NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE Irish Tories, and, indeed, it may almost be said, all Irish landlords, having now accepted the principles of fixity of tenure, free sale, and fair rent, and a considerable extension of the Bright Clauses, we need scarcely say that the present Government will hardly have a chance with either party in the .country, unless it is prepared to introduce, on the assembling of Parliament, a measure embodying these principles. We trust that it may not be accompanied by a suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act. It should surely be possible so to strengthen the civil arm of the law, by giving increased powers—those, for instance, of the Peace Preservation Act of 1870—to the County-Court. Judges and Resident Magistrates of Ireland, as to answer all the purposes of the Government, with- out resorting to this coarse and cruel weapon, suitable in a period of insurrection, but at no other time. Whether, how- 'ever, the Habeas Corpus Act be suspended or not, it will be considered absolutely essential by all good Liberals that the coercive measures suggested by the Government, should be only
suggested simultaneously with a full statement of their reme- slial proposals. Otherwise, the Government run the risk of
.alienating their own warmest supporters, of being outbid by the Tories, and of making the condition of Ireland even worse than it now is.
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