Lord Powerscourt made a telling speech in favour of the
Bill, and Lord Fortescue a grudging one, admitting that the Bill was required,—while the Disturbance Bill, he said, was not,—by the public opinion of the country,—a view of the public opinion of the country which, though supported by Mr. Fawcett, is, we venture to say, a most delusive and ignorant one. Lord Sel- borne made a very lucid and powerful speech, to show that so far from the Land League having overpowered the Government, it was the social exigencies of the case which brought the Land League itself into existence. Lord Cairns replied in a half- hearted speech, which betrayed a very great anxiety that the Bill should not be injured in Committee ; and Lord Kimberley closed the debate, by proving that Lord Cairns himself only last August bad contemplated a Bill to extend the Ulster Custom to the rest of Ireland, as at least a "statesmanlike proposal" which would demand the most careful consideration, —and also that a Bill brought in by an Ulster Member for abol- ishing office rules " restrictive of the right of free sale in Ulster, and proposing to interfere with inequitable leases, had been promised the support of the late Government before the dis- solution !
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