The Land League

While the Home-Rule league was pursuing its agitation under the lead of Isaac Butt, a quiet, unobtrusive young man had taken his seat for the first time in the House of Commons, as the member for the county of Meath (1875). At first he took no part in the proceedings of the House, and attracted little attention. He was barely thirty years of age. He was a Protestant and a landlord, and was descended from a line of ancestors who had, now and then, become eminent as leaders of Mae Irish cause. On his mother's side, he was the grandson of the American commodore Stewart, who had won, in the war of 1812, the sturdy nickname of "Old Ironsides." This was Charles Stewart Parnell.

A few years after he entered Parliament, a certain section of the Irish members became dissatisfied with the moderate methods and aims of Mr. Butt, and of his successor, Mr. Shaw. This section desired more vigorous and more aggressive action in urging the claims of Ireland; and, almost as soon as it was formed as a distinct party, Charles Stewart Parnell became its unquestioned leader. Meanwhile another Irishman, who had been condemned and imprisoned as a Fenian, and whose parents had suffered from a cruel eviction from their land, was maturing a scheme, which, when put into operation, was destined to achieve important benefits for Ireland. This Fenian convict was Michael Davitt; and his scheme was, to establish a vast "Land League," the purposes of which were to get rid of landlordism in Ireland altogether, and to make the tillers of the soil its owners (1879). The Land League soon be-came a large and powerful organization. That advanced section of the Home-Rule party which had now adopted Mr. Parnell as leader, entered warmly into Mr. Davitt's plan; and Mr. Parnell was chosen as president of the league. Meetings in promotion of the league's purpose1were held everywhere in Ireland. Its membership ere long reached half a mil-lion of Irishmen. Branches of the league were also formed in the United States; and Mr. Parnell him-self went to the United States to promote its interests, and to raise money to aid the poor Irish tenants, who were now suffering from a famine caused by repeated failures of the crops.

The agitation of the Land League was soon followed by the second attempt on the part of Mr. Glad-stone to settle the Irish land difficulty on a just and sound basis. Mr. Gladstone had returned to power, for the second time, as Prime Minister (1880). He had at his back a very large majority of the just-elected House of Commons. Sixty Home Rulers, most of whom accepted the leadership and policy of Mr. Parnell, sat in the new Parliament. Several attempts were made to give temporary relief to the starving Irish tenantry. But the Land League was not satisfied. It pursued its ends with ardor and energy. So violent, in the view of the government, did the agitation become, that Mr. Gladstone felt compelled to resort to stringent measures to check the operations of the league. A new coercion bill was passed. It gave authority to the lord-lieutenant to arrest and imprison any Irish-man suspected of treason, and to keep him in prison for an indefinite period, without a trial. The coercion act was followed by an arms act, under which the officers of the law could search Irish houses for fire-arms, and seize them if found.

The leaders of the league, notwithstanding these repressive laws, continued to make fiery and exciting addresses before vast meetings of Irishmen. Then the ministry went a step farther. Several of the Irish leaders were arrested and tried for conspiracy. But the jury failed to convict them. Soon after Michael Davitt, the founder of the league, and rather Sheehy, a vehement league speaker, were arrested and thrown into prison. At the same time many less important members of the league were consigned to Irish jails. Even these harsh measures did not awe those leaders of the league who were still at large. Incendiary speeches continued to excite the Irish. Then the ministry arrested the chiefs of the league under the coercion act. Messrs. Parnell, Dillon (the son of the Dillon of "Young Ireland" days), Sexton, O'Brien, and O'Kelly were suddenly committed to Kilmainham jail. From their prison cells these leaders issued a proclamation to the Irish tenants, urging them to pay no rent until the prisoners were released. Then the government declared that the Land League had acted in violation of the law, and ordered its complete suppression.

Having, by these strong measures, striven to restore the power of the government in Ireland, Mr. Gladstone set to work upon his second land scheme. He introduced this into the House of Commons in the year after his return to office (1881). The new bill created land courts in Ireland, which were intended to settle all disagreements between the landlords and their tenants. To these courts was given the power to fix the rents to be paid by tenants for a period of fifteen years; to enable tenants to sell the "good will" of their holdings; and to protect tenants from eviction for any cause, except the non-payment of the rents established by the courts. The bill, however, did not provide any adequate method for enabling the tenants to become the absolute owners of the soil they cultivated. To secure this ownership was the aim of the Land League. The Irish leaders refused to accept Mr. Gladstone's bill as a final settlement of the land question; yet they did not oppose it. The bill, after a series of long debates, finally became a law (Aug. 22, 1881); and the land courts created by it began their sessions. They were soon over-crowded with tenants who applied to have their rents fixed, and the tenure of their holdings secured.

