ers, even the most extreme sort, I cannot understand any sensible
Englishman entertaining such an insane idea. As manager of one of the
largest concerns in Cork I have made many visits to England, and I
found the supporters of Mr. Gladstone so utterly misinformed, so
credulous, so blankly ignorant of the matter, that I forbore to debate
the thing at all. And their assumption was on a level with their
ignorance, which is saying a good deal."

Mr. Thomas Manley, the great horse dealer, a famous character
throughout the three kingdoms, said to me, "The Limerick horse fair of
Thursday last was the worst I ever attended in forty years. There is
no money in the country. The little that changed hands was for horses
of a common sort, and every one, I do believe, was bought for England
and Scotland, tramcar-horses and such like. Home Rule is killing the
country already. I farmed a thousand acres of land in Ireland for many
a long year, and since I went more fully into the horse-dealing
business I kept two hundred and fifty acres going. I have horsed the
six crack cavalry regiments of the British army, and I know every nook
and corner of Ireland; know, perhaps, every farmer who can breed and
rear a horse, and I also know their opinions. Give me the power and I
would do four things. Here they are:--

"I would first settle the land question, then reform the poor-laws,
then rearrange the Grand Jury laws, then commence to reclaim the land,
which would pay ten per cent.

"The Tories should undertake these measures. They would then knock the
bottom out of the Home Rule agitation. The people are downright sick
of the whole business. They expected to be well off before this. They
find themselves going down the nick."

Mr. Abraham P. Keeley said: "There is much fault found with the
landlords, but they are by no means so much to blame as is supposed.
Put the saddle on the right horse. And the right horse is the steam
horse. The rapid transit of grain and general farm produce has lowered
the value of land more rapidly than the landlords could lower the
rent. Every year the prairie lands of America are further opened up by
railways; India and Egypt and Australia are now in the swim, and
Ireland, as a purely agricultural country, must suffer. A curious
illustration of the purely rural condition of the country was
mentioned the other day. Nearly all the great towns drink the water of
the rivers upon which they stand. Cork drinks the Lee; L