A CURE FOR BOYCOTTING.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPRCTATOR."1 SIR,—In your paper of - October 9th, referring to a case of successful resistance to boycotting, you ask why the same course- has not been pursued by others. In reply, I would say that it has, and with such success that the League limit boycotting now to those who are not in a position to resist, such as the small farmer and small shopkeeper.
Indeed, direct attacks on landlords have almost ceased ; their- object now is to force the farmer to "fall into line," and by a. "no-rent" movement drive the propertied class out of the country.
Up to 1879, Parnellism did not get beyond the stage of academic discussion ; in the autumn of that year, Mr. Parnell took advantage of a bad season to turn it into an agrarian movement.. At once he had a large following ; the people were taught to demand the three "F's." To his great surprise, it was granted them in the fullest manner by the Land Act ; consequently, that Act met with Mr. Parnell's strenuous opposition. Had the Government of the day stood firm, agitation would have long since ceased. Now the people are beginning to realise that England has at last made up her mind ; that, in fact, John Bull is awake and putting on his boots. And what is the conse- quence ? In spite of the most violent speeches, of exhortations to "put their backs against the wall," and other suchlike rant,. rents are being paid better than they have been for years.
The only people not sick and tired of this long-continued agitation are the Parnellite M.P.'s. Not a farmer in the country who would not tell you in confidence that he was weary of the whole thing. Whether it should cease or not, rests entirely with the Government. What is unintelligible to the loyal, law- abiding Irishman, and what has strained his loyalty to the utmost pitch, has been the English cant about coercion, and
England's refusal to suppress the League. Many a time, indeed, has the Parnellite assertion seemed only too true,—that her governing instincts were gone, and that she was nothing more now than a flabby, overgrown, decrepit body. That the future may prove this to be false, is the sincere wish of your humble
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