Land League

The agricultural depre ion of 1877-79 in Ireland led to the organization, Oct. 21, 1879, of the Irish National Land League, to secure a reduction of rack-rents and to promote land-ownership by its cultivators. The League soon became powerful, but its members began to pa the line of legality. The Land Bill, 1881, bettered the condition of the tenant, but the League decided to maintain its attitude of resistance until they found its results were entirely satisfactory. The leaders, Parnell, Davitt, Dillon, and Sexton, were arrested, and in prison i ued a proclamation ordering that no rents whatever should be paid. Then, Oct. 18, the League was declared unlawful, and so ceased to exist. Many of its objects have been accomplished through the Irish National League, organized a year later.