THE IRISH LAND QUESTION.
[To TON EDITOR Or THE "SPECTATOR."]
SIR,—I do not attempt to prolong the controversy concerning Irish land which has (I understand by an oversight) been continued into your last issue. But I think I am entitled to make two corrections on points of fact. Mr. John Boraston says that, "by a singular oversight," I "omit to mention" that Colonel Everard has broken up his land for the purpose of growing tobacco. Not more, and I think a great deal less, than ten per cent. of Colonel Everarcre tillage-land is under tobacco; and I cannot admit that Mr. Boraston is more accurate in his statement of Colonel Everard's view on tillage in general (a view publicly expressed and canvassed) than of the other fact.
Your other correspondent, " Altera Pars," asserts that Nationalist Members of Parliament encourage "agitation and lawlessness" because they bring in subscriptions,—in other words, that we act in the interest of our pockets. Reference to the financial statement of the United Irish League (to which he refers me) shows that the subscriptions in 1905 and 1906 were a great deal higher than in the two following years. And in 1905-6 the country was quieter than at almost any other period.
Charges of bad faith and dishonest motives are frequently made by Unionists against Nationalist politicians. The two instances which I have dealt with offer a fair example of the solidity of the grounds upon which such charges are based.—
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