Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-04-07

Ia ~ uINRu0 EI4W0o n0v~~*s8
ussRsbss CASE.
A Losdoa special says: Mr.: Wii'rid
Hlsnt, 20 we'll known - 2 rlsno 70
AyaM and - the husband Of Lady Anna
Levslscs, the granddaughter OF Lcro
Byron, publishes to-day an interesting
irtsryiew with on Irish tenant ss an
avoraee example Of the true relations
IN srch tenants bear TO the landlord.
AN EvIcTING PEER.
Mr. Blunt has just returned from
Kilronsn, in County Roscommon, where
Lord Kingston has been evicting his
tenansry, and situated in o'Kclly's dis
arict near the boundary-l line Of Roscom.
mon ard Sligo. This Is tract OF
mountain land thickly peopled. The
little whitewashsd houses Of the peasant
tenants dot the landscape close to each
other right up to the crest OF the hill
In plots Of five to ten acres, and snow
distinctly how the land has been re-
claimed. Here the Celtic population,
being driven from the better lands IN
tho plains, have taken refuge in times
mast and reclaimed the soil at their own
cost. and built these dwellings with
their own hands.
A PITIFUL TALE.
Mr.. Blunt thus nsrrates his interview
With the tenant, Patrick McManus,
little cid man Of seventy, hunched, bent
and bowed, but cheerful under his mis-
fortunes:
~ found him in n neighbours house,
where he had been taken in through chart
II. / asked him where be had been born,
and be told me In house yonder where
The soldiers were, and which had been
his own. II had been built from the
ground by bis father, who had orig,-
nally taken five acres, partly Of rough
grass and partly for ti'lage..
Thirty years ago be had himself
reclaimed two and half acres more
rom the mountain, going down to the
valley for lime and carrying it up in
baskets on his head at shilling a
basket. About that time, having some
savings, he paid eco for the tenant
right Of another bit Of eight acres. But
the very next year the landlord had
taken this away from him without COM
pensation. lie now held seven and half
acres, five Inherited from his father and
two and . half reclaimed by himself,
and for this be paid G5 per annum.
A TRIVIAL DEBT.
"People had advised him to 60 into
court to get the rent lowered, but
where was he to find money for 1t?
So be had gone on till last autumn,
when be was sued for q half years
Yent-e2 9s. Id, and now for t5
los. lOd., with eviction. II was only
half q years rent he owed, and he had
psid his rent and his father before him
for seventy years. lie pathetically
said. 81 believe like Job, in justice and
God, and that would get back one day
before died into my own house."
THE COTTAGE OCCUPIED.
81 found the house," continued Mr..
Blunt, occupied by the emergency
man, q sallow youth, and three con-
stables, who were engaged cooking the
old owners potatoes. / asked the con-
stables whether they liked their work,
and they said they were not allowed to
think whether they liked it or not, but
they got three shillings and sixpence a
day while on such work. 1t may be,
said one, with o curious smile, home
rule wouldn't be better for US, though
it might be for the country. The
emergency man, said nothing, but went
on eating the potatoes.
STRANGE FIGURES.
"Here is how the case Of debtor and
creditor stands, as far as J can make
out, between Pat. McManus and Lord
Kingston: Pat. owes Lord Kingston
SO 9s. Id, plus costs for being evicted,
93 l2s. 10d.-total, &c Is. Sd. Per
contra, Lord Kingston has got from Pat.
q house of the approximate value, let
us say, Of go; two and half acres
of waste land reclaimed, value, say
$40, and for eight acres Of land re-
sumed without compensation about
ego, and for fines at various times, say
s5-total, sl05-and the balance of
Patrick's loss is sos lis. 3d.-thst is
to say, Patrick, after seventy years of
honest labor, is to die in the work
house because Lord Kingston owes him
f9S lis. 3D."