Sir Stafford Northcote's speech came to very little, but all
the Home-rule speeches confirmed the impression pro- duced by Mr. Parnell's, and so irritated Mr. Gibson that, in a speech of " unmuzzled " eloquence, he assailed his late allies, the Home-rulers, with all his old vehemence, his peroration alone lasting, as Lord Hartington said, for about three-quarters of an hour. Lord Hartington himself was very strong and lucid. He declared that, in his opinion, having the information they had, no other course was open to the Government than to release the prisoners, though, of course, it would be their duty, as long as the Coercion Act was in force, to use it for the prevention of disorder and anarchy in Ireland; but that did not justify them in using it for the detention of persons whose liberty would not, in the belief of the Government, endanger the authority of law and order in Ireland. The debate ended, of course, without a vote. In Ireland, not in the House of Commons, the denouement of the great drama of the week will enact itself.
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