Lord Spencer wrote the following account of his knowledge of the murders--a statement inspired by a report that he had actually witnessed the affray and innocently regarded it as an unimportant scuffle: 'It is said that I saw the murder. That is not so. I had asked Cavendish to drive to the Park with me. He said he would not; he would rather walk with Burke. Of course, if he had come with me it would not have happened. I then rode to the Park with a small escort--I think, my aide-de-camp and a trooper. Curiously enough, I stopped to look at the polo-match which Carey described, so that he and I seem to have been together on that occasion. I then turned towards the Viceregal Lodge. The ordinary and more direct way for me to go was over the very scene {282} of the murder. Had I so gone the murders would not probably have been committed. Three men coming up would have prevented anything of that kind. But I made a slight detour, and got to the lodge another way. When I reached the Lodge I sat down near the window and began to read some papers. Suddenly I heard a shriek which I shall never forget. I seem to hear it now; it is always in my ears. This shriek was repeated again and again. I got up to look out. I saw a man rushing along. He jumped over the palings, and dashed up to the Lodge shouting: "Mr. Burke and Lord Frederick Cavendish are killed!" There was great confusion, and immediately I rushed out; but someone of the household stopped me, saying that it might be a ruse to get me out, and advising me to wait and make inquiries. Of course, the inquiries were made, and the truth soon discovered. I always deplore my unfortunate decision to make that detour, always feeling that if I had gone to the Lodge by the ordinary way the murders would have been prevented. I have said that I did not see the murder, but my servant did. He was upstairs, and saw a scuffle going on, but, of course, did not know what it was about.' No political crime produced as great a sensation as these senseless and stupid murders. The news came to London late in the evening, when Ministers were dining out. The Home Secretary was attending a dinner-party at the Austrian Embassy when a messenger hurried in to tell of the dreadful calamity, and very soon all his colleagues were in possession of the dreadful tidings. {283} [Sidenote: Another Coercion Act] The murders meant the end of the policy of conciliation, and the House of Commons gave a ready assent to another Coercion Act. Parnell wrote to Gladstone offering to resign his seat, but the premier was not the person to judge members of the House of Commons. With perfect courtesy he acknowledged the feeling that had prompted the Irish leader's letter, though he must have known that if there had been no Land League there would have been no Phoenix Park murders.