under 15,000, and to merge them in the country districts in which they
were situated.

In home affairs the Irish question has, during many years, claimed more
attention than any other. For some time there had been a great fall in the
prices of agricultural produce, and consequently the farmers in Ireland
had a difficulty in finding the money to pay their rents. Then followed
evictions, which the peasantry resisted by violence. Parliament passed
several measures, partly to give relief to the peasantry under the hard
times which had fallen upon them, partly with a view to making the law
stronger for the suppression of outrages. As these laws did not always
meet the approval of the Irish and their leaders in parliament, scenes of
violence frequently occurred. The worst act in the unhappy struggle--the
murder of Lord Frederick Cavendish and of Mr Burke, in the Phoenix Park,
Dublin, in 1882--was the work of a secret society, and received the
condemnation of the Irish leaders. For many years there had been growing
in Ireland a party which demanded Home Rule--that is, that Ireland should
manage her domestic affairs by a parliament of her own at Dublin. At the
general election in 1885, 86 members out of 103 returned for Ireland were
in favour of Home Rule. In 1886 Mr Gladstone introduced a bill to grant
Home Rule to Ireland; but, as many of the Liberals refused to follow him
in this change of policy, he was defeated in the House of Commons.

In an appeal to the country, he was likewise defeated, and the Marquis of
Salisbury became prime-minister, with the support of a combination of
Conservatives and Liberal Unionists. The government of Lord Salisbury
lasted for six years. It carried several useful measures, among which may
be mentioned free education, and the act for establishing county councils
both in England and Scotland. At the general election of 1892, Mr
Gladstone had a majority; for the fourth time he undertook the duties of