AN HONOURABLE PRECEDE T.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XI, Issue 7, 8 June 1883, Page 23

AN HONOURABLE PRECEDE T.

The London Echo says : We do not know that a better proof could be adduced of the uselessness of the Peace Preservation Act Mr. Forster loved bo well, or of tne lack of information which was such a distinguishing characteristic of the Irish Administration whilst Mr. Forster was responsible for it, than the fact that he let out of prison James Carey, Mr. Sheridan, and Mr. McCafferty, the triumvirate who, according to Carey's evidence, organized the Phoenix Park murderers. " Mr. Forster seems to have been particularly marked by the Invisibles, said an interviewer to Carey yesterday. " Yeß," wat the reply, « only for the member with Bradford's name there would not have been many recruits." Mr. Forster, in his speech of Thursday night more than inBirmates that Mr. Parnell approved of the murders which have taken place in Ireland. This Mr. Forster declares to be the most serious charge ever made against a member of the House. He is mistaken in this. If he will turn to the first volume of "Memoirs of Lord Melbourne, 'page 42o, he will find that the late Earl Derby (then ■Lord Stanley) brought the same charge against Daniel O'Connell in connection with the tithe murders in Ireland. O'Connell, it is stated, felt keenly the odium heaped upon him during this invective, which i * him , ies P onsi ble for all the crime and outrage committed in the land, and the result was practically seen when buc a score of English Members sided with their I ish colleagues in the division. Lord Grey was delighted with his undaunted lieutenant, and Melbourne began to regard him as next in succession to the headship of the Whig We know now from the eulogiums bestowed by Mr. Gladstone on O Connell at his great Leeds meeting (which were repeated by Mr. Forster on Thursday) that Lord Stanley's charges were discreditable party slanders, and we see behind them, in the approval of Lord Grey and the promotion hinted at by Lord Melbourne, how party and personal reasons may influence a reckless politician. Mr. Forster is not the first to bring charges of this character. He is simply playing over again the game played by Lord Stanley ; ana we again see the deep evils of Irish administration shuffled out of sight in order that party politicians may fight the discreditable battles of party and personal ambition. W. 0. J.