in the United Kingdom would, in my opinion, be an intolerable mischief, and I think no sensible man can wish for two within the limits of the present United Kingdom who does not wish the United Kingdom to become two or more nations entirely separate from each other.

"Excuse my troubling you with this. It is no duty of mine to interfere with your contest, but I do not wish to be misrepresented. "I am very truly yours,

"JOHN BRIGHT."

Small effect did such words of wisdom and moderation create in the localities to which they were addressed-whatever the unguided instincts of the people might have directed them to do, priestly intimidation left them no chance of taking any course but one. The popular pen took the same tone with the greatest vehemence. The Irishman ridiculed Mr. Bright as "our fat friend," denouncing him as "politically narrow and politically selfish-a social revolutionist, and not a statesman," and the most violent threats were held out towards such as might adopt the cause of order. Under such circumstances the elections were practically a foregone conclusion. The first to be decided was that in Galway, where Captain Nolan was returned by an overwhelming majority. The polling was carried on amid great excitement. A large force of police and military was drawn up in front of the booths, and Captain Trench's voters were brought to the poll under a strong escort. The protection was not unnecessary, as the mob showed a determination to prevent their voting or punish them with violence, which was with difficulty repressed. In some instances personal injuries were inflicted in spite of the most vigilant and active exertions of the authorities. Mr. Sloper, a gentleman who had taken a prominent part in support of Captain Trench, was savagely attacked while proceeding to his own residence under an escort of mounted constabulary. With the exception of the tenantry of the Headford, St. George, and Clanmorris estates, the electors who came to the poll voted for Captain Nolan. Many of them did so in presence of their landlords, and observers state that it was painful to witness the reluctance which they manifested. The priests came from the country districts at the head of their parishioners, and led them with a triumphant air to the polling booths, where the rev. gentlemen remained until the last vote was recorded. In the Clare booth the Rev. P. Conway, of Headford, excited the mob by denouncing one of the landlords. Captain Trench's agent remonstrated, and the Sheriff's deputy requested the priest to withdraw. At Tuam, Loughrea, and other places the mob were more disorderly and violent than in Galway, and many of Captain Trench's voters who attempted to reach the booths were obliged to return without polling. The Archbishop of Tuam recorded his vote at an early hour for Captain Nolan, and was loudly cheered by the populace. He afterwards inspected the booths. The voters for Captain Trench

were hissed and hooted wherever they presented themselves. Captain Nolan had a majority of 2165, but of a constituency of 5267 only 3480 recorded their votes.

Exaggerated reports reached the metropolis of some rioting in Tuam and other places, but the mob appears to have been kept in effectual check, though there were isolated cases of violence. Some of the military were hurt severely by stones, and the houses of obnoxious voters had their windows smashed.

The example of Galway was immediately followed by Kerry, where, though the issue was considered doubtful till the last, Mr. Blennerhassett, the Home-Rule candidate, was returned by a large majority. At the last moment great pressure was put on, and the popular excitement increased as the non-electors saw the preparations which were made for bringing Mr. Dease's friends to the poll under military escort. It is probable that the success in Galway had some effect upon the wavering and timid voters. Some were emboldened to oppose the wishes of their landlords, and others feared to encounter the resentment of the people, who were lashed into a state of frenzy by the incessant appeals of the Home-Rule orators. The polling, however, was carried on without any of the rioting which brought disgrace upon many former elections in the South. The presence of a numerous military and police force restrained the violent disposition of the mob, but it was evident from the indignant expressions with which some of Mr. Dease's voters were received, and the stone-throwing, in some instances, that they incurred a certain risk in coming to record their votes in the face of an excited populace. The following returns will show how the electoral battle proceeded. After the opening of the booths at eight o'clock a rush was made at Tralee and Killarney, the strongholds of the Kenmare interest, to place Mr. Dease ahead, and his friends, who came in by special train, were brought up in such strength that a large majority was recorded for him in the first returns. The counterpart of this policy was adopted by Mr. Blennerhassett's agents in Listowel, Kenmare, and Cahirciveen, where his friends were most numerous, and the advantage gained by his opponent in other places was more than counterbalanced. Before the close of the poll it became evident that Mr. Dease was beaten along the whole line except in Killarney.

