al of misconception concerning
the condition of the people of the West and their attitude towards
their landlords will be got rid of by substituting it for the word
"farmer." It is absurd to compare the tenant of a small holding in
Mayo with an English farmer--properly so called. The latter is a man
engaged in a large business, and must possess, or, as I regret to be
obliged to write, _have been_ possessed of capital. The misuse of the
word farmer and its application to the little peasant cultivators here
can only lead to confusion. The proper standard of comparison with the
so-called Mayo farmer is the English farmer's labourer. In education,
in knowledge of his trade, in the command of the comforts of life, a
Mayo cultivator of six, eight or ten acres is the analogue of the
English labourer at fourteen shillings per week. The latter has nearly
always a better cottage than the Mayo man, and, taking the whole year
round, is about as well off as the Irishman. The future of neither is
very bright. The Wessex hind may jog on into old age and the
workhouse; the Irishman may be ruined and reduced to a similar
condition at once by a failure of his harvest. Neither has any
capital, yet the Irishman obtains an amount of credit which would
strike Hodge dumb with amazement. He is allowed to owe, frequently one
year's, sometimes two years' rent. Indeed, I know of one particularly
tough customer who at this moment owes three years' rent--to wit,
24l.--and will neither pay anything nor go. Now for an English
labourer to obtain credit for a five-pound note would be a remarkable
experience. His cottage and his potato patch cost him from one to two
shillings per week; but who ever heard of his owing six months', let
alone three years', rent? But this is the country of credit; and, so
far as I have seen, nobody is in a violent hurry either to pay or to
be paid, bating those who have lent money on mortgage. And even they
are not in a hurry to foreclose just now.

CASTLEBAR, _Oct. 28._

The marked--I had almost written ostentatious--absence of weapons at
the meetings of the last two Sundays has attracted great attention.
From perfectly trustworthy information I gather that appearances are
in this matter more than usually deceitful. It is impossible to doubt
that the large population of this country is armed to the teeth. Since
the expiration of the Peace Preservation Act the purchase of firearms
has been incessant. At the stores in We