Books: The Letters of Norah on her Tour Through Ireland

M >> Margaret Dixon McDougall >> The Letters of Norah on her Tour Through Ireland

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A good many of these persons were going to the Land League meeting. One
respectable man spoke to me of the high rate of land and the miseries of
the poor, but acknowledged that there were wealthy farmers in Tyrone. He
recommended me to a nice quiet hotel near the railway, but it being late
and I feeling a little strange, went to the best hotel in the town, the
"White Hart," where I was received with uncommon kindness and attention,
and allotted a quiet, comfortable bedroom away from the noise of the
street.

In preparation for the Land League meeting the next day the following
lively placard was posted in Omagh:

"A general public meeting, with bands and banners, of the Tyrone Orange
Leaguers against the murderous, blood-stained, seditious Popish League,
commonly called the Irish National Land League, will be held in Omagh on
Thursday, April the 21st, 1881, to consider the terms of the Land Bill,
and transact other necessary business. A protest will be made at this
meeting against the introduction of the principle among the Protestant
people of Tyrone that it is good to murder Protestants under the guise
of a Land Reform cry. The Land Leaguers have proved themselves murderers
and robbers! Why allow the system to be introduced into Tyrone? They are
boasted rebels. The swindler Parnell stated in his speech in Cincinnati,
'We will not be satisfied till we have destroyed the last link which
keeps Ireland bound to England.' It is now sought to have this disloyal
society and association of murderers established in Omagh. They tried in
Dungannon first, but the Orangemen frustrated the design. The Orangemen
of Omagh and neighborhood know well how to shoulder their rifles. Let
them be ready. Trust in God and keep your powder dry! No peace with
Rome. No surrender. By order of the Committee."

This proclamation was pulled down by the police, but people seemed to
expect a faction fight. There was a great force of constabulary in town,
and military also. It was pointed out to me how skilfully they were
posted, the military entirely out of sight, but in readiness. There were
twos and threes here and there, lounging about apparently, but with eyes
alert and watchful.

XVII.

HONORED AS MISS PARNELL--A LAND LEAGUE MEETING--AN EXPENSIVE DOCUMENT--
THE LAND LAW DISCUSSED.

In the morning a good many police were scattered about the corners, but
no massing of them. All the fiery placards had completely disappeared. I
was a little astonished at the scrupulous courtesy with which I was
treated, a guide volunteering to show me the place of meeting. Found out
afterward that when I arrived at the hotel I was mistaken for Miss
Parnell, and felt highly flattered. Omagh was quiet enough; no more stir
than would be likely for a fair or market day. No sign or sight of a
counter Orange demonstration. The meeting was held in a field on the
outskirts of the town, on the property of a gentleman, whose name I
forget, but who was described as a very good, kind and considerate
landlord.

On the highest ground in the field a rather slenderly put up platform
was erected, while farther back and lower down a large tent was pitched
for the banquet which was to follow the speechifying. The platform,
slightly railed in and protected by a primitive gate, was furnished with
two tables and a number of chairs. As soon as I came near the platform a
gentleman opened the little gate which admitted into the sacred
enclosure and invited me to a seat on the platform. I accepted gladly,
for I was very tired. Not knowing the mistake under which the people
labored, I wondered at the respectful attention that was directed to me.
Groups of people came and stared at me through the board enclosure, to
go away and be succeeded by other groups, mostly ladies of the country-
bred kind. Finally I drew my chair to the back of the platform to be
more out of the way, and sat there watching the crowd gather.

The crowd was assembling slowly in dozens and half dozens straggling
along, no great enthusiasm apparent at all. The great majority wore
corduroys of a great many varieties of color and states of preservation
or dilapidation. The irrepressible small boys were clustering over the
slight fence that surrounded the platform, crawling under it, roosting
on top of it, squatting round my chair and smiling up at me as if they
expected a universal pat on the head.

The time for the meeting arrived, and with it a squad of reporters, who
monopolised one table, all the chairs but one, and proceeded to make
themselves at home, producing their pencils and note books in a
business-like manner. The crowd clustered at the back of the platform
began to fling jokes from one to the other about penny-a-liners. Two
policemen, one tall, blonde, pleasant featured, one short, dark and
rosy-cheeked, arrived next with their note books and pencils. There were
a few more policemen at the entrance gate into the field, one soldier
standing carelessly on the road, an unconcerned spectator to all
appearance.

