vain babblings. The accident of Parliament almost always meeting in February has led to very erroneous conclusions. Many a time almost the first business has been to pass one of these preposterous Acts in reply to a tragical winter. It has been usual for such Acts to come into force about March, just when outrages were declining from natural causes. The decline has often been noticed during the passage of such an Act, and it has been usual to ascribe such decline to the exhibition of parliamentary firmness, and the subsequent restoration of comparative peace to the terrors of the Act just passed.

To the credit of that Parliament and the Liberal party, the second reading, though carried by a majority of 359 to 56, indicated that (allowing for numerous vacant seats) about two hundred, by their silence, refused to sanction such an Act, and in all the other divisions the fewness of the supporters of the Bill was so marked as to show that an immense majority of the House were sick and tired of the government blunder. The division on the second reading conclusively proved that, but for the support of the opposition, the government would inevitably have been beaten, a majority of its professed supporters refusing to follow it. A large proportion of the English members who voted in the minority were men of wealth, or otherwise beyond suspicion of being under the shadow of government patronage and tuft-hunting. Perhaps that may suggest the key to the motives of some of those who had not the courage to vote at all, no key being required to the transparent obligations of those "Liberals" who supported the government on the plea of party loyalty.

When it was rumoured during the recess that the Government contemplated coercive proposals, the colleagues of Davitt on the Land League Executive were anxious that he should remain in America; but he insisted on returning and sharing whatever danger might be imminent. His first speech after his return, at a meeting of the Land League, was a strong condemnation of acts of outrage and violence. He was a highly effective speaker; clear, vigorous, and close in reasoning, and with a spontaneous flow of expressive and picturesque phraseology. It has been said that he was evicted from a house in the village of Straide, in his fifth year; during the agitation he spoke at a Land League meeting held in the same village, and the platform was erected on the spot where the house had stood in which he was born. His popularity in Ireland was almost as great as that of Mr. Parnell; his visits to some of the county towns being the occasion of

general holidays, torchlight processions, addresses from the municipality, and the like. In one of his speeches, he spoke of the Chief Secretary as " Buckshot Forster," on account of a recommendation by that minister to the military to use buckshot in case of firing upon a crowd.

One of the conditions of Davitt's ticket of leave was, that he was to report himself periodically to the police. As his whereabouts was thoroughly known, this became a mere idle form which he did not comply with. That technical excuse was taken advantage of, and he was suddenly arrested in Dublin, conveyed to London, taken before a magistrate at Bow-street, and condemned to serve the remainder of his dreary period of imprisonment. An inquiry in the House of Commons, as to the ground of his re-imprisonment, was met by a contemptuous silence. The incident led to an extremely stormy sitting of the House, and the public were left to infer that his only offence was daring to originate the nickname of "Buckshot Forster."

All this time the promised Land Bill was kept back. The Irish members were constantly blamed for the delay, but it is evident that the responsibility of that rested wholly and solely with the Government. The only indication of its character was the Queen's speech, where the principles were enunciated again, which the Commissioners reported had already "utterly impoverished the tenants," and the only determination expressed was to do again what the Commissioners reported had "totally failed of effect." Besides that, it was stated in the House by the Chief Secretary, with peculiar significance, at a critical period of the Coercion debate, that there was every prospect of the Land Bill passing and becoming law.

After that, the passage of what was familiarly called an Arms Bill, was a foregone conclusion. Compared to its predecessor, it was of little importance, merely claiming to be a Peace Preservation Act, with most of the provisions respecting arms contained in the similar Acts we have before quoted, and likely to be about as effectual.

Such is a glance at the doings of a Government in difficulties in December, and following months, 1880-1; from the unprejudiced point of view, occupied by a neutral and disinterested Englishman. The episode is suggestive of a quotation from Charles Dickens, that seems to fit many of the incidents exactly. It is needless to add that such a quotation is not commended to the notice of public men who are past hoping for, but, to the average disinterested reader, who may

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find profitable food for reflection in applying to the period the eloquen rhapsody of one who is so well entitled to be numbered among the Great Dead.

"Oh late-remembered, much-forgotten, mouthing, braggart duty, always owed and seldom paid in any other coin than punishment and wrath, when will mankind begin to know thee! When will men acknowledge thee in thy neglected cradle, and thy stunted youth, and not begin their recognition in thy sinful manhood and thy desolate old age! Oh ermined Judge whose duty to society is, now, to doom the ragged criminal to punishment and death, hadst thou never, man, a duty to discharge in barring up the hundred open gates that wooed him to the felon's dock, and throwing but ajar the portals to a decent life! Oh prelate, prelate, whose duty to society it is to mourn in melancholy phrase the sad degeneracy of these bad times in which thy lot of honours has been cast, did nothing go before thy elevation to the lofty seat, from which thou dealest out thy homilies to other tarriers for dead men's shoes, whose duty to society has not begun! Oh magistrate, so rare a country gentleman and brave a squire, had you no duty to society, before the ricks were blazing and the mob were mad; or did it spring up, armed and booted from the earth, a corps of yeomanry full grown!"

CHAPTER LIII.

THE LADIES' LAND LEAGUE.

LATE in the time and space at our disposal comes another item for

review. When the government policy of coercion was announced, it was freely said (whether truly or not) that the intention of the government was to seize and imprison the leading members of the Land League, and so to extinguish its operations. To meet this, the sister of Mr. Parnell and her associates determined to form a "Ladies' Irish National Land League," with offices at 39 Sackville Street, Dublin, to carry on their work, thus daring the government to imprison them also. At the same time other objects were stated to be—

"In order to carry on effectively the Relief of Evicted Families, and Families of persons imprisoned for their connection with the Irish National Land League, and to provide for the comforts of persons imprisoned under the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act."

This was also followed by the establishment of a branch in London, dating from the Westminster Palace Hotel, and promoted prominently by Mrs. A. M. Sullivan, the president, and Mrs. Charlotte M'Carthy, treasurer; Miss Hannah Lynch being the Secretary. From these ladies we learn that—

"The strong desire of Irishmen living in England, and the generous offers of many sympathetic Englishwomen, to aid in the work of mercy and succour, have led to the formation of an auxiliary association, of Ladies in London, to co-operate with their sisters of the Irish Organisation.

"Most of the persons arrested under the Coercion Act will be humble peasants whose imprisonment will mean not merely sorrow and trial, but in many cases, destitution and death for their families, if help like this do not reach them. The sufferings of the prisoners will be cruelly aggravated by the thought that their wives and children are without food or shelter, evicted from their homes, or flung into the workhouse.

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"These men will not be criminals, ever sentenced or heard before the tribunals of the law. They will never be allowed to see their accusers, or to prove their innocence. They will be secretly seized without notice or warning and swept into prisons without investigation or trial, without opportunity of explanation or defence. There they will be left to grieve for months, probably years, over their ruined homes and starving wives and children.

"We appeal to every woman in England, who has a heart to feel for victims of affliction and oppression, to aid us in alleviating the sorrows and miseries which threaten so many of our sex. Naturally we appeal especially to the women of Irish birth or blood, whom God has blest with secure and happy homes, but we have good assurance that many a kindly Englishwoman's heart and hand will be with us in our work. It is essentially a woman's mission, and no more pure and noble duty could engage us than that of lightening the anguish of the prison, or dispelling the darkness of the desolate home."