ran away. They had scarcely disappeared when it exploded with a report that shook the metropolis, and was distinctly heard for many miles beyond it. The wall against which the barrel had been placed bounded the yard in which the prisoners were usually recreating at this hour. Had they been there, they would have run a great risk of being either killed or seriously injured. The wall was two feet in thickness and twenty feet high, and a breach was made in it by the explosion twenty feet wide at the bottom and seventy feet at the top; so that the prisoners who had escaped injury might have made their way out without difficulty. But the damage done was not confined to the prison wall. Several houses near to the spot where the barrel had been deposited, were almost entirely destroyed. Six persons were killed on the spot, six more died soon after, and at least a hundred and twenty were more or less seriously injured. Timothy Desmond, Jeremiah Allen, and Ann Justice, who had frequently visited the prisoners and had been seen lurking about the prison just before the explosion occurred, were arrested on suspicion of having been concerned in the outrage. Ultimately a man named Barrett was tried, convicted, and executed.

These events, but especially the murder of Brett, produced a profound impression throughout England. It was regarded not only as a crime of great atrocity, but also as an indication of a deep-seated disease in the body politic, requiring other and more thorough remedies than had hitherto been applied; and the state of public opinion thus produced made Mr. Gladstone feel that the time had come when the Irish Church question might be faced with a fair prospect of success.

Outrages even more base and cowardly than those committed by the Fenians were this year brought home to members of English trades-unions. The atrocities perpetrated by some of them had attracted general attention; and Lord Derby's government issued a commission to inquire into their organisation and rules. The general object of the societies whose character the commission was appointed to investigate, was to protect the interests of the workmen of the different trades they represented, and to raise and maintain the market-price of their labour. But the manner in which they pursued these objects was very

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different. In some cases the action of the men was moderate, and the rules fair and reasonable; in others they were absurd or infamous. In some cases the members of the trade were free to join the union or to abstain from joining it as they thought proper, and no illegal measures were employed to compel non-unionists to become members against their will; in other cases the most frightful outrages were perpetrated against those who refused to join the union, or, having joined it, to submit to the dictation, often exceedingly stupid and arbitrary, of its governing body. One objectionable feature common to almost all these societies was, the combination of a provident club with a trades-union; thus giving the council power to punish those who refused to comply with all their unionist requirements by depriving them of the benefit of a club to which perhaps they had contributed for many years, and to which they had looked forward as a sure resource in sickness and old age.

The control obtained by these or by still more questionable means was exercised with excessive harshness. Every member of the union was required to strike as often as the governing body might think proper, however well he might be satisfied with the wages he received; he must not take piece-work or work overtime; and he was subjected to a variety of regulations with regard to his trade, the violation of any one of which would bring on him condign punishment. To work too diligently was a crime which was frequently visited with especial severity. In a word, the members of these unions were ruled with a tyranny that was almost insupportable; and the most infamous means were resorted to in order to compel persons to join the unions, or to punish them for their refusal; and these means were justified by those who resorted to them on the ground that the non-unionists obtained the benefits which resulted, or were supposed to result, from the action of the union, without helping to defray the expenses, or sharing the risks which attended this war between labour and capital. Such were the associations into the nature and character of which the Trades-Union Commission was appointed to inquire.

The town of Sheffield had long been notorious for outrages of a peculiarly diabolical character perpetrated, as

was alleged, at the instigation of some of its trades-unions. The allegation was, indeed, indignantly denied by the officers of those societies, who loudly demanded that the charges made against them should be investigated by the Commission. Their demand was granted; and Mr. Överend, Q.C., was appointed to conduct the inquiry. He had power given him to grant a free pardon to any persons who would fully disclose what they knew of the transactions he was appointed to investigate. Day after day he pursued the inquiry with great ability, and under his skilful and searching cross-examination, facts were elicited which left no doubt that some of the officers of trades-unions were implicated in the crimes that had been perpetrated. One atrocity after another was disclosed, till all previously discovered outrages were reduced to insignificance by the revelations that were made respecting the death of a man named Linley, who had been murdered some time before, but whose assassins had escaped detection. On Wednesday 19th of June a man named Hallam, who, a few days before, had been committed to prison for six weeks for contempt of court, promised to tell all he knew, and was consequently brought up for re-examination. He confessed his complicity in some very heinous trade outrages, and stated the amount that had been paid him for the perpetration of them by Broadhead, the secretary of the union. At length Mr. Overend began to examine him with reference to the death of Linley. Hallam inquired whether in case he implicated any other person in the transaction referred to, he and his companions would be protected from prosecution. After receiving the assurance he desired, his examination, as reported in the Times, thus proceeded:

Mr. Overend. Now tell us for what purpose you bought the pistol.'

