CHAPTER XVI. 1881-1887. Imprisonment of Irish Members of Parliament--Assassination of Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr. Burke--Prevalence of Outrages in Ireland--A New Coercion Bill--Trial and Execution of the Phoenix Park Murderers--The Dynamite Conspiracy--Corrupt Practices Act--The Affairs of Egypt--General Gordon sent to Khartoum--Gordon Besieged--Inaction of the Government--Relief of Khartoum Undertaken--Too Late!--Death of Gordon--Lord Wolseley's Campaign--Abandonment of the Soudan--Mr. Gladstone's Reform Bill--The Question of Redistribution of Seats--The Frontier Question in Afghanistan--Defeat of Ministers on the Budget and their Resignation--Lord Salisbury's First Administration--Dissolution of Parliament--The Irish Party and the Balance of Power--Mr. Gladstone's Third Administration--His Conversion to Home Rule--Rupture of the Liberal Party--The Home Rule Bill Rejected--Dissolution of Parliament--Unionist Victory--Lord Salisbury's Second Administration--Lord Randolph Churchill Resigns--The Round Table Conference. [Sidenote: Imprisonment of Irish Members.] The effort made by the Government to conciliate the hostility of the people of Ireland by the Land Act did not at first offer much prospect of success. There was no diminution in the tyranny of the Land League or in the number of cruel outrages traceable to that organisation. A Cabinet Council was summoned hurriedly early in October 1881, the result of which was the arrest of Mr. Parnell and two other members of Parliament under the Protection of Life and Property Act, and their imprisonment in Kilmainham. They remained in confinement as "suspects" until May 2, 1882, when they were released unconditionally, a step which led to the immediate resignation of Earl Cowper, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and his Chief Secretary, Mr. Forster. [Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Elliott & Fry._ HERBERT SPENCER. Born in Derby 1820. Educated as a Civil Engineer, but abandoned that profession in favour of literature and philosophy. He was one of the earliest exponents of the doctrine of evolution.] [Sidenote: Assassination of Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr. Burke.]