The Birkenhead News and Wirral General Advertiser. — 1882-04-22 (Birkenhead, Merseyside, England)

NEW POLICY FOR IRELAND.  There seems to be a pretty general impression that the Government is about to enter on a new departure rewarning Ireland. Ministers have said nothinLf to warrant sub a conclusion ; but the air is heavy with portents of coming change, an:l it a oald not be very rash to prophesy that a radical alteration is about to be made. The utterances of the I tally Vell'S and the Pall 311111 Gazette may. of :hein,elves, mean ittle; but they mnst be taken in conjunction with the gossip of tho Lomba clubs and the feeling of the country generally; and all these seem to declare that things cannot possibly be permitted to remain as they are. What is to be done ? Is Mr. Forster going to he sacrificed ? A section of the Radical party and the Home Rulers declare that his depotism is the first step necessary to ensure the pacification of Ireland. We are told that be is hated, that his policy has failed, and that he does not possess the qualifications for an Irish Secretary. It may be that he is hated.  But I,ny man who had to deal with the foul and malignant forces he has had to deal with would be hated. It is not true that his policy has altogether failed. He has displayed such admirable temper and coolness under the most trying conditions that there is every reason to believe that if he were to be dispensed with a change would be made for the worse. Thus the three arguments against him fall to the ground. What, then, remains to be done, failing his deposition ?. Shall we have more coercion or less? We ought to have at once more and less. We are told by Mr. A. M. Sullivan and others that the men now immured in Kilmainham Gaol are the very men who, when they were at liberty, kept the village ruffians in bounds and preserved the peace of the country. We have our own opinion about their conciliatory efforts ; but let them be at once released, one and all. At the same time, however, lot trial by jury be suspended and an independent commission appointed to try scoundrels who murder women, hough cattle, terrorise over the timid; and plot against the Government. It may be alleged that such a course would be unconstitutional ; but it would be no more unconstitutional than keeping untried men in gaol month eter month, and it would have the advantage over the present abortive system that it would lead to really guilty parties being consigned to penal servitude and otherwise shown that the Ministry have at its command more formidable weapons than kid gloves and rose water. What is needed now is that the law-abiding section of the Irish people shall be protected not so much from the vapouring of men like Mr. Parnell and Mr. Healy, but from Captain Moonlight's band of midnight assassins, who, as it is, when they are caught red-handed, are rarely convicted, owing, firstly, to the dread people have of giving evidence against them, and, secondly, to the fact that the majority of juries dare not return verdicts according to the evidence. A little severity now will prevent much suffering latei- on; and no effort should be spared to break the back of the " No-rent" agitation.