The Nationalist and Leinster Times. Nov. 14th 1885. [ Editorial. ] A RACK-RENT CHAMPION. Sir Thomas P. Butler's appeal to the Electors of Carlow, to withhold the promise of their votes until they shall have heard what he has to say to them, is one of the richest jokes of the period. The abracadabra by which he holes to cajole the rack-rented householders of the county must be very different from the hysterical shriek of the Loyal and Patriotic Unionists from the closing circle of fire that they themselves have kindled. He will, doubtless, be discreetly silent about rent if he holds ( as it is to be presumed ) his agents views. This gentleman tries to bolster up his refusal of a reduction by the declaration that in 1850 prices were as low, and rents as high, as now. If Sir Thomas for his own amusement push that argument to its logical conclusion, he may perceive its cogency for a return to the feudal times or the restoration of the Heptarchy. The local deadheads deserve credit for having selected him amongst them who was, personally, least objectionable. But what does he represent , save the moribund school of politicians whose stage craft might be summed up in the saying of the Lord of Ferney - " THE PEOPLE ARE BEASTS OF BURDEN, WHO REQUIRE THE YOKE AND GOAD". The choice of the Conservatives must have been influenced by the consideration that Sir Thomas is a lineal descendant of one of those " slaves who sold their land for gold, as Judas sold his God". At a County Cattle Show Sir Thomas once made the proud boast that he had given up the sword for the ploughshare, showing that he preferred to military glory the indolent ease of a bucolic aristocrat. He would be acting wisely in the showing now, as then, a practical belief in the truth of the adage that declares discretion to be the better part of valour - and so avoiding the attacks of the Irish Party as adroitly as he did the Russian bullets at the Crimea. [ the following week Sir Thomas replied to the editorial ] TO THE EDITOR OF CARLOW SENTINEL AND THE CARLOW NATIONALIST. Ballin Temple, Carlow, 17th November 1885. Sir-- In the concluding paragraph of your leading article on me in the Nationalist of the 14th, you imply that I avoided the Russian bullets in Crimea. For your information and that of your readers, allow me to say that on the night of September 7th 1855, I was in command of a detachment on fatigue duty, carrying shot and shell to the various batteries engaged in the bombardment of Sebastopol. Men of my party were both killed and wounded. In the action before Sepastopol, September 8th, I carried the Queen's Colours of the 56th Regiment, and we did not try to avoid the bullets. Yours truly, (signed) THOMAS P. BUTLER.