The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1875-06-20

ooeieod 1OT any 1ElSu constituency, and
it was roundly abused by the friends of Mr.
Mitchell here and in America, amongst the rest
by MIR. P. J. Smyth, NJ. p, who pledged his
word that Mr.. Mitchell was quite eligible.
And mention of Mr.. Smyth's name reminds
me that the controversy in reference to that
gentleman's abandonment of the Home Rule
cause has lately been revived in the Irish
popular press with disastrous results to him,
He wrote a letter to the Nrecmar<e r<eeulogizing
Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, because that gentle
man said he could not join the Home Rule
League. In reply, one of the Catholic clergy
men of Mulhngar, the capital of Westmeath,
Father Caldwell, wrote, pointing out that Sir
c. G. Duffy had certainly been consistent,
which could not be said Of Mr. P. J. Smyth,
who, he said, had been elected as O Home
Ruler, and had had his election expenses paid
by the clergy and the people on the under
standing that he would support the Home Rule
party. This drew another letter from Mr.
Smysh, which, in its turn, produced another
sfrpnAt then CalazallS4 A-rasnlk of all hnrz-
ever, being that Father Caldwell challenged
Mr. Smyth to 60 down to his constituents and
that this challenge was practically refused.
The Nation intervened towards the close of the
correspondence with crushing proofs of Mr..
Smyth's treaohery and desertion, and this now
turned Mr.. Smyth's wrath on the editor Of that
journal, of whom he published letter reekinR
with abuse, but not answering any Of the
charges brought against him. In the course
of this letter he had the hardihood to deny
that the county Westmeath paid the expenses
of bis last election. He said he gave E10O to-
wards those expenses, and got back out of that
on1u Rut Eof ra1 r.
request of the editor Of the Nation, published
the account of the expense agent, from which
it appears that Mr. Smyth got back every
penny of the S100! Mr. Smyth next aoknow-
lodged that this was so, but it is odd that the
day he did 80 was the very day on which the
Nation containing Father Cald wells letter was
published !! The latest news is that his consti-
tuents have begun to take hostile action in his
regard. The Town Commissioners of Mullin-
gar, at their meeting on Friday last, passed q
resolution calling upon him to resign his seat.
His game-viz: to split up the Home Rule
party-wss q wicked one, but it is played out.
Father Burke, whose illness has been a
source of much anxiety Of late, is almost him
self again. He preached last Sunday dedica-
tion sermon in the south of Ireland, and on
Tuesday next he will preach in the Cathed raj,
Tuam, at the celebration of the jubilee of Dr.
MacHale, for which event vast prep0rations
are in progress. Father Burke recruited him
self at his mothers and sisters house in Dom
wick street, Galway.
Last Sunday tho working men of Dublin
held great demonstration in Phenix Park,
in support of the bill for closing public houses
on Sundays Another ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
the ebill-was-announced to take place at about
the same hour and near the same place but it
did not come off Only half dozen sober pub
licans and an equal number of drunken dupes
attended it. Last week, petition was presen-
ted to parliament against the bill. Itpurport-
ed to come from Dublin and to have been
signed by 10000 working men bnt it has been
found that three fourths of the signatures
fictitious, and the concootors ale, hear, about
to be summoned to the bar of the House of
Commons to answer for the fraud. As one in
stance out of hundred of the ravageB of
drink in this country, l may mention that last
Saturday night, in Newtonnardy, a weaver
named Mcknight and six of his children met
death through sufocation and burning and
that the cause of all was that he and his wife
who mirsculously escaped with baby retired
to rest in q state of intoxication and forgot in
their drunkenness to put out the light.
A very singular case has been decided in our
law courts here. A gentleman named Banbury
who believed that Thousand years after his
death he would return to the earth and again
enjoy his property, left by will his estate to
bis steward to be enjoyed by him and his
heirs till his return. His relatives sought to
have this will set aside, but the courts have
decided that it is valid, and so a poor man is
at one jump raised from poverty to absolute
all Ience. j. s. C.
Best Cordova coffee, -pOrched or ground. S5