New-York tribune., 1886-06-06
N1CHAELDAVITrS STRENGTH
AZ IRISH LEADER OUT OF PARLIAMENT.
-,s Ir;rtUFScE AMONG TuE MAssEs-PARNELLs
roUAI. BUT NOT HIS RIVAL

D.vlt+ No other man in Ireland possesses more
;naucnco Wi the Irish people than he does In
the elections of the Irish Davitt rates even higher
than ParaeI. higher indeed than any other lrish-
man who has assumed TO lead the people In u con-
,;.,t,onol struggle for liberty This is owing TO
xarcty Of causes which will be shown in this arti-
sle Agitation has nourished In Ireland during
hundreds Of years but IL Is only since the passage
~ Tho Act Of Union IN 1900 that 1t has become
portion of the daily life of the people
and has taken the form OF organized
,otona, protest under various leaders and at diff
form, times against the right of England to make
lows f,r the country. In the great repeal move
,oo,t leS nv OConnell Ireland had more than
eight million Of a population. The failure Oh
O,Counell was so signal and 80 disastrous that the
,oo,lc hccame disbcartened and the Nation lay as
though dead for long time during the SIX
wears intervening between lsi5 ana 1901 .ne
countrv lost through famine and emigration
1-fo6-G persons. 1t was then that Sir Charles
Gavau Duffy a leader OF the AZ rebellion
and QUO of Parnelrs supporters in Parila-
mept now. described Ireland as corpse
NJ, the d>secting table" A few years subsequently
Sherman Crawford an Ulster member OF Parliament,
md as antl-lrish any of the Orangemen on 'ne
snbiec, of Home Rule. formed the Tenant Right
orca,ization. winch meant shortly that as long as
The tenant paid fair rent the landlord should not
b. permitted to evict him. The ruling classes con-
sidered this revolutionary in the last degree and
little if anything was achieved by 1t.
Then came the Fenian conspiracy which was
really formidable, and which Davtt joined.
though still young man. but nothing was
heard Of him until 1870. On May IA III
that year he was arrested III London in company
with a gunsmlth named John Wilson, of Brming
ham an Englshman, charged with sending arms
to the Fenlans " TO depose the Queen and TO levy
war against her" He was committed and sent to
penal servitude for fifteen years. Wilson was CON-
mitted too but Davitt, who knew he was entirely
innocent and unconnected with any Irish move
ment pleaded to have him let off and that he would
willingly take all of his sentence in addition to his
own. The Judge cOmplimented Davitt yet SELL
fenced Wilson to imprisonment for seven years
Then the living tomb closed upon Davitt and the
Incident was forgotten. Bat Davitt never forgot
Ireland No occurrence so apparently trivial
and afterward of so far-reachng Importance
occurred in the history of Ireland IN this century
al least. Dayltt was then twenty-tour years DID,
OF meagre attainments and humble origin. He had
lost his right arm when boy yet was punished
repeatedly whenever he failed TO do as much work
a. a physically perfect, in the terrible
dungeons of Portland, Pentonvlle and Dart
mouth where ne I'm mDrisoned. The punishment
which an IIlsh political prisoner has to endure be-
cause ne Is an Irish political prisoner is terrible
In comparison with it Jaehnes life III
Sing Sing is blissful. Davitt was released
after eight years with several other
fellow-countrymen. and A. n. Sullivan stood up IN
the House of Commons and publicly thanked the
Gar of Russia; for at that time England was on
the verge Of war with Russia.
In1s79 Davitt organized the first National Land
League People at first were disposed to laugh at
his presumption, and did in fact laugh at it. The
-lo clo farmers like
themselves. having the assurance to teach them
what TO do for Ireland The newspapers ridicued
the first ing hat he addressed; the priests boy
cotted the landlords terrorzed and evicted those
who attended it, and the Roman Catholic Arch
bishop of Tuam sneered at Davitt an ex-
convict. The peasantry could not get over
what they called THAT fellows presumption
during a long time. for so great was the power of
the land proprletOrs and so widespread the terror
which they inspired that the people disllked to
be present at a meeting unless the speakers were
10 be of local importance college-bred" men.
Then a nan who undertook to address meeting
shond be as grammatical. if not classical as
John Bright If he made blunder in syntax he
would be the ia K of the neIghborhood ever after
Wme therefore, Davltt could fu all The gram,
ma zeal conditions. he had not been to college ana
could not. consequently, amount TO much.
His programme consisted mainly OF ,hxlty
of tenure, fair rents, and the establishment
eventually Of peasant proprietary. The press was
furious the majority of the priests were furious ana
denounced this communism. But III England
they went fairly mad. The London papers stated
that DavItt was preaching confscatiOn and plum
der and should be rearrested. 80 he was But
}sfed and In the Prosecution was allowed to drop
To-day propositions are being offered and debated
bv an English Premier for the settlement of the
Irish land qnestion sufficient to warrant, by due
process of law, the hanging OF Ar ulad-
stone on the spot, If what EaSr was wrDnR ItfP
If the demand of Isaac Butt in 1870. when the
Home Rule movement was first begun, had been ac-
ceeded 10, a lesser measure OF se1-gOyernment
might have satisfied Ireland than what Is now
offered.
the case In Ireland. Davitt became at once popular
throwing Parnell who already coming INTO
eminence. entirely in the shade. The Land League
grew even Easter than the knights OF LABOR. but
unlike the American organization, it did not get
beyond the authority of It's founder Ana the
little conflict Davltt did have With many OF the
local branches was, curiOusly enough, III relation
10 boycotting. He did not, however condemn II as
Powdery does Boycottlng was different IN Ireland
from what II Is in America. Davltt urged boycott
ing IN furheranee OF the ratl0hai deslgh loI leo
land and a free Parliament. But where DoNcOJts
were ordered by officers OF the country OraDches
from personal Spite or because mans neIghOor
was successful in business. as was often done,
Davltt consistently denounced the practice;
central Office established ID Dublin ana theTe
was not d village in the remOtest part OF Ireland
that had not a branch Of the Irish National Land
League generally presided over by the parish
priest. Ia one year the men who denounced
DavItt most hercey we're preaching and reform
or more radical INES man ,nl for "roere
bred" men only as public speakers and pubic IN.
structors ceased TO be urged and thousands OF
farmers found themselves cheering other farmers
who harangued them aDOut the evils OF landlordsm
in their own way and without metaphors or per;
never have been known came TO the front and
prospered. The Land League movement, IN
word was an Illustration of Macaul avs statement
that Ia most cases revolutions make men," he
lrish Parliamentary party will compare favoraDly
with an equal number OF legislators IN any other Other
country. And In truth, IT. was 1ne I'nSc rev.
these men The League had a central
Office in Dublin aud about 800 local branches.
81 inro from