Chapter 21
It is needless to say that Maryfort is a long way from Ennis. Every place is a long way from everywhere in this western part of Ireland--a fact, by the way, not unfrequently forgotten by critics of the much-criticised constabulary. Where gentlemen's houses and considerable villages are as much as fifteen miles apart, the area of country to be watched becomes quite unmanageable. Only those who have incurred the fearful loss of time in getting from place to place in Connaught can form an adequate idea of it. Despite the discouraging remarks of its critics, this well-drilled, well-grown corps of Royal Irish Constabulary remains as staunch and loyal as of old, but it is absurd to expect impossibilities. Galway to a person sitting comfortably in his own library appears to be overwhelmed with constables. I believe that there is, in fact, one constable to every fifty adult males in that county--an enormous proportion judged statistically, but yet slight enough when the vast area of the county and the miles of actual desert which separate one partially civilised spot from another are considered.
A large percentage of the constabulary is also deflected from general to special service in affording downright personal protection, and that modified protection known as "looking after" individuals. A hundred and twenty persons in Ireland are now receiving "personal protection," amounting to the constant attendance of never less than two constables, frequently to the residence of four or more on the premises or the property. At least eight hundred persons are being "looked after;" so that it is no exaggeration to state that twelve or thirteen hundred men are detached from the regular force on particular duty of the most harassing and vexatious kind. Wherever the person under protection chooses to go, at whatever hour, or in whatever weather, his "escort" must accompany him; for their orders are "not to lose sight of him" outside of his own door. This is a troublesome duty, sometimes greatly aggravated by the conduct of the protected persons, who take sudden fits and starts, and fly hither and thither in the oddest kind of way. The constables get no rest; they are perpetually harassed and exposed, and they are quite superior to the consolation of a "tip."
I say this deliberately, for on three several occasions I tried to give a drenched and half-frozen constable a reward for service rendered, not for information to be given, and on each and every occasion I met with a dignified refusal, accompanied by one man with a friendly caution not to attempt that sort of thing, as some of the men might be rough. I say that I did not ask for information, because I generally knew more than the constables, for the excellent reason that I had wider and better sources to draw upon. From the country folk it is absolutely impossible to glean any scrap of information. A question immediately shapes their countenances into a look of hopeless simplicity and guilelessness bordering upon idiocy. Persons in quest of information in the remote parts of Ireland put me in mind of the hunter of the Rocky Mountains, who, while he was trying to stalk some antelope, became aware that a grizzly bear was stalking him. The people find out all about the person seeking for knowledge, but he discovers nothing.
After this it is needless to say that the constabulary must of necessity be the last people to learn anything from the country folk, and that a London detective would be as much out of his element as "a salmon on a gravel walk."
Between Ennis and Maryfort we only met two brace of constables on the road, but we knew there were others with Mr. Hall, of Cluny, at Tulla, and other places within ten miles of Colonel O'Callaghan's house. There was a little gathering of people near the chapel at Bearfield, but in other respects the road was empty till we neared our destination, when a little crowd set up an Irish howl against us, followed by a shout of "Long live Parnell." Presently we came to Lismeehan gates, opened after a good steady look at us by an ancient retainer, in a grey frieze coat. I was told civilly enough that "the masther" was at home. Beyond a pretty park, full of well-bred cattle, lay the "Boycotted" house, tall and grey and grim, in the waning light. There was no sign of life in it. Under a handsome portico was the grand entrance, bolted and barred up, with shutters closed. There was nothing for it but to tug vigorously at the bell. Nobody came to the door, but around each corner of the house stepped an armed constable. A moment later a narrow slip of the shutter was moved, and we became aware first of a fur cap and then of a youthful face, which ultimately proved to be that of Colonel O'Callaghan's eldest son, home for the holidays from a great English school, and undergoing the "hardening" process of spending Christmas in a state of siege.
Presently came a maidservant, neat and trim, and after some wrestling with bolts the outer door was opened a little way, and our names and business demanded, after which we entered a great hall, apparently used as a refectory. Huge logs blazed on the hearth, and the room looked comfortable enough. We were next ushered into the drawing-room of Colonel O'Callaghan, who had just come in from herding his cattle and sheep, and was still girt with a brace of full-sized revolvers.
No whit dismayed by the attack made on him at Tulla, and holding his foes in very slight estimation, Colonel O'Callaghan is yet subjected to inconvenience and oppression of an extraordinary kind. The proximate cause of his being "Boycotted" was his action is serving four processes himself, because neither love nor money nor threats would induce a process-server to do his work. The country folk know quite well the difference between Land League law and the phantom which remains of the law of the land. The former is instantly enforced, the latter cannot be carried into effect at all, a fact which is telling upon its officers with discouraging effect.
