as curious to observe that the position
of the Government in the House of Commons was stronger at the end of
1882 than it was at the beginning. That this was so was due, I think, in
part to the fact that for the moment we were victorious in Egypt,[37]
and in part to admiration for the vigour with which Lord Spencer was
fighting the murderous conspiracy in Ireland. The Government enjoyed the
dangerous praise of the Opposition; obstruction collapsed; and some new
Rules of Procedure were carried by overwhelming majorities. Here let me
interpolate an anecdote. Mr. M---- L---- was a barrister, an obsequious
supporter of the Government, and, as was generally surmised, on the
lookout for preferment. Mr. Philip Callan, M.P. for County Louth, was
speaking on an amendment to one of the new Rules, and Mr. M---- L----
thrice tried to call him to order on the ground of irrelevancy. Each
time, the Chairman of Committee ruled that, though the Honourable Member
for Louth was certainly taking a wide sweep, he was not out of order.
Rising the third time from the seat Callan said: "I may as well take the
opportunity of giving notice that I propose to move the insertion of a
new Standing Order, which will read as follows: 'Any Hon. Member who
three times unsuccessfully calls another Hon. Member to order, shall be
ineligible for a County Court Judgeship.'" Mr. M---- L---- looked coy,
and everyone else shouted with glee.

The Session of 1883 opened very quietly. The speech from the Throne
extolled the success of the Ministerial policy in Ireland and Egypt, and
promised a series of useful but not exciting measures. Meanwhile the
more active Members of the Liberal Party, among whom I presumed to
reckon myself, began to agitate for more substantial reforms. We had
entered on the fourth Session of the Parliament. A noble majority was
beginning to decline, and we felt that there was no time to lose if we
were to secure the ends which we desired. Knowing that I felt keenly on
these subjects, Mr. T. H. S. Escott, then Editor of the _Fortnightly_,
asked me to write an article for his Review, and in that article I spoke
my mind about the Agricultural Labourers' Suffrage, the Game Laws, the
reform of the City of London, and an English Land Bill. "The action of
the Peers," I said, "under Lord Salisbury's guidance will probably force
on the question of a Second Chamber, and those who flatter themselves
that the Liberal Party will shrink from discussing i