The Irish standard., 1902-05-24

'N"' "''' 'ii 'hle worse lOr being rich
ana powerful scounlrcls: because de-
llb"l'ately charge Mr.. Smith-Barry and
Lord ClOnhrock by name here to-dav
with violating their oaths and prosti-
tutlng their power as privy councillors
III order to serve their own selfish class
interests as landlords and that for m
object so diabolical that they would
cut Off their hands rather than sign
these proclamations If they were men
of honor, truth, or Justice (groans), If
that is what Mr. Wyndham calls "pcr-
sonal dcnunciation" invite him to be
as good as his word and to try this
question out before any public tribunal
he can fabricatc, no matter how foully
| that court may he constituted cloud
cl.ccring). This is the first time even
in the black record of England when
public liberty is struck at without even
the prctencc, won't say of any cpl
| dcmic of crime, but even of any one
case of real crime which they dare at
tribute to the peoples organization.
Out of their own mouths the Coercion
lists confess that it is not crime they
are striking at, for the very good rea-
son that they confess that crime there
is none (chccrs). On March the 18th,
when the "Timcs' was in fully cry for
the suppression OF the United Irish
League, Mr.. Wyndlmm made this ad-
mission In the House of Commons
'Thcrcforc l have always held it to
be my duty to say that Of violent
crime against the person or against
property in Ireland there is less now
than in any period OF which we have
record" There is an admission for
which real English statesman ought
| to bow down in honest thnnkfulncss to
the organization which has effected
this miracle (chcers). Yet a couple of
weeks afterwards we sec the very man
who made that confession of unparal-
leled pcaccfuncss in the country limp
ing along as n Cocrcionist at the tails
of these wrctchcd landlord hounds,
ana starting out to hunt down public
liberty and public opinion by methods
which any Irish child could teach him
are the very surcst means of foment-
ing crime and Of making crime inevit-
able by pcrsuading the people they
have no other weapon left to them.
More than that, 1t Is just Mt this mo-
mcnt his own Constabulary Committee
report that agrarian crime is steadily
decreasing, that there is no such
thing as criminal class in Ireland.
In point of fact, the Castle committee
reward the services Of the Royal Irish
Constnbulnry (groans) by denouncing
tlem as the most useless army of
idlers that ever ate up million and
n haif OF public money every year in a
poor and peaceful country. White
gloves are falling like snowfakcs upon
the county court judges of Limerick.
Kerry and West Cork. | notice that
only the other day your own recorder
or Cork was complaining that his
knowledge of criminal law is pctt,np
rusty for want of a criminal to prac-
ticc upon Cheers and laughter). That
is not all. Let me give you another
ana Il still more remarkable admission
IRON our worst enemies The "Timesn
sent over special commissioner to
Connaught to see If he could manufac-
ture anything in the nature of the
"Parnellism and Crime" articles in
support of their demand for the SIN.
preston of the league. What was the
result! With all his malgnity the
Times man was not able to orna-
ment his letters with single case Of
crime or bloodshed in the strongest
hotbeds Of the league, and after two
letters the inquiry was ignominiously
dropped, and the special commissioner
went home as sad and disappointed n
man as If he had started out in busi-
ness as hangman and discovered that
there was not murderer nor n mur.
der to be had in the whole extent Of
the island Qoud cheers). But listen to
this most remarkable confession, blurt.