Finding his writs could be served by nobody but himself, Colonel O'Callaghan started early one morning, attended by his escort, served the four writs himself, and then prepared to hold his own. Pigs were killed, barrels of flour and other stores were brought in, and the house provisioned to stand a siege. Recollection of old days in the Crimea, when Colonel O'Callaghan was in the 62nd Regiment, were revived under the provisioning process, which was by no means complete when he was formally "Boycotted," and left with 300 cattle and sheep upon his hands, with only one man to help him to look after them. Thirty odd herds, labourers, and other dependents have left Maryfort. Only three maid-servants, the old man at the gate, and another man now remain, and even the housemaid, who is Irish and a Roman Catholic, must be guarded to and from mass, amid the yells of the natives. It must be remembered that Maryfort is a lonely place, three miles from a post-office, and three times that distance from a railway station; that it is no light matter to send in and out for letters and parcels; and the emissary would, if unarmed, assuredly be stopped, if not maltreated. This difficulty of getting letters and fresh joints has been met in the latter case by falling back upon patriarchal customs. As Colonel O'Callaghan can neither sell his sheep nor buy mutton, he has taken to consuming his flock, albeit a sheep is a large animal to kill in a small family, and but for the winter weather the loss would be very great.
There is another annoyance--the risk of valuable cattle being houghed or otherwise mutilated; a risk calling for incessant watchfulness. That it is not of an imaginary nature is demonstrated by the fact that the tails were cut off of two of Mrs. Westropp's cows a few nights since, and a threatening letter, savagely coarse and brutal in its wording, was sent to that lady. There is no doubt about this, for I have seen the letter, in which reference is made to the cows and brutal treatment promised to Mrs. Westropp, a widow of small property.
The difficulty concerning letters, which it seems the postmaster at Callaghan's Mills is not compelled to deliver at Maryfort, is got over in another way. As we are discussing the question of supply, there enters to us a lady dressed in walking costume of studied simplicity. This is the terrible Mrs. O'Callaghan, of whom I had heard wonderful stories in Clare and Limerick; "And begorra," said one informant, "it's herself that's a divil of a lady entoirely, and she shoots rabbuts wid a rifle at three hundred yards and niver misses, and she tould 'um at the village that she'd as soon shoot one of 'um as a rabbut, and she is the sisther of Misthress Dick Stacpoole, of Edenvale. They was the Miss Westropps, your honour, out of county Limerick, and it is thim as makes their husbands the tyrants that they are." This account made me wonder at two things--firstly, at the astounding power of lying and exaggeration displayed by my interlocutor; and secondly, where the old Irish gallantry towards the fair sex has gone to. It seems to have gone very far, for one hears now of ladies being shot at. But, although not impressed with the truth of the information vouchsafed to me, I expected to see at least an Irish version of Lady Macbeth, instead of the graceful, well-dressed, thorough-bred Irish gentlewoman who had just come from a long walk to the post-office and back. Since the boy who used to carry the letter bag was frightened away, Mrs. O'Callaghan has taken up his duties, and, armed with rifle and revolver, performs them daily.
With the case of Miss Ellard, and other ladies, before my eyes, I cannot blame Mrs. O'Callaghan for going about armed, and maintaining a defiant attitude towards the people, who really go in bodily fear of her. There is, as I have observed, nothing to terrify in the look or voice of Mrs. O'Callaghan, but I gradually gather from her conversation that it is not all romance about her wonderful shooting. If not at three hundred, yet at thirty yards she can hit a rabbit cleverly enough, and actually does go out rabbit shooting "for the pot" to relieve the monotony of everlasting pig and sheep. Mrs. O'Callaghan is also nearly as good a shot with the revolver as her husband, and would certainly not hesitate to use that weapon in self-defence.
Such is the present _personnel_ of Maryfort at this moment, affording a sketch of manners reminding one rather of a Huguenot family in southern France just after receiving the news of St. Bartholomew, than of any social condition extant in modern Europe.
As we drive out into the darkness and heavily-falling snow there is some debate touching the lighting of the carriage lamps. It is thought better not to light up, and to keep firearms handy until we get some miles from Maryfort.
A howl pierces through the darkness as we pass a clump of houses, and I remark that my friend's coachman drives very fast by any house on the road; but nothing occurs till we stop at a "shebeen" to light both cigars and lamps, for the snowstorm is increasing. Not desiring refreshment, I give the woman of the house a shilling for a drink for a man who is sitting by the fire. I explain the nature of the transaction to him, and wish him a happy new year. The sulky brute answers me never a word. Probably he knows or suspects where I have been, and if so would let me lie on the ground under a kicking horse till an end was made of me rather than stretch forth a hand. He will not speak now, and I observe that the woman, who has kept a tight hold on the shilling, has not poured out any whisky, although she has had the decency to ask me if I wished for any. It is a strange sight, this sullen silent savage sitting scowling over the fire; but _on se fait à tout_ in Disturbed Ireland.
LONDON: R. CLAY, SONS, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS.
MESSRS. MACMILLAN & CO.'S PUBLICATIONS.
