When Mr. Russell pointed out to one of the priests
present the real nature of the tenants' position, he received an answer such as could have been made nowhere but in Ireland, —" Yes, but you must bear in mind that the ' Plan' has been in operation for eighteen months, and they have not been able to cultivate land, as would otherwise have been the nose." Into the other cases quoted by Mr. Russell we cannot enter. We must, however, quote some of the striking things noticed by Mr. Russell, and said to him by the tenants. Not one of
them, he tells us, before eviction failed to say that it would not " trouble him to pay,"—i.e., tha t he could pay quite well if he would or if he dared. "I could pay ten years' rent," said one man ; " but I should pay it dearly, for it would be with my life ;" while another who offered " to pay when the trouble was over," and was thereupon asked to go and speak to Mr. Russell, in order that the matter might be arranged by him, replied,—" Do you want me to be murdered ?" We must remember that Mr. Russell is very far from a friend of the landlords.
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