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
When Murphy arose to address the jury, he said:--
'Gentlemen of the jury, look at the well-tailored impostor without a rag
of honesty to take the gloss off his new clothes.'
Another counsel in the case was Mr. Byrne. He was always in impecunious
circumstances despite his legal eloquence, but the lack of a balance at
his banker's never troubled him.
Once he took Chief Justice Whiteside to see his new house in Dublin,
which he had furnished in sumptuous style.
'Don't you think I deserve great credit for this?' he asked at length.
'Yes,' retorted Whiteside, 'and you appear to have got it.'
Lord Justice Christian, who had declined to sit on the Appeal, was
considered one of the soundest opinions in Ireland. When he ceased to be
sole Judge of Appeal, he had addressed the Bar after this fashion:--
'As this is the last time I sit as sole Judge of Appeal, it is an
opportune time for me to review my decisions. By a curious coincidence,
I have been thirteen years in this Court, and I have decided thirteen
cases which have been taken to the House of Lords. Eleven of my
decisions were confirmed, one appeal was withdrawn, and the last was a
purely equity case. The two equity lords went with me, the two common
law lords were against me, and when I inform the Bar that my judgment
was reversed on the casting vote of Lord O'Hagan, I do not think they
will attach much importance to the decision.'
Judge Christian's allusion to the Land Act is most noteworthy, for he
said:--
'The property of the country is confided to the discretion of certain
roving commissioners without any fixed rules to guide and direct them.
In fact, we have reverted to the primitive state of society, where men
make and administer the laws in the same breath.'
Reverting to the Harenc estate, a rather amusing account was once
perpetrated by a Special Commissioner.
'Never heard tell of Ballybunion?' said his carman to the journalist as
on the road they met the carts laden with sand and seaweed from that
place. 'Why it's a great place intirely in the season, when quality from
all parts come for the sea-bathing.'
As he evidently regarded it as the first watering-place in the world,
the Special Commissioner thought he had better see the place, and here
is his description:--
'A village perched on the summit of a cliff, an ancient castle of the
Fitz-Maurice clan, wonderful caves, and a little hotel are the leading
features of the place.
'The morning after my arrival, I experienced a wish to see the cliffs
and caves, and no sooner were the words spoken than a figure bearing an
unlit torch appeared at the door.
'It was Beal-bo (which may be translated into a somewhat Sioux
cognomen--the Yellow Cow). A figure in rags with an inimitable limp, and
a fashion of closing one eye that reminds one of Victor Hugo's Quasimodo
of Notre Dame. A more intimate acquaintance proved there was much
instruction, and a good deal of amusement, to be derived from this
strange character.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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