There was a " breach of privilege" case in the
House of Commons on Thursday. Lord Wolmer, on Tuesday last, said at a banquet given by Unionists that, as the Irish Members must be supported by the Party now in power, Mr. Gladstone was "relying on a majority of forty paid mer- cenaries." Sir Thomas Esmonde asked if this had been said, and Lord Wolmer, admitting the correctness of the report, declared that if his statement was denied, he withdrew it absolutely. Mr. Sexton then called the attention of the House to an endorsement which Lord Wolmer had received in an article in the Tines; and moved that the article was "a gross and scandalous breach of the privileges of this House." The statement was absolutely false, the Irish Mem- bers "never having received one penny from the Government or any rich English partisan." The House, very properly, always accepts a statement of that kind. Lord Wolmer apologised to the Irish Members ; and the House, without a division, accepted Mr. Sexton's motion. The Times on Friday withdrew the allegation, as Lord Wolmer had withdrawn it, and the incident is, we presume, at an end. Lord Wolmer and the Times were clearly in the wrong in their language, as they had no evidence to offer; but some day or other, when a Panama scandal arises among ourselves,." the privi- lege of the House" will be found to shield the guilty, as it now protects the innocent.
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