Dublin Notes.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIX, Issue 16, 16 January 1891, Page 4

Dublin Notes.

(From the National Papers.)

Thku ii not even the semblance of a whimper, not to say a yelp, from Smith-Barry himself, now. After tbe terrible flagellaion he received from Mr. Lane, M.P., and the exposure be brought on himself by publUhing bis own and Sir John Aroott's correspondence, he is at meek as a whipped bound. Not a (ingle word has be ventured to s»y in reply to the storm of righeons indignation which has been beating about his ears ever since. This silence is more eloquent tban words. It shews that the criminal admits his guilt, and has neither the heart to brnzen it out nor the grace to do penance for it. No man, within our recollection, occupied so disgraceful a position in tbe public eye as this pseudo-aristocrat, on whom both contempt and hope teem to be utterly thrown away. Between his doings in the South and those of Olpbert in the North, they have contrived to invest tbe name and aspect of landlordism with a new opprobrium — a feat which up to their advent in Irish affairs seemed as impossible as gilding n fined gold or painting the unpaintable lily. One of tbe most notable features of the present agitation, one of the most effective answers to the infamous Coercion Act are the honours and rewards thus heaped by tbe people on the coercioncreated criminals. Mr. Golfour's main policy was to put on each one of his political victims the outward marks and tokens of a degraded criminal ; bis hope was that the people would be con'ent to judge bim by those outward tokens and desert and despise him. Never was a bipger or more brutal blunder. Imprisonment under the Coercion Act is one patent of nobility at present current in Ireland. In this country the coercion criminals — priests, members of Parliament, Lord Mayor and Mayors, down to tbe humblest peasant —are tee most honourable and the most honoured men in the community. Any decent man who has not been to puson feels more or lets ashamed of himself. With deep regret we have to announce the death of Judge O'Hagan. He was one of the brave and brilliant band of young patriots of '48. His poems are amongst tbe brightest and most spirited of that stirring time. Like so many of his gifted contemporaries, in later life Judge O'Hagan rose to high distinction. But in justice it must be said he was always a '48 man in heart, aod proud of the title. He was a lawyer of profound erudition, but it may be inspected that his incinations leant more to literature, which he assidnonely cultivated to the laßt, enriching the language wi h many valuable volumes. Unfortunately, perhaps, for his own reputation and peace of mind, be accepted the poshion (in '81) of bead of the Irish Land Commission Couit. We do him tbe justice of believing tbat his intention from first to last was to give full fair-play to the Irish tenant*, but the very gentleness of his character unfitted him for the post. More especially in later years, when his health was breaking, he wag overpowered by the pressure of landlord influence, and did not resist with sufficient firmness the many acts of flagrant injustice perpetrated by the Land Commission on the tenants. Peace be to bis athes, oblivion for bis weaknesses, and love and honour to his memory, He was an Irishman whom all honest Irishmen can join to respect and lament. In spite of the utmost efforts of the Government tbe 6ecret has leaked out that the Invincible, dynamitard, assassin, and perjured informer. D<»laney, has bten released by an indulgent Government in return for his evidence courageous, though false, at the Forgeries' Commission. The public has not forgotten the intercepted letter from DcUney to a high prison official which waa published tn the Freeman, in which he claimed his release as his reward for bis services at tbe Coao mission, and threatening exposure if it was delayed. He has been released accordingly. This is the premium put on perjury. TheArisoners who like John Daly and the others refused to pei jure themselves at tbe Commission were tortured ; the willing perjurer was released. More will be heard of thiß, we doubt not, when t-ar-liament reassemble. It will be good news to all lovers of ingenious fiction that the { Daily Express has arranged for the " Immediate republication, in pamphlet lurm, of our Special Uommiesioner's very interest ing reports of the Chief Secretary's tour in Connemara and Donegal. As our readers will remember, our representative wbb the only member of the Preai who accompanied Mr. Baliour from the commencement of bis tour," Might we suggest tbat a few footnotes from United Ire- i

