he Irish electorate. The ignorance of the rank and
file of the Irish voters is exasperating to Englishmen, who are quite
unable to understand their credulity, to combat their bitter
prejudices, or to make headway against their preconceived notions.
English Gladstonians who believe that Home Rule ought to be a good
thing will stagger with dismay when confronted with the people who
will rule the roost. For the intelligent are nowhere in point of
numbers. The thick-witted believers in charms, in fairies, in the
curative and preservative virtues of holy water, will have the country
in their hands. The poor benighted peasants, who firmly believe that
Mr. Balfour has the moonlighters in his pay, and that the murders of
the Land League were ordered by Lord Salisbury to cast discredit on
the national cause--these are the people who, voting as they are told
by the priests, would govern the action of the Irish Parliament. They
believe that Home Rule by some magic process will supply the place of
industry and enterprise, will open up innumerable sources of boundless
wealth, and will bring about Mr. Gladstone's "chronic plethora" of
money. But, above all, the people are to be for ever delivered from
the "English yoke." What the phrase means they know not. They only
repeat what they have heard. The dogs around Newport are muzzled. It
would be well for the people if their advisers were muzzled too.

Public feeling is well organised in Ireland. Although the people are
not readers of daily news, the kind of sentiment ordered at
head-quarters is immediately entertained. How it spreads nobody knows,
unless it is spread from the altar. A change has come over the public
sentiment. Among the more intelligent farmers there is a revolt
against Home Rule. At a Unionist meeting held the other day at
Athenry, all the speakers agreed on this point. One said that the
change might be inoperative, because the farmers dare not avow their
true opinions, because they have little or no faith in the secrecy of
the ballot, and because they dread the unknown consequences of ruffian
vengeance. The ignorant masses have also experienced a change. They
have been undergoing a process of preparation for the next agitation.
The poor folks at first believed that when they got Home Rule all
would be well. That consummation devoutly to be wished, was to enrich
them all. The agitators have to guard against the resentment of the
disappointed people. They are hedging i