, 1881-02-26

The Frost, which for a week almost p%aralys-
cd traffic in South England, broke uD N
Wednesday, the 26'6 INST the thermometer
rising in a few hours, under the Influence of a
south. west wind, from 200 Fair. TO 400. The
snow melted rapidly, and by Friday, though it
had rot disappeared, the streets of London
were covered with practicable slnsh, more I'M
pleasant TO the vayfarer than the snow, but
much less inconv~nirnt 10 business. The thaw
was welcomed will delight, for he frost, COM
ing an it did upon a heavy snOw-stofm, had
inflicted a serious amount of misery. Sc veral
trades, such 80 the f~sbmongfrS, we're stopped
altos ether. Coal nearly doubled ia price, oil
more than doubled, milk became in some
places unprocurabl-, and the supply Of wafer
was Intercepted, till most L0useholdetS found
it a ocslly matter, either in cash or time, to
obtain sufficient for daily usl. Had he arrest
of traffic lasted a little longer and beer a lit
tie more complete, London might have suffer
ed under a situation which Wa have pndea-
voured elsewhere to depict. Life in this will
dsrDass of houses is so entirely artificial, that
a ten days arrest of the regular machinery
might produce serious calamitles. AS il is,
the snow.sturm, with its addition to the price
of oil, of coal, of wood, of milk, and of plum-
bers' charges, has probably cost the house
hol ders Of London double their January rates.
and has raised the death-rate for a fortnight
twenty per cent. The I'D die like flies 10 a
cold snap of that sort-I6id.
Mr. Forster brought f,rward his proposal
for coercion on Monday, in q speech which
even his opponents admitted to be one of
great power. He showed that the outrares.
without counting threatening letters, were in
1850, 1858, and in 1916, the first year of The
great famine, only $50. Allowing tor The fact
that the population of Ireland was in 1S45
over 5000, 900, as against 5000, 900 now.
these O~uirages Of 1850 are, in proportion 10
population, twice as Numerous as they were in
the year Of Ireland's greatest misery. And
the outrages in the last quarter of last year
were nearly two-thir3s of The whole, so That
up to the end of the year the number was
rapidly Increasing. The outrageS, said Mr..
Forster, regularly followed the progress of lhe
Land League, and We're, indeed. " oslly irfiat-
ed by its volunteer police the mdUrGiS
Sujets CT each village constituting themselves
an agency Of terror, to threaten, bully, out
rage, aud often cruelty hurt those who would
not submit to the Land Leagues dictation in
relation to rent, eviciions, or any other matter.
This terrorism resulted in most Of these
offenders remaining not merely pnpunished, but
altogether unohallenged by the law, for out Of
1853 outrages committed, only 1S2 had been
prosecuted at a i,-ihat is, about 16 per cent.
Since the resolvs of the Government to intro
duce a Coercion Bill had become known, out
RACES had begun to diminish rapidly. But
this was partly because that, for the first time.
the leaders Of the Land League had since then
tried 10 earnest to discourage tt em, aud part
II because the rumour of coercion had fright
ened the terrorist agents. Without coercion,
those who defy the existing law are safe, those
who obey il are in danger-Ibid.
For THE state OF things, Mr.. Forster saw