nd
mischievous. Here again there was another uproar. The Old Man pursued
his way, but Mr. Chamberlain again tried to get Mr. Sexton called to
order, but the charge had been too coarse, and Mr. Mellor declined to
interfere.

CHAPTER XVI.

REDUCED MAJORITIES.

[Sidenote: The week before.]

On Friday, July 7th, we just entered on the fringe of the ninth clause.
The ninth clause had all along been held to be, perhaps, the very
gravest rock ahead of the Government. This is the clause which regulates
the position of the Irish members at Westminster after Home Rule has
been passed. There were as many plans for settling this question as
there were members of the House of Commons, and all plans were alike in
being illogical, unsymmetrical, and, therefore, liable to attack from a
dozen different quarters. Already within a few days of each other, there
had been two divisions, on which everybody felt it to be quite possible
that the Government would go down, and that we should once more go back
face to face with the country and probably with a new and a stronger
Tory Government than ever. The first occasion was the clause dealing
with a Second Chamber. Then a certain number of irreconcilable Radicals,
in their hatred of all Second Chambers, voted against the Government and
reduced their majority to 15. This was a very tight squeeze; but, after
all, everybody had been prepared for it, and when the hour came, we all
knew pretty well where we should be. There might be one or two men more
or less in the Tory lobby, but we had sized them up carefully. When,
however, July 19th, and the ninth clause came we were face to face with
a very different state of affairs. Then we had to face absolute
uncertainty--and uncertainty not in one, but almost every part of the
House. And the curious thing about it all was, that this uncertainty was
aggravated by a little fact which had entered into nobody's
calculations, and this was the highly technical rule with regard to the
manner in which questions are put when the House is in committee.

[Sidenote: Technicalities.]

I despair of ever being able to make this matter clear to an outsider;
and, indeed, to be quite honest, I am not always sure that I understand
the affair myself. It will probably be sufficient for my purpose if I
say that the chairman has to put an amendment in such a way that
sometimes you find you are really precluded from voting on the direct
question which you wish t