. 
 
 Chairman — It is a point of law that is involved. 
 
 Mr. M'Mordie said if that were tlie way the Act was to hv 
 administered it would be all moonshine. 
 
 S
 
 2i2 APPENDIX K. 
 
 Chairman — Your clients have already got a substantial benefit 
 under the Act. 
 
 Mr. Nelson, the landlord, was then examined in support of the 
 statement made by Mr. Young. He never raised the rent on 
 Creighton. 
 
 Mr. M'Mordie referred to the Land Act of 1870 for the purpose 
 of showing that the chairman's ruling was incorrect, and that the 
 sale of the jH-operty was subject to the tenant's property in his im- 
 provements, of which he was not deprived by the Act of 1870. 
 
 The Chairman adhered to his opinion that the interest under 
 the conveyance passed to the landlord. 
 
 Mr. M'Mordie — If so the Act failed to protect the interest of 
 the tenant. 
 
 Chairman — If I am wrong I should be glad you would bring the 
 case before the Court above ; but if you were arguing till morning 
 you would not change my mind. I am perfectly conversant with 
 the matter in my own practice, and I will facilitate you in every 
 possible way. 
 
 Mr. M^Mordie said they would only have to take to the platforms 
 in Ulster again to get their property. 
 
 Chairman — Let us go on with the case. This is not business. 
 
 Mr. Young said he had closed. 
 
 Mr. Nelson said, in reply to the Chairman, that he would have 
 been satisfied with the rent he was receiving, but he would now 
 leave the matter in the hands of the Court. 
 
 Mr. Baldwin asked Mr. Nelson whether he would expect the 
 Commissioners to exclude from their consideration the expenditure 
 of 400L made by the tenant if the law required them to exclude it. 
 
 Mr. Young said they should give their decision according to 
 law, and not press on the feelings of a landlord. 
 
 Mr. Baldwin — If the question be not strictly legal I withdraw 
 it. We are expected to be judges of fair dealing. I do not profess 
 to be a judge of law, but I profess to be a judge of fair dealing 
 between man and man. 
 
 Mr. Nelson said he did not expect a large, but he expected a 
 small increase of rent. 
 
 The Chairman then intimated that they would deliver their 
 decision in this case to-morrow. 
 
 The Chairman, in pronouncing the decision of the Court, said — 
 The case in which Horatio Nelson is the landlord, and Andrew 
 Creighton is the tenant, and in which we have been asked by the 
 tenant to fix a fair rent, is somewhat peculiar in its circumstances. 
 The tenant's father bought the holding in 1849, when he gave a 
 sum of 50L for the farm, which then contained 30a. 3r. 14p., and 
 which was held at a rent of 44L The late Mr. Edward Turner 
 was then the landlord. The present owner derives from his grand- 
 father, who purchased Mr. Turner's interest in the proj^erty in the 
 year 1852, on tlie occasion of a .sale of the townland in the Incum 
 bered Estates Court. The estate so sold consisted of 330a. 2r. 25p.,
 
 APPENDIX K. 243 
 
 producing a rental of 322?. 14s. 6(7., or about 20.s. per statute acre. 
 Immediately after the purchase by Mr. Nelson's predecessor a re- 
 valuation of the property was made with the full consent and 
 cognizance of the tenants, and the rental was reduced from 
 332L 14s. 6fL to 276?., at which it has since remained. The rent 
 of the present holding was then abated 25 per cent., and the rents 
 of the other tenants 20 per cent. Now, vipon this holding there is 
 a valuable scutchmill, worked by water power, which water, so far 
 as the evidence before us goes, is the property of the landlord. 
 The tenant was examined, and he said that for the mill alone he 
 would not like to accept a rent of 27?. Mr. M'Mordie contended 
 that the mill and right to the water are the property of the tenant, 
 and as such he is entitled to have the value of it deducted from his 
 rent as a tenant's improvement. Mr. Young, on the other hand, 
 has argued that it was never contemplated by the Act that such a 
 holding should come within its provisions, or be regarded as an 
 agrictiltural holding. Upon that question we are relieved from 
 expressing any opinion at present, inasmuch as during the progress 
 of the case Mr. Young put in evidence the Incumbered Estates 
 Court rental under which the property was sold ; and, upon the 
 face of it, opposite the description of this particular holding, is 
 the following observation : — ' On this holding there is a flour mill.' 
 Now, the effect of that observation upon the rental, as also upon the 
 schedule attached to the Incumbered Estates Court conveyance, is, in 
 my opinion — and I have so advised my colleagues — to vest any interest 
 that the predecessor of the present tenant had in that mill and loater 
 in the purchaser under his deed, and consequetMy the tenant cannot 
 now, under the provisions of the Land Act, ask for any abatement of 
 his rent in respect of either. This I believe to be the law ; but if I 
 am wrong in the opinion I have expressed, and on the basis of 
 which our decisions will proceed, I will only be too glad to be set 
 right by an appeal to the Commissioners, and the tenant shall have 
 every facility given him by the Court to procure a judicial decision 
 upon the point. We feel strongly that for the foregoing reasons 
 this is a case which the tenant should never have brought into 
 court. His landlord has, in our ox)inion, acted fairly and consider- 
 ately with him, and were it not that Mr. Nelson told us yesterday 
 that he would be content with a small increase of rent, we would 
 have considered it our duty to make a substantial addition to tlie 
 present rent. The effect of our fixing a judicial rent in those 
 cases is to relieve the tenant from tlie payment of half of the 
 county cess, amounting in this case to about 1?. 12s. 6(?. per annum, 
 and if we allowed the rent to remain at 27?. 4s., we would in eti'ect 
 be mulcting the landlord to the extent of that amount annually. 
 We will, J^lierefore, fix the fair rent at 21)?. 2s. (id., and give the 
 landlord his costs. 
 
 R 2
 
 244 APPENDIX L. 
 
 APPENDIX L. 
 
 rLAHIVE V. HUSSEY. 
 
 Michael Flahive, Tenant ; Samuel Murray Hussey, Landlord. 
 
 The claimant held 33 acres statute measure at a rent of 55^. , 
 the Poor Law yaluation being 371. 10s. He fell into arrears 
 with the rent, and was evicted in July last. He sought to have a 
 fair rent fixed, with a view to redemption. 
 
 Mr. D. B. Sullivan (instructed by Mr. Maurice Horgan, soli- 
 citor) for the tenant, and Mr. Hickson, Q.C., for the landlord. 
 
 The tenant's case was that the farm was originally held by his 
 father at a rent of 401., which was afterwards increased to 551. On 
 going into possession of the farm he gave 501. as security for the 
 last gale, and he had never received it back. He fell into arrears 
 during the last three years, being unable to make up the rent out 
 of the land. He believed that 271. or 281. would be a fair value 
 for it. He was evicted in July, and was readmitted for some time 
 as a caretaker. 
 
 In reply to Mr. Hickson the witness denied that he signed any 
 agreement, or that any agreement was read to him on going into 
 possession. Mr. Hickson read an agreement to the effect that he 
 had that day paid Mr. Hussey 551. for getting possession of the 
 lands, and he agreed that it should be held by Mr. Hussey as his 
 own property without interest or repayment. The tenant added 
 that he had an old house, and he once asked Mr. Hussey for some 
 timber to roof it, and his reply was, if it does not answer you may 
 give it up. (Groans and yells in Court.) 
 
 Mr. Commissioner M'Devitt directed the constables to watch 
 the occupants of the gallery, and if any of them misconducted 
 themselves, to bring them before him. it was to the credit of the 
 pe<iple interested that the proceedings should be conducted with 
 order. 
 
 Denis Kane, a farmer, estimated the fair rent of the farm at 
 30/. 66'. '3d. 
 
 William Fitzgerald, another farmer, gave similar evidence. 
 
 The tenant's case having closed. 
 
 Mr. Samuel Murray Hussey stated that when the old lease was 
 made of the lands the j^rice of liutter was 70s. per cwt., as against 
 J03s. now. When Flahive fell into arrears, and there was no 
 likelihood of his being able to pay the rent, he agreed to give up 
 the farm, and to take a house and an acre of land, whi^i witness 
 oifered him rent free. Witness then put two men into the farm, 
 but when the country became disturbed Flahive changed his mind, 
 and witness had to evict him from the farm. Witness oflered him 
 an acre of ground rent free for life, or a sum of money to emigrate,
 
 APPENDIX M. £45 
 
 but lie would not accept either. The present rent was fair at the 
 ]iresent price of butter, this being a dairy farm. 
 
 Mr. John Edward Barrett, an extensive cultivator of ground in 
 the county Cork, estimated the fair letting ^'alue of the holding 
 at 51L 
 
 The Commissioners ultimately reduced tlie rent considerably. 
 
 APPENDIX M. 
 
 Cleart v. Gascoigne. 
 
 On the Bitting of the Sub-Commission at Ennis, the Chair- 
 man proceeded to give judgment in the case of: — 
 
 Patrick Gleary, Tenant ; Colonel Gascoigne, Landlord. 
 
 He said this was the case of the greatest magnitude tliey hail 
 as yet had to consider. The lioldimj comprised 285a. 3r. lip. Irish 
 plantation measure. The present rent was 840Z., and tlie gross 
 Poor Law valuation 612L By a lease of November 1, 1794, Silver 
 Oliver, the then landlord, demised to one Charles Creed pait of 
 the land of BaUinahinch, which contained 219a. Ir. 17p., at a 
 rent in British currency of 344/,. 4s. Ad. for three lives. In 
 February, 1829, Mr. Thomas Cleary, the father of the tenant, 
 purcliased the lessee's interest for 2,450L In 1855 Mr. Thomas 
 Cleary took another portion of tlie lands of Ballinahincli, contain- 
 ing G3a. 3r. 12p., from the landlord, Colonel Gascoigne, as tenant, 
 from year to year, at the yearly rent of 184 L The last life in the 
 lease of 1793 dropped on April 18, 1807, and Mr. Thomas Cleary 
 entered into a simdar agreement to become tenant from yea)' to 
 year of the lands contained in the lease. The agreement bears 
 date May 25, 1867, the rent, 006^., being an increase of 234/. 0,s. (i(/. 
 over the old rent reserved by the lease. Thus, the rents payal)le 
 under the two agreements amounted to 990/., and this latter Mr. 
 Thomas Cleary paid till liis death. It was proved that Mr. Thomas 
 Cleary erected at a very large outlay an excellent dwelling house 
 and offices on the lands, but they were compelled to exclude the 
 present tenant from the benefits of those improvements. Mr. 
 Thomas Cleary died on October 12, 1874, and thereupon tlie in- 
 terest under the two agreements ended, and a new letting of both 
 parcels of land was made to Mr. Patrick Cleary, the present ten- 
 ant, at a rent of 840/. (tlie present rent), being an increase of 
 50/. per annum over the rent payable by his father. They hud in 
 tills case the assistance of Mr. Edward Langley Hunt, of Linierich-, 
 an independent valuei". He spetd tivo days examining the lands. 
 The result nias so satisfactory that it enabled them, after a personal 
 examination of the lands themselves, to come to the conclusion, that 
 the rent should he reduced from 840/, to GCO/., each party to pay
 
 246 APPENDIX N. 
 
 their oitm costs, and they would have to pay Mr. Hunt 15/. 15s. 
 They would also make an order that Mr. Cleary should erect two. 
 additional houses for farm laboiu'ers, supplemented with half an 
 acre of land, at a rent of Is. 6d. a week. 
 
 Mr. Cleary said it was a grazing farm, and he did not require it. 
 
 Mr. Reeves — We understood you had no objection, and that 
 you had been obliged to send to KHfinane for labourers. You can 
 get the money from the Board of Works. 
 
 Mr. Atkinson said this was a serious matter for the landlord, 
 who had been deprived of 180L for fifteen years, and it was most 
 important that the skilled witness who had given his evidence to 
 the Court in private, and upon which they had based their decision, 
 should be subjected to the test of cross-examination and furnish a 
 statement of all details. 
 
 Mr. Reeves — Our decision was not based on that report. It 
 was contrary to the principles of all courts of justice to keep any- 
 thing in secret. We will take a note of your objection. 
 
 Mr. Atkinson — Its wisdom and its justice may conmiend itself, 
 and we may not go farther. 
 
 APPENDIX N. 
 
 A case of Carmody v. Talbot Crosbie was heard at 
 Killarney, on December 19, 1881. It was interesting from 
 the fact that the estate was an * English managed ' one, Mr. 
 Talbot Crosbie paying his tenants for all improvements which 
 they effected, and Mr. Trench, his son-in-law and agent, 
 ]iersonally looking after their comfort in every respect. 
 Carmody, however, had refused payment for his improve- 
 ments, and the following evidence given by him exemplifies 
 the strong attachment of the Irish farmer to his land. 
 
 At the request of Mr. Morjihy, the tenant Carmody was re- 
 called, and asked what he would take for his interest in the farm. 
 He replied that he should get his outlay, but he did not know of 
 any man who would give it. 
 
 Mr. Commissioner M'Devitt — That is not an answer. 
 
 Witness — Where would I go to ? 
 
 Mr. Moi-phy — How much will you take and walk out ? I suppose 
 about 1,200?. 
 
 Will you take that now ? 
 
 Witness (promptly) — I will. 
 
 Mr. Morphy — Mr. Crosbie is here now, and there will be no 
 difficulty. We will draw up tlie memorandum, and it can be signed 
 at once. 
 
 Witness — But where am I to go, to put my pack on my back ?
 
 APPEXDIX X. 247 
 
 I never intended that answer, but it is not a proper question. I 
 am an old man, and I never thought over it. 
 
 Mr. Morphy — Give me that memorandum. Whose handwriting 
 is that memorandum in 1 My own. 
 
 Counsel (reading) — What will you take for your interest in the 
 farm ] I consider that was a proper question. I did not think that 
 this would occur, but would you want me to go out with my pack 
 on my back (laughter). You gave me that answer on the talile. I 
 must be prepared for it. 
 
 Will you take the 1,200?. and walk out? (No answer.) 
 
 Mr. Commissioner M'Devitt — You are an intelligent man, and 
 why don't you answer ? You said you would take 1,200/. and you 
 go back on it. 
 
 Witness — Perhaps he might take the ball at the first hop and 
 seU me out. 
 
 Mr. Commissioner M'Devitt — He cannot do that. 
 
 Witness — Well, that is the value I put on it. 
 
 Mr. Murphy — Will you take 1,200?. now,and walk out of the farm? 
 
