Sketches in the House (1893) eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 344 pages of information about Sketches in the House (1893).

Sketches in the House (1893) eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 344 pages of information about Sketches in the House (1893).

[Sidenote:  An hour of gloom.]

With the Monday, however, came a biting frost.  The news that Mr. Gladstone had been struck down from the fray, was sufficient to prepare anybody for the final announcement.  With him leading the Liberal hosts, one could feel that obstruction could finally be beaten, however obstinate might be its resistance—­for he has the faith that moves mountains.  Then came the announcement that the second reading of the Home Rule Bill had been postponed till after Easter.  The Tories and the Unionists were apparently taken by surprise; so much so that they did not seem to have the power of yelling forth their delight at the triumph of their policy with that full chorus which one would have expected.  Altogether, the announcement came upon the House, and passed the House, with a quickness and a greater quietness than one might have expected.  The consequences were too serious to be grasped immediately; and men were almost anxious to get to the lobbies for the purpose of discussing it in all its bearings.

The rest of the week was but a poor falling-off after the heroic and tragic fever of its opening, and of the week which preceded it.  One could see that in the Liberal ranks there had succeeded to the fierce fighting spirit of the previous days a certain lassitude and disappointment.  What their faces told in the House their lips more freely uttered in the lobbies.  For a time, indeed, there was a feeling of almost unreasoning despair, and that full, frank, unsparing criticism to which every Government is subject from its friends when the winds blow and the waves are high.  It was said that the Government had committed the mistake of making too many targets at once; that they had first infuriated the Church by the Welsh Suspensory Bill; that they had followed this up by infuriating the publicans and the brewers by the Veto Bill; that, meantime, there was very little chance of their being able to obtain the compensatory advantage of getting these Bills passed into law.  There were grumblings about the Registration Bill; in short, nothing and nobody were spared in this hour of gloom and disaster.

[Sidenote:  “Herr Schloss.”]

But the House of Commons—­as I have often remarked—­is like a barometer in the promptitude of its reflection of every momentary phase, and all these things are duly discounted by old Parliamentary hands accustomed to panics when a check comes to what has been a most successful campaign on the whole.  And in the meantime, if there had been any tendency to disintegration, it was soon restored by the conduct of the Tories.  For, the old game of obstruction and vituperation went on just as strongly as if no concession had been made, and no victory gained.  The Monday night had been reserved for a debate on the Evicted Tenants’ Commission.  And Mr. T.W.  Russell, brimful of notes and venom, sate in his place, as impatient to rise as the captive and exuberant balloon which only strong ropes and

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Sketches in the House (1893) from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.