Mr. P. J. Smyth, the Nationalist Member for Tipperary, a
man as eager for the independence of Ireland as Mr. Parnell, has received a message from the Town Commissioners condemn- ing his vote on the Closure, and has replied in a letter of vehement protest against the Land League, and "its diabolical operations." He asks the Commissioners if they know that the Closure existed in the old Irish Parliament, and declares that he, at least, never agreed to "a policy based on No-rent and its attendant crime." He never agreed to a line of action "which has shaken in many patriotic Irishmen their belief in Ireland's capacity for self-government." "Go to, and cease your babbling about things you do not understand. Look around, and if you are not utterly lost to every sense of patriotic and human feeling, weep for a land reduced to a con- dition of savagery ! See the poor and honest man shot down in his cabin, in the midst of his little ones ; see the gentle and blameless lady massacred in her carriage ; see these things, and reserve your curses for that League of Hell that has brought all this ruin, all this shame and dishonour upon our nation !" If every Irishman who feels like Mr. Smyth were as courageous, the Land League would very speedily be suppressed.
