76 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND. 



Clerkenwell outrage, though both plainly the work 

 of a few, caused an undue excitement in England. 

 This added to the value of the opportunity, and it 

 was worked accordingly. 



But the worst mischief of all was the way Mr. 

 Gladstone and some of his supporters, though none 

 to the same extent as Mr. Gladstone himself, used 

 Fenianism to justify the Irish measures of his Govern- 

 ment. No opinion either for or against those measures 

 is needed here, whether as affecting the Church or the 

 Land. Any one who likes may take for granted that 

 they were right and fit. But the way in which 

 Fenianism was used as a justification for them was 

 unmixedly mischievous and bad. It made the acts 

 appear like concessions to violence and rebellion, and 

 lessened any chance of their doing good. The demands 

 from the disaffected party in Ireland have grown 

 more and more unreasonable ever since. They feel 

 that it is impossible to say now what may not be 

 granted by Parliament, and that fear is the most 

 effectual of motives for reaching their ends. 



No doubt thorough justice should be the principle 

 of dealing with Ireland, but besides this, and before 

 all things else, it is needful that the law, whatever it 

 may be, shall be enforced on all. 



It is a great mistake to think that blarney will 

 succeed with those who are the most perfect masters 

 of blarney in the whole world, and sentimental 



