REALITIES OF LIFE IN

Tuapeka Times, Volume II, Issue 66, 15 May 1869, Page 6

REALITIES OF LIFE IN

Reviewing a book with this title, written by Mx\ Trench, agent to Lord Lansdowne, the " Times " compiles the following narrative from it : — In 1843, he accepted from Mr.- Shirley the agency of large estates in the County Monaghan. The former agent had just died, and the .tenantry had celebrated the joyful event by bonfires blazing all ever the property. Half owned by Lord Bath, half by Mr. Shirley, the barony of Farney extended to 67,000 acres, and, although .much of it was wild mountain, the population numbered 44,000. Mr. Shirley came down with his new agent to CarrickmacrosK, and the tenzfents took advantage of the occasion to petition for a general reduction of rent. Tboy mobbed the offices of the agent in Carrickmacross,. and Mr. Shirley got rid of them by promising them a .formal answer on the Monday following. - - Thereupon with their native cunning and" dramatic instincts, the tenants affected to 'take for granted that he had decided to yield, resolving at the same .time to influence him in teat sense by a monster demonstration. Something in the way of a' Hibernian iirey cross was'&ent rounjlithe barony, recommending the tenantry ? not only on the Shirley, but on- the Bath, estate to muster in their numbers on the day named. Mr. S airly got uneasy, and .attempted to conjure tho danger with , a proclamation, in which he announced that, on enquiry, ho found it impossible to accede to their request:- Notwithstanding that, or because of it, 10,000 men gathered on the day named. The people worked themselves into a state of excitement, and tho perilous duty devolved on the agent of telling them that they might leave the Land if they pleased, but that they could only keep it at the same terms as before. He made the unpalatable speech in the pleasantest terms he could couch it in, but it acted on the crowd like a slow match set in a powder magazine : " There was a dead silence when I stopped speaking. It was broken by a stentorian voice.

" ' Then you won't reduce our rents ! '

" ' I hare already told you Mr. Shirley's answer on that point/ said I. ' Stranger as I am, it is impossible for me to give any opinion as to whether they are too high or not.' " Down on your kne°s, boys ! " shoijted the .same voice, . "we will ask him once more upon our knees.' And to my horror and amazement the vastcrowd, almost all, at least who were in my immediate vicinity, dropped suddenly on .their knees, and another dead silence ensued.

"It was a dreadful spectacle. Their hats were tin their heads and their sticks were hf their hands, some leaning irpon them •as they knelt, others balancing them and gi'asping them. It was fearful to see the attitude of supplication, due only to a higher power,' thus mingled Avith a" wild defiance. 'We a*jk you upon pur knees, for Grod's sake to get us a reduction of our rent,' again the same voice cried aloud, t was -greatly shocked. I instantly got down: off the chair." Attempting to make his way back to the office, lie was hustled, beaten kicked, then seized and dragged along the street. A rumour got abroad that Mr. Shirley had taken refuge in his Castle of Loughlea, a mile and a half away, and the cry was raised to drag Mr. Trench out there, and set him face to face with the landlord. As"" the mob got more furious, all the better disposed, instead of interfering to prevent murder, slipped off that they might not be implicated in it. Naked to the waist, and. nearly;' exhausted, Mr. Trench rallied his sinking strength for a last parley, It ended in his firm refusal to promise what they asked. " There was a pause aud a dead silence. I stood naked and bareheaded before them. They stood opposite to me with their sticks clenched m their hands ready to- strike. I looked at them and they at me.- They hesitated ; no one would strike me first. I' saw that they wavered, and instinctively in a moment I felt,that I had won. Ttn> sudden revulsion of feeling, though I was still externally motionless, sent the blood throbbing to my temples with a rush' that became almost oppressive. But the,strange pause continued, when at length a shout wafi raised from the old stentorian voice again, ' Stand off for your lives, boys ; no' one shall harm him; he is a godd man, after all.' And in a moment I .was sivrro'unded<by a. set of new faces, who dashed furiously, towards me. They raised me on their shoulders, swept my old enemies away from me, procured me some water to drink, and carried me, completely overcome, exhausted, and almost fainting, into the 'demesne of Loughlea."

And then Mr. Trench got on a chair again, arid gave them his mind on their treatment of him, to his heart's -content, and with enormous applause from the auditors. ' A revulsion of feeling followed oh ; the outbreak, and he found himself "in considerable favour." His advise to his pi'incipal would, have >been .to temporise,.. but Mr. Shirley ■ha^ decided that payment of rent and arrears should be promptly enforced. That; there should he any question about the policy pf expecting a lawful debt from- a man perfectly able to pay it — as some of the tenants were — is a striking, proof of .the-,, abnormal con&jtite of fhiijgg in Ireland,- and of tho

facility the state of feeling affords for "combination, so long as the combination is against law and right. The tenants struck to a man, and resolved to stick to the proprietor's land- while refusing him eve .y- shilling of his rent. Then began an irregular war, the tenantry on one side and an army of process servers, grippers, keepers, and drivers on the other; " Grippors " are the men charged with the arrests ; keepers those employed to watch against the crops being carried off; while the drivers bring in and pound the cattle of defaulting tenants. The campaign in Monaghan was the counterpart of one in Algeria, The myrmidons of the estate and the' law, •backed a strong force of police, converted themselves intor a flying column, while from tbe hill 1 tho natives signalled its advance, and swept away. their flocks out of the line of march. Generally the bailiff had to deplore " that not a horn or a hoof Avas left in the whole country side," and only once did the invading forces come back in triumph with a, solitary calf, -mid a shower of " chaff" from the natives, who assembled to congratulate them

oii tneir victory and its capture. At length this desultory war, which had been one long series of checks and humiliations for the party of order, culminated in the " battle of MaglwraI'loou," when the police poured a' volley point blank into the chests of the mob, killing one man and wounding several more. The mob rallied, charged home, drove the police back with a shower of stones, and carried off tbe substantial successes, as well as the honours of the war. The force of process servers and grippers was disbanded, and things wore left as they wore till tho reaping of the crops, when Mr. f Trench " felt sure that property would resume its rights, and the rents again be paid." Through his personal influence, exerted on the farmers; these anticipations were to a certain extent realised, and, as a matter of favour, Mr. Shirley obtained a portion of his dues. From first to last, anarchy had the best of it, and the rebellion'' of the tenants was justified by its success. Differing in their ideas about the subsequent management of the estate, Mr! Shii-ley and Mr. Trench dissolved their connection.