Banners with "Home Rule" inscribed upon them were borne by Mr. Blennerhassett's supporters. They also displayed green ribands with the same inscription. Mr. Dease's voters came up under very discouraging circumstances to encounter the taunts and menaces and execrations of "the people ;" and it is not to be wondered at if many of them shrank from the ordeal. The example of the Rev. Mr. O'Donoghue, J. P. of Ardfert, in disregarding the prohibition of Bishop Moriarty, appears to have stimulated other priests to take an active part in the election. Two or three of them, at least, came in at the head of their parishioners to vote for Mr. Blenner

ett. Some of the votes tendered for that gentleman were

refused because the name was given "Hassett," so little were his superior claims really known to the patriotic electors who were ready to vote for him because they were exhorted to do so. At Kenmare, Mr. Starkie, resident magistrate, was struck by a stone which was aimed at one of Mr. Dease's voters. Very few instances of assault, however, seem to have occurred, and the election, on the whole, appears to have been as orderly and quiet as could be expected upon an occasion when popular enthusiasm is aroused. It is difficult to reconcile the fact of so large a majority with the statements made by Mr. Dease's friends before the polling as to the number of pledged supporters of his cause, unless upon the supposition that at the last many of his friends were induced to remain away, if not to break their promises, rather than face the indignation of the multitude. Some of Mr. Dease's influential friends worked with great ardour and courage on his behalf, and the mob showed their resentment when the day was over. The influence of the landlords was not all thrown into the scale, for several owners of property, including some Conservatives, were favourable to Mr. Blennerhassett, or remained neutral, a position which in a contest of this kind is favourable to the popular candidate.

Mr. Dease's friends spared no personal efforts to carry the election; but the popular influences were too strong for them. Some instances which are related will show how they were disappointed and deceived. Mr. Denny had appointed seven o'clock in the morning to meet eighty tenants at a certain cross-road and come into Tralee with them to vote for Mr. Dease. He was there at the time named with a strong escort, but there were no tenants, and he had to return alone; for the Rev. Eugene O'Sullivan, P.P. of Spa, had made an appointment with them for the same hour to meet him at another place and vote for Mr. Blennerhassett. A contingent, numbering 200 electors from Castleisland, Brosna, and other adjoining parishes, came in about twelve o'clock, accompanied by a band, and voted in a body for Mr. Blennerhassett. They had been canvassed by their landlord, the Hon. Mr. Wynne, for Mr. Dease, and dinner had been provided for them; but at a signal they rose almost to a man and left him, after handing a written refusal to vote as he desired. Only eighteen of the party voted for Mr. Dease. It is reported that the mob wrecked his house at night, and that he was obliged to secrete himself to escape personal violence. The women were very active and troublesome allies of the popular candidate. It is stated that they were everywhere converting the unfaithful and encouraging the waverers. They did not let the refractory supporters of Mr. Dease escape without some marks of their displeasure. The mildest form which it assumed was the sprinkling of their clothes with flour, which made them objects of attraction for others. Mr. Hussey was more roughly treated. At Killarney the O'Donoghue and other friends of Mr. Dease were very zealous in his cause, and it was the only place where he had a

majority. Here too, however, there were some remarkable demonstrations. The tenantry from Rathmore and Glenflesk were led in by the Rev. Mr. Shanahan, P.P., and the Rev. Mr. Walsh, and, filling fifteen cars, formed an imposing cavalcade. Sir James O'Connell, notwithstanding his advanced years, entered personally into the struggle with great ardour, and incurred some risk of violence from the populace. When he came in at the head of some of his tenants he was pressed into the butter-market by the crowd and separated from the voters, who with great difficulty were got together again by the aid of the police. Bishop Moriarty and the local clergy refrained from voting. At Listowel a scene was produced by the carrying in of a patriarchal voter named Kissane, whose age is set down at the fabulous figure 114. He came in from a distance of ten miles to vote for the Home-Rule candidate, and was borne in triumph through the town on the shoulders of the people. At the close of the poll Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Blennerhassett addressed the people in Killarney and Tralee, the new member telling them they had struck a blow for Ireland which would cheer many an Irish heart in every part of the world where their brethren were scattered. Petitions were immediately lodged against the new members, in Galway with some marked results to be presently described.

