Considering all the circumstances, we are bound to say that
Mr. Diamond was punished lightly for the gravest offence that a journalist could commit. He had not even the excuse that might have been made for an excited Sinn Feiner in a Dublin newspape: office. He sat down in his quiet retreat at Bath to write this deliberate and insidious plea for the campaign of murder which has disgraced his fellow-Romanists in Ireland. Ho knew perfectly well that his article would be interpreted to mean that Roman Catholics in England approved of the assassins' plots. We know, of course, that English Romanists cherish no such horrible ideas, but Mr. Diamond intended to convey that impression to his Irish readers. He added fuel to the flame in Ireland, and he also dealt a foul blow at the honour of his own calling. The freedom of the British Press would be gravely endangered if the law• as it stands were not able to call such offenders as Mr. Diamond to account.
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