's hopes upon a single canvas.

From all accounts, too, it was the merest chance that the whole northern
portion of the town did not fall a victim to the devouring flames, and
it is hard to understand the psychology of the military mind which could
risk even the mere possibility of such an event, as it is hard to
understand why the firemen were fired on by the rebels when trying to
extinguish the flames.

The hardest part of it all was, moreover, that the blow fell almost
entirely upon the shoulders of the innocent, viz. the merchants,
tradesmen, shopkeepers, and employees, who were thus ruined at a single
stroke within the space of a few hours without even a chance of a
protest.

People began to ask seriously whether it had really been necessary at
all, and the verdict was not always complimentary to the authorities.
Mr. Healy raised the question in the House whether any such measures had
ever been really necessary, considering that the rebels held such few
positions, and these could have been isolated by the municipal water
supply being cut off. It certainly seems plausible that some less brutal
methods could have been adopted, considering the way Cork was saved from
a similar catastrophe by the tact of the clergy, who would only have
been too willing, and undoubtedly would have had the power, to act as
mediators between the rebels and military in the name of the civil
authorities and in the interests of the inhabitants principally and
Ireland generally.

A very cute suggestion I heard from Mr. George Atkinson, the well-known
Dublin artist, as we were preparing the cover of the present volume in
his studio, struck me as particularly plausible.

"As long as the rebels were in their strongholds untouched," he said,
"they were practically powerless, and could only have covered themselves
with contempt and ridicule if they had been left alone.

"These men were asking for martyrdom and the glory of battle: why on
earth give them their admitted object?

"They were in possession of the Post Office. Very well, but they could
not have run the postal service. They were in possession of the
railways. Well and good, but they would not have been able to conduct
the train service. They had assumed the reins of government, but would
the people of Ireland have acknowledged them? Certainly not. They had
taken over the management of the capital, but were they able to police
it even, or protect private property? Why, from the ve