s speech to speak of the people from whom he springs as
"impecunious and garrulous." At first nobody took any notice of what was
probably a mere mauvaise plaisanterie; and the incident would have
passed altogether had not Mr. Brodrick immediately afterwards made a
more direct appeal to the Irish Members. This elicited from Mr. Sexton
the retort that he need not make any appeal to the Irish Benches after
the "grossly rude" allusion he had made to the Irish people. On this
there was a mild hubbub on the Tory Benches. The House was very thin and
very listless, and really not in the mood to take anything very
tragically. But Mr. Sexton resolutely refused to withdraw unless Mr.
Brodrick gave the example. Mr. Mellor then--acting somewhat
precipitately--ruled that Mr. Sexton was out of order, and should
withdraw his words.

[Sidenote: Mr. Sexton defies the chair.]

This created a new situation. Mr. Sexton had now to fight, not Mr.
Brodrick, not even Mr. Balfour--but the chair; and to fight the chair is
to enter into a contest with the Grand Llama of the House of Commons.
Meantime the House had filled; and every nook and cranny was occupied; a
large number of members were standing up; and there was that intense
thrill of excitement which always forecasts a great outburst, and the
outburst came when Mr. Sexton--resolute and composed--gave it plainly to
be understood that he would not obey the ruling of the chair; and that
he must first get an apology from Mr. Brodrick, as the original
offender, before Mr. Brodrick got any apology from him. Then was the
cyclone let loose; and there began a series of the wildest, most
violent, most angry, and disorderly scenes I have ever witnessed. Scores
of members were on their legs at the same time; men hitherto quiet,
composed, and good-natured, began to raise cries hoarse with rage, and
finally four or five hundred voices were united in producing the
deafening and discordant din of angry and contradictory voices. Nor was
this all. In some parts of the House men began directly to assail each
other--to exchange language of taunt, and insult, and defiance; and, in
more than one corner, there were the signs of impending physical
conflict. The one relief of the situation was that some men kept their
heads and looked on in sadness, while others, seeing only the comic side
of the situation, smiled upon it all.

[Sidenote: Gladstone to the rescue.]

Mr. Gladstone, who had been away to dinner, ha