Dublin Notes.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIX, Issue 34, 29 May 1891, Page 21

Dublin Notes.

(From the National Papers.) On March 24th, according to arrangement, his Grace the Archbishop of Dublin had a special private audience with the Holy Father. The Sovereign Pontiff spoke at considerable length about the condition of Ireland, and expressed his deep sympathy with our people in their present trials. The audience lasted more than an hour. His Grace was accompanied by th 6 Very Rev. Dr. Magrath, of Clonliffe College. The political situation in Ireland is perfectly understood here, and .Mr. Parnell'a demonstrations have deceived no one, and on all sides the one opinion prevails as to the impossibility of his retention. Tbe Archbishop in a telegram from Genazzano stigmatises as a " series of disgraceful lies " certain reports relative to the attitude of the Pope towards the Irish hierarchy relative to national affairs. Tbe anuual meeting of the Home Rule Union was held on March 20 at tbe National Liberal Club. Mr. Campbell-Bannerman, who presided, said he thought it would be found that the modifications in tbe next Home Rule Bill would be extraordinarily few. What the Liberals desired was to give to the Irish people tbe largest possible powers. They were all agreed that the Irish representation in the Imperial Parliament must continue, and that the control of the police as a force for maintaining civil order ought to be in control of tbe local authorities, not only in Ireland, but in England and Scotland. Mr. Justin M'Carthy, replying to the resolution pledging the meeting to use increased efforts to ensure that the next Home Rule Bill should be such that the Irish people and the Irish Parliamentary Party could accept as an honourable settlement, said that was all reasonable Irishmen of any responsibility desired. With regard to the appointment of judges, they only desired the same power now given to England — viz., of responsible ministers of Ireland nominating the judges to the Sovereign . He denied that there waa any desire in Ireland now for separation. They were quite content with the guarantees given by English public opinion. A decision under the Employers' Liability Act 1880, which was given in Belfast by Judge Gibson, reveals yet another method by which that well-meant but much whittled-down enactment has been made quite an innocent tbiDg for employers of labour. Under that Act the workman if injured or in case of death his representatives can claim compensation when defect in the works or negligence of the superintendent can be established. In this case there was a defect, but >be employers were not reeponsib c because the defective "works" were beyond their control and entirely within the control of a third party viz,— Harbour Commissioners, who provided them for tbe use of the employers in ommon with other employers of labour at the Belfast Docks. Workmen cannot in such cases claim successfully under the Employers' Liability Act, and tbus employers are provided with a new means of escape. There is of course Lord Campbell's Act and the c <mmoii law to fall bick upon as against tbe third parlies, but how are the anflerers, the workingman or his widow and children, to resort tj that expensive luxury 1 Most people have an idea that Lord Randolph Churchill stands about five feet in height and that he is, in fact, the small boy of the House of Commons, as Mr. Harry Furciss luves to depict him. It is almost a pity to destroy such a pet misconception. There has been nothing less than a public pronouncemait as to Lord Randolph's height arising out of a bet between two Yorkshire gentlemen. A dispute rose on the matter, one fiercely maintaimng the nob'e lord was a little fellow dwarfed behind a gieit moustache, the other piotesting that the Bame individual wns a ma.i of good size. To settle tbe matter they wrote to Lord Randolph and received by return a letter from Mr. Drummnd Wolff, bis private secretary, stating that the member for Paddingtoa stood jutu t ucd r five feet ten inches. The Women's Gazette announces th t the Superioress of the Convent of Mercy, UnfJen, Gilsvay, has started with great enterprise and good eenee a daffodil industry in. her n< ighbourhood. Boxes of these lovely flowers will be sent by po^t to those who eend money with their ordtrs, a* the rate of 11 each for named varieties and 6d for eighteen bios oms of unnamed varieties. Too profits of the sale will be handed over to the children who have cultivated them. In that kindly climate the daff jJils bloom much earlier than they do in England. Nothing can be wiser in thewiyof industrial develop4ment than to utilise natural advantages of this kind. In order to show tha kind and earnest intere-t which English ladies take in the relief of Irish dis'reps, we may quote from the Bame journal the grateful acknowledgment of Rev. Walter Co iway, P.P., Carraroe, Galway, of the receipt of five poun U for seed potatoes from the Sunderland Branch of the Worn n's Liberal Association through their estimable pref-lieu*, Ms. Alice (Jarneron. He returns her and the good ladies associated with hjr unicd heartfelt tbauk». He adds — I may &'«■) anil mysc'f of this opp >rtunity of returning thanks to the iollowm^ bramlu-s of the sumc or^vnsUiori for remittances of money or clothiug, or both, viz., Bradford, Hedford, Ipswich Edinburgh Oxford, and Ambleside. Their generosity, as

