Mr. Bright has written a very important letter to The
O'Donoghue, absolutely disclaiming all sympathy with the Home- Rule cry for Ireland. Hearing that some persons had spoken of him as an advocate of " what is termed Home Rule in Ireland," he lopes " no one will venture to say anything so absurd and untrue." " To have two Legislative Assemblies or Parliaments in the United Kingdom would, in my opinion, be an intolerable anischief, and I think no sensible man can wish for two within the limits of the present United Kingdom, who does not wish the United Kingdom to become two or more nations entirely separate from each other." That is very good sense, and will have great influence in Ireland, for everybody there knows how heartily Mr. Bright has sympathized with Ireland, and how little inclined he is to take his stand on a Conservative position against popular demands. Could Ireland only have had Mr. Bright for Irish Minister instead of this trenchant young Marquis, who is bent on getting credit with the Tories for dealing sharply with Ireland, Mr. Gladstone's and Mr. Fortescue's great policy might, by this time, be yielding fruit.
