A carious episode in the Nationalist movement is reported from
Ireland. The late directors of the Munster Bank in their extremity applied to the Bank of Ireland for an advance of half-a-million. The securities offered were not deemed sufficient, the loan was refused, and the Munster Bank suspended pay- ment. The institution was popular among the Nationalists, and word was sent round that in revenge the branches of the Bank of Ireland should be boycotted. The farmers were, in short, instructed to withdraw their money. A quiet run on the Bank was commenced, which in a short time became so severe that the Bank of Ireland, though its position was never stronger, was compelled to import two cargoes of sovereigns, each of them amounting to half-a-million, from London. The run has been a total failure ; but the attempt displays in a strong light the utter recklessness of the Parnellite associations. They would have ruined half Ireland if they could—not England, be it observed—rather than not have ven- geance for a most ordinary business precaution, amply justified by the facts, which they happened to dislike. They had much better follow precedent and burn any notes of the Bank of Ireland they happen to possess, as their forefathers did before them. That act would prove their earnestness, and would be watched by the Bank without any unchristian vindictiveness.
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