The inevitable split has taken place in Ireland among the
evicted tenants. Certain members of the Association are dis- satisfied with the position taken up at the recent interview with Mr. Morley, and they have accordingly seceded, and on Tuesday last addressed a letter of protest to the Chief Secretary. They point out that the persons on whose behalf be was interviewed are not " bonii-fide evicted tenants, but impudent impostors," and that they themselves are the only genuine victims of " landlord rapacity." They look, they tell Mr. Morley, to Mr. Gladstone as " their destined liberator." " God grant," they exclaim, " we may not be mistaken. Yet we do not stoop to the deceit of saying that we hold your Government blameless for the state of affairs. On the contrary, it has largely con- tributed towards our present grievances. We are aware:there is a party here busying themselves about evicted tenants, seeking interviews which you kindly granted, but who eschew the ordeal of a Royal Commission, the reason being that they have not a semblance of a grievance, and that their claims will not bear the test of an investigation." It is difficult to imagine a situation more Irish or more extraordinary. At one time, the evicted tenants' movement was looked on as:the thing which united Nationalists of all shades. Now, how- ever, that has split, not down the middle, but across the grain. It is a curious proof of how little the Irish people really care for Home-rule, that while these ridiculous squabbles are interesting all Ireland, no one mentions Home-rule. The Irish farmer who remarked : " While Home-rule was% long way off, we liked it very much as something to wound England with. Now that we have got near it, we don't want it at all," knew his countrymen.
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