The Land Leaguers made a violent attempt on Thursday night
to discredit Mr. Forster's speech at Tullamore, by suggest- ing that Mr. Forster had a large number of policemen, sub- inspectors, &c., on the spot to protect him ; that these police ill-treated a man who interrupted with cries of "Release the suspects !" and further, that either Mr. Forster or the Government paid for the reporting of his Tullamore speech. All these sugges- tions turned out blunders ; the speech was reported by the Irish. Times and other papers because, when the staff of those papers heard of Mr. Forster's intention to speak, they thought it desirable to have a good report of that speech, and provided reporters ac- cordingly ; and as to the police, one sub-inspector was present through private curiosity, but no orders to have police on the spot were given at all. The Laud Leaguers' attempts to throw mud at Mr. Forster have no effect at all in Parliament, except to increase his popularity.
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