well as the generosity of other English and Scotch friends, has left as independent of Castle patronage as regards clothing, and I fear very mnch we shall be obliged to appeal to the same generous source for something to eat. The following list of gifts of clothing will give some idea of the generosity of oar English lady friends : — "A bale of clothing was despatched last week to Mrs. J. Oullinane, Bantry, from the Warwick and Leamington Association. Daring the winter months a few members of the Tonbridge Association have held a weekly workingparty, and as the result of their industry have just sent a first parcel of seventy warm flannel garments to one of the most distressed districts of Ireland. The North St. Pancras Association has sent daring the last month a large bale for distribution in Oonnemara. The members of the Eccleshall Division Sheffield Association hare been working through the winter, and have despatched bales to Father McFaddea and to Father Oonway. Some of the Liverpool members have met for work every month at the house of Mrs. J. P. Brunner. A large bale is now ready to despatch to the tenants of the Olphert Estate, the last having been sent to Miss Roche for the Glanricarde tenants. The Oxford Association has another bait almost ready." The most profound gratitude is due to those good ladies for the practical sympathy which they exhibit towards the suffering poor. Lecturing to a Protestant club at Umgola, near Armagh on March 23, on the Franco- Prussian war, Herr Fischer, who went through the war as a Geneva Cross Man, whose duty it was to care for the wounded, mentioned some interesting facts concerning a Protestant sisterhood from Berlin, and the French Catholic nuns, known as the Qrey Sißtera. Herr Fischer, who was in the university at Berlin when the war broke out, and who left to join the Bed Cross Society, mentioned that in one of the hospitals, during the progress of the war, there were a great many wounded. There was no cook and no female assistance. One day a knock was heard at the door, and presently half a dozen Protestant Sisters from Berlin entered. The Bed Cross Men told them that they were in the greatest need of help from young ladies, and went on to explain to them that they would require them to sweep the rooms, cook, etc. The Sisters, however, said they had not been sent for that, that tl 3y only camt to give spiritual consolation. At this the Geneva Cros,,., Men got really angry, and said they could have plenty of spiritual consolation without them. The Protestant Sisters then went away, but shortly afterwards another knock came to the door, and some other ladies walked in. They said they were the Grey Sisters. The Geneva Gross Men told them what they wanted them to do, and the ladies replied : "Oh, that's the very thing we want to do. We have come to help in any way we can.' 1 They (the Geneva Cross Men) made them heartily welcome, and put them in the kitchen, and found them the best cooks, the best nurses, and the best ladies they had ever met. There was not a particle of pride in them. He (Herr Fischer) was heartily sorry for the Protestant cause that they were Roman Catholics. Dr. Tanner, M.P , arrived in Ballioa by the four o'clock train on Saturday, and whilst on his way to the Imperial Hotel, in company with a gentleman, was attacked by a mob. They abused and threw mud at him. They then close i in on him and knocked him down, and a ruffian who gave him a kick on the heal was immediately arrested and conveyed to the barracks. The hon. gentleman, after a further scuffle, was brought to the hotel ; but before he entered he mada some of them bite the dust. He then went to the Rev Dr Conway's house, where he was most cordially received. After having an interview with his lordship, the hon. gentleman drove to Ca9tleconnor, to the house of the Bey J. O'Hara, P.P. A portion of the Parnellite faction in Ballina is greatly shocked at the wanton assault the mob committed on the hon. gentleman. The man who organised the attack is the same person who attacked the National Press reporter in Ballina on the 23rd ult. It was also intended to attack Messrs M. Davitt and T. Sexton, M.P.'s if they arrived by the half-past two train in the morning. On Wednesday, April 1, the prisoners confined in Downpatrick prison left under a heavj escort for Mount joy an 1 Maryborough prisons, and it is understood that the Phoenix Park prisoners will be confined at the latter pl*ce. The men on emerging frcm the prison gate (reports United Ireland) immediately struck up " God Save Ireland," and continued singing the whole way to the station, followed by a large crowd, some of whom joined in the chorus Fitzharris, or 'Skin the Goat," looked remarkably well, and kept repeating a number of verses of his own composition in regard to incidents which had occurred in the prison since his incarceration. Mullett looked pale and delidate, and rode on the car, while the others walked two and two, handcuffed. M'Caffery, another Invincible, looked well. A special carriage on the Great Northern Railway arrived at Down* patrick last night, so that a change at Belfast might be obviated. The prisoners continued singing as the train moved off. Downpatrick ' prison is now empty, and it is unders'ood that the sth Batt. Royal i Irish Rifles will bj quartered there at their annual training. Two sensational incidents have rendered the Cork Spring Assizes of 1691 memorable— the burning of the court-house and the verdict

of acquittal in the Tipperary trials. The conflagration reduced to a gaping rain the handsome structure designed by Messrs Pain, and completed in 1835 at a cost of £22,000. It will be some time before Cork citizens can invite the attention and admiration of visitors by pointing proudly to the octo-style portico with its Corinthian columns and the three colossal figures of Justice between Law and Mercy crowning the apex. Not only Corkmen, but Irishmen generally, will long regret that so many valuable and interesting city archives have been lost in the flames. Cork received no less than seventeen charters between the reigns of King John and George 11. An ancient copy of the first — the original in Norman French having been lost — waa discovered by the late Mr. Richard Sainthill, the early friend and patron of Macliee, in the Harleian Collection the British Museum, in 1828. King John at the time of the grant was Earl of Moreton and lord of Ireland. All these charters, along with many other valuable documents were burnt, After the fire, which w«s caused by the overheating of the flues, the Court adjourned to the Model Schools, io. Anglesea-strcet, where the Tipperary trial ended. Immediately steps are being taken to rebuild the court-bouse, which was heavily insured. A writer in the Nationa , Press erroneously confounds this building with the old court-house rebuilt in 1806, and which stood on or near the site of one of the two castles which figure in the Cork Arms. This castle belonged to the Roches and was anciently called the Castle of Cork. In the reign of James 1,, it was made to do double duty as a prison and a courthouse.