5 JANUARY 1901, Page 3

Mr. William O'Brien, M.P., having been ordered abroad for his

health, has addressed a parting manifesto to the Irish nation. Primarily his address takes the form of an appeal for subscriptions to the Parliamentary Fund, in the course of which Mr. O'Brien observes that the salary attached to one Castle office so "idiotically useless" as the Irish Lord Chancellorship would suffice to keep the entire Parliamentary party in unbroken array for a Session. But as he looks to the " crimelese agitation " of the United League rather than the efforts of the Members at Westminster to achieve the ultimate abolition of landlordism, he enjoins on his country. men a policy of commotion and disaffection in Ireland as the only means to pierce the dead weight of English stolidity, especially commending the action of local branches in boy- cotting land-grabbers and bullookmen ; protests against jury packing; and hints at the necessity of giving a wider development to the passive resistance which delivered West Mayo from an "iniquitous extra police-tax." Mr. O'Brien, who evidently aspires to wear the mantle as well as to occupy the position of Irish leader, might with advantage study the curt, incisive tone of Mr. Parnell's addresses. If agitations were a matter of adjectives Mr. O'Brien would be irresistible.