The Reminiscences of an Irish Land AgentHussey, Samuel Murray
History
The Reminiscences of an Irish Land Agent
Hussey, Samuel Murray
Country life -- Ireland; Hussey, Samuel Murray, 1824-; Ireland -- History -- 1837-1901
An example may be cited in the case of Egan. This man was an ex-Fenian
leader, who wielded much influence in Nationalistic circles as far back
as the seventies, and when he was Treasurer of the Land League, he is
described by Mr. Michael Davitt--who ought to have a fine capacity for
discriminating degrees of scoundrelism--as the most active and able of
the Nationalist leaders in Dublin. Some time after the Phoenix Park
murders he settled in the United States, and whilst distinguishing
himself by the exceptional violence of his appeals on behalf of
outrageous Ireland, he was actually sent as American Minister to Chili.
This would not have caused me to notice him here but because it is
necessary the community should be warned that, unlike a good many of his
contemporaries and comrades, he is not an extinct volcano. On March 10
of this current year, when still the chief Nationalist in the States, he
had a long interview with Count Cassini, the Russian Minister at the
Russian Embassy at Washington, just before a meeting of all the
diplomatic representatives, and the American correspondent of the
_Morning Post_ does not hesitate to accuse Russia of financially
assisting the cause which Egan fosters. This sort of thing ought not to
be ignored in England. As an international action, it is hitting below
the belt, and when bad times come again to Ireland the Nationalists will
look to the Ministers of the Great Bear for funds, and are not likely to
be disappointed. Still it is curious that a Government which, at home,
exiles Nihilists and other bomb-throwers should, abroad, give
contributions to the cause that instigated the blowing up of my house,
and the outrages which rendered Ireland so notorious.
Not many years ago my wife was once more seriously alarmed at Edenburn
by the formidable proclivities of a man P----, who sat all day at my
gate with a gun, which he said he used for shooting rabbits: but we all
knew I was the rabbit he wanted to put in his bag. However, he has gone
to another sphere, and I am spending the present summer of 1904 very
happily in the same county.
A couple of letters addressed there showing the way in which an old
widow expresses herself, when after great labour she has delivered
herself of an epistle, may not prove undiverting. The point is the
amount she can obtain from her children.
'Samuel Mr. Hussey Esq.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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