The air is heavy with rumours of coming explosions, many
of which are probably circulated in order to inspire alarm. Half the magazines and arsenals in the country are to be blown up, and the House of Commons is threatened by a new Guy Fawkes. Mr. St. Aubyn, Member for Heleton, has received a letter, in a female handwriting, warning him not to attend Par- liament for the first fortnight after Easter, because "the party" had resplved to blow up the House,—and, we suppose, the hundred Irish Members in it. They are to be blown to bits, for the good of Ireland. It is not probable that men who must be aware that Guy Fawkes's evil idea helped to rivet the chains of Catholics for two centuries, contemplate any such wickedness ; but the Government thinks it right to guard every point of im- portance. Sentries and guards have been increased in number, 500 policemen have been added to the Metropolitan Force, never numerous enough for its daily enlarging duties, and Irish detectives have been brought over specially to watch the Secret Societies. We note also with strong disgust, but no surprise, that these alarms are creating great dislike to Irish workmen. Employers in Liverpool have begun to discharge them openly, the feeling in the North is rising high, and Mr. A. M. Sullivan, in the eloquent letter to the Irish Americans described below, says that already he has personal knowledge of hundreds of families rendered destitute. There is no justice and no policy in revenge of this sort, always directed, as it must be, against the wrong men ; but the Irish leaders should note carefully the growing excitement.
