The Irish standard., 1909-03-13
Forcble Reply Of Secretary Brre TO Earl Percy in House
Of Commons Boycotting Methods 8SS
and Cattle Driving.
ORDINARY Law SUFFICIENT FOR ALL PURPOSES
None But Incompetent Politicians Would Resort to hs
Use Of Coercive Measures to Obtain Any sa
More Convictions. S8

In a recent speech in the British
parliament. Tory member, Earl
Percy, made a violent onslaught OIL
ireland which ELECTED cheers from tha
Opposition benches. In reply. Mr.. Bir.
rell, Chief Secretary for Ireland. who
was received with general cheers, said
in part: h
of course, have no means of knoH-
ing what may be the feelings of 9TH
er members OF this House, but 1 at all
events am sincerely glad that this
much talked of and advertised amenu-
Sn,ent has been ct last introduced. For
months past have been arraigned or
hundreds of party platforms and In
obedience to orders of party organlza-
tions (hear, hear, and cries Of "Oh")
II have been arraigned by The most
charitable for high crimes and mis-
demeanors against the State, as one
whose hands are stained with blood ana
sshbgs etsc,insets III soiled with muir
der tiaugfitts 5 a ea man whq looks
supremeiy on Indifferent to life. neg
lcctfu1 Of property. callous to human
suffering, and watching society rush
ing t,eadlong downhill to ruin and dis.
uolution. have not, am hound t.
admit. been able to derive much satis-
faction from the two rival hpyothoses
which have been invented to account
for this hideous phenomena Qaughter).
/ have been described as callous
cynic, wholly Indifferent to what hap
pened either to man or beast in Ire
land. Other persons have found 1t moro
charitable to attribute my inaction to
q state Of cowardice moral mental,
and physical which has reduced me
so low in the scale OF humanity as act
ually to be beneath the contempt of the
right honorable and learned gentleman
the senior member for the University
OF Dublin (Ministerialist laughter and
Nationalist cries Of Hear, hcar'). On
the surface OF this torrent OF abuse
there Is at all events one ray OF hope,
inasmuch as all these orators at tho
close Of their harangues assured their
audiences that the House Of Commons
would not meet for single day before.
rising in their majesty and wrath and
dragging forward the viliain Of ths
piece. they would expose this ruf!iat:
sor this quaking coward, this mass Of
nerveless ineptitude. to the wrath Of
the whole House Of Commons (checrs
and laughter). I confess derived this
much satisfaction, that they cannot do
this without at all events affording me
the opportunity Of saying word or
two in my own defense. have had
to wait until another amendment drop
ped from I.'know not where dealing
with Ireland comes before us for dis
2cussion. The critics OF Ireland are al
ways ready to offer that unhappy coun-
try a choice before the drug Of coeI.s
cton,l bitter, familiar and i1eftectual.
was to be thrown down her throat. She
was to be tempted, like the mother Of
mankind, with the fair enticing fri,it,
iofg Tariff Reform Noud Ministerial
.cheers and laughter,. II she had fol-
lowed that high example, and, yielding
to the temptation. given hon. members
opposite the votes they had wanted I
dare say this amendment somehow or
other, would have disappeared (Min-
3isterial laughter and Opposition cries
~ protest). I am very glad that y has
jat last been moved. We have heard q
:powerful and eloquent speech from the
noble lord. II was we'll conceived and
well arranged, but IL was not very dis
t.nctiyeiy Irish, nor did ~ exhibit any
very close knowled ionalist
chesrs) either Of the actual facts, or'
|of the state Of the law renewed Na-.
tionalist csieers). He li1s 4 I'D some
|rather harsh things ab bout ne. Ie WI:
forsivss buaa ~ ~ |if Issay mt rom lis pcant
vi view ma IRON u I - y y his
4 + 81 Wpuld Shsys A ! q i az enss
hi n ts z Ae'' ! II, n M