That may belong to to-day, and not to the period of outrage with which I have been dealing; but it duly points the moral, and is the outcome of those times.
At the Boyle Board of Guardians in 1887, upon a discussion over the Kilronan threatened evictions, Mr. Stuart said:—
'There was one of these men arrested by the police. His rent was £4, 12s. 6d., and, when arrested, a deposit-receipt for £220 was found in his pocket.'
This case had been freely cited at home and in America as a typical instance of the ruthless tyranny of Irish landlords.
My friend and neighbour, Mr. Arthur Blennerhassett, addressed the following letter to Mr. W.E. Gladstone, then Prime Minister:—
'Sir—I beg respectfully to call your attention to the following statement. In 1866, Judge Longfield conveyed to my uncle, under what was called an indefeasible title, the lands of Inch East, Ardroe and Inch Island, and previous to the sale, Judge Longfield caused them to be valued by Messrs. Gadstone and Ellis, and in the face of the rental, he certified that the fair letting value of Inch East and Ardroe was £230, and that the fair letting value of Inch Island was £75, now in hand. On the strength of will, my uncle purchased the lands valued at £305 for £6200, and your sub-Commissioners have just reduced the rental of Inch East and Ardroe at the rate of from £230 to £170 a year.
I therefore request you will be pleased to take some steps to recoup me for the £60 a year I have lost by the action of the Government, and I may say this can be partially done by abandoning the quit rent and tithe rent charge, amounting to £34, 5s. 4d., which I am now forced by the Government to pay without any reduction.
A. BLENNERHASSETT.'
The Right Honourable W.E. Gladstone.
The oracle of Hawarden was as dumb to this as to my effusion to a similar purport already mentioned. Not even the proverbial postcard was sent to Tralee, so the verbosity of Mr. Gladstone was strangely checked when he found himself pinned down to facts by Irish landlords.