in which Mr. Gladstone chose to put things was stated in a letter
to the Queen (May 3): "In his judgment there had been two, and only two,
vital powers of commanding efficacy in Ireland, the Land Act, and the land
league; they had been locked in a combat of life and death; and the
cardinal question was which of the two would win. From the serious effort
to amend the Land Act by the Arrears bill of the nationalists,(42) from
the speeches made in support of it, and from information voluntarily
tendered to the government as to the views of the leaders of the league,
the cabinet believed that those who governed the land league were now
conscious of having been defeated by the Land Act on the main question,
that of paying rent."

For the office of Irish secretary Mr. Gladstone selected Lord Frederick
Cavendish, who was the husband of a niece of Mrs. Gladstone's, and one of
the most devoted of his friends and adherents. The special reason for the
choice of this capable and high-minded man, was that Lord Frederick had
framed a plan of finance at the treasury for a new scheme of land
purchase. The two freshly appointed Irish ministers at once crossed over
to a country seething in disorder. The (M27) afternoon of the fatal sixth
of May was passed by the new viceroy and Lord Frederick in that grim
apartment in Dublin Castle, where successive secretaries spend unshining
hours in saying No to impossible demands, and hunting for plausible
answers to insoluble riddles. Never did so dreadful a shadow overhang it
as on that day. The task on which the two ministers were engaged was the
consideration of the new provisions for coping with disorder, which had
been prepared in London. The under-secretary, Mr. Burke, and one of the
lawyers, were present. Lord Spencer rode out to the park about five
o'clock, and Lord Frederick followed him an hour later. He was overtaken
by the under-secretary walking homewards, and as the two strolled on
together, they were both brutally murdered in front of the vice-regal
residence. The assassins did not know who Lord Frederick was. Well has it
been said that Ireland seems the sport of a destiny that is aimless.(43)

The official world of London was on that Saturday night in the full round
of its pleasures. The Gladstones were dining at the Austrian embassy. So,
too, was Sir William Harcourt, and to him as home secretary the black
tidings were sent from Dublin late in the evening. Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone
had