derstand Mr. Davitt
knows all about these things, and I suppose he will tell what he
knows. But of the main matter, and I think the chief cause of your
ire, I am quite in a position to speak. I have read at least a
score of Mr. Taylor's letters to the _Manchester Guardian_, and I
have always found them very intelligently written, and invariably
characterised by a spirit of fairness and moderation; indeed, the
chief fault I found with them was that they took too favourable a
view of the motives, if not the acts, of many of our public men,
but notably of Messrs. Dillon and O'Brien. You may, of course,
fairly say that I am not the best judge of either the acts or the
motives of these gentlemen, and I freely grant you that I may not,
for my way of looking upon the Irish question is quite other than
theirs; but what I must be excused for holding is that both I and
Mr. Taylor have quite as good a right to our opinions as either of
these gentlemen, or as any other member of the Irish Parliamentary
Party. But this is the very last right that people are inclined to
grant to each other in Ireland just now. Personally I care very
little for this, but for Ireland's sake I care much. Some twenty
years ago or so I was sent into penal servitude with the almost
entire approval, expressed or implied, of the Irish Press. Some
short time after the same Press found out that I and my friends had
not sinned so grievously in striving to free Ireland. But men and
times and things may change again, and, though I am growing old, I
hope still to live long enough to be forgiven for my imperfect
appreciation of the blessings of Boycotting, and the Plan of
Campaign, and many similar blessings. It matters little indeed how
or when I die, so that Ireland lives, but her life can only be a
living death if Irishmen are not free to say what they believe, and
to act as they deem right.--Your obedient servant,

JOHN O'LEARY.

June 18, 1888.

_To the Editor of "United Ireland."_

Dear Sir,--I observe that in your last issue, amongst other things,
you state that Mr. Taylor accepted a Crown Prosecutorship in 1885.
I happen to know the precise facts. Mr. Taylor was offered the
Crown Prosecutorship of the King's County, and some of us strongly
advised him to accept it. There were no political prosecutions