He was profoundly interested in Ireland, and felt that the only satisfactory symptom in Irish matters was the increased use of the Savings Bank. A friend of Fawcett’s having casually mentioned his name in a remote part of Ireland, was surprised at the exclamation, ‘Oh, we know all about him here!’ This remark was based on the fact that a girl from the district had gone with great credit through all the stages of a telegraph clerk’s position in the English General Post Office. On her quitting to get married, Fawcett had sent for her, and in the kindest manner thanked her for her past services, and offered his hearty good wishes for her happiness. [Illustration: April 9, 1861.] PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI. 159 “HERE STANDS A POST!” _With special permission from the Proprietors of “Punch”_] He felt strongly that exceptional legislation was required to deal with the land questions of Ireland, and that any legislation would be futile which did not reflect in some way the wishes of the Irish themselves. No one could be more opposed than he to Home Rule, which, he declared, meant ‘the disruption of the Empire.’ He would rather, as he said on one occasion, that the Liberal Party should remain out of office till its youngest member had grown grey with age, than be intimidated into voting for Home Rule. Still he held that some such legislation as that embodied in Mr. Gladstone’s Land Bill was necessary. It is related that once at this time, when sitting with friends who were discussing the Irish irreconcilability, he kept repeating, as if to himself, ‘We must press on and do what is right’; and he wrote to his father, ‘There is nothing for it, but to persevere in doing justice in spite of all provocation.’ [Sidenote: Loyal Work and Loyal Silence.] He felt that the Egyptian policy was weak, and on one or two occasions so far showed his distrust as to refuse to vote. But for the most part he absorbed himself in the work of his own department, and did it nobly. He gave hard work, sound sense, resolute purpose, and a gay elasticity of spirit which no weariness could break. It was truly said of him that he bettered everything and kept his eye on everything. In this, as in every task, he neared his ideal which he had expressed on leaving Cambridge: ‘To exert an influence in removing the social evils of our country, and especially the paramount one, the mental degradation of millions. I regard it as a high privilege of God if He will enable me to assist in such a work.’ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ A TRIUMPHANT END ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ‘Strive for the truth unto death, and the Lord shall fight for thee.’ ‘The things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are unseen are eternal.’