19 JUNE 1897, Page 14

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

PACATA HIBERNIA..

[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR:] Sin,—The Spectator of June 5th has only to-day come into my hands, and the perusal of Mr. Stephen Gwynn's spirited lines entitled " Pacata Hibernia" incites me to tell you of an incident which may interest some of your readers. Two years ago I spent a couple of months in the extreme West of Ireland, and wherever I went the praise of the present Leader of the House of Commons as the author of " Balfour's roads" and " Balfour's railways" was in all months. On this subject there was no difference of opinion, and the grati- tude felt by all classes culminated in an expression of opinion which you may perhaps think worth recording. In going over a large and evidently well-managed industrial school I fell into conversation on various topics with the head of the institution, a member of the Society of Christian Brothers, and he rather puzzled me by asking whom I regarded as the two best of living men. I had to confess my inability to reply offhand, whereupon he unhesitatingly expressed the opinion that the two best men then living were his Holiness the Pope and Mr. Arthur Balfour.—I am, Sir, &c.,