Above : Photo Of Michael Davitt

Gladstone was but half convinced. He saw that to the complication to Ireland of an agrarian system unsuited to the circumstances of the country the prevalent disorders were mainly due. This he proposed to remedy by means of a comprehensive Irish Land Bill. Unfortunately,however, a Coercion Bill was to precede the remedial measures.That the effects of the latter in Ireland would be lamentable was pointed out by many of the Irish members, and notably by Parnell himself. Their efforts to impede its passage were vain, and in March, 1881, the Coercion Act became law.

The powers which this Act gave to the Irish authorities were very extensive, and in times of political excitement especially, very liable to be abused. This in fact happened. Men, often of good position and of the highest private character, were thrown into jail and kept there without trial. At length the number of such prisoners reached nearly a thousand. Ridiculous charges were made by the police, sometimes against women and even children, and were not always laughed out of court with the contempt which they deserved. At the same time the real outrages, so far from diminishing, greatly increased ; the state of the country was worse than before.

The activities of the Land League had been hampered by the imprisonment of many of the leaders, but the Ladies’ Land League, an organisation of women, founded mainly by Michael Davitt, carried on much of its work, and ample funds were furnished by the Irish in America.
Little more than a month after the passing of the Irish Coercion Bill (April, 1881), the Land Bill, which was to be its corrective, was placed before Parliament by Mr. Gladstone. It arranged for the setting-up in Ireland of Land Courts, to which tenants could apply to have their rents fixed. The land Lord evolved was to be examined by experts, and in accordance with their reports of its value, a “judicial rent” would be *ed, more than which could not be charged by the landlord. On agreement to pay this, the tenant would, under certain conditions, obtain a lease.

In estimating the value of the holding, and consequently the rent 0 e paid for it, no account was to be taken to the landlord’s profit of lmprovements made by the tenant at his own expense.

In August the Bill received the Royal Assent.
Meanwhile in Ireland coercion continued. The Land Leaani was declared to be an illegal body, and its meetings were broken up kv the police, often with wholly needless violence. In October, Parnell himself was imprisoned for a speech made in Wexford, and he was soon joined in Kilmainham Jail by John Dillon and others of his party Michael Davitt had already, some months previously, had his ticket-of. leave cancelled, and was in Portland Convict Prison. The outrages increased in number and audacity, the perpetrators being rarely discovered.

At length the English Government began to realise that nothing but disaster was likely to be the outcome of the course they were pursuing. The Land League, exasperated, was entering into the ways of actual Socialism, and had issued a manifesto advising the people to pay no rent whatever to the landlords.Gladstone, and some other members of the Cabinet, began unofficial negotiations with Parneli, who, on condition that coercion should cease, that those imprisoned under the recent Acts should be released, and that certain arrangements favourable to the tenants should be made in regard to arrears of rent, agreed to withdraw the ” No Rent Manifesto,” and generally to restrain the Land League from extreme courses. In con¬sequence of this arrangement, Parnell and his political followers were set at liberty (April and May, 1882). Earl Cowper, the Viceroy, and Forster resigned, their places being taken by Earl Spencer and Lord Frederick Cavendish. It appeared as if brighter days were about to dawn for Ireland.