MR. GLADSTONEI wish, with the indulgence of the House, to give an explanation in prosecution of the matter which was opened by the right hon. Gentleman the Chief Secretary for Ireland the other day. It does not involve any charge on any one, but merely exculpates some persons outside the House. The 111 right hon. Gentleman was under the impression, which was not unnatural, that a fraudulent use had been made of a letter of mine. I am, however, assured from Salford that no such fraudulent use was made of the letter. The letter was written on the 30th of March, and the death of the hon. Member for Salford (Mr. Cawley) which brought about the election occurred on the 2nd of April. The letter, unfortunately, was delivered at a place from which the club or society to which it was addressed had been re-moved, and was never discovered until the 17th of April, when they were in the thick of the election. At a meeting on the 17th a large extract was quoted from it, and on the 18th the letter was published in a Manchester paper, I think The Manchester Examiner—together with the date—in extenso, so that there could be no misunderstanding about the date at which it was written; and how it came into the London newspapers without the date I have no means of knowing. The right hon. Gentleman, therefore, will see that there was no fraudulent use made of the letter whatever, and no ground for a charge against any persons in the place.