New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-08-29
A FORTNIGHT IN KERRY.
LORD LANsDOwNE AND HIS ESTATE.


LORD LANSDOWNE AND HIS ESTATE.
HOW HIS VAST PROPERTY IS MANAGED" RULES OF
THE ESTATE" TO WHICH TENANTS Must SUB
MIA BOY KILLED AND SICK WOMAN
DRIVEN FROM EVERY SHELTER BECAUSE ONE
OF THESE RULES WAS vIoLATED-How TENANTS
SEEK TO PROTECT THEMSELVES.
lrRoM THE SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT THE TRIBUNE !
DUBLIN. Aug. 3.-Lord Lansdowne owns nearly
all the country around Kenmare-every foot OF the
town itsef-two entire parishes adjoining and sohth
of it, and most of the parish of Kenmare. His estates
cover about twenty square miles Of the COUNTY
Kerry. The town lots. on which the stores ana
dwellings stand leased not Sold and Lord
Lansdowne himself has done nothing to bulld up OF
improve Kenmare He has done nothing but TAX
the citizens.
The finest dwelling in the neighborhood Is the
residence of Mr.. Trench, the agent of Lord Lahs-
downe The memory of Trench, senior. as well as
the memory of his mas ter. the grandfather OF the
present Lord Lansdowne, is execrated by the peas
antry around Kenmare. Betweer them they drove
thousands of the working people to America, ana
under the name of Rules of the Estate they de-
vised code of laws THAT were rigidly enforced)
which would have brought disgrace on the most
despotc rulers of Eastern despotsms. The present
Marquis and the present agent only carry out the
ruthless code that their predecessors contriyed.
They do not modify it, but they do not bear the
double curse of inventing and enforcing;
Some persons exOnerate the Trenches ana
lay the blame on the Lansdownes but
the greater number say that In this bleeding Heart
Yard, twenty miles square, 1t is Pancks french ana
not Caseby LansdOwne who IA 10 blame fancks Is
quoted by both parties. Trench has boosted that
Kerry would never be a second Mayo-that is,
country where the peasantry have been aroused TO
a sense of their rights-and that he would rule the
tenants with a rod of iron (; and again when
peasant has spoken Of the peculiar hardship OF some
instance Of eviction Pancks has defended himself by
remarking Give mo the feathers and VIII fly"
1t is like master like man. fancy. The same rotten
system breeds both kinds of vermin
RULES OF THE LANDsDowNE ESTATE.
What are the rules of the estatef They are an
unwrtten code of the most arbitrary laws, in dem
ance of human rights, which, at his own will, the
landlord enacts, alters. modes or aboshes, but al
ways has the power to execute. Trench was so bold
in his ISLANDERS of the tenantry whom he and his
master had driven from their homes, that his book
provoked investigation and brought out the truth,
and the truth has scnced him ever since He con-
tents himself now with Offering brides to journalists
to suppress any further developments, One of the
rules of the Lansdowne estate was that no tenant
should marry without the agents permission This
decree included the children of his tenants. One
young couple, both Of them the children of tenants.
defed this rule, but they were banished rs a pun
ishment for their rebellion, and Z" the two fathers
in-law were not merely warned-thcy We're pun
shed for harborng their son and daughter by a fine
of gale of remit" gale is half years rent.
Tenants were forbidden to build houses for the
laborers on Their holdings, and a consequence of
this decree the men and women servants, with all
the tenants family, were forced to sleep under
one roof. Now, these tenants houses were OrdInaI-
lily Of one room. Trench is not only zealo for
landlord rights" but "a zealOt of one OF the Oh
scure sects of England, whose microscopic peculiar
ties OF creed are invisible to any but the eye OF
faith. Did he ever think Of what might be expected
TO be the natural result of such tyranny Indeed,
every candid inquirer into the condition of the Irish
peasantrv, seeing how desperately poor and
wretched they are, and how decency and mOdeSty
seem incompatible with their budding together IN
one smoky and dark room, must be struck botn with
wonder and admiration at the unsurpassed chastity
and dccacy of the Irish peasant girls No country
and class in any c0unt1y-lncluding our own
and-can boast of a greater triumph of principle
over surroundings.
A "RULE" WHICH MURDERED A BOY.
Another "rule of the estate" was that no stranger
should be lodged or harborcd upon the estate lest
he should become SICK or idle or in some way
chargeable upon the poor rates | was told by Ken
mare citizens of many examples OF the ruthless exc
cutIon of this rule. But Mr.. Thomas Crosby, of
Cork has put on record that several of Lord Lans-
downe's tenants were warned and punished for
giving lodging TO brother-in-law, and even
daughter; and although the accusation has long
been printed 1t has never been denied.
The London Spectator of July II, in article that
| have not seen, referred to one terrible example of
Lord Lansdowne's cruelty In enforcing this decree.
1t was the great Marquisthe patriot of the Reform
bill-that The Spectator referred TO, and j quote
what II said rs repeated in reply to the charge,
by tho present Lord-the stainless noble, who re-
fused 10 contamina'e his character by continuing
in Mr. Gladstone's Administration:
Those who remember a very remarkable book called
u IN. hV Trel oh md
agent In Ireland, Will remember how Draconc used to
be the conditions OF life on Lord Lansdownes estates
conditions severe that on one occason-of course,
long before the present Lord Lansdownes teglme-a
boy to cruel death through the terror felt by his
avcs, OF whom bis grandmother was one Of shelter
ing for ow days, any one III their cabins whose
presence there had not permitted by the agent
On the Kerry estate of Lord Lansdowne tenant
might shelter his daugherin-law II the son married.
and orphan children OF deceased sons were excluded
sternly by the rules as their mother
heard this story told i'll the rich Kerry brogue,
with the inimtabe pathos of unconscious art by a
man who knew the boy and the people. He told
the story as illustration of the truth that
tyranny hardens the heart both of Oppressor and
oppressed Who would believe such story of as
warm hearted the sun ever shone on /
wish had written down his words. but rs his
memory or truthfuncss might be doubted-for i
should be forced to suppress his name-l shall quote
the story as related by Mr.. Godkn, who abridged
it from The London Times in 1857:
An order had gone forth the estate-a common
der in the and-that tenant admit any lOdger
into his house. This general order. 1t appears
however, that sometimes special orders were gwen |
and promulgated that Dennis Shea should not
harbored TINS boy had father living. lie had
lived with grandmother, who had been turned out OF
holding for harboring him. He had stolen shilling
and hen-iOne such things as neglected twelve year
old famis hing child VIII do one night he his
Aunt Dononur, who lodged with Casey Casey told the
aunt and uncle moi TO allow him into the house as the
agents drivers had gwen orders about him. the aunt
beat him away with pchiork aud the uncle tied his
hands with cords behind his back The poor child |
crawls The door of neghbOr ana tries 10 get IN.
The uncle called take HIM away, and he does
He yet returns with hands still tied behind. having
been severely beaten. The child seeks refuge In other
cabins, but all forbidden 10 shelter him. He is |
brought back by ncghbOrs IN the night who try |
TO force the sinking child on his rcaiious There Is
struggle at the door. The child heard asking
one To put him upright In the morning there Is blood |
upon tie threshold. The child Ia stiff dead-a corpse
with It's tied around 1t every mark OF last fear