[73] It is very important to bear this in mind, regard being had to the circumstances of the time, which have been shamefully misrepresented, and to subsequent legislation and its administration. I quote a few words from the Report, p. 3: ‘It was unusual in Ireland to exact what in England would have been considered as a full or fair commercial rent. Such a rent over many of the larger estates, the owners of which were resident, and took an interest in the welfare of their tenants, it has never been the custom to demand. The example has been largely followed, and is, to the present day, rather the rule than the exception in Ireland.’ M. de Molinari, a very competent foreign observer, wrote to the same effect in 1881: ‘Le taux général des rentes est modéré; autant que j’ai pu en juger, il est à qualité égale de terrain de moitié plus bas que celui des terres des Flandres’ (‘L’Irlande, le Canada, Jersey,’ p. 138). See for further authorities, Mr. Lecky’s ‘Democracy and Liberty,’ vol. i. p. 179.
[74] Mr. Gladstone, speeches in the House of Commons, July 22, 1881, and May 10, 1881. Lord Carlingford, and notably Lord Selborne, said nearly the same.
[75] This I know to be the fact on the very best authority.
[76] A good popular account of the law of 1881 will be found in Mr. Lecky’s ‘Democracy and Liberty,’ vol. i. pp. 182-197. See for an elaborate and technical description, ‘Cherry and Wakley,’ pp. 217-343.
[77] ‘Systems of Land Tenure,’ p. 59.
[78] Report of the Judges, vol. iv. p. 522.
[79] Report of the Judges, vol. iv. p. 532: ‘We consider that the National League, like the Ladies’ Land League, was substantially the old Land League under another name.’
[80] I quote a few words from hundreds of these detestable writings, which should be studied. Mr. William O’Brien, the editor of one of Parnell’s newspapers, and now the leader of the ‘United Irish League,’ published this in United Ireland, April 18, 1885: ‘It would be still more gratifying if the Irish millions, scattered over the globe, should wake up one of these mornings to hear the war chimes joyfully ringing the declaration that would drive England on to downfall and destruction.’ And again, September 19, 1885: ‘We cannot fight England in the open. We can keep her in hot water. We cannot evict our rulers neck and crop. We can make their rule more insupportable for them than for us.... It is no fault of ours if we cannot organise Waterloos to decide our quarrels.’ As to personalities, I quote two passages. December 15, 1883: ‘Monstrous and incredible, surely, six hundred Irish gentlemen could not eat their dinner without pouring out libations to the adoration of an old lady who is only known in Ireland by her scarcely decently disguised hatred of this country, and by the inordinate amount of her salary.’ Again, June 13, 1885: ‘With all the stubborn force of a cruel, narrow, dogged nature, Lord Spencer struck murderous blow after blow at the people under his rod. He stopped at nothing; not at subsidising red-handed murderers, not at knighting jury-packers, not at sheltering black official villainy with a coat of darkness, not at police quarterings, blood taxes, the bludgeoning of peaceful meetings, the clapping of handcuffs and convict jackets on M.P.’s, mayors, and editors, not at wholesale battues of hangings and transportations by hook or crook.’
[81] Report of the Judges, vol. iv. p. 522. Mr. Gladstone in the House of Commons, April 8, 1886.
[82] For an elaborate account of the Act of 1887, see ‘Cherry and Wakley,’ pp. 367-420. Reference, too, may be made to Mr. Lecky’s ‘Democracy and Liberty,’ vol. i. pp. 198-200.