454 



GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. (!EISH AFFAIRS.) 



to sixpence was carried in its original form, and 

 the modifications introduced by the new Post- 

 master-General were rejected. The charge un- 

 der the new law is sixpence for twelve words, 

 addresses included, with a half-penny for every 

 word additional. Parliament was prorogued 

 August 14. 



Irish Affairs. The "dynamite war" practi- 

 cally ceased with the two explosions that 

 wrecked the interior of Westminster Hall on 

 Jan. 24, and the simultaneous dynamite out- 

 rage in the Tower. James Cunningham, an 

 Irish-American, aged twenty-two, was arrest- 

 ed while leaving the Tower after the explo- 

 sion. Harry Burton, an Irishman, who was 

 arrested as his accomplice, and Cunningham, 

 had gone backward and forward several times 

 between England and the United States, and 

 their arrival in London had more than once 

 been attended by a dynamite explosion. They 

 were both on the train on Jan. 2, 1885, when an 

 explosion took place in the Underground Rail- 

 road between King's Cross and Gower Street. 

 The valise filled with dynamite that was found 

 at Charing-Cross station was identified as be- 

 longing to Burton. They were tried for treason- 

 felony on the charge of "levying war against 

 her Majesty " by a series of treasonable acts, 

 beginning with the explosion at the Victoria 

 station on Feb. 25, 1884, and culminating in 

 the attempt to destroy the Tower of London. 

 Both were convicted on May 18, and sentenced 

 to penal servitude for life. While these two 

 men were awaiting trial an explosion occurred 

 in the Admiralty building in London, on April 

 23, to the authors of which and their motive 

 the police could find no clew. The explosions 

 in Westminster Palace and the Tower spurred 

 -American legislators to take action against dy- 

 namiters. The Edmunds resolution in the Sen- 

 ate was followed by the passage of anti-explo- 

 sives acts by some of the State legislatures. 



The Irish parliamentary leaders were after 

 this not disturbed in the conduct of the Irish 

 question by the party of " physical force." In 

 April the Prince of Wales made a tour in Ire- 

 land. After one or two ostentatious manifesta- 

 tions of loyalty, the Nationalists, deeming the 

 trip a political move arranged by Lord Spen- 

 cer and the Cabinet, answered with counter- 

 demonstrations that left no doubt of their com- 

 plete ascendency over the Irish people. When 

 the question of renewing the Crimes Act came 

 up, the Irish party and their English enemies 

 became ferocious in their antagonism. The 

 part providing for trials by three judges with- 

 out a jury had remained a dead letter because 

 the judges refused to act in such courts, but 

 the prosecuting officers had made the freest 

 use of the part enabling them to change the 

 venue of a trial and to empanel special juries. 

 With these special juries the administration of 

 justice was a sham, and the lives and liberties 

 of persons suspected of agrarian crime less safe 

 than they would have been in the hands of the 

 most prejudiced judges. The clauses against 



intimidation, boycotting, riots, unlawful assem- 

 blies, taking forcible possession of lands and 

 houses, aggravated assaults, assaults upon the 

 police and bailiffs, and being a member of ao 

 illegal association, were carried out with the 

 aid of the extraordinary military and detective 

 forces that replaced the ordinary police. The 

 power given the Lord Lieutenant to prohibit 

 public meetings was not exercised as frequently 

 as the Loyalists desired. The "curfew clause" 

 was seldom used. The power to arrest stran- 

 gers was not frequently exercised, though Hen- 

 ry George was thrown into jail under this clause 

 in the west of Ireland. The press clause has 

 not been enforced to any great extent against 

 newspapers printed in Ireland, but has been 

 used to prevent the circulation of the " Irish 

 W T orld " and the " United Irishman." The 

 right of examining witnesses before any per- 

 son is accused of a crime, and the power of 

 quartering extra police upon a district, were 

 freely employed, and the Lord Lieutenant has 

 frequently exercised the power of levying com- 

 pensation on districts in which agrarian crimes 

 have taken place. Summary jurisdiction was 

 exercised by resident magistrates extensively, 

 and the right of search was occasionally em- 

 ployed by the police. Agrarian crime had 

 E ractically ceased when the Liberal Cabinet 

 ad under consideration the re-enactment of 

 the Crimes Act, partly because the extraordina- 

 ry authority conferred by the act was vigorously 

 enforced under Lord Spencer's administration, 

 partly because the secret Fenian societies were 

 no longer active, and partly because the land- 

 lords desisted from wholesale evictions, hav- 

 ing no longer the motives that inspired them 

 before rents were settled under the Land Act, 

 Any benefit that they could derive now from 

 eviction was frustrated by the practice of boy- 

 cotting, which the Irish Executive was power- 

 less to suppress. " Land-grabbers " and "grass- 

 grabbers" were shunned and banned, and were 

 not safe from the terrors of the " unwritten 

 law," though the Government furnished police- 

 men to attend them and force their unwilling 

 neighbors to deal with them. The Liberal Cab- 

 inet when it retired had determined to rescind 

 the coercive clauses of the Crimes Act, and to 

 empower the Viceroy to use at his discretion 

 the clauses relating to special juries and change 

 of venue. In regard to boycotting no conclu- 

 sion was reached, some members of the Cabinet 

 being willing to leave the exercise of the pro- 

 visions regarding boycotting to the discretion of 

 the Lord Lieutenant, while others insisted upon 

 retaining them unconditionally. The Conserv- 

 atives returned to the ordinary law, and formed 

 a political alliance with the Parnellites, which, 

 together with the announcement of Mr. Par- 

 nell's " platform with only one plank, and that 

 one the plank of national independence," stim- 

 ulated political passions in Ireland. Evictions 

 increased, and were followed by an increase of 

 boycotting and no recurrence of agrarian crime 

 such as was predicted by the Whigs. On July 



