10 OCTOBER 1891, Page 17

Sir John Pope Hennessy, who fought Mr. Parnell for KU.

kenny and won the seat against Mr. Scully, died the day after the Irish leader. He was a Catholic Home-ruler, or even Fenian in opinion, who happened also to be a Tory, and thirty years ago it seemed as if he would make a Parlia- mentary success. He spoke well, had the manner of a diplo- matist, and had considerable knowledge of foreign. politics. Extreme poverty compelled him, however, to accept Colonial appointments, and in them, though he did his work well,

and rectified some considerable abuses, he was always in hot water. Colonists, bad and good, hated him with a vehemence which was almost comic. He was at last recalled from the Mauritius, and though he re-entered Parliament, he found himself powerless there, and subsided into club-life, dying at fifty-nine of a failure of the heart. He was a brilliant man in a way, and in private life unusually persuasive; but he belonged essentially to the great group of the " might-have-beens."