’After all, we are starting for England to-morrow morning without any necessity, for I do believe the country is beginning to settle down.’

This is the only occasion on which I ever ventured on a cheerful prophecy since Ireland came under the baneful spell of Mr. Gladstone, and it was the most foolish remark I ever made.

That night came the explosion, but I prefer to let the press tell the tale.

The Manchester Guardian relates:—­

’The explosive matter was placed under an area in the basement story, dynamite being the agent employed for the outrage.  A large aperture was made in the wall, which is three feet thick.  Several large rents running to the top have been made, and it now presents a most dilapidated appearance.  The ground-floor, where the explosion occurred, was used as a larder, and everything in it was smashed to pieces, the glass window-frames and shutters being shivered into atoms.  On the three stories above it, the explosion produced a similar effect.  To the right of it, one of Mr. Hussey’s daughters was sleeping, and the window of her room was entirely destroyed.  Mr. J.E.  Hussey, J.P., slept in another room about thirty feet from the scene of the explosion, and his window and room fared similarly.  The butler slept in a small room on the basement, which was completely wrecked, the windows being shattered to pieces, the lamp and toilet broken, and the greater part of the ceiling thrown on him in the bed.  The length of the house is about fifty yards, and the windows in the back, numbering twenty-six, have been altogether destroyed.  Mr. S.M.  Hussey and his wife slept in the front, and they were much affected by the explosion.  Three policemen who had been stationed in the house for the past couple of years slept on a ground-floor in front.  The coach-house and stables near the house were considerably damaged.  In the garden two greenhouses, one about 120 yards away, and the other fully 150, were injured, the greater portion of the glass being broken and the roofs shaken.  In several houses at long distances the shock was plainly felt.  The dwelling-house subsequently presented a very wrecked appearance.  On looking at the back of it, there are several rents or cracks to be seen in the solid masonry, and the slates are shaken and displaced.  Everything shows the terrific force of the explosion.  In the yard a large slate-house was much damaged, the slates being displaced and the roof shaken and cracked.  A large stone was found here, having been blown from the dwelling-house.’

From the Times may be culled these additional particulars: 

’There is a fissure some inches wide in the main wall from the ground to the roof, and a little more force would have effected the evident object of making the residence of the obnoxious agent a heap of ruins.  The damage done is estimated at from L2000 to L3000, but this is only a rough conjecture.’

The Cork Constitutional throws further light in a somewhat badly expressed article:—­