together in a manner never equalled, so that they acted and voted as one man.

The land agitation became daily more intense and violent, and boycotting was very generally brought into play against those who resisted or opposed the movement. An attempt was made to put down the whole agitation by a Coercion Act passed at the instance of Mr. Forster, chief secretary for Ireland, giving the authorities power to arrest and keep in prison, without trial, all persons "reasonably suspected" of breaking the law. During the passing of this bill, Parnell and another Irish member, Joseph Biggar, obstructed and delayed the proceedings in every possible way, by taking advantage of the rules of the House of Commons, but not breaking them. In spite of all they could do, however, the bill was passed (1881).

975. By far the most important Act to reform the Irish land laws was passed by the Gladstone Government in 1881. By this law a Land Court was formed for fixing fair rents" judicial rents," as they are called; and it was also laid down that so long as a tenant paid his rent he could not be evicted. This Act acknowledged the tenant as joint owner with the landlord. While it was passing through the Commons Mr. T. M. Healy, M.P., induced the Government to insert a clause of great importance, exempting the tenants' improvements from rent a provision which is now known as the "Healy clause." In the cases brought before this court the rent was reduced on an average by 20 or 30 per cent. The rent once fixed by the court was to remain so for 15 years, when it would be again revised. Although the justice of the decisions of this court has often been questioned, by both tenants and landlords, it continued to do much good for the country.

976. Meantime great numbers of " suspects" were in jail all through Ireland under Mr. Forster's Act. At last matters came to a climax when Mr. Parnell and several other leaders were arrested and put into Kilmainham jail (1881). While here, Parnell and the others issued the "No rent manifesto "advising the tenants all through Ireland to

pay no more rent. It was, however, condemned everywhere by the clergy; and the people took little notice of it, but continued to pay their rent as before. After this the Government suppressed the Land League by proclamation.

977. After Parnell's imprisonment the state of the country became worse than ever, and outrages increased everywhere. The Government at last became convinced that his arrest, and Mr. Forster's Act that led to it, were a mistake. They released all the suspects and dropped the Act. It was now determined to adopt a conciliatory policy, and the government appointed Lord Frederick Cavendish chief secretary in place of Mr. Forster, who had resigned. The people of the whole country were in high hopes of better times; but these hopes were all dashed by a terrible crime. On the 6th of May, 1882, Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr. Thomas Burke, under secretary, were murdered in open day in the Phoenix Park by some members of a gang calling themselves "Invincibles," whose chief means of carrying out their plans was assassination. The news of this crime was received with horror all through Ireland as well as in England. This was followed by a severe Coercion Act, and all conciliatory measures were ended. In a little time the murderers were all brought to justice; five of them were hanged, and others of the Invincibles were sent to penal servitude.

In the autumn of 1882 Mr. Parnell founded the "Irish National League" to help in advancing the cause of Home Rule, and to advocate further reform in the Irish land laws. In 1883, 1884, and 1885 there were a number of dynamite outrages in London which had been plotted in America but after a time the outrages ceased, and the Coercion Act was allowed to drop out of use.

978. In 1885 an Act was introduced and passed at the instance of Lord Ashbourne, then lord chancellor of Ireland, setting apart £5,000,000 to lend to the tenants of small holdings to enable them to buy out their farms when they could come to an agreement with their landlords; and thus

X

become their own landlords. The tenants were to pay back the loan by annual instalments. After purchase, too, the amount the tenant had to pay yearly was less than the rent he had to pay the landlord. A few years afterwards another Act of the same kind, with the same amount of money, was passed.

These two Acts-so far as the money can go-have done great good a large number of tenants are taking advantage of them: and they are remarkably punctual in paying back their instalments. After a certain number of years, when the purchase-money has been all paid back, the land will be quite free, with nothing to pay except rates and taxes. When a man owns his farm for ever, he has every inducement to improve it by draining, fencing, subsoiling, and so forth and, as a matter of fact, nearly all those who have purchased their land work with great heart and spirit, and are every year becoming more comfortable and independent.

