Even the Irish Relief of Distress Bill has not yet
struggled quite through the House of Commons. All the latter part of Monday's sitting was taken up till after five on Tuesday morning in a struggle between Mr. Parnell's party and the Government, supported by a great many Irish Members, concerning the rail- way works authorised in the third and fourth clauses of the Relief Bill, which had to be ultimately abandoned, owing to the deter- mined opposition of Mr. Parnell and some seventeen or eighteen followers. The Bill shorn of these clauses did not pass through Committee till the morning was well advanced, and only some eight or nine hours remained between the rising of the House and its sitting again in the afternoon of the same day. The resistance appeared to be due to distrust of the Treasury, and especially to a fear lest the Railway Companies should obtain some advantage to themselves, under cover of affording relief to the Irish people. Mr. Parnell's cue on this occasion is,— 'Distrust the English Treasury; Parnell is the Irishman's friend, not Forster.'
