provisions, if such should be unhappily required." Passing to Mr. Disraeli's speech, the Premier suggested that it was more a demonstration than a serious attack, and congratulated him on the success he had achieved out of the scanty materials at his command. He joined with him in acquitting the administration of justice and the influence of the priesthood of the recent aggravation of agrarian crime which he admitted and deplored, but for which he entirely denied that the Government were responsible. That their policy had been or could be misunderstood in Ireland he denied, and pointed out that the release of the Fenian prisoners was decided on and announced three weeks before the deputation from Dublin came to the bar of the House. Of the partial amnesty he said that it was "a discriminating amnesty founded upon a comparison of severity of punishment with degrees of guilt, and which, in this case, is synonymous with a just and wise amnesty." He denied that the Government had given colour to the inferences which Mr. Disraeli had asserted that the Irish had drawn from their conduct; and maintaining that no responsible Member of the Government had made any declaration or sanctioned any misunderstanding of the kind, argued that for none of the cases that had been cited against him were they responsible at all. With Sir John Gray he (Mr. Gladstone) had no compact or covenant, though he acknowledged, and thanked him for, the good service he had done-and there was "abundant and ample room in space" for each to "continue to march in his own orbit, very good friends with each other, but each claiming liberty of thought and liberty of action." As for Mr. Heron, he had not been Law Adviser to a Liberal Government or the Castle for three or four years; and "had returned to his native and primitive independence." He had never been or called himself a Ministerial candidate. It was a serious doctrine to lay down, that leaders of a party were to be responsible for all the sentiments uttered by all their independent supporters; and Mr. Gladstone proceeded to show how dangerous such a doctrine might prove if applied to Mr. Disraeli himself in reference to this very measure, and cited some instances in confirmation. In conclusion he said, "To the Fenians it is of vital importance that, by some means or other, this House should be impeded in the work of giving effect to its determination to establish just laws in Ireland; they have shown that disposition by the most undeniable public manifestations, and by violent interference with the right of public meeting and of freedom of speech. I cannot wonder at it; for I believe that if we should happily succeed in proposing to the House, and the House should co-operate in passing, good and just laws for removing the evils now accompanying the tenure and cultivation of land in Ireland, it will be from such laws, and from such laws alone, that Fenianism will at length receive its death blow. The very best exertions of the best Executive Governments can do no more than put down its outward manifestations; let us go down to the rootlet us go inward to the source; and that is what we hope and mean

to do. That is what they are determined that we shall not do. And I cannot hesitate to say that they would, indeed, be blind to the whole nature of the question in which they are engaged, unless they took every legitimate means-and sometimes, I am afraid, very illegitimate means of producing disturbance and want of confidence in Ireland; every thing, in fact, that may provoke Parliament to turn aside from the path of beneficial legislation to discuss angry and coercive measures in reference to the present state of Ireland. It is fair to admit that, while the direct action of Fenianism has had its stimulating effect upon the general lawlessness, and has contributed to the increase of outrages and of public mischiefs, a share of responsibility is also due to us, which I do not seek to evade. I admit that whenever great questions of this kind are raised, and especially whenever they are raised by an Executive Government, a certain excitement is necessarily communicated to the public mind in any and in every country, most of all in a country where the public mind-under long suffering, consequent on innumerable errors of government, has fallen into a morbid state. This certainly is a remarkable circumstance, that, as far as our evidence goes-and we have heard the statement from many quarters-last year has been distinguished by somewhat more than the ordinary regularity and punctuality of payment of rents in Ireland. That is a satisfactory thing in itself; but the feeling to which this circumstance is attributable may lead in different directions to very important results. It betrays an expectation in the minds of the people of Ireland that hereafter they are to pursue their avocations as cultivators of land with greater advantage than they have done hitherto; and if they think that some reparation is to be made to them in respect of the unrequited labours which they have heretofore bestowed upon the soil, their tenacity of attachment to the particular spot which they have held is quite sufficient, on the one hand, to account for an increased desire to discharge their share of the covenant implied in the payment of rent to the landlord; while, on the other hand, it leads them to regard with greater jealousy and apprehension the process of eviction, and to entertain the determination, even with the strong hand, to resist its application. These are matters which, as it will be necessary for us to discuss hereafter, I need not trouble the House, I think, at the present moment with details with regard to the condition of Ireland; but having defended and I think it due not only to my Colleagues but the right hon. Gentleman himself that I should endeavour to defend the Executive Government against the charges in which he has most immeasurably indulged, I will conclude by thanking him for the evidence he has given that he feels the gravity of the situation of England in the face of Ireland, as an Imperial question, and from the promise which I have on the part of others, as well as himself, I hope that the propositions we are about to make will receive a fair and candid consideration.

