368 



GEE AT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



that it was not by defiant speeches, not by ap- 

 pealing to a country across the Atlantic as the 

 true country of Irishmen, not by talking of 

 Englishmen and Scotchmen as foreigners, that 

 the Government would bo induced to accelerate 

 by one day the opening of the prison-doors. 



Before the enactment of the land bill the 

 Irish leaders, in order to secure the passage of 

 the ministerial measure, which differed only in 

 degree from those plans submitted by them 

 which Mr. Gladstone expressed himself " un- 

 able to distinguish from schemes of public 

 plunder," had kept the revolutionary move- 

 ment under a curb, and were circumspect in 

 their own utterances. But any hopes enter- 

 tained in England that they would accept the 

 large concessions of the land bill as a settle- 

 ment of the land question, or even a temporary 

 compromise, were soon dissipated. The Land 

 League agitators placed themselves on the ex- 

 tremest revolutionary ground, and proceeded 

 to employ the concessions obtained as an argu- 

 ment for the justice and strength of the Irish 

 revolutionary movement. They now openly 

 espoused the national cause, and declared that 

 the land question which they had raised in- 

 volved nothing less than a social revolution, 

 and the complete transfer of the property and 

 political power of the country. 



A national convention of the Land League 

 was held in Dublin in September. In the reso- 

 lutions adopted, " the detestable system of alien 

 rule " was declared to be the root of Ireland's 

 ills, and the "right of national self-govern- 

 ment" was claimed as the only remedy. The 

 release of the "suspects," without condition 

 and without delay, was demanded, without 

 which the Irish people would never believe 

 that the land act was intended to effect any 

 improvement in their condition. "No settle- 

 ment of the land question can be satisfactory," 

 they boldly proclaimed, " which does not abol- 

 ish landlordism, root and branch, and make the 

 tiller also the owner of the soil." 



The League announced its intention to main- 

 tain the same solid combination against land- 

 lordism which had worked such magnificent 

 results in the past two years, and to maintain 

 an expectant attitude with regard to the land 

 act, while actively aiding in developing any 

 good it might contain by taking test cases from 

 estates in different parts of Ireland, and con- 

 testing them out of the funds of the League. 

 The resolutions warned tenants from entering 

 into leases pending the decision of the test 

 cases. The farmers of Ireland were called 

 npon to prove their sympathy with the labor- 

 ers by building them dwellings, and allotting 

 them garden-plots under the act. The Irish 

 members of Parliament were instructed to 

 press for provisions in the promised county 

 government bill, giving power to the county 

 boards to acquire land by compulsory purchase 

 for the benefit of laborers. The members of 

 the League were requested to use articles of 

 Irish manufacture, and the League promised 



to start industrial . and labor departments for 

 the encouragement of native industries. Un- 

 til the effects of the act should be tested in the 

 typical cases to be brought before the court 

 under the auspices of the Land League, the 

 tenants were advised not to avail themselves 

 of any of the provisions of the act, except the 

 clause relating to borrowing money for the 

 construction of laborers' dwellings. The Ro- 

 man Catholic bishops, about this same time, 

 advised their flocks to accept the advantages 

 of the land act, and show gratitude for tins 

 " installment of justice." When they were 

 convinced that the Land League would be like- 

 ly to modify and control the working of the 

 land law, the Government did not hesitate as 

 to its course. Though Mr. Bright had declared, 

 when the Conservatives were calling for the 

 suppression of violence in Ireland a year be- 

 fore, that "force is no remedy," the Liberals 

 had drifted so far from their old moorings as 

 to deem it a remedy for unwelcome and incon- 

 venient political agitation. " The resources of 

 civilization are not yet exhausted," Mr. Glad- 

 stone said, threateningly, in a speech at Leeds, 

 October 7th. 



The following week Mr. Parnell was arrest- 

 ed, on the ground that he incited tenants to 

 refrain from paying rent and from applying 

 to the Land Court. 



The Leeds speech of Gladstone was an at- 

 tack upon Parnell, and contained an allusion 

 to Dillon, speaking of him in the highest terms, 

 and crediting him with having abandoned the 

 League. Parnell took up the challenge, and 

 delivered at Wexford a speech filled with scath- 

 ing invective against the Prime Minister. Dil- 

 lon came out of his retirement to contemptu- 

 ously repudiate Mr. Gladstone's praises. At a 

 Cabinet council, held a day or two afterward, 

 the suppression of the Land League was de- 

 termined upon. Parnell was arrested on the 

 13th of October. The same evening a meet- 

 ing of the Land League was hastily called to- 

 gether in Dublin, and Dillon was intrusted 

 with the command of the organization. The 

 following day Mr. Sexton, member of Parlia- 

 ment, and one of the ablest leaders of the 

 Leaguers, was arrested, and likewise the as- 

 sistant secretary of the Land League, Mr. 

 Quinn. The same afternoon John Dillon was 

 rearrested. Proclamations forbidding various 

 League meetings, advertised in different towns, 

 were issued by the Executive. William O'Brien, 

 editor of the organ of the Land League, " Unit- 

 ed Ireland," and O'Kelly, member of Parlia- 

 ment, were also taken into custody that day. 

 A. O'Connor assumed the control of the League, 

 issuing his directions from Holyhead. Large 

 numbers of troops were sent over to Ireland. 

 Serious disturbances broke out at various points, 

 but no insurrection occurred. There were riot- 

 ous scenes in the streets of Dublin. 



On the 18th was published a manifesto, 

 signed by the imprisoned officers of the League 

 Charles Stewart Parnell, Andrew Kettle, 



