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House of Lords. It was a Bill for the acquisition by the Midland of the
Ennis Railway (a line from Athenry to Ennis, 36 miles long), worked but
not owned by the Waterford and Limerick Railway Company. The Midland
were anxious to buy and the Ennis were willing to sell, but Parliament
alone could legalise the bargain. To the Waterford and Limerick, the
bare idea of giving up possession of the fair Ennis to their rival the
Midland was gall and wormwood; and so they opposed the project with might
and main, and they were assisted in their opposition by certain public
bodies, some thought as much for the excitement of a skirmish in the
Committee Rooms as anything else. The working agreement between the
Waterford and Limerick and the Ennis Companies, which had lasted for ten
years or so, was expiring; the Ennis Company had grown tired of the
union; the Midland had held out to her certain glowing prospects, which
had captivated her maiden fancy, and so she was a consenting party to the
Midland scheme. The Ennis line, in the Midland eyes, was a prize worth
fighting for, forming, as it did, part of a route from Dublin to Limerick
in competition with the Great Southern and Western, a company between
which and the Midland, at that time, little love was lost. Those were
the days when competitive traffic, gained almost at any cost, was sweet
as stolen kisses are said to be.

The proceedings opened on Monday, 16th May. _Ennis_ was as familiar to
the Committee Rooms as the suit of _Jarndyce and Jarndyce_ was to the
Court of Chancery. In 1880 the Midland had also sought by Bill to obtain
the fair Ennis (with her consent) but had failed; in 1890 the Waterford
and Limerick (against her wishes) had essayed to do the same and failed
also, and in years long prior to these, other attempts had been made with
the like result. But to proceed: our leading counsel were Sir Ralph
(then Mr.) Littler; Mr. Pember, Mr. Pope and other leaders, and a host of
juniors being arrayed against us. The straitened circumstances of the
Waterford and Limerick; its dearth of rolling stock; its inefficient
ways; its failure to satisfy the public; the admitted superiority of the
Midland and all its works; the splendid results which would "follow as
the night the day," if only Parliament would be wise enough to sanction a
union which the public interest demanded and commonsense approved--these
were the points on which our counsel exercised their forensic sk