nd he singled me
out--although, of course, he knew that I was only one of many who had
used the word. I don't complain of this--I merely state a fact--a fact
which, laughingly, was admitted later in the evening; for here I may say
in passing that such is the extraordinary volatility and such the real
good-nature of the House of Commons, this terrible evening ended up in
the exchange of hearty and friendly jokes between some of the fiercest
combatants in the whole business. I had not the least idea of what Mr.
Gibbs was saying--what his complaint really was I knew for the first
time after the whole row was over; indeed, nobody could hear anything in
the din that was almost deafening. Mr. Mellor made several attempts to
catch Mr. Gibbs's statement; and only when, after straining his ears to
the utmost, he failed to catch one single word, did Mr. Mellor resolve
to take no notice of what Mr. Gibbs was trying to say. This seemed to
drive Mr. Gibbs almost beside himself--he shouted angrily and wildly,
at the top of his voice, with fierce and almost frenzied gesture; and,
after a while, he rushed down with every appearance of passion to the
Front Opposition Bench to renew his attempts to make his point of order.
All this time his passion had been rising higher and higher--until, in
the end, he was almost a painful sight to witness. His own friends were
foremost in trying to bring him back to composure; and Lord Randolph
Churchill expressed, with the fine, full-flavoured plainness of ancient
speech, his opinion of the conduct of his friends.

[Sidenote: Keeping the seats.]

This plain-spoken opinion of Lord Randolph Churchill was induced by the
fact that Mr. Gibbs and his friends had now resolved on a desperate step
to secure attention to his complaint. This was no other than refusing to
leave the House, and take part in the division. It is more than twelve
years since this extreme, violent, and almost revolutionary step was
adopted before. On the dreadful night--how well I remember it!--when the
news came that Michael Davitt had been sent back to penal servitude, the
information sent a thrill of such horror and almost despair amongst the
Irish Benches, that some method of manifesting their feelings became
inevitable. By a series of circumstances, into which I need not now go,
the manifestation took the shape of refusing to go into the division
lobby, and retaining our seats. We were all suspended in turn, and
removed from the