 Witness (after a pause) — I will do no such thing. I would take 
 it in the morning if I could get a place, but I could not. 
 
 We will give you until next May to get a place if you will leave. 
 (No answer.) 
 
 Mr. Commissioner M'Devitt — If you are really serious in this 
 offer I think you should give the man an opportunity of consulting 
 his counsel. 
 
 Mr. Sullivan — Certainly. 
 
 The tenant then retired, accompanied by his solicitor and 
 counsel, and, after a few minutes' absence, 
 
 Mr. Sullivan said he was instructed to say that the tenant was 
 quite satisfied to have the tenant-right assessed at 1,200/., and, in 
 the event of his being compelled to quit the farm at any time 
 through the exercise t)f any statutory power by the landlord, he was 
 satisfied that the landlord should have the right of pre-emption, 
 and to purchase at that sum ; but beyond tliat he would not go. 
 He was an old man, and if he were asked what he would take to 
 leave the farm, he would reply that he would die where he lived. 
 
 Mr. Morphy — Then there is no sum that would induce him to 
 leave / 
 
 Carmody— My burial-place is up near it, and it is there I have 
 lived, and it is there I will die. 
 
 The rent was afterwards reduced, but not considerably.
 
 248 APPENDIX 0. 
 
 APPENDIX 0. 
 
 The Dunseath Cases. 
 
 The following is extracted from tbe original judgment of 
 the Sub-Commission in the 'Dunseath cases : — 
 
 The Chairman, in delivering judgment, then said — In pro- 
 nouncing our decisions in the cases which we have here, there is 
 nothing, in our opinion, that calls for any special observations. 
 Sliortly stated, the facts are these — Prior to the month of Novem- 
 ber, 1850, the Earl of Mountcashel was the owner of large estates 
 in this county, and the landlords in tlie cases wliich liave been 
 brought before lis acquired their interest in the several properties 
 by the purchase of different lots of that nol)leman's property upon 
 its being sold in the Court for the sale of Incumbered Estates in 
 Ireland in that year. During the long period that Lord Mountcashel 
 and his ancestor continued in tlie enjoyment of the property, no 
 increase in tlie rent would appear to have taken place, and from 
 the Incumbered Estates Court rental, which has been handed in, 
 the average rent over the three townlands with which we are imme- 
 diately concerned did not exceed 15.s. per statute acre, and as 
 regards the townland of Sleamish, the rent was much under that 
 average. In the month of April, 1851, the late Mr. Dunseath 
 purchased the townland of Kildowney for a sum of G,OOOL It con- 
 tained 615 acres statute measure, and produced a net rental of 
 :»1<3/. It now produces 660L Four of the tenants whose cases we 
 have been dealing with held under leases dated 2nd March, 1846. 
 These leases expired in the year 1876, and in that year the rents 
 were raised to a very considerable extent, and the tenants, having 
 no voice or option in the matter, have since continued to pay the 
 increased rents. That all the tenants are hardworking, frugal, 
 industrious people is evidenced by the condition of then* farms, 
 each of which the Commissioners have visited and carefully 
 inspected. They all have, however, testified that their rents are 
 excessive, and such as they camiot continue to pay. Neither 
 landlord nor agent has come forward in any of these cases to 
 explain to the Commissioners the circumstances which, in their 
 judgment, justified the serious additions wliich were made to the 
 rents in the year 1876, and we are thus left to draw our own conclu- 
 sions, and deal with the cases in their nakedness, so far at least as 
 the evidence given us for tlie landlords is concerned. Mr. Overend, 
 who appeared for the landlords, lias contended, as he did in other 
 cases in Belfast, that upon the extiqiation of the leases all the iin- 
 provements whicli had been executed by the tenants or their pre- 
 decessors in title, even including the reclamation of waste land, 
 reverted to and became vested in the landlord, and that the tenants 
 thereupon ceased to have any property in them. In that opinion
 
 APPENDIX P. 249 
 
 we certainly cannot concur (applause). The Chairman called for 
 silence, and proceeded — V^'e feel that, having regard \.o the explicit 
 provisions of the 8th section of the Act, we are bound to give to 
 the tenant the full benefit of all improvements made by him or his 
 predecessors .in title, and for which, in our opinion, he has not 
 been paid or otherwise compensated by his landlord ; and to do 
 otherwise, and to declare that the improvements effected in these 
 cases by the hard toil and industry of the tenants should become 
 the property of the landlord, would not be in accordance either 
 with the spirit or letter of the Act which we are here to administer. 
 Therefore, considering all the circumstances of these cases, the 
 capacity of the holdings in the hands of ordinary industrious 
 farmers, and the district in which they are situate, we have come 
 to the conclusion that the following will be the fair judicial rent of 
 each holding for the next fifteen years : — 
 
 Mrs. Dunseath's Property. 
 
 Ter.ant. Valuation. Present Rent. Judicial Rent. 
 
 £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. 
 David Adams . . 24 10 3G 30 15 
 
 There was applause in court after the chairman had concluded. 
 
 Mr. Ciruth said that the notice had been recorded pursuant to 
 the 60th section. He thought the Commissioners should say that 
 the tenants paying on next gale day should only have to pay the 
 judicial rent from the 1st of November instant. 
 
 The Chairman— We understand that the effect of these decisions 
 is that the new rent is to be the rent from the '1st of the present 
 November. I have to add to our judgment in these cases that we 
 give costs to the tenants. 
 
 Mr. Overend — The tenants are under the impression that the 
 (originating notices have an etfect on the arrears of rent. We ask 
 that the decision shall have no retrospective efl'ect. 
 
 The Chairman — In fixing a fair rent from the 1st of November 
 that has nothing to do with tlie ol)ligation of the tenant to pay the 
 arrears. > 
 
 APPENDIX P. 
 
 During the delivery of a judgment of the Sub-Commission 
 sitting at Manorbaniilton, county Lcitrini, ilie chairman, Mr. 
 Roche, said : — 
 
 ' Before leaving these cases, there is one incident of a painful 
 natui-e to which I desire to refer publicly. On the farm of William 
 Mulholland we were not informed of the existence of a labovner's 
 dwelling. A chance question elicited the fact. On our insisting 
 to see this dwelling — or rather this ruin — we found the wife of the 
 unfortunate labourer, Andrew Keriigan, in tears. The labourer
 
 250 APPENDIX Q. 
 
 himself had been purposely removed from the land by the tenant 
 on the day of our visit ; but n(jt content with this precaution, the 
 tenant, on the morning of our visit, came to the house, and threw 
 water on the few sods of turf which were smoking on the hearth, 
 for fear the smoke might reveal to us the fact that the hovel was 
 inhabited. There is little cause to wonder at this anxiety to con- 
 ceal the existence of such a stye. I say it, without fear of contra- 
 diction, that on a well-regidated farm such an erection would be 
 thought an unsuitable shelter for a cow or a pig. Without a window, 
 without a chimney, almost without a roof, it was and is an outrage 
 to humanity that two human beings shovild be expected to support 
 life in such a place. I can only say, I don't envy the conscience of 
 William Mulholland and his son. W^e order William MulhoUand 
 to erect, before the next gale day, a habitable house for a labourer, 
 containing two rooms, with one window in the room and two in the 
 kitchen, with one rood of ground attached, at Grf. per week.' 
 
 Mr. Commissioner Morrison wished to say a few words also. He 
 s \id the farm he visited on Lord Massey's property, if drained, would 
 be much of it good land. The lioldings were compact, conveniently 
 situated as to bog suitable for tiu'bary, and — what would in his 
 country be considered of immense advantage — an unlimited supply 
 for mixing with lime and manure for agricultural purjDOses. ' My 
 neighbours consider that about two-thirds of their manure is made 
 by this way of using bog. I have been over the lands, with one or 
 two exceptions in every enclosure, and had the soil dug up where I 
 thought it necessary. Their produce was mostly hay. I was in the 
 dwelling-house, and saw their mode of life. In the offices I saw 
 their stock. The office houses scarcely deserve the name. The 
 lands appear no better, if no worse, than when in a primteval state. 
 The same remark applied to a large district of country as far as the 
 eye can reach ; the only appearance of life is some cattle in the 
 fields, and smoke from the dwellings. The why and wherefore I 
 cannot tell. I state what I saw. What I saw before leaving home 
 I thought was not to be seen in Ireland. On the same day I visited 
 two farms about six miles distant. On the farm of M'Gowan, 
 tenant (Johnston, landlord), I saw very great improvements, and 
 much done under more difficult circumstances.' 
 
 APPENDIX Q. 
 
 October 25, 1881. 
 
 In Semple v. Hunter and wife, the Chief Commissioners held 
 that the county court, and not the commission, must be applied to 
 restrain a plaintilf from executing a decree for ejectment obtained 
 in the county court pending a notice to fix a fair rent. 
 
 In Knij^e v. Armstrong, the Chief Commissioners decided that a 
 claim for compensation for disturbance, under the Act of 1870, will 
 not be transferred from the county court to the commission court.
 
 APPENDIX R. 251 
 
 November 2, 1881. 
 
 In Cooper v. Duigenan, it was decided by the Chief Commissioner 
 that a tenant under lease cannot have a fail' rent fixed untd he has 
 got his lease set aside. 
 
 November 10, 1881. 
 
 In Baillie v. Montgomery, the Chief Commissioners decided that 
 a tenant has no right to have the time for redemption or sale ex- 
 tended without jjrejudice to the right to have a fair rent fixed as a 
 ' present tenant ' under the Land Act ; the two rights being incon- 
 sistent. 
 
 In Stack v. Plummer, Mr. Reeves, Q.C. (Assistant Cominis- 
 sioner), held that where the tenant had allowed his tenancy from 
 year to year to be taken in execution, and sold, before the Act 
 passed, he had lost his tenancy, and the benefit of the Act ; although 
 the conveyance from the Sheriff to the purchaser was not executed 
 until after the passing of the Act. 
 
 Decembers, 1881. 
 
 In Bligh V. Kirwan, Mr. Justice O'Hagan said that ' in order to 
 break a lease, they must find (1) that the applicant was a tenant 
 from year to year at the making of the lease ; (2) that the lease 
 contained conditions unreasonable or unfair, having regard to the 
 Act of 1870 ; (3), that the lease was obtained by threats of evic- 
 tion.' 
 
 And in Ewart i). Gray (December 20) Mr. Commissioner Litt(m 
 said that ' the reservation of an exorbitant rent was in itself a term 
 of the lease which might be unfair and unreasonable to the tenant, 
 having regard to the Act of 1870.' 
 
 APPENDIX R. 
 
 Judge Fitzgkrald's Charge. 
 
 When opening' of the Munster Winter Assizes, at Cork, on 
 December 6, 1881. the Right Hon. Mr. Justice Fitzgerald, 
 in addressing the Grand Jury, said : — 
 
 ' Mr. Lyons and Gentlemen of the Grand Jury — This is the 
 second occasion upon which I have the honour of opening the 
 Queen's Commission for the Munster Winter Assize county, and as I 
 addressed many this time twelve months wlio are now on tlu' Grand 
 Jurj', and explained then the nature and extent of your jmisdiction, 
 it is unnecessary to detain you by doing so now. Your duties
 
 252 APPENDIX R, 
 
 embrace four great counties of the province of Munster, large in terri- 
 tory, and having a population somewhere altogether of 1,200,000, 
 of which one half belongs to the city and county of Cork. Gentle- 
 men, upon the occasion on which I addressed you here last year I 
 called your attention to the statistics of crime in the district, and 
 the observations I then made to you were subjected to some adverse 
 criticism ; it is now twelve months after that time, and, with the 
 additional experience which that time has given me, I have nothing 
 to retract, nothing to alter, nothing to wish unsaid of these obser- 
 vations. I have now lying before me the criminal statistics of this 
 wide district, consisting, as it does, of four counties and two cities ; 
 and, in calling your attention to them in detail, I wish to say that 
 I do so on entirely official sources. I have before me the reports 
 of the three Crown Solicitors — IVIr. Gregg, of Cork ; Mr. Morphy, 
 of KeiTy and Clare, ; and Mr. Roche, of the county of Limerick — 
 three gentlemen of great intelligence ; but these reports only give 
 the cases now for trial, and do not represent the state of the dis- 
 trict. There are other reports, the reports of the county inspectors, 
 on w^liich I place great reliance, and which are all carefully prepared, 
 and examining these documents, and looking over the cases in them, 
 excluding altogether from consideration ordinary ones, and refer- 
 ring to those which are agrarian, I will bring before you the state 
 of this extensive district. The period over which it will extend is 
 the four months since the last assizes. In the East Riding, I am 
 sorry to say, and I say it with great grief, that with the exception 
 of the City of Cork, there is no diminution of crime, but on the 
 contrary a substantial increase. In the four months 233 indictable 
 oflences are reported to have occurred, against 127 in the four 
 months preceding the Winter Assizes of 1880, and these are ex- 
 clusive of all common assaults and petty larcenies, and include only 
 major offences. There was one case of murder, 35 cases of threats 
 to murder, in addition to 63 cases of ordinary threatening, 4 cases 
 of firing at the person, 20 cases of malicious burnings, 12 of maim- 
 ing cattle, a crime that alienates from us all sympathy, and it ought. 
 There are malicious injuries to property 18, and 10 cases of seizing 
 arms, of levying contribution by armed parties, 14 of assaulting 
 dwellings at night. We are now so used to threatening notices that ice 
 are beginning to disregard them, but, nevertheless, they make a person 
 exceedingly uncomfortable, and drive respectable people from amongst 
 us. llie 2>erpetrators of these things are seldom brought to justice, and 
 theg can only be put down by the people themselves. The case of 
 murder was that of Patrick O'Leary, who was attacked by an armed 
 party and shot because he paid his rent. A person named M'Carthy 
 is threatened with death because he paid his rent. Another person 
 is threatened with death because he employed the horses of a boy- 
 cotted farmer. I then come to the case of a gentleman named 
 Hartnett. I don't know what his offence was, but, for some reason 
 or other, he was boycotted, and the dastardly course is pursued of 
 sending letters threatening to kill and murder his household, his
 
