[To TIM EDITOR 011 ma " SPROTITOR. ") Sin,—It is truly delightful
to find Mr. Gwynn, the literary' apostle of the Irish Party, and Mr. Aston, of the defunob Devolution movement, joining hands to attack me. It is a matter for thankfulness that the Spectator is not published in Dundalk or in Mayo, otherwise you might get into serious trouble for publishing anything derogatory to the Irish Party. It is a pity Mr. Gwynn and Mr. Aston did not compare notes before writing to you, and so prevent the contradictions which are so evident in their letters. Mr. Gwynn says my statement about the batons at the National Convention is false ; but in the next sentence he says "men were certainly present armed with batons," but it was because Mr. O'Brien's friends intended " marching " on the Convention. Mr. Aston says "no baton was seen at the Convention." I leave your readers to judge whether he or Mr. Gwynn is telling the truth. Mr. Gwynn cannot brash aside my charge of intolerance by giving instances of isolated cases of intolerance in England. The difference is that all right-thinking men denounce these outbursts in England, but in Ireland organised Nationalist riots at Dundalk or in Mayo are not condemned by the Nationalist leaders. I am sure Mr. Gwynn has no sympathy personally with them ; but even he has not the courage boldly to denounce them, and, as I pointed out in my last letter, Mr. Redmond and other leaders spoke a few days after the attack on Mr. Healy, but there was never a word of condemnation. The rowdies take it that they are carrying out the wishes of the leaders. Mr. Gwynn has not replied to Mr. O'Brien's statement that the attack on him in Mayo was organised by paid officials of the League. Mr. Gwynn, as a member of the League, should be able to find out whether or not this is true. As Mr. Aston charges me with distorting the facts about the Dundalk riot, may I say I took them from the Daily Independent, a Dublin Nationalist daily newspaper, and they were borne out by the reports in other papers, Nationalist as well as Unionist ? May I direct Mr. Gwynn's attention to a United League meeting at Wexford on Sunday last, which was graced by the presence of Mr. T. M. Kettle, M.P., at which a resolution was passed condemning the public bodies in Ireland that passed votes of sympathy with the Royal family on the death of King Edward ? I suppose this, like the assault on Mr. Gwynn at a Nationalist Convention earlier in the year, is another proof of the tolerance of the Nationalists. Mr. Gwynn asks how I account for the subscriptions which the Irish Party receives. As the United Irish League does not publish a balance-sheet, people have difficulty in dealing with a question like this Mr. O'Brien says the bulk of the subscriptions come from England, and we have it on the authority of Mr. Dillon that the Irish Party could not exist for six months on the money subscribed by Irishmen. If the people of Ireland wanted a Nationalist Party, they would pay for it. Mr. Gwynn and his friends have told us so often that we are on the eve of Home- rule that we may treat their statements with indifference. The majority of Irishmen do not want Home-rule,--the demand comes from professional agitators who have a good deal to gain by having control of all the offices. A Home-rule Parliament would be a replica of the Dublin Corporation or the Limerick Corporation. I would advise Mr. Aston, before he becomes an apologist for Mr. Redmond, to read the speech that gentleman made when he spoke of using the "strong hand" on the Protestant minority. It is true that Mr. Red- mond has been trying ever since to explain that speech away. His pledges may satisfy " tame " Protestants like Mr. Aston and Mr. Gwynn, but the Protestants of Ireland know that, with the best intentions in the world, Mr. Redmond could not carry out his pledges. Did he not bless the Irish Council Bill in the House of Commons, and was he not forced by the Church It few weeks afterwards to curse the same Bill P His promises to Protestants are of no value whatever. Sensible Nationalists as well as Protestants can have no desire to pay £5,000,000 a year extra in order to bring bloodshed and ruin to Ireland. Any grievances which may exist can be removed by the Imperial Parliament. I repeat what I have always said, that under an Irish Parliament the minority would be unfairly treated. The facts I have given you regarding Nationalist intolerance have been taken solely from Nationalist news-
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