The Irish standard., 1898-12-31

iol Iuo SOuuIy, anu duueu IudI u pHySl-
cal force policy in the matter of resist
ance to rent collection was attended
with grave danger.
OF the abstention of the Irish party
| from voting on the second reading of
the land act-a mastery stroke of pol
| icy-Mr. Parnell was not the originator.
1t was suggested to him. He was in Dub
| lin in order to attend a conference on
the land bill, and he met the more ac-
tive spirits of the league. 1t was point
ed to him that the bill did not contem-
plate the abolition of landlordism, but
rather its perpetuation by making 1t
more tolerable; so that the league, whose
! fundamental principle was the abolition
of landlordism, could not consistently
accept" the bill. Mr.. Dillon was In
charge of the league at the time, and the
credit of the 'non-acceptance" policy be-
longs to him more than to any other
man. Parnell questioned me closely as
to Dillons views, and as result of a
long conversation, we drew up together
the resolution which was subsequently
submitted to the conference, and which
1 moved. That resolution was drafted
by myself, and every phrase was care
fully weighed by Mr.. Parnell. He
amended it here and there saying, eve
must have a back door" He agreed that
it was the duty of the government to
make their bill satisfactory to the coun-
try; that it would be a mistake for the
party to do more than help to make it
better bill than it was; and that to
abstain from voting from its principle
would put the government on their met
tie. At later period Mr.. Parnell told
me that the policy had been very success
full. for the bill as it passed was vastly
better bill than had been at first pro-
posed.
Again, Mr.. Parnell did not originate
the test case policy. 1t, too, originated
with the active spirits of the league,
with John Dillon at their head. In
fact. it is the commonest justice to say
that in this crucial time Dillons was
the dauntless heart. Those of us who
served under him had abundant reason
to rejoice that we had as our chief a
man who watched every move, and was
prompt and decisive in counsel, and
ready for every emergency. He saw
the bearing of every clause in that new
land bill, and warned us accordingly.
The league, on the passing OF the land
act of 1881, recommended the people not
to rush heller SHELTER into the new land
courts, but to await the issue in certain
test cases which the league proposed to
submit to the courts. The cases were to
be genuine test cases-cases in which
the tenants were paying moderate rents,
but in which it could be easily shown
that the rents were levied on improve
ments made by the tenants. The move
was supremely clever, and the govern
ment saw at once that it spoiled their
game, which was merely to reduce rents
to about the level of rents on the best
managed estates. We held that these
were rack rents, and proposed to prove
our contention. The government sup
pressed the league in consequence of the
adoption of this policy.
Mr.. Parnell was the originator of the
phrase, prairie value" and he gave a
powerful impetus to the agitation by the
use of the expression.
During the Tyrone election we drove
from Omagh to Cookstown, and that
meant crossing a mountain. AS we
neared the summit we got out of the
brake to walk, and on the top of the
mountain we paused to watch man at
work. He was breaking up some bog
land, and forming a potato patch. why"
said Mr.. Parnell, INSTEAD Of paying rent,
the man ought to be paid for doing that.
He is breaking up the prairie" When
we reached Cookstown, Parnell, adj
dressing vast multitude of people, de-
clared for prairie yalue-that is to say
that whatever rent was charged above
that was charged on the tenants i'm
provements.
He won men by his splendid fighting
powers, which were nowhere more con-
spicuously displayed than in the election
to which have just referred. But he
won men, too, by the wonderful patience
and responsiveness with which he rea-
soned with them. On the first Saturday
in the course of the Tyrone election in
1881, when l was the Nationalist candi-
date, Mr.. Parnell said to me: Nov,
which place of worship do you think
should attend tomorrow, Mr.. Rylett?"
Il think you should attend mine," re-
piled. l told him that my people could
not quite reconcile themselves to our OPP
position to Thomas Dickson, the Liberal
candidate. After the service he con-
versed for nearly two hours with my
committee and ruling elders, and after
wards dined with them, all the time lis
tening to their arguments, and meeting
them with a gentleness and force that
had the effect of completely winning
him over. A few days afterwards the
ruling elders wired to me: Tell Mr..
Parnell we quite agree with him. Go
ahead and we will support you" And
they did support me with loyalty and