979. A dozen years before this time the Home Rule movement was set on foot by Isaac Butt (in 1874) to agitate for an Irish Parliament in Dublin: but he and his party were outvoted in the House of Commons, and the movement came to nothing. Mr. Gladstone now became convinced that it was necessary to give Ireland Home Rule; and for that purpose he introduced a bill in 1886, which was received with great favour by the Irish Nationalist party. But a considerable number of the Liberal members of parliament-hitherto Mr. Gladstone's followers-were opposed to the bill. They did not want to give a Parliament to Ireland, and they severed themselves from Mr. Gladstone's policy, forming a separate party who were, and are still, known as "Liberal Unionists," meaning that they still remained Liberals, but insisted on a single united Parliament for England and Ireland. When the question came on in the House of Commons, these voted with the Conservatives against the Home Rule bill, the Government were defeated, and the bill was thrown out. The rejection of the Home Rule bill caused intense disap

pointment to the great majority of the Irish people, and gave great satisfaction to the Irish Conservative minority. 980. The land troubles continued, and evictions went on increasing, till at last some tenants adopted what was called the "Plan of Campaign." This meant that on any estate where the landlord insisted on what were considered impossible rents, the tenants in a body agreed to retain all the rents in their hands till some settlement was arrived at. Many landlords were forced to give reductions; but as time went on the Plan was often greatly abused, by being brought to bear on landlords that deserved well of their tenants, who now found it impossible to obtain their rents, and were, in many cases, reduced to poverty. Sometimes

also dishonest persons, pretending to act in accordance with the Plan, refused to pay ordinary debts, such as those incurred for goods got on credit. Boycotting also was often practised against individuals; and what with all these causes of disquietude the country became very much disturbed.

981. In 1887 a Crimes Act for Ireland was passed, giving the authorities greater powers to arrest and prosecute persons for various specified offences. There were frequent collisions between the police and people; and in a scuffle at Mitchelstown, Co. Cork, the police fired a volley by which two persons were killed and several wounded. A proclamation was issued suppressing the National League (977) in a large part of the south and west of Ireland. The state of disquietude continued: meetings were proclaimed, but were held in spite of the proclamations; the police and people often came into collision. Several of the leaders were imprisoned, among them Mr. William O'Brien, and Mr. T. D. Sullivan, then Lord Mayor of Dublin.

But with all this weary state of unrest there are a few pleasanter features to be recorded. Considerable numbers of small farmers continued to buy out their farms under the Ashbourne Acts (978); and hundreds of tenants applied to the Land Court to have judicial rents fixed (975), so that the Land Commissioners had much more business on hands than they could get through.

CHAPTER III.

TO THE DEATH OF PARNELL.

982. The London "Times" now (1888) brought a terrible charge against Mr. Parnell. It accused him of having written letters encouraging persons to commit crimes and outrages, and of saying that Mr. Burke, who was murdered in the Park, got only what he deserved. The writer went

on to state that the letters, in Parnell's handwriting, were in the Times" office. Parnell at once declared these accusations false, and brought an action for slander against the "Times." After a long trial it was found that all the letters had been carefully forged, in imitation of Parnell's handwriting, by an Irish newspaper editor named Pigott, who sold them for a good sum to the editor of the "Times." Pigott fled, but was pursued: and when he found himself overtaken, committed suicide. The Times" had to acknowledge the forgery, and by agreement of both sides, handed Parnell £5000 as damages, besides paying all the enormous expenses.

983. The Plan of Campaign still went on, though it— as well as boycotting-had been condemned by a rescript from Rome, and by the Catholic ecclesiastical authorities in Ireland. While many landlords were forced by it to reduce their rents, a large proportion of them resisted it with great determination; and large numbers of the tenants who held back their rents were evicted from their farms. These farms were, in many instances, given by the landlords to others-often persons brought from a distance. But the position of these new settlers was generally a very unpleasant one: for they were absolutely boycotted by the people of the neighbourhood, so that they often found it hard to obtain the necessaries of life; and in many cases they had to be protected by the police. Towards the close of the year (1889), however, the country became more