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. 161 CHAPTER XVII. 1887-1897. Adoption of the Closure by the House of Commons--The Queen's Jubilee--Thanksgiving Service in Westminster Abbey--The Imperial Institute--"Parnellism and Crime"--Appointment of Special Commission of Judges--Their Report--Fall of Parnell--Disruption of the Irish Party--Deaths of Parnell and W. H. Smith--The Baring Crisis--The Local Government Bill--Establishment of County Councils--Free Education--Death of the Duke of Clarence--General Election--Mr. Gladstone's Fourth Midlothian Campaign--The Newcastle Programme--Victory of Home Rulers--The Second Home Rule Bill--Its Rejection by the Lords--Parish Councils and Employers' Liability Acts--Mr. Gladstone Resigns the Leadership--Lord Rosebery becomes Prime Minister--Disunion of Ministerialists--Defeat and Resignation of the Government--Lord Salisbury's Third Administration--General Election--Unionist Triumph--The Eastern Question--Massacres in Armenia--Lord Rosebery Resigns the Leadership--Trouble in the Transvaal--Dr. Jameson's Raid--The German Emperor's Message--The Venezuelan Dispute--President Cleveland's Message. 172 CHAPTER XVIII.