IRISH AGRARIAN TENURE. 8i 



Forster's fall from office after he himself had 

 effected with Parnell, then in Kilmainham 

 prison, a sort of treaty of peace — the so-called 

 Kilmainham Treaty. A few days afterwards, 

 however, the new Chief Secretary, Lord 

 Frederick Cavendish, and the Under-Secretary, 

 Mr. Thomas Burke, were murdered by the 

 " Invincibles" in the Phoenix Park. This crime 

 showed more clearly than anything else how 

 dangerous was the policy of the Irish leaders — 

 that of inflaming by a fierce agitation an excit- 

 able people, and attempting at the same time 

 to hold it back from deeds of violence.' 



Yet the almost revolutionary agitation of the 

 Land League made possible the continuance of 

 agrarian reform. Clear-headed men had recog- 

 nized that the simultaneous occurrence of fall- 

 ing prices and bad harvests had made the con- 

 tinued payment of the old rents impossible. 

 Recognizing this, the Government attempted to 

 check the increase of evictions. In 1880 it had 

 brought in a bill granting a postponement to 

 tenants who were unable to pay their rents. 

 When the Lords had thrown out this bill, 

 Government appointed a Commission, the 

 " Bessborough Commission," to go into the 

 whole agrarian question with a view to further 

 legislation. 



^ Compare on these points T. Wemyss Reid's " Life of 

 W. E. Forster"; Morley's "Life of Gladstone," Vol. TIL, 

 chap. 4 ; Barry O'Brien's " Life of Parnell," Vol. I. 



G 



