Mr. Sexton's speech at Sligo on Tuesday was even worse
in tone. In the speech as reported in England there is not a word of condemnation of outrages, while there is this discreditable sen- tence concerning the popular movement :—" He thought they might very well look back to the past of the movement in which they had been engaged, and ask themselves whether they had lost or gained. (Cries of Gained!) Yes, it was all clear gain ; for that which appeared to be loss, that which entailed suffering on many honest men and many helpless women and children, was, after all, but the discipline which proved the unquenchable spirit of their race." If that were not a reference to the out- rages, if it were intended rather to apply to the evictions, we do not understand how these evictions showed the " unquenchable spirit of the Irish race," Mr. Sexton's view being that they were acts of gross tyranny, to which the sufferers submitted simply because they were obliged. If it did apply to the out- rages, we should not like to characterise the sentence as it de- serves. But in any case, Mr. Sexton must well know that to declare the popular movement all " clear gain," was giving what his audience would at once regard as his personal absolu- tion to the outragemongers, for all the murders and anguish which they had inflicted in the name of the grossly abused national cause. After this speech, we can hope for nothing from Mr. Sexton.
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