ainst crimes is the protection of men
who are not criminals. Civilisation raises our estimate of the
protection which good citizens ought to receive from the State; it also
places new means of attack in the hands of cheats and ruffians. An
elaborate criminal code is as necessary for a civilised society as are
elaborately trained armies and scientific arms both of defence and
offence.

No adherence, however, to sound maxims of criminal jurisprudence would,
it must be frankly admitted, entirely take away, though it might greatly
mitigate, the justifiable distaste for Coercion Acts. The necessity for
these Acts points to discord in Ireland between the law of the land and
the law of the people; they are the outward and visible sign of internal
discontent and disloyalty; they give good ground for supposing that the
law or some part of it requires amendment, and to many persons laws
which admit the existence of a bad social condition will appear to be
themselves odious. But the necessity for amending bad laws or vicious
institutions is no reason why just laws, or any law which cannot rightly
be repealed, should not be enforced. The fallacies of protection
afforded no reason for not punishing smugglers, though the existence of
smuggling gave good ground for considering whether the customs law did
not require revision. There seems to the thoughtless crowd--whether rich
or poor, and all men are thoughtless about most things, and many men
about all things--to be a certain inconsistency between reform and
coercion; there is something absurd in the policy of "cuffs and kisses."
But the inconsistency or absurdity is only apparent. The necessity for
carrying through by legal means an agrarian revolution--and the passing
of the Irish Land Act was in effect an admission by the English
Parliament, that this necessity exists--is a solid reason for the strict
enforcement of justice. Reform tends, as its immediate result, to
produce lawlessness. A wise driver holds his reins all the tighter
because he is compelled to drive along the brink of a precipice. Whether
Coercion Acts, which it must be remembered have been known before now in
England, and were known in Ireland during the era of her Parliamentary
independence, and which are the sign of the difficulty of enforcing the
law, are or are not to be tolerated as a necessary evil, depends on the
answer to the inquiry, whether the Government of the United Kingdom can
by just administration,