Presently the straggling crowd began to concentrate round the platform.
The women who were peeping into the tent and the men who were helping
them forsook that pleasing occupation and made for the platform at a
double quick trot. Many voices said, "yon's them." Looking along the
road toward the town black with the coming crowd, I saw a waggonette
drawn by four horses, gallant greys, coming along at a spanking pace.

The crowd around me disputed whether the driver was able to bring his
four in hand safely through the rather narrow gate, which involved a
sharp turn, but he did, and drew up inside with a flourish, to the great
admiration of all. The gentlemen came on the platform, Mr. Dillon, a
half dozen or so of priests and some other gentlemen. There was a goodly
number of people assembled; still not as many as I expected to see.
There were not many thousands at all. The faces of the crowd were not by
any means so fine as the faces of the Donegal peasantry. They were mixed
faces, all but a few seemed simple country people, some of the heavy,
low English type, some keen and Scotch, some low Irish. The women were
not so fair skinned and rosy as the mountain lasses. There were a good
many ladies and gentlemen present. I do not think all who were present
were in favor of the Land League, by the remarks which reached me, but
the large majority were. As none of the gentlemen speakers spoke to me
when they came on the platform, I lost my prestige at once.

The first speakers, not accustomed to pitch their voices so as to be
heard by a crowd, were quite inaudible where I sat. On the contrary,
every word Mr. Dillon said was distinct and clearly audible. He has a
clear voice, pleasant to listen to after those who preceded him. He is
tall, slim, rather good-looking, very black hair, which he wears long,
and which was so smooth and shining that it made him look like an
Indian, and truly he is as well made, lithe and nervous-looking as one.
His manner is cold and clear and self-repressed; not a word but tells.
His speech was exactly the same as he gave in Derry. He did not approve
of the Land Bill--and I had thought it so good--but he pointed out a
great many defects in it. Faults I never should have suspected to be
there, were picked out and brought to view.

A very telling speech was made by a dark, thin, wiry man named O'Neil.
His speech dealt with the hardships which they had passed through owing
to excessive rents and hard years of poor crops. He spoke what the
people felt, for many a voice chorused, "True for you; we know that
well." In the middle of the speeches the platform prepared to break
down, but only collapsed in the middle and fell half way and stopped.
Two of the priests spoke also, and spoke well to judge by the people's
applause. No one spoke in favor of the Bill.

I thought as I sat there of the remark made to me by a Catholic
gentleman of Innishowen, who said: "The Irish people have hoped in vain
so long, have been deceived so often, that it is hard now to win their
confidence." The more I move through the country the more I believe
this. Mr. Dillon was the idol of the assembly, that was easy to be seen.
A few words with him, a touch of his hand, was an honor. He apologized
for Mr. Parnell's absence, who being elsewhere could not possibly be at
Omagh that day. I left before the meeting was over.

As far as I hear from the Common people themselves, they think the law
and the administrators of it sympathize with the landlords only, and let
that sympathy influence their decisions. They are, therefore, very
averse to go to law to obtain what they consider justice from a
landlord.

Another great complaint that I hear again and again is the expense
attendant on a transfer of property. As an instance, a little property
of the value of a hundred pounds changed hands when I was in Ramelton.
The deed of transfer was a parchment as big as a table-cloth, and cost
L10.

XVIII.

IRISH HUSBANDRY--A DESCRIPTION OF LORD LEITRIM--ABOVE AND BELOW THE
SALT--LANDLORD AND TENANT

The valley through which the railway passes from Derry to Omagh is one
long stretch of beauty, fertility and careful tillage. Every field,
whatever its shape, is cultivated up to the fence and into the corners
with a mathematical nicety. The regular fields, the green separating
ditches with their grassy covering, the hills cultivated to the very
tops, and the trees growing here and there all over made a landscape
that should delight the heart of a farmer. Whenever I come to careless
husbandry, I will be sure to record it. I have seen nothing of the kind
yet on mountain side or valley. I do not wish to fling a rose-colored
veil over everything because it is Irish.

