stination of munitions of war. The English
Government, I am sure, had not up to the last moment any definite
information. Its suspicions were of the very vaguest kind before the
Chancellor of the Exchequer received Godfrey's letter.

The Belfast demonstration--Babberly's defiance of the Government's
warning--was fixed for the first Monday in September. On the 24th of
August, ten days before the demonstration, _The Loyalist_ became a
daily instead of a weekly paper. Its circulation increased
immediately. It was on sale everywhere in the north of Ireland, and it
was delivered with striking regularity in out of the way places in
which it was almost impossible to get any other daily paper. It
continued to press upon its readers the necessity of attending
Babberly's demonstration in Belfast. It said, several times over, that
the demonstration was to be one of armed men. Parliament was sitting
late, debating wearily the amendments proposed by Unionists to the
Home Rule Bill. A Nationalist member arrived at Westminster one day
with a copy of _The Loyalist_ in his pocket. He called the attention
of the Chief Secretary for Ireland to the language used in one of the
leading articles, and asked what steps were being taken to prevent a
breach of the peace in Belfast on the first Monday in September.
Before the Chief Secretary could answer Babberly burst in with another
question.

"Is it not a fact," he asked, "that the paper in question is edited by
a notorious Nationalist, a physical force man, a declared rebel, one
of the chosen associates of the honourable gentleman opposite?"

The Chief Secretary replied that he had no knowledge of the political
opinions of the editor in question further than as they obtained
expression in his paper. He appeared to be a strong Unionist.

Considering that O'Donovan had been in prison three times, and that
papers edited by him had been twice suppressed by the Government, the
Chief Secretary must have meant that he had no official knowledge of
O'Donovan's opinions. The distinction between knowledge and official
knowledge is one of the most valuable things in political life.

Babberly displayed the greatest indignation at this answer to his
question.

"Is the fair fame of the men of Ulster," he asked, "to be traduced, is
their unswerving loyalty to the Crown and Constitution to be
impeached, on the strength of irresponsible scribblings emanating from
a Dublin slum?"

The office of _The Loy