Ireland Under Coercion: The Diary of an American (2 of 2): (2nd ed.) (1888)Hurlbert, William Henry
History
Ireland Under Coercion: The Diary of an American (2 of 2): (2nd ed.) (1888)
Hurlbert, William Henry
Ireland -- Description and travel; Ireland -- Politics and government -- 1837-1901
You will owe two years' rent next month (September), and I now
write you this circular letter to point out to each, individually,
the position of the tenants under eviction, and even at this late
hour to give them an opportunity of saving their holdings, to
enable them to do so, and with a view to settlement, I am now
prepared to allow 20 per cent. all round, on payment of a year's
rent and costs.
Under no circumstance will I forego payment of costs, as they must
be paid in full.
If this money be paid forthwith, I will arrange with my brother,
the purchaser, to restore the four holdings purchased by him at
sheriff's sale to the late tenants.
After this offer I disclaim any responsibility for the result of
the evictions, and the loss attendant thereon, as it now remains
with you to avert same.
All the evictions have since been carried out, and the Land Corporation
men are at work upon the estate! Whom has all this advantaged? The
tenants?--Certainly not. The O'Grady?--Certainly not. The peace and
order of Ireland?--Certainly not. But it has given the National League
another appeal to the intelligent "sympathies" of England and America.
It has strengthened the revolutionary element in Irish society. It has
"driven another nail into the coffin" of Irish landlordism and of the
private ownership of land throughout Great Britain.
Such at least is the opinion of Mr. Kavanagh. If I were an Englishman or
a Scotchman, I should be strongly inclined to take very serious account
of this opinion in forecasting the future of landed property in England
or Scotland.
CHAPTER XII.
GREENANE HOUSE, THOMASTOWN, _March 5th._--The breakfast-room at Borris
this morning was gay with pink coats. A meet was to come off at a place
between Borris and Thomastown, and bidding fare-well to my cordial host
and hostess, I set out at 11 o'clock for a flying visit to this quaint
and charming house of Mr. Seigne, one of the best known and most highly
esteemed agents in this part of Ireland.
My jarvey from Borris had an unusually neat and well-balanced car. When
I praised it he told me it was "built by an American," not an Irish
American, I understood him to say, but a genuine Yankee, who, for some
mysterious reason, has established himself in this region, where he has
prospered as a cart and car builder ever since. "Just the best cars in
all Ireland he builds, your honour!" Why don't he naturalise them in
America?
All the way was charming, the day very bright, and even warm, and the
hill scenery picturesque at every turn. We looked out sharply for the
hunt, but in vain. My jarvey, who knew the whole country, said they must
have broken cover somewhere on the upper road, and we should miss them
entirely. And so we did.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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