Dublin Notes.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XX, Issue 42, 5 August 1892, Page 21

Dublin Notes .

From our Exchanges.

A Bill has been prepared by Mr P. O'Brien and several other Parnellite members, which proposes that every subject of Her Majesty shall be eligible to hold and enjoy the office of Lord High Chancellor, or Lord Keeper, or Lord Commissioner of the Great Seal of Great Britain, and the office of Lord Lieutenant or Lord Deputy, or other Chief Governor or Governors of Ireland.

An orderly-room investigation has been held in Ebrington Barracks, Deny, into the circumstances of the recent rioting between the Lancashire Regiment and the militia, resulting in the punishment of a number of the soldiers of tbe Lancashire Regiment to barrack confinement of from ten to fourteen days. It has been definitely ascertained that the Englishmen were the aggressors on tbe occasion, and indeed their conduct since their advent to the city has been characterised by a good deal of rowdyism.

Mr W. Redmond, M. P., speaking at the National League meeting at Dublin on June Ist, said— Much as he desired to Bee the Irish people marching to battle with nnbroken ranks, he did not think it would not be good for Ireland, in the present or the future, if, under any circumstance whatever, they were to unite with the men who were immediately responsible for killing Mr Parnell. It would be an eternal disgrace to the Irish people if they allowed themselves to be controlled by Mr Healy, Aa far as he knew the Parnellites were about to fight every constituency from the Giant's Causeway to Cape Olear, They had not been fighting for eighteen months to run away now, and they would give all the men of independent principles an opportunity to register their opinions as to men who deserted or stood by Parnell.

We have never doubted for a moment that the good sense of the English and Scottish people will enable them to discount tbe manufactured " rising "of Ulster on the Home Rule question. Our confidence is strengthened daily by the comments of some of our contem-

poraries across the Channel on the forthcoming convention. For example, the London correspondent of the Leeds Mercury, after confessing his own belief that " not maoy thiokiog Englishmen will be greatly alarmed at the doinga of the Ulster convention," gives the following pithy extract from a letter which he received a couple of days ago from an Ulster correspondent, " who is a staunch Presbyterian and strongly in favour of the maintenance of the Act of Union." The letter complains bitterly of '• Episcopalian trickery," and goes on — This convention will not be the expression of Liberals of the North of Ireland, but of the nominees of tbe rectors and the agentsI. for my part, would rather be under Roman Catholics, with whom one could fight it out decently if one wanted to, than under these representatives of an effete Church, which, in Ireland, has been the enemy of all progiess and liberty/ 1

This is a remarkable ntterance, and, as the Mercury correspondent observes, the point should be carefully borne in mind by the English people, who are too apt to look npon Ulster Protestantß as Presbyterians alone. As a matter of fact, to use the words of the correspondent, "socially, the dominant sect is Episcopalian, although in numbers it is insignificant. It is entirely Tory, and the Presbyterians are, for the most part, Liberal. Ireland is to-day being governed accordiog to the views, not of the Protestant minority, but of a very small minority of that minority— the Episcopalian lories," Is not this very much on the Bame lines as the political address which the Bey Dr Brown, ex-Moderator of the Presbyterian Church, delivered from the chair a few evenings ago in Dublin ? Dr Brown complained that the Presbyterians bad only one representative in Parliament instead of eleven, theii fair proportion* Whose fault ie that ? Even he. must admit that the blame doeß not lie against his Oatholic fellow-countryman.

Anyone who reads the speeches of the Coercionists, which come thicker and thicker as the general election approaches, will find that for the most part they borrow their arguments against Home Rule from the acts or words of the Factionists in Ireland. Mr Chamberlain, in Birmingham, makes the continuance of dissension in Ireland the ground of a bitter attack on Home Rale and of a hopeful anticipation of its defeat at the general election. The attacks upon Mr Gladstone for refusing to prematurely produce bis Bill as a cocksbot for unscrupulous opponent! are the common property of Faction! ata

and Ooercionists. But it is chiefly by refurbishing the old weapon of bigotry for modern use that tbe Factionists have inflicted a deadly injury on the cause they profess to serve. It seems quite plain tbe Ooercionists are determined to fight the eleotions here and in England on wild and wicked cries of clerical dictation and " Home Rule means Borne Rule," which they raised to drown tbe voice of public condemnation and, it may be, tbe reproaches of their own conscience at their desertion of the policy which they were pledged to support. Their function has been to supply weapons to the enemies to use against the friends of Ireland. The tree is known by its fruit. We have reason to know that many Nationalists, misguided indeed, but honest, who followed Mr Parnell while he lived, are beginning to revolt against the degrading position to which the continuance of the faction has reduced them. They realise that its continnance is now the sole danger to Home Rule, tbe sole cloud on an otherwise brilliant political horizon. They are net willing to be made powder monkeys to the Coercionists, whatever Mr Harrington may propose.

