On Thursday, the speeches of most note were perhaps Mr.
Baggallay's and Mr. Ritchie's in favour of the Bill, and Sir Lyon Playfair's and Mr. Whitbread's against the Bill. Mr. Baggallay dealt with the statistics of Irish crime with great force, and illustrated the tyranny which goes on under the name of boycotting, Mr. Sexton interrupting him to intimate that the NationalLeague has as much right to expel members as a London Clnb,—the particular exclusions referred to being, however, exclusions which had brought on the victims a complete trade excommunication. Can a London Club cut off a man from all trade by expelling him? Sir Lyon Playfair was not at his beet. He insisted that in Ireland the per-centage of convictions to indictments had been almost as large as in England, but ignored the fact that in the case of the vast majority of Irish agrarian crimes, there is no indictment, because the criminal is sheltered by Irish society. He denied that this sympathy would be diminished by a stronger law. But that is contrary to all experience. Of those who shelter the criminal, no doubt some sympathise with him; but a good many shelter him only because they have no confidence in the power pf the law to protect them if they take the side of the law.
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