Habeas Corpus in Ireland, because an American had made a speech in America."[3] This characteristic speech is a very good specimen of Labouchere's method in attack. His manner was one of irresponsible persiflage, stinging and exasperating those of his opponents whom it failed to amuse,[4] his matter both sound and serious. It would have been difficult to have summed up {171} Forster's Bill better than Labouchere did in the following list of "Alleged advantages and real disadvantages of the Bill." (1) Alleged advantages: (_a_) it would drive a certain number of crazy Fenians out of Ireland. (_b_) It would lead to the imprisonment of certain village ruffians who probably deserve it. (_c_) It would enable landlords to collect their rents. (2) Disadvantages: (_a_) It would do away with the useful action of the Land League. (_b_) It would enable the landlords not only to collect their rents from men who could pay them, but also to evict from their small holdings men who could not--the very thing the Land League had been preventing. (_c_) It would alienate all classes in Ireland from the English connection. (_d_) It would substitute secret societies for the open society called the Land League. (_e_) The Government would be playing into the hands of the Fenians, who would acquire an influence they did not then possess. Certainly it would have been difficult to prophesy more accurately what were the actual consequences of the passing of the Coercion Bill. He concluded his speech on this occasion by warning the Irish members not to persevere in a policy of obstruction, both on account of the prejudice it created against them and on account of the excellence of their cause. Let that cause be stated fairly and honestly to the English people--let it be allowed to stand on its own merits. He believed many people in England were already very much inclined to take the same view as many Irishmen on Irish matters. There were many points on which the democracy of England and Ireland ought to unite. He therefore hoped that honourable gentlemen opposite would not be carried away by the irritation of the moment. He hated the Coercion Bill as much as they did, but he could not shut his eyes to the fact that the Liberals, not the Conservatives, had done the best for Ireland, and he wound up with a eulogy in this connection of the "two patron saints of my political calendar"--Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Bright.[5] {172} The Arms Bill--or the Peace Preservation Bill, as it was called--by which the Coercion Bill was promptly followed, was another target for Mr. Labouchere's darts. He pointed out the suspicious nature of the support given by the Opposition to the Government, which delayed the introduction of Liberal legislation for England and widened the breach between the Liberal party and the Irish.