ammunition, and having used the same arguments and made the
same speeches for so many weeks, they were so worn out that the guillotine
was superfluous. Of these straits, however, there was little evidence. Mr.
Gladstone entered into the operation with a good deal of chagrin. He saw
that the House of Commons in which he did his work and rose to glory was
swiftly fading out of sight, and a new institution of different habits of
responsibility and practice taking its place.

The stage of committee lasted for sixty-three sittings. The whole
proceedings occupied eighty-two. It is not necessary to hold that the time
was too long for the size of the task, if it had been well spent. The
spirit of the debate was aptly illustrated by the plea of a brilliant
tory, that he voted for a certain motion against a principle that he
approved, because he thought the carrying of the motion "would make the
bill more detestable." Opposition rested on a view of Irish character and
Irish feeling about England, that can hardly have been very deeply thought
out, because ten years later the most bitter opponents of the Irish claim
launched a policy, that was to make Irish peasants direct debtors to the
hated England to the tune of one hundred million pounds, and was to
dislodge by imperial cash those who were persistently called the only
friends of the imperial connection. The bill passed its second reading by
347 against 304, or a majority of 43. In some critical divisions, the
majority ran down to 27. The third reading was carried by 301 against 267,
or a majority of 34. It was estimated that excluding the Irish, there was
a majority against the bill of 23. If we counted England and Wales alone,
the adverse majority was 48. When it reached them, the Lords incontinently
threw it out. The roll of the Lords held 560 names, beyond the peers of
the royal house. Of this body of 560, no fewer than 419 voted against the
bill, and only 41 voted for it.

VI

The session was protracted until it became the longest in the history of
parliament. The House was sitting when Mr. Gladstone's eighty-fourth
birthday arrived. "Before putting a question," said Mr. Balfour in a tone
that, after the heat and exasperations of so many months, was refreshing
to hear, "perhaps the right honourable gentleman will allow me, on my own
part and on that of my friends, to offer him our most sincere
congratulations." "Allow me to thank him," said Mr. Gladstone, "for his