On Tuesday afternoon, Mr. W. H. Smith asked precedence for
the introduction and various stages of the Criminal Law and Procedure Bill (Ireland), whenever the Bill should be set down by the Government as the first business of the day. He asked for it under a deep sense of responsibility, and said that if the House were not inclined to grant it, they could, of course, and must dismiss the Government. It was strictly a question of confidence. Juries in Ireland were intimidated ; and criminals guilty, as every one knows, of unlawful acts, escaped the legal punishment of their deeds. He quoted Mr. Gladstone's words. of 1881 as words describing exactly the present position of the Government. The National League, whirl, in Sir- William Harcourt's words, had established its apostolic succession to the Laud League, was pursuing the very policy for which the Liberal Government in 1881 denounced the Land League. It was, in his opinion, impossible to acquiesce in the acquittal of criminals of whom the Irish Judges had declared that, on the admitted facts of the case, they ought to have been found guilty; and, therefore, he was bound to demand urgency for their proposed amendment of the law.
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