The reason for Mr. Parnell's manifesto is abundantly evident. The
" Plan " has greatly exasperated English opinion ; the Liberal leaders will not justify it ; and Parliament meets in less than three weeks. Mr. Parnell desires to resume his position as "the Constitutional advocate of Home-rule," and to do this he must convince Englishmen that he is irresponsible for the "Plan," which was organised, and to some extent acted on, by over-zealous lieutenants while he was ill. That is his line in England, and he trusts to Ireland to catch his secret meaning without laborious explanations. The Irish are quick, and we dare say they will catch it; for though United Ireland furiously defends the " Plan " against the lawyers, no one expresses any annoyance with Mr. Parnell ; and two pro- minent Home-rulers, Mr. Pinkerton, M.P., and the Rev. Mr. Ryan, of Limerick, announce that the " Plan " is abandoned. Mr. Parnell has now to deal with Mr. Healy, who, in a public speech, has told the farmers that they are 500,000 and the police only 10,000 :—"If these people were not mice but men, if there was any grit in them, if they thought this was a straggle in which sacrifices should be made, if they thought their country and their land worth fighting for, they should resort—and he told them if they were men they would resort—to a system and to means which would have the effect of keeping their property in their own possession irrespectively of anything that might be said in proclamations issued by the 'wee wee German lairdie,' " Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar, commanding the forces. That reads very much like an open exhortation to insurrection.
