ch I have stated in the earlier part of this letter. I
have thought it best to put it in terms simple and direct, much as
I should have desired had it lain within my power, to alleviate
the painful nature of the situation. As respects the manner of
conveying what my public duty has made it an obligation to say, I
rely entirely on your good feeling, tact, and judgment.--Believe me
sincerely yours, W. E. GLADSTONE.

No direct communication had been possible, though every effort to open it
was made. Indirect information had been received. Mr. Parnell's purpose
was reported to have shifted during the week since the decree. On the
Wednesday he had been at his stiffest, proudest, and coldest, bent on
holding on at all cost. He thought he saw a way of getting something done
for Ireland; the Irish people had given him a commission; he should stand
to it, so long as ever they asked him. On the Friday, however (Nov. 21),
he appeared, so I had been told, to be shaken in his resolution. He had
bethought him that the government might possibly seize the moment for a
dissolution; that if there were an immediate election, the government
would under the circumstances be not unlikely to win; if so, Mr. Gladstone
might be thrown for four or five years into opposition; in other words,
that powerful man's part in the great international transaction would be
at an end. In this mood he declared himself alive to the peril and the
grave responsibility of taking any course that could lead to consequences
so formidable. That was the last authentic news that reached us. His Irish
colleagues had no news at all. After this glimpse the curtain had fallen,
and all oracles fell dumb.

If Mr. Gladstone's decision was to have the anticipated effect, Mr.
Parnell must be made aware of it before the meeting of the Irish party
(Nov. 25). This according to custom was to be held at two o'clock in the
afternoon, to choose their chairman for the session. Before the choice was
made, both the leader and his political friends should know the view and
the purpose that prevailed in the camp of their allies. Mr. Parnell kept
himself invisible and inaccessible alike to English and Irish friends
until a few minutes before the meeting. The Irish member who had seen Mr.
Gladstone the previous evening, at the last moment was able to deliver the
message that had been confided to him. Mr. Parnell replied that he should
stand to his guns. The other m