Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-02-18
PARNELL'S PLEA.
1t is Defeated by an Over
whelming Majority.
TWO INTERESTING SPEECHES
BalfOur Attacks the Liberal Party
and is Answered by the
Grand Old Man.
Associated Press Dispatches to the HERALD.

House of Commons this evening,
Balfour resumed the debate on the
address in reply to the Queens
speech. He commented upon the
vehement character Of O'Brien's re-
marks last evening, and said that it
was nothing but what he was ac-
customed to from the same quarters.
He denied in toto the allegations that
Earl Carnarvon favored a Dublin
Parliament, and opened negotiations
with Parnell with the knowledge Of
Salisbury. Proceeding to compare
the Crimes Act Of 1882 and 1887, Bal
four maintained that the latter did
not, while the former did, create
new crimes: O'Brien had boasted
that his advice to the people of
Mitchelstown, combined with the
public opinion of England, saved the
people from wholesale eviction.
Government action, Balfour declared,
had been modified by neither. A
complaint had been made Of letter
he wrote during O'Brien's imprison-
ment. All it stated, he said,
was that O'Brien was suffer-
ing from weak lungs and an
excitable disposition. Regarding the
alleged tortures IN prisons, he re-
quested the prison inspectors to make
a special inquiry and report the re-
suit, which would show that this was
utterly untrue. As matter OF fact,
O'Brien's health improved in prison,
| (hear-hear-) and he was two pounds
heavier when he left than when he
went in. (O'Brien-that is inaccur-
ate, was five pounds lighter.)
Turning to the Crimes Act, Balfour
contended that the condition of Ire
land was immensely improved, COM
pared with the period of the Gladstone
government. What spectacle did
the Liberals now PRESENT. Who, a
short time ago, would suppose that a
single man on the opposition bench
would advocate forcible resistance to
the police. He was panied at the prog
ress of degradation in theLiberal party,
in denouncing the judges, magistrates,
and police, who under great diff
culties stood between the society in
Ireland and utter ruin, and fearlessly
executed their duties, and they had
| the respect and admiration of every
true friend of liberty and order. pro
longed cheering.)
GLADsTONE's REPLY.
Gladstone said that he found little
in the Chief Secretary's speech that
tended to assist them in getting at the
truth Of the question before the
house. There was the question as to
whether the Conservative leaders had
communicated with Parnell on the
subject of Home Rule, aud the deni-
ais made by Balfour did not get
rid of the Irish members assertions.
Continuing, he said that the Liberals
were called separatists because they
wished to give effect to the National
aspirations of Ireland while having
supreme regard for the unity of the
Empire. Some Of the remarks of Bal
four, Gladstone said, had apparently
been levelled at himself. His (Glad.
stone's), Nottingham speech had been
absolutely misrepresented as to the
statement regarding the Irish execu.
tive practice of obtaining infor-
nation by permitting the
police to concoct crime. He
protested then, as now, against the
practice as dangerous to society and
tedious in itself. He had never ut
tered anything, over which he felt
more rejoiced, than his words at
Mitchelstown. He used them for the
sake of preventing enormous mischief
and suffering, and probably bloodshed.
Gladstone declined to accept as
authentic the government statistics
of crime under the Coercion act
until the cases cited were thoroughly
investigated. The only case given in
detail had been met with point blank
contradiction. He had never heard
the ministers express confidence in
their ability to make permanent re-
sistance to the policy of home rule.
If resistance to the national voice OF
Ireland were pashed too far those
who now guided the mind of that ma
ton might lose their power and be
displaced by ruder and more dan
gerous spirits. Let the government
bethink themselves, and consent to
legislate for Ireland as they did for
England and Scotland in accordance
with the constitutionally expressed
wishes and permanent convictions Of
the people, and thus at last the pres.
ent world would be blessed with the
spectacle of a truly and not nominally
united empire. cloud cheers).
THE AMENDMENT DEFEATED.
Parnell's amendment was rejected