him
that the whole solid framework of the eastern empire was after all
built up by the Romans. But he is philhellene all through past and
present.

Chapter V. Breach With Mr. Parnell. (1890-1891)

Fortuna vitrea est,--tum quum splendet frangitur.--PUBLIL. SYRUS.
Brittle like glass is fortune,--bright as light, and then the
crash.

I

It would have been a miracle if the sight of all the methods of coercion,
along with the ignominy of the forged letters, had not worked with strong
effect upon the public mind. Distrust began to creep at a very rapid pace
even into the ministerial ranks. The tory member for a large northern
borough rose to resent "the inexpedient treatment of the Irishmen from a
party point of view," to protest against the 'straining and stretching of
the law' by the resident magistrates, to declare his opinion that these
gentlemen were not qualified to exercise the jurisdiction entrusted to
them, "and to denounce the folly of making English law unpopular in
Ireland, and provoking the leaders of the Irish people by illegal and
unconstitutional acts."(266) These sentiments were notoriously shared to
the full by many who sat around him. Nobody in those days, discredited as
he was with his party, had a keener scent for the drift of popular feeling
than Lord Randolph Churchill, and he publicly proclaimed that this sending
of Irish members of parliament to prison in such numbers was a feature
which he did not like. Further, he said that the fact of the government
not thinking it safe for public meetings of any sort to be held, excited
painful feelings in English minds.(267) All this was after the system had
been in operation for two years. Even strong unionist organs in the Irish
press could not stand it.(268) They declared that if (M150) the Irish,
government wished to make the coercive system appear as odious as
possible, they would act just as they were acting. They could only explain
all these doings, not by "wrong-headedness or imbecility," but by a
strange theory that there must be deliberate treachery among the
government agents.

Before the end of the year 1889 the electoral signs were unmistakable.
Fifty-three bye-elections had been contested since the beginning of the
parliament. The net result was the gain of one seat for ministers and of
nine to the opposition. The Irish secretary with characteristic candour
never denied the formidable extent o