successful opposition. In Mr. Walpole's words, the new
proposals 'did not contain any provision for compensating the victims of
outrages at the expense of the ratepayers; they did not render persons
congregated in public-houses or carrying arms liable to arrest; above
all, they did not comprise the brutal clause which made persons out of
doors at night liable to transportation.' The condition of Ireland was,
indeed, so menacing that the majority of the English people of all
shades of political opinion were of one mind as to the necessity for
stern measures. Sir Robert Peel, with no less candour than chivalry,
declared that the best reparation which could be made to the last
Government would be to assist the present Government in passing such a
law. Perhaps still more significant were the admissions of Mr. John
Bright. At the General Election the young orator had been returned to
Parliament, not for a Sleepy Hollow like Durham, which had first sent
him, but for the commanding constituency of Manchester, and almost at
once he found himself in opposition to the views of a vast number of the
inhabitants. He was requested to present a petition against the bill
signed by more than 20,000 persons in Manchester. In doing so he took
the opportunity of explaining in the House of Commons the reasons which
made it impossible for him--friend of peace and goodwill as he assuredly
was--to support its prayer. He declared that the unanimous statements of
all the newspapers, the evidence of men of all parties connected with
Ireland, as well as the facts which were placed before them with
official authority, made it plain beyond a doubt that the ordinary law
was utterly powerless, and, therefore, he felt that the case of the
Government, so far as the necessity for such a bill was concerned, was
both clear and perfect.

[Sidenote: JOHN BRIGHT AND IRISH AFFAIRS]

Mr. Bright drew attention to the fact that assassinations in Ireland
were not looked upon as murders, but rather as executions; and that some
of them at least were not due to sudden outbursts of passion, but were
planned with deliberation and carried out in cold blood. He saw no
reason to doubt that in certain districts public sentiment was 'depraved
and thoroughly vitiated;' and he added that, since the ordinary law had
failed to meet the emergency the Government had a case for the demand
they made for an extension of their present powers, and he thought that
the bill before th