The country is simply beautiful--no works can do justice to it. Still
there are some things one could find fault with freely. Between Omagh
and Strabane I took a third-class car. It was dirty, of course, horribly
dirty, but, as Mrs. McClarty said, "the dirt was well dried on," and it
was almost empty, so I entered. At a way station a great crowd, great
compared to the size of the compartment, came surging in. Every man had
a clay pipe, every man had a supply of the most villanous tobacco. I do
not wonder the Government taxes such tobacco, that it has to be sold by
license--some would not grieve if the duty were prohibitory.

Soon matches were struck, a tiny flash and a fusilade of reports like
toy pistols--all matches here go off like that. Every man began to smoke
for dear life, and smoked furiously with great smacks and puffs. And the
floor! when the mud of many days that had hardened and dried there was
moistened again by tobacco juice! Soon the compartment was filled with
smoke, there was literally nothing else to breathe. The car began to
heave about like a ship at sea. Fortunately we stopped at a station and
some on board got out, so that there was an opportunity of getting close
to the door and letting down the glass and a faint was prevented.

It was not pleasant to sit there craning one's neck round to breathe at
the window, for the seats ran lengthways of the carriage, and keeping
all crushed up to keep out of the way of a cross fire of tobacco juice
from the opposite benches. Made a vow there and then against third-class
carriages.

When the train stopped at Strabane was quite dizzy and sick and took
refuge in the first 'bus, which 'bus belonged to that superfine
establishment, the "Abercorn Arms." Was informed that the late Lord
Leitrim had stopped there a day or two before his death on his way to
Manorvaughan. "Stopped in this very room," said my informant. "He left
here on the Sabbath day in his own carriage for Manorvaughan; he had not
much reverence for the day. He was a very old man, walked lame with one
leg, had a fiery face and very white hair. I did think they might have
respected his gray hair. He had not long to live anyway, they might have
spared him." He rested one day at Manorvaughan, the next day he set out
for Milford and was killed.

"Why did they murder him?"

"They said he was a cruel landlord. Yes, a very bad landlord they said
he was. He was very impatient to get away from here that morning. He
little thought he was hurrying to his death."

From Strabane took the Finn Valley Railway, and went off on a voyage of
discovery to Rusky.

From Killiegordon took a first class ticket, as the distance was short,
to see what first-class passengers enjoyed. There is a great difference
indeed between first and third. Third-class is a penny a mile, first is
two pence half-penny; third is simply horrible with filth, first is as
luxurious as carpets, curtains, cushions, spring seats and easy chairs
can make it. There is not nearly so much difference in price, as
difference in style. As a first-class passenger I was assisted in and
out, and the door held open for me; as third or second-class one can get
in or out as they please for all the officials care. There is a very
wide difference in every respect between those above and those below the
line which separates "gentry from commonality." Of course I am using
local words. Gentry are expected to have a well-filled and an open hand.
If they have not both, what business have they to set up for gentry?
Popular opinion thinks of them as Carleton's hedge scholar expressed
himself, "You a gentleman? No, nor one of your breed, seed or generation
ever was, you proctoring thafe you!"

Now the line of demarcation between the people trained by ages to stand
with open hand expecting a gift, and those to whom a gift is an insult
is hard to find sometimes. A young lad, a sharp boy, had been my guide
to two or three places and carried my bag for me. I offered him pay, for
pay had been expected from me by every one with whom I came in contact
from the moment I landed. Tears came into the poor lad's eyes with
mortified anger. One feels bad to hurt anyone's feelings, and between
those who have a desire for a gift and are hurt if they do not get one,
and those to whom offering a gift is the worst form of insult, one is
sometimes puzzled to know what to do.

I find a very strong feeling in some places where I have been in
connection with the contempt which some owners of the soil feel for the
cultivators of it. A landlord--lately an attorney in a country town--
who has succeeded, most unexpectedly, to a great estate, takes no pains
to conceal the contempt in which he holds his tenants. He sauntered into
a shop, also the post-office of the town, and in the course of
conversation informed them that his tenantry were a lazy lot of
blackguards. Two of his tenants were present standing in the shop. He
did not know them, but they knew him. To the eyes of an outsider like
myself the tenants seemed the more gentlemanly of the two parties. This
gentleman, it was explained to me by his tenants, was not a specimen of
the usual landlord, who, whatever the fault of the land law might be
which they believed in and ruled their conduct by, they were gentlemen
who would not degrade themselves by such an utterance.