 APPENDIX R. 253 
 
 servants, if they don't leave liim. Six ur seven letters were served 
 upon persons within his house threatening tliem with death if they 
 did not leave Mr. Hartnett's service, the object being to completely 
 isolate hiui, to subject him to that social isolation which is almcjst 
 worse than death. I hnd also a case — I will not mention the 
 locality — in which the dispensary doctor was removed by the dis- 
 pensary committee for some reason or other, and every member of 
 the committee has got a letter threatening him with deatli in conse- 
 quence. I tind also a notice served on Lord Shannon's tenants 
 threatening them with death if they paid any rents to him. Afjain, 
 a person named C(yrnelius Donovcut gets a letter threatening him vnth 
 death if he allowed his son to join tlie Gonstabrdary . Again, I hnd 
 that five farmers having paid their rents, there was a general notice 
 threatening with death any one who would hold any communication 
 with them, their only ofience being that they were honest enough 
 to pay their rent. Then, turning to the cases of firing with intent 
 to murder, I find that four shots were fired into the bedroom of a 
 family named Mahony, where there were three jiersons at the time, 
 but happily no one was injured. Then there is the case of a justice 
 of the peace returning from petty sessions fired at, and his offence 
 was that he had assented to the conviction of some parties who had 
 assaiilted the poHce. Tlien there are cases of persons being intimidated 
 and, threatened because they did not subscribe to a testimonial to the 
 outgoing chairman of the local Land League. Next I find that a 
 bomb or some dangerous explosive Avas thrown in through the 
 window of a solicitor's house, because he had issued some writs to 
 compel the jjayment of rents. Going to the West Riding I find 
 its condition to be quite as deplorable. For the four months pre- 
 vious to the Winter Assizes of 1880 the number of indictable 
 offences reported was 107, but they amount to 240 this year. Of 
 these one was a murder, but I will not dwell on that, because it 
 was not of the class known as agrarian. It was not one of those 
 crimes that strike at tlie foundation of society. There are in the 
 West Riding reported 1!J cases of letters threatening to murder ; 
 killing and maiming cattle, 11 ; sending letters tlireatening to injure, 
 21 ; wilful and malicious injury to property, 28 ; seizing anus and 
 levj'ing money or goods, 30 ; and the expression generally used 
 when the money is taken is that it is ' for the good of the country.' 
 There are also 22 cases of assaulting a dwelling-house, and 4 of tir- 
 ing into dwelling-houses. As to the threats to murder, it seems 
 that a man named Ryan, who intended to emigrate, sold tJie interest of 
 his farm to a man named Sheffield; some hiyher authority, Jiowever, 
 steps in and threatens Sheffield that if he tnkrs the farm he u^iU be 
 tnurdered. Another threatening notice is found {)osted uj), warning 
 all persons not to work for a Mr..Lyne, and oflering 10/. reward to 
 any one wl; V "ould lill Lyne. As to tlie c'lses of malicious burn- 
 ings in the West Ridi;';r, the county inspector in many cases re- 
 ported that they were not m,')icious, but accidental. In two cases, 
 there are attempts to blow up hou.js, one with dynamite and the
 
 254 APPENDIX R. 
 
 other with gunpowder, which is a new form of crime amongst us. 
 Then there are cases of seizing arms, a species of offence which 
 recently had its rise in Kerry, but which has now extended to the 
 East and West Ridings of this county. To show the terrorism to 
 which the j>e,ople have been reduced, I may say that in nineteen cases 
 out of twenty the people attacked have refused to make informations 
 or to prosecute. In the county Kerry there are now 223 offences re- 
 ported by the covmty inspector, as against 15G repoi'ted for the four 
 months previous to the Winter Assizes of 1880. Amongst those 
 are 2 cases of murder, 11 of letters threatening to murder, 1 of 
 wounding, 11 of arson, 11 of killing and maiming cattle, 23 of seiz- 
 ing arms and levying contributions, and 72 of ordinary threatening 
 letters. In one case some women have been made amenable — a 
 case in which they stripped a process-server stark naked, forgetting 
 sex and decency, and, having daubed him with mud, drove him in 
 that state tlirough the country. In some cases about 100 men 
 armed and disguised ivent round the country at night, warning the 
 people not to pay rent until Parnell and his confederates were released. 
 Turning now to the county of Limerick, I find that at the Winter 
 Assizes of 1880 there were 141 cases, while at the j^resent assizes 
 there are 191. There were six cases of threatening to murder, 6 
 for firing at the person, 57 for arson, 3 for assembling armed, 32 of 
 armed parties levying contributions, not to mind printed notices 
 threatening. A mn.n is threatened with murder because he did not 
 join the Land League, and another because he gave a lift on his car 
 to a person who was boycotted. To show how carefully these re- 
 turns are made up, there are several cases set down as accidental, 
 and others are arising out of family quarrels, and not being con- 
 nected with agrarian matters, but these are exclusive of the cases 
 quoted. The house of Capt. Lloyd, a country gentleman, is at- 
 tempted to be blown up because he acted as deputy-slieriff. Another 
 man is visited by an armed party because he sent his cows to graze 
 on the lands of the Rev. Mr. Westrop, who, I suppose, was boy- 
 cotted. A valued friend of mine, Mr. Ferguson, the Chairman of 
 the West Riding, who is so resjaected for his fairness, impartiality, 
 and kindness, has the misfortune of having a property in the county 
 of Limerick, and his house was wrecked. In the county of Clare, in 
 whose welfare I am a little interested, I find that the condition of 
 things has not improved. This time last year the number of cases 
 from Clare was 75, now it is 174, of which 3 are cases of murder, 
 17 cases of threatening to murder, 7 firing at the person, 18 arson, 
 17 firing into dwellings, and 65 ordinary threatening letters. The 
 city of Cork, I am glad to say, is an exception to the general rule, 
 and, with the exception of the threatening letter sent to the Rev. 
 Dr. W^ebster, a valued Christian minister, who imported some 
 matters from England, and whose life was in consequence threatened 
 so that he was obliged to leave the city for a while, there was no- 
 thing discreditable in the city. The city of Limerick, however, was 
 not satisfactory. There were tlu'ee cases of murder, of, however, 
 the ordinary kind, and not such as are calculated to create alarm
 
 APPEXDIX R. 255 
 
 for the public safety. In Limerick there was a tendency towards 
 resistance to the hiw, and several serious and aggravated riots oc- 
 curred there, and, as usual in such cases, the innocent suflered. 
 The general deduction from the statistics which I have laid before 
 you seems to be that in mamj and large parts of the four counties 
 which constitute the Munster Winter Assize Commission, life continues 
 to be insecure, or is rendered so miserable as to be ivorthless — right is 
 disregarded, and property is unsafe— the spirit of lawlessness and dis- 
 order, marked by an insolent defiance of law and of authority, con- 
 tinues to prevail. It is only by the aid of an overwhelming military 
 force that the process of the law can be executed. The humbler 
 classes continue to be oppressed by an odious tyranny. It has been 
 said or written somewhere that the duty of a judge on occasions 
 like the present is great reserve ; but I, on the contrary, think tliat 
 his duty is to speak out and direct public attention to the condition 
 of the district as it appears on reliable official information. It is, 
 gentlemen, my duty on the present occasion to confer with you, 
 the grand inquest of the province, on the maintenance of peace 
 and order, and to ask your aid in upholding the majesty of the law. 
 The reports of crime and outrage which I have been obliged, most 
 unwillingly, to bring befoi'e you, even when reduced by a large de- 
 duction for mistakes, exaggeration, or ccuicoction, and by eliminat- 
 ing all cases of ordinary crime, still leave a list of outrages so for- 
 midable as to be inconsistent with public peace and security, and 
 which, if suffered to continue unchecked and unsuppressed, threaten 
 the very existence of the fabric of society. When I had the honour 
 of addressing you in December, 1880, I ventured to pass the strict 
 line of duty when I said ' that you and I and all well-thinking people 
 were prepared to make any sacrifice if doing so could procure the re- 
 storation of peace and prosperity.' The sacrifice has since been made 
 and consummated by the Legislature in a measure so large and un- 
 precedented that even the most sanguine advocate of tenant-right 
 could not have anticipated it twelve months ago. But has the 
 public (jbtained the fruits in the restoration of ])eace and order \ 
 Certainly not as yet in Munster. The experience of tlie last tliree 
 months tells us so in unmistakable terms. Are we, therefore, to 
 give way to despondency ? It is too soon to despair ; and I enter- 
 tain the hope that there is a better prospect before us. I have 
 learned — and on authority whicli I am inclined to trust — that in- 
 telligent farmers fully appreciate the benefits c(uiferred on them, 
 and are, as a class, inclined to withdraw from the trammels of ille- 
 gality and crime. It is not undeserving of remark that in the official 
 reports noio before me the parties suspected or accused of crime are 
 not of the firming class. This is an element of hope. If they take 
 advantage of the vast benefits conferred on them 1)y the Legislature 
 to aid in the maintenance of law and order, they may j)rove to be 
 the truest conservators of the country. The people at large too 
 cannot fail to [)erceive that tlie resiilts of the present state of the 
 country are that capital has fled — even Iri.iJi capital n})resented. bij 
 banking deposits is, to the extent of man.y millions, entirely employ d
 
 256 . APPENDIX S. 
 
 in England. There is no industrial enterprise, no employment for 
 the labouring classes. Trade does not flourish, and I sliould fear to 
 estimate the immense depreciation in all Irish securities and Irish 
 property, caused by insecurity. The humbler classes are those who 
 sutfer most from the prevalence of crime and disorder, and they 
 must continue to sufler and be subject to most grievous oppression 
 until with their aid tranquillity shall have been restored. I appeal 
 to all men, on the low ground of self-interest, to join in the resto- 
 ration of peace and order and the maintenance of tranquillity, and 
 T have no doubt that from you, gentlemen of the grand jury, I'll 
 receive now eflective aid in repressing crime by a fair and impartial 
 but firm and determined enforcement of the law in the many and 
 varied cases to be submitted to you. 
 
 APPENDIX S. 
 
 The following is a farm report of a holding novp in cultiva- 
 tion by a skilled farmer. It shows what may be done : — 
 
 Farm in county Tyrone containing . . . 160 acres 
 
 Less, roads 3 acres, garden 4 acres, planta- 
 tion 13 acres = ..... 20 ,, 
 
 7 fields of 20 acres each = . . . . 140 , , 
 
 Fields Acres £ £ 
 
 1 of 20 in Lea oats at 61. per acre . . . 120 
 oat straw, 40 tons at Is. 8d. per cwt. 66 
 
 20 ,, green crops : — • 
 
 potatoes, 10 acres, at 15?. . . 150 
 turnips, &c., 10 acres at 201. . 200 
 
 186 
 
 350 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 „ 20 
 „ 20 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 „ 20 
 
 „ 20 
 
 20 ,, wheat, at 91. per acre . . . 180 
 
 wheat straw, 40 tons at 2s. per cwt. 80 
 
 260 
 
 clover and grass, at bl. per acre . . 100 
 
 hay, 30 tons at 2s. 6(1 per cwt ... 75 
 grazing, at 21. 10s. per acre . . 50 
 ditto, at 21. 10s. per acre ... 50 
 
 100 
 
 7 140 
 
 Butter, 20 milch cows, average 6 lbs. each per 
 week = 120 lbs. per week X 52 weeks = 
 6,240 Ihs. at Is. per lb 
 
 Buttermilk, say ^ of value of butter 
 
 Gain on sale of strippers when springing, 10 at 51. 
 
 1,513
 
 APPENDIX T. 257 
 
 Deduct : — £ 
 
 Wages, at Al. per week .... 208 
 Seeds, viz. : oats, 9i. ; potatoes, 10/. ; 
 turnips, 3Z. ; wheat, 13/. ; and clover, 
 
 15/. 50 
 
 Keep of 4 horses ..... 80 
 
 Flax seed and malt combs for feeding of 
 
 30 cows ...... GO 
 
 Blacksmith, and repairs to harness, &c. 15 
 
 Artiticial manure . .... 10 
 
 Taxes, say ...... 20 
 
 Consumed on farm for feeding : — 
 
 Oat and wheat straw as above . 146 
 
 Hay, as above. ..... 75 
 
 (J razing for summer months, as above . 100 
 
 Turnips as above ..... 200 
 
 443 
 
 521 
 
 964 
 
 Total profits £&49 
 
 Out of which the rent of ISO/, is to come, or about l-.3rd of ret 
 ]>rofit8. 
 
 APPENDIX T. 
 
 The Alleged Secret Instructions to the La^d 
 
 COMMlSSI()NEi;S. 
 
 Mr. Korster published the following letter, addres.ied to 
 Mr. A. M. Kavanagh : — 
 
 ' January 5, 1882. 
 ' Dear Mr. Kavanagh, — T have to-day had an ojifwrtunity of 
 reading your speech of last Monday, and in y(nir remark.s ab<Hit tlie 
 SuV)-(Jommissioners under the L;ind Act I find you reported a.s 
 saying, " 1 believe — and I am glad of being able now to make the 
 statement publicly in order tliat hei- Majesty's (joveniment may 
 have the opj)ortunity of contradicting it if it is not correct — 1 
 believe tliere have been given secret instructions of a very grave 
 nature, tlieir acceptance of and their compliance with wliich is a 
 condition of their appointment." As a rule, I tliink it better to 
 j)ostpoiie lejdies to criticisms, either spoken or written, until 1 axw 
 make tliem in Parliament ; but u{>on so im])(>rtant a matter as this 
 1 cannot allow a gentleman of your liigli autliority tipon Iiisli 
 atl'airs, and fi>r whom 1 have so mucli personal re3])ect and regard,
 
 258 APPENDIX T. 
 
 to labour under a misapprehension. Let mc, therefore, at once 
 contradict this statement, for which there is absolutely no founda- 
 tion whatever, and respecting which you have doubtless been mis- 
 informed. 
 
 ' I am, dear Mr. Kavanagh, yours sincerely, 
 
 ' W. E. FOKSTER.' 
 
 Immediately upon returning to Dublin 1 wrote to the 
 Standard as follows : — 
 
 MR. KAVANAGH AND THE LAND COURT. 
 
 TO THE EDITOR OF THE 'STANDARD.' 
 
 ' Sir, — Mr. Kavanagh, at the recent landlords' meeting in the 
 Exhibition Palace, Dublin, stated that there had been given to the 
 A.ssistant Commissioners by the Government, "secret instructions 
 of a very grave nature, their acceptance of which and their com- 
 ]^liance with which were conditions of their appomtment." Mr. 
 Kavanagh went on to illustrate the nature of these *' instructions " 
 from my account, printed in the " Standard " of December 26 last, 
 of the principles supposed to have guided the Assistant Commis- 
 sioners in arriving at their decisions. This very serious accusation 
 lias since been repelled bj' the Chief Secretary in emphatic terms. 
 
