To this Mr. Gladstone rejoins that be knows of no
expression of opinion as regards Ulster which would sanction the separation of Ulster from the rest of Ireland, Colonel Saunderson having vehemently repudiated any such separation ; and that as to the Parnellites, though, rightly or wrongly, be thought that Mr. Parnell aimed at the disruption of the Empire in 1881, he has had no reason since 1881 to ascribe to him any such aims. We suppose that Mr. Parnell's connection with the American friends of violence; that the contributions which he has freely and con- fessedly drawn from the very same sources which contributed to "the Skirmishing Fund" and supplied the dynamiters ; that his negotiations with the Chicago Convention to keep violent ex- pressions out of view, in order that he might with the less difficulty accept the American aid sent him; that the unrepu- dieted assertion by the Times of the pecuniary aid which Mr. Parnell forwarded to Frank Byrne to secure his escape from justice, and all the related evidence, have made no impression at all on Mr. Gladstone. On the rest of the political world, how- ever, the ample evidence all tending to show that Mr. Parnell has not broken, and does not intend to break, with the fiercest foes of the United Kingdom, has made a very potent impression indeed..
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