The courts moved slowly; and the result was that, from month to month, only a very small proportion of the thousands of tenants who sought their protection, received it. Within a year, it had become apparent that Mr. Gladstone's second attempt to secure justice to the downtrodden tenantry of Ireland, was destined, like his first, to fall far short of satisfying the demands and needs of the Irish people. Meanwhile the Irish tenants were suffering as grievously as ever from the tyranny of the landlords. Impoverished by a succession of bad harvests, they could not pay their rents; and large numbers of evictions took place. The suppression of the Land League was followed by the formation of secret societies and conspiracies in Ireland, which inaugurated a reign of crime and violence. It was evident that the coercion act on the one hand, and the land bill on the other, had failed to restore order to Ireland.

Mr. Gladstone, however, did not yet despair of satisfying the Irish with English rule. He now released from prison Mr. Parnell and his companions, and Michael Davitt. He recalled Mr. Forster, the chief secretary for Ireland, under whose auspices coercion had been rigorously carried out; and appointed Lord Frederick Cavendish, a younger son of the Duke of Devonshire, in Mr. Forster's place. At the same time Earl Cowper was succeeded as lord-lieutenant by Earl Spencer. It was clear that Mr. Gladstone had made up his mind to adopt a conciliatory policy towards Ireland.

Just at this moment an appalling crime startled the world, and forced Mr. Gladstone to abandon, for the while at least, his generous intention. As Lord Frederick Cavendish, the new chief secretary, and Thomas Burke, a prominent official of the Irish government, were walking, one day, through Phoenix Park, Dublin, they were set upon by a band of ruffians, and murdered (May 6, 1882). There could be no doubt that this hideous crime had been committed by Irish conspirators. It at once deprived Ireland of the sympathy of Englishmen, and was speedily followed by a more severe coercion act than that which had preceded it.

The new coercion act empowered three Irish judges to try conspirators without a jury; and authorized the lord-lieutenant to cause houses to be searched; to have any suspicious persons who were abroad after dark arrested; to suppress newspapers; and to order brief and summary trials of suspected persons. With this severe measure, however, Mr. Gladstone carried through Parliament a bill to partially relieve the poorer Irish tenants of their arrears of rent. In cases where rent was due for the three years in which the harvest had failed (1578-80), the tenant paid one year's rent, the treasury one year's rent, and the landlords were required to remit one year's rent. This measure brought relief to large numbers of the Irish farmers. Coercion, on the other hand, failed to restore order in Ireland. An attempt was made upon the life of justice Lawson, and upon that of a juryman named Field, who had favored the conviction of Irish prisoners. Once more the government arrested and imprisoned Michael Davitt and two other Irish leaders for treasonable speeches.

The murderers of Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr. Burke were at last discovered and suffered the penalty of their crime upon the scaffold. It was found that a secret band, called the "Invincible Society," had not only planned and carried out the killing of Cavendish and Burke, but had also attacked justice Lawson and the juryman Field. The Invincible Society was betrayed, and its operations were revealed by James Carey, who was its founder and leading spirit. James Carey had been a member of the Dublin common council, and was a man of good social position. In return for his betrayal of his confederates, he received a free pardon. Five of the Invincibles were convicted and hung, mainly upon Carey's evidence; and several others were sentenced to varying periods of imprisonment. James Carey, with his family, left Ireland, to take up his abode at the Cape of Good Hope. Just before landing at the Cape, he was killed on board ship by an Irishman named O'Donnell. O'Donnell was taken to England, tried, and executed.

Soon after these events, secret societies, composed of Irish extremists, began to resort to the use of dynamite, as a means of striking terror into the hearts of the English. A succession of explosions by dynamite took place in various parts of London, and in other English towns. Several of the London railway stations were the scenes of more or less violent destruction. The most considerable of the dynamite explosions were those which took place, on the same day, in Westminster Flail and the Tower of London (January, 1885). In most cases the perpetrators of these acts escaped capture. They at least succeeded in causing a feeling of alarm and suspense throughout England. Although the criminals were not always brought to justice, it was well known that the dynamite explosions were the work of Irishmen, and that this method of creating terror was supported, in the main, by funds collected in America.