In the Commons on Friday, May 10th, Mr. Dillon moved
the adjournment of the House to call attention to the seizure of the issue of the Irish People,—that paper having been seized by persons acting under the orders of the Chief Secretary, be- cause it contained a libel on the King. We have dealt with the matter elsewhere in detail, and will only say here that we entirely agree with Mr. Balfour in his declaration that the liberty of the Press is not involved in the case. Those who ordered the seizure and actually seized the copies of the paper are in no way privileged before the law, and if they acted illegally can be made answerable. The real question at issue is one of expediency. In our opinion, it was most inexpedient to stop the publication of the libel in the way in which it was stopped,—unless, of course, the article was so filthy and so obscene as to amount to an intolerable outrage on public decency quits apart from the personal element involved. Granted that it was not obscene in that sense, the paper and its supporters and adherents had far better have been passed by with the silent contempt that is the surest weapon against vulgapand foul-mouthed abuse. The Nationalists were clearly trying to use libel as a political weapon, and, in our opinion, they should not have been encouraged by any response. When they trailed the filthy coat of obscene libel they should have been told that it was too foul a garment for any self-respecting man to tread on.
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