Mr. T. W. Russell's speech, Colonel Saunderson's, and Mr. W.
O'Brien's were perhaps in some respects the most note- worthy of the debate. Mr. T. W. Russell was very impressive. He showed,—what, indeed, Mr. Parnell had avowed weeks ago,—that the "Plan of Campaign" really produced and justified the Crimes Act. He spoke scornfully of the argu- ment urged by Mr. Morley that the "Plan of Campaign" had lowered rents, and had not, on the average, lowered them too much. He did not want to see rents lowered by law- less means involving dishonest acts. He wanted to know whether success was to be set up as a test of righteousness. He believed that there was more, not less, respect for law in Ireland since the Crimes Act was passed ; and if it had estranged anybody, it was chiefly evil-doers. Colonel Saunder- son was extremely cool and amusing. He declared that he kept Sir William Harcourt's and Mr. Gladstone's Irish speeches in bins, and drew out from time to time specimens of the vintage of 1882 and then of the vintage of 1887. He did not know how it was that the same people who enjoyed the bouquet of the former vintage, managed also to appear to enjoy the bouquet of the later vintage.