The address was agreed to without opposition.

CHAPTER II.

Motion in the matter of O'Donovan Rossa-Introduction of the Irish Land Bill— Speech of Mr. Gladstone-Speeches of Dr. Ball, Mr. Chichester Fortescue, Mr. Ward Hunt, Sir Roundell Palmer, Mr. Disraeli, and others-Vote on the second reading-The Peace Preservation Bill-The Irish Land Bill in Committee-Debate on the Ulster custom-Division on Mr. Disraeli's amendment-Majority for Government-Division on Mr. Fortescue's clause-Free contract-Vote on Mr. Fowler's amendment-Rapid progress of the Bill-The Bill passes the Commons -Mr. Gladstone's speech on the third reading-Debate on the second reading in the House of Lords-The Bill in Committee-Amendments of the Duke of Richmond, the Marquis of Salisbury, and of Lord Clanricarde-Proceedings of the Lords on the report being brought up-Subsequent proceedings in both houses-The Bill receives the Royal Assent-Quiet in Ireland-The Fenian Amnesty.

The introduction of the Irish Land Bill was appropriately preceded by a motion brought forward by Mr. Gladstone, that O'Donovan Rossa, the convict whom Tipperary had returned as her member, "had become and continued incapable of being elected or returned as a member of the House," and the motion was carried, in a house of only 309 members, by a majority of 293. On the 15th February, before the largest audience of the session, the Premier introduced the Irish Land Bill in a speech worthy of the occasion.1 Rising to move for leave to bring in a Bill to amend the Law relating to the Occupation and Ownership of Land in Ireland, he entered at some length into the history of the previous dealings of various administrations with this perplexing subject, from 1833 to the present time. "I do not now speak," he said, " of the amount of blame to be divided as between one party and another, or as between one person and another; probably none of us who have sat in Parliament since that epoch are altogether exempt from responsibility. But what I hope is, that, having witnessed the disaster and difficulty which have arisen from this long procrastination, we shall resolve in mind and heart by a manful effort to close and seal up for ever, if it may be, this great question, which so intimately concerns the welfare and happiness of the people of Ireland." He acknowledged the assistance-"assistance valuable in a greater degree than I can remember in any other instance of the kind, which has been given to us by what I may call the recent literature of this great question.

1 The Landlord and Tenant (Ireland) Act 1870 (33 and 34 Vict. c. 46) is divided into five parts. The first part (section 1 to 31 inclusive) regulates the "Law of Compensation to Tenants as to which the principal changes effected are as follows: -1. The Ulster tenant-right custom and similar customs in other parts of Ireland, receive a legal status. 2. New rights are conferred on tenants with reference to compensation for disturbance by the act of the landlord. 3. Compensation is given for improvements, and the rights and liabilities of landlord and tenant defined. The second part (sect. 32 to 41) regulates "Sale of Lands to Tenants." The third part (sect. 42 to 56) regulates the "Advances by, and Powers of, the Board of Works." The fourth part (sect. 57 to 64) regulates "Legal Proceedings and Court." The fifth part (sect. 65 to 69) contains miscellaneous clauses referring to tenancies created after the passing of the Act.

