The discussion on Tuesday and Wednesday had reference to the
penalties for witnesses of crime who may refuse to give evidence, and to the clause for inflicting on a district where undiscovered crime occurs the expense of an extra Constabu- lary force. The latter clause gave rise to a furious onslaught by Mr. Parnell and Mr. Callan on Sir William Harcourt, who assured the House that no action of this kind would in the least affect his disposition either to accept a reasonable amend- ment, or to reject an unreasonable one. He was only hurt by attacks which proceeded from quarters entitled to respect, and these attacks did not hurt him at all, but left him in a perfectly impartial state of mind as to any amendments submitted to him from those quarters. That looks a little boastful, but we suspect it is very near the truth. Sir W. Harcourt has a real respect for the world, but the world does not, to his mind, include Irish Land Leaguers, of whom he might, perhaps, say that, with the exception of their leader, who is a man of the world, though compelled to act with very strange colleagues, they seldom succeed in producing even "bad imitations of polished ungodliness," when they attempt it at all. The most efficient of them, indeed, rather affect an excessive and clownish brutality of phrase.
Previous page
