340 



GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



thereby became a hero in Ireland. The efforts 

 of the jailors to subject him to the treatment 

 of a common criminal were chronicled daily, 

 and were vigorously denounced. Even in Eng- 

 land it was described as "moral torture" by 

 Mr. Child ers and his party associates, although 

 the Liberals in their attempt at coercive gov- 

 ernment after the Phrenix Park murders had 

 treated Irish members of Parliament in the 

 same way. Mr. O'Brien refused to change his 

 clothes for the prison garb, but by a ruse they 

 were purloined from him while he was bath- 

 ing. He then went to bed, and refused to rise, 

 although put on bread-and-water diet, until his 

 friends smuggled into the prison another suit. 

 Several other orators were prosecuted and con- 

 victed of similar offenses, and all of them ap- 

 pealed to the higher court. 



The appointment of Mr. Balfour in the place 

 of Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, the retirement of 

 Sir Redvers Buller, and, finally, the appoint- 

 ment of Col. King-IIarman as parliamentary 

 Under-Secretary for Ireland, as well as many 

 minor appointments and the increasing harsh- 

 ness of the authorities, indicated the return to 

 a policy of coercion. Yet, after obtaining the 

 crimes act, the Government hesitated to pro- 

 claim the National League. "While the bill was 

 under discussion, Archbishop Croke and the 

 priests of the see of Cashel published a formal 

 protest against such a " hateful and insulting 

 measure," which was declared to be causeless 

 and savagely stringent, likely to "lead to the 

 commission of crimes exceeding in number and 

 magnitude those which it is ostensibly designed 

 to check or prevent," and a measure that, " by 

 placing irresponsible power of a repressive and 

 necessarily irritating character in the hands 

 of an unfriendly viceroy and a set of prejudiced, 

 self-seeking, and often sanguinary officials, will 

 bring the administration of the law into still 

 greater contempt than it unfortunately is at 

 present." The agitation against the act in 

 England culminated in a monster meeting in 

 Hyde Park, London, in which nearly 100,000 

 people took part. 



The contest between the Unionists and the 

 advocates of Irish self-government was em- 

 bittered by a series of articles published in the 

 London "Times" under the title of "Parnell- 

 ism and Crime," that had no slight effect in 

 rallying the wavering, both among the Liberal 

 Unionists and in the Conservative party, on 

 the side of the Government. These articles 

 showed the connection between the Irish party 

 and its associate organization in America, 

 which was stigmatized as a thoroughly revolu- 

 tionary society, and sought to connect the Na- 

 tionalist leaders with the political murders and 

 dynamite plots of the Irish revolutionists. A 

 letter was published on April 18 in fac-simile 

 with the signature of Charles S. Parnell, and sup- 

 posed to have been addressed to Patrick Egan, 

 in which the denunciations uttered at the time 

 against the murderers of Lord Frederick Cav- 

 endish and Mr. Burke are excused as being the 



only course open to the Land Leaguers. The 

 letter was declared by Mr. Parnell to be a 

 forgery. The Irish members repelled in Par- 

 liament the insinuations made against them. 

 Mr. Dillon was accused in the " Times " of 

 associating with murderers. His refutation 

 was characterized as a " tissue of falsehoods." 

 Sir Charles Lewis, a Tory, called the attention 

 of the House to the breach of privilege. The 

 leader of the House, W. H. Smith, pronounced 

 the statement no breach of privilege, but 

 offered to institute a prosecution against the 

 editor for criminal libel in order to satisfy the 

 Irish members, who now pressed for an inquiry 

 in Parliament. Col. Saunderson, a leader of 

 the north of Ireland Tories, in a speech in 

 Parliament accused the Irish members of asso- 

 ciating with men that they knew to be mur- 

 derers. "When the Speaker declined to call 

 him to order for the expression, T. Healy gave 

 Col. Saunderson the lie, and was suspended. 

 Mr. Sexton called him a " willful and cowardly 

 liar," but the Speaker now interfered and 

 compelled Col. Saunderson to retract. The 

 latter, among other statements in support of 

 his assertion, said that Mr. Parnell had par- 

 taken of a banquet in America with Patrick 

 Egan, who, he said, was president of the Clan- 

 na-Gael. Mr. Egan sent a denial, saying that 

 it was the Irish National League of America 

 of which he was elected president, and that he 

 knew nothing of the Clan-na-Gael. This he 

 followed with an offer to Mr. Balfonr to sur- 

 render himself for trial on any charges that 

 might be brought against him in connection 

 with the Phoenix Park murders or other crimes, 

 if he were guaranteed that the venue should be 

 in Dublin where the crimes took place. Mr. 

 Bulfour replied that no such assurance could be 

 given. 



The " unwritten law " of the League was 

 more effectually enforced in 1887 than ever be- 

 fore. Boycotting was more stringently applied 

 against landlords, "land-grabbers," and "grass- 

 grabbers," but the edicts of the League were 

 more faithfully obeyed than formerly. The 

 names of boycotted persons and those who 

 had committed breaches of discipline were 

 openly announced, and the resolutions of cen- 

 sure published in the newspapers. Mr. Balfour, 

 in August, in defending the decision of the 

 Government to proclaim the National League, 

 stated that there were 5,000 boycotted persons 

 in Ireland. He asserted that men were boy- 

 cotted for not joining the League, but was 

 challenged to cite an instance. Mr. Gladstone 

 in the debate over the crimes bill denied that 

 there was anything unlawful or immoral in 

 "exclusive dealing." The Home-Rulers com- 

 pared the plan of campaign with trade-union- 

 ism, pointing out that the lands which the 

 farmers sought by combined action to secure 

 at a fair rent had been made valuable by their 

 own labor and capital, and that the landlords 

 had for generations, in the form of enhanced 

 rents, confiscated the works, of reclamation, 