I cannot remember a case in which so many gentlemen, governed by the simple motives of patriotism and philanthropy, have devoted their time, thought, and attainments, not to recommend the narrow views of a section, or a party, but to elucidate and clear up the real difficulties of the case. Members of the Bar, to whose name the title of 'learned' is not a mere formal appendage; men versed in historic knowledge; men foremost in professional skill and in the knowledge of the principles of agriculture; Members of this House too, I am glad to say, some who were with us in times past, and some who are here to aid us now-gentlemen whose names it might be invidious to enumerate lest I should by chance be guilty of any omission ;-have rendered us by the results of their inquiries the most valuable assistance. And I think I may say that no part of the studies which they have made known to the public has escaped our careful scrutiny and consideration." He next referred to what he termed the "prepossessions adverse to the character of the Irish people" which still prevailed in England-their Celtic origin-the relics of conquest and the absenteeism of landlords. He then proceeded to discuss in detail the evidence of the "present sensitiveness of Ireland, and recent tendency to an increase of Agrarian crime," attributing it, so far as that evidence was conclusive, to recent diminution in the progress of Irish prosperity, to evictions, and to the transference of land from tillage to pasture. But then he added, "it is also said, and not unreasonably, nay, with perfect truth so far as the literal sense of the proposition is concerned-you have legislated in favour of Ireland for a century, and yet the people of that country are not, after all, content." He showed how the Act of 1793 giving the franchise to Roman Catholics induced the creation of 408. freeholds-and how the abolition of the 40s. franchise in 1829 partly introduced, and beyond all doubt if it did not introduce vastly extended, the mischief, and perhaps, under the circumstances of Ireland, the still greater mischief, of mere yearly tenancy. "Then came the Act which was passed, I think, in 1849 or 1850, called the Encumbered Estates Act, which has since passed into the Act for dealing with the sale of landed estates. Well, sir, what was done by that Act? It had a most benevolent object; it was intended to introduce capital into Ireland, to relieve impoverished proprietors of that country from that which was to them not a privilege but a burden the possession of land which they could not rightly use or manage and to transfer it into the hands of a more vigorous and opulent race of proprietors, with a view to the development of the riches of the soil. In that Act also, however, there was contained one fatal oversight, so grievous in its operation that it is doubtful at this moment whether Ireland, on the whole, is better or worse for that Act. In 1845 the Commission of Lord Devon and the Government of Sir Robert Peel had recognized the right of the tenant to be invested with a title to improvements. Although the older landlords of Ireland sometimes, no doubt, may have improperly increased the rent, and compelled the tenant to pay an increased

amount in respect to the value which he had himself added to the soil, yet in many cases they made no such extortion. The improvements were not theirs in a moral or equitable point of view, and they did not exact a price for them. But when these properties came into the Encumbered Estates Court they sold the estates precisely as they were. The purchasers bought them as they were, and no distinction was drawn between the soil itself and the improvements made by the tenant. So that the improvements were sold to persons who gave a price for them; sold away from the tenant to whom they ought to have belonged; and the price was paid to the outgoing landlord, who, undoubtedly, ought not to have been entitled to claim the property in them, and would not have been so entitled if the legislation recommended in 1845 had been adopted. Every one of these measures, all of them beneficently intended and for other purposes operating beneficently-the Act of 1793, the Act of 1829, and the Encumbered Estates Act-was attended with consequences most fatal to the best interests of the great mass of the occupiers of Ireland. And it is not too much to say, with regard to the Encumbered Estates Act, that the operations which have been effected under that Act, and the use that has been made, and not unnaturally made, of it by some of those who have come in as new proprietors, may be reckoned as specific causes of those disturbances which have recently disfigured the records of our intelligence from that country. . . . Then there is another remedy, emigration, which landlords have in many instances been sedulous to promote. Emigration, sir, when it is voluntary and free, is the process which the Almighty has ordained for covering and cultivating the waste places of the earth. But that is when the emigrant is one whose wish it is to go. When, on the other hand, he is one whose wish it is to stay, who is truly, strongly, passionately attached-and no people ever were more passionately attached to the soil on which they were born and on which they have grown than the Irish-then to say- We cannot insure to you the possession of your holding—we cannot even give you a reasonable probability that you will be able to exercise your industry with confidence; but there is the way across the Atlantic, and there are the wide plains of America open to receive you'-do not let us conceal from ourselves that, under such circumstances, emigration is another word for banishment, and that the country whose laws inflict that punishment and cause that banishment cannot expect, and does not deserve, the affection of the people."

Another change for the worse, as regards the tenant, was made by the Act of 1816, facilitating ejectments. All these things had been done by Parliament, and no compensation made to the cultivator of the soil.

The speaker then proceeded: "The motion I am about to make assumes that it is desirable we should interfere for the purpose of ' amending the law relating to occupation and ownership of land in Ireland.' At this first stage I do not suppose much scruple will be