Mr. W. O'Brien and Mr. Dillon have also published letters.
The former, as usual, drowns his meaning in a flood of words, but he thinks apparently that Mr. Parnell will win, and is 'bitter on the " responsible persons" who, under some "in- fatuation," "grudged every hour devoted to peacemaking," and " resented every attempt to give a less barbarous character to the conflict." Mr. Dillon, in another letter and in fewer words, says nearly the same thing, believing that peace would have been perfectly possible but for "powerful influences on both sides." To prove their conviction that peace was hope. less, both Members on Thursday left Boulogne for Folkestone, and surrendered themselves to undergo their sentence, con- duct which has inspired in some Unionists a wish that they should be pardoned. We heartily wish it too, for if free to speak, they would greatly increase the confusion in the Home- rule ranks. But considerations of that kind ought not to weigh with responsible statesmen. To pardon offenders against the law because they are leaders of,parties, would be a precedent utterly fatal to the public belief in its impartial, administra- tion. We wonder what some of our contemporaries would say if Mr. Matthews pardoned a Duke instead of an agitator.
