The Irish Land League Crisis
A SHORT time since it was rumored that Parnell, the founder of the Land League, was again to visit the United States. This he declines to do, preferring to remain in Ireland and Parliament during the present crisis. In an address recently sent to the National Land League, he states that the Irish members which were expelled from Parliament have decided to remain in their places, and offer every possible resistance to the passage of the Coercion and Arms bills. He does not think that arrests will be frequent in Ireland, and urges the Leagues to continue their organizations just as before, and have others ready to take the place of those who may be arrested. "By this policy of passive endurance," he adds, "Irish people will command the respect of the world, and prove themselves worthy of freedom." Of the tenant farmers he says, "They are not called upon to make a great sacrifice, or run much risk themselves. They are simply asked not to pay unjust rents, and to refuse to take farms from which others have been ejected for such refusals." In view of such statements as these, and the fact that the door of Mr. Gladstone's residence is guarded night and day, to prevent Fenian attack, and that the Prime Minister of England for like prudential reasons is accompanied by police when he goes to the House of Commons, there is little reason to wonder that the question is regarded as an urgent one.