 ' I am desirous of pointing out that there is no justification to 
 be found, in the letter of mine referred to, for Mr. Kavanagh's 
 charge against the Government and the Commission. The " prin- 
 ciples " were stated by me to have been arrived at in an entirely 
 independent manner— that is to say, by comparing and discussing 
 together various views by the general body of the Conmiissioners, 
 Assistant Commissioner.s, and their staff, after the general ability of 
 the Assistant Commissioners to perform their duties had been tested 
 by the Chief Secretary. These principles were not compulsory 
 "instructions." Each Sub-Commission remained at liberty to 
 select one or to reject them all. I append the words used by me, 
 from which it will be seen that Mr. Kavanagh has, innocently, of 
 course, confounded the preliminary examination with the subse- 
 quent independent discussion of principles. He has also omitted, 
 of course accidentally, all reference to the last and most important 
 of the Rules — namely, that they should be subject to modification 
 after inspection of holdings by the lay Commissioners. 
 
 ' I quite appreciate the difficulty of Mr. Kavanagh's position, he 
 being largely responsible for the intro'^'uction of the principle of 
 compulsory arbitration which has proved so disastrous to his order ; 
 but I must decline to be made the mouthpiece for a charge improb- 
 able in itself, and highly insulting both to an eminent Statesman 
 and. to a number of honourable gtntlemei\. Mr. Kavanagh's own
 
 APPEXDIX U. 259 
 
 countrjTnen, among whom I am proud to number many personal 
 friends. 
 
 ' The following is the passage referred to in my letter of Decem- 
 ber 26 : — "No doubt what has been going on for the past two 
 months is a kind of clumsy re-valuation of Irish land, in course of 
 which injustice may have been done in a few special cases. But it 
 is notorious that, before leaving Dublin for their districts, each uf 
 the Assistant Commissiont-rs had to pass strict examinations, in 
 which the Chief Secretary himself took part ; and, further, that 
 the necessary jjrinciples for determining fair rents were agreed to at 
 a general meeting of the Chief and Assistant Commissioners and 
 other officials. These principles are easily discoverable from their 
 decisions, and were something like the following : — First, to carry 
 out Healy's Clause as liberally as possible ; secondly, where neitlier 
 landlord nor tenant had improved the holding, but the landlord 
 had, without apparent cause, raised the rent, to restore it to the 
 old figure ; thirdly, where there were no improvements nor raising 
 of rents, and no other distinct index of value, to fall back upon 
 Griffith's valuation. All such rules were to be subject to modifica- 
 tion upon the inspection of each particular holding by the lay Com- 
 missioners." 
 
 ' I am. Sir, 
 'January 9. 'Your Special Correspondent.' 
 
 APPENDIX U. 
 
 Daring the Derry election contest, in November last, Mr. 
 Porter, the Solicitor-General for Ireland, said at Maghera, on 
 November 15: — 
 
 I think it in of great importance to you, not as theorists hid as 
 practical men, to say in whose hands shall the working of the Land 
 Act be put in future. Will you have it worked by the Tories, who 
 have always been your enemies, or ivill you hare it worked by men 
 who are in sympathy vnth the people ? That is the practical ques- 
 tion we have to deal with. 
 
 At Magherafelt on November 17 he said : — 
 
 Was it (the Land Act) passed because the rents were too low 1 
 No ; it was passed because the fact was forced on the attention of 
 the Legislature of Great Britain that the vast bulk of the land in 
 this country was excessively over-rented — in many cases, as experi- 
 ence had shown, doubly rented. What was to be done with tfw 
 administration, of tliat Act of Parliament ? The administrators had 
 been appointed to fix a fair rent. Were they to fix it at the existing 
 rents ? If the present rents were fair there would he no need for a 
 Land Act. It was simply because it was demonstrated that tl»e 
 
 s2
 
 5!oO APPENDIX V. 
 
 rents throughout the country were too large, that it became neces- 
 sary to pass the Land Act at all. . . . llie tenants had just cavsf: 
 fur tjreater red'urtions than had been made; and this being so, ivhutn 
 would they send to Parliame)it to represent tJteni, ] 
 
 Suppose a change of Ministry took place, and they had a Cahinet 
 composed of Lord SaHsbnry, Sir Stafford Northcote, Mr. Gibson 
 and others to appoint the men who ivould administer the Land A ct, 
 what would that Act he worth ? The chances would be, judging from 
 the recent speeches, that that Act ivoidd be administejed by yersons 
 who would nii'ke it a dead letter, a measure that would be worthless 
 to the tenant-farmers. 
 
 At Cookstown on November 26 be said : — 
 
 He had seen in some cases v:here the Sub-Commissioners reduced 
 the rents, it appeared to him they had not reduced them sikfficiently ; 
 hut v:ha.t vjere they to do l They could not control that, an4 they 
 could only take care that propter and efficient persons vjure appointed 
 under tlie Act, and if these person,s went astray in point of law there 
 ivas an appeal. 
 
 APPENDIX V. 
 
 Compensation to Landlords. 
 
 The following remarkable letter appeared lately in the 
 ' Standard ': 
 
 'Sir, — As the ' Stand<u'd ' is one of the niost influential papers 
 which advocates compensation in proper cases to Irisli landlords 
 whose incomes shall have been reduced by the Irish Land Act now 
 in course of administration, I liope yi>u will permit me, wlio have 
 tlie misfortune to belong to tliat uuhap})y class, to state, thnjugli 
 your columns, a few facts connected with my own position, for I 
 am sure it is by no means an exceptional one. as tending to illus- 
 trate the justice of your views. I am a landlord in a southern 
 county ; the rental of my estates is four thousand pounds a year 
 I succeeded to them thii-ty-tive years ago, upon the decease of my 
 uncle, who was tenant for life, as 1 myself am also, with power to 
 appoint them amongst my sons in such svnns as I think tit. The 
 leasing power attached to these life estates not only enabled, but 
 c jmpelled each tenant for life — in the very words of the power — 
 " lo make leases without fine or forcgift to solvent tenants, either 
 from year to year, or for any term not exceeding thirty-one years, 
 at the best and most improved rents that could be obtained for the 
 same," and when I entered into possession I found tliat yearly 
 lettings had been made by my predecessor, pursuant to his power, 
 upon by far the greater portion of tliis pro})erty, exceeding Griffith's 
 valuation by about one-third. Soon afterwards there came the
 
 APPENDIX V. 2.; I 
 
 great potato blight and famine, and during the unfortunate yeare of 
 its continuance twenty farms were surrendered to me, which re- 
 mained upon my hands until the times improved, wlien I relet 
 them, as 1 was bound by my leasing power to do, to solvent tenants 
 at the best and mi»st miproved rents which I could obtain, and 
 these rents also, which I obtained without the least difficult}-, 
 exceeding Griffith's valuation by about one-third. Here I may nien- 
 tinn that I was intimately acquainted witli the late Sir Richard 
 Griffitli, who himself informed me (and no one can deny that he 
 was the very best autliority in Ireland as to the letting value f>f 
 Irish land) that as a general rule its fair letting value — not a rack 
 rent, but its fair letting value — was about one-third over his valua- 
 tion, which, as Mr. Gladstone stated in his speech at Leeds on 
 October 7 last, " v\as a valuation much below the value in by far 
 the greater number of cases, and framed for a different purpose." 
 
 ' I may also mention that letters have lately been wiitren to the 
 puV)lic press by 8ir Richax-d Griffith's daughter, Mrs. Bramst<i7i 
 f-mith, and by his son, tlie present Baronet, to the same efi'ect 
 namely, that they were well aware, having often heard their father 
 say so, that his valuation was about one-third under the fair letting 
 value. I must now inform you that when I succeeded to my pro- 
 perty I found it charged, as it still is, with old family incumbrances 
 to the amount of twenty thousand pounds, bearing interest at five 
 pounds per cent., so that my annual income, subject to the usurd 
 out-goings, is three thousand pounds a year ; deducting from this 
 sum tithe rent-chai-ge, j^oor-rates, and agency fees, my net income 
 is about two thousand six hundred pounds a year. I am a widower, 
 with four sons, all of full age, and no other children. INIy four sons 
 are married, and on their respective marriages I charged my estates 
 with rent-charges for them. For the eldest, with six hundred 
 pounds a year ; for the second, with four hundred pounds ; and for 
 the two youngest with three hundred pounds each, reserving for 
 myself, together with my demesne (what is sufficient for the dimi- 
 nislied expenditure of my liousehold) an income of one thousand 
 ])ounds, and I covenanted with the various sets of trustees that at 
 my death certain specified portions of my property, with rentals 
 equivalent to these annuities, should be vested in them upon the 
 ti-usts of their respective settlements ; my eldest s(m, however, 
 upon whom my demesne is settled, to have, in addition, an estate 
 of the annual value of my own reserved income. I may now 
 remark, that for the uninterrupted period of twenty-six years, a^id 
 until the commencement of the recent anti-rent agitation, my rents 
 have been paid with the utmost j)unctuality and cheerfulness. 
 Never in any one year during that long period has there been even 
 one shilling of rout in arrear, and never was there a complaint 
 made by any tenant as to his being over-rented, and, save on two 
 tovvnlands on which there are very (dd leases, the lents reserved by 
 which are a little under Griffith's valuation, never was there a inoie 
 industrious or prosperous tenantry ; for, strange as it may appear
 
 262 APPENDIX V. 
 
 to English land reformers, it is on these holdings where the rents 
 are so low that there is the worst farming and the least prosperity. 
 My rents, then, are fair, as proved not only by Sir Richard 
 Griffith's interpretation of fairness, but by their punctual payment 
 for such a lengthened period ; fair, too, in the opinion of Parlia- 
 ment, which, by the Land Act of 1870, condemned only such rents 
 as were plainly "exorbitant " (the word used in the Statute) ; and 
 tliey are not only legal, but they would have been absolutely illegal, 
 and a fraud as against those in remainder after my death, if they 
 were less than the best improved rents that could have been 
 obtained when the lettings were made by my predecessor and 
 myself ; and, more than this, having regard to the greatly increased 
 value of produce since that time, I have every reasonable right to 
 believe that these rents are lower than they ought to be and would 
 be, if now relet to solvent tenants upon the principle of demand 
 and supply. And, as some proof that this is no unreasonable belief 
 on my part, I may mention that in the early part of this year, 
 before the nature of tlie new Land Law Act was disclosed to the 
 public, I was oii'ered by a perfectly solvent tenant, for a farm of 
 eight acres, which had fallen into my possession, and which I still 
 retain, the same rent whicli it had previously paid — eight pounds 
 per annum — and, in addition, a fine of one hundred pounds, which 
 of course I had no legal power to accept. 
 
 ' Well, Sir, on my estate the work of confiscation has already 
 commenced ; all my tenants have gone into Court. For this I can- 
 not blame them. Why should they not seek to obtain " those sur- 
 prising benefits " (I use the language of one of the most eminent of 
 our Roman Catholic Judges) which this Land Act has olfered to an 
 a.^tonished public ; and the result will be that I, hitherto a happy 
 and prosperous proprietor, the representative of an ancient and 
 respected family, shall, without any favdt of mine, be actually 
 beggared. I shall have to leave the home of my ancestors, where 
 I resided in comfort, employing a large staff of labourers, endea- 
 vouring to discharge the duties of magistrate, poor-law guardian, 
 and grand juror, absolutely a j^auper, and at my advanced age 
 unable to obtain any remunerative employment. Judicial rents 
 have already been assessed upon eiudit of my best farms, and on 
 each of them my hitherto well-paid I'ents have been reduced by 
 one-quarter of their previous amount. Judging by this reduction, 
 and by that made on an estate contiguous to my own, the land of 
 which is of the same quality as mine, 1 cannot have the least doubt 
 that my rentid will be reduced by one-foiu-th — in other words, 
 what has been for many years liitherto a well-paid rental of four 
 tliouaand pounds a year, will become a judicial rental of three 
 thousand pounds ; so that I shall be dejjrived of my only source of 
 subsistence, and my eldest son tlie income of which his wife's 
 trustees bargained fc^r, and which was one main consideration for 
 his marriaL'e. I have said nothing in this letter as to the cruelty of 
 punishing the landlords with the cost of litigatiuu endangered by
 
 APPENDIX TT, 2C3 
 
 this revolutionary Statute — costs of their endeavours to maintain 
 what even their greatest enemies must admit to be their clear legal 
 rights. ' 
 
 APPENDIX W. 
 
 The following is a copy of the Land League ticket, possessed 
 by every member. On the face, which is printed in gieen and 
 orange, are represented a boy trying to break a bundle of sticks, 
 with the motto, ' Union is strength, ' and a man ploughing, and the 
 f I illowing inscriptions — 
 
 IHKIJ.SD FOR THB IkISH. 
 
 Down with Landlordism. 
 
 Branch. 
 
 The Irish National Land LEAauE 
 
 was admitted a Member 
 
 this day of 188 
 
 Hon. Sec. 
 
 i 
 
 KkKP A FIRM GRIP OF TOUR HOMESTKADS. 
 
 The LA^D for thk People. 
 
 1 
 
 On the back is the following — 
 
 Objects of The League. 
 
 The Irish Jsational Land League was formed for the following' 
 objects : — 
 
 FiE.ST — To put an end to Rack-renting, Eviction, and Landloi'd 
 Oppression. 
 
 Second — To effect such a radical change in the Land System of 
 Ireland as will put it in the power of every Irish Farmer to become 
 the owner, on fair terms, of the land he tiUs. 
 
 The n'leuns j)ro])osed to effect these objects are : — 
 
 (1) Organization amongst the pooi)le and Tenant Farmers for 
 the jturpose oi self-defence, and inculcating the absolute necessity 
 of tlioir refusing to take any Farm from which another may be 
 evicted, or from ])urchasing any Cattle or Goods which may be 
 seized on for non-]iayment of impossible rent. 
 
 (2) The cultivation of pul)lic ojjinion by persistent exposure, in 
 the Press and by Public MeetingH, of the monstrous injustice of 
 tae present system, and of its ruinous results.
 
 •^<;4 ATPEXDIX X. 
 
 C3) A resolute demand for the reduction of the excessive rents 
 n'hich have brought the Irisli People to a state of starvation. 
 (4) Temperate but tirni resistance to oppression and injustice. 
 
 APPENDIX X. 
 
