THE COERCION ACT AND THE LAND ACT.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Su,—The question how Mr. Gladstone's new Land Act will work in the long-run may be safely left to time to solve. The interesting question at this moment is how it will be received in Ireland. In other words, is the land to settle down to peace and quiet during the next six months P If the Land Act could. be taken by itself, the answer would not be doubtful. The best evidence goes to show that the people expect great things from the Act, and are well disposed to give it a fair trial. But un- happily the Land Act cannot be taken by itself. The Coercion Act must be taken into account as well. Englishmen in general have no idea how angry the one-sided administration of that Act has made the people, who, e.g., see Father Sheehy carried off to prison and kept there, while the Rev. Mr. Knox is at large. If the Land Act is to have a fair start, the Coercion Act must lie in abeyance. The fears of " the Castle " and the doubts of Mr. Parnell must be alike disre- garded. The soldiers must be recalled to their garrisons, and the doors of Kilmainham opened. Six months after this has been done, there may still, perhaps, exist a Central Land League Committee in Dublin, but there will not be a dozen live branches in the country. Nay, it may not be extravagant to fancy the Central Committee itself spending its last breath in a cheer for the magnanimous Minister who had sent a message of peace to a distracted country, and had sent it right [It would be very extravagant, in our opinion. Every act of sympathy towards Ireland is treated by the Central Com- mittee as wrung by fear out of reluctant men, and as a signal for more violence. That is no reason against either justice or generosity, but it is a strong reason against forming false ex- pectations of the result.—ED. Spectator.]
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