LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
MR. STEPHEN GWYNN AND TOLERATION. [To THE EDITOR Or TH2 "SPECTATOR."] Sin,—Writing from this I have not the opportunity for examination of the truth of the various statements made by Mr. Stephen Gwynn, M.P., in the Spectator of February 25th. But I will take one paragraph—viz., that relating to the Mayoralty in Dublin and in Belfast. Mr. Gwynn grudg- ingly admits that since Mr. Parnell's time no Unionist has been allowed by the Nationalist Corporation to be Lord Mayor of Dublin, and says that "in Belfast no Catholic and no Nationalist has ever been elected" (to the Mayoralty there). What are the facts ? In Dublin more than half the rates are paid by the Unionists, as recently admitted by a Nationalist Alderman, and the Lord Mayor receives a public salary of 23,000 a year with the use of the Mansion House and allow- ance. (It is true that within the last month this salary has been temporarily reduced, but for five-and-twenty years it has obtained.) This is, therefore, an office of profit reserved to the Nationalists. The post of High Sheriff is an honorary office, and even from this Unionists, so far as I can remember, have for the same period been equally excluded. In Belfast there is no salary and no mansion attached to the office of Lord Mayor. So far from its being an office of profit, the cost of maintaining the hospitality of the position is never less than £4,000, and often more, in the year, and this is invariably found from the private fortune of the Lord Mayor for the time. I have never heard of a Nationalist in Belfast willing to incur such an expenditure for the city, and no local Belfast Nationalist, so far as I know, on account of this has ever made this a grievance. Any Nationalist who would be willing to present a loyal address to the Sovereign, and who could support the dignity of the city like his predecessors, would be accepted if he were put forward as a candidate. The High Shrievalty of Belfast was offered to, and accepted by, a leading Roman Catholic within the last two years. In my own pro- fession it must be nearly ten years since Dublin Cor- poration has had the services of a Protestant as standing counsel. In Belfast one of the standing counsel to the Corporation, with everyone's approval, is at present a Roman Catholic. In Belfast the Nationalist minority do not contribute one-sixth of the rates. In Dublin the Mansion House, supported by the citizens, is used for Nationalist demonstrations, conventions, and banquets alone among political objects. In Belfast the City Hall cannot be used for any political propaganda, whether Unionist or any- thing else, and the Ulster Hall is let indiscriminately and without complaint to every form of political demonstration, Unionist and Nationalist alike. Unionist Belfast certainly need have no fear of any comparison with the state of affairs in Nationalist Dublin such as Mr. Gwynn hints at, and as he claims to be a Protestant I regret to see that he has again lent himself to the usual Nationalist slanders on the bigotry of the Protestant Capital of the North.—I am, Sir, &c., Canstitutiaaa/ Club.
WILLIAM MOORE.
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