 Tn justice to Mr. Evelyn Ashley, I publish the following letter 
 sent by him to the ' Standard,' I presume with the intention of 
 refuting the statements made in my letter, treating of his relations 
 with his tenantry. The italics are mine. Mr. Ashley, it will lie 
 observed, treats Canon Brennan throughout as a kind of weak Dr. 
 Faustus, transformed, at eighty-three, into a common barrator, l>y 
 the Reverend young Meiihistopheles, his curate. If the jiarish 
 priest forwards a dignified remonstrance on behalf of the tenantry 
 to their landlord, Mr. Ashley, detecting the handwriting of the 
 tempter, sees throTigh it all in a moment. He cannot, however, 
 reply all at once — his feelings are too much for him. For a whole 
 month he remains silent amid the Swiss mountains, offering the 
 elevated .spectacle of a man, conscious of the obligation to discharge 
 a painfid public duty, struggling with those natural ' feelings of re- 
 spect ' for a venerable culprit which the latter's blameless tenure of 
 a sacred otiice for half a centur}' and more have engendered. Then 
 rousing himself, he sternly ' answers as he ought ' He suggests 
 that ' pressure ' was put upon the Canon to sign the letter ; and 
 that in the memorial wliich the Canon had contirmed, 'all that was 
 true was trivial, and all that was serious was false ; ' ' firmness 
 must .take the place of misunderstood conciliation,' &c. Mr. Ashley 
 describes himself as ' soft and yielding ; ' and upon these letters 
 (produced by himself), asks his readers ' to judge ' whether his cor- 
 respondence with the priests was ' petulant and haughty,' as I had 
 alleged. 
 
 The Canon is a tall, broad, hale old man, of powerful intelli- 
 gence, massive in mind and body, courteous, amiable and straight- 
 forward ; with the can-iage of an ambassador and the heart of a 
 child. He at once disclaimed the position of being a mere puppet 
 in the hands of his curate. Mr. Ashley would now transfer the 
 stigma to me. He brands me as a victim to the ' inexhaustible 
 imaginativeness ' of the ' curate ' members of the ' tenant class. ' 
 Whether Father Cummins has risen from that humble class, I 
 know not ; but it is no discredit to him, that he was not so lucky 
 in his ancestral connections as the Secretary to the Board of Trade. 
 T must, however, pi'otest that I am no more his dupe than Canon 
 Brennan was. What I saw I described ; what I heard I verified 
 by assiduous inquiry, addressed to Mr. Ashley's OAvn agents, 
 amongst others. Nothing stated by me has been disproved ; Canon 
 Brennan has since written to say that ' every statement made can 
 be fully corroborated ; ' and my principal complaints, to the effect
 
 APPENDIX X. 265 
 
 that Mr. Ashley had unreasonably refused to make any general 
 abatement of rent, and to remove the gamekeeper, have been 
 admitted, but not answered by him. With respect to the game- 
 keeper, as Father Cummins's accvisation and express statement are 
 discredited, and suggested to be only lately ' tliought of,' I should 
 add that I myself saw a youth (not the one referred to by the 
 Father), who described to me the cruel shooting of his little dog by 
 the gamekeeper ; and who was struck in the forehead by one of 
 the shots. He took oti' his cap and touched the place. Mr. Ashley'.s 
 explanation of his tenants' poverty is that they will ' continue to 
 vegetate on two or three acres of land.' Now, considering that 
 the Ministry of which the Hon. Evelyn Ashley is a member have 
 passed an Act based upon the fundamental principle of the tenant's 
 part ownership of his holding, and that tlieir whole policy is to 
 ' govern Ireland according to Irish ideas,' including the idea of 
 ' sticking in the ould counthry,' this explanation (the abstract 
 reasonableness of which I cannot question), seems a little incc^u- 
 sistent and insufficient. 
 
 I recognise, as much as anyone, Mr. Ashley's high qualities : 
 his indnstrj', firmness, devotion to the public service, and politicjil 
 integrity. But I remain of opinion that a landlord who, at this 
 crisis, after the decisions of the Sub-Commissions, maintained 
 such an attitude towards his tenantry, is largely responsible for 
 the lamentable state of the coimtry. And I still consider that Mr. 
 Ashley is fairly open to this censure. 
 
 MR. EVELYN ASHLEY. 
 
 TO THE EDITOR OF THE '.STANDARD.' 
 
 Sir, — The ' Standard ' of yesterday brings forcibly before mc, 
 that among the numerous ills to which Irish landlord.^ are now a 
 jfrey, not the least is that of being gibbetted by Special Correspon- 
 dents who have not learnt the inexhaustible imaginativeness of the 
 Irish tenant class when any special object is to be attained, ichetlwr 
 ihi: member of that, class be curate or farmer. I will be as short as 
 1 can, but the detailed list of statements and charges made about 
 me and my estate gives me a right to ask for a little of your sj)ace. 
 it is not my fault if undue prominence is given to my private 
 affairs. 
 
 Your correspondent holds me out as a wretched example of the 
 evils which may arise from 'a haughty and dehant demeanour.' 
 I cannot possibly plead guilty to this. The language of my tenants 
 is, <m the contrary, that / am, so soft and yieldituj that they have 
 only got to be firm in order to bully me out of anything. However 
 this may be, I gave back to the tenants 50 per cent, of the rent 
 for 1870, and 25 per cent, of that for 18S0, and this on rents which 
 so recently as 1879 the tenants, through their spokesman, said 
 were so reas(mable as to demand no permanent abatement. Till
 
 2fi6 APPEXDIX X. 
 
 the advent of the Land League nothing but cordiality, peace and 
 goodwill prevailed on the estate. The change, although already 
 in the air, did not openly show itself till the occasion of the dis- 
 pute last autumn, to which your correspondent alludes as a ' refusal 
 on my part to concede the traditional rights of the tenants.' The 
 truth is as follows. Finding that some of those who went down to 
 the shore to fetch seaweed were in the habit of damaging with 
 their carts a piece of pasture which lay alongside the shore, I met 
 them myself on the ground, and arranged with them to make a new 
 and solid roadway for them over the loose sand on the condition 
 that they would adhere to it. They expressed tliemselves delighted, 
 using the usual hyperboles dear to them. I spent a large sum in 
 making a road, which must have been a great saving and con- 
 venience to them. But they did not keep to their part of tlie 
 bargain, and were summoned for again trespassing on the land. 
 The Bench inflicted a nominal fine of (3(1, but the Land League, 
 seeing the chance for raising an agitation, ordered the defendants 
 not to pay, but to go to gaol, which some of them accordingly did 
 with pomp and circumstance. I visited Ireland as soon as Parlia- 
 ment rose, and, again viewing the spot, gave them leave to go over 
 this piece of pasture if they liked, saying that the matter was 
 really of such small account as not to be worth raising the slightest 
 ill feeling about. So much for my 'haughty and defiant demeanour.' 
 The second head of complaint is that I will not dismiss my 
 keeper, who, according to your correspondent's informant, has 
 been guilty of such bad acts. Well, as to the one specified, I can 
 only say that to-day is the first time I have heard of it. After 
 waiting for some weeks I received a list of similar charges, sent to 
 me by the i^ecretary of the Local Land League (a neijhew of the 
 Rev. Malachi Brennan), all of which I sifted carefully and found 
 untrue. B%t this one of the hoy in the road teas not then, I suppose, 
 thought of ; anyhow, it was not mentioned. Certainly, the wilful 
 firing at boys because they have not got gun licences is a matter 
 far too serious to be allowed to lie ' perdu ' till a London news- 
 paper correspondent comes by. The person guilty of such acts 
 phould have been taken before the magistrates, and, if guilty, 
 punished. But the gist of the movement against my keeper is 
 contained in the fact that twice he received a message from the 
 secretary of the Land League, to the eifect that if he joined the 
 League his life would be quiet and pleasant, but that if he persisted 
 in refusing to join he would be driven out of the country. 
 
 Next as to my correspondence with the priests, which is charac- 
 terised as ' petulant and haughty, ' and ' showing evidence of a 
 hast}' and unreasoning temper.' I beg to enclose a copy of the 
 letters which passed between us, and ask you to be good enough 
 to let your readers judge for themselves. 
 
 Lastly, with reference to the two tenants visited by your cor- 
 respondent, and described by liim in picturesque terms. They are 
 poor, no doubt — indeed, the Fan-ells are among the poorest on the
 
 APPFXDIX X. 2o7 
 
 property, and were no doubt selected as such. I am very sorry 
 they are poor. I am very soriy anybody is poor. How can men, 
 however, be anything else as long as they continue to vegetate on 
 two or three acres of land, and tliere is no capital forthcoming to 
 give them employment oif their holdings ? There are two families 
 of the name of Farrell which I can recall. I do not know which 
 of the two your correspondent visited. But in one case the rent 
 is considerably below the valuation ; and in the other no rent 
 whatever has been jsaid for more than three years. So in neither 
 case can the rent be the cause of the poverty. The other man, 
 Terence M'Garrigh, is an hone.st, hardworking man, who has paid 
 his rent hitherto without complaint. I have just received a letter 
 from him, informing me that lie is going to borrow money from 
 the Board of Works to improve his little farm. I hope he may get 
 it, and thus better his circumstances. 
 
 / have refused to make any general abatement of rent this year, 
 not from a ' haughty and defiant ' disposition, not from any such 
 motive or in conse(iuence of any such knowledge as you suggest in 
 your leading article. I have refused simply because the rents, as 
 a whole, being, in my opinion, just, and the harvest having been 
 good, I see no reason for repeating the course pursued for the two 
 past years on such a very liberal scale. I may also add that during 
 the last thirty years something between forty and fifty thousand 
 pounds have been spent on the property on roads, drainage, and 
 other things, which have greatly improved the condition of the 
 holdings, without any return being exacted in the shape of increase 
 of the rental. I do not believe, with your correspondent, that 
 ' there is not the slightest doubt that the Assistant Commis-sioners 
 will reduce my rents ' ' by 20 to 30 per cent.' Before the passing 
 of the last Land Act I have allowed the tenants to sell their tenant 
 right, and very large sums, in proportion to the size and rent of 
 the holdings, have been given and received. Anyhow, desiring 
 notliing beyond what is fair, / cannot retreat from my old-established 
 rents, unless I am ordered by a superior and disinterested authority, 
 such as the Land Commission, to do so. 
 
 Though sorely tempted to add a few thoughts on the present 
 disorganised, dishonest, and untruthful state of things in unhappy 
 Ireland, I refrain from doing so, feeling that I have already 
 occupied too much of your space. 
 
 I am. Sir, your obedient servant, 
 
 Evelyn Ashley. 
 
 Blaenau Festiniog, North Wales, November 30. 
 
 ' Clifi"oney, Sligo, Sept. 30, 1881. 
 
 ' Dear Sir, — We have seen the list of charges drawn up by 
 j-our tenantry against your keeper, Barker, and from our interview 
 with the people we are in a position to say they are not at all 
 exaggerated. We regret to say that lie has, and not on a few occa- 
 sions, wounded, and wantonly so, the feelings of a very sensitive
 
 268 APPENDIX X. 
 
 people. We trust, as you value the esteem and affection of your 
 tenantry, you will accede to their request, and remove from their 
 midst a man who has given them so much just cause of ofience, 
 and occasioned so much distiu-bance in this parish. Hoping that 
 the kindly relations that hitherto existed between you and those 
 ])onr honest j)eoj)le will not now be disturbed or severed by the 
 retention of this man, 
 
 ' We are, &c. 
 (Signed) ' Malachi Brennan, P.P. 
 
 'John Cummins, C.C. 
 ' The Hon. Evelyn Ashley, M.P.' 
 
 ' Davos Platz, Switzerland, Nov. 2, 1881. 
 ' Dear Mr. Brennan, — I have hitherto delayed acknowledging 
 the receipt of a connnunication wliich I received a short time agn 
 in the handwritincj of the Ilev. Mr. Cummuhs, but signed by yom-- 
 self as well as by him. The deep and long-standing feelings of 
 respect and atiection which I entertain towards you must exj)lain 
 the delay, for tliey made it iirvpossihle for me to amswer as I ought a 
 letter which begins by saying that the statements contained in a 
 paper which was addressed to me by a certain individual well 
 known to you were not at all exaggerated, whereas its contents 
 may be summed up shortly as follows : — All that was trite was 
 trimal, and all that was serious was false. You, who have been so 
 long and so honourably connected with the parish, must well know 
 (iiven if yoimger and more inexperienced new comeis ignore it) that 
 the mutual good feelings have not been impaired by action on my 
 j)art or those belonging to me. We have remained the same, and 
 though I fear the time has arrived when firmness mnst take the place 
 of misunderstood conciliation, I hope that you, at any rate, uhat- 
 ever pressure is put upon you, will in your heart do justice to me 
 and mine. 
 
 (Signed) 'Evelyn Ashley.' 
 
 'Palmerston Clebe, Nov. 7, 1881. 
 ' Dear Mr. Ashley, — I beg leave to acknowledge the receipt of 
 your letter of the 2nd inst., in reply to one written weeks ago. 
 That letter, if not in my handwriting, was 'written in my presence 
 and, sigiied by me and my curate. I would not put my name to it if 
 I did not think I was jnstijied in so doing. The mutual good feeling 
 that existed of old certainly does not exist now. Of old they were 
 never sent to prison for trespassing on the sands of Mnllaghmore. It 
 is not so now. Before you sent I'arker here you surely told me 
 you would send a person that would make himself pleasing and 
 agreeable to the people. liSarker is not that man. You have not, 
 1 think, a tenant in Ahamlish that likes him. You may yet, when 
 it may be too late, regret your advocacy of him ; this I tell you as 
 a friend, what I am, and always was. He is the cause of our
 
 APPENDIX Y. 269 
 
 liaving so many police between Cliflbney and Miillaglimore ; lie 
 w(nild be as safe without as with them. No one woukl hurt or 
 111 ulest liim. — Yours, 
 
 (Signed) ' Malachi Brennas.' 
 
 '61 Cadogan Place, London, Nov. 9, 1881. 
 ' Dear IVIr. Brennan, — Although / vould much 2->refer not to con- 
 iinue a correspondence with you on such disagreeable topics as we 
 liave been writing about, I am obliged to send one more letter in 
 consequence of a paragraph in your letter of the 7th, which is 
 quite a model of the unfairness with which things are artificially 
 blown up just now in Cliflbney, and which really makes one de- 
 spair of the character of people with whom such statements are 
 current. You say, as illusti'ating the change in behaviour towards 
 the people, *' of old they were never sent to prison for trespassing 
 on tlie sands of Mullaghmoi'e." Now I am not going to enter on 
 the rights and wrongs of the story, which are beside the point, V)ut 
 nobody was sent to prison for trespassing, &c. 
 
