mmitted by them_!"

Such are the kind of announcements seen frequently, particularly in
provincial papers. In the latter case, the facts impressed themselves
strongly upon my mind. A horrible murder had been committed, as well as
I recollect, in Lancashire. The widow of a farmer, much beloved in the
neighbourhood, and known to possess considerable property, was
barbarously murdered in her bed at night, and her presses and strong box
thoroughly rifled; nothing, however, having been taken but money, of
which it was known she had received a considerable sum a few days
previously. Much sensation was created by the fearful occurrence; and it
was fully believed that "the four Irishmen" had committed the
murder--why? _because they had been seen in the neighbourhood!_
verifying most fully the adage, that "one man may steal a horse without
being suspected, while another dare not look over the hedge." So it
eventually turned out. A month elapsed; the four Irishmen could never be
traced; but luckily the real murderer was. A labouring man offered a
L20. note to be changed in a town some miles distant from the scene of
the murder, and suspicion having arisen as to how he obtained it, he
was taken up: eventually turning out to be the confidential farm servant
of the unfortunate woman, still continuing to live unsuspected where the
murder had been actually committed by himself; and he was subsequently
executed.

But did this clear "_the four Irishmen_" from the imputation, or
retrieve the character of their class? Not an iota. The journalist who
accused them was not the fool to proclaim his own injustice; and
perhaps, even if he did, the refutation would never have met the same
eye that read the condemnation. No; "the four Irishmen" continued as
thoroughly guilty in the public mind as if twelve jurors on their oaths
had declared them so. The editorial pen had signed the death warrant of
_character_, if not of life, as it has done in many and many instances
with just as much foundation.

Poor, unhappy "Paddy" the labourer has had years and years of outcry to
bear up against and suffer under, a thousand times more trying to him
than that now raised against "Paddy" the Lord. The poor and lowly
struggle single-handed and alone; the rich and high face the enemies of
their order shoulder to shoulder, and as one. Poor fellow, he is like
the cat in the kitchen: every head broken is as unquestionably laid to
his charge, as every jug to puss