This vivid record of the major crisis of late nineteenth-century British politics comes from the unique perspective of someone who was both a crown official and an active Irish nationalist. It provides an insider's first-hand account of British attempts to negotiate a satisfactory settlement of the Irish question, and is complemented by contemporary official papers and the private correspondence of leading politicians and senior officials in Dublin. These valuable sources illuminate a long neglected aspect of the British Government's response to Irish nationalism during 1884-1887, suggesting that Gladstone's adoption of home rule was more significantly influenced by warnings of incipient revolution in Ireland than has been previously thought.