Irish prospects had not looked brighter in the House for many a year, but, unfortunately, only two days after the memorable afternoon on which Mr. Gladstone dissociated himself from his sometime Irish Minister and threw himself into Parnell's arms, England was horrified by a terrible tragedy. Lord Spencer and Lord Frederick Cavendish had been appointed to the vacant offices of Lord Cowper and Mr. Forster. The new Chief Secretary and Mr. Burke, permanent Under-Secretary, were murdered close to the Vice-regal Lodge in Phœnix Park, on the evening following Lord Spencer's state entry into Dublin. Mr. O'Brien, in his _Life of Parnell_, says that "Cavendish was killed simply {175} through the accident of his being with Mr. Burke, whose death was the real object of the assassins."[6] No one was more overwhelmed by the tragedy than Parnell himself. "How can I," he said, "carry on a public agitation if I am stabbed in the back in this way?" The House met on the 8th, and Parnell made a short, straightforward speech, condemning the outrages in unqualified terms. He also expressed the fear that the Government would feel themselves obliged, under the circumstances, to revert to coercion. His fear was justified, and on May 11, the Home Secretary, Sir William Harcourt, introduced a Crimes Bill, based on previous suggestions of Lord Cowper. It is easy to see now that this proceeding was a mistake. It should have been evident to any unbiassed observer that, far from Parnell and the League being responsible for outrages, whether agrarian or political, it was during the imprisonment of Parnell and after the dissolution of the League that they increased and finally led up to the tragedy of Phœnix Park. But the Government had to count with English opinion, which was exasperated by the murder of Burke and Cavendish almost to the point of hysteria. To most English people Ireland was little more than a geographical expression; in so far as it connoted anything else, it bored and disgusted them. Parnell indicated the true inwardness of Mr. Gladstone's altered attitude in a speech on May 20, in which he said: "I regret that the event in Phœnix Park has prevented him (Mr. Gladstone) continuing the course of conciliation that we had expected from him. I regret that, owing to the exigencies of his party, of his position in the country, he has felt himself compelled to turn from that course of conciliation and concession into the horrible paths of coercion." Labouchere took Mr. Parnell's view of the situation, and argued with much zest against the worst features of the Crimes Bill. Speaking on May 18, on the second reading, {176} he said that it was clear from the fact that the House was now asked to pass a remedial measure (the Arrears Bill) and a Coercion Bill that the former policy of the Government had been a failure.