Let me give as examples of this his conduct in
attacking humble and obscure men under the
provisions of the crimes act for construct ive
offenses, his difference of prison treatment of
such men as compared with his treatment of
Father Ryan, and, lastly, the chief secretary's
untruthful attack upon William O’Brien after
he had imprisoned him and thus supposed
that he had sealed his lips and prevented bis
publication of the truth. Newsvenders, hon
est, hard-working small shopkeepers, had been
imprisoned and treated as felons for selling
copies of United Ireland and other newspapers,
Mr. Balfour’s magistrates holding that any
body selling a copy of a newspaper knowingly
publishes everything it contains! This, of
course, is an underhand attempt to strike at a
free press by intimidating the venders, while
at the same time Mr. Balfour has not mustered
enough courage directly to seize or suppress a
single newspaper.
