The Birkenhead News and Wirral General Advertiser. — 1882-05-20 (Birkenhead, Merseyside, England)

THE KILMAINHAM TREATY. The Empire has been imperilled. The Government has been disgraced. i..ngland is now ruled by dishonourable u:en, who are not ashamed to add to ir other enormities that of submitting t h. terms of wretches who are steeped Li the lips in treason. buch is the pitiable plight to which Mr. Gladstone and the Liberal crew have brought u; at least, so say those patriotic creatures, the professional Conservatives, who, in this dire crisis, seem never to weary of telling us that, whatever their demerits may be, they at least possess the souls and feelings of Englishmen. Now, the testimony of those disinterested critics may be unquestioningly accepted by simple-minded persons who would not be inclined to s, verety analyse i statement to the effect that the moon was made of green cheese. However, for ordinary people the virtuous indignation, the horror, and the grief have been not merely a trifle, but considerably, overdone. The speeches which have been  made in Parliament, the shrieks which have rent the air from patriotic platforms, the diatribes which have flooded the columns of the Times, the Daily Telegraph, and a host of le•ser journals, have all had so painfully an artificial, manufactured-to-order, a'r about them that doubts as to the sincerity of their authors must inevitably arise in many a mitid. No doubt the Tories are acting with the strictist bond fides up to a certain point, because they are in a chronic .tate of believing that England can only be ruled to the satisfa-tiou of the Tory party by the Tory party; but, patting that peculiar form of monomania on one side, the relation between cause and effect, in the case under notice, seems of the most extraordinary character. What does the " Kilmainham Treaty" amount to? Simply that before Mr. Parnell was released it was discovered that his release would not be likely to be fraught with evil consequences to the nation. That is in brief what preceded the throwing open of the priaon doors behind which he was detained. He gave no pledges and received none, but it seems that in a letter to Mr. O'Shea. M.P., ha daelaead that if the Government did not renew the Coercion Bill, and if they introduced a bill dealing with the question of arrears, be would be able cordially to co-operate with the Liberal party. That letter was shown to various members of the Government—Mr. Forster among the number—and it is possible that it had, indirectly, some effect in bringing about the decision which was arrived at to release the suspects; but -even if it had there was nothing extraordinary in the fact. Mr. Parnell and his friends were in prison on suspicion only, and the evidence against them was so meagre that they were never likely to be brought to trial. They were confined at a time of urgency ; that urgenc, having passed away, or having ceased to be of a character to be affected by their being again set at libel ty, what earthly good was to be gained by beeping them incarcerated ? The Tories seem to think that the Government should have deliberately shut their eyes to the opinions of Mr. Parnell, and, in,•eed, to have shown their independence by acting in direct opposition to them, without any reference to the intrinsic value of the opinions themselves. The Government, on the other hand, have sought to obtain the fullest information, and have proceeded on the assumption that it is their duty to secure the co-op, ration of any one who has both the will and the ability to help them to pacify Ireland. Oddly enough, Mr. Forster, the late Chief Irish Secretary, is brought forward as a witness in fav, ur of the non possumus way of do'ng things which the Conservatives wo. Id hate had adopted ; yet he left Vie Govetoment because Mr. Parnell a .d other suspects were released ithoit definite pledges being extort,- 1. frola them. Under these circumsta- as it remains to be se, n whether the anti y generally will be roused into furs yti cleverly simukted hysterics of the To y fuglemen. To suppose that murder( 3 will be encouraged to persevere in tilt .r evil practices by the manner in which the (:9vernment has treated Mr. Parnell and other Irish agitators is to suppose an absurdity which could never find a permanent lodgment in any head save th ,t of a lunatic or a hungrj seeker after office.