LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
THE MEETING OF TUESDAY.
To Tar EDITOR OF THY SPECTATOR.") ha—In my mind, full of that marvellous gathering in the Leinster Hall last night to do honour to Lord Harlington and Mr. Goschen, there is one feeling which rises uppermost and which most have expression.
It is one of regret that Mr. Bright was not there—not to take part in the meeting, for I should be sorry that he whose pen now does duty for his tongue, one more eloquent than the other, should lose an hour of his well-earned repose—but to see and to hear with what ardent, with what affectionate applause his name was greeted by an audience of Irishmen.
Never will any one who was present last night, when Lord Harlington and Mr. Goschen appeared upon the platform, forget the scene of waving handkerchiefs, forget the roars of applause shouted by men fired with a burning loyalty to the cause of the Union. But, marvellous as that scene was, awe- inspiring as those cheers arose from men who knew from what they had been saved through the aid of the two men who stood before them, I do believe that, when it was announced that amongst the letters of regret was one from Mr. Bright, the applause became as deafening, a.■cl the waving of handkerchiefs as radiant. There was just t..is difference,—that in the cheers one detected the note of affection as well as of respect. The audience felt that the great absent statesman had always been the friend of Ireland, and that never was he a truer friend than now.—! am, Sir, dec.,
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