The General Election manifesto isaned by Mr Jnstin M'Carthy and signed by 55 membe rs of tbe Irish parliamentary party was ai follows :—": — " Fellow-coon try men — The opportunity to which our people have been anxiously looking forward during the past six years has come. The Irish Parliamentary Party, in consultation with Mr Davitt, have unanimously appointed an electoral sub-committee to sit from day to day in Dublin, and to advise with the constituencies with a view to making all necessary arrangements for tbe impending struggle. But this is not enough. We are threatened with harassing contests in all the Nationalist divisions. The verdict of the electors at the polls is not doubtful, but the determination to give full expression to the will of the Irish people in this supreme hoar of our country's destinies will involve heavy election expenses which the constituencies themselves will have to take immediate steps to pro* vide. We appeal to our friends in tbe various constituencies to get to work without a day's unnecessary delay to dischsrge this urgent duty, and organise an active electoral committee in every parish for the purpose of collecting tbe necessary funds and placiDg their districts in a state of complete preparedness for a contest. We are on

the eve of the moat momentous general election of this century. The policy of desperation to which the enemies of Home Rule are reduced and the growing friendliness of British public opinion afford us confident reaFon to anticipate that a wise, determined, and united expression of Irish National opinion at the forthcoming elections will result in the triumph of the cause to which our people have devoted untold labours and sacrifices. Of the patriotic Bpirit and good sense of the majority of our fellow-countrymen we have received proofs in abundance. All that is necessary is to make sure that no Irish constituency, however poor, shall be debarred by the expense of vexatious contests from recording its judgment upon the great issue on which the country will ba in a few weeks summoned to declare itself."

'"But do sit down, sir, and let me fetch you a glass of water, yon look quite pale.' "

" Bat thiß is very interesting," interrupted Robinson, the young physician, who, while waiting for patients, was giving himself to the stndy of Hypnotism ; " will you describe more particclarly ?" But B"nith only looked at him out of his half-shut eyes, and continned his story :

" To tell the trnth, I did feel a little shaky, so I Bat down and sipped a little water ; and to proven* the old lady's anxious questions I began to ask her as to the nearest and pleasantest route to the

station.

•' At length I took my leave, pressing a douceur and many thanks upon the housekeeper, who came to tbe door to point out the way she had recommended, across the common, and by a footpath through the wood and across the fields.

"But once on the heath I stopped to lunch. A good lunch in the open air, let me tell you fellows, is, in my opinion, indispensable to the success of ' a day off.' First it is a pleasure in itself to picnic by one's self in some pleasant spot, and to lounge on the grass and smoke a cigar after it, and even to indulge in an after-luncheon nap if one feels inclined ; secondly, after a good morning's walk one is naturally hungry ; a couple of sandwiches are not substantial enough, and a half-bottle of claret— sherry heats one's system and does not satisfy oae's thirst— and the man who limits his travelling commissariat to them finds himself languid aod out of spirits in tha afternoon, and too tired to enjoy his dinner at night. My satchel always contains a substantial meal— half a fowl or so, with a roll, and big hunch of luncheon cake.

" I looked round for a pleasant spot, and found it under the lee of a gorse bush, which screened the wind, and did not keep off tbe sun. I like basking in the sun as much as a cat does. I opened my satchel and deliberately enjoyed my meat and wine. Then I lighted a cigar, and with a sigh of satisfaction reclined on my side oa the grass, in order to enjoy it. Something hard, like a root of gorse, hurt my arm as I lay down, and as I started up again the landscape for the first time caught my attention.

" Good heavens ! it was the very landscape I had seen in my trance, or vision, or fit of clairvoyance, or whatever it was, before the portrait of Oaptain George. There were tbe gorse-covered heath, and the wooded knolls in the middle distance, and tbe peep of distant purple plain through the opening bstween the knolls. And while I looked a mist came again before my eyes, and, as in a dissolving view, a gallows cime into Bight in the middle of the heath, with a skeleton dangling from it, and then a phantom of Captain George, exactly as iv the portrait, stoid before me, g. zing inten ly at me, as if to convey some meaning which be could not speak, and it seemed to me that bis cane poiaied intend; .ally to the very spot on which I rested.

"In a moment or so— l cannot tell how long — the phantom vanished, ani the landscapa remained — ut questionably the very landscape of my mornm; visioi."

"Thatis very curious," struck in Robinson, the physician. " Fir9t there was the real figure of the portrait and a visionary landscape, then the real landscape and th-3 visionary man. It is easy to conj=cture that the sight of the real landscape might have brought up a subjective vision of the pjrtr<dt so recently seen, and which had produced so strong a i impression, bat how do you explain the vision of the landscape in the first scjne, unless our friend is clairvoyant ?"

But Smith oaly turnoi hia eyes slowly to the speaker, and, with a steady stare, continued, a 9 if no one h%I spokea.

