[Sidenote:  Deeper and deeper still.]

It was almost a welcome break in this passionate and scarcely civilized din that a personal encounter between Mr. Chamberlain and Mr. Byles for a moment interrupted the tempest.  Mr. Chamberlain, in his characteristically genial way, had spoken of the Irish members as having been “squared.”  The Irish members, habituated to insult—­conscious of Mr. Chamberlain’s object—­had allowed the observation to pass unnoticed; but Mr. Byles—­ardent, sincere, an enthusiast on the Irish question—­shouted out, “How much would it take to square you?” At once there rose a fierce tropical storm.  There were loud shouts of approval—­equally loud shouts demanding an instant withdrawal; members rose from every part of the House; in short, it was Bedlam let loose, and a scene impossible to describe.

This was deep enough, but there was a lower depth still to be sounded; and again it was Mr. Chamberlain’s plummet that descended down to the unfathomable bottom.  “I do not,” he said to Mr. Byles, “object to the question, and I will answer it by saying that it would take a great deal more than the hon. member for Shipley will ever be able to pay.”  There the words stand—­in the immensity of their vulgarity, in their unsurpassable degradation, let them lie.

[Sidenote:  The first fence.]

Finally, May 10th saw the first fence taken.  The genial and gentle T.W.  Russell proposed the removal from the Bill of the Second Chamber—­the Chamber specially created for the protection of the loyal minority.  With similar and strange unscrupulousness, the Tories all trooped into the lobby against their own principles.  They were accompanied by a few foolish Radicals—­indeed, it was the hope of detaching a sufficient number of Radicals to place the Government in a minority which produced the Tory apostasy from their own principles.  There was a little uncertainty as to the result, and everybody expected that the Government majority would have been reduced to a dangerously low figure.  When Mr. Marjoribanks read out a majority of 51—­or a majority bigger than the usual one—­there was a loud halloo of triumph and delighted surprise from the Liberal and the Irish Benches; and so the first big fence in the Home Rule Bill was easily taken.

[Sidenote:  Obstructive Chamberlain.]

By the middle of the sitting on the following day the House of Commons stood face to face with the first clause.  Under ordinary circumstances, the clause would have been passed after a few speeches—­especially and definitely directed to the words of the clause; Mr. Chamberlain demanded the right on this clause to discuss, not only the whole Bill with all its other clauses, but the past and future of the whole Home Rule struggle.  He quoted passage after passage from speeches delivered by Irish members years and years ago; in short, he entered upon a survey of the whole controversy.  There were countless interruptions