Mr. James Lowther, the quondam Irish Secretary of Lord Beaconsfield,
made a jaunty speech at West Hartlepool on Monday, on the state of Ireland, iu which he said that he con- sidered Mr. Parnell to be his successor in office, and that the Duke of Marlborough had been replaced as Lord-Lieutenant by " Rory of the Hills." He considered it his duty to reveal that the late Government had very reluctantly determined to renew the Peace Preservation Act, even if not to make it more stringent, being determined thereto by the confidential reports, of the stipendiary and landed magistrates and the Irish Constabulary, who had reported with virtual unanimity that this course was essential. If it be so, the late Government obviously shirked their duty in not re-enacting that Act before dissolving Parliament, well knowing as they did, that after the meeting of Parliament it would be quite impossible to get a measure so bitterly contested through in the short time that remained before the expiration of the old Act. But in point of fact, the late Government dissembled its purpose most success- fully till the elections were over, so as to avoid the odium in Ireland which such a decision would have caused.
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