he branches were not content with nominating candidates and
interfering with the elections; they next assumed the direction of the
proceedings of Boards of Guardians and Town Councils. At Ennis this
intervention was publicly announced by resolution.

'That in every future election to any office under the
board, no candidate shall be supported by the National
Guardians _unless he be a member of the National League_ for
at least six months previous to the date of the election,
and produces his certificate, signed by the chairman and
secretary of the branch, and further, that when selecting a
candidate to be put forward for election, the minority of
the National guardians should be bound to act on vote with
the majority present and voting.'--'Clare Journal,' Nov.
11th, 1885.

Contracts were only to be given to Members of the League. No one could
be elected to a country dispensary or engaged as solicitor by any
electoral body without the sanction of the League. A large portion of
the struggling professional classes in the South and West were forced by
a sense of self preservation to join the local associations. To remain
outside the ranks of the League was to forfeit a man's best chances of
getting on in life, and might any day become a personal danger. Mr.
Harrington M.P., who has been for some years in charge of the Central
Office of the League, tells us that 'at Meetings of the branches of the
Organization discussions frequently occur upon incidents in the
locality.' We can quite believe it, and are not surprised to find from
the columns of 'United Ireland' what is the result of these discussions.

In a system of pillage and tyranny so elaborated, there was no necessity
to perpetrate acts of violence, frequently or continually. The daily
operation of the League was a standing outrage, bringing a proof of its
power to every man's door. A limited number of conspicuous crimes was
sufficient for the purposes of the League. Curtin was murdered in
November; Finlay, in the West of Ireland, in February; and the local
persecution of the families of the victims was even a more awful tribute
to the sway of the popular organization.

It is not surprising that Mr. Lecky, in former years the most
distinguished advocate of Irish Nationalism, in what may be called its
social aspects, should say of the organ of the National League, 'United
Ireland,' 'any English statesman who reads th