On Wednesday, the wearisome discussion on the Commission of Inquiry
was at length brought to a close, the Report being agreed to, and the third reading passed by a majority of 116 (162 to 46), the Parnellite Members refusing to vote. Mr. Labouchere moved the rejection of the Bill in his usual style, alleging that the measure had been " begotten in injustice, conceived, hatched, and brought forth in injustice." He spoke of it as a " Times Protection Bill,"—the title long ago given to it by the Radicals, though any more inept title can hardly be imagined, considering that the Times had for a year and a quarter been without any such protection at all, and would. apparently have been in no danger from any of the Parnellites attacked, if the Government had ignored the whole question to the end of time, as we incline to think they should have done. Nothing is plainer than that the Times would have been per- fectly safe without the inquiry, and that if the Times has been as unfair as the Parnellites assert, it will suffer gravely by the inquiry. As it is, every man with a head on his shoulders is perfectly well aware that, whatever may be the result, those who are at present in a flutter of trepidation are the Parnellite Members and their allies. It is said that the Commission will not begin its sittings till after the vacation.
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