he dismissal by the firm of
the McCorquodales of several trade unionists. Suffice it to say, that
the chief opposition to the claims of Labour came from Sir James
Fergusson, whose remarks were ardently cheered by the Tories; and that
Sir John Hibbert was finally pressed by Sir Charles Dilke into a promise
which binds the Government practically to refuse contracts in future to
any firm which acts like the McCorquodales. It was a great victory for
Labour--not the less great because it was all so quietly done.

[Sidenote: A Government defeat.]

There was a curious little incident on the following day--nothing less
than a defeat of the Government. It arose on a small local Irish Bill.
Blackrock is a small seaside place just outside Dublin. The Tories, who
occupy a good many of the villas, have kept the whole government of the
place in their hands by maintaining a high property qualification for
votes for the Town Commissioners. On this day they brought forward a
Bill; but it was opposed until they had mended their ways with regard to
the government of the town. Mr. Morley, acting on the official view,
urged that the Bill might be passed and this other question dealt with
separately, but the Irish refused to be pacified, they went to a
division, and with the aid of the Radicals they managed to defeat the
Government by nine votes. They celebrated the event by a hearty cheer.

[Sidenote: And so to the end.]

The penultimate week in August went on--wearily, tamely, and
monotonously. It was, perhaps, the presence of the Speaker--it was,
perhaps, the painful recollection of the scene of violence on a previous
occasion--it was, perhaps, the universal exhaustion of the House;
whatever the cause, the excitement on the night of August 25th was
infinitely below what anybody would have expected. Throughout the whole
evening there was exactly the same spectacle as on previous
evenings--that is to say, there was the same old obstructive group
discussing exactly the same topics; raising the same objections; going
into the same subtleties as if the Bill were just in its first stage;
and there was the same dreary and universal emptiness of the House
generally. At last, as eleven o'clock approached, the Unionists prepared
themselves for a dramatic effort. Mr. Chamberlain prepared an
educational bombshell, but Mr. Healy hoisted the engineer with his own
petard.

Then, quietly and noiselessly, we went through a couple of divisions;
and b