The task of the Government within the walls of the House of Commons was rendered an easy one during 1880 and 1881, by reason of the spiritless and disorganised condition of the Opposition under the mild and forbearing generalship of Sir Stafford Northcote. The Conservatives, moreover, found themselves under the obligation of voting continually in the same lobby as their natural opponents, in resistance to the demands of the Parnellite Party and in support of measures for the protection of life and property in Ireland. Little resistance, indeed, would have been encountered by Ministers, but for the spirited action of a small knot of members below the Gangway. This group, led by Lord Randolph Churchill, and comprising Mr. Arthur Balfour, Sir John Gorst, and Sir Henry Drummond Wolff, allowed no subject to be dealt with without the closest and most persistent scrutiny. Their diligence, their individual and varied ability, and their permanent presence on the same bench, soon caused them to be known as the Fourth Party; and the intrepidity of their attacks on the Government was not more remarkable than the freedom with which they taunted the Tory leaders for their inaction, especially Northcote, Cross, and Smith. More and more did the Irish Question absorb the attention of Parliament and the public. Parnell was busy at the work of land agitation, and explained the means by which landlords were to be driven from Ireland. Speaking at Ennis, he exclaimed, "What is to be done with a tenant bidding for a farm from which another tenant has been evicted?" "Shoot him!" cried a voice in the crowd. "No," said Parnell, "I do not say shoot him; there is a more Christian and charitable way of dealing with him. Let him be shunned in the street, in the shop, in the market-place--even in the places of worship--as if he were a leper of old." [Sidenote: Boycotting.] One of the earliest cases in which this advice was carried into effect was that of Captain Boycott, the Earl of Erne's agent. The Land League issued orders that he was to be treated "as a leper of old"; his men deserted him on the eve of harvest; tradesmen refused to supply goods; not a soul in the district dared to be known to have intercourse with him. Captain Boycott was a man of spirit: he brought a hundred Ulstermen to gather the crops on his large farm; the Irish Government massed 7,000 troops and police to protect them, and henceforth the verb "to boycott" became the recognised expression for a system which brought infinite suffering on many poor people. [Illustration: _Sir J. Tenniel._} {_From "Punch."_ THE IRISH FRANKENSTEIN. Mr. Parnell is regarding with amazement the monster whom he has evoked.]