SENT TO ENGLAND 239 



beth lived before she became Queen and our stables are the chapel 

 in which she used to worship." She then took me to the window 

 and showed me their stables. After that she said: "Would you 

 like to see Queen Elizabeth's handwriting?" I told her that I would 

 be delighted and she took me to the library and produced a book 

 that was actually written by the Queen herself. After a little 

 more conversation, the leaders of the party found her and I saw 

 her no more. 



Late in the summer, the Irish National Party invited Cana- 

 dian and Indian Colonial visitors to take a trip to Ireland and be 

 the guests of the Dublin City Council for a few days. Evidently 

 the intention was to take over a large party of Colonials for the 

 purpose of advancing the views of the Nationalists as, that summer, 

 Gladstone had brought into the House a Home Rule Bill for 

 Ireland. I was the only representative of the Canadians whom I 

 knew that went to Dublin, and I accepted the invitation because 

 I wished to visit Ireland on my own account. 



Early in the summer, John Macoun, of Kilmore, Ireland, had 

 written to me in London and inquired who I was, and if I were 

 one of the Macouns of the north of Ireland. I immediately 

 wrote him and told him that I was a Macoun of Maralin in the 

 County Down, and I knew that he was a distant relative. He 

 came to see me in London and invited me to go and see him in 

 Ireland, which I promised to do. This was why I accepted the 

 Dublin invitation. All those, accepting the invitations, received, 

 in London, tickets for various places in Ireland, besides one to a 

 Grand Ball which was to be held in the Rotunda in Dublin at a 

 certain date. In due time, we arrived in Dublin and, as usual 

 with visitors, we were taken in hand by the leading men of the 

 city and, as we had the freedom of the city, we were at no expense 

 in going to the various places. 



Our first excursion was around the city and each cab was 

 numbered and the instructions were given to always take the 

 same cab. One of our leading excursions was made to the Vice- 

 Regal grounds and the various show places in the city. In passing 

 through the streets of Dublin, I was struck by the absence of the 

 Union Jack, which, to a Canadian, was at least something beyond 



