Paddy at Home ("Chez Paddy")Mandat-Grancey, E. (Edmond), baron de
History
Paddy at Home ("Chez Paddy")
Mandat-Grancey, E. (Edmond), baron de
Ireland -- Description and travel
Like all truly great things, it has a very simple organisation. Every
parish has a committee elected by the unanimous suffrage of all its
adherents; that is to say, of everybody in it, for, in nine-tenths of
Ireland, there is not one man, above all in the country districts, who
dares to refuse joining the Land League, or who neglects to pay his
subscription regularly, although this is never less than one shilling
per month. The parochial committee elects a president, who is often the
parish priest, or even one of the vicars, if the priest is considered
too lukewarm. A county committee is in constant communication, on one
side with the presidents of the parish, and on the other with the
central committee, which meets twice a week at the central office of
the League at Dublin. No one exactly knows how much money is at the
disposal of this committee; but it must amount to a considerable sum.
On one hand the subscriptions are paid very regularly; on the other,
there is not an American city that has not its Irish committee or who
does not send subsidies. I do not know how much the subscriptions
amount to, but some one, whose information is thoroughly reliable, told
me that they had never received less than 4,000 dollars per week.
But all these funds are used. The League is generous, and it pays well
for the services it receives. One day, three years ago, the Bishop of
Cashel proposed to offer a substantial testimonial to Mr. Parnell as a
token of their public appreciation of his work. A special subscription
was opened, which in a few days brought in 40,000_l._
The League first pays a number of agents, who constantly scour the
country to keep up the agitation; it subsidises a mass of newspapers,
and distributes a quantity of pamphlets. In the country, it has
recourse, above all, as a means of propaganda, to allegorical coloured
pictures. The _United Ireland_ has just published one which is already
seen everywhere, and which depicts Mr. Gladstone armed with an enormous
sabre, on which “Home Rule” is engraved, with which he is evidently
about to reduce to mincemeat a three-headed hydra, of which each
head has a strong likeness to either Mr. Chamberlain, Lord Randolph
Churchill, or Lord Salisbury.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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