 ' You know well that a nominal fine of (id. or Is. was imposed, 
 and they were sent to prison by the court for refusing to recognise 
 its authority by payment. You know also well that of old they 
 would have paid at once, and that even in this case some would 
 gladly have paid if they dared. But really this is waste of ink ; I 
 know Magna est Veritas et prevalebit, at last. This I believe, though 
 it may be late. Yours. 
 
 I (Signed) ' Evelyn Ashley.' 
 
 APPENDIX T. 
 
 The Dunseath Case. 
 
 'I'he {ollowiugr i>* a report taken from the Fre'-man's 
 Juurnal and the Times of the case of Adams i>. Dunseath, upon 
 tlie a[)peal by way of rehearing before the Chief Cornmissicni, 
 sitting at Belfast in January 1882. 
 
 havid Adams, TetLatd ; Mrs. Jane Dunseath, Landlord. 
 
 In this case both tenant and landlord appealed from a decision 
 given at Ballyinena by Messrs. Greer, Baldwin, and Ross, The 
 tenant held 22a. Ir. 5p. statute, at Glhirryford, county Antrim, tlie 
 rent being 3')/. JO.s., and the valuation 24L lO.s. The Sub-Com- 
 inissioneis reduced the rent to 30L lo.s. 
 
 Mr. W. H. Dodd appeared for the tenant ; Messrs. H. Holmes, 
 C^.C , Orr, and Overend apjieared for tlie landlord, 
 
 David Adams, the tenant, de])osed that James M'Kee had tlie 
 lioldiiig before him. There was a lease of 20a. 2r. 31j,. Irish, for
 
 270 APPENDIX Y. 
 
 twenty years, from November 1845, at a rent of 2(il. lis. OcZ. There 
 was also unreclaimed land at lbs. the Irish acre, which amounted to 
 44i. lU.s. Whrn the hn)€ fell in abotd six years ago the rent- was 
 increased to-'Siil. lOs. Witness and his father had made a great 
 deal of imjii'ovements. I'/tey had reclaimed 18 acres on one farm and 
 fenced them. In addition part of nine acres of bog icas reclaimed. 
 He had also made 70 perches of a farm road. James M'Kee had 
 built the mansion house on the holding, and witness's father had 
 built some offices and a boiler-house and shed. James M'Kee was 
 paid 20?. for his interest. The assignment was dated October 27, 
 1846. His father collected county cess, and witness himself 
 shipped potatoes, butter, and eggs. Witness could not pay the 
 I'ent without these other aids. 
 
 Cross-examined by Mr. Holmes — I am 3G years of age. I re- 
 member the farm 30 years ago. When I remember first I believe 
 there was 18 English acres unreclaimed. The work on these 18 
 acres commenced when I was live years of age, and I was working 
 on it last season. I asked for a piece of bog from the landlord to 
 square up a field. 
 
 The hrst piece, I think, you got about 1858 for 7s. 6(/. Am I 
 not right abovit that ? I suppose so. 
 
 In 1861 you got a piece more for 7s. 6d. 1 Yes. 
 
 In 1863 you got a piece more for lis. Sd., in 1866 anotlier piece 
 for lis. 3d., and in 1874 a final piece for 21. 12s. 6d. , the aggregate 
 being 41. 10s. Do you remember Mr. Raphael when he came to 
 value the lands saying to you, ' I will leave the bog exactly as it 
 was, and my new value will be confined to the leased land ? ' That 
 is not true ; he did not say that to me. 
 
 When did your father build the boiling-house and shed ? About 
 18 years ago. 
 
 And except the boiling-house and shed all the buildings were 
 there as long as your memory goes back and before it / Yes, but I 
 believe not long. 
 
 Andrew M'Kee deposed he had farmed this land for twenty 
 years. His father and brother had also farmed it. When he had 
 it, which was just before the lease, the rent was about the same 
 rent as now, but the tenants had the cut away bog for jjasture free. 
 Adams had made vast improvements. He thought the reclamation 
 was worth 20/,. an acre. 
 
 Cross-examined— He thouglit tenant right was as high in 1840 
 as it was now. Prices were not as high now as they were then. 
 He was getting 12s. and lis. for corn then. 
 
 Mr. Orr — That happened to be a famine year ; there was no 
 corn to be sold. For that very reason were not rents much lower 
 than they are now ? They were. Before that landlords had not 
 power to raise them ; the old leases kept them in. The old land- 
 lords had more discretion and honour. 
 
 Mr. Dodd— The landlord at that time was Lord Mountcashel ? 
 Yes ; he was an honourable old gentleman.
 
 APPL'XniX r. 271 
 
 How much do you think it cost to build the house ? It cost my 
 brother, I heard him say, a great deal more than 24:01. 
 
 To Mr. Vernon— He would value the reclaimed land at 7*'. M. 
 an acre, although 201. an acre was laid out on it. 201. is what 
 Adams should pay to his landlord for the farm as it stood. 
 
 Alexander Robinson deposed that he valued this farm. It was 
 one of the first farms he valued, but he valued famrs since then. 
 The landlord's rent for the land should be 221. 2s. '3d. , leaving the 
 improvements to the tenant. 
 
 Cross-examined by IVIr. Overend — Do you include or exclude 
 the tenant's improvements ? I exclude the tenant's improvements. 
 We consider the value of the tenant-right over the entire holding 
 would be worth about 121. per acre. That contained nothing for 
 the good-will. 
 
 So the tenant's improvements are value for 121. an acre ? Yes ; 
 we were informed by the tenant that when he went there the only 
 portion of the land arable was 13 statute acres. 
 
 Do you put the same value on the tenant's interest in the 13 
 acres that you do in the 29 acres ? We estimated the 29 acres at 
 111. per statute acre for reclamation. 
 
 Then upon the 29 acres there should only be the 111. for the 
 tenant's improvements i For that I can't say ; that is what we 
 estimated the reclamation at. 
 
 Now, is there anything that gives value to those 29 acres but 
 the reclamation 1 Except the proportion of the buildings. 
 
 What value did you assess per acre upon the old arable ? 16s. 
 
 Is the tenant's interest in the portion that he got at the time of 
 the lease in a laboured condition, with a house upon it, greater or 
 less than his interest in the reclaimed acres ? I should say, taking 
 these and everything, it would be greater. 
 
 Greater by the ditierence that would raise the average to 12/. 
 all round i I think so. 
 
 You say the value of the 29 acres is }M. an acre, therefore the 
 value you put upon the 13 laboured acres must be considerably 
 higher to make the average 121. 1 It may have been. 
 
 In making up your calculation of the 1 H. for the reclaime<l 
 acres, did you treat each acre as reclaimed at the same time / I was 
 not told exactly when they were reclaimed. 
 
 You would give 1 1 1, for an acre reclaimed 30 years ago and also 
 for an acre reclaimed last year ^ 1 suppose I did not inquire 
 whether rent was charged in respect of acres tliat were reclaimed 
 for tlie last twenty years. 
 
 A fair rent, then, would be a rent that would not infringe upon 
 that 12/. an acre / I should think so. 
 
 Adding tlie tenant's interest to the landlord's interest, what 
 
 would be the market value of the holding .' I valued the land in 
 
 its original unreclaimed state at 8.s'., and T put the reclamation at 11/. 
 
 •ludge O'Hagan said that would come to 271. 1 Is. 
 
 To Mr. Overend— The market value of the landlord's and
 
 272 APPEXDTX Y. 
 
 tenant's interest together would be 2G.S. per acre fur the 13 acres, 
 and 1 9s. an acre for the 29 acres. 
 
 Judge O'Hagan —Your estimate on the whole farm would be 
 44L 9*". ? I did not make the calculation. 
 
 Mr. Holmes, addressing the Court, first for the landlord, stated 
 that the ISub-Commissioners had not given the gi'ounds upon whicli 
 they decided in the Court below. Mrs. Dunseath knew at the end 
 of the cases that her rental was reduced from 22-tZ. 12s. lOd. to 
 1(54/. 2s. 7(i., but why the reduction was made she was entii-ely 
 ignorant. The invariable test of the fair rent of a farm was what 
 would a solvent person undertake to give, having regard to all the 
 circumstances of the case. 
 
 Mr. Litton — And under ordinary circumstances. 
 
 The tenant had agreed to give 4/. 10s. for the land added to this 
 holding from time to time, tlierefore the question remained, was 
 there anything unreasonable in raising the rent of 2GL fixed in 
 1842 to '621. in 187<>, having regard to all the changed circumstances 
 of the countrv. He contended this case did not come within the 
 9th clause, and therefore was it not reasonable that in this case the 
 landlord should be precluded from what was up to the time his 
 right, viz. — to have rent placed on the improvements. The rent 
 hxed in tliis case by the Sub-Commissioners was 30L 15s., which, 
 taking into account the 4/. 10s. , would make it less than the rent 
 was in 184(5. 
 
 Mr. Wm. Raphael, valuator, examined by Mr. Orr, deposed 
 that Lord Mountcashel's estate comprised nearly 200,000 acres of 
 land. In 1844 about one-third of it was valued, and the valuation 
 was all conducted upon precisely the same principles as in the first 
 valuation, in 1842, of David Adams's holding. The latter was 
 divided in this way. No. 1 on the map, consisting of 9a. Ir. 35p., 
 was valued at 20s. an acre, or 9/. 9s. bd. No. 2, consisting of 
 la. 7p. described as arable pasture, at 2os. or \l. 6s. Id. Another 
 section of (5a. 2r. 2np. was valued at 32s. (Jd. or lOL IGs. (5(/. 
 Another portion, la. Ir. 28p. at 22s. dd. per acre, or 11. 12s. ^d. ; 
 and another portion, la. 2r. 29p., at 22s. (St?., or 2s. 14s. (5d. In 
 the valuation then made no valuation was put on the houses. Tlie 
 rent fixed in 1842 was a reasonable rent for that time. In 187(5 lie 
 made another valuation. At that time he was not in the employ- 
 ment as agent or otherwise of the landlady, but was employed by 
 the agent. There was then held by tlie tenant a piece of bog for 
 which lie was paying 4/. 10s , and tliat was not increased — in 
 fact, he was desired not to look at it. There were loa. Ir. 
 14p., which he valued at 16s. per acre, or 12/. os. od. ; la. 2r. 
 32p. at 18s. an acre, or 11. lOs. Qd. ; 10a. 3r. Cp. at 23s., or 
 12/. 2s. 4d. ; 2a. Ir. 9p. at IBs., or 21. Is. Qd. ; 2a. 2r. 36p. at 
 2t)s. iSd., equal to 3L 19s. ; total, 31/. I7s. Gd. , to which was 
 added 4/. lOs. for the bog. That valuation was made exactly on 
 the same basis as the former valuation, and that increase was put 
 on in consideration of the value of produce, putting on what he
 
 APPENDIX Y. 273 
 
 considered to be a fair increase of the letting value, believing that 
 the increase in prices of stock justified him. 
 
 Did you put on anything in respect of houses or anything of that 
 sort ? Nothing ; I did not look at them. 
 Is that the invariable practice ] Yes. 
 
 You consider the valuation you fixed a fair increase of the 
 letting value ? Yes, that the increase in the price of stock justified 
 me, and I fixed a fair live-and-let-live value. I believe there is 
 tenant right at the rent. 
 
 Cross-examined by Mi'. Dodd — I was a young man starting when 
 I assisted in the valuation of 1842. My opinion was taken in the 
 matter by the other gentlemen, wlio took me into consultation 
 whenever a difference of opinion arose. 
 
 If hat was that valuation for ? For an increase of rent. 
 For an increase of rent ? Yes. 
 For the purpose of sale ? I did not say that. 
 And was every valuation made since this on tluit same principle, 
 viz. — for an increase of rent ? Well, I came as near it as I could. 
 I took no improvements into consideration, I put on additional rent 
 because stock is selling dearer noiv. It was double. I think com is a 
 little dearer, but not much. I sold a cow about two months ago 
 for 221. , and in 1842 I would not have got 101. for her. 
 
 To Mr. Vernon — In comparing 1842 with 1876 I put on 5s. an 
 Irish acre. 
 
 Judge O'Hagan — There is a most remarkable circumstance in con- 
 nection with this increased rent. I see that to the old rent there was 
 added exactly mie-fifth to make up a new rent. 
 
 Mr. Dodd — Yes, it is a very remarkable and significant fact. 
 Mr. Orr — The increase is just twenty per cent. 
 Judge O'Hagan — Just as if instead of re- valuing, a man took his 
 pencil and did it adding on one fifth. 
 
 Mr. Holmes proposed to put in evidence as to the conditions 
 under which two adjoining farms were held. 
 
 Judge O'Hagan declined to admit the evidence, holding that it 
 would open up an interminable field of inquiry. Evidence might 
 be given as to the general value of the land in the district. 
 
