WHAT WILL DO GOOD IN IRELAND. 223 



the law could not be set aside, and quiet quickly 

 followed. When O'Connell had to be thus met, 

 Blackburne met him and put him down: whether 

 the Government was Conservative or Liberal, it was 

 the same. Lately a milder course has been taken. 

 By the Westmeath Act, ten years ago, the Lord 

 Lieutenant, when a county was proclaimed, could 

 order the arrest and detention in prison, at the 

 pleasure of the Crown, of any dangerous person. As 

 all those who had been doing wrong, and knew they 

 were therefore in danger of arrest, forthwith ran away 

 to America, where they were harmless, this plan 

 answered every good purpose. Scarcely any persons 

 were punished or even caught and shut up under the 

 Act. It was the highest sort of moral rule. Men's own 

 consciences judged them, and they bolted or not 

 accordingly. Quiet and no more outrages were the 

 result. I have already told how much Lord 

 O'Hagan's Jury Act has added to the troubles. 



No one can doubt that law and order must be 

 enforced. To leave this uncertain for a day does an 

 injury to the poor people themselves, worse than the 

 worst injuries their agitators complain of many times 

 over, even if such were true, which they are not. 

 There is no trouble or difficulty in thus producing 

 quiet. Only Mr. Forster's plan cannot answer, of 

 using strong words one week in behalf of law and 

 order, and the next week watering them down by 

 speaking against the landlords or the House of Lords, 



