Ireland Under Coercion Volume Ii Part 23

"Bethe," p.r.o.nounced "behy," is the genitive of "beith," the birch, of which there were formerly large woods in Ireland. Glenbehy and Rossbehy mean the "Glen," and the "Ross" or "wooded point" of the birch.

[2] A letter received by me from a Protestant Irish gentleman, long an ardent Nationalist, seems to confirm this. He writes to me (June 15),

"There is a n.o.ble river here, with a convenient line of quays for unloading merchandise. But every sack that is landed must be carried out of the s.h.i.+p on men's backs. The quay labourers won't allow a steam crane to be set up. If it is tried there is a riot and a tumult, and no Limerick tradesman can purchase anything from a vessel that uses it, on pain of being boycotted. The result is that the labourers are masters of the situation, and when they catch a vessel with a cargo which it is imperative to land quickly, they wait till the work is half done, and then strike for 8s. a day! If other labourers are imported, they are boycotted for 'grabbing work,' and any one who sells provisions to them is boycotted."

[3] An interesting account of this gentleman, and of his connection with the earlier developments of the Irish agitation, given to me by Mr. Colomb of the R.I.C., will be found at p.38, and in the Appendix, Note F.

[4] See Appendix, Note F.

[5] The name of this blacksmith's son learned in the Law of the League is given in Lord Cowper's Report (2. 18,370) as Michael Healy.

While these pages are in the printer's hands the London papers chronicle (May 25, 1888) the arrest of a person described to me as this magistrate's brother, Jeremiah Healy, on a charge of robbing and setting fire to the Protestant church at Killarney!

[6] Mr. Colomb sends me, June 30, the following interesting note:--The letter of which I gave you a copy was produced in evidence at Kerry Summer a.s.sizes, 1867. J. D. Sheehan, Esq., M.P., is the same man who was arrested on the 12th February 1867, and to whom the foregoing letter, ordering the rising in Killarney, is addressed. He was kept in custody for some time, and eventually released, it is believed, on the understanding that he was to keep out of Ireland. He came back in 1873 or 1874 and married the proprietress of a Hotel at Killarney. His connection with the Glenbehy evictions is referred to on page 10, and in Note F of the Appendix I give an interesting account, furnished me by Mr. Colomb, of his activity in connection with the case of the Misses Curtin at Firies.

[7] In the time of Henry VIII. these cities waged actual war with each other, like Florence and Pisa, by sea and land. Limerick was then called "Little London."

[8] It was on the 17th October 1886 that Mr. Dillon first promulgated the Plan of Campaign at all at Portumna.

[9] Mr. Ponsonby's account of this affair will be found in the Appendix, Note G. The Post-Office Savings Bank deposits at Youghal, which were 3031, 0s. 7d. in 1880, rose to 7038, 7s. 2d. in 1887.

[10] As to the ability of these tenants to pay their way, one fact which I have since ascertained sufficiently supports Mr. Tener's contention. The deposits in the Postal Savings Banks of the three purely agricultural towns of Portumna, Woodford, and Loughrea, which in 1880, throwing off the s.h.i.+llings and pence, were respectively, 2539, 259, and 5500, rose in 1887 to 3376, 1350, and 6311, an increase of nearly 3000.

[11] Mr. Tener, to whom I sent proofs of these pages, writes to me (July 18): "I shall soon execute the decree of the County-Court Judge Henn against Father Coen for 5, 5s., being two and a half year's rent."

[12] At a hearing of cases before Judge Henn some time after I left Portumna, the Judge was reported in the papers as "severely"

commenting upon the carelessness with which the estate-books were kept, tenants who were proceeded against for arrears producing "receipts" in court. I wrote to Mr. Tener on this subject. Under date of June 5th he replied to me: "Judge Henn did not use the severe language reported.

There was no reporter present but a local man, and I have reason to believe the report in the _Freeman's Journal_ came from the lawyer of the tenants, who is on the staff of that journal. But the tenants are drilled not to show the receipts they hold, and to take advantage of every little error which they might at once get corrected by calling at the estate office. In no case, however, did any wrong occur to any tenant."

[13] The town and estate proper of Woodford belong to Sir Henry Burke, Bart. The nearest point to Woodford of Lord Clamicarde's property is distant one mile from the town. And on the so-called Woodford estate there are not "316 tenants," as stated in publications I have seen, but 260.

[14] Martin Kenny, the "victim" of this eviction, is the tenant to whom the Rev. Mr. Crawford (_vide_ page 118) gave 50 for certain cattle, in order that he (Kenny) might pay his rent But, although he got the 50, he nevertheless suffered himself to be evicted; no doubt fearing the vengeance of the League should he pay.

[15] The valuation for taxes of this holding is 7, 15s. for the land, and 5 for the presbytery house. The church is exempt.

[16] Of "Dr." Tully Mr. Tener wrote to me (July 18):

"Tully has the holding at 2, 10s. a year, being 50 per cent, under the valuation of the land for taxes, which is 3, 15s. As the total valuation with the house (built by him) is only 4, he pays no poor-rates. He was in arrears May 1, 1887, of three years for 7, 10s. Lord Clanricarde offered him, with others, 20 per cent, abatement, making for him 70 per cent, under the valuation--and he refused!"

Since then (on Sat.u.r.day Sept. 1), Tully has been evicted after a dramatic "resistance," of which, with instructive incidents attending it, Mr. Tener sends me an account, to be found in the Appendix, Note H.

[17] Note H2.

