rk of
Mr. Trench. I do so from a sense of duty, because I believe it is one
of the most misleading books on Ireland published for many years. It
has made false impressions on the public mind in England, which will
seriously interfere with a proper settlement of the land question.
The mischief would not be so great if the author did not take so
much pains to represent his stories as realities 'essentially
characteristic of the country.' It is very difficult to account for
the exaggeration and embellishment in which he has permitted himself
to indulge, with so many professions of conscientious regard for
truth. They must have arisen from the habit of reciting the adventures
to his friends during a quarter of a century, naturally laying stress
on the most sensational passages, while the facts less in keeping with
startling effects dropped out of his memory. Very few of the actors in
the scenes he describes now survive. Those who do, and who might
have a more accurate memory, are either so lauded that it would
be ungrateful of them to contradict--or so artfully discredited as
'virulent' and base that people would not be likely to believe them if
their recollections were different. There is one peculiarity about Mr.
Trench's dialogues. There were never any witnesses present. He always
took the wild Irishman, on whom he operated so magically, into his
private office; or into a private room in the house of the 'subject;'
or into a cell alone, if secrets were to be extracted from a Ribbonman
in gaol. Even conversations with the gentler sex, who knelt before
him as if he were a bishop, were not permitted to reach the ear of his
chief clerk. On some matters, however, others have spoken since his
book appeared. He is very precise about the trial for an agrarian
murder in Monaghan, giving details from his own actual observation.
Mr. Butt, Q.C., who was engaged in the case, has published a letter,
stating that Mr. Trench was quite mistaken in his account. It seems
strange that he did not refresh his memory by looking at a report of
the trial in some newspaper file.

Mr. Trench 'adds his testimony to the fact that Ireland is not
altogether unmanageable,' that 'justice fully and firmly administered
is always appreciated in the end.' And at the conclusion of his volume
he says:--

'We can scarcely shut our eyes to the fact that the circumstances and
feelings which have led to the terrible crime of murder in Ireland,
are usually very