We may judge of the effect produced by this unexpected scene that the League had organised to give a new proof of its power. The arrangement has now lasted for two years; the seventy evicted families are supported at the expense of the League; the land on which these huts are built belongs to farms in the neighbourhood; they are regularly let to the tenants who occupy them. Some landlords wished to protest; but they were threatened with Lord Cloncurry’s fate, and so their opposition subsided.
At the same time, Lord Cloncurry has not yielded one inch. He put some cows into the boycotted fields, and curiously enough, their tails have not been cut off--an immunity that they probably owe to the fact that, on its side the authorities have stationed two or three bodies of police in the empty farms, and that the fields are patrolled by well-armed constables every night.
At Dublin, Mr. Harrington had told me about this business, recommending me to go and visit the Land League huts. It appears that the Association has profited so much by their action on this occasion, that in spite of the great expense entailed, it has built other huts under similar circumstances in other parts of Ireland. It is certain that the seventy men whom the League has supported in idleness during the last two years must be invaluable agents, and the whole proceeding also serves as a very fine advertisement for the League.
After a few minutes’ walk, we reached a place by the roadside where two of these huts are built. I wished to visit them, in spite of the Colonel’s advice, for he warned me that having been seen with him, I might expect a very cold reception, and might even be most unceremoniously turned out. “For,” said he, “these men are the most desperate fellows in the country!”
And, in fact, it at first seemed very probable that his words would be verified. In the first house I entered a woman was sitting near the door peeling potatoes; five or six children of different ages were in the corners; the husband, a great fellow with a bad physiognomy, was seated near the window, smoking his pipe, with his hat on and both hands in his pockets.
“Good morning, madam!” said I pleasantly, as I entered. “Good morning, sir!”