The idea is brought forward to me again and again that the best landlord
clings to the power to oppress, absolute unquestioned power to do as he
likes with his tenantry though he might never exercise it. The
Protestants of Derry, Donegal, Tyrone, farmers with whom I have had the
opportunity to converse, all refer to this fact. The good landlord
considers it an infringement of his rights as a landlord, to take away a
power he is too kind to use, although he will admit that some have used
it unmercifully.

A recent speech of Lord Lifford's complains that things are now claimed
as a right that used to be regarded as a favor on the part of the
landlords. There is a strong, deep feeling among the best of the tenants
against such utterances as these and the spirit behind them.

XIX.

LANDLORD AND TENANT--THE LAND QUESTION FROM BOTH SIDES.

As far as I have travelled yet, in the mountains of Donegal, through
Derry, Antrim, Tyrone and Down, I have seen no trace of what Dr.
Hepworth lays to the charge of the Irish--laziness, never cultivating a
holding up to the line or into the corners. What excited my wonder again
and again, is the fact that up to the boundary ditch or hedge, into the
corners, up to the very edge of the rocks the tillage extended. I saw
men dig up little fields entirely with the spade among the sudden rocks
of Port-a-dorus. Some of the patches a horse with a plough attached
could not turn in, yet they were tilled; there was not a spade's breadth
left in any corner. And they paid high rent for this ground, rocks and
all. They fell behind in famine time--not so very far--and humbly
grateful were they for the help that came from outside in that time, and
a mercy that forgave a little of the rent. I saw men digging on the
mountain-side on the Leitrim estate, and wondered how they could keep
their footing. As far as I have seen, it is a slander on the people to
say they are averse to labor. On the contrary, they are very laborious,
and singularly uncareful for their personal comfort. I heard a fellow-
countryman at Moville talk of Paddy's laziness. I pointed out to him how
carefully mountain-side and rough bog were cultivated. He admitted it,
but spoke of want of rotation of crops and absence in many instances of
fall-ploughing. This, I humbly consider, is want of skill, or maybe want
of means--not laziness.

Every one says that the country depends almost solely on agriculture;
agriculture rests on farm labor; farm labor pays rents high enough to
produce periodical famine. The L90,000 rental of one estate, the L40,000
of another, is all produced by these lazy people. If there were any spot
so rocky, so wild, that it was under no rent, one might think them lazy
if they failed to make a living out of it, but they make a living and
help to support a landlord, too, out of these rocks and morasses. I hope
to see life farther south, and see if these lazy people exist there.
They do not exist in the north so far as I have seen.

It seems to me that the tenant-farmers have been out of sight
altogether. Now they have waked up, and there is no power to put them to
sleep again. I am more than astonished to find not one intelligent
person to defend the Land laws. There is no possibility of understanding
previous apathy from an American standpoint unless we think of the
thoughtlessness with which the Indians have been treated. The
thoughtless landlord has looked upon his own needs according to the
requirements of his station, not thinking whether the tenant could pay
so much or not, and, whether, if the rent was raised, it left the means
of existence behind. I met with very estimable people, who were taking a
very high rent; higher than any man could honestly pay, and at the same
time laughing at the poverty-stricken devices of their tenants. They did
not think.

It must be borne in mind that there was a famine in the land but a short
time ago, that these thousands and thousands of people who are under
eviction now have no money and no place to go to but the ditch-back, or
the workhouse. The workhouse means the parting with wife and children.
These things must be taken into consideration, to understand the
exasperation of mind which is seething through the whole country.

I do not think the people here, generally speaking, have any idea of the
amount or intensity of hidden feeling. I confess it frightens me. I
stayed in a country place for a week. I boarded with a family who were
much better off than their neighbors. They were favorites at the office
of the landlord, and paid him their rent punctually. I often sat at the
kitchen hearth as neighbor after neighbor came in in the evening and
told in Irish the tale of some hard occurrence that had taken place. I
understood enough to guess the drift of the story. I understood well the
language of eye and clinched hand with which my host listened. The
people who suffered were his people; their woe was his; he felt for them
a sympathy of which the landlord never dreamed; but he never said a
word. I thought as I sat there--silent too--that I would not like to be
that landlord and, in any time of upheaval, lie at the mercy of this
favorite tenant of his.

