after the wearisome iterations which formed the staple of the course. Most of the Irish members, moreover, contrived to be called to order at intervals, and thereby contributed a little excitement, and in this congenial task Mr. Dillon and Mr. Finigan labored with the greatest zeal, or, as the "Annual Register" has it, "were the most prominent offenders,” though later on their performances were emulated by those of Mr. O'Connor Power, Mr. T. D. Sullivan, and Mr. T. P. O'Connor. At eleven o'clock on Tuesday evening Sir Richard Cross, on behalf of the Conservative Opposition, rose and appealed to the Speaker to use his power of "naming" obstructives, but Mr. Brand declined to do so. Later on Sir Stafford Northcote and Mr. Childers both rose in turn and informed Dr. Lyon Playfair, who had once more relieved the Speaker, that if he chose to use his powers to stop any further obstruction he would be supported by both sides of the House, but Dr. Playfair also declined their handsome offer. The return of the Speaker, however, about nine on Wednesday, was the signal for a coup d'état of the most impressive kind. The House was nearly full. Mr. Gladstone and Sir Stafford Northcote were both in their places. Mr. Biggar was in the act of addressing the House, and had already spoken for over an hour. The Speaker at once declared that the time of the House had now been wasted by systematic obstruction for forty-one hours, and that the old rules having failed to insure orderly debate, a new and exceptional course became necessary. He therefore declined to permit any more speaking, and, having disposed of the amendment actually before the House, put the question at once. The Irish members endeavored to interpose, but they were put down by unanimous shouts of "Order." When the question had been put and carried, they sprang to their feet with shouts of "Privilege," and then rushed tumultuously from the House.

The result of this "disgraceful exhibition " was that both sides of the House became impressed with the view that the rules of debate required amending, though naturally there were considerable differences of opinion as to the most suitable form of amendment. This impression was considerably strengthened by the events of February 3, when Mr. Glad

stone was called on to bring forward the Government resolutions. Mr. Dillon rose before him, and refused to sit down in spite of the order of the Speaker. Immediately "there were loud cries of 'Name him!' while the Irish members cried 'Point of Order,' and at last the Speaker in the terms of the standing order said, 'I name you, Mr. Dillon, as wilfully disregarding the authority of the Chair.""* Mr. Dillon was promptly suspended, but Mr. Dillon, amid frenzied cheering of his friends, declined to leave the House, with the ridiculous result that Sergeant Gosset and some of the messengers had to be called in to effect his removal by force. As it was now quite evident that everybody was in earnest on this occasion, Mr. Dillon avoided the employment of force by walking out of the House, amid loud shouts of "Shame" from the Irish benches. A short wrangle ensued on the subject, and then "Mr. Gladstone attempted to resume his specch, but was interrupted immediately by The O'Donoghue moving the adjournment of the House. No notice was taken of his motion, and Mr. Parnell, in an excited tone, called out, 'I move that Mr. Gladstone be no longer heard.' There were loud cheers from the Irish members at this, and countercries of 'Name him,'" as Mr. Parnell repeated the motion; and The O'Donoghue called out that this was exactly the same motion which Mr. Gladstone himself had made in Mr. O'Donnell's case. The Speaker warned the honorable member that if he persisted he should have no option but to enforce the standing order. Mr. Gladstone was allowed to proceed for a few sentences, but Mr. Parnell, having consulted with his friends, rose and again called out, "I insist on my right to move that Mr. Gladstone be no longer heard." The Speaker then "named " Mr. Parnell in the prescribed form, Mr. Gladstone moved that he be suspended, and the motion was carried. Like Mr. Dillon, Mr. Parnell declined to withdraw until removed by "superior force," and the same farce of coercion was solemnly gone through. As Mr. Parnell retired from the House, his friends "stood up and waved their hats, cheering vociferously."

Mr. Finigan was very shortly got rid of in a similar manner, and as the great body of the Irish members refused to * "Ann. Reg." 1881, p. 54. † Ibid. p. 59.

vote on his suspension, twenty-eight of them were suspended en masse for disregarding the authority of the Chair, and removed one by one by "superior force." Two more followed shortly, and then three, and so on, until by 8.30 thirty-six in all had been suspended. The result of all this was that resolutions were carried giving the Speaker special powers to restrict discussion when "urgency" has been voted in debate. This rule, moreover, was intended to apply not merely to the wilful and obvious obstruction of the Irish members, but also to more subtle forms of over-criticism of which the House had had occasional experience.

The efficacy of the "urgency" rule may be measured by the fact that, in 1882, an autumn session was specially held to create new regulations of debate. A number of resolutions were passed, enabling the Speaker or Chairman of Committees to terminate the debate when the "evident sense of the House" was against its continuance, to suppress various abuses of the forms of the House which were very prevalent, and to keep the debate strictly to the subject in hand. Grand committees were to be appointed to relieve the House by taking over the consideration of all legal and commercial bills, and preparing them for merely a final third reading, as it were, in the House itself.

