e wits to
that of the Greek hero who went forth to wrestle with Death for the body
of an old woman. The whole of the liberal candidates in Ulster fell down
as dead men. Orangemen and catholics, the men who cried damnation to King
William and the men who cried "To hell with the Pope," joined hands
against them. In Belfast itself, nationalists were (M96) seen walking to
the booths with orange cards in their hats to vote for orangemen against
liberals.(164) It is true that the paradox did not last, and that the Pope
and King William were speedily on their old terms again. Within six
months, the two parties atoned for this temporary backsliding into
brotherly love, by one of the most furious and protracted conflagrations
that ever raged even in the holy places of Belfast. Meanwhile nationalism
had made its way in the south of the province, partly by hopes of reduced
rents, partly by the energy of the catholic population, who had not tasted
political power for two centuries. The adhesion of their bishops to the
national movement in the Monaghan election had given them the signal three
years before. Fermanagh, hitherto invariably Orange, now sent two
nationalists. Antrim was the single county out of the thirty-two counties
of Ireland that was solid against home rule, and even in Antrim in one
contest the nationalist was beaten only by 35 votes.

Not a single liberal was returned in the whole of Ireland. To the last
parliament she had sent fourteen. They were all out bag and baggage.
Ulster now sent eighteen nationalists and seventeen tories. Out of the
eighty-nine contests in Ireland, Mr. Parnell's men won no fewer than
eighty-five, and in most of them they won by such overwhelming majorities
as I have described. It was noticed that twenty-two of the persons
elected, or more than one-fourth of the triumphant party, had been put in
prison under the Act of 1881. A species of purge, moreover, had been
performed. All half-hearted nationalists, the doubters and the faithless,
were dismissed, and their places taken by men pledged either to obey or
else go.

The British public now found out on what illusions they had for the last
four years been fed. Those of them who had memories, could recollect how
the Irish secretary of the day, on the third reading of the first Coercion
bill in 1881, had boldly appealed from the Irish members to the People of
Ireland. "He was sure that he could appeal with confidence from gentlemen
sitting bel