 Mr. Justice O'Hagan said^This case, the first appeal which 
 has been heard before us, is one of the very greatest importance. 
 The holding is not an extensive one, nor does the question of value 
 present much difficulty ; but it so happens that several of the most 
 serious and most debated questions of law which have been mooted 
 on the construction of the Land Act of 1881 require decision in this 
 case. I regard this as a fortunate circumstance, inasmucli as an 
 opportunity will be given, not by our decision alone, but by that of 
 the Court of Appeal, of setting these questions at rest, and of 
 determining the princij)les upon wliich our Courts must in future 
 act. The facts of the case lie within a sliort compass. The holding 
 consists of 42 acres 1 rood 5 poles, statute measiu'e, which may be 
 divided into two parts, one containing 20 acres 2 roods 21 poles
 
 274 APPENDIX Y. 
 
 Irish, formerly held under a lease which expired in 1875, and of 
 about nine statute acres of bog taken from time to time by the 
 tenant since the expiration of the lea'ie. The Sub-Commissioners 
 fixed the judicial rent at 30J. 156'. Before approaching the ques- 
 tion of rent, we have to discuss the principles upon which the rent 
 is to be estimated, and, first, the conti'oversy as to how far improve- 
 ments effected by the tenant are to be excluded in estimating such 
 rent. Mr. Holmes submitted to us certain legal propositions on the 
 part of the landlord in this and other cases which, as apjjlied to the 
 present cases, are as follows : — (1) That the landlord is entitled to 
 rent in respect of all improvements made previous to the expiration 
 of the lease in 1875, inasmuch as such improvements were not made 
 by the tenant or his predecessors in title. (2) If the Court declined 
 to accede to his first requisition, that the landlord is entitled to rent 
 in respect of all improvements made during the currency of the 
 lease, except those made by the present tenant himself, inasmuch 
 as his predecessors in occupancy were not his predecessors in title. 
 (3) If the Court declined to accede to requisitions 1 and 2 then (a), 
 that the landlord was entitled to rent in respect of all improvements 
 made prior to the making of the lease of 1845, and (6) that the 
 landlord was entitled to some rent in respect of improvements made 
 during the currency of the lease, on the gi'ounds that under the first 
 clause of Section 4 of the Act of 1870 some deductions must be 
 made in ascertaining the tenant's interest in such improvements 
 from the value thereof, and upon the further ground that by hold- 
 ing under lease he has been, if not altogether, to some extent, 
 compensated for his improvements. I now proceed to consider 
 these propositions of law. Mr. Holmes's first requisition amounts 
 to a demand on the part of the landlord of rent in respect of all 
 improvements made prior to the expiration of the lease of 1845 ; 
 and the legal ground is that these improvements were not made by 
 the tenant or his predecessors in title. But it was proved in the 
 case, and could not be contested, that some of the improvements 
 were made by David Adams himself, the present tenant. The 
 words of the statute are that no rent shall be allowed or made pay- 
 able under this Act in respect of improvements made by the tenant 
 or his predecessors in title. Is it to be seriously argued that David 
 Adams is to be charged with rent in respect of improvements made 
 by himself while in occupation of the land as tenant, because his 
 tenancy under the lease has expired and he is now in possession 
 under a tenancy from year to year, arising on the termination of the 
 lease ] I shovild have thought that such a proposition bore on its 
 face its own confutation for its overthrow. It hardly needs my 
 authority. In the course of the argument I called Mr. Holmes's 
 attention to the case of ' Murphy v. Mahony,' decided by Mr. 
 Justice Lawson, and reported in 15 Irish Times Reports, p. 57. 
 That eminent Judge held that, under the Act of 1870, changes in the 
 nature of the tenancy did not affect the right of the tenant who had 
 made them to claim for improvements. That decision is an express
 
 APPENDIX Y. 275 
 
 authority on the construction of similar words in tlie Act of 1881. 
 I pass now to the second of Mr. Hohnes's propositions, which is of 
 a more serious complexion. He calls on us to hold that the landlord 
 is entitled to rent in resjject of all improvements made during the 
 currency of the lease, except those made by the present tenant him- 
 self, upon the ground that his predecessors in occupancy were not 
 his predecessors in title. To sustain this proposition Mr. Holmes 
 chiefly relied on the well-known case of ' Holt v. Lord Harberton.' 
 That was a case arising under the 6th section of the Act of 1870, 
 which provides that where either a landlord or a tenant is desirous 
 of preserving evidence of improvements once made by himself or 
 his predecessor in title, he may register those improvements in the 
 prescribed manner. That is a case of the veiy highest authority, 
 to which every Court in this country must explicitly bow ; but I 
 am bound to say that it seems to me not to have decided the 
 abstract principle contended for. What is contended for in the 
 present case, as the consequence of the decision in ' Holt v. Har- 
 berton,' is as follows : — ' That if a father, the lessee under a lease, 
 makes valuable improvements and then dies, bequeathing the lease 
 to his son, if the son, instead of at once sun-endering the possession 
 and claiming for compensation continues as tenant from year to 
 year at the old rent and then submits to a new rent, his right to 
 compensation for his father's imiirovements under the Act of 1870 
 is absolutely gone and forfeited.' I do not think the case of ' Holt 
 V. Harberton ' or of ' Darragh v. Murdoch,' or of ' Milhken r. 
 Hardy ' goes that length ; and I should be slow indeed to hold it 
 even on the construction of the Act of 1870. But we have not now 
 the Act of 1870 alone. Urdir the express terms of the 7th section 
 • )f the Land Law Act of 1881 no such dictum as is said to flow from 
 tlie case of ' Holt r. Harberton ' can be any longer considered 
 law. This is conceded by the learned counsel for the landlord so 
 far as regards the Act of 1870, but they say that Section 7 of the 
 Act of 1881 must be construed as strictly contined to the construc- 
 tion of the earlier Act — that it is restricted to the case of a tenant 
 quitting his holding. Therefore, according to their construction, 
 when a tenant does not yield his holding, but seeks to have a fair 
 rent 6xed under the Act of 1881, he is met by the same rigid and 
 highly technical rule of construction which wa.s sujipo.sed to have 
 intei'fered with the true intention of the Act of 1870, and which, 
 therefore, the Legislature swept away. I cannot accede to this, nor 
 think that under the 8th section a man is to be burdened with rent 
 in respect of his father's imjirovements in precisely the same circum- 
 stances, which the Legislature decreed shoidd not debar him from 
 compensation for them. I now come to the second part of Mr. 
 Holmes's third requisition, which in importance probably sui-passcs 
 any other raised in this case. It arises on the latter part of Sub- 
 section 90, Section 8, and is whether if a tenant building under a 
 lease should, during the currency of such lease, eflect improvements 
 his enjoyment of those improvements during the lease can to any
 
 '276 APPEXDTX Y. 
 
 degree be considered as a compensation by the landlord for the im- 
 provements so as to enable him to charge the tenant the same rent 
 in respect of them at the termination of the lease. Section 4 of 
 tlie Act of 1870 contains the following clause : — ' Where a tenant 
 has made any im2)rovements before the i)assing of this Act on a 
 holding held by him under a tenancy existing at the time of the 
 passing thereof, the Court, on awarding compensation to such 
 tenant in respect of such imjjrovements, shall in reduction of the 
 claim of the tenant, take into consideration the time during whicli 
 such tenant may have enjoyed the advantage of such improvements ; 
 also the rent at which such holding has been held and any benefits 
 which such tenant may have received from his landlord in considera- 
 tion, expressly or impliedly, of the imjirovements so made.' In 
 ci)nsidering this section, two things are to be observed — first, that 
 it is confined to improvements made before the passing of the Act 
 of 1870, and does not extend to improvements made since that 
 Act ; and, secondly, that the enjoyment is to be taken into con- 
 sideration in reduction of the claims for compensation, not saying 
 in what manner or to what degree, but evidently implying that in 
 no case could the tenant's enjoyn\ent of his own improvements be 
 deemed a complete compensation for them. Now turn to the 
 difference of language in the Act of 1881. Section 4 of that Act 
 says : — ' A tenant on quitting a holding of which he is tenant shall 
 not be deprived of his right to receive compensation for his improve- 
 ments under the Landlord and Tenant (Ireland) Act, 1870, by 
 reason only of the determination, by surrender or otherwise, of the 
 tenancy subsisting at the time when such improvements were made 
 by such tenant or his predecessor in title, and the acceptance by him 
 of a new tenancy.' Whereas, in tracing a title for the j^urpose of 
 obtaining compensation for improvements, it appears that an out- 
 going tenant has surrendered his tenancy in order that some other 
 person may be accepted by the landlord as tenant in his place, and 
 such other person is so accepted as tenant, the outgoing tenant shall 
 not be precluded from being deemed the predecessor in title of the 
 incoming tenant by reason only of such surrender of tenancy by 
 Jam. And here there is nothing said as to the tenant-right being 
 affected by the enjoyment of his improvements. But in order to 
 enable the landlord to claim rent in respect of those improvements, 
 he must, so to speak, have bought them from the tenant, paid him 
 for them, or otherwise compensated him. Such compensation may 
 take a hundred forms, which it would be impossible to enumerate ; 
 but it must, 1 conceive, be something given or done by the landlord 
 as an equivalent for the impiovements. Take the case of two 
 neighbouring tenants holding under leases from the same term, and 
 at the same rent — say 30L a year each. One tenant by industry 
 and outlay, effects improvements which make the holding worth QOl. 
 Tiie other does not improve at all, and his holding remains worth 30L 
 At the end of the lease, is the landlord under this Act to be entitled 
 to assess the improving man at the full letting value of his holding,
 
 APPENDIX Y. 211 
 
 on the plea that he had compensated him ? It seems to me that 
 this would simply be a judicial repeal of the clauses. In this view 
 Mr. Litton concurs, but I regret to say that our colleague, Mr. 
 Yemon, for whose opinion on all subjects connected with land — 
 indeed I may say all subjects whatever — I have learned to hold the 
 greatest esteem, does not adopt it. He thinks that this contention 
 would work great injustice and hardship upon landlords. It is 
 satisfactory to think that the Court of Appeal will soon put the 
 question at rest. Having thus said what occurred to me on these 
 very different and important questions of law, I now come to the 
 ([uestion of value. It is not my intention to dwell upon it long, or 
 to recapitulate the evidence which has been given. We found that 
 the usual mode of valuing land in Ulster for the purpose of regu- 
 lating rent was to put an estimate on the tenant's interest and the 
 landlord's interest, and to fix a fair rent. The valuation in this 
 case, Mr. Raphael said, was made on the basis of fixing in every cas^^e 
 the acreable rent at such a figure as would not interfere with the- 
 tenant's improvements. He adhered to his valuation of 1870, and 
 declared that the rent of 31L 17*'. 6r?. with the addition of 4?. 10.>--. 
 for the bog, making together 36L 7s. (Jc/., was now the fair rent. 
 Mr. Edward Mui'jihy, a gentleman of high reiiutation as a valuei-, 
 said that he valued the land in the same way, field by field, making 
 in each case an exclusion in his own mind of the tenant's improve- 
 ments as he valued. This estimate of the fair rent is 30Z. 2s. 11(/. 
 for the land formerly in lease, which, adding 4?. 10s. for the bog, 
 would make his estimate of a fair rent for the entire, 34L 12s. 11(/. 
 On the other hand, the valuers for the tenant went far indeed in 
 their reduction. Mr. Robinson says he conceives that the lands, if 
 in the hands of the landlord, might be worth 44L, but in excluding 
 the tenant's improvements, he brings the rent as low as 22/.. 2s. 3(/. 
 Our official valuers, Mr. O'Brien and Mr. Grey, gentlemen of high 
 ability and unimpeachable integrity, fix the letting value of the land 
 at 37^. 10s. If this were to be deemed their estimate of a fair rent, 
 there would be an increase of the actual rent fixed by Mr. Rapliael. 
 But this is by no means so. They merely excluded the buildings 
 from tlieir valuation in other respects, valuing the land as it stood, 
 and from their valuation, therefore, if I be right in the construction 
 of the statute, reduction must be made in respect of tenant's im- 
 provements other than buildings. We confirm the judicial rent. 
 There remains the question of costs. The Sub-Commissioners have 
 given the tenant his costs against the landlord. This we conceive 
 ti> have been an error. They thought it right, we suppose, to 
 follow the general rule of our Coui-ts by which costs follow success. 
 But this principle is, in our opinion, inapplicable to Courts such as 
 ours. I do not term them Courts of arbitration. They would only 
 in strictness be so if landlord and tenant came in together. They 
 are Courts established by the Legislature to determine impartially a 
 matter upon which various minds may reasonably differ in opinion ; 
 Hiid exce])tional cases apart, it would, in our judgment, be unfair to 
 visit either i^arty with costs in such a case. Of course, if the c<tn-
 
 278 APPENDIX Y. 
 
 duct of either party is such as to deserve reprobation, we may treat 
 such cases as exceptions. The costs of the appeal are a different 
 matter. An appellant comes into Court at his peril to set aside a 
 distinct judicial decision. No doubt the right principle, as a general 
 rule, is that an appellant who fails should pay the costs of the 
 appeal ; and hereafter, when the principles upon which the Couit 
 proceeds become more fixed and definite, it will be, we think, our 
 duty to act upon it. But as yet they are to a great extent floating 
 and indeterminate ; and we cannot say that an appellant, especially 
 in a case like the present, where questions of law of such moment 
 are iiivolved, was wrong in seeking to test the decision given below. 
 We therefore vary the order of the Court below by declaring that 
 the parties respectively should bear their own costs, and we give no 
 costs of this appeal. 
 
 Ml-. Litton, Q.C., concurring with Mr. Justice O'Hagan, said — 
 With reference to the question of fair rent, we should, in my mind, 
 ask oiu"selves in each case, and as far as possible discover from the 
 evidence, what annual sum could a tenant of ordinary capital, skill, 
 and intelligence afford to pay, one year with another, for the hold- 
 ing as it stands, with a tenant's surroundings, regarding the circum- 
 stances oi the holding and district, and assuming that the landlord 
 had the farm in his own possession, to let it to a solvent tenant. 
 The question is not what a tenant could be got to offer, but what 
 he could be reasonably asked to pay ; and consequently, in 
 answering these questions, we should exclude from consideration, 
 in my opinion, any increase of rent which persons might be induced 
 to offer from a mere desire to acquire possession, or which might be 
 procured by reason of circumstances affecting the person making the 
 offer and not affecting the holding itself. Well, then, we should 
 endeavour to ascertain the commercial or market value of the hold- 
 ing as it stands. We should exclude the competition value. The 
 owner of land about to let a holding in his own occuj^ation may 
 demand whatever rent he pleases, and take whatever rent he can 
 procure. It may well be that the desire to procui'e possession or 
 the thirst for land will induce some persons to offer a rent far 
 beyond the value ; nevertheless, the owner has a perfect right to 
 the competition rent. In estimating the rent between the landlord 
 and the present tenant — that is, the tenant in occujmtion — whatevei- 
 might be procured from the motives I have referred to beyond the 
 commercial rent belongs to the tenant who holds the possession, 
 just as it would belong to the landlord if about to let his land for 
 the first time. It forms the element of goodwill, and is part of the 
 tenant-right or property of the tenant in possession. It may be 
 said there is no difference in principle between commercial or 
 economic and competition rent. This may be true, and, in the case 
 of the owners, is true ; but in the case of the tenant in possession 
 he has not the possession to give, and, therefore, cannot claim the 
 competition value. That which he can claim, and has a right to, is 
 the competitive value less by whatever should be deducted as
 
 APPENDIX Z. 27!) 
 
 representing mere possession, which is a property in itself. The 
 competitive value, less by the goodwill arising from actual occupa- 
 ticjn, I call the commercial value of the holding. The term may be 
 somewhat inaccurate, but I know no better to express my meaning. 
 From the result thus ascertained must be deducted the amount 
 wliich the improvements of the tenant or his predecessors in title 
 liave contributed to the present letting value. The amount to be 
 deducted is not of necessity to be estimated by the decimal equiva- 
 lent in the way of interest for the sum expended. It may so happen 
 that large sums have been expended in the effort or with the inten- 
 tion to improve, and j^et the holding in its letting value may not 
 have been improved by the expenditure. The (juestion, therefore, 
 is to what extent has the letting value been increased by the im- 
 provements, if at all ? Deducting the latter, when ascertained 
 from the former, we get a result which ought to represent a fair 
 rent. 
 
