Mr. Biggar, who usually keeps himself well within the law,.
and reserves all violence for Parliament, has this week run an unusual risk. In a speech at Tallow, County Carlow, he is reported to have said :—" Of course, they were bound to speak against outrages ; but if a man was a member of an organisation like the Land League, and took land directly or indirectly from which another man had been evicted, he thought that man should be asked to cease to be a member of that organisation ; and the best way was to keep him out- side of any social arrangements, and perhaps, to some extent, outside business arrangements. He did not make- any recommendation ; but they should give constant notice to the people who acted in this improper manner." That is un- mistakeable advice to boycott any one who takes land vacated by eviction. It is not probable that the Government will honour Mr. Biggar by making him a martyr, but the incident reveals one of the grand perplexities of Irish Administration. If Mr. Biggar is prosecuted, a man of no weight, despised even by his own party, is raised into importance; if he is passed over, Mr. Healy may complain, with justice, that the Government does not execute the law, but picks victims.
Previous page
