As the Crimea Bill slowly passes through the House, Mr.
Gladstone's resistance to it increases in determination, if not in violence. Addressing a deputation from Crewe which visited Hawarden on Tuesday, Mr. Gladstone told them that the Bill was " a disastrous one." "It is pretended, gentlemen, that we are now legislating against crime. Be it known to you that there is less crime in Ireland per million than there is in England or in Scotland, and the Bill which pretends to legislate against crime, but which really legislates against measures similar to those which are legally adopted by Trade-Unions in England_ —the Bill which legislates against combinations and not against crime, or rather against combinations while pro. fleeing to legislate against crime—that Bill is itself a crime." Wales is still more free from crime than Ireland ; but is that any reason why the crime which is committed there should pass unpunished ? Would Mr. Gladstone allow theft in Wales because Wales is singularly free from theft P The object of the Crimes Bill—the sole object—is to enable the law to work, and, unlike Mr. Gladstone's Bill, it punishes no one without a trial. In the face of such facts, language so extreme should be left to Irishmen, in whose months Englishmen know how to discount it.
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