The Government has not stated publicly its reasons for arrest-
ing Mr. Parnell, but no one doubts that it had information before it showing that his action and that of his followers, -coupled with their long impunity, would succeed, at least in part, in arresting the beneficent action of the Land Act. Mr. Parnell had, not in one speech, but in a dozen, called upon the tenantry not to avail themselves of the Act, bad promised them that if they clung to the League the rent of Ireland should be reduced from £17,000,000 to £3,000,000, and had held out the further hope of the independence of Ireland. As a consequence of this advice, and, we are bound to add, of some harsh evictions, outrages had recommenced, and the agents of the law were defied, in one case by such a force that the military were compelled to retreat. There was evid- ence, too, that classes not owning the land were beginning to take advantage of the terror, and that as winter drew on, Ire- land would fall into a state of anarchy. The battle, in fact, between lawlessness and law had begun, and the Government was compelled either to intervene with the strong hand, or to abdicate its functions. It decided, reluctantly, but rightly, for the latter course,—and law will henceforward be made supreme in Ireland, at any cost.
