of Commons, which was a curious example of the rapid
changes of mood that characterise that Assembly. Most of the speeches
both from the front and back benches were, if possible, even more
bitter, angry, and defiant than usual. But at the close of one of the
bitterest of them all Mr. Churchill read a typewritten passage that was
recognised as a tiny olive-branch held out to Ulster. Carson responded
next day in a conciliatory tone, and the Prime Minister was thought to
suggest a renewal of negotiations in private. For some time nothing came
of this hint; but on the 12th of May Mr. Asquith announced that the
third reading of the Home Rule Bill (for the third successive year, as
required by the Parliament Act before being presented for the signature
of the King) would be taken before Whitsuntide, but that the Government
intended to make another attempt to appease Ulster by introducing "an
amending proposal, in the hope that a settlement by agreement may be
arrived at"; and that the two Bills--the Home Rule Bill and the Bill to
amend it--might become law practically at the same time. But he gave no
hint as to what the "amending proposal" was to be, and the reception of
the announcement by the Opposition did not seem to presage agreement.

Mr. Bonar Law insisted that the House of Commons ought to be told what
the Amending Bill would propose, before it was asked finally to pass the
Home Rule Bill. But the real fact was, as every member of the House of
Commons fully realised, that Mr. Asquith was not a free agent in this
matter. The Nationalists were not at all pleased at the attempts already
made, trivial as they were, to satisfy Ulster, and Mr. Redmond protested
against the promise of an Amending Bill of any kind. Mr. Asquith could
make no proposal sufficient to allay the hostility of Ulster that would
not alienate the Nationalists, whose support was essential to the
continuance of his Government in office.

On the same day as this debate in Parliament the result of a by-election
at Grimsby was announced in which the Unionist candidate retained the
seat; a week later the Unionists won a seat in Derbyshire; and two days
afterwards crowned these successes with a resounding victory at Ipswich.
The last-mentioned contest was considered so important that Mr. Lloyd
George and Sir Edward Carson went down to speak the evening before the
poll for their respective sides. Mr. Lloyd George, the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, made his appe