Mr. Healy made the ablest of the Anti-Parnellite speeches, and,
if hie facts can be trusted, undoubtedly produced some very conspicuous cases of hardship in which, through mishap or mismanagement, tenants have been deprived of the advantages which the various Irish Land Acts were meant to secure to them ; but Mr. Balfour showed that Mr. Healy was so extremely inaccurate in his law, that it is clearly dangerous to accept his facts without due verification. Mr. Balfour's speech was very moderate and very instructive. He showed what ought to be done, and what ought not to be done, with great lucidity, and he pointed out how ridiculous it is to com- pensate Irishmen for refusing, as a " point of honour," to take advantage of legal provisions passed for their advantage. Mr. Morley had only a quarter of an hour in which to reply, and did not make the most even of that meagre opportunity. The second reading was carried by a majority of 32 (259 to 227). In Thursday's Committee on the Bill, it appeared that the intention is to relieve some tenants who have never been evicted at all, and that therefore the title and description of the general scope of the Bill needs recasting.
