, 1881-03-27
| Irish tenant-farmers are to bear the blame as
| well as the hrllnt Of fnf1nrni


The disposition of English Radicals, and
Of Irishmen themselves, to mitigate the rigol
OF these c0erclye measures has been para
lyzed from the first, and all along, BY the
pressure Of facts which they cannot gainsay.
Vernon Harcourt, the Home Secretary, whu
introduced the Arms bill last hight, found
All argument made to his hand in the
ATTEMPTED MURDER or MIR. 11EAnSE,
Clerk to the Ballinrobe Petty Sessions, on
tie previous day. This gentleman, who is
upwards of 60. was threatened with death III
November last The day before yesterday
he was shot down by two men, who attacked
him from behind on the public road in broad
the breast, and two in the right hand. This
morning it is stated that Mr.. Hearne still
lives. Then the fact that agrarian out
RACES have greatly decreased since the
beginning OF tue year, Instead of being all
on M.-P.'s " ilo study their blue-books rather
the force Of q demonstration Of its 1eces-
sity. l am only surprised that no one called
attention to the following points in the House
last night: In January outrages fell to just
even in January the number OF outragey in
which firearms played a part still remained
uncomfortabiy large. AS you will see from
tile official returns sentyou, a large proportion
of the outragcs reported in December con-
sisted OF threatening letters and ofIenses
although tile number Of outrages was S6Y.
only seven were cases Of firing at the person.
and twenty-five cases OF firing into dwell
ings. Unfortunately. although the total
number OF outraees in January is just ONT
half Of those il, December, or 439. the de-
crease is in the threatening letters and trivial
otlenseS, while the more serious outrages in
which firearms play part
SHOW LITTLE ABATEMENT.
In January, while there were but two cases
Of firing at tile person, there were still TWEEN
ty Of firing into dwellings, -Connaught be-
ing the province where that variety Of out
rage is most practlced. There is another kind
Of Offense, clAssed in the returns as the "de-
1nalld or robbery Of arms" Of which there
were sixteen cases in January,-thirteen Of
these being in Munster and three in Con-
nauEht. These figures go far to explain the
small mlnorities which opposed the Govern
Ment OH tile Arms bill.
There is another aspect Of the case. which
perhaps tue Government cannot very well
present at this stage of it. They at least
lose, by disappointing the hopes Of their sup
porters. For such i result, the sarcastic as
surance Of Lord Randolph Churchill, that
their policy is satisfactory to the Tory party,
will scarcely console them. But they
have difficult cards to play in the approach
perhaps too much to expect that they should
risk the success of their Irish measure by
showing al! their hand at inopportune mo-
ments OF the game. Their existence as a
government is probably involved with the
fate of that measure. There is much truth in
the remark which Mr.. O'Connor, member for
Galway City, said he had heard a supporter
of the Government make in the lobby last
night, to the effect that the Arms bill was
bill
FOR THE DISARMAMENT or THE oppos1-
TIOy."
Whatever the landlords Of Ireland may be
inclined to do. the Tories and TerritoriaIists
Of England will concede nothing to menace,
but would be ready ia seize on "a popuia-
ton in arms" rs an argument against 'scow-
ering aud concession," and as reu-
81 son for doing absolutely nothing.
The phrases I have put in quo
tatlon-1narks have not been heard yet,
but few here will debut but they would have
been heard but for the Arms bill. Such ar
and such attacks are anticipated
and deprived Of whatever force they might
Standard. Besides. the inilexibility OF the
in adhering to their program is
good omen Of the future OF the land ques-
lion. RANDOLPH.