Kentucky Irish American. (Louisville, Ky.) 1898-1968, 1898-10-29
REDVERS H. BUTLER
Left an Honorable Record in
ireland for Speaking
the Truth.

Redvers II. Butler, " c., who has lust.
been gazetted to command the troops at
Aldershot, vice the Duke of Connaugbt
and Strathearn, was formerly Under Sec
rotary for Ireland during the plan of
campaign days. Like the late Gen. Cor
don and the late Sir George Grav. this
honest English soldier has left an honor
able record in Ireland for bluntly sneak
ing the truth as to the relations between
landlord and tenant in the South of Ire
land without regard to the conventional
"officia" views of the time, saws the
Dublin Independent. He was witness
before the Cowper Commission. His evil
dence was so candid and pertinent that
when Sir Charles Russell was arguing be-
fore the Parnell Commission that the Ma.
tional League was not responsible for the
agrarian disturbances in the County Ker-
ry he read out the whole of Sir Redvers
Buffers evidence and adopted it as his
case.
1t was the time previous to the land
act, 1887, when the Irish Government,
under Sir Michael Hicks Beach. was
bringing pressure within the law" upon
the landlords to induce them to meet the
fall OF prices by voluntarily granting re-
auctions of rent. Sir Redvers Butler. in
his evidence, supported this policy: "a
think the Judge, when an electment was
brought into court, should have the dis
cretion OF saying whether he would evict
or not. There should be some means of
modifying and redressing the grievances
OF rents being still higher than the people
can pay. You have got very ignorant,
poor people and the law should look after
them, instead of which it has only looked
after the rich. You can never have peace
in this part of the country unless YOU Gre
ate some legal equipoise or legal equiva-
lent that will supply the want of freedom
OF contract that now exists between land
lord and tenant-some legal machinery
which should give the tenant an eouiva-
lent for the pressure that the landlord is
able to put on him owing to his love of
the land"
Sir Redvers Butler proceeded to cite
specific cases of tenants being evicted>
whom he had clear evidence could not
possibly pay their rents He boldly iusti-
ned the view held by the people that "the
League has been their salvation" And
he showed that the only check upon evic-
tons was that the landlords had found
out that it did not pay to evict. He gave
statistics of the large extent of land living
derelict round the town of Killarney.
His cross-examination was equally strik-
ing: THE result is that it is no longer
possible to enforce legal obligation? Yes,
quite so. That hardly looks as if the law
was all for the rich1 The law-well, there
is not much law in this part of the coun-
try; but short time ago what law there
was was really all on the side of the rich"
Sir Redvers Butler won his Victoria Cross
in the Zulu war of 1879. He has served
in China, 1860; in the Canadian Red
River Exposition, 1870; in the Ashantee
war, 1874; Kaffir war, 1873, and Zulu war,
1889. He has held all the best staff an
pointments since. He is not vet sixty
years of age. He was created Under
Secretary for Ireland almost Immediately
after his evidence before the Cowper
Commission.