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THE STRANGE CASE OF MR CLARKE: THE NEW
GOSPEL IN IRELAND.

Tipperary Nationalist,' indicted for conspiring to intimidate Mr Clarke and compel him to give up a portion of his lands for sale and distribution by the Estates Commissioners. The evidence there unfolded must have been something of a revelation even to those who are not unfamiliar with the ways of an Irish boycott. It adds an informing page to the history of that sempiternal problem, the Irish Land question, and whether we regard the case from the point of view of the man attacked or the men who attacked him, it stands out remarkable alike for its extent and duration, for the ferocity of the attack, and for being, in the words of the Attorney-General, entirely "unprovoked, causeless, and unjustifiable."

WE have heard and read much in these latter days of the new gospel in Ireland, The Land for the People. It is assiduously preached from platform and press in that country by political evangelists, and every Sunday the little microcosm of the U.I.L. which exists in most parishes takes up and repeats the parrot cry. Catchwords are often misleading, and an impartial inquirer may be at a loss to understand the exact meaning of the phrase. The strange case of Mr Clarke, of Holycross, will help him considerably. It lets in a flood of light on the new gospel. Most people who read the papers regularly have hazy recollections of some startling paragraphs about "A Tipperary Mansion Stormed," and thrilling pictures of Mr Mr Charles Clarke is a resClarke in a state of siege, ident landowner residing at armed police guarding his Graigreenoe Park, near Thurles, house, and so on. They re- in the county of Tipperary. member Mr Birrell admitting He is an Irishman, born and in the House of Commons that bred in the country, and about Mr Clarke was very badly twenty years ago he inherittreated. But they can hardly ed a property which had been have grasped the full inward in the family for the best part ness of the case without a fuller of a century. He is a man knowledge of the facts, and the of good social position, one of facts were for the first time the Deputy-Lieutenants of his put before the public in pano- county, takes an active interest ramic form at the recent trial in all local affairs, and until in Dublin, when eight promin- three years ago lived on the ent members of the Holy- friendliest terms with all classes. cross branch of the United There was not a more popular Irish League and the manager man in the locality. He lives of the local newspaper, 'The in one of the most beautiful

parts of a beautiful country on the edge of the Golden Vein, one of the most fertile districts in Ireland, in the heart of "Magnificent Tipperary," which Irishmen are fond of calling the premier county,in a district where there is no trace of congestion, and where the average farms are comfortable 40- to 50-acres holdings. In the year 1905 Mr Clarke sold all his tenanted property to his tenants, with whom his relations had always been, and still are, quite cordial. "At that time," said Mr Clarke at the trial, and the phrase is worth remembering, "it was still possible to sell land in a quiet and friendly manner. That was before we had mob law." After the sale he retained in his own hands about 1000 Irish acres. A good por

tion of it was demesne land. About 100 acres were under tillage in turnips, potatoes, &c. He disposed of all his produce in the neighbouring town of Thurles, and got all his daily supplies there. He was by far the largest customer going to the town, and spent £1000 ayear with the shopkeepers. On his home farm he employed a permanent staff of thirty labourers, who with their families formed quite a colony. maintained, besides, a big staff of servants in connection with his house and stables, paying altogether in wages £1000 ayear. One would have thought here was the sort of man to be encouraged to live in the country, spending his money freely and profitably and benefiting a large district. When

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the Wyndham Act was passing through Parliament we were assured and reassured by those who professed to know that nothing was further from contemplation than to drive those landlords out of the country who wished to remain. They were to be encouraged by every means to remain on their demesnes, cultivate their home farms, live amicably with their neighbours, and give employment. We shall see how Mr Clarke was encouraged.

In the year 1907, just about the time when the old-fashioned word "grazier" was giving place in Ireland to the newfangled and foreign term "rancher," which has been so much in use lately, a number of Mr Clarke's neighbours, all wellto-do farmers, began to set greedy eyes on his thousand acres. Some of them owned as much as 150 acres themselves. The principal defendants were all 100- to 150acres men, leading men in the parish. None of them were poor. There was no suggestion of distress. They were not tenants of Mr Clarke's. The majority of them had purchased their holdings on neighbouring estates, and had no more connection with Mr Clarke's property than a South Sea islander. What was their quarrel with him? Generally, when the boycott is set to work there is some specious pretext. The victim is a "grabber," or he is "ranching," that is, letting grazing on the eleven months' system, or there were evictions at some remote period in the past, and some of the

tenants' representatives are clamouring to get back what with fine freedom of language they call "their own," or the district is congested and the cry of the landless goes up. But at Holycross none of these conditions were present. There were no "wounded soldiers of the land war," there was no congestion. Mr Clarke had

never let an acre on the eleven

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months' system. "Senseless, causeless, and unjustifiable was the Attorney-General's description of the agitation, and yet those who have been carefully watching the trend of events in Ireland for the past few years might reasonably enough say that it was a simple case of cause and effect. All over the country, on every side, these people had seen large estates cut up and distributed

to whom? Generally to those who made the most noise. The clamorous man, the disorderly man, the violent man fared best, they found, when land was in question. Mansueti possidebunt terram-the gentle shall inherit the earth, -but in that particular corner of the earth known as Ireland the phrase must have a liberal interpretation.