Both parties are agreed that the rules of debate are in want of considerable revision in order to render them effective, though the precise amendments requisite are a subject of controversy.

Reader, my task is ended. Future parliamentary historians will some day deliver to the world a fitting estimate of the men of the last decade-of Beaconsfield and Gladstone, Salisbury and Churchill, Hartington, Bright, and Chamberlain; will find a niche for Parnell and Bradlaugh, perhaps even rise to the sublimest heights of prose in the apotheosis of Biggar. Now, it were a task at which impartiality itself might shudder. The mean between exaggerated admiration and equally exaggerated dispraise can never be strictly attained until the softening hand of time has smoothed down the angry passions which seem the inevitable concomitant of party differences.

INDEX.

Audit of revenue accounts, 15, 116, 135. Corruption in Parliament, 121, 122, 138,

Chatham, William Pitt, Earl of, 186-190, Freedom from arrest, 23, 39, 40, 50, 51,

Home-rulers, 277, 286, 332-334, 339–342.
Howard v. Gosset, 330.

Impeachment, 16, 66, 67, 71, 72, 81, 85-
90, 116, 122, 137, 155, 159, 169, 172,
174, 185, 234-239.
Irish Parliament, privileges, peers, Act
of Union, etc. Chap. XVI.

Jews, admission of, 318, 326, 331.
Judges in Parliament, 20, 322.
Junto, the Whig, 138, 144.

Kentish petition, the, 141.
King's Friends, 205-210.
Kneeling at the bar, 169, 175.

Ladies in Parliament, 197, 198.
Legislation, 22, 23.
Liberal party, the, 278.
Lords, the House of- Lancastrian, 19,
20; privileges, 23, 72, 319, 320; judi-
cial powers, 23, 65, 119, 322; Tudor,
25, 37; removal of mitred abbots, 37;
Stuart, 59, 65, 71, 78, 108, 113, 124;
Long Parliament, 85, 87, 101; aboli-
tion, 102; exclusion of Catholics, 122;
Revolution, 129; creation of peers,
145, 150, 272, 313; George I., 147,
150, 181; Scotch representative peers,
154; Irish ditto, 224; George III.,
212; Reform, 266, 272, 273, 285; post-
Reform, 318-322; life peers, 321; law-
lords, 322; Judicature Act, 321.
Lords of the Articles, 151, 152.

Minority clause, 324.
Minors, 195.

Money Bills, 17, 56, 78, 119, 318.
Murray, Mr. Alexander, 174.
Mutiny Act, 135, 312.

North, Lord, 194, 207-211, 230.

Montfort's, 1265, 8; the Model, 1295,
12, 13; the Good, 1376, 17; the Ref-
ormation, 1529-1536, 31; the Addled,
1614, 65; the Short, 1640, 79; the
Long, 1640-1653, 80-101; the Con-
vention of, 1660, 104-111; the Long
or Pension Parliament, 1661-1679,
112; the Convention of, 1688–1689,
127-134; the Reform, 1831, 266; the
Reformed, 1832, 275–287.
Peelites, the, 294, 296.
Peerage Bill, the, 149, 150.

Peers, creation of, 145, 150, 272, 313.
Petition of Right, the, 74.
Petitioners and Abhorrers, 123.
Petitions of Parliament, 17.
Petitions to Parliament, 112, 211.

Pitt, William (the younger), 148, 239,
243, 244.

Placeholders, exclusion of, 138-140, 325.
Poyning's Law, 220.

Premunientes clause, 12, 19.
Pride's Purge, 101.

Proctors of the clergy, 20.
Property Qualification Acts, 20, 178, 322.
Prorogation, 31.

Protectionists, the, 293.
Protests of the Lords, 23, 95.
Proxies of the Lords, 23, 71, 320.

Radicals, 207, 215, 216, 257, 261, 277, 278,
282, 291.

Reform Acts, 256, 257; of 1832, 258-274;
of 1867, 303-307, 318, 323, 324; of
1884-1885, 308, 325.

Reform, Parliamentary, 102, 211, 217,
256-274, 280, 302-308, 317, 323–326.
Repealers, 277, 286.

Reporting-v. Secrecy.
Residence, statutes requiring, 21.
Responsibility of Ministers, 16, 17, 66,
67, 70-72, 81, 84-90, 116, 121, 136-
140, 146, 185, 208, 211, 212, 217,
218.

Oaths, Parliamentary, 46, 122, 192, 325, Root and Branch party, 83, 90.

326, 331.

Rothschild's case, 331.

Obstruction, 266, 301, 333, 335, 338-342. Rump, the, 101-103.

O'Connell's tail, 286.

Ordinances, 16.

Sacheverell, impeachment of Dr., 159,
169.

Palmer, case of Mr., 94.

Scotch Parliament, privileges, Act of

Palmerston (Lord), dismissal of, 316,
317.

Parliament, meaning of, 13.

Secrecy of debate, 23, 26, 28, 100, 197,
329, 330.

Parliaments. —of Oxford, 1258, 6; De Separation of the two Houses, 19.