The last amendment on the Address was moved on Thursday
night by Mr. Shaw-Lefevre, who complained that no measure had been promised dealing with arrears of rent in Ireland, and that great evictions would go on upon the estates of Lord Clanricarde. He denounced that landowner in strong terms, and maintained that Mn Blunt had behaved rightly at Woodford. Ile himself had done the same things, and had not been im- prisoned. Mr. Balfour replied in a fine speech, in which he smiled at Mr. Shaw-Lefevre's " autobiographical " details, and showed that the Clamicarde estates were not at first over- rented, and that the agitations had commenced long before the distress. He ended by declaring that the Irish movement sprang partly from hatred of England, and partly from a desire for a social revolution. "I, who believe that the laws of pro- perty were not invented for the benefit of the rich, but for the benefit of the poor, who believe that a regard for property is the very foundation of all enterprise and all success, I am strongly of opinion that unless some steps are taken, and successfully taken, for stopping the canker which is eating into the very heart of Ireland at this moment, it will matter little what Bills you may pass either for Home-rule or Separation, for enterprise and confidence will be killed in Ireland, and the people who will suffer most of all are your unhappy dupes,—the tenantry and farmers." That is perfectly true; but it is also true that the Socialist feeling in Ireland has sprung in part from a tenure unsuited to the circumstances and history of the country.
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