NEWS OF THE WEEK • 'T HE landlords of Ireland met
"in their thousands" in Dublin on Tuesday, in the Exhibition Palace. One duke, five mar- quises, twenty-two earls, eight viscounts, and twenty-two barons, with about 3,000 estated gentlemen, were present. The proceed- ings were most orderly, all speakers declared that they "sub- mitted to" the Land Act, the speeches, though feeble, were argu- mentative, and the resolutions were carried unanimously. They were, in brief, that the Land Act was being administered "in a manner at variance with the pledge that it would not diminish the value or disturb the foundations of property;" that the posi- tion, antecedents, and status of many of the Assistant-Commis- sioners did not command the confidence of suitors and the public ; that their valuations were made hurriedly and on im- perfect evidence ; and that the effect of their decisions should be stayed until appeals had been heard. The tone of the meet- ing was extremely depressed, and, as we have pointed out else- where, the true hope of the landlords evidently rested in com- pensation. The chief speakers were the Duke of Abercor-a and Mr. Kavanagh, but Mr. R. J. Mahoney, who threatened that landlords, avoiding, as they had always done, all sedition, would emigrate en mane to some country where the law did not con- fiscate investments, obtained the loudest and most cordial ap- plause. There was a genuine eloquence in his address, wanting in most of the remaining speeches, though, unfortunately for his cause, an emigration of landlords is precisely what Mr.
Parnell would heartily approve.
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