On Wednesday Mr. Redmond, in a speech full of sound
and fury, but signifying in truth very little, attacked the Irish administration of Mr. Wyndham. He was very indignant, among other things, that the Irish landlords should combine to defend themselves against the United Irish League. We are by no means thick-and-thin supporters of Irish landlords, as they sometimes complain, but we applaud their determine= Lion to combine, and trust they will not be frightened out of their undoubted right to protect their collective interests by Mr. Redmond's bombast. The Landlords' Trust has our heartiest good wishes as long as it obeys, as we are confident it will, the law in letter and spirit. The only point of any substance in Mr. Redmond's speech was that concerned with the Sheridan ease. But though the case was a very bad one, we hold that Mr. Wyndham's answer completely justified the Government, and showed that they had done everything in their power to unmask a villain, and to make reparation for his villainy the moment it was discovered. We could wish, indeed, that the Nationalist party had shown themselves half as active in the past in separating themselves from doubtful associates. The temptation to hush up matters to which all Governments are exposed when they are face to face with a scandal in the administration of justice was resisted with courage and honesty. As Mr. Wyndham showed, the moment the Govern- ment got a hint of Sheridan's misdeeds they probed the matter to the bottom. Mr. Wyndham ended his speech with an eloquent defence of the Irish Constabulary.
Previous page
