2 MARCH 1872, Page 1

The incident has apparently no political meaning. The boy was

not a Fenian, or a Catholic, but a Protestant lad of fair hn--e-fer. and a habit of reading rubbishy romances. So little -e-tlize the meaning of his own act, that he told the police after . he did not want food as his tea was waiting for him at :Lt there is as yet no evidence that he was employed by any . dad he been instigated by others, they would have found loses a better weapon than his old pistol, and it appears most pro- bable that he is merely a fool made criminal by the desire of notoriety. His father, a decent man in the employ of a steam- boat company, says he is quite sane, and this appears to be also the opinion of the surgeons.