rce more reliable
than the whole Papist hierarchy. The Tuamites can deny nothing of what
I have written. The tumbledown town is there, the filthy cabins and
degraded squaws of the Galway Road are still festering in their own
putridity, and probably the police are still preserving Strachan from
the fate of the poor fellow so brutally murdered near Tuam a few weeks
ago. The priests called a town meeting to protest against insult to
the Church. Great is Diana of the Ephesians! When the tenants refused
to pay their lawful dues the priests called no meeting. When the
country from end to end echoed with the lamentations of widows and the
wailing of helpless children whose natural protectors had been
murdered by the Land League, the Tuamites suppressed their
indignation, the Tuam priests made no protest. When scores of men were
butchered at their own firesides, shot in their beds, battered to
pieces at their own thresholds, these virtuous sacerdotalists never
said a word, called no town's meeting, used no bad language, spoke not
of "hirelings," "calumniators," "blackguards," and "liars." Two of the
speakers threatened personal injury should I again visit the town.
That is their usual form,--kicking, bludgeoning, outraging, or
shooting from behind a wall. When they do not shoot they come on in
herds, like wild buffaloes, to trample on and mutilate their victim.
From the strong or armed they run like hares. Their fleetness of foot
is astonishing. The _Tuam News_, owned and edited by the brother of a
priest, exhibits the intellectual status of the Tuam people. Let us
quote it once again:--

TO THE EDITOR OF THE "TUAM NEWS."

Sir--Permit me a little space in the next issue of the _Tuam
News_, relative to my father being killed by the fairies which
appeared in the _Tuam News_ of the 8th of April last. I beg to say
that he was not killed by the fairies, but I say he was killed by
some person or persons unknown as yet. Hoping very soon that the
perpetrators of this dastardly outrage will be soon brought to
light, I am, Mr. Editor, yours obediently,

DAVID REDINGTON.
Kilcreevanty, May 8th, '93.

After this I need add nothing to what I have said except a
pronouncement of Father Curran, who said that "Tuam could boast as
fine schools as Birmingham, and that he would then and there throw
out a challenge that they boast more intelligence in Tuam than
Birmingh