New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-10-22
SECRET LEAGUE AND OPEN COURT

SECRET LEAGUE AND OPEN COURT
The British Government has dealt the Land
League "a staggering blow. The organization
has been proclaimed illegal and criminal, aud
is to he absolutely suppressed. Meetings OF
the Executive Committee and of the branches
are to be broken up by police and troops, and
the penalty for giving aid and cOuntenancc tn
the League and its agents is to be arbitrary
arrest and Imprisonment for an indefinite
period. The circulation OF the no-rcnt man
ifcstO exposes every member Of the League to
immediate arrest unless he separates himself
at once from an unlawful and criminal asso-
cation. The public work of the organization
ceases from this time. The treasurer may re-
main in Paris, and opcn-air meetings may Ice
held in the Irish quarters of English cities, but
whatever is done among the tenant farmers
must be done in the dark and under terror of
law. The League must either become a sccTer
organization or abandon its work altogether;
and as a secret organization its influence over
the mass of the population and its power Of
resisting practical reforms in land tenure will
be greatly diminished. Its agents must traverse
the country by stealth, their steps dogged by
detectives and spies. If tenants follow the adj
vice of the League and refuse 10 pay their
rents they cannot, when cvictcd, be openly
supported 10y responsible financial officers OF
the local branches, but must depend for sub
sistcnce upon irregular supplies OF money or
provisions furnished secretly and at uncertain
intervals by irresponsible agents. In these
circumstances they may well hesitate before cx-
posing themselves to tie discomfort OF home
lcssncss and the imminent peril of starvation.
The Government paralyses the action of the
League when il proscribes it ~ an illegal and
criminal association. As "A secret organization
its work must languish unless its desperate
appeal to the tenants to rcpudiate their
debts and rcnouuce their contracts is taken
up from door to door in opposition to the adj
vice of the Catholic clergy, and tho whole
population is banded together in sallcn dis
content and aggressive lawlcssncss.
The Government, meanwhile. opens the new
Land Court Ii is a distinctivcly Irish tribunal
There is one landlord on the bench bat hc i,
an emincnty just man, whose dealings with
his own tenants have not caused any offence
and with him are associated two outspokcn and
Jealous friends of the agricultural classes. The
sympathcs of two, at least of the three Com
missioncrs are already enlisted Oh the side of
the tenants, for there is no ground for popu-
lar prejudice against Justice O',Iagan and Mr..
Litton. The Court has begun by simplifying
its rules OF procedure 50 that its processes may
be easily followed by those who submit cases
to it, and also by reducing the expense of ten
ants appeals to the lowest figures. The Zee
for entering the Court, or for giving notice Of
an appeal, is fixed at - cents, 20 that the
IL
Land Act within his reach. Low fees and sim
plicty of procedure will tend to make the new
Court popular mt the outset, and so many ay-
picatops have already been received that it
will enter upon its work without delay and af-
ford the public an early opportunity of testing
its sincerity. liberal construction of the
Land Act can scarcely fail to alay popular
prejudice, even if it does not serve to recon-
ellie the mass of the tenant farmers to the new
conditions of land tenure. While the agents
of the League are plotting in the dark and
either whcedling or ntimidatng tenants 10
take the risks of eviction, hOmelcssncys and
want, the Land Court offers an equitable adj
justment of all questions ut issue between
landlords and tenants. The advantage of pub
LEFTY over secret intrigue is a most decided
one. Inc rents VIII NOT DC SCdltu down below
Grifiith's valuation, aud the cry will be raised
by the Parncllitcs that the act is a transparent
sham. Captions criticism of this sort is to bc
expected ~ matter of course. But unless we
are seriously at fault in our estimate of the
bencfcent features Of the Act, the Irish people
will soon come TO realize that they have in the
Land Court an instrument that will right their
wrongs, redress their grievances, and give them
the conditions of peace and prosp rity-n per
manent tenure at "A reasonable rent and excrp-
tiona privileges of possession and tenancy
not enjoyed Ivy any other body of tenants on
the face of the earth.
1t may he that we underrate the influence
of the Land League, but we shall be sur
prised if the present agitation in Ireland be
not brought to a close within few months.
If the Government took an enormous risk in
aTesting Mr. Parneil ana his associates, they
in turn were crimnally reckless in advocating
the absolute reputation of rent. Archbishop
Croke who has sanctioned the course of the
League heretofore, is appalled, by the rank
of the recent manifesto and de-
nOunces it as a policy that "can lead to moth
ing but disintegration and defeat" His warn
ing will be needed by the great body of clergy
who have sympathized with the class Of tenant
farmers from which they themselves are re-
cruited. A majority of the prelates have al