We have discussed Mr. Bright's various Birmingham speeches so fully
elsewhere, that here we will only add that his emphatic declaration as to the wish of the Government to show mercy to the Fenian prisoners if only they could do so without any breach of a higher duty than any act of personal compassion could lay claim to, ought to make it pretty clear to Ireland how best the Irish people might facilitate the release of these unfortunate men. "There is not a single member of the Administration," said Mr. Bright, "who would not be rejoiced, and who would not go to bed to-night with a happier heart, if he had been able during the day to determine that the prison doors should be unbarred." Had the amnesty meetings expressed the people's sense of the mischief and evil of these futile plots and insurrections, and promised well on behalf of the prisoners for the future, no doubt they would be all at large even now. As it was, the tone taken virtually com- pelled the Government, as Mr. Bright said, in simple self-defence as guardians of public order to continue to punish men who were praised as martyrs instead of excused as more ignorant than guilty.
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