Witness again hesitated, and after appearing violently agitated fainted. He recovered consciousness in a few minutes, then fainted a second time. On his being again restored his examination was continued. He said: 'Crookes joined with me in shooting Linley. I compelled him, Crookes, to shoot him. He shot him with an air-gun.'

Mr. Overend. Had any other person set you to do this? -No, not to shoot him. I asked Broadhead one day what he was doing with Linley, and he said he would have a

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conversation with me the next day. I saw him the next day, and he asked me if I recollected the previous day's conversation. I said I did. He asked me what I would do with him? I told him I would make him as he would work no more.'

Mr. Overend. 'What did he say to that ?-He asked me what I should want for doing it; and I asked him if 207. would be too much. He said no, he should think not. I said I would do it.

'Did you tell him how?—No.

'How was it Crookes came into the matter ?—I saw him on the following day, and told him I had got the job to do Linley. He asked me whom I had seen, and I told him I had seen Broadhead, and that we were to have 201.

'What did he say to that?-He said he thought we should not get 201. I saw him again the week following. We went to Broadhead's to see what we were to have. Crookes saw him alone. When he returned to me, he said we were to have 157.; that was all he would give. I then went upstairs to Broadhead, and he told me he would not give more than 157. for the job. I agreed to do it. I got 31. from him, and bought a revolver. Crookes had a revolver.

'How did you do this murder?-We followed Linley from one place to another; and as we found there was no chance of shooting him with a revolver, Crookes got an air-gun.

'Where ?-I do not know.

'What did you do with the air-gun ?-That was what Crookes shot him with.

'Was Crookes a good shot?-He was a pretty good shot to hit Linley where he did.

'Had you seen Crookes shoot with an air-gun before?— I had seen him shoot rabbits in Eccleshall-wood.

'How long did you follow Linley about before he was shot?-Five or six weeks.

'How often did you go after him to find an opportunity of shooting him ?-Nearly every night but Sunday night.

'Where was he shot at last ?-In Scotland-street. Linley was in the back room of the Crown Inn. We followed him from the American Stores to the Crown.

'Did you go into the public-house ?-No, I went into the

back yard to look. I could see into the room where Linley was sitting. He sat with his left hand to the window. It was about nine o'clock at night-just dusk. Crookes was in the street, and I went and told him where Linley was. There were other persons in the room with Linley. Crookes came and looked at Linley, and then refused to shoot. He had his air-gun with him.

'What did he do with the air-gun ?-He would not shoot; there was no exit.

'No exit from the yard ?-No.

'What did you do?-I went through the yard and found a way out. I told him this. He said there were too many people about. (A pause.)

'What did you say?-I told him he must either shoot Linley, or I would shoot him.

'What did he say ?-He said there was no chance. I said I would do it myself, and risk it. He replied that I must not attempt; I might miss him. He would risk it. 'Well? (A pause.)-He shot him.'

The witness, in answer to further questions, narrated the flight of himself and his companion, and the payment of the blood-money. After a long examination, the witness was taken into custody.

Subsequently Crookes was examined. As he stepped into the witness-box, Broadhead said to him in a loud voice, 'Tell the truth, Sam; tell all.'

Mr. Overend cautioned Broadhead not to interfere in any way with the witness while he was giving his evidence; and warned Crookes that unless he made a full disclosure he would probably be tried for his life.

The witness confirmed the evidence of Hallam; but stated more distinctly than he had done, that his instructions from Broadhead were to wound Linley, not to kill him; adding, that he had intended to shoot him under the shoulder, but that as Linley was at the time leaning forward in earnest conversation, the ball glanced from the shoulder on to the back of the head, and thus inflicted a wound which eventually proved fatal.

Farther investigations carried on at Manchester and several of the largest manufacturing towns revealed outrages scarcely less atrocious than those which Mr. Overend had succeeded in bringing to light at Sheffield. One brick