The decision of Chief Baron Panes in the Tallow conspiracy
case, the far-reaching bearings of which we discuss else- where, has already had one notable result. The Freeman's Journal, commenting on the case, declared that the Chief Baron's charge "converted the entire community into criminals," that "no great social or legislative reform can be accomplished without injury to an individual or a class," and that to the Chief Baron "the law is not a common-sense rule of conduct•, a protection of life and property, but an abstract fetish to be worshipped with an undiscriminating reverence." This has elicited from Dr. Walsh, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, a letter, published in the Freeman's Journal of last Saturday, in which he says that in view of all the circumstances of the case, be cannot but regard the publication of the Freeman's article on the law of conspiracy as " simply deplorable." The significance of this laconic but pointed denunciation is heightened by the fact that until its appearance the Freeman's Journal, if not the mouthpiece of Dr. Walsh, was the medium through which his views on public questions were almost invariably given to the world. It is, therefore, hardly too much to say that this is the most notable utterance by a leading Roman Catholic cleric on the Irish question since the publication of the Papal Rescript condemning boycotting, from an open endorsement of which Rescript Dr. Walsh has hitherto abstained.
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