=Source.=--Morley's _Life of Gladstone_, vol. iii., pp. 188-245. (Macmillans.) On May 15 Mr. Gladstone announced ... that they proposed to continue what he described as certain clauses of a valuable and equitable description in the existing Coercion Act. No Parliamentary situation could be more tempting to an astute Opposition. The signs that the Cabinet was not united were unmistakable.... The key to an operation that should at once, with the aid of the disaffected Liberals and the Irish, turn out Mr. Gladstone and secure the English elections, was an understanding with Mr. Parnell.... Lord Salisbury and his confidential friends had resolved [previous to the defeat of the Government], subject to official information, to drop coercion, and the only visible reason why they should form the resolution at that particular moment was its probable effect upon Mr. Parnell. [Meanwhile] the policy of the Central Board [for Ireland], of which Mr. Gladstone so decisively approved, had been killed.... When it came to the full Cabinet it could not be carried. [June 6. Government defeated on an amendment to the Budget by 264 to 252.] The defeat of the Gladstone Government was the first success of a combination between Tories and Irish that proved of cardinal importance to policies and parties for several critical months to come.... The new Government were not content with renouncing coercion for the present. They cast off all responsibility for its practice in the past.... In July a singular incident occurred, nothing less strange than an interview between the new Lord-Lieutenant [Lord Carnarvon] and the leader of the Irish party. To realize its full significance we have to recall the profound odium that at this time enveloped Mr. Parnell's name in the minds of nearly all Englishmen.... The transaction had consequences, and the Carnarvon episode was a pivot. The effect on the mind of Mr. Parnell was easy to foresee.... Why should he not believe that the alliance formed in June ... had really blossomed from a mere lobby manœuvre and election expedient into a policy adopted by serious statesmen?