The anti-rent agitation in Ireland is producing evil fruit. Lord
Normanton has, it is true, written to the Pall Mall Gazette to deny that his tenants at Emly have refused to pay rent; but the Marquis of Headfort and his agent, Mr. O'Connor, have received threatening letters, and on Tuesday a desperate attempt was made to assassinate the Marquis of Sligo's agent, Mr. Sidney Smith. Three or four shots were fired at his car on the road from Westport, and his son, in de- fending himself, shot one of the assailants, an ex-militiaman, dead. It is suggested that the threatening letters sent to the Marquis of Hcadfort are mere inventions, but the language used at the anti-rent meetings indicates that the thought of assassination has become familiar, and it is probable that during the winter we shall hear of numerous outrages. On the other hand, it is stated that iu sonic of the distressed districts the rent is paid as usual, and in one instance— near Mallow—the farmers refused a reduction of 15 per cent., saying that the rent was a fair one, and they would not tax the landlord. The agitation will probably die out, as the law is irresistible, but not until it has produced a feeling in England that Irish tenants are contending not for rights, but for plunder. We have always fought for fixity of tenure, but to refuse rent without resigning the farm is, in plain English, to steal.
