The eleven nights' debate on the Address were at length
brought to a conclusion on Thursday, after a fresh speech of Mr. Parnell's on Ireland—this time on the distress—in which be attacked Lord Spencer and Mr. Trevelyan rather angrily for discouraging out- door relief as a temporary and local remedy, but was otherwise extremely reasonable and moderate, making a very strong appeal to Parliament not to refuse to consider the complementary measures needed to complete the effect of the Land Act and Arrears Act. At length, Mr. A. O'Connor's amendment to the Address was negatived, and the Address and Report agreed for after a loss of exactly eleven nights—just the same number as (as the Solicitor-General has shown) sufficed for the whole seven Sessions of the last Parliament to discuss Addresses in answer to the Queen's Speeches—eleven nights spent on purely abstract discussions. It would be far better to put an end to these straggling and unpractical discussions alto- gether, and to allow the grievances which they raise to be discussed a propos of some genuine attempt at a remedy. The Address in answer to the Queen's Speech is getting to be a mere expedient for killing time.
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