NEW BOOKS ON IRELAND.
NEW VIEWS ON IRELAND, OR IRISH LAND GRIEVANCES AND REMEDIES. By CHARLES RUSSELL, Q.C., M.P. Crown 8vo, cloth. 2s. 6d.
"They should be studied by every one who desires to understand the existing crisis in Ireland."--SPECTATOR.
"Mr. Russell has undoubtedly done his best by careful observation to arrive at the prevalent evils and their causes, and he has honestly and sincerely propounded his remedial scheme. His work is worthy of careful perusal."--EXAMINER.
THE LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND OF A LANDLORD WHO TRIED TO DO HIS DUTY. By W. BENCE JONES, of Lisselan. Crown 8vo. 6s.
"Mr. Bence Jones has written an interesting and instructive book, but not the least enlightening part of it is the preface. This is dated the 12th of December, 1880. He had just been threatened with 'Boycotting,' which he now undergoes."--ST. JAMES'S GAZETTE.
"Mr. Bence Jones, every one must own, has a fair claim to be heard, and no one can be in a position properly to discuss Irish affairs till he has read his really valuable book."--LITERARY WORLD.
THE IRISH LAND LAWS. By ALEXANDER G. RICHEY, Q.C.; LL.D., Deputy Regius Professor of Feudal and English Law in the University of Dublin. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.
"To all who, either as legislators or publicists, are called on to take part in the present controversy, the book will prove invaluable. The relation of the work to the discussions which now occupy so much attention, is well expressed ... It would be difficult to find any series of legislative problems stated with greater clearness, sequence, and precision. We can recommend this little book to all who speak, write, or seriously think upon this question, in or out of Parliament."--TIMES.
"This book cannot fail to do good ... Mr. Richey writes throughout fairly, and in no partisan or controversial spirit, and his book is a contribution of great value to the discussion in which we now find ourselves involved."--ST. JAMES'S GAZETTE.
THE IRISH CRISIS, being a Narrative of the Measures for the Relief of the Distress caused by the Great Irish Famine of 1846--47. By SIR CHARLES TREVELYAN, Bart., K.C.B. 8vo. Price 2s. 6d.
THE LAND-WAR IN IRELAND: A HISTORY FOR THE TIMES. By JAMES GODKIN, Author of "Ireland and Her Churches," late Irish Correspondent of the _Times_. Demy 8vo. 12s.
MACMILLAN AND CO., LONDON.
MESSRS. MACMILLAN & CO.'S PUBLICATIONS.
BY THE RIGHT HON. HENRY FAWCETT, M.P.
THE ECONOMIC POSITION OF THE BRITISH LABOURER. Extra fcap. 8vo. 5s.
SPEECHES ON SOME CURRENT POLITICAL QUESTIONS. 8vo. 10s. 6d.
CONTENTS:--Indian Finance--The Birmingham League--Nine Hours Bill--Election Expenses--Women's Suffrage--Household Suffrage in Counties--Irish University Education, &c.
FREE TRADE and PROTECTION. An Inquiry into the Causes which have retarded the general adoption of Free Trade since its Introduction into England. Third Edition. 8vo. 7s. 6d.
BY W.T. THORNTON, C.B.
LATE SECRETARY FOR PUBLIC WORKS IN THE INDIA OFFICE.
A PLEA for PEASANT PROPRIETORS, with the Outlines of a Plan for their Establishment in Ireland. New Edition. Crown 8vo. 7s. 6d.
ON LABOUR; its Wrongful Claims and Rightful Dues, Actual Present and Possible Future. Second Edition, revised. 8vo. 14s.
The LAND QUESTION, with Particular Reference to England and Scotland. By JOHN MACDONEL, Barrister-at-Law. 8vo. 10s. 6d.
LAWRENCE BLOOMFIELD in IRELAND; or, The New Landlord. Cheaper Issue with New Preface. By WILLIAM ALLINGHAM. Fcap. 8vo. 4s. 6d.
COMMENTARIES on the LIBERTY of the SUBJECT, and the LAWS of ENGLAND RELATING to the SECURITY of the PERSON. By JAMES PATERSON, Barrister-at-Law. Cheaper Issue. Two vols. Crown 8vo. 21s.
The LIBERTY of the PRESS, SPEECH, and PUBLIC WORSHIP. Being Commentaries on the Liberty of the Subject and the Laws of England. By JAMES PATERSON, Barrister-at-Law. Crown 8vo. 12s.
MACMILLAN AND CO., LONDON.
* * * * *
* * * * *
+--------------------------------------------------------------+ | Typographical errors corrected in text: | | | | Page 14: escert replaced with escort | | Page 24: similiar replaced with similar | | Page 44: licence replaced with license | | Page 75: 'kings men' replaced with 'king's men' | | Page 149: posssble replaced with possible | | Page 218: 'he split upon it' replaced with | | 'be split upon it' | | | +--------------------------------------------------------------+
* * * * *