On the subject of the Special Commission, Mr. Morley was,
of course, very bitter, and not very candid. He was as angry as he could be with the Primrose Dames for distributing leaflets enumerating the charges of which the Parnellites had been " found guilty," without any reference to the charges of which they had been acquitted, or which had been declared to be not proven. No doubt that was not conduct to be imitated. Indeed, it should be condemned. But partisanship of that kind seems to us only too common on both sides, and Mr. Morley himself is hardly aware how thoroughly partisan his own speeches are. It is quite true that those charges which, if proved, would have been most dishonouring to Parnellite Members personally, have not been proved, and that most of them have been disproved. But it is also true that those charges which have been brought home to a great number of them are precisely those which have the gravest political character,--and are all the graver because they are not of a class to undermine the personal influence of the Parnellite Members with the Irish people. The political importance of the charges proved against them is this,—that it shows the absolute madness of passing over the legislation and adminis- tration of Ireland to hands pledged to a policy of tyranny and injustice towards a large minority of the Irish people.
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