The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1902-04-25
TRIAL BY JURY SUSPENDED IN
NINE COUNTIES.
TO CRUSH. OUT THE LEAGUE
Would coerce Tenants Into Paying
More Than Market Price for
Their Holdings.

brate the coronation of Edward VII
as 1t celebrated the first jubilee Of
Queen Victoria-with jails full Of po-
litical prisoners convicted by what is
considered there mockery of law.
With unbridled police rule to exasper-
ate the, people, the Irish leaders can
no longer be responsible for conse-
quences.
Never has coercion been so gratui-
tiously applied In Ireland as by Irish
Secretary Wyndham's p%roclaiming
nine counties under the crimes act.
Never has it caused such bitter re-
sentiment. Being called upon in the
house Of commons by John Redmond
and the Irish to justify his action,
Mr.. Wyndham utterly failed to make
out a case for extortional legislation.
He was only able to give v cases
Of real boycotting throughout Ireland,
admitting that no crimes Of violence
or OF q serious character had arisen
from the agrarian question and could
not deny that, taken all around, Iret
land has less crime than any other
country in Europe at present, and
has had less for some time back. !
Object Of Coercion.
The real object of the coercion is
to crush the league and thus enable
the landlords to get higher rates for
the purchase of their holdings than
the United Irish league advises the
tenants to pay. The issuing of the
proclamation putting the crimes act
in force was due to the influence of
Lord Londonderry, now in the cabinet,
who is the leader Of the Irish landlord
party and to the melting and the
gross exaggeration OF circumstances
by certain London newspapers, whose
pictures of conditions in Ireland Sec
reary Wyndham himself acknowledge
ed were ridiculous universities of the
truth.
In order to coerce the tenants into
paying more than the market price for
their holdings the British cabinet has
suspended trial by jury in nine u
ties, which have 1900. 900 inhabitants,
whose liberties r placed at the
mercy of two police magistrates who
were known to acquit anybody;
who, without legal knowledge, have
jurisdiction in a vague charge of con-
spiracy and who, If they fail to con-
yict, may be Immediately transferred
or dismissed. 4
Taken From Home for Trial.
Moreover, no n charged with any
offense indictable before q jury can
be tried in his own county, but at the
request Of the attorney general venue
must be changed to any other part of
Ireland.
Under this power nationalist ten
ants, whom there, a no chance for
convicting anywhere else, have been
taken to Belfast to be tried by an
orange jury.
In short, every nationalist in those
nine counties is deprived Of every
constitutional right-and is placed alb
solutely in the power Of any police
man who considers him influential
among his fellows and chooses to
trump UP any kind of a charge to
bring him before the removable mag
istrates. The government does not
even make any preterse of doing any
thing for the admitted grievances OF
tenants, and the land purchase bill
introduced in the house Of commons
before Easter was dropped simultan-
eously with the adoption of coercion.
In fact, it was never intended to pass
the land bill.