ABSTRACT
Blunt compares the respect of the Donegalians for Davitt to that of Egyptians for Arabi Pasha, the leader of a revolt against Western powers in 1881 whom Blunt knew and supported. In fact, Davitt did not remain entirely aloof from the Plan of Campaign and one of the cases where he intervened was in the evictions at Bodyke, Co. Clare, where in several speeches he challenged the passivity with which the tenants faced ejection from their homes. While the Plan of Campaign was in progress, and probably as a response to it, the London Times published from March to December 1887 a series of articles under the title ‘Parnellism and Crime’. The Special Commission sittings aroused considerable interest and were attended by members of the public. The proceedings were also covered in the press.