[18] Mr. Tener writes to me (July 18):

"At Allendarragh, near the scene of Finlay's murder, Thomas Noonan, who lately was brave enough to accept the post of process-server vacated by that murder, was shot at on the 13th instant. It was on the highway. He heard a heavy stone fall from a wall on the road and turned to see what caused it. He distinctly saw two men behind the wall with guns, and saw them fire. One shot struck a stone in the road very near him--the other went wide. His idea is that one gun dislodged the stone on which it had been laid for an aim, and that its fall disturbed the aim and saved him. He fully identifies one of the men as Henry Bowles, a nephew of 'Dr.' Tully, who lives with Tully, and Bowles, after being arrested and examined at Woodford, has been remanded, bail being refused, to Galway Jail. Before this shooting Noonan had served a notice from me upon Tully, against whom I have Judge Henn's decree for three years' rent, and whose equity of redemption expired July 9th."

[19] I have since learned that my jarvey was well informed. Sir Henry Burke actually paid Mr. Dillon 160 for the maintenance of his tenants while out of their farms. This, two other landlords, Lords Dunsandle and Westmeath, refused to do, but, like Sir Henry, they both paid all the costs, and accepted a "League" reduction of 5s. 6d. and 6s.

in the pound (June 9, 1888).

[20] Down to the date at which I write this note (June 9), Mr.

Seigne has kindly, but without results, endeavoured to get for me some authentic return made by a small tenant-farmer of his incomings and outgoings.

[21] Note I.

[22] Note K.

[23] While these pages are going through the press a Scottish friend sends me the following extract from a letter published in the _Scotsman_ of July 25:--

"In the same way I, in August last, when in Wicklow, ascertained as carefully as I could the facts as to the Bod.y.k.e evictions; and being desirous to learn now if that estate was still out of cultivation, as I had found it in August, I wrote the gentleman I have referred to above. His reply is as follows:--

"'I can answer your question as far as the Brooke estate is concerned. None of the tenants are back in their farms, nor are they likely to be. The landlord has the land partly stocked with cattle; but I may say the land is nearly waste; the gates, fences, and farmsteads partly destroyed. I was at the fair of Coolgreany about three weeks ago, and the country looked quite changed; the weeds predominating in the land that the tenantry had under cultivation when they were evicted from their farms. The landlord has done nothing to lay the land down with gra.s.s seed, consequently the land is waste. The village of Coolgreany is on the property, and there was a good monthly fair held there, but it is very much gone down since the disagreement between the landlord and tenant. The tenants, speaking generally, in allowing themselves to be evicted and not redeeming before six months, are giving up all their improvements to the landlord, no matter what they may be worth. I have got quite tired of the vexed question, and may say I have given up reading about evictions, and pity the tenant who is foolish enough to allow any party to advise him so badly as to allow himself to be evicted.'

"Those who read this testimony of a candid witness, and remember the cordial footing on which Mr. Brooke stood with his tenantry in Bod.y.k.e before Mr. Billon appeared amongst them, may well ask what good his interference did to the now impoverished tenantry of Bod.y.k.e, or to the district now deserted or laid waste.--I am, etc.,

A RADICAL UNIONIST."

[24] In curious confirmation of this opinion expressed to me by a man of the country in March, I find in the _Dublin Express_ of July 19th this official news from the Athy Vice-Guardians:

"At the meeting of the Vice-Guardians of the Athy Union yesterday, a letter was read from Mr. G. Finlay, Auditor, in which he stated that the two sureties of Collector Kealy, of the Luggacurren district, had been evicted from their holdings by Lord Lansdowne, and were not now in possession of any lands there. They were allowed outdoor relief to the extent of 1 a week each on the ground of dest.i.tution.

The Auditor continued: 'The Collector tells me that they both possess other lands, and have money in bank. The Collector is satisfied that they are as good, if not better, securities for the amount of his bond now than at the time they became sureties for him. The Clerk of the Union concurs in this opinion.'

"It was ordered to bring the matter under the notice of the Board."

[25] _Explanatory Note attached to First Edition._--After this chapter had actually gone to press, I received a letter from the friend who had put me into communication with the labourers referred to in it, begging me to strike out all direct indications of their whereabouts, on the ground that these might lead to grave annoyance and trouble for these poor men from the local tyrants.

I do not know that I ought to regret the annoyance thus caused to my publisher and to me, as no words of mine could emphasise so clearly the nature and the scope of the odious, illegal, or anti-legal "coercion"

established in certain parts of Ireland as the asterisks which mark my compliance with my friend's request. What can be said for the freedom of a country in which a man of character and position honestly believes it to be "dangerous" for poor men to say the things recorded in the text of this chapter about their own feelings, wishes, opinions, and interests?

[26] It may be well to say here that whatever prominence Mr.

O'Donovan Rossa has had among the Irish in America has been largely, if not chiefly, due to the curious persistency of Sir William Harcourt, when a Minister, in making him the ideal Irish-American leader. In and out of Parliament, Sir William Harcourt continually spoke of Mr. Rossa as of a kind of Irish Jupiter Tonans, wielding all the terrors of dynamite from beyond the Atlantic. This was a source of equal amus.e.m.e.nt to the Irish-American organisers in America and satisfaction to Mr.

Rossa himself. I remember that when a question arose of excluding Mr.

Rossa from an important Irish-American convention at Philadelphia, as not being the delegate of any recognised Irish-American body, Mr.

Sullivan told me that he should recommend the admission of Mr. Rossa to the floor without a right to deliberative action, expressly because his presence, when reported, would be a cause of terror to Sir William Harcourt.

[27] See Appendix, Note M.

[28] Note N.

[29] Note O.