land would make more manifest the ingenious imagination of the author, and increase the value of the work. Par example, one of the most startling statements in the letters was tbe glowing description of ibe triumphal arch e r eced in honour of Mr. Golfour by the rejoicing inhabitants of Mulranny. A trustworthy correspondent wrote to inform us that the triumph »l arch was a strip of calico with ' Welcome " printed on it with tar, constructed, set up, and guarded by the p >lice before a soul in the district knew that Mr. Golfour was Coming. We printed the letter prominently in our last iesae over the siguature of our correspondent. It was copied into the columns of our vigilant contemporary, tbe Evening Telegraph. Bat the Daily Fxpresshn* failed to do justice to tbe brilliant imagination of its commissioner by transferring the letter to its respectable columns. AH expectation has been transcended by the results already achieve! in 'he American mission. The envoys bave had a glorious reception. The Governors of nearly every State in the Union, the foremost men in religion of every creed, in politics, in literature bave come forward spontaneously to take the most public part in their welcome as the accredited representatives of the Irish people, and help on their mission with all the weight of their influence, public and personal. It is impossible for an Irishman to read tbe reports of the circumstances attending the first meetings which the envoys addressed without a thrill of pride in the men who have secured this recognition of Ireland's status, and gratitude to the gallant people who have proffered this great national welcome. Philadelphia was the first place where the delegates spoke, and the great old Quaker Oity sustained its reputation for love of freedom and munificent generosity on the occasion. Twenty thousand dollar* were poured into the treasury «of the mission as the cash result of bare y two meetings in that city. This is but a crude way of putting the mode in which the delegation was received in the capital of Pennsylvania, but it will serve a useful purpose. Our news columns will tell how Archbishop Ryan, how the great leading lights of other creeds, how Governor Jackson, how all the foremost men of Philadelphia thronged the Grand Opera House — one of the fiupst and most spacious in tbe world— there to testify th<it theciuse of Ireland Ins close to the heart cf the men of the City of Brotherly Love, and tbat tbey do not forget th it when Willum Perm was bunted and persecuted in England be found in Ireland help, encouragement) and mavily hearts and hands to aid him in his gr^at peaccfal colon* nisi uk expedition. Mr. Balfour's broad farce of an excursion to Donegal came to an inglorious close, week ending Oc ober 10. He had travelled at express speed over tbe region where the blessh gs of a prospective ligbt railway had made tbe journey ; but as he approached those places where wholesale evictions, star-chamber aad battering-ram bave been the only visible evidences of his philanthropic intentions, tbe j mrney became troublesome. At Dungloe a strange scene was enacted. Amongst those who sought admission to bis august presence was Mr. Swift MacNeill, M.P. The official squad who kept the doors at the hotel did not want to admit the hon. member, but Mr. Balfour, making a show of magnanimity, desired them to let Mr. MacNeill pass in. After a few of tbe sycophantic order, cleric and lay, had unfolded their views on tbe cuddling statesmanship rt quired for that division of Donegal, Mr. MacNeiU opened fire. He put his views bi fore Mr. Balfour in very plain terms. Ha wmted to know from that gentleman why he claimed to be a beaefactor to the Donegal people while he wis helping a calous- learted old plunderer like Olphert to extermina c ih^m and by what means he coald reconcile thecharac er of a philanthropist with that of a Minister who lent the forces of the Crown to fling out even at that veiy moment, in bittei winter weather, several hundred families threatened witb s'arvation. He read fur Mr. Balfour's edification some sentences regarding Mr. Olphert's conduct which we ourselves penned some time ago, and demmded some answers to the points which the Chief Secretary's grossly inconsistent conduct raised. But the valorous Chief Secietary sbrm.kfrom ttie challenge. He thought it best to dissemble and ev-ide. He would not discats those burning questions with a representative of Donegal, but hinted very broadly that if they were the general stnumentaof the people in that district no light railways cr fishingpiers or anything else meaning expenditure of public money should be had there. He was in hiu usual House of Commons form when delivering his reply to Mr. MacNeill— sneering, flippmt, and insulting. The snme evening tbe Chief Secretary en ssed the country to Gweedore, but he did not remain long in that theatre of his beneficent policy. After an interview with two brother chips, the sanctimonious old Olphert, and his agent, Hewson, he saw no one else, but retired to bed and off at cock-crow next morning to Letterkenny en route to Dublin. It was wiße that he did so ; for it is well known that tbe people of Gweedore were preparing for bim a reception more in accordance with his claims as a great humanitarian statesman than that accorded him by the small shoneen knots who had previously pers mated the sentiments of Donegal regarding this impudent incursion of Mr. Ba four's. The real feeling ( f the people of that county found voice over the matter very quickly. They loit no ticue la telling ibtj hypocritical Coercionist how they loathed hi? rule and ecoroed his bribes. At Derrybeg on Sunday a great public meeting was held for the purpose of puting the views of the people on record. Mr. Swift MacNeill again spoke, and denounced the impending evictions in Falcarragh and the Bickening conduct of the Chief Secretary in permitting tbe atrocity while he was posing before the world as a benefactor of tbe people. Miss Maud G^nne, a pa'riotic young Irish lady, who has done much in the way of rousing up sympathy in England with the Irish cau*e by public and private action, addrtst-ed the assembly also it) stirring style, exhorting them 10 stand by the Campaigners of Falcarragh and make the work of eviction as protracted and difficult an operation for tbe extermination as they possibly could. The Letterkenny Nationalists also held a meeting to protest against the sycophantic action of thefew who had disgraced Donegal ; and Father Stephens, who has a pretty good knowledge of what Balfour i»m really means, voiced the true sentiments of the county about the system in terms of eloquent indignation.

