All about the Fitzgeralds and everything else when we meet.
Miss Dickens.
Belfast, Thursday, March 21st, 1867.
In spite of public affairs and dismal weather, we are doing wonders in Ireland.
That the conspiracy is a far larger and more important one than would seem from what it has done yet, there is no doubt. I have had a good deal of talk with a certain colonel, whose duty it has been to investigate it, day and night, since last September. That it will give a world of trouble, and cost a world of money, I take to be (after what I have thus learned) beyond all question. One regiment has been found to contain five hundred Fenian soldiers every man of whom was sworn in the barrack-yard. How information is swiftly and secretly conveyed all over the country, the Government with all its means and money cannot discover; but every hour it is found that instructions, warnings, and other messages are circulated from end to end of Ireland. It is a very serious business indeed.
I have just time to send this off, and to report myself quite well except for a slight cold.
Miss Hogarth.
Norwich, Friday, March 29th, 1867.
The reception at Cambridge last night was something to be proud of in such a place. The colleges mustered in full force from the biggest guns to the smallest, and went far beyond even Manchester in the roars of welcome and the rounds of cheers. All through the readings, the whole of the assembly, old men as well as young, and women as well as men, took everything with a heartiness of enjoyment not to be described. The place was crammed, and the success the most brilliant I have ever seen.
What we are doing in this sleepy old place I don't know, but I have no doubt it is mild enough.