The only part of the speech that was at all
effective was a. contrast between a successful pier built by private enterprise at Wicklow, and an unsuccessful pier built by Government authority at Arklow ; and a contrast between the success of the Corporation of Dublin in floating a loan at 34 per cent., and the comparative ill-success of the Corporation of Belfast in floating a loan at 34 per cent.,—this last point being brought out in order to show that the strong Protestants of Ulster are not really more clear-headed than the Catholics of Leinster. As a speech for Home-rule it was full of ill- considered matter, especially the apology for the "Plan of Campaign," from which personally Mr. Parnell had notoriously withheld his approval. His unappeasable fury with the present Government broke out at intervals, and was, of course, the best cheered part of his speech.
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