yearly! Where there is good management and an efficient gaoler, as at Dundalk, under Mr. H. Webb, Mr. Tallack reports that the earnings are far larger, and the whole management better. In Cork gaol there had been for three years a debtor for a debt of £15; another man, a mason, for a debt of £5 13s. 4d., although he had offered to pay his creditors by instalments of ten shillings a week. This prisoner had

a wife and seven children depending on him. So that there were thus thrown upon the rates of the town for a considerable period ten persons for a united debt of less than £24-less than the average cost of one Irish prisoner. Well may he add, "O, wise men of Cork!"

In Ireland there is a class of local inspectors not existing in England. These are appointed by the local visiting justices. Hence it is against their interest to report fearlessly and impartially in cases of abuse. All inspectors should be independent of local influence, and able to report freely on the prisons under their inspection.

The dietary of Irish prisons is also very inferior. A commission of inquiry on this point lately reported strongly in favour of improvement; but, like too many Government commissions, the report has not been acted on. Better food and more work are required to make the prison work less costly and more useful.

Having referred to convict prisons, I wish to say a few words about the Fenian prisoners, some of whom are still retained in penal servitude in England. Any account of Ireland in 1872 would be imperfect without taking notice of the strong feeling manifested as to the retention of these prisoners.

None of

The prisoners still detained are poor humble men, the Fenian chiefs having been all released. them were connected with the Clerkenwell affair, and only two with the Manchester rescue, when the policesergeant Brett was killed. For that crime three lives were required, and there may now surely be forgiveness for those who were merely engaged in the riotous meeting. The larger number of the remaining convicts are soldiers. They were youths led away by appeals to their patriotism; and though the breach of the military engagement is very heinous, some consideration may be made for the circumstances both of their taking and breaking their oath. Enlistment is often a heedless act, done in a publichouse commonly, and the "Queen's shilling" is taken without serious thought of the oath associated with it. In courts of justice, when a base witness takes an oath deliberately and violates it, he may be sentenced for perjury to a term of imprisonment. But these

soldiers, I believe, are sentenced for life to penal servitude, among the worst felons. The British

Government may surely be as magnanimous as the American Government, who have given amnesty to the soldiers who not only conspired, but fought against the President and Constitution of the United States.

The general feeling throughout Ireland is that these are political prisoners; and though this feeling is erroneous, it is not the less powerful in keeping up disaffection towards England. To treat political prisoners with the same severity as common felons is against the usage of civilized nations, and is regarded, in the case of these prisoners, as a wrong to Ireland. These prisoners have apparently been treated with exceptional harshness. I forbear from saying anything about the case of Reddin, who has brought an action-at-law against the prison authorities and medical officers for cruelty. He is now free, after undergoing his full sentence of five years. If he had been a common felon, he would probably have had his time shortened, and his sentence alleviated. The case of Davitt is even more painful. He is a maimed man, with one arm, and has been injured by forced labours which humanity would have spared him. His sentence of fifteen years was not so much for the heinousness of his crime, selling or purchasing arms, as "to be a warning to others," as the Chief Justice said. If the statements made by Reddin and Davitt, which

have been widely circulated in Ireland, have the least foundation in truth, there has been cruel severity exercised, and the alleged treatment of these convicts by the prison officials is a scandal demanding investigation.

The feeling of indignation among the people is very deep, and there will be no peace while inquiry is refused. Meetings are held, not only in Ireland, but in the great towns of England where Irishmen can meet in large numbers. The appeals are in temperate language, and I must avow that they are in themselves just and reasonable. Why should the few followers be retained, when the more guilty leaders have been released? The petitions for amnesty have been signed by larger numbers than any petition since the time of Catholic emancipation, and magistrates, clergy, and leading gentry and merchants, have presented addresses pleading for clemency. The majesty of law has been fully vindicated in the severity of the sentences, and pardon may be extended without any danger to public peace, and without offering the least encouragement to disloyalty. Mr. Gladstone once had the matter before him, on the appeal of the late Mr. Maguire, of Cork. He referred to the Home Office, and was told that the treatment was only that to which all convicts are subject. If this is the case, there is the more need of public inquiry; for the treatment of some of these prisoners has been a disgrace to English justice and to common humanity.

CHAPTER XX.

PARTY PROCESSIONS.

Green and Orange—The Belfast Riots-Party Spirit.

THE

HE repeal of the Party Processions Bill was moved by Mr. W. Johnston, as representative of the Orange, and seconded by The O'Donoghue, as representative of the Green. Mr. Johnston strongly condemned repressive legislation, as creating more irritation than all the party processions. The common law, he thought, was sufficient to repress all disorders, and to protect life and property. The O'Donoghue also preferred to trust to the ordinary powers of the common law, to the impartiality of the Executive, and above all to the spirit of conciliation and good feeling which he believed would spring up among all classes. At the same time, he made an earnest appeal to the Protestants to discontinue their manifestations, and to abandon their irritating claims to ascendancy, which were untenable and unjust, now that all were equal before the law. The O'Donoghue's generous and forcible appeal was well received by the House.