The Attorney-General replied on all points but the last, which
he left unnoticed; and, indeed, it seems to ne a very formal point, of no political or moral importance. There was not a case on record, he said, where the House had appointed a Committee to inquire into a libel when the libeller persisted in hie charge and was prepared to justify it. Mr. Butt's case, which was in relation to a charge somewhat of this nature against a large group of Irish politicians, was a warning against a Committee, as the Committee dragged on for months, and eventually reported that it was not the proper tribunal, and had not the machinery proper for such an investigation. Of the charge of " collusive " action against the Government, the Attorney- General disposed triumphantly. Mr. Childers afterwards pro- tested that nothing dishonourable was meant by the charge that the action would be " illusory." But the word was not " illusory," but " collusive ;" and if that is not expressly a charge of .dishonourable action, we cannot imagine how such a charge should be made.
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