nd himself from a painful situation.
CHAPTER XL.
THE BILL IN COMMITTEE.
[Sidenote: The first fence.]
Yes, there was something intoxicating to an Irish Nationalist--after all
his weary years of waiting--in seeing the House of Commons engaged in
Committee on the Bill which is to restore the freedom of Ireland. And as
I looked across the House on May 8th, with every seat occupied--with
galleries crowded--with that air of tense excitement which betokens the
solemn and portentous occasion--there rose to my brain something of the
exaltation of passion's first hour. The Unionists might rage--the Tories
might obstruct--faction might bellow its throat hoarse--Orangemen swear
that they would die rather than see Home Rule--for all that, nobody
could get over this great fact, of which I saw the palpable evidence at
that solemn and historic hour.
But if for a few brief moments one was inclined to abandon oneself to
the intoxication of this great hour, there was plenty to bring one very
quickly back to solid earth, and to the sense of the long, dreary, and
thorny road which Home Rule has yet to traverse.
Time after time Mr. Chamberlain gets up to continue the obstructive
debate. Gravelled for matter, he clutches any topic as a means of
lengthening the thin chain of his discourse. Mr. Redmond--the Parnellite
leader--happens to be for a few moments out of the House. Here at once,
and with eager welcome, Mr. Chamberlain seizes upon this fact to string
a few sentences together--something after this fashion:--"I observe that
the hon. and learned member for Waterford is not in his place. This is
very remarkable. Indeed, I may go further and say that this is a most
sinister fact. For we all know what the hon. and learned gentleman has
said with regard to the kind of Parliamentary supremacy which alone he
will accept. Well, now we are discussing this very point of the Imperial
supremacy, and the hon. and learned gentleman is not in his place. I
repeat, Mr. Mellor, it is a very remarkable, a very significant, a very
sinister, and instructive fact!" And so on and so on.
[Sidenote: The stony silence of the Irishry.]
This kind of speech had another object--it was to provoke Mr. Redmond
into a speech. For it was all the same to the Obstructives who
spoke--provided only there was a speech. For, first, the speech of the
Irish or the Liberal member consumed so much time in itself--and then
one speech justified another; and t
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