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must include such gentle creatures as the 100- and 150-acres men, the parish bosses and tyrants, who, in the picturesque language of some of their leaders, are prepared to raise hell in that country if they don't get what they want. The Land for the People! Mansueti possidebunt terram. And so they set about "bringing the drum to the

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door" of the obnoxious person. The band played, and the "fun" began. A meeting was arranged for St Patrick's Day at Holycross, at which there was some talk about ranches." This, said the Attorney-General, was the opening shot in the campaign. A paid organiser of the U.I.L. indulged in the usual hectic oratory. "It is now time to strike the enemies who support the graziers. Throttle the men who go in for them. Any man who goes in for them, 'Down with him.' God ordained the land for the people, not for landlords or graziers." Mark that! Not for landlords or graziers, but for "the people,'

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"the people" being the 100acres and 150 - acres men. This speech, with others of a similar strain, similar strain, was published in the local paper, 'The Nationalist,' and read and talked over at every fireside in the district. The speeches were emphasised and driven home by editorials on "The Land War" and "The Fight for the Ranches." A Tipperaryman is as inflammable and impressionable as any other Irishman, and if he is told by his leaders and guides that a landlord or a grazier is an objectionable person and ought to be throttled, he will do his best to fall into line and throttle, and so the game of throttle began. "A more unprovoked, a more causeless, a more unjustifiable attack on a man has rarely been proved in a court of law." But what does that matter? It is pretty Fanny's way. Once the ukase of the League

goes forth to throttle, that is the game to play, and in Ireland, if a man won't play the game, no matter how cowardly the game may be, the U.I.L. will know the reason why. The methods of the League, when it sets about making it hot for a man, never vary much. They have by this time become standardised. Ex uno disce omnes, although in the present instance one or two bravura passages were introduced. Hot on the heels of the throttling meeting came a polite request to Mr Clarke from the Secretaries of the Holycross branch of the League to hand over his land for distribution. Mr Clarke said "No." He wanted to live on his land and farm it. Then it was "Arm! arm! and out!" It was "Down with Clarke !" and "Up, Holycross!" As we have said, the band began to play, and that is sometimes a serious thing in Ireland. It means business. It is part of the plan. There is courage in numbers. The

band collects a crowd, and it is easier to play the game on dark winter evenings when there is a band and a crowd and a tumult, and if anything untoward happens of course some irresponsible person in the crowd is the cause. The "boys" were only having their bit of fun. When they turned out, their favourite route was around the Clarke ranch, and at intervals the blare of the instruments was relieved by cries of "Down with Clarke!" and "Down with the Ranches ! One day they met him driving along the road, and they tried to drive him

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and his horse into the ditch. For that piece of amusement some of them were brought to justice. The magistrates dismissed the case. It was not a logical decision, but logic is as rare in Ireland as snakes. After that, the agitation entered on a new phase. Nothing succeeds like success, even success in lawlessness. The Leaguers now felt they were on top and began to force the pace. Several important characters stepped into the drama for the first time-a clergyman from a neighbouring parish and a local solicitor who had represented the defendants at Petty Sessions. It should be noted that their own priest, who presumably knew them best, not only held aloof from the conspirators throughout the agitation, but roundly condemned their conduct.

The solicitor told Mr Clarke that if he did not give up his land "there would be real war," and the clergyman went one better and added that he "must sell six hundred acres at once"-must, AT ONCE, hand over three-fifths of his property! Let any one who is accustomed to quiet and orderly ways of effecting a transfer of property, who believes that the law of the land can and will ensure to him the peaceable enjoyment of what property he happens to possess, picture for a moment the prospect that presented itself to this victim of the League. Two complete strangers, each in his respective position wielding considerable influence in the locality, in effect, and in all seriousness, put before him the following proposition: "You

ten miles off, a large crowd of sympathisers, with the usual bands, attended and made a "demonstration," and were entertained by the usual rousing oratory "Go home, brave boys, and keep up the fight," and so on. Returning home under cover of the dark, these demonstrators, numbering between 200 and 300, and many of them driving cars and carts, invaded Mr Clarke's demesne en masse, marching up his avenue. The band played and the crowd shouted the usual cries. They broke his windows, kicked his hall-door, stoned his coachman and his family at the gate lodge, stoned the police, knocked down his fences, drove over his lawn, and abandoned themselves to every form of disorder.

hold 1000 acres of land. We, and those we represent, think it too much by half. The tendency of modern legislation is to cut down these large farms and establish the people on the land. You must hand over 600 acres. That is the least these poor people will be satisfied with. ("These poor people!" the 100- and 130- and 150-acres men!) There must be no delay. We know what we are talking about. Is it peace? To their amazement, and to his own everlasting credit, for he knew what he had to face, Mr Clarke refused, as he put it, to pander to mob-law, and reserved the right to manage his own property as he thought fit. He had not long to wait to taste the fruits of his splendid audacity. After one or two abortive attempts to force his hand, the dogs of war were loosed. From being one of the most popular men in the county, he became, as by the stroke of a magician's wand, the most abused. He was groaned and jeered at as he drove along the roads. His place was beset by crowds and bands, at first by day and then by night. The night demonstration was the "new plan of campaign." Between one and two o'clock A.M. they marched past his house with lighted torches stuck on hayforks, drumming and cheering and shouting the usual battle-cry, "Down with Clarke!" "Down houses wrecked. The police with the Ranches!" Then came a bravura passage. About a week later, when this conduct was being investigated at Petty Sessions at the neighbouring town of Cashel, some nine or VOL. CLXXXVIII.—NO. MCXXXVII.

The coachman in his evidence gave a graphic picture of the gregariousness of the crowd. "Ye must all go," said some commanders who were bringing their forces into line at the gate. "Everybody's going. Ye must all go. We are going up to our own house!" When some of the offenders on that occasion were brought before the magistrates at Cashel, the same disorderly mob, with their bands, poured into the town and created serious riot and tumult. Innocent shopkeepers had their

were stoned. About a dozen ringleaders were returned for trial for the house attack. At Assizes they put forward the audacious defence that they were there in assertion of what

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