 Mr. Vernon, dissenting, said — Sitting, as I do, in this Court as 
 a judge of fact, not of law, it would be presumption on my part to 
 follow my learned colleagues through the elaborate judgments which 
 tliey have delivered. I can only say that in some important points 
 these judgments do not carry conviction to my mind ; and 1 learn 
 with satisfaction they are to be submitted to the High Court of 
 Appeal without any delay. These judgments appear to me to lay 
 down principles and to lead to results which were never contein- 
 ])lated by the Legislature. I am therefore obliged, with much 
 difhdence in my own opinion, but without any hesitation as to my 
 duty, to dissent from these judgments. It follows that, dissenting 
 from the judgments, I dissent from the valuations arrived at so far as 
 those valuations are governed by the principles laid down in reference 
 to the meaning and force of tlie words 'otherwise compensated.' 
 
 APPENDIX Z. 
 
 On October 25, 1881, the writer was lectured as follows 
 by a writer in the ' St. James's Gazette ' : — 
 
 ' Mr. Frank Hugh O'Donnell has seized upon a statement lately 
 made by a " Special Commissioner " of the "Standard," and has 
 tvu-ned it to ingenious account. The Special Commissioner, writing 
 on the 27 th ult., had said: — "By men of all classes — landlords, 
 leaders of tlie League, journalists, and men of business — there is 
 but (jne opinion expressed, winch is tliis : tliat unless rents are re- 
 duced on tlie average by a very considerable amcjunt, say 25 per 
 cent., tlie Commission will be playing into tlie hands (jf Mr. Parnell 
 during the coming winter." Up<m which Mr. O'Donnell remarks : 
 — •'Taking the total rental of Ireland at scmie 1(),000,000/-., it 
 full(jws that, unless the Land Act is to fail of its purpose, some 
 4,OUO,O0Ui. at least per annum must be returned as tenant property
 
 280 APPENDIX Z. 
 
 to the tenant. In my own opinion, the sums due out of existing 
 i-ents to the tenantry under a fair rent system are more nearly 
 y, 000, 000/. a year than 4,000,000?. a year." Now we are not con- 
 cerned with Mr. O'Donnell's calculations, or his notions of what 
 constitutes a fair rent. What we wish to point out once more is, 
 that Special Commissioners and Own Correspondents are in these 
 days taking, and are permitted to take, a vast deal too much upon 
 themselves in "forming public opinion." At the time when the 
 "Standard's" Commissioner sent to London the rather doubtful 
 news above quoted, it was generally understood to be a " feeler " — 
 a sort of ballon d'essai sent up on behalf of tlie Land Coiu-t, which 
 was already expected to take the line indicated by Judge O'Hagan 
 in opening the Court. There is far too much of this sort of thing in 
 the letters of "Own Correspondents." ' 
 
 About two months afterwards, the ' Pall Mall Gazette ' 
 contained the following note : — 
 
 ' The list published by our Dublin contemporary (the "Irish 
 Times ") in November showed that in the 142 cases first heard, 
 existing rents, amounting to 3,60>'/. 5s. 4rf. , had been cut down to 
 2,731?. 9s. 3rf., making a reduction of 876?. 16s. Id, or 24:f per cent. 
 The second list shows that on 290 farms the rent has been cut down 
 from S,649?. 9s. lid. to 6,515?. 8s. -a reduction of 2,134?. Is. lid., 
 or a trifle more than 24| per cent. The average rate of reduction 
 shows remarkably little variation. The total result of the activity 
 of the Sub- Commissioners is that rents on 432 farms, which formerly 
 realized 12,257?. 15s. 3d., will in the future only bring in 
 9.24H?. 17s. 3d. — a reduction of 3,010?. 18s., or as near as may be 
 of 24i per cent. If these cases are fair samples of the effect of tlie 
 Act upon the rest of Irish t;states, which, however, there is no 
 I'eason whatever to assume, the income of the landlords will be 
 diminished by about four millions sterling — a figure it is ■ well to 
 bear in mind when compensation comes up for discussion.'
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Arrkaes, 46, 47 
 clause, 49 
 
 necessity for provision as to, 
 154,176, 184 
 Ashley, the Hon. E., M.P. 
 his estates, 129 
 his demeanour as landlord, 130, 
 
 132 
 his defence, 264 
 Assistant Commissioners, the, 71 
 general agreement as to prin- 
 ciples, 72, 171, 257 
 objections to journalistic obser- 
 vation, 77 
 opinion of them, 174 
 alleged secret instructions to, 
 257 
 
 Baldwin, Professor, 
 
 his dicta, 77, 88. 103, 105, 206 
 
 his agility, 84 
 Bishops, attitude of, 2, 176 
 Blake i;. Lord Clarina, 107, 235 
 Brennan, Rev. Canon Malachi, 131 
 Bruen, Mr.,M.P., 19 
 ButtL-r- trade, the, 91 
 
 brokers, their gains, 95 
 
 rules of the inarket, 93 
 
 suggestion concerning, 96 
 
 Carmody v. Talbot Crosbie, 246 
 Cases, test {see Test-cases) 
 Castletown evictions, the, 135 
 Cleary v. Gascoigne, 245 
 Clergy, attitude of, 2, 176 
 Commission, 
 
 organising the, 1 
 
 delays of, 9 
 
 opening of, 52 
 
 registrar of, his declaration, 55 
 
 Commission 
 
 cases entered before, 135, 175 
 Commissioners, decisions of, 250 
 
 Judge 0'Ha:j;an, 4 
 
 Mr. Vernon, 4 
 
 Mr. Litton, 5 
 
 assist^int (see Assistant Com- 
 missioners) 
 Compensation, question of, 174-26U 
 Constabulary, the, 
 
 numbers of, 165 
 
 their grievances, 167 
 Convention, Dungarvan, 27 
 Cork, 
 
 demonstration at, 25 
 
 butter trade, 91 
 Costs, 90 
 County Courts, 
 
 unpopularity of judges, 4, 65. 
 109 
 Crawford cases, the, 71, 215 
 Creighton v. Nelson, 238 
 Cronin, John, 140 
 
 Daniel, 157 
 Cummins, Father, 131 
 
 Davitt, Michael, popularity of, 28 
 Dulauey, Rev. Dr., 34 
 Demonstrations, significance of, 24 
 
 25 
 Draining, want of systematic, 121 
 Dungarvan, demonstration :it. 26 
 Dunravon, Earl of, excellent exaninle 
 
 of. 173 
 Dunsuath eases, the, 194, J IK, 
 
 260 
 Dursey Island, 142 
 
 dangerous landing-places, 143 
 steep pasture, 145 
 the schoolmistress, 150
 
 282 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 EME 
 
 Emkkgency Committee, 17 
 Kmigration clause, useless, 171, 183 
 Knright case, the, 100, '232 
 Hvictcd tenants, 66, 139 
 
 Farm reports, 222-2.')6 
 
 Fitzgerald, Judge, his charge, 251 
 
 Flahive v. Hussey, 163, 244 
 
 l< orms, -2 
 
 Fox, Mr., letter from, 229 
 
 Galtee Bov, the, 31 
 Galtee estate, the, 31 
 (iamekeeper, a reckless, 131 
 Glenstal, the battle of, 188 
 Government, 
 
 attitude of, 15 
 
 change of policy, ''5 
 Grey, Mr., valuation of ' Tennent ' 
 holdings, 230 
 
 Healy, Mr., M.P. 
 his pamphlet, 6 
 advice about labourers, 27 
 
 Improvements, 12 
 
 presumption as to, 13, 80, 81, 19.5 
 Inspecting holdings, 78, 117, 120, 
 
 123 
 Irish Land Committee, 17, 48 
 
 JU"Y, 
 
 trial by, 110, 127 
 verdicts, 161 
 
 Kavanagh, Mr., M.P,, and the Chief 
 Secretary, 258 
 
 Keefe, John, 158 
 
 Ken mare, the Earl of, 
 
 discharge of labourers, 162 
 views of a landlord's duty, 163 
 
 Knox cases, the, 112, 114 
 
 Laboukeks, 27, 249 
 
 Lady Land Leagueresses, 137 
 
 Land Court {see Commission) 
 
 I^and League Hunts, 1 85 
 
 Landlords, 
 
 policy of, 17, 18, 173 
 
 poverty of, 48 
 
 superior, position of, 8 
 
 pot 
 
 League, 
 
 parties in, 11 
 
 policy of, 8, 21, 183 
 
 change of policy, 45 
 
 ' No Eent ' manifesto, 46 
 
 ticket of, 263 
 Leases, breaking of, 62, 72 
 Leinster, Duke of, excellent example 
 
 of, 173 
 Litton, Mr. Commissioner, 6 
 Lloyd, Captain, 191 
 Lloyd, Major Clifford, 186 
 
 Manifesto, ' No Rent,' 46, 152 
 Mary, little (No. 1), 122 
 (No. 2), 149 
 M'Atavey case, the, 207 
 Mayo, character of, 118, 182 
 M'Carthy, Mr. Assistant Commis- 
 sioner, 
 
 his dicta, 106, 113, 206 
 
 his costume, 112 
 
 his impartiality, 124 
 M'Gough. Mr., his CHses for the 
 
 League, 57, 61, 68 
 Meath, the Earl of, 19 
 M'llroy case, the, 106 
 Mitchelstown, 31 
 
 ' No Rent ' Manifesto, the, 46, 152 
 
 O'Brien, Mr. Murrough, 6 
 his office, 53 
 
 valuation of ' Tennent ' hold- 
 ings, 231 
 O'Hagan, Judge, 4 
 
 his opening address, 56, 74, 128 
 Outrages, effect of, 102, 152, 157, 
 190 
 numbers of, 169 
 
 Pallas, Old and New, 190 
 Parnell, Mr., M.P. 
 
 on evictions, 27 
 
 arrest of, 39, 44 
 
 interview with, in prison, 39 
 
 attitude towards Act, 41 
 
 charges against, 41 
 
 his latest views, 199 
 Police, need of more efficient sys- 
 tem, 127, 155, 159, 160, 180
 
 IXDEX. 
 
 283 
 
 PRO 
 
 Proclamations, 201 
 
 Property Defence Association, 17, 
 
 48, 192 
 Purchase of holdings, 174 
 
 pKNTS, 
 
 rate of reduction of, 10, 275) 
 payment of, 109 
 Resident magistrates, 180 
 
 * Scheduled districts,' 181 
 Semple ik Hunter, 250 
 wNexton, Mr., M.P. 
 
 speech at Dublin, 11 
 8hea, Michael, the brave, 146 
 Sheehy, Father, 26 
 Solicitor-General for Ireland, the, 
 
 259 
 .South, feeling in the, 23 
 Statutes, extracts from principal, 
 202 
 1870, s. 4, 202 
 
 5, 13, 82.202 
 1881, s. 7, 82, 203 
 8, 111, 203 
 9, 204 
 13, 204 
 21, 62 
 24, 204 
 
 31, 27 
 
 32, 200 
 57, 13 
 
 WAL 
 
 Statutes 
 
 s. 59, 49, 20') 
 CO, 38, 59, 205 
 
 Suspects, releas-e of, ] 5 
 
 Taylor v. Lord Arran, 111, 236 
 Tenants' Defence Associations, 177 
 Tenantry, the, 
 
 demoralisation of, 100, 116 
 
 their dwellings, 33, 115, 123 
 
 number of, 136 
 
 ideas and aspirations of, 24, 
 153, 246 
 
 purchase of their holdings, 174 
 
 terrorism of, 168, 191 
 Tennent cases, the, 88. 223 
 Test cases, 10,12, 14, 57,61 
 
 conjectured postponement of, 20, 
 109 
 
 selection of, 30 
 
 rules for choosing, 33 
 
 included rack-renting, 35 
 
 efleet of choosing, 36 
 
 number of, 48 
 Threatening notices, 101 
 Treasury, delays of, 9 
 
 VALrEES, want of official, 124, 1 7-3 
 
 177 
 Vernon, Mr Commissioner, 4 
 
 Walsh, Widow, 139 
 
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 By Thomas Hardy. 
 
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 Patricia Kemball. By E. Lynn 
 
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 Lynn Linton. 
 
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 22 
 
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 My Enemy's Daughter. By 
 
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 24 
 
 BOOKS PUBLISHED BY 
 
 Popular Novels — continued. 
 
 Garth. By Julian Hawthorne. I 
 Golden Heart. By Tom Hood. | 
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 By Victor Hugo. 
 Thomicroft's Model. By Mrs. 
 Alfred Hunt. 
 
 Fated to be Free. By Jean 
 
 Ingklow. 
 Confidence. By Henry James, 
 
 Juu. 
 
 The Queen of Connaught. By 
 
 Harriett Jay. 
 
 The Dark Colleen. By H. Jay. 
 Number Seventeen. By Henky 
 
 KiNGSLEY. 
 
 Oakshott Castle. H. Kingsley. 
 Patricia Kemball. By E. Lynn 
 
 Linton. 
 LeamDundas. E.LynnLinton. 
 The World Well Lost. By E. 
 
 Lynn Linton. 
 Under which Lord ? By E. 
 
 Lynn Linton. 
 
 The Waterdale Neighbours. 
 
 Ey Justin McCarthy. 
 Dear LadyDisdain. By the same- 
 My Enemy's Daughter. By 
 
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 A Fair Saxon. J. McCarthy. 
 Linley Rocbford. McCarthy. 
 Miss Misanthrope. McCarthy. 
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 Lost Roae. K. S. Macquoid. 
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 Halves. By James Payn. 
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 What He Cost Her. J. Payn. 
 Less Black than We're Painted. 
 
 By James Payn. 
 
 By Proxy. By James Payn. 
 Under One Roof. By J. Payn. 
 High Spirits. By Ja's. Payn. 
 Paul FerroU. 
 
 Why P.Ferroll Killed his Wife. 
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