Mr. John O'Connell is in a "'ix" so ludicrous, and
yet so pain- ful, that amusement gives place to a feeling of compassion for him. It is clear that the Repeal Association has come to an end for want of funds : it is equally clear that the " Moral-force " party in Ireland is beaten in the market of public agitation by the
Physical-force" party, and that to keep in trade the Repealers must join the belligerent Confederates : Mr. John, under the compulsion of a bare exchequer, at last assented to the junction : but certain ghostly counsellors, exalted and impracticable, inter- pose, and, with an oracular appeal to the departed, warn the junior O'Connell, not to lay his "parricidal" hands on the struc- ture raised by his father. Mr. John is in the position of a well- known individual between two pottles of hay : the Repeal Asso- ciation cannot go on, the Confederates invite; the priests de- nounce the junction, the Repealers at large hoot the hesitation to join • and O'Connell's successor, with the frankness of despair,
confesses that has neither the influence nor the capacity to lead. In the mean time he adjourns the Aasociation for a fort- night, to think it all over.
