med intervention. The civil
bill creditor can only levy execution where anything exists to levy
upon; but the landlord can turn his tenants out of doors and put the
key in his pocket--that is, theoretically. But, it is argued, if this
cannot be done without the aid of an army, it would be better for the
majority of peaceable inhabitants if it were left alone. It is not
easy to predict the state of popular feeling here in January next; but
it is quite certain that attempts to evict, if made now, would be met
by armed resistance. I have already stated that Mayo is armed to the
teeth, and I have good reason for believing county Galway to be in a
similar condition. This being fairly well known on the spot, it is
quite easy to understand how any resolution to commence a landlords'
crusade is received by the public.

LETTERFRACK, CONNEMARA, _Wednesday._

At this pretty village, in the most beautiful part of the West of
Ireland, I hear that the disinclination to pay rent and the desire to
"hunt" grazing farmers out of the country have spread to the once
peaceful region of Connemara. Three years ago crime and police were
alike unknown. The people were poor, and preserved the sense of having
been wronged. But theft and violence, saving a broken head now and
then, were unknown.

Within the last two years a great change has come over this remote
corner of Ireland. Police barracks have made their appearance, and
outrages of the agrarian class have become disagreeably frequent.
Formerly cattle and sheep were as safe on the mountain as oats in the
stackyard. Now nobody of the grazing farmer class is entirely free
from alarm. At any moment his animals may be driven into the sea or
his ricks fired. The population, if not so fully armed as that of
Mayo, is arming rapidly. To my certain knowledge revolvers and
carbines are being distributed among the peasantry of Connemara
proper. This district--which including within its limits the pretty
village I write from, as well as Clifden and Ballynahinch, lies mainly
between the seashore and a line drawn from Leenane to Carna--has,
during the last twelve months become disturbed in such wise that it is
impossible to shut one's eyes to the fact that here, as in Mayo, a
sort of dead set is being made against grazing farmers. It is true
that life is not taken, and, it may be added, not even threatened in
Connemara proper, but outrages of a cowardly and destructive kind are
common. During last