The Sun.
London, England, 1870-03-19 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PRESS.

PEACE PRESERVATION BILL.

The Times thinks that in the early part of his speech on
Thursday the Chief Secretary for Ireland proved more
than he intended, and perhaps more than he desired. Mr.
Chichester Fortescue sought to shew that exceptional
legislation to preserve peace and order in Ireland was both
just and necessary. He shewed that this justifi2ation, if
we may not add this necessity, has existed for many
months past. The amount of agrarian crime last year
was in excess of the agrarian crime of any year since
1552. This in itself is sufficiently lamentable
but it is a feeble statement of the fact. What is more
remarkable than the amount of agrarian crime in Ireland
is the unparalleled rapidity of its increase. There is no
need to dwell upon the case for legislation against crime
in Ireland. Mr. Fortescue's facts come down to last
week, and no denunciation of the reign of terror in Mayo
could be more precise and emphatic than that contained
in the charge of Mr. Baron Deasy to the Grand
Jury at Castlebar on Tuesday last. Nor do we desire
to harp upon the delay of the Government in coming
to Parliament for additional powers. Everyone can
understand their motives, and if they are now determined
to hesitate no longer, we shall be content to think that
the mischievous notion that law can exist without rigour
has at last been discarded. The practical question is
whether the measures proposed by the Government,
promise to secure life and property in Ireland. We are
free to acknowledge that they seem better fitted to attain
this end than the meagre statements of Lord Granville
and Mr. Gladstone last Monday had encouraged
us to hope. The discussion on Tuesday sufficiently
proved what Mr. Dowse repeated on Thursday night, that
the Irish magistracy does not command the implicit confi-
dence of the present Government, but it is not easy to
find a substitute for them, and the recommendations of
the Ministry do, in fact, limit the action of the unpaid
magistrates in ahnost every instance by checks and
counter-checks. These are points, however, to be dis-
cussed more fully when the bill is before the House, and
they may be modified if necessary without affecting the
Principles of the measure. It is sufficient to remark now
that an audience of Irish members properly jealous for
the liberty of their countrymen found little or nothing
on Thursday night beyond questions of details with which
to quarrel.
The Standard declares that the measure which was in-
troduced on Thursday night by Mr. Chichester Fortescue
for the better preservation of peace in Ireland, may be
said to justify everything that has been urged against the
policy of Mr. Gladstone's Government. It was doubtless a
conviction of this fact which made the Irish Secretary
appear more than usually ineffective as he propounded,
at tedious length, the details of the new coercive bill.
He could not but be aware that every argument he used
was a blow a t his right hon. friends the Prime Minister
and the President of the Board of Trade. To prove the
necessity for some extraordinary measure of repression in
Ireland it was inevitable that Mr. Fortescue should quote
a series of facts and figures most damaging to the Minis-
terial policy. The new bill, if it is put in force, will mean
coercion ; and if it does not mean coercion it had
better not have been introduced at all. Whatever
efficiency it may have will depend entirely on the
manner of its administration. Any Government, on
these terms, 33 Mr. Bright used to tell us, can of course
govern Ireland if they will ; but we wish we could believe
that Mr. Gladstone has the will to carry out in spirit the
measure he proposes. In many respects we prefer that
the Government should use its old and constitutional right
of suspending the Habeas Corpus Act rather than it
should resort to exceptional legislation for the occasion.
The spirit of the Constitution, we believe to be more re-
spected by those who, when they have occasion to break
it, do so openly and broadly by suspending it altogether,
than by those who give the formal sanction of the law to
a series of invasions upon personal liberty, such as
those which are included in the Peace Preservation (Ire-
land) Bill.