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LONDON LETTER. :

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LONDON LETTER. Specially Wired. By Our Own Correspondent. LONDON, Monday Night. The personal still rules the cuurt, the camp, and he forum. To-night every portion of the House was crowded with an immense audience. There was that frou frou which indicates a large amount of interest, and in the lobbies there was a howling, yelling, thronging crowd that begged and menaced and shouted for admission. The intense excitement which had been created by the scenes of last Friday received an enormous addition this morning by the publica- tion in the Tirres of a letter purporting to be signed by Mr Parnell, expressing modi- fed approval of the Phoenix Park assassinations. The Times had taken unusual means for calling public attention to this document. It was set forth in its columns with every display, with large type, and with the professed fae-simile of Mr Parnell. A still more remark- able sign of its desire to make the public acquainted with this document was that it resorted to an enormous placard which was scattered all over London, and which described, the contents of the letter. Some of the evening newspapers followed this example, and the Evening Standard came boldly out with a placard announcing Mr Parnell's letter expressing approval of the Phoenix Park assassinations. These all served as materials for one of those tragic scenes in which the public man is placed upon the rack of in- terrogation and attack and the modern Pagan* came down to see the Christians in contest with the lions. The central figure of the situation, however, took the matter with his usual equanimity. The House had been sitting for some time, and Mr Sexton was well under weigh with his speech, when Mr Parnell, entering with his usual quietude, took his seat almost un- noticed among his colleagues. There was not even time for a cheer from his own aide or for a murmur from his enemies. The first business of the sitting was, of course, the question of Mr Healy's re-admis- sion. The general impression, as I wrote last might, was that the Government would raise no objection to the rescinding of the order made on Friday. To-day, however, a change had come over the scene. Formal notice had not been given of the motion to be proposed by Mr Sexton, who considered that his verbal announcement, and the general understanding that the Government would not oppose, would have been sufficient. Mr Smith, however, declared that as Mr Healy was not ready to apologise for the observation he had made, be was not in a position to allow the motion to be raised without notice. Colonel Saunderson looked pale and rather less confident than usual. This was doubtless owing to the fact that he must have received private remonstrances against the methods which he has been introducing into Parliament. It is remarkable that this morning even the Standard has a strong reprobation of his conduct, and it was evident that he was not com- fortable. An unwonted silence also showed that his friends were not entirely pleased with his conduct. Under these circumstances the weakness of his apology became still more visible. He bad 'to acknowledge that he could not bring evidence to substantiate his charges. He was careful at the same time to make a reserve of his own personal opinion. This was a sufficiently unmanly way of neither repenting nor apologising for the terrible charge, and there were murmurings upon the Liberal benches. Mr Sexton found himself unable, under these circums.tances, to withdraw the epithets which Mr Healy and he had made with regard to Col. Saunderson, and so the incident had to close. Mr Sexton was obliged, by the intrusion of these personal matters, to devote the greater part of his speech to an examination of Colonel Saun- derson's charges, and not to the provisions of the Coercion Bill. He took up each statement of the member for Armagh, and every- body was convinced when he had done that he had not even left a rag of truth to cover the wickedness of his assailant. For instance, he proved that Boyton and Sheridan, who were spoken of as colleagues of his own in the executive of the Land League,had never occupied any such position. Another charge was that Mr Sexton had been associating with these men knowing them to be murderers. The execu- tive of the Land League, he pointed out, came to an end in October, 1881, when it was dissolved by the proclamation of the Lord-Lieutenant. Then the murder with which Sheridan was charged, took place in '82, and the true bill against Sheridan was not found till 1883, so that Mr Sexton was attacked for associating in 1881 with a man who was not charged until 1883 with murder committed in 1882. One equally effective, and perhaps more amusing, portion of his reply was directed at Colonel King-Harman. It is well known that the new Under-Secretary for Ireland began his checquered career as a Nationalist candidate for Parliament. Mr Sexton was able to point out that, at that stage of his career, Mr Sheridan was his political friend and can c vasser, and Mr Egan actually wrote his- first election address. Col. King-Harman rather added point to the attack by his ostenta- tious and evidently intentional absence from the House when Mr Sexton was making his charges. He had been seen uneasily hanging about the Speaker's thair before the member for West Belfast stood up, and he returned to his place on the Treasury bench immediately Mr Sexton bad done with this part of bis speech. It was a matter of considerable surprise that Lord Hartington when he stood up, in spite of the crushing nature of Mr Sexton's speech, should have allied himself to the campaign of calumny. It is the first time that he can be fairly charged with hitting below the belt. His alliance with the Times was made the more remarkable by the feebleness nnd hesita- tion which characterised his adoption of its programme. It was a case of threatening, but afraid to strike. Several times he was corrected by the Irish members, but he went on, and finally be emptied the House. Now, to sum the matter up, people are obser- ving that Lord Hartington and Mr Chamber- lain have both departed from any defence of the coercion policy of the Government, and, by a coincidence that is probably not accidental, have attempted to divert the whole contro- versy into personal attacks on Irish members. Cool and observant politicians do not regard this as merely the result of a loss of temper or a want of their accustomed aelf-control by these politicians. It is regarded as a sign of despair, and as the strongest testimony to the feeling of these men that the country is gainst them, and that coercion can only be made palatable by most desperate party attacks. With regard to the letter attributed by the Times to Mr Parnell, it was characterised by Mr Sexton as a monstrous, clumsy, palpable, and malignant forgery. I have reason to believe that this is a literally accurate description. The letter is not in his handwriting, while the signature and the words by which it is preceded—" Yours truly "—profess to be bis. It was for a while thought that the Times, or the person who sup- plied the paper with the document, might bave got hold of a signature of Mr Parnell at- tached to another letter, or perhaps that the Irish leader had given an autograph, and that signature might therefore be real. Bnt an examination of the signature by Mr Parnell and -onie of his inti- mate friends proves tip t ths is just as much a forgery as the body of the letter. Whether the fjflwr.fill continue t? f\tj6 fatal exposure we shall have tewait to see. To- day it has to make an apology to Mr T. P. O'Connor, whom it charged a short time ago with having been present at a murder con- vention in Chicago. It speaks of this terrible and, as it now admits, false charge, as an insig- nificant error." It was very late when Mr Gladstone rose, and the hour now is so advanced that I must content myself with just a few sentences upon it. The speech was a lengthy historical review. The right hon. gentleman spoke for nearly two hours, and it will be a great satisfaction to your readers to know that, notwithstanding this, his strength and bis voice were maintained fully to the end. The speech was an exhaustive criticism of the bill. There was not a point of real importance which it did not touch, and when Mr Gladstone sat down did not toucli, and -,vfien the universal feeling among the Liberals was that the whole position of the Government was shattered. The peroration, terse, but full of passion and fire, was especially fine.

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