We have doubted Mr. Parnell's astuteness on many points during
the last few weeks, but on none more than in parading to all the world his sympathy with M. Rochefort and M. Victor Hugo, and his hostility to any French statesman who, like Gambetta, has committed the supposed offence of " dining with the Prince of Wales." This is precisely the best course which he could take to convince the Irish priests that the Pope is right
in warning them against Mr. Parnell, and that those of their Bishops who try to make out that the Pope is misled by the false news given in the English papers are, on the whole, wrong. One Nationalist, but Catholic, Member of Parliament, Mr. Bellingham, has already written to the Times, expressing his horror of his leader's cnenie cordiale with M. Rochefort and M. Victor Hugo ; and his feeling will be shared by many Members of Parliament, and by still more Catholic priests. Mr. Parnell himself, of course, is no Catholic, None the less, he has a people to lead who still are Catholic, and he cannot strike up an alliance with the extreme antagonists of all Reli- gions and all Thrones, without sending a shiver through Ireland.
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