THE RELEASE OF MR. DILLON.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVI, Issue 31, 23 November 1888, Page 7

THE RELEASE OF MR. DILLON.

(Dublin Frteman, September 22.)

The release of Mr. John Dillon from Dund<lk Gaol on Tuesday morning will have come with a pleasant surprise upon the country. He has been liberated unconditionally upon the warrant of the Lord Lieutenant Tni?, it is scarcely nee -as-iry to say, has nothing to do with t'lat order for Mr. D. lion's r«:e>fl3whicb the President of the Forgeries Commission intimated his iuention of granting a month hence. Mr. Dillon id now at liberty to go where and do what ha likes, unfettered by the restrictions which Sir James Hannen intended to make conditional to the order for his liberation. We wish we could add that Mr. Dillon cornea out of prison w.th the strength toavail himself to the full of hisfiesdom. But it requires no wordaof ours to make it clear why he has been released three montha before his time. A^ If r. O'Brien said a short time ago, DundalkGaol presented the pleas ■gfftc* taclo>, illustrative of the Coercion Act, of Mr. Balfour'a doctor* keeping their fingers on Mr. Dillon's pulse to see "how much more he could stand." We assume the Executive haa exercised its '• merciful discretion '' only when it felt it no longer safe to withhold it. W« deeply regret to learn lhat his appearance only too rividly b«trayi how severely his three months' imprisonment haa told on hii nearly* shattered frame. Whils his presence and voice are invaluable to the public life of Ireland, we are sure it is the wish of his countrymen that he should husband his great resources, and that Yfii should benefit by some recruiting rest bef >re resuming his placa in political affiirp. On° tkirg must aff >rd Mr. D.lloa no small sati^ iction. As Mr. P*inell's message of congratulation says, his " triumph ov«*r the brutalities of hiß imprisonment is a great victory for Irelanl, and a signal discomfiture to Balfour'i Coercion." Nn sing c event of Mr. Balfour's system produced so powerful an effict upon the m'nds cf the peopla o? the Threa Kingdoms ai Mr. Dillon's seatence Its very savagery was its strongest con lemnation. He was sentenced to six months im prison mint f >r rccomm mding trie tt n nt 9on the Miss, reeve estate in Liuth not to pay exorbitant ie its. This is no offrfucj. I is not an offence in Eu^l*ud, ani, as was pjinte 1 out at h ; nme, even under tbe Coercioa Act it was declared by ihe Kxc lequer in the Kilieagh case not to be an off j nce. So that Mr. D.llon was not only tbe victim of a brutal rxercise of power by a br^ce of Remov.ibl s and a partisan Judge of ihe County Court, but lit* was the victim of an illegal Bentence. It | bo felt at me time. The public will not forget that on the very threthjld of the pns >n Mr. Dillon was presented wih an address of sympathy fiom a hundred and fifty English, Welsh and So'cb. memb'Tfl of Parliament ; and leidere and people alike hive made the welkin rinj; across the Channel ever since Mr. Connty Court Judge Kisbey confirmed the sentence of the Removables. It was an effort to break ihe spirit of Mr. Dillon. How far Mr. Balfour has succeeded iv that we may leave to the public to gather from the few Btirrmg words which Mr. Dillon addresssd to the people who gathered at his residence on Tucs lay night to givehim a ringing we'eomj home. Mr. Dilloa may be iajured in health. Mr. Balfour and tho Executive are entitled to the full benefit of their gain there. Bui they count another scalp upon their girdle? How far has the movement for which M.r. Dillon was imprisoned b;en got under during the tbree months he was in Dundalk Gaol? May we not refer to Lord Massereei c for an answer ? He will tell how mnch rent he got, or rather how much he has not got, from his tenantc. And has not ihe spirit cf the people of Louth b^oninflimed and th'nr organisation stiengthened and consolidated by the attempt to bring Mr. Dillon tj earth ? S) far. thor fjre, it is ea*y to under^nd who has benefited by Mr. Dillon's imprisonment. It is as he said himself on Tuefd»y, Ev.ry prisoner under the Coercion Act mirks an advaaca of one step f >iwara for the National cause.