The Daily Telegraph. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1889.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 5705, 12 December 1889, Page 2

The Daily Telegraph. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1889.

Fno_ the tenor of Mr Gladstone's speeches, it might reasonably be supposed that tho operation of the Coercion Act in Ireland was an brutal and tyrannical as anything in the time of " King Bomba " in Italy, or in Bulgaria when it was under the misgo vera - ment of Turkey. But the Act which it pleases Mr Gladstone in his abject submission to Mr Parnell to denounce is not- nearly as sovpro as that which be himself inflicted on Ireland when ho declared that " crime dogged the footsteps of the National League." Mr Chamberlain, in his speech at Bodmin, put the matter in a very plain light. He said, let us see what effect this tyrannical law has had upon Ireland. In the first place it is admitted, even the opponents of the law admit, that the material condition of Inland is greatly improved under it. There is now a state of prosperity in Ireland which the agricultural classes in England and Scotland may well euvy. The .great majority of the population aro eugnged, and properly engaged, in securing . the advantages of the exceptional legislation which has been passed for their beuefit, and which has made them at tho present time tho most fortunate tenants in the whole of the civilised world. And I firmly believe that if now you could poll the whole people, .Roman Catholics, Protestants, Homo .Rulers, and non-Homo Rulers, you would ;fjnd tbat a great majority of the people would vote in favor of a continuanco of this law, which has protected them iv the exercise of their honest industry, aud of peaceful and law-abiding occupation. But you must romember also the stute of things from which this people havo escaped. It was not a very pleasant thing, I can tell you, to livo a few years ago in what was called a disturbed district in Ireland. You might be of the religion of tbe majority in the neighborhood, you might be of their political opinions, you might also be, as the majority of the Irish teuants are, lawabiding, anxious chiefly to secure the subsistence of your family and the prosperity of those dear to you, but while living this life, giving no intentional offence to any one, you might have broken some unwritten law of the secret tribunal established in your neighborhood, and without your knowledge you might havo been called before this tribunal, and in your absence you might have been condemned and re- ! quired to suffer tho penalty ; and when some dark night as you were returning from market or porhaps even by your own fireside, you would be shot al from behind tho hedge by ruffians in masks, or in your house would require you to go down upon your kneos, and make an apology for some offencoyou had never committed, and before thuy leave you in presence of your own family and ou your own hearthstone, they would disable you, it might bo to linger out a miserable existence, and to die in a few months, or to remain for life wounded and a cripple. That is not imaginary. That is not exceptional. That is what has happened in scores of cases, and in hundreds and thousands of other oases men havo had their property destroyed. They have been ruined and their families driven to tbe workhouse by the monstrous tyranny of this National League and this tyrannical agitation from which the extension of the law has at last delivered the country. Coercion is a nickname. It sounds very badly, but it only means tho maintenenoe of the ordinary law. It does not touch honest men. There is no honest man in Ireland or loyal man who has suffered in person or iv any other way from the imposition of this ooercire law.