14 JANUARY 1882, Page 3

Michael Davitt, the real originator of the Land League, now

in prison at Portland, has been visited by Mrs. A. M. Sullivan. He remains, as ever, a dangerous Nationalist ; but, like all who have imbibed that injurious, but not ignoble, faith, he is utterly opposed to seeking his end through crime. He denounced outrages utterly, declared that it had been his object to put an end to them ; and as to the practice of hough- ing or maiming animals, " which were unable to protect them- selves," he "looked on any one guilty of such detestable practices as an enemy to his country." We wish Michael Davitt could make his voice heard by his countrymen, but they only hear advice which agrees with their own passions. The cutting•off of cows' tails because their owners have paid rent was recently openly advocated, and Mrs. Sullivan, who told Davitt thatthe outrages were exaggerated by the English papers, admitted to him that the reports of the attacks on the dumb beasts were true. They prejudice all Irishmen in the eyes of all Englishmen more than any other incidents in the contest. They bespeak men not only cruel, but utterly lost to the most elementary ideas of justice.