I have, at last, heard of a model landlord; not that I have not heard
of good landlords before, as Mr. Humphreys and Mr. Stewart, of Ards, in
Donegal. I have seen also the effects of good landlordism. When passing
through the Galgorm estate I saw the beneficial changes wrought on that
place by Mr. Young; but I have heard of many hard landlords, seen much
misery as the result of the present land tenure, and I did feel glad to
hear men praising a landlord without measure. It was a pleasant change.
This landlord who has won such golden opinions is Lord Belmore, of
Castle Coole. "The Land League has gained no adherents on his estate,"
says one to me, "because he is such a just man. He is a man who will
decide for what he thinks right though he should decide to his own hurt.
Eviction has never occurred on his place; there is no rack rent, no
vexatious office rules."
As I have listened to story after story of tyranny on the Leitrim
estate, so here I listened to story after story of the strict justice
and mercy of Lord Belmore. His residence of Castle Coole is outside of
Enniskillen a little, and is counted very beautiful. Of course I went to
get a peep at it, because he is a lord whom all men praise. "His
tenants," said one, "not only do not blame him but they glory in him.
Why should they join the Land League? They get all it promises without
doing so." As we drove along I heard his justice, his sense of right,
his praise, in short, repeated in every way possible. I have noticed
about this lord that to mention his name to any one who knows him is
quite enough to set them off in praise of him. As he is not an immensely
wealthy peer, but has been obliged to part with some of his property, it
is the more glorious the enthusiastic good name he has won for himself.
We drove across a long stretch of gravel drive through scenery like
fairyland. A fair sheet of water lay below the house, bordered by trees
that seemed conscious of their owner's renown by the way they tossed
their heads upward and spread their branches downward, as saying, "Look
at us: everything here bears examination and demands admiration." Swans
ruffled their snowy plumage and sailed with stately bendings of their
white necks across the lake. Wild geese with the lameness of perfect
confidence grouped themselves on the shore or played in the water. Coots
swam about in their peculiar bobbing way, as if they were up to fun in
some sly manner of their own. Across the lake were sloping hills rising
gently from the water arrayed in the brightest of green. Grand stately
trees stood with the regal repose of a grand dame, every fold of their
leafy dress arranged with the skilful touch of that superb artist, Dame
Nature.
My driver, with a becoming awe upon him of the magnificent grounds, the
stately house and the high-souled lord, drove along the most
unfrequented paths, and we came, in the rear of the great house, to a
quaint little saw-mill in a hollow, a toy affair that did not mean
business, but such as a great lord might have as a proper appanage to
wide land and as a convenience to retainers.
After some whispered consultation with the man in charge, it was
certified that we might drive round, quite round the castle, and,
favored by fortune, might chance to see the housekeeper and get
permission to see the inside of the house. I knew the house was very
nice by intuition; it was very extensive, and I was sure held any
quantity of pleasant and magnificent rooms; but someway I did not desire
to go through it. I should have liked to have seen its lord, this modern
Aristides, whom I was not tired of hearing called the just. The lord
with the cold stately manner, but the heart that decided matters, like
Hugh Miller's uncle Sandy, giving the poor man the "cast of the bauk,"
even to his own hurt.
We drove down the broad walk just out of sight of the extensive gardens
and conservatories, between trees of every style of magnificence down to
the lodge gate which was opened to us promptly and graciously. You can
always judge of a lord by the courtesy or the want of it in his
retainers. Indeed I believe that even dogs and horses are influenced by
those that own them, and become like them in a measure. I waft thee my
heart's homage, lord of Castle Coole! Thy good name, thy place in the
hearts of thy countrymen, could not be bought for three thousand pounds
sterling wrung "by ways that are dark," from an exasperated tenantry.
The drive back to Enniskillen with another suggestive peep at the lake
was delicious and enjoyable.
In Enniskillen I wandered into the Catholic church, the only church I
could wander into without a fuss about getting the key. It is grand, and
severely plain in the absence of pictures and ornaments.
I am told there was a good deal of distress in the County Fermanagh, and
that they obtained relief from the Mansion House Fund and from the
Johnston Committee Fund. This Johnston was a Fermanagh man, and has
risen to wealth in the new world under the Stars and Stripes. The sons
and daughters of Ireland do not forget, in their prosperity on far-off
shores, the land of their birth and of their childhood's dreams.
Like the daisies on the sod,
With their faces turned to God,
Their hearts' roots are in the island green
that nursed them on her lap.
Suffering from want in those hard times must have been comparatively
slight in Enniskillen, as the local charity was strong enough to relieve
it, I was informed by an Episcopal clergyman.