, perhaps, nothing but the suit of clothes in which he
stood up--he was allowed to walk to the poorhouse as best he might, and,
when he got there, he obtained no special relief.

It is true that the passing of the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act offered
another opportunity to the Government for striking a severe blow, but it
was frittered away, although, before it became law, many of the leaders
of disorder left the country, dreading its provisions.

Instead, the isolated arrests revealed that the criminals were provided
with special accommodation and superior fare.

A district officer, asked by Lord Spencer for his views on the Coercion
Act, replied:--

'The only coercion I can perceive, your Excellency, is that people
accustomed to live on potatoes and milk are forced to feed on salmon and
wine.'

The last outrage I intend to mention in this chapter was a very
remarkable one.

There was a contest for the chairmanship of the Tralee Board of
Guardians. The Land League put forward a candidate who was at the time
an inmate of Kilmainham gaol. The landlords, who at this earlier stage
still had some power, conceived that the residence of the Home Ruler
would not facilitate his control over the Board, and chose a candidate
whose abode was not only more adjacent, but whose movements were
unfettered.

The voting was even, until Mr. A.E. Herbert came into the room and gave
his casting vote against the involuntary tenant of the Kilmainham
hostelry. For this he was murdered three days later, and by the crime
they hoped to ensure that on the next occasion the landlords would
abstain from voting at all.

That murder of Mr. Arthur Herbert on his return from Petty Sessions at
Castleisland was one of the worst, and as an exhibition of infernal
hatred and vengeance it transcended the murders of Lord Mountmorres and
Lord Leitrim. It cannot be denied that Mr. Herbert committed acts of a
harsh and overbearing character. He was a turbulent, headstrong man,
brave to rashness and foolhardiness, and too fond of proclaiming his
contempt for the people by whom he was surrounded. As a magistrate,
sitting at Brosna Petty Sessions, he expressed his regret that he was
not in command of a force when a riot occurred in that village, when he
would have 'skivered the people with buckshot,' language brought under
the notice of the Lord Chancellor and the House of Commons.

He was the son of a clergyman, and lived at Killeentierna House with his