What Boycotting Means / Irish Defence Union

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IRISH DEFENCE UNION IN AID OF PERSONS SUFFERING FROM ILLEGAL COERCION IN IRELAND. WHAT BOYCOTTING MEANS— What Boycotting means is shown by a Letter from Mr. Bagwell, of Marlfield, Clonnel, which appeared in "THE TIMES." It is the evidence of one living in the midst of the persecution, and what he says would doubtless be confirmed with exultation by those who cause the misery he describes. WHAT BOYCOTTING MEANS— "It means that a peaceable subject of the Queen is denied food and drink; that he is ruined in his business; that his cattle are unsealable at fair; that the smith will not shoe his horse nor the carpenter mend his cart; that old friends pass him by on the other side making the sign of the cross; that his children are hooted at the village school; that he sits apart like an outcast in his usual place of public worship. And all for doing nothing but what the law says he has a perfect right to do. I know of a man who is afraid to visit his own son. A trader is even suspected of dealing with such a victim of tyranny may be ruined by the mere imputation. His customers shun him from fear, and he is obliged to get a character from some notorious leaguer. Members of National League is, in many cases, as necessary a protection as ever was a certificate of civism under Robespierre. The real Jacobins are few, but the masses groan and submit." It ought to be added that "Boycotting" means outrage. If a Boycotted farm is insufficiently guarded the cattle are mained or driven off, the hay and crops burnt and fences levelled, and the occupier or caretaker waylaid and heaten, or perhaps murdered. Mr. Arthur Smith-Barry, M.P., Chairman of the Cork Defence Union, in acknowledging a Donation sent by this Union, forwards their first Annual Report, which explains how the funds have been disposed of, and BOYCOTTING FRUSTRATED. "Our object is to assist all citizens to exercise their rightful liberty, and with this view we have given help to boycotted farmers, tradesmen and labourers. We have provided threatening machines and other agricultural implements for boycotted persons who were otherwise unable to obtain them, and have forwarded their cattle and farm produce for sale in the English market. Boycotted carpenters and smiths have been employed to make carts, gates, &c.; labourers have been supplied to those whose men had been forced to leave them, and assistance given to small shopkeepers who were threatened with ruin. Every effort has been made to show applicants for assistance that things provided for them must be paid for at the ordinary market rates, and in this way economy in the working of the Union has been ensured. The Committee are anxious to point out that most of the assistance granted has been to labourers, artisans and the poorer class of farmers, thereby showing that Boycotting presses far more severely on the poor than on the wealthy." "Our thanks, too, are more especially due to the Irish Defence Union in London for the valuable financial aid…