, who with the whisky dealers and
the majority of the other tradespeople form the opposite camp, I hear
that no measure that the Government can pass before the present
Parliament will be acceptable to what is called the Irish people. It
is now averred that the extension of the borough franchise to counties
must be carried before a Parliament adequate to deal with the Irish
question is formed. This appears a strong demand, and one likely to
protract the present distracted state of the country. But I hear, on
the best authority, that the Land League and the associated farmers
can wait. They are in no hurry. England can take her own time and they
will wait patiently, meanwhile of course paying no rent, nor any other
debts which may prove inconvenient.

Having passed their resolutions, the magistrates drive off quietly
enough--but by daylight. Within the last three weeks the County Club
sittings have been earlier than usual, the members thinking it at
least as well to get home before dark. The valedictory wish expressed
here just now is of itself ominous. It is not "Good-bye" or
"Good-night," but "Safe home."

X.

PALLAS AND THE PALLADIANS.

LIMERICK.

In a previous letter I hinted that the well-to-do farmers of the West
were not a whit more prompt in paying their rent than the starveling
peasants of Mayo and Connemara, who, at the best, are barely able to
keep body and soul together. Trusting far more to what I see than to
what I hear, I become aware that in these troubled districts of
Ireland, it is precisely the most favoured spots which are the most
mutinous. Ballina, the most prosperous town in Mayo, is a stronghold
of the anti-landlord party; and the Ballinrobe, Claremorris, and Cong
country, full of good land and comparatively large farmers, is the
district which has isolated Mr. Boycott, whose turnips and potatoes
will probably cost the country and the county at least a guinea a
piece. In no part of Mayo or Galway is the Land League more perfectly
organised than in Clare, yet the farmers in that county are
confessedly well off. There are some of course towards the sea, in
the direction of Loop Head, who are poorly off, but the great majority
are by no means in evil case. Ocular demonstration of this fact is
supplied by the numerous farmhouses of the better class with which the
country is studded. These are not merely large cabins, but houses,
some of which are whitewashed. The haggards are full of cor