The San Francisco call., 1898-08-21

morial of any kind of the greatest Irish :. man of the nineteenth century" It is not denied that MT. Gladstone has some claims on Irish gratitude; but, on the other hand it is pointed out that he was 8 cOercionist before he was a home ruler; that all his good deeds to- ward Ireland were the result of Irish agitation working on a mind given over to opportunism, and that for that req son he is not entitled to any exceptional honors at the hands of the Irish people, . The topic has only been just introduced, : SO to say, so that it has not yet been inuch discussed; but within few days it is certain to become a burning one : A question long agitated has this week been settled satisfactorily, not only on paper, but in actual fact. For ;: years past the Irish people, and es- .peciany the people of Dublin, had been * complaining in vain of the slow rate at which mails and passengers were carried by the subsidized mail route between Dublin and London, of the high fares, and the inconvenient hours of arrival and departure. The train service has been supplied by the Lon don and Northwestern Railway Com pany which has monopoly between Chester and Holyhead, the port of de- parture for Dublin, while the sea ser vice is that of the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company, whose four mail boats, named after the four prov inces of Ireland, have been famous for more than a quarter century. The Eng lish Railway Company, having fleet of steamers of it's own plying between Holyhead and the Irish ports on the opposite side of the channel, and being desirous of establishing monopoly in the channel. too, has divided with the e4a1. ion of c 9 n Q entirely in the interest of England) the responsibility of blockading all at tempts at reform. By dint of persever- ance, however, and largely through the efforts of a Parnellite M. F., Patrick : -O'Brien the desired reforms in the Irish mail service have at length been effected and on Monday last, the lst of August. they came into a dual opera .tion.
 It is scarcely an exaggeration to say that the journey from London to Dub lin and back has, now been made as cheap and as comfortable as is posst- hle at present. But decidedly the greatest improvement is in the sea service. The City of Dublin Company, it may not be known, is about the old est steamship packet company In the world, and for more than sixty years II :has been the principal means of com munication between England and Ire : land. For at least a quarter of a cen tury it's boats have never had an acci- dent but one. and that one occasioned no loss of life. Now it's old boats-the Ulster, Leinster, Munster and Con- naught-have given place to four others with the same names which are a model of speed and comfort, not to say luxury. They perform the journey . of sixty miles of sea between Holyhead and Kingstown County Dublin) in about two hours and quarters. American visitors would do well to try them.
 This is the season of congresses, and Dublin is having its share of them. During the past week we have had here the annual convention of the Irish Ma tional Foresters. The society is a mu- tual benefit organization, but 1t does not profess to be non political. The very uniform of its members-the dress associated with Robert Emmet, green double breasted swallow-tail coat, white knee brooches and top boots-is suggestive; but 1t is not the only thing