y were assured by Mr. Bright and Mr. Gladstone, that Irish affairs
were proceeding satisfactorily. The new Ministry had, however, to face a
formidable parliamentary party, who refused to recognize the legislation
of 1869 and 1870 as any settlement of the Irish question. Their first
device was to abandon the Act of their predecessors, passed in 1875,
which applied some of the milder provisions of the Westmeath Act to the
whole of Ireland. A reconstruction of the Local Government of the United
Kingdom, and a new Reform Bill, were the tasks assigned by public
opinion to the second Gladstone Ministry; but finding the abandonment of
coercion did not conciliate the Irish party, the Premier returned with a
rush to the policy of 1867. He determined to justify his claim to be the
statesman who had found out the secret of Irish administration. Within
two months after the Ministry was formed the public were warned that
they were within measurable distance of civil war. This danger was not
urged as a reason for recurring to accepted principles of government; on
the contrary, it was a plea for new expeditions in pursuit of the _ignis
fatuus_ of Irish opinion. We know the events which followed.

The Compensation for Disturbance Bill seemed a small matter in itself,
but involved principles fatal to all security for property. During the
next autumn and winter, Ireland was abandoned to the savage dominion of
the Land League. The quiescence of the Government excited remonstrance
even from advanced Radicals like Mr. Leonard Courtney. That stalwart
Liberal had not been then in office, had not had the experience he has
since acquired. He had not yet learned the dutiful lesson that, whatever
his own convictions, the probabilities were in favour of the view that
his great leader was in the right, or at least, might be successful. As
a concession to public opinion, a Coercion Act was passed, new fangled
and hesitating. But it was not so much on effective legislation and a
resolute determination to curb disorder that the Ministry relied, as on
the recognition of Irish opinion which the Land Act of 1881 embodied.
It was truly said of that measure by an exulting Radical, that it struck
a blow at property which was felt in every country in Europe. In his
main calculation, his purpose to win popularity in Ireland, Mr.
Gladstone failed, as he has so often failed; and as usual the failure
was due to the wickedness or perversity of some one else. In 187