Mr. Balfour commented on Mr. Morley's omission to taunt him
with the brutal treatment of Mr. O'Brien, and on the com- plete disappearance of a long list of calumnies with which the Irish papers had teemed. He pointed out that he had remitted the prison dress in the case of the priests, after some hesitation whether it was or was not legal to do so, because he thought that the prison dress would be in this case a severe additional class humiliation, and he showed that the English practice makes the same relaxations of rule wherever there is any reason to suppose that religious instincts will be specially offended by prison rules. He showed that Mr. Cunninghame Graham had been treated just as the Irish Members have been treated. Further, Mr. Balfour contended that Ireland is rapidly improving under the fair administration of the Crimes Act, and took for granted that whenever the Opposition carry the day and return to power, the Irish revolutions of '98, '48, and '68 will be virtually renewed and completed, and that social freedom in Ireland will be extinguished.
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