It is one of the most difficult of tasks to write familiar history in an original manner. The worthless lives of the assassins paid the penalty of the law, and a crude justice was meted out to Carey, the informer, who was shot dead by O'Donnell on board the liner which was taking him to safety. O'Donnell was brought back from South Africa and executed, but the punishment of the actual murderers was a small part of the after-effects of the whole disastrous episode. It was not long before the party of progress by murder and revolution cast off the sackcloth it had donned on the deaths of Mr. Burke and Lord Frederick Cavendish. The viceroy, with his back against the wall, was compelled to fight for his own life as well as for the existence of law and order. The Parnellites, confident in their well-established reputation for obstruction and their followers' capacity for riot, looked forward to the day when they could dictate terms to one of the great political parties in England. The granting of an extended franchise in 1884 had cleared the {284} way for an all-Nationalist Ireland. The Liberal party was, as usual, blindly handing to their opponents weapons to be used for the destruction of Liberalism. Mr. Gladstone was always a difficult leader to follow, but when he was dealing with Irish affairs his movements resembled the lines created by a maze. With the best of motives he performed the worst and most foolish of actions, and Lord Spencer's task became more difficult every day. The Government was defeated on the Budget, and a prolonged crisis ensued. But before the resignation of the Cabinet Lord Spencer had to deal with the notorious Maamtrasna case. This was, in brief, the trial of some forty persons for the murder of an entire family. Twenty-one of the convicted prisoners were executed, and it was alleged that some of these were innocent. A fierce debate absorbed three days in the House of Commons, and later on, when Lord Salisbury was premier and Sir Michael Hicks-Beach was leader of the Commons, a motion was brought forward censuring the administration of Earl Spencer. The only result was to draw public attention once more to the fearless manner in which the viceroy had carried out his duties, and even Tory members had to rise and protest in forcible language against the action of Tory leaders in condemning the man who risked his life to maintain law and order. [Sidenote: Lord Spencer's character] A month after his retirement from the viceroyalty 300 members of both houses of Parliament attended a banquet in his honour. It was {285} noticed that Mr. Chamberlain was absent, but the presence of Lord Hartington in the chair and Mr. Bright among the company testified eloquently to the general opinion of Lord Spencer's conduct of Irish affairs.