Mr. Courtney's speech at Liskeard on Wednesday struck, as we
think, precisely the right note, in reference to the action of the House of Commons in relation to the Parnell Com- mission. He pointed out, as we have done, that the publication of the forged letters being unquestionably and admittedly a breach of privilege, and yet one which the House very wisely thought it undesirable to notice at the time, there was a special reason for referring to the culpable carelessness which had given rise to that breach of privilege at the time the Report of the Special Commissioners was adopted. "He had worked," he said, "in close alliance with the Times' men, and because he knew them so well, because he knew their honour and their integrity, and that no one would wilfully or consciously commit any act of injustice against any human being, because he knew the principles on which the paper had been and was conducted, he was free to condemn the carelessness manifested in that particular case." Mr. Courtney spoke with perfect approbation both of the Tithes Bill and of the Irish Land Bill, and especially condemned the attempt to nibble away at the tithes revenue in order to please the landlords ; and in the end, he said, it would benefit no one else. Mr. Courtney's testimony to the two principal measures of the Government is very weighty testimony, perhaps the most weighty that the House of Commons could produce.
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