Duke being practically the senior officer available.  He also wanted to know what experience he had had in real fighting.  The reply of the War Minister was conciliatory.  There were, he explained, one or two generals senior to H.R.H., but who were at present discharging duties from which it was not desirable they should be removed.  The pay would be that of a Lieutenant-General.  Owing to domestic circumstances, the Duke lived out of Portsmouth, but he was little out of the district he commanded.  He served in the Egyptian campaign, which was the only opportunity he had had during his career in taking part in active warfare.  This did not satisfy either Mr. Allan or Mr. Morton.  The member for Peterboro’ wanted to be precise.  How far was H.R.H. away from the real fighting?  The War Minister could only smile and shake his head.  Mr. Allan expressed his dissent, and Mr. Morton, derisively cheered by a handful of Tories, solemnly begged to give notice that on the Army Estimates he would again raise the question of this flagrant job.

[Sidenote:  A triumph for Mr. Burns.]

The evening was notable for a splendid triumph achieved by that fine Democrat, John Burns.  It arose out of the Navy Estimates.  The conditions of labour in the Government dockyards have long been crying out for remedy, and Mr. Burns presented the case for the men with a force and lucidity that carried conviction home to the minds of a crowded House, among whose members his is one of the most magnetic personalities.  The member for Battersea pointed out that, whilst he strongly approved of the attitude of the Government in adding L30,000 to the wages of the men, the real step they should have taken was to ignore the opinion of the permanent officials, those bugbears of all reformers, past, present, and to come—­pay the trades union rates, and abolish classification altogether.  A very excellent smack at Sir John Gorst, Mr. A.B.  Forwood, and other standbacks on the Opposition side was the remark:—­“I would rather have the rate of wages in dockyards regulated by trades unions than made the sport of party politicians and put up as a kind of Dutch auction.”  What have the Government to fear in this matter?  The trade unions must always have to face competition and trade rivalry, and these elements alone are more than sufficient to keep down wages.  So great was the impression made by Mr. Burns’s speech, that official notice of it was inevitable, and Mr. E. Robertson was able to make an announcement which gave, if not absolute satisfaction, at least a measure of it to the champions of the artificers and labourers in our dockyards.

[Sidenote:  Home Rule again.]