The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle. — 1888-06-30 (Stourbridge, West Midlands, England)

GOVERNMENT IRISH POLICY.--NOTE OF CENSURE DEBATE.  Mr. Morley moved, "That in the opinion of the House the operation of the Criminal Law and Procedure (Ireland) Act, 1887, and the manner of its administration, undermine respect for law, estrange the minds of the people of Ireland, and are deeply injurious to the interests of the United Kingdom." Premising that Ireland has now been suffering under repressive legislation for more than a year, that 17 members of the House had been imprisoned during that time, that in one gaol there were now more than 40 persons under this Act, that the collisions between the police and the people had been of almost unexampled frequency since the Act was passed, and that the Court of Exchequer in Ireland had recently pronounced a judgment which discredited the most important part of the machinery by which the Act was administered, the right hon. gentleman accepted Mr. W. H. Smith's interpretation of the resolution as "a challenge of the conduct of the Government in every respect." It challenged the justice, the expediency, the wisdom, and even the allegations of the transient success of the Government policy. Adverting to the imprisonment of Mr. Dillon, he complained that the Government had issued an ex post facto proclamation for the purpose of imprisoning a political opponent. The inequalities of the administration of the Act, and in the treatment of those who were convicted under its provisions, showed that the Government's pretence of equal and impartial administration was a mockery. They had placed every possible obstacle in the way of legal difficulties being referred to the higher tribunals of the country, and had employed agents provaeateurs for the purpose of creating offences upon which prosecutions might be instituted. With regard to the resident magistrates, by whom the Act was administered, he submitted that the decision of the Court of Exchequer justified all that had been said as to their unfitness for the task. The harshness and brutality with which the Act was enforced, he contended, had not increased respect for the law, or promoted good feeling between the Irish people and the Government, but effectually alienated the sympathy of the people from the law and enlisted it on the side of the offenders. The Chancellor of the Exchequer declared that it was the persistent efforts of the Opposition to introduce a new standard of morality and law, and a new interpretion of the duties of citizens, that had made Ireland what it was. The predecessors of the present Government, he pointed out, did not leave Ireland in a state in which there was much respect for law or much affection for this country; and there was not a charge made against the present Government which had not been made in previous Parliaments against Liberal Governments. As to the imprisonment of Mr. Dillon, it surely could not be forgotten that Mr. Parnell was imprisoned by Mr. Gladstone, and by what right, he asked, did the Liberal party venture to say that men as honourable as themselves were actuated by a desire to put their political opponents in gaol? Mr. Dillon was imprisoned for advocating a policy which would "make the fate of the traitor" to the "plan of campaign" "an unhappy fate" by methods which the House knew only too well. No doubt there had been cases in Ireland, as in England, in which magistrates had made mistakes; but, on the other hand, the Government had made good progress in dimishing agrarian crime by means of the Crimes Act; and what was still more important, had brought to justice the perpetrators of two atrocious murders who otherwise would not have been convicted. They could now see signs of being able to break down the "plan of campaign" on estates where the most stupendous efforts had been made to sustain it. The aim of the Government was not, however, merely to vindicate and uphold the law; they desired to increase the number of owners of land, to develop the material resources of Ireland, and to decentralise its administration; and if they could not win the affections of the people of Ireland they would nevertheless endeavour to treat them as an integral portion of the United Kingdom. The debate was continued by Mr. R. T. Reid, the Solicitor-General for Ireland, Mr. J. Sinclair, Mr. T. W. Russell (who declared that the Crimes Act had made life possible and endurable for many thousands of honest men in Ireland., Mr. ShawLefevre, who defended the "Plan of Campaign," and by Colonel Sanderson who vehemently denounced the policy of the National League and expressed his cipviction that the present Government would deliver Ireland from the tyranny of the League. On the motion of Mr.W. O'Brien, the debate was adjourned.