The Scotsman of last Monday published a remarkable report from
four Edinburgh Liberal Unionists who went over to Ireland to judge the question for themselves, and who say :— "We made it one condition of going to Ireland that our hands should not be tied in any way ; that we should not simply be sent over to establish a foregone conclusion, bat that we should see with our own eyes the actual condition of the people, and hear with our own ears the reasons which are assigned for the precise position of affairs, and report accordingly. We visited all parts of the country, from Belfast and Londonderry to Waterford, Cork, and Killarney, being sometimes together and sometimes in different districts." The general drift of their report is that the rents fixed by the Courts are really fair rents; that the great majority of the tenants, except the very small holders, are able to pay ; and that terrorism prevents them from paying. They assert that in one instance, a tenant who beseeched to be given time, and admitted that he had the rent if only he dare pay it, told the land-agent, in the presence of one of their number, that if he paid, the priest would ask to see the money next time he called, and that on his being unable to show it, his life would not be worth twenty- four hours' purchase. Some of the priests themselves had stated to these Scotchmen that perjury, once very rare, is now very common amongst the tenantry. They found all those Irish districts where the League is most powerful in the worst state, and were convinced that, next to the League, the indolence and whisky-drinking of the people were most responsible for their misery. "The proportion of liquor-shops to the population is something appalling in places like Water- ford, Tralee, and Mitchelstown." The report is a most sober and temperate document, and we hope that it may have the influence it deserves in Edinburgh when Mr. Buchanan seeks his re-election as a Home-ruler.
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