The opposition to Mr. O'Brien in Canada has ended, we
regret to say, in a shameful attempt to assassinate him. After being hooted at Ottawa, he went on to Hamilton, and there, after a speech to a large crowd, he was returning to his hotel, when eight shots were fired at his cab from two revolvers. The bullets missed the occupants of the cab, but the cabman was shot through the wrist. There was absolutely no justification for the cowardly outrage. Mr. O'Brien's errand in Canada was an evil one, being directed not against the Government, bat an individual landlord ; but he had engaged in no conspiracy, and he had a right to free speech within the limits of the law. It is no answer to say that an Englishman in Connaught who attacked Mr. Parnell as Mr. O'Brien has attacked Lord Lansdowne, would be shot as he drove homewards. Of course he would ; but it is because he would that we are passing the Crimes Act. The whole case of the British is that they are defending law and justice, and in resorting to their adversaries' weapons, the Canadians of Hamilton give it up. They had no more right to shoot Mr. O'Brien than the Invin- cibles had to stab Mr. Burke, and they have only placed a new weapon in his hands. Already the Irreconcilable Press is hinting that Lord Lansdowne instigated the attempt to murder, —an infamous suggestion, but one certain to be made.
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