THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT AND IRELAND.

Patea Mail, 10 July 1882, Page 4

THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT AND IRELAND.

REPRESSIVE LEGISLATION. The London' correspondent of the N’Z. Times says : On the very evening that Lord F. Cavendish was buried it fell to the duty of Sir William Harcourt, in the absence of his chief at the funeral, to announce the future policy of the Cabinet. The Coercion Act has yet about four months to run, and, as a result of throwing over Mr Forster, it is not to be renewed ; but in its place what many people think an even more stringent measure has been introduced. This new Bill is avowedly aimed at the Secret Societies which, since the suppression of the Land League, have been more and more reinforced, till, the whole of the South and West of Ireland is positively under a reign of terror, unparalleled since 1833, when the so-called tithe war ’was at its height. The principal feature of this proposed enactment is, in certain cases, abolition of trial by jury and the substitution therefor of a Commission of three Judges, whose decision must be unanimous, and from which there will be an appeal to tiie Court for Crown cases reserved, three out of the five members of which must be also unanimous in their decision, thus practically securing the assent of sis Judges before a prisoner can be convicted. Besides this a tax is to be levied over every district where a murder has been committed, to provide compensation for the relatives of the victim. Power is also to be taken (a most necessary provision) to expel, if thought desirable, any suspected foreigners from the country. Power is also to be given, under warrant from the Lord-Lieutenant, to search any house by day or night, and persons travelling about after nightfall may be summarily dealt with unless able to give a satisfactory account of themselves. Moreover, seditious newspapers are to be forfeited, and caution mcney will be taken fiom owners, on their own recognisances, that the offence be not repeated, in which case the guarantee will be forfeited.

Now, one would have thought that had the Irish members been sincere in their protestations of hatred for the crime in Phoenix Park they would have hailed, if not with delight, at least with an assenting silence, a measure aimed at the worst enemies of Ireland, and the operation of which, though occasionally injuriously affecting the innocent, ran really only seriously injure the guilty. So far, however, from any behaviour of this kind, their conduct has been entirely the opposite, and on scarcely any occasion were they more violent in their opposition than on the introduction of this most necessary measure. Mr Parnell went so far as to say that if the Bill was carried in its entirety he saw no course before him but to retire from public life, as he could not countenance either assassination or the coercive measures of the Government. As yet the Bill has been only introduced, and what steps Mr Gladstone may ultimately take remain to be seen, bnt I am strongly of opinion that some of the minor points may be pared down in Committee in order not to throw too much power into the hands of the local police and magistrates, and to prevent the provision respecting nocturnal wanderings from being exercised in such a way as to infringe on the liberty of honest subjects. Barring these amendments, I believe the Bill will become law, and may be the means, it is devoutly to be. hoped, of coping with the frightful despotism under which unhappy Ireland groans. Coeval with this measure of repression has been brought forward a proposal for dealing with the arrears of rent —in other words, mercy has joined hands with justice ; and this I conceive to be the true secret of success in all legislation, and is the • peculiar attribute of the Liberal party.