Eighty-five Years of Irish History, 1800-1885. A Queer Election.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 195, 19 March 1887, Page 7

Eighty-five Years of Irish History, 1800-1885. A Queer Election.

(By W. J. O'Neill Daunt.)

There was an election far tho borough of Downpatrick. The contest was expected to be very close. One of the candidates waa detained by au accident, and his friends, in order to prevent biy rival from getting ahead of him, eet up Rtyby— whi happened to be in the town— as a ptalkinghor^e. Rig'jy was proposed and soconded —harangued tbe electors against lime— a poll waa demanded, and owe vote was given, which, with the vote 3 of the proposer and seconder, give him ihrct of the voices of the electors o[ tho borough. Just; at this etago of the proceedings the bona fide candidate arrived. R'gby reti r ed from the hustings, but mado no formal resignation of his claim?. Fierce raged the contest. There wag on both side's a troinendous expenditure o' briboiy. The olection ended in the triumph of the man who bribed the highest ; and in due course of time hie antagonist potitionod against his return. The sitting member wua unseated for gross and corrupt bribery ; bu^ the petitioner was not seated, for bribery to a great extent was clearly proved to have- becsn comuiicted by him also. There had been, however, a third candidate, who had committed no bribery -- a candidate who had got three votes. The Committee accordingly reported that •' kie holas Rigby, Enquire," had been duly returned for the borough. This decision astonished the public, "\\ ha had looked on Rigby's standing for tho borough as a mere electioneering ru°o, and who, in fact, had forgotten the circumstance in the interest excited by the more important candidates. Here wa^ a frol eof fortune. It is not every dsy that senatorial honours are flung at men's heads, and Rigby determined to make the most of his sudden airi unlookedfor elevat'on. The gentleman a^ whose I locum lene<is he had been originally pro- | posed to the electors wrote him a very friendly letter, requesting he would resign his seat, as the writer wished to offer himself again for the Dorough. But Rigby resolved to keep what he had got. What, reeign his s?afc ! Bow, in point of justice to his con&tituenta, ov consistently with his sacred dut^ to the country, could he surrender the important trust the electors h-jd kindly confided to his hand* ? Forbid it honour ! conscience • patriotism! Rigby 8 friend was compelled to submit to Rigby's virtuous deter Jiination.

A Lesson in Spoiling-, This gentleman wa? tho juror who, at the Cork Ae&i'-es, presented to tho Court, in the clnract.r of foreman, tho verdict of " guilty," which ho had spelled "gil f y. ' " That's baily spelled," eaid the counsel for the defe cc, who wa<* near the box, and seized the p per in tram-itu. "How shall I mend it?' inquired the foreman, abashed and confussd at this public cens ire. " Put n, o, t, before it," returned the counsel, handing bad: the paper for the emendation, which tho former immediately made, in bewildered unconsciousness of the important natuie of the change. " There— that will do," s^id the counsel, taking tho amendel document, and handing up "Not Guilty" to the Cjurt. A fortunate interposition. The jut or in question had a mania for hanging. Jle had, in his impetuous haste, hauded in his i^=ue paper without consulting his brethren in the jurybox. But if tho prisoner in that instance escaped death, in how many instances were the miserable victim 3 sacrificed ? A verdict of guilty was easily obtained from jurors who belonged to a cla&s that deemed accusation sufficient; to establish criminality, and with who n the received policy was that of hanging tho accused, "to make an example, an i to preserve the quiot of the country."

THe " Northern Star " and its Founder. Feavgus O'Connor established in Lseds the "Northern Star," a weekly newspaper, which was designed to propagate the principles of the Society. He had talked tho Chaste&t public into belief tint the new journal would work vvondeia ; and showers of five-pound notes rained down on the projector to enable him to establish it. Boforo long; it acquired an enevmous circulation. I have heard ot 60,000 cap cc of a single publication being sold by the agent at Manchester ; and it is eaid that — -railway conveyance being then far from general -the Post; Oflics authoiitios ara in r-ome cases obliged to hire carts or waggons for it 3 transmission, as il occasionally' overflowed the reatiicted accommodation of <he mul coaches. It ia lorg since defunct While it lasted, many ot tho traits of the proprietor were amusingly chronicled in its columns. One curious mode of extending his influence was by having the infant children of h?8 followers christened by his narao. A s f ring of such baptisms was for a long time to bo found in the columns of each pucce3fivo "Stir," as for example—" On Monday, the 3th instant, the wife of Ichabod Jenkins, noi'er, was delivered of a fine thriving boy, who was christened Foargua O'Connor lohabod ;" and so on for the beet part of a column. Girls were also often christened of ter Fear j;u9. A. w hole population ol Fergus O'Connors, male and female, seemed rapidly springing up ; and the Hats of these baptisms were usually headed with the word 3 , "More Young Patriots."

A Patriot in Prison. Fergus O'Connor, during the earlier part of his imprisonment in York Castle, was treated with atrocious soveiity. Ho pub lished in the newspapers statements of the barbarous indignities inflicted upon him In a letter to the " Times " he expressed a fear lest the prison discipline phould abridge hiß existence ; and desired that in the event of h»a death his body should be opened by tbree surgeons whom he named, ono residing at York, another at Hammersmith, and the third in London. Before he had ended his epistle, however, ho evidently thought that it would be better to live for future political pqualls than to die in gaol for a post mortem examination. *' Adieu, world," ho exclaimsi, "for seventeen months— but by heaven ! I'll make a storm in you yet." In gaol he performed some eccentric exp'oite. On the first Sunday after his arrival he was conducted to the chapel of the prison, where he astonished the congregation and scandalised the parson by bellowing the responses of the service in stentorian tones. He was not again required to attend the chopel during his imprisonj ment.

France must necessarily deprecate a European war. Victorious or vanquished, ahe would be ftlmost sure to fall under a military depotism. If a democracy is to retain its liberties, it must like Switzerland and the United States, give up all idea of military glory.— ''Contemporary Review." Two thousand eight hundred and eight patients were admitted into the Sydney Hospital last year, of whom 2,060 were males.