Ireland Under Coercion - vol. 2 | Page 5

In 1883 James Griffin, who was then, as he is
now, an active member of the local branch of the National League, and
who was imprisoned under Mr. Gladstone's Act of 1881 as a "suspect,"
was evicted, being then several years in arrears. He re-entered
unlawfully immediately afterwards, and has remained in West Lettur
unlawfully ever since, actively deterring and discouraging other tenants
from paying their rents. He took a great part in promoting the refusal to
pay which led to the famous evictions of last year. As to these, it seems
the tenants had agreed, in 1886, to accept a proposition from Mr. Head,
remitting four-fifths of all their arrears upon payment of one year's rent
and costs. Mr. Sheehan, M.P., a hotel-keeper in Killarney, intervened,
advising the tenants that the Dublin Parliament would soon be
established, and would abolish "landlordism," whereupon they refused
to keep their agreement.[3] Sir Redvers Buller, who then filled the post
now held by Sir West Ridgway, seeing this alarming deadlock, urged
Mr. Head to go further, and offer to take a half-year's rent and costs. If

the tenants refused this Sir Redvers advised Mr. Head to destroy all
houses occupied by mere trespassers, such as Griffin, who, if they
could hold a place for twelve years, would acquire a title under the
Statute of Limitations. A negotiation conducted by Sir Redvers and
Father Quilter, P.P., followed, and Father Quilter, for the tenants,
finally, in writing, accepted Mr. Head's offer, under which, by the
payment of £865, they would be rid of a legal liability for £6177. The
League again intervened with bribes and threats, and Father Quilter
found himself obliged to write to Colonel Turner a letter in which he
said, "Only seventeen of the seventy tenants have sent on their rents to
Mr. Roe (the agent). Though promising that they would accept the
terms, they have withdrawn at the last moment from fulfilment.... I
shall never again during my time in Glenbehy interfere between a
landlord and his tenants. I have poor slaves who will not keep their
word. Now let Mr. Roe or any other agent in future deal with
Glenbeighans as he likes." The farms lie at a distance even from this
inn, and very far therefore from Killorglin, and the agent, knowing that
the tenants would be encouraged by Griffin and by Mr. Harrington,
M.P., and others, to come back into their holdings as soon as the
officers withdrew, ordered the woodwork of several cottages to be
burned in order to prevent this. This burning of the cottages, which
were the lawful property of the mortgagee, made a great figure in the
newspaper reports, and "scandalised the civilised world." The present
agent thinks it was impolitic on that account, but he has no doubt it was
a good thing financially for the evicted tenants. "You will see the shells
of the cottages to-morrow," he said, "and you will judge for yourself
what they were worth." But the sympathy excited by the illustrations of
the cruel conflagration and the heartrending descriptions of the
reporters, resulted in a very handsome subscription for the benefit of
the tenants of Glenbehy. General Sir William Butler, whose name came
so prominently before the public in connection with his failure to
appear and give evidence in a recent _cause célèbre_, and whose
brother is a Resident Magistrate in Kerry, was one of the subscribers.
The fund thus raised has been since administered by two trustees,
Father Quilter, P.P., and Mr. Shee, a son of our brisk little landlady
here, who maintain out of it very comfortably the evicted tenants. Not
long ago a man in Tralee tried to bribe the agent into having him

evicted, that he might make a claim on this fund! At Killorglin the
Post-Office Savings Bank deposits, which stood at £282, 15s. 9d. in
1880, rose in 1887 to £1299, 2s. 6d. James Griffin, despite, or because,
of the two evictions through which he has passed, is very well off. He
owns a very good horse and cart, and seven or eight head of cattle. His
arrears now amount to about £240, and on being urged yesterday to
make a proposition which might avoid an eviction, he gravely offered
to pay £8 of the current half-year's rent in cash, and the remaining £5 in
June, the landlord taking on himself all the costs and giving him a clean
receipt! This liberal proposition was declined. The zeal of her son in
behalf of the evicted tenants does not seem to affect the amiable
anxiety of our trim and energetic hostess to make things agreeable here
to the minions of the alien despotism. The officers both of the police
and of the military appear to be on the best of terms with the whole
household,