Ireland Under Coercion: The Diary of an American (1 of 2): (2nd ed.) (1888)Hurlbert, William Henry
History
Ireland Under Coercion: The Diary of an American (1 of 2): (2nd ed.) (1888)
Hurlbert, William Henry
Ireland -- Description and travel; Ireland -- Politics and government -- 1837-1901
This was interesting, as I had heard it said by a Nationalist in Dublin
that the "Plan of Campaign" was originally suggested by Father M'Fadden.
He made no such claim himself, however, and I made no allusion to this
aspect of the matter. "I have been living here for fifteen years, and
they listen to me as to nobody else."
In these affairs with the agents, he had always told his people that
"whenever a settlement came to be made, cash alone in the hand of the
person representing them could make it properly." "Cash I must have," he
said, "and hold the cash ready for the moment. When I had worked out a
settlement with Captain Hill, I had a good part of the money in my hand
ready to pay down. £1450 was the sum total agreed upon, and after the
further collection, necessitated by the settlement, there was a deficit
of about £200. I wrote to Professor Stuart," he added, after a pause,
"that I wanted about £200 of the sum-total. But more has come in since
then. This remittance, from America yesterday, for example."
"Do they send such remittances without being asked for them?" I
inquired.
"Yes; they are now and again sending money, and some of them don't send,
but bring it. Some of them go out to America now as they used to go to
England--just to work and earn some money, and come back.
"If they get on tolerably well they stay for a while, but they find
America is more expensive than Ireland, and if, for any cause, they get
out of work there, they come back to Ireland to spend what they have.
Naturally, you see," said Father M'Fadden, "they find a certain pleasure
to be seen by their old friends in the old place, after borrowing the
four pounds perhaps to take them to America, coming back with the money
jingling in their pockets, and in good clothes, and with a watch and a
chain--and a high hat. And there is in the heart of the Irishman an
eternal longing for his native land constantly luring him back to
Ireland. All do not succeed, though, in your country," he said. "We hear
of two out of ten perhaps who do very well. They take care we hear of
that. The rest disappear, and are never heard of again."
"Then you do not encourage emigration?" I, asked, "even although the
people cannot earn their living from the soil?"
Father M'Fadden hesitated a moment, and then replied, "No, for things
should be so arranged that they may earn their living, not out of the
country, but on the soil at home. It is to that I want to bring the
condition of the district."
At this point Lord Ernest Hamilton came up and knocked at the door. He
was most courteously received by Father M'Fadden. To my query why the
Courts could not intervene to save the priests from taking all this
trouble on themselves between the owners and the occupiers of the land,
Father M'Fadden at first replied that the Courts had no power to
intervene where, as in many cases in Gweedore, the holdings are
subdivided.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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