divided on the second clause. He was beaten again.
He then said that he was sensible that he was doing very wrong; that
his conduct was unhandsome and vexatious; that he heartily begged our
pardons; but that he had said that he would delay the bill as far as
the forms of the House would permit; and that he must keep his word. Now
came a discussion by which Nancy, if she had been in the ventilator, [A
circular ventilator, in the roof of the House of Commons, was the only
Ladies' Gallery that existed in the year 1832.] might have been greatly
edified, touching the nature of vows; whether a man's promise given
to himself,--a promise from which nobody could reap any advantage,
and which everybody wished him to violate,--constituted an obligation.
Jephtha's daughter was a case in point, and was cited by somebody
sitting near me. Peregrine Courtenay on one side of the House, and Lord
Palmerston on the other, attempted to enlighten the poor Orangeman
on the question of casuistry. They might as well have preached to any
madman out of St. Luke's. "I feel," said the silly creature, "that I am
doing wrong, and acting very unjustifiably. If gentlemen will forgive
me, I will never do so again. But I must keep my word." We roared with
laughter every time he repeated his apologies. The orders of the House
do not enable any person absolutely to stop the progress of a bill
in Committee, but they enable him to delay it grievously. We divided
seventeen times, and between every division this vexatious Irishman
made us a speech of apologies and self-condemnation. Of the two who had
supported him at the beginning of his freak one soon sneaked away. The
other, Sibthorpe, stayed to the last, not expressing remorse like Shaw,
but glorying in the unaccommodating temper he showed and in the delay
which he produced. At last the bill went through. Then Shaw rose;
congratulated himself that his vow was accomplished; said that the only
atonement he could make for conduct so unjustifiable was to vow that he
would never make such a vow again; promised to let the bill go through
its future stages without any more divisions; and contented himself
with suggesting one or two alterations in the details. "I hint at these
amendments," he said. "If the Secretary for Ireland approves of them, I
hope he will not refrain from introducing them because they are brought
forward by me. I am sensible that I have forfeited all claim to the
favour of the House. I will no