Mr. Sexton persisted in his refusal to accept the chairman-
ship of the Irish party, in spite of an apparently very straight- forward and cordial assurance from Mr. Healy that Mr. Sexton would receive his willing and loyal support. In answer to this letter, Mr. Sexton, writing on Saturday last from Dublin, remarked that though Mr. Justin McCarthy had been unani- mously elected to the chair with the heartiest promises of support, that unanimity "failed to enable him to maintain
the harmony essential to the welfare of the party," and that on receiving Mr. Ffealy's letter, he himself had naturally taken up Mr. Healy's journal to see whether that journal reflected the cordiality of the private letter. But in its current issue he found that he (Mr. Sexton) was charged with having "seized upon" the office of the Lord Mayor of Dublin by "mob intimidation," and that he had "waded through the mire" in order to attain the dazzling eminence of a directorship in the Freeman's Journal,—further, that he had been guilty of systematic falsehood in that position; that he had defrauded the shareholders ; and finally, that his retirement from Parliament was a sham retirement, an affair of finesse, a game played with the object of being coerced to go back as ,uhairman; and that he had abetted a conspiracy against Mr. McCarthy in order that he might supplant him. These omens did not appear to favour the hopes of unity which Mr. Healy had encouraged, and Mr. Sexton therefore not only definitely declined the chairmanship, but also resigned his seat in Parliament.
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