Mr. T. P. O'Connor, M.P., presided at the annual Convention
of the United Irish League of Great Britain at Finsbury Town Hall on Saturday last, and made a curious speech. The Gates. head election formed the text of his deliverance, and while prepared to respect the honesty and high purpose of those Irish voters who, from religious conviction, supported the Chamberlainite candidate on that occasion, he nevertheless held that the religious and material interests of Ireland were bound together, and both had been promoted by Mr. Chamber- lain's defeat. Had he won, not only England, but Ireland, might have been now standing face to face with all the perils of triumphant Cha.mberlainism. That meant in England the return of the days of oppression and starvation for the masses, and there could be no doubt what it meant for Ireland, "because Mr. Chamberlain stood behind that villainous and sinister movement for taking advantage of the diminution in the Irish population, by English misgovernment, to reduce the political force of Ireland in the Imperial Government." It is quite refreshing to find that Mr. O'Connor's exercises in universal eulogy have not mitigated the ferocity of his patriotism. But it passes the wit of man to reconcile his condemnation of Mr. Chamberlain's Fiscal policy with the action of his party in the House of Commons.
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