Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1881-02-17
The Coercion Act Soon to be i'm Full
F0rce--lt will be Directed Prin-
cipally Against the Fenians.
Miscellaneous Foreign Intelligence.
THE BLOOD-AND-IRON POLICY.

A Herald London cable says: Under
the pressure of events, Mr.. Gladstone
has found himself compelled to adopt
the policy of Bismarck. Whatever
may be thought of the legality of the
speakers so-called coup d etat, there
are scarcely two opinions as to its ne
cessity. Though the Irish members
claim to have acted within the limits of
their right, they now frankly admit
that the government was compelled in
self-defense to break down the opposi-
ton, which brought the work of the
government to a standstill, and say
that though the speakers act was il
legal it was just The English organs
of liberal opinion admit that the act
was a usurpation. The Daily NeCs SAYS:
"The speaker acted on his own re-
sponsibiEty. So Napoleon Ill. declared
that in setting aside the constitution
which he had sworn to obey, he acted
on his own responsibility and from a
sense of his duty to France" The
Spectator calls it Il "coup d etat" and
"a revolution in parliamentary pro-
cedure;' "but the speaker thereby
saved parliament itself" From the
first the result of the struggle was a
fOregOnG conclusion. The forty Irish
members could not hope to be allowed
permanently to override the will of
their six hundred English and Scotch
colleagues, the more SO as they could
not claim even a majority of the repre-
sentatives of Ireland. The change is
not without its value to Ireland. 1t
was made to secure the passage of the
coercion bill, but it places in the hands
OF the government the power to carry
any remedial measure of land reform
which the ministry may decide on of
fering. The Irish people and the Irish
party themselves are convinced Of this
fact
A vivid idea of the state of alarm in
which the English people are living is
conveyed in the cable dispatches des-
cribing the extraordinary precautions
taken by the authorities, the other day
after the speaker had succeeded by a
coup d etat in suppressing the Fenian
disturbance in the house of commons
and having the disturbers removed.
The Hobbies of the house were cleared
all the entrances to the corridors guard
ed by police, the speakers residence
in the parliamentary palace and the
offices of the premier and the Irish
secretary placed in sort OF state of
siege, and corps Of four hundred de-
tectives and police put on duty in the
neighborhood of the building. In ad-
dition to all this, extra guards were de-
tailed at arm cries and in public places
in the city and there seems to have
been general feeling of apprehension
very harassing to the nerves of the
quiet-loving London shopkeepers. The
fears Of these people grow out of the
knowledge that there is an immense
Irish population in London, and the
belief that the portion of it which is of
fighting age and sex is more or less Or
gained and in a condition to strike q
blow for Ireland whenever its leaders
may give the signal. 1t was supposed
that this in1ammable mass would natur-
ally be heated nearly or quite to the
point of combustion by the events oc-
curing in parliament; and the ministers
who for months have listened with
stolid Indifference to the appeals OF
terror-stricken Irish landlords, at once
exhibited a remarkably lively suscepti-
bility when confronted by a possibility
that they might themselves be made
targets of by the sharpshooters of the
Fenian armyin London This sudden
display of alarm in the face of a dang
er no greater than that to which they
SO long left their fellow subjects across
the Grandchildren many men of prop
erty have not lately been able to go
from the shelter of their own houses
with a reasonable certainty of return
ing alive-will not greatly commend
the ministers to the respect of the
English people, when the latter have so
far recovered their equanimity as to
be able to look calmly at the subject.
The excitement in Ireland consequent
upon the arrest of Davitt has given
place to a quiet determination to await
the course of events and make the best
preparations for meeting steps the gov
eminent may take under the coercion
act. Throughout the country the
greatest indignation prevails. Mr..
Davitt was personally known in almost
every town and village of the four
provinces. Protests from every quar-
ter are reaching the central offices of
the league The government show no
inclination to interfere with the meet
ings in public halls in the towns for this
purpose, but nearly ali the open-air
meetings called for tomorrow have
been proclaimed tonight. Mr.. Bren-
nan received private information that
he would be arrested tonight, but on
inquiry in official quarters [ learn that
there is not the slightest foundation for
the report. / am also informed that
the government does not intend to in
terfere with any of the members of the
league, provided that their speeches
and actions are moderated in charac-
ter. / have the highest authority for
stating that even after the passing of
the bills not more than four arrests will
be made in connection with the land
league. This is the present intention,
but any attempt to fan the agitation
into the dimensions attained in NOvem-
Der and December will unquestionably
alter this wise resolution on the part of
the authorities Indeed, it is not i'm
probable that if matters continue in
their present satisfactory condition the
coercion bill, as far as the land league
is concerned, will be almost dead let
ter. 1t is not so, however, with the
FenianS
Their organization will be merci-
lesslv dealt with. [ am told that the
authorities have authentic information
as to the number of rifles illicitly i'm
ported into the country, almost to
within a hundred, and know where to
lay hands on large number. This
perhaps is official braggadocio, but
when infOrmers are wanted in Ireland