Mr. Bal four's oharaoter as a philanthropic statesman is now revealed to the world in its true colours His own hand it is which his tnraed on ibe lime.ligbt ; atd if he stands before mankind as one of the most brutal and cull- v -htarted cynics that ever breathed, he baa none but himself to thank. His reputation, previous to his A atar on Donegal, was not much ; but the circumstances of bis vit.it and the fact that immediately it came to an end the evicting forces which be bad canted <o bait in their march on Falcarragh were let loose on the famishing peasantry, exhibit him before the whole world as a hypocrite of the most sickening and detestable type. With profes•iols of sympathy on his lying lips he enters into sch» mes of amelioration wiih clergymen and others, and then post-baste he speeds back to Dublin Castle to order the doom of the same unhappy p ople The hideous transaction assumes almost the character of bl iaphemv, when ihe whole accompanying facts are taken int . consideration. On Tuesday the devil's work commenctd, the theatre of it being the familiar ground over wnich the curse of Olphert, that other detes'able hypociite, hangs. Ihe elem.nts seemed to link th. m-el es with the forces of barbarism. A hurricane swept over the bleak mourrains, and floods of fref zing rain drenched the wrotched wayfarers who toil among the hills and bogs of the Donegal wilderness all the preceding d»y and night. The weather was, however, no deterrent to the evicting forces. They went to work with a will, and before the afternoon sixteen families, numbering about a hundred boulb, had been rendered roofless. Amongst those flung out was a poor woman with a baby ooly a month old—she suffering all the pangs of recent illness. She was certified by the doctor as fit for removal, although lying ill in bed ; and out she went. Another victim was a poor widow who had paid her rent, but had her receipt given to a wrong person by the agent. The sights witnessed all through were heartrending. They were watched by a large number cf spectators, English as well as Irish. Bir John Swinburne, one of the former, declared tbat if he bad attempted to perpetrate, on his own estate in England, one-tenth of the atrocities which he had seen that day, he believes he would bare been strung up to the nearest tree by the indignant people, and the verdict would be, " served him right." The bum. ne *nd patr otic Bishop of Raphoe followed his noble letter on the Olphert clearances by coming across the wild country and going over ibe scene of the day* f ,ul woik, along with Hey. Father Sheridan, couponing, as best he could, the poor victims of landlord cruelty. He fonud them cowentg and crouching beside walls and ditches, vainly seeking a shelter irom the elements ; and bis presence seemed to yield them much consolation, notwithstanding all treir physical sufferings. The poor people will, doubtless, be sheltered by the National League, as so many of their co-sufferers have been ; but what they are to do in the meantime in this bitter, marrow-chilling weather, is a question whicb appals one to think over. Fortunately for the cause of humanity, these fresh outrages in Falcarragb are witnessed by those who will publish them through the length and breadth of England. A large number of ladies and gentlemen journeyed over from London and other places specially to look on and report. Sir John Swinburne, M.P., has written a powerful letter to the Daily News in connection with the subject. He has spent a week going over the Olphert estate, and he unfolds to the English public a history of systematised and legalised robbery on that piece cf properly more abominable tbao anything that Armenian, Cretan, or Bulgaiian had to complain of under the rule of the Turkish pashai.