The Irish standard., 1908-02-22
IRELAND PEACEFUL
Despite All Reports Of English
Papers.
Cattle Driving as an Agitation
For Reform.

So much misinformation about the
condition Of Ireland is cabled to Amer
lea through the agency of London
news associations, which newspapers
on this side of the Atlantic sometimes
print in good faith, that serious an
noyance is felt by Irishmen in this
situation in the Little Green Isle" At
the present critical period in the af-
fairs Of Ireland the English press is
flooded with long dispatches telling
that a "reign Of terror" exists in Ire
land. Graphic word PICTURES are drawn
of the carnival of crime," as it is
sometimes described. Strangely, but
significantly enough, writes VIM. r.
Mclaughlin in the New York World.
very little Of this matter includes any
actual statement Of fact or specific in
cident Of a criminal or terrorizing
character. 80
The whole object Of this sudden jim
go outbreak appears to be to stop the
progress of the feeling of consideration
for Ireland's rights that is steadily
forcing itself into the minds of liberal
Englishmen.
Most of these tales of horrible do
ings in Ireland are based on what are
described as cattle-driving out
breaks" If one should not read be-
tween the lines of those dispatches he
would picture to himself bands of des-
perate men, masked and armed, like
"Whitecaps" of the Eastern States,
the Might Riders" of Kentucky, swoop-
ing down on some guileless landlord
or big grazier. shooting him up" or
otherwise soaring him into fits, prep
aratory to driving his herds of cattle
and steep off their rich pastures.
But it does not happen just that
way. There are in ireland at present
thirty large estates the landlords Of
which refuse to sell to their tenants
under the provisions of the Land Pur-
chase act: The tenants Of these es-
tates were long ago evicted from the
choicest lands, which We're later de-
voted to the fattening of cattle and
sheep for the English market. The
tenants. finding that all reasonable Of
fers for the purchase of these estates
are declined, have determined to bring
accordingly there are occasional dem
onstrations during which cattle are
driven off the grazing lands, to the
accompaniment generally Of the viii
lage band-the great joy Of the small
boys of the district-who are often the
active agents in the demonstration.
Next day half a dozen young chaps
may be arrested and taken before a
Magistrate, who is usually landlord
and they are set free in nine cases out
of ten.
There is pathos back Of some Of
those cattle driving incidents. Hare is
the latest one recorded in the Mayo
News: e;
"On Saturday night the Mallow farm
midway between Swinford and Fox
ford, was cleared of some forty-seven
cows and eight sheep. The farm, which
runs along the shore Of the lakes, was
formerly the site of number Of COM
Portable homesteads which were wiped
off the map at the whim of one of the
Joynt family. 1t is now occupied as
a grazing farm by Mr. Gaughan, of
Foxford. The old occupants. some of
whom still live among the rocks Of
Carne Hill, are looking forward with
hope to the restoration of their old
holdings. s-. .-t
"The cattle driven off on Saturday
night were found next morning at
Oldcastle, on the lands of Mr.. P. ].
O'Rorke, where they had devoured a
quantity of hay belonging to couple
Of small farmers adjoining"
There were no arrests in this case.
Nobody in that region takes those af-
fairs seriously except the wretcl,ed
but still hopeful evicted tenants who
were turned out on the roadside to
make room for the cattle and "who
still live among the rocks" and Awho
look forward to the restoration of their
old holdings"
ireland suffers considerably from
the effects Of blatherskite "commis-
sioners," who are rushed across the
Channel by English newspapers to
write long and narrowing articles on
the conditions existing there. The idea
is to show that the Irish are a shfftless
and vicious race. Sometimes American
correspondents do the same. They all
follow. well-defined routine. They
go into the most poverty-stricken dis
tricts; they picture the wretchedness