" Peeling a little gid iy, I reclined again, and again sprang up with tbe pain of comiog in conact with the root of gorse, or whatever it was, I looked to see. It eeemed to be a round, wiry root, just protruding above the ground. I took out my knife to cue if, but at first touch of my knife metal grated on metal, I at once turned to examine it with great curiosity, and fouDd that it was a riag of iron. I pulled at it, and it did not yield. I dug round it with my knife, nnd found that the ring was attacned to a plate of metal two or three inches below tbe surface. I dug away in a statf of great excitement, looking round now and then in fear cf interruption, and without much difficulty I unearthed a small metal box, to which the ring I had felt formed a handle. It was heavy, very heavy, for its size. I Bhouk it, and could hear tha rattle of its cDntents. Then I put it in my satchel, walked fast to the station, took the first train, and did not rest till I was safely locked in my owa chambers, with the box on the table before me. I conld find no key which wouli opjn it, even if the lock hid not been disabled by rust. Bust had eaten into the bottom plate of the box, and made it thin aod rotten. A champagne opener pierced a thin spot, and presently opened a jagged bole ; and turning tbe box up9i le down, I shook out of it a showjr of spade-ace guineas. Among them was a little heap of small diamonds — as many, perhaps, as might hive been set in a pair of shoe-buckles."

" By Jove 1 bow m*ny guineas were there? " asked Brown.

" There," continued the imperturbable Smith, " they lay on the table in a large shiniog heap; and the little he»p of shining Btones beside them. I suppose, but I haven) other reason than the two visions for supposing it, that this was the treasure which Captain George took on the highway, and which was never recovered."

" And bow much was it 7 " repeated Brown. BimpaoD said with a laugh, " You might lend m« a couple of hundreds, old fellow ; it would be an awful convenience just now."

"Or you might," began Brown— but Smith's eyes turned quickly towards him, with a look which caused him with some embarrassment to leave bis sentence unfinished.

" I should be delighted tooblige you all," said Smith, briskly, " but alas I the treasure is mine no longer."

" What did you do with it ? " «' What became of it ? " cried the

" Alas 1 my story is not finished," resumed Smith.

" Go on, go on," cried the chorus.

" Guineaß and diamonds were worth about two thousand. Now, yon see, two thousand pounds is neither one thing nor another. You can invest it in the Two and a-balf per Gents and get £50 a year. That is co usa to a fellow. So I determined to try my luck in turning the two thousand into twenty thousand at Monaco, You see, if I lost, 1 should be no worse off ; and if I broke the bank— well, a man can do something with twenty thousand.

"So I went to Monaco, taking my treasure with me. They tested and weighed one of my old coins, and made no difficulty about taking them at the rate of six and twenty francs apiece ; and I went in for breaking the bank right off. It did not take very long. I had no system of any kind ; I simply depended upon my luck ; and I had a strong feeling that the same wonderful influence which bad led me to the discovery of the treasure would lead to my fortunate use of it. I simply put my money on a number and let it remain there. I won from the fiist, and, leaving my money on every time I won, it rapidly mounted up, until I stood to win twenty thousand pounds, the very sum I had a presentiment that I should win.

" The banker was nervous. • Monsieur still leaves his stake ? ' ' Certainly.'

" The ball rolls, red wins, and my original two thousand, and all my winnings, were swept in by the croupier with a mocking smile and bow.

" Once more the mist came before my eyes ; I still saw the room, the table, and the company round it, but the croupier was — Captain George I who regarded me with a look of stern displeasure. Then I remembered that it was at the gaming table be lost his money and his honour, and was driven to take to the road, and so brought to the gallows.

"However, I was no worse off than before. I had only risked my spade-ace guineas and my diamonds, and not all of them, for I had taken out two of them and two of the diamonds, and had thorn mounted for a pendant to my watch-chain, in memory of the extraordinary adventure."

The six were looking at ons another and at Smith, in doubt what to say to so extraordimry a story.

•' I say, Smith," I exclaimed, " if we are going to use those two stall tickets for the Lyceum there is no time to lose."

Smith jumped up, sajing hurried good-nights as we moved away. We hastened to the door and called a hansom. As we rolled away \ said: "Smith, haw much of all that story about the spade-ace guineas was true ? "

•'Not a word, my dear fellow. When you asked me where they came from I did not choose to tell all those fellows, and the outlioe of that story flashed into my he*d, and I worked it out as I went on. Pretty good, was it 1 "

" Capital 1 but I suspected it as soon as you cam* to the clairvoyance part of it. I knew there was no spiritualistic nonsense about you."

" Did you natica that beast Brown— l beg his pardon, it was the alliteration which suggested the epithet— our friend Brown, I mean —was going to ask me before all those fellows to pay him the fifty I owe him ? I was obliged to add that last bit about Monaco to stave him off."

" Yes, that was firat-rate ; but, after all, there aie the two spade ace guineas and their diamond mounting. What is the true history of them, old man 1 "

•■My dear Jones' I saw them in a curiosity dealer's window, took a fancy to them, went in ani bought them for five guineas, mounting and all ; and that is the true history of the spade-ace guineas as far as I am connected with them."