They talk of agitators moving the people! Agitators could not move them
were it not that they gave voice to what is in the universal heart of
the tenantry.

A gentleman connected with the press said to me to-day: "The fact is
that any outrage, no matter how heart-rending, committed by a landlord
upon his tenantry is taken little notice of--none by Government--but
when a tenant commits an outrage, no matter how great the provocation,
then the whole power of the Government is up to punish."

One great trouble among the people is, they cannot read much, and they
feel intensely; reading matter is too dear, and they are too poor to
educate themselves by reading. What they read is passed from hand to
hand; it is all one-sided, and "who peppers the highest is surest to
please."

The ignorance of one class, consequent upon their poverty, the
insensibility of another class, are the two most dangerous elements that
I notice. It is easy to see how public sympathy runs, in the most
educated classes. There is great sympathy, publicly expressed, for
Captain Boycott and his potatoes; for Miss Bence-Jones, driven to the
degrading necessity of milking the cows; but I have watched the papers
in vain for one word of sympathy with that pale mother of a family, with
her new-born infant in her arms, set upon the roadside the day I was at
Carndonagh. Policemen have been known to shed tears executing the law;
bailiffs have been known to refuse to do their duty, because the
mother's milk was too strong in them; but the public prints express no
word of sympathy.

In the papers where sympathy with the people is conspicuous by its
absence, there will be paragraph after paragraph about prevention of
cruelty to animals. I had the honor of a conversation with a lady of
high birth and long descent, and, as I happen to know, of great kindness
of heart, a landlady much beloved by a grateful and cared-for tenantry.
I remarked to her that justice seemed to me to be rather one-sided:
"There is much difference unavoidably between one class and another, but
there are three places where all classes should stand on an equality--
on a school room floor, in a court of justice, in the house of God." "I
would agree with you so far," said the lady, "that they should be on a
level when they come before God." I am sure there would be no agitation
nor need of coercion if all the landladies and landlords were like this
kind-hearted lady in practice.

Another instance of kindly thought on the part of another landlady. The
famine left many a poor tenant without any stock at all; every creature
was sacrificed to keep in life. This lady bought cows for her tenants
who were in this sad plight. She left the cows with them until a calf
grew up into a milking cow; then the cow was sold to pay the landlady
the money invested. If the cow sold for more than was paid for it the
balance was the tenant's, and he had the cow besides. "Thus," said the
lady to me, "I benefitted them materially at no expense of money, only a
little." This lady, who claims and receives the homage of her tenants
for the ould blood and the ould name, has by these acts of inexpensive
kindness, chained her tenants to her by their hearts. "It's easy to
see," said one to me, "that the ould kindly blood is in her."

There have been many humble petitions for reduction of rent; many have
been granted, more have been refused. The reasons given in one case
were, a ground-rent, a heavy mortgage, an annuity, and legacies. The
question whether one set of tenants was able to meet all these burdens,
not laid on by themselves mind, and live, never was taken into
consideration for a moment.

When I arrived in Ireland, I met with an English gentleman who took a
lively interest in the purpose for which I crossed the sea, namely, to
see what I could see for myself and to hear what I could hear for myself
on the Land Question. He volunteered a piece of advice. "There are two
different parties connected with the Land Question, the landlords and
the tenants. They are widely separated, you cannot pass from one to the
other and receive confidence from both. If you wait upon the landlords
you will get their side of the story; but, then, the tenants will
distrust you and shut their thoughts up from you. If you go among the
tenants you will not find much favor with the landlords. You must choose
which side you will investigate."

Considering this advice good, I determined to go among the people and
from that standpoint to write my opinions of what I saw and heard. I
made up my mind to tell all I could gather of the opinions and
grievances of the poor, knowing that the great are able to defend
themselves if wrongfully accused, and can lay the land question, as they
see it, before the world's readers.

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