Sir, – "American politics are in a curious fix. Of the present candidates, one is well qualified for the office, by a life spent in situations calculated to fit him for it; the latter has no qualifications . . . save that of being very rich. He is supported by Know Nothings and the bigoted . . . He is bitter and exclusive . . . Yet this enemy of civil and religious liberty, this intense bigot, has large sympathy in England". As reported by the Leitrim & Carrick-on-Shannon Advertiser, August 7th, 1856. If it is of any consolation, James Buchanan, the Democrat, won against the "bigot", John C Frémont. – Yours, etc,
FIONA SLEVIN,
Ranelagh, Dublin 6.