In the House of Commons on Thursday the condition of
, Ireland was debated at great length. We cannot find space to deal with the unprofitable rhetoric of the Irish Members, but in our opinion Mr. Wyndham successfully supported his contention that the Government were acting in Ireland with- out, undue severity, though with a due sense of the necessity to maintain law and order. If the Government are wise they will maintain a cool and impartial attitude, unmoved alike by the yells of the Nationalists, on the one side, that they are doing too much, or by those of the landlords, on the other, that they are not doing enough. Above all, they should refuse to be drawn into windy controversies with the Nationalists. On a division Mr. Redmond's proposition was rejected by 90 votes (215 to 125). As a whole, the debate left little impression. In truth, what the country is anxious to hear from the Irish Members just now are not factitious declarations that the boycotter and the supporter and instigator of boycotting is a quiet and long-suffering citizen, but a real and genuine expression of regret for the cheers with which Lord Methuen's disaster was greeted. Such a demand may be perfectly illogical, but it exists for all that in the illogical British brain.
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