Meanwhile, in England nothing more exciting was in progress than the usual addresses of politicians preparatory to the meeting of Parliament. The dissatisfaction expressed with the Government by members on both sides of the House was general and marked. Mr. Roebuck, speaking at Sheffield, explained how "for years it had been plain to him that there were two parties in the State, headed by two leaders, whose only object was power. One, for the purpose of gaining power, made a bid for the public appreciation and approbation, and that was overbid by his competitor. Thus they went on bidding one against the other, until at last Mr. Disraeli, one of those leaders, bid what was really household suffrage. That was so large a power, one so difficult to over-trump, that it required some ingenuity to know how to meet it; but it was met, and admirably met, considering it was a game of party politics. Down came the thundering card of Irish Disestablishment, that over-trumped the card of household suffrage. The man who played it was now in power. The first thing was to obtain, as far as possible, the support of the Radical members of the country; and not only the Radical members, but the Dissenting interest, and for this purpose the measure of the disestablishment of the Irish Church was launched in order to bind the Dissenters and the Radicals to the chariot wheels of Mr. Gladstone. He would appeal to their own knowledge whether from that time to this there had been anything like religious concord in Ireland. He would ask them if it had satisfied the Catholic party. Were not the whole body of the Catholics, headed by Cardinal Cullen, still determined upon obtaining their old end, which was supremacy of the Catholic Church

in Ireland? This was one great stone in the way of the man who was seeking dominion for himself. But this was not all. He sought to bind to himself the tenant-farmers of Ireland, a step in which the speaker argued he had signally failed. This was the second great consequence in this game of political intrigue."

Professor Fawcett held similar language at Brighton. Speaking of the appointment of Sir Robert Collier to the Judicial Committee, which was the principal count at this time in the indictment against the Gladstone Administration, he said it would be far better that a dozen Administrations should fall than that Parliament should sanction the act of lawlessness involved in the colourable evasion of a positive legal enactment. He would no doubt be told that he was always opposing the Government. "Well," the speaker said, “if it can be shown that in opposing the Government I have ever knowingly acted in antagonism to any principle of true Liberalism, then I shall justly deserve your censure, and it will be your duty to tell me that I no longer possess your confidence. Oppose the Government! I have done so in the past, and I will do so again when I observe that their economy is one-sided and their retrenchments are partial-when I find that they retain sinecures for the rich; when they waste public money by mismanagement and maladministration; when I know that their financial proposals, by levying a tax from one class, disastrously relax the checks upon extravagance, and are thus fraught with the gravest peril to the country."

The appointment of Sir Robert Collier had called out further protests from the dignitaries of the law. Chief Justice Bovill declared himself bound, as head of the Court of Common Pleas, which was made use of in this affair, to state that he entirely concurred with the Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench. "I must also add," he wrote, "that when the appointment of Sir R. Collier as a judge of the Common Pleas was made, if, as now appears to have been the case, it was intended that such appointment should not be a real, permanent appointment, but merely as a qualification for another office, I think some communication to that effect might and should have been made to me as the head of that Court. I can only express my great regret that a little more confidence does not exist between the Lord Chancellor and the chiefs of the Common Law Courts with respect to appointments in those Courts, more especially when I remember that on the first day of last term I alluded to the filling up of the vacancy in the Common Pleas, and it now appears that at that very time Sir R. Collier had gone down to Balmoral with a view to his appointment."

He added that his letter had no reference to Sir R. Collier personally, for his merits and his claims to high judicial office had never been questioned. This letter, said Lord Hatherley, pained him, because he did not think that Sir W. Bovill would have followed the course of Sir A. Cockburn. He disclaimed any wilful